pherank

Congratulations to both Sheehan and Greco. Another winner coming from Teatro alla Scala Ballet. It's a funny competition though, in being such a small group of companies to choose from ("dancers must come from one of the companies that Bruhn was associated with during his lifetime"), and the judges being from those same companies. I'm curious how the judging actually works - if there are technical and artistic point awards, and are company A.D.s not able to vote for their own dancers, or is the point system set up to so as to mitigate bias? Just wondering....

I major change for many orchestras in the U.S., but I think there is definitely a positive aspect to this new status - more local community involvement and guidance from art organizations: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/arts/music/its-official-many-orchestras-are-now-charities.html

RIP Leonard, you will be sorely missed. Here's one of my favorite versions of Suzanne (hard to beat the combination of Ian Matthews and Sandy Denny vocals): http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x16xhhe_fairport-convention-suzanne_music

Some unfortunate news: While attempting to travel to the Dominican Republic with Tit Helimets to dance in a gala, Mathilde reported online that she suffered a seizure (and whether she has ever experienced these before I don't know). She appears to have been injured as well, as she has a scary looking gash across her hairline. I won't point to the images she posted. It is of course unclear right now what this all means for the upcoming season. I'm sure she would appreciate hearing from well-wishers: https://twitter.com/lapetitefrench_

Masha is now in Cuba (after finishing the Kennedy Center shows). Perhaps she is only able to sleep well on airplanes. https://www.instagram.com/p/BMR9dtGD2sd/?taken-by=balletrusse Mathilde and Tiit rehearsing (Nutcracker Grand Pas de Deux) https://www.instagram.com/p/BMSQVDsBzlR/?taken-by=lapetitefrench_ Frances Chung and Carlos Quenedit practicing a Wheeldon lift https://www.instagram.com/p/BL_o0xBjojk/?taken-by=franadian

A reminder from SFB: "View our part of the broadcast on our YouTube channel. The video is available until November 5, 2016." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2qhY6Nk69Y Now would be the time to download if you haven't already. They may post some sort of "highlights" version, but it won't be nearly as interesting.

https://www.sfballet.org/scarygood "No tricks; all treats. Celebrate Halloween by getting your tickets to Frankenstein for only $45. It’s the easiest decision you’ll ever make, but act quickly because the sale ends tonight. Discounted tickets are for February 17 and 18 evening performances in select seating sections only. Enter promo code CREATURE to access this treat. Remember, this offer is valid today only, while supplies last."

A Magical ‘Cinderella’ with a Human Touch Sarah L. Kaufman, The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_danc/a-magical-cinderella-with-a-human-touch/2016/10/27/01896bfa-9c5d-11e6-b4c9-391055ea9259_story.html "Instead, Wheeldon gives us a temperamental young woman, and just as the chariot is assembled bit by bit before our eyes, we also see her character develop scene by scene. On Wednesday’s opening night, Maria Kochetkova, a classical purist with a beautifully fluid style, danced the title role with childlike naivete and vulnerability. But she also had a top note of something flinty and womanly. It was a deeply moving performance, in no small part because of her light touch. This was true throughout the excellent cast..."

Masha dances in the new Blood Orange video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK6R6WfKo0M

A Cinderella at the Kennedy Center review (of sorts) that does give us a better sense of the casting: http://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2016/10/27/review-cinderella-san-francisco-ballet-t-kennedy-center1/ "The San Francisco Ballet’s production is an example of innovative choreography coupled with a group of designers at the top of their game, bringing alive a dizzying number of unique locations and breathtaking visual effects"

Waiting for some tour photos to be posted online - I did find this one from Dores Andre that made me laugh: https://www.instagram.com/p/BMC45f3g44K/?taken-by=doresandre "Two Cinderellas for the price of one. One will cook delicious Chinese food, the other will argue politics with your family."

Yuan Yuan organized a gala in Shanghai called "Yuan Yuan Tan and Friends" The "friends" included Tamara Rojo, Xander Parish, Megan Fairchild, Sergei Filin(!) and Vitor Luiz. https://www.instagram.com/p/BMCYXOdht07/?taken-by=mfairchild17 https://www.instagram.com/p/BMDVw2XDjqn/?taken-by=tanyuanyuansf

Here's a quote from Macaulay: "Since parts of the third-movement choreography had been lost, Peter Martins, the ballet master in chief of City Ballet, made new versions. But later revivals for the School of American Ballet (1991, 2007) omitted the third movement altogether, and so did this Farrell staging." http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/25/arts/dance/review-ballet-with-intricate-geometry-and-a-lot-of-fun-suzanne-farrell-george-balanchine-kennedy-center.html "Lost" presumably means that no film exists of the 3rd movement, and any former dancer's memory of the choreography was so incomplete that it wasn't possible to present Balanchine's original choreography in good faith. Farrell would need Martin's permission to use his version, but they don't seem to be on good terms to begin with, and it isn't Farrell's mission to celebrate the choreography of Peter Martins. ;) There are a number of lost Balanchine ballets that people would pay money to see even if only portions could be reproduced. I'm thinking of ballets like "The Seven Deadly Sins" and "The Figure in the Carpet" (there is a single section with Diana Adams dancing on film). It would still be fascinating to watch sections of these performed, but alas...

The tour baton has been passed to Washington D.C. and the Kennedy Center, where the dancers are already in rehearsals, but I found this link to a review of Celebrate Forsythe http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-william-forsythe-review-20161023-snap-story.html (Pas/Parts) "Originally created for Paris Opera Ballet in 1989, the work was adapted for San Francisco Ballet, which dances Forsythe better than any other American company, making it a tough act to follow Friday night."

The Women of Pas/Parts 2016 https://instagram.fsan1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/t51.2885-15/e35/14701121_200518230359616_8637434679730896896_n.jpg And everyone with Bill Forsythe https://instagram.fsan1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/t51.2885-15/e35/14717498_1768344683422054_4720895053805912064_n.jpg

Master Class with Ms. Froustey at the Landes Dance Conservatory in choreographic arts center The Marensine, Soustons: http://www.sudouest.fr/2016/10/21/video-une-master-class-avec-mathilde-froustey-pour-les-eleves-du-conservatoire-des-landes-2543046-3452.php

The Celebrate Forsythe (at the Music Center Los Angeles) casting: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 21 - SUNDAY, OCTOBER 23 PAS/PARTS SOLO Sofiane Sylve DUET Lorena Feijoo, Diego Cruz TRIO Julia Rowe, Carlo Di Lanno, Joseph Walsh ENSEMBLE Full Cast SOLO Carlo Di Lanno ENSEMBLE Jennifer Stahl WITH Diego Cruz, Francisco Mungamba, Henry Sidford, James Sofranko, Joseph Walsh, Wei Wang ENSEMBLE Jennifer Stahl, Francisco Mungamba, James Sofranko WITH Dores André, Frances Chung, Lorena Feijoo, Maria Kochetkova, Julia Rowe, Skyla Schreter, Sofiane Sylve DUET Sofiane Sylve, Carlo Di Lanno SOLO Frances Chung TRIO Lorena Feijoo, James Sofranko, Wei Wang ENSEMBLE Dores André, Frances Chung, Diego Cruz, Maria Kochetkova, Francisco Mungamba, Skyla Schreter, Henry Sidford, Jennifer Stahl, Sofiane Sylve, Joseph Walsh SEPTET Diego Cruz, Francisco Mungamba, Julia Rowe, Skyla Schreter, Henry Sidford, Jennifer Stahl, Sofiane Sylve DUO Dores André, Frances Chung SOLO Joseph Walsh TRIO Dores André, Frances Chung, James Sofranko DUO Wei Wang, Dores André DUET Maria Kochetkova, Francisco Mungamba SOLO James Sofranko DUET Julia Rowe, Joseph Walsh SOLO Francisco Mungamba FINALE Full Cast THE VERTIGINOUS THRILL OF EXACTITUDE Pacific Northwest Ballet Leta Biasucci, Carrie Imler, Margaret Mullin, Benjamin Griffiths, Jonathan Porretta Saturday, 22: Rachel Foster, Angelica Generosa, Elizabeth Murphy Ezra Thomson, Dylan Wald ARTIFACT SUITE Houston Ballet Katherine Burkwall-Ciscon, Piano OTHER PERSON Bridget Kuhns PAS DE DEUX 1 Karina Gonzalez, Ian Casady PAS DE DEUX 2 Jessica Collado, Chun Wai Chan Soo Youn Cho, Jessica Collado, Tyler Donatelli, Aoi Fujiwara, Karina Gonzalez, Katy Harvey, Yuriko Kajiya, Bridget Kuhns, Jacquelyn Long, Katelyn May, Mallory Mehaffey, Melody Mennite, Allison Miller, Katharine Precourt, Madeline Skelly, Alyssa Springer, Natalie Varnum, Sara Webb, Chae Eun Yang Ian Casady, Chun Wai Chan, Christopher Coomer, Derek Dunn, Daniel Durrett, Christopher Gray, Oliver Halkowich, Shu Kinouchi, Rhys Kosakowski, Zecheng Liang, Linnar Looris, Jared Matthews, William Newton, Hayden Stark, Brian Waldrep, Connor Walsh, Harper Watters, Charles-Louis Yoshiyama DANCETALKS Join us an hour before each performance in Stern Grand Hall for an informative talk with William Forsythe led by Professor Jodie Gates, the inaugural Director and Vice Dean of the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance at USC. Can’t make it to the pre-show lecture? Dial in to listen at (800) 371-8200, Access Code: 7293672

Yeah, go Madison!

Yes on S for Single Ticket Buyers "Here’s our small way of supporting measure S – we’re offering a 50 percent discount on Tuesday performances of works that begin with the letter S – Seven Sonatas (part of Program 2), Stravinsky Violin Concerto (part of Program 4), the world premiere of Pita's Salome (part of Program 5), and Swan Lake. Not only do you get a great discount, but you get access to tickets before public sale. Act now because the offer ends tonight, or while supplies last." Buy Tickets *Discount is valid for Tuesday performances of Programs 2, 4, 5, and Swan Lake only; excluding Boxes, Orchestra Front Side, and Balcony Side Seating Sections. Limit two tickets per performance. Discount cannot be combined with other offers or discounts, or applied to previously purchased tickets. Offer ends October 18 at 11:59 pm or when supplies run out. https://www.sfballet.org/specials/yes-on-s/promo

Walsh is an excellent all-round dancer and partner, and can be very good in character roles too. Definitely worth seeing. And if you've seen the SFB broadcast of Romeo and Juliet at Lincoln Center, you would have also seen how impressive Luke Ingham can be in a character role (Tybalt). Frances Chung is known for her fabulous technique. I like her in comedic roles, such as one of the step-sisters in Cinderella - I haven't seen her in the lead role but there's no reason to think she's not up to the part. Andre has been one of the company work-horses, dancing anything and everything, and she was promoted to principal last year. In this video promo, Frances Chung is the first dancer you will see (removing her pointe shoes, with her dog Iggy), followed by Dores Andre reclining on the floor. You can see them do a bit of dancing (Joseph Walsh is the dancer with the jet black hair): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMTv_Y0Zrl4 I almost forgot - you can see Walsh and Chung rehearsing for Liam Scarlett's Frankenstein (2017 Season) in the WBD broadcast at 2:00:25: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2qhY6Nk69Y And at 2:39:39 you can see a Forsythe Pas/Parts 2016 rehearsal with Kochetkova, Chung and Andre all participating. There are "Meet the Artist" and "Artist Spotlight" videos of all the lead dancers on the SFB website, and probably on their YouTube channel. The website has been relaunched though, and I can't find anything on it. ;)

The technology behind a YouTube or Amazon is immense. Just the hardware alone, in state-of-the-art data centers (multiple) with 24/7 air-conditioning to keep the servers from overheating, costs insane amounts of money. A government could certainly afford to play on that level, especially one that doesn't need voter approval of budgets - they could eventually get to something similar (that's what the Chinese are doing fairly successfully). The sad part is that it's all about control of information and people for those governments, and nothing more. There's no vision behind any of the developments, they're just trying to shadow (and counteract) any technology being developed in the West. A policy of paranoia isn't very glorious.

Farrell at least still has Mr. B's voice in her head. Very possibly this is a remark he made long ago.

The Nobel committee was very careful in their wording, at it basically skirts the whole "Is it poetry?" question by speaking to something perhaps larger, and more abstract: "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition" "Poetic expressions" could entail a great many things, and yet people do tend to understand what is being referred to. That's the interesting part.

From the Gounod Symphony rehearsal: "Now you dance because of him, not for him." -that's an interesting distinction, and I wonder if the dancers even understand what the difference would be.

I ran across this quote in The Guardian - Salman Rushdie: "We live in a time of great lyricist-songwriters – Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Tom Waits – but Dylan towers over everyone. His words have been an inspiration to me ever since I first heard a Dylan album at school, and I am delighted by his Nobel win. The frontiers of literature keep widening, and it’s exciting that the Nobel prize recognises that. I intend to spend the day playing Mr Tambourine Man, Love Minus Zero/No Limit, Like a Rolling Stone, Idiot Wind, Jokerman, Tangled Up In Blue and A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall." The real issue for many, is that there is just the one Award for Literature each year, and there are so many talented artists working with language that deserve some recognition. Fortunately, very few artists work with a Nobel prize in mind. Maybe Hemingway got that idea into his head, he was that type of personality, but few of the best artists mention worrying about awards. I tend to like the more 'psychedelic' songs of Dylan - here is a lesser known gem from the middle years (as sung by Judy Collins): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5WIdaDTvE4 "They tell me to be discreet for all intended purposes, They tell me revenge is sweet and from where they stand, I’m sure it is. But I feel nothing for their game where beauty goes unrecognized, All I feel is heat and flame and all I see are dark eyes."