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That was a great idea to include Yuri drowning in the water. Even though Swimmer is a hodgepodge of sites and sounds, it mostly works, and could be made even better if Yuri decides to revisit or to replace certain scenes. Home to Hollywood makes no sense, but the Home section is riveting, and there's nothing wrong with mentioning Hollywood - it just needs some more work to make the scene actually clever and original. The catchy music from the pool party keeps going around in my head - I hope that's not an omen of some kind (he writes while staring out at the Pacific from the hotel balcony in Victoria BC).

I went April 17th and it was one of the better evenings of ballet I've seen in the last couple of years. Ths is a truly strong modern neo-classical ballet. All dancers looked well rehearsed (the Corps were able to fully inhabit their parts, rather than just try to remember the steps, and there was no obvious nerves). It was really an impressive performance by the whole company. Symphony #9 was uniformly great - everyone very intense and the speed of execution in that section was really impressive. Chamber Symphony definitely drags a bit because of the score, and is more melodrama, than edgy, imo. Things revive with Piano Concerto #1 - especially with the novelty of seeing Tan and Kochetkova dancing together (in tiny red bathing suits). I actually felt that the choreography was suiting Tan better than Masha K. It somehow didn't show off Masha at her best. But that's neither here nor there - there's no reason why she would have to dance a Russian 'theme' of this sort better than everyone else. It's too personal and idiosyncratic a work to actually require a dancer from the Russian culture to pull it off. That's part of what is so interesting about this ballet, it feels more psychological in its explorations than cultural. I walked out of the theatre wondering why this wasn't being filmed for DVD or PBS. What an opportunity missed!

Agreed - one of my most favorite ballets too, Globetrotter. I believe you must have seen the Saturday matinee program - which I also went to. Not to belittle that effort, but the Thursday (4/16) evening program was really tremendous - nothing seemed to go wrong in any ballet, and all the dancers were operating at full intensity - all the details in place, and real emotion rather than faked. I was really impressed with how well rehearsed everyone looked on Thursday. Saturday matinee had a few bobbles in the ballets, notably Jennifer Stahl's fall in Swimmer (but we gave her a big applause at the end). The matinee felt like a real mix of A-list principals and younger dancers getting a taste of solo roles. Swimmer is a fascinating mish-mash of themes that mostly hangs together visually. As others have mentioned, the integration of multimedia visuals and live acton is really well done, and strangely moving at times. It would be pretty difficult to describe Yuri's "storyline" - it's more like disparate scenes strung together with the water and swimming themes. Does anyone know if that is Yuri Possokhov shown in the water (projected on the screen) near the end of the ballet?

That's good to hear, Seattle_Dancer - I'm looking forward to seeing The Swimmer this week. I hope you still get to see Shostakovich Trilogy - that would be worth your while.

Just a reminder: SFB (like many ballet companies) holds "Meet the Artist" interviews with various company members, visiting choreographers, etc. almost every week of the season. And these interviews are made available online as audio "podcasts". Which really just means you can click the link in your browser and listen to the interview. Pasts season archived interviews are also available. Visit this page for 2015 podcasts: https://www.sfballet.org/interact/listen/meet_the_artist_podcasts This season some of the particpating artists are (so far), Mathilde Froustey, Joseph Walsh, Tiit Helimets, Myles Thatcher, who just choreographed his first complete ballet for the company, and Christopher Stowell. I especially recommend listening to past interviews with répétiteurs, costumers and stage managers - those are especially fascinating.

I think we already mentioned Dame aux Camelias, but Neumeier's Sylvia would be interesting too - I don't think that's been done outside of POB, except at Hamburg ballet. Sofiane Sylve as the goddess Diana would be worth standing in line for. ;) But if the critieria is a ballet that has never been done anywhere except at POB, that makes an interesting Jeopardy question. And ballets that don't circulate are rarely that great, so I don't know how excited I should be about that.

Thanks much for the description, Quiggin - it doesn't sound dull, so I'm still looking forward to experiencing it myself later next week.

When I received the email, I too thought of Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake, (which I would not go out of my way to see again, but that's just me). But I like the idea of SFB bringing back the Danilova/Balanchine Coppelia - I enjoyed it very much last time it was performed in SF. Both PNB and SFB were perfroming Forsythe this past season - it doesn't seem to be a big deal that they sometimes perfrom the same works in a given season. (I don't think Tomasson or Boal is worrying about it too much.) Since Neumeir and SFB have a connection, Dame aux Camelias is a possibilty for the POB-related ballet.

Yes, congratulations to Ms Abbagnato! RE: Ms. Froustey - this was posted on her Twitter page just the other day: PS: @BalletOParis' "lost generation" has made it after all. Hecquet is an étoile, her classmate @lapetitefrench_ a principal @sfballet. I get the feeling from her posts that she will remain in SF as long as she is emotionally comfortable being in the US. Obviously it's not easy leaving family and friends behind (especially when you don't really know the language well). She seems to be making a go of it though, and I get the sense that she does enjoy the SFB repetoire: https://instagram.com/p/1OF3sFHrcZ/?taken-by=lapetitefrench_

;) I really wonder if Possokhov would describe any of his works as a "romp".

Oh I see now, I was going by photographs of the rehearsals, but the casting explains that the duets are separate from the main character role: The Swimmer: Taras Domitro Maria Kochetkova, Tiit Helimets Lorena Feijoo, Vitor Luiz Yuan Yuan Tan Wei Wang, Gennadi Nedvigin, Pascal Molat RE: Choriamb's comment - Possokhov definitely seems to prefer some emotion in his work, and contrasting psychological states, rather than a truly 'pure dance' or formalist approach to choreography. Although he isn't mentioned much in discussions of current choreographers, Possokhov has created a fair amount of strong work, imo. It's just difficult to say if any of his work has been 'iconic' - probably not. But often the ballets are quite enjoyable and engrossing. I can't remember seeing a Possokhov ballet that I thought was a dud. Here's hoping that Swimmer will be a quality work as well...

Thanks PeggyR - yes, a good line. I sort of remember there being a number of odd ones in the film. I think Tiit Helimets will be dancing the 'Burt Lancaster' role at the opening. ;) I'm remembering that Marvin Hamlisch did the film's soundtrack, and there's was one particularly nice piece: "Lovely Hair" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zkh8Zl8RYJA

Twyla Tharp’s 50 Years of Forward Movement By GIA KOURLAS - APRIL 4, 2015 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/05/arts/dance/twyla-tharps-50-years-of-forward-movement.html

I'm mentioning Program 7 a little early, because SFB posted this teaser article regarding the debut of Yuri Possokhov's Swimmer: Composer Shinji Eshima on World Premiere of Swimmer http://www.sfballetblog.org/2015/04/composer-shinji-eshima-on-world-premiere-of-swimmer/ I've seen the film, with Burt Lancaster, but not read the book. The film is a real oddity: it struck me as an avant-garde effort by people not normally associated with the avant-garde. I have to add, I can't see Swimmer being appreciated back at the Bolshoi - Possokhov's artistic journey is taking him to some really interesting, and unexpected places.

The above POB performance is now on YT - enjoy: http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7irDmS3eig

I suppose we could call this a teaser for SFB's Don Quixote - Don Quixote rehearsal with Mathilde Froustey and Carlos Quenedit, San Francisco 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYoWnI4k6bk

One of my favorite lines from the article:

And apparently Carlo Di Lanno was one of the winners, though I'm waiting to see an 'official', complete listing of winners. Congratulations to Di Lanno.

Barnett Serchuk review of Vol. 1, at BroadwayWorld.com: http://http://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwdance/article/From-the-Archives-Balanchine-in-Montreal-20150323

I figure it has to happen some time, right? Dance companies and music groups will no doubt want to venture to Cuba in the near future. Something will have to be figured out.

Thanks for the correction, Millosr - I actually thought that he was Principal, and then saw the (old) Google link to his "Soloist" page (and no link to the newer page). That is the question, really: Will Cuba now wlecome back defectors as "visitors" who have resettled in a foreign country? Or do they feel the need to arrest them, or make a case of it?

Fast forward to 2015: Quenedit and Taras Domitro are both with SFB (Quenedit as a Soloist and Domitro as a Principal). I am curious now why they decided to leave MCB - what is because it was not 'exotic' enough? Too close to Cuba? I was recently thinking about SFB's upcoming summer tour - they should be the first major US ballet company to tour Cuba after the improvement in political relations...

I'm looking forward to everyone's impressions. It seemed odd to me that the opening cast was dancing one time - good thing the March 28th shows were added. The list of principals NOT dancing Don Q is curious: Sofiane Sylve, Luke Ingham, Joseph Walsh, Tiit Helimets, Yuan Yuan Tan (that explains Tan and Helimets appearing in Southern Cal soon). I'm guessing some of these dancers just didn't care enough to go through it again - too much effort for a single evening performance. Edit: It would be interesting to know whose choreography Tan and Helimets are dancing - presumably Tomasson's, since that is what they know well, but maybe not...

A reminder: Fathom Events is presenting Royal Ballet's Swan Lake in theatres this March 19th, and La Fille Mal Gardee on April 5th (at least in the U.S.) http://www.fathomevents.com/event/the-royal-ballet-season-2014-15/more-info/201415-royal-ballet-cinema-season It looks like one has to click "Buy Tickets" in order to find out the actual theatres scheduling the presentations...

Yes, two thumbs up for both Hiller and Livesey!