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As mentioned in this article, and from our Ballet News & Issues thread - Carlo di Lanno appears to be coming to SFB. "I decided to leave La Scala because I believe that the only way to grow as a dan­cer is to go onstage and dance as much as pos­sible. Obvi­ously it wasn’t an easy decision because, even though I only had a sea­sonal con­tract for the corps de bal­let, I think I had carved out a good pos­i­tion, and was being given won­der­ful roles with inter­na­tional stars. Unfor­tu­nately, at La Scala, though I love its rep­er­toire, the num­ber of shows is small com­pared with many for­eign com­pan­ies, and this determ­ined my choice in the end."

I confess I don't know who was slated for the original cast for Symphony #9, but the decision to go with a different ballet (actually two), and with Froustey dancing with a different partner as well, doesn't seem any easier than replacing the principal in Symphony #9. As KBarber says, these things are not done lightly, but the audience tends to react badly to this type of change. Kind of mars what has otherwise gone well. I have to say, the company must be exhausted by this point, and simply can't wait for the 2014 Season to be over.

It does seem odd that an entire ballet is dropped due to "back spasms" with one of the principals. The entire company is in Paris, so finding a replacement performer would not have been the difficulty. Perhaps Tomasson just felt like he needed a strategic change for the last program.

Lots of great information regarding staging of ballets on behalf of the Balanchine Trust. It's nice to be able to hear what goes into this process. Thanks very much, Christian.

Yuan Yuan Tan has tweeted from Paris (I believe the 2014 tour ends today): #Final Show #My Ballet Partner For #19 Years ! - Damien Smith http://instagram.com/p/q7Mb4hSUMt/

The link that Helene provided worked for me: http://mariinsky.tv/n/e Are you not seeing any video? Maybe it's a browser plugin issue.

Miraculously enough, the performance has been instantly archived and is now availble in Flash video, Silverlight and iPad/iPhone video. I'm not seeing any information regarding how long the video will be available...

Yes, definitely worth checking out. It is thought-provoking.

Tiit Helimets tells us that Shane Wuerthner is leaving SFB after the tour ends. There is a nice photo of the two with Sofiane after performing Ghosts together: http://instagram.com/p/qmtPHShk_b/?modal=true And here's where I get to remind everyone of how great Sofiane is by quoting Marina Harss from a past review of Ghosts: "Sylve, who decamped from New York City Ballet in 2007, was always an imposing dancer, but now she has become something more, almost monumental. With her ample back, long, sculptural arms, and powerful technique, she dominates the stage and everyone on it. It’s no wonder it takes two men to partner her."

I think I would pay money to hear Weibye and Alastair Macaulay face off over Forsythe.

theartsdesk in Paris: San Francisco Ballet 1 http://www.theartsdesk.com/dance/theartsdesk-paris-san-francisco-ballet-1 "A treat for critics too, and not (only) because we get to visit Paris when it sizzles. SF Ballet, as we were reminded on their last London tour two years ago, are a critic’s dream: they have company dancers of extraordinary quality trained to uncompromising standards of excellence, world-class principals, and a gifted artistic director (Helgi Tomasson) who combines strong heritage programming with a very lively commitment to new works." This plug for Forsythe made me laugh: "Tomasson’s sometimes over-fiddly partnering and its accompanying, rather bland music, Saint-Saëns' Second Symphony, left me desperate to see something like William Forsythe – nourishment for brain or heart, as well as eyes."

Anyone who can, should go. Not so suprisingly, no Farrell though. But I imagine she was invited too.

Sounds great - I hope the coaching sessions are being filmed for posterity. I'm very glad to hear that 'Edward' is being given work.

I've seen the DVD release. As someone said to me, it has the feel of an older Hollywood WWII film - one almost expects to see Van Johnson pop up. Unfortunately the film is not impactful, imo. And since the facts get skewed for the sake of making 2 hours of entertainment, it's not a place to go for real information. But as Vocanohunter stated, it may pique the interest of people who are unfamiliar with the this part of WWII. And the truth is far more involved and incredible (or horrifying) than the story this film portrays. I may have said this before, but the subject would have been much better served as an HBO series in the vein of Band of Brothers.

Getting back to the Les Etés de la Danse for a moment, Froustey posted an interesting photo (to me) of a Bow 'schedule' (for lack of a better word). Seems to be instructing the dancers how they are to behave for the individual ballet bows. Is this common at large companies, or for tours? Happy Bastille Day, btw.

I've come to love the Instagram postings, perhaps because I love non sequiturs, but also, as we know, "a picture is worth a thousand words". Every so often there's a really great shot that says so much. I also laughed pretty hard when I cam across the "capricious superstars nest hair". But it is possible to understand most of what the writer intended to convey using the translators. It's not a suprise that these online translators have a difficult time with jargon, or poetic phrases and self-made metaphors. Yes, sad that we won't be seeing Allegro Brillante here in California - one of many things. Which is one reason why people live in New York. Lest we think it's all fun right now for the dancers: "Survived. Thank u ballet Gods for looking after me. 3 days, 10 ballets rehearsed and performed by 5 different choreographers." -- tweeted by M. Kochetkova

Irreverant fun with Tan and Tiit Helimets: http://instagram.com/p/puVMM3Bkw0/?modal=true

Thanks Quiggin - reading these articles through the Google translator is highly amusing. I hope there is more to come. Helimets and Froustey have both posted images from today's "open class" - there seems to be a pretty large audience just for the class...

The d'Amboise autobiography also provides some record of Tanaquil Le Clercq's life with the company and Balanchine, which didn't really exist anywhere else until the recent documentary was released.

When in Paris...The Interview with Yuan Yuan Tan: http://www.net-a-porter.com/magazine/255/19

That's the question: Is she staying with the rest of the company and taking part in the tour experience, or is she just "popping in" to fulfill some contract obligation? I do not know.

Great to hear this report, Mathilde K. Messmer is scheduled to dance a couple of times, but as usual, I can find no evidence of her particpation/presence in Paris. She obviously has little interest in self-promotion, and doesn't court the media.

A publicity photo posted on Instagram by Ms. Froustey (who is being kept busy with TV interviews and cocktail parties - all good p.r. for the SFB) - "Hôtel Regina Jumping into "les êtes de la danse" festival in Paris with @sfballet ! #sfbtakesparis #sfballetontour" I believe we see Froustey, Powell, Tan and Kimberly Braylock (if I'm wrong, please correct me) At the opening night gala party with former French "first lady" Bernadette Chirac "Hôtel de Talleyrand Cocktail yesterday at the US embassy ! " Posted by Tiit Helimets on Instagram - "Théâtre Musical de Paris - Le Châtelet After the opening night show in Paris." Re-Tweeted by Masha Kochetkova on Twitter

Diane, I think most of the dance audience will agree with you about point-of-view: moving cameras distract from, and can hide, portions of the chorepgraphy. And it's hard to see any advantage to that. It IS interesting to see the dancers from uncommon angles (such as overhead, or from stage back, or the wings), but only for brief segments when the overall formation of the dancers (and supernumeraries) doesn't have to be presented. In many ballets, the choreographic arrangement of bodies across the stage can be fairly rapid, and it's madness to keep switching camera viewpoints in the midst of all that. There was some notorious footage of NYCB performing for German TV that was something of a textbook on how not to film dance - although almost every possible camera angle was covered (except looking up at the ceiling!). There were some interesting shots to be sure, but the ballets were not well served. Kind of reminds me of the 1970s pop music films in which the cameras always seem to be focusing on something other than the 'action': if the lead guitarist was playing a solo, then the camera would be focused on the side of the singer's face, or a single hand of the drummer. Drugs really enhance creativity. ;)

Ballet Meets Robotics: http://thecreatorsproject.vice.com/blog/robots-and-choreography-abound-in-this-update-to-a-ballet-masterpiece "Tarik Abdel-Gawad, director of the award-winning projection-mapping spectacular, Box, has finally released his pre-Box masterpiece, a robot-aided update of Tchaikovsky's ballet fantasia, Francesca da Rimini, a piece as revered for its heartwrenching subject matter as for its incredibly precise choreography. Abdel-Gawad took the piece one step further, employing a massive, robot-controlled camera to capture the deftness of the dance." "It began as an experimental collaboration with a friend, Maria Kochetkova, shot over a single weekend with a small crew. It’s only being released now because projects like Box require so much time and focus." Note: there are two videos with the article. Joan Boada dances with Maria, and the choreography is by Yuri Possokhov.