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I didn't realize he lived in my old stomping grounds - MV, though I knew he was doing drama shows with the Marin Civic Theatre. The Ballet Russes dancers seem to live a long time. Must have been the lack of food. ;)

Hmmm...A lot of wishes for SFB here... Aurélie Dupont can join SFB for Giselle this season - she has my permission.

Indeed, since the subject of the movie is obvious Oscar bait. Giamatti as Kirstein is somebody's bad idea, I hope the movie doesn't have too many of them. Agreed - Only someone like Philip Seymour Hoffman could (maybe) pull off that kind of transformation of self. But safer to go with a large actor who looks like Kirsten to begin with. Hmmmm, Who would that be? Know any actor that looks like this? http://0.tqn.com/d/arthistory/1/0/L/3/1/Walker-Evans-Lincoln-Kirstein-1930.jpg

I take that as a good sign, Sandik, since most trailers make everything look simply ridiculous. ;) I'm guessing Blanchett is tackling the role of Rose Valland whom she in no way physically/culturally/emotionally resembles, and so it will be a great acting challenge.

Having read two of Edsel's books, "The Monuments Men" and "Rescuing Da Vinci", I would say that Clooney was an obvious casting choice. We must simply hope that the the script treatment is decent. It's always depressing when an interesting subject is simply ruined by uncaring, greedy studio bosses and hacks. But I hope for the best - it's a big story with a lot of room for drama.

My seat for the upcoming SFB performance of KIngdom of the Shades from Bayadere will be left of center, up in the front of the Grand Tier gallery. I'd hate to be down in orchestra front for The Shades. ;) If I can afford to, I like to go to two different nights of a ballet with two different casts, and two completely different viewing points. DanielBenton: I think the name of the theatre should be, "what used to be called the New York State Theatre".

I don't find the styles to be particularly great, but I don't find them to be particularly awful either. I like Maya in her thigh high boots, and her little black pumps. And she looks good in the flared long length number at 3:26 (though its pretty basic). Always like her non-canned smile, and I love her swagger.

I've often heard that it can help to be "too young" for such roles, because the dancer has no idea she/he is supposed to take things so seriously. ;) Kids don't overthink the role and the responsibilites.

Up in the Aerie, a Ballet Lover’s Perch At the Ballet, Nosebleed Seats Have Perks -- Alastair Macaulay http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/arts/dance/at-the-ballet-nosebleed-seats-have-perks.html I thought this was an enjoyable read, and I tend to agree with Mr. M's 'viewpoint' here.

And she remains at SFB as of 2013. I happened upon this article about Sylve, and Patricia Neary - an interesting read: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B05E4DB173AF932A25751C0A9639C8B63 The article relates some information about Sylve's Balanchine abilities.

Thanks James. The Het Nationale Ballet has been performing Balanchine for quite a while now - since something like 1961. I'm not sure who would have been the repetiteur - Patricia Neary? But that might have been too early for Neary to be around. Anyway, I think they look quite comfortable and relaxed with the works now.

Great links - thanks Quiggin. I enjoyed the "Bauhaus Dances". I agree with you about the colors used for the Triadische Ballet . Aside from the metallic tones, most of the garish colors are probably not accurate, but I've not seen any color photos of the Triadische Ballet. These photos of a Triadische Ballet display at the Stuttgart Staatsgalerie may be more accurate: http://friedrichstrasse.blogspot.com/2012_04_01_archive.html There is also this illustration by Schlemmer: a figure plan for The Triadic Ballet, india ink, watercolor, zinc white, and bronze on paper, 1926

And for those who haven't seen any of the original photos from 1924:

Das Triadische Ballet A film in three parts after Oskar Schlemmer's dances/costumes: Book and Choreography: Margarete Hasting, Franz Schömbs, Georg Verden. Rehearsal: Hannes Winkler. Reconstruction of the costumes: Margit Bárdy. Art Consulting: Ludwig Grote, Xanti Schawinsky, Tut Schlemmer. Dancers: Edith Demharter, Ralph Smolik, Hannes Winkler. Music: Erich Ferstl. Camera: Kurt Gewissen. Cut: Johannes Nickel. Production Director: Helmut Amann. Production: Gottfried Just. And a related video:

Some lesser known footage of former Ballet Russes dancers reminiscing about their ‘heyday’: There even seems to be a glimpse of Prodigal Son in this video.There is another section from this program here:

Another great find on Masha Kochetkova’s Twitter page: Maya Plisetskaya as fashion model, 1970 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJalwyQkJMQ The opening music is correctly identified as “Music to Watch Girls By” (covered by many different folks back in the 1960s/70s).

Listening to classical music live, I tend to close my eyes and retreat into my inner 'visuals' - not so with modern musics though (I suppose watching the stage is all part of the show for Pop music). I think it's fair to say I came to ballet from the music side of things - dancing was more 'alien' to me because I didn't know anyone who participated seriously in dance when I was growing up. My father, and his mother and sister, were all very interested in music and play(ed) and sang music most of their lives. So I was exposed to music from an early age. I've noodled on guitar for years, and I recently started again to try to learn some piano. [And that's been an interesting, and frustrating, learning experience knowing what I already know.]

From the Web - Born October 25, 1980 in Houston, Texas, USA

Agreed. She is making good use of her time on the Earth.

It turned out to be a bad day for me to go off to the theatre so I missed out. I hope you found the perfromance to be entertaining. There was definitely not a word of marketing around this event in Southern California.

An evening featuring Fang-Yi Sheu & Yuan Yuan Tan, Sadler’s Wells, review The idea of building works around two contrasting female dancers didn't quite come off in a lovely rather than surprising performance, says Sarah Crompton http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/10452209/An-evening-featuring-Fang-Yi-Sheu-and-Yuan-Yuan-Tan-Sadlers-Wells-review.html

Thanks to Maria Kochetkova for mentioning this interview, in English, with Sylvie Guillem on her Twitter page (probably the most entertaining Twitter page in the country): http://www.japantimes.co.jp/culture/2013/11/13/stage/an-audience-with-sylvie-guillem/#.UovZu41rWEy "Maybe in a few years, I will decide to stop when the pain gets to be too much. I enjoy dancing but there is a time to say goodbye to it as well. I’ve been preparing myself for a long, long time — but for the moment, I’m not there yet. I’m enjoying it as fully as I can." --Sylvie Guillem

Here's a sneak peak of Mathilde Froustey dancing Suite en Blanc in NYC with SFB (Davit Karapetyan and Vitor Luiz): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD9votpSMgM

LA does not have a history of great support for dance, but they might find opportunities there -- e.g., Los Angeles Ballet (http://losangelesballet.org/) and Melissa Barak's new venture (http://barakballet.org/). They might also find some teaching opportunities at the new USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance, which admits its first students in fall 2014: http://kaufman.usc.edu/ And there are at least part-time teaching possibilities at the huge number of colleges and universities in greater LA. The NY Times article on the subject mentions only that, "Ms. Taylor and Mr. Marcovici, who wed in 2012, will dance their final performances with the company together on March 1, in Robbins’s Afternoon of a Faun and Balanchine’s La Valse. They plan to move to Los Angeles, where Mr. Marcovici will become a ballet master with L.A. Dance Project, which was co-founded in 2012 by Benjamin Millepied, the former City Ballet dancer who will become the director of dance at the Paris Opera Ballet in September." So we don't know yet what Janie Taylor has planned exactly, other than accompanying her husband to LA. I agree that Southern Cal has a poor reputation for classical dance opportunities. Unless Mr. Marcovici is particularly interested in the L.A. Dance Project, I would rather see them work their way into the SFB or PNB staffs (and they're both young enough to continue dancing).

Thank you for those details, Ms. Moberg - very interesting. It might make for a fascinating magazine article - Life at the Nobel Awards. ;)