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I have sent a PM to Swanilda8 ... will let you all know if the information is of use. EDIT: I should mention that on YouTube there is footage that I believe is from a Russian DVD of the full Mariinsky performance of the Yakobson version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XUjBmvrseU

...Red Sox Girl in the Balanchine La Sylphide look alike - forgotten the name). Technically, she's up to anything, especially glorious batterie, but she still seems a little shy of imposing herself on a role. I saw Red Sox Girl twice: Ciapponi and Dores Andre. When Ciapponi left the stage, I wanted to see the dancer again; when Andre left the stage, I wanted to see the character again. I think you may mean Scotch Symphony. ;)

And think what a mess Zeus was (or is)! Typically, for Reality TV, there's a lot of concern with "feelings", but not much emphasis on thinking things through. When asked what he saw for his future at BW, Rex answered that he wanted to be promoted. Well duh. But promotion is not a career, and definitely not a life's calling. Think again Rex! [His brother remains ensconced in the Corps At SFB. It can be a hard road.]

Exactamundo. I found the contract interviews to be fascinating - just to see how Sklute would handle things. In some ways, Sklute handled the women better than the men, imo. And each time he spoke to the camera after the interview he would invariably say something that would have been better said directly to the dancer. For example, when Sklute says (regarding Rex), "A leading dancer for BW is going to be a leader for the other dancers in my company", he really should have said that to Rex, followed by, "Have you been behaving like a BW leader?" (Or some such thing.) Then Rex would have a better idea of what he needs to work on. Calling Rex an "alarmist" seemed to confuse him more than anything else. And Rex's view of the interview with Sklute was, "He was vague again" (presumably about whether or not he was being promoted - the one thing on Rex's mind). So Rex didn't seem to get why the promotion was in jeopardy. Good thing there's going to be a 2nd interview, except that this 1st interview should have made it clear to Rex just what Sklute was still looking for.

The first sentence of her bio should read, "Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Nicole Ciapponi trained [with/at] Goh Ballet..." But I'm not sure if contacting the webmaster would change anything.

BW2 only allows dancers 2 years in the 2nd company. After that deadline, they are promoted to the main company as apprentices, or they are out. There was a previous episode where Adam Sklute discussed this. During the 1st season he impressed me mainly as as pompous burrow of a leader. But this season, I see more compassion. I can't believe I'm getting sucked into this show again! I did agree with Adam's decision regarding which male dancer to promote. The one not chosen was rougher around the edges (although I'm sure it could be easily resolved with additional coaching). I'm pleased he landed on his feet! Thanks, Jayne - that's what I was wondering. Somehow I'd forgotten exactly what was said about the BW 2 organization. I too understand why Sklute would choose the person he did from BW 2 - it's essential to find someone whose dancing is consistently of good quality. It's not enough to have the right look, one has to execute reliably, again and again. Ironically, the loser in this situation had the more grown up attitude about life and work, imo, but not the skill set (at least not yet).

Fighting Tooth and Nail (Ep. 205)
 Original Air Date: 8.19.13 For those that haven't watched yet, I'll just say that this episode deals mainly with contract renewals (or not). There is one "surprise" that is not really much of a surprise. (Especially if you have done any research on the dancers outside of what the TV show tells you). For me, it's interesting to see how Sklute handles his dancers (with a camera on his face the whole time - that does take some guts, or ego). There's more angst over long-distance relationships (existing, and maybe to come). I do have a question for those in-the-know: Why are Zach and Ian in a kind of all-or-nothing competition? Are the dancers in Ballet West 2 only allowed a certain number of years to participate, and then they are either promoted to the regular company or removed? And if so, what is the time period of this 'apprenticeship'?

This isn't actually a problem with embedded YouTube video (and I think Vimeo too) - you can simply right click on the video and choose "Copy video URL", but I realize not everyone knows to do such things. It's simply a choice of methods: one advertises itself with an image, and allows immediate viewing, the other allows you to view things in another window.

A picture is worth a thousand words: This will only work with direct video URLs, not links to HTML pages that happen to have video embedded in them - So no ".html" URLs.

One trick that currently works is to surround your URL with these brackets - the 1st one goes in front: [-url-] And the 2nd one goes at the rear: [-/url-] Only REMOVE the dashes I added to keep the forum software from making these real tags. Do that instead of using the link button on the menu above. I'll let you give that a try. It works on most video links, but not all.

Looks like the URL has changed... Designated Cheering Spectators Thrive at the Bolshoi Theater http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/18/arts/dance/designated-cheeringspectators-thrive-at-he-bolshoi-theatre.html

Picasso's Mercure Tapestry: http://artnerdnewyork.tumblr.com/post/1211069647/picassos-mercure-tapestry

Le Train Bleu Le Train Bleu - POB: Elisabeth Maurin, Nicolas Le Riche Picasso's front cloth design: Le Tricorne Quick glimpse of Picasso's costumes in Australian Museum: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f94Dz5NEROg Some of Massine's choreography - José Martinez: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzRTMoZ1i0g Patrick Dupond: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cpAMrFfEF4

"Between 1917 and 1962, Picasso was involved in creating the designs for nine ballets ... in collaboration with such artists as Jean Cocteau, Erik Satie, Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, Léonide Massine and Vaslav Nijinsky." I know of these, but let me know about the 4 missing ballets (presumably post-1924) - Parade from 1917 Le Tricorne from 1919 Pulcinella from 1920 L'Après-midi d'un Faune from 1922 (Picasso painted the backdrop to replace the original version) Le Train Bleu from 1924 Mercure from 1924 (backdrop and libretto) Below are some short sections from Parade, 1917 Libretto: Jean Cocteau Music: Erik Satie Costumes and Stage Designs: Pablo Picasso Choreography: Leonide Massine The Chinese Conjurer solo (danced by Gary Chryst) appears in two films: The Joffrey Ballet | American Masters The Ballet Russes documentary http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM0U5-dLujY Rome Opera Ballet, Two Acrobats segment from Parade: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COA1bIYKqXA The Two Acrobats (danced by Mario Marozzi and Simona Onidi): http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFYJfJG92bs Parade footage from "Picasso and Dance/Europa Dance" - Dancing Cubist sculptures, Chinese Conjurer, the Little American Girl http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Chq1Ty0nyE Dancing Cubist horse "solo": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u1pK_m05x8 Footage from Parade revival at Expo Danse la Vie à Beaubourg 2012: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUM-7ABYbDs In this gala footage, Parade segment appears at 1:20 sec. There is dancing Cubist sculpture, Chinese Conjurer, American Girl, Horse footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNyZv8ZvvPMPicasso's costume for "The Managers":

I'm not sure if this website has been linked to before in this thread, but here goes: Ballet Russes: The Art of Costume The National Gallery of Australia http://nga.gov.au/Exhibition/BalletsRusses/Default.cfm?MnuID=2&GalID=1 There are navigation links in the Gallery for individual BR ballets...

Thanks for the information on de Meyer. I believe these may be from the same series then:

Yes, Smith's Coppelius and The Poet (from The Little Mermaid) were really excellent characterizations. He's been such a perfect partner, and just a 'rock' for Yuan Yuan Tan, that it worries me she may not find this same chemistry in a partnership again.

This video was great. So many wonderful photos. And Tilda Swinton to boot.

A question for Christian: what exactly are the technical requirements for your audio interviews? I know that you used Skype to talk to Joy Womack, but what are the other possibilities for remote interviews?

A nice Gene Schiavone image of Katya:

This video is quite fun: Tiler Peck dances with Lil Buck & Sergei Polunin

I think it IS still difficult for dancers to leave Russia for more and different opportunities. But they can make the leap these days. Who knows? Maybe in 10 years it will be harder, not easier, to leave the country. This issue is known to SFB fans, for example, as Maria Kochetkova must live this kind of 'complicated' life. The sad thing is that it is even an issue for a Russian to dance in a foreign country. I'm not sure what you mean by "hypocritical" in this context, so that could be explained more in another thread...

Her status with the company is explained in the interview. Sounds like she's caught between a Russian and a hard spot. Unless one is an internationally recognized dancer, like Hallberg, it's going to be very difficult to make the long journey up through the hierarchy at the Bolshoi or Mariinsky. It's not an open society, and foreigners are not appreciated when they try to 'infiltrate' the Russian ballet. There's a whole lot of national pride bound up with ballet in Russia.

Beats flying in from Utah. Last night he explained the circumstances of his residency wouldn't allow a move. Assuming that's true, we don't have any indication that he would insist she stay at home, although as far as we know she has no training except as a dancer. He does want kids. These days not all couples can afford a non-working spouse regardless of ideology. No reason why he can't wait a few more years, though. If one of them meets someone else, such is life. (Allison should remind him, or someone should remind her, that engagements in Victorian days could last for almost a decade.) In any case I hope DeBona makes up her mind quickly, because I'm getting a bit tired of hearing her talk about it to all and sundry, including the friend with the important eyebrows, and this subplot could wear out fast. But then she might get together with Rex again. I'm trying to be loyal to the show but I don't think I could face that. DeBona's doctor friend won't be moving anywhere for up to 3 years, that's true. No way around that one. I agree that this subplot has gotten old as 'entertainment', though for DeBona it's going to necessarily drag on. I'm thinking that Bennett and Ruud may have a bigger problem: they actually ARE married, and they're in a bad place. But their actual private life doesn't appear on screen, so who knows what that consists of. Can't say I want to know too much more anyway. I'd like to hear more details of the Cinderella production without the farcical Zach bits.

3 hours one way is a hefty commute - doesn't seem doable to me. DeBona would need to rent an apartment in Grand Rapids presumably and spend the week there, and commute back to Detroit on the weekends. Exactly what her boyfriend is trying to avoid. But he also seems to have an issue with the ballet world. I think he wants a stay-at-home wife who will always "be there for him". Ironically, it is far easier for health care practicioners to find work in ANY North American metropolis than it is for a ballet dancer. For a doctor with the right credentials and a good record the opportunities are vast.