pherank

They're like grad students. ;) Sadly, there are few inexpensive living options for such people in SF. Only the wealthy have options. I have known people over the years who were in special situations, such as rent control in the Haight-Ashbury or Mission areas, but then you have to deal with the depressing street scenes outside your building. And crime. I was wondering if there were landlords that specifically catered to the stage perfromers of SF (similar to what has existed in NYC).

You mean Bolle, Cornejo, Gomes, Hallberg, Herrera, Kent, Murphy, Osipova, Part, Semionova, Simkin, Stearns, Vasliev and Vishneva aren't enough for you? ;) (Not to mention Boone, Copeland and Radetsky who all went to SFB School)

Seems like that's where the art of stage lighting should come into play - to 'shrink' the stage when necessary, and expand the view when necesary. But I suppose some people would feel that's too much messing about with the visuals.

Another one? Who was the first? These discussions are getting all scatterd about on the forums, but what is known for now: Messmer and Mathilde Froustey to SFB, and Messmer herself says that a Bolshoi danseur is headed for SFB, but I've heard no confirmation of that. And I should say that SFB has made no official statements yet.

I'm a casualty of Bay Area high costs myself: it became prohibitively expensive to live where I wanted to live, and I refuse to live in the "sketchy" zones just to say I'm in the Bay Area. So now I dream about moving back to Marin or Sonoma. Or Santa Cruz. I've been wondering what sort of support dancers get from the company regarding these moves.

Hi Tutu, yes this is being talked about in a couple of different threads - Mathilde Froustey of POB is the other known dancer, but the reference to the Bolshoi danseur hasn't been confirmed that I know of. Froustey will be a principal, Messmer will have to make do with a Soloist rank for now. http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/37425-simone-messmer-abt-soloist-leaving-to-san-francisco/ http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/37402-mathilde-froustey-pob-sujet-changing-companies/

It's also interesting that the interviewer happens to be the much-maligned Gia Kourlas. Forum members have been writing a lot about her of late. Yes, bon chance to everyone at SFB and ABT.

Guillem rehearsing Dulcinea variation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzUL8SrW1vY Dancing Bejart's La Luna from Heliogabale 1991 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNKRBGih6sw Amusing "art film" by Guillem http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0koV2SSE3eU Grand Pas Classique http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDcPr2hL3ag Kitri variation rehearsal http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvENYGzPU9o Swan Lake, Sylvie Guillem and Manuel Legris, Lisbon, 1987 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsZBF6yNKQw

A nice appraisal, Buddy. I hope she does find SFB to be a good fit. It seems that the 2014 season is going to be full of new surprises - for the audience and the company both.

"I think there’s a soloist from the Paris Opera going to San Francisco. And a boy soloist from the Bolshoi." Well I've been wondering about the male principal situation at SFB. They need at least one more danseur among the soloists. Any idea who this "boy soloist" is?

This part of the interview is interesting - I like to hear about the details, the nuts and bolts, as it were:

Yes, I guess Helene really will have to make it to SF next year. ;)

I can't say I care for the choreography here, but the fact that she's (presumably) interested in contemporary ballet too, is going to be a major plus for SFB, since all principals are expected to take part in all ballets. And the SFB repertory is varied.

Another one to SFB?!!! There's definitely something in the water. I'm not familiar with Messmer's dancing, and it's not looking like there are many videos of her - Is there anything available on the Web?

What books have you looked at? What about Letellier's The Ballets of Alexander Glazunov: Scenes de Ballet, Raymonda and Les Saisons ?

The YouTube poster "Mrossinifreak" likes to provide extensive program notes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtXKj_xKKnY Ballet Raymonda: Olesia Novikova, La Scala. Michail Jurovsky conducts Raymonda is a ballet in three acts and four scenes with an apotheosis. Choreography: Marius Petipa and others (among them Nureyev) Music: Alexander Glazunov (Алехандер Глазунов) Act I Scene I The cast is set at the time of the crusades. Raymonda, the niece of the Countess Sybil de Daurice, а French noblewoman, is betrothed to Jean de Brienne. De Brienne arrives at the castle. Не has come to bid farewell to Raymonda before leaving to go on а crusade led by the King of Hungary, Andrei II. Jean de Brienne presents her with a silk shawl as a farewell gift. Raymonda's first solo immediately shows her as an exquisite young woman whose path is strewn with flowers. When Jean puts the shawl around her shoulders she seems to sense the symbolic power of this gift of love but she also painfully senses that Jean's feelings for her have no real depth, that he will leave her easily for his world of knightly fights, tournaments and crusades. The guests try to cheer Raymonda up with a grand valse and can even persuade her to dance a solo by which she tries to overcome her melancholy mood. Quite unexpectedly a new guest enters in the court: it is the Saracen prince Abderakhman who tries to overwhelm Raymonda with presents which she refuses. However, at the end -- deeply fascinated by the sensual power of the prince, - she accepts the gesture when Abderakhman presents her with a spray of jasmine. The festivities are ending, but Raymonda is hypnotized, bewildered by the sudden intrusion of an erotic elemental force upon her seemingly secure happiness with Jean. Clémence, Henriette and the two troubadours try to cheer her up. And in a dance with Jean's shawl Raymonda tries to reassure herself of her love for him. She takes leave of her friends and falls asleep. Entranced by the sweet scent of the jasmine that seems to embody an erotic oriental world, her shoulders wrapped in Jean's shawl, the symbol of the perfect elegance of the court, she begins to dream. Scene II In her dream The White Lady appears and leads Raymonda into an unknown world. Raymonda falls under the spell of the dance of a group of fairytale girls that finally leads her to a magic reunion with Jean in an adage. At the climax of the dream which follows the formal structure of classical ballet with the adage followed by variations for Clémence, Henriette, the White Lady and Raymonda herself, as well as a coda where Jean can demonstrate his virile strength -- Raymonda suddenly sees the Saracen prince Abderakhman in the place of Jean and is overwhelmed by his fascination, his seductive power and blunt erotic attack. Only the intervention of the White Lady averts the extreme. Raymonda awakens in deep confusion, with the shawl and the jasmine spray in her hands. Act II Scene I The court society assembles for a festivity called "La Cour d'amour", a popular pastime of the aristocracy in the South of France, at which troubadours court elegant ladies according to strict rules of etiquette. Jean de Brienne, busy with preparations for the crusade, is delayed and instead, Abderakhman appears. Raymonda is dismayed and delighted at the same time. They dance together and he observes the exquisite rules of the courtly festivity with perfect politeness. His entourage entertains the society with exotic dances ending in a bacchanale. At its climax, in a fury of passionate love, Abderakhman commands the abduction of Raymonda. At this moment Jean de Brienne and King Andreas II appear. The king urges the two men to decide their rivalry, as befits knightly rules, in a duel. This seems to end in a draw until the White Lady appears and gives Jean the strength to inflict a deadly wound on Abkerakhman. The Saracen dies at Raymonda's feet. She is deeply distressed and can only see Jean as Abderakhman's murderer. Jean senses Raymonda's predicament and her repulse. Again he begins to court her and for the first time really endeavours to win her love. He succeeds in winning back her confidence. Scene II The wedding ceremony confirms the love between Raymonda and Jean de Brienne. In honour of the Hungarian King Andreas II the courtiers are dressed in Hungarian style, dance the czardas and finally the "grand pas classique hongrois". It begins with a great adage for nine couples led by Raymonda and Jean. This is followed by variations for four men (Béranger, Bernard and two other troubadours), for two ladies (Clémence and Henriette), for Jean and finally for Raymonda. Her solo expresses her strength of character and secret melancholy of conquered pain. The coda leads to an apotheosis and the blessing by the White Lady. Obviously, there's a problem with the labeling of the acts above. ;)

Of course, who knows how things will play out over her year in San Francisco - I only hope there is not too much culture shock for her. Aside from Pascal Molat and Sofiane Sylve, and maybe Dana Genshaft, I don't think there are any other French speaking company members, so there will be difficulties. And San Francisco/West Coast of North America are very different environments from Paris, France! I keep thinking of the interview in which Aurelie Dupont mentions emailing ABT, because she wanted to perform in Onegin with ABT and would they be interested? But they weren't not interested at the time. And I keep thinking, she obviously sent her email to the wrong Creative Director: SFB has been performing Onegin for the last 2 years! Of course, Dupont just wanted to "guest" with ABT, but what a great arrangement for a smaller company like SFB - to start having guests from time to time *might* be an exciting change of pace. But I would definitely not want to see a permanent ABT situation set up in San Francisco with lots of permanent "guests". One of the strengths of the company is its cohesion - everyone working together, year after year.

To be fair to Lunkina, it's awfully difficult to "prove" your conversations with friends and associates. And how sad that we live in a world in which we seem to need to. She's not a reporter, or a lawyer, but she may be forced by circumstances to live like one.

Well, that was interesting, to say the least. Thanks very much, Volcanohunter. The more I read, the more the Bolshoi seems like a furious tangle of interests: self-interests, and politics (actually involving the government). So many egos, visions, and fragile artistic personalities in collision. Really, the POB seems like a rather dull sanitarium compared to this. Every point Lunkina makes probably has 5 sides to it. Which doesn't make her assertions untrue, but it's all in the viewpoint.

“He who hears not the music thinks the dancer mad.” —African proverb

Millepied is simply one big question mark, but it's difficult to believe he will be able to make institutional changes, and WISE ones. The title of the Froustey article, certainly makes a statement: "Mathilde Froustey, l'étoile américaine"! I don't know the inflection behind the title or article: Bitter? Astonished? Resigned? I had to use online translation tools to get a gist of the article, but the last part sounds interesting: "Allowed [into the company] without passing an audition. Mathilde sent to San Francisco a candidature by e-mail. With her resume/letter of her motivations[?], and the video of her performance in Don Quichotte. Helgi Thomasson, director of San Francisco Ballet, did not make a request (for an audition]. He did not even ask Mathilde to pass a hearing. The year that Mathilde will be on the other side of the Atlantic sounds ostentatious[?]: “a tour to New York, Gisele, ballets of Justin Peck and Liam Scarlet, she will be Cinderella for Christopher Wheeldon in July, then the Summers tour to dance at the Châtelet”, she says." I think this confirms that Tomasson has been looking about for at least one other principal ballerina (and most likely a danseur as well). The SFB principals have been looking overworked of late, and there have been losses in the ranks - some perhaps dismissed, but a few that just felt it was time to move on. That's not so surprising at year's end, but in smaller companies it is still going to make people anxious about the future.

I don't believe anyone in this thread has linked to this truly wonderful article, "Muse, Interrupted", but I think it deserves to be joined to this discussion: http://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/22/magazine/muse-interrupted.html By Holly Brubach Published: November 22, 1998 "When the New York City Ballet commemorates its 50th anniversary with a tribute to Le Clercq this Tuesday, opening night of its fall season, the audience will be transported back to those early years, with the same program that the company performed at its debut: ''Concerto Barocco''; ''Symphony in C,'' in which Le Clercq -- then 19 -- danced the breathtaking adagio; and ''Orpheus,'' in which she led the Bacchantes. It was an exhilarating time. Balanchine's longstanding dream -- of creating a company that would dance in a new style and serve as his instrument -- was at last becoming a reality: his fledgling New York City Ballet was installed at the City Center, and the first generation of students at his School of American Ballet, established 14 years before, had come of age. Among them was Le Clercq, whom, in restrospect, we can now identify as the prototype for that exquisite thoroughbred the Balanchine dancer. Her elegant lyricism and her physique, attenuated and strong, set the precedent for a series of roles that occupy center stage in Balanchine's vast repertory. The line of succession, from Le Clercq through Allegra Kent and Suzanne Farrell to Darci Kistler, is direct. ...She has reached the age of 69 with her pride and her beauty intact. Even seated, she has the unmistakable posture of a dancer. Her hair is blond now, her skin still pale. Her vivacious intelligence and the sharpness of her wit animate the conversation. I write this not only as a journalist but also as a friend of some 17 years. And so it is with a sense of relief and delight that I have witnessed her obligation to ballet history win out, however briefly, over her longstanding insistence on her privacy. ''And then I'll lapse back into obscurity,'' she says dryly."

Semperoper Ballet shown performing Rubies - with some real verve (especially the "Tall Girl"). Leads: Anna Merkulova, Jiří Bubeníček, Julia Weiss

There is also a generous portion of Symphony in C with Kent and Ludlow in the "Dancing for Mr. B." documentary:

I'm actually more concerned that editors don't catch this type of thing (Odette/Odile) - it's a huge problem in the age of 'instant news' and Tweets. Writers, especially writers under a short deadline, can scramble things in their heads, to be sure. But editors are there to make sense out of things, ask pertinent questions, and bring the writer back down to earth if necessary. But I'm seeing very little 'editing' of online reports and essays these days. Not to defend Kourlas, but I was reading Patrick Kennedy's Swan Lake review today, and I appreciated the fact that he pointed out what he thought were real issues with the SL costumes and staging - something I hadn't heard before. And he was cleraly not as smitten with the general performance aesthetic as some: "In the realm of dance, Swan Lake occupies the kind of place that Pride and Prejudice occupies in the realm of literature-held up as a prim and pointless display of technique, subjected to endless riffs and parodies, but actually smart and challenging in ways that the detractors always overlook. There is an unruly, beautiful tangle of interpretive possibilities beneath the surface of Swan Lake, and the ABT production doesn't unearth any of them. It's all surface, all dazzling, melodramatic surface. Surface isn't enough." It's worth noting that most dancers have lived in a tightly controlled, closed environment, and are certainly not trained to handle themselves well with the press, or general public for that matter. Even though stage performers are normally thought of as 'public figures', at least to some degree, I think relatively few dancers qualify as true public figures or media darlings. In Russia, yes, it happens, but not in the West.