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Maria Kochetkova posted a short Russian Orthodox-themed video on Instagram. She's back to working with Marat Daukayev in L.A. to keep her classical ballet techniques intact. Happy Christmas! https://www.instagram.com/p/BsWsWDHlro5/

Good for you - Andersen's tales can be a difficult read. I attempted to read all of his "complete fairy tales and stories", but found much of it too depressing to get more than 2/3rds of the way. Reading Ethan Frome to compare with Marsden's ballet might be useful though.

I received a notice today from SFB that they are starting a Ballet Book Club: "Ever wondered about the literature behind the ballets? Or wanted an excuse to delve a little deeper into everyone’s favorite story ballets? We’ll do exactly that: read the story, compare it to the ballet, and, of course, have a glass of wine." There are 4 meetings planned: Don Quixote | Sat, Feb 2 at 5 pm Snowblind/Ethan Frome | Sat, Feb 16 at 5 pm The Sleeping Beauty | Sat, Mar 16 at 5 pm The Little Mermaid | Sat, Apr 20 at 5 pm Time: 5-6:30pm Location: Dollar Board Room, Chris Hellman Center for Dance Price: $20/$15 (subscribers and donors above $75)/$60 (package) https://www.sfballet.org/season/events/2019-Ballet-Book-Club/

Sasha De Sola was one of the guest performers at YAGP: https://www.instagram.com/p/BsWG1R6HMTL/ https://www.instagram.com/p/BsJkss5gjsI/ Justin Peck was apparently married (publicly) on the beach in Miami, to Patricia Delgado, and a number of SFB dancers were there (Walsh and Strongin, Frances Chung and ?) https://www.instagram.com/p/BsWIO3Bgamb/

Maria Kochektokova will be performing at the Joyce Theater, New York, July 16 - 21, 2019. “One of the 21st century’s most sought-after ballerinas” (Dance Magazine), Maria Kochetkova—who recently departed from San Francisco Ballet—takes the stage in a production all her own, accompanied by friends from top ballet companies. The program includes works by Itzik Galili, Drew Jacoby, David Dawson, and Myles Thatcher. Additionally, the conceptual dance maker Jérôme Bel offers audiences a glimpse into Kochetkova’s inner world, with a poetic new solo inspired by this remarkable dancer’s life, now cracked wide open. http://www.joyce.org/performances/maria-kochetkova

Don't forget Caron with Cary Grant in Father Goose - a 27 year difference. And a film with fun banter.

That was quite a write-up, Drew - thanks for making the effort! You mentioned that the ballet "looks great on the dancers", and I think that's probably the most important thing - tremendous stagings is always something to remember, but if the dancers simply look overwhelmed or ill-suited to the choreography, then we've got a problem. Possokhov seems to have come up with another production with many engrossing bits - it will probably take a number of viewings to really tell how well it all hangs together.

Another worthwhile "class" with Macaulay. I'm glad they mentioned his Nutcracker flower dance column article: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/23/arts/dance/the-breakdown-nutcracker-balanchine-waltz-of-the-flowers.html I wish there were more writers doing this sort of analysis. But so far, only Macaulay seems brave enough to attempt it with any regularity. Sort of a mini version of a Nancy Goldner's Balanchine Variations essay.

Happy New Year, all. I always seem to join my father in watching the Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Celebration. Did anyone else notice the modernist dance that accompanied the Csárdás aus "Ritter Pásmán", op. 441? If you missed it, the below video captures the performance (although in the wrong aspect ratio, and very low-resolution picture). Maybe I was asleep last year, but I don't remember the ballet attempting anything this contemporary before. Talk about a terrible surface for dancing!

Typical, but not as painfully creepy as Audrey Hepburn paired with Gary Cooper in Love in the Afternoon. The male/female age gap was definitely a Hollywood fetish; although it could be argued that most human cultures favor older men with younger women, so Hollywood is just reinforcing the establishment (again).

That made me laugh, thank you. ;) As you stated, any candidate comes with his/her own individual strengths and weaknesses - no amount of waiting will turn up a perfect Cinderella for AD. NYCB needs to get past worrying about how much the new AD compares with the founding one and just get on with life. If the person chosen doesn't work out, then another AD will follow. Just like everywhere else. Gottlieb's main contention seems to be that Ballet AD's cannot be chosen in the same way as a business CEO. But in 2019 that is only partly true: most AD's are having to take part in the fund raising aspects of the business, the marketing of the business, and usually have a lot to say about personnel and their issues. I think he's hoping for a true "artist" to lead the company - one that need not worry about all those messy business details - but I don't think that's a plausible approach in this day and age. Whoever is chosen for AD is going to have to be a leader that fits in the present day - for better or worse.

Tiit Helimets giving a lecture demonstration at the Town School for Boys (with Mathilde Froustey) about dance partnering: https://www.instagram.com/p/BsODWFFgjOc/ Feliz año nuevo! from Dores Andre and Diego Cruz: https://www.instagram.com/p/BsEVI4aFmyv/

A recent announcement from SFB: SF Ballet Announces Two Spring Tours Following the 2019 Repertory Season in San Francisco, the Company will travel to Sadler's Wells in London (May 29 – June 8) where they will perform four mixed repertory programs including select works from the 2018 Unbound festival, Scarlett's Hummingbird, and Ratmansky's Shostakovitch Trilogy. Then they'll head to Ballet Sun Valley (July 5 – 7) where they will perform a gala-style program and a mixed repertory with specific programming to be announced. The Sadler's Wells programming is a mix of Ratmansky's Shostakovich Trilogy and Unbound Festival short pieces. Has Shostakovich Trilogy been seen in Britain yet? That's an excellent modern ballet. I"m not sure why, but Mathilde Froustey is featured in both the photos for the Ballet Sun Valley. 😉 I"m sure Mathilde will be sharing the spotlight with other principals.

I don't think it has happened yet, but that's a good suggestion. Izzie Awards take note!

Mathilde Froustey has a been nominated for an Izzie for her portrayal of Aurora in Sleeping Beauty (“Outstanding Achievement in Performance”) . Here's 3 nice production photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/BsMQCQJl2ui/ SFB was nominated for "Outstanding Achievement in Performance - Company" for the Unbound Festival, and a "Special Achievement Award" for Unbound Festival http://www.izzies-sf.org/

Thanks for posting, Quiggin. I've enjoyed Macaulay's last few postings, including The Ambiguous Sexism of Marius Petipa, Ballet’s Towering Master https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/21/arts/dance/marius-petipa-bicentennial.html "The feminist Germaine Greer once argued that Shakespeare, in his comedy “The Taming of the Shrew,” gave to its tamed heroine Kate a final speech that’s “the greatest defense of Christian monogamy ever written.” We may claim the same for the heroines of Petipa’s wordless ballets. They live only for marriage and (even beyond their mate’s adultery and the grave) true love; yet they rule space, time, music and drama like monarchs. They’re the objects and the justification of Romantic chivalry at its most precariously sublime." We may agree or disagree with Macaulay's remarks and assessments, but I give him credit for keeping the conversation lively and engaged. I never doubted that he cared about his subject. May the next "chief critic" do the same.

Koto Ishihara - "Performing 5 Grand Pas, 3 Sugarplum, and 3 Snow Queen in two weeks and half was really challenging for me..." https://www.instagram.com/p/Br86dJAguIP/ Last GPdD of the season for Tiit and Sofiane: https://www.instagram.com/p/Br68TV4AViy/ Madison Keesler costumed for "Clara's Mother" role, and "Mirlitons"

Young electronics engineer Steve Wozniak was fortunate enough to know another young guy name Steve Jobs who was really interested in developing a business about computers (and an entire approach to the development of electronics and an electronics 'lifestyle'). That kind of partnership just doesn't come along too often. The questions and ideas Gevinson quotes from the "woman venture capitalist" are all salient and to the point, but precisely the thing a venture capitalist is interested in, and not someone producing the art "product", so that's where things get tricky, really fast. Anyone trying to start an online business, reading Gevinson's editorial, might feel the task is too daunting - why begin if it's all going to collapse in a year, or five? But I'm sure Gevinson would say that the experience is too rich and rewarding not to at least try. And one experience leads to another soon enough. In our society there's far more emphasis on goals and endpoints ("Make your first million! Then your first billion!"), than on the process of a life's work.

Hi Dirac - Gevinson could be described as a prodigy of sorts. Her TED talk (recorded when she was 15 years old) gives that impression: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6osiBvQ-RRg There are various interviews/discussions with her about art, fashion, feminism, teenagers, etc. on YouTube. This one is more recent (she's about 22 years old now): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C31yO1QYlAs These days, most of her time is spent on her stage/film acting career, and though she doesn't really go into that in the above editorial, I think that second career has an awful lot to do with her not being able to control the Rookie project. I'm not sure if it's an important question, but is it healthy for a teenager to be running a sprawling business concern? 😉

This "goodbye" editorial by Tavi Gevinson of Rookie makes for fascinating reading. And if you've managed to not hear of Ms. Gevinson yet, here's the quick Wikipedia blurb: "Tavi Gevinson is an American writer, magazine editor, and actress. She came to public attention at the age of 12 due to her fashion blog Style Rookie. By the age of 15, she had shifted her focus to pop culture and feminist discussion. Gevinson was the founder and editor-in-chief of the online magazine Rookie, aimed primarily at teenage girls. In both 2011 and 2012, she appeared on the Forbes 30 Under 30 in Media list. In 2014, she was named one of "The 25 Most Influential Teens of 2014" by Time magazine." And here are a few quotes from the editorial about her trials and tribulations as writer/editor at Rookie Mag: "It has sometimes felt like there are two Rookies: There’s the publication that you read, that I also love reading, writing for, and editing; and then there is the company that I own and am responsible for. The former is an art project; the latter is a business. Each one needs and feeds the other, but when I started Rookie at age 15, I saw the two as mutually exclusive. Rookie had been founded, in part, as a response to feeling constantly marketed to in almost all forms of media; to being seen as a consumer rather than a reader or person. In my black-and-white view of the world, the idea of capitalizing on an audience seemed cynical, selfish, and something only evil adults do…" 'One woman venture capitalist told us, after hearing my very nervous pitch, “I hate to say this because I hate that it’s true, but men who come in here pitch the company they’re going to build, while women pitch the company they’ve already built.” The men could sound delusional, but they could also sound visionary; women felt the need to show their work, to prove themselves. This wasn’t a note just for my style of pitching (flat, part-Troll doll); she was encouraging us to dream bigger and start anew. What would Rookie look like if we saw everything up until that point as just research?' "But one problem with thinking you know what you want, with being good at locating words, and with being praised a lot for both of these things, is that it is hard to notice when you are evading the truth. It is hard for the people around you to notice, too, because it seems you have never been wrong before. Even if I knew that I would eventually need to not be as responsible for Rookie-the-business, I was still the person who’d started Rookie-the-art-project, and I was ready to compartmentalize my anxiety/stress until the art project and business were both where I wanted them…"

Gavin Newsom and family with Frances Chung and Joe Walsh: https://www.instagram.com/p/BryRtqSB_i-/ Koto Ishihara and Sofiane Sylve backstage: Madison Keelser (isn't this one of the newer costume designs?) wrapping presents: https://www.instagram.com/p/Brwq6oRBl8D/ Tiit Helimets as Santa Claus/Conductor: https://www.instagram.com/p/Br0n-Y4lnp3/ https://www.instagram.com/p/Br0tRiTA4xH/ "SF Ballet dances 30+ Nutcrackers each December. Amani, on the way home from a performance of our Nutcracker, reminds us why." https://www.instagram.com/p/Br0jzIhBf2U/ Tiit and Chloe Helimets on the way to work at the Opera House: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bryx9NJg77n/

The latest (altered) listings... On the 27th Frances Chung and Joe Walsh dance the GP (since Ana Sophia Scheller is unavailable). And on the 28th Vitor Luiz is still listed for the GP, but apparently no decision yet on who replaces Scheller. Looks like they could have used a guest star this year. Thursday, December 27, 2018, 2 pm Choreography: Helgi Tomasson Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Conductor: Ming Luke Drosselmeyer: Alexander Reneff-Olson Queen and King of the Snow: Isabella DeVivo, Max Cauthorn Sugar Plum Fairy: To Be Announced Grand Pas de Deux: Frances Chung, Joseph Walsh Thursday, December 27, 2018, 7 pm Choreography: Helgi Tomasson Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Conductor: David LaMarche Drosselmeyer: Val Caniparoli Queen and King of the Snow: Koto Ishihara, Vitor Luiz Sugar Plum Fairy: Sasha De Sola Grand Pas de Deux: Sofiane Sylve, Tiit Helimets Friday, December 28, 2018, 2 pm Choreography: Helgi Tomasson Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Conductor: Ming Luke Drosselmeyer: Tiit Helimets Queen and King of the Snow: Elizabeth Powell, Henry Sidford Sugar Plum Fairy: Koto Ishihara Grand Pas de Deux: To Be Announced, Vitor Luiz Friday, December 28, 2018, 7 pm Choreography: Helgi Tomasson Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Conductor: David LaMarche Drosselmeyer: Ricardo Bustamante Queen and King of the Snow: Dores André, Luke Ingham Sugar Plum Fairy: Sofiane Sylve Grand Pas de Deux: Sasha De Sola, Aaron Robison Saturday, December 29, 2018, 11 am Choreography: Helgi Tomasson Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Conductor: David LaMarche Drosselmeyer: Ricardo Bustamante Queen and King of the Snow: Norika Matsuyama, Hansuke Yamamoto Sugar Plum Fairy: Isabella Devivo Grand Pas de Deux: Mathilde Froustey, Luke Ingham Saturday, December 29, 2018, 4 pm Choreography: Helgi Tomasson Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Conductor: Ming Luke Drosselmeyer: Ricardo Bustamante Queen and King of the Snow: Elizabeth Powell, Henry Sidford Sugar Plum Fairy: Jennifer Stahl Grand Pas de Deux: Wona Park, Angela Greco

This being Nutcracker season, here's a report from Vanessa Zahorian regarding Zahorian and Karapetyan's first Nutcracker production at Pennsylvania Ballet Academy "...Endless nights and discussions started at home, to the studio, with many rehearsals, to the lighting, music and tempos, characters, who would dance what to their abilities with only two months to prepare an almost full production, putting together premiere and original choreography in two months, finding costumes, scheduling everyone and everything to work, visualizing the props, putting fourth the vision, the added quartet musicians, which backdrop, the blizzard snow vision with contemporary flair and chairs, etc..." https://www.instagram.com/p/Bredcd3ghsV/

Hopefully a minor issue. Scheller would likely make an announcement on Instagram if there's a real (physical) problem. Maybe she just can't travel in time to make those dates. There are Corps dancers looking for a "plum" role, or in this case, a Grand Pas role...

The NY Times obituary: Raven Wilkinson, 83, Is Dead; Black Ballerina Braved Segregated South - Marina Harss https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/20/obituaries/raven-wilkinson-dead.html