KarenAG

So am I! (bunny emoticon, please)

Thank you, Cristian, this is very beautiful. I also love the paintings accompanying the music, depicting Russian life with the church.

This is welcome news! I can't wait to find out what they will perform.

National Ballet of China will perform at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY July 21 & 22 for 3 performances. I think they're doing Peony Pavilion. Visit spac.org for further info.

Thanks, ABT Fan, I appreciate your advice. I will try for tickets to the Saturday matinee, June 6, I think it is with Semionova and Murphy. I would really love to see Veronica Part dance Nikiya, but it's difficult going to the evening ballets since I'm 3 hours away!

My local PBS didn't air it, so I tried to find it streaming on other stations with no luck. I'd love to see this! I remember Mia's comments in that great documentary Ballets Russes. Another dancer I'm very interested in is Nini Theilade. I believe she is still alive and actually still teaches! She was so lovely in the film A Midsummer Night Dream.

I am so excited! I have tickets to 2 performances - Ms. Xiomara Reyes' final performance May 27 and R&J on June 18! Does ABT perform Bayadere every year? The answer to that may make me buy a ticket to that ballet this season. Any in fo is appreciated -thanks.

Is there a way to see this RB SL streamed? Thank you.

Victoria, my check will be in the mail this week. Happy Spring!

I wish I could have met Carley. She sounds like a wonderful person. And Concerto Barocco was her favorite ballet! How nice to know that because I adore that ballet, too, and will have the pleasure of seeing it May 2 and I will think of you when I am there. Rest in Peace, Carley. Your many ballet friends love you very much, as evidenced by the heartfelt and beautiful posts here.

Thank you, Helene, this video is lovely and Maria Alexandrova is a wonderful dancer. We were blessed to enjoy the Bolshoi for six performances of Don Quixote last summer at Saratoga and I saw her dance Kitri. She was pretty spectacular and I look forward to seeing the Bolshoi again sometime (soon, I hope). Happy Valentine's Day to our ballet community. May your day be filled with beauty & love and a graceful pas or two!

The Albany Times Union posted NYCB's 2015 SPAC schedule in their Arts Talk section. http://blog.timesunion.com/localarts/spac-announces-new-york-city-ballet-lineup/36480/ So very happy the company is visiting its summer home for two weeks again! ~ Karen

Thank you, Alexandra! This is good news and I'll read the blog soon.

This trip sounds fantastic, Katherine!

True, because they consider Symphony in C it the same ballet. But there are real differences, nonetheless. And here's something else to think about. It seems we mostly agree that, despite the differences in scenery, costumes and steps, they are the same ballet, being devil's advocate now, are they? As they ballet is performed today by NYCB, it really does feel different than the POB Palais. I do love the POB, by the way - lots of nice Balanchine steps and structure.

The steps are somewhat different, as I remember from viewing last night - I don't have a great memory for remembering lots of details in some ballets and in this particular ballet, there is so much going on. I need to watch every day (no problem ) Interesting observations, Quiggin, and I think you've hit on something essential about the two versions, the differences in tone (?). Although the performances themselves do contribute to the differences, as well. In the Palais, the feeling is very light and quite joyful. In Symphony, the dancers seem to have more gravitas. I like your comment about the architectural quality of Symphony in C, too. I'm having difficulty articulating what I am feeling about these two performances, but the fun is in the journey

Thank you for the great reading suggestions, AshtonFan; much appreciated. I just ordered Madame Karsavina's book and I already have Dancing for Diaghilev, although haven't read it yet - I'm woefully behind I also have the BBC Les Sylphides and isn't Madame wonderful in her introduction! She's poetic and well, heartbreaking. A time gone forever. While I have many of the books on Balanchine, I don't have Richard Buckle's and I'm happy to have your input on these other tomes. ~ Karen

So much great information here- thank you. I've been taking g what time I can to study the two versions side by side and, upon paying closer attention, and as emilienne, Quiggin and Cristian noted, there are many differences, but it is essentially the same ballet.

This is just great! I hope there will be more posts and I hope to have some time tomorrow night to read the posts more attentively. Lots of good thoughts and contributions! Thank you.

Thank you, PeggyR, these clips are fascinating. I received a copy of Scheijen's biography of Diaghilev for Christmas and I hope to begin it soon.

Thank you, California, don't know why I forgot to consult Nancy Goldberg's essay, which I just read. It is puzzling about Taras' remark about deletions and simplifications., which he continues saying 'is surprising, considering how much better technically dancers have become these days'. DanielBenton, thank you. Taras mentions in his article that the rights first went to Betty Cage in 1962 who then gave Taras the rights to it in 1992. But aren't all Balanchine Ballets governed by the Trust? I know Suzanne Farrell owns a couple of Balanchine's ballets, can the Trust assert authority over them?

Greetings, Members, As I have expressed on BA in the past, Symphony in C is probably my favorite Balanchine ballet, certainly in the top 4 or 5. And, in anticipation of seeing this beloved ballet again on Jan 25, I would like to introduce a topic on the differences between Symphony in C and Le Palais de Cristal. I've seen an old performance of Symphony in C (the one with Allegra Kent in 2nd movement) and a recent performance of Le Palais de Cristal, performed by POB and staged by Colleen Neary and Laurent Hilaire. So I spent the morning researching Symphony in C/LePalais de Cristal to try and understand the differences in the two works, which I noted watching both performances, although I admit I don't have the time right now to watch them over and over to note exactly where and how. (Let me say that I enjoyed both performances immensely, although the NYCB is very dear to me and my favorite of the two). The 1st and 2nd movements seem different, while the 3rd seem to be the most similar. I will take some time to watch more closely and post my, hopefully, deeper observations, but right now I just want to share the performances and my interest. I read the essays in Repertory in Review, Balanchine and Mason's Stories of the Great Ballets and Anatoly Chujoy's New York City Ballet, to find not much about the evolution of this ballet, except in the costumes and how many dancers were available once Mr. B.re-staged it in NYC, etc., which has been discussed a bit on this thread, too. Then I remembered an essay entitled 'Balanchine's Bizet' by John Taras in Ballet Review, Spring 1998. In it Mr. Taras says this: 'What remains of the original choreography in Paris is anybody's guess. In an unauthorized version staged by Jean Sarelli of the Paris Opera for the Tokyo Ballet, there were several marvelous patterns apparently not remembered by Balanchine. They were omitted from his staging of the ballet in America. It is worth noting, however, that when Balanchine personally staged his ballets for other companies, the resulting version always differed somewhat from the original. The reason was not entirely faulty memory; he revised choreography inspired by the individual dancers available to him at the time.' And after mentioning that the ballet was 'part of the inaugural performance of the newly created New York City Ballet' and its later move to the State Theater: 'Balanchine eventually altered much of the choreography, especially repetitions in the original. There have been deletions and simplifications since his death....' It is my understanding that Balanchine did revise his choreography when it suited him (Apollo is the best example that I can think of), so I am interested in what members have to say about Mr. Taras' observations, the two works themselves and Balanchine's revisions - do they contribute to a tighter, more coherent work? Is it more brilliant, more beautiful? What deletions mentioned by Taras were made and did that alter the work in a bad way? Also, with Colleen Neary, who obviously danced Symphony in C, and Laurent Hilaire, an etoile from POB who may have danced Le Palais de Cristal or even both, staging the French work, can one infer that we are seeing something of the original choreography in Palais? Also, will note here that the two works are not described as two distinct but one; in other words, writers usually refer to the ballet as Symphony in C and reference it was earlier staged as Palais with colored costumes. This seems fair to me, except that it is performed mostly as Symphony in C but also as Le Palais de Cristal. I look so forward to this discussion!

Yes, he is Ken Burns' younger brother and I think he produced or was somehow involved in Nancy Biurski's Afternoon of a Faun.

That's probably true, Abatt. The box office rep I had on the other end of the line seemed pretty 'green' about options, suggesting that I wait until March and purchase my three performances then, which wasn't much of a solution, IMO, especially because I wouldn't be afforded the discount and ticket prices most likely will increase.

Thank you abatt (and happy New Year). I got my pamphlet directly from Works and Process. All of these shows will be live streamed. They are: Justin Peck, 1/18 @ 7:30 and all of the ABT Performances: 4/19 @ 3:00pm, 4/19 @ 7:30pm and 4/20 @ 7:30pm. The first ABT talk will cover dancers from 1940-1965; then is dancers from 1965-1990; and the last group (the McKenzie dancers) 1990-2015. There is no date yet announced for the Whelan/Watson. Thanks so much for the heads-up on this. They all sound intriguing, but I'm especially pleased to see these discussion about ABT dancers, particularly the earliest cohort. I imagine that they'll just be able to touch on the surface, but even so! I agree and thank you, Abatt and Amour. I read somewhere, but not sure where (sorry, it's the holidays; all days run into one another by the end of them ) that PBS will have a special on ABT's 75th anniversary, in May, I think. Sorry I don't have more info, but we'll hear more on this as the Spring approaches. On another note, seeing NYCB Jan 25 3pm!!! Yayyyy!!!!