KarenAG

I'm just hearing about this now and I'm so very sad that we've lost another great in the ballet world. Ms. Verdy danced with such joie de vivre and exuded irrepressible charm. And she gave back so much to the ballet world after she stopped dancing. Rest in Peace, Ms. Verdy, you will always be remembered. I'll be thinkng of Violette all day and will keep her in my heart by watching some of the videos I have of her dancing. Many lovely remembrances in this thread, too, thank you.

Kaysta, Thank you for your post lauding this Giselle performance - made me just add the RB Cojocaru DVD to my collection. I just bought it and cannot wait to see it!

Reading Ms. Chouteau's obituary and remembering her in the documentary Ballets Russes, It's clear that she was a very special, caring and gifted woman. Rest in Peace.

This is great news!

Excellent!! Congratulations, Olga! I saw her dance in Don Quixote at Saratoga in 2014!!

I was so stunned to hear of this very early this morning and I've been sad all day. What an amazing artist! Rest in peace, David Bowie, and may your star shine ever bright in the heavens. It will always burn bright here.

Welcome to Ballet Alert!, mnacenani, You will find so many wonderful threads on this forum!, I have been seeing ballet, mostly New York City Ballet, for 36 years myself. Happy Holidays to you, as well, and I look forward to reading your posts. ~ Karen

Thank you, Helen. I hope you had a joyful and peaceful Thanksgiving.

So happy you all enjoyed it. Thank you, California, for your comment and the link to Shirley's interview and Sandik for the new dance book recommendation. .

How lovely! Congratulations, Maria, Martin and baby Dylan

Hi Cristian, That's the recording I have, too. On the thread in general, fascinating! I do hope this book is published in English.

I didn't see this posted anywhere - very sad news. Among the devastation occurring in South Carolina last week was the almost near-loss of this company's home,which was just newly renovated. I just can't seem to post URLs on this tablet, but there are several stories on NPR, CNN, Pointe and Dance magazine. There is also a GoFundMe site to raise $100k. My very best wishes go out to Columbia Classical Ballet for a successful recovery.

Greetings! NYCB is set to perform at SPAC July 20-30, 2016, opening with A Midsummer Night's Dream, the ballet they opened the center with 50 years ago. The full press release can be found at spac.org.

Amy, thank you for this wonderful report! Helene, I second that. I dearly wish I could have seen this lecture and demo because I dearly love that ballet. I saw it last Spring for the first time and thought it exquisite. I think the main matinee cast was Ashley Bouder, Claire Von Enck as Pierrette and I'm thinking DeLuz (?). I'm not home but I'll check my program when I am.Interestingly, at intermission I met a young woman fairly new to ballet. She greatly enjoyed the other ballet on the program, which I am not remembering right now, but had difficulty relating to Harliquinade. She expressed that she found it quaint and old-fashioned. I responded that it had a lot of historical significance, mentioned the commedia ell' arte tradition and Petipa, and as a NYCB work, that it was one of many 'faces' and delights, really, of Balanchine's genius. I politely suggested that she might like to read a history or two of ballet. It as a pleasant exchange, but it makes me wonder about young people becoming acquainted with ballet and perhaps dismissing whole traditions because they are foreign to the culture now. Plus, how many young people even know about commedia dell' arte, right? I hope that very nice young woman takes the time to understand what she saw because I think she might change her opinion and consider the event more rich than she realized. Thoughts, anyone?

And extremely disappointed, too. Although the program is otherwise exciting.

Giselle is 175 in 2016! I'm very surprised ABT isn't performing it.

I'm enjoying this thread very much. haven't seen much of Ms. Nunez (which I intend to rectify, at least on DVD and YouTube ), but I have the RB Sleeping Beauty with Cojocaru and I absolutely adore Marianela's Lilac Fairy. She's stunning. So I guess I'd better check out that Swan Lake you are raving about!

Oh, my, Program A is yuuuuummmmmy! Yes, sandik, the program is quite varied and among the offerings, I find it very interesting that Ashley Border is dancing with Igor Zelensky, two dancers I greatly admire. Also, Trois Gnossiennes - I don't know anything about it but it must be Satie's music -ooohh!!

A wonderful interview. Madame Verdy is the kind of torch-bearer ballet and ballets always need. I love the descriptions of her coaching techniques and approach to the art in general - so sensitive, detailed and intelligent. Thank you, Marina, for this beautiful report.

Thank you, Helene, for this. It's gratifying to know that orchestras and festivals are remembering Maya.

I have no idea why that quote is part of my post - it was unintentional, Katharine. But that's a tablet for ya!

I want to post some more thoughts and impressions about NYCB's summer season at SPAC. Overall, the company danced so beautifully throughout the two week season and they seemed very happy to be there. I took in 5 performances, some of them repeats. Week one I went to opening night (I posted on this above), and July 9 and 11 matinees. I saw Square Dance twice with the same cast - Bouder, Huxley and same corps cast, which allowed me to enjoy the talents of the individual dancers more deeply. I do have a question for my fellow balletophiles and ballet academics. Seeing NYCB's Square Dance twice this season and also watching Miami City Ballet's version that aired on PBS, do I detect some nuances and perhaps even small differences in the choreography? Did Edward Vilella stage his Square Dance based on an earlier version? I thought I read something somewhere about that. I welcome members' feedback on this and thank you. I would have enjoyed seeing Erica Pereira and Taylor Stanley in Square Dance, too, as Erica was quite lovely in three distinctly different ballets - Symphony in Three Movements as one of the lead 'pink' girls and as the lead in Ballabile movement of Bournonville Divertissements, and most beautifully, in 3rd movement of Symphony in C. Taylor Stanley Is such a pleasure to watch, too, and he was great in Si3Ms. I also saw Western Symphony, Symphony in Three Movements and Tarantella twice, some with different casts. I was so happy to see Craig Hall three times - yay!! - he's a gorgeous dancer and I've always admired him. Why he has not been promoted to principal dancer, I am not sure . Rounding out week one was Rodeo and Interplay. I enjoyed both these ballets, especially Interplay. Rodeo was witty and fun and it was interesting seeing a ballet devoted to all male dancers except the one ballerina lead it but I don't know if I'd rush out to see it anytime soon, but I can say the same for Interplay. I did not like the ballerina's 'costume' (if you can call it that) in Rodeo (or the knee socks on the men, for that matter). Sara Mearns danced that role and she is, as always, compelling and beautiful. She and Tess Reichlen alternated the role of the 'Chief Flirt', as I call her, in Western Symphony, Tanaquil LeClerq's role, and they were both adorable in it, with Sara having a bit more sass and sexiness. Neither can replicate, however (and this is not a criticism), Tanny's audacious strutting around in those needle-thin legs and pointes! Both dancers will grow in that role, I'm sure, and make it their own. I never saw Maria Kowroski dance the role full-out, only a demonstration at one of those 'Saturday at the Ballet with George' events and she admitted she wasn't about to dance that show-stopping backward step on pointe at that moment. Equally delightful was Sterling and Craig in WS. I do enjoy that ballet so much for the beautiful Kay arrangements and the charming spectacle that it is. Both casts in Si3Ms were wonderful. I haven't seen Tiler Peck dance a lot lately and I'm happy to report that she was in fine form and the most dramatically compelling of the three 'pink' girls, whose leotards remind me of shades of lipstick. Although I said in my first post that everyone was a standout on opening night, which was true, over 5 performances there truly were some wonderful standouts. Chief among these is Ashley Bouder who was in Square Dance and Tarantella, Four Temperaments and the Sylph (more about the Bournonville later). I happy to have seen so much of Ashley during this season. She is an incredible dancer. Amar Ramasar was phenomenal in Rodeo and Si3Ms and I can't wait to see him dance again. Daniel Ulbricht, too, in the same ballets. It was great to see Andrew Scordato dance so much - he seemed to be in almost everything, replacing Sean Suozzi. Andrew is most beloved here, as he has taught master classes and adult movement at a couple of studios in Albany and Saratoga. I also had a chance to see Brittany Pollack dance a few roles, too, interplay and The Four Temperaments and I liked her very much. She's quite pretty and has a lot of personality in her dancing. Likewise, Olivia Boisson in the corps who is beautiful and elegant and demonstrated her range by dancing a number of stylistically diverse roles - Si3Ms, La Sylphide, SiC, and I look forward to seeing both Ms Pollack and Ms. Boisson again soon. Week two: Symphonic Dances, The Four Temperaments, and my beloved Symphony in C on July 16 and then July 18 the Bournonville double header. I'm sorry to say I did not like Symphonic Dances. It's wooden and fraught with very conventional choreography. Tess Reichlen and Zachary Catazaro were the leads. The Four Temperaments was great to see again, and I was happy to see Faye Arthurs here and also in Symphony in C - I think she is an underrated dancer. 4Ts is one of my favorite Balanchine black and white ballets. Symphony in C was, as always, spectacular. It received a standing ovation. The cast was wonderful, especially Tiler and Andrew in 1st movement and Sara and Jared in 2nd. I'm warming up to Lauren King, who danced 4th and also was in Si3Ms. As I said earlier, Erica handled 3rd movement well and she's so pretty. I never tire of seeing that ballet, EVER! I'm running out of time, so I'll be brief about the Bournonville. Divertissements was interesting and I enjoyed it very much. I didn't care for the first movement except for the leads, Erica Pereira and Allen Peiffer; but the Pas de Deux , Pas de Six and the Tarantella were really wonderful. Theresa Reichlen and Ask LaCour were stunning in the Pas de Deux and the Pas de Six was very charming. I enjoyed La Sylphide even more. I thought Ashley was convincing as a sylph, very charming and danced her Bournonville steps quite beautifully. I still don't have a great sense of Gonzalo Garcia, so I'll leave it at that. On the whole, I was impressed with the NYCB dancing the Bournonville style and technique so well, beautiful feet ands steps, with the ballets feeling antique and fresh and modern, all at the same time. Seeing how successfully NYCB dances the romantic and most old-fashioned tradition makes me want to see the company stage Giselle (that may be heresy to many members here :0! To Mr. Pereira who posted up thread, I am sure Erica was greeted like royalty by those adoring teens and teens! After the July 11 Saturday matinee, I went to the stage door to see the dancers come out to sign programs and take pictures. Sara, Tiler, Sterling, Ashley, Andrew Veyette and Craig Hall were greeted like rock stars, the kids screaming and running up to the door to get a good look. All the dancers were gracious and accommodating. I'm sure many of those adolescents are dance students, so these dancers are their role models and heroes. I decided I wanted to meet a couple of the dancers myself and let them know how much they are loved up here and what NYCB means to me, so once the crowd thinned I introduced myself to Ashley, Tiler, Craig and Sara. They were friendly and it was a lovely experience. I probably will read this and want to tweak it, because this is a tablet I am writing on and it's really no substitute for a PC!!! Have a great day. Karen

Yes, I remember Jennie as a very special dancer. I haven't seen her dance in some time. I plan on seeing that performance too!

Hi Audrey, I've subscribed by telephone for the past 3 years (not including this year as I haven't subscribed yet) and the box office agents have been very accommodating about seats. One year I had seats in 3 different locations over the subscription of 4 ballets. It was a create your own series, too. I would guess they do not want everyone doing this, but if you are on the phone with them, they're more willing to work with you. At least that is my experience.