Natalia

Thanks, Zobeide. Sounds like my favorite kind of Peck work...simple & classical (neoclassical), like InCREASES. I hope that the Kennedy Center decides to show DECALOGUE. Drew, we know that the KC is showing Peck's RO-DEO on the other program.

Thank you, abatt! I would love to see this but the Kennedy Center has yet to decide if it will be presenting DECALOGUE or TIMES ARE RACING (or some other Peck ballet from "this season," whatever that may be) during next month's NYCB run: http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/event/BRBSD Before I invest in a ticket/transport/hotel for one night in NY, in order to see DECALOGUE at its final performance next week, it would be great to know if I'll be able to see it in DC for "free"....just the price of the ticket that I already have.

Some early thoughts/reviews from Reddit.com: https://www.reddit.com/r/Sufjan/comments/6aw0i8/the_decalogue_a_review/ Not too positive, so far. Also, here's 1:11 seconds of "flash footage" of the ballet, posted on NYCB's Twitter account. https://mobile.twitter.com/nycballet

Thanks Jayne! You're a true lady. Can't say the same for Mme Attaché or other Intollerants. Just be appreciative and move on. Back to Olga, who appears to be guesting as Odette/Odile in Vienna, according to Igor Zapravdin's Facebook. Chudin also guesting, as Siegfried. https://m.facebook.com/igor.zapravdin/posts/pcb.1627476957280565/?photo_id=1627476823947245&mds=%2Fphotos%2Fviewer%2F%3Fphotoset_token%3Dpcb.1627476957280565%26photo%3D1627476823947245%26profileid%3D100008013272069%26source%3D49%26refid%3D8%26_ft_%3Dtop_level_post_id.1627476957280565%3Atl_objid.1627476957280565%3Athrowback_story_fbid.1627476957280565%3Athid.100000548291610%3A306061129499414%3A2%3A0%3A1496300399%3A-6836180978391638192%26cached_data%3Dfalse%26ftid%3Du_g_1f&mdf=1

It looks as if nobody from BA attended last night's premiere of DECALOGUE. Maybe Ballet Allerters of NY will attend subsequent performances? Hopefully we'll also have a review from Alastair/NYTimes on Monday.

So how was last night's world premiere of the newest Peck ballet, DECATHALON...err...DECALOGUE?

The poor (plain) designs of the Ratmansky Cinderella caused a couple to cut off relations with me & my first husband. My husband & I were unable to use our Kennedy Ctr subscription tix, so offered them to the Cultural Attaché of the Hungarian Embassy & her husband, who went to the show. (My late husb was Hungarian.) Next day, she called my husband to thank us for the tix but made a point of noting, "We thought that the Kirov was classical. This was so ugly, we left after the second act." We never heard from them again...just cordial handshakes at the embassy, if we happened to see her. This was many years ago...the Attaché long gone. The worst was that my husb ( rest his soul) held it against me..."I thought that you knew these ballets. How embarrassing..." but that was another story. Grrr.

Wonderful!

Cubamiamiboy, that sounds like a winning international cast! Yup, I first saw GPDQ live by the Cubans in that very famous 1978 concert in PR but with Josefina Mendez as Taglioni. Lucky you, Mashinka. The Anton Dolin version still occasionally appears in concert programs of the Mariinsky, usually at the Hermitage...Lopatkina was Taglioni, I remember.

Ah, the Big Three "El Cheapos"! To be fair, many other Ratmansky narrative ballets have had substantial designs, such as the Bolshoi version of BRIGHT STREAM (Boris Messerer designs) or the Mariinsky's edition of FAIRY's KISS (much prettier than Miami's). The Australian CINDERELLA, too...no ugly cheap scaffolding.

Not sure what's up but...I just received a snail-mail flier from the Kennedy Centre on the NYCB appearances in June. They no longer seem to be presenting Peck's DECALOGUE...just "one of Peck's newest ballets." Yet, the flier specifically states that Ratmansky's ODESSA will be performed. All year long, DC audiences have been promised the new Ratmansky & Peck ballets "from the Spring 2017 NY season..." So will DC get the sneakers instead? (TIMES ARE RACING"...NY Export: Opus Jazz II) Maybe it will be easier on the dancers?

Congratulations! Woohoo!!!

ONEGIN? The infamous Cranko Trust, which didn't even allow the conversion from VHS to DVD of the 1980s ONEGIN film with the Natl Ballet of Canada. The various telecasts of his ballets by Stuttgart during the 1970s have not been commercially released. The least likely ABT ballet to be telecast is ONEGIN, no matter the cast.

I hear you but I understand that the Cranko Trust is one of the "nastiest" out there in allowing commercial filming of its ballets. As for PBS, they have a "Diversity in America" mandate (through public funds, in part), so Misty and Stella have better opportunities to be shown than Diana... I "get" it. Honestly, that's one reason why I was expecting more Misty on PBS in a full live ballet by now. If we see Misty, we see all of ABT. Win-win!

Thanks for all of these good thoughts. My guess is that the big changes, if any, will be noted in the rep for the 2018/19 season. The 2017/18 still has a good amount of Ashton, without the ultra-rarities of the past...no more flying-in Sir Wright and other high-level stagers from overseas, that I can tell. The better-known Ashtons could be staged by folks in North America, for ex. I'm also wondering if the visibity of Marcelo Gomes in Sarasota this season & next portends a "special non-performing role" beyond the 2017/18 season?

I meant Ratmansky in his neo-classical mode....ballerinas playing Taglioni, Grisi, Grahan & Cerrito. Sorry, not Elssler (I corrected above).

Oh but comedy *is* a facet of the dramatic arts, is it not? That role in Whipped Cream can pack a punch. That's why I so admire Skylar...she not only danced grandly but really played hilariously against Jeff Cirio (but not over the top silly like some of the others in the role). It's a fine line. Irina Baronova was another great one in subtle comic drama...the perfect glamorous face...who'd expect such a comedienne? Skylar "nailed" the Baronova Effect!

I'm still waiting for some sort of magical "Misty Effect" to usher-in the sort of regular live telecasts of complete ABT ballets that we used to see 30 years ago on PBS. I'm not talking about regurgitations of documentaries on Misty. I mean big, full, glamorous live ballets - 2.5 to 3 hour span, including live backstage intermissions. Anything on the schedule from PBS' "Live from Lincoln Center" featuring our superstar ballerina? Or am I waiting for Godot?

Buddy, I'm with you on Eva. To think that, when that was filmed (about 1979?), she was the "young gun" among the four ballerinas...and she was the first to pass away. Alonso, Fracci & Thesmar live on, thankfully. What a shame that that Romantic Era concert in Mexico, from which this Pas comes, has never made it onto commercial DVD.

Wow. So much for any hope for another Bournonville Festival by the RDB anytime soon. Good luck to Ulrik Birkkjaer in the next chapter in his life...but I selfishly wish that his "little snowball" may involve Bournonville ballets in some way.

Sorry about the injuries but.... Maybe we'll actually get to see Justin Peck dancing the lead in a Justin Peck ballet in DC next month? Yowza! Craig Hall - blast from the past!

The Webbs remain for now. Going by some of the comments to the linked news articles, it seems that a segment of the patrons would like to see them out too. What kind of dancer (from which school or training style) would the Webbs seek to replace the displaced dancers? Which Cecchetti-based (or RAD-based) school in the USA would they invite to audition for that Ashtonian style (beside the local Barbieri academy)? I ask because it would be very hard in today's political environment to import a lot of UK citizens (or citizens of countries in the UK-Cecchetti-RAD orbit) to take the spots of American dancers. By the way, do the top UK companies even hire mostly Cecchetti or RAD dancers nowadays, schooled in the ready-for-Ashton style? I think not. One of the miracles of Sarasota is how most dancers have been so well coached in the Ashton ballets, in spite of the dancers' Vaganova foundations, for the most part. So by getting a boatload of new dancers, the Webbs would most likely have to start from scratch again, unless they feel confident that new Ashtonian dancers of professional calibre can come from the Barbieri academy. Or maybe the Board is looking to "modernize & homogenize" the company's rep into the same mass-"audience-friendly" fare that we see elsewhere in Regional America, e.g., maybe one intelligent mixed bill a year in the midst of an Alice in a Wonderland, a Dracula, a Peter Pan and a Nutcracker? I'm sad & afraid that a few more axes may be falling. I sure hope not! It was somewhat telling that, a couple of years ago, Sarasota Ballet opted to NOT perform a NUTCRACKER (its own "circus"-themed version) and did a run of Ashton FILLE MAL GARDEE in its place. I'm sure that the Board "loved" that, even though I and other Ashton Lovers silently applauded.

I like that, Helene. We coincide with one. Ok, I'll go with my four classical greats of today...I'm sure that Ratmansky will use them well: Olga Smirnova of Bolshoi - Taglioniesque ethereal elegance Victoria Tereshkina of MT - Grisi's tech fire & versatility (as in Giselle's 2 acts) Tiler Peck of NYCB - Cerrito sass and tech sparkle Ida Pretorius of RDB - Grahn lightness & fairy-like purity...this was toughest...I waffled twix Pretorius and Leonor Baulac of POB

Interestingly, no mention of her participation in ABT's WHIPPED CREAM, which is the troupe's big new ballet this year. Yet again, there's a mention/focus on her trouble with fouettés.

Inspired by Buddy and Mme P's discussions about "Smirnova - Skorik" in the Olga Smirnova thread, I'm asking today's balletomanes: "Who would YOU cast as the four ballerinas if one of today's top choreographers would create a modern equivalent of Perrot/Pugni's 1845 Grand Pas de Quatre that starred Taglioni, Elssler, Cerrito and Grahan?" In other words, who would you consider to be today's four great ballerinas, worthy of casting in a 21st-c Pas de Quatre? Since this is 2017 and not 1845, we can assume that transportation and ability to quickly converge at Her Majesty's Theatre in London for rehearsals and Gala Performance in front of Queen Elizabeth II would not be a problem; our four ballerinas will be readily available from around the world! Here is a reminder of the original Grand Pas de Quatre, in Anton Dolin's staging/rethinking: This is a toughie for me. Still thinking...I have a couple of certainties but not all four yet.