Natalia

Yes, Amy, the Harvard notes include a complete Esmeralda (3 acts, 5 scenes). Yuri Burlaka (& V. Medvedev?) used the notes to some degree for his recent Bolshoi staging. Some ballets were more completely notated than others; some lack full port de bras, so Burlaka had to make educated guesses with the knowledge of the style.

Thanks, Amy. Great list. I'd add the Grand Pas des Fleurs from Esmeralda, Animated Frescoes from Little H H, and Dance of the Hours from the opera Gioconda, which was recon in Japan a few years ago. The conference in Marseilles could be a winner. Please report dates/details if you find out. I wish that Ekaterinburg would live-stream at least some of their Petipa recon productions.

The Ekaterinburg Ballet, Russia, is dedicating its entire 2017/18 season to the Petipa 200th celebration! http://m.colta.ru/news/14477 in addition to existing rep, such as the FILLE MAL GARDEE recon (pictured in the article), novelties include: Nov 17, 2017: Vikharev/Gershenson new recon of complete PAQUITA Mar 15, 2018: Yuri Burlaka's recon of the complete 2-act HARLEQUINADE June 2018: - total rarity! - THE KING's COMMAND, chor by a team led by company A.D. Vyacheslav Samodurov. (Not clear if it'll be a recon or a "rethinking" a-la Lacotte) *Note: this ballet exists in the "Harvard Notes" in the 2-act version of 1900...as "Les Eleves de Dupre." It includes a very famous pdd that Petipa created for Virginia Zucchi & Enrico Cecchetti: "Fisherman & Pearl"...oh, that we may be seeing this gem! July 7, 2018 - a gala of many Petipa gems, incl premiere of Burlaka's NAIAD & FISHERMAN SUITE (ONDINE suite)...a "Petipaniana" extravaganza!

According to Zurich Ballet's Facebook page, Elena Vostrotina joins the troupe as Principal ballerina this autumn! She has already been dancing as O/O, as a Guest Principal, in Ratmansky's SWAN LAKE. https://m.facebook.com/BallettZurich/photos/a.275066682595553.48168.274336709335217/1031885093580371/?type=3&source=48 Elena is a 2003 Vaganova Acad grad (same year as Somova) and was a Mariinsky soloist for three years (2003-06) before moving to Dresden, Germany, where she's been a Principal since 2011. Glad that she's found a home in Zurich!

Details on the upcoming Stanislavsky Ballet-Moscow season are found in the "Vaganova Today" blog. Premieres include Balanchine's SERENADE. Scroll way-way down to News portion: http://www.vaganovatoday.com/ It's a fascinating new blog in English, about ballet in Russia...thanks to Catherine Pawlik!

Thanks, Drew & Buddy. Drew, so it may have been maternity leave. (If so, congrats to her and her family!) I knew about Somova's own maternity leave - 2nd for her - and Skorik's injury.

I only know about a totally-new (not in ABT rep) Petipa ballet that Ratmansky and his team have been reconstructing. Will PM you. Not BAYADERE, that I've heard, although things can change until it's official. BTW, the Berlin BAYADERE seems to be for the 2018/19 season.

According to Catherine Pawlik's new "Vaganova Today" blog (link below - scroll down to "News and Rumors" on new Stanislavsky season), the ballet troupe of Moscow's Stanislavsky Theatre will pay tribute to Petipa's 200th with a special program on April 23-24, 2018, featuring guests from Paris POB Academy and the Perm and Stanislavsky Ballets. http://www.vaganovatoday.com/ p.s. Lots of other goodies in this Russia-based blog. One to bookmark!

A follow-up to the recent Petipa Colloquium in Bordeaux (Oct 2015) would be fantastic: ...only with more performances...maybe a week or two during which we would see live performances of these works under one roof: Zurich SWAN LAKE; La Scala RAYMONDA; Mariinsky new-old Vikharev recons of SB, FLORA, BAYADERE; Bolshoi ESMERALDA, PHARAOH's DAUGHTER, COPPELIA (P's version, after StLeon), CORSAIRE; ABT BEAUTY and other Petipa novelty that may be coming from Ratmansky; Mikhailovsky CAVALRY's HALT; Ekaterinburg's FILLE MAL GARDEE (Vikharev recon but not the Petipa era designs); Munich or POB PAQUITAs; A night of "Petipaniana" excerpts, such as various solos from otherwise lost ballets (CAMARGO, CANDAULE, TALISMAN, CINDERELLA, ZORAYA, etc), SATANELLA Gnd Pas, "Ocean & Two Pearls" pas de 3, Petipa's additions to GISELLE, Medvedev's recent BLUEBEARD Gnd Pas recon, etc. A new recon of the Pugni/Petipa-after-StLeon version of HUMPBACKED HORSE would be fantastic...or recons of the one-act Hermitage ballets, such as RUSSES d'AMOUR, HARLEQUINADE, THE SEASONS? ps - I don't include DON Q in the above because what we see now on stage is mostly by Gorsky...but it would be great if a scholar would decipher what truly remains of Petipa's original. NUTCRACKER not listed; that was Lev Ivanov.

Did Kristina Shapran appear at this last Festival? I haven't read much about her recently.

Understood. As much as I would've enjoyed going to another Bournonville Festival, I was a bit happy that it won't be happening in 2018 (as originally hinted at a couple of years ago), so as not to compete with any potential Petipa celebration.

Thanks, Sandik. I'm wondering how many ballet troupes, beside PNWB, thought about the Petipa Bicentennial while planning their 2017/2018 seasons? I've heard of a couple of other companies in the US planning recons...but it's not official until the seasons are announced. Once things are announced, with dates, then folks can begin to make cost-effective travel arrangements.

The ballet world will soon be celebrating the 200th birthday anniversary of the great Petipa! https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marius_Petipa I'm opening this thread for long-term discussion of any festivals, commemorations, new or "revived" reconstructions of his works, exhibits, etc. that may be happening in 2018 to celebrate the choreographer whose works are synonymous with CLASSICAL ballet. Perhaps we'll see an emphasis on Petipa's creations by the big Russian and Western companies? (Mariinsky in Flora's Awakening maybe? It costs nothing to dream.) The sooner that we plan our travels, the better! Thanks for sharing creditable info, as it comes to light officially.

Exactly; that was "DANCE Across America" at the Kennedy Center last week. False advertising but smart DC balletomanes weren't duped, were they? NYCB's run in mid-June should be the saving grace of a mostly-dreary 2016/17 ballet season in our nation's capital.

Ha - I knew it was coming! Skylar was so spectacular in Costa Mesa, opposite Cirio - best Boy/Princess team among the three casts that I saw - that she simply could not be denied an encore at the Met.

I would definitely include America's Adrienne Dellas among the great female choreographers. Ms Dellas was the first A.D. of South Korea's Universal Ballet in the 1980s, where she created several gorgeous works in the grand Petipa style, including a CINDERELLA and ballet on a Korean theme, SHIM CHUNG (which DVD is a gem of my collection). Ms Dellas is the current head of Washington DC's Kirov Academy of Ballet, for which she's choreographed many beautiful miniatures, especially for the youngest students. She's right here in our backyard...yet not always remembered. Other excellent female CLASSICAL ballet choreographers of the 20th-C with filmed work...but not enough!...include Andree Howard, Nina Anisimova and Ruthanna Boris (her CAKEWALK being a particular guilty pleasure).

Is there a cookbook on the horizon?

Just found George Jackson's thorough report of the Justin Peck program, for Danceviewtimes. http://www.danceviewtimes.com/2017/04/the-state-of-things.html Glad that I stayed home! Not mentioned in Jackson's report, but confirmed to me by a ballet-teacher friend of mine who attended Saturday night, the Abraham work's on-stage vocalist shouted-out a number of vulgar words during the performance, including the "f..." word. Classy.

Thank you, Mme H. I remember Michael Bjerknes very well as a wonderful early star of Washington Ballet. Didn't realize that he was from the Chicago area.

I saw two live wardrobe malfunctions of note - one embarrassing and the other hilarious. EMBARRASSING: 1995 @ the Mariinsky. Then-student at the Vaganova Academy, 15-yr-old Yana Selina, danced the difficult Third-Shade variation in a year-end class perf of BAYADERE "Shades" scene. The execution of the variation was brilliant, in light of the fact that the bodice of her tutu became undone during the final quick portion of the dance, totally exposing her tatas. She kept her aloof composure during & after this, taking a long slow bow. A real trouper! HILARIOUS: Royal Danish Ballet's June 2005 "Bournonvilleana Gala" to close the B'ville Festival. William Tell pdd. One of superstar Thomas Lund's red knee-high socks slowly crept to his ankle during the pdd's coda...bit by bit, inch by inch...accelerating its descent during the final ultra-brisk passage, going down perfectly in time to the music, stopping at the ankle during the final chord. I recall a big funny (knowing) smile on his face while partner Diana Cuni maintained poker-faced decorum during the bows.

Any reports on the 2nd program, curated by Justin Peck? How was the mix of ballet and modern dance? Any uplifting, positive, happy works on view? Perhaps this Festival should have been titled "Dance Across America"?

Bingo! Thanks to all for reporting thus far. This weekend's Peck-curated program is the only one that I considered attending because it includes Wheeldon's FOOL's PARADISE, which seems to be in the classical style, judging from YouTube clips...but I refuse to pay for a triple bill program that forces me to stick around to see unisex kilts/Bermuda shorts & stomper shoes and "Abraham in Motion!" (A 4th piece, a classical pdd by Peck, was hastily added, perhaps to try to make the program more balanced between ballet & modern.) "Ballet" used to mean traditional pure ballet (not just Petipa...Balanchine, Ashton and Tudor...Ratmansky, Wheeldon and Peck). I seriously doubt that Farrell - still the KC's ballet programming head but on the way out, as we know - had anything to do with this. Farrell out soon...but someone named "Q Tip" has been brought in as Director of Hip Hop. As if pop culture didn't already have enough commercial venues or exposure. Something seriously wrong with the KC.

This mini-festival has been going on since Monday at the Kennedy Center. The first three BIA Festivals (held every 3 or 4 years) welcomed traditional classical ballet (not modern) troupes. This year is quite different and, frankly, I was not moved to purchase tickets due to the change in focus and "PC agenda." It is too expensive to buy a ticket to see a bunch of modern dance without pointe shoes. tutus & tiaras. So fans of modern & hip-hop should enjoy. Do report; I don't mind reading but I *do* mind paying! This entire KennCen season has been very easy on my wallet: the WashBallet's 40th Anniv gala, one Farrell show & two NYCB perfs in mid June. That's it! Next season will be only NYCB and perhaps Bayadere depending on casting. Already saw ABT Whipped Cream enough times for a lifetime. http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/event/BRBSF

Wouldn't it be grand if Olga Smirnova would be included in the Mariinsky's Oct 2017 tour to the Kennedy Center as a Guest Star Nikiya? Otherwise I fear we may be subjected to a double or triple dose of another "O.S." as Nikiya.