1 hour ago, California said:

The "socialite" co-chair of the Washington Ballet's virtual gala hosted a private dinner at her home afterwards -- and later found out she is COVID-positive.

I've just been watching the new set of Alan Bennett 'Talking Heads' on the BBC ... This sentence made me giggle.  Perhaps it shouldn't have .. but it did.  (Blame 'Bed Among the Lentils' ... I know, I know ... That's old ... but still .... It's hard to beat Maggie Smith ... but Lesley Manville does give it a fair crack.)  I could just picture this Washington doyen ... and her darkening roots ... as a subject for Bennett's beady pen.  Bennett does isolation ... and rain ... oh, so well ... There's always something sad that lets you smile ... And there she'd lounge blowing yet another longing kiss ... 

 

24 minutes ago, canbelto said:

The Rubies uploaded by PABallet is incomplete. It doesn't even finish the pas de deux!

Strange that ... Perhaps it's just an error ... and they'll send out a modified link later ... A shame really ... 

9 hours ago, canbelto said:

I haven't been able to access the Ekman piece for PA Ballet even though I was sent a password ...

Neither have I.  I very much enjoyed both Connection and the Don Q ..... Happily I just received a 'corrected' link ... 

Has anyone got the link / password from Pennsylvania Ballet yet?   I did register ... but haven't heard anything yet.  Perhaps they just release them on the day?  

So moving .... Much thanks for tagging this, volcanohunter ... 

Thanks for letting us know about this, Dale ... Much appreciated.  

I did look down below, California.  It seems that they are doing the MacMillan piece last on the triple bill.  They give the full cast for it in the YouTube outline.  The picture in your freeze is definitely of the MacMillan.  

21 minutes ago, California said:

Perm Opera Ballet is live-streaming Ashton's Les Patineurs (which they call Winter Dreams). They normally leave things on-line for a few days:

 

 

Winter Dreams is a one act ballet by Kenneth MacMillan loosely based on/inspired by Chekhov's Three Sisters ... 

Was surprised to find this online - The Royal Ballet's 2017 Cinema Broadcast of Jewels ... (Leave it to the Russians) ... Lamb and McRae are fun in Rubies (great too to see Valentino Zucchetti beaming away in the background) ... and James Hay is oh, so elegant in the Emeralds trio.  Sadly Soares (now retired) was just not up to the Diamonds' challenges - which was especially frustrating as Muntagirov had been so spectacular in it and he and Nunez work so well together.  A definite missed opportunity ... 

 

4 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

If you can get past the monstrous costumes, ....

https://www.raiplay.it/programmi/balletto-donchisciotteteatrodelloperadiroma

 

Methinks that takes quite some doing!!!! 😉

Just received this very respectful and well thought out notice:- (Certainly it is a different world from that of a few brief months ago ... ) 

 

As a precaution to help limit the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) and support the City's efforts to promote social distancing, the Library for the Performing Arts has suspended all programming and events at our location through March 31. At this time, our location remains open during our regular hours.

Please know that this was not an easy decision for us to make since we know how important our programs are to our patrons. However, out of an abundance of caution, we feel that this is the best way that the Library for the Performing Arts can support the City’s efforts to discourage crowds and encourage social distancing during this challenging time.

As we receive new information, we will continue to update you on our website. We are closely monitoring the situation and are working with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to ensure that we are following all recommended practices and are supporting the health and wellness of both our staff and our patrons.

Please use the resources on our website or reach out to Ask NYPL with any questions.

Thank you,

Brent Reidy
Interim Executive Director
Library for the Performing Arts

6 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

I can't begin to imagine the frustration of Parisian ballet-goers this season.

Nor the cost .... FOLLOWING the 45 days of strikes ... this is all they needed .... I wouldn't be at all surprised that - once this virus is brought under control - that this season does not have elements that are truncated further.  

I would also imagine - much as with the 1,000+ person restriction mandate in Paris, San Francisco and Zurich - that Germany will soon [have to] add their houses and something tells me that the UK - with already a substantive climb in cases - won't be far behind.  I live in London and - to be honest - I am still a little shocked that this particular British government are not being a tad more proactive in staving off what Macron has called 'inevitable'.  Of course, one sees they are trying to count the cost - but I fear that philosophy may well backfire and only end up costing them/us more.  You can already feel the tension on the street.  People look at each other differently now.  Certainly they do at the Royal Opera House.  The looks are visceral.  You hear people openly hacking away and it is as if a knife were placed to your throat.  It is just so entirely selfish.  London is today where Paris was two weeks ago in terms of the numbers of the actively infected.  Of course it is hard to tell the real levels because - in UK hospitals - only people in intensive care units had been tested until now for SARS-CoV-2 (or Covid-19).  As of today EVERYONE in ANY hospital/care unit with ANY remote respiratory concern is getting tested.  Watch for the UK numbers to burgeon quickly.  Surely that is the ONLY way to get a sense of real perspective on this.  (What, I wonder, is the point otherwise?)  Once testing in the US is expanded something tells me those numbers will climb with some alacrity as well - and I would suspect now - given the delay - throughout the entire country.  

 

BE WARNED AND BEFORE YOU MAKE A SUBSTANTIVE JOURNEY - There is very little ballet in this film - and really very little history in terms of Osipova's balletic growth.  There is a small segment of with Osipova rehearsing Makarova's (Royal Ballet) Bayadere aside Muntagirov.  It mostly concentrates on her modern pieces - most specifically the creation of Pita's The Mother - which takes up a lot of the time in terms of footage.  This has already been broadcast on SkyArts in the UK.  

Congratulations to all of the deserving .... but have to confess I'm shocked that Joseph Sissens - such a stunning dancer - has NOT been promoted.  

Here's a film of him doing a variation for James in La Sylphide when at the Royal Ballet School - https://vimeo.com/144978625

 

 

I was thrilled to be able to attend a goodly amount of the SFB season in London.  I wrote the below on the British board.  All I can say is that San Francisco is one lucky city.

 

I very much enjoyed the performances (seven in total I think) I saw of the SFB while they were here.  I agree about the lighting - and there is no question but that the level of the dancing was fine;  VERY fine indeed. 

 

While certainly I missed Chung, Van Patten and Scheller (who I have long admired be it with NYCB or SFB), the ladies here in the London SFB company had many standouts.  I adored Froustey in Snowblind.  Those rich eyes have a morse code of their own.  A pensive alphabet kept flashing bright in their yearning.  Yan Yan Tan left me in wonder at the stealth of her elongated limbs as much as of her much appreciated longevity in no matter what work she appeared.  Totally adored Dores Andres - especially when she was matched with the superlative Joseph Walsh - be it in Ratmansky's Symphony No. 9, in Scarlett's Hummingbird or - and most crucially - in Peck's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming.  I saw the latter work a second time with a new cast during the Saturday afternoon matinee and it was just not the same experience.  Far from it.  The first cast held the focus so ably forged by by the initial community of the noted whole.  The second definitely didn't.  It almost struck me as a different work - knowing that, of course, at root it wasn't.  The Scarlett was more but not as assured at that matinee as it had been with its first cast.  Still it made me wonder if the Peck too might have been different/more focused had the choreographer himself been somewhere in the vicinity - much as Scarlett was.  (I know this to be true in the latter's case as I saw him come out of a pass door just before the start of the Hummingbird matinee.)  Sasha De Sola is a true spirit of joy and glistened in whatever role she was given which happily was much.  Young Wona Park defines potential.  I also very much enjoyed Jennifer Stahl (so affectionately ridden in the Marston) and Isabella DeVivo, a force of blissful nature. 

 

This Company too is one rich - as is our own Royal Ballet just now - in male adjuncts.  (I so admired how male on male partnering at SFB became - or most assuredly has become - a matter of simple Outbound course.)  Each of the SFB men were a part of a considerable and certainly notable whole.  The aforementioned Joseph Walsh, the ever electrifying Ulrik Birkkjaer and our own (as already noted earlier on) hair-raising Aaron Robison each dazzled in Ratmansky's Chamber Symphony as the very spirit of Shostakovitch.  Surely this has to be one of the finest dramatic works created for a senior male dancer in the first quarter of this century.  Each man here mentioned honoured it exceptionally.  Luke Ingham and Vitor Luiz (who has guested with ENB) both showed themselves masters of the art of partnering.  For me there were three outstanding dancers in the younger contingent:  the truly remarkable Angelo Greco who managed to hypnotise but never blur in everything he took on;  Lonnie Weeks, who is a genius of soulful bounty.  His closing solo in Wheeldon's gloriously telling Bound To was so affectionately searing in its compassion so as to render this treatise unforgettable.  The audience sat - as a whole - agog at its wallop.  Benjamin Freemantle - a new SFB principal not unlike our own tower of ecstacy, Marcelino Sambe - has the capacity to make simple in the viewer's eye a string of steps which are far from being so.  Theirs is a test of true brilliance.  

 

This was a wonderful gift.  Thank you Helgi Tommason (as astute an SFB Artistic Director as he was a NYCB dancer)  - and thank you Alistair Spaulding for making this prize possible.  It literally broke my heart that the audience for your rich gifts was so undeservedly underpopulated throughout.  Perhaps the time for such has passed in London.  Educational failures may well have come home to roost.  I don't want to actually believe that is true BUT if it IS so it saddens me even more.  I want to see that balletic lexicon extended as each of these works - with the exception for me of the Pita - strove to do.  That said, I felt - throughout - entirely privileged to have been proffered the luxury to attend this feast of balletic colloquy.  The rapturous fruition of its elated intercourse will not only stay in but shall inform my soul for many years to come.  That much I know. I certainly will do what I can to pass such memories on. 

 

 

Don't know if it has been mentioned elsewhere - but there was a lovely celebration of Fonteyn on Saturday night.  In so many ways a special outing.  Here is the line-up:

 

THE ROYAL BALLET

MARGOT FONTEYN

A CELEBRATION

SATURDAY 8 JUNE 2019

THE FIREBIRD

THE FIREBIRD – ITZIAR MENDIZABAL

IVAN TSAREVICH – NEHEMIAH KISH

THE BEAUTIFUL TSAREVNA – CLAIRE CALVERT

THE IMMORTAL KOSTCHEÏ – CHRISTOPHER SAUNDERS

THE ENCHANTED PRINCESSES

TARA-BRIGITTE BHAVNANI, MICA BRADBURY, ANNETTE BUVOLI, YUHUI CHOE, HELEN CRAWFORD, LETICIA DIAS, HANNAH GRENNELL, ISABEL LUBACH, KRISTEN MCNALLY, ROMANY PAJDAK, GINA STORM-JENSEN, LARA TURK

INDIANS, KOSTCHEÏ’S WIVES, YOUTHS, KIKIMORAS, THE BOLIBOTCHKI, MONSTERS, ATTENDANTS, PAGES, CAVALIERS

ARTISTS OF THE ROYAL BALLET, STUDENTS OF THE ROYAL BALLET SCHOOL

 

INTERVAL

Thomas Whitehead and Marianela Nunez in The Sleeping Beauty photo by Andrej Uspenski ROH

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY

THE ROSE ADAGE

PRINCESS AURORA – MARIANELA NUÑEZ

ENGLISH PRINCE – GARY AVIS

FRENCH PRINCE – NICOL EDMONDS

INDIAN PRINCE – NEHEMIAH KISH

RUSSIAN PRINCE – THOMAS WHITEHEAD

KING FLORESTAN – ALASTAIR MARRIOTT

HIS QUEEN – CHRISTINA ARESTIS

Marianela Nunez in The Sleeping Beauty photo by Andrej Uspenski ROH

NOCTURNE

BEATRIZ STIX-BRUNELL

 

THE WISE VIRGINS

ROMANY PAJDAK

Romany Pajdakin The Wise Virgins, photo by Andrej Uspenkie ROH

BIRTHDAY OFFERING

VARIATION

FUMI KANEKO

PAS DE DEUX

SARAH LAMB, RYOICHI HIRANO

Sarah Lamb and Ryoichi Hirano in Birthday Offering, photo by Andrej Uspenski ROH

ONDINE

FRANCESCA HAYWARD, EDWARD WATSON

Francesca Hayward in Ondine, photo Andrej Uspenski ROH

SYLVIA

MAYARA MAGRI

ANNETTE BUVOLI, CLAIRE CALVERT, YUHUI CHOE, LETICIA DIAS, HANNAH GRENNELL, CHISATO KATSURA, GINA STORM-JENSEN, LARA TURK

Mayara Magri in Sylvia, photo Andrej Uspenski ROH

DAPHNIS AND CHLOË

ANNA ROSE O’SULLIVAN, ALEXANDER CAMPBELL

Alexander Campbell and Anna Rose O’Sullivan in Daphnis and Chloe, photo by Andrej Uspenski ROH

ROMEO AND JULIET

NATALIA OSIPOVA, DAVID HALLBERG

David Hallberg and Natalia Osipova in Romeo and Juliet, photo by Andrej Uspenskie ROH

FAÇADE

TANGO

DARCEY BUSSELL, GARY AVIS

Darcey Bussell and Gary Avis in Fascade photo Andrej Uspesnski Darcey Bussell and Gary Avis, Facade photo by Andrej Uspenski ROH

LE CORSAIRE

YASMINE NAGHDI, VADIM MUNTAGIROV

Vadim Muntagirov and Yasmine Naghdi in Le Corsaire, photo Andrej Uspenski

APPARITIONS

LAUREN CUTHBERTSON, MATTHEW BALL

MICA BRADBURY, ANNETTE BUVOLI, ISABEL LUBACH, JULIA ROSCOE, LETICIA STOCK, GINA STORM-JENSEN, LARA TURK, YU HANG, DAVID DONNELLY, TÉO DUBREUIL, KEVIN EMERTON, TOMAS MOCK, ERICO MONTES, AIDEN O’BRIEN, FRANCISCO SERRANO, JOSEPH SISSENS

Lauren Cuthbertson and Matthew Ball in Apparitions

SO well deserved. 

I was at the mid-day matinee today.  Saw two thirds of it.  (I had an 11am meeting and the performance began at noon.)  Thought Osipova was very (and glowingly) Judith Bliss like as Natalia Petrovna.  Didn't really get Hallberg as Beliaev, though he partnered Osipova well in the last glorious PDD.  He is such a strange bird.  He can still hve nice line but - I don't really know how to put it - he wafts.  Kaneko was stunning in the SIC 1st Movement and Matthew Ball did well in his debut opposite her.  Nunez was potent in the 2nd Movement opposite Hirano who partnered well.  Choe has no right (as far as I'm concerned) ... well, is simply not technically apt for the third movement - from the evidence of this afternoon you would wonder how she ever got to be a soloist - but Campbell came through nonetheless outside her determined tandem.  Hayward struggled with the turns in the fourth (I begin to see why she wasn't given a Swan Lake - although she is SO ravishing in other things - like Vera in Month the other night) but Hay - Oh, my Hay - opposite her - was simply outstanding.  He is so luxuriously lithe and always dramatically and musically elegant at once and the same time.  The ballet, of course, is a thing of rapturous joy.  

Afterwards I found myself imagining when the current crop of senior principals has retired in a few years (i.e., Morera, Cuthbertson, Nunez, Osipova and Lamb having departed on the ladies side ... and Soares (already gone really), Kish (now into Character roles), Watson, McRae and Bonneli from the male contingent having moved on) .... what glories there will be.  On the women's side you would/could/will??? have Naghdi, Hayward, Takada, O'Sullivan and Kaneko and (from the male perspective) Muntagirov, Ball, Sambe, Corrales, Sissens and Hay.  They ALMOST wouldn't need to announce casting in far advance (although I'm sure the audience will - understandably - be braying for such).  The principal team as a whole would - in such a case - be so strong as a unit it could speak proudly for itself no matter the combo.  Well done, KO'H.  

Does anyone know where Jurgita Dronina is?  I see she is not in the June NBoC casting and, sadly, is not in the ENB Cinderella at the RAH ones either.  She is missed.  

13 hours ago, Leah said:

Sorry if this is too off-topic, but I'm going to Glyndebourne for the first time this summer. I was planning on wearing a nice summer dress, but should I go for black tie instead?

Leah, I'm sure your nice summer dress will go down a treat  

I would say 'if you want to go ahead' ... but don't feel obliged.  Of course it depends where you are sitting .... but even in the centre of the Grand Tier I think you might - just might - be the only ones in true evening dress - especially as the weather is said (well, according to the BBC) to be fine.   If you go 'smart casual' I'm certain you will fit right in.  

Glyndebourne is, of course, an entirely different cup of tea nowadays

 

Thanks so much, Leah and Olga.  

Thanks so, Nanushka.  That is HUGELY appreciated 😉 

Forgive me for intruding ... but I wondered if someone could help me.  I'm coming to NYC in February 2020 and wanted to spend the evenings at NYCB (of course)!!!  Can someone tell me when single tickets for the NYCB's Winter 2020 season go on sale.  I would like to get in on the ground floor so to speak 😉 I would be most grateful if someone could let me know.  Much, much thanks.  

They have just FORMALLY ANNOUNCED the ROH 2019/20 season with this link:  https://www.roh.org.uk/news/royal-opera-house-2019-20-season-announced

 

Meanwhile ... published earlier:- 

 

If you flip through the calendar you will find the make-up of both the Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera seasons:

https://www.roh.org.uk/events/calendar/2019/09

Full lengths are:  Manon, Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, Onegin, Swan Lake (count them 25!!!) and McGregor's The Dante Project one part of which premieres this summer in LA. 

NO BALANCHINE - and only a Monotones segment and Enigma Variations from Ashton.  A far cry from Sarasota in that regard.  

May be easier to scroll down on this link and you will find all of the new opera/ballet productions for 2019/20:
http://www.roh.org.uk/productions?_ga=2.139804410.835951387.1553237162-1432497339.1553237162

 

3 hours ago, canbelto said:

Catazaro has danced Gremin in Munich:

And very good he was too .... He was also excellent in Spartacus in the (again) relatively small role of the Gladiator opposite the titan of Osiel Gouneo (who chose to dance the part keeping firm control of his line rather than traditionally charging through it in desecrated barrel leaps).  Seems Catazaro can really hold his own in Munich - has proved his worth - and has dramatic weight.  I think he will do well and prosper there from the fresh (to him) repertory.  Given his relative youth it will give him a healthy platform from which to move on and the future prospect of many meaningful guesting opportunities I'm sure.