MJ

You've got some VERY strong words there. Rose was flawed, but beautiful nonetheless. Black swan was great, as was Ms. Murphy. Lang Lang Stole the show! There were beautiful people in the audience, but one woman with a hideous ruffled/ribboned dress with a big ruffly hat to match, truly inappropriate for the opera house. it looked like a high-school sewing project! I saw the Ostrich dress as well, up close it looked great! There were large groups of very late folks. where did they come from, Dinner? Cocktails?

Great dancing, lousy package Last night, I had an enjoyable evening as well, the company was brilliant. Compalints: Ticket booth sold me a Wednesday ticket at the Day of Performance window, and was late for the first performance Costumes: Fearful Symmetries costumes were a bit off in color for the men, I could not tell if there was a single color of red or if they were shades of red, very distracting. Sweat was very noticeable. Symphony in C tutus began to noticably wrinkle towards the end, and the male tunics made the guys look chubby (everyone knows a NYCB dancer is not chubby) Playbill: Writer Ken Smith mentioned the Chinese Cultural Revolution "...yielded some positive dividends..." more than 30 million Chinese died in Mao's Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution! I would strongly recommend the removal of this offensive remark from future printings. Orchestra and company were great, the package of a night at the ballet needs some tuning. Who was that male dancer in Symphony with the incredible extension?!!! MJ

I did not see NYCB. but I did not catch the whole thing. Another lampost fell down and injured two youngsters. Every broadway show competes to get in the parade, as well as the rockettes. Ballanchine Trust may have issues as well. Mike

Cabro, My personal feelings about last night. My opinions are my own. Afternoon of a Faun did not strike me as a brilliant piece, it was a little too slow for my taste. Especially to open. I heard two dancers behind me gasp during a PDD with a lunge. The men in the tango peice deserved a bow, they were spot on and gave a commendable performance. My fav of the night. ABT does a peice from the Richmond ballet, that is great! (ADC Alumnus) ABT can be rightfully proud of the men in their comapny, and a lot of the peices showed off their capabilities. Bravo to the Audience! The silent sections of "Gong" were great, noone coughed, no cell phones went off. I heard every little noise on stage from the rear mezzanine. I'm not a big Modern Contemporary Ballet fan, but I liked Gong. Mr. Morris has some nice Choreo. I hope the ABT does his "Sylvia" some day. Did the orchestra assist with the clapping in "Rodeo"? Beutiful rendition of Copeland by the orchestra. I was waiting for the medium rare steak to arrive at my seat. Looks like ABT is building up its repetoire of american choreographers. With a name like ABT, they should promote american arts. Unlike Swan Lake in the spring, noone slipped. What really suprised me is I did not know a single person in the house. last night was a spur of the moment, I was in the city on business and had time to go. MJ

I saw Red Lantern Last night in Brooklyn. Amazing. Act I was the best drama I have ever seen in a Ballet. Music was recorded mostly (some live Chinese Opera music) but pitch perfect. KUDOS to NBC and Zhang Yimou. If you are in NYC this weekend: GO GO GO!!!!! Subway to BAM (BAM.org) is worth it. MJ

Mel, you caould also put black makeup around the eye to help hide you are using a sheer eyepatch. Mike

I saw Sylvia at SFB this spring, I love the score. Why don't more companies do Sylvia? Mike

FF, Al D'Amato had the best constituent service people in the world. Hillary and Chucky cannot hold a candle to him. Pity he no longer is in public service. If your son or daughter was in jail in another country , everyone (not just new yorkers) knew who to call first. MJ

Mayor Mike gives lotsa cash, and rarely inisists his name go on top of the building or playbill. Excellent news! Bravo Bloomy! For DTH people, the real hard work begins now. Putting together a viable and stable company will be difficult, with a lot of tough decisions. MJ

I never go to BAM, I'm not familiar with Brooklyn enough. I wished the Joyce was awarded part of the new Perf. Arts center at the new WTC. Yes, NYC is blessed with an abundance of dance riches. I read that the stage unions can add a lot to the tickets we buy. Some companies may avoid NYC due to the expense of performing in NYC, especially if performances do not sell out. Let us not forget the power of the NYC critics, they can destroy an international tour before it starts. Why do you think broadway shows never start on broadway? Other american cities without a great company may appreciate a 2-3 night stand more than NYC. Ballet is now high brow culture like Opera and theatre, and all cities want to support the arts. US opera companies are 100 years old, most ballet companies are 30-40, and even younger. MJ

Can we all get Netflix to carry more ballet DVDs? Cheers Mike

Canada, wonderful country, nice people. Looks just like 'Muhrika, except for the metric crap. Driving a car in Canada is fun, I have no Idea how fast I'm going. I could be breaking the speed of light. Tim Hortons is not as good as Krispy Kreme, but everything else is acceptable. Beer there is excellent, you can get real European beers on tap in Canada, not watered down versions here in the states. Taxes are a killer up there, you think taxes are high in NYC or Kaleeforneeya? As a dual national, (me mum's Irish, so I was given automatic irish citizenship) I know that applying for citizenship in another country could void your american citizenship, so be very careful what you do. Cheers, Mike

I just read the DTH school closed last week. Studios lost their insurance. All hope may be lost. So very sad. Mike

What company did he dance with? I have not seen any photos, I'm sure they have been put in safekeeping by now. Press mentioned he has been choreo'ing for the past few years in France. Mike

Eland, I hate to disagree, but DTH needs an executive director who can balance the books and keep the company going financially. Mr. Mitchell is a great AD, I'm sure it is near impossible to run everything (artistic, logistic, and financial). An AD needs to allow the board and executive management to run their side of the company. Likewise the CEO/board needs to allow the AD to make all artistic decisions. Fundraisers and sponsorships will be key to DTHs revival, CEOs and wealthy grahnde dahmes like to sip champagne and brag about how they "saved DTH." Let them brag, as long as their checks don't bounce. Alas, the dahmes will rarely venture north of 96th street, so DTH needs to perfrom/fundraise as often as possible in midtown or downtown. So sad but true. How do you do fundraisers without comapny dancers? Will they return? -Mike

The NY1 headline says the company will go on a two-YEAR hiatus while the article says it will be two months. Hopefully it will be the shorter. Will DTH still perform at City Center next month at that dance festival?

What is truly sad is the future of the dancers, some of who dreamt their whole lives of dancing in DTH. The school may survive, but tuition may go up as the company will not perform for fundraisers. NYC will not let this cultural institution go quietly into the night, but many changes will need to happen from a management point of view. The Apollo theatre went through the same thing during the Dinkins administration, bankrupcy and house cleaning were absolutely necessary. I would strongly recommend to the arts community to create a dancer's fund for the DTH dancers, to bide them over while the DTH reorganizes. Giving money to DTH now is futile. Whoever runs DTH needs to look south of 110th street for future stability and growth. There are plenty of performance spaces in manhattan to attract ballet fans and financial support. Lincoln center now has a Jazz orchestra, why not an African American Ballet company? Does DTH perfporm a Nutz? I love the Duke ellington version of Tch's suite. Can NYC support ANOTHER Nutz? -Mike

NY Sunday News today: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ideas_opin...0p-200521c.html

As the Balanchine Centenial comes to a close, the Ashton Centenial begins. Royal ballet, Birmingham Royal ballet, Joffrey, K-Ballet from Japan all will be performing for the festival. All will do some Ashton. http://lincolncenter.org/ Enjoy the summer, MJ

Nutz at lincoln center.

I just picked up a copy of the score from Amazon, 6 bucks. I'm really suprised more companies don't present this. the story is very 19th century, very victorian. Mr. M has updated the peice enough to make it a welcome addition to any repetoire. mj

Congrats! Keep up the great work! Mike

beautiful music gorgeous dancers Ballet portions were exceptional, the true Morris peices were *OK* The peasant dance in the first act made the dancers look fat, IMHO The Tird act made me cry. It blew me away, I was luck to be in SFO that week.

I saw the Thursday night performance, I really liked it. I was in SFO for training on my new job :party: and went to the opera house at the spur of the moment. Got a seat in the second row of the Balcony. 10 bucks! The Cab ride home was more expensive. It was not Radio City, but it was a very big house. Did anyone else hear a saxofone in the third act? or did my ears deceive me? The Company was flawless, Ok Choreography. I'll try to post a review in a day or two. Mike

For all the non-Ahmerikens out there, please forgive my grandstanding.... America has alwasy been a nation of Immigrants. The Gubernator of CaleeFornYa is foreign born. So I guess most dancers in ABT will never be able to run for President. Besides that, everyone who immigrates legally and passes the test, can legally become an American. Even though muslim exteremists have killed some of my friends on 9/11, I still welcome all to this country. Every nationality has contributed immensely to this coutry, if it were not for a kind professor from Syria, I would not have gotten my Masters in Informations Systems. America has always strived for being the best, Ballet should not be an exception. Mike