liebs

At the end of last season, Capps told me that he wanted to try his luck on Broadway. Don't know how he is doing but I saw him in class at Steps, so presumably he is still dancing.

Back in the Lucia Chase days, there were many rumors about certain dancers who families gave significant gifst to the company. Haven't heard any of that recently - maybe I'm out of the loop.

Last year, I saw Onegin both at NDT and ABT. The Lenski at NDT (a young Italian) did a much better job in conveying the sense of being a person and using natural movements than did Corella atABT. In the final solo, I felt Corella was showing us how many pirouettes he could do - not the feelings of a young man about to die in a duel. Thanks Jasper for you report.

They were both marvelous teachers and it was a lovely studio (now the second floor of a Barnes & Noble). Thomas and Fallis gave Sean Lavery his early training.

I think we all care about the future of one of the world's great ballet companies. So, if you had the power who would you appoint and why?

I'm an arts administrator and involved with ballet, modern dance and theatre companies. How about being a volunteer? Everybody always needs intelligent and dedicated help.

I think that most arts groups don't know who is in the audience because they haven't done the research, which is - I admit - expensive. But what we all see in the theatre is at best anecdotal evidence. Not something I, as an arts administrator, would use to make decisions.

I'm currently reading "Fast Talking Dames," a profile of these stars and their screwball comedies as social history. You might want to check it out, as I read I want to see all of the movies that I missed or haven't seen in years. Midnight is one of my favorites as is Palm Beach Story.

Catherine (known as Kate) d'Amboise eventually became the non-dancing member of the family. She got a degree in early childhood education, I think. And for awhile, she was a care giver at my duaghter's day care center, this was 12-13 years ago. I know she has since started her own family. She was/is a lovely woman.

How about Ringer as Swanhilda?

Farrell Fan, I think most of the NYCB corps is now too young to drink - maybe that's why they don't frequent the bar.

I agree, the men were a disappointment. None of them really seemed to understand Balanchine musciality and their partnering technique made for some scary moments in the Swan Lake I saw. They also fail to straighten their legs fully much of the time and it makes them look heavy. Is this the company that produced Baryshnikov?

No, I was sitting very close and their was a layer of beige or gold tulle under the white. It bothered me also.

American ballet to me has a quality of spaciousness, that comes from the limitless land - very different from England or the continent. Balanchine captures that as does de Mille and Robbins.

American ballet to me has a quality of spaciousness, that comes from the limitless land - very different from England or the continent. Balanchine captures that as does de Mille and Robbins.

Serenade on opening night was the moment I'd been waiting for since 9/11. Nutcracker was fun as always, I could see it every night. Paul Taylor's Black Tuesday, which I saw once at ABT and once danced by his company was the best new work of the season. Taylor's dancers brought more depth to the roles but I enjoyed ABT's program, which included Rodeo (still holding its own after all these years.) David Gordon's season at Danspace was an example of how artists can do much with very little. A simple vocabulary and a little scenery but lots to say about men and women relate to each other. Valda Setterfield and Gordon continue to astound with the depth of their passion for dancing and each other. Eugene Onegin at the Dutch National Ballet was a pleasant surprise. Decent choreography danced with committment makes for a moving evening. I enjoyed this performance more than the one I saw at ABT, although Ferri continues to be a performer who can move you with her beautiful dancing and delicate acting. City Ballet's repertoire continues to enrich my life. This year winter and spring brought us masterpieces such as Serenade, Prodigal Son and Divertimento #15, great ballets like Who Cares? and those B+ works by Balanchine (Walpurgisnacht, Cortege, Suite #3)that I love because each shows us some aspect of classical dancing that no one else has revealed. I was delighted to see The Dream at ABT, although I had many reservations about how it was danced. I hope McKenzie keeps those Ashton works in the rep and revives Symphonic Varitations. Bizet looked strange to me but still I'd love to see a revival of Symphonie Concertante. A big disappointment was Stroman's choreography for Oklahoma. She used a hammer where De Mille used an ice pick. And I never seen a production where the title song was so poorly staged or failed so miserably to get rousing applause. I guess the new season starts with the Kirov and Merce Cunningham in July - cann't wait!

On my very first trip to London as a teenager, I saw Poll on a triple bill with de Valois's "Rakes Progress." The contrast between these two made for a very intesting evening. Pauqita, I think you'd like Poll. I also remember the Joffrey's version fondly. Mel, did Rebecca Wright dance Poll? If not, she should have. Both of these ballets represent good if not great works that enriched their companies' repertoires and now seem gone for good. It's too bad.

I'm heart broken that Ritter is leaving NYCB. I only hope Boston appreciates him and that he gets the kind of exposure and roles he deserves.

I only saw Haiku in the gala preview performance but was impressed. This is I belief Evans first ballet, although he participated in the first Choreographic Institute. He uses the dancers well and knows how to create drama in the ppd. The movement is neo-classical in feeling, I think. The piece ran out of steam towards the end but he may have fixed that by now. I thought the piece was well lit and well costumed.

And I'd like to see Ringer as Columbine in Harlequinadfe with Bouder as Pierrette (sp?).

Wheeldon has clearly been distracted this year with Broadway, and works for other companies. I think NYCB has been rather generous in allowing him alot of freedom. Maybe, it is Wheeldon who needs to be committted to NYCB rather than the other way around?

Leigh,re: Ringer, she's also debuting in Theme with Askegard. This should be interesting. In addition to those Leigh mentioned, I think Fayette is dancing very well this season. For awhile I thought he had stopped improving but his performances this season had more polish than in the past. Amanda Edge has been everywhere. I admired how "big" she danced in Who Cares? I suppose she'll never be a soloist but the company would be poorer without dancers like her. And Natanya, Walker, Hanson, etc. Fowler and Hanna both seem to be maturing nicely. Now if they could just begin to understand that partnering is more than just making sure the girl doesn't fall. It is nice to see Korbes back but both performances I saw of Interplay were awful. Nobody seemed to understand the jazziness of it and Korbes was miscast in the ppd. Most missed - Miranda Weese and Jared Angle.

This was one of those rare evenings that only NYCB can provide, three extraordinary and very different Balanchine ballets danced with passion and musicality. The program began with Agon with Boal, Somogyi, Evans and Korowski. Boal danced with his usual comittment and elegance. Somogyi made her debut in the the pas de trois and restored the musical accents and details that I remember from the best performances of Calegari and her predecesors. I wouldn't have thought that Evans and Korowski were an ideal couple but they give a terrific rendering of the ppd. They brought a passion and sexuality to it that I haven't felt since the days when its was danced by Farrell and P. Martins. I hadn't seen Whelan's performance in La Sonnambula prior to Tuesday and was unprepared for the beauty of it. In many ways, her unorthodox physique makes her seem an unearthly creature but I wasn't expecting that quality to work so well in this romantic context. And those bourees are magic. Hubbe gave her excellent support and threw himself into the role of the Poet. Many here have commented on Ringer's sunny personality but she was convincingly vindictive as the Coquette. Soto was frightening when he pulled out the knife and rushed into the tower. What a strange ballet this is. Every dance has some undertone of decadence and some moments are overtly nasty. There was a moment when Capps as one of the guests leaned over and whispered soemthing to his "date" that was delgihtfully malicious. I also want to mention lovely dancing by Edge and Hoffmans in the divertissment ppd. I had never noticed before how well stretched and pointed his feet are and how well he uses them. Who Cares clased the program and despite a few partnering glitches and one or two little mishaps, it was a magical performance. The corp and demis performed well. Philip Neal gave his ballerinas strong support and was freer and more charming in his solo than I remember him being in the past. Based on tonight's performance, each of the ballerinas seemed to represent a Broadway archetype. Ringer was the glamorous leading lady, Asanelli the dainty ingenue and Stafford the perky soubrette. All related with great charm to Neal - a dashing leading man. I've seen many ballerinas in The Man I Love and remember McBride and Kistler with particular affection. But now I have to add Ringer to the pantheon - she was born to dance this role. The wittiness of her dancing in Fascinating Rythem was delightful. As Leigh said, Asanelli looks great when she's moving and as the girl in blue she was terrific - radiant and carefree in her difficult solo. Tuesday was the first time I've felt Stafford could be a ballerina, her technique is stunning but she has always seemed somewhat remote. Not this time. Maybe musical comedy is just something that comes naturally to American dancers but this role released a confidence, charm and gaiety in Stafford that I hadn't seen before. With her pony tail bouncing, she tackled and conquered the difficult Stairway to Paradise solo that Balanchine choreographed for Von Arnoldigen. Stafford didn't have Von Arnoldigen's power (she's proably half her size) but she handled the technical challenges much more successfully than Ash did a few years ago. And she related to well to Neal in the ppd. I left the theatre in pure bliss.

After years of working in professional theatre and dance - mostly with artists making new work - and none of them ever felt they had enough rehearsal time. Obviously, Wheeldon is no exception.

I saw the same cast for Divertimento #15 at a different performance and was struck by how immature all the performances were except those of Neal and Somoygi. I know there were a number of debuts and they were well done but this is clearly a ballet that requires some growing into. A few random observations - Rutherford may some day be great in the third ppd (what I always think of as the "Saland" role) but she needs to make some technical improvements particularly in the way she uses her feet. She doens't really work them (contrast her with Stafford)and it deprieves her dancing of a kind of fine edge that it should have. I thought Taylor overdanced. Divert does not really need a six o'clock penchee in every arabesque. Less would be more here but I remember Kistler having the some kind of flaw when she first went into the piece. Taylor could also try to emulate the kind of creamy movement from step to step that Somoygi had in this performance. Neal was having a good night - no problems with his turns. Asanelli made a decent technical debut but there was little of the ease and charm we've seen in other of her performances. Unlike Weese, she did not command the ballet but again this may just be a matter of time and maturity. All in all, this performance did not have the magic of recent performances by the cast that included Weese and Korbes.