CharlieH

Heck, it looks like ABT is putting Sleeping Beauty to rest for a year or two. So much for seeing Misty Copeland's Aurora in the USA anytime soon, following her upcoming debut in Australia, unless she performs the role as a guest with another US company. I'm looking forward to my first live view of Ms Copeland at the Kennedy Center this winter. Not sure how substantial may be her role in Whipped Cream but at least I'll be able to see what all the fuss is about.

According to her Instagram, Joy was in my neck of the woods (DC) last week, taking class with The Washington Ballet. Don't want to read much into this but... https://www.instagram.com/p/BYqsSm7nkoy/?taken-by=joy.Womack

Not until September 2018. Good! So he may still be a part of Ratmansky's Harlequinade reconstruction (Harlequin or Pierrot).

At least it's better than some of those stories on TLC's "90-day Fiance." Congratulations to Alina and Slava.

Thanks for these recollections, Buddy. I just read through the ABT forum's thread on her recent farewell (Mozartiana). Now I understand why her admirers were so rattled.

Buddy, I saw Part as a guest at the MT, in the title role of Giselle. It may have been 2014-ish (?). Unfortunately, she was like a fish out of water. Many of the regulars in the audience wondered why she returned to her home in that role. She would have been much better served by the role of Myrta in that particular ballet. Hopefully that recent sad experience in St. Petersburg will not hurt her chances of returning to her original home troupe. On the other hand, I recall a fantastic ABT Swan Lake at the Kennedy Center, ca 2009, starring Veronika Part. She can be wonderful in the grand Petipa ballerina roles. Nikiya is another great one for her.

Thanks for this. I had assumed "effective immediately."

I suppose this means that we in Washington, DC, will not get to see Simkin in Ratmansky's Whipped Cream at the Kennedy Center next winter. From what I'd read, the leading role seemed to have been tailor made for him.

This dovetails with the Mariinsky's week of La Bayadere in DC, so I see a lot of overlap with the leading casts in DC. Big difference is that the wonderful male leads, Shklyarov & Parish, are appearing only in California. Would it be too much to hope that they may also detour to Washington, DC? Selina, Ivanova, Ostreikovskaya, Stepin, Vasily Tkachenko - all wonderful soloists. Perhaps they, too, will be winding their way to Washington, DC's La Bayadere the following week?

Any word from Miami City Ballet on preparations to ride-out Hurricane Irma (due tonight/tomorrow morning)? I recall that MCB's headquarters are near South Beach, which is a low-lying area. Thinking about them.

The words "commercial release" and "classical arts" do not compute for the current Kennedy Center management team. Perhaps if it were a general Dance DVD blending hip-hop, modern and ballet excerpts, it would fly?

Thank you, Kathleen. Very helpful.

I'm thinking of going to NY for the "21st C Choreographers" (Fall 2017 Gala) program, which includes four world premieres + a Martins work that I've not yet seen, Chairman Dances. Can anybody shed light on the four choreographers who are creating the new ballets? Other than Justin Peck, I've read very little about them. Even Peck's output seems to be spotty - some great (like Year of the Rabbit), others not so (Most Incredible Thing). What have regular NYCB audiences loved (or not) about the various choreographers?

The film was viewed with fascination in Russia. I didn't hear or read anything negative from critics or my fellow Bolshoi ballet-goers. I recall some resistance from the official church but they seem to complain about any film or play that depicts Nicholas II and his family humans on earth because of their sainthood status.

I don't recall the pulling of scarves but this sounds like something that choreographer Roland Petit would do. Very Petit-esque! Deflope, as a marketing researcher, do you think that what you describe about marketing dollars and eyeballs may be the reason why the annual Kennedy Center Honors event has virtually eliminated all forms of the classical performing arts from its shows? The KC Honors used to be a tribute-event that happened to include a show with musical numbers/segments for each of the five honorees, usually from the classical realm. Viewership was rather low but CBS seemed to not care for years, telecasting it almost as a uplifting charitable cause. It seems to have evolved into (mostly) a prime-time TV show for which most of the honorees should come from pop culture, so as to make the show interesting to more average viewers, garner high viewership numbers, which usually lead to higher ad fees. The KC Honors TV show is yet another example of what, in the past, could have been a vehicle for enlightening new potential arts lovers that has gone the way of pop culture.

Maybe it's the Eastern Euro (Hungarian) upbringing of my parents. Not rich by any stretch. Blue collar. Lots of pride, though. Mom actually would tell us to shush up and pay attention when Presidents Kennedy or Johnson or Nixon were speaking. I guess that they were so happy to have escaped to the West in '56. The Disney show on Sundays was also treated as an "event." I recall a lovely Disney film about the Royal Danish Ballet shown on two consecutive Sundays, which may have been my very first memory of ballet.

Intriguing. I'm going to have to figure this out and move out of the Dinosaur Era. Thanks, volcanohunter.

True. Back in the '60s, though, watching a quality TV event w/ family was just a normal thing that a middle-class family did, even if they did not have a particular passion for the arts. It was done just as kids and parents circled around the TV to hear a Presidential Oval Office address in the old days...or rallying 'round the radio for FDR's fireside chats. I believe that parent's general interest in wishing to uplift the family and the availability of time has changed. Also, there weren't so many entertainment choices then as there are now. Yes, we now have DVDs to borrow or buy or look-up on YouTube (not the same thing as watching on a big screen in the company of family and discussing later) but does the average middle-class parent give a hoot? Do families now make time to "rally 'round the laptop" and make the viewing of an event (arts, presidential Oval Office speech, live sports match). No - every kid, adult and even the pet of the household has his/her own device. It's hard to inculcate values, including love of classical arts, when we're all doing our own thing. It's a real challenge for arts institutions.

Back to discussing dinosaur-style media: television. Not so long ago, today's "boomers" were initiated on the wonders of classical performing arts via television, usually at the gentle suggestion of their mothers or other relative in the house. "TV time" often involved sitting in front of the tube, on a big sofa. "It's Leonard Bernstein"...or "time for Ed Sullivan, today with Topo Gigio and Villella/McBride." Later, it was PBS "Dance in America" during its golden years. It worked for many of us boomers without access to live arts. We're now part of the remaining core audience in our 60s and 70s. My point: the impetus for sitting down and watching (truly watching and absorbing) the arts used to come from an at-home family member. Those family members (parents, grandparents) aren't necessarily there in 2017 to carefully guide & school the kids in the fine arts/classical culture. How can a similar "guided home experience" happen in 2017 between parents/guardians and kids in the age of internet? Does anybody have time? Does anybody care other than hard-core arts lovers on sites like Ballet Alert? Trying to be optimistic here.

Sorrrrry!!! I honestly thought that it was a cutely-named new outdoor arts venue near Seattle...like Wolf Trap in DC or ArtPark in upstate NY (if that's still there).

Helene, where is Bayreth? Is this the same as Bayreuth in Germany (Wagner Festival)? My triple bill - Sylphides/Chopiniana Theme and Variations Napoli Act III (my favorite closer ever)

Tickets are far too expensive to purchase them just to see 14 or 15 minutes of Other Dances. In my case, I would also have to drive 4+ hours to NY. I'll be doing that for NYCB's fall season a couple of times but not for ABT. What a shame that they are not programming ballets from their treasure-trove of Tudor, Fokine or DeMille rep. Or even Mark Morris or Twyla Tharp.

I'm unfamiliar with ABT's recently-acquired contemporary rep, so I went back to read this forum's "ABT fall season 2014" thread on the premiere of Scarlett's "With a Chance for Rain." It seems that Ms Copeland's physique, and how it was "used" in the ballet, was definitely a topic of discussion here. A small quote from the Oct. 23, 2014, post of member "abatt" reviewing the premiere of the Scarlett ballet at the gala: Except for the last few minutes of the Scarlett ballet, which was a lovely pdd for Hee Seo and Gomes, the work ranged from tedious to offensive. I didn't think most the of the ballet was well constructed in terms of the choreography. The offenisve part were segments where James Whiteside had to grab Misty's boobs. The other offensive part had both Misty and Whiteside shaking their rear ends at the audience in a twerking kind of motion. What foolishness. This wasn't humor. This was juvenille. Also, why is every Scarlett ballet I've seen performed in near darkness. Is he afraid that light might force us to focus on the choreography? There were no curtain calls for the new Scarlett ballet. From the sounds of it, this work seems unballetic and vulgar. I guess that explains the "bouncy" aspect of the photo, even though it is a still. The odd thing is that, even though they appear in the publicity shot, Copeland and Whiteside are not cast in the pdd this fall. Instead, I see that Seo/Zhurbin and Boylston/Foster are cast in "Elegy pdd" from "With a Chance of Rain". Maybe the "boob grabbing" pdd is being supplanted by the "lovely pdd" (Hee Seo) described by abatt? Now I know that I'm definitely planning to skip this, with all due respect to the dancers. It's not their fault.

I received the flyer too. It was just "unclassical" in street clothes (tube top) but that reflects much of the repertoire that will be danced in the fall season. The flyer and rep didn't compel me to buy tickets.

Mnacenani, if the cinemacasts are available in your home city of Istanbul, then you won't have to spend on a flight to Moscow.