canbelto

The person with the Spanish flag was Gonzalo Garcia and the woman in green is his girlfriend.

For those who were curious, Robert Fairchild did make a return to bid Joaquin farewell and he and Tiler Peck were onstage together.

Think Laracey specializes in adagio dancing and in NYCB the biggest way to get noticed in the corps is to be a really strong allegro technician.

Was anyone at Joaquin's farewell this afternoon? I was there. A very moving heartwarming occasion: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2018/10/farewell-joaquin.html

Well tonight was apparently Giovanni Villalobos' last appearance with the company because he got a solo bow at the end of "West Side Story Suite" and he brought out a flag of Puerto Rico and the dancers cheered heartily for him.

Wonderful news! Congrats to them all. Joe Gordon is really deserved. He's been dancing principal roles for several seasons.

All companies do indeed have their baked-in strengths and weaknesses but these strengths and weaknesses shift over time. It's not in a static state. For instance in the 1950's if anyone would have said that the Royal Ballet would one day struggle with Ashton ballets people would have said "Nonsense!" Yet from what I've seen the Royal Ballet nowadays performs MacMillan at a much more consistent quality than Ashton. Likewise the POB is getting loud complaints nowadays that the classical arm of their repertoire is in tatters as the company shifts increasingly towards contemporary works. No one would have said this in the days of, say, Laurent Hilaire and Elisabeth Maurin. When was the last time you actually saw NYCB in something other than Balanchine than Robbins? From what I've observed the company has become more versatile in the last 15 years or so but there are now some dancers in the company who struggle with both Balanchine and Robbins.

Every year NYCB accepts about 4 or 5 apprentices into the company. Some do not get corps contracts. Other graduates go to ballet companies around the country and around the world. It's sort of like how the Vaganova Academy is a feeder school for the Mariinsky but that doesn't mean that Vaganova grads necessarily go into the Mariinsky.

First of all "Balanchine style" encompasses a huge range, as does "Robbins style." Dancing Agon is very different from dancing Coppelia, just as dancing Glass Pieces is different from Dances at a Gathering. Second of all very few SAB alumni get jobs with NYCB. Their training is meant to be all-encompassing and they go to all different dance companies around the world. Third of all time didn't stop in 1983 -- NYCB repertoire now has many pieces by contemporary choreographers.

True. Moss Hart's Act One is such a book -- a great autobiography that does not talk about his personal life at all. Don't think Paul Taylor's Private Domain discusses his private life either. But it was a different time I guess -- Sir Frederick Ashton, Merce Cunningham, Stephen Sondheim (!!!), Jerome Robbins, Erik Bruhn among other giants did not pen their autobiographies. Their reasons for not doing so will I guess remain private forever.

Oh I agree that it's wonderful that alumni are coming back to coach. And I agree their knowledge is invaluable. I just think that Clifford's comments will cause a rift with SAB as Suki Shorer, Kay Mazzo, etc have been teaching there for decades and it's never a good idea to come into an organization and say "everything is wrong, only I can fix it." As for Suzanne Farrell, AFAIK she does very little coaching of outside companies nowadays. She did help stage MCB's Jewels and some things at the Mariinsky in the 90s but ever since she focused on her own troupe/summer intensives/master classes she hasn't done much coaching or staging. I assume this is by choice.

I'd like to know what he considers "sadly distorted and mannered" about Balanchine classes nowadays. If he runs NYCB he will also be in charge of SAB and it won't start off well if he basically tells the whole faculty "you're doing it all wrong."

I don;t want to speculate but the men who did write memoirs (Jacque d'Amboise, Eddie Villela) were both straight. Male dancers from that era who were not might have wanted to keep their private lives private.

"A wonderful dancer no matter his color" sounds like something that would have been said more 1958 than 2018.

Wow, they've been deleted as quickly as they were put up.

I find this kind of relentless self promotion offputting.

The company has had a lot of turnover recently: Principals: Joaquin de Luz (retiring) Chase Finlay, Zach Catazaro, Amar Ramasar (fired) Soloists: Savannah Lowery (retired) Corps: Likolani Brown, Cameron Dieck, Meagan Mann, Megan Johnson

Thankfully right now the Concerto DSCH is still on Oct 5, 7, and 9th.

I was at last night's performance. It was a very long program. It was also Joaquin's last James. Sterling Hyltin was exquisite as the Sylph, and Joaquin clearly was enjoying dancing James for the last time. Only thing was Lauren King was so much taller than Joaquin, Sterling, and Daniel Ulbricht that she towered over all of them. Odd casting choice. NYCB currently has a whole bunch of shorter, sweet-faced girls who could have danced Effie.

Oops my bad. Am I imagining things or was it originally supposed to be another ballet?

Huh? It's not being performed as a standalone during either the winter or spring seasons.

Hmm can I ask where you are sitting? Symphony in C is one of those ballets where sitting high enough so you can see the corps patterns is absolutely necessary to appreciate the piece.

Anyone go to the fall gala last night?

Anyone know what happened to Adrian Danchig-Waring? According to instagram he didn't come out for the Stravinsky Violin curtain calls.

See I appreciate Mearns but I think she's overwrought for Diamonds. Her facial expressions often convey too much angst. I think Diamonds' true sister pas de deux is the Kingdom of the Shades scene between Solor and Nikya. The Diamonds girl not quite of this world, and always just a hair out of reach. So I prefer the cooler, more serene Diamonds couples. Of the ones I've seen I thought Olga Smirnova/Semyon Chudin were amazing, as are Reichlen/Janzen. And of course I never got to see them live but there is this: