FPF

I don't know why he thinks that the mystery female ballerina would necessarily be closed to coaching by dancers who worked with Balanchine. If he is referring to Wendy Whelan, she has always seemed very committed to working to achieve the intent of the choreographer.

This performance is being shown on PBS tonight at 9 and should be available for streaming on Saturday. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/an-american-in-paris-the-musical-about/8895/

I haven't watched the whole thing, but this is exactly what I noticed so far. She talks about what you do, he talks about what I did. Also, thank you for posting this BalanchineFan.

Ashley Hod is dancing again in Shanghai:

Happy to have helped!

At my local theater that shows the RB, Tuesday is always a bargain day for the other movies, so I wonder if Landmark chose it specifically because it's a lower attendance day, and they won't lose money if there are empty seats because the price is higher. When I saw Swan Lake this summer, for example, I don't think there were even 20 people in the theater. But I'd also prefer the weekend--I haven't gone to these much either because of the weeknight scheduling.

I saw PTDC at The Egg on Friday night. First, I want to say what a great venue it is, even though the building itself is odd. The seats are comfortable, lots of leg-room, great sightlines. The prices are also super-reasonable--a friend and I subscribed to the entire series for the first time this year and our tickets for this performance cost only $19.75 (reduced from $36, which is still pretty good). If you're in the area, it's a great place to see a performance. The program was 2/3 the same as the program I saw at the Mahaiwe in July, but we both thought it looked better in The Egg. The program was Cloven Kingdom, Concertiana, and Company B. I had seen the latter two at the Mahaiwe, but liked them both more the second time around at the Egg. Even the costumes for Concertiana looked different than before. Maybe the lighting? I also enjoyed Cloven Kingdom, although the mirrors on the headdresses have seen better days and the reflected flashes of light from them were somewhat annoying. Standout performers for me were Heather McGinley in everything, Michael Trusnovec, especially in the male quartet in Cloven Kingdom, and AD Michael Novak in Concertiana, but everyone was very good. I also saw Taylor 2 a couple of weeks ago in a free performance at Hudson Valley Community College. They performed sAureole, The Uncommitted, and Piazzola Caldera in versions scaled for 5-6 dancers. Aureole was my favorite of the three, but I enjoyed the whole program.

I mostly agree with both of you on Pereira--that's she's technically good but doesn't really project most of the time. But there are a few ballets recently where I found her to be quite charming--for example, a couple of summers ago at SPAC, she was very good in Bournonville Divertissments.--it really made me notice her in a way I hadn't before. And although I didn't see it myself, she got very good reviews for her debut in Coppelia (as per JuliaJ's comment above while I was writing this) .

I've been thinking that she and Unity Phelan might be promoted together--I think they came in to the company together and were promoted to soloist together.

My experience is that those just attending the performance dress as they normally would.

Macaulay's overview of the fall season and De Luz's retirement is here: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/arts/dance/joaqin-de-luz-farewell-new-york-city-ballet.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Dance Do people actually call De Luz the "Tom Cruise of ballet"?

Also added since this morning: Crest Cinema Center in Shoreline, WA Main Art Theater in Royal Oak, MI

I also saw it with the original cast. I liked it the first few times I saw it, but the more I've seen it, the more tedious I've found it.

Happy to add that the Albany, NY Landmark Spectrum (my local theater) has added it since I posted earlier (11/13 at 7 pm).

I actually saw it mentioned on a blog as being at the Manhattan Landmark on 57th St , and then searched for my local Landmark and didn't find anything. I then searched on Google for Mayerling and Landmark Theatre and a few others came up. If you have a local Landmark, it's probably easiest to look at their website at the coming attractions or call and ask. My local theater, the Spectrum in Albany doesn't have it listed yet, but my recollection is that they were only listed last year a week or two before the showing, so it is probably a good idea to check back if your theater isn't listed. Theaters where I did see it listed--this is by changing the regions and theaters and looking at the coming attractions for each individually (note that I did not check the dates): Midtown Art Cinema in Atlanta, GA Renaissance Place Cinema in Highland Park, IL The Magnolia in Dallas, TX Chez Artiste Theater in Denver, CO River Oaks Theater in Houston, TX Keystone Art Cinema in Indianapolis, IN Downer Theater in Milwaukee, WI Lagoon Cinema in Minneapolis, MN Landmark at 57 West in NY, NY Ritz 5 in Philadelphia, PA Clay Theater in San Francisco, CA Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley, CA Nickelodeon in Santa Cruz, CA E Street Cinema in Washington, D.C. Bethesda Row Cinema in Bethesda, MD

Mayerling is listed now for a couple of Landmark Theaters for 11/13 on the individual theater websites, but not on the ROH website. I expect that more theaters will be added as we get closer to the date. My local Landmark doesn't show it yet.

I think it's been varied. For example, looking back to some of the dancers who joined during the later Balanchine years, it took Merrill Ashley about 10 years--she joined the corps in 1967, became a soloist in 1974, and a principal dancer in 1977. Kyra Nichols took about 5 years and Darci Kistler about 2 years. My sense is that the 2-3-year end of that spectrum has always been pretty rare, even for dancers who make an immediate impression in principal roles soon after joining the corps. Lauren Lovette was the last woman promoted to principal, in 2015. She joined as an apprentice in 2009. Several of the more senior women seem to have taken ~4-6 years. Joseph Gordon just went from apprentice to principal in 7 years. Several of the men seem to have taken ~10 years (e.g., Ask La Cour, Adrian Danchig Waring, Anthony Huxley). I would think that there would be a lot of variation due to differences in dancers' rates of development and injuries.

NYT article on the promotions: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/13/arts/new-york-city-ballet-dancers-promotions.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Dance Congratulations to all of the newly promoted. They also announced that three apprentices have officially joined the company:

The dates for NYCB's summer season at SPAC have been officially announced: July 16-20th (7 performances--past seasons have been Tues-Sat evening + Thurs/Sat matinees with the gala on Sat. evening). No news on rep yet. Sources: https://www.timesunion.com/entertainment/article/SPAC-boost-first-time-visitors-for-classical-13299716.php https://dailygazette.com/article/2018/10/11/spac-looking-for-more-collaborators-in-2019 https://www.saratogian.com/news/local-news/spac-board-celebrates-season-prepares-for/article_6681eadc-cd93-11e8-bd1d-e3b5e31c6a2a.html

I saw it just the one time, almost 30 years ago at ABT, and have never seen it since. I would love to see it again (from either company).

My recollection is that the Balanchine Black-and-White and similar themed programs started as marketing for the Balanchine Celebration in 1993 and then crept into the regular programming. I personally prefer programs with some variety--even if all Balanchine, I'd rather see three works in somewhat different styles and/or with different composers. I also think that new audiences might be more easily enticed with a varied program because there's more of a chance that they will find something appealing in the mix. When I first started attending NYCB, it was after seeing T&V and Bourree Fantasque on two different mixed bills at ABT and realizing that I wanted to see more Balanchine. The variety has kept my interest ( and also illustrates the danger of the mixed bill, as I've only occasionally gone to see ABT since). It took me a while to warm up to the black-and-white ballets. If there had been whole programs of them at the time, I wonder if I would have kept coming back long enough to grow to appreciate most of them. There are a few ballets I've seen at NYCB over the years that I don't care for, but few that I dislike enough (and that have stuck around in the rep long enough) for me to avoid an entire program.

I agree. And what has been done for the victims and their careers? Saying sorry is nice (if it has happened), but I think more should be required.

He really hasn't worked much since his death.

Interesting NYT article on coaching of dancers and ballet masters by Villela and McBride: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/05/arts/dance/new-york-city-ballet-coaches-ballet-masters-patricia-mcbride-edward-villella.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fdance&action=click&contentCollection=dance&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront

Yes, I am glad that I saw it--I like to see different productions and compare/contrast what they do. I'm still surprised that my local artsy movie theater (Landmark Spectrum in Albany) was the only one in NYS showing it. I think I might have actually liked it more if it had deviated more from Petipa. For example, the parts of the NYCB Sleeping Beauty that are Balanchine (Garland Dance) or Martins (e.g., Jewels vs. Precious Stones, Little Red Riding Hood) have completely different choreography using the same music and scenario, but because they are so different, I find that I think more about the choreography/performance than about why it isn't what might be expected.