FPF

Yes to both.

This picture looks to be from the 1993 Balanchine Celebration revival with Jock Soto, Wendy Whelan, and Lourdes Lopes. It got a great review in the NYT, so it's not clear why it hasn't been performed by NYCB since then: "Among the newly revived short pieces, only "Glinka Pas de Trois" is danced, at this point, to perfection. Lourdes Lopez, Jock Soto and Wendy Whelan give this nonstop exhibition of brilliant footwork and airborne wit the needed stamina and spirit: an outstanding performance not to be missed." Digging around, I found another website that lists seldom-performed Balanchine ballets (https://www.balanchinepatrons.org/seldom). According to this website, several companies have performed "Glinka Pas de Trios" more recently: American Ballet Theatre (1997); Oakland Ballet (2003); Carolina Ballet (2012); and Miami City Ballet (2018).

A review of the Friday night program (same as Saturday afternoon) mentioned that there were 5000 people in the packed audience--that's roughly 2 full New York State Theaters! https://www.wamc.org/news/2023-07-22/at-nycb-great-ballets-draw-great-audiences.

I agree with Peg about the Saturday matinee. The theater was packed--I haven't seen it this full in years for a ballet program--maybe since the pre-pandemic galas or even perhaps the Bolshoi visit several years back. There were busloads of children, perhaps from dance schools--they were fairly dressed up, which is not typical of the camp group that sometimes come. The other two performances I went to seemed to sell well, but not to that extent. In interviews, the dancers often comment that one of the things they like about performing at SPAC is being able to look at and see the audience, so I'm glad that both matinees had large and enthusiastic audiences. I may be alone in this unpopular opinion, but for me, the Balanchine Swan Lake is the best Swan Lake (and I've seen a number of different productions). I love everything about it and I've never seen a full-length version that I find as nearly satisfying (but hoping to see the Ratmansky version someday). Yesterday afternoon's performance moved me to tears. Sarah Mearns is so beautiful as Odette. I also liked both Megan LeCrone (she seems to have softened her look a bit, she used to tend to look angry) and Emma von Enck in the Pas de Neue and Valse Bluette, respectively. Tyler Angle did a respectable job and was, of course, a great partner for Sarah, although definitely not looking like a young prince. Nothing more to add to Peg's review of Fancy Free--great overall. I especially enjoyed Indiana Woodward and Joseph Gordon in the pas de deux. And Daniel Ulbricht doesn't seem to have lost anything with age--he must be around 40 now. I enjoyed Firebird, especially Isabella LaFreniere in the title role. I also thought that Miriam Miller was great as the Princess--I think this role is difficult to make much of an impression in, but she does. Peter Walker seemed a bit bland as Ivan. On the whole, I really enjoyed this season. Thanks also to Peg for confirming that we will have a ballet season next year to look forward to.

I attended both the matinee and the evening performances yesterday. The matinee was Peck's Copland Dance Episodes. I like some Peck ballets and am bored by others. For me, this was a hit. I think an important factor was the choice of Copland music, which is very suited to dance. And it was a great way to show off the great NYCB dancers. The cast was: M. Miller, Maxwell, Janzen, Chan, Phelan, Laracey, Gerrity, Gabriel, Villarini-Velez, Mejia, Corti, Clark, O. MacKinnon, Dutton-O’Hara, Applebaum, Alberda, Bolden, Knight. For me, the standout here was Chun Wai Chan. Whenever he was onstage, my eye was just drawn to him--what a beautiful, charismatic dancer! Alexa Maxwell also looked great. The two of them got the biggest applause of the afternoon. I almost didn't recognize Russell Janzen, who has cut his hair super-short, but I'm very happy to have had a chance to see him again before he retires in the fall. Miriam Miller was also beautiful. In fact, all of the dancers were great, but I can't always tell who is who--NYCB needs to update their website with recent pictures of all of the dancers. I also really appreciated (especially after the evening performance) the lighting and costumes, which seemed designed to show off the dancers. The audience loved this--it got an immediate and sustained standing ovation. I found the evening performance of "SPAC Premieres" much less satisfying. Note that there were casting substitutions, but the announcement was so noisy that I have no idea who didn't dance or who replaced them. The opener was Scherzo Fantasque, which premiered at SPAC 7 years ago. I wasn't crazy about it then and I think pretty much the same thing now. The cast was Brittany Pollack (my first time seeing her in years, I think), Harrison Coll, Miriam Miller, and Anthony Huxley in the principal roles. I always enjoy seeing Huxley and Miller also looked great. Next was Play Time, which, in my opinion, is another Fashion Gala disaster. The costumes were blindingly sparkling and with the dim lighting and the distorting silhouettes, I felt the dancers really sort of disappeared. The standouts here (as far as I could tell) were KJ Takahashi and Chun Wai Chan. I think India Bradley also did very well. Others in the principal cast as per the program included Christina Clark, Harrison Coll, David Gabriel, Unity Phelan, Davide Riccardo, Emma Von Enck, and Indiana Woodward. I would like to see this again but without those costumes. Liturgy, with Sara Adams and Jovani Furlani, was next and was the biggest hit of the evening. They were really beautiful together. Standing ovation and extra curtain calls. Last on the program was Love Letter (on shuffle). I didn't particularly care for it and could not tell who was who in the cast. The audience as a whole seemed enthusiastic. I kind of regret seeing this program and wish I'd gotten a ticket for the second performance of Copland instead. I will report tomorrow on the Swan Lake, Fancy Free, Firebird program.

I did a ballet double-header yesterday and I'm going again tomorrow. Will report later over here: https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/47342-nycb-at-spac-july-18-22-2023/

I watched that Le Corsaire video many, many times. RIP

I saw the Saturday matinee of this program and really enjoyed it. This was my first time seeing the Dutch National Ballet and they are certainly a beautiful company with a very fluid quality In their dancing. The program was: Variations for Two Couples (Hans van Manen/several different composers). This work was for a short couple (Riho Sakamoto Young Gyu Choi) and a taller one (Jingling Mao and Jakob Feyferlik). I recall this as very lyrical and serene. Two and Only (Wubkje Kuindersma/Michael Benjamin). This duet (Timothy van Pouke and James Stout) seemed to be about a past relationship between the two men. The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude (Forsyth/Schubert): This was the only work I'd seen before in person (SFB about 25 years ago). High energy and those distinctive pancake tutus. Solo (van Manen/Bach): Despite the title, this work was for 3 male dancers and was added to the program by request of the dancers as their gift to the audience. It was definitely a favorite, with plentiful opportunities for 3 men (Joseph Masserelli, Daniel Montero Real, and Daniel Silva) to show what they could do. Grand Pas Classique (Gsovsky/Auber): Although I'd never seen this in person before, I had taped a PBS program with Sylvie Guillem and Manuel Legris performing this that I watched over and over again years ago, so this was very familiar to me. It seemed to me that there were a couple of places where the dancers (Elisabeth Tanev and Victor Caixeta) didn't use all of their music, but these were still beautiful performances with the dancers making everything look easy and fun. 5 Tangos (van Manen/Piazzola): This was a big crowd pleaser, although I was getting restless as this went on. Although the costumes and music suggested tango, the dancing didn't look very tango-y to me. I felt this was a bit long. This program was long by Pillow standards but the audience was very appreciative, with sustained ovations after each dance and at the conclusion of the program. I'm very glad to have had the opportunity to see this fantastic company. If only the cooling system would have worked (struck by lightning twice last week), it would have been a perfect afternoon.

I think that it is traditionally cast with a shorter male dancer and taller female dancer--the originators were Jerome Robbins and Tanaquil LeClerc. I saw it way back in (I think) 1989 with ABT and loved it. This ballet and Theme and Variations convinced me to switch to NYCB to see more Balanchine. I know it was revived for the 1993 Balanchine Celebration, although I didn't get to see it then, but I don't know if it's been revived since. The cast reviewed by the NYT had Tom Gold and Monique Meunier in the first movement. The casts for the second and third movements in the 1993 revival were Maria Calegari and Lindsay Fischer and Katrina Killian and Nicolaj Hubbe, respectively. From the review: "Bourree Fantasque" can be likened to a Champagne party at which all the guests are witty, elegant and, perhaps, slightly tipsy but never drunk. The perky opening episode includes a spoof of balletic partnering. Then comes a serious lyrical pas de deux. And the conclusion is a festive parade."

Just noting that there's is an interview with Olga Smirnova in Dance Magazine that reports that due to injury, she has withdrawn from the tour. https://www.dancemagazine.com/olga-smirnova/

What really strikes me as odd about this is that it doesn't look like NYCB is performing Who Cares? at all during the coming year except for the excerpts at the fashion gala. I wonder if they are actually redoing all of the costumes or just the principal dancers' costumes or maybe trying to spread out the costs of redoing all of the costumes over multiple seasons. Paris Opera Ballet performed it earlier this year. Cast was Leonore Baulac, Valentine Colasante, Hannah O'Neill, and Germain Louvet.

The NYCB website is promoting the fall gala, featuring guest dancers and new costumes for Who Cares? https://www.nycballet.com/support/special-events/fall-gala Articles about it: https://wwd.com/fashion-news/designer-luxury/carolina-herrera-wes-gordon-design-costumes-new-york-city-ballet-1235685577/ https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/New-York-City-Ballet-to-Present-2023-Fall-Gala-Featuring-Jerome-Robbins-GLASS-PIECES-More-20230614

"Mr. Lavery's draft then goes to Mr. Martins and Richard Tanner, an assistant ballet master who gradually took over programming duties from Ms. Cage. For a time he was assisted by Robert Gottlieb, who was then editor in chief at Alfred A. Knopf, a City Ballet board member and, Ms. Cage observes dryly, one of the very few people ever to find programming of interest. Changes are made, and the draft is then vetted by the other company personnel." From: https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/24/arts/the-intricate-ballet-of-plotting-a-season.html?searchResultPosition=1

The New York Times is reporting that Robert Gottlieb died today. Although best known as a former editor of the New Yorker and at various publishers, he was also the dance critic for the NY Observer and wrote a short biography of George Balanchine published in 2004, George Balanchine: The Ballet Maker. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/books/robert-gottlieb-dead.html

The one time I went to the full-service dinner before the performance, they were so slow that we had to actually run to the performance, the food was not even mediocre, and we barely had time to eat what we ordered.This was several years ago (pre-pandemic) and I don't know if they are still using the same caterer/staff, but I wouldn't go back. In my opinion, the best option is takeout or a picnic from home that you can eat on the benches or a picnic table, followed by the pub, with the tent in last place.

Peter Boal's memoir "Illusions of Camelot" is being published next week. https://www.beaufortbooks.com/illusions-of-camelot/ It looks like it will focus on his early life and career with NYCB through age 19.

I don't have personal experience with this seat, but you might get an idea from this website--they don't have that specific box, but they do have some nearby. https://aviewfrommyseat.com/venue/Metropolitan+Opera+House+-+Lincoln+Center/seating-chart/theater/

Bourree Fantasque is a multi-part tutu ballet with music by Chabrier and one of those big, exhilarating Balanchine finales. I saw it for the first and only time in 1989 performed by ABT, and really loved it. In fact, seeing ABT perform that and Theme and Variations convinced me that I should be subscribing to NYCB rather than ABT. You can see a poor-quality video of Bourree Fantasque here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlX-E8NJ5Zw, but I would encourage you to just experience it live for the first time and hopefully enjoy it. Not sure if I will be able to come in and see it, but hoping that I can.

I think this part is the cigarette solo.

I think she was second violin previously, with a more senior principal woman (for example, with Teresa Reichlen or Maria Kowroski) in the first violin role. So maybe she is making her debut as first violin.

Kleber Rebello seems to now be a demi-solist with the ballet of the Opera National du Capitole in Toulouse, France.

Back when I was in graduate school (>30 years ago, so the conventional wisdom may have changed), I remember learning that that the key factor in how long hair grows is the length of the anagen phase of the hair growth cycle. Women tend to have a longer anagen phase than men due to estrogen, whereas testosterone in men can shorten the length of the anagen phase. So the result is that although their hair grows at similar rate (or possibly a bit faster in men), the average woman will be able to achieve a longer terminal hair length than the average man because her hair will remain in the anagen phase while the man's will progress more quickly to the catagen and telogen phases. Additionally, many men develop male pattern baldness, this will also affect hair growth. And it can start quite young--about 25% of men have thinning hair by 21 years of age.

The movement in Tschaikovsky's Serenade for Strings that she dances to is called the Tema Russo (Russian Theme).

Congratulations to all the new principals!

The Jewels choreography is indeed Peter Martins'. It's supposed to be a sort of homage to Balanchine's Jewels.