FPF

This year, tickets at SPAC for inside the amphitheater range from $103 to $33 for most performances. "Premium" performances (I'm not sure which performances these are) range from $113 to $43. Matinees are the real bargain, with tickets ranging from $53 to $33, and these prices have actually increased considerably over the past several years (and usually sell very well). Lawn tickets are $29, $34, and $18, for the respective performance types. SPAC seats 5,200 inside, the lawn has substantially more capacity (20,000), but for the ballet, where most people presumably want to see as well as hear, I think the useful capacity would be more limited.

Thanks, Kathleen--those numbers are very interesting. The money that SPAC receives from LiveNation for their concerts is supposed to support the classical season, and although I don't know much about this myself, there has been grumbling in the community for years that SPAC gets less than it should. Interestingly, although the atmosphere at SPAC for the classical performances is really lovely, many people seem to hate going to the LiveNation concerts, where the conditions are apparently much more draconian--popular complaints are about everything from parking fees to lack of sufficient restroom facilities, jacked up concession prices, and not allowing drinks other than sealed water bottles to be brought in, and allowing drinking in only a limited space. I thought I read years ago that the ballets are mutually agreed upon by SPAC and NYCB, and that the elaborate sets/costumes are indeed an issue for some of the story ballets. I think that's why Sleeping Beauty hasn't come since I've been going to SPAC, although Aurora's Wedding was done a while back. Swan Lake has also come in recent years. Romeo and Juliet has sold very well at every performance this year, and I believe this has been the case each of the three times (I think) it has been done at SPAC. Midsummer was the first ballet performed at SPAC, so it was considered important for the 50th anniversary season (and it is especially nice to see it around Midsummer with actual fireflies flitting about. I think Coppelia (originally a SPAC premiere) has also been done relatively recently. My understanding is that the NYCB contract with the orchestra requires that their inclusion on tours, outside of NYCB Moves. And frankly, although I know other people love them, I can only take so much of the piano ballets. Plus the acoustics are great. When they've brought in outside ballet companies, it has always been for story ballets (Giselle 2x, Don Quixote 1x), and only 1 Giselle (Cuba) had canned music. I believe that the other companies subsidize their visits and may not be as costly to SPAC, even if they don't sell well. I went to Glimmerglass this afternoon to see West Side Story, and I was thinking about the comparatively great job they do with marketing. They send emails regularly, even during the winter--the director sends notes " from Francesca's Traveling iPad." So they are always reminding you that they're around and about the upcoming season. I do get email from SPAC in the winter, but not really about dance. Glimmerglass has already announced their productions for next year, so even though the specific dates and tickets are not yet available, people might already be starting to think about coming and about which productions they're looking forward to seeing. This maybe gives much more of a sense of Glimmerglass as a destination for visitors from beyond the local community. This is not to say that nobody travels to SPAC, but my sense is that Vail and the Pillow are much more publicized as summer dance destinations. In part, this may be because new works rarely premiere here (and I do realize that new ballets are expensive to commission). This, in turn, means that there's little nonlocal coverage of the NYCB summer season. My Glimmerglass ticket came enclosed within a brochure that included all kinds of information related to visiting there--a map of the grounds, box office hours and other contact information, how to dress, pet rules, where to find out about hotels, discount coupons to 2 local museums, the menu at their cafe, and other tips. Additionally, the director comes out for a minute before the performance to welcome everyone, especially first-timers, and briefly mentions their other programs/current discounts and that they hope we'll all come back.

Houston Ballet is going to be at Jacob's Pillow August 15th to 18th. They will be performing Stanton Welch's Clear, excerpts from his Sons de L'ame, a new Welch ballet, Just, plus Trey McIntyre's In Dreams. I don't think I've seen anything by either of them. Any thoughts on these choreographers/works? Is this likely to be a good program?

A post-performance talk with Michelle Dorrance and the other dancers from All Good Things Must Come to an End is now available from Jacob's pillow. It includes some footage from both parts of the performance.

I'm sure you're correct about the relative costs of touring the ballet vs. the orchestra. I would be surprised if the other events were a major factor, as other events do go on (or have in the past) during the ballet season. The opera and chamber music performances are in a separate theater on the SPAC grounds. I believe that they did the Jazz Bar one night after the ballet and there was also a Shakespeare performance to tie in to R+J. LiveNation concerts on Sundays are the biggest moneymakers, and there were concerts on both of the Sundays immediately before and after the ballet season, as there are during the orchestra season. For me, due to the repeated targeting of the NYCB season by the SPAC administration (this is the fourth time the season has been cut in the past 15 years--from 3 weeks with the threat of complete cancellation, to 2 weeks to 1 week, then back to 2 weeks leading into the 50th anniversary, and now back to 1 week), my trust in their commitment to the NYCB residency has really been eroded. The ray of hope comes from the better marketing and substantially larger audiences this year for the evening performances. I hope that If this can be sustained, it will perhaps lead to support for re-expanding the ballet season.

I am a lucky duck! Hopefully she will come back to Seattle with a fabulous program so that you can be a lucky duck too.

I also was at the Gala. I think the gala crowd is bit more "relaxed" (and maybe drunk) than the typical audience, but other than some whispering, there was no obvious misbehavior near me in the balcony, except for the phone ringing during Other Dances.The ushers do generally try to shut down the most egregious behavior when they see or hear about it. I agree with Karen that The Four Seasons received a great performance. It's probably my favorite Robbins ballet and I was smiling the whole time. Special kudos to Teresa Reichlen, who was a very sultry Summer and Tiler Peck, who was just astonishing in Fall. Some additional casting notes: Aaron Sanz debuted in Winter and it was Ask la Cour who replaced Adrian Danchig-Waring in Summer. Other Dances was also very good, and it was nice to have a work that really showcased de Luz in his final SPAC appearance. I thought that Something to Dance About was pleasant and definitely went over big with the gala crowd, but suffered from having just small snippets of out-of-context dances. And some of the choices were bizarre--why spring for elaborate ball gowns and Uncle Thomas costumes and then have a uncostumed bottle dance with no bottles? Andy Veyette's singing was only half-intelligible--may have been the miking. Overall, I felt that the money and time spent on this production could have been better spent elsewhere. And that Robbins would have been best saluted by a full program of his works. Casting note: Preston Chamblee (also a debut) replaced Harrison Coll . I feel like the season barely got started and now it's already over. I only went to 3 performances, my fewest in years. As rkoretzky said, it's disappointing to see how little regard each successive SPAC director seems to have for the NYCB. Although over the past few years I've gone to see some of the other dance companies they've brought in to "replace" part of the NYCB season, I notice that (Bolshoi excepted), their attendance is much lower. When I went to an orchestra concert last year, attendance was also far below that at any of the 8 NYCB performances I saw. Yet, as pointed out by rkoretzky, the orchestra season is never on the chopping block (not that I want it cut, but why should the ballet always bear the brunt?). My cynical thought a few years ago was that the season was restored to 2 weeks only because it would have looked bad not to going into the 50th anniversary season. On the positive side, I really enjoyed all of the performances I saw this year. Also, the discounts and promotions seem to be getting more people to come, and this is something that has really been neglected and/or poorly done (e.g., the beer-tasting nights for men). Hopefully, the increased attendance will continue and support restoring the season.

I saw DorranceDance yesterday afternoon at Jacob's Pillow. The first piece, All Good Things Come to an End, had its world premiere this week and was a Pillow commission. It featured taped music by Artie Shaw and Fats Waller. It began with dancers in aisles wearing hazmat suits and gas masks, but once it got started, It had a bit of a silent movie vibe, with title cards introducing the premise, that civilization was destroyed and these are the remaining stories, and then the title cards were changed to announce the various sections (e.g., Cane and Abel, The Ugly Duckling, The Myth of Narcissus, The American Dream, etc.). There were a lot of props, gimmicks, and costume changes, but the dancing was great, especially Michelle Dorrance and Josette Wiggan-Freud. I can't really explain what this was about, but for a bit of the flavor, artist Carolyn Newberger drew some sketches during one of the performances and they can be seen in this article: https://theberkshireedge.com/the-arc-of-life-as-told-in-tap-dorrance-dance-at-jacobs-pillow/ The second piece was a newly extended version of an earlier work, Myelination (referring to speeding up transmission of nerve impulses), which, in addition to the DorranceDance company, featured performances and choreography by two breakdancers, Ephrat Asherie and Matthew West, plus live music from Prawn til Dante with Aaron Marcellus. The music was good, except for one part where it was just very unpleasant loud noise to me (but this was thankfully brief). Drummer Warren Craft apparently trained at SAB and with ABT, and also danced some of the time. The dancers (both tap and breakdancing) were fantastic, with interesting interactions between the tap and breakdancers. Michelle Dorrance stands out as the best of the best for her personal style. The atmosphere was very different from a typical ballet performance--the audience was encouraged to shout out or clap whenever they particularly enjoyed something. By the end of the first piece, the entire audience was clapping along with the rhythm and it was even louder during the second piece, with everyone on their feet clapping by the end. Really fun. This performance and the one that she curated last year were definitely among the best performances I've seen at the Pillow. I'd see anything Michelle Dorrance does. She really is that good.

Yes.

Last night was the end of the NYCB summer season at SPAC. Good news: they will be back next year. 😁 Bad news: 1 week only.😢 Before the performance, Joaquin de Luz was honored for his final SPAC appearance. He was given a bouquet and got a big ovation from the audience. I'll have more thoughts on the performances later.

When I first moved to the area (~15 years ago), I was warned away from the Gala as being for rich partiers and not for serious ballet lovers so I avoided it for years. But, in 2010, I received gala tickets as a gift and I've gone back most years since then because new ballets that I'm interested in seeing are often performed only at the gala. My sense is that the real partiers don't necessarily bother to come in and watch, so the atmosphere inside is pretty normal. I also got my ticket this year on discount (first time i'm aware of them doing this)--they sent me an offer for 3 performances for the price of 2 back in May, and after I went to the my first performance (Cuban National Ballet Giselle), I received another 25% off coupon for selected other performances, which included the gala. I find it strange that they jack up the prices for the gala and then offer discounts, but I'm happy to take advantage. I think I got yet another offer this week after opening night. I'm glad to see better marketing of the season and bigger audiences, including encouraging people to come again. Particularly since, In the little I've seen/heard of Sobol (mainly before-curtain speeches and interviews), she came across to me as interested only in music and not in dance. The SPAC box office used to be better organized, with separate will call and SPAC member windows. They did away with that about 10 years ago. It's definitely annoying. KarenAG (or anyone else), who is the best person at SPAC to contact to express support for the NYCB season? Also, I wanted to point out this recent (somewhat depressing) article from the Gazette on the shorter season: https://dailygazette.com/article/2018/07/18/shorter-new-york-city-ballet-season-leaves-some-wanting-more

Thanks Drew. I only wish that there was more NYCB to talk about this summer.

I saw the RDB Saturday matinee on June 23rd. The program format was unbalanced, with a short ballet and excepts from 5 others before the intermission and the Bournonville's Napoli Tarantella by itself afterwards. The pas de sept from A Folk Tale was the opener. The dancers normally portray trolls, but here were in plain red costumes. Next was the shortDvorak pas de deux by Lander. This was followed by a pas de deux between James and the Sylph from La Sylphide, featuring Amy Watson as the sylph and Marcin Kupinski as James. This was one of the highlights, due to Watson's charming sylph. The white and black swan pas de deux were next, with the black swan (Holly Jean Dorger with Jonathan Chmelensky) ) a bit vulgar, but easily able to handle the technical challenges. I think that the white swan is not that effective as a showpiece without the corps de ballet behind, but the dancers (Kizzy Matiakis and Andreas Kaas) were fine. More Bournonville followed, with a pas de deux from Kermesse in Bruges featuring Ida Praetorius and Andreas Kaas, both charming. Finally, the first "half" ended with the 2nd act pas de deux from Giselle. Again, the dancers, J'Aime Crandall and Meirambek Nazargozhayev, were excellent, but I don't find this to be dramatically effective with out the wilis and Myrtha. The Tarantella from Napoli provided the fun grand finale. Nikolaj Hubbe was interviewed post-peformance. He spoke about wanting to show off the diversity of the company's diverse repertory, not just the Bournonville. And he was very patient when questioned by an audience member about the Royal Ballet (UK) rather than the RDB. The talk is available on the Jacob's Pillow youtube channel (with a bit of performance footage interspersed).

I realize that this is too late forthe RDB, but if you're still interested in going to the Pillow for future performances, their webpage mentions some travel options: https://www.jacobspillow.org/visit/directions-travel/.

Ditto. In a Saratoga season of only 7 performances, 3 are R + J. I saw it once the last time it came here, but am not interested in seeing it again. It does seem to sell, though.

Last night, I saw the 21st Century Choreographers program, featuring 4 ballets new to SPAC: Easy, Composer's Holiday, Not Our Fate, and Pulcinella Variations. Before the performance, Justin Peck was interviewed by Jay Rogoff (local poet and dance writer) for the pre-performance talk. Justin spoke first about the very involved and lengthy process for choreographing Carousel vs. the much shorter process for a typical ballet. He said that a ballet would be choreographed and rehearsed in just a few weeks plus maybe 4 days for tech before its first performance. In contrast, Carousel had I think 2 periods of 3-4 weeks for choreography, months of rehearsals, and 6 weeks of tech and previews. He also spoke briefly about his two new ballets, mentioning that "Easy" is named for Jerome Robbins' use of the phrase "Easy baby," but that it's actually a company in-joke that the ballet is quite hard to dance. And he talked about his choice of music (Stravinsky is very danceable) and interactions with the costume designer (let her do her thing) for Pulcinella Variations. Easy featured a debut for Christopher Grant in the role Harrison Coll originated. It's essentially a Robbins pastiche--this isn't a bad ballet, but not one of Peck's best. It was followed by Gianna Reisen's Composer's Holiday. This ballet also featured a debut--Kennard Henson in the role originated by Gilbert Bolden. I thought that this was very promising, with some really striking images. Lauren Lovette's Not Our Fate was next. I remember reading a lot earlier in the year about Taylor Stanley--Preston Chamblee (who were excellent), but I thought that Meaghan Dutton O'Hara also looked fantastic in this ballet. Last, but definitely not least was Pulcinella Variations. I loved it--the contrast between the fanciful costumes and simply set, and above all, the inventive, musical, and witty choreography. I was particularly impressed with Anthony Huxley--he moved almost impossibly quickly, precisely, and gracefully. I wish they were performing this again instead of so many R + Js. Happy to say that (at least from my upstairs view) this program looks to have sold quite well (can we have the second week of the season back now, please?).

I didn't go Wed. night, but Jones was scheduled for that performance in the Playbill and on the NYCB website.

I also saw the Tuesday night performance. FYI: tickets to pre-performance talks are free this year although registration is required (but several people without tickets were able to get in on Tuesday). Deborah Jowitt spoke. For me, the most interesting thing was her discussion of the 4Ts and how the elements corresponding to each humor relate to the quality of movement in the choreography (e.g., fiery for Choleric, watery for Phlegmatic). I thought that Square Dance was just OK. Erica Pereira danced well but didn't project strongly (I prefer to sit in the balcony). Taylor Stanley was good. In 4Ts, Sara Mearns and Jared Angle looked a bit off to me--as though there might have been some sort of misstep toward the beginning of Sanguinic, soon after they've met and are moving together. I agree with Griffie that Megan LeCrone's Choleric was a highlight. There were a lot of cast changes in Symphony in C. If I have it correctly, first movement was Ashley Bouder and Joseph Gordon, Second Movement was Teresa Reichlen and Russell Janzen, Third was Indiana Woodward and Sebastian Villarini-Velez, and Fourth (I think this was the only movement with the listed principals) was Lauren King and Andrew Scordato. All were excellent. I'm not sure if I've seen Villarini-Velez in a principal role before, but he made a fantastic impression here, with excellent ballon. I am still not crazy about the floppy newer costumes-- when Reichlen did the deep penche, her tutu completely inverted. I don't think I'd ever seen that with the Karinska tutus.

I've been lurking here for many years and finally joined. I'm originally from NYC, where I first started to see ballet regularly. I now live upstate and mostly go to the ballet in the summer at SPAC and Jacob's Pillow.