FPF

Jacob's Pillow just posted their summer festival schedule. Of particular interest, the Dutch National Ballet will be making their Pillow debut, The program includes Variations for Two Couples (Hans Van Manen); Two & Only(Wubkje Kuindersma); The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude (William Forsythe); Grand Pas Classique(Victor Gsovsky); and Five Tangos (Hans van Manen, music by Astor Piazzolla). They also made a point of mentioning that Olga Smirnova will be performing.

I think Wendy was around 5'4" and Darci was around 5'6". The other original Auroras that I can remember were Judith Fugate and Margaret Tracey. Not sure about their heights.

The schedule for NYCB's too-brief summer season at SPAC was released today: Tuesday, July 18, 7:30 PM: NYCB On and Off Stage NYCB Principal Dancers Tiler Peck and Adrian Danchig-Waring host a unique “behind the curtain” experience featuring excerpts from the week’s balletsincluding Swan Lake, Fancy Free, Firebird, new works Play Time, Love Letter (on shuffle), Copland Dance Episodes, and more. A compelling evening for newcomers and aficionados alike! Immediately following the program is a celebratory “dance party” in the Hall of Springs. (I am kind of disappointed that they continue to repeat this educational program instead of having a regular performance and have also eliminated the $5 or free educational programs that used to be before the performances). Wednesday • Jul 19, 2023 – Thursday • Jul 20, 2023: SPAC Premieres Highlighted by music from Solange Knowles, James Blake, and Arvo Pärt. Gianna Reisen’s Play Time, Kyle Abraham’s Love Letter (on shuffle), and Christopher Wheeldon’s Liturgy make their SPAC premieres. Justin Peck’s Scherzo Fantastique returns for the first time since its World Premiere in 2016. Scherzo Fantastique (Stravinsky/Peck) Play Time (Knowles/Reisen) Liturgy (Pärt/Wheeldon) Love Letter (on shuffle) (Blake/Abraham) Thursday • Jul 20, 2023 – Saturday • Jul 22, 2023: Peck & Copland After his award-winning foray with Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes, Resident Choreographer Justin Peck goes all-in with Aaron Copland, featuring four of his most acclaimed musical scores: Appalachian Spring, Billy the Kid, Fanfare for the Common Man, and Four Dance Episodes from Rodeo, creating an original full-evening work in collaboration with painter and sculptor Jeffrey Gibson. Copland Dance Episodes (Copland/Peck) (I guess we will still be pretending that 1 1/4 hours is a full evening) Friday • Jul 21, 2023 – Saturday • Jul 22, 2023: Swan Lake, Fancy Free & Firebird Get swept away into worlds of magic, beauty, and celebration with three renowned story ballets featuring the choreography of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Swan Lake (Tschaikovsky/Balanchine) Fancy Free (Bernstein/Robbins) Firebird (Stravinsky/Balanchine, Robbins) Tickets go on sale for SPAC member on February 14th at 10 am and for nonmembers on February 23. Beware, they instituted dynamic pricing last year.

Found this brief clip of Jared's final bow on Twitter.

I loved Nichol in this role (and many others). She was also a great Swanilda in Coppelia.

Yes, this is fantastic news about Ratmansky. Looking forward to seeing more of his work at NYCB.

I just finished the book. Exhaustive, yes, but also exhausting. I think it would have been a better book if she had followed Balanchine's approach to Apollo: "It seemed to tell me that I could dare not to use everything, that I too could eliminate.”

Chag Chanukah sameach to all who celebrate. The reason there is not much Chanukah music is that it's actually a minor and low-key holiday celebrated by a very small proportion of the population. I love that Michelle Citrin song--I think you also posted it last year? I posted this one previously: Sadly, Sharon Jones died of cancer less than a year after this performance. This is a concert of fairly traditional Chanukah music (with some other Jewish music mixed in): More modern: Just found this one tonight, apparently the big Chanukah hit of 2020: Another oldie:

I remember that as coming from Peter Martins.

Unity Phelan and Cameron Dieck got married last month. Their wedding is featured in the NYT Vows column. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/25/style/unity-phelan-cameron-dieck-wedding.html

I saw Limon Dance Company on Friday evening at the Egg in Albany, NY. There was also a pre-show talk with the artistic director, Dante Puleio, and a post-show Q&A session with Puleio and the dancers. As the performance was sponsored by Union College, there were a number of enthusiastic students in the audience. The program consisted of Doris Humphrey's Air for the G String and Limon's Orfeo, Chaconne, and Waldstein Sonata, the latter of which was revived and completed by Daniel Lewis after Limon's death. Miliosr described Air on a G String (1928) above, and I don't have much to add--the costumes are very key players in this work. The dancers described performing this as somewhat spiritual and meditative, which you could tell in watching them. Orfeo is a relatively work of Limon's based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. As per the program, "Orfeo, dancing his lyrical lament of love and loss, calls his beloved Eurydice from the dead. Swathed in veils and protected by her Guardians, she come and their duet of the love of the souls ensues. The reality of death comes and Eurydice returns to Hades, leaving Orfeo once again with his tortuous doubts and hopes." This is one of Limon's last works, premiering just months before his death and not long after his wife's death, which provided the impetus for his choice of this story. It included more virtuosic dancing, especially for Orfeo. Orfeo was danced by Nicholas Ruscica and Eurydice by Frances Lorraine Samson. Chaconne was next on the program and is the only dance on the program that I had seen previously. In that case, at Jacob's Pillow, an archival film of Limon dancing was shown and then danced live with several dancers each performing part of the role. Here, it was performed by just one dancer, Savannah Spratt, and I much preferred seeing it this way. Last, but not least was my favorite, Waldstein Sonata, which was Limon's last work, to Beethoven's Piano Sonata no 21 in C Major, Opus 53. As I indicated early, it was not complete at his death. In an answer to a question from the audience, we were told that all of the first movement had been choreographed and there were parts of the second and third movements, but the strings of movement hadn't been put together. It was reconstructed and first performed in 1975, 3 years after Limon's death. I certainly couldn't tell any differences between the quality of the different movements. This was a very bright and happy dance for four couples, and it ended the evening on a very good note.

I believe that Sinatra Suite is excerpts from Nine Sinatra Songs.

Rachel Hutsell is now with Ballet Project OC

Last Saturday, I attended the MCB matinee at Jacob's Pillow, my first time back there since the summer of 2019. An important aspect of this program was that it was the first to use the new orchestra pit, which was part of the renovations of the Ted Shawn Theater done over the past couple of years while the theater was closed. The stage was also enlarged, although still small, and there was supposed to be a new climate control system, although it wasn't working that day. There were four ballets on the program: Martha Graham's Diversion of Angels (a company premiere), Margarita Armas' Geta (a world premier), Jerome Robbin's Antique Epigraphs, and Balanchine's Serenade (a Pillow premiere). Diversion of Angels was first, although I can't comment on whether the dancers really mastered the Graham style. Principals were Hannah Fischer and Cameron Catazaro (White), Adrienne Carter and Francisco Schilereff (Red), and Taylor Naturkas and Shimon Ito (Yellow). Standouts for me were Fischer and Carter. Geta was a tribute to an MCB School teacher, Geta Constantinescu, who died a few years ago. This is a solo, danced by Renan Cedeior, to a recording of Nina Simone's version of Ne Me Quitte Pas, so this was the only ballet that did not have live music. I really can't say that it made much of an impression on me, except for Cedeiro's performance. He and the choreographer were both Geta's students. Antique Epigraphs came next. When I first started attending NYCB in the late 80s-early 90s, this was very frequently programmed, and I saw it several times with the original leads, but I haven't seen it for years. It was pretty, but I would say that the either the leads weren't able to give it as much personality or the intervening years have made it less interesting to me. Principals were Dawn Atkins, Hannah Fischer, Samantha Hope Galler, and Taylor Naturkas. Serenade was last but not least, and definitely the program highlight for me, even though I've seen it many times before. It has actually never been performed at the Pillow before because of the Balanchine Trust's requirement for a live orchestra. And it was wonderful--the combination of the crystal-clear dancing and the small theater made it possible for me to notice details that I'd never seen before. Huge standing ovation at the end of the program for this, in my opinion, well-deserved. Principals were Ashley Knox, Samantha Hope Galler, Hannah Fischer, Cameron Catazaro, and Ariel Rose. There was also an inane pre-preformance talk (apparently Antique Epigraphs is a ghost of a ballet because of the "male gaze," which apparently does not apply to Balanchine, and an interview with Lourdes Lopez after the performance by the same person, where she kept trying to inject herself into everything. I don't recall anything particularly new coming up, but there was some definite dancing around how she came to be recruited as artistic director, no mention of her predecessor. Apparently, there were a number of Miamians there to support MCB, including Toby Lerner Ansin, company founder.

Sorry--confused two people. deleted.

I attended my third and final NYCB performance of the summer this afternoon: A Midsummer Night's Dream. I had initially planned to go last night, too, but I got a nosebleed right when I was about to leave that kept stopping and starting again, and when it finally stopped for good, it was too late to get to SPAC on time. But although it's ideal to see this ballet on a midsummer night, it is still great on a midsummer day, even a hot and sticky one. Although I've been attending NYCB and have seen Midsummer many times, this was the first time I've seen it from a lower theater level--at the NYS Theater, I used to sit in the third ring and I usually sit in the balcony at SPAC. But, to change things up, I sat in Section 8 again, which is the rear orchestra section but it has a steep rake so that its very easy to see over the heads in front of you (I'm on the petite side). In front of me was a family who seemed to think that it was appropriate to bring a 14-month-old to the ballet. One parent took him out halfway through Act 1, and switched with the other parent for Act 2. The theater seemed pretty full, which was an improvement over the Thursday matinee, which had lots of empty seats (and seemed even emptier without the cheering of the students from the defunct Summer School for the Arts) Anyway, I really enjoyed this performance--to my mind, it was the highlight of the all-to-short season. There was yet another casting substitution, with Isabella LaFreniere as Hippolyta. I haven't had the opportunity to see much of her before, but she really impressed in this role. The program showed that the originally cast Titania and Oberon were Miriam Miller and Daniel Ulbricht. While I would have loved to see Miller in that role after she made a great impression on me last summer in Diamonds excerpts, it's hard to be disappointed when you get to see Anthony Huxley with Unity Phelan. Both were wonderful. Huxley is one of my favorites, and while he has been outstanding technically, I felt that he is becoming more comfortable with expression emotions and character through his dancing. There was a minor goof today--when Puck first put the donkey head on Bottom, it still had the wreath around then ear, presumably forgotten after the previous evening's performance. But when Puck dragged poor Bottom offstage, he came back with naked ears until Titania put the wreath around his ear again. I'd also heard a lot about Roman Mejia, but seen very little--his Puck showed what all of the fuss was about. And I've seen the comments here about Isabella LaFreniere, who was a fantastic Hippolyta today. This was likely the last time I'll have seen Sterling Hilton, who danced the Divertissement with Andy Veyette. I can't believe she's retiring--it was an absolutely beautiful performance, maybe the best I've seen of that pas de deux.

I went back to SPAC today for the "Evolution" program matinee, which I enjoyed quite a lot. There was a downpour about an hour before the performance, but then the temperature cooled off and the sun came out and it ended up being a lovely day for ballet. I got an excellent seat, first row of Section 8 downstairs. First up was Emanon. It was a great showcase for the dancers. I liked the music, costumes, and enjoyed the choreography. Anthony Huxley one of my favorites, and this may have been the first time I've seen him smile. Peter Walker has always stood out for his height, but I really enjoyed his dancing here, more than when he was a soloist, especially with Emily Kikta. But everyone else was great here, too: Emma Von Enck, Unity Phelan, Indiana Woodward, Jonathan Fahoury, and Jovani Furland. After the first intermission was In Creases, Justin Peck's first ballet for NYCB, which had its world premiere at SPAC exactly 10 years ago today (I was there!). Todays performance had a lot of substitutions--usually they just announce them at the start of the performance, but we had inserts today for the first time in forever. In addition to the cast changes that were posted yesterday, Preston Chamblee replaced Daniel Applebaum. Preston seems to have dyed his hair--it's probably blond, but looked sort of a pale greenish-gray from where I was sitting. I couldn't keep track of who was who, but Taylor Stanley was great here, and I enjoyed it. Next was This Bitter Earth. I saw it once, I think in 2014, for Wendy Whelan's SPAC farewell. At the time, it honestly kind of bored me, but today's performance with Sara Mearns and Andy Vedette was lovely and received a standing ovation from a good part of the crowd. When I've seen ballets created on Wendy, I can usually see her in them, but Sara put her own imprint on it. After the second intermission, the last ballet was The Four Temperaments, one of my favorite Balanchine ballets. It also got a great reception and partial standing ovation from the crowd. I was particularly happy to finally get to see Chun Wai Chan in Sanguinic, after reading the positive reports about him on this site and elsewhere. All in all, a very enjoyable afternoon. f I didn't have a ton of work to do tonight, I might have made it a double-header and seen this program again. The sound also seemed better downstairs than in the balcony last night--I spoke to one of the ushers who told me they've had a lot of complaints about the sound system. On to Midsummer!

Before getting into tonight's performance, I wanted to mention another SPAC program that may be of interest to NYCB fans: The July 27th Philadelphia Orchestra Festive Fireworks performance will feature a performance by BalletX with new choreography by Tiler Peck. Information here: https://spac.org/event/the-philadelphia-orchestra-22/ Note that this performance can also be included in a discount package if you are still thinking of seeing NYCB at SPAC. On to tonight's performance. I forgot that curtain time has been changed to 7:30 from 8:00 and arrived with only minutes to spare, but succeeded in getting a very good seat in the center of the center balcony and made it there in time. If you are COVID-cautious be aware that there are no restrictions and not many others will be masking. The evening started with Elizabeth Sobel (SPAC president) and Jon Stafford coming out and some remarks (mostly from Sobel, as I recall) about various improvements, including a new floor for the dancers, and what a pleasure it is to work with him. They also have a new sound system, and to my ears, although the music was live, it sounded miked up in the balcony and was occasionally too loud and shrill. The first ballet was Chaconne. I've seen it numerous times before, and it never seems to make a strong impression. I didn't remember the opening section with the diaphanous costumes at all. Sara Mearns and Tyler Angle were the leads--I particularly appreciated the way Sara seems to devour the space, extending her line, always going for more. I also particularly enjoyed the other soloists, especially Emma von Neck and Harrison Coll, but really, all were great. Next up was Summerspace. I've long been intrigued by the backdrop and costumes, and now I can say that I've seen it. I didn't enjoy the music, at least as it went on and on, and although I enjoyed it initially, after a while I felt very ready for it to be over. For me, the standouts here were Adrian Danchig-Waring and Ashley Laracey. Last was Glass Pieces, which in the past, I have not really enjoyed (in fact, the only time I've left the ballet early was once when it was last on the program), primarily because of the minimalist music. That being said, I did enjoy it tonight, the corps work especially--they had great energy. Another substation here, Aaron Sanz for Daniel Applebaum in Rubric. I was also interested to see the first new Facades couple that I've seen for a while, Unity Phelan and Jovani Furlan. I started seeing NYCB regularly in 1988, and I can only recall seeing 3 other dancers in the ballerina role: Maria Calegari, Wendy Whelan, and Maria Kowroski. Phelan and Furlan were good, butI often find myself focusing here on the silhouetted line of dancers toward the back of the stage. For me, the highlight of the evening was just being back and seeing a normal ballet program for the first time since February 2020 and the for first time at SPAC since July 2019. Although I enjoyed last years' programs, full ballets, even if they're not my favorites, are so much better than excerpts.

Programming update: This Bitter Earth is replacing Gustav Le Gray in both performances: Source: https://www.wamc.org/arts-culture/2022-07-13/nycb-returns-to-spac-with-a-summer-sampler “NYCB On and Off Stage,” offered a taste of every ballet on this week’s schedule, except for Pam Tanowitz’s new work, Gustave le Gray No. 1, cancelled because of illness. It will be replaced at Thursday’s two performances by Christopher Wheeldon’s This Bitter Earth. Updated program and casting information from the SPAC website: PRINCIPAL CASTING- THURSDAY MATINEE, JULY 14, 2:00PM EMANON – IN TWO MOVEMENTS: Phelan, Woodward, Kikta, E. Von Enck, Huxley, Furlan, Walker, Fahoury [Conductor: Wasserman] IN CREASES: Gerrity, *O. MacKinnon, Adams, Jones, Stanley, Coll, Alberda, Applebaum pause THIS BITTER EARTH (Replaces GUSTAVE LE GRAY NO 1): Mearns, *Veyette THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS: Boisson, Nelson, Staker, Henson, Maxwell, Sanz, Villarini-Velez, Gerrity, Chan, *Grant, LeCrone [Conductor: Litton] * First Time in Role PRINCIPAL CASTING- THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 14, 7:30PM EMANON – IN TWO MOVEMENTS: Phelan, Woodward, Kikta, E. Von Enck, Huxley, Furlan, Walker, Fahoury [Conductor: Wasserman] IN CREASES: Gerrity, O. MacKinnon, Adams, Jones, Stanley, Coll, Alberda, Applebaum pause THIS BITTER EARTH (Replaces GUSTAVE LE GRAY NO 1): Mearns, Veyette THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS: Boisson, Nelson, Staker, Henson, Maxwell, Sanz, Villarini-Velez, Gerrity, Chan, Grant, LeCrone [Conductor: Litton] It looks like there are also updates for other programs--I noticed that Midsummer now has Anthony Huxley as Oberon PRINCIPAL CASTING- FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 15, 7:30PM (Conductor: Litton) A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM: TITANIA: Phelan; OBERON: Huxley; PUCK: Mejia; HIPPOLYTA: Hod; THESEUS: Chamblee; TITANIA’S CAVALIER: Sanz; HELENA: LaFreniere; DEMETRIUS: Villarini-Velez; HERMIA: Pereira; LYSANDER: Nelson; BUTTERFLY: Maxwell; BOTTOM: Bolden; DIVERTISSEMENT: Hyltin, Veyette * First Time in Role PRINCIPAL CASTING- SATURDAY MATINEE, JULY 16, 2:00PM (Conductor: Litton) A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM: TITANIA: Phelan; OBERON: Huxley; PUCK: Mejia; HIPPOLYTA: Hod; THESEUS: Chamblee; TITANIA’S CAVALIER: Sanz; HELENA: LaFreniere; DEMETRIUS: Villarini-Velez; HERMIA: Pereira; LYSANDER: Nelson; BUTTERFLY: Maxwell; BOTTOM: Bolden; DIVERTISSEMENT: Hyltin, Veyette

I agree. Even if you look at successful male choreographers, they've all had failures along with successes. Also, we can contrast how male choreographers with duds are treated vs women. Justin Peck's "Most Incredible Thing" was a super expensive failure. Melissa Barak had an expensive failure in "Call Me Ben" after a few choreographic successes. That was the last time she choreographed for NYCB. Even women with some choreographic successes have not had continued opportunities to choreograph at NYCB--Miriam Mahdaviani choreographed a few well-received ballets and then seemed to have been dropped. Lauren Lovette had a couple of fairly successful ballets and was then told NYCB wasn't interested in her future choreography. When I was fairly early in my scientific career, I was told that we would know that women have arrived when a mediocre woman has the same opportunities as a mediocre man. I don't think this has happened yet in either science or in dance.

Looks like all of the repeat programs are supposed to have the same casts. We do have a few debuts: Bologna and Furlan in Glass Pieces, and MacKinnon in Increases Here's the compilation: PRINCIPAL CASTING- TUESDAY EVENING, JULY 12, 7:30PM NYCB ON AND OFF STAGE (Conductors: Litton, Sill, Wasserman) Featuring Excerpts From A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Scherzo): Ulbricht, Maxwell CHACONNE (Opening Movement): Mearns, T. Angle SUMMERSPACE: Laracey, Gerrity, Dutton-O’Hara, Adams, Veyette, Alberda GUSTAVE LE GRAY NO 1: Applebaum, Corti, Hutchinson+, Danchig-Waring [+ Guest Artist, Dance Theatre of Harlem] EMANON – IN TWO MOVEMENTS: Phelan, Woodward, Kikta, E. Von Enck, Huxley, Furlan, Fahoury IN CREASES: Gerrity, O. MacKinnon, Adams, Segin, Stanley, Coll, Alberda, Applebaum THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS (Sanguinic): Gerrity, Chan GLASS PIECES (Third Movement) PRINCIPAL CASTING- WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 13, 7:30PM (Conductor: Sill) CHACONNE: Mearns, T. Angle, E. Von Enck, Coll, Dutton-O’Hara, Clark, Sanz, C. Von Enck, Boisson, Nelson, Maxwell, Abreu SUMMERSPACE: Laracey, Gerrity, Dutton-O’Hara, Adams, Veyette, Alberda GLASS PIECES: Hod, Applebaum, LaFreniere, Riccardo, *Bologna, Alberda, Phelan, *Furlan PRINCIPAL CASTING- THURSDAY MATINEE, JULY 14, 2:00PM EMANON – IN TWO MOVEMENTS: Phelan, Woodward, Kikta, E. Von Enck, Huxley, Furlan, Walker, Fahoury [Conductor: Wasserman] IN CREASES: Gerrity, *O. MacKinnon, Adams, Segin, Stanley, Coll, Alberda, Applebaum pause GUSTAVE LE GRAY NO 1: Applebaum, Corti, Hutchinson+, Danchig-Waring [+ Guest Artist, Dance Theatre of Harlem] THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS: Boisson, Nelson, Staker, Henson, Maxwell, Sanz, Villarini-Velez, Gerrity, Chan, *Grant, LeCrone [Conductor: Litton] PRINCIPAL CASTING- THURSDAY EVENING, JULY 14, 7:30PM EMANON – IN TWO MOVEMENTS: Phelan, Woodward, Kikta, E. Von Enck, Huxley, Furlan, Walker, Fahoury [Conductor: Wasserman] IN CREASES: Gerrity, O. MacKinnon, Adams, Segin, Stanley, Coll, Alberda, Applebaum pause GUSTAVE LE GRAY NO 1: Applebaum, Corti, Hutchinson+, Danchig-Waring [+ Guest Artist, Dance Theatre of Harlem] THE FOUR TEMPERAMENTS: Boisson, Nelson, Staker, Henson, Maxwell, Sanz, Villarini-Velez, Gerrity, Chan, Grant, LeCrone [Conductor: Litton] PRINCIPAL CASTING- FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 15, 7:30PM (Conductor: Litton) A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM: TITANIA: Phelan; OBERON: Ulbricht; PUCK: Mejia; HIPPOLYTA: Hod; THESEUS: Chamblee; TITANIA’S CAVALIER: Sanz; HELENA: Kretzschmar; DEMETRIUS: Villarini-Velez; HERMIA: Pereira; LYSANDER: Nelson; BUTTERFLY: Maxwell; BOTTOM: Bolden; DIVERTISSEMENT: Hyltin, Veyette PRINCIPAL CASTING- SATURDAY MATINEE, JULY 16, 2:00PM (Conductor: Litton) A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM: TITANIA: Phelan; OBERON: Ulbricht; PUCK: Mejia; HIPPOLYTA: Hod; THESEUS: Chamblee; TITANIA’S CAVALIER: Sanz; HELENA: Kretzschmar; DEMETRIUS: Villarini-Velez; HERMIA: Pereira; LYSANDER: Nelson; BUTTERFLY: Maxwell; BOTTOM: Bolden; DIVERTISSEMENT: Hyltin, Veyette PRINCIPAL CASTING- SATURDAY EVENING, JULY 16, 7:30PM (Conductor: Sill) CHACONNE: Mearns, T. Angle, E. Von Enck, Coll, Dutton-O’Hara, Clark, Sanz, C. Von Enck, Boisson, Nelson, Maxwell, Abreu SUMMERSPACE: Laracey, Gerrity, Dutton-O’Hara, Adams, Veyette, Alberda GLASS PIECES: Hod, Applebaum, LaFreniere, Riccardo, Bologna, Alberda, Phelan, Furlan

I've been looking for it, too, but haven't seen any. Maybe they are continuing to have problems with COVID and the casting is too unpredictable to post. In previous seasons, it's always been posted by now. Also, SPAC tickets are about double the price of the last normal season in 2019--I was shocked to see how expensive they were. I went with the classical season lawn pass, which includes five $5 upgrades to inside seats, most or all of which will probably get used next week. If you are going to 3 or 4 performances, there are also discounts available without having to take a chance on available seats. Discount information is here: https://spac.org/waystosave/

The last time I saw the ballet at Lincoln Center (February 2020), my friend and I enjoyed dinner at La Boîte en Bois: http://laboitenyc.com

Surprising news--Lauren Lovette is the new resident choreographer at Paul Taylor. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/16/arts/dance/lauren-lovette-ballet-paul-taylor-company.html

She was also notable for being the original Eliza in The King and I.