Roberta

As a season subscriber to the KC Ballet series, I received an email notice yesterday concerning the cancelation of the National Ballet of China's performances in January 2022. The bigger concern is this wording about the reason for the cancelation, as it may provide a clue to what's up with the Mariinsky Ballet's planned visit in April:

Due to COVID-19, the company is holding on international touring until global conditions improve. The Kennedy Center and National Ballet of China are looking at rescheduling the 2022 engagement for a future season.

Maybe global conditions will improve by late April, to allow the visit by the Mariinsky?

Assuming that, by April 2022, the situation is such that the Kennedy Center is still requiring vaccines from all performers and the Russian vaccines are not accepted, I am wondering:

Would the Mariinsky agree to perform masked (if that were an option)?

Would we want to see it with the faces masked?  I would not, sorry. Even if the ghosts of Pavlova, Karsavina and Nijinsky would be guests.

I wrote to a couple of venues for which I purchased tickets -

The Kennedy Center answered my email inquiring about any plans for masking dancers; partial quote:

"...The plan at the moment is that the adult dancers will not be masked, since they will have followed all of the Kennedy Center’s vaccine mandates.  The children dancing in the Miami Ballet’s The Nutcracker, however, will wear masks..."

Sincerely,

Linda Beers

Ticket Services

Miami's Nutcracker is the first subscription offering, to be followed by ABT in early April, as NBChina's own Nutcracker in January was cancelled. If the Mariinsky performs in late April, I hope that the Kennedy Canter accepts the Russian Sputnik vaccine as ok to allow dancing without masks.

 The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago has not yet answered my email. The city is under strict mandate for all persons entering buildings but no decision yet on performers. I'd love to attend their first program in mid-October, including an Arpino rarity, but don't want to see it with masked dancers...not to mention paying airfare & hotel for the experience.

19 hours ago, California said:

Washington Ballet has just announced their COVID policies - very similar to what we're seeing elsewhere. Proof of vaccination AND masks for everybody.

https://www.washingtonballet.org/covid-19-updates-information/

Thank you. I am very fine with masking up and being vaccinated. However, I am wondering if the dancers will be performing with masks? Maybe I am in the minority but I would not want to pay to see a ballet in which one of the most beautiful features of a human being is covered. Who wants to go into the Louvre Museum to see a masked Mona Lisa painting or Venus de Milo sculpture?

During the height of the pandemic, it was a bit shocking to see some companies performing with masks on, such as Tulsa Ballet's livestreams. Yeah, I was grateful to experience a livestreamed show but, in all honesty, was not thrilled about having paid $35 or so to see three ballets with masked dancers and not having been told ahead of time. Maybe I just missed the warning that dancers would be masked.

In sum, I'll wait until I know that dancers will not be masked during performances, before shelling out $$$.

Contacted Kennedy Center about acceptable proof-of-vaccination documentation to enter the theatre. I was informed that showing my CDC card (actual or clear photo)  + official ID (such as driver's license or passport)  is good. Theatre staff will be checking that names on the CDC cards and IDs/names match, as well as your face & the face on the ID card. This will happen at an entry point into the theatre, such as front doors from the plaza or doors at each parking level.  This is different from the line to enter each auditorium, where one shows the ticket. Allow time for both checkpoints.

For those not aware, I recommend watching the 2003 documentary "Three Ballerinas" that explores the careers of Lucette Aldous, Marylyn Jones and Marilyn Rowe. it includes some rare footage of Aldous as a Cygnet with Ballet Rambert, as well as in leading roles performed in Australia after her return in the 1970s (beside Don Q) - Fool on the Hill (G. Lynne work), Carmen (R. Petit) and Sleeping Beauty.

A teaser on Youtube:

Three Ballerinas - YouTube

I purchased my copy of the DVD at the Melbourne Arts Center but I'm pretty sure that it can be purchased via TAB's online shop, too.

6 hours ago, Buddy said:

ABT -- Dance at Dusk -- Live from LA

For 45 minutes after more than a year offstage I thought that these performances were very respectable.

Don Quixote pas de deux, performed by Christine Shevchenko and Joo Won Ahn. 

Swan Lake pas de deux  Devon Teuscher? and Cory Stearns?    

Romeo and Juliet pas de deux, performed by Hee Seo and Thomas Forster?

A Time There Was  pas de deux,   Soloists Katherine Williams and Blaine Hoven (a work featuring choreography by ABT’s Gemma Bond and music by Benjamin Britten)

Let Me Sing Forevermore? ("the Jessica Lang-Tony Bennett ballet," Roberta)   Cate Hurlin? and Aran Bell ?

(Thanks, Maps and Roberta for dancer identification)

....

 

Buddy, you are correct in the ID'n of dancers and the five pdd's. The livestream included one very quick flash of a playbill, just before the initial number.

I'm so grateful for the opportunity of seeing these ten wonderful ABT dancers perform live, that I'll overlook the less-than-optimal filming, missed entrances, missed start of Schevchenko's 32 fouettes in Don Q, etc. As a long-time ABT patron during their Met seasons, I was especially touched by seeing Forster as Romeo. Like many admirers, I'd waited for years to see him dance as a principal. I'm also glad that soloists Williams and Hoven got their chance to shine here, in the Gemma Bond piece. I'll admit to having a lump in my throat several times during this stream, camera quirks and all.

21 hours ago, maps said:

ABT's 6/6/21 LA show has a free livestream.  Sign up link https://themusiccenter.uscreen.io/programs/live-fzhh0k_gjvc   https://www.instagram.com/p/CPv9YFDHsiA/   10 dancers and 5 pdd excerpts.  By the costumes: R&J Seo-Forster, SLTeuscher-Stearns, DQ Shevchenko-Ahn. A Time There Was Williams-Hoven, ? Hurlin-Bell.  

....

By the dark-blue jazzy costumes, maybe Hurlin and Bell are dancing Let Me Sing Forevermore, the Jessica Lang-Tony Bennett ballet?

On 5/28/2021 at 2:00 AM, Helene said:

From PNB's press release:

 

See the stars of tomorrow, online today!

Pacific Northwest Ballet and PNB School present NEXT STEP

June 4 – 18, 2021

PNB’s annual choreographic showcase of premieres, created by PNB Company dancers for Professional Division students, goes online in 2021.

SEATTLE, WA— NEXT STEP, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s annual choreographers’ showcase, goes online this year, with a cornucopia of choreography created by company members. As with everything else during this unmentionable year, NEXT STEP is being presented online, via PNB’s YouTube and Facebook channels. [See hyperlinks below.] The program launches Friday, June 4 at 7:00 pm PST and will be viewable for two weeks, through June 18, 2021. The line-up features five premieres from Christopher D’Ariano, Joshua Grant, Miles Pertl, Lucien Postlewaite, and Leah Terada. All works are set on the Professional Division students of PNB School – the dance stars of tomorrow, online today! The program is managed by PNB faculty member and choreographer Eva Stone.

 Intended as a vehicle for emerging dance talent both onstage and off, NEXT STEP provides dancers, studio space, and rehearsal time for company members who wish to hone their skills of choreography...

I watched but kept wondering throughout most of the hour, "Is this film school or ballet school?" The young dancers seem very accomplished but these short films, planting gardens and such, did not  showcase their balletic abilities, with the exception of the very first one (Bright Young Things) set in a ballet studio, choreographed by Joshua Grant, to William Lin-Yee's music. 

I remember when Jenifer Ringer and Nilas Martins led Gold and Silver Waltz/Merry Widow. Ringer was a lovely impactful presence. I'll stop there. 😁

5 minutes ago, California said:

That was my one big disappointment with the camera work. The moment when the lights come on and the crowd enters from the side is always so exciting in the theater, and it was lost because the camera was watching Kowroski exit.

Me too...me three. I thought, "Hurry! Move the camera to the left to catch the corps sweeping in!" Despite this, I am delighted with the current stream of Vienna Waltzes from NYCB. Between this and the beloved 1983 PBS telecast-film, ballet fans now have two records of this exquisite Balanchine work, which is performed only by NYCB. The 1983 telecast often focused on principals, missing some interesting corps work, so no complaints here.

Hint of a potential filming/streaming of another rare Balanchine work in this genre:  the Vienna Staatsoper Ballet today announced that its upcoming 2021/22 season will include Liebeslieder Walzer. The Vienna troupe has, even before COVID, made its  productions available online, for a fee.

26 minutes ago, maps said:

 

Those seats are sold for full capacity beginning 9/1/21.  https://www.kennedy-center.org/visit/covid-safety/ Realistically do I expect to see that Miami Nutcracker in a full capacity Opera House?  No.  The KC could use these theatres this summer under DC guidelines with capacity limits:   

• Opera House cap= est 2198*25%= 549 so cap at 500.
• Eisenhower 1161*.25%=290

Wolf Trap is doing pods like Miami's Nutcracker but the only ballet booked is Maryland Youth Ballet.  I was surprised at no ABT or TWB.  ABT is at the marvelous Salamander [Sheila Johnson resort] outdoors with rain dates perhaps on a dance floor laid on a terrace with limited lawn seating.   Perhaps they will get to stay there pre return to NYC after the arduous tour.

 

 

Thank you for this information, maps.  I will likely do my subscription renewal before the June 4 deadline and hope for the best. I was a little concerned because Washington, DC, where the Kennedy Center is physically located, seems to be clamping down, such as the recent ban on dancing and standing at weddings.  

10 hours ago, pherank said:

A short Edwaard Liang piece for Yuan Yuan and Chun Wai Chan of NYCB for a Chinese TV program:
[definitely watch full screen so you can see something]

There's one particular lift that is quite memorable.

https://www.instagram.com/p/COUk7vVBVJ4/

That is lovely, pherank.  I am wondering if this might be a portion of Liang's untitled new full work for PNB, set to premiere as part of the last offering in PNB's digital series, next month? The new full work will also have music by Oliver Davis.

I am wondering if seating will be allocated according to social-distancing rules? If so, how will "singles" seats be allocated? This might be a year when seating could run out at the subscription stage, unlike past years when people could easily purchase show-specific tickets closer to the performance dates, after casting was announced.

Radio silence about ABT's Costa Mesa programme? Especially interested to hear about Grand Pas Classique with Catherine Hurlin and Sung Woo Han.

According to the printed program, Lang's Let Us Sing Forevermore was cancelled, replaced by Swan Lake A2 pdd with Teuscher and Stearns. UIM-program-digital.indd (scfta.org)

On 3/6/2021 at 6:19 PM, pherank said:

We appreciate hearing about your impressions of these ballets - good, bad, or indifferent. There's a lot of darkness in the stage setting for Wooden Dimes - I could see that putting someone to sleep.   😉

Re: Symphony #9 - I remember seeing some of the original casts performing this work at SFB, but I don't have a memory of the dancers pointing at the ceiling. I can't say for certain, but Ratmansky may have decided to drop that gesture for some reason.

Re: Swimmer, this quote from the program guide is worth reading:

Cheever’s The Swimmer is a surrealistic story of a man
who “swims home” through his neighbors’ pools, only
to find his own home—and his entire life—gone. Within
the context of this idea of a man “swimming home,”
Possokhov weaves together images, moments, and
settings from Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, London’s
Martin Eden, Hopper’s Nighthawks, Nichols’ film The
Graduate, and Nabokov’s Lolita. These works highlight
what Possokhov loves most about American culture—the
1960s, in particular—from a non-American point of view.
Scene changes happen with the aid of film sequences,
which reflect Possokhov’s love of the art form and give
a nod to Hollywood, another American icon.

In the ballet’s last movement, we see the Swimmer
multiplied in 15 men: “It’s him, all of them,” Possokhov
says—one man’s emotions, magnified. The men dance
with the fluidity and weightlessness that come with
immersion in water, yet there’s ferocity too. “It’s like
a kind of confession,” Possokhov says. That mad
dance is a “last song, last scream, last swim,” he says.
“It’s our scream.”

Excuse me but I was not indifferent. Two were excellent - one previously known (the Ratmansky) and another much-read about, on my wish-list for a while (The Swimmer). I loved both, let's be clear. However, one was truly awful - not just dull and dark.  Unappealing music, undeveloped characters (we barely saw the Director, Tiit Helimets), poor editorial choices, etc. Just an excuse to make yet another create-in-place film. I would never pay to see this in a regular theater, even if reworked for a normal stage. 

I later paid to see the earlier Program 2, just before the closing date. I enjoyed that one immensely, especially Morris' Sandpaper Ballet. What fun - a real tour de force for the full ensemble! On my to-see-live list whenever that may happen. 

Digital Program #3:

I purchased this one program a while back, primarily for the opportunity to view Possokhov's The Swimmer, which I enjoyed as a grand theatrical concept, more than as a ballet. What a blast - as the composer stated in an extra feature, Possokhov has "...thrown in everything but the kitchen sink..." to show his Americana. What a blast!

I'd already seen and greatly admired Ratmansky's Symphony #9, so no real surprises there, although I noticed some subtle changes between this and the original ABT version; for example, the lead couple no longer points up at the ceiling, after laying down. Anyone else remember the pointing? It really drove home the matter of neighbors upstairs spying on them. 

Am I the only viewer who didn't care much for the Danielle Rowe "film" - as titled - Wooden Dimes? I almost fell asleep, except for the cabaret scene reminiscent of the June Taylor Dancers in those 1960s Jackie Gleason Shows. By the time of the 2nd pdd of Mr & Mrs Fine, I was falling asleep and praying for The Swimmer to stroke into view.  

Lauren Lovette's retirement from NYCB at age 29 (!) saddens me. She offered a special sort of perfume in the most beautiful and romantic roles, such as Opus 19: The Dreamer, which is a wise choice for her farewell from NYCB. I also admired her greatly in Peck's Belles-Lettres, Wheeldon's Soiree Musicale, the Tuilleries solo in Ratmansky's Pictures at an Exhibition and, especially, in Mr. B's Liebeslieder. 

I hope that, in addition to choreographing, she's planning to dance a bit more as a freelancer, as she did at the Vail Festival, when she essayed the Bournonville William Tell pdd, with Roman Mejia.  

Lovette's choreography is quite promising - clever and intensely musical. In addition to what she's created for NYCB, I enjoyed her recent La Follia Variations for the ABT Studio Company.

On 3/5/2021 at 9:20 AM, California said:

Question: I sometimes hear the remark that Balanchine made a few modifications in T&V when he staged it for NYCB, from the original ABT version. Can anyone identify those changes?

To me, the changes are most notable in portions of the corps work during the finale, such as the way that the corps girls fan-out, when falling into their partners' arms. I've also noticed that, after the pdd, just before the finale's trumpets, the main girl falls into her partners arms at a different angle & more dramatically. Certain details are more dramatic at ABT, perhaps reflecting the flair of the originals stars, Alonso and Youskevich. I also agree with John Clifford about the differing tempi at NYCB.

9 hours ago, Dale said:

I had the opposite reaction. I mean, I love the ballet, and ironically Lourdes Lopez was one of my favorites in performing the lead role. First, I think the re-costuming is just off. The firebird now looks like one of the failed experiments Balanchine had. The big feathered tail just seemed to get in the way with a lot of the partnering. The shiny material, which I guess was supposed to convey fire, just looked a little cheap. The color scheme for the rest was ... I know MCB has started trying to make these Balanchine productions more of their own by tailoring them to its "tropical" location. I just don't think it works. I didn't think their Midsummer worked thematically. And I don't think it works here - why are women in a tropical place wearing Russian-style tiaras? I also was surprised at some of the choices in the choreography. The firebird's last solo seemed to have accents and exaggerations missing from Maria Tallchief's interpretation and the subsequent productions at NYCB. And finally, they did not include the small children at the end (is the thought that they are servants and the ballet seems to be promoting child labor?) and the princess did not wear a different gown. I'll have to watch it again and maybe move past these visual things. I feel almost churlish to complain since I am so happy MCB allowed the video to be seen for free. 

I agree. The overall cheapness and tackiness of the designs ruined it for me. Maybe I've been spoiled by the NYCB's gorgeous Marc Chagall designs? I know that Miami's designer is of Russian heritage but since when does Tsar Ivan wear a YELLOW coat? And a latex-looking unitard, with strategic feathers, on the Firebird? When the scrim rose to reveal the final tableau with the cheapened version of NYCB's flags I just  in disbelief. I also didn't care for Miami's over-reliance in projections, at the expense of traditional sets. These wonderful dancers deserved to be seen in better light. At least we'll be seeing this company in other streams in the coming weeks.

14 minutes ago, BalletFan said:

I ...They should have come up with some other term that wasn’t so misleading… or maybe they just should have simply stuck with “celebration” or "online fundraiser." ....

And yet...and yet, even as a fundraiser, it didn't do a good job. The online auction was barely ever mentioned, except for the 30 seconds of Zimmy Coker in her kitchen, mentioning her cooking class as an auction item.  Or did I miss any other extensive mention of the auction? Speaking of … a cruise???

This virtual ABT "gala" was basically a big one-hour infomercial. All I remember was an off-key Tony Bennett attempting to sing and some socialite fat cats raising their champagne glasses. There was no bit of sustained performance. Perhaps this was planned a few weeks ago, before the rest of the ballet world opened up their archival coffers with films of complete ballets. After this gala, I immediately switched YouTube channels on my TV, to thoroughly enjoy 50 minutes of substantial Balanchine and Robbins treasures at NYCB.

Early Warning:  Another of these sorts of infomercials is planned by Julie Kent and the Washington Ballet on June 18, as per their FB page. "Mini-ABT" on the Potomac. Maybe WB will learn from this ABT mess and devote 10-15 minutes to an actual ballet performance (on film) and not to a series of Washington-area socialites raising champagne glasses?

Among the details about the upcoming ABT virtual gala, from their FB page:

As part of the evening’s offerings, Bennett will sing “Fly Me to the Moon,” while soloists Catherine Hurlin and Aran Bell (who are currently sheltering together) dance an adaptation of Jessica Lang’s “Let Me Sing Forevermore” at Central Park. Cynthia Erivo will perform “America the Beautiful” in accompaniment to a montage of Ballet Theatre artists and others.

A tribute to the 20th anniversary of Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie’s “Swan Lake” and a new work by Lang, titled “Our Common Fate,” will also be included alongside interviews with dancers and performances from the ABT Orchestra.

Nice. There will be some actual ballet...but do we really need to know that Hurlin and Bell "...are currently sheltering together..."?

That's a lot to present in one hour. No time for sustained ballet excerpts or a complete short ballet.

I'm glad that ABT is doing something but this seems a bit too "pop" oriented. I guess that the big bucks are outside the tight circle of dedicated balletomanes. Whatever it takes to keep ABT afloat.

9 hours ago, pherank said:

SF Ballet just posted this announcement:

Don’t miss Helgi Tomasson’s Romeo & Juliet streaming on SF Ballet @ Home on Fri, May 8 at 2:30 pm PDT (for one week only!), featuring Mathilde Froustey and Carlo Di Lanno in the title roles, and the 2015 Live from Lincoln Center broadcast performance on Lincoln Center at Home on Mon, May 11 at 2:30 pm PDT featuring Maria Kochetkova and Davit Karapetyan in the title roles.

It was always a treat to get to see Karapetyan dance, and now that he has retired to teach, this is the only chance anyone will get to see him in action. Don't miss it.

So is it two different casts in the SFB R&J? Sorry, not so clear.