Drew

I thought the spare, scaffolding designs worked for Cinderella's home--which, in this version, is supposed to be sort of West Side Story-ish--but looked thin (as Natalia said 'cheap') and absent any beautiful sense of contrast in the ballroom scene. I also thought the choreography for the seasons included some of the more interesting in the ballet. Having them dance variations under aegis of fairy godmother is not unusual, but having them serve as tutelary spirits for the whole ballet is -- at least to my knowledge.

Thanks for the link...

This is an intangible element of seeing the Mariinsky over and over. You start to see a refined style that ideally goes from the corps to the principals, but the trend at the Mariinsky now is to hire dancers who were trained elsewhere besides the Vaganova Academy, and, often, even when these dancers are often solid or even good they do not quite fit in style-wise. .... Hardcore Mariinsky lovers are actually heart-broken about this trend. But audiences seem to be fine and even love the non-Vaganova graduates so one day the unique style of the Mariinsky may disappear especially since the acting ballet director doesn't seem to like Vaganova graduates. This is a huge concern to me as well--especially as the long-term fate of the school itself is unclear. (I realize some people are feeling reassured about Tsiskaridze's leadership since the reportedly successful graduation performances last year, but I fear it is early days to know anything.) Very enjoyable to read the responses to Lopatkina's performance; wish I might have seen it!

I think Atlanta Ballet sometimes has dinner/social events keyed to ballet performances.

I agree and to me that suggests that one shouldn't over-react to some of the company's problems. I say this especially because it seems to me that most great companies go through ups and downs. Not that long ago, Peter Martins was artistic-director-enemy number 1. I also say it because I think in Ratmansky the company has an important artistic force. As far as the upcoming season goes, the one thing I am most determined to see--if at all possible (I have to come from out of town) and whatever the cast options--is his new production of Sleeping Beauty. Mckenzie has also in recent years made Ashton an ABT "regular" -- represented this coming season in Cinderella -- and recently revived Tharp's terrific Bach Partita. Like others, I'm not thrilled about the company's current problems and NYCB has long been my favorite American ballet company (even when it was suffering its "slump" years and I heard from many how much more exciting ABT was!) -- but am a little unpersuaded that the situation is somehow nearing a point of no return. Well, I hope not anyway... (Also: Not much love for Boylston in this discussion, but she is not without admirers. Among professional critics, Robert Gottlieb has written that he finds Boylston a promising young ballerina; I have enjoyed her dancing in solo roles, though not seen her enough to have an opinion about her as a principal...I'm actually hoping I get to see her in something major this spring. And although I have long had reservations about Semionova, I have seen her do lovely things and wonder if it isn't a little too soon to assume she won't ripen somewhat and extend her artistry as a ballerina.)

My memory is that Ananiashvilli did not do much touring with ABT (if any). In later years of her career I don't think Ferri toured with them either. I am speaking of U.S. tours--that is, they primarily appeared with the company during the Met seasons. They were "regulars" there of course. That doesn't much change the larger point you are making, but is worth noting. ABT has long-standing problems getting some of its biggest stars to tour with them. (Ironically I remember a season or two in which Kirkland gave extraordinary performances on tour in D.C. and then pulled out in New York.) I will give the company this: of their "regulars" Cornejo and Gomez are nothing if not world class. I consider Cornejo to be one of the finest male dancers I have ever seen. (I date back to Bruhn and Nureyev, though the first generation of male dancers I saw in a range of roles was a little younger--Baryshnikov/Martins/Dowell etc.) And, though I don't see the company regularly, I have also seen Simkin and Stearns give some performances that merit better praise than "house principal." Zhurbin is genuinely terrific in an admitedly very specialized "character" repertory. That said, I'm mostly a ballerina-centric ballet fan--and the ballerina situation is, to put it kindly, in flux.

I agree that the costume in the video is not attractive and makes her seem top heavy (which I haven't found in the theater), but I thought her dancing was pretty lovely--fluid and with the combination of low key sensuality and lightness the choreography/music seems to call for (as best one can tell watching a video).

None? Just google Arlene Croce and a picture should pop up immediately. I don't know why Google Images sometimes doesn't turn up an image as handily as plain old google, though that has been my experience. You can find Croce under images as well, just mixed in with a great many other images.

I thought that in the first two acts Lacotte's staging made no pretense of being anything other than "hommage/pastiche more-or-less in the style of..." but anyway modernized in the manner of his other stagings (eg ordinary folks on pointe in La Sylphide). I'm not suggesting he wasn't taking what he judged was a serious approach towards bringing the spirit of the nineteenth-century ballet to life, but I read several reviews/articles that indicated "Lacotte's choreography" for those acts. Not just staging. I know sometimes "choreography" is used loosely when really what is meant is closer to stagings that involve some leeway, but in this case I understood it to mean...well....choreography. Have I (and/or the articles I read) got that wrong?

An aside, from Sasark's discussion of best costume... Although I had seen Perren once before in a relatively minor role, I finally got to see her in a major (if still secondary) role this year -- as Diana Mireille in Flames of Paris--and she was wonderful.

I kind of liked the Le Monde spread--as a group of artsy photos of dancers--I even liked some of the photos a lot. To my eye, they didn't convey much about the individual dancers as individual dancers, but I think were going for a more generalized atmosphere of theatricality/fantasy. Well, whatever they were going for, I kind of liked them.

Wonderful to learn this--she certainly can dance as if "on the edge of a volcano" ...

From a certain point of view, nothing that comes from Russia on the subject of ballet is exactly "shocking" -- that ship sailed long ago. But, yes--it would be a sad and terrible thing if they ("St. Petersburg ballet powers-that-be") screwed the pooch on the great Vaganova legacy they have inherited. (Fateyev did bring in Shapran at the first soloist level which, whether it was a good decision or not, de facto concedes something to the school. I would have said that on video Shapran's appeal sometimes seems to have more to do with her rather winnning stage personality than anything else.)

Thank you for your review Anne. I have to allow that I might be persuaded in the theater, but most of what I read about Hubbe's productions of Bournonville fills me with as much concern as curiosity. It does sound as if the company continues to have some wonderful dancers.

Just found this thread--thank you Naomikage for the clip/trailer. I'm hoping to watch livestream ...

Well, whatever the reason the Swan Lake was not as successful as the Serenade, Schorer and Farrell have been teaching/coaching a lot longer than Kistler. So, experience may be an issue. (They also had a much more extended and, I have to believe, deeper and more mature experience with Balanchine as choreographer and coach. I tend to think of Kistler--undoubtedly a great ballerina--as closer to being Balanchine's last great discovery than his last great ballerina. Which doesn't mean she may not be or become a great teacher and coach...)

emilienne: Thanks for posting the CBS feature.

Won't comment re Tsiskaridze, but I will say that leaders of ballet in Russia have a perfectly rational case to make about the crucial role of Russia in ballet history and of ballet in Russian history and if making noise about it helps them preserve the extraordinary legacy they have inherited (that is, keep it supported at the highest levels) I'm inclined to grant them some leeway in offering what seem to me less than rational versions of it. Uh...some leeway. Not infinite amounts. Fatayev knocking Vaganova graduates could well be taken to be his de facto way of indicating he thinks the Vaganova school's leadership in recent years needed changing--so he may well turn out to be an ally of Tsiskaridze. Or not.

I did think this dance segment 'felt' shorter than the dancing that was done for the recent Makarova Kennedy Center tribute. I can't know--well, not without doing more research than seems called for--but I'm pretty sure we got some longer excerpts for that one if only because more in the way of pas de deux...

I also thought Peck was fabulous, esp. in her first solo from Who Cares? And I enjoyed Copeland a lot too in the Tchaikovsky pas de deux bit--even found her rather sprightly in spots if not as absolutely effortless as Peck. (Uh...no-one is). I did think the Rubies pas de deux w. Lovette and Cirio was not as successful, though I'm still glad they included something from Rubies, and I was very glad to see dancers from Mcbride's own company join in at the end.

On this site people reported her falling in Class Concert during the Mikhailovsky run in NY. (Dancers who take risks occasionally do take some pretty bad tumbles as well. But it's a shame to read she may have injured herself this time round. Hope she heals quickly.) Ashtonfan: I saw the Royal dance the Nureyev production that Ross Stretton brought to the company during his year at the company's helm. I agree that it's not the most obvious fit for the Royal -- though individual dancers gave fine performances -- but I wouldn't knock it as a classical and character crowd-pleaser. Especially when done with the right energy and commitment. (That said, I have to admit I wish the Royal were touring Fille to the U.S. instead.)

I remember seeing that tour listed two years ago, but at that time, they needed to have a group of at least 6 people in order to book it. So either you had to book a party of 6 or they had to have a group of people for your date already. I never found any other option for touring the theater, but I didn't do more than a quick internet search. (If you do go on the tour, then I would be happy to read about it...and, of course, any of the performances you attend. )

A happy time for New York balletomanes!

Should anyone attend...I am especially interested in reading about Laracey's debut.

I think many of your questions have been given answers--though you and others may not find them convincing...and trading Oprah for Obama remains a version of an issue we have also discussed pretty thoroughly. Their stories may speak to some important cultural/political changes but also can be quite revealing of persistent assumptions about race that are problematic. (Remember Henry Louis Gates?--you know: the Harvard Professor arrested walking into his own house in super liberal Cambridge MA in 2009.) But actually the kind of race issues that are being raised here cut across liberal/conservative divides. Being liberal or even leftist by no means guarantees one is able to transcend all racial prejudice/assumptions. Heck, being anti-racist doesn't guarantee it. And being conservative does not necessarily align one with racial prejudice/assumptions. A lot depends on your definition of liberal and/or conservative. I bring this up, because throughout this discussion you have referred to your perception of the ballet world as "liberal." I am not sure I agree, but even if I did, I don't think that's the end of the conversation about what happens in the ballet world. Of course you are right that one should be wary of writing about race issues as if the problems were all due to some unnamed or fringe "them." I would not suggest (as I think you do in your list of questions), that people writing on this thread necessarily assume that they--that is, we--are somehow superior to or outside the problems we are discussing in the ballet world. But mostly I'm genuinely puzzled by the idea that it's anything other than rather commonplace to note that the ballet world would do well to do a bit of soul searching on this issue--and if we/they are doing it with new energy now (from leadership to fans), well, that's great--but doesn't change a history that is way too recent to be consigned to the past. And maybe Copeland with her much derided "self-promotion" can even take a wee bit of credit for bringing renewed attention to it. ("Renewed" because of course it has been addressed in the past.)