Alexandra

Thank you, George I don't remember the Clive Barnes comment Mel referred to, but I can't imagine who he would call -- Arlene Croce? Tobi Tobias? They weren't in the same circle. Anyway, if our mini-polls are any judge, fans don't go to see a ballet based on reviews, or at least a pan (how did this get on the rave thread?) won't drive them away. As for raves bringing in viewers, I can think of two instances in Washington where a company could not have had more favorable press coverage and it had no effect. The first was of Mark Morris, in his early days. Huge preview piece in the Post, rave-rave-rave review of opening night. Result = empty seats. It took a few years for Morris to have enough of a following to fill the house. Also, Bournonville. Every DC critic has written "you've got to see this, there's nothing like it!" pieces about Bournonville, since at least 1976, when I first read them. Kriegsman's review of the 1982 tour were the best reviews the company ever got overseas -- best, not only in the sense of unmitigated raves, but that they are beautifully written pieces that explain the repertory and the aesthetic. Washington dancegoers, after 30 years of propaganda, still do not like Bournonville. Not one bit. (Of course, some do, but generally, from lack of applause and overheard intermission comments, there's not enough dancing and they're too old-fashioned.)

And a review on DanceView Times by Rita Felciano: Engraved Images

There's a review in the ballet.co magazine by Renee Renouf of the Merce Cunningham Company in California: Merce Cunningham Dance Company

Yes, I understood about the story, coda, but your comment that you got a message saying "Are you Stupid, Yes or No" I took seriously because there is a virus going around that can pass you to a false link. I sympathize with the critic, actually; I'm sure what most Westerners write about classical Indian dancing would sound just as absurd. AS it happens, I know someone whose mother was at that performance (!!!) She's checking to see who the "Western diplomat" is.

Interesting article by Gia Kourlas in today's NYTimes about the Joyce's "Altogether Different" Festival. It raises questions about how to encourage true experimentation in dance. When Altogether Different Becomes Same Old

I think the original ballet Mel referred to was "Billboards," which I panned, so I have no dog in this fight But the idea of a giant, underground cabal among critics keeps coming up (not just here) and it really doesn't happen. There are factions among critics as there are in any field, and the idea of a monolithic reaction simply isn't true.

And on what would that supposition be based, says a critic, who has never been a member of a "rat colony".

Has anyone seen Hamburg Ballet's "Nijinsky"? It got raves in both the L.A. Times and Orange County Register. I'm curious what you all thought.

NEW YORK CITY BALLET ANNOUNCES THREE PROMOTIONS Ashley Bouder, Megan Fairchild, and Stephen Hanna Promoted to Soloists New York City Ballet announced today that Ashley Bouder, Megan Fairchild, and Stephen Hanna have been promoted to the rank of soloist with the Company. All of the promotions are effective immediately. Ashley Bouder was born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and began her ballet training at the age of six at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet with Marcia Dale Weary. After attending the 1999 Summer Program at the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet, she was invited by SAB to continue her training during the Winter Session. Ms. Bouder was named an apprentice with New York City Ballet in June 2000 and became a member of the corps de ballet that October. During NYCB’s current winter season celebration of George Balanchine’s classical heritage Ms. Bouder has performed featured roles in Balanchine’s Apollo, Harlequinade, and Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2; August Bournonville’s Flower Festival in Genzano; and Susan Stroman’s Double Feature. Ms. Bouder’s repertory also includes featured roles in Balanchine’s Ballo della Regina, Firebird, The Nutcracker (Dewdrop and Marzipan), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Butterfly), Raymonda Variations, La Sonnambula, La Source, Symphony in C (third movement), Tarantella and Western Symphony; Jerome Robbins’ The Concert, The Four Seasons (Winter), and Interplay; Richard Tanner’s Ancient Airs and Dances; and Christopher Wheeldon’s Mercurial Manoeuvres. She has also originated featured roles in Peter Martins’ Viva Verdi and Mr. Tanner’s Soirée. As a student, Ms. Bouder performed featured roles in Balanchine’s Danses Concertantes and Stars and Stripes for the School of American Ballet’s 2000 Annual Spring Workshop. In 2000 Ms. Bouder was a recipient of the School of American Ballet’s Mae L. Wein Award, and during New York City Ballet’s 2002-2003 season she was named the Company’s Janice Levin Dancer, an honor which is given each year to a promising member of the corps de ballet. Megan Fairchild was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, and began her dance training at the age of 12 at the Ballet West Conservatory with Sharee Lane, Deborah Dobson, and Maureen Laird. Ms. Fairchild entered the School of American Ballet full time in the fall of 2000. In November 2001, Ms. Fairchild became an apprentice with New York City Ballet, and in October 2002 she joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet. This winter Ms. Fairchild has danced featured roles in George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Harlequinade, and Susan Stroman’s Double Feature. Ms. Fairchild will make her New York debut as Swanilda in Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova’s Coppélia on Saturday, February 14 at 8 p.m. Ms. Fairchild has also danced featured roles in Balanchine’s Chaconne, The Nutcracker (Sugarplum Fairy and Marzipan), Tarantella, and Valse-Fantaisie; Peter Martins’ Eight Easy Pieces, Sinfonia, and Swan Lake; and Christopher Wheeldon’s Mercurial Manoeuvres. Ms. Fairchild also originated a featured role in Robert La Fosse’s Land of Nod, which was created for New York City Ballet’s 2002 Opening Night Gala. Ms. Fairchild is a 2001 recipient of the School of American Ballet’s Mae L. Wien Award. Stephen Hanna was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and began studying at the School of American Ballet in the fall of 1992. Mr. Hanna became an apprentice with New York City Ballet in 1997, and later that year he joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet. This winter Mr. Hanna has danced featured roles in George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Jewels (Emeralds), and also danced the role of Benno in Peter Martins’ full-length production of Swan Lake. Mr. Hanna’s repertory also includes featured roles in Balanchine’s Chaconne, Divertimento No. 15, The Four Temperaments, The Nutcracker (Cavalier and Hot Chocolate), Scotch Symphony, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, and La Valse; Mr. Martins’ The Sleeping Beauty (Bluebird and Wolf); Jerome Robbins’ The Concert, Dances at a Gathering, Fanfare (Double Bass), Glass Pieces, Interplay, Piano Pieces, and 2 & 3 Part Inventions; and Richard Tanner’s Ancient Airs and Dances and Soirée. Mr. Hanna originated a featured role in Albert Evans’ 2002 Diamond Project ballet, Haiku. New York City Ballet’s 2004 winter repertory season continues through Sunday, February 29, and is an exploration of George Balanchine’s classical heritage as part of New York City Ballet’s year-long celebration of the centennial of Balanchine’s birth. Tickets for all winter season performances are on sale now at the New York State Theater box office, through Ticketmaster at 212-307-4100, or online at nycballet.com. The New York State Theater is located on the Lincoln Center Plaza at Columbus Avenue at 63rd Street. For information on any NYCB performance call 212-870-5570

From today's Links: The other shoe just dropped: SPAC drops NYC Ballet

Thanks for the posts, hockeyfan and Nyala! Allegro, did you come down? You promised us a post!! Sandik, did you see this program? Doug? Other Seattlites (Seattleans???) We've never had as many posts as we'd like in this forum; PNB is one of our most important companies and we'd like to keep up with what they're doing. I would like to post a reminder, as we do from time to time: please remember that dancers read these boards. We want everyone to give us his or her honest opinion, but we'd ask you to phrase what you post so that, if you suddenly turned around and found the dancer or his mother standing behind you, no one would be hurt or embarrassed!!

!!!!! I just clicked on the link and got the review. Coda, there's a virus going around that takes over your browser and directs it to certain links -- including pornography links -- when you click on a link. It's hitting servers, I think, rather than individuals, and some news about it is here: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcen...bootconf.b.html So this isn't on our end, or the newspaper's end, but on your end, I'm afraid.

Dirac, I think your father's story is indicative of another generational change. In the 40's and '50s, blue collar as well as white collar middle-class went to the arts on Sunday; it was a ritual for many families. (I have a friend whose father was a bus driver, and they'd take turns doing opera, ballet, symphony and museums). It's one of the many ironies of the well-intentions that branding the arts as "elitist" probably DOES drive many away. p.s. In one neighboring state, the lotteries (which I agree are taxes on the poor) fund the publich schools.

I'll second (or is it third or fourth?) the vote for the Kirov corps in "Diamonds." I like them in "Theme" as well, but here they caught the atmosphere of the piece and clarified the ballet for me. When NYCB does it, I always got a whiff of a story which went overboard when the corps came at the end, after the final pas de deux. (The "Balanchine is such an honest musician that he's never better than his music" theory.) But when the Kirov does it, somehow -- and I have no idea how -- when the corps makes its entrance there is a finality about it, and such a different atmosphere that I realized the reason they're wearing gloves: everything that happens now in the ballet is public; what went before was private. Re Kowroski and Farrell, I think many people thought that Kowroski would inherit Farrell's roles -- you're not going to put her in McBride's! -- in the same way that that was thought about Ashley and Nichols, though both were very different dancers than Farrell.

there are some interesting political points in arts funding, to be sure. In some countries, the arts are funded by high taxes on liquor and cigarettes -- the "sin tax" Supposedly the sins of one part of society pay for the pleasures of another. While in today's world art is for all -- in theory -- it isn't in practice. It's for those who have been educated to appreciate it (at home, since art education isn't taught in schools) or who stumble upon it on their own. Since you can't teach the "high arts" in school because that is elitist, the system is self-perpetuating.

EEEk!! is right. But it's really only the end that's a harsh review -- the rest is description. If a "dance company" is going to put a frog in a blender and have someone drink it, well...... Marc, Viviane, this is one of "your" companies: Ultima Vez.

I've split off a post Simon G made about funding ballets thruugh the lottery, because I think it deserves a thread of its own. Art076 raises a good point. I'd say "please send me information in the mail," but I would imagine that gets thrown away more often than telemarketers get hung up on. Email annoys us, direct mail annoys us, telemarketing annoys us. There are too many people asking for our time and attention -- think of those ghastly "beg-a-thons" on PBS that now go on for two weeks, during which they program self-help and pop music shows that aren't part of the ordinary fare.

The Everything Else Ballet (formerly Anything Goes) forum is for miscellaneous topics, or topics that don't quite fit anywhere else. It's also a good place for lighter topics. This forum is for discussing ballet performances, books, videos, issues in ballet, issues in the arts generally; it's intended for ballet watchers, fans and others who attend performances. We have another forum completely devoted to topics related to the art of dancing. There are forums for dance students, their parents, men who dance, teachers, adult ballet students. There are also forums for arts administrators, designers and other professionals. And there's a pointe shoe forum! Please do not post questions about class on this forum. Go to Ballet Talk for Dancers Thanks!

Hard to tell -- each company is different. Some look within, and some want somebody completely fresh, to come in and change things. I think, as with any company or job, management will want to see who's out there, who might be interested.

Yes. So if you got a bequest, say, or won the lottery, and sent them a check for $10,000 it would be your "duty" to do the same thing, every year, for life.

Now, the bad reviews of Eifman put him on my Must See list!

I just remembered that Bruce Marriott did a very funny page about this awhile back -- Jane or Lynette, do you have a link? It was one of his April Fool's jokes about marketing at the ROH. And OT, becuase it's not dance, but it is American marketing carried to its graceless extreme: a college friend of mine was wooed by the alumni director recently. He invited my friend and another alumna (both attorneys, and therefore on the Rich List of a state school) out to lunch and they had a pleasant talk about life in general. Later that afternoon, she got an EMAIL from him saying how nice it had been to meet her, the college was looking for donors, and based on her income level he suggested she write a check for $10,000.

This is on Links, but I wanted to be sure Bolshoi fans saw it: The Bolshoi Ballet performed in Pakistan for the first time last night.

Old news now, but the men in the pas de six in Newark were: pas de six: Morten Eggert and Nicolai Hansen Thomas Lund - first solo Morten Eggert -- second solo Kristoffer Sakurai -- third solo (Gennaro's solo) (Diana Cuni and Sakurai did Flower Festival, and then the Teresina and Gennaro roles in Napoli)

Here's the press release: PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT OF LONGTIME ARTISTIC DIRECTORS > Kent Stowell and Francia Russell to Retire at Conclusion of 2004-2005 Season > SEATTLE - After almost 27 years with Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB), Artistic Directors Kent Stowell and Francia Russell will retire from PNB in June of 2005, it was announced today. > When we came to Seattle we were young and naïve and believed nothing was impossible," said Russell. "Now, more than 26 years later, an institution has been built, housed in three facilities ideal for dance, thousands of students have been trained and once unimaginably brilliant performances are on the stage." Added Stowell, "There is still much to be accomplished and we feel it is time for new leadership for PNB, perhaps just as naïve as we were and just as determined to achieve the impossible." > Stowell and Russell have planned to retire for nearly two years. A leadership task force has been in place for over a year to prepare for their departure, and to begin the search for a new Artistic Director. > >"Though we have always known that Kent and Francia would want to retire someday, I am suffering a huge twinge of loss as we accept their retirement announcement" said Cathi Hatch, chairman of the PNB Board of Trustees. "For nearly 27 gloriously creative years, through their passion, vision and uncompromising commitment to quality, PNB has grown into a world-class ballet company and school. And although we are sad about their departure, we are excited for them as they embark on the next chapter of their lives, and look forward to building on their inspired artistic legacy the next phase of the Company and PNB School." > In 1977, at the beginning of Stowell and Russell's tenure in Seattle, the company had 1,200 subscribers and an annual operating budget of $800,000. Today, PNB has nearly 11,000 subscribers and is a $16.3 million operation. > David Brown, executive director of PNB said, "Kent and Francia, a truly unique partnership in the performing arts, have together built an organization of the highest standards with attention not only to its performing artists and craft persons, but to several generations of artists to come through the Pacific Northwest Ballet School." > Stowell who is also the company's Principal Choreographer has created new works each year and has created more full-length ballets than any other American artistic director of a major company. In addition to her role as Co-Artistic Director, Russell serves as Director of PNB School. She has developed a curriculum that has made PNB School, with its two facilities - The Phelps Center in Seattle and Francia Russell Center in Bellevue - one of the foremost dance training institutions in the country. > >Stowell began his notable career with the San Francisco Ballet in 1957 and >later joined New York City Ballet, where he met his wife, Francia Russell. Stowell also spent time in Germany as a leading dancer and choreographer at the Munich Opera Ballet and, along with Russell, served as Co-Artistic Director for the Frankfurt Ballet. > Russell's distinguished career began at New York City Ballet in 1956 where she was promoted to soloist in 1959 and appointed Ballet Master in 1964. One of the first Ballet Masters chosen by George Balanchine to stage his works for companies around the world, Russell continues to stage Balanchine works internationally. In 1977 Russell and Stowell were invited to join Pacific Northwest Ballet as Co-Artistic Directors. > A search committee has been organized to identify and hire a new artistic director and a new director for PNB School. The committee, chaired by longtime trustee Carl Behnke, is comprised of members of the PNB Board of Trustees. Stowell and Russell, along with two Advisory Panels of artistic and administrative staff members and other board leaders, will assist in providing input and advice during the process. It is expected that the PNB Board of Trustees will finalize the selection decision in early 2005. > >Founded in 1972 and under the artistic guidance of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell since 1977, PNB is one of the largest and most highly regarded ballet companies in the United States. The Company of forty six dancers presents over ninety performances each year of full-length and mixed repertory ballets. Pacific Northwest Ballet School, under the direction of Ms. Russell, is nationally recognized as setting the standard for ballet training offering a complete professional curriculum to over 850 students. The School also provides comprehensive dance education to the greater Seattle area reaching more than 2,000 elementary school students each year through its DanceChance, Discover Dance, and Bravo!Ballet programs.