Alexandra

There's a review of Mark Morris's new premiere, by Paul Parish, in DanceView Times this week: Cleft For Me

Have you tried the used book places? www.alibris.com or (I think the URL is) www.allbooks.com I've ordered from both places quite happily.

Was that not where the Puddle Incident occurred? (And thanks for the story, dirac -- that's what I remembered, too.)

They did dance together at least a few times, and I would have liked to see them very much because of the similarity of line and of schooling. There are some beautiful photos of them in Black Swan. I believe there was a partnering mishap -- something about a puddle bad fall -- that ended their partnership. I think this was with the Royal Ballet, so perhaps some of our Royal watchers saw them? They may have danced together at galas or with other companies, but I don't remember. Anyone?

Could we keep the costumes to ballet(s) only?

Thanks, Perky. I might be persuaded to come as a LOW Priestess. (An adult party; surely, but not X-rated. the kiddies are upstairs and might sneak down at any moment.)

This just in from the company: U.S. REVIVAL PREMIERE OF SIR FREDERICK ASHTON’S SYLVIA AND ALL-FOKINE PROGRAM TO HIGHLIGHT AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE’S 2005 SPRING SEASON, MAY 23-JULY 16, AT THE METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE ALESSANDRA FERRI TO CELEBRATE 20 YEARS WITH ABT American Ballet Theatre’s 2005 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, May 23-July 16, was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. Highlighting the engagement will be the United States Revival Premiere of a new two-act production of Sir Frederick Ashton’s Sylvia, as well as a Fokine celebration featuring a full evening of the works of choreographer Michel Fokine. Principal Dancers for the engagement will include Carlos Acosta, Nina Ananiashvili, Maxim Beloserkovsky, Julio Bocca, Jose Manuel Carreño, Angel Corella, Herman Cornejo, Alessandra Ferri, Marcelo Gomes, Guillaume Graffin, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Vladimir Malakhov, Amanda McKerrow, Gillian Murphy, Xiomara Reyes, Ethan Stiefel and Diana Vishneva. Countrywide Financial is the National Sponsor of American Ballet Theatre and Cole Haan is a Leading Benefactor. Graff Jewelers is the 2005 season sponsor of ABT at The Metropolitan Opera House. ABT’s 2005 Spring season is also made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts. The 2005 Spring season will kick-off with an Opening Night gala performance on Monday, May 23 at 6:30 P.M. For information about the Opening Night Spring Gala, please call the Special Events Office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3239. United States Premiere American Ballet Theatre will present the United States Revival Premiere of an all-new production of Sir Frederick Ashton’s Sylvia on Friday, June 3 at 8 P.M. Ashton’s Sylvia, performed by ABT in two acts, will be staged by Christopher Newton, former dancer and ballet master for The Royal Ballet. Set to a score by Léo Delibes, Sylvia was Ashton’s second full-length work when it was premiered by The Royal Ballet in 1952 with Margot Fonteyn, Michael Somes and Alexander Grant in the leading roles. Last performed by The Royal Ballet in 1965, Sylvia is set in mythical Greece and tells the story of the chaste nymph Sylvia who is united by the deity Eros with the lovelorn shepherd Aminta. This new production, with scenery and costumes by Christopher and Robin Ironside, with additional designs by Peter Farmer, will receive its revival premiere in three acts by The Royal Ballet on November 4, 2004 at Covent Garden, London. Following the U.S. premiere, ABT will give seven performances of Sylvia, June 4 and 6 and June 13-15. Fokine Celebration Four works by legendary choreographer Michel Fokine will include the New York Revival Premiere of Petrouchka and the New York Company Premiere of Polovtsian Dances. The program, which will be given eight consecutive performances beginning Thursday, June 16, will also include Fokine’s Les Sylphides and Le Spectre de la Rose. The New York Revival Premiere of Fokine’s Petrouchka, staged by Gary Chryst, is scheduled for Thursday evening, June 16 with Ethan Stiefel in the title role. Set to music by Igor Stravinsky with scenery and costumes by Alexandre Benois and a story by Stravinsky and Benois, the one-act ballet is set amid a Russian carnival and tells the tragic story of the puppet Petrouchka. Petrouchka was given its World Premiere by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes at the Theatre du Chatelet in Paris, France on June 13, 1911. American Ballet Theatre premiered Petrouchka at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City on August 27, 1942, danced by Irina Baronova (Ballerina), Yurek Lazowsky (Petrouchka), David Nillo (Blackamoor) and Simon Semenoff (Charlatan). A second production of Petrouchka, staged by Dimitri Romanoff and Yurek Lazowsky, was given its first performance by the Company at the New York State Theatre on June 19, 1970, ABT’s Revival Premiere of Petrouchka is scheduled for Friday, February 4, 2005 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. American Ballet Theatre’s Fokine Celebration will also feature the New York Company premiere of Polovtsian Dances from Act II of the opera Prince Igor by Alexander Borodin. Staged for ABT by Frederic Franklin with scenery and costumes by Leon Bakst, Polovtsian Dances will receive its Company Premiere on Friday, February 4, 2005 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Polovtsian Dances received its World Premiere by Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes in May 18, 1909. Carlos Acosta and Diana Vishneva Carlos Acosta, a principal guest artist with The Royal Ballet in London, will rejoin American Ballet Theatre as a Principal Dancer for the Company’s 2005 Spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House, Mr. Acosta last appeared with ABT in the Fall of 2003. His repertoire with the Company includes Conrad in Le Corsaire, Oberon in The Dream, Colas in La Fille mal gardée, Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty, Act III and leading roles in George Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and Raymonda (Grand Pas Classique), staged by Anna-Marie Holmes after Marius Petipa. Mr. Acosta’s performances this Spring will include Ali, the Slave in Le Corsaire on Saturday evening, June 25 and Thursday, June 30 and Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake on Friday, July 8. Diana Vishneva, a Principal Dancer with the Kirov Ballet, will also join ABT as a Principal Dancer for the Spring season performing George Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial on Monday May 30 and Wednesday evening, June 1, Kitri in Don Quixote on Thursday, May 26, Odette-Odile in Swan Lake on Tuesday July 5 and Saturday matinee, July 9, and the title role in Giselle on Tuesday, July 12. Ms. Vishneva made her debut with American Ballet Theatre in May 2003 appearing as a guest artist in a special exchange with the Kirov Ballet. Returning Classics and a Tribute to Alessandra Ferri American Ballet Theatre’s 2005 Spring Season will feature six full-length ballets. The season will lead off with four performances of Don Quixote, staged by Kevin McKenzie and Susan Jones,beginning Tuesday, May 24 with Paloma Herrera and Angel Corella in the leading roles. Last season’s premiere of Raymonda, choreographed by Anna-Marie Holmes and conceived and directed by Holmes and Kevin McKenzie, will be given seven performances beginning Tuesday, June 7. Set to a score by Alexander Glazounov, Raymonda features scenery and costumes by Zack Brown. The all-new Raymonda, as co-production with the Finnish National Ballet, was given its World Premiere in Helsinki by the Finnish National Ballet in May 2003 and received its American Ballet Theatre premiere on May 21, 2004. Nina Ananiashvili, Julio Bocca and Angel Corella will lead the cast in the season’s first performance of Le Corsaire on Thursday evening, June 23. With choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev, after Marius Petipa and staging by Anna-Marie Holmes, after Petipa and Sergeyev, Le Corsaire features music by Adolphe Adam, Cesare Pugni, Léo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo and Prince Oldenbourg. Based on the Lord Byron poem The Corsaire (1814), the ballet has sets and costumes by Irina Tibilova with additional costume designs by Robert Perdziola. Julie Kent and Jose Manuel Carreño will lead the season’s first performances of Swan Lake on Friday, July 1. Choreographed by Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, Swan Lake is set the score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky and featuresscenery and costumes by Zack Brown. This production of Swan Lake premiered on March 24, 2000 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D. C., performed by Julie Kent (Odette-Odile) and Angel Corella (Prince Siegfried). Swan Lake will continue for eleven performances through July 9. American Ballet Theatre will close its 2005 Spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House with eight performances of the classic, Giselle beginning Monday, July 11 with Alessandra Ferri in the title role opposite Julio Bocca as Albrecht and Gillian Murphy as Myrta. A special tribute to Ms. Ferri on her 20th Anniversary season with the Company is scheduled for the Friday, July 15 performance. Set to music Adolphe Adam, orchestrated by John Lanchbery, Giselle was staged by Kevin McKenzie with choreography after Jean Coralli, Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa. The two-act ballet features scenery by Gianni Quaranta and costumes by Anna Anni. This production, featuring scenery by Quaranta and costumes by Anni with staging by Mikhail Baryshnikov, was created for the film Dancers, produced in 1987 by Cannon Films. All-Star Tchaikovsky Spectacular American Ballet Theatre will present eight programs featuring all-Tchaikovsky music, May 27 through June 2. The program will include George Balanchine’s Ballet Imperial, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and Theme and Variations, as well as pas de deux from The Nutcracker and Acts II and III of Swan Lake with choreography by Kevin McKenzie. In addition, the pas de deux from Onegin, choreographed by John Cranko, will be performed by Alessandra Ferri and Julio Bocca on Friday evening, May 27 and Wednesday evening, June 1. ABTKids ABTKids, a one-hour introduction to ballet geared toward children ages 4-12, is scheduled for Saturday, June 18 at 11:30am. All tickets for ABTKids are $18. Reckson Associates is the Official Corporate Sponsor of ABTKids. Pre –Performance Workshops Pre-performance workshops, a one-hour activity based program led by ABT Teaching Artists, are available to matinee ticket holders on Saturday, June 18 (9:30-10:30am), Saturday, June 25 (11:00am-12:00 noon) and Saturday, July 9 (11:00am-12:00 noon). Workshops are held in the rehearsal studios of the Metropolitan Opera House. Tickets to the workshops are $20 per person and are only available to ticket holders for the matinee performance following the workshop. Subscriptions for American Ballet Theatre’s 2005 Metropolitan Opera House season are on sale now by phone at 212-362-6000 and by mail. For more information, visit ABT’s website at www.abt.org <http://www.abt.org/> .

They're also coming this January (January 2005). Let's not split hairs over months

We did this about five years ago and it was fun. Pick a character from a ballet ("character" can be anything from Carabosse to Agon pas de deux couple). If you'd like, describe your costume, including any and all attributes. Change, or improve on the original as you see fit.)

This just in from the company: IRINA DVOROVENKO TO TAKE MATERNITY LEAVE American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Irina Dvorovenko will take maternity leave having completed her scheduled performances at NY City Center. Ms. Dvorovenko and her husband, ABT Principal Dancer Maxim Beloserkovsky, are expecting their first child in March 2005. Ms. Dvorovenko, who joined American Ballet Theatre in 1996, will not perform on the Company’s National Tour or during the 2005 Metropolitan Opera House season, but plans to return to the Company in September. American Ballet Theatre’s Fall season at NY City Center continues through November 7.

He's more a character than a classical dancer, so if you're looking for long lines, his dancing may not be to your taste. But he's a powerful dancer, and can be very good in character parts and contemporary dance pieces.

Welcome, ami! We're glad you've found us. I hope when you do go to performances, you'll let us know what you think!

We got a response from ABT that it is premature to talk about casting. When there is an announcemenvt, of course we'll post it. Casting isn't final until it's announced (and even then, as we all know, it could change), and I would not advise buying tickets based on castiing rumors I'm going to close this thread, in the hopes of avoiding further speculation.

Thank you. If something is not in print, and not posted here as a press release, we consider it gossip. Details are spelled out in our Gossip Policy. If the producer wants to come on and announce the casting, that may be an exception, but otherwise, if it is not published or in a press release, it is gossip.

Good to see you again, Mike. Thanks to all for these reviews -- there's always time for more Until we hear from more people here, this is a review of all casts by George Jackson for DanceView Times: The "Giselle" Diaries

New York Magazine has an online article touting its new Culture Coverage. http://newyorkmetro.com/nymag/culture/10204/ It lists the arts it will cover, but dance is not one of them. When the magazine cut is dance column, and long-time NY Mag critic Tobi Tobias, awhile back, there was an outcry in the dance community which caused the magazine to backtrack (outcry = lots and lots and lots of emails.) They then hired a new critic -- Laura Shapiro -- and covered some dance performances, although not nearly as many as they had in the past. I've written the following query to the editors: I'll post the response I get. If they have dropped dance again, please saddle your horses!

This is your Captain speaking Since people have responded, there's no point in deleting the post saying that the casting has been settled, but this is not official, it has not been confirmed by the company. It is therefore, even if the souce is the dancers themselves or the camera crew, a rumor. PLEASE DO NOT POST RUMORS!!! This is a general comment, not directed at this one instance, but a start of season reminder. In the past few months, it's seemed that there are some whose primary interest appears to be posting backstage info or rushing to be the first to put up "scoops," whether it's about casting, or who's leaving, or injured or promoted. We all want to know the latest news, but for the reasons we've posted before, and that are incorporated in our No Gossip Policy, posting rumors can do harm. So please. We're beginning a new season. To newbies, if you're not familiar with our No Gossip Policy, please go to our Rules and Policies forum, read and digest!

DANCERS OF AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE REACH NEW THREE-YEAR AGREEMENT Ballet Theatre Foundation and The Independent Artists of America (IAA), representing the dancers of American Ballet Theatre, reached a new three-year contract agreement (2004-2007). “We are delighted that the contract with the dancers has been ratified,” said Rachel Moore, Executive Director of American Ballet Theatre. “We were pleased to be able to provide the dancers with wage increases while exercising fiscal restraint. The successful conclusion to this negotiation serves as an auspicious beginning to an exciting year.” Lori R. Wekselblatt, IAA Vice President said, “We believe this agreement includes significant improvements in economic and non-economic areas, while allowing the new leadership of the Company the time to implement ideas for the future.” The new agreement covers wages, benefits and working conditions for American Ballet Theatre’s roster of 90 dancers and three stage managers. ABT’s 2004-05 national tour includes 18 weeks of performances in 10 cities around the United States, including 11 weeks in New York City. In addition, the Company will give two weeks of performances in Tokyo, Osaka and Shiga, Japan in July 2005. American Ballet Theatre’s performances at NY City Center continue through November 7, 2004. For more information, visit ABT’s website at www.abt.org <http://www.abt.org/> .

It's a good quesition -- perhaps because "alegro" is also a musical term, and, in some [imaginary] peace treaty during the Renaissance, it was agreed that Italy got music and France got dance! Ballet (ballo) started in Italy in the Renaissance, and the Italian dancing masters were brought to Paris by Catherine de Medici. Dance terms were in Italian for several generations. Then when French ballet masters, like Pierre Rameau, began writing books, they wrote the terms in French. (And good to see you on this side of the board, Xena!!)

A post was deleted from this thread that violated our roles of posting conjecture and gossip. The poster was notified (please check your email!) Thank you!

Thank you, Estelle! Ivor Guest has published two more books about Paris Opera (in English) "Ballet of the Enlightenment" and "Ballet Under Napoleon." I think he listed the 19th century hierarchy in one of his books on the Romantic Era, but I don't think anyone has done 20th century French ballet history (in English) They like to think everythig died with Bozzacchi (sp?)

Estelle will know, I'm sure, but until she flies in, I'll say I think it started wiith Lifar. Note that the women come first and the men last (Meaning that Lifar would have had "pride of place" and entered last, as a friend pointed out to me once.)

One thing that struck me, as an American reader, is how many reviews this program got -- there are at least ten, I think. If the group had appeared in New York, there would have been, at most, four or five. It's particularly striking in this case since there was such a wide range of opinions -- the more reviews you have, the more possibility of different views.

Somehow I missed this one -- thank you, HF, as always, for taking the time to write so thoroughly! I've been curious about Andersen's choreography, and yours is the clearest description I've read of it! The Temptation of Gurn scene sounds like the Danish version; it's not so clear in ABT's production (or the old NBoC one). The controversial bits were in the first act. In the scarf-over-the-chair scene, Gurn traditionally goes through this, "I with my own eyes sees a winged creature" That was cut. And (a cut nobody minded, I think) when he went to sit down in the chair, it had been pulled a bit away from where he thought it would be, and he landed on the floor. The second change Hubbe made in the Danish production was at the end of the first act, when Gurn is sent running out to see if he can fiind James and comes back to report. Originally he, again, mimed "I with my own eyes saw a winged creature with James" but this was changed to a simple shrug of the shoulders. If it's been reworked, I'm very glad to learn of it!

Thanks for the update, Article 19! I think you raised some excellent points in Why Does It Matter? If I could change one thing in society today, it would be the notion that "if it doesn't matter to ME, if I can't relate it to MY life, then it's not worth my time." But everything in our culture reinforces that message: children of a particular targeted ethnic group read only books about their own group. Boys would die rather than read a book about girls. Self-help books replaced the novel long ago. Etcetera. In America, dance groups have started trying to justify their efforts by saying they're an important part of the economy. They employ x number of people. Ticket sales generate tax revenue, etc. I don't blame them, but it's so sad. I'm teaching dance history this year, and just finished the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Louis XIV believed that dance was as important as his army, and treated it so. When you have taste and money and belief, the artists will come. And the audience will follow. (This is probably too elitist an argument for many, but why not have them do something worthwhile that we can emulate?) One of the problems is that there's no arts education. People aren't taught to look at dance. They aren't taught anything about it -- it may as well not exist. So many will look to content only -- dramatic, thematic content -- and not have the skills to deal with abstraction. So of course it's boring to them. It's not about today's headlines. It won't help me get ahead at work, or deal with my boyfriend or girlfriend. So how do we change this?