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Subsequently the Times added its own tribute, which includes a couple of photos. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/11/arts/music/11cnd-nils.html But the original post by the AP is still worth the read for its greater warmth.

What a great artist, and what monumental dedication to her art. The most profound event of my (limited) opera experience was a performance of Elektra. Yes, the one in which she broke her leg, yet completed the opera. Having not seen the opera before, I did not realise things were "different", just naively marvelled at the depth of grief and pain she was delivering. Years later I went to see her again in Elektra. She did not need a broken leg to be profound. Thank you for your art, Ms. Nilsson, may you rest in peace. The report by Associated Press has some wonderful tales of her sense of humor, such as catching rabies from Franco Corelli: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/arts/AP-Obit-Nilsson.html

Thanks, Marga. By chance, any other info on what they'll be dancing?

Maybe it is not so much making an exact mathematical pattern that matters as suggesting it, or, better, conveying a sense of yearning toward it. I think "yearnings" are hard to see in still photos, but in real time convey some of the magic of the art of ballet. A dynamic way of bringing the real and the ideal together. 90-90-90 makes "ideal" sense for Petipa, so that a strong enough deviation from 90-90-90 could suggest reaching for some other ideal that was not part of his aesthetic vision, albeit beautiful on its own.

I didn't mean to imply seats weren't selling, just that, after the large advert in The Times, there was literally no one else there at noon (well, there were, but they were all in NYCB's line). And I did buy wonderfully good seats. Loved last year's Gala, but that one did have Cojocaru and Vishneva to justify the price. Quite frankly, Cojocaru alone justifies tripling the price. Would be nice to know partners of Fadeyev and Sylve. Lacarra always delivers, and Irina/Max had quite a success in Paris (I think the Gala had four performances there... hopefully NYC is no longer pretending to be the dance center of the world...). I'm especially looking forward to seeing Mlle. Mathilde Froustey, especially since I doubt the Met will let us see POB during my lifetime.

As per advert in this Sunday's Times, tickets were on sale at the box office this morning. I was a line of one. Prices $150 First Ring and Orchestra, $105 Second Ring, .... . Very good seats are available. I copied the program from Dale's post under Heads Up last month: 'STARS OF THE 21ST CENTURY' Monday February 13, 2006 State Theater/Lincoln Center Reservations: CenterCharge at 212/721-6500 or theater box office 'STARS OF THE 21ST CENTURY," featuring principal dancers from the world's major ballet companies, will once again gather for a Gala Performance at The State Theater, Lincoln Center, Monday February 13 at 8 PM. Producer Solomon Tencer and Artistic Director Nadia Veselova Tencer have for ten years presented ballet galas in Paris, Cannes, New York, and Toronto. Stars of the Bolshoi Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Kirov Ballet, Munich Ballet, New York City Ballet, and Paris Opera Ballet will be joined by dancers from Complexions USA and Tango Metropolis Argentina. American Ballet Theatre Irina Dvorovenko, Maxim Beloserkovsky Bolshoi Ballet Svetlana Lunkina, Serge Filin Complexions Inc. USA Desmond Richardson, Tai Jimenez Kirov Ballet Andrian Fadeyev Munich Ballet Lucia Lacarra, Cyril Pierre New York City Ballet Sofiane Sylve Paris Opera Ballet Mathilde Froustey, Emmanuel Thibault Tango Metropolis Argentina Pilar Alvarez, Claudio Hoffmann

Her posted dates for ABT differ greatly from those posted by ABT on their site. I hope they get together on this!!! Hers: May 27, 31 June 15, 24, 30 July 10 ABT's: May 29 June 14, 17, 21(mat), 23, 28 July 10

"The choreography in 2 and 3 was not identical, which should -- I would think -- raise aquestions about the conclusions." Dancing here refers to social dancing in Jamaica. "The "symmetrical" dancer appeared to me to have one arm longer than the other. (??)" What is being measured, "Fluctuating Asymmetry", involves Subtle Asymmetry (typically variations well below 1%, probably hard to see) and specifically excludes Conspicuous Asymmetry--some nice examples above, cited by Carbro. They are looking for deviations from the tendancy of cells to seek bilateral symmetry, and how Natural Selection might lead to more symmetry in people. The second paragraph of the paper remarks on the connection between subtle asymmetry and various less desirable traits in a mate (lower developmental stability, for instance, which is associated with a lot of negatives, including earlier mortality). In a word, these virtually imperceptible differences are associated with real genetic problems. The first finding, that the opposite sex finds people who lack subtle asymmetry to be better dancers, combines with social dancing being part of the way one choses a mate. This yields a long-term hypothesis (hence the long-term follow-up part of the study) that these people will marry according to matching dance skills and produce a generation of more symmetrical offspring. A by-product of this would seem to be a generation of better dancers. It is interesting that such subtle lack of symmetry is associated with inferior dancing skill, moreso in men than in women. While they give some explanation in terms of known differences between the sexes in terms of the way they select mates, I wonder if they may be missing the fact that women are more likely to have had formal dance training. This training may have helped some women become better dancers despite asymmetries, and that could be one reason why less of female dance skill was attributed to symmetry (23% vs 48% for men). Your last paragraph is very perceptive. A difficulty with this kind or research is statistical variation, which would blur distinctions if the study were not narrowly focussed. If you look at the paper itself, you'll see quite a jumble of math, even under these carefully controlled conditions. The way round this is further quite specific studies within individual groups such as those you identify. Some of the key biological understanding is quite cross-cultural, and dancing's importance in mate-selection is likewise. So generalizations from the study will probably not be implausible. Perhaps for this forum, the most relevant idea coming from the work is that there may be a long-term human trend toward making people who will be able to dance better. Another may be that dancing, from the role it plays in mate selection, may contribute (and have already contributed) to long-term greater health and longer life expectancy for the human race.

Was it perhaps "Birds of Paradise", two couples, a corps, set to Ginestera's Harp and Orchestra Concerto? (Originally Washington Ballet, 1979, but Singapore has toured with it.)

By the way, tonight marked the return of Damian Woetzel, as Prince Siegfried no less. Please, someone tell us how it went.

Wow! Thanks Michael (and also Wise Friend), this is exactly the kind of insight I relish from this forum. I'll be sure to reread your post before my next Symphony in C. As a non-dancer I know I miss a lot; in this case memories of Suzanne are so dominant that I focus on what were HER high points. And, in addition to being a star, La Sylve also brings so much new to the table, not only from her European background but also from her individual intelligence.

I hope Sara has a good time dancing her dream role and that the audience wishes her a Happy Birthday (5 days after the date of the performance).

I've managed to track down more detailed information on the study, including video comparing symmetric vs asymmetric dancers. Symmetry was assessed with measurements of wrists, ankles, elbows, third digit, fourth digit, fifth digit, ears, feet, knees. Where assymetries occur they tend to be differences of less than 1%. They aren't of such magnitude as to be readily spotted, yet turn out to have notable association with quality of dancing. The official paper from Nature: http://lazowska.cs.washington.edu/zp.htm which is full of technical statistical analysis. Maybe the most striking result was that symmetric males were evaluated (by females) as significantly better dancers than asymmetrical males, the degree of symmetry accounting for 48% of the variance in dance ability. Even though (as evaluated by males) symmetrical females were significantly better dancers than asymmetrical females, female symmetry only accounted for 23% of the variance in dance ability. They supplied three videos: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/...ature04344.html The first shows how they removed individual dancer's features so that other visual cues for attractiveness would not mask the effect of symmetry: in effect you see an actual dancer's dancing reduced to it essence (click supplementary movie 1). The second shows dancing of a dancer with high body symmetry (click supplementary movie 2). The third shows dancing of an assymmetric dancer (click supplementary movie 3).

Well, once I got her first name spelled correctly, Sara, a little Googling came up with favorable reviews for dancing the Mazurka in Les Sylphides and Lilac Fairy in an excerpts from Sleeping Beauty performance. Also, from a 2002 interview in Pointe: " ... What kind of performance experience do you have? SM: I danced with North Carolina Dance Theatre two years ago in The Nutcracker, and I've performed with the company at home, Carolina Ballet. Pointe: What ballets have you done? SM: The Nutcracker, Romeo and Juliet, The Sleeping Beauty, Coppélia, Swan Lake, Cinderella." Maybe it is time to just say "Merde!"

Judging from this Youth America Grand Prix photo from nearly five years ago, she may have been working on Odile for a while. http://www.yagp.org/eng/gallery.asp?setnum...me=2001&phnum=4 Do we KNOW she hasn't danced O/O, or more to the point, something long and taxing, somewhere else? Google doesn't seem to help... Well, Peter must have seen it in her. After all, it is his ballet that he's risking. And has he ever been known to over-burden a young dancer?

Thanks for the info, art076. The dvd is available now from Amazon (above, support Ballet Talk!) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000B5XST...2-6127005?n=130

Frankly, I enjoyed the last movement in this performance of Symphony in C. La Sylve brought a very appropriate French "perfume" to this section, a sassy insouciance and warmth that really made a difference. A sort of compensation for a feeling of incompleteness (but for Oberon's remark, I might have passed it off as just my age-weakened attention span) in the second movement. Of course I didn't see any of the four leading women dancing together: when Bouder was on stage I focussed on The Miracle, herself, and am very happy I did. In sum, it was a really good performance of this work, especially considering that two lead ballerinas are coming back from very major injuries, and a third was making a debut. The corps and demis danced to a rather high standard as well. Trying to understand why M & M didn't work (other than for following Liturgy with just a pause), I went back to Leigh Witchel's wonderful essay in Danceview: http://www.danceview.org/archives/balanchine/Monumentum.htm and wish I'd seen that Farrell-coached rehearsal rather than this performance...

I know it isn't fully in the spirit of Ballet Talk, but I also attended tonight's performance and have to say that I agree with everything Oberon reported. What mystery there is in the divine Liturgy's calligraphy. And how profoundly traced by Albert and Wendy Muse. It was perhaps unfortunate that M & M followed this after just a pause. There was indeed something very special in Teresa Reichlen's demi role. Another level of nuance, the little graces from Mr. B that are not in the steps, a musicality so unforced: Mr. B's dancer/fish swimming in the music. Somehow I feel confident that I will really see what Mr. B wanted when she is dancing. A preview of the forthcoming Swan Lake pairing, Ashley and Ben. Bouder the Devourer. An explosion! I have never seen anything like this. She swallows space and audience whole. Total Speed, Power, Glee. Maybe it was just having my conciousness heightened by her, but I felt that Millepied caught her fire and danced with a special abandon.

"First thing that came to mind was Whelan as Giselle. Or Bouder" I see Bouder as a dream Giselle. She can surely be innocently girlish early in Act 1 and her Aurora Vision Scene bodes well for the needed depth and spirituality of Act 2. With Asylmuratova as coach...? But this is academic since Giselle will never be a part of City Ballet. More problematic will be Odette/Odile next weekend. Seeming now as improbable as Aurora was 23 months earlier. If she brings this challenge home, I surely want to be there, especially the second performance, so often a quantum leap for her.

Sorry, but I saw nearly every Baryshnikov (with Markarova, Kirkland) Albrecht in NYC and he was very great. Perfect dancing, of course, but also profound intensity, living the character and the relationship. I attended just one poor (for him) performance, the one that was telecast, where he made the wrong decision to act and dance "large" because of the small tube (TV was small in those days). The next matinee (with Gelsey) he started out looking fatigued and not into it, but Gelsey kept pushing (intensely), seducing him back into character in Act 1, and he came around to deliver a memorable performance. Maya might have pulled off Nureyev's version of Cinders. Especially with him! Bruhn as Puck!!! Alina as Myrtha: what a waste when she IS Giselle. But with her ability to inhabit a character, she might pull it off. A lot of people thought she wouldn't work as Manon, but she triumphed. Suzanne would have been magnificent in Rubies: not the choreography we see, of course, but Balanchine would have remade the role to work for her. He could do nothing else.

Wonderful review, Oberon! Since Kaitlyn also danced in a few Nutcrackers, did you notice whether she is now listed in the Corps? After reading your post, I can't wait for Thursday night.

Frankly, if ABT were to decide to continue its M. O. of signing an ABT dancer or former dancer as AD, Mr. Bocca, with his experience with the company he founded, would seem better qualified than just about anyone else. Also, his artistry and popularity would hardly be negatives.

From the Bocca/Rojo article in today's Links: "The official farewell will take place next year and he will then devote himself to the life of which dance has deprived him, he said. Bocca will continue to direct his company and will probably assume art direction of the American Ballet Theater."

May another mathematician chip in? 3-4-5 isn't the only triangle that works; so does, for example, the more extreme one, 5-12-13. In terms of extensions, there are correspondingly more extreme bodies that work too, for example Sylvie Guillem's. But I still vote with Paul on the Rose Adagio. I'd rather see perfect beauty in ballet than make ballet into an exercise in solving math puzzles (except when Balanchine brings the two together, as in the Agon pdd...). Maybe that is why Balanchine immitators fail: they can do the math, but the beauty doesn't happen.

The 2006 Dance on Camera Festival begins on January 4 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, with some programs at Brooklyn's Galapagos Art Space and Manhattan's Donnell Media Center. The site: http://www.dancefilmsassn.org/NewPages/festival%202006.html Concise program summary: http://www.dancefilmsassn.org/NewPages/fes...nce%202006.html Some ballet highlights include: 1. Ashton at 100: Fred’s Steps Ross MacGibbon, UK, 2004; 138m 'This beautifully shot documentary captures an evening of choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton marking his 100th birthday. Featuring the Royal Ballet Company, the film also includes priceless archival footage of rehearsals, interviews with former Royal Ballet stars, and biographical insights into an extraordinary artist. Dance performance highlights include” Brahms Waltzes” in the style of Isadora and “Daphnis and Chloe.” ' 2. The Nutcracker Family: Behind the Magic Virginia Brooks, U.S., 2006; 95m 'Across the country every fall, ballet companies rehearse the season’s favorite, “The Nutcracker.” Director Virginia Brooks and producer Delia Peters give us an unprecedented inside look at the School of American Ballet’s children in the 2003 production of George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker”™ with rehearsals, archival footage, and interviews with former Maries. Introduced by the director.' 3. Bringing Balanchine Back Richard Blanshard, U.S., 2003; 80m 'Peter Martins took the New York City Ballet to St. Petersburg in 2003 with a repertory of George Balanchine ballets, unseen since 1972. This intimate look at the dancers in rehearsal and in performance on the stage of the famed Marinsky Theater is full of intimate moments, crises, and triumphs. A U.S. premiere. Producer Christopher Ramsey will introduce.'