Helene

Week 4 casting is up (scroll):' https://www.pnb.org/nutcracker/ Here's the link to the downloadable spreadsheet (past weeks underneath the current week): Nutcracker 2018_12_09.xlsx Madison Ryan Abeo is getting her wish: she will dance Sugar Plum Fairy with Kyle Davis on Sunday, December 16 at 12:30pm. It's not marked as a debut, and Davis was listed as Rachel Foster's partner on December 1, although it isn't clear when she and Cecilia Iliesiu, her Dewdrop, were interviewed for the article linked above, which is dated December 3. In the interview, she said she was practicing with Christian Poppe, who is cast as Tea. I hope Rachel Foster is okay.

That's great news for San Francisco!

Conversation on Dance co-hosts Rebecca Ferraro and Michael Breeden interviewed pianist Cameron Grant when they were at Vail this past summer: https://conversationsondancepod.com/2018/12/03/cameron-grant/ Highlights are his descriptions of what it means to play for ballet and working with jerome Robbins. So, Peter Boal, if you're listening, we need a commission for a new Ratmansky-Desyatnikov work with an original composition that at least features the piano.

The Seattle Times just published an article about Nutcracker schedule for the dancers, and it includes quotes from Madison Rayn Abeo and Cecilia Iliesiu. https://www.seattletimes.com/sponsored/from-snowflake-to-sugar-plum-fairy-how-dancers-handle-nutcracker-time/ This reminds me of college, when we only had the extended Thanksgiving weekend off, and families from New York to Boston hosted friends who couldn't get home to the rest of the country for Thanksgiving:

Two weeks down already? How did that happen? Casting is up for Week 3 (scroll): https://www.pnb.org/nutcracker/ Here's the link to the updated downloadable spreadsheet: Nutcracker 2018_12_03.xlsx The Black Friday sales for selected dates, including all five of this coming weekend's performances, is on through December 5, 11:59pm PST. The promo code by phone is "BLACKFRIDAY" (206 441-2424"), and the link, with embedded promo code and a list of dates, including which are 20% off and which are 30% off) is here: https://www.pnb.org/mypromo/?promo=BlackFriday&uid=6077%3D16573

Welcome to Ballet Alert!, gallerina! We hope you'll post about what you see.

Schedule-wise, PNB would be a match. But if she's looking for more classical rep, PNB is not the place, as Peter Boal has been bringing in more and more contemporary work. He's already replaced the neoclassical "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet" and "Cinderella" with Maillot's contemporary versions of these works, and the Sleeping Beauty press release states that this is the last run for the Ronald Hynd production, and that a new production will be announced in the future. If we're lucky, we'll get a reconstruction. If we're not, we'll get Maillot's La Belle.

I haven't see the Ratmansky, but Monsters have been the weakest and least interesting part of every production of Firebird I've ever seen. The music is wonderful, though.

The quote in the FB post leads to local critic Melody Datz Hansen's blog post on the production, which includes a link to a PNB instagram post with a short film clip of the end of the Grand Pas de Deux'

The Black Friday Nutcracker ticket sale is ongoing through December 5 PT; there should be a sale pop-up when you go to the pnb site. Casting is up for second weekend (scroll): https://www.pnb.org/nutcracker/ Here's the link to the downloadable spreadsheet: Nutcracker 2018_11_26.xlsx Noelani Pantastico posted about her injury, so it wasn't surprising when she was replaced, but Benjamin Griffiths, who was originally cast as Leta Biasucci's opening night partner and then later for Candy Cane was replaced by Lucien Postlewaite (Pantastico's original partner) and Kyle Davis. I hope he's back soon. Here's a lovely picture from PNB's FB page of Leta Biasucci as Sugar Plum Fairy:

Welcome to Ballet Alert!, blishem! Please do not worry about your writing: we will be happy to hear about what you see. Along with our ballet forums, we also have a forum for Modern, Contemporary, and other types of dance companies and performances. Not many of us outside larger cities or university towns with arts programming get to see European contemporary dance. https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/forum/48-modern-contemporary-and-other-dance/

As this article in Pointe Magazine notes, there have been other athletic wear collaborations with dancers -- the article mentions Copeland and Hayward -- what I think is newsworthy is that the collection isn't specifically tied to a popular, well-followed dancer, but Athleta has chosen to partner with a ballet company.

My condolences to you and the rest of the company, @MRR

An article on the Nutcracker costumes: https://www.seattletimes.com/sponsored/peek-inside-a-nutcracker-costume-bible/ with the statement that "Though the show is only onstage for five weeks, PNB’s “Nutcracker” accounts for over half of the organization’s ticket revenue." Wow, I didn't realize it was that much. But for those wondering about Balanchine Trust input into redesigns, in this case, The resulting flowers costumes are stunning, and the skirts made of petals move really beautifully.

In my experience, the people in Barcelona dance the Sardana, but they don't go to see it performed. I have to wonder why Don Q is set in Barcelona. Had Petipa not spent several years in Madrid, which included studying and researching actual Spanish dance, I would think it was because they threw a dart at a map, but, in this case, Barcelona could have been shorthand for Spain. They do have a major bullring in Barcelona, though, and those rituals should hold. As an aside, Peter Boal said that all of the corps men and soloist wanted to do the bullfighters' dance and the Act I Finale in the Ratmansky Don Q.