Helene

In Seattle Opera's Jonathan Dean's delightful "Spotlight Guide" for "The Barber of Seville", Dean writes,

From the description in the NYT, it sounds like it all happened rather quickly, when Martins was accepted into the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center.

I saw Gonzalo Garcia twice in the same weekend (2/4 April 2004) as "Apollo" with SFB, and the cast was the same both times: Terpsichore: Yuan Yan Tan Polyhymnia: Vanessa Zahrorian Calliope: Sarah van Patten My selective memory had forgotten that Hubbe guested as Apollo later that season with Ballet Arizona -- Astrit Zejnati was the Apollo in the alternate cast -- and it was nice to see that when Andersen produced it in 2009, he cast a brilliant young dancer, Roman Zavarov, who is medium height, dark-haired, and lithe. (But I digress...)

Thank you so much, vipa

PNB has made a major commitment to grow young audiences in Seattle, and has been recognized with three "Teeny" awards. to the Company. Here is the press release: WE’RE TEENY WITH THE KIDS! Pacific Northwest Ballet Honored With Three Teen Tix Teeny Awards! Seattle, WA – Since the inception of Seattle Center’s Teen Tix, Pacific Northwest Ballet has been a proud and passionate participant of the city-run arts access program for teenagers. PNB recently learned that the love is mutual, as Teen Tix announced the winners of its second annual Teeny Awards. Notified via singing telegram performed live by the Teeny Awards Delivery Squad, PNB was thrilled and honored to receive three Teenies for the 2009-2010 season: · Best Selling Show of 2009 - 2010: Roméo et Juliette · Best Dance Performance of 2009 - 2010: 3 by Dove · Favorite Organization Overall (large): Pacific Northwest Ballet Now in its sixth year of operation, Teen Tix provides Seattle area teenagers, ages 13 to 19, with access to 37 arts organizations in an effort to engage young people in Seattle's vibrant cultural scene. Teen Tix membership enables teenagers to purchase day-of-show tickets to music, dance, theatre and arts events for only $5. The Teeny Awards were created last year as an initiative that aims to empower young audiences, honor youth-friendly programming choices, and acknowledge organizations where young audience members feel particularly valued and welcomed. The Teeny Awards are given by Teen Tix’s Steering Committee based on Teen Tix members voting in 20 categories. The news of PNB’s three Teeny Awards could not have made the ballet staff any happier. “Teen Tix is one of our favorite audience development programs,” said Peter Boal, PNB’s artistic director. “We welcome these kids at our box office window, and then we give them a performance experience that helps to redefine their perceptions of ballet and big arts institutions. Our Teen Tix audience members add a palpable excitement to the audience buzz.” “Teen Tix is a great initiative for the youth of the Seattle area, enabling them to see all kinds of performing arts in many different venues,” said John Tangeman, PNB’s manager of audience services. “It is a true pleasure for PNB to be a part of this important program and to be able to give Teen Tix participants something they might otherwise not be inclined to see. We love seeing their eager faces lining up at the box office before our performances!” “Ditto, what they said! We love Teen Tix,” chimed in Ellen Walker, PNB’s director of marketing and communications. For more information on how to join Teen Tix or to view a list of participating organizations, visit Seattle Center’s Teen Tix webpage at www.seattlecenter.com/teentix. And check out the Teen Tix blog for more juicy and interesting content, at www.teentix.blogspot.com.

So far, four Ballet Talk members have contributed, and we thank them very much for their support. We also thank those who have sent checks that are in transit. We're running behind, though: to date, most of the contributions have been donated by Ballet Talk for Dancers members. While BT4D does have a larger membership, it's not a 1:8 ratio. If you like the site, we need your help to keep it going. Thank you!

PNB just posted a short trailer for the upcoming season, but it includes a few clips from "Petite Mort" and "Jardi Tancat": I'm happy to see Carrie Imler featured in a number of the clips.

Members have not been allowed to delete their own posts since I've been a member for the last seven years. There is no option on this software to allow conditional deletes of one's own posts. Either members can or can't, and with unconditional deletes, it is possible to delete a post to which someone already replied, hence the policy. What we haven't done is turn on the timer which allows people to edit their own posts for a limited amount of time, after which the edit button disappears. Double posts are an anomaly, but we usually catch them and delete them.

We didn't change any of the permissions with the upgrade. The system settings were all ported over as is.

Maybe more people will realize that Brooklyn is not in New England or south of the Mason/Dixon line and will get on the subway and head to BAM.

Online tickets will be available on the 19th. Since you want to see "Glass Pieces", which is part of the Director's Choice program, you'll be able to order from this page: http://www.pnb.org/Season/10-11/DirectorsChoice/ Where it says "On sale Jul 19", there will be buttons to purchase starting next Monday. You'll be able to choose your own seats from the seat map. With a triple bill, I don't think you'll have a problem getting tickets. Where do you generally like to sit? How much is center important to you?

The website is updated will all of the promotions: http://www.pnb.org/Artists/ The only people missing are the apprentices, Price Suddarth and Jenna Nelson, noted in the PNB graduation performance program.

It works the same way in Firefox. It's not the new board software, because BT4D hasn't upgraded yet, and I just tested it there. Same behavior. I guess the moral is, don't hit "backspace" ("delete" in Macspeak) unless you see the flashing cursor in the box.

"Links" is the forum where news links are published on Ballet Talk. The only exceptions to our "no double-posting" policy are when they are used to start discussion about the news itself or if a company is performing in non-the-usual location, as a reminder. If you find a link that is missing from the daily digest, we always appreciate an email to the "Contact Us" link or a PM to dirac, and we'll be sure it's added. We would love to hear what people think of the performances in the "Modern and Other Dance" forum. "Heads up" is "To announce ballet-related events, such as TV and radio broadcasts. tours, guest appearances, book signings, master classes, tours, new websites and updates. "

It's very Wagnerian. Long enough to go out and have a good meal and be fortified for a long night.

I'm particularly interested in hearing Finley and Burden. I'll have to catch it on re-play, though. I'll be in class next Friday.

According to this article in mlive.com, Patricia Barker has just become the interim Artistic Director of the Grand Rapids Ballet Company with a one-year contract, and she is planning to relocate. The article also states "Since retiring, Barker has spent several seasons as co-artistic adviser of the Slovak National Ballet in Bratislava and one season with the Hungarian National Ballet in Budapest." She had applied at PNB when Russell and Stowell retired. The last I read about her was just after she retired, when she did some guesting and vacationing. I didn't realize that she was working in Eastern Europe. Congrats to Ms. Barker It looks like she is pursuing a career in ballet management.

Thank you so much for that, richard53dog. I loved the Schipa story

I don't know of anything specifically ballet-related, but I know Matt Haimovitz tours and performs routinely in bars and other non-traditional venues. We heard him in Seattle at The Tractor a couple of years ago, and he played with his cello ensemble. Also, in Seattle there is a group called Simple Measures, which was founded by cellist Rajan Krishnaswami. They perform chamber music outside of concert halls. Their latest concert, which featured music by classical composers in film, performed last May in Freemont Abbey, Miller Community Center, Bastyr University Chapel, and Mount Baker Community Club. We saw them a couple of years ago at the Mount Baker Community Club, and that performance included a work by PNB Principal Dancer Stanko Milov for him and former PNB Principal Julie Tobiasson, as well as baroque dances performed by Seattle Early Dance. Simple Measures' format is interactive: the audience is close, the lights are only partly down, and there are informative remarks, Q&A's and performer/audience discussions during the concert. I often think that concert halls are like the big Carnegie libraries or like Kafka's "The Castle", creating fear to enter.

When I wanted to see the English National Opera at the Coliseum, I stood on the returns line about 20 minutes before the show started, and was about the 19th person in line. There were nine couples ahead of me. It was a last-minute decision to try to see the opera, and I would have gone a lot earlier if I had planned in advance. I was really lucky to get in, and I wouldn't have had a chance if I wanted more than one. Singles are usually easier to come by.

That is great news! The mural will live on for NYCB dancers every day.

The Triple Door in Seattle presented a three-part burlesque program last night for Bastille Day, and Olivier Wevers created the second part of the program, "Coquette", to music by Hugyes LeBars. It was performed by "Kylie Shea and Paris Original" (aka Kylie Lewallen of Spectrum Dance Theater and Sylvain Boulet). Wevers, who since the PNB season ended just a month ago, completed several weeks of work with choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa on a major work for his company Whim W'him and has been in rehearsal for at least "Duo Concertante" for the PNB performances in Vail. I don't know how in the midst of this he was able to create a work with so much force and detail and to elicit such spectacular performances from his dancers. Not at all coy or languid, "Coquette" was unusually crisp for the genre and showed a mastery of dynamics within the story arc. It was a wonder. Kylie Lewallen, too, is a wonder.

From a press release from PNB: If you buy your tickets starting next Monday through the end of next week, no service fees, which is a good deal.

From Lilac Fairy's post on Jordan Elizabeth Long, according to the Dutch National Ballet website, Vanderlinden is leaving the Company for "(new career)". Best of luck to him.