Helene

That's sounds delightful, slcmom! Thank you for describing it for us

There's a very interesting interview on the On the Boards website with Lane Cziplanski, Artistic Director of On the Boards, and Olivier Wevers, in which Wevers discusses his choreography, working in the studio, approach to pointe work, the production team, and the dancers. http://luxmedia.vo.llnwd.net/o10/clients/o...1201_wevers.mp3 For Oregon Ballet Theatre fans, OBT Lighting Designer Michael Mazzolo is the lighting designer for "3 Seasons".

Thank you for the link, Sandy! Korbes is going to be very busy. I agree about Sar: he was fantastic in "3 Movements", and I was hoping NYC would get a chance to see his "Mopey". There's the tie-in with the film about him, too. (Did I just say that? Once a marketing weasel, always a marketing weasel...) One thing about the men cast in "Mopey": Griffiths was almost unrecognizable in it. Porretta and Moore are much more than "Mopey", but we'd seen glimpses of their "Mopey" in other works. I'm glad to see Ricard Orza is cast in the Tharp. I'm still disappointed that NYC won't see Nakamura, who has ties to SAB

In the 1920's Donlevy was in a number of movies where he seemed to play a gangster or a bit part, except for Paul Revere in "The Eve of the Revolution". None of them look like prime candidates for a ballet: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002046/

I love the compliments in the comments: "Grandiose!" "c'etait merveilleux" "Fabuleux." "magique!" "magnifique!fabuleux!splendide!feerique!!!!!.....................etc......................................." "merveilleux" "Très beau spectacle"

Yes, written in a similar style, just a few years after Strauss II's death.

Wow, this is like TKTS for Lincoln Center! While one might hope for NYCB or ABT, on a given night, there may be tickets to a recital at Julliard or a theater event.

The phrasing in the middle section of her "Swan Lake" variation was so intimate, like they were all in a garden. Thank you for the history of Ms. Ballester and for the links to the clips

I was never remotely advanced enough to take one of his classes at Ballet Academy East (many years and pounds ago), but I do remember watching them from the corridor with great interest. RIP, Mr. Andros.

Leigh's piece was published in today's edition, at least on the website: http://www.nypost.com/p/entertainment/thea...LZ1KG43A76rSusL Gia Kourlas previews the company in today's New York Times, with quotes from Ariana Lallone and Carla Korbes; the article confirms that Korbes will dance in "Fur Alina", "Opus 111", and "3 Movements" ("he will appear in all the works except 'Mopey'") On his philosophy of programming: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/05/arts/dance/05ballet.html

There is a thread here on the broadcast. I'm glad to see the broadcast is still available.

There's a lot of artistry that can be found in entertainment, some examples being Richard Tauber or Georg Ots in any operetta, Jan Peerce singing "You'll Never Walk Alone", Thomas Hampson's "Music of the Night", Arthur Fiedler's recordings, Ella Fitzgerald and Maria del Mar Bonet, Frank Sinatra -- the list goes on and on. Rieu's "schmalty pop music" was good enough for Balanchine to have used for four movements of one of his masterworks, "Vienna Waltzes". A chacun son gout.

I just noticed on the English homepage on the Boshoi website that there's a news item dated 19 October that announced,

I love Alexandrova; she and Allash are always top of my wish list for Bolshoi casting, and Allash hasn't come on recent tours . I can't imagine a girlish Kitri from her, but that would be fine with me, even preferable. If Sunday, 28 February wasn't one of the busiest days to travel out of Vancouver -- it's the last day of the Olympics -- I would be so tempted to see the Sunday matinee, the only day of the run I'll be free. Edited to add: naomikage reviewed the Bolshoi in Don Q from a December 2008 tour in Japan: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...&hl=meskova including Alexandrova's and Osipova's performances, starting on the 4th post in the thread.

If anyone is worried about the character of the Prince's mother, they can watch a tradition production with Carrie Imler portraying the mother. Nothing else needs to be added.

Aw, slcmom, don't tease us -- tell us

Only the dates have been set so far: 26 July-10 August, 2010. When more information is available, it will be posted to the festival website: http://www.vaildance.org/vaildance/

This isn't specifically for first-time child ballet-goers, but the ballets in the "Family Series" packages at ABT are interesting: "Sleeping Beauty" "Romeo and Juliet" "La Bayadere" "Swan Lake" "Don Quixote" All-Ashton Rep (Birthday Offering, Thais pas de deux, Awakening pas de deux, The Dream) All-American Rep (Brahms-Haydn Variations, Company B, Fancy Free) All-Class Rep (Allegro Brillante, Manon pas de deux, Romeo and Juliet pas de deux, The Dream, Company B ABT Premieres (Brahms-Haydn Variations, On the Dnieper, Fancy Free) (which sounds like the entire season except Lady of the Camellias packaged in trios, with 50% off for children 5-17).

So far, the only info on the ABT website is principal casting for "Sleeping Beauty". There's little info on the staging, as the company is only in the subscription renewal phase. http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/sea...ckagetypes.aspx To get any details, you have to pick a day from the drop-down box.

I wasn't taken to a live ballet until I was in my teens, but my grandmother brought me to the movies and the Rockettes shows at Radio City Music Hall and local community kids theater from when I was about five years old. We also went to the Scots Guards and skating shows at Madison Square Garden, and I remember that we didn't speak during the actual performance. Before choosing ballets for kids, unless there are special programs like the children's length ballets that New York Theatre Ballet performs or that the PNB school puts on (like "Hansel and Gretel"), it might be worth acclimating them with other theater experiences before choosing a ballet, especially a full length. Another, more expensive, option is to buy tickets to a triple bill with one child-friendly ballet and to arrive for that ballet or to be ready to leave after Act 1 of "The Nutcracker" or "A Midsummer Night's Dream", if the child is less interested in abstract dancing or one hour is enough. My overall unsolicited advice is to be sure to have one adult per child who needs supervision, an exit strategy always in case a child becomes restless, and the expectation that you may have paid for a partial show. There's little more frustrating for a child than to be dragged out of a performance because a sibling is restless. Better for one adult to take a walk around the block or stay in the lobby with the restless child, and for the other to stay with the child who is fine with the performance.

I'll start saving my shekels now

I don't think I'm going to get away from my computer today -- I just finished watching "La Bayadere" for the third time. I can't keep my eyes off of Tereshkina. And I love the history lesson between the ballets. Another highlight was Cheprasova. From her first entrance dancing with the other shades, her phrasing was excellent. If I were casting Bournonville, I'd choose her from watching how she linked the phrases together, never stopping at the bar lines. I wish the camera angle hadn't shot her from the front on the hops on point that ended her variation: it was impossible to see how much she moved or how she held her arabesque leg. Now to start it for the fourth time.

Many thanks for the link, nysusan! I was mesmerized by the corp dancer who led the Shades: in the close-ups, she goes straight into the arabesque without doing the (however slight) balance check in tendu back. That scene will be worth the price of the DVD. The size and amplitude of Tereshkina's dancing was very "Symphony in C". I wonder what Balanchine would have made for her. While in total the number of over-extensions in both her and Somova's performances were about equal (just a couple each) as dancers they are like night and day, with all of the pluses on Tereshkina's side: stature, beautifully turned-out thighs, strength through the middle, complete, integrated physical performance from fingertips to toes, musicality, and technique. Somova continues to dance like an eager competition dancer and an ingenue. Take away the head-hitting extensions, and her weaknesses show even move: her middle is collapsed, her turnout is weak, her feet are a muddle, and her extensions are foot kicks. The only time in this performance in which for me she had phrasing that looked internally motivated was during the harp runs in her solo, in which she was delicate and charming. I continue to think she is a miscast lyric soloist. The only Ballerina on the stage in "Paquita" was Kondaurova. I suppose if Peter Martins could insist for two decades that Yvonne Borree is one, then Gergiev can market Somova as anything he wants.

Interesting, because I'd seen New Year's Eve performances where a LOT was changed in both Acts, some short and sweet and others, well, one of the Harlequin and Columbine dolls would leave the other alone on stage. Maybe they've cleaned it up in recent years?

Many thanks, ivanov!