Helene

Are they dancing? Back when I watched the company regularly, for some dancers, soloists was a springboard to principal status, and they performed often and in principal roles. For others, the promotion was to "Soloist Hell" -- never cast. Are these dancers never cast? Because that usually isn't up to them, and it's management's responsibility to see that they're used. It's not like Peter Martins is a new director and inherited a roster of people promoted by others. Most of the criticism here about principals not carrying their weight has focused on two senior ballerinas who are cast often, not dancers like Allegra Kent, who was on the roster for several years without making any appearances, as was Francisco Moncion. Please explain further, if you would. Are the limits to representation contractual by precedent, or by practice? Are there different criteria for hiring and firing corps members -- I would assume so for apprentices -- like before and after tenure, for teachers?

I don't see anything published on the departures, apart from Leblanc's retirement. Isaac Hernandez really impressed me when I saw him this spring.

There was a program about Edward Villella that used to be available on VHS that showed just that. I saw it a long time ago, but the one thing that struck me most was the scene in which Villella came offstage after one of his riffs in "Rubies", fell to the floor in complete exhaustion, got up, and proceeded to dance the next section as softly as a cat.

Helene, If you can find me 10 who are worse actors than Pierce Brosnan. I swear on a stack of bibles, I will pay your rent/ mortgage, gas, electricity, utility bills for a year. I was about to say watch most US soap operas, but I'm not sure they're bad actors or that they're just very good at a particular style. But I would say the at least 10 actors who are worse than Pierce Brosnan are just about any Ken doll they cast for the single-episode love interests on "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

In "Elusive Muse" I don't think it was Jaffe in "Mozartiana". I think it was a dancer I didn't know before, and that her first name was Christine and she spoke with what I thought was a French accent, which I only remember because her praise sounded so beautiful in that rich, accented voice. Edited to add: I was completely wrong. Marie-Christine Mouls with the beautiful voice danced "Chaconne".

Perhaps not those roles, but she'd have gotten a lot more exposure, which could have led to other good career choices. She not a worse actor than Pierce Brosnan, who wasn't worthy to shine Meryl Streep's shoes in that movie.

There are two Ballet Russes pieces: "Les Biches" and "Le Spectre de la Rose", thanks to Ballet West and Australian Ballet.

If the dancer can't create a sense of why, or that there's a pull at all, the performance looks incongruous. It's like an Odette who doesn't appear to be stuck.

I loved the "Nina, Nina!" chants.

They wear pointe shoes. For me, enough said That's $ about $35,557 (U.S.) at current exchange rates. I wonder if they get a housing allowance for London. And let's not forget the cost of cigarettes. Unless they were lucky and found a very cheap apartment, $35K is not a lot of money in NYC, since most don't have the option of living far enough out of the city for reasonable rents. In London, though, that's like living on $22K/year in NYC, because unless you send the GBP to the US, the exchange rate doesn't much help.

From Mary Cargill's review of Nina Anaiashvili's farewell performance for danceviewtimes: http://www.danceviewtimes.com/2009/06/swan-song.html

The conclusion of Alastair Macaulay's review of Nina Ananiashvili's last performance at ABT as Odette/Odile: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/29/arts/dan...tml?_r=1&hp

Kate Jackson. Always the smart one

That's it! I should have described it as sur la coup de pied from soussus, not fifth She was the most finished dancer I remember in the Company when she danced. Unfortunately my DVD is in storage. Perhaps someone with it on hand can confirm, but I think you are right: Calegari: Kent role. She's a redhead, and I believe the only light-haired dancer among the women. Pilarre: Hayden role. She was also in the "Emeralds" pas de trois (with Heather Watts and Daniel Duell) in the "Dance in America" series. Saland: Adams role. Spohn: Leclerq role. She also dances the First Theme in "4 T's" on the same DVD. Ashley: Wilde role. It's also one of the few videos of the late Victor Castelli, one of my favorite NYCB men, who is one of the two male demis.

There was a short obituary for Maximova in the July 2009 (print) edition of Opera News, noting that "Maximova was one of the Bolshoi stars who danced in the last program presented at the old Metropolitan Opera House on Thirty-ninth Street and Broadway."

Thank you so much for this, volcanohunter I was trying to figure out a way to be sent to Paris to see this production, but now I can watch it online.

How choreography is transmitted is one of the questions that is asked over and over in post- and pre-performance Q&A's that I've attended. In an article for The Wall Street Journal on Merce Cunningham's decision to leave his works to a trust and disband his company after a farewell tour after his death, Terry Teachout gives a clear analogy about how choreography is transmitted and why it changes over time, when there's no deliberate attempt to do so: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB2000142405...3609302846.html

Watching Stephanie Saland go from fifth to sur la coup de pied in the "Divertimento No. 15" Dance in America performance is my favorite moment of that DVD. Her placement was so precise -- so classical -- and so different from most NYCB ballerinas.

Another of Paloma Herrera, this time in action, from the ABT "Sylvia" mini-site: http://www.abt.org/sylvia/photo_gallery.html

She also danced Terpsichore in the Balanchine Celebration (1993) "Apollo" excerpts, which is on VHS/DVD.

Nicolas Blanc in "Emeralds" had that same quality doing the walks. It was gorgeous to behold. Farrell's feet were beautiful to me because there was no difference between her foot and her shoe: it was all of one piece.

I also love feet that are very straight, like Suzanne Farrell's and one of the PNB soloists, Lesley Rausch. Another soloist, Maria Chapman, has very high arches, what I'd call "Patricia McBride feet". http://www.ballerinagallery.com/pic/mcbrid05.jpg http://www.ballerinagallery.com/pic/mcbrid03.jpg For me, it's not just the way the feet look, but how they work through the floor. I saw Ballet Arizona perform "La Valse" in May's all-Balanchine program, and I didn't check the cast list during second intermission. In one of the middle waltzes, this short, dark-haired dancer, in her long tulle skirt, knocked me cold by the strength of her foot as she rose on point in arabesque. It was Jillian Barrell, and I had never seen her (or at least recognized her) with her hair down before.

Definitely follow carbro's advice -- the Dress Circle is so much closer than Family Circle. Not as close as the Orchestra, but you get the patterns.

From The Washington Post From The New York Times

That is very sad news. She waged a fierce battle for a number of years. RIP, Miss Fawcett.