Helene

According to company websites as of today: Houston Ballet: 47+7 apprentices (9 principals, 3 first soloists, 6 soloists, 3 demi-soloists, 26 corps) http://www.houstonballet.org/Inside_Houston_Ballet/Dancers/ Pacific Northwest Ballet: 45 + 6 apprenties (13 principals, 9 soloists, 23 corps) http://www.pnb.org/company/principals.html http://www.pnb.org/company/soloists.html http://www.pnb.org/company/corps.html http://www.pnb.org/company/apprentices.html Miami City Ballet: 46 superhuman dancers + 5 apprentices (12 principals, 2 principal soloists, 9 soloists, 23 corps) http://www.miamicityballet.org/super_human.php San Francisco Ballet: 77 + 2 apprentices (22 principals, 4 principal character dancers, 12 soloists, 39 corps) http://www.sfballet.org/about/company/dancers.asp Boston Ballet: 40 + 7 in Boston Ballet II (7 principals, 12 soloists, 21 corps) http://www.bostonballet.org/about/company/dancers.html Pennsylvania Ballet: 31 + 6 apprentices (8 principals, 5 soloists, 18 corps) http://www.paballet.org/about/dancers.aspx Joffrey Ballet: I counted 42, but I didn't read every bio to tally up the breakdown. http://www.joffrey.com/company_artists.asp Oregon Ballet Theatre: 28 + 9 apprentices (7 principals, 7 soloists, 14 company artists) http://www.obt.org/company.html Ballet Arizona: 36 company dancers, no mention of apprentices (although open audition notes a company of 38 dancers) http://www.balletaz.org/index.taf?mnid=abo...smid=1126544328 American Ballet Theatre: 88 + 13 in ABT II (16 principals, 13 soloists, 59 corps) http://www.abt.org/dancers/default.asp?section=principal http://www.abt.org/dancers/default.asp?section=soloist http://www.abt.org/dancers/default.asp?section=corpsdeballet http://www.abt.org/dancers/default.asp?section=studiocompany Cincinnati Ballet: 23 + 2 apprentices + 6 trainees (6 principals, 2 senior soloists, 3 soloists, 8 corps, 4 new dancers) Must be a very long union contract. http://www.cincinnatiballet.com/index.php?id=393 Royal Ballet: 98 + 1 Prix de Lausanne apprentice (22 principals, 8 principal character artists, 9 first soloists, 19 soloists, 20 first artists, 18 artists) http://www.roh.org.uk/discover/thepeople/t...als.aspx?page=0 http://www.roh.org.uk/discover/thepeople/t...sts.aspx?page=0 http://www.roh.org.uk/discover/thepeople/t...sts.aspx?page=0 http://www.roh.org.uk/discover/thepeople/t...sts.aspx?page=0 http://www.roh.org.uk/discover/thepeople/t...rstartists.aspx http://www.roh.org.uk/discover/thepeople/t...t/aartists.aspx Paris Opera Ballet: 144 + 6 trainees (17 etoiles, 16 premiers danseurs, 39 sujets, 35 coryphees, 37 quadrilles) http://www.operadeparis.fr/cns11/live/onp/...dex.php?lang=en Bolshoi Ballet: ?? I can't find a list of the corps on the website, but there are 15 principals, 10 leading soloists, 16 first soloists, 23 soloists, 64 dancers who are above the corps (or various levels of corps) in rank, which is more than the NYCB corps, and bigger than any US company except NYCB, ABT, and SFB. http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/theatre/ballet_troupe/soloists/ Mariinsky Ballet: 186 + 20 reserves (14 principals, 15 first soloists, 17 second soloists, 13 principal character artists, 29 coryphees, 98 corps) http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/first_soloists/ http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/second_soloists/ http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/...racter_artists/ http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/coryphees/ http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/kopsballet/ http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/company/ballet/reserve/

I'm assuming this means $10M for the arts only, because if I had that to give away now, almost all of it would go to human services. With that in mind, a pile to NY Theatre Ballet, two-fold: a project to film and preserve the Tudor legacy, and the rest a small endowment toward its operating budget. Another pile to subsidize reconstructions and film both coaching sessions and performances. The two names that come to mind are Doug Fullington and, after reading Marc Haegemann's article in the latest Dance View, Yuri Burlaka, with Marc as photographer and critical eye. An endowment for Seattle Chamber Players for new commissions. A travel budget for Alexandra

I can second SanderO's suggestion. I had a "mini-3" subscription a few years ago, and the seats were different for each performance. I sat in the back of the orchestra, and the difference in sound in the seat that was one row under the Grand Tier overhang was significant from the seat I had just a few rows ahead -- still far back -- without the overhang. There must be some additional reverb, though, off the side walls in the boxes. I saw a wonderful performance of "Ariadne auf Naxos" from a Grand Tier or Dress Circle box close to the stage, and the sound wasn't as muted as it was in the Dress Circle under the Balcony overhang. (I've never sat in the Grand Tier proper, even when my high school got a piles of tickets to student performances in the 70's.) Maybe it was being so close to the orchestra that countered the overhang from the boxes above, but the sound was very different and much more vivid.

Please tell us about the performance after you see it

That's a great one, especially if the person likes music from the classical period or earlier.

For figure skating fans, definitely "Carmen" -- almost every note will seem familiar. Only the order will surprise. Definitely not "Tosca", since "E lucevan le stelle" and the ending are the only excerpts anyone every skates to. Same with "Turandot", because waiting three acts for "Nessun dorma" could be frustrating. (I prefer "Non piangere, Liu".) My first was "La Boheme", also at NYCO in February 1971. My second was "Aida" at the Met during the 1971 spring festival. Without surtitles, it was a little long for me -- as was #3, "Tristan und Isolde" later that year -- but I think that surtitles (or Met Titles) would make the entire experience a lot different. I know a woman whose first opera was "Die Meistersinger", without surtitles, and that didn't turn her away from opera. I think "La Boheme" or "Carmen" are both good first operas for people who tend to like lyrical music, but I know a lot of people who like complex rock and jazz for whom "Elektra" or "Wozzeck" might be a better bet, because they would find Puccini sappy. Sometimes kids like the modern stuff, like "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk" or "Salome" better than verismo.

I would select by cast: Die Walkure: Even though I personally don't like James Morris, almost everyone I know swears by his Wotan and thinks I'm crazy, and I don't know if there are much stronger casts than Christine Brewer, Waltraud Meier, and Johan Botha. It's also the last time to see this venerable production, before it's put out to pasture. Levine is conducting, which will be a treat. If you like Wagner at all, this would be my recommendation. (And if you go, I'll live vicariously through you ) It's a long opera, though and a 6:30pm start. Cav/Pag: It looks like Waltraud Meier as Santuzza, which I'd be happy to hear if I were in NYC, with Jose Cura singing both tenor roles; the last time I heard him on the radio he was very fine. Nuccia Focile (Nedda) is a great favorite of Seattle Opera General Director Speight Jenkins, and I've heard her in a number of roles in the Italian rep. She has a lovely voice and a warm, Italianate quality, but I tend to prefer more Germanic voices. It looks like Christopher Maltman is singing Silvio, which would be right in character: velvet voice, a terrific actor, and a bit of a hottie. Anyone know anything about the conductor, Rizzo? Rigoletto: All performances in April star Diana Damrau (Gilda) and Joseph Calleja (Duke of Mantua), both of whom have gotten raves in a number of roles, and the conductor, Riccardo Frizza is superb. I don't know much about the baritone Roberto Frontali, who has to carry the show. He's gotten some nice mentions for recordings of other roles: Ford in Falstaff Marcello in the duet in the last act of La Boheme Maybe someone else here has heard him? L'Elisir d'Amore: I've only seen this once, when I was comped, because I'm too much of a grump to see a comedy that's not bittersweet. But it's with Angela Gheorghiu -- people either love her or hate her, it seems -- and Rolando Villazon, who's had his problems recently, but also has given some nice performances. I find myself too nervous listening to him, like Ben Heppner, because I'm never sure if everything is going to go okay. But that's me, and I'm sure he'll be infectiously charming in this role. Vassallo cut a fine figure in the HD broadcast of "I Puritani" -- he was the villain -- but reviews were mixed about his singing. Hopefully other people will chime in. You could also "Ask Figaro", who tries to match your personality to the type of opera you should see: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/news/askfigaro/ (My matches are "Il Trovatore" -- so right -- and "Adriana Lecouvreur" -- so wrong) Just a note about the Met: If you are in the Family Circle, the performers may look like ants, but the sound off the ceiling is divine.

I remember reading in a book about SAB that Kistler once fell over in class, because she had thrown herself into the movement so forcefully and with such conviction. Because she was the clear favorite, this caused the other girls in class to laugh -- clearly, they couldn't tell the difference between a class rival and a dancer who was completely out of their league* -- but I can imagine that her full commitment and passion for movement was one of the things that attracted her to him, enough that he cast her in "Swan Lake" at 15 in the SAB performance and in the Company performance soon after she joined the company, and enough that he spoke about staging "Sleeping Beauty" for her. *Dancing well is the best revenge.

Darci Kistler was the first NYCB dancer that I saw live, on a Saturday matinee performance of "Irish Fantasy". What struck me from her very first entrance was her warmth: she had such a sunny, enveloping, inclusive quality. I'm a grump, but resistance was futile. Sadly, she was injured soon after, and I saw her less frequently than other dancers, but my spirits lifted each time I saw her name in the program, until I left NYC in 1994. She danced a luminous Titania in the performance of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" the night that Joseph Duell died, a time of sorrow, and she danced a transcendent "Theme and Variations" pas de deux in the 1993 Balanchine Celebration, and I've never lost the feeling that she was dancing for Balanchine directly. I've written this before, but I once watched Stanley Williams' boys class at SAB, and I felt extremely self-conscious. Over in the corner, Kistler was warming up at the barre. I must have stared at her in my embarrassment, and she gave me the kindest smile to put me at ease. I recognized it as the generous quality she showed onstage before and after that day. I understand that time takes it toll, and that I've only seen her since I moved on the rare TV broadcast, but watching her dance, for me, has been a blessing.

Luhrmann, shown on camera after the number, did not look pleased. I'm not sure if this is because he saw how lame it was, or whether he felt the sub-talent had ruined his artistic vision. I had to look up HSM -- I didn't realize it was High School Musical. I was distracted in general by the men's sloppy hair. And why was Philip Seymour Hoffman wearing that dumb hat indoors?

Martins grew up in the Royal Danish Ballet, where many of the dancers were married to or the child of or the cousin of someone else. I'm not sure nepotism would be a conscious decision.

I've never thought of Pavlova or Karsavina as glamourous. Kschessinska, yes, but the other two looked too innocent to me, while Kschessinska looks born to drip with jewels.

Oh, yes!

And there were genuine retirements among them.

I don't have the book with me, but I remember one of the ballerina's interviewed in "Striking a Balance" described Pamela May this way, and I seem to remember red fingernails as well, but no mention of "dahling". I've only seen photos of and brief films with Antoinette Sibley, but she exuded glamour in "The Turning Point". In the most recent issue of Dancing Times, there's an interview with Sibley which discloses not much new, but there is a stunning photo of her now at 70, much more beautiful than any I'd seen of her as a dancer. In it she looks radiant, not glamourous, though.

What sad news. My condolences to her family, friends, and the company.

It's not a matter of two left feet or lack of coordination. It's a matter of being able to let go of ballet training to move idiomatically in the dance form, and, for some ballet dancers, to be able to improvise on a grand scale out of earshot of his/her partner (ex: when talking someone through a role that they've had little time to rehearse because of an emergency, or getting them back on track when they suffer from vapor lock). Ballet dancers do improvise -- Mara Vinson said in a post-performance Q&A that she had a foot cramp during "Diamonds" pas de deux and did a balance on the other foot, probably startling Seth Orza, her partner (and I think I recognized that moment) -- but not to the same extent as a rule, although they do in a number of Forsythe works. Even then, the vocabulary is limited, and the improvisations that I know of are not partnered, although they are intricate and dependent on the rest of the corps. A classic set-up is an imitation of a ballet dancer trying to "get down". It's like when an opera singer does cross-over: does it sound overly formal and operatic, or does it sound like Eileen Farrell, who sang opera and jazz equally idiomatically? Are the accents right? Is the movement going in the right direction with the right emphasis, usually down instead of up? Cant he women follow? I saw Baryshnikov do many works with White Oak, and he still looked like a ballet dancer, although he turned it down considerably. He could dance with an increasingly heavy Mark Morris, and my attention would be riveted to Morris, or to Rob Besserer.

PNB's Lindsi Dec lists salsa dancing as another type of dance she enjoys in this interview.

Yes and yes -- Macbeth, for the witches, and for Il Trovatore, in the gypsy camp! In the Seattle Opera production from a couple of years ago, the witches were dressed in black and white, as brides and widows. If I remember correctly, there were a few dancer witches, but I don't remember any purses

I just learned in an opera-related debate about cuts in opera, that Verdi's Macbeth and Il Trovatore both have ballet music that is almost always cut. I don't know about early Verdi.

I've seen sponsors listed on opera supertitles screens at many performances, including ballet that is performed in an opera house, where one fades into the other, and with the "Turn off your @%^&&&& cellphones, pagers, beepers" warning interspersed. I don't think this happens at the Met with in-seat Met Titles. I only remember the turn on/off message, and then the libretto. But maybe I turned them on too soon before the performance began when I was there in December.

According to Rachel Howard's preview, Helgi Tomasson's new production of "Swan Lake" for his San Francisco Ballet will have a prologue: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?.../PKTK15ND2S.DTL

I remember being a poor college student in London in the summer of 1977 when ABT did a tour. I really wanted to see Baryshnikov, but the only tickets for performances in which he was cast were way beyond my budget; I saw three opera and recital performances for the same cost. That was only a few years after he defected, and he may have been the latest flavor, but from that, I thought he was the draw of the tour.

Green is the new yellow. Hopefully this will be less jarring for those who gave feedback.