Helene

I think it was Louise Nadeau who, in a "Jewels" post-performance Q&A, said that the dancers had to audition for the roles in "West Side Story". It wouldn't be the first time that PNB dancers were asked to sing: I remember how surprised I was when they burst into song in "Silver Lining". Now, if they'd only release the casts, I could plan my second weekend...

From the music world, I remember going to see a world premiere by composer George Walker, who has written some tough 20th century scores. I loved the piece, but when I read the program notes, there were three or four paragraphs of dense, technical musical explanation that went right over my head, but I remember his closing line: "I would like to thank my mother."

Thank you so much for your review, Krystin! I saw this production when it premiered a few years ago and loved it, but wasn't able to travel this year for it. Then, the Juliets were Natalia Magnicaballi and Paola Hartley, and it's exciting to see young dancers like Smith and Huang given the chance to assume the role, with Magnicaballi portraying Lady Capulet and Hartley the Nurse. I would have loved to have seen Ross Clarke's Romeo, too, and Astrit Zejnati's Tybalt was so vivid, so different from his Romeo. (I see from the cast list that he was given one performance in this run.) I, too, hope this run was a great success financially, and that more companies produce Andersen's version, like Kansas City Ballet did this year. It should be a keeper.

Most Bollywood movies have an intermission. When I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" for the second time it was in Hyderabad, and they put a short intermission in before the last game segment. Many thanks for your review, Mashinka -- I would have loved to have been there to hear it.

I'd travel for that. Many thanks for the ID on Altman. It was small compared to the one in Ming Cho Lee's setting for Pacific Northwest Ballet that plays later this season.

Helgi Tomasson's new production of "Swan Lake" begins with a projection of moonlight on lake, a projection on a scrim and two inner curtains, and it looks like shimmering silver crushed velvet. As the overture plays, the scrim rises, and a young woman in an empire-waist diaphonous dress -- the type seen often on Masha/Clara in "The Nutcracker" -- enters and sits by the lake. On the other side of the stage, von Rothbart slivers off a rock, startles her, and, eventually traps her. She seems to escape as she runs behind the curtains to the center of the stage, but his spell makes her freeze, collapse, and, through projections, she is morphed into a swan. Unfortunately, dancers are much more lovely and graceful than swans, so it seems a bit hokey, but perhaps that, too, shows how Odette was diminished. Jonathan Femson's set for Act I is a rather forboding palace exterior. Siegfried, in this performance Ivan Popov, makes his entrance, and he is in a happy mood. He accepts toasts with Benno and Wolfgang at his side, socializes, and joins the quintet of aristocratic ladies, with whom he is at ease, as if they were cousins growing up together. All is well, until Mom -- a cross between the Countess and Carabosse in a giant Marie Antoinette wig -- enters, gives him the crossbow (things are still looking good, although Mom is scary), and then tells him he must marry. Talk about taking the buzz off. I never knew that the Pas de Trois was performed to try to get his mind off of his impending marriage decision. Then six aristocratic children ask if they can dance, and eventually lure Wolfgang in with them, then the peasants, who perform the Polonaise. Siegfried and Wolfgang are heads down in a book during most of these two dances. Is it the "Complete Book of Royal Etiquette" and are they looking for loopholes, like "Prince cannot marry after King dies before a year's mourning is over" or "Prince born in a leap year must marry in a leap year"? Finally, the Prince dances a brooding, introspective solo, not that it was necessary, because he's made his mood quite clear for the last 10 minutes, but it was musically responsive and showed off Popov's beautiful line, carriage, and turnout. Then, Siegfried runs off to hunt. Act II takes place by the lake. At the back of the stage is a rising rock formation, and the moon shines over it. It is a more powerful and oppresive image than the standard forest. The standard dances are in this production -- Valse Bluette, repeated, Pas de Deux, Dance of the Cygnettes, Dance for two swans, coda -- but even more, the Odette's mime is performed. I almost cried with happiness. I loved the swan wigs, a variation on the "duck" do from the 1950's that made the swans look sleek. And I really loved how, at the end of the act, on an empty stage, Siegfried swears to her. I think that in the way Tomasson creates a multi-layered society and establishes the hierarchy within it, this is the most dramatically coherent Act I of "Swan Lake" that I have ever seen. Each dance not only characterizes the group, but is tight in structure and full of invention that never veers into cleverness. The long Polonaise was particularly fine, with interweaving and changing patterns and groupings. Apart from the Prince's solo, which is in many productions, the one miss in Act I was the Pas de Trois. If there was a subtitle to this "Swan Lake", it's "If You Can't Follow This You Don't Have A Pulse". Tomasson doesn't dumb it down, but he foreshadows, and not just narrative, but also steps and gestures. In the Pas de Trois, for example, one of the soloists does fouettes, and the man's solo, particularly the circle of jumps, it seemed like the jester was making an appearance, but perhaps the performance quality led me to this conclusion. Of the three dancers -- Dores Andre, Hansuke Yamamoto, and Nutnaree Pipit-Suksun -- I think Andre was the strongest, but even in her last solo, I lost the dance logic. Sarah van Patten made her debut as Odette/Odile. Wow. She was not a delicate creature, and I found her strength mixed with elegance as Odette extremely moving. What made her interpretation unique in my experience was how she differentiated Odette from Odile from the waist up, mostly with her arms and hands. From the waist down, she was very similar in both roles. Her arms and hands weren't fussy, but they were clearly deliberate and differentiated. Her legs move best in creamy, expansive movement, and I was very impressed by how in the Act II solo, when the music speeds up, she did not change the quality of her turns; many dancers I've seen switch into allegro/Odile-like mode here. The few times she had to go turbo-allegro -- the Act II coda, in the passe beat sequence and in the Black Swan solo -- it didn't quite fit like the entire rest of the performance. She was a convincing Odile -- and she did not downplay any of Odile's badness -- because half of her was a convincing Odette at almost all times. The corps was sharp and disciplined, if their opening entrance was on the aerobic side. The patterns and images were breathtaking. Kudos to the corps, in this and the final act. I think Balanchine was right to drop the Dance of the Four Cygnettes: the audience giggles on queue when the four dancers tilt their heads to the side repeatedly, and it's right after the ravishing pas de deux. (I also think he was right to give Odette the flying entrance in the coda, instead of stopping the standard build-up with the Makarova-slow repeat for the diagonal fouettes downstage, which then shifts into overdrive for the passe/beat sequence.) Tomasson stuck to the standard outline, but in the two solo swans' coda part, he added touches like giving them Rothbartian jumps, just so we wouldn't forget that these are women in his service. The two swans were Elena Altman and Ludmilla Campos. I've never seen Campos before, and I'm not sure which dancer was which, but one was taller and more in every way: energy, expansiveness, and musicality. I wondered what her Odette would be like, she was that vivid. Act III opens in a sterile ballroom at the bottom of a staircase that curves up to both sides and continues in a circle towards the flies, like a ring of Saturn, through which the moon shines; it is almost as if the moon were harnessed and trapped. The costumes for Siegfried are one of the few misses; Siegfried looks less formally dressed at his formal party: in Act I, his tights are white, but here he wears grey jacket, tights, and boots. The party looks oddly sparsely populated. The act begins with the Master of Ceremonies -- an impressive corps member, Aubert Vanderlinden, who has the stature of a long-time character dancer -- introducing each of the foreign princesses: Spanish, Czardas, Neopolitan, and Russian. There were two reasons they were princesses: 1. It says so in the program and 2. The Queen wants him to choose one of them later in the act. Each of these dances is a treat, and the most wonderful and impressive thing about them is the way they balance the focus between the men and the women in each dance. That makes very much sense for dance, but not much sense dramatically, since if they are here to compete for the Prince, I'd think they'd have to be presented like jewels, however ethnically inflected. Elana Altman led a spirited Spanish, flanked by two terrific men, Gaetano Amico and Brett Bauer. She had such deep arch in her back, and her nape-length mantilla practically grazed her skirt. Pauli Magierek, with flaming red hair, was perfect as the lead in Czardas, using the inflections of her neck, shoulders, and hands to infuse character in the role. Dores Andre and Martyn Garside were delightful in the playful Neopolitan, which had a stroke of genius: Andre went into passe on point, held it, and then clapped overhead! The women's roles in the Russian were happy and light, full of spark and cheer, countered by the Cossack-inspired men, here Matthew Stewart and James Sofranko. The two styles meshed together beautifully, and the women, Frances Chung and Charlene Cohen, really turned it on in the fast turns in place at the end. Femson's costumes for the international dances were particularly beautiful. After the Russian Dance, the Queen gathers the women from these dances, and asks Siegfried to pick. This was the first dramatically dissonant moment for me, because the only one who showed any aristocratic character was Magierek, who would have had Popov's Siegfried for an appetizer, and if these are princesses, why are the men their equals instead of presenting them? My secret desire was for the five aristocrats from Act I to do the Princesses dance -- symmetry and foreshadowing and all -- and for Siegfried to show the same ease with them, only to be shocked when Mom asks him to choose one of them. But, as he registers shock and dismay, von Rothbart and Odile arrive, the Black Swan Pas de Deux happens, the fouettes are finished, the audience stops the show to applaud them, and then the fatal moment comes, and it's such a great moment, because the mime is so clear: von Rothbart: Wait a minute! Siegfried: What? vR: Do you love her? S: Of course I love her. vR: Do you want to marry her? S: Is the Pope Catholic? vR: Swear then. [if this were an audience in India, they'd be standing and yelling, "DON'T DO IT!!!!!] S: I swear. I'm glad I didn't have an aisle seat, because I would have done a tap dance. Yes, clear mime! Yes, no dumbing it down for the audience, which got it! During the ensuing mayhem, Siegfried even shows some moxie, and dives for von Rothbart, but vR has a bit more experience in street fighting, and throws him to the ground. Act III morphs into Act IV, and there are more beautiful patterns and entrances by the swan corps, and von Rothbart lifts and partners Odette for a few phrases, establishing his ownership. Tomasson has choreographed an Act IV pas de deux for Odette and Siegfried that begins with the corps in the background, and slowly the corps gives them privacy. I've been watching dry, intellectual, mathematical ballets by Tomasson for over a decade. I'm convinced that he saved 15 years of emotional content for this one pas de deux, because while its vocabulary is classical, it is emotional verismo, the Mimi-Is-Dying-Box-of-Kleenex kind. Move over Anne Hathaway, Marian Cotillard, Halle Berry, et. al., because Sarah van Patten was heartbreaking. While not exactly a happy ending, there is redemption and justice: as Siegfried and von Rothbart vie for Odette, the corps breaks von Rothbart's grip, Odette's and Siegfried's love weakens von Rothbart, and finally does him in, as first Odette, and then Siegfried, run up to the peak of the rock and fling themselves to their deaths. Two swans are seen flying across the moon, as von Rothbart lies prone downstage right, and the swans form a wedge facing the downstage left corner, on the ground, one leg facing front, arms back in flight, a knockout image for an ending. Just a note: if even Marcelo Gomes can't quite transcend ABT's Swamp Thing, I never expected a von Rothbart to be so, um, appealing, but Anthony Spaulding -- it's a good thing I was equipped with smelling salts.

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.