Helene

That was a wonderful review, nmdancer, full of descriptive detail of three works I've never seen. Please don't apologize for length, and feel free to write as much as you'd like. I hope someone can identify this dancer for you.

On the Internet I use a search engine: MSN Search or Google If you type in "belogolovtsev," a number of articles with his name will be listed. At the moment, for topics other than ballet, I use Wikipedia, which also has a substantial Spanish Edition. Since Wikipedia articles are written by volunteers worldwide, it reflects the interests of the writers, and right now, the English Wikipedia is weak on the subject of ballet.

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Haglund's! We hope you'll introduce yourself on our Welcome Forum (by clicking "New Topic" in the upper right corner of the page).

He still dances with the Bolshoi. He's been cast for the summer tour at the Royal Opera House in London: http://www.victorhochhauser.co.uk/bolshoi_..._2006_diary.htm

Welcome to Ballet Talk, hannah! We hope you will introduce yourself on the Welcome Forum (by clicking the "New Topic" button on the upper right hand part of the page). Belogolovstev performed during the Bolshoi's 2004-5 tours, and there are a number of references to him on the following threads: Spartacus @ the Met, July 22, 23, 2005, Reviews and Comments Bolshoi at the Met, NYC (July 18/30 '05) Bolshoi N.Am. -'Raymonda' reviews/comments Spartacus at the Bolshoi Bolshoi returns to Balanchine Bolshoi in Paris To find specific posts that mention him, click Search from the top right of the page, add Belogolovstev in box, and click the "Perform the Search" button. A list of posts will display on the screen. Each place the name "Belogolovstev" appears will be in red type with a yellow background.

I don't know whether to laugh or to cry, bart

I know the question is about The New York Times, but I'd like to mention arts coverage outside of New York. Often, but not always, a daily newspaper will have one -two general performing arts critics, who will cover some combination of theater, ballet, opera, classical music and/or sometimes architecture and plastic arts, with possibly some freelancers. For many ballet companies that do not have multi-month-long seasons including mixed bills, there is a one- or two-weekend stand for single programs at a time. There's a hybrid in San Francisco, where except for full-lengths (sometimes), two programs are performed alternately over two-three weekends, and Ballet Arizona has ended at least two seasons with a Balanchine Festival with two separate, alternating programs. This generally means that each program is reviewed, once most often on opening night. Rarely are subsequent casts reviewed "realtime," although weeklies can publish a multiple-cast first weekend review that is published before the second weekend. If the company is lucky -- assuming the review is well-written and, for the most part, positive -- it will be published in time to drive ticket sales for the rest of the weekend and for subsequent ones. Recently, in Phoenix, the Balanchine Festival programs were not reviewed until the Monday after the run closed, which was a shame, because both Sunday programs were fantastic.

Thank you, XTX! I just wanted to note that I am very glad I gave my ticket to my friend in Portland. He brought his sister to the performance, and today he left me a phone message to say that she was ecstatic! And it was even her birthday weekend I can't think of a better way to spend a birthday than at the ballet.

I'm also surprised. When Lamy was not renewed, there was commentary about how little sense that made when the Company had to expand the number of dancers for the additional performances needed in the new house, the 2000-seat Four Seasons Centre. (The Hummingbird Centre had ~3,150 seats.)

I wouldn't call the people that I know who drive SUVs rich, but I live in a city and work in the suburbs, where they're used to go grocery shopping and to pick up the laundry. (I think you were too kind calling them "gas hogs.") This crosses class lines. Again, I don't think this is an issue of money. Compare the millions who spend the same to attend a sporting event, even as a once-a-year treat, to the number who go to arts performances. This might be true in the current climate, in which the target with the bullseye is the New Deal, but for several decades after WWII at least, there was a commitment to broader reach for the arts. I've never been able to get very deep into Caule's The Dancer Defects -- it takes a much deeper understanding of Russian literature and art than I have to get the full measure of it -- but I would not be surprised if this was simply a Cold War strategy, to show that American people were as culturally aware as the citizens of the Soviet Union.I was thinking of this quote by Alexandra last night, but couldn't remember where to find it, and, seredipity! -- there it was in Mindy Aloff's Dance Anecdotes:

Thank you, rg and Estelle!

jayo, you do not need an editor: your descriptions of the production were a delight to read. I had to live vicariously through them, because my cousin got married in Toronto this past weekend, and I had to give up my ticket (wahhhhhhh) for last Friday night's performance. I feel from your posts like I was there.

I grew up in a working class family where classical music and opera played constantly. I happened to like it a lot more than my friends, but the same music played in many of their houses as well, particularly the Metropolitan Opera broadcasts. In public school, we had music once a week from grades 1-8 with the focus on classical music. In high school, there were half classes in chorus and band -- which played everything from jazz to Sousa to a version of "Eroica" highlights for band -- that alternated with science lab. Classically trained singers performed opera, operetta, musicals, and popular songs and ballet dancers danced on the Ed Sullivan Show, Firestone Theater, and the Bell Telephone Hour, and later on Live from Lincoln Center and Great Performances. In the Soviet Union and behind the Iron Curtain, arts programming appeared regularly on state TV channels. It was considered standard education for a well-rounded citizen. There was a schism, though, between attending live performances and listening to them on the radio and watching them on TV. There is certainly the perception of cost barriers, which were addressed by City Center and the New York State Theater companies, which had a charter to offer live performance at a reasonable price. Growing up, my father and I sat in the Family Circle of the Met or the Fourth Ring of NYST, and the cost of the bridge toll and parking was more than the cost of both tickets. My first opera ticket to New York City Opera in 1971 cost $3.75, because two junior high school friends and I splurged on tickets and didn't sit in the very top section. In the 1980's, standing room for NYCB was $2.50. When we went to Knicks and Rangers games, it was more expensive even before adding in refreshments, which aren't allowed inside most North American performance venues. The last ticket I bought to the ballet cost $60 including handling charge, and was in the First Tier, the equivalent of about the sixth row of the first raised section in any hall. The cheapest seat was $20. Parking in a nearby lot was $6, with adjacent parking priced at $8. The cheapest seat for Champions on Ice, which is coming to Everett in July, is $46 before handling charges, with the equivalent of my ballet seat selling for $66-$96, plus $15 in handling fees, parking, and enough gas to drive 30 minutes north of Seattle. Seattle Supersonics season's tickets range from $10-$120 per seat, but the $10 and $13 seats are appalling and have no equivalent in McCaw Hall. The Seahawks site doesn't list any prices, although they'll take $100 deposit for a season's ticket, so I guess if you have to ask... Seattle Mariner Tickets are $18-$55 (except for the bleachetrs, which are $14), and any parking space within walking distance costs $20, not to mention $6 beer, etc. Ticket prices to the opera and ballet and symphony and chamber music concerts are comparable to major league sporting events, and that doesn't stop millions of people attend sporting events each year in the US alone. I think there's a psychological barrier to attending live performances in a performing arts venue. What to wear? How to behave? Will all those rich people judge? Will it be comprehensible? Will it be boring? Will I have anything to say about the performance? (Will I feel comfortable posting about it?) There's the sense that there are a select number of well-trained people who know anything -- the elite -- whereas with baseball or football or hockey or basketball, everyone's an expert, and "How about those Mets?" is a conversation starter just about anywhere in the US (and "How about that Ronaldinho?" works in just about every place else: Ronaldinho better than Maradona, says Pele.) That's where the elitist image comes in. I don't read music, and had a total of three months of flute lessons and one semester of piano in college. Do I understand the contrapunctal juxtaposition of the inverse canon, etc. etc. that I read about in symphony programs? (Goes right over my head.) Do I have any theoretical understanding or ability to follow voices in a string quartet and understand their complexity? (That would be "no.") But it never ocurred to me not to attend a live performance because of this, and I think that's because growing up, there was a concerted effort to make the performing arts part of the life experience of the middle class or anyone aspiring to it.

bendetanczyz, Ballet Talk is a discussion board from the audience's point of view, to discuss performances, dancers, ballet history and music, and news and issues in ballet. Our sister board, Ballet Talk for Dancers, is the appropriate forum to discuss dance training. We don't share registration, and you'll need to register there separately. Please use the same username (bendetanczyz) on that forum. If you want to discuss ballet from the other side of the curtain or studio, you are most welcome to do so. You should not worry about your English; you express yourself clearly. I'm going to close this thread.