Helene

There was a flyer in last night's Jewels program for the Opening Night performance of the 2006-7 PNB season on 16 September.. There must be a different donor base for the ballet and Seattle Symphony, because two of the four top performing arts organizations in Seattle are hosting competing opening nights. Last week I received a tiny "Save the Date" package in the mail, complete with fortune cookie, to publicize the opening night concert featuring Lang Lang in a performance of Rachmaninoff's "Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini", along with Rossini's "William Tell Overture," Verdi's "Triumphal March and Ballet from Aida" and Resphighi's "The Pines of Rome." On 16 September, naturally, moved a week sooner from its usual spot. The Gala is a good introduction to the season: Circus Polka (Stravinsky/Robbins) Remembrances pas de deux (Wagner/Joffrey, with Jane Eaglen singing "Träume") Excerpts from Swan Lake (Tchaikovsky/Stowell) Excerpts from La Sonnambula (Rieti/Balanchine) World Premiere (Glass/Gibson) Theme and Variations (Tchaikovsky/Balanchine)

In the post-performance Q&A tonight after Jewels, Peter Boal said that in addition to the printed schedule, there will be a special performance, which is being kept a surprise. This is going to be great: Rubies -- complete ballet Kiss -- full work In the Night 3rd pas de deux Nine Sinatra Songs "That's Life" pas de deux Intermission Jardi Tancat -- full work Time and Other Matter pas de deux Mopey -- complete solo Red Angels -- complete ballet To be announced.

allegrafan, you are in for an incredible treat: tonight in Emeralds, for a little over 30 minutes, in nanospot in the galaxy, there was a fourth dimension. Imler and Bold were magic in Diamonds, and the same Principals are cast in these ballets for 8 June. Carla Körbes danced the Verdy role. She's like a pearl or an opal, with a translucent quality and a sheen. I can't do justice to her in words, so I am going to reply upon Tobi Tobias', quoted by drb back in December: It's happened. There's been so much dancing in the first two nights of Jewels where the precedents are visible in the interpretations of these roles. For Nadeau, it was the prism of the luminous performance she gave in the second movement of Symphony in C. For Barker it was not only specific roles like Odette, but the way in which she's carried premieres for the Company and has been its standard, culminating in Diamonds. For Imler, it was Odette and Aurora and Le Corsaire and Paquita. Perhaps the most illuminating were the two dancers who've performed Mimi Paul's role in Emeralds: for Pantastico, the doomed and constricted heroines of Romeo and Juliet and Swan Lake, compared to Ariana Lallone's portrayal tonight. In it there were glimpses from the most unlikely combinations of places: Lilac Fairy and Emilia, Choleric and Peacock, as well as the beautiful Liebeslieder from the tribute to Russell and Stowell. It is rare to see Lallone swoon into the arms of a partner; she's not usually cast that way, and this was a precious glimpse into another side of her. Karel Cruz partnered another senior ballerina with grace and elegance. Casey Herd was an ardent partner to Körbes. In the pas de trois, Jodie Thomas and Rachel Foster joined Benjamin Griffiths. Emeralds was where I expected to find Jodie Thomas, and I'm looking forward to hearing how she dances the lead in Rubies -- not where I expected to find her -- next Thursday, because Boal's instincts have been dead on. Noelani Pantastico and Olivier Wevers made their debuts tonight in Rubies, with Lindsi Dec making hers in the "tall girl" role. I've watched this ballet for decades, and while I always knew it was supposed to be kinda sexy, I never really felt it until tonight. Pantastico has a real sensuous quality in the role. Wevers, who is taller and longer-legged (or appears to be) than Villella, Soto, Cook and Stewart, Gibson and Porretta in Seattle, and he's a bit more muscled than Woetzel. His dancing isn't as explosive as the others, but he has an energy about him that makes him very magnetic, and the pairing was dynamite. Dec made a splendid debut. She's got long, gorgeous legs, and she made the most of them in this role. Although she didn't seem at all subdued in the opening, I noticed that in the repeat, her movement was amplified. She mentioned in the Q&A -- before Boal got there, and she was left alone with us -- that she was nervous at first. She was also asked what it was like when the four men moved around her legs. She said that the men were great, and that she put her trust in them. The four tonight were Kiyon Gaines, Taureen Green, Barry Kerollis -- Old Fashioned, it was a great role for him -- and James Moore. The dance with the four men crackled. Carrie Imler's performance in Diamonds makes me yearn to see her Raymonda. The only coolness in her dancing is how seemingly without preparation or strain she performs the most difficult technical feats. But in her relationship to her partner, she is the opposite, acknowledging him (Batkhurel Bold) after each return in the pas de deux, and treating him graciously in the finale. She's like a waterfall made of cream. Tonight's audience may have been the most enthusiastic Friday night audience I've ever seen. (And I used to have a Friday night subscription.) Many shouts and lots of people standing. More Q&A notes: Once again asked about promotions, this time Boal said "a couple. Not too many." (sob) Besides budgetary concerns he also talked about how in the principal ranks, age is a factor, because principals stay. When asked about her training, Dec said that she didn't originally like ballet, and preferred jazz and tap and competing. When she was 11 or 12, she met her teacher and studied with her in DC, until she attended the Professional Division at PNB for two years and was asked to join the company. She also said that when she was 13, her mother took her to see Jewels at Miami City Ballet, and that when she saw the "tall girl" part in Rubies, she wanted to do that role. Boal laughed and said she didn't even ask to do it. Other favorites she mentioned were The Bridge and Peacock in Nutcracker. Because of budget, PNB made only the principal costumes in Emeralds and Diamonds -- they already owned the costumes for Rubies -- and rented the rest from Cincinnati, because Miami City Ballet's dancers were shorter in general. He said that Jewels will be back, and the plan is to construct the rest at that time. More kudos for Borne. Boal said that she knew every part in her head, and taught them all. A woman in the audience said that she was an SAB student when the work premiered, and she noted how well-rehearsed the company was; there were other compliments on this topic as well.

It would be tempting to think that Peter Boal's only input into Jewels was to ask the Balanchine Foundation to appoint a stager, and that everything else was serendipity -- the choice of Elyse Borne, former NYCB soloist and Ballet Mistress for Miami City Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, to stage -- or fate; almost every major role in the program was danced by someone who was born to dance it: Louise Nadeau and Christophe Maraval in the Verdy/Ludlow roles, Jonathan Poretta (Villella's) and Ariana Lallone (Neary's), Patricia Barker in Farrell's. If Kaori Nakamura wasn't born to the McBride role in Rubies, she's spent the last decade with PNB making herself into that dancer. Verdy's role is often described as elusive, with parallels drawn to the mysteriousness of the Maeterlinck character Melisande; some of the music includes selections from Faure's "Pelleas et Melisande." The only way I've ever found the role elusive is when the dancer finds it elusive. On the other hand, after years of watching Calegari, Fugate, and Alexoupoulos tackle Mimi Paul's role, I didn't understand this role one bit, or why it was there except to present an opportunity for Mimi Paul. Last night Noelani Pantastico danced the role, and for the first time it fit organically into the ballet, and the allusion to Melisande was clear. I think the key to Nadeau's performance was the solo: perhaps we might not know everything about this woman, but Nadeau invoked a gracious person with a rich inner life. Pantastico's first entrance is immediately after this great solo, for a solo of her own, which in itself is a major challenge, since Nadeau and Maraval rightly dominate the long opening movement. In it she showed a variety of mood that was breathtaking. It wasn't programmatic like the opera or play, but captured a Melisande-like emotional palette, the sadder, more-resigned parts of which she conveyed in the second pas de deux, where she was beautifully partnered by Jeffrey Stanton. The two back-to-back solos brought me back to last month's The Sleeping Beauty, because one of the most remarkable things about the three Auroras I saw was that each one danced the solos with purpose and dramatic arc beyond the technical, despite very different interpretations of them. The same magic was apparent last night in Emeralds. It was brilliant of Boal to have cast Mara Vinson and Maria Chapman along with Benjamin Griffiths in the pas de trois. They will assume the lead roles on Saturday afternoon, and while I expect Chapman's performance to be different than Pantastico's, there was already a dramatic quality in the mini-solo in the pas de trois and especially in the finale to "Death of Melisande" that bodes well for Saturday (and next Friday and Sunday matinee). Rubies burst onstage with a driving force that did not quit, and it's hard to know where to begin. Each section topped the next. The pas de deux between Nakamura and Porretta was sparkling; as she showed in Nine Sinatra Songs, Nakamura can give as good as she gets, although this was a friendly, joyous relationship. It takes quite a dancer to lose not an ounce of presence when Porretta is dancing a role with such energy and explosiveness, not to mention humor and timing. Equally dynamic were Lallone and the four men. Lallone stature seemed to increase as they moved her limbs, gaining energy and strength from their participation. We are so lucky to have Dianne Chilgren as the piano soloist. Diamonds was majestic, and Barker sang in the pas de deux. It was great, too, to see her for the first time in the third movement variations and finale, matching virtuosity with Milov, who had all of the big moves in his variations. It was a gift to have a quartet of demi-soloists including Vinson, Korbes, Chapman, and Lowenberg, who fit right in. And to have a return appearance by Oleg Gorboulev in the corps. Peter Boal said in the post-performance Q&A that he had retired because of a serious knee injury, but has been attending class recently post-rehab, and was happily recruited. Seven Professional Division students also enhanced the corps of Emeralds and Diamonds. The flowers presented to the female leads matched the colors of the ballets, which was a lovely touch. A few notes from the Q&A: Porretta spoke about having had learned Rubies from Colleen Neary when he guested at Oregon Ballet Theatre, Boal, who had also danced Villella's role, and Elyse Borne, who was assigned by the Foundation to do the staging. He said that while much was the same in all three versions, there were differences, and Borne always went back to the original version. Boal explained how some things evolved from dancer to dancer, and how Borne brought them back to the original, and noted that this was an exception, just like Russell's stagings, because the Foundation usually insists on later versions through its repetiteurs. Boal also spoke of Borne's 13-day, morning to 7pm schedule in which she set all three ballets on the Company, and how she remained calm and patient all day long, day after day. At the end of the curtain calls, Patricia Barker grabbed Elyse Borne and brought her onstage, where, dressed in head-to-toe black in contrast to the dancers clad in white, she took a bow and was given her own bouquet. To questions about promotions and who was coming and going, Boal said there would be some promotions at the beginning of next season, and that the only dancer leaving the company was Nicholas Ade, who is becoming Principal of the school at the Francia Russell Center in Bellevue (East Side School). Ade's final performance is next Sunday, 11 June at 1pm. He will be featured in the Emeralds pas de trois. One of the audience members suggested a "Where Are They Now?" feature, so that we could keep up with dancers who leave the Company. Someone mentioned Kimberly Davy (or Davie?) by name, and Porretta said that she was living in San Francisco and had had a baby. Boal said that Melanie Skinner is giving birth soon, and that she teaches at the School. I have one complaint. I've never liked Karinska's costumes for Jewels, nor the sets by whoever did NYCB's, but I always assumed they were what everyone who performed the ballet were stuck with. One viewing of the Christian Lacroix costumes and sets in the new Paris Opera Ballet video has spoiled me, and I wish they'd be adopted by the Foundation as the standard.

I have to watch this again to answer your question properly. I think the corps of Emeralds got lost a bit to focus on the principals. I remember the solos and pas de deux being filmed very well, and I liked the way the corps was shot in Diamonds, particularly the opening movement.

I think the underlying concern here is that athletes and sports people get general respect and ballet dancers do not, particularly the men. This is manifested in male ballet students being ridiculed and beaten (much like male figure skaters) as boys, and adult male dancers being considered, in the terms of Hans and Franz, "girlie men." If ballet can be categorized as a sport, then the respect factor should go up. Perhaps if they can be categorized as the equivalents of athletes in their fitness levels, the physical demands of their profession, and the toll dancing takes on their bodies, that will do the trick.

It is because UW has a dance department that takes itself seriously, as opposed to schools that might have dance as a sub-category of the Theater Department, that ballet is not listed as a sport

I'm not, because these designations in college usually mean "phys ed," or anything that gets a student out from behind a desk. I certainly remember modules of folk dancing, for example, in my phys ed classes in public schools. I don't think they mean anything more by it.

What about ballet competitions, which often reward out-of-context virtuosity, especially in the junior divisions?