Helene

[ADMIN BEANIE ON] The next time I go to brunch with friends, I'm going start drinking, if this is what I'm going to come back to find. I'd like to be very clear: the discussions on the "non-ballet" threads, including Other Performing and Fine Arts, are subject to the same courtesy rules as the ballet threads. I've edited a number of posts here to bring them in line with the rules. bart has kindly posted the most relevant policy. If the strident tone of this thread doesn't stop, I'm going to close it. Now, I'm going back to listening to Frank Sinatra singing "One for My Baby"... [ADMIN BEANIE OFF]

I'm assuming the figures come from the annual financial disclosure that all 501©-3 organizations must file and are available to the public, usually through public and university libraries. These figures wouldn't come from the income tax statements of the individuals, so that what, if anything, Paul Taylor, Peter Martins, etc. make from royalties wouldn't be listed, and from what I remember from reviewing those statements over 20 years ago, if royalties were mentioned as an expense, they'd be aggregated will all royalties paid to everyone. Also, the chart listed the Music Directors and Artistic Directors, not Principal Guest Conductors and other "sub" positions that many MD's, like Levine, hold. I don't know if Peter Martins has a different type of deal, but one of the reasons companies look for artistic directors who choreograph is that they don't have to pay them extra or what they pay for choreography is token. (Ib Andersen even did the sets for Mozaik, and he's designed costumes for several ballets he's choregraphed.) Kent Stowell said many times over in Q&A's that he needed to choregraph for PNB, particularly the money-making full-lengths, because the company didn't have the money to pay other people. I noticed that the link reverted to subscription-only access the same day I was able to access it the first time.

I can't find my copy of Lynn Seymour's autobiography, and someone please tell me if I'm hallucinating, but I seem to remember that she felt like an outsider at the Royal Ballet School and that she became friends with another outsider, and if I remember correctly, that was Marcia Haydee of Brazil. At the time, non-Commonwealth dancers at the school couldn't be hired into the Royal Ballet from the school, because of the Royal Ballet's charter. With the creation of the European Union, those employment impediments became illegal to impose on the original EU citizens, and over time, to citizens of the ten countries who joined the EU in 2004. (Some countries, like Sweden, extended employment voluntarily to the citizens of the new Baltic members, years before they had to.) It's possible that the major companies changed their policies and charters before EU membership imposed this, but it would be against EU law for the Paris Opera Ballet to refuse a corps contract to an EU member citizen purely on the basis of citizenship.

Thank you, drb. I misread that thinking that they split the salary. It would have been clearer if they both had been listed next to each other.

Considering that Kent Stowell and Francia Russell split the job, it's pretty sad that each made about $85K/year for running a company the size of PNB, and that a Microsoft developer not too many years out of college probably earns about the same (in salary). (Of course all three earned about $.92/hour at those rates.)

I hope they were showing women's hockey I'm thrilled for the Swedish women's hockey team for a great comeback against the US team, and I'm hoping they can get it together like the 1980's US men's hockey team, and focus in on the gold medal game. What a star Kim Martin is, killing a 5-on-3 penalty, and keeping her composure after Angela Ruggiero was given a re-shot, and the other teenager, Pernilla Wiberg, the first Swedish player to score in the shootout. And hopefully Maria Rooth can continue her goal-scoring in the championship game. I hope they show the Ladies when the short program starts next week. Right now, the English-speaking press seems to be hovering over Emily Hughes, which Kimmie Meissner and Sasha Cohen are practicing out of town to avoid the press hounds.

Oops, never say never. There are five Compulsory Dance videos on the NBC site (click the little camera icon to the right of the skater(s) name): Navka/Kostomarov, Grushina/Goncharov, Belbin/Agosto, Gregory/Petukhov, Silverstein/O'Meara.

We would have copyright issues if the entire list, including salaries, were published on the board. However, noting the salary ranges in general -- ex: top 10 made between X and Y, while bottom 10 made between A and B, that would be within copyright guidelines.

(((((((((((Lisa and Louis))))))))))) They did not deserve to go. I love Jerry Rice as much as the next person, but he is now out of his league. But at Marshall's, Michelle Kwan won the audience vote by an overwhelming about with two underwhelming programs, so at this point, it looks like it's the audience's call.

I can't remember a Norwegian skater from the last few decades. But Susanna Pöykiö is at the Olympics now. She came in 8th at the World Championships last year, earning a second spot for Finland at the Olympics and 2006 Worlds, and was second at the European Championships in 2005, which helped to earn Finland three spots at this year's European Championshipos. I liked all three Finnish women I saw in Malmö, but Elena Kettunen retired, Alisa Drei came in third of three Finnish women at Europeans and didn't qualify for the Olympics, and Kira Körpii, a skater just up from Juniors, scored higher than Drei to get the second Olympic spot. The Finnish women have among the softest edges in Ladies' skating. Unfortunately, Ari-Pekka Nuremenkari, who has a little of Sandu's dance quality, but not all of the jumps, didn't qualify a Men's spot for Finland in last fall's Karl Schaefer qualifier.

dufay, I think you have to wait for the Original Dance and Free Dance before you wail. The rules haven't changed for compulsory dances in quite a while, except to limit them to one per competition, instead of two; that change was made in 2003 or 2004. There are a group of standard compulsory dances, and I think one of the few that was added after Torvill and Dean's time was the Golden Waltz, which was based on an Original Set Pattern that Klimova/Ponomarenko did. The only things the skaters can add to compulsory dances are the start and finish, which aren't supposed to count in the judging. The patterns are set and performed twice, and everyone does the same ones, without lifts or spins. Unfortunately, of the three Compulsory Dances in this year's mix, Ravensburger Waltz, which was chosen, is difficult for the woman and simple for the man and gives the advantage to teams where the woman dominates, like Grushina and Fusar-Poli; the Yankee Polka is extremely difficult for taller skaters and gives the advantage to the shorter teams, like Belbin/Agosto; and the Tango Romantica, which was selected for Europeans and Four Continents, is the most balanced, but wasn't chosen. I preferred the old Original Set Pattern, which was like a compulsory dance in that there was a defined rhythm, and the dancers created a pattern which they repeated. I'm not sure why they've been doing a combo rhythm Original Dance: by the time the teams set the mood of a waltz, they have to switch to a polka. Yuck. Next year, it will be a single-rhythm, the tango, and, hopefully, the ISU will keep to one.