Helene

And what a sight it was in the pose in the last movement where the three women stand nestled with partly arched backs, featuring the cascading blond hair of Kistler, red hair of Calegari, and brown hair of Nichols, especially before she cut her hair. And then there was the all-dark hair version with Saland, Hlinka, and Alexopoulos.

To the people who took his class, especially the Monday class he taught for a while on the "day off," often without piano accompanist, it was shocking THEN that the other dancers didn't take his class. Different dancers had their reasons, but almost all publicly acknowledged ones seem to boil down to: a. He didn't give a proper warm-up, but went straight into strenuous tendus immediately after plie at the barre. Balanchine was often quoted as saying that dancers expected an easy barre, usually close to a quote that said that dancers were like racehorses that needed to be prodded out of their laziness. b. They weren't balanced -- he might give all hops on pointe while he was choreographing a ballet with hops on pointe, and then focus on something completely different in the next phase. In Balanchine's Ballerinas, Melissa Hayden said that when Farrell had bad knees, Balanchine stopped giving jumps in class, and she asked how a dancer could remain in shape to dance his ballets without jumps in class. c. They were too physically strenous for dancers who were overloaded with rehearsal and performance and/or for dancers in later parts of their careers. Villella talks about this in Prodigal Son. Class was readily acknowledged as Balanchine's laboratory. While this met his purpose, and he was the one in charge, while few dispute that as a rule, class was important for a dancer's career, it isn't universally acknowledged to this day that his approach to class was the best for the dancers' bodies or physical development. Melissa Hayden said in the PBS Balanchine biography, a dancer learns how to dance Balanchine by dancing his ballets. [Oops -- posting simultaneously with Dale]

Cuba has long been a mixed race society, and the ranks of National Ballet of Cuba show this well. The Company, exquisitely trained by Alicia Alonso, has been losing dancers to companies worldwide over the last half dozen years. Among them are the Feijoo sisters (Lorna in Boston and Lorena at SFB), Carlos Acosta, and Karel Cruz, a gorgeous, tall, elegant dancer in the PNB corps. Three of the 14 principal dancers in Miami City Ballet are from Cuba. (Three more are from Latin and South America.) While this is sad for Alonso, it is a privilege for the audiences who have "stolen" them. It's hard to imagine that the NBdC can hire everyone from the school, even with the "defections." And the opportunity that companies in the US and Europe can offer is immense, particularly when a dancer can support not only him/herself, but also help to support his/her family and the school that trained him/her. (Even if the value of the US dollar has diminshed.) Dance Theatre of Harlem has a roster of 45, and has had a number of difficult times over the past few decades. It's hard to believe that at any of several points, at least some DTH dancers wouldn't have left for the opportunity to dance in other companies that are more stable -- and in places less expensive in which to survive than NYC -- and given the small number of places in the Company available to each graduating class, that there aren't well-trained black dancers (particularly women) who, while their first choice is DTH, wouldn't want to dance with other classical companies. All companies with schools want to train their own dancers, but looking at the rosters of Companies across the US, most have hired European and Asian dancers as well as American dancers who've performed with other companies. They comprise dancers from every level of the hierarchy, including, most significantly, the corps. It's not entirely a matter of "not invented here" (or "until we can grow our own.")

On Seattle's classical radio stadio, KING-FM there is a show hosted by Marta Zekan, aka Miss Marta, called "Classic Kid FM." The show is broadcast on Saturday mornings at 8-9am Pacific Time and is described on the website as follows: Listen as Miss Marta helps listeners create dances to all kinds of music, from Renaissance to ballet, or lets great music inspire kids to create art. Each week's show might bring classic children's recordings, or music inspired by the weather, animals, fairy tales, adventure and more. On the last Saturday of each month, tune in for one of the award winning Classical Kids recordings, such as "Beethoven Lives Upstairs." KING-FM programs are broadcast over the Internet through Windows Media player. The "Listen" buttons are located at the following link: http://www.king.org/listen/index.aspx I don't even pretend to be in charge of a child to be seen enjoying this program

I was able to go through them all by clicking the next volume, and then clicking each individual year in the decade. I'm using Internet Explorer on a very fast connection.

Ballet Talk is a site to discuss ballet performances, news, and aesthetic issues. This question is appropriate for our sister board, Ballet Talk for Dancers: http://www.dancers.invisionzone.com You'll need to register there as well in order to post your question. Right now, the username "figrsk8r" is available. On the site, you'll find a lot of information about dance training and forums for parents (Ballet Moms and Dads/Parents of Boys). While many of the parents have children who are primarily dancers, you may find some of the threads enlightening. (I'm closing this thread.)

There are some really great pictures on this site, particularly the ones from the 50's and 60's, but be warned: they are quite small, the largest being about 2" x 2.5". There doesn't seem to be a way to make them bigger, unless I've missed the sweet spot. Many thanks for the heads up!

The casting for that gala Apollo paired Guerin and Ayupova with Patricia Barker of Pacific Northwest Ballet. If Guerin and Ayupova didn't look out of place in Apollo, perhaps it was because they were cast together and not with any women from NYCB in that performance. I, personally, think they did look out of place, while Barker, who was trained by Francia Russell, a former NYCB soloist who was entrusted by Balanchine to stage his ballets worldwide since she was in her 20's, was the performer who looked like she belonged on Balanchine's stage.

doug, Many thanks for the update! I remember seeing flyers when the program first started and fundraising efforts specifically for the program. As a donor (albeit small), I thought there would be follow-up mailings, and when I didn't get them or see flyers, I thought the program had ended. It's also really great to hear that some of the students are in the Professional Division. That bodes well for the Company's future and for the future of the kids who go through the program, regardless of whether they become professional dancers.

Pacific Northwest Ballet has a community outreach program called "Discover Dance," which does in-school residencies, teacher workshops, and performances. The faculty includes several former PNB dancers. They also have a program called 'Bravo Ballet" which has performances at McCaw Hall, visits to class-rooms before performances to prepare the kids' expectations, and field trips to the studios, where kids take a class. While "Discover Dance" is cross-disciplinary, there used to be a program called "Dance Chance" that provided ballet training for underserved communities. I don't know how long it lasted or if any of the students have continued to dance. When I was in San Francisco at the end of last season, in a pre-performance talk, Evelyn Cisneros talked about how since soon after retirement she has been working in community outreach and education. The SFB program looks similar to the PNB program. Education programs start with the next generation target audience, and seem to be the last defense against the slashes that have been made in arts education in public schools. At the same time, a happy trend at PNB lately has been the recognition of the talents of several male dancers of color. The men seem to have it easier, though, which is unfortunate. The diversity among PNB women seems to be more in body type, where being muscular or relatively short is less of an obstacle than in many companies. While I can appreciate an occasional "meal" of a corps in which every swan seems to have identical height, shape, and physique, that ideal leaves out most of the dancers that I prize. I prefer a more diverse stage picture.

Many thanks, rolande, for sharing your experience and your thoughts. Best of luck in your work with the Boston Ballet outreach program!

There was a question about the ponytails during the post-performance Q&A after today's PNB performance of Lambarena. Principal Jonathan Porretta joked about "fake hair," and Ballet Master Otto Neubert said that the ponytails were meant to represent Bach, and that only a subset of the men wore them, including the soloists in the parts where Bach's music was introduced into the score.

According to the Choreography by Balanchine catalogue, "Clap Yo' Hands" is listed with "von Aroldingen, McBride, Morris, d'Amboise" for the premiere of Who Cares? (Ballet #368). The revision note says "REVISIONS: 1976, New York City Ballet: CLAP YO' HANDS eliminated." The only time I saw it, the cast was Lopez, Ashley, McBride, and Lavery. I don't remember it well enough to know whether the man's entrance came after Irving had the tape stopped. That's great background info about the change.

This afternoon was the last performance of this program. I saw it again from the back of the Second Tier, and I was able to compare performances of The Moor's Pavane and The Piano Dance to the ones I saw last week (same cast from Orchestra) and last night (different cast from similar location in the Hall.) Quick Time was beautifully danced again this afternoon, followed by The Moor's Pavane. My initial thought yesterday was that the piece lost something by being seen from the top of the house, but while I missed seeing the facial expressions, if anything, the cast -- Jodie Thomas (Moor's Wife), Jeffrey Stanton (Moor), Chalnessa Eames (His Friend's Wife) and Christophe Maraval (His Friend) -- looked even more balanced, the characterizations more distinct, and the drama more episodic than they did from the Orchestra. Eames' Friend's Wife was a plausible friend to The Moor's Wife, while in last night's cast, Ariana Lallone' His Friend's Wife looked like she was about to devour Louise Nadeau's Moor's Wife. Stanton's Moor was slowly poisoned, his confidence shattered, but his pride intact, while Batkhurel Bold's Moor played more volatile and angry. Maraval's performance of His Friend had nuance and range that projected as well to the back of the House as it did to the back of the Orchestra. Because his personas ranged from quicksilver to imposing, portraying a character who was not afraid to appear "weak" in contrast to Stanton's Moor's wall of pride, if it furthered his manipulations, Maraval didn't dominate the performance. This took me by surprise, because he was a dominanting presence in last night's performance of The Piano Dance. In today's performance of The Piano Dance, the cast was the second cast for the ballet, and, like the casting for The Moor's Pavane, I thought it was more well-balanced. The dancers (Rausch/Herd, Foster/Pacitti, Thomas/Moore, and Eames/Spell) again performed as if the ballet was nourishment, and they looked like stars in it. One note I forgot last night: the lighting for The Piano Dance, which looked so great from the Orchestra, was a bit shadowy from the top of the House in the first few pieces. It was a bit disconcerting to see the downstage left woman's face go from shadow to light as she was lifted a bit upstage and then back to shadow again on the next lift, and then back to light. There seem to be some "wells" of darkness around the stage. (This doesn't include the opening tableaux, which elicited applause from the audience all three times.) Lamberena had a largely different cast, with Lallone and Maraval dancing the leads, and Noelani Pantastico/Jonathan Porretta and Lesley Rausch/Jordan Pacitti in the secondary leads. In each lead trio (men/women), there were two dancers that could have been movement siblings, with the third a close cousin. Lallone and Rausch had a long-limbed, angular quality, and Pantastico performed this role with crispness that looked right in place, although she isn't the same body type. (With Imler and Vinson, she looked like the "formal" cousin, and in other casts, the men looked unrelated.) Maraval and Pacitti share the same groundedness; when they plie, you can feel the movement to its roots. Maraval is taller, but they are both muscular dancers who move the molecules around them. Porretta can change between qualities of lightness and gravity, and he and Pantastico sparked off of each other in the second pas de deux, after he opened the movement with an explosive solo. Maraval is one of the few whose presence is as imposing and compelling as Lallone's when she is in full throttle, and as a result, their pas de deux was a joy to watch. Pacitti's performance of his solo was as wonderful as it was last night. Because of the balance of casting in each ballet, I think today's program was as close to perfect as a mixed bill of disparate styles can be. It's not that there weren't other dancers who were equal in these roles, but the alchemy of each combination made the whole more than a sum of its parts.

The site listing is incomplete. According to several other sites selling the same record, Track 13 is "S'Wonderful" (couple 1) and "That Certain Feeling" (couples 2 and 3) Track 14 is "Do, Do, Do" (couple 4) and "Lady Be Good" (couple 5). Two sites in the UK, including amazon in the UK, list Track 15 as "The man I love - Matthias Person" "Sweet Down and Low" was nowhere to be found on any track listing. I couldn't remember which one it was, until I looked it up and listened to an excerpt of Gershwin playing it! Earlier, I confused "Liza" with "Clap Yo' Hands" -- "Liza" is the male solo that is almost always performed, while "Clap Yo' Hands" was a pas de quatre for the male and three female leads that was dropped in the mid-70's. (I saw it once, either in November '86 or '87 in a special performance.)

I'm waiting for the next introduction to quote Mark Morris, who, according to a Seattle Times article cited in today's Links, said,

ballet24/7, We'd love to hear more of your "student's opinion" -- there nothing "just" about that If you have time, would you describe a bit more about what you liked about Warren's and Wiles dancing?

Tonight's participants were Kent Stowell, Louise Nadeau, and Paul Gibson, former SFB and PNB Principal and now Assistant Ballet Master at PNB and choreographer of The Piano Dance, in which Nadeau created a leading role. The general topic was Choreography from both the view of the choreographer and the dancer. Kent Stowell (KS) asked Louise Nadeau (LN) to talk about what it was like to work with Paul Gibson (PG) and choreographers in general. LN responded by saying that it was great to have someone with whom she danced for so long (10 years) choreograph for her. She said PG knew all of her strengths and weaknesses from that experience, and choreographed to her strengths, while leaving out her weaknesses. LN spoke a bit about her approach, and how it sometimes takes her a while before she's able to get or do what the choreographer wants, which she sometimes needs to work out in the studio. She said that PG knows this about her, and that she's comfortable asking for something to be done on the other leg or side, or saying, after trying it out on her own, that something isn't right. She said she preferred a collaborative effort, which isn't always the case with new/unknown choreographers, some of whom come in with their ideas already set. LN described how when new choreographers come to cast, the entire company "auditions" in an open rehearsal, performing movement by the choreographer. She made the analogy that this approach was good for good test-takers. She called this process "The Great Equalizer," because most of the time, the first-time choreographers come in cold, and all of the dancers are on equal footing. She mentioned she still gets nervous during this process. KS said that he and Francia Russell (FR) try to convince first-time choreographers not to make snap decisions, but to take their time, as sometimes, "a choreographer will fall in love with a dancer and realize the next week that they've made a mistake." He and FR will also try to tell the choreographers about the strengths and weaknesses of particular dancers, although he also said that he encourages choreographers to look at dancers afresh. He noted that his and FR's policy was to try to work with a choreographer two-three times ("unless the first time was a complete bust") because a longer-term relationship was more productive. The first time, he said, was like a blind date. He described how he and FR get together at the beginning of the season to plot out general casting, based on which dancers need what, who needs a push, who's done the role in the past, which roles are now too hard for a dancer, the number of roles a dancer had in a program, etc. This affects the dancers that are available for a choreographer. Someone asked PG if dancers come to him to ask for roles. He and KS said "no," and that the dancers go to KS and FR to ask for roles. Casting for new choreography is at the discretion of the choreographer, subject to logistical limitations. PG mentioned and LN confirmed that Gibson's ballets have been very physically strenuous and require counting. It must be a testament to their friendship that Nadeau dances in them so frequently, as she said she prefers to listen to the music instead of counting, and that PG always chooses music that requires counting, which she called "brain busters"! LN remarked that The Piano Ballet was less strenuous than other PG pieces, because the "vignettes" were shorter. PG mentioned an eight-minute pas de deux that he once choreographed for LN and Christophe Maraval. After LN spoke about counting, someone said when LN danced, it looked like she was in a different plane in her own world and asked if that was an illusion, if she were counting. LN said that she was in that zone 90-95% of the time, and when she wasn't she felt cheated. Even if the audience didn't know, she did. PG mentioned that at first the counting is important, but as the piece becomes more familiar, often the music moves more to the forefront. KS said that there were some parts, like Juliet, where it was easy for the dancer to get in the "zone." PG described it as being in control and aware, yet, at the same time, blocked out. PG was asked if being involved with choreography made him wish he hadn't retired. He said that when he heard the Lambarena music, he thought "oh, no" because he had loved the role so much. But he said he liked getting out of bed and being able to walk. He noted he had worked with every major [living] choreographer, he had done what he wanted to do, and felt he wasn't going to miss anything when KS and FR offered him the Assistant Ballet Master position, for which openings are few and far between. (The role was created for him, after he had spoken to them about his future). KS said that if they hadn't offered him the ABM position, PG would be a free-lance choreographer now. PG was asked how he became a choreographer. He said that while he was at San Francisco Ballet, a former teacher asked him to choreograph a piece for the school workshop. Then an orchestra strike led to a Choreography Workshop. He described how he choreographed to music he heard and wanted to dance to, and how he hears music differently, hearing undertones and counter rhythms. When he hears music, he sees dancing to it, and starts moving his hands and feet. PG talked about the choreographic process. When he gets ideas, he sometimes writes them down in a little book, using descriptive words -- ex: "praying mantis" for the insect imagery he was to use in what he called the "Eyes Wide Shut" pas de deux in The Piano Dance -- and stick figures. After describing how the inspiration came from watching The Discovery Channel, he said that you never know where an idea will come from. He brings his ideas into the studio, and then tweaks them after working it out on the dancers. When asked by an audience member if his intent was to showcase the dancers, PG replied "Absolutely." LN said that dancers get energy from the audience, which provides great motivation and that dancer can hear cell phones and laughs, and even feel the audience hold their breath in complete silence (like in The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet.) She said that it great to hear the audience "get" the comedy, but it can break concentration if it's unexpected. KS added that McCaw Hall is a much more intimate space, and that the dancers feel more connected to the audience, and the audience to the dancers because of physical proximity. He said it has changed the audience's perception and appreciation of the performances. Someone asked if that feeling of getting lost on stage carried over when offstage. LN shook her head, and KS spoke eloquently. He said that when dancers get addicted ballet is when they are about 14. At that time, their bodies are changing, their parents are telling them they are too young for everything and asking them to do chores, and the world around them is chaos. But for that 1.5 hours in class, they have control over their life and have great power. KS continued to say that what happens in the studio is also creating order out of chaos and having control: he and FR tell the dancers what to do, and the dancers [control their bodies to] do it. He said that them moment he leaves the studio -- CHAOS: there's a finance meeting. Most of the rest of the time, people live in chaos -- navigating traffic, dealing with difficulties and the unknown -- but in the studio they experience control.

Last week I saw this program from the back of the orchestra; tonight I sat in the second to last row of the house. What a difference it made -- Christopher Stowell's Quick Time looked a million times better from the higher perspective. What had seemed like pounding frenzy from ground level looked energized and much smoother from above, where the structure of the ballet was clear. And this ballet, despite the music, has excellent bones. My unsolicited advice to those who will see the OBT Fall program, in which this ballet will be performed, is to sit in one of the balconies. The cast was the same as last week's, but I wanted to note that Kylee Kitchens looked particularly glamorous in the lime green jumpsuit costume worn by the demis. (Maria Chapman would look glamorous in a burlap sack, so pointing out the same about her is almost unfair.) Tonight I saw different casts (mainly) for The Moor's Pavane and The Piano Ballet. In the Limon, Batkhurel Bold danced The Moor; Oliviers Wevers, His Friend, Ariana Lallone, His Friend's Wife, and Louise Nadeau, The Moor's Wife. This may be the only piece on the program that suffered from being so far away; I didn't note many of the dramatic nuances of Wevers' portrayal of His Friend. This may have been partly because Lallone was so overwhelmingly vivid and commanding as His Wife. Sandik identified the importance of the sexuality in the relationship between His Friend and His Friend's Wife. I missed the gesture where Wevers' hand came across Lallone's chest, which, had I seen it, might have influenced the impression I had of the characters. My impression was the opposite, though: I thought Lallone was the controller in that relationship. To me it looked as though, the characters on stage were Otello and Desdemona vs. MacBeth and Lady MacBeth, so powerful was Lallone's character. A telling gesture: when she finally handed over the handkerchief to her husband, she flipped it to him as if to say she was bored with toying with him. By contrast, Eames' characterization of His Friend's Wife was of a young woman controlled by the sexuality of her husband, which made her grief at Desdemona's death more genuine. The Piano Dance was just as wonderful and delightful as it was last week, but the dynamic changed a lot with this cast. This was the first cast, and as Paul Gibson said in a post-performance Q&A, the first cast is on whom he "sees" the ballet. (He said that it was harder to cast the second cast, which he does against type. The example he gave was that for Kaori Nakamura's part he chose a lyrical dancer, Jodie Thomas, in the second cast, in contrast to a jumper. He did mention that because Nadeau and Maraval weren't available at first, he worked out their choreography on second cast members Lesley Rausch and Casey Herd.) The individual contrasts were a bit brighter, but the dancers looked a little less like an organic community. As striking as the final pas de deux is -- Gibson said that the inspiration was watching a show on insects on the Discovery Channel, to which Nadeau responded, laughing, "which made you think of me" -- it was to the quiet Chopin centerpiece that Nadeau and Maraval brought a whispered lushness that was breathtaking. Lambarena was the closing ballet, with two important cast changes from last week. I hadn't read the program carefully, and when I recognized Jordan Pacitti as the dancer in the first male solo, I almost did a , as he shone so brightly in the movement's secondary role last week. He moved with a combination of earthiness and lightness, and had an almost boneless quality to his undulations, in contrast to his striking opening and closing poses. Rachel Foster had the energy of a cyclone in the second pas de deux, while maintaining the crispness and clarity of the choreography. The entire cast seem more energized and "on" than last week. I inadvertently didn't mention Casey Herd's dancing last week; tonight he was as impressive in his legato rendering of the "classical" solo in movement VII. Like Pacitti, he has a strength and pliancy in his phrasing, and he was terrific in the first pas de deux with Imler. It might be a function of my subscriptions over the years, but it seems to me that Carrie Imler is often partnered with Bold, at least in classical roles, and that Louise Nadeau with Christophe Maraval. Maraval showed what a wonderful and unusual pairing Nadeau and Bold make in his piece for the Choreographer's Workshop, O to music by Satie. It wasn't quite as obvious in The Moor's Pavane, but the clarity in her movement contrasts beautifully to the sinuousness and buoyancy of his dancing. Imler and Herd dance beautifully together as well, as their smoothness and strength complement each other so well.

Yet another Choleric. Maybe the Melancholics and Phlegmatics are lurkers

Merce Cunningham, born in Centralia, educated at Cornish, is the other heavy hitter. I'm not sure how long Christopher Stowell lived in Seattle before dancing professionally, but he is working in the PNW.

That's great -- I thought this recording had only a few excerpts, but it's got everything, including the now rarely-performed "Liza."

In Kent Stowell's production of The Nutcracker, he interpolated the Mozartean pastorale from Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades into the Act I party scene. Three dancers perform a "masque" and re-enact the story of the Nutcracker, Mouse King, and Princess Pirlipat from the original story. (The first is at the beginning of the ballet, when three children in character emerge from "under the stage" of Maurice Sendak's set to enact the story.)

To my ear, these two comments are equal in generalization. The difference between them, however, is that while ostrich's can be countered by science and a quick glance at the feet of DTH dancers, eland's comment reflects a personal opinion/aesthetic, which may be closer the answer. If you look at the people who are Artistic Directors of the major companies in America, many fall into two categories: former Balanchine dancers, mostly from the US, and European born (mostly) baby-boomers. Some fall into both categories. European-born baby boomers, like Boston Ballet AD Mikko Nissenen, were, on the whole, born and raised in primarily homogeneous societies where racism was largely (and sometimes smugly) seen as America's and South Africa's problem. Former Balancine dancers running companies today were likely colleagues of Arthur Mitchell, a NYCB Principal Dancer. Dance is one of the few arts where the artist must be seen in order to be chosen. In his recent book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell writes about the change of the face of symphony orchestras in America, due to completely blind auditions. In many cases classical singers are first heard on tape, where an instant impression (for better or worse) is made on the Artistic Director, and s/he must undo his/her own positive impression upon actually seeing the singer's race, age, or weight. (Which isn't to say it doesn't happen, but the first impression is made blind.) Physical presence isn't necessary for any of the plastic arts. A painting hangs on a wall or a sculpture sits on a pedestal without the artist being in sight. What dancers are chosen is at the behest of the taste and aesthetics of the Artistic Director, except where a specific type is needed to fill a role (ex: tall man to partner ballerina X). If it is true that black students are in the top schools, they are auditioning, and they are not chosen in direct proportion to either numbers or talent, then it is the AD's who are choosing based on a different aesthetic or, to an extent, the "personality" that they assume would be successful (at least according to their own definition). Were a Marketing Director to say to an AD, "A black dancer would reach out to a new and underserved market," or anyone else to opine that by hiring a black (or Latino in some areas) would do wonders for community relations, what is the chance that the AD wouldn't respond with an argument about artistic integrity? Is it likely that an AD going to exclaim to the world, "I am a racist, and I think black women can't dance?" or even "My audience isn't ready to accept a black ballerina?" Until either black dancers publish their own experiences to the contrary, Arthur Mitchell or other prominent black dancers say s/he was used as a token, white colleagues "expose" specific examples of racism, or a tape is leaked of an AD making deliberately racist comments, we won't know if and how much of the artisitic decisions are made because of racism, and we can only speculate. The upshot is that AD's don't have to justify their hires.

We haven't found any online reviews yet. Your best bet for reviews in the New York press is to check out the Links section over the next few days. For viewer reviews on this board, you should keep an eye on the American Ballet Theater forum or come back to this forum (Recent Performances). It sometimes takes a few days for a review to show up in The New York Times, and people often sit down to formulate their thoughts and post their reviews over the weekend.