Helene

From the Guggenheim site: "Balanchine Continued…at Pacific Northwest Ballet SUN and MON, MAY 8 and 9 @ 8 PM Since 1977, Artistic Directors Francia Russell and Kent Stowell have worked to pass George Balanchine's style onto the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Principal Patricia Barker leads a cast of dancers performing seminal Balanchine works along with Stowell's choreography, which is rich in the tradition of the master choreographer." http://www.guggenheim.org/education/worksa...s/schedule.html

Sadly for us, the Balanchine Centennial is over. However, happily for us, Balanchine's extended family continues to present to the public. I've created a new forum for this, called "Children of Balanchine on The Road," where we can post about the presentations that continue Balanchine's legacy.

Natalia, That was a great post with a wealth of information. I've created a separate "sticky" in the forum with a link to it.

Natalia wrote a wonderful post about attending the Maryinski Festival. We're re-posting it here. Please note that this information was originally intended for American (US citizen) travelers. Not all 'steps' may apply to citizens of other countries. In particular, you should check with the Russian Consulate in your country about specific requirements for a Tourist Visa. *** HOTEL: Travel to Moscow or St Pete without an agency has become a lot simpler during the past 3-4 years, due to the proliferation of reliable on-line local discount-hotel agencies which supply visa documents & airport pick-up as part of their services. Two of the more reliable, which my friends have used without problems, include: www.hotelsrussia.net and www.hotelsrussia.com [i've used this one if my destination is outside of Moscow or St Pete...they're super-fast & reliable, faxing your documents within 24 hrs of hotel reservation] There are others but I have good personal experience on the above two. *Their daily lodging rates are SUBTANTIALLY LOWER than those of Orbitz, Travelocity or other major travel agents. For example, there are a number of good B&B-type properties at the $75 - 80 range per night, in walking distance from the Mariinsky Theater (between the theater and lower Nevsky Prospekt...an address lower than the number 50). AIRLINE: I'd use Orbitz/Expedia/Travelocity just for the airline ticket....which should not cost more than $700 r/trip from eastern US during Festival time (late winter/early spring). DOCUMENTS FROM HOTEL: Once you make your on-line hotel reservations (must be purchased in total with credit card), then you'll receive your faxed 'Voucher' (payment confirmation) & 'Visa Support Letter', which you must include in your application for a Russian Tourist Visa. VISA: You then apply for Russian Tourist Visa at Russian Consultate (in DC, NY, Houston, Seattle and...1 other place I've forgotten). You can download the Visa Application & instructions -- with payment schedule...$100 for 2-week turn-around is cheapest, if memory serves...at the following website: www.russianembassy.org THEATER TIX: The good news is that folks can now easily purchase tix online, via the Mariinsky Website www.mariinsky.ru (English or Russian options; a quick registration is necessary). If it's your first time in St P, I'd suggest you do that...although there are usually tix available to purchase on the street, outside the theater, CASH only...but there's an ATM in the Mariinsky Lobby for Cash-from-Credit-Cards! By no means should you use a hotel or tourist agent for theater tix, as the mark-up is outrageous; you can buy tix at the base price for foreigners on the Mariinsky website. BALLET SCHEDULE: The initial posting of the Mariinsky Schedule happens around December. I would book as soon as I have the dates of the Festival. Those do not change...but, as we all know, the actual ballets are never set into stone...not even on the day of the performance. However, you are pretty well assured of a great performance on any day during the Festival period. During other periods you run the risk of a ballet evening being substituted for an opera or orchestral concert (or a different ballet than that announced). FINALLY - Next year's Festival would be a GREAT time to go, as that will be the last one that happens in the old theater, as it currently looks. The Mariinsky shuts down for 2-3 years of renovation following the 2005/2006 season. Yes - it's officially announced as a two-year shutdown but those of us who've spent any time in Russia know what really happens during "ремонт" of buildings... Even after the theater reopens, certain sections will be 'jazzed up.' Those of us who are nostalgic types want to breathe-in that 'Petipa Dust' one last time! Natalia Nabatova

Many thanks for the summary! I wish I had been there...

I found this quote quite pertinent, The immigrant and second-generation experience that Bellow and Roth shared was not only specific to a time span of American history (Depression to World War II to post-War prosperity), but ended quite naturally with the assimilation of the next generations.

Happily, I was wrong on both counts. I had heard that qualifying for the Olympics was harder than qualifying for Worlds, but both competitions use the same formula to qualify more than one skater: If one skater competes, then: 1. If placement points are two or less, the country earns three spots 2. If placement points are three to ten, the country earns two spots If two skaters compete, then: 1. If total placement points equal 13 or less, the country earns three spots 2. If total placement points equal 28* or less, the country earns two spots Skaters who place 1st-15th earn one point for each placement. If the skater doesn't qualify for the SP (not top 30), then the skater earns 20 points for placing 20th through last place. If the skater qualifies for the SP, but not for the LP (not top 24), then the skater earns 18 points for placing 25th-30th. If the skater qualifies for the LP, then the skater earns 16 points for placing 16th-24th. If three skaters compete, then the top two placements are calculated as if two skaters competed. For Ladies, Canada's total placement points total 27 (11 for Rochette's 11th place and 16 for Pfaneuf's 20th place). Hungary's total placement points total 28 (12 for Sebestyen's 12th place and 16 for Pavuk's 18th place). Each country earns two spots, along with Ukraine (for Liashenko's 10th place), Finland (for Poykio's 8th place), and Italy (Kostner's 3rd place). The US (Cohen's 2nd and Kwan's 4th), Russia (Slutskaya's 1st and Sokolova's 7th), and Japan (Suguri's 5th and Ando's 6th) earned three spots. Earning one spot each are Croatia (yay, Idora Hegel!), Australia (woo hoo Joanne Carter), Switzerland (love Sarah Meier!), Germany (Dytrt, overrated IMO), and Sweden (nice job Lina Johansson). For Sweden, this is a triumph, as after producing the great early 20th century champions, the program has been mired in worse than mediocrity for many years, and this year had a nice senior debut by Johansson and a very solid performance (14th) by Kristoffer Berntsson in the stronger men's field. For Men, Canada and the US qualified for three spots, Switzerland, China, France, Belgium and Russia for two spots, and Germany (), Bulgaria (Dinev!), Sweden (Berntsson!!!), Romania, Israel, Italy, and Belarus earned one. In Pairs, Russia and China earned three spots, and Germany, Poland, Canada, Ukraine, and US earned two spots. The rest of the spots: six each for Men and Ladies and four for Pairs will be decided at the Karl Schaeffer Memorial competition in Vienna in mid-October, unless Italy decides to send a Pair -- then five will be chosen at KSM -- or if any country decides to send less than its quota. (Possible for the smaller Federations.) What's in the water -- or who's the coach -- in Ukraine that produces such wonderful Ladies' pair skaters? Although they skate for other countries, Savchenko (Germany) and Obertas (Russia) are among the finest pair skaters in the world along with Volosozhar.

Oh, my, what a beauty she is!

The forum "Other European Companies" is one of the places where we post on companies for which we don't have/haven't had critical mass. Recent Performances is a perfectly viable place for posting on performances as well.

I'm closing this thread, as there is nothing published about this.

[ADMIN BEANIE ON] To clarify our policy, while we encourage and appreciate our foreign posters who are kind enough to post to us in English, we are an English-only board. There are circumstances in which it is appropriate to link to a non-English site. These are: 1. To cite an original source for news or critical viewpoints that are posted on Ballet Talk in English summary. Examples of original sources are newspapers, magazines, critical sites, critics' blogs, official websites. 2. To share photos from original sources for which knowledge of a foreign language isn't necessary. [ADMIN BEANIE OFF]

Reading this post has switched on a continuous background soundtrack in my brain of "Jalousie"!

This is a great topic. There are several important factors in planning a season, and unless someone is in love with the Company or the main choreographer, a subscription plan is likely to be a neutral situation. It costs a lot more to convince a person to "buy" for the first time than to sell to the converted. If an organization can convince someone who's nearly converted to show up multiple times, there are multiple benefits: deepening the person's affiliation with the Company, exposing them to more adventurous programming -- which could be a classic they've never seen before -- and putting butts in seats, as popularity breeds popularity. Even if a show or two per season is the equivalent of free, having a nearly full house has influence on one-time ticket buyers. Subscriptions are also the lifeblood of cash flow. Since most subscription seasons are from fall to spring, a winter/spring subscription campaign can finance the summer cash drought. Maintaining and nurturing subscribers is a key function for most resident companies. But who is the elusive Subscriber? Among subscribers are the hard-core, and even among the hard-core, for a Company like PNB or even ABT with mixed rep and classics there are, hard divisions in preferences: the people who want to see all full-lengths vs. the people who hate story ballets and the people who want to see new things all the time vs. the people who want repeats (of the stuff they like, but not the stuff they don't.) Then there are the new subscribers and the habitual long-term subscribers -- the "we've gome to the ballet the first Thursday for 15 years" group -- for whom there's generally a preference for the impossible: give us new things in the genre that we like and with which we feel comfortable. Think of all those triple-bills and the way they are assembled: the new ballet is sandwiched between a nice curtain-raiser and a popular closer, so that the audience doesn't decide to skip the performance or leave before it's ended. If the ballet fits one of those roles better -- and gets good reviews -- it can slot in the next season as the curtain-raiser or closer. I think it was in Dance as a Contact Sport that Joseph Mazo reported on the creation of a NYCB subscription season in the 70's: you have to be sure that everyone sees what they missed -- unless of course, it was panned -- and doesn't get a repeat for at least a year. And what if that New Wheeldon, New Martins, New Eifman from Winter Season, which premiered after the Spring Season brochures are out and bringing in new subscriptions, is a bomb? The subscribers are annoyed that they have to see it. What if that ballet is a huge success? With only four-six performances scheduled, half of the subscribers are upset that it's not part of their subscription. As Clara pointed out, there are economic considerations, particularly for smaller to medium size companies. I've noticed that for triple bills for these Companies, there might be one ballet with full corps, sometimes supplemented by apprentices and professional division students, but the other two with smaller casts. Rehearsal time and space is often limited, which would prohibit a program like Jewels from being presented on a regular basis. Other economic drivers include the number of outside resources (choreographers, stagers) needed to create/re-create a ballet, orchestral contracts -- how many performances can be staged contractually with taped music, chamber musicians vs. guaranteed performances for the orchestra, the amount of rehearsal time available for new music -- rights fees (choreography and music), whether a particular shared set/costume collection is available, and whether the Company's production is rented out to earn money. Not only are these issues for each program, but for the season on the whole. The puzzle of arranging a season is probably the most difficult challenge for most Companies, with the exception of raising money. It was quite a service Robert Gottlieb performed for NYCB, when he took over season planning.

[ADMIN BEANIE ON] Questions like these are difficult, because our rules state that if it isn't in print or announced publically -- for example, an injury replacement at curtain time or a post-performance Q&A) -- it's gossip and prohibited. Speculation without backup citation is also considered gossip, and, as Herman Stevens pointed out, could spread like wildfire across the Internet. The only way that a fellow poster can answer a question like this and comply with Board rules is if there has been a public statement to cite. As a result, nearly all posts asking about the health or status of a dancer are left unanswered, much to the frustration of the person who asked. [ADMIN BEANIE OFF]

Thanks, Clara! It's nice to know exactly where to look and post -- the front page of any new discussion board can be daunting.

The link to the link is in today's Links (5 April 2005). I found two parts particularly interesting. It seems that the much-maligned White Nights sparked Millipied's interest in ballet, so regardless of what one thinks of the film, it was instrumental in creating at least one important ballet career. The second is key to many of our discussions concerning contemporary ballet or modern: The realization was critical for him, as he was already 13 when he started dance training, and he was lucky to have found a teacher, Michael Rahn, who trained him well enough in two years to qualify for the SAB summer session and, a year later, to be admitted to SAB full-time.

Also, there are specific demands that the Trust makes for certain ballets that make them unaffordable for many companies. Sadly Liebeslieder Walzer has not been performed at Pacific Northwest Ballet, despite being a self-admitted favorite of Russell's and Stowell's. According to R&S in post-performance Q&A's, the costumes and sets must be reproduced, and this is a very expensive undertaking. The Company has at least two potential first-rate casts among its roster.

I'd like to add my "BRAVOS" for these fantastic reports!

Except I don't. I expect the same standard of dancing Balanchine from Patricia Barker and Louise Nadeau and Natalia Magnicaballi and Tina LeBlanc and Yuri Possokhov and Jonathan Poretta that I did from NYCB dancers in principal roles. I expect even higher standards sometimes in soloist roles, as often, as in the earlier days of NYCB (which I didn't see) principal dancers perform them. Just as Harvard is hardly the only place to get an education, NYC is not the only place to see top-notch performances of Balanchine. I feel I've had the best of both worlds, having grown up in and lived in NY metro for most of my adult life, and then having moved to the West Coast a decade ago. Like anyone else whose moved from the center of the universe to one of the "lesser" orbits, I've found that the treasures -- performances -- might be fewer in number, but they are often sublime, and up to the standards left behind. As an East Coast snob who really did think the only place that could surpass Manhattan was space, this wasn't what I expected when I moved, but what I very happily found.

Wow, those are high prices! I'm very glad you found the Fourth Ring Society. I lived in NYC before the Society was established, but I always found lots of interesting people to talk to -- and many interesting conversations on which to evesdrop -- in the Fourth Ring. They were a very lively bunch, and the ticket prices were the only way I could afford to go to the ballet multiple times a week.

[ADMIN BEAN ON] Exactly. [ADMIN BEANIE OFF]

In my one evening survey at the Bolshoi (to hear Evgeni Onegin) I haven't seen that many young people, mostly couples in their 20's and early 30's, at any cultural or dance event in a major theater in the US, including modern dance events. (I don't mean the tiny, avante garde dance events where most of the audience is family and friends of the performers and artistic staff.) I don't know if this is a recent phenomenom, because younger people have more disposable income, but I can't imagine a place in the US where a 3-hour opera is the equivalent of a date movie. It made me kvell.

I've only seen NYCB once or twice a season over the last decade, in addition to broadcasts. I've been just as floored by Wendy Whelan and Ashley Bouder, for example, as I was by anyone I saw dancing in Balanchine's later years and the decade following his death. However, I don't get see the same focus of purpose that I did in performances in the 80's, even if, on the whole, the corps has cleaned up since then. I am happily satisfied seeing Balanchine performed on the West Coast by Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, and Arizona Ballet, as well as by Suzanne Farrell Ballet on tour, for the very reason that I feel I am seeing committed performances by the entire Companies, from principals to corps. I see corps members and soloists dance the small, featured demi and soloists roles as if they are career gifts, and, in particular, see energized corps, especially those that are supplemented by company and apprentices and high-level students. One of the advantages for the audience is that these companies have a small number of performances -- one to two weekends of any program -- and focus on one or two programs, or a maximum of six ballets at most. This may not be ideal for dancers, although from reviews of NYCB in NY and DC, it sounded like the Company was suffering from exhaustion by the end of the Winter season, but it's been my experience that they seize the day in the few performances they have.

And me, too. I was a cheerleader in high school, and the only positive thing about cheering for football games was that we faced the crowd, with our backs to the action. Sadly, I had been well enough indoctrinated to understand the game, and had to watch enough to prompt the captain with the correct cheer to call, so that we didn't scream for a touchdown when our team was on defense. If only they had been playing real football instead of bloodsport...

I had no idea that getting off the couch and attending all of these ballet and opera performances -- not to mention skating competitions -- would fulfill my exercise quotient