Helene

Casting is up for Week Three, with some changes to Week Two: Noelani Pantastico and Lucien Postlewaite will do their first performance on December 9 at 2pm, and Leta Biasucci and Benjamin Griffiths will dance on December 2 at 7:30pm. Price Suddarth replaces Ezra Thomson as Tea on December 3 at 5:30pm. Link to casting on PNB site: https://www.pnb.org/nutcracker/#casting Link to downloadable spreadsheet: Nutcracker 17_11_28.xlsx

Yes, that great Delius score ("A Village Romeo and Juliet."). There were other operas based on the story, most notably by Gounod, although I'm not sure if that music has been used for ballet. There was the terrific Caniparoli ballet, "The Bridge," based on a contemporary real-life tragedy that had many parallels to "Romeo and Juliet," to beautiful music by Shostakovich, and, with five (or six) couples, it gave great opportunities to many of the wonderful corps members and soloists, many of who made it up the ranks.

I agree, and Prokofiev was not the only composer to write music for "Romeo and Juliet," and Kent Stowell and Stewart Kershaw assembled a beautiful score from Tchaikovsky's "Romeo and Juliet" and other Tchaikovsky scores for Stowell's "The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet."

I never claimed that any dancers were kicked out by Vaziev: people leave jobs on their own, whether or not they are recruited elsewhere beforehand, or they make it clear to their network that they are available, or with nothing clear ahead of them, because they no longer want to work for their boss or institution, new or old, every day. In most ways, ballet is a business like any other: there are x jobs, and most of them have bosses, and all of them have corporate cultures, and people make their own internal trade-offs to work for those bosses/institutions or leave. We like to think that the stakes are higher for ballet, because of the investment in training, but there are other professions that have a similarly small number of openings for a large number of candidates who have invested the same time and training into their professions, like in academia, where the number of tenured spots is shrinking, and the people who hold onto those spots do so for twice as long as Principal Dancers.

There are also dancers on the record who left the Mariinsky to go the Bolshoi in part, at least, because of Vaziev's direction, which makes it a bitter situation to again find him as the boss, like an episode of "The Prisoner."

The Victorians and Mark Morris (modern dance) had happy endings, just like some Soviet Swan Lakes.

Operas and ballets that are based on a books or plays are not the same thing as the originals: Prokofiev's score is not Shakespeare: it's the programmatic soundtrack for parts of a Shakespearean play. Ratmansky's use of Prokofiev's score to tell chunks of Shakepeare's story is only that. If there's a beef, it's that Prokofiev's score should never be abridged, adapted, or changed. I don't agree with that point of view, but removing small fragments from the score is not about Shakespeare.

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I'm with you, @Kathleen O'Connell.

The Seattle Times has run a story on Mother Ginger, with quotes from Miles Pertl and Joshua Grant that include trade secrets, and there's a short time-lapse video of the skirt being assembled: https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/dance/mother-ginger-a-big-crowd-pleaser-in-pacific-northwest-ballets-the-nutcracker/ I think I want drywall stilts for life in general.

Here is mnacenani's curtain photo:

I got a heads up that I forgot that the PNB's French will include participation in the Festival's Robbins week:

After stalking the site today to no avail, I just got a heads up that Week 2's casting is up: https://www.pnb.org/nutcracker/ Link to downloadable spreadsheet: Nutcracker 17_11_22.xlsx Five couples dance Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier for the first time this Nutcracker season, and four new for 2017 Dewdrops.

There are a lot of tributes on the internet; I'm sure there are hundreds more from opera people across the world. I'm considering this Friday's performance of the Verdi Requiem at the Met as dedicated to him. Michael Fabiano dedicates tonight's "Manon" at San Francisco Opera to him. From Vittorio Grigolo:

Part of what I don't get is, unless you're Diana Spencer or Katie Holmes, and when you're 16 you tell your friends you're going to marry Prince Charles or Tom Cruise -- and, beloved children aside, look at how well that worked out for them -- it's all a fantasy anyway -- dancers, actors, opera singers, athletes -- for 99% of the human population, so if you're not the gender one of them prefers, that makes about .00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% of a difference to your real life, so why let it interfere with a good fantasy (or two or three)? While I don't think anyone should be outed unless they are working against other people's rights, this is much ado about someone who outed himself, repeatedly and publicly.

If you go back to Bournonville, you have men and women dancing pretty much in parallel, and the place in class where technique differs is way past barre to the big jumping combinations. I think it's more the fundamental physics of partnering technique. It was interesting to hear dancers who performed in "Plot Point" and/or "Afternoon Ball" in PNB's "Her Story" Q&A's talking about whether Company class was useful for that work, and the answer was pretty much "no" for "Plot Point." There's the current argument about whether to present works that came out of a specific period authentically when it comes to partnering and the underlying assumptions about the relationships of those times. Ratmansky got himself into boiling oil when he probably was thinking about classical ballets presented in as authentic a way as we can, and Balanchine in many of his tutu ballets maintained this relationship, while both choreographers, in their more modern-day/contemporary ballet works present(ed) quite different relationship dynamics (ex: "Central Park in the Dark," "Odessa.") Last night I was at a Seattle Opera presentation about Puccini by Jonathan Dean. In one part he played examples of music representing famous kisses in Puccini, and one of the questions to the audience was "Who is kissing whom?" To the Turandot (last act) example, I replied, "It depends on the production." Dean replied, that no, Puccini's stage instructions were from a specific time, with specific assumptions that it would be the male. I smiled, because in the last production of Turandot Seattle Opera did, and which I saw last month performed in Vancouver Opera, Turandot kisses Calaf at that moment

What sad, sad news. Hvorostovsky was one of the greatest singers I've ever heard live. A performance I cherish was hearing him sing Prince Yeletsky in "Queen of Spades" at the Met in 2004. May he rest in peace.

But I have it cast in my head with PNB dancers

Sweet! to them!

We don't know why any of this happened, since he hasn't issued a public statement. We only know the facts, which are that his and Day's posts, photos, and comments were on Instagram, some of them, including links that were posted here, are gone, and he's unfollowed canbelto after she posted links to his public-facing social media in there original form after they had been seen many times by many followers and lurkers, a far larger community than Ballet Alert!

From the press release from the Robbins Foundation: No "The Cage" :(, but "Dances" will be back. Two programs on consecutive Fridays are listed. It isn't clear how the rest of Rep 1 weekends will play.

Part 2: Institutions across the city, nation, and world will join the centennial celebration with a variety of performances, screenings and events. PERFORMANCES HAMBURG BALLETT The Concert, Dances at a Gathering: 17 September 2017 MIAMI CITY BALLET Circus Polka, The Cage, In the Night, Other Dances, West Side Story Suite: 12 January 2018 STUTTGART BALLETT Dances at a Gathering: 13 January 2018 NEW YORK THEATRE BALLET Rondo, Septet, Concertino: 16 March 2018 SAN FRANCISCO BALLET The Cage, Fancy Free, Opus 19, Other Dances: 20 March 2018 PITTSBURGH BALLET Fancy Free, In the Night, West Side Story Suite: 3 May 2018 THE MUNY Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, 11 - 17 June 2018 LES ÉTÉS DE LA DANSE Tribute to Jerome Robbins featuring companies from around the globe (TBA): 25 June 2018 BOSTON BALLET Fancy Free, Glass Pieces, Interplay: 6 Sept 2018 DUTCH NATIONAL BALLET Dances at a Gathering: 11 Sept 2018 PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET Afternoon of a Faun, The Concert, In the Night, Other Dances: 21 Sept 2018 Dances at a Gathering, Interplay, West Side Story Suite: 28 Sept 2018 PARIS OPERA BALLET Afternoon of a Faun, Fancy Free, Glass Pieces: 28 Sept 2018 BAM / FISHMAN SPACE Watermill: cast TBA: October 2018 HOUSTON BALLET The Concert, Glass Pieces, In the Night: 7 March 2019 SCREENINGS DANCE ON CAMERA FILM FESTIVAL Program TBA: 20 July 2018 PALEY CENTER Jerome Robbins on Television – This program will examine how the ballets and Broadway work of Jerome Robbins have been presented on television. Rare interview and performance footage will be screened and discussed by a panel of dancers and others who worked with Robbins. The discussion will be moderated by Amanda Vail, author of Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins. In addition, the Paley Center will have weekend screenings of Jerome Robbins’ television work on select Sundays in October and November. (Dates TBA, Paley Center for Media in New York) AMERICAN MASTERS’ JEROME ROBBINS: SOMETHING TO DANCE ABOUT The Definitive Biography of an American Dance Master will air abroad throughout the 2018-2019 season. EVENTS & EDUCATION KENNEDY CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: DEMO BY DAMIAN WOETZEL Jerome Robbins - American Dance Genius: 20 & 21 October 2017 DANCE EDUCATION LAB at the 92nd STREET Y DEL Dances for a Gathering: Jerome Robbins with Ellen Bar, Ann Biddle, Robert La Fosse, and Heather Watts: 4 & 5 November 2018 NYC DEPT OF EDUCATION: PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WORKSHOP West Side Story Suite and American Dance: 28 February 2018 NEW YORK CITY CENTER STUDIO 5 SERIES Bernstein & Robbins at 100 with Tyler Angle: 4 June 2018 ORCHESTRA OF ST. LUKE’S OSL will create and premiere an original, multi-disciplinary educational concert that tells the story of Robbins’ life through words, music, and dance. This original production will receive six performances at Tribeca Performing Arts Center in November 2018, engaging 4,000 public school children in Robbins’ artistry. This production is part of St. Luke’s tradition of Free School Concerts, now in its fifth decade of connecting young audiences to the arts through live performance. PALEY CENTER The centenary will celebrate Robbins’s work not only for the stage but for the page: October 2018 will see the publication by Alfred A. Knopf of a selection from his voluminous journals, autobiographical writings, letters, scenarios, and essays, edited by award-winning Robbins biographer and documentarist Amanda Vaill (Somewhere, Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About). Illustrated with Robbins’s own photographs, drawings, and other art work, the book will re-create the choreographer and director’s life and work from the inside, as he himself saw it, in his own words and images. For first time since the original Broadway production, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway will return to the stage at The Muny in St. Louis. Running from June 11 through June 17, the newly remounted production will celebrate not only the 100th birthday of Jerome Robbins but will open the epic 100th anniversary season of The Muny itself. Follow along with us on Instagram (@jeromerobbinsfoundation) as we countdown to our Centennial Kickoff with 100 days of Robbins, beginning October 11th! Further updates, additions, and calendar changes can be found on our website, www.jeromerobbins.org, or by following along on Twitter (@JeromeRobbinsFd) and Facebook (facebook.com/TheGeniusOfJeromeRobbins).

Here's Part 1 of the latest press release from the Robbins Foundation, and it has heaps of info: THE JEROME ROBBINS FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES THE CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION OF JEROME ROBBINS’ LIFE AND WORK (New York, NY. November 8– 2017) Jerome Robbins, world renowned for his work as a choreographer and director of ballet and theater, film and television, would have been 100 years old on October 11, 2018. In honor of his life and legacy, The Jerome Robbins Foundation, partnering with other institutions across the country and around the world, will celebrate his centennial year through Spring 2019. Robbins – recipient of dozens of awards and honors including an Oscar, four Tony awards, and one Emmy award among others – choreographed and/or directed many Broadway shows including: On the Town, Billion Dollar Baby, West Side Story, The King and I, Gypsy, Peter Pan, Miss Liberty, Call Me Madam, and Fiddler on the Roof. His last Broadway production in 1989, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, won six Tony Awards including best musical and best director. Among the more than 60 ballets Robbins created are Fancy Free, Afternoon of a Faun, The Concert, Dances At a Gathering, In the Night, In G Major, Glass Pieces, NY Export: Opus Jazzand Ives, Songs, which are in the repertories of New York City Ballet and other major dance companies throughout the world. His last ballets include A Suite of Dances, created for Mikhail Baryshnikov (1994), 2 & 3 Part Inventions (1994), West Side Story Suite (1995), and Brandenburg (1996). Said the directors of the Foundation, “Jerome Robbins’ output was incredibly far-reaching. While his ballet and Broadway work is well known, many forget his work in film and television and almost no one is aware of his visual art – photography, drawings, and paintings – and copious writings on a range of subjects. Our aim is to celebrate Jerry and all his work.” The Jerome Robbins Centennial will be framed / spearheaded by a number of programs by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Divisionand an almost three-week festival of his ballets at New York City Ballet. NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS: THE JEROME ROBBINS CENTENNIAL Fellows Program & Symposium As the home of his archive, the Jerome Robbins Dance Division recently awarded six fellowships to dance artists and writers to generate new scholarship on Robbins’ legacy. The fellowship period runs through December 2017 and will subsequently culminate in a day-long symposium on Friday, January 26, where fellows Ninotchka Bennahum, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Robert Greskovic, Julie Lemberger, Alastair Macaulay and Hiie Saumaa will present the outcome of their research. Bruno Walter Auditorium, NYPL for the Performing Arts, 111 Amsterdam Ave., NYC. 26 January 2018. 10am - 5pm. Exhibition The identity of Jerome Robbins and New York City are inextricably linked as one defines the swagger and style of the place and the other molds and influences the man. For the exhibition Voice of My City: Jerome Robbins and New York, running September 2018 - March 2019 at the Oenslager Gallery, urban historian and dance writer Julia Foulkes explores Robbins and New York side by side, demonstrating how his artistic output captures the city in particular moments of history and how the unique nature of New York led to the specific genius of Jerome Robbins. Oenslager Gallery, NYPL for the Performing Arts, 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC. September 2018 - March 2019. NEW YORK CITY BALLET: ROBBINS 100 New York City Ballet’s 2018 Spring Season will celebrate the centennial of Jerome Robbins’ birth with Robbins 100, a tribute to the Co-Founding Choreographer’s remarkable contributions to classical dance at large and his indelible impact on the NYCB repertory. The celebration will feature 19 works created by Robbins over the course of 40 years, and will open on Thursday, May 3 with a Spring Gala performance featuring a World Premiere by NYCB Resident Choreographer and Soloist Justin Peck set to a score by Leonard Bernstein in honor of the centennial of both Robbins and Bernstein, and a World Premiere ballet by Tony Award-winning choreographer and director Warren Carlyle that pays tribute to Robbins’ legendary Broadway career. The new work will feature 30 NYCB dancers in a showcase of music and choreography from eight landmark Broadway musicals that Robbins was closely associated with during his storied career – On the Town (1944), Billion Dollar Baby (1945), The King and I (1954), Peter Pan (1954), West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), Funny Girl (1964), and Fiddler on the Roof (1964). The gala performance will also include Robbins’ Circus Polka (1972) and The Four Seasons (1979). Running from May 3 to May 20, the Robbins 100 celebration will also include performances of the ballets Interplay (1945), Fancy Free (1944), The Cage (1951), Afternoon of a Faun (1953), Fanfare (1953), The Concert (1956), West Side Story Suite (1957), Les Noces (1965), Dances at a Gathering (1969), In the Night (1970), The Goldberg Variations (1971), Dybbuk (1974), In G Major (1975), Other Dances (1976), Opus 19/The Dreamer (1979), Glass Pieces (1983), and Antique Epigraphs (1984). In addition to performances in May, NYCB will hold a number of workshops and educational presentations for adults and children. 3 May - 20 May 2018

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