Helene
-
Posts
36,122 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Forums
Events
Blogs
Store
Posts posted by Helene
-
-
In many public talks and Q&A's AD's and moderators have talked about having the rights for a limited time only, with three years being the most I've heard cited. It's often the reason given to audience members who ask why a company can't perform X ballet that has gotten raves somewhere else, ie, the company they're reading about has exclusive rights for X (usually three) years, or exclusive geographic rights. They talk about co-productions and how both companies can have constraints based on the agreement.
Sometimes they mention being able to negotiate an exemption. For example, a production might be too expensive to expedite shipping from another continent because another company there booked it in between after it had been scheduled by the first company; the only time they could afford to get the sets is if they perform it again outside the window. Or funding comes through, but not in time to move the current season around to fit it in. In those and other cases, a choreographer or family or foundation might extend the license.
-
I would have assumed from the title that "Maestro" was about Bernstein the conductor, not a depiction of his marriage.
I'm glad I've been following the thread.
-
This is the post that PNB published to Instagram:
-
Not a where to stay, but a where to eat. My favorite Thai restaurant, Bahn Thai, is just a few blocks away from the theater on Roy. (Take a right coming out of the theater, walk to the traffic light, take a left, then take a right on Roy.)
If you want to order takeout for after weekend matinees or when the performance is 2.5 hours or less on Fridays-Sunday nights, whether you live in town or want to bring food back to your hotel, you order during last intermission, and even set a time besides ASAP for pick-up. (It usually takes 30-40 minutes by default). Even if you don't have an account with them (name, address, phone, email, and, if you choose, stored credit card information), you can sign in as a guest with your name, phone, and email address -- they send confirmation and pickup notifications to both -- and either way you're asked for a billing zip code when you put in your cc information.
Pro tip: since Swan Lake has a pause between Acts III and IV, I filled my cart during second intermission, shut off my phone, and then placed the order (cc info) during the pause. I stayed for the last curtain call, and the timing was perfect for me to be able to pick up my food.
There's also a new sandwich shop called Mammoth that opened up on the retail level of the apartment building directly across from the Phelps Center, which is next door to McCaw Hall. They have sandwiches and salad versions of their sandwiches except for the brisket, and they have wine and beer for those who eat there. There's indoor and outdoor seating, and I don't know if you can bring alcohol outside, because it hasn't been open in warm weather yet.
I found the tuna and brisket on the salty side, but not the turkey. Portions are good-sized.
You can also order ahead here:
-
Maybe his memory be a blessing and a comfort to his friends and family.
-
On 1/29/2024 at 12:04 PM, Terez said:
Dirac, I just PM'd you a link to my just-published review at Bachtrack, for your reviews/links page (in case you see this thread before you check your messages). And for everyone else, I posted a full review of the production at Bachtrack (and they don't like me to reprint elsewhere, so I shall be coy and refrain from contributing more of my thoughts here).
Terez, as a longtime poster here, you are welcome to pop into threads to let us know when you've written for Bachtrack, with a link to your review.
-
Lucien Postlewaite was never a dancer who tried to give himself a concussion by kicking himself in the head with any movement that started with a forward battement, I don't think it's easy by any means to maintain such a high level of excellence for 20 years, especially when you add in all of the lifting and partnering he's done. But it does mean that the comparisons now aren't to extremes that younger dancers in their twenties, especially virtuoso dancers can go to, but instead to elegance, placement, line, and musicality that has become burnished with experience, most definitely including his experience in Monte Carlo.
One of the things about the ballet classics, is that they're a lot like opera: dancers start thinking a lot about the iconic solos/arias and pas de deux/duets, especially ones like the White Swan pas de deux, or a variation that grabs them, the way aspiring opera singers learn E lucevan le stelle or Vissi d'arte in Tosca. Or like delving deeply into of Shakespeare's iconic speeches. In a full-length opera or ballet or complete play, there is so much more to think about to make the entire performance work. That's a Captain Obivous statement, but part of what makes it difficult is the imbalance of time spent learning and thinking about the biggest moments, many of which are not only familiar from watching, but also familiar from any combination of variations and partnering class, competitions, auditions, and recitals. It's also the difference between understanding the general arc of a character and all of the individual moments that keep it vivid, especially we're all too apt to think of Prince Siegfried as a one-dimensional fool and enjoy the dancing.
Kent Stowell's direction for Prince Siegfried is probably a double-edged sword in that there's rarely an empty moment -- there's a huge amount of interplay downstage left and right between him, the Jester, and Woflgang, the tutor in Act I at the same time other things are happening -- like in Act I of The Nutcracker. There's also dancing with the guests, including six girls. So there's a lot for Siegfried to hang his hat on dramatically, piece by piece, but to be meaningful, it has to be more than vignettes.
Postlewaite brought some of his Prince in Maillot's Cendrillon into his portrayal, at least in the beginning: he was not Very Serious. He wasn't a frat boy, but you wouldn't confuse him with Werther. As much as I hate the word "journey," that's what Postlewaite brings to the character over the course of four acts. It's not a Nureyev-like intervention making the Prince the center of the universe, but it makes Siegfried an equal partner in the drama from the beginning, building up to Act II.
Odette doesn't ever have to stand around and socialize: the only "downtime" she has is for the few seconds after she makes her entrance thinking she's alone. The rest of the time, it's-all-intensity-all-the-time. Even Odile is static only when her dad, BvG, is whispering in her ear. It's not easy to make the shifts and disjointedness feel like a full characterization, especially since so much of it is recognizable, and there are so many sudden mood shifts. Stowell follows the conventions for O/O in Acts II-III.
The other major critical part to the drama in this production is the neoclassical pas de deux, with quotes from Ivanov's Act II, that Stowell created for Act IV to music as plaintive as that for the White Swan pas de deux. (I don't know what it is, and I can't find it.) His Act IV is not a "Swans dance the intro, Odette is distraught, Prince Siegfried is so sorry, now let's wrap this all up with the music we've been waiting for and get the unions home to bed" version. The Act IV pas de deux is like the Wedding pas de deux in Romeo and Juliet, on another, graver plane after an unalterable breach has occurred, and it means something different than the first pas de deux. That distinction is what brings the story and the characters to the end of the arc. It's what Brunnhilde and Siegfried might have sung at the end of the Ring, if he wasn't already dead, and it wasn't Wagner's opera.
Leta Biasucci was exquisite as Odette/Odile, and the least of it was her dancing, which was sublime. She, like Postlewaite, showed intention in every moment and aspect of her performance and created such richness; for me, it doesn't get better than that.
-
Thank you for the heads up, @seattle_dancer!
Here's the updated downloadable Excel file:
-
Same here: I used to work for Consumers Union (Newspaper Guild of NY at the time), and we'd usually get a new five-year contract at about three years after the old one expired, and retroactive back to the old one. We used to have one (the fourth) year to relax, and then the fifth year of being unsettled, knowing that it would be rinse-and-repeat within another year.
-
The NYT article is incorrect in several ways. The most glaring is that the International Skating Union has not yet decided what will happen with the Team Event standings -- or the singles standings in which Valieva was 4th -- and the IOC Council has to approve their proposal. They are planning to make some kind of statement tomorrow. (The ISU is in Lausanne, CET.)
Valieva's suspension was always going to start from the date of her doping violation, which was in December 2021. A four-year suspension is among the harshest sentences that WADA asked for. There are repeat offenders who haven't gotten suspensions that long. All of her results in the four years are voided, and she's been ordered to reimburse prize sponsorship, and appearance money. Those international results would be a European championship gold medal and a Team Event medal, if the Russian team is not disqualified alone with her results. I suspect Russia will flip the bird at any thought of changing their internal results or prize money or post-Olympic appearance fees in Russia.
For whatever reason, RUSADA, the national anti-doping agency was put back in charge after state-sponsored systematic doping was discovered in Sochi in 2014; however, Russian labs are not allowed to process the tests. Several official labs were chosen by WADA, and, after Russian Nationals, RUSADA sent their samples to the designated lab in Sweden. Sweden had decided to let Covid-19 rip, and their labs were short-staffed.
However, all samples for the Olympics were supposed to be marked "Expedited," and the Swedish lab processed all of the "Expedited" samples before the start of the Olympics. Everything else was in a queue to be processed by the staff they had. RUSADA did not mark Valieva's sample "Expedited," the test wasn't processed until after the Olympics began, and the results were revealed after the Team Event, which is why the IOC put a stop to the Team Event medal ceremony. Had RUSADA expedited the results, it's possible that they could have quietly given her a 30-day suspension without making it public, she could have withdrawn from European championships for "health" reasons, and it might all have gone away quietly. Right now, the Russian Olympic Committee is pretending not to know why the sample took so long to be processed. (Google translate works here.)
There was an three-person CAS panel on the ground in Beijing, and the case went to them in an emergency session. Even though WADA rules were very clear that, while being a minor meant that there were different rules for procedures for minors -- there is a nod for privacy -- there was no difference in sentencing for minors. That CAS paneled ruled that Valieva could continue to compete in the single's event, and their reasoning was to incorrectly extrapolate procedural rules for minors to sentencing rules. RUSADA was ordered to investigate and come up with a decision, which was laughable, and which WADA and the International Skating Union appealed to CAS, Nearly two years later, CAS ruled with WADA and the ISU.
There is a 30-day limited scope appeals process. After the ISU decide what to do, Russia will decide on whether it will appeal the ISU decision.
-
Hello, Jorge -- welcome to Ballet Alert!
-
Thank you to the person who gave me a heads up that casting is up for first weekend and Odette-Odile/Siegfried casting is up for second weekend:
https://www.pnb.org/season/swan-lake/
(Scroll to bottom)
There will be five Odette-Odiles with two performances each; returning are Elizabeth Murphy and Leta Biasucci, both partnered by Lucien Postlewaite, and Angelica Generosa with Jonathan Batista, and two debuts by Elle Macy partnered by James Kirby Rogers and Cecilia Iliesiu with Dylan Wald. Since Postlewaite is partnering two ballerinas, performances with Elizabeth Murphy will be first weekend, including opening night, and with Leta Biasucci will be second weekend.
Here's the link to a downloadable Excel file:
As always, casting is subject to change. Edited to add: I've updated the Excel file include the Thursday, Feb 8 Principal Casting, which I missed for trying to get fancy.
-
Thank you so much @Anthony_NYC!
I just ordered the .pdf only. The link to the site to download came in a separate email about five minutes later, not in the original receipt. It was some kind of internal forward (FW) from Eakins Press.
-
From the press release:
Pacific Northwest Ballet Principal Dancer James Yoichi Moore Announces Retirement.
To operate two Tutu School locations.
20-year PNB career to be celebrated at Season Encore Performance, June 9, 2024.
SEATTLE, WA — Pacific Northwest Ballet principal dancer James Yoichi Moore has announced that after a 20-year career with the company, he is retiring at the end of PNB’s 2023-24 season. Moore joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2004 and was promoted to soloist in 2008 and principal in 2013. His two decades with the company will be celebrated at the Season Encore Performance, Sunday, June 9 at McCaw Hall. Tickets to the Season Encore Performance, as well as the remainder of PNB’s 2023-24 season, are available through the PNB Box Office, 206.441.2424, online at PNB.org, or in person at 301 Mercer Street.
“Growing up in San Francisco, I would hear people talk about this incredible ballet company up north, with six-foot-tall ballerinas and dancers with impeccable technique,” said Moore in his announcement. “Never did I imagine I’d have a shot to join their ranks, but in 2004, Kent and Francia offered me a contract, and everything changed. I am forever grateful to them for giving me a chance to be a part of this great organization.
“The past 20 years have flown by in a flash. Every season filled with challenges, exhaustion, and thrill – key components for a supremely fulfilling dance career. I wish I could live the life of a PNB dancer forever, but I knew this day would come, and as I near my final performance, my gratitude for our company, and everyone who contributes to creating the magic on stage grows.
“I’ve been extremely fortunate to have a director who’s believed in me from the beginning. As a student, and throughout my career, Peter’s trust filled me with motivation, bolstered me with confidence, and gave me the belief that I belonged. I am thankful beyond words.”
“James Moore elevated PNB in every way over the course of a long and storied career,” said PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal. “The explosion of raw talent and presence that stepped, or rather shuffled, onto the stage in 2005 in Marco Goecke's Mopey signaled a new era for the company. James had a quality that reflected us - and yet he was the best of us, with soul bared, emotions raw, living in the moment and discovering infinite possibilities before our eyes. His Romeo and Prodigal Son pulled us into the futile realm of hope while his rhythm-infused romps as the father in Twyla Tharp's Waiting at the Station offered a new lens on humanity. Not only did he inspire countless choreographers, he inspired all who witnessed his complete investment in character, art, and movement. It's hard to imagine PNB without James, but he promises to continue to be a part of this family he helped create, and I promise to hold him to it.”
Moore and his wife, Kristen, recently opened two Tutu Schools in Renton and Tacoma. (Tutu School is a boutique-style ballet school that caters specifically to children 18 months to eight years old.)
“We are thrilled to continue a life in dance by offering the opportunity for young children to experience music and movement through our Tutu Schools in Renton and Tacoma,” said Moore. “Our kids, Julian and Layla show us every day the positive impact dance can have on young people’s lives, and they have inspired us to share this gift.” For more info, visit tutuschool.com/renton or tutuschool.com/tacoma.
“James Moore had a career-defining moment and played a pivotal role in ushering in Peter Boal's contemporary vision to PNB audiences with his performances of Mopey by Marco Goeke,” noted former PNB principal dancer Noelani Pantastico, Moore’s frequent onstage partner, and Co-Artistic Director of Seattle Dance Collective, the company they founded in 2019. “After Mopey, it was clear that James had a spirit that transcended the stage and left audiences returning to see him in his range of programming. I was lucky enough to forge a partnership with James, one that, while dancing together, was hard to explain to anyone. We were just enmeshed. Beyond the stage, we created Seattle Dance Collective, which taught us how to build and run a nonprofit organization and helped us survive the pandemic while nurturing our artistic voices and voices for others. I have no doubt that audiences and colleagues will miss him. There is no one like James Moore. His generosity and thoughtfulness as a dancer, partner, and person make James memorable to everyone who has had the fortune of being in the same space as him. James leaves an indelible mark that has helped shape what PNB is today.”
Early seed money for Moore’s Tutu Schools was provided, in part, by Second Stage, PNB’s career transition program for its company dancers. Conceived in 1999, Second Stage supports PNB dancers and PNB School Professional Division students in achieving their goals following a career in dance. Its resources allow dancers to take classes, get subsidized tuition at Seattle University, access mentors and vocation counseling, and receive grant monies. At its inception, only a handful of dancers actively planned for their career after dancer. Since that time, Second Stage has provided over $1.5 million in grants to over 200 dancers. For more information, visit PNB.org.
James Yoichi Moore is from San Francisco, California. He trained at San Francisco Ballet School and the School of American Ballet, and he joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 2001. James joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 2004 and was promoted to soloist in 2008 and principal in 2013.
James has performed leading roles in George Balanchine’s Coppélia, The Four Temperaments, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Prodigal Son, Rubies, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Symphony in C, Symphony in Three Movements; Peter Boal’s Giselle; Val Caniparoli’s The Bridge; Alejandro Cerrudo’s Little mortal jump, One Thousand Pieces, and PACOPEPEPLUTO; Sonia Dawkins’ Ripple Mechanics; Ulysses Dove’s Serious Pleasures; Nacho Duato’s Jardí Tancat and Rassemblement; William Forsythe’s In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, New Suite, and One Flat Thing, reproduced; Kiyon Gaines’ Sum Stravinsky; Paul Gibson’s The Piano Dance; Ronald Hynd’s The Sleeping Beauty; Jiri Kylian’s Petite Mort and Sechs Tänze (Six Dances); Jessica Lang’s The Calling and Her Door to the Sky; Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Cendrillon and Roméo et Juliette; Susan Marshall’s Kiss; Mark Morris’ Pacific; Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Before After and Cylindrical Shadows; Crystal Pite’s The Seasons’ Canon, Emergence and Plot Point; Brian Reeder’s Lost Language of the Flight Attendant; Alexei Ratmansky’s Pictures at an Exhibition; Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun, The Concert, Dances at a Gathering, Fancy Free, Glass Pieces, Opus 19/The Dreamer, and West Side Story Suite; Kent Stowell’s Carmina Burana, Cinderella, Nutcracker, Silver Lining, and Swan Lake; Susan Stroman’s TAKE FIVE…More or Less; Twyla Tharp’s Afternoon Ball, Brief Fling, In the Upper Room, Nine Sinatra Songs, and Waterbaby Bagatelles; and Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain pas de deux, Carousel (A Dance), and Polyphonia. He has also performed Marco Goecke’s solo Mopey and Molissa Fenley’s solo State of Darkness. Mr. Moore originated leading roles in Andrew Bartee’s arms that work, Caniparoli’s The Seasons, Cerrudo’s Memory Glow, Kiyon Gaines’ Do. Not. Obstruct. and Interrupted Pri’si’zhen, Gibson’s Mozart Pieces and Sense of Doubt, Marco Goecke’s Place a Chill, Benjamin Millepied’s 3 Movements, Morris’ Kammermusik No. 3, Justin Peck’s Debonair, Victor Quijada’s Suspension of Disbelief, Price Suddarth’s The Intermission Project, Tharp’s Opus 111 and Waiting at the Station, and Christopher Wheeldon’s Tide Harmonic, and featured roles in Dominique Dumais’ Time and other Matter and Christopher Stowell’s Quick Time.
In 2019, Mr. Moore co-founded Seattle Dance Collective (SDC) with Noelani Pantastico. The initial impetus came from their mutual desire to curate shows enabling them to work directly with certain choreographers and perform specific pieces that, to date, had eluded them. Their mission quickly expanded to include a commitment to create unique opportunities for dancers and choreographers to collaborate for artistic inspiration and growth. For more information, visit seattledancecollective.org.
-
Amen to that.
-
Paula Citron interviewed Mark Morris for the Ludwig van Toronto newsletter:
-
To me Coppelia at SPAC is the young Megan Fairchild doing all four weekend performances.
-
I can’t remember when this happened — maybe a Bolshoi Ballet program or a Met Live in HD — but the Scotiabank multiplex in Vancouver had people outside handing out vouchers for a free ticket to anything except maybe a live boxing broadcast. I’m surprised the theater didn’t make it good on the spot.
-
Back in the day, you couldn't see from any seat in City Center except for the front row of at least in the Mezzanine. Even before they fixed it, people who experienced NYCB at City Center before the move to Lincoln Center still said many NYCB ballets looked better there.
-
I was there, and I don’t remember Jaffe at all. But the only performances in Western Symphony I remember are the Leclercq and d’Amboise film excerpt from the Balanchine doc and Stephanie Saland in the second movement, also on film.
-
Jeremy Collins from ABT, Isabelle Guerin from POB, Zhana Apuyova from the Mariinsky Ballet, Viviana Durante from the Royal Ballet, and Ronald Perry from DTH were also guests for “Dinner with Balanchine.”
-
What beautiful dancers in the company!
-
There wouldn’t be a Met option in November-December. The house is dark from the end of January-end of February, give or take a couple of days, but it’s used for tech and maybe dress for the productions that will open the second part of the season.
February 2 is when NYCB opened its first Nutcracker.
“Christmas in July” as part of the regular rep might be the only option, but that would also mean schlepping the sets and costumes back and forth across the country. Would they even fit at the Met if they did at BAM? I don’t know what Segerstrom is like.
-
That dark period in February is also used for tech rehearsals for the second half of the Met season. This season, the Met has cut the number of total productions, but they still have the premiere of the “second” opening night of La Forza and the massive Turandot for re-opening week, first performances of Romeo et Juliette and La Rondine in March, El Niño and Fire Shut Up in My Bones in April, and The Hours and Orfeo and Eurydice in May.
It’s got to be a lot more rational schedule, including fewer operas for the chorus to learn/relearn by cutting the number of operas and more performances of the one they have. I’ve wondered if they save more in overtime than they’d earn in ticket sales, and it should give the costume and set people more time and breathing room mid-season to be able to repair, care for, and store the physical productions.
Swan Lake: February 2-4, 9-11, Three Extra Non-Subscription Performances (Feb 4 mat/eve and 10 mat)
in Pacific Northwest Ballet
Posted
I just looked at the schedule again to find that Elizabeth Murphy isn't in the second week casting, either, and Leta Biasucci is listed for tonight's and the Sunday matinee performance.
Leah Terada is listed for tomorrow evening as one of the Act II Pas de trois swans and in the Act I Pas de trois on Sunday. I'm glad to see that she's able to dance.