Helene

Good for Vishneva! It takes guts to speak out, whether involved in the ballet or not.

That is very true, but it's also what stagers say they go back to, when they need to confirm something.

So either Serebrennikov's statement is ironic, or no one who is speaking isn't speaking out of both sides of their mouth.

[Admin voice on] Do not discuss each other. Discuss the topic at hand. [Admin voice off]

There are photos of the opening of Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center (TUPAC) on Saturday, July 8 at this link: http://features.crosscut.com/tacoma-urban-performing-arts-center

The press release: BALLET WEST INVITED TO RETURN TO THE JOYCE THEATER IN NEW YORK CITY THIS FALL SALT LAKE CITY – July 11, 2017 – Following its sold-out debut in 2015, Ballet West has been invited to return to the renowned Joyce Theater, October 11-14 for five performances. The Company will return with two New York premieres: Resident Choreographer Nicolo Fonte’s powerful Fox on the Doorstep and Val Caniparoli’s dynamic Dances for Lou. Both works premiered at the National Choreographic Festival this May and were hailed by audiences and critics alike as exciting new additions to the Ballet West repertoire. Along with an excerpt from George Balanchine’s lush Chaconne, a preview excerpt by Spanish choreographer Africa Guzman will round out the program; her full ballet will premiere as part of Ballet West’s 2018 National Choreographic Festival. “We are thrilled to return to The Joyce,” said CEO and Artistic Director Adam Sklute. “Unique and inspiring new creations by great choreographers have become one of the hallmarks of our repertoire, and we are proud to present them to New York audiences. I also hope New York will appreciate our commitment to the work of George Balanchine, which holds such a strong historical place with Ballet West.” The cost of the tour has been partially underwritten by a lead gift from the Quinney Family. “The Quinney Family are longtime friends of Ballet West. We are most grateful for the multi-generational relationships with the family and the collective vision we share for the Company,” said Sklute. Speaking on behalf of the family, Frederick Q. Lawson said, “This tour to New York is a most exciting opportunity for Ballet West, and will once again show to the world the beauty, grace, and talent we exalt in Utah.” Limited number of tickets are now on sale and start at just $10 and can be purchased by calling 212-242-0800 or online at www.joyce.org. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City

For that period, at least there are some videos, a few PBS, and others in company libraries, usually single-camera affairs that, hopefully, have been transferred to digital, but that also has it's limitations.

Serebrennikov seems like the only one who isn't talking out of both sides of his mouth or hiding under a rock.

Anna Netrebko, whose picture is in the dictionary next to womanly sophistication, has said she is 180 degrees from Tatiana in 'Eugene Onegin," and she is one of the greatest Tatianas around. I have a lot of faith in Ms. Mearns.

They do, but you don't want to have to rely on a Mahler to revive Mozart or a Bernstein to revive Mahler, or out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

I'm sure it was "Voluntaries" that I saw. I moved to Seattle after "Lilac Garden" and "Alice," but I got to see National Ballet of Canada perform it in NYC, with Karen Kain and the young Rex Harrington. I don't remember seeing any Taylor in Seattle, but that could be my memory. I miss seeing Tudor and Tetley. Unfortunately, there are few companies keeping the lifeline going, unlike Balanchine and, to a lesser but still strong extent, Robbins.

Almost all of Kent Stowell's works have been gradually dropped by Peter Boal's regime. I don't have my data with me, but I think the only short(ish) Stowell ballets performed under Boal have been "Carmina Burana," and maybe "Hail to the Conquering Hero," and possibly "Firebird." Gradually the full-lengths have been dropped and/or replaced, leaving only "Swan Lake." But it's not just the Stowell rep that has been dropped: we've lost the Tetley "Rite of Spring," a star vehicle for Jonathan Porretta and Batkhurel Bold -- our "Rite" has been Fenley's solo "State of Darkness" -- and, IIRC, another Tetley, Tudor's "Dark Elegies," the one-act "Paquita," and some Balanchine ballets we saw under R&S, like "Mozartiana," "Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet," "Tchaikovsky PDD," for example. I know I'm missing a bunch.

It really wasn't about Kabby Mitchell, III, Dancer, but about Kabby Mitchell, III, Mensch. It was about his generosity as a teacher, mentor, colleague, social justice warrior, friend, founder, and bigamist: at least 2/3 of the women said they were his wife It was about his smile, his eyes, his honesty, his sarcasm, his humor, his laugh, his love of family, food, friends, justice, community. It was about the man who, as Francia Russell described, bored and playing a Capulet, found a huge, blond fright wig and wore it onstage. Hearing her heels in an attempt to grab him at his exit, he exited the other way. As he realized that she realized what he had done and headed the other way, he did another zig. Back and forth until she caught up with him, and then they both burst into laughter and couldn't stop. It was about the man who, when after he'd been teaching, a disabled student started to cry, and when he asked what was wrong, the student, who had Cerebral Palsy, was bereft about not being able to do the movement. The next day, he taught choreography from the waist up. It was a celebration of a life that was cut way too short.

Here it is, downloaded from the STG site:

In trying to find an online version of the photo that was in the program, I found this wonderful photo from "City Arts": http://www.cityartsmagazine.com/articles/memoriam-kabby-mitchell-iii

My phone doesn't want to transfer screen shots of the program, so I'll write it out here: KABBY MITCHELL, III Celebration of Life Sunday, July 9, 2017 Master of Ceremony Bertram Johnson, Minister of Advocacy, Justice and Change -- Riverside Church, NYC Sacred Drum Circle Etienne Cakpo, Thione Diop, Yaw Amponsah, Mohammed Shaibu, Kokou Gbakenou Libations Makeda Ebube He Has Never Failed Me Yet Total Experience Gospel Choir Led by Pastor Patrinell Wright Seattle Mayor, Edward Murray Warrior Spirits Walking the Earth NW Tap Connection, Melba Ayco, Director Shaina Mitchell, Alex Jackson, Dani Long & ensemble Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates Co-Founder, The Conciliation Project Que! 3rd movement Choreography by Kabby Mitchell, III ARC Dance Company, Marie Chong, Artistic Director Mark David Bloodgood, Alice Cao, Erin Crall, Diana Crowder, Ethan Schweitzer-Gaslin, special appearance by Erricka S. Turner and Bertram Johnson Francia Russell Co-Artistic Director, Pacific Northwest Ballet, 1977-2005 Smoke and Tequila Choreographed by Alex Crozier Spectrum Dance Theater, Donald Byrd Artistic Director Performed by Lena Silverman Video Tribute to Kabby Mitchell III Dr. Gilda Sheppard, Faculty, The Evergreen State College Edited by David Cramton Hallelujah Vorece Miller Edna Daigre, Founder Ewajo Dance Center Chaconne choreographed by José Limón Dance Theater of Harlem Artistic Director, Virginia Johnson Performed by DTH Company member, Da'Von Doane The Evergreen State College Dr. W. Joye Hardiman, Professor Emeritus, Arts & Humanities George Bridges, Ph.D, President Kenneth Tabbutt, Ph.D, Interim Provist Dr. Maxime Mimms, Emerita Faculty, Tacoma Campus Co-Founder Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center (TUPAC) Klair Etheridge, Director, Kabby Mitchell, III, Artistic Director Musical Tribute Owuor Arunga & Josephine Howell Josh LaBelle, Executive Director Seattle Theatre Group Ricardo Frazer, Board President, Seattle Theatre Group ------------------------------------------------ Reception Immediately Following ------------------------------------------------ Special Thanks Seattle Theatre Group, staff, board, volunteers, and crew Pacific Northwest Ballet Dilettante Chocolates Tom Douglas Catering Kabby Mitchell, III Artist, Cultural Ambassador, Trailblazer, Educator, Friend! December 31, 1956 -- May 4, 2017 Forever in our hearts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Tacoma Urban Performing Arts Center was Kabby's dream. Please support his legacy by contributing to the GoFundMe campaign, https://www.gofundme.com/kabby-mitchell-iii-tupac ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ THANK YOU! Kabby's Family (In attendance) Patricia & James Corbert, George & Colleen Everly, Noah James Everly, Jurnee Rose Everly, Kabby Mitchell, IV, & Melissa Everly, Kabby Mitchell Everly, V, Varonica Marzett Kabby Mitchell, IV spoke, as did another nephew (if I understood correctly)

Not the Jose Limon Dance Company, but Virginia Johnson spoke at the Celebration of Life for Kabby Mitchell III today in Seattle, and she brought DTH company member Da'Von Doane, who danced Jose Limon's solo "Chaconne" to music by JS Bach.

Guests are a lot different than being a permanent member of the company, though. Lynn Seymour wrote in her memoir that one of her favorite fellow classmates at the school, Marcia Haydee, would not be allowed into the Royal Ballet, because she wasn't from a Commonwealth country. Membership requirements in the EU weren't defined until 1993, and before that, Great Britain wasn't among the six founding members, which were Germany, France, Italy, and Benelux. Of course, what will happen after Brexit is still to be negotiated.

I think the suppression of "Nureyev" is very much in the context that Mashinka describes.

PNB also has first-rep-after-Nutcracker promotions, if they don't come at the beginning of the year; this may be money-related.

I just got an email from Seattle Theatre Group with this info:

Maybe because I was brought up on George Jellinek's "The Vocal Scene," and because opera was so much more accessible when I was growing up, between weekly Met opera live broadcasts five-six months of the year, copious recordings, and lots of it on the radio -- NYC had three classical music stations at the time, and they all reached New Jersey -- I was exposed to many generations of singers, and I never thought that the singers I grew up listening to were the best or the worst, but that there were good ones and greats ones now and then. As much as I loved ballet more, once it was no longer on TV via Ed Sullivan, Bell Telephone Hour, and Firestone Theater, with no VHS at the time, I only got to see it (live) rarely until my 20's. As much as I loved those dancers, especially the NYCB dancers who were dancing in a fever after Balanchine's death, and having seen only a few visiting ballet companies, including the Royal Ballet in not its finest years, and the Paris Opera Ballet performing a lot of silliness (aside from "Palais de Cristal"), my youthful misconception was that NYC was the center of the ballet universe, with perhaps a nod to the Soviet companies. Then I saw the much-maligned Pacific Northwest Ballet "Nutcracker" movie at a sparsely attended showing in NYC, and I discovered Patricia Barker, which blew that theory out of the water. While there are performances from my 7x a week standing room habit in my 20's that I consider benchmarks, I have been thrilled to see many great dancers since. But given how I was raised on opera, where some of my favorite recordings are from the first decade of the 20th century, I'm just as interested in dancers that I've only seen on film. Oh,, yes, "Ballet Imperial."

When there is a great choreographer around, the dancing is often elevated, with dancers applying what they've learned and being energized. It's when there's a period of mediocre new work that the burden falls on the dancers, and I think they're very exposed during those times, especially when they're not part of a school that is dedicated to producing dancers to do old works. Edited to add: Plus, there's only so long that dancers can shine when they're dancing mediocre and substandard works that don't even have the virtue of being vehicles to make them look good.

If I had to pick past decades as a Golden Age, it would the period where you could see* Nerina, Beriosova, Kolpakova, (towards the end) Soloviev, Kronstam, Adams, Leclerq, Kent, Verdy, and Wilde on stage any given night, all dancers I've only seen on film. (I would have loved to have seen the Shearer "Theme"). Verdy and Kronstam were at the end of their careers in the '70's, but when I was growing up, people said the dancers in the '70's and '80's were fine, but nothing like the generation before them. *I know I'll spend the next two weeks remembering the dancers I've left off this list. I've seen many great dancers in every decade since the '70's. I've just had to not put all of my eggs in one basket company-wise.

[Admin beanie on] I wish this weren't necessary, especially for people who have been here a long time, but, here goes again: Do not, I mean do not, post non-public-facing comments from non-ballet professionals from other boards, blogs, social media, etc. on Ballet Alert! Reporting such posts would be helpful, but isn't obligatory. However responding to a post like that is in the same territory. I won't even bother editing them but will go straight to delete the entire post. [Admin beanie off]