Helene

I just saw these performances this weekend, and the highlight for me, by far, was Tiler Peck in First Movement of "Symphony in C." That was glorious, for the ages dancing

Lucky San Francisco: I've seen Ulrik Birkkjaer dance, and he's terrific!

Congratulations to her! Also Ulrik Birkkjaer -- lucky SFB!

I always hear a bagpipe making those chords

Also, to be clear, this is not an issue of civility or meant to stifle criticism about the Romanovs. It is about our firm policy: Politics and religion are off-limits unless they are part of a ballet issue, like NEA funding for the arts or religious symbolism in a work.

And what @jsmu said!

When you made that comment about the triple bill in the Q&A @jsmu, I was sitting next to Sandi and whispering my "Amen," but given my bad ear, I couldn't tell from what direction your voice was coming. I had no idea I'd meet you, and I so glad I did! What's remarkable is that Peter Boal mentioned that this triple bill wasn't planned this way: I thought I remembered some mention last spring of "La Source" being part of the all-French opening bill, and Boal said he specifically didn't want "La Source" and "Opus 19: The Dreamer" on the same program, because he was staging both, although he did joke that the Stage Manager's warning was that he was cutting into his own time, not another stager's. But we got serendipity. Back when I used to go to NYCB all the time, I took this kind of rich, thought-provoking program for granted. It wasn't the total immersion of the all-Forsythe program from a couple of years back, but nearly half the company -- 22 dancers in 2.2 casts -- are dancing this work, at least that number got to work with Wendy Whelan, and Ratmansky himself came for two days. It was noted several times in the Q&A's and also by Doug Fullington in his excellent pre-performance presentation that the three ballerinas in "La Source" trained at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and at least Leta Biasucci and Carrie Imler danced in the corps of this ballet at CPYB. I would have loved to have seen the fourth company member of that group, Carli Samuelson, in the soloist role: she caught my eye repeatedly from the corps, exuding the style. I understand why Angelica Generosa is so suited to the soloist role made for Suki Schorer: her size and speed make her a natural. Elle Macy is tall, and while she looked like she could use more space, particularly going backwards, she did something I rarely see: she danced as if she was barely touching the ground, despite the all the shifts of direction and weight. It was like Bournonville, danced through the bar lines. That was baked into the man's variations -- in Doug Fullington's lecture demonstrations, you can see that ur-French heritage that Bournonville brought to Denmark and Petipa brought to Russia in the notated male variations -- but it was a choice in her solos. And those sweeping assembles! Macy has been having a spectacular season, from "Appasionata," to the Mother/Fairy Godmother in "Cendrillon," to "Empire Noir," to "La Source," to the Mearns role in "Pictures at an Exhibition." I've only seen Mearns live once, but have read many descriptions of her dancing, in which she's described as riding the edge close to the precipice, and this is exactly how Macy danced "The Gnome" solo. In the same solo, Noelani Pantastico was intensity personified: centered, focused, and laser-like. Rachel Foster and Leta Biasucci both reveled in the darting "Tuileries" solo made on Tiler Peck, and Jerome Tisserand and Steven Loch were a wonderful contrast in theirs: Tisserand bounding and slyly humorous and Loch sharp and driving. Kyle Davis and Price Suddarth were both charming in the solo leading into "Ballad of the Unhatched Chicks," a quintet for the men. I loved "Pictures at an Exhibition" more than I can express. It hit me where I live. Baryshnikov said he thought "Opus 19: The Dreamer" was autobiographical, but between Baryshnikov as manifest content and Jerome Robbins' inner demons, it could have been called "Mishegas." Despite being very different dancers, both James Moore and Benjamin Griffiths gave muscular, plush, grounded performances as The Dreamer. Especially in the stiff turns in place, they reminded me of the swaddled Apollo, before Balanchine, in what I can only think of as a dyspeptic moment, castrated his ballet. Noelani Pantastico as Moore's partner, took the ballet and made the woman its center with strength and intensity and sheer demand. Rachel Foster as Griffiths' was no less dramatic, but there was more give and take, and rather than being the demon, she had demons of her own. Dylan Wald and Sarah Ricard Orza couldn't have been more different: elongated and remote, they were almost ephemeral children of Morpheus, and whether he'd wake was more in question. The music is an absolute highlight. Doug Fullington told us that back-in-the-day, they published piano scores, not orchestra scores, for many ballets, and when they would travel, companies were responsible for their own orchestrations. For Delibes' music for "La Source," PNB used Delibes' own scores, which are in the Library of Congress. Kudos to PNB for continuing to reclaim more original ballet scores. The orchestra's colors and rhythms in the Prokofiev Violin Concerto No. 1 were magnificent, as was Concertmaster Michael Jinsoo Lim's solo playing. Ratmansky used the original piano score for "Pictures at an Exhibition," and Allan Dameron's playing was splendid. We are a privileged community not only to have a live orchestra, but this live orchestra and these soloists. I can't wait until second weekend. The company is dancing and the musicians are playing this dream program at a crazy high level.

I'm sorry I didn't see this earlier: I'm supposed to get an email each time a thread is opened, so that I can be sure to follow it. Just don't go there. I'm not sure there's a place anyone should, but it's certainly not here.

One of the things I've noticed from doing the Calendar is that unless PACs do a website overhaul, the categories remain static. I go in each year hoping to find lots of ballet in the ballet category, but, alas.

I would love to blame this on auto-correct, but .

She is like Scheherezade, trying to save her kingdom by keeping him distracted. This King, though, is a dim bulb, and wouldn't remember yesterday, let alone two days ago, if he had cue cards.

I've done some poking to match up the PNB casts to the originals. Gretchen Smith/Adrian Danchig-Waring: Sarah Ricard Orza/Seth Orza; Leah Merchant/Joshua Grant Sara Mearns/Amar Ramassar: Noelani Pantastico/Jerome Tisserand; Elle Macy/Steven Loch Wendy Whelan/Tyler Angle: Elizabeth Murphy/Karel Cruz; Lesley Rausch/Batkhurel Bold; Lindsi Dec/Miles Pertl (Week 2) Abi Stafford/Joseph Gordon: Carrie Imler/Jonathan Porretta; Angelica Generosa/James Moore Tiler Peck/Gonzalo Garcia: Rachel Foster/Kyle Davis; Leta Biasucci/Price Suddarth I also found this photo from the NYT review of the premiere in 2014, and the costumes look a lot more colorful and vivid than they did under the lighting:

And a photo of Kyle Davis and Rachel Foster:

What a great photo! From left to right: Karel Cruz, Elizabeth Murphy, Kyle Davis, Otto Neubert, Rachel Foster, Seth Orza, Wendy Whelan, Sarah Ricard Orza, Carrie Imler, Jonathan Porretta, Jerome Tisserand, Noelani Pantastico A clip from "Dance of the Unhatched Chicks":

A reminder that reviews written by professionals can be discussed in the "Writings on Ballet" forum. The company forums are for members to describe what we see. Links to other discussion boards are not permitted on Ballet Alert!

I need to get up early to see "The Dumb Girl of Porcini" at Seattle International Film Festival and then the ballet doubleheader of "Pictures at an Exhibition", so I can't write much, but the company performed all three works tonight spectacularly. I was thinking of this program as a version of "Jewels," in which the "La Source" was French and "Pictures at an Exhibition" was Russian which would make "Opus 19: The Dreamer" Russian-tinged American. And to fit this square peg into a round hole, I decided that it was about Baryshnikov transitioning from Russia to America, with a little (lot of) help from Patricia McBride. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it

A lovely photo of Imler in flight: One of the ones that got away was the Verdy role in "Emeralds." Of course, we got to see her glorious "Diamonds" instead.

[Admin beanie on] No sideways or veiled accusations, however humorously meant. [Admin beanie off]

Seattle's last chance to see Carrie Imler and Batkhurel Bold is everyone's chance: PNB will live stream the Encores program on June 11, 6:30pm Pacific Time/9:30pm Eastern Time. Program: Theme and Variations (excerpt) -- Carrie Imler and Batkhurel Bold Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust 3 Movements Music: Steve Reich Choreography: Benjamin Millepied Nine Sinatra Songs (excerpt: “Something Stupid”) -- Carrie Imler and Jonathan Porretta Music: Sung by Frank Sinatra Choreography: Twyla Tharp Cinderella (Act III pas de deux) -- Batkhurel Bold and Lesley Rausch Music: Sergei Prokofiev Choreography: Kent Stowell “Folly” à deux Pièce d’occasion featuring Carrie Imler and Jonathan Porretta Music: Philip Glass Choreography: Kiyon Gaines Carousel (A Dance) Music: Richard Rodgers Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon Swan Lake (Black Swan pas de deux) -- Carrie Imler and Batkhurel Bold Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Choreography: Kent Stowell (after Marius Petipa)

James Whiteside interviewed his dressing room mate Cory Stearns for his podcast, "The Stage Rightside with James Whiteside." Isabella Boylston makes a guest appearance towards the end: http://www.premierdancenetwork.com/the-cocomotion/

Here is the downloadable spreadsheet for weeks 1-2: Pictures at an Exhibition -- Weeks 1-23 May 31.xlsx

Welcome to Ballet Alert! Rosalia!

Hi ABT Folks, We got a query today, I'm sure at least some of you know, and I'd appreciate it if you would post the way(s) here.