Helene

Margaret Mullin interviewed Kiyon Gaines for her "Beyond the Barre" podcast: http://www.premierdancenetwork.com/pnb-soloist-kiyon-gaines/ In it, he discusses the program and his plans for this season. At the end of the podcast, Mullin announced those chosen for Next Step 2017: Margaret Mullin (piece for 8 dancers) Jerome Tisserand Guillaume Basso Sarah Pasch Steven Loch Angeli Mamon with Dammiel Cruz

The Boss approves:

On its Facebook Page, PNB linked to a "Pointe Magazine" article on the promotions: http://pointemagazine.com/news/promotions-pacific-northwest-ballet/

Dylan Wald has been designated a "Dance Magazine" dancer "On the Rise": http://dancemagazine.com/inside-dm/magazine/rise-dylan-wald/

Danchig-Waring and Tyler Angle both had prominent roles in "Unframed": they were the partners in the two main pas de deux, in the Elgar (with Sterling Hyltin) and Vasks (with Tiler Peck) respectively.

Eva Kistrup's report of the promotion for her blog on danceviewtimes: http://danceviewtimes.typepad.com/eva_kistrup/2016/10/breaking-news-kizzy-matiakis-promoted-to-principal-dancer-at-rdb.html

Congratulations to her

Rebecca King and Michael Sean Breeden interviewed James Whiteside on their Conversations on Dance podcast. You can download it from iTunes or listen to it from their website, Tendus under a Palm Tree: http://tendusunderapalmtree.com/15-james-whiteside-principal-at-american-ballet-theater/ Among many topics, he describes working with Alexei Ratmansky.

SPECIAL EVENTS FRIDAY PREVIEW Friday, October 28, 5:00 pm The Phelps Center, 301 Mercer St., Seattle PNB’s popular Friday Previews are hour-long studio rehearsals hosted by Artistic Director Peter Boal and PNB artistic staff, featuring Company dancers rehearsing excerpts from upcoming ballets. Tickets are $15. (Note: These events usually sell out in advance.) Friday Previews are sponsored by U.S. Bank. LECTURE SERIES & DRESS REHEARSAL Thursday, November 3 Lecture 6:00 pm, Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at McCaw Hall Dress Rehearsal 7:00 pm, McCaw Hall Join Audience Education Manager Doug Fullington in conversation with Forgotten Land stager Roslyn Anderson during the hour preceding the dress rehearsal, discussing the creative process involved in the development and staging of a ballet. Attend the lecture only or stay for the rehearsal. Tickets are $15 for the lecture, or $30 for the lecture and dress rehearsal, available through the PNB Box Office. PRE-PERFORMANCE LECTURES Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at McCaw Hall Join Audience Education Manager Doug Fullington for a 30-minute introduction to each performance, including discussions of choreography, music, history, design and the process of bringing ballet to the stage. One hour before performances. FREE for ticketholders. POST-PERFORMANCE Q&A Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at McCaw Hall Skip the post-show traffic and enjoy a Q&A with Artistic Director Peter Boal and PNB dancers, immediately following each performance. FREE for ticketholders. YOUNG PATRONS CIRCLE NIGHT Friday, November 11 Join members of PNB’s Young Patrons Circle (YPC) in an exclusive lounge for complimentary wine and coffee before the show and at intermission. YPC is PNB’s social and educational group for ballet patrons ages 21 through 39. YPC members save up to 40% off their tickets. For more information, visit PNB.org/YPC. BOOK SIGNING: Out There – Jonathan Porretta’s Life in Dance Sunday, November 13, 3:15 pm Amusements Gift Shop at McCaw Hall Join award-winning arts journalist Marcie Sillman and PNB principal dancer Jonathan Porretta for a book-signing of Out There: Jonathan Porretta’s Life in Dance. The book’s message – “Be yourself and people will love you for who you are” – comes through clearly in Sillman’s crisp, engaging prose accentuated with exquisite dance photography by Angela Sterling. (Tickets to BRIEF FLING are not required to attend the book-signing.)

PACIFIC NORTHWEST BALLET PRESENTS Featuring works by TWYLA THARP – JIRI KYLIAN – GEORGE BALANCHINE November 4 – 13, 2016 Marion Oliver McCaw Hall 321 Mercer Street at Seattle Center Seattle, WA 98109 Seven performances only! November 4 – 5 at 7:30 pm November 5 at 2:00 pm November 10 – 12 at 7:30 pm November 13 at 1:00 pm SEATTLE, WA – For BRIEF FLING, the second program of its 44th season, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s artistic director Peter Boal selects three contemporary ballet works: Twyla Tharp’s sassy, Scottish-inspired Brief Fling, performed for the first time to live music; Jiri Kylian’s Forgotten Land, inspired by the art of Edvard Munch; and Stravinsky Violin Concerto, George Balanchine’s unmatched visualization of his favorite collaborator’s genius. BRIEF FLING runs for seven performances only, November 4 through 13 at Seattle Center’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Tickets start at $30. For tickets and more information, contact the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, in person at 301 Mercer Street, or online at PNB.org. These performances will mark the first time Twyla Tharp’s Brief Fling will be performed with live orchestra accompaniment: When the ballet premiered in February 1990, it was performed to a then-state-of-the-art recording. It had been Tharp’s wish to have something that could be performed anywhere at any time, so that is how Brief Fling has been presented over the past 26 years. When she was in Seattle for PNB’s AIR TWYLA performances in 2013, Tharp and PNB Music Director and Principal Conductor Emil de Cou commiserated over the fact that the sound quality of the recording had degraded over time, and she expressed her desire to have it performed by the PNB Orchestra. Following a run of roadblocks and an internet search, de Cou eventually tracked down the widow of composer Michel Colombier, who had stored her husband’s legacy in a series of boxes and envelopes, many of them unmarked. Miraculously, Ms. Colombier managed to locate the Brief Fling manuscript, beautifully hand-engraved on fragile onionskin paper, containing all of the original parts that had only been performed once for the recording back in 1989. “It will be an honor to be the second conductor to direct this music and the first to perform it before the public,” said Maestro de Cou. “I know Twyla will be thrilled as well to know that this music that she lovingly choreographed in 1989 will get the hearing that it deserves. I am also so fortunate to have met and befriended Dana Colombier who lost her beloved husband at much too early an age. Dana and her daughters will be with us for these performances and I look forward to introducing them to our PNB family of musicians, dancers, and staff. Without her tireless efforts and generosity we would be looking at trying to clean up a degrading reel-to-reel tape. Now we can all look forward to Brief Fling being performed the way it was meant to be, with great impact, energy, color, and life. And best of all with Michel Colombier’s stunning score performed with the full forces of the PNB Orchestra for the first time.” The line-up for BRIEF FLING will include: Brief Fling Music: Michel Colombier & Percey Grainger (Country Gardens, 1918; Handel in the Strand, 1912) Choreography: Twyla Tharp Staging: Matthew Dibble Original Costume Design: Isaac Mizrahi Original Lighting Design: Jennifer Tipton Running Time: 28 minutes Premiere: February 28, 1990; American Ballet Theatre (San Francisco, California) PNB Premiere: September 27, 2013 Brief Fling was Mikhail Baryshnikov’s last commission from Twyla Tharp during his tenure as artistic director of American Ballet Theatre. The title references both the traditional Scottish dance and a short-lived romance. Isaac Mizrahi’s tartan costumes divide the dancers into clans of blue, red, green, and off-white. In the opening section, two soloist couples in red and a quartet in green punch out syncopated phrases to a military tattoo. The principal couple, clad in blue, performs an extended set of variations to an English folk song backed by the ensemble dancers dressed in off-white. The finale features each clan in succession, compounding into a furioso fugue. The score by Michel Colombier intersperses Percy Grainger’s sunny interpretations of traditional melodies from the United Kingdom with an ominous electronic score. These performances mark the first time Brief Fling has been presented with live musical accompaniment. [Notes courtesy of Twyla Tharp Productions. Used by permission.] Forgotten Land Music: Benjamin Britten (Sinfonia da Requiem, Op. 20, 1939) Choreography: Jiri Kylian Staging: Roslyn Anderson Scenic and Costume Design: Jiri Kylian Lighting Design: Joop Caboort Lighting Re-Design: Kees Tjebbes Running Time: 26 minutes Premiere: April 12, 1981; Stuttgart Ballet PNB Premiere: November 8, 2013 Jiri Kylian, in comparison to composer Benjamin Britten, sees Sinfonia da Requiem as a work of more personal character than a political one—for it is always people who determine the political scene. It is always people and nature who turn the wheel of evolution a little further. East Anglia, a coastline of England slowly submerging under the sea, is the birthplace of Benjamin Britten. The image of land taken over by the sea—together with a painting by Edvard Munch—became the primary inspiration for Kylian’s choreography of Forgotten Land: land—the basis and centre of human existence—is in itself always subject to the eternal metamorphosis and mutation; land, from ancient times bearing the imprints of generations; lands within the memories of human beings, that had to be forgotten because of political struggle; lands destroyed by nature or human negligence; wishful lands that have only emerged in our dreams; lands of promise and illusion. [Notes courtesy of the Kylian Foundation. Used by permission.] Stravinsky Violin Concerto Music: Igor Stravinsky (Concerto in D for Violin and Orchestra, 1931) Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust Staging: Paul Boos and Colleen Neary Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli Running Time: 25 minutes Premiere: June 18, 1972; New York City Ballet (Stravinsky Festival) PNB Premiere: March 5, 1986 The premiere of Stravinsky Violin Concerto was one of the glorious highlights of the Stravinsky Festival that George Balanchine hosted at the New York State Theater in June 1972. Accounts of that time in Balanchine’s life all testify to the enormous creative energy he brought to the task of celebrating the life and work of his old friend and longtime collaborator, who had died the year before. Although Balanchine many years earlier had choreographed a ballet, Balustrade, to the Concerto in D for Violin and Orchestra that Stravinsky had composed in 1931, for the 1972 festival he approached the still-tantalizing score with absolute freshness and produced an entirely new work which immediately took its place among his masterpieces. Lincoln Kirstein called it a “blockbuster” and even Balanchine acknowledged uncharacteristically that it was “well done.” In the tradition of spare, dislocated classicism that Balanchine had begun with The Four Temperaments (to a score by Hindemith) in 1946 and developed in total collaboration with Stravinsky in Agon a decade later, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, according to writer Nancy Goldner, was “the most visual music composition Balanchine…ever choreographed. …[T]o do it he had to discombobulate bodies and manipulate the ensemble to a degree he [had] never attempted before.” But, for all its density, for many viewers Stravinsky Violin Concerto is a more accessible work than Agon, with its sportive, almost rambunctious, opening Toccata movement, its joyous evocation of tribal ritual in the concluding Capriccio, and its central pair of contrasting Arias where Balanchine makes stunningly clear that so-called “abstract” movement can tell deep truths about the male/female relationship. The ballet is also a great favorite of dancers (in PNB Founding Artistic Director Francia Russell’s words, “one of the Balanchine works they would kill to be in!”). As well as being a tremendous intellectual and physical challenge, it is fun to dance and, in the final movement, generates an unusually powerful sense of communal identity. [Notes by Jeanie Thomas; edited by Doug Fullington.]

From the way he treated the young Somova, also caught on film, when he was the head of the Mariinsky, I tend to doubt this is driven by the company he is running.

Many thanks -- I couldn't hear it very well.

Taking out one company at a time.

Pre-recorded segments and some live segments that are up on the company Facebook Pages should be available until at least November 4: Western Australian Ballet -- Company class Ballets de Monte Carlo -- Company class Nederlands Dans Theater -- Lightfoot rehearsal Birmingham Royal Ballet -- scroll to see two short clips Dutch National Ballet -- "La Bayadere" rehearsal, interviews English National Ballet -- Scroll to see the making of Akram Khan's "Giselle" Finnish National Ballet -- Scroll to see the three segments totally around 18 minutes Norwegian National Ballet -- Tour of studios, rehearsals Polish National Ballet -- Interviews, "La Bayadere" rehearsal Scottish Ballet -- Scroll to see rehearsal of Sophie Laplane's "Sibilo" Stuttgart Ballet -- Rehearsal of the "Taming of the Shrew" Royal Danish Ballet -- Rehearsal of "Giselle" Royal Swedish Ballet -- Mini tour starting from the roof of the Opera House and rehearsal, including from Frank Andersen's and Dinna Bjorn's reconstruction of Bournonville's "Pontinella"? a ballet not performed since the original and reconstructed from Bournonville's notes. The Swedish Royal Ballet's website is down, and I can't find any references to it or the contemporary ballet at the end of the rehearsal by an Israeli choreographer and in which there is lots of shrieking. Vienna State Ballet -- Rehearsal of Proietto's "Blanc" Boston Ballet -- Company class, with Christopher Stowell as guest teacher Miami City Ballet -- Rehearsal of "Divertimento No. 15" and interviews -- move the slider/timer button to about 10 mins to see the video Ballet Nacional Sodre -- Workshops and rehearsal (in Spanish) Pacific Northwest Ballet -- Scroll to see excerpts from Opening Night (Millepied's "# Movements" and "Appassionata" and Balanchine's "Symphony in C") Note: some are lagging, and I've gone by the descriptions on the Facebook Pages. Also, others don't have a link to the actual video, so you have to find the page and scroll for the video. San Francisco Ballet promises that the recording will be published to its Facebook Page, YouTube channel, and website page: https://www.sfballet.org/season/events/2016-world-ballet-day Links are embedded in the second post to Facebook Pages of companies who've yet to link to their segments.

Here's the link to a short coaching session for the beginning solo in the First Movement of "Symphony in C" with Peter Boal and Carrie Imler, recorded in the PNB studios: https://www.facebook.com/PNBallet/videos/10154175268593952/ Here's the link to the pre-recorded Opening Night segment that was streamed during San Francisco Ballet's segment today; it will be available through November 4 only: https://www.facebook.com/PNBallet/

From PNB's Facebook Page: Please note: there have been major problems reported with the streaming from the World Ballet Day website. The best way to watch is from the companies' Facebook Pages. Click this link to San Francisco Ballet's Facebook Page (if the embedded link goes out again).

They're switched to YouTube's newly-launched rival, Facebook Livestreaming.

Composer Nico Muhly may have come up with the title for "Clear, Loud, Bright, Forward," Benjamin Millepied's work for the opening and gala program of Paris Opera Ballet's 2015-16 season, but it might as well be the title of Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai's documentary about the lead-up and making of the ballet, "Releve," which I saw under the English title, "Reset," presented last night at SIFF's "French Cinema Now" mini-fest and introduced by PNB's Artistic Director, Peter Boal. It was a near-perfect description of the Benjamin Millepied portrayed in the document. Needless to say, "Clear, Loud, Bright, and Forward," inevitably clashed with the institution. It wasn't just the bureaucracy, represented by the Director of the Opera, Stephane Lissner, who insisted that the money is better used for productions than fixing things in the theater that were broken, but also the carpentry shop head (?), a caricature of passive aggressiveness, who asked a question over and over, thinking he'd run out the clock to get the answer he wanted, and the dancers, even those among Millepied's chosen, who had it bred into them that suffering made them strong and only the weak speak up. "Les bancs" (the benches) was one verbal theme; "Where's Benjamin?" was another, voiced continually by Millepied's assistant, the indefatigable former dancer, Virginia Gris. (Following her hair and clothing would have made the documentary in itself.) It's interesting that the villains in this case are more bureaucratic, and, with that always looming, there is assistant Benjamin Pech and a former dancer from the previous generation turned stage manager, who might quietly agree, but aren't stepping out on a limb, at least in this film. They know the institution more intimately than Millepied, an outsider from Lyon and SAB. The filmmakers stay away from making it gossipy -- unless this is gossipy for France, and I'm misunderstanding the cultural norms -- and lets what's being said, in words and/or in looks, sink in. Natalie Portman is seen once, and if you look closely around his office, there's some art-made-for-daddy (by his son) on his bulletin board. The lead dancers, particularly the current etoiles, who are said to be detractors, are rarely seen; if I remember correctly, only Aurelie Dupont, who's taken over for Millepied, speaks, and that's to a dancer in the piece, and she is positive and encouraging. When it comes to movement, the camera is all over the place: more is striking and beautiful, but there were some segments that made me sea-sick. The inevitable answer is voiced by Millepied's long-time friend from the Lyon conservatory where they both trained: when it stops being fun, he will leave. Millepied announced he would leave just months after the gala. Which isn't to say the documentary shows him neglecting the administrative side, even if he didn't actively embrace it, although there was one scene where Gris tries to get information from him, and he is focused on what's playing on his laptop; I could only think of the movie "Big" where Elizabeth Perkins is trying to have a grown-up conversation with Tom Hanks, who is distracted by toys. However, when Millepied is joined by Nico Muhly, who alternates between a serious goofball and seriously serious, and the young conductor Maxime Pascal, who is channeling the music and the choreography, and then British lighting designer Lucy Carter and the team from United Visual Artists, even with the angsty question of whether Millepied could finish on time, the joy of working is infectious. In the studio, Millepied is demanding in a quiet way, but he's also trying to encourage his dancers to move, and to move individually, contrary to everything that's been drilled into them as dancers at the lower levels. I came away thinking it was a shame for the company that it didn't work out for him, but perhaps Dupont is a better transitional director to at least get the company into at least the beginning of the 21st century. When Millepied premiered "3 Movements" for PNB, many people spoke of the resemblances to "West Side Story," and the same was true of the revival in the last two weeks, along with the last ballet Millepied made for Paris. I think Millepied would have thrived in Robbins' situation at NYCB: given a free hand with dancers, studio time, production resources, and musical collaborators, but, in his case, creating a positive environment to create and move. I'm not so sure about the central pas de deux, which I liked better in rehearsal footage, but the corps works in "Clear, Loud, Bright, Forward" and the score make me want to see this ballet here, now.

The stream has not been working from the World Ballet Day site. The companies have been streaming from their Facebook Pages. The final segment, hosted by San Francisco Ballet, can be viewed from this link:

The San Francisco Ballet segment has started on World Ballet Day. The segment can be streamed from San Francisco Ballet's Facebook Page: The stream has not been working properly on the World Ballet Day site.

You can access the live stream from the website: http://worldballetday.com/ or the National Ballet of Canada Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=national ballet of canada As I type, Alexei Ratmansky is rehearsing his new "Fairy's Kiss." And lot's of little hearts are floating across the page...

With IPS going to the cloud, there are a lot more incremental upgrade/bug fix changes that are going to be deployed more frequently than in the past, when everything is server-based. As anyone with Android phones or iPhones (or corresponding tablets) has experienced, programs are updated with increasing frequency. These upgrades seem to take no more than a minute to apply, and the small ones we've seen so far might impact a few posts, but probably will impact none. There's one ready right now that I'm going to ask be applied: it won't necessarily happen right away. If I can give advanced notice I will; by the time I post, it could be over, though.

The stream can be accessed from the WBD home page. (scrolll) http://worldballetday.com

More info from yesterday's World Ballet Day email -- remember, it starts this evening, October 3, in North America, because it will be October 4 in Australia, where the event begins. We go live in less than 24 hours for World Ballet Day 2016! We hope you are all ready to get involved; dance along with us and send us your pictures using the hashtag #WorldBalletDay. You can watch the full stream on the World Ballet Day website. This year we are thrilled to announce that the below list of guest companies will also be joining us on the day by live streaming on their own Facebook pages throughout the 20 hours: The Australian Ballet Hong Kong Ballet Queensland Ballet Western Australia Ballet The Bolshoi Ballet Ballets de Monte Carlo Nederlands Dans Theater The Royal Ballet Birmingham Royal Ballet Dutch National Ballet English National Ballet Estonian National Ballet Finnish National Ballet La Scala Ballet Company Northern Ballet Norwegian National Opera & Ballet Polish National Ballet Scottish Ballet Stuttgart Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Swedish Ballet Wiener Staatsballett National Ballet of Canada Boston Ballet Miami Ballet San Francisco Ballet Ballet Nacional Sodre Pacific Northwest Ballet