Helene

Thanks to the heads up from volcanohunter, we have the update that the performance of "Le Corsaire" on June 12 will be the matinee performance instead of the early evening performance, and it will begin 9:00am ET (6am PT): http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/40730-le-corsaire-live-stream-bavarian-state-ballet/?p=370541 Click on the link for casting details, including the dancers who will be leaving the company with Zelensky's arrival next season.

From PNB's Facebook Page, an excerpt from "Fancy Free" with Jonathan Porretta, James Moore, and Seth Orza: https://www.facebook.com/PNBallet/videos/vb.21358443951/10153861310618952/

A new American Stories blog post: Helen Lee

Before I saw "Horizons," a documentary about three generations of Cuban ballet -- Alicia Alonso, Viengsay Valdes, and the young student, Amanda de Jesus Perez Duarte -- Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) aired "Reborn," a short film featuring Lauren Cuthbertson, with her voiceovers describing her recovery from serious injury and how happy she is to be dancing again. Director was Andrew Margetson. https://www.nowness.com/series/portrait-of-a-dancer/lauren-cuthbertson-reborn-the-royal-ballet-london

I wonder if that's the origin of horcruxes in the Harry Potter stories.

There's been a casting update on the PNB site for second weekend "Square Dance": Pantastico has moved from Friday to Thursday, and Biasucci now is cast Friday-Sunday. Their partners haven't been switched, which I think might have been an oversight.

PNB re-tweeted a "Pointe Magazine" tweet with a photo of Kylee Kitchens and a link to its short but poignant interview with the retiring soloist:

Madison Sugg, who danced with Ballet West before joining Pacific Northwest Ballet this season, danced "Square Dance" with the caller and described her experience in her "American Stories" blog post on the PNB site: http://blog.pnb.org/2016/05/madison-sugg-company-dancer/

The American Stories project blog posts featuring members of the community and the PNB family are up: http://blog.pnb.org/category/american-story/ So far, Karel Cruz Lindsay Thomas Craig Big Eagle Emma Love Sudarth Dylan Wald Gary Tucker The Tisserands Marjorie Thompson Madison Sugg Ryan Schultz Stephanie Reisfeld Norbert Herriges Angelica Generosa Angeli Mammon Damiel Cruz Kate Wallich Cecilia Iliesiu Jessika Anspach Joshua Grant Stephanie Wallach Anne A. Lawrence Joyce Ramee Marsha Bennion Josh Teravest Karen Portzer Rosselle Pekelis Tad Margelli Michael Jinsoo Lim Kristin Ramer Liang Allison Kramer Art Koshi Mari Horita Larae Thiege Hascall Jamon Siefert Terrie Flaming I haven't finished reading them all, but if you read Lindsay Thomas', bring your box of tissues.

Here are links to video rehearsal excerpts and photos (click to enlarge) from each of the works: Olivier Wevers' "A Disagreeable Tale of Duplicity" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_1jO-XAcSE left: Tori Peil and Patrick Kilbane; right: Mia Monteabaro James Gregg's "Into you I go willingly" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHhQ6VDDRL8 Patrick Kilbane and James Kent Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's "Delicious Pesticides" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3D2O__x9_g left: front L-R: Tori Peil, Justin Reiter, Kyle Johnson; back L-R: Jim Kent, Mia Monteabaro, Patrick Kilbane, Thomas Phelan right: Tori Peil, Jim Kent, Justin Reiter, Mia Monteabaro, Patrick Kilbane, Thomas Phelan, Kyle Johnson. Photo Credits: Bamberg Fine Art Video Credits: LEVYfilms

Welcome to Ballet Alert! Electra! There are several reasons to be optimistic. First, there aren't very many schools for modern dance technique, and classical ballet training is considered a requirement for many forms of dance. Many ballet dancers, especially men, have described how they were interested in pursuing other forms of dance while studying ballet, and then the ballet bug bit them. Whether or not individual dancers do, a required ballet foundation means teachers are teaching and ballet technique is going strong. The second is a small but hopefully growing movement to reconstruct Petipa's ballets from a combination of the Stepanov notations, descriptions of the ballets from their premieres and early performances, period lithographs and drawings, original scores, and other source materials from their performance histories. One of the glories of these productions is that mime is restored and storytelling is prized. I'm sure you know Balanchine's Davidsbundlertanze, set to the Schumann piece by the same name, with some direct references to Schumann's life and his relationship with Clara Schumann. I would love to see more ballets set to a wider range of Schumann's music.

Thanks to the generosity of the dancers and choreographers, I was able to see a production week run through of Whim W'him's OUT-spoken program, which premieres this Friday, June 3 at the Cornish Playhouse, and plays Saturday, June 4 and the following Friday-Saturday, June 10-11. http://www.whimwhim.org/performances/ Set to a remix by Dylan Ward of piano version excerpts from Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet," Olivier Wevers' "A Disagreeable Tale of Duplicity" centers around a couple whose relationship is impacted by a range of characters embodied by the rest of the company. James Gregg's "Into you I go willingly" is a pas de deux for Patrick Kilbane and Jim Kent to an atmospheric score. The micromovements that open the piece remind us how much articulation these dancers have in the large, expansive movement that follows. Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's "Delicious Pesticides," for the entire company, with its references to Quentin Tarantino films, shows a unique voice, and I found it a delight.

Welcome to Ballet Alert! matriochkaballerina. We hope you'll tell us about what you see in London, and Moscow!

I think Balanchine's setting of the overture us the most concise and direct example if storytelling in ballets we see today, even if this is a low bar in our mime-deprived four score, since Vagabond did an are job on mime in classical ballets at the Kirov. Balanchine and Ashton created a very different emotional landscape. The beautiful adagio is for Oberon and Titanic in the Ashton. Balanchine's is far less optimistic, and that exquisite music is for Titanic and Bottom. When you raise the Brunnhilde comparison, which is so central to The Ring, both interpretations are apt: Titanic and Oberon's bliss is temporary, like Brunnhilde's and Siegfried's, and, an enchanted ass is Brunnhilde's fate. I'm always reminded of Bergman's "Smiles of a Summer Night" when I see either version.

Giannina was a beloved member of Ballet Alert! and Ballet Talk for Dancers for so many years. I loved to read about performances she saw while visiting family and her warm welcome to new members. My condolences to her husband and children and their families and her friends, including her virtual ones. Rest in peace, Giannina.

I'm pretty sure you read it right, but there are going to be a lot of parents answering a lot of questions if they bring their kids thinking it's going to be anything like "La Fille mal gardee."

Hello missrina, You've posted to Ballet Alert!, a board where we discuss professional ballet performances we've seen live and on film, ballet history and issues, professional dancers, etc. If you see Ballet Arizona perform, we'd love to hear what you think of them. To discuss ballet training, including starting at a later age, you're looking for our sister board, Ballet Talk for Dancers (BT4D): Ballet Talk for Dancers You'll need to register separately. BT4D has different registration and posting policies than we do: for example, they don't accept yahoo, gmail, or hotmail email addresses, but instead school, internet provider, and work, as well as AOL addresses. I urge you to read their policies before registering. Best of luck to you! I'm going to close this thread now.

I saw this in Denmark, and I wouldn't characterize it as a ballet for children.

A press release from PNB: SEATTLE, WA – In conjunction with its upcoming run of AMERICAN STORIES, Pacific Northwest Ballet has launched the “American Stories Project,” an opportunity for members of the PNB family and greater Seattle community to share their own “American stories.” These personal narratives are currently featured on the PNB blog at www.PNB.org/Stories. “We all have stories – incredible stories and no two are alike, and yet the intersections and effects of one upon the other make a fascinating tapestry that becomes our community and in turn our country,” said PNB Artistic Director Peter Boal. “AMERICAN STORIES offers three ballets by three choreographers who found inspiration in the American culture. We have taken a cue from them and are looking at our own stories. They come from kids in our school, members of our company, leaders in our community, and friends and family. People tell their own and those of other members of their family. One tells the story of being from an indigenous tribe who lived on this land before it had a name; another tells of a blight in our history when a relative was forced to live in a Japanese internment camp. There are stories of discrimination, acceptance, hardships and joy, citizenship, recognition of marriage, and of earning the right to vote or to change gender. Telling and listening to each other’s stories helps to create a society of understanding and acceptance. Think about your stories and those around you and let’s celebrate our collective American story.” For AMERICAN STORIES, the final program of its 44th season, PNB presents a triple bill featuring three of the world’s greatest choreographers – George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Twyla Tharp – and their distinctive takes on the American landscape. Balanchine’s homage to American folk dancing, Square Dance, is joined by Robbins’ Fancy Free (the inspiration for the musical On the Town) and, back by popular demand, Tharp’s made-for-PNB Waiting at the Station, featuring music by the late, great jazz legend Allen Toussaint. In his program notes for the AMERICAN STORIES playbill, Mr. Boal shares some of the “American stories” of these three iconic choreographers, as well as choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s tale about coming to this country: “Laid up on his couch in London with a sprained ankle, the young dancer with the Royal Ballet saw an advertisement on television offering free roundtrip airfare to America for the first batch of customers to buy a Hoover vacuum cleaner. Chris knew there was a hardware store on the corner selling Hoovers and grabbed his crutches. A few months later, he landed in New York and never left. From a Brit in New York to a Tony for An American in Paris.” Excerpts of ten other stories are featured in the AMERICAN STORIES playbill: They are included in their entirety online, along with two dozen others, including submissions from PNB dancers, musicians, and administrative staff, as well as members of the community including choreographer Kate Wallich; former Washington Supreme Court Judge Rosselle Pekelis; and President and CEO of ArtsFund, Mari Horita. All of their stories can be read at www.PNB.org/Stories. Readers are also invited to submit their own stories and photos. AMERICAN STORIES runs for seven performances only, June 3 through 12 at Seattle Center’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Tickets start at $30. For tickets or more information, contact the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, in person at 301 Mercer Street, or online at PNB.org. This sounds like a fascinating project. The libretto for Seattle Opera's "An American Dream" was based on stories solicited from the community at large, and it was an excellent work.

Casting is up on the website for both weeks; please note that as of this evening, the times are not correct for week two: the Friday, June 10 performance is at 7:30pm (not 2pm), and the Sunday, May 12 performance is at 1pm (not 7:30pm), with the Season Encore program later that evening (6:30pm start). https://www.pnb.org/season/15-16/american-stories/ (scroll to the bottom and use the "+" signs to toggle.) Casting is subject to change. Role debuts first weekend are: Lesley Rausch, Elle Macy, Margaret Mullin, Seth Orza, Jerome Tisserand, Matthew Renko, and Ezra Thomson in "Fancy Free" Margaret Mullin and Dylan Wald in "Square Dance" Ezra Thomson, Elizabeth Murphy, Joshua Grant, and Sarah Ricard Orza in "Waiting at the Station" Role debuts second weekend are: Sarah Ricard Orza in "Fancy Free" Kyle Davis in "Square Dance" Cecilia Iliesiu in "Waiting at the Station" Here is the spreadsheet: American Stories Weeks 1-2.xlsx

I realize it's a stretch to be in this forum, and I'll move it out, but those who remember conductor Marin Alsop's parents, who played for many years with the NYCB Orchestra -- her father Martin was Concert master -- their daughter Marin, a one-time violinist and now renowned conductor, plays a conductor in Sao Paolo in the movie "The Violin Teacher," based on a true story of a child prodigy who fails his audition with her Orchestra and, desperate to earn a living, takes a job teaching a student string Orchestra in the Sao Paolo favela. She even has a few speaking lines, giving grief to the protagonist, whose been giving grief to everyone else for the entire movie. She conducts the orchestra in her real life -- I'm not sure if she was when the real-life events took place - - but it's nice to see her conduct here, given her affiliation. It's also nice to see a movie where the weepiest moment is inspired by the choice of music.

Excerpts from media don't prove a case in general, and film might not reflect how a dancer performed in a given performance.

Hello Alex, You've registered for Ballet Alert! which is a board for ballet watchers. You're looking for our sister board, Ballet Talk for Dancers: www.dancers.invisionzone.com BT4D requires separate registration and has different registration policies. (For example, it does not accept gmail, hotmail, or yahoo email addresses, but it does accept AOL addresses.) You'll find a vibrant community there, including professionals and peers who should be able to help. There's also a forum for men.

Re: deleted posts Official news (with source) only.

Hopefully Cirio will keep returning! For those following his career at ABT, in her review of the "Shostakovich Trilogy," Marina Harss wrote, "He will surely be promoted to principal soon. His dancing is pristine and full-bodied it sings."