Helene

Backstage and over the stage photos from the NYCB gala in "Elle" with an emphasis on the designer costumes: http://www.elle.com/culture/art-design/news/g27044/backstage-at-the-new-york-city-ballet-gala-fall-2015/

Her bio is not yet listed on/linked from the artists pages in English and Russian.

The downside: the host for the Royal Ballet segment of World Ballet Day did a short interview with the five AD's of the big companies in Great Britain -- David Nixon of Northern Ballet, Christopher Hampson of Scottish Ballet, David Bintley of Royal Birmingham Ballet, Kevin O'Hare of Royal Ballet, and Tamara Rojo of English Nationals -- and he would not shut up about what Tamara Rojo was wearing. I suspect she was dressed to see the matinee performance of R&J, but the host wouldn't have wasted any time talking about what any of the male directors were wearing.

If I went in understanding what ballet is -- the steps, structure, phrasing, posture, logic -- I would easily recognize these works as ballet, just as I would not recognize as ballet a lot of works that are danced in pointe shoes. As an audience member, I might prefer works en pointe -- which I don't -- and might expect to see works en pointe, but I have internet access, and, as a rule, if I attend a performance at a ballet company, in five minutes I can usually find some written preview or choreographer's work on YouTube that gives me a general idea of what to expect. I could be surprised, and with programs of new works by company choreographers, I expect to not know, since they don't get as much advanced print/pixels.

Absolutely: it depends on the dancer. Some are recognized and others are ignored. Same as it ever was.

They are exceptions to the general trend in ballet. That's different than a rule. Another exception is Christopher Wheeldon's "After the Rain" Pas de deux, which is relatively recent. (I haven't seen the other part(s) of the work, and I'm not sure what it's danced in.)

Many thanks, volcanohunter! The cast list was great to have, too.

SFB posted a link to the video of the first 11+ hours (Australian Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, and Royal Ballet and their guests) on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayGLMnA_8lo

Today there's an article in crosscut.com about Patricia Barker and how she built Grand Rapids Ballet's rep and how Francia Russell was her mentor, with some information about Olivier Wevers' "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and the mixed rp program: http://crosscut.com/2015/10/pnbs-former-star-returns-with-her-new-troupe-in-tow/

As the saying goes, you're entitled to your own opinions, but not your own facts. Ballet was danced for hundreds of years before the invention of the pointe shoe. Where anyone spends their money is up to him or her.

This tweet from the Royal Ballet is for the win on #WorldBalletDay: https://twitter.com/TheRoyalBallet/status/649719890048368640

It was amazing watching him demonstrate the partnering like he was lifting a 5lb bag of sugar and talking through the corrections while still holding Chung or Feijoo in the lift.