Helene

Neil Patrick Harris could be married to Shrek and still make an attractive couple on the walkway, because he's (swoon) NPH.

Just got confirmation that it was Rebello on Friday night in "Ballo." (And in STM)

The announcement on Thursday was that Nicole Stalker replaced Nathalia Arja in "Symphony in Three Movements" (first couple) and would dance with Rebello (who was already cast with Arja). On Friday, they announced the change to "Ballo" casting before "Ballo", and the change to STM before STM, and it was the same change as Thursday. What I'm confused about was that I thought the "Ballo" change announced Rebello, Alberston's partner, when he didn't dance or look like Rebello in STM. I think Penteado danced "Ballo" again, and I'm mis-remembering it.

Odette is Lesley Rausch. Siegfried is Batkhurel Bold. I think Carli Samuelson is the cygnette on the left, then Amanda Clark, Liora Reshef, and Leta Biasucci.

From the Miami City Ballet website: Under the "Company" top menu option: Artistic Team Meet Our Dancers -- use the horizontal menu to filter by rank. "All" is the default. Click on the photos for bios. Under the "MCB School" top menu option: Faculty -- click the "Biographies" tab and select a name.

I'm posting Ismene Brown's introduction to and translation of an excellent and illuminating interview with Vladimir Urin, General Director of the Bolshoi Theatre, in this forum instead of the Bolshoi forum because of its relevance to running a major theater: http://www.ismeneb.com/Blog/Entries/2015/1/31_Urin_admits_hes_become_conservative_at_Bolshoi.html I must admit to wishing he were 58 instead of 68.

Watching MCB dancing a miraculous "Symphony in Three Movements," I was struck especially by the five demi-soloist couples' men: they were as idiomatic as any of the groups of men I saw at NYCB in the late '70's and '80's. Their bodies went straight to the heart of the movement. What is the combination of class and rep and coaching that is or isn't happening to ensure that the qualities needed to dance the Balanchine works at such a high level are honed among the experienced dancers and instilled in the new ones?

Major ovation for "Symphony in Three Movements", major ovation for "Serenade" and clapping at the opening. The Balcony seemed to get fuller after first intermission. 3/4 standing ovation in the Balcony, from which we can only see the first few rows of the Orchestra. Again curtain had to go up once for more curtain calls. More highlights: Kronenberg as Waltz Girl in the last movement of "Serenade". Stalker in the first couple in "Symphony in Three Movements." The light-haired corps woman in the featured quartet in blue in "Ballo." I've scanned the cast pages from the program. The announced substitutions are hand-written and are only for the Thursday and Friday performances. I'm still not sure if I got Arja's partner in "Ballo" right. Thursday, February 19, 8pm: Friday, February 20, 8pm and Saturday, February 21, 8pm: Saturday, February 21, 2pm: (You need to log in to download.)

There was an announcement before STM, with Stalker replacing Arja in the first couple. If that was Kleber in "Balli," his movement quality in STM was very different. I think I was hearing things. Remind me never to sit close when STM is on the bill. It us even more spectacular from up top. During the pre-performance talks before Ratmansky's Don Q, Doug Fullington talked about how Gorsky was already making changes to it by the end of Petipa's life, and Petipa wasn't amused. One of the things that Gorsky didn't like was symmetry, but Doug said we can't just assume that the asymmetry in the Dream Act was Gorsky, not Petipa. Watching the symmetries morph into assymetries and back and forth again and again in STN made me wonder how much if Balanchine's beloved Petipa had changed by the time Balanchine learned it in the decades following Petipa's death, and how much the teachers in the school preserved the older Petipa in class vs. what he saw onstage.

Stalker replaced Arja last night in "Symphony in Three Movements" but they didn't announce a double switch when she took over "Ballo" for Albertson. Arja's also listed for "Ballo" and STM for tomorrow's matinee and for STM tomorrow night. I won't be able to go tomorrow to see

There as a casting page I missed: for the matinee tomorrow, the Serenade cast in the program is Tricia Albertson, Reyneris Reyes, Ashkey Knox, Emily Bromberg, and Didier Bramaz. The latter two are listed in all casts as Dark Angel the last movement man. Nathalia Arja replaced Tricia Albertson in "Ballo" tonight. I think they said her partner was Kleber Rebello, although last night it was Renato Penteado, at least in the program. His lush movement and extra second of hang time reminded me of Osiel Gounod, whom I saw on this very stage when National Ballet of Cuba came with Don Q. Crowd was very enthusiastic for "Ballo." What a gem this is. I would love for PNB to do this.

The top wasn't at all full, and it's impossible to see the other sections from where we were sitting. A bunch of people moved down. Ticket prices are similar to Royal Winnipeg Ballet's "Nutcracker," 20-28% higher than Ballet BC's, and while for me Balanchine is a bigger draw, like an oasis to a man dying of thirst, an all-Balanchine program is not "Nutcracker," which has a more diverse appeal and is a ritual. The Queen Elizabeth Theatre has three tiers: the Orchestra has five sections, and the Mezzanine and Balcony have three, with a fourth and fifth sections spanning the sides of the Mezzanine and Balcony. Looking at the Ticketmaster seat map, for tonight and tomorrow night, the center sections of the Orchestra and Mezzanine and the cheap seats on the far side sections of the Orchestra have sold. Balcony seats in the center section in the first two rows of the price breaks and the last few (cheap seats) rows are pretty much sold out. The Centre Right and Left sides of the Orchestra are well-sold for tonight and about 50-50 for tomorrow. For tomorrow's matinee, the center Balcony section is sold except for the three back rows in front of the cheap ($40) seats. I don't know what their walk-up business is like. I would say that it took a while for the audience to warm up to "Ballo," but after Nathalia Arja's first solo, it started to perk up. There was no spontaneous applause at the opening of "Symphony in Three Movements," but the audience gave it a great ovation, starting before the curtain was down on the final tableau, and there were plenty of shouts after "Serenade." Usually Pacific Northwest audiences are obedient: if the curtain goes down and the lights start to come up, no matter how big an ovation, that's the signal to stop, but there was enough applause to raise the curtain for more curtain calls after "Serenade." Hopefully, everyone who saw it will tell their friends, and all of the those blue dots on the Ticket Monster map will go gray.

The performances tonight were great!!!!!!! There was so much energy and life in the performances: what a pleasure to see and in a wide range of Balanchine without interruption . I'm sure Balanchine is able to rest peacefully for eternity, now that he's been properly classified by Ballet BC AD Emily Molnar as a contemporary ballet choreographer. We were sitting in the front of the Balcony, and it was illuminating to see the patterns in all three ballets. The downside was not seeing faces, and I can only go by the program. Highlights for me were Jennifer Lauren as the last soloist in "Ballo" in a full-bodied and fully phrased performance of both parts of the solo, Patricia Delgado, who was a goddess in "Symphony in Three Movements," Delgado (Russian) and the Dark Angel, who I think from the program order and photos was Emily Bromberg, the demi-soloists in "Symphony in Three Movements," especially the men, who were individuals, yet made the unit organic, and the female corps in everything. I know it was impossible for MCB to bring an orchestra, but this company deserves better than recorded music and the sound system at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. I can't wait for a repeat tomorrow. The only cast changes according to the program for tomorrow and both Saturday performances are Tricia Albertson and Kleber Rebello in "Ballo della Regina." This would be well worth the trip for anyone who can possibly make it.

Here is MacKay's classical variation in the competition finals:

I'm over the moon over the "Square Dance": Patricia Wilde was legendary in her day for her technique and the roles Balanchine created to showcase it, but there's not enough of her on film. Any Kent and Verdy is the cherry on top.

I'm starting to be pessimistic about a release of "Liebeslieder Walzer"...

It depends on the production. Potential buyers could be smaller companies who could pick and choose among the costumes, for example. Specialty "Nutcrackers," like the Stowell/Sendak version, would be as hard to transfer without the choreography as Bourne's or Morris' versions, but we're used to that with contemporary and modern dance versions of classics.

Yes!!! Nina Stemme twice! A Tannhauser with Westbroek and Mattei! "Trovatore" with Netrebko, Lee, Hvorostovsky, and Zajick! Radvanovky, Graham, Polenzani and Kwiecien in "Roberto Devereux" -- I haven't seen that since Sills in the '70's.I guess it was a toss-up between this and "Anna Bolena" and "Maria Stuarda." The five Donizetti operas are a little over 20% of next year's season, tied with Puccini, and it's not even an anniversary year for him (born 1797, died 1848). I wish I liked Opalais more. Kaufmann's enough to get me to "Manon Lescaut," but Alagna's not enough for "Madame Butterfly." "Elektra" and "Lulu" in the same season is pretty out there for the Met, and there are only a couple of the Usual Suspects on the HD schedule, where they bypassed the two Donizetti comedies from the season. I hope that at least one of the Monastyrska Toscas and Hymel's Rodolfos are broadcast on Sirius.

It looks like they are wearing leg warmers. They can be worn over the entire leg, just above the knee, or scrunched down around the ankles, which was a very popular look in the early aerobics phase. Some examples: https://www.etsy.com/ca/market/legwarmers amazon sells a lot of different styles and patterns, and you can usually get them at most dance shops. Capezio, for example, carries them: http://www.capezio.com/multi-striped-legwarmers. There are usually a few knitters in ballet companies: your local company may have a dancer who makes them custom.

Tweeted by PNB:

My least favorite ballet of all time was set to Mahler's Third Symphony, which runs over 1.5 hours. To add salt to the wound, it was danced to a recording that would have sounded better on any mp3 player with earbuds. I wonder if it is technologically possible and feasible to transmit recorded sound in a theater to people's phones.

At least the music to "The Man in Black" is worth listening to. The McCartney/Martins collaboration sounded rather horrific. Then there's Stroman's "Take Five...More or Less," where the visuals dumbed down the rhythmic complexity.

I've never bought tickets for Ballet BC at the door, and I don't know if they're using the Ticketmaster system at the box office and passing on Ticketmaster fees for in-person sales, but if you're planning to order tickets online, PNB was cross-promoting MCB's performances in their February High Pointes email newsletter, and there's a 20% off promo code that can only be used online at Ticketmaster.ca (not the US site): BBCTIX. You have to enter the code before you select tickets; the box should appear over the seat selection section, and it will confirm if the code is being applied or there is an error. It took me a couple of tries to make the code take. The least expensive tickets (back three or four rows) are not discounted, and they're shown in pale blue. The discount doesn't include the $8.50/ticket fee and $4.00/order fee, but it's better than full price plus fees, and it can make a closer seat more affordable, especially for a pair of tickets. Serenade, Symphony in Three Movements, Ballo. Serenade, Symphony in Three Movements, Ballo...

For those who celebrate, Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow. Different arts organizations have programmed works around the holidays. The Met Opera is giving mixed signals with "Iolanta" and "Bluebeard's Castle" . So is the Bolshoi Ballet, in this mini-interview with Maria Alexandrova, with English subtitles and practice clips: Video from Facebook Direct link to YouTube The music is from "Romeo and Juliet," but they're rehearsing "Don Quixote," a much happier ending.

When San Francisco Ballet and San Francisco Opera were booted from War Memorial Opera House for a few years for a seismic infrastructure upgrade, SFO found what I remember were cavernous venues, but, except for a season-ending full-length at Zellerbach in Berkeley, SFB performed at the Palace of Fine Arts, which used to be next to the Exploratorium until it moved a couple of years ago, and at the Center for the Performing Arts at Yerba Buena Gardens. The websites list current seating capacity -- 962 for the former, 757 for the latter -- although there may have been slightly different configurations at the time. They performed a lot of mixed bill, chamber-sized works at those venues. The Rose Theater specs are listed as: Concert: 1233 - including 11 movable seating towers. Theater: 1109 That's less than half of the 2738 that Avery Fisher holds. I was traveling a lot to the Bay Area for work at the time, and SFB's rep was heaven for me, but like most temporary moves to smaller or different venues -- PNB played in an old hockey rink during the old Opera House transformation to McCaw Hall, most of which addressed seismic issues -- it was a financial burden on the company. People don't like their subscription seats moved around and transferred, as PNB learned when they, twice in the last 20 years, kicked people out of their subscriptions because that night became the "new" opening night. At least, though, the Rose Theater was made for music, unlike the hockey rink or the Vancouver Playhouse, whose dry acoustics, wonderful for theater, are deadening for live music, despite having only 668 seats. Alice Tully Hall has 920. Maybe the silver lining of subscription numbers going down is that people are less tied to their seats. Getting the people to move even to Columbus Circle might prove to be a more difficult hurdle, plus losing the ritual in-house restaurant. Depending on the negotiations with the unions, the orchestra might be able to adjust to smaller venues by focusing on music with lighter orchestration, original orchestrations, and smaller groupings while keeping Haydn-Mozart-Romantic composers in the rep. If the soloist community is willing, they can do rep outside the recital/trio/quartet and big concerto standards, and those big names can lure people into the theaters.