Helene

I've split of a large number of posts from this thread. If you want to discuss Twerkgate "With a Chance of Rain," please go here: http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/39677-with-a-chance-of-rain/ If you want to discuss Misty Copeland's endorsements and comments, please go here: http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/39465-misty-copeland/

As far as Copeland's voiceover stating that she wants to be ABT's first black principal dancer, it has no more or less to do with the athletic clothing as any other aspirational sports marketing and has everything to do with the brand, just like many of Nike's "Just Do It!" ads. It is tying her to the brand and the brand to an aspiring champion who has articulated her goal. Were she Brooklee Han, the voiceover would say, "I want to be the first Australian Olympic Ladies Champion."

Patricia McBride worked for a genius, which even the most pro McKenzie people have never claimed for him. McBride danced for NYCB, where Balanchine insisted for the longest time that dancers be listed alphabetically and unranked and where casting was announced very close to performance time and extremely reluctantly, because the choreography was supposed to be the star. Patricia McBride joined NYCB in 1959 and by 1961 was a Principal Dancer. She was never in the position of worrying whether she was going to be promoted, and as Villella's go-to partner, didn't have to worry about being cast or lacking for new ballets by Balanchine or Robbins. If the AD is responsible for promotions, and the AD hasn't promoted someone, unless the AD has given a specific reason -- no money for promotions, no spots at concours -- it's stating a simple truth to say that the AD is responsible for not promoting a dancer. ABT is another culture and has been for half a century, which is why they take out expensive ads in the NYT to advertise casting to sell tickets. If Copeland has the ambition to be the first black Principal at ABT, that's what it is: an ambition, and an ambition out of necessity. I think it is more plausible that Copeland would rather have had role models in the position before her, for it to be commonplace for ballerinas to be black, and to have her ambition simply be "Principal Dancer at ABT."

[Admin with a Missile Launcher on My Shoulder] Obviously, the beanie isn't working. Our policy is this: if you have anything to say about a dancer or ballet professional aside from your impressions of their dancing, interview comments,or what they've written, it must be official news, ie, with citation from an official source. I don't care who you are, who you know, or if Petipa rose from the dead and told you himself, if your source is "I heard" it is, by definition, not an official source, unless you are an Editorial Advisor. If you don't know what an official source is, read the Rules thread. And please don't insult our intelligence with the claim that because no sources were identified or details given that character assassination is anything but that. If you think that a post violates board policy, or you think we should break off posts into a new thread, do not violate our policy about discussing the discussion by posting about it: use the report button, make a comment, and we'll review and take action where appropriate. [Putting Down the Missile Launcher But Keeping It Handy]

Choreographers make different versions for different dancers, especially when a dancer isn't convincing, looks awkward, is having technical difficulty, etc. Lefevre didn't forbid the young choreographer, who may have been Gat, from using any of the dancers: she said if he was going to use etoiles, he'd better make choreography befitting their rank and talent. While he was clearly cowed, I doubt Scarlett, who is one of ballet's most sought after choreographers, would have been, although imagining McKenzie giving that speech is a stretch of the imagination. More likely, casting was based on practicalities.

[Admin beanie on] We have a long-standing and strict policy about not discussing the opinions posted in blogs and other media written by non-professionals or posted to other discussion boards. The company forums are for what you think about what you see, not what critics think. [Admin beanie off]

Carla Korbes, Pateicia Barker, and Stephanie Saland will judge the YAGP regional semi-finals this weekend, Jan. 10-11 at Bellevue's Meydenbauer Center with Phillip Broomhead. http://www.bellevuereporter.com/entertainment/288093441.html

Maureen Corrigan agreed with "All the Light We Cannot See," "Department of Speculation," and "The Paying Guests," and "10:04" was on her list of eight fiction and three non-fiction "Best of 2014" list.

She did within the piece itself through what she wrote, just like she showed her beliefs and values in every other piece on dance she wrote.

If she was a staunch liberal, does that mean she would not have to acknowledge her background and prejudices that might have seeped into her views about the work? When the Editor of the New Yorker feels that an essay belongs outside its fach, he or she puts it in the middle of the magazine.

Urin attempted to squash the rumor by addressing it directly, a rarity there, but he did say he'd give Filin notice a year before his contract is up (2016) about whether it would be renewed.

Seattle Opera and San Francisco Opera have announced their 2015-16 seasons this week. Seattle Opera is back to six productions (*=debut) in Aidan Lang's first full season at SO: Summer opera #1 is Nabucco (Aug 8-22) with Jamie Barton* with Gordon Hawkins, Mary Elizabeth Williams, and Christian van Horn* in one cast and Weston Hurt, Raffaella Angeletti*, and Andreas Bauer* in the other. The special production add-on is Jack Perla's An American Dream (Aug 21 and 23) with Morgan Smith, D'Ana Lombard*, Hae Ji Chang*, Nina Yoshida Nelson*, and Adam Lau. (Not included in subscription price.) Pearl Fishers (Oct 17-31) with Brett Polegato, John Tessier, Maureen McKay*, and Jonathan Lemalu* in one cast and Keith Phares, Elizabeth Zharoff*, Anthony Kalil,* and Joo Wan Kang* in the other Marriage of Figaro (Jan 16-30) with Shenyang*, Nuccia Focile, Bernarda Bobro*, Morgan Smith, and Karin Moshegain in one cast and Aubrey Allcock, Talise Trevigne*, Caitlin Lynch, John Moore*, and Elizabeth Pojanowski in the other. Aidan Lang directs. Mary Stuart (Feb 27-March 12) with Andrew Owens*, Weston Hurt, and Michael Todd Simpson with Christine Rice and Mary Elizabeth Williams in one cast and Joyce El-Khoury* and Kerry Alkema* in the other. Flying Dutchman (May 7-21) with Greer Grimsley, Alwyn Mellor, and Nikolai Schukoff* in one cast and Alfred Walker, Wendy Bryn Harmer, and David Danholt (co-winner of last summer's Wagner Competition) in the other. The 2015-16 season will be David Gockley's last heading San Francisco Opera. I'm going to need a bulk ticket deal on flights to the Bay Area. SFO Fall Season: Luisa Miller (Sep 11-27) with Leah Crocetto, Michael Fabiano, and Thomas Hampson. Sweeney Todd (Sep 12-29) with Gerald Finley and Stephanie Blythe. Lucia di Lammermoor (Oct 8-28) with Diana Damrau and Piotr Beczala Magic Flute (Oct 20-Nov 20) with Nadine Sierra, Paul Appleby, Phillippe Sly, Alfred Reiter, and Albina Shagimuratova Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg (Nov 18-Dec 6) with Greer Grimsley, Brandon Jovanovich, and Rachel Willis-Sorensen. Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Nov 25-Dec 9) with Lucas Meacham, Daniela Mack, and Rene Barbera. Usher House/Fall of the House of Usher (Dec 8-13) with Brian Mulligan and Richard Croft. SFO Spring/Summer Season: Carmen (May 27-Jul 3) with Irene Roberts, Brian Jagde, Nadine Sierra, and Zachary Nelson in one cast and Ginger Costa-Jackson, Riccardo Massi, Erika Grimaldi, and Michael Sumuel in the other. The director that everyone who hates new directors loves to hate, Calixto Bieito, directs. Don Carlo (Jun 12-29) with Michael Fabiano, Krassimira Stoyanova, Nadia Krasteva, Mariusz Kwiecien, and Rene Pape. Jenufa (Jun 14-Jul 1) with Mylin Bystrom, Karita Matilla, William Burden, and Scott Quinn. It looks like Matilla has moved to Kostelnicka.

At the moment, "Moscow" seems to mean the wives of oligarchs. Where are the top-ranking generals when we need them?

ABT has had a couple of attempts at a school, but it hasn't been that long since they've had ABT II, where many of the corps have come from in the last decade or so, and most of the soloists that have been promoted from within. Balanchine and Martins have hired a number of Danes: Bruhn (didn't last long), Martins, Luders, and Andersen, Hubbe, his son, and Ask La Cour. Peter Boal brought Seth Orza (promoted quickly to Soloist and then Principal), Sarah Orza (promoted to Soloist), William Lin-Yee (promoted to Soloist), and Matthew Renko from NYCB, as well as Miranda Weese as a guest artist and then company member, and he hired a couple of his former SAB students from other companies. Noelani Pantastico said that when Korbes came, she anticipated that Korbes would get the Patricia Barker treatment (ie, personal attention, roles, prestigious nights, first casts and the coaching that entails), and she didn't want that to happen to her. Angel Corella has already hired people he worked with in Spain both as dancers and as staff. However, schools like Royal Danish Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, and Bolshoi Ballet are a different story: they find young kids and train them at great expense specifically to feed their company, and while they can sell their faculty for huge tuition, they can't sell their dancers, like Major League Baseball can members of their minor league farm teams, and there's no advantage to sending talented graduates elsewhere. Of course what Fateev said in the interview is self-serving when we can see the dancers who've escaped. There are very few dancers at POB who were not trained at the school, and every dancer who was promoted had to go through the concours. Royal Danish Ballet is another story, as 1/3 of the 80 dancers are not from Denmark (according to their website), with 4/9 Principals and 6/15 Soloists having been trained elsewhere. I'm not sure about the Bolshoi, aside from knowing that they've happily taken dancers who were not happy at the Mariinsky. The American schools don't start a pre-professional training track at best until the kids are tweens or young teens, and schools like PNBS are more finishing schools for the last two years or so. There were only a few handfuls (or two) of students who went through the entire SAB track from the non-professional kids division to the Professional Division and who made it up the ranks at the mature NYCB by the time I left in the '90's: Fugate, Boal, Somogyi, a dark-haired soloist guy whose father was in the orchestra, and a few others. I don't think there were that many corps members who started as kids and transitioned to PD to apprenticeships or the corps. (The numbers may have grown since then.) That would have been disgraceful at the Mariinsky until the last decade.

Heather Ogden tweeted: with a lovely photo of the family. to them!

It's not individual cases that are the issue -- in almost every company, there are going to be great talents that languish because the AD -- in function, if not in title -- does not recognize it, care for it, or find use for it. (Sadly, most of them leave ballet.) It's the pattern.

Tom Skerritt and Allen Galli return to reprise Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. So do Otto Neubert and Jonathan Porretta.

SPECIAL EVENTS FUN FOR FAMILIES Special activities for children and families – including crafts and dance classes – begin one hour before all matinee performances. FREE for ticketholders. FRIDAY PREVIEWS Friday, January 23, 6:00 pm The Phelps Center, 301 Mercer Street Join us for an hour-long dance preview led by Artistic Director Peter Boal and featuring PNB dancers rehearsing excerpts from Don Q. PNB Friday Previews offer an upbeat and up-close view of the Company preparing to put dance on stage. Tickets are $12 each. (These events sell out in advance.) Friday Previews are sponsored by U.S. Bank. BEING DON QUIXOTE: a CONVERSATION WITH TOM SKERRITT Saturday, January 24 at 3:00 pm The Phelps Center, 301 Mercer Street Join a panel discussion featuring actors Tom Skerritt and Allen Galli with PNB Company dancers. Tickets are $25 each for general admission or $20 for subscribers. BALLET PREVIEW — FREE Tuesday, January 27, 12:00 noon Central Seattle Public Library, 1000 Fourth Avenue Join PNB for a free lunch-hour preview lecture at the Central Seattle Public Library. Education Programs Manager Doug Fullington will offer insights about Don Q, complete with video excerpts. FREE of charge. LECTURE SERIES & DRESS REHEARSAL Thursday, January 29, 2015 Lecture 6:00 pm, Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at McCaw Hall Dress Rehearsal 7:00 pm, McCaw Hall Join PNB artistic staff for an engaging discussion during the hour preceding the dress rehearsal. Attend the lecture only or stay for the rehearsal. Tickets are $12 for the lecture, or $30 for the lecture and dress rehearsal. Tickets may be purchased by calling 206.441.2424, online at PNB.org or in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer Street. Listen to the Ballet! Friday, January 30 at 7:30 pm PNB partners with 98.1 Classical KING FM to bring listeners some of the world’s most popular ballet scores, featuring the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, direct from McCaw Hall. Tune in to KING FM for a live broadcast of Don Q under the direction of conductor Emil de Cou on Friday, January 30 at 7:30 pm. Only on 98.1 fm or online at king.org/listen Pre-Performance Lectures Nesholm Family Lecture Hall at McCaw Hall Join Education Programs Manager Doug Fullington for a 30-minute introduction to each performance, including discussions of choreography, music, history, design and the process of bringing Don Q 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.

The revival of Alexei Ratmansky's "Don Quixote," first and last seen in 2012, will open on Friday January 30, with two extra non-subscription performances the second weekend. Here is the press release: Don Quixote January 30 – February 8, 2015 Marion Oliver McCaw Hall 321 Mercer Street, Seattle Center Seattle, WA 98109 Performances: January 30 & 31, February 5, 6, & 7 at 7:30 pm January 31, February 7 & 8 at 1:00 pm February 8 at 7:00 pm Music: Ludwig Minkus (1869), with additional music by Anton Simon, Vladimir Shiskov, Cesare Pugni, Yuli Gerber, Eduard Napravnik, Riccardo Drigo Choreography: Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky, with additional choreography by Alexei Ratmansky Staging: Sandrine Leroy, Judy Maelor-Thomas, Sonja Marchiolli Scenic & Costume Design: Jérôme Kaplan Lighting Design: James F. Ingalls Original Production Premiere: December 14, 1869; Imperial Ballet, Moscow, choreography by Marius Petipa; revived November 9, 1871, Imperial Ballet, St. Petersburg Gorsky Production Premiere: December 6, 1900, Imperial Ballet, Moscow choreography by Alexander Gorsky (after Marius Petipa); restaged January 20, 1902, Imperial Ballet, St. Petersburg Ratmansky Production Premiere: February 13, 2010; Dutch National Ballet (Amsterdam) American Premiere: February 3, 2012; Pacific Northwest Ballet Running Time: 2 hours and 55 minutes (including two intermissions) SEATTLE, WA –Pacific Northwest Ballet is delighted to present the return of Alexei Ratmansky’s spectacular, rousing Don Quixote. One of the most opulent productions ever presented in PNB’s history, Don Q runs for nine performances only, from January 30 through February 8 at Seattle Center’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Tickets start at $30 and may be purchased by calling 206.441.2424, in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer Street, or online at PNB.org Alexei Ratmansky's genius for revitalizing classic ballets is the talk of the dance world. America had its first look at his staging of Don Quixote when PNB premiered it to great acclaim in 2012. Vast in every sense —from Jérôme Kaplan’s colossal sun-bleached sets and vibrant costumes, to the expansive sweep of the choreography — Don Q is informed by Ratmansky’s technical fluency punctuated by carefree humor, brimming with wit and romance. The story follows Spain’s legendary hero Don Quixote and his faithful squire, Sancho Panza, to the famed city of Barcelona on a quest for his dream lover, Dulcinea. Instead, he becomes entangled in the affairs of the high-spirited Kitri whose father would rather she marry a rich fool than the penniless but dashing Basilio. The young couple takes flight and their adventures, reflected by the Don’s visions, fill the stage with teaming street life, the cadence of castanets and tambourines, flashing fans, and whirling matadors. Bravura dancing, captivating characters and stunning stagecraft combine with Ludwig Minkus’ rousing score to deliver a tremendous theater experience for audiences of all ages. Award-winning actor Tom Skerritt (“Picket Fences,” “Cheers,” “The West Wing,” “Brothers & Sisters”) – who, in addition to roles in such film classics as Top Gun, M*A*S*H, Alien and Steel Magnolias, played a former ballet dancer in the hit film The Turning Point – returns to PNB in the lead role of Don Quixote. His devoted squire, Sancho Panza, will once again be played by Allen Galli, familiar to Seattle audiences from over 30 years of appearances with every major local theatre company, including a previous stint as Sancho Panza in Village Theatre’s Man of La Mancha. (The roles of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza will be played by PNB ballet master Otto Neubert and principal dancer Jonathan Porretta, respectively, at select performances. Visit the Don Q casting page at PNB.org for more info.) Don Quixote is one of the most sumptuous productions in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s history. The ballet originally cost Dutch National Ballet $3 million to build: Don Q is so expansive that it requires 2,200 square feet of dancing space on stage; most of PNB’s story ballets require just 1,700 – 1,800 square feet. Eight shipping containers were required to transport the elaborate sets and costumes from Amsterdam to Seattle. More lumber and other building materials were used to construct the ballet than were used to create PNB’s Coppélia, Cinderella and The Sleeping Beauty, combined. The production utilizes 280 costumes and props, including 47 wigs and hairpieces, requiring the work of eight hair and make-up artists at each performance. (PNB’s company is about half the size of Dutch National Ballet: Some dancers will change costumes up to five times in one performance.) The hats worn by the Torreadors are authentic matador hats made in Madrid. The masks for the six monsters in Don Q were made by a company that worked on the Lord of the Rings movies. The shipping costs alone to bring Alexei Ratmansky’s Don Quixote from Dutch National Ballet to PNB amount to $120,000. That’s quite a tab for transportation. Patrons can help PNB get this vibrant ballet to the stage of McCaw Hall by joining the Don Q Fan Club. The Fan Club offers a host of benefits to bring donors behind the scenes of the production. For more information about joining the Don Q Fan Club, please contact Lilah Helton in PNB’s Development Office at 206.441.3594 or lhelton@PNB.org. (For full Don Q program notes, click here or visit PNB.org.) ABOUT THE ARTIST Born in St. Petersburg, Alexei Ratmansky trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow. He was a principal dancer with the Ukrainian National Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and Royal Danish Ballet. As a choreographer, Mr. Ratmansky has created ballets for Dutch National Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the State Ballet of Georgia. His 1998 work, Dreams of Japan, earned a prestigious Golden Mask Award by the Theatre Union of Russia. In 2003, Mr. Ratmansky was invited to mount a full-length ballet, The Bright Stream, at the Bolshoi Theatre, a production which would win for him the appointment of Bolshoi Theatre artistic director in 2004. For the Bolshoi Ballet, he also choreographed full-length productions of The Bolt (2005) and re-staged Le Corsaire (2007) and the Soviet-era Flames of Paris (2008). Under Mr. Ratmansky’s direction, the Bolshoi Ballet was named “Best Foreign Company” in 2005 and 2007 by The Critics’ Circle in London, and he received a Critics’ Circle National Dance Award for The Bright Stream. In 2005, Mr. Ratmansky was awarded the Benois de la Danse prize for his choreography of Anna Karenina for Royal Danish Ballet, and in 2007, he won a Golden Mask Award for Best Choreographer for his production of Jeu de Cartes for the Bolshoi Ballet. During his Bolshoi tenureship, Mr. Ratmansky also created works for New York City Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. Since joining American Ballet Theatre as Artist in Residence in 2009, Mr. Ratmansky has created On the Dnieper, Waltz Masquerade, Seven Sonatas, Dumbarton, and a new full length The Nutcracker for that company. Recent premieres include Psyché for Paris Opera Ballet, The Firebird at ABT, and a new Romeo and Juliet for National Ballet of Canada. TICKET INFORMATION Tickets to Don Q ($30-$184) may be purchased through the PNB Box Office: Phone - 206.441.2424 (Mon.-Fri. 9am–6pm; Sat. 10am–5pm) In Person - 301 Mercer Street, Seattle (Mon.-Fri. 10am–6pm; Sat. 10am–5pm) Online - PNB.org (24/7) Subject to availability, tickets are also available 90 minutes prior to each performance at McCaw Hall. DISCOUNT OFFERS GROUP SALES Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more. For group tickets, please call 206.441.2416, email juliej@PNB.org or use PNB’s Online Group Builder at PNB.org. $15 TICKETS FOR AGE 25 & UNDER All Thursday and Friday performances: January 30, February 5 & 6 at 7:30 pm One ticket for $15 or two for $25 for patrons 25 years and younger! To purchase tickets, contact the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424 or visit 301 Mercer Street. This offer is good for January 30, February 5 & 6 performances only. Offer is subject to availability and not valid on previously purchased tickets. Each attendee must present valid ID upon ticket retrieval. TEEN TIX PNB is a proud participant of Teen Tix. Young Teen Tix members (13 to 19 years old) can purchase tickets to PNB performances and other music, dance, theater and arts events for only $5. To join Teen Tix or view a list of participating organizations, visit TeenTix.org. STUDENT AND SENIOR RUSH TICKETS Subject to availability, half-price rush tickets for students and senior citizens (65+) may be purchased in-person with valid ID, beginning 90 minutes prior to show time at the McCaw Hall box office. # # # Principal support for the 2012 U.S. premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's Don Quixote was provided by Glenn Kawasaki and Dan & Pam Baty. The production is also made possible by supporting sponsor Norman Archibald Charitable Foundation and Opening Night Dinner sponsor Regence BlueShield. Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 2014-2015 Season is proudly sponsored by ArtsFund and Microsoft Corporation. Season-long support also provided by Dilettante Chocolates.

The ballerinas who fled: that was so five years ago. Or ten years ago. The Mariinsky was in a pickle when they had a few ballerinas out having babies. It had the talent to bring up another layer, but instead relied upon a dancer who needed some breathing room to develop, as if polarizing is a good thing. The Mariinsky is a big and deep enough company that it can be Gergiev's cash cow and be brilliant at the sane time. It could even be a much nicer place to work.

Ismene Brown just tweeted:

I loved it, too.

It's a writing on ballet, and it belongs here as much as anywhere.

Like Richard Chamberlain and Michael York in "The Three Musketeers"?

Amen. Thank you so much, Anne, for your detailed review, the discussion of the program notes, and for the contextual analysis.