Helene

If you're talking about dancers, according to the contract, the intent to rehire for this season would have been while Kaiser still was AD, which was until the end of April: the mandatory evaluations were completed by mid-February, the intent to re-hire (or not) was communicated by 1 March, the dancers communicated their intent to accept (or not) by 1 April. The physical contracts were issued by 1 May and had to be assigned by 15 June. Also according to the contract any dancers contracted when the AD change was made is entitled to stay the following season, which would be the current one. Administration would have to go through the normal contractual firing procedures to get rid a contracted dancer during the contract. That should mean that anyone under contract at the end of April was entitled to a contract for this season at the rank when the change was made, and if taken literally, this would mean dancers who were not re-upped by the old AD. I'm not sure whether this was the intent, but it could mitigate the impact of an embittered outgoing AD on a dancer's career and give him or her a chance under a new AD. Staff is a different story and not covered by the AGMA contract.

Many thanks, leonid, for the biographical information on Zviagina, and to rg for the wonderful photographs!

Which is the other 99+%, and I can't think of a ballet dancer who's an exception.

The information is available from the AGMA website: Pennsylvania Ballet Contract 2013-2016. There are three kinds of contracts: guaranteed employment, by performance, and weekly. The employer has the option to extend the amount of weeks with proper notice, etc. Dancers engaged at the beginning of the season on a guaranteed employment contract are guaranteed a certain number of weeks. There's nothing that prevents a company from hiring outside this time, but if a dancer is hired after mid-February, the standard evaluation and contract process for the next season is impossible, and perhaps the company must hire the dancer on a weekly contract for the remainder of the season. As far as hiring family and friends, that's a long-standing tradition in ballet, in business in general, in college admissions (ie "legacy" students), etc.

And that's what we need: a link or description of the official source with the news and no more info than the source provides. My note was in response to a post that was removed.

Official news only, please.

An interview from last week with Gia Kourlas in "Time Out New York": http://www.timeout.com/newyork/dance/q-a-joseph-gorak-talks-about-his-journey-to-american-ballet-theatre and:

I suspect not. A number of the costumes look pretty fragile, and there are only so many miracles Larae Haskell's staff can pull off. As much as I'd love to see a regular revival of the Stowell/Sendak, I don't think it's practical for a company to keep switching, especially after the investment of time and coaching they'll need for the Balanchine, even if it's familiar to a number of the dancers from their student days.

In an interview in amNewYork mainly about his residency with Ice Theatre New York, Edward Villella spoke about coaching:

In yesterday's Links there is an article about the upcoming visit: http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/39397-tuesday-october-21/?p=344869

Here's a video featuring Annabelle Lopez Ochoa in the studio rehearsing "Before/After": I recognized James Moore (bandana) and Angelica Generosa (purple leotard), Lindsi Dec (blue t-shirt) and Jerome Tisserand, and, I think Elizabeth Murphy (lavendar t-shirt) and Raphael Bouchard. The camera work is unusually skittish in this video.

Here is the press release: SEATTLE, WA— For DIRECTOR’S CHOICE, the second program of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 2014-2015 season, Artistic Director Peter Boal selects two PNB premieres paired with stunning repertory works in this absorbing mixed-bill. Opening the program, David Dawson’s breath-taking, hyper-extended A Million Kisses to my Skin references the intoxicating bliss dancers experience while performing. Rassemblement, Nacho Duato’s poignant work set to slave songs by Haitian artist Toto Bissainthe, voices communal yearning and resistance in a climate of oppression. Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s (Cylindrical Shadows) critically-acclaimed signature piece, Before After, a PNB premiere, unmasks the turmoil just before a relationship ends. The performance closes with Debonair, a world premiere by New York City Ballet’s rising star Justin Peck, praised for “electrifying classical dance with [his] fresh vision” (Wall Street Journal). The program also includes a musical prelude to shine the spotlight on the nationally renowned PNB Orchestra, currently celebrating its 25th Anniversary season. DIRECTOR’S CHOICE runs for seven performances only, November 7-16, 2014 at Seattle Center’s Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Tickets start at just $28 and may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at PNB.org, or in person at the PNB Box Office, 301 Mercer Street. The line-up for DIRECTOR’S CHOICE will include: Orchestra Prelude Music: Edvard Grieg (“Praeludium” from Holberg Suite, Op. 40, 1884) Running Time: Three minutes Pacific Northwest Ballet salutes the mighty PNB Orchestra as it celebrates its 25th Anniversary season. Each of the mixed reps during PNB’s 2014-15 season will include an orchestral selection to spotlight our acclaimed musicians in the pit. Look for future Orchestra Preludes during THE VERTIGINOUS THRILL OF FORSYTHE, and Carmina Burana. A Million Kisses to my Skin Music: Johann Sebastian Bach Choreography: David Dawson Staging: Tim Couchman Costume Design: Yumiko Takeshima Lighting Design: Bert Dalhuysen Premiere: June 15, 2000, Dutch National Ballet (Amsterdam) PNB Premiere: March 16, 2012 Running Time: 25 minutes The 2012 PNB premiere of David Dawson's A Million Kisses to My Skin was generously underwritten by Jeffrey & Susan Brotman. "A dazzling work that succeeds in making Bach's Concerto No 1 in D minor sing...the sheer joy of movement" (Dominion Post), British choreographer David Dawson's A Million Kisses to My Skin was originally created in 2000, as he was preparing to leave Dutch National Ballet. Dawson set out to pay tribute to what he had learned as a classical dancer and to evoke the feeling of complete bliss a dancer sometimes experiences in their work. “I had it a couple of times on stage, and it feels just like that—a million simultaneous kisses to your skin. It was also a kind of goodbye to my classical career. It was important for me to create this piece using classical steps, but also to create a ballet that was about individuality and freedom.” Rassemblement Music: Toto Bissainthe (from the recording Chante, 1977) Choreography: Nacho Duato Staging: Hilde Koch Scenic Design: Walter Nobbe Costume Design: Nacho Duato Lighting Design: Nicolas Fischtel Premiere: February 27, 1990, Cullberg Ballet (Örebro, Sweden) PNB Premiere: April 7, 1998 Running Time: 29 minutes Nacho Duato’s Rassemblement (which means “gathering”) is inspired by and set to the songs of Haitian artist Toto Bissainthe, who offered this commentary: "These songs are mostly slaves’ songs from the Voodoo cult. They express the daily life of the slaves, their longing for Africa, not as a geographical reality, but as a mythical land of freedom…Rassemblement is a creation which gradually, through the liberating powers of music and dance, proves to be an impressive, thrilling, and audience-affecting human rights appeal.” Before After – ]PNB Premiere Music: Marc Van Roon Choreography: Annabelle Lopez Ochoa Costume and Lighting Design: Annabelle Lopez Ochoa Premiere: June, 2002, Dutch National Ballet (Amsterdam) PNB Premiere: August 6, 2014 (Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival) Running Time: Eight minutes The PNB premiere of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's Before After is generously underwritten by Glenn Kawasaki. Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s (Cylindrical Shadows) critically-acclaimed signature piece, Before After unmasks the turmoil just before a relationship ends in this short and simple duet. The New York Times described the work as “the most moving, the most mysterious, the most heartily cheered.” Debonair – World Premiere Music: George Antheil (Serenade for String Orchestra No. 1, 1948) Choreography: Justin Peck Costume Design: Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung Lighting Design: Randall G. Chiarelli Running Time: 18 minutes Justin Peck's world premiere is generously underwritten in part by Michele & Steve Pesner and Gilla Kaplan. In July of this year, New York City Ballet’s rising star Justin Peck was appointed by ballet master in chief Peter Martins as the company’s second resident choreographer (after Christopher Wheeldon, resident choreographer from 2001 to 2008.). Alastair Macaulay, the chief dance critic at The New York Times, described Mr. Peck in a review as “the third important choreographer to have emerged in classical ballet this century” after Mr. Wheeldon and Alexei Ratmansky. Since his debut as a choreographer in 2009, Mr. Peck has created works for the New York City Ballet, the New York Choreographic Institute, the School of American Ballet, Miami City Ballet, L.A. Dance Project, New York City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival, the Nantucket Atheneum Dance Festival, Skidmore College, and more.

Argh, sorry.

From Mikhail Baryshnikov in "Vanity Fair": http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/nothing-hidewendywhelanretires

Marina Harss posted a series of photos to her website; scroll to the bottom for a wonderful shot by Sebastien Marcovici: http://marinaharss.com/2014/10/19/picturesfromafarewell/ The link to her tribute in "The New Yorker" at the bottom isn't working for me. Here's the direct link: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/nothinghidewendywhelanretires

The Dervishes in the Stowell/Sendak production have been one of the great ???? since the beginning. They are nothing like Derviches: they look like caricatures of some non-existent tribe in Africa. That may have been their point, since the second Act is a dream, and maybe that's what a tween in the period might have imagined a Dervish was based on lots of disinformation, but it's still weird. Had they been costumed like real devishes, they could not have done that choreography.

Thank you -- I'll be in Vancouver that weekend! I'm sorry I missed the Neumeier, but I look forward to the fight on Parliament Hill. I don't love the Goh Ballet production except for the magnificent Arabian, but I couldn't miss the Royal Danish Ballet guests. In the US -- and I'm guessing Canada -- "Nutcracker" generally provides the biggest chunk of revenue for everything companies do for the rest of the season, interesting or not. Sometimes a major donor or donors will subsidize a production, especially a new production, but "Nutcracker" plus donations have to cover everything else. "Nutcracker" brings in new audiences and once-a-year holiday tradition audiences, although that is eroding with other holiday shows and entertainment.

For those who want to zip straight to the ballet, here's the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CfKSfP8cMI&feature=youtu.be&t=1h4m37s (It shows a few seconds of what came before sometimes.) Thank you so much, Mme. Hermine!

It looks like the new costumes attempt to skew the viewer's sympathy to James, which is not surprising, but it is a bit of a bludgeon. The original is more subtle than that.

Very few people have seen enough to judge. There are four American productions that were aired and/or are commercially available-- five with Mark Morris' modern dance version of The Hard Nut" -- the Kirkland/Baryshnikov from ABT, Balanchine's, PNB's from 1986 that is newly available on DVD and was adapted for the camera, since, like NYCB's it was meant for a theatrical release, and San Francisco Ballet's, which was streamed into theaters one year and later aired on PBS. For most people, there are the local production(s) -- professional and school performances, sometimes with professionals doing the leads -- and the one(s) they've seen on vacation and/or visiting for the holidays, supplemented by available recordings. There was a CBS TV special of the Balanchine way before the days of [X]VR's narrated by June Lockhart and with Balanchine playing Drosselmeier, but that takes a visit to the NYPL to see. For example, my father took me to see a local production at the theater in the Bergen Mall in Paramus, NJ -- he took my sister to NYCB's where she fell asleep, and forty+ years later, I'm not bitter -- I saw NYCB's live every year for many years and then the movie version, while living in NYC, I was one of the 237 who saw PNB's at the movies -- it was a bust, attendance-wise -- and since moving to the West Coast in 1994, I don't think I missed a year of the Stowell/Sendak, I've seen some local semi-pro/school versions in Seattle, I saw Houston Ballet's the year I visited friends in Texas, some friends and I took a day trip to Portland to see OBT's, I saw SFB's in a Vancouver theater complex that's now becoming an apartment building -- a recent recorded performance, it was scheduled opposite National Ballet of Canada's, and they wondered why the audience could be counted on my fingers and toes -- and then on PBS, and then there was my well-worn VHS recording off PBS of "The Hard Nut," the Goh Ballet's semi-pro production with guest stars -- last season I saw Bojesen and Birkkjaer -- and Matthew Boune's at Sadler's Wells one year I was traveling for work. (I much preferred the grim orphanage first act to the Pepto Bismol second.) The only ones I regret missing are Royal Winnipeg's -- Ballet BC replaced it with Alberta Ballet's as its "Nutcracker" import -- and one in Denver or Boulder, a "Black and White Nutcracker," which Phil Otto, who taught adult open ballet at the time, told us was great. (Unfortunately, it was the pre-Google days, and I couldn't find it in time.) I've missed so many important ones that I couldn't begin to answer the question for myself. In 2011.Alastair Macaulay traveled across the US and saw "37 times in 27 treatments" and wrote about in the NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/03/arts/dance/03nutcracker.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 I'm not sure how many of the 10 were repeat performances and how many were different companies performing the Balanchine version. I know at least Miami City Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Oregon Ballet Theatre perform it, and this is the last year for the Stowell/Sendak version at PNB, where next year Seattle will also see the Balanchine, with a new design by the illustrator of the "Olivia" books. I think the most important points in Macaulay's essay are these: There are so many approaches to take. Even among the traditional productions, the balance between adult-focused and kid-focused can make all the difference. Because so few productions-- in North America at least -- have much original text -- Balanchine brought the Prince's mime and Hoop divert he knew from his youth at the Mariinsky, but that's rare -- the arguments are more about preferences, unlike the other Petipa ballets or Romeo and Juliet, where the arguments are over omissions and additions.

I will store this away for when I'm traveling again, and then I will seek them out.

Those with enough influence on the board spoke when they made their calls to pressure him to drop "Klinghoffer" from the HD broadcast. If people are threatening Gelb, he's living it.

Leigh Witchel's beautiful tribute to Whelan in danceviewtimes: http://www.danceviewtimes.com/2014/10/the-ollaborativemuse.html