Helene

I wonder what the economics of it are, i.e, what the Kennedy Center earns, compared to having it available on live streaming, with archives, possibly at a small fee. Presumably SFB's $30K budget for World Dance Day for much rougher quality and fewer edits is a lot less than for HD quality, but the quality of PNB's video camera work is quite high, and dance is the only one of the traditional arts where the movement isn't relatively static. Plus they might be able to tie in a local film school for a stream. I doubt this would happen, but I do wonder if the KC earns enough from the show to make it worthwhile.

The politics and religion policy here is that they can be noted, like this fact about Alexandrova, or discussed, like religious themes in a ballet or politics and the NEA, if they are directly related to ballet and not agenda-based.

Alex Ross with biting commentary in The New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/kennedy-center-honors-go-pop He quotes Frank Rich from nearly 20 years ago: He also gives Deborah Rutter, the new head of the Kennedy Center, a shoutout: Rutter headed the Seattle Symphony through the construction of Benaroya Hall. I met her at the time, and I wanted to be her when I grew up.

Even the "good and evil" part is a simplification.

The only major company that seems to have embraced a bifurcated new work vs. old work structure is Paris Opera Ballet, and that was a company where preservation of their own core rep doesn't seem to have been a goal until relatively recently, with the Bejart rep and works that are only a generation old plus a few works like "Suite en blanc." Telling the Mariinsky and the Bolshoi and the Royal Ballet to maintain their core virtues in performance and rep hasn't been very successful: they chafe(d) at being told not to go to the next thing or the works they missed out on in Soviet times, and a lot of what they present shows the results of a change in style and choreography in the case of the Royal Ballet, and an increasing conflict between choreography and style for the Russian companies. Perhaps ironically, RDB managed to save and renew their own core rep several times along the way. Besides the commercially released DVD's, hopefully RDB is preserving performances on video for there own use. (Were there TV broadcasts of live performances that weren't issued commercially?) I know video is not the panacea, but it offers a springboard and a point to debate. Given the multi-generation line of ballerinas who paid tribute to Thomas Lund on his retirement, and the dancers who danced the work as part of their heritage but are now elsewhere, hopefully, once this experiment is over, there will be an unbroken line of stagers and dancers to preserve the heritage, even if the home company jumps the shark temporarily. It doesn't sound like the kind of production that will devolve gradually until no one remembers the original. (I'm usually not this optimistic, but I'm hoping in this case it's true.) Basing James' unease about his place in the world, his upcoming marriage, and his sense of self, it's an easy metaphor to use sexual orientation and being closeted and/or confused. It will likely appeal to the younger audiences that every ballet company in the world is trying to woo to replace Old People who attend the classical arts. In the US, Gen Y has almost as many people as the Baby Boomers, with a dip for Gen X in the middle (~60% of the population). The number of births/thousand population among the Gen X equivalent rebounded from a low in the Gen X equivalent in Denmark.

Had to resist posting my first 200 snarky thoughts.

, I've made the correction .

For anyone who's going first/opening weekend, but hasn't bought tickets already, there's a 10% discount offer for all three performances of "Jewels." Please buy so many tickets it skews the success rate of the email that's sourced in the "Buy Tickets" link It's going to be great!

There have been many gruesome photos of ballerinas' feet. I still shiver when I see the young Darci Kistler's in Robert Tracy's book, "Balanchine's Ballerinas." It may be small comfort, but figure skating is an equal-opportunity torture chamber: here is a photo of Ice Dancer Dmitri Soloviev's feet while he breaks in new books boots, which skaters have to do at least once a season: http://instagram.com/p/qRdKoAnWVt/

The Ring is now available for $119.99 on iTunes, at it was, according to the site, mastered for iTunes. It's also possible to download tracks for $.99 each.

From what I understand, except for an infamous review in which Croce refused to see but then commented on a Bill T. Jones piece, she didn't review what she didn't see, and she wouldn't have been in Europe to witness Farrell's development and transformation.

Retweeted today by the Dance Critics' Association:

Great news, and it's working in Canada, too.

PNB got into media originally through a multi-year grant for arts institutions to kick-start their new media offerings, a while before Kickstarter was founded. Lindsay Thomas, who is responsible for it, is a gem. If SFB is starting now, they are playing catch-up. I'd have thought someone in Silicon Valley would have been interested in sponsoring them for some online outing.

I love watching class -- that will be a treat.

It would be a four-hour difference were San Francisco to be on Pacific Standard Time on 1 October and were Toronto to be on Eastern Daylight Time. SF may be unique in many ways, but in terms of time zones, they're no Arizona

Tangential -- one of my favorite Fresh Air interviews is with Thelma Schoonmaker from 2005: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5069962 She speaks about meeting her future husband, Michael Powell, through working with Scorsese and some examples of how Powell influenced Scorsese's work.

Second weekend is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights and Sunday matinee for "Jewels" and other standard rep. (The full-lengths tend to have one or two extra matinees.) First weekend is Friday night opening night and then Saturday matinee and evening performances. Opening Night used to be on a Thursday, and when they dropped the performance, which gives them an extra rehearsal day -- normally there's an opera right before -- they merged the Thursday and Friday subscriptions, which usually means fewer non-subscription seats for Opening Night Friday. There is a rise in the orchestra (Main Floor), although maybe not in the first six or eight row. At least it's not like the house before they gutted it: the first few rows sloped down, and I was assigned Row E or F behind a guy who was barely over 5 feet tall, and his head blocked my view almost completely, because his row was higher than mine. Given the price break from $90 to $65, I'm guessing that rows A-D in the First Tier are not under the overhang, and row E and back are. It looks like Main Floor pricing breaks either in row W or X. If I were looking for a single ticket on second weekend Friday I would grab the Gallery Upper seat Row C Seat 9. It's right on the edge of the Dress Circle on the right side facing the chart. On the Main Floor, on the left side section off center, I would look at Row S Seat 1 or Row V Seat 1 on either left or right of center. I'd pick Row N Seat 1 or Row G Seat 1 (even though I don't like to be that close) over any of the seats in the center section, whre someone with stupid hair could block your view. (Or the short guy in front of me one time who had the squarest head I've ever seen.) You can see on the chart that the aisles are slightly slanted, so that worst case scenario is leaning into the aisle if the person in front of you is big (or has used an entire jar of hair gel or has decided to go with an upsweep do). On Saturday night there are still a few aisle seats in the side sections of the Main Floor, but back in Row V. Gallery Upper (right facing the screen) Row B Seat 11 is a good seat. If the Dress Circle is empty, like first Saturday matinee, then people shift over pretty regularly. People have started to figure out that it's one of the great values in McCaw Hall, but that only works for Rows B-D -- "A" might be all Dress Circle -- the three top rows of the section. There are still aisle seats on the Main Floor for the Sunday matinee. If there's going to be a new cast doing the roles for the first time, that's usually the performance. There are no guarantees, but there were five casts rehearsing "Diamonds," although one might get a student matinee. On Thursday and Friday nights, Gallery Upper Row T Seat 1 is also open (on the right side). Lots of people love that seat, as it's far enough back up the rise and on the inner aisle.

It's remarkable how close the First Tier and Second Tier are. I don't remember exactly where the overhangs are. I'm thinking maybe W or X in the Main Floor and E in the First Tier. The Dress Circle seats are pretty close. The best price/value seats are rows A-D 9 and 10 in the Gallery Upper. They're right next to Dress Circle 8, which cost a lot more. If you sit in the Second Tier, don't sit in the second row in an aisle. At the bottom of the aiskes' stairs is a plexiglass pane to block people from catapulting themselves onto the Main Floor were they to trip on the stairs. The panes don't block the view, but they're annoying. Also row A in the far side sections in the Second Tier (and maybe the First Tier) only have one aisle.

If you walk out the main entrance of McCaw Hall, there is a parking garage. The Maxwell is behind the parking garage, three blocks from Metropolitan Market, which is the same distance from the Mediterranean Inn. Another block in the other direction is the QFC, which is on the way to the Sheraton. There's also a chain hotel across the street fromthe QFC, but I don't remember the name. Sandi? Sandy? The Maxwell is also within a couple of blocks from two Thai, Vietnamese, and a vegetarian Chinese restaurant (where the "meat" is made from soy products). All are worth eating at. There's also a Mediterranean restaurant that I haven't tried. How many performances are you seeing? If two or more, I'd see one from up above (Second Tier). On the Main Floor, I prefer the side sections, so you can see between fat heads. I'd rather sit in the aisel seat of the side section (inner aisle) from row P or so, because they flare out, rather than up close. Same with the First Tier (one level up, middle level of three). The only bad seats I've ever had were where a really tall person sat in front of me in the middle section of the Main Floor. My seat for the season-ending Encores program was in the First Tier far side section far aisle under the boxes. Had it been for "Giselle" I would have missed the scene where the wagon parked, upstate left. It was a great seat that might cut off some of the Diamonds finale. For "Jewels" you'll find much better. If you're there first weekend, you'll have a better choice at the Saturday matinee. I don't know how old you are, but Senior (65+ with ID) rush is 90 minutes before the performance. Casting is usually posted by the union deadline, two Tuesdays before the Friday opening.

Opera might require good voices, but opera does not require beautiful voices. There have been many great voices that are far from beautiful -- Callas comes first to mind -- and a number of beautiful voices that were used in a very dull, unimaginative way.

In America basic foundation training can happen at local studios anywhere or at the company-affiliated or other elite schools. Just about anyone can train in ballet, even at the elite schools in the general/"no audition" tracks, and where focused professional training starts in the tweens or teens when students are allowed to live away from home. It's not like at the Vaganova Academy or Paris Opera Ballet School where their sole purpose traditionally is to train a very small number of students who meet strict standards for body type, proportions, flexibility and other physical attributes and for whom they predict the "correct" body past adolescence to become professional dancers. (Now they have a sub-business in attracting international students who will write college tuition-sized checks to subsidize their schools.) If he were an American, chances are that if he survived the Creative Movement recital in which he was the only boy, and they stuck a bunny tail on him, or bypassed that and started later, Vasiliev, if he became serious in ballet and showed promise -- or tagged along for auditions with friends and got in -- would have auditioned for summer intensives, and as a boy, likely would have gotten at least partial scholarships, and then would have been invited for training in a year-round professional program, leading to a contract. If he attended SAB, chances are his musculature would have been different, simply from the training he would have gotten. There have been plenty of men at NYCB and any number of SAB students dancing around the world who are shorter virtuoso dancers: body type is much less of an issue in America than in Russia, and in Russia, he received elite training and won Moscow and Varna and joined the Bolshoi, so it wasn't an obstacle there either for him, where the standards are a lot more limiting.

De Bona started young and was quite serious, but stopped training for a few years in high school before she started again. She had the foundation before she stopped. She did, though, attend Indiana University before starting her professional career.

Here are two interviews that River did with Gross for "Fresh Air": Joan Rivers Is A Real 'Piece of Work' (2010) Joan Rivers Hates You, Herself And Everyone Else (2012) Zichrona livracha.

Even though we don't always get to see it, more than one piece is performed. With Makarova we got to see Peck in ("Other Dances") and Part ("Swan Lake"). I think it would be great if her protegee danced for her, and then someone who brought some of McBride's qualities. "The Man I Love" would be perfect: short, telegenic, and set to popular music. It's also one of the most iconic roles, and she was the star of it. If they wanted to spread the wealth, they could have someone else do "Fascinatin' Rhythm." When she did her farewell program, everything on it was a role she created except "Liebeslieder.". She took Hayden's role fairly soon and was in the CBC TV broadcast. Mearns could do the haunting penultimate pas, and that would give opportunities to two pianists and four singers. McBride ended the program with Columbine's solo from " Harlequinade.". It might be a good way to end the Kennedy Center Honors tribute. Maybe Megan Fairchild?