Helene

Helene, we share the Manhattan-centered view of people who left "the City" 10 or more years ago.  But isn't BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) now consisdered a major destination for both touring companies (especially European) and for dance audiences in New York as well?  Pina Bausch, etc.

The last time I was at BAM was in 2001, when I saw performances of Mark Morris' beautiful L'Allegro and Compagnie DCA/Philippe Decouflé, a circus-based modern dance performer from France. The audiences at both were modern dance audiences. BAM's focus was more on contemporary dance of all kinds and mixed media than ballet; the man responsible for programming at the time, Lane Czaplinski, is now Artistic Director of On the Boards, an organization in Seattle that is dedicated to contemporary performance, sponsoring Bill T. Jones, Susan Marshall, Pat Graney, and Laurie Anderson, among the most notable. (We are very lucky to have him here.) BAM has taken the contemporary niche and run with it.

Among the ballet companies I'd seen at BAM in the period before that (80's) were Neumeier's company and one from Shanghai. From reading Arlene Croce's reviews in The New Yorker, it seems like it was the venue of choice at the time for first-time visiting regional companies. That is where PNB made its NYC debut, for example. But I don't think that's the case anymore. And companies like POB play at the Met, and Eifman Ballet at City Center. The European-based ballet companies and the choreography they bring are not the daily fare of the NYCB crowd in general, wherever the venue.

BAM is not the easiest place to get to for commuters from New Jersey and Westchester, and it takes some incentive for the "dinner and a show" or the "ballet every other Thursday" crowds to hie it to Brooklyn, particularly the non-subway crowd. Not everyone even makes it to the Joyce, which is only about 40 blocks away from Lincoln Center.

Edited to add: On the Boards is priced to attract a younger, less flush audience. I don't remember an individual ticket being over $30, and I've seen them for as little as $18. The Main Stage is not a big theater, and the Studio is tiny. A 100% subscription costs $500, which would be the actual cost of one seat for the season. while a regular subscription costs $130 for 7 performances.

Helene, you say

It is a very big deal when regional companies tour to NYC

Of course it's a big deal for the regional company, but is it a big deal in NYC? Or do a lot of people in NYC just say 'that's nice' and carry on watching the NYC-based companies?

I should start by saying that I'm not sure much of anything has been a big deal for New Yorkers since Fonteyn and Nureyev tours with the Royal Ballet, some widely-anticipated performances by the Kirov and Bolshoi, and the occasional NY debut of a featured dancer, like Sylvie Guillem. (Perhaps the one-time performance of Theme and Variations with Kirkland and Baryshnikov?) I lived in New York City for many years before moving to the West Coast, and still my answer may not be typical, but there are several factors that have to do with what will grab a New Yorker's attention, which is quite different than being a big deal.

When a Company comes to town makes a difference, and also whether it's part of a special occasion, and even more, if the Company can be used as an example to bludgeon reigning companies. Is it part of the year when balletomanes are suffering from withdrawal, especially the six months between NYCB spring and winter seasons, for those who don't attend ABT in the fall? That fix might attract some people. Is it part of a festival, like last year's Ashton Festival, or a special group from a Company that performed in the Gugenheim series as part of the Balanchine Centennial? What rep is the Company bringing? Is is the only chance to see Balanchine's Bouree Fantasque, which isn't performed by NYCB, or The Three Pigeons? Is there stylistic or textual integrity that the Company brings, and can NYCB or the Royal Ballet, for example, be criticized implicitly by praise of that Company? Is the Company performing at the Met or State Theater, or does it require a trip to Brooklyn or Newark, where Suzanne Farrell ballet performed during the last tour, or Long Island?

New York seasons are crucial to regional companies, because most companies with ambition don't want to be known as regional companies; they aspire to being national and international companies, however tied their mission statement is to the city and region in which they are located. When New York critics laud a regional Company and find the performances on par with New York companies, that works toward that goal; it can put the Company on the map in the first place. When the London critics go mad over San Francisco Ballet, for example, that raises SFB's profile.

To answer your question about leaving the home town high and dry, touring outside the region is an expensive rarity to begin with for most regional companies, and for all Companies, including NYCB and ABT, there is a limited time frame whether there is available theater space. ABT has two seasons, a fall season at City Center, which is booked for much of the year, and a spring/summer season at the Metropolitan Opera House, which is booked by the Met itself from September-April. NYCB shares the New York State Theater with New York City Opera. (They also perform for several weeks in Saratoga Springs in upstate NY during the summer.) Pacific Northwest Ballet shares McCaw Hall with the Seattle Opera; they alternate months. Same with San Francisco Ballet and San Francisco Opera. Ballet Arizona shares Symphony Hall with the Symphony and the Opera, and when asked by an audience member why there aren't more performances each year, Artistic Director Ib Andersen said that SH was booked seven years in advance, and there were no more free dates.

There is also a limit to the number of subscriptions that can be sold and houses that can be filled. All ballet companies perform each performance at a loss.

From a financial perspective, I'm sure Companies would love it if they didn't have to take their own orchestra, but union contracts make that very difficult.

Welcome to Ballet Talk, nmdancer. Glad you de-lurked! We hope you'll post more impressions when you can, and that you'll go to our "Welcome" forum at:

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/admin.p...710b3cc162789f&

and click the "New Topic" button at the top of the page, where you can introduce yourself.

One of the problems the regional ballet companies have with touring is that if they have an orchestra, it is very expensive, and often cost-prohibitive to travel with them. Michael Kaiser of the Kennedy Center helped to broker a deal with the orchestra so that NYCB could do an annual visit there; one year the Kennedy Center orchestra would play, and the next year the NYCB orchestra would play.

Before I moved to Seattle, NYCB visited Seattle for a two-week season before Pacific Northwest Ballet opened, and their performances were treated as an extra subscription performance, and added to the annual subscription fee. (This was repeated for the Australian Ballet at the beginning of the 1994 season.)

Some regional companies tour within their state, like Ballet Arizona, and others give performances in parks, like San Francisco Ballet has, or in other outdoor venues, like PNB did at an outdoor stage at Chateau St. Michele, a winery in Redmond, Washington.

It is a very big deal when regional companies tour to NYC or to Europe or Asia. When asked about touring in a post-performance Q&A, Ballet Arizona principal Paola Hartley spoke excitedly about the opportunity a group of dancers had in performing at the Gugenheim during the Balanchine series.

In Seattle, there are two organizations that sponsor visiting dance companies: the University of Washington and Seattle Theater Group, both of which sponsor world dance programs. The theater at UW is a small theater with a smallish stage; STG has two theaters, the Paramount Theater with a full-sized stage, and the Moore Theater with a smaller one, and the performers are matched with the theater. Both organizations are dedicated to world dance in all senses of the word: all kinds of dance from all over the world. STG tends to book the international ballet companies: ABT, Bolshoi, and National Ballet of Cuba among the large classical companies, and other companies of the contemporary bent, like Lyons Ballet Theatre. UW has booked the Eifman Ballet, Julio Bocca's visiting troupe, and Lines Ballet in recent years, as well as a number of companies with "Ballet" in the titles, but used to mean stylized folk or folk-based dance.

Next season, STG is bringing Alvin Ailey, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Spectrum Dance Theater. UW is bringing no ballet companies. It's a fallow year for touring ballet companies here.

Bart Cook's back...

Oh, yes.

Discussing the Birmingham Royal Ballet,

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...ndpost&p=159461

Becca_King wrote,

I honestly did not think that you guys would hold NBT and BRB in the esteem that you seem to, and I'm delighted and surprised by it. The way some - by no means all - people talk in England, one would think that people outisde the UK would barelt have heard of BRB and NBT. I think there is a general tendency in some quarters of England to put down anything, cultural or otherwise, which doesn't happen in the capital. Is it like that in the US?

which warrants a thread of its own!

On the Birmingham Royal Ballet sub-forum an interesting discussion started as Becca_King described the touring policy of BRB, and asked about US touring policy.

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...65entry159465

bart responded, in part,

Seems to me that cities like Philadelphia, Boston, Seattle, Phoenix, Miami, etc., -- all homes to important regional companies -- have a mixed bag of subscription series by the home companies (which also tour in what appears to be a scattered and not very consistent way), and visiting companies. Money seems to be a big problem.

I wonder, for instance, if any American regionals have tried the BRB's 10-pound a ticket policy, at least for some performances, to get younger and "new" bodies into the seats.

Becca_King responded with questions of her own:

I'd be very interested to hear more from anyone about the situation in America. You guys seem to have so many excellent regional companies. I mean, there are companies such as Boston and San Francisco whih seem to be just brilliant - I've seen Sarah Lamb dance with the RB, and I've seen the San Fran company at the Edinburgh Festival and in London - as well as good, steady companies such as Ballet West, which I saw at the Edinburgh Festival last year (I apologise for trying to judge these companies after only one or two viewings). I have often wondered whether most people have fairly easy access to ballet in the US - my definition of that in this instance would be a resident company or a good, fairly regular visiting company within 100 miles or so. Also, to what extent do NCYB and ABT tour in the US? This topic fascinates me as in England we are so small and it's easy not to see the bigger picture. And what sort of reputation do the regional companies have? In England people can be scathing of regional companies, even though they're the ones that are keeping dance in - well, the regions- going, seeing as the Royal Ballet doesn't tour in the UK. Is it the same in the US, or do some regional companies have as much respect as the Royal Ballet here? Since joining this site it has seemed to me that some of you in the US and other countries have more respect for the British regional companies than a lot of people in Britain do, and I wondered if this was because in the US, in many areas people are not so focused on NYCB and ABT.

These are great questions that warrant their own topic!

I was scratching my head looking for a logical break, because the new topic evolved seamlessly from the old.

But please, feel free to start new topics.

Edited to add: Now you are being naughty -- you raised another great topic in your edit, which I'm going to use to create a new topic on attitudes on regional companies

Edited again to add the link to the new topic on Attitudes Towards Regional and "Second" Companies:

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...t=0#entry159469

A wish list for board software -- the ability to split part of a post out!

I'm not going to move the last two posts from the BRB thread, but I am going to create a new thread on which to discuss US ballet companies and touring.

Edited to add: Here's the new thread on US company touring:

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=19783

(To return to this thread from the new one, please click the link in the first post on the thread.)

chiapuris,

Thank you for the on-hand report. It's hard to work with slow connections, but do know we appreciate it!

Natalia,

Many thanks for serving as Bureau Chief from afar and for collecting and translating all of this info from your correspondents!

In the graduation program brochure for the PNB schools (Seattle and Eastside), there was an announcement that Geoffrey Kropp and Lateef Williams will join the Kansas City Ballet.

Kropp is a tall, long-legged dancer who was cast as the male partner with variations in Paquita. He struggled a bit on the turning variation, but recovered nicely in the jumping variation. He looked like an able, attentive partner.

Lateef Williams is a shorter man with muscular thighs; he has very fine carriage with wonderful lift from abdomen to sternum, and good turn-out. In the jazz section, as the featured man in the Manson Trio from "Pippin," he was the sole convincing proponent of the style, and he was the highlight for me in the Level V/Professional Division Men's performance, choreographed by Bruce Wells to music by Shostakovich.

You're in for a treat!

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Terry!

We hope you'll introduce yourself on the Welcome Forum

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showforum=9

by starting a New Topic (button at top left), and telling us a little about yourself and what companies' performances you attend.

Is Sonia Rodriguez the one who is married to ice skater Kurt Browning?

Yes. They have a small son, Gabriel Browning Rodriguez, who will be two in July.

Welcome to Ballet Talk, Becca!

That's a great story, and I enjoyed reading your post on Liasons Dangereuse. I hope you'll continue to share your impressions of the dance performances you see.

Is it possible that Mr. Boal will need dancers to begin his new position? From his stage image and finale he looks to be a fine fellow to work with/for?  Why isn't the company at least going SOMEPLACE? Will someone in the know or with suppositions have any thoughts? I worry about stuff like this.

Pacific Northwest Ballet has a roster of beautiful dancers and a pre-professional school that has developed and is in the process of graduating a number of lovely dancers from its pre-professional program. The end-of-year recital was yesterday, and they did themselves proud. If you're asking about PNB, it has been going someplace -- steadily up since Russell and Stowell took over a fledgling company 28 years ago, and among the top companies in the US, with a laudatory review by Arlene Croce in The New Yorker as early as the late 1980's.

Russell and Stowell both have said that they would have liked to have a bigger roster, but they didn't have the money. The move out of the Opera House during its renovation took a huge toll on the Company and created a deficit. It has taken a couple of years in the newly-renovated McCaw Hall to reduce it. I think while it's reasonable to speculate that Boal will have some leeway with regard to hiring, PNB and NYCB are different companies with different needs.

Whenever we receive official word from Companies about roster changes, we make sure they are posted, and after that, the people "in the know" are free to comment

Have there been any articles or interviews about dancers' summer plans? In Merrill Ashley's book, she talked about going away to Hawaii and accidentally scraping her toes on coral reef. Since she expected to be on standard Principal dancer's schedule at the beginning of the season, she didn't return in top shape, expecting to spend a few weeks slowly getting back into it. She then learned that not only was Balanchine planning to choreograph a ballet for her -- her dream -- but it was a virtuoso turn, and she needed to return to peak form instantly.

He is...in need of a haircut. Minor detail, I suppose.

I can't tell you the number of times I thought this when I saw Woetzel dance in the 80's and early 90's!

It sounds like Taylor is back with a vengeance. As Dick Button might say, "Good for her!"

We know that people are responding to posts early in the thread that ask who the new apprentices are, before they've seen moderator instructions. We've had to remove a few too many of these responses, and to mitigate the risk of another, I'm going to close this thread until we've had an announcement from the Company.

I agree with you about warts-and-all -- but it did seem to me as if the Telegraph piece was a trifle over the top.

I missed the "and-all" part in the Telegraph obit.

This sounds like a classic "two sides to every story" issue, which isn't surprising since people are rarely like characters in Hollywood movies. Both good people and bad people can be treated well or badly -- although we're rarely satisfied by the extent to which bad people are treated badly -- and even dictators have people who truly like love them without fear or a hidden agenda, while very giving people have hangers on who are ready to sell them to the highest bidder. It's to be seen how much of either side is published or spoken about in interviews.

Anna Kisselgoff's obituary in the New York Times speaks to some of the political forces that were in the air during his tenure at Australian Ballet and Royal Ballet, as well as the resistance to his goals at Australian Ballet when he was there, compared to the post-tenure praise of his work. (This article is cited in 17 June Links.)

It's not quite a step, but I love when a women is in sous sou, about to do a supported develope, and she wraps her foot in preparation -- is this considered sur le coup de pied? Not every dancer though. For me the exemplar was Stephanie Saland, as shown in the Divertimento No. 15 Dance in America performance during her adagio. She taught some adult classes at the PNB school, and even though she wore two+-inch wedgies to class, she still performed it (from regular fifth) with gorgeous turnout and even, in unbending shoes, managed to appear to have the beautifully articulated feet she had while dancing.

When a dancer makes that detail a gem, there's something wonderful about the instant of anticipation for the full-flowering move that's about to come.

I also love big juicy tombes into croise fourth, especially as preparation for immediate spring up into en dedan pirouettes.

And, in a specific context, I love the little rondes de jambe Choleric does with the stage full but in total stillness just before the end of Four Temperaments.

I have a severe allergic reaction to any "Top 100" list that doesn't include Rules of the Game.

Richard!

Rob Besserer.

There was an announcement on Seattle's classical radio station, KING, that a Diamond piece will be added to tomorrow night's Seattle Symphony performance, and next week's performances of Verdi's Requiem will be dedicated to his memory.

What about this point about weak concentration and attention-deficit.  With an art like ballet, isn't so much of the beauty in the details?  Doesn't ballet require precisely the kind of extended concentration (as well as cognitive knowledge) that Jacoby claims is in deficit in our culture?

I don't think that is a generational thing. I've been attending performances of ballet and opera for almost 35 years, and there have been nappers and snorers of all ages.

The week is only half over, and it's already such a sad week for music.

With recent celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII, I'll highlight this quote from the obituary:

Giulini led the 1944 concert in Rome which celebrated the city's liberation by Allied forces. It was his conducting debut.