Helene

The Met is further along on the learning curve, but it still leans heavily toward the least adventurous of its programming, "The Nose" being an exception to the rule. Glass operas have proven serendipitous. No "Wozzeck," no "From the House of the Dead," Chereau's last and one of the most lauded Met productions, and, next season, no "Rake's Progress." We get "Bluebeard's Castle," but it's on a double bill with Tchaikovsky's Iolanthe for Anna Netrebko. Since the Met also seems to take into consideration what DVD's they can sell from the series, next year, no Eva-Maria Westbroek in her greatest role, Katerina Ismailova in "Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk." There's already a DVD with her in it from Nederlands Oper. However, it is getting to the point where they're doing repeats -- Tosca, Carmen, Eugene Onegin -- due to the large number of productions they show on HD.

Is Zakharova's stock higher than Alexandrova's? There's no Cranko stager getting between Filin and Swan Lake.

It's a disappointing line-up, but I wonder who will get Odette/Odile?

Some Dance Company Encore! will be performed on 28 April at Florence Gould Hall. It will benefit Career Transitions for Dancers. Choreographer is David Fernandez and dancers include Ashley Bouder, Joaquin De Luz, Chase Finlay, Nicole Graniero, Ask La Cour, Savannah Lowery, Luciana Paris, and Amar Ramasar, and Flamenco dancer, Selene Muños and a bunch of Fernandez' young students. More info here: http://www.danceinforma.com/USA_magazine/2014/04/02/dance-company-encore/ Fernandez and La Cour created a successful Kickstarter campaign to produce the program. They spoke with Kimberly Falker in this Balancing Pointe interview; among other things they describe the circumstances under which Fernandez choreographed: http://balancing-pointe.com/dance-company-encore-ask-la-cour-nycb-david-fernandez-choreographer/ (These guys are a hoot.) A short video:

PNB just published a new video of Kaori Nakamura and Seth Orza practicing the Act II Pas de Deux to its Facebook page. (It hasn't been published to YouTube.) https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152135362218952&set=vb.21358443951&type=2&theater

Both weeks of casting are up on the website; as always, the list is subject to change: http://www.pnb.org/Season/13-14/MSND/#Casting Major debuts among the gods, demi-gods, and creatures: Titania: Leah Merchant (Sat 19 Apr matinee) Oberon: James Moore (Sat 12 Apr matinee), Kyle Davis (Sun 13 Apr matinee), Price Suddarth (Thu 17 Apr) Puck: Kyle Davis (Sat 12 Apr matinee), Matthew Renko (Fri 18 Apr) Hippolyta: Chelsea Adomaitis (Sat 12 Apr matinee), Elle Macy (Sat 12 Apr evening), Lindsi Dec (Sun 13 Apr matinee) Butterfly: Liora Neuville (11 Apr), Carli Samuelson (12 Apr matinee), Leta Biasucci (12 Apr evening) Major debuts among the mortals: Hermia: Elizabeth Murphy (12 Apr matinee), Margaret Mullin (13 Apr matinee), Leta Biasucci (19 Apr evening) Lysander: Kiyon Gaines (12 Apr matinee), Ryan Cardea (19 Apr evening) Helena: Lindsi Dec (11 Apr), Jessika Anspach (12 Apr matinee), Theseus: Charles McCall (11 Apr), Joshua Grant (13 Apr matinee) Cavalier: William Lin-Yee (12 Apr matinee) Bottom: Steven Loch (12 Apr matinee), Matthew Renko (17 Apr) Divertissement: Lesley Rausch/Jerome Tisserand (13 Apr matinee) Saturday matinees: both weekends, starting at 2pm. The second Saturday matinee, 19 Apr, is a non-subscription performance. Sunday matinee: starts at 1pm and is scheduled for the first weekend, not the second, when it usually is performed. Here's the Excel spreadsheet: MSND April 2014.xls

And how likely is Gergiev to endanger the Mariinsky by criticizing Putin publicly? How long would he have Putin's ear if he did? Madonna's tour date could just as easily be filled in another country, were she to become unwelcome in Russia. Her stance was relatively cost-free.

Discussion of links to reviews in the "Writings on Ballet" forums, please. Company forums are for members' impressions.

It can have an impact, but a critical mass of world-wide efforts on behalf of a small number of individuals in the band Pussy Riot is quite different than individual artists with much smaller platforms speaking about general policy. Netrebko, for example, might be well known in classical music circles, but Madonna she ain't.

He's a manager of a business, even if it is a 501-c-3 organization, and working conditions for the employees and workplace morale are his responsibility. ABT's mission statement is not "keep the money coming in from donors and from ticket purchases. In fact, it is: and until ABT is putting on only ballets with eight or more star dancers and "Greatest Hit Pas de Deux" programs, there are scores of dancers and many more backstage whose dedication and passion it's his job to keep stoked. A for-profit organization can come up with any mission statement it wants, and if it doesn't fulfill it, that's between the board of directors and management. 501-c-3 status depends on fulfilling the organization's mission.

If Tommasini really means, "Musicians should take progressive stands on an unlimited number of issues," then he should say as much. Gergiev did not protest the anti-gay legislation, but supported the government publicly when it occupied Ukraine; I don't think he's a good example of a musician who refuses to take a stand. He just hasn't taken the stand that Tommasini and many Met Opening Night protesters and Met supporters wanted him to take. I agree that Gergiev is "a major musician of our time." He is in demand worldwide, and he commands major resources. While I've never heard good reviews of his ballet conducting, even people who think he's sloppy and under-rehearses at times give high praise to other operatic and symphonic work.

Thank you so much, sandik! Was the 1966 film the one with Farrell and Villella?

If employers see weaknesses in their employees and are interested in growing those employees, they pull the employees aside and get them coaching. They can't make the coaching stick, but they can make it available. If employers see weaknesses in employees and think they can just buy another one, then not much happens. I'll never understand why Radetsky returned to ABT for more of the same-old. I can understand not wanting an ocean between himself and his wife, but it's hard to imagine that was his only option.

I haven't seen much evidence that McKenzie makes company morale a priority.

They certainly missed a huge marketing opportunity. When you have dancers as accomplished as Radetsky and Abrera, and you've lost your American "power couple" when Stiefel left, and plenty of people remember Radetsky from "Center Stage," it's a no brainer to leverage what dropped in your lap.

I've heard Opolais when she hasn't sung Butterfly the night before, woke up after 2.5 hours of sleep, and spent the whole morning in a crash course of the staging on those elaborate Zefferelli sets. I don't love her voice -- it's a little on the cold side -- but I think she's a wonderful singer. Any reason to see Patrick Carfizzi is a win in my book.

I wasn't there, but I remember reading about a performance at PNB of A Midsummer Night's Dream where the first Hippolyta got hurt and switched costumes with a second Hippolyta who finished the Hounds scene.

Thank you for the heads up -- I'd been stalking the site to no avail. Edited to add: the price is currently $24.47/disk, compared to $34.95 list.

There are rehearsals up to the minute the curtain goes up, if someone is learning a new role to substitute. Just about every recent dance memoirnhas memoir has a description of it. That's in a critical situation. In an everyday situation, dancers are grabbed in the hall during lunch "for just a minute" and who wants to be seen as one who puts himself before the team?

Welcome to Ballet Alert!, cyrilla. I've moved your post to the "Modern and Other Dance" forum. We are a site whose mission it is to discuss classical ballet, and that's the subject of most of the forums on this site, but we do discuss Modern Dance and other dance forms in this forum.

This is Ballet Alert!, which is the audience site. You are looking for Ballet Talk for Dancers, which is now a separate board with separate registration: http://dancers.invisionzone.com/ BT4D requires a paid email address (from an IP provider, workplace, school, etc.) and does not accept mail from gmail, hotmail, msn, yahoo, etc. Two two sites use the same software, and the registration process is very similar. I'm going to close this thread.

I remember Spring Seasons where the substitution insert was almost as long as the program.

It isn't clear whether they're talking about base salaries or overtime. NYCB dancers can earn a lot of money in overtime once the injuries start piling up toward the end of a demanding season.

Lovely, Barbara -- I hope you'll tell us all about it!

Veering off-topic for a minute, Liora Neuville's husband Eric is performing in "The Tales of Hoffmann" with Seattle Opera in May.