Helene

Happy and sad news at the same time.

This is such devastating news. It was through our beloved ballet that I knew Carley, virtually and in real life. Carley was a mensch. May she rest in peace. My deepest condolences to her family and friends and the extended ballet family.

Inherited through Fonteyn?

That is such sad news. As Makarova's partner, he was the first Siegfried and Albrecht I saw, and with his elegance and style, I was lucky and privileged that he was my introduction to great male classical dancing. Rest in peace, Mr. Nagy.

Will he take Polunin with him?

Many thanks for the link!

I wish I could see this program. I loved Caniparoli's "The Bridge," and I thought that most of "The Seasons" was terrific. I know it went east after being performed at PNB -- maybe Louisville? -- but it's been removed from PNB's active rep list, which was very disappointing.

Arizona_Youth_Ballet, while there are ballet professionals among our members, Ballet Alert! is a primarily an audience discussion board. You might get a faster answer on our sister board, Ballet Talk for Dancers, which requires separate registration.

I didn't realize Sar was in Raleigh; I only knew of his post-PNB work with Suzanne Farrell Ballet. Thank you so much for reporting in, ceecee!

To continue the digression for a moment, Erik Tomasson's photos are wonderful. I used to wish that SFB could have spent serious money on their brochures, just to highlight them. With two dancer parents, I'm sure he'd have a lot to say about growing up in a dance environment. I think the Watts interview is fascinating. When I first saw her dance, she was already a Principal, and I didn't realize that she was considered controversial when she was first featured. The effects of the Ford Foundation money were so profound for the company and so quickly, it's easy to forget that the dancers who were featured and/or on the rise in the '70's were often kids found and nurtured by the early years of the program. I don't think I've ever seen anyone with a core as strong as hers in dance, not even Viengsay Valdes. In the PBS show of Martins works for her, Ashley, Nichols, McBride, and Farrell, she danced the PDD from "Ecstatic Orange." The camera was close up on her and Jock Soto. He lifted her without any noticeable preparation, and there was no visible tension or movement in her body as he picked up and set her down. I've never seen anything like it.

PNB just tweeted the happy news that Benjamin Griffiths and former-PNB dancer Jordan Pacitti have married: Congratulations to them! :flowers:

Het Nationale Ballet (Dutch National Ballet) and the opera have re-branded themselves as "Nationale Opera & Ballet." This is a link to the new logo from the DNB's homepage: http://ow.ly/i/4CSZm I got the heads up from a tweet from Isaac Hernandez; the link leads to an instagram link stating:

Many thanks for the report,chiapuris! I found this on YouTube:

Somova had some big technical weaknesses when she started, like her feet and losing alignment in her big side extensions. Having seen her at City Center in 2008 in "Ballet Imperial," from an interpretive standpoint, she did some lovely, lyrical work in this neoclassical piece and had a strong start, but then she got a dear-in-the-headlights look mid-way through, as if she wasn't sure what she wanted to do with it. Over time, Skorik might get stronger. Of course it's ideal when a dancer is allowed to move up the ranks from strength to strength, and, if given a stretch role, is within reach of it.

I think Somova was the first, and she was pushed by Fateev's predecessor, Makhar Vaziev, who was attempting to follow a misunderstanding of a "Western" aesthetic. (If he thought it would appeal to the West during a time when there was no money and constant touring, he was mistaken: the West wants to see the "same-old" from the Mariinsky.)

I don't think there are more than a handful of AD's around whose judgement isn't scrutinized and disparaged. The question was why Skorik is cast. The answer is that the person in charge of determining what is presented to the public has cast her. She also had the luck to be in the right place at a time when several of the ballerinas with the company were on maternity leave. I also thing that AD's like to promote young dancers for whom they can take credit.

Here's a preview video of "TAKE FIVE...more or less": It's a nice mini-tribute at the beginning to former PNB dancer Kari Brunson, who was a star in it, and at the end to Kaori Nakamura, held high by Jeffrey Stanton.

If she's impressed Fateev, he has every right to cast her: it's his job.

Oh, yes, that's before the two female leads enter the second-to-last movement and is danced by the PdT dancers and the second couple's man. Thank you! That makes sense for 2013 footage, since Cruz's injury before "Diamonds" meant no performances for Korbes first weekend and Gilbreath second weekend -- Peter Boal said in a Q&A it was a back injury -- and then Korbes was injured and didn't dance after first weekend. She was scheduled originally to dance in the Encore excerpt with Seth Orza, but Imler danced instead.

Unless some dancers were filling in for taping or Dress, Foster, Eames, and Griffiths were cast in the "Emeralds" Pas de Trois, not the leads, and not always with each other in the PdT. We have the leads from 2006 and 2009 pretty well documented here. Foster also danced in "Rubies." I thought that looked like Korbes in "Diamonds." Maybe Bold partnered her in Dress? sandik: do you remember there being unusual casting in the Dress Rehearsal for "Jewels?"

I fixed the Concerto DSCH. I might have highlighted and deleted it accidentally.

Ismene Brown posted a translation of Russian critic Tatyana Kuznetsova's review of the Royal Ballet in "Giselle" for her blog: http://www.ismeneb.com/Blog/Entries/2014/2/14_Russian_critic_reviews_Royal_Ballet_Giselle.html I know that tone often needs a context, but this is much more straightforward than I'm used to reading. I love how Kuznetsova emphasizes the production choices.