Helene

I made it through "Pineapple Poll" this time, and I was very glad I did. Stanley Holden's solo with Poll's discarded clothes was a gem. I can't say I'm a big fan of the score, but I am of Cranko's creation of such bittersweet characters as Jasper and Bootface.

The performance of Damian Smith's I will remember the most was his Dr. Coppelius, which was truly was amazing. I wish him the best in the next phase of his life

I was surprised that DeBona said there was no ballet nearby, because I thought immediately of Grand Rapids Ballet, and Patricia Barker is really making something with the company.

Fall for Dance Tickets go on sale on Sunday, 8 September at 11am EDT. The companies and rep for all five programs for performances on 25-28 September and 30 September-5 October are on the City Center website: http://www.nycitycenter.org/tickets/productionNew.aspx?performanceNumber=7520#programs

If the teacher was audible, chances are that he was not Stanley Williams.

All hail the fast forward button.

Thank you so much for the heads up, JMcN!

I think this is the article atm711 means: Bewitched by the athleticism of ballet. It's a bit of a turn-around: all of the Ring movies were filmed in New Zealand, and now a New Zealand director has come to the Catskills to film, instead of finding a similar location in New Zealand.

Zach made it clear in the episode that his education was curtailed, so the diversity of education systems in the US is only relevant if he wanted to remain in a decent school system, but the system wouldn't accommodate his schedule. Google would only be relevant if Zach knew that Napoleon was a historical person and not simply a fictional character in a ballet.

Dancers at the schools of Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, and at the Vaganova Academy are given a full academic curriculum while they are at the school. American dancers have to fend for themselves when it comes to their educations, and not all US school systems are flexible with the schedules for elite athletes and dancers.

WQXR's Fred Plotkin offers, Remembering Regina Resnik

Sklute showed Josh's photo to Somes during the casting dinner, which was late in the game; he may have had reservations until the end. Because of the way the show has been shot and the characters on which its focused, it's as if there are few dancers in Ballet West except the ones in they show. There might have been others auditioning/learning the Suitors who were never shown to us. It's hard to imagine that no one else learned/auditioned for part in such a major production even though we may never see it; although no one else was in the public cast list for Suitors except Zach and Ronald Tllton, the Wellington, leaving it to chance that either couldn't be ill or injured during the rehearsal period or run isn't very prudent. It wouldn't have been logically credible for Sklute to have said, "I'm not giving you the role because I'm worried about making you the butt of jokes, but, oh, by the way, I will in an emergency," although it's human, especially when someone is ambivalent, to leave it up to fate to make the decision for them, on the one hand, and on the other, bosses are not known for selflessness in general, and dancers have to suck it up a lot. Casting Spoilers

New York has lost two of the great dance teachers in the last month. This is an article from March 2012 in "The Telegraph": http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/912739/DavidHoward-I-came-to-New-York-as-an-upstart-and-ended-up-part-of-the-American-dream.html Rest in peace, Mr. Howard.

The opportunity was there to take a risk, a big one, and Esina's choice worked out well. There are no guarantees, either at the Mariinsky or elsewhere. I think it's a bit early to write Esina off after a single "Corsaire." I haven't heard that people are not buying tickets to Somova's or Skorik's performances, to note two of the most recent lightening-rod dancers, which suggests that some people are being "wowwed," regardless of what any of us might think, some people don't expect to be "wowwed," or they are not "wowwed" but continue to go to see the same dancers expecting a different result from the same behavior. I know how I would vote if I were in St. Petersburg, i.e., with my feet if I saw some dancers cast, but that and $4 will get me a latte at Starbucks. If Fateev is unhappy with Esina, he won't continue to invite her as a guest artist.

For questions or issues with a post or thread for any reason, please use the "Report" button. It pertains to ABT because Gillian Murphy, an ABT Principal, is the star of the movie.

Carla Korbes was hired out of NYCB as a Soloist at PNB, not a Principal -- she had just been promoted to Soloist at NYCB around the time she decided to make the switch -- and she quickly became a Principal. Not every new graduate or second-year corps dancer would be made a Principal dancer immediately, like Esina, but each had the opportunity to find a company outside the Mariinsky where he or she could have been a big fish in a small pond. The others chose to stay home in the big pond, just as many SAB graduates could have moved up the ranks quickly at a smaller company but chose to stay with NYCB and languish in the corps. It's not that I don't understand wanting the dream of joining the prestigious home company or even dismissing other companies as inferior, but Esina made a different choice, and now she's bearing the fruit of it. She's a guest artist, the best of all possible worlds, because if she finds the Mariinsky an inhospitable place, she doesn't have to stay. Esina was guaranteed nothing when Legris took over Wienerstaatsballett. Plenty of new AD's take the reigning stars and sideline them, if not completely, then by focusing on other dancers.

The whole thing was very lively, but when I woke up, the DVD was back at the main menu .

Leaving the Mariinsky doesn't mean Esina was any better or worse than her fellow classmates: it means that she took a chance -- there was no guarantee Mariinsky management would ever let her back in -- got a ton of experience working with stagers and choreographers and dancing leading roles in the rep that the Mariinsky is trying to produce now, worked with dancers with wide range of schooling and technique, experienced life in another country and cultural center, probably learned another two languages (at least), was recognized by Legris, who had been recognized by Nureyev in his early 20's and was an etoile at Paris Opera Ballet for two decades, and was a recognizable star in Vienna. If any of her classmates didn't feel they were recognized at the Mariinsky and didn't want to leave their careers in the hands of Mariinsky AD's, chances are great they could have found a similar opportunity, as top graduates of the Vaganova Academy are still prized in a lot of the world's companies.

It's not like Wellington gets the girl.

I could see having to explain Wellington to an American dancer, and that it's not just a random character name, but it's hard for me to get my head around having to explain who Napoleon is, even to someone with an eighth-grade education, because the famous portrait is a fairly common image and used a lot in comedy.