Helene

Mr. Urin sounds very impressive, and the word "transparency" in any project is music to my ears.

What Macaulay said was "In particular, the practice of dancing on point may one day seem as bizarre as the bygone Chinese practicing of binding women’s feet." which I don't think is the same as calling it the functional equivalent. He may be thinking in photographic terms rather than video terms, but if people a century from now opened up the time capsule and saw the photographs side-by-side, they might think it odd. He follows that sentence with "Do we still need an art form whose stage worlds are almost solely heterosexual and whose principal women are shown not as workers but as divinities?" which is why I'm having a hard time trying to keep the question from being a slippery target: Is the woman in Aria I of "Stravinsky Violin Concerto" a divinity? Is the women in "Costermongers"? "Is the second soloist in "Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No.2"? just to name a few Balanchine roles in pointe shoes? Are any of the women in "Pillar of Fire" or "Dark Elegies"? Are the women in "Calcium Night Light," or "Ecstatic Orange"? In "2B"? In "Tide Harmonic?" What roles are we talking about to define a ballerina? Is "grandeur" a requirement? In the Russian and French companies, that traditionally meant being cast in and excelling in certain iconic classical roles, like Odette/Odile, in the style of the school in which they were trained, although POB extended this in recent decades to being able in modern rep as well. If the definition is equally good in the classics as in neoclassical or current rep, then, when it comes to 99% of American female dancers -- i.e., those who weren't trained in Moscow or the Vaganova Institute, the Kirov Academy in DC and a handful of other schools -- they are given an eclectic stylistic education, and they aren't going to look like the dancers who are trained from childhood in the few great European institutional schools, and often it is those virtues that are used to dismiss American-trained dancers. Given the permutations of "After Petipa," those schools show a continuity of training (with inevitable blips), but this isn't Imperial training. I first saw Patricia Barker in the "Nutcracker" movie from the mid-'80's, and although it was Stowell's neoclassical choreography, not Balanchine's, I recognized her as a Balanchine ballerina, and, she confirmed my view when I saw her Polyhymnia in the 1993 Balanchine Celebration, and after I moved to Seattle. I thought in her last few years, when, under Boal, she no longer had the responsibility of being the calling card for the company and Stowell's muse, she relaxed and became a Ballerina in other rep as well. However, for me, being a Balanchine ballerina was enough in itself for her to be a Ballerina (with the capital "B"), just as I wouldn't think of Alexandrova any less of a Ballerina if she wasn't equally stellar in Balanchine than she is in Petipa. That wouldn't fly in Russia or France. As far as Balanchine having Russian teachers in his school, some, like Danilova and Doubrovska, were trained in the Imperial style, but they danced for Balanchine in one of his most creative periods in which he was also ballet master, and they knew what he wanted." Although they and others did, Balanchine famously told Kistler when she joined NYCB from SAB, "Now I will teach you to dance."

Although any number of soloists at NYCB could be in the great soloist vacuum -- promoted, and suddenly they aren't being cast anymore -- the schedule, especially the Spring season, was a killer, and while guest artists could mean extra rehearsals for their partners, by the second month of Spring, when the cast change inserts in the program were a full page long due to injuries and illness, and those left standing were held together with duct tape, I'm sure guests were important. While certain PNB reps were impacted by multiple injuries, such as "Love Stories," which had a lot of switching around, on the whole, the performance schedule -- normally three performances first weekend and four the second -- is relatively calm, compared to what was eight, later seven shows a week for eight weeks straight at NYCB, and, according to Boal, 90 ballets. Ib Andersen noted being bombarded (my description) with 30 roles when he first joined NYCB. A silver lining at PNB has been the occasional change from single partnerships in each ballet to casting partners with more than one dancer so that an injury to an original partner doesn't always mean losing the rep for the season.

Miranda Weese was a guest before she joined the company (the next season?). Coppetiers was supposed to guest as Juliet, but there were visa issues.

I think there are already too many PNB dancers who could be cast for the limited number of Auroras and Titanias.

Radetsky's character in Center Stage was from Seattle, so it's a "Frasier"-like homecoming for him.

Thanks to a heads up from California about the ballet-related offering, the Guggenheim released its Works & Process listing for Fall 2013. Tickets go on sale 14 August. According to the website, if you order online, you can choose specific seats. http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/releases/5531-wpfallseason2013 Of note for modern and contemporary dance fans are three presentations: Gallim Dance Fold Here Sun, Sept 22 and Mon, Sept 23, 7:30 pm Juilliard Dance Wind von West by Pina Bausch A Dance Heritage Project Sun, Sept 29 and Mon, Sept 30, 7:30 pm (Live stream, usually on Sunday) Peter & The Wolf with Isaac Mizrahi Sat, Dec 7, 2:30 and 4 pm Sun, Dec 8, 2:30 and 4 pm Fri–Sun, Dec 13–15, 2:30 and 4 pm (30-minutes, with a dance choreographed by John Heginbotham)

Just as a note, ddsbiggestfan, the only casting information that can be posted here is information released to the public, either through the company website, postings in the lobby, in newspaper articles, and from the cast dancers' public Facebook posts/tweets. Backstage/insider information cannot be posted. I've seen Julie Diana when she danced with San Francisco Ballet, and I remember her being a beautiful dancer.

I think the reason MCB won't disintegrate and why it could be even more frustrating to him is structural: a ballet company that's on the solid side of the dividing line is much more likely to outlive its successor, whereas a concert series that gets its talent based on personal relationships is likely to flounder. I think it's human to feel vindicated when the people that wrench an organization from your hands make the fundamental mistake of failing to recognize what made it successful and fail. (The other option for the Concert Association board members, if they felt that Drucker was running up unsustainable deficits, was to shut it down altogether. It's not as if every head of every major arts organization couldn't argue that the art is worth the deficit.) For Drucker, the top-name artists booked their calendars elsewhere: they didn't lose anything. For Villella, it's a lot more complicated, because he and his wife brought up many of his dancers through the school, at least in their professional training years, and he brought up many through the ranks, and there are the personal relationships built with staff, people backstage, the orchestras, etc. It's not as if MCB went away, every member of the company and staff would land on his or her feet quickly and have equal rank, prominence, and salary someplace else, whereas Murray Perahia or Yo Yo Ma sets his own rep and can play the same concert in another city. I think there are more elements of bittersweet to Villella's situation that Drucker's because of the nature of the organizations.

[Admin beanie on] Please provide links/source information for all unambiguous dancer information unless it's been documented in another thread (ex: Vito Mazzo to DNB, Vilanoba to retire), or it will be removed, and Facebook is a source only when it comes from a "Like" (formerly fan) page that is open to the public or a post on a personal page that it is not restricted (ie, you don't have to be "friend" to see it.) [Admin beanie off] Examples: Madison Kessler: her Twitter description currently reads, "(Warning:I tweet too much) I dance sometimes:Hamburg Ballet,San Francisco Ballet,& soon w/ English National Ballet. I'm just a dancing girl & social media dork.)" Shion Yuasa: her (public) Facebook profile says she works for Tulsa Ballet, and her page has an album of gorgeous photos from Japan 2013. Garen Scribner's plans were posted to the SFB blog. Perhaps because companies are noted for selectively updating their websites and putting out press releases over the summer, some of it driven by contractual issues, that ship has sailed, as the above examples show.

There are huge differences in the freelance music world and the ballet company world. Dance companies are like families, where the dancers live and have roots in the cities in which they perform, often from times in the professional divisions affiliated with their companies, whereas most opera companies, for example, outside the few rep and national companies still around, hire independent casts for each production, with maybe a handful of local character singers, and concert associations don't even have local orchestras as glue. Freelance soloists and chamber players, particularly the most well-known, are on the road most of the year and the vast majority wouldn't be tied to Miami unless they have a stable university affiliation, and even the ones who are based in cities like NY and London don't spend that much time at home. Most freelance musicians are older, too, and they have personal relationships and loyalties to the people who run them. If Speight Jenkins hadn't been in Seattle, we may never heard many of the great voices he brought and who remain loyal to him, when they could be making more money elsewhere and for companies that given them worldwide exposure through live streaming/on-demand performances over the Internet and DVDs. There are maybe 25-30 ballet companies in NA that support close to a full year of employment and offer liveable salaries and benefits, and Miami City Ballet would be in the Top 10 of any list. Dancers are unlikely to leave en masse because Edward Villella is no longer running the company, just as only a few left when Christopher Stowell resigned from OBT before the audition/contract window, giving OBT dancers a good opportunity to do so. It's a different story only when a new director changes aesthetic and is given the authority to start with a clean slate of dancers, like Nacho Duato did in Spain (and didn't do in Russia). Miami City Ballet is also an institution, not a pick-up group or a dance company mission purpose is to perform the works of a single choreographer, and institutions have their own engines. We're hoping in Seattle that the things Seattle Opera has done as an institution -- it has a reputation of treating the artists very, very well, making it a pleasure for them to sing in generally coherent productions, with a spectacular scenic shop -- will remain intact under Aidan Lang, and, of course, there are the contracts in place for at least the next couple of years to ensure some continuity. A concert association, though, generally has far less institutional infrastructure to perpetuate itself and separate itself from the founder. It's no wonder that the Concert Association disintegrated without Drucker, but that's not a likely scenario for MCB.

I don't know: I think the people who decided to withdraw their money and focus in support of Villela would have done so when he was pushed out, and his comments now, especially about the community, would make people more protective of the company and supportive of it and Lopez. If anything, his interview preached to the choir on the one hand and bounced back to him, not MCB, on the other.

I was intrigued by the Hodson reconstruction that the Joffrey did and thought Beatriz Rodriguez was wonderful as "The Chosen One." Considering that the riot had less to do with the music and more to do with rival fan factions at the ballet, I wouldn't expect the reconstruction to be rife with scandal. I don't think it's every been released commercially, but everyone who can watch YouTube can judge for themselves.

Here's the press release from OBT: OBT to round out its artistic team with a second ballet master, Jeffrey Stanton. July 15, 2013 - Portland, OR Jeffrey Stanton, former principal dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet (1994-2011) and currently a faculty member at the PNB School will be joining Oregon Ballet Theatre as ballet master, alongside Rehearsal Director Lisa Kipp. He will arrive in August. “I think Jeffrey and Lisa’s skills complement each other well and I am excited for the dancers to have a chance to work with both of them in the studio” shared Artistic Director Kevin Irving. About Jeffrey Stanton Mr. Stanton trained at San Francisco Ballet School and the School of American Ballet. In addition to classical ballet, he also studied ballroom, jazz, and tap dancing. He joined San Francisco Ballet in 1989 and left to join Pacific Northwest Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 1994. He was promoted to soloist in 1995 and was made a principal in 1996. “Jeff has been a brilliant dancer, great colleague and stalwart Company member for seventeen years – a lifetime in dance and a gift to his artistic directors. It is our hope that, when he retires from performing, he will pass on everything he knows to future generations of young dancers,” shared PNB Founding Artistic Directors Kent Stowell and Francia Russell, (who hired Mr. Stanton in 1994) upon his retirement in 2011. He originated leading roles in Susan Stroman’s TAKE FIVE…More or Less; Stephen Baynes' El Tango; Donald Byrd's Seven Deadly Sins; Val Caniparoli's The Bridge; Nicolo Fonte's Almost Tango and Within/Without; Kevin O'Day's Aract and [soundaroun(d)ance]; Kent Stowell's Carmen, Palacios Dances, and Silver Lining; and Christopher Stowell's Zaïs. Mr. Stanton has performed as a guest artist for Le Gala des Étoiles in Montreal, Prague Gala of Stars, and the TITAS Command Performance of International Ballet in Dallas, Texas. In 2000, he participated in The George Balanchine Foundation's Interpreters Archive series, dancing excerpts from Balanchine's Episodes, coached by Melissa Hayden. Portland audiences may also remember Jeff as a guest artist with OBT in the company premiere of Christopher Stowell's Zaïs. Other Leading Roles: George Balanchine's Agon, Apollo, Ballet Imperial, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, Chaconne, Coppélia (Dr. Coppelius), Diamonds, Divertimento No. 15, Emeralds, The Four Temperaments, A Midsummer Night's Dream (Demetrius, Divertissement pas de deux), Serenade, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Stars and Stripes, Symphony in C, Symphony in Three Movements, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Theme and Variations, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, La Valse, Western Symphony, and Who Cares?; Todd Bolender's Souvenirs; Val Caniparoli's Lambarena; Dominique Dumais' Scripted in the Body; Eliot Feld's Intermezzo; William Forsythe's Artifact II and In the middle, somewhat elevated; Paul Gibson's Diversions and Rush; Ronald Hynd's The Merry Widow (Count Danilo) and The Sleeping Beauty (Prince Désiré); Robert Joffrey's Remembrances; Jiri Kylian's Petite Mort; Edwaard Liang's Für Alina; José Limón's The Moor's Pavane; Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette (Paris); Peter Martins' Fearful Symmetries and Valse Triste; Mark Morris' Pacific; Marius Petipa's Le Corsaire Pas de Trois, Don Quixote, and Paquita; Jerome Robbins' Fancy Free, In the Night, and West Side Story Suite (Riff); Kent Stowell's Carmina Burana, Cinderella (Prince), Delicate Balance, Firebird, Hail to the Conquering Hero, Kammergarten Tänze, Nutcracker (Prince), Quaternary, Swan Lake (Prince Siegfried), The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (Romeo), and Zirkus Weill; Lynne Taylor-Corbett's The Ballad of You and Me, Mercury, and The Quilt; Glen Tetley's Voluntaries; Twyla Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs; and Christopher Wheeldon's After the Rain pas de deux. At San Francisco Ballet, he performed leading roles in works by Lew Christensen, Agnes De Mille, James Kudelka, Mark Morris, and Jerome Robbins.

Welcome home, Mr. Askegard

When Rojo first took over ENB, I wondered if dancers would follow, like they did with Peter Boal at PNB, but with no announcements I just forgot about it. I think this is a wonderful decision on Cojocaru's part.

Royal NZ Ballet just posted a great photo of Gillian Murphy and Karel Cruz after today's "Swan Lake" rehearsal holding a countdown placard: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151458877196863&l=48d4e0381e Ethan Stiefel, don't get any ideas...

All you have to do is cut-and-paste the URL. Sometimes the video is embedded, and sometimes it shows up as a link. As long as the link is live, whoever clicks will be redirected to YouTube.