Helene

That would be good, too, but not as good as a cultural exchange with the Bolshoi for the return of "War and Peace."

I got the impression from one of the "La Voix Humaine"/"Suor Angelica" Q&A's that the announcement for the new AD will come later, but I can't remember exactly when Jenkins said. I prefer your idea.

I got an email reminder from SO to sign up for the event tomorrow night where it will be announced, but I won't be in Seattle then.

The company forums are for discussing what you saw. You're welcome to discuss what the critics saw in the "Writings for Ballet" forum. I've moved the posts about critics' opinions to this thread, if you want to continue the discussion: New York Critics 2012-13 Season

No, they didn't tell me what it was, but they did invite me to hear it tomorrow night. At least they didn't announce that they were telling us [the exact announcement itself] tomorrow. I'll report back as soon as I know.

Does that mean it's not all Mom Capulet's fault?

Many thanks for the confirmation, diane! I'd forgotten I'd installed Chrome on my PC for the last BT4D upgrade. I'm seeing "BT4D" now, too. I hope you are as well, Lidewij.

What sad news for the ballet world. He created the role of Prince Rudolph in "Mayerling." Here are two short videos preceded by photos, the first of which is from rehearsal and the second of which shows the same scene in costume. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zVrWXsMnGY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsmPgr2fVTU Rest in peace, Mr. Wall.

I've danced around The Phial of Upgrade a few too many times in my career, and I can tell you that -- like Juliet -- one always does wake up afterwards but it never, ever works out the way Friar IT Guy promised. :rofl:

[Admin sledgehammer in hand] Officials news only, with source!!!! Rumors and insider info are verboten to post here. If you're thinking of writing a post that begins with "I heard" and it's not followed by "in the press conference," "at a Q&A," "Peter Martins announce from the stage," close your browser window and back slowly away from the keyboard. [Admin slegehammer back in cabinet, but the cabinet is not locked]

I think that they are fan girls who support him for his good looks and because he is a TV personality, not because they know anything about ballet. There's nothing like adding sexism to fuel the fire.

I don't have Chrome installed yet, and we're supposed to be Chrome-compatible. I'll try it tomorrow. In the meantime, I've changed the wording from "BT4Dancers" to "BT4D." Is that visible for you? (You may have to refresh your browser if you're still active in the one you used to post your comment above.)

Wow, looks marvelous!

At one of the Q&A's after PNB's closing program, the discussion was around programming, and one of the audience members asked Peter Boal if the audience had input into programming. He's far too tactful and well-brought-up to splurt and reply, "In your dreams," but the answer was "no." Then he turned to Benjamin Griffiths, the dancer speaker, and told Griffiths he would put him on the spot and asked him which five ballets he would program, including which choreographer he'd like to choreograph for the company. Griffiths' immediate response was for Alexei (Ratmansky) to create a new ballet for the company, because he had a wonderful experience with "Concerto DSCH.". So if you guys don't want his too dark/too under-decorated/too-much-Shostakovich ballets, we'd love to take those precious pieces of his schedule out here The reason why I'd like ABT to do Ashton rep in which they'd look good and do it justice -- for "Facade" I'd look to Sarasota, for example -- is that when Ashton isn't done justice, people walk away thinking how boring/dated it is, and with his home company having left his legacy hanging over a cliff, it's in jeopardy. If ABT gets it right, then at least enough people think, "How lucky we are to have seen that!" There's also a pervasive idea in North America that ballet goes Petipa -> Balanchine -> early Forsythe/The Next Balanchine and that because the neoclassical aerobics aesthetic went off the rails, let's just jump to modern/contemporary. The DNA that branches to Ashton, Tudor, the American-themed and Canadian-themed (a Royal Winnipeg specialty) dramatic/narrative one-acters -- the ballets that were the core of ABT's rep in the past -- is dismissed. Two of Ashton's influences were Pavlova and Volkova, which is drinking from the well of the Imperial tradition.

High school isn't particularly relevant where it's not demanded as a credential for the next step or where the person is accomplished enough that the credential requirements are waived or not even considered.

That happened to me the first night after the upgrade. Since the day after, it's been displaying as "BT4Dancers.". Weird.

I can see the link on my iPad and Mac screens. Do you see an option called "More" with a little down arrow? If so, the link to "BT4Dancers" should be there. Sometimes it seems to be a browser issue and others it's how wide your window is. I'm considering changing the text to "BT4D" to fit on more screens.

Do you know what the economics are for downloads vs. DVD's? I've long wondered why companies don't release already produced broadcasts for downloads. I would think that between POB, the Bolshoi, and the Mariinsky, there would be intense demand from a small community, and it wouldn't require physical distribution. I'm guessing that archival works would need to be digitized, and I don't know the economics of that, either. Imagine if Soviet TV archives were available for download...

"Les Sylphides" -- yes! a million times. It looked great on the Met stage when I last saw it.

It's a lot less expensive to show what's a finished product than to invest in filming the same ballet again. If they have few broadcasts, they're more likely to spend the money to film a different ballet.

I've seen Oregon Ballet Theatre do "Facade.". It takes an understanding of the characters and tradition to pull off. I don't think it would read well at the Met.

I've never heard "stocky" used as a code word for a male ballet dancer who was overweight. I've heard it used to describe thick-muscled, usually short dancers who, in a strict emploi classical dance system would be demi-caractere dancers, not princes. Golden Idol vs. Siegfried, Solor, or Albrecht.

[Admin beanie on] When there is official news about the comings, goings, and promotions of dancers, it can be published here. Until then, do not post speculation, and that includes about who those dancers are if there's official news about x number of promotions/comings/goings. That's what PM is for. It is perfectly fine to discuss whom you think deserves a promotion or will be based on casting, excellence, etc. As always, if you have a problem with a post, that's what the "Report" button is for. [Admin beanie off]

There is no live performance on 27 June, and it has to be a taped version.

How different is Mearns in body type from the woman on whom Petipa and Ivanov created "Swan Lake"?