Helene

I think this hits the nail on the head. The great choreographer of the English style was Ashton, and his ballets are no longer the core of the Royal Ballet rep, nor are the Sergeyev notations of the ballet classics. How many Balanchine dancers said, "You become a Balanchine dancer by dancing Balanchine ballets" and "The ballets teach you what you need to know"? The demands of Ashton ballets were more specific, with so much emphasis on the upper body, and how can dancers maintain that level of skill and style when dancing a different diet? Even if every dancer in the Royal Ballet was trained exclusively in the School, taking Ashton ballets out of the mothballs and expecting them to be infused with the proper style and technique would be a non-starter when the majority of time is spent on Macmillan and contemporary ballet with some Balanchine and Robbins thrown in. It depends on how you look at it historically. Alicia Markova, who was already a Ballet Russe star, was the first prima at Sadler's Wells. If you're looking at a distinct English style, you might look at Ashton dancers, of whom the primary ballerina was Fonteyn, for whom most of the major roles in his rep were choreographed, but there were other major dancers with Sadler's Wells training, like Beryl Grey, who danced during Fonteyn's "first wave", and Svetlana Beriosova, who was not British-trained. Many of the dancers in the English style had early training in Commonwealth countries, like Monica Mason and Nadia Nerina (South Africa) and Lynn Seymour (Canada), where there was a set curriculum. During Fonteyn's "second wave" -- she was talking about retirement until Nureyev defected and joined the Royal Ballet -- there was the amazing ballerina Antoinette Sibley, who danced Fonteyn's roles and on whom Ashton also made works. Although later more as a Macmillan dancer, and usually classified as a dramatic ballerina, Ashton recognized Lynn Seymour's talent and choreographed for her. Unfortunately, there's not much commercial film of many of the Royal Ballet greats. I think quintessential implies style that neither of these dancers have, because their training is more international, even at the Royal Ballet School, and the rep doesn't support the development of the English style. That also says it in a nutshell: Park, Mason, Dermon, Ellis, Collier, Porter, Conley, Penney... At the time, though, it was very difficult, if impossible for a non-British or Commonwealth citizen to be a member of the Royal Ballet until GB joined the EU, which eliminated the restrictions for EU citizens at least. Lynn Seymour wrote about her uber-talented school-mate, Marcia Haydee (from Brazil), who could not join Royal Ballet. Between the common training curriculum and these restrictions, there wasn't much chance for a dancer with different training to join the company, unless that person was a Nureyev. Lamb's nationality isn't the point, apart from visa issue: training is. A Japanese citizen, for example, who was trained at the School from a young age would be a different dancer than a British citizen like Lamb who was trained elsewhere. As I understand it, "English style" is a learned entity -- your color shouldn't have anything to do with your ability to perform that work. But in the current company, the fact that some headlining performers had a significant part of their training outside the style could be a detriment. Exactly, but is the "English style" even taught anymore, even at the School? Frankly, I didn't see much of a stylistic difference between the corps, which is primarily made of School graduates, and the leads and featured dancers, many of whom were foreign-trained, in the Royal Ballet's "Sleeping Beauty" and Ashton's "Sylvia" in the 2000's. For one, there are less than ten major companies in the world, almost all of which have schools, that are primarily made from its own citizens or citizens from a related commonwealth throughout the ranks. Those are the Bolshoi, the Mariinsky, the secondary companies in Moscow and St. Petersburgh, POB, most Japanese and Chinese companies, NYCB (by sheer numbers more than anything), and a few smaller companies elsewhere in Europe and Russia. RDB has been moving away from this model, with more foreign dancers in the company, especially in the upper ranks. "International" generally either means a company that does a wide rep and doesn't train a single style, or a modern or contemporary company with a single style and sometimes a single choreographer where dancers are chosen around the world to fulfill the artistic vision (Bausch, Maillot, Kylian). If a company doesn't have another mantle on which to market itself, "international" is sometimes used. Pacific Northwest Ballet, for example, has hired many foreign-trained Principals and Soloists over the years with most of the corps American-born and trained. You see the same pattern at Miami City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Ballet Arizona, and Boston Ballet. (Houston Ballet and Pennsylvania Ballet are the exceptions, where the vast majority of Principals and Soloists are American-born and trained.) None of these companies market themselves primarily as international companies: they market themselves on their rep primarily and then their dancers. ABT uses "international" because they get stars and guest artists from the glittery international ranks. Whether this makes good ballet is questionable and debated here often. It's interesting to me to see Ratmansky doing more and more, getting back to the roots of the company with stand-alone shorter rep works. Repeating myself, what style? (Not what was, but what is now.) Since the ballets have mainly changed, and Macmillan requires none of the "English style" -- if anything, the style is a detriment in his ballets -- it's comparing apples and oranges. The style changed with the rep, when there were very few non-white dancers, so its hard to say they pushed the company in any direction. What might be pertinent is that anyone who would be offended by a non-white dancer performing in the English style, or who thought "those bodies can't do that style" back in the day has nothing to be offended by now, since who is attempting the style? The closest I've seen was when Alexandra Ansanelli used Fonteyn as her model in the Ashton section of "Homage to the Queen" and for moments of her Aurora.

The answer to both isn't yes for all of the dancers who are cast and performing, either.

Congratulations to all of the promoted dancers

Then the proposed solution makes little sense: if Zelensky is performing for his own company and was supposed to perform in England with Polunin, why wouldn't he be able to pass an exam? I'm sure many dancers who've fallen out of favor with management and haven't been cast could pass an exam. If they want to address dancers who don't live in the same city and perform, and, like Zelensky, have full-time jobs elsewhere during the season, they'd create their rules based on these conditions.

Combining the threads means they will be merged by date, and posts that appear directly under another and address that post without a quote in a single thread will make little sense with posts from other threads in between them.

Sandi Kurtz reviews Ezra Dickenson's "Mother for you I made this" for Seattle Weekly:

Yes, it was "Bolt." No wonder I couldn't find my non-existent copy of "The Bright Stream" (Now I wonder which DVD I did loan out...) I guess "Anyuta" trumps Birbanto. But he was sooooooooooo good in it!

No Merkuriev. That's sad, because he was the best Birbanto in "Le Corsaire" and I'm pretty sure he was on the "Bright Stream" DVD. (I can't check because I lent out my copy.)

The way the law is described in the article, the law assumes that not-performing and the ability to pass the exam are one and the same, as if the dancers had office jobs at which they were expected to show up every day and perform a fixed task, not waiting for management to cast them, which, aside from dancers on maternity leave and recovering from injury, is not the case. A dancer can be not cast and out of favor for more than being out of shape or incompetent. He or she can be more expensive than an up-and-coming dancer. He or she may be of a rank where it's possible to take better care of his or her health instead of doing a crazy number of performances to earn a living wage and to get ahead. The dancer might not be to a new AD's liking. I doubt this will impact Tsiskaridze or any dancer with connections. Aside from a few state-affiliated/supported companies with lifetime contracts, the Western standard of having the AD issue year-long contracts and decide not to renew them at will means the ability of a dancer to abuse a contract is, at worst, limited to a short time, if management wants to act. (Which it might be reticent to do in any environment where a dancer has connections or powerful donor supporters.) At least now some of the dancers at the Bolshoi and Mariinsky have a power card to play, too, if the percentages cited in the article aren't primarily injured dancers or those on maternity leave and abuse is so rampant.

Marcelo Gomes tweeted a link to a photo of him and Sigourney Weaver at the Met Gala:

I was just listening on the WXQR website to an episode of "The Vocal Scene" from May 12, 1977 called "To Vienna, With Love," and at the end of it, George Jellinek said, after a mention of the downside of the city's artistic history, I don't think Mr. Jellinek anticipated the Internet and international cable TV.

We have discussed audience behavior over the years on Ballet Alert! Even one about when management is in the audience: I've noticed that audience behavior has been an occasional hot topic at ever performing arts or sports discussion group I've seen: you're not alone in your concerns.

I would see Veronika Part in anything, and her Odette is exquisite. I haven't seen Boylston yet, because I live on the West coast, but I've heard and read wonderful things about her, and I love to have seen a performance at the beginning of a major career to which to compare to later performances. Cojocaru is one of the greatest ballerinas dancing today. I've never "gotten" Murphy, but I'm in the minority, and she's been a major dancer and draw at ABT. I don't think you can go wrong with any of these choices.

Fateev certainly didn't get the idea of a bone-thin ballerina from PNB in 1999. Patricia Barker had been Kent Stowell's muse and first cast for quite a while by then, and she had well-defined muscles and wasn't a waif by any means. Carrie Imler was on the rise, and neither she nor Lisa Apple, Julie Tobi!sson nor even Kaori Nakamura are the uber thin, all~legs types. Linette Hitchen and Louise Nadeau were probably closest in type to a Somova or Skorik, but they were never as prominently cast.

Money and power have always been the way of the ballet world. They don't influence every decision and decision-maker equally, and there have been many favored dancers with extraordinary talent and training, too, but it's not as as if ballet was pure through Soviet times and only since glasnost has it become sullied. It has changed to an extent, but there has been plenty of time to discover that an empty aesthetic and substandard training for dancers in a misguided attempt to deliver a blatant misunderstanding of what appeals to "Western" taste will not translate into any more tour dollars than presenting well-trained dancers who embody a more traditional aesthetic. If the ballet is a slave to opera, what would have been left of the school and ballet without Gergiev's efforts? Might it have gone more towards the way of figure skating, as a generation was lost? Some of the coaches have had their say in Catherine Pawlick's book, but Pawlick also describes a time where even Vaganova embraced an aesthetic that was new for the time that sounded pretty vulgar to me, and it went pretty far before Vaganova decided it had crossed the line into circus.

San Francisco Ballet just posted a link on its Facebook Page to a blog post announcing Elana Altman's retirement, Altman's brief, gracious statement, and news that she'll be studying in Italy for a master's degree at University of Gastronomic Sciences.

Peter Boal was quoted in the ABQ Journal:

At the last Met in HD showing of "Giulio Cesare" in Vancouver there was an ad for a series of exhibition broadcasts.

Rest in peace, Mr. Brockway.

I've long thought the strongest excerpt from "Cinderella" is the Four Seasons divertissement.

Here's the info from the press release: SEATTLE, WA -- Encore! Encore! Pacific Northwest Ballet celebrates the conclusion of its unforgettable 40th Anniversary Season of breathtaking performances, world-class choreography, and the outstanding PNB Orchestra with its annual SEASON ENCORE PERFORMANCE! In addition to performances of nine audience favorites, the evening also includes a season-in-review photo montage and an honorary stage bow for Company dancers from the last 40 years. The SEASON ENCORE PERFORMANCE will be presented one night only, Sunday, June 9 at 6:30 pm at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer Street. Tickets may be purchased exclusively through the PNB Box Office (206.441.2424, online at PNB.org, or in person at 301 Mercer Street at Seattle Center.) "Our 40th Anniversary Season has been one to savor and to celebrate," said Artistic Director Peter Boal. "During our annual Encore performance we'll revisit a sampling of the rich repertoire that graced our stage over the past year. We'll look back with pride at a season brimming with world premieres, national and international touring, guest artists, new works, old favorites, and more ovations than we could count. All 314 former PNB dancers have been invited to attend this fireworks finale and many will join us on stage to take a well-deserved bow." The line-up for the 40th Anniversary SEASON ENCORE PERFORMANCE includes: Concerto Barocco Music: Johann Sebastian Bach Choreography: George Balanchine © New York City Ballet Mozart Pieces(excerpts) Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Choreography: Paul Gibson Cinderella(Act III pas de deux) Music: Sergei Prokofiev Choreography: Kent Stowell Swan Lake(Act II excerpts) Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Choreography: Kent Stowell (after Lev Ivanov) Sum Stravinsky (3rd Movement) Music: Igor Stravinsky Choreography: Kiyon Gaines Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven (2nd Movement) Music: Arvo Pärt Choreography: Ulysses Dove Roméo et Juliette (Balcony pas de deux) Music: Sergei Prokofiev Choreography: Jean-Christophe Maillot Agon(Pas de deux) Music: Igor Stravinsky Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust Diamonds (Scherzo & Polonaise) Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust TICKET INFORMATION Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Season Encore Performance is one night only on Sunday, June 9 at 6:30 pm at Marion Oliver McCaw Hall, 321 Mercer Street at Seattle Center. Tickets ($28 - $168) may be purchased through the PNB Box Office: Phone - 206.441.2424 (Mon.-Fri. 9am -- 6pm; Sat. 10am -- 5pm) In Person - 301 Mercer Street, Seattle (Mon.-Fri. 10am -- 6pm; Sat. 10am -- 5pm) Online - pnb.org (24/7) 90 minutes prior to each performance at McCaw Hall (Subject to availability.) Group discounts are available by contacting Julie Jamieson 206.441.2416 or juliej@pnb.org Please Note: Student/senior rush tickets are available -- with valid ID -- 90 minutes before the performance. Teen Tix members may purchase tickets day-of-show, however the Sunday companion offer does not apply for this special performance. Rush and Teen Tix discounts are subject to availability

Many thanks for the interview quote, Fosca! Many dancers like to do things out of their fach or at least appreciate the challenge. What they like isn't always of the greatest quality -- something that feels good isn't necessarily something that looks good -- but it mixes things up for them, both in terms of vocabulary and movement styles and getting to work with choreographers and stagers outside their daily experience and sometimes out of their comfort zones. For neoclassically trained dancers, at least, I've often seen how their experience in works that I don't think highly of informs and energizes the works I do think highly of.

That is wonderful news -- congratulations to Ms. Bojesen

That sounds wonderful, Hamorah!

Helene, thank you for the warning. I understand that you incur rules based on what you believe is right. There is a strong reason to express whatever I think is right. The board rules are not negotiable. We're a private board, although we are visible to all, and we get to establish our own rules and guidelines and moderate as we see fit. Your choices are to follow them and post information and express your opinions within our rules and guidelines or decide that we're not a good fit for you and to post elsewhere. The only people who can post information without a link to official sources are the few that are in the group "Editorial Advisors." Everyone else, including the Moderators and Administrators, are limited to posting news from official sources with citations. That includes me.