Helene

Here is the link with more information about the appearance in Minneapolis: http://northrop.umn.edu/events/new-york-city-ballet-moves

Hayden did a wonderful job as in "Stars and Stripes" playing it straight; understanding that this would make it most effective suggests she knows something about comedy. Plus, as far as I know, it was a role made for her alone, not one she inherited or which was envisioned for someone else, because another dancer, usually Diana Adams, couldn't perform. With Hayden and Mitchell in mind, I love the idea of flying, but more like Icarus and not at all ethereal.

I totally agree with you. I find it quite unbelievable that companies don't show casting info, yet ask for your money. They must have some idea who they plan to put in there! I think we are all okay with the fact that things happen and casting changes at the last minute, but we do want a general idea of who we might get. Same with opera companies. It is crazy how some expect you to purchase a subscription without knowing who is going to sing a major role like Norma, for example. You know they have to know who they have pencilled in for a role like that. You don't just choose to put that on the schedule and then go to the local bus stop looking for a singer to sing the most difficult role in the entire repetoire. Since opera companies usually have to book at least two years in advance, in my experience, the companies I've gone to almost always show casting by subscription time, apart from the occasional TBD, usually because someone had to pull out. However, ABT is one of the few ballet companies that announces principal casting well in advance. Ballet companies might have dancers rehearsing roles eight months before a premiere, especially when a choreographer or stager is only available to start then, but more often, the subscription deadline has passed before the choreographer/stager even sees the dancers and chooses them. Ballet also deals with so many injuries that it's impractical to announce casting early: if someone has to be replaced, people feel that they've been sold tickets on false pretenses. Multiple cast juggling is fairly common in ballet, and I've only seen it a few times in my experience of opera. Once was in 2002 when Sondra Radvanovsky didn't sing in a Santa Fe "La Traviata," and the scheduled Elvira in "L'Italiana in Algieri," Madeleine Bender sang Violetta, and one of the apprentices, Meredith Barber, sang Elvira. (The performance in between, of "La Clemenza di Tito," was the first time I'd every heard Kristine Jepsen [sesto], Joyce diDonato [Annio], and Isabel Bayrakdarian [servilia] live.) Another was a Wagner opera where a cover sang the lead, and someone else came in for the cover's smaller role. I remember performances at NYCB, especially late in the Spring season, where the list and explanation of substitutions seemed longer than the cast list.

I just read an icenetwork article that noted that US (figure skating) Pairs team Felicia Zhang and Nathan Bartholomay went to see "West Side Story Suite" at NYCB to prepare for this season's free skate: http://web.icenetwork.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120723&content_id=35420712&vkey=ice_news

According to both Melissa Hayden and Arthur Mitchell, it was going to be made for them. I've only seen them on film, and I know that Melissa Hayden was very technical, but also had some very dramatic roles. What would their gifts suggest?

Single tickets went on sale today, and through 9 August, there will be no service charges. More details here: http://seattletimes.com/html/artspage/2018750702_single_tickets_go_on_sale_at_pacific_northwest_ballet.html

With 10 days to go, the project has surpassed it's goal, but, they're putting the funds to good use. Today the directors announced that they got permission to film Vishneva, Simkin, and Gomes with Tokyo Ballet in "La Bayadere," and they've been interviewing like mad, taking the opportunity to catch Bullion who is in NYC for the Paris Opera Ballet tour, and who studied with Gomes in Paris.

Posted to Lorena Feijoo's Facebook Page: "Friends, Lorena and Vitor are proud parents of a baby girl born this morning at 10:02am in San Francisco. The baby's weight is not known at this time because she was put immediately in her mother's arms. We can tell you this much, she is chubby and how Lorna described her "bella". More info to follow with photos. Love to you all. Yours," Congratulations to the new family

Thank you so much, Estelle! It is always great to hear from you If I remember correctly, Maya Plisetskaya was invited to perform "Bolero", but without very much rehearsal and such a repetitive score, it might have been Bejart himself who tried to prompt her from the back.

I think what Birdsall is trying to say is that Ashton's version was of his time and had elements that were well-known theatrical , specifically comedic, traditions to his audience The core of the ballet was classical and well within the classical tradition -- he was an artistic child of Pavlova as well, and British ballet was influenced by Vera Volkova when she taught in London -- , unlike Ek, who did a contemporary dance version of a classic

The highest price ticket for regular opera performances is 180 Euros and for ballet, 150 or 92 Euros. Due to the economic crisis, that is ~$220 for opera or ~$182-110 for ballet. Last year, the top ticket would have been ~$250.

I agree the goals can be compatible, but, sadly, much of the time they are not, and it's an either/or. My argument is that the preservation of the core rep should be the primary goal of the organization, and the new should be used as a supplement and as food for the dancers. Quoting Patrice Bart from his interview with Marc Haegeman, We are lucky that, at least so far, Pacific Northwest Ballet has maintained this balance, and that the classical and neo-classical ballets in its rep are energized by the inclusion of works from the last few decades through premieres. I always think of it as flirting at a party, and then going home and having great sex with your partner, but it's a similar fine line. I think for opera the bump of new work is made possible by co-commissions and collaborations, where the work gets a much wider audience than anything but a Met-HD broadcast. In Europe, companies are heavily subsidized by the public produce much regietheater, productions which aren't expected to last. In an interview with the Queen of Denmark, Copenhagen Ring director Kasper Bech Holten said that the next time the Ring is produced in Copenhagen, it should reflect it's own time, and that his reflected 2006. In North America, without those subsidies, productions are supposed to last. Speight Jenkins got the Seattle Opera Board to approve a very expensive new Ring for 2001 by promising them that he wouldn't ask for a new production -- typically they last three times over 12 years -- during his tenure and the "Seattle Ring" or "Green Ring" will play for the fourth time next summer. Given the financial situation, it's hard to imagine funding materializing for a new Ring for his successor any time in this decade. It will be interesting to see what happens to opera in Europe, now that governments are slashing funding for the arts. The audience's expectation is for new takes on operas, old and new, and lots of dominant direction, and for rapidly changing productions, and how and when the opera houses adjust to the new economic realities is still a question.