Helene

Updates: "Strength and Beauty" did not meet its goal, and the project was closed.

ABT tweeted this message with a curtain call photo by Rosalie O'Connor: ABT salutes Ethan Stiefel on a magnificent night of dance and a magnificent career! https://twitter.com/ABTBallet/status/222363469616386048/photo/1

I'm moving posts about Ethan Stiefel's retirement performance to its own thread here: http://balletalert.i...nt-performance/

News from Benjamin Griffiths' latest blog post Aran Bell was one of two guests taking class with the Company. Mark Morris begins rehearsals for his new work next week, 16 July, and Griffiths is in it. Photos from the PNB Facebook album:

San Francisco Ballet posted an album of 11 photos of his costumes to its Facebook page:

Designer Martin Pakledinaz has died of cancer at the age of 58. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/martin-pakledinaz-death-broadway-costume-designer-346390 His designs for PNB for Kent Stowell's "Cinderella" and a rare Trust-approved re-design for George Balanchine's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" are beloved in Seattle. He designed the beautiful "Nutcracker" and "Don Quixote" for San Francisco Ballet. His death is a loss to ballet, modern dance, opera, film, and theater. Rest in peace, Mr. Pakledinaz.

William Whitener has resigned from Kansas City Ballet after 17 seasons with the company: http://www.kansascity.com/2012/07/06/3694219/william-whitener-to-step-down.html?storylink=twt http://kcur.org/term/william-whitener He will become a Twyla Tharp evangelist, staging her works for ballet companies. Are any BAers familiar with the Company and his tenure and could shed some light about what this might mean for KCB?

[Admin note: consolidating two posts from original thread in Ballet Videos forum] Last week PNB tweeted about a new project by director Chelsea Wayant, who filmed three ballerinas from North Carolina Dance Theatre -- Melissa Anduiza, Alessandra Bell, and Traci Gilchrest -- and is trying to raise money to hire a sound editor and to market the film to festivals and for publicity. Wayant's film is called "Strength and Beauty: Giving Ballerinas a Voice," and the project deadline to raise $6000 is Monday, 9 July at 12:18 EDT. http://www.kickstart...lerinas-a-voice The project page includes a video by the director explaining the project and what she plans to do with the money. Updates: There is a little over a day left to fund "Strength and Beauty: Giving Ballerinas a Voice," which has raised a little under 1/3 of the project goal of $6000.

Adam Sklute, the Artistic Director, is the boss, and he is the final say on all artistic matters, including tempi. It is exactly his job to correct the conductor's tempi: this is a ballet orchestra, not the Berlin Philharmonic, and the music is in service of the choreography. A choreographer/stager can demand a different tempo; Balanchine did that consistently and expected the dancers to adjust, but it was his call, just like it's Sklute's. It is the AD's prerogative to back the stager and/or the dancers as he see's fit. He's ultimately accountable to the board and to the audience for what is put on stage. One purpose of the rehearsal is to get the music and the dancing on the same page. A rehearsal in which the conductor is present is the exact place for making a correction to the tempi -- or to back up the stager -- just as Sklute might make a correction to a dancer's arm or placement. I don't see how it would be career suicide for doing his job.

Maria Kochetkova did a short blog about the Moscow/Hamburg tour for sfgate, with mentions of other works/companies presented at the festival: http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Kochetkova-blogs-about-S-F-Ballet-tour-to-Bolshoi-3689000.php#photo-3165556 The festival, WWB@LLET.ru, included performances by the Bolshoi Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, and San Francisco Ballet

Thank you so much for the remembrance, leonid. Rest in peace, Mr. Kersley.

Even if it wasn't a set-up, he didn't go to see her, and I just don't see him refusing to answer the door, even if his expression looked angry to me. Would those companies hold multiple auditions, or would they just hold them in their own city (at 2am in a deserted warehouse [j/k])?

I've just created a new thread to discuss Susan Jaffee's new position at North Carolina School of the Arts:

In the Corella retirement thread, California posted this link to today's blog post in "Dance Magazine" announcing that Susan Jaffee will become dean of North Carolina School of the Arts, succeeding Ethan Stiefel. http://www.dancemagazine.com/blogs/dance-glance/4519

There's a new thread to discuss Paris Opera Ballet at the Kennedy Center:

Just a quick internet search shows open auditions for Cincinnati Ballet (Cincinnati, Boston, NY, SF), Oklahoma City Ballet (SF, Chicago, OKC), Pennsylvania Ballet (NYC), Dayton Ballet (Dayton), Ballet Met (NYC, Columbus), ABT Studio Company (Long Beach, CA and NYC) and because it's so late in the season, I found references to now-closed open auditions at Kansas City Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, and Ballet Arizona. In 2010 San Francisco Ballet held open auditions for a specific position. Open auditions are expensive in time and money, although there are entry fees to offset some of the expense. I doubt artistic staff would waste its time and money to hold them, for most companies in several cities, if they didn't hire from them. Unlike Ballet West, where Sklute did open auditions at the end of his season, most of the open auditions that I found were held around contract time in the spring, which might mean a dancer could do several of them in one trip. stinger784 might have more insight.

What wonderful news -- I'm kvelling for you and your mom!

I'm surprised it's taken this long, since the last time the summer residency was saved, it was contingent upon finances to continue. The possible bright side is the promise to go back to two weeks in 2014. I'm sure that's subject to review, but I haven't seen many promises lately where other arts organizations are cutting back.

PNB just tweeted a picture of some of the dancers and staff (?) in front of the banner. Check out the banner -- very dramatic and great production values: https://twitter.com/...966825637330944 On the left are Korbes and Cruz in "Waterbaby Bagatelles" and on the right are Rachel Foster and Kiyon Gaines in "Opus 111." It's too bad PNB doesn't have that kind of budget and real estate to showcase Angela Sterling's photos. Seattle Opera had a huge ad on a Seattle Center building for The Ring that could be seen for at least a mile. Click the photo to get a sense of how big it is.

In the lead-up to tomorrow night's opening in Spoletta, Paul Gibson took this photo of (l-r) Lindsi Dec, Maria Chapman, and Rachel Foster sightseeing in Assisi:

In the coming attractions, they said the next episode would be 9 July.

A taste of what it's like to be on tour by Benjamin Griffiths, from the PNB blog: http://blog.pnb.org/...to-spoleto.html Here's the group photo just outside the hotel, posted on PNB's Facebook page: That's doug peeking out of the corner of the back row.

Michael Popkin reviewed Larry Keigwin + Company at The Joyce Theater for danceviewtimes: Will the Real Larry Keigwin Please Stand Up? I wish I could have seen "12 Chairs": I'm a sucker for furniture pieces!

Lorena Feijoo just posted this lovely photo of Acosta and his little daughter Aila to her Facebook page:

Clara Blanco had a great time in Moscow: https://www.facebook...23251292&type=1