Helene

It's like a storm and cleans everything up for the great wedding pas de deux. I don't know if this was in anyone's mind during its creation, but in my Italian home town it's considered good luck for there to be rain on one's wedding day.

It's a very bizarre addition, with the men and women dressed as gladiators. According to Doug Fullington's notes from the seminar he gave in 2010 before the PNB premiere, it was in the 1870 original score. Every time I see it, I think of "Springtime for Hitler," because it almost seems like a farce, especially after the four beautiful solos (Hours, Prayer, Dawn, Spinner) that precede it.

Many thanks for the report, Bart B!

DePrince is featured in the May 2012 edition of Teen Vogue: http://www.teenvogue...-deprince#intro Thanks to PNB's FB page for the heads up.

Marketing gimmicks also have a way if setting expectations that can backfire and/or become burdens. The wife of a former boss who had worked for a cosmetics company told me back in the '80's how difficult it became to sell cosmetics on their own after Clinique started to give away little samplers with a $10 purchase. It created the expectation that there should always be swag with practically any purchase, not on occasion and for substantial purchases (~$50 at the time).

There was a color film of Allegra Kent and Conrad Ludlow in the second movement of Symphony in C that was excerpted in the "Dancing for Mr. B" documentary that, if they have it, would be on my list after the Liebeslieder, which you've seen, and the Concerto Barocco on your list. (There was also a black and white version in the Balanchine bio of Kent in Symphony in C that I liked less.) I'm not sure how much more of the Tallchief Firebird there is than what was shown in the Balanchine bio, but that would be interesting. There was also a documentary that PNB screened a few years ago in which Dianne Chilgren played a piano arrangement of La Valse to a performance of Leclerq made by an audience member in live performance (without sound).

After seeing "Breaking Pointe," I'm glad Boal declined. I just found info from PNB about "Coppelia" in my inbox: Peter Boal's Letter: Doug Fullington's notes on the Act III Festival of the Bells: Q&A Participants (subject to change): Friday 1-Jun eve: Jeffrey Stanton Saturday 2-Jun mat: Margaret Mullin Carli Samuelson Saturday 2-Jun eve: William Lin-Yee Thursday 7-Jun eve: Lesley Rausch Jerome Tisserand Friday 8-Jun eve: Ezra Thomson Saturday 9-Jun mat: Kaori Nakamura Jonathan Porretta Saturday 9-Jun eve: Rachel Foster Benjamin Griffiths Sunday 10-Jun mat: Leta Biasucci James Moore

Obraztsova has joined the Bolshoi. I always think of Tereshkina as the opposite: a dancer who keeps feelings close to the chest. She's always reminded me of Nichols, whom I loved in the role. I prefer the long legged, cool bones, but it speaks differently to everyone. its Ayupova still dancing? I've only seen her 1993 Calliope from the Balanchine Celebration.

Tershkina would make s great Act II PDD women in Kondaurova's performances of Titania and vice versa, and I don't see a need for a gimmick that undermines the drama, but I also don't think the Balanchine stagers dictate casting, even now, although they might argue their case strongly.

If the Act II pas de deux is the biggest neoclassical role of the night and is recognized as such, the Prima can dance that (and the rest of the divertissement) instead of Titania. Doubling up makes little sense dramatically because of the stark contrast in the relationships. .

Oh, stinger, if infantile was the worst of how the dancers were portrayed .

Catherine Pawlick argued in her book about Vaganova that after the breakup of the Soviet Union, Mariinsky management deliberately went for a change in aesthetic to "Western," (-influenced) which in my opinion was a superficial and distorted view of the aesthetic from a culture with limited exposure to what it was trying to emulate. Somova was at least partially trained and later encouraged and coached to look a certain way by her coach and management. People who bought that misguided aesthetic don't believe that Obraztsova deserved to be promoted ahead of her. In the movie "Ballerina" Somova is chastised for the very things in which she was encouraged to do or at least that were ignored. Is a stage rehearsal really the place to decide that there was a serious aesthetic or technical issue? Somova did a lovely job in the lyrical second movement pas de deux in "Ballet Imperial.". While she wouldn't be my first choice for the Midsummer PDD -- I think she'd be fine as Titania -- with respectful coaching and some time, I think she could do it. Imagine her being coached by Verdy.

Adam Luders did as well, partnering Nichols.