Helene

I love that variation After I saw Maria Alexandrova do it, I wanted to join the pirates!

They don't have to have no reason to stay: they just have to have more reasons to go than to stay. Aside from any personal reasons, why wouldn't a young dancer want an opportunity to dance in Europe, especially when a choreographer and his stagers showed personal interest in that dancer? Boal, who was one of the most appreciated young dancers by the audience, left NYCB early in his career to dance in France. Boal isn't Balanchine, who, when dancers left to "do their 'Giselle's", moved on and wouldn't take them back. People make careers in all sorts of ways, and some, like Pantastico and Jodie Thomas, who left for RDB a few years after the season described in the book, were lucky to have spouses who could work in/from Europe. It sounds like a great adventure to me, even with all of the opportunities at PNB. More specifically, Manes describes how Pantastico felt she'd always be second to Korbes, the way [every other dancer] was second to Patricia Barker in the last 15 years or so of Russell/Stowell era, and during part of that, there were more performances. If you remember, the stagers insisted on giving Korbes five performances of the eight originally scheduled, and Pantastico three. Manes reports that Boal was unhappy about this, and the reason a ninth performances was added, was to try to even it up a bit. (That was without the pregnant Vinson in the mix.) It's up to each dancer to decide how to interpret this. I remember a Q&A in Boal's first year with Pantastico in which Pantastico, like many dancers before her and many dancers after her, spoke about Russell and Stowell as "Mom and Dad", and the atmosphere in the company was very different under Boal. She also said, bluntly, that (paraphrase) if Boal didn't give her what she wanted to dance, she wouldn't stay, with him sitting three feet away. She studied at CPYB and wasn't one of the 1/3 or so of the company who had trained with him at SAB or danced with him, and her loyalty for nurturing her and growing her career within the company was to Russell and Stowell. Postlewaite was in a relationship with Olivier Wevers, now his husband, and Wevers is European. I don't know either of them, but I would guess that being in Europe near Wevers' family and many of their European friends would be very appealing. Who wouldn't consider it? As it turned out, weren't enough reasons for him to leave. From Q&A's Herd always struck me as a restless sort. Amsterdam is a fine city, Dutch National Ballet has a great rep -- they premiered "A Million Kisses to My Skin" and the Ratmansky "Don Quixote" -- they have the kind of $$$ to spend $3million on "Don Quixote", and they offered him a Principal contract. It's hard to argue with that.

Oh, yes!

While poking around for a review of "Play" performances at The Joyce, I found this feature -- over 9 minutes! (okay, it was PBS) -- in which Ilir Shtylla was interviewed about "Play" and dancing for the company and there were clips from a studio rehearsal of "Play" in the first two minutes, and then a seven-minute studio interview with Ib Andersen. http://www.azpbs.org....php?vidId=1984 When asked about whether it was a drop-dead-sexy ballet, Andersen refrained from saying that this was a marketing slogan.

I don't think many people in Phoenix were in NYC for her performances in Ib Andersen's "Play." The upcoming program is her homecoming. I can't find the review that mentioned underwear, and it might have been the one with a beautiful photo of the pas de deux referenced in danced by Natalia Magnicaballi and Astrit Zejnati in purple briefs and bra (for her), but I've never seen anything by Ib Andersen where the feature is rolling on the floor.

I didn't realize that Natalia Magnicaballi had been injured, and I just read an article that said she tore her ACL last year, but is back and will dance in two of the three ballets in the "Director's Choice" program: "Paquita" and "In the Night". http://www.azcentral...um-phoenix.html That is great news -- to Ms. Magnicaballi.

Lindsi Dec and Karel Cruz will perform in Lafayette Ballet Theatre's "Cinderella" on Saturday, 31 March at 7pm. The performance takes place at the Heymann Performing Arts Center. Uko Gorter, a wonderful former dancer at PNB, who now does many character roles with the company, performs Father. http://theadvocate.com/entertainment/2371380-31/cinderella The best quote, from Co-Artistic Director Shannon Heath: "The story does deviate from say, Disney."

Chelsey Meiss is featured in the April 2012 Dance Magazine "on the rise" feature. She spoke briefly about working with Alexei Ratmansky on "Romeo and Juliet."

Swatosh is listed in the corps on the website. (A momentary detour: Ms. Zien is the April 2012 dancer selected for the "Dancer's Choice" feature in Dance Magazine.)

"I'm in the corps and we do a lot of full-lengths. I need the shoe to last all the way through a ballet like Swan Lake. They need to be light, but they need to last." Chelsea Adomaitis, quoted in the April 2012 Dance Magazine feature on toe shoes.

Then maybe he should have worn a red fringed sash, to bring attention away from feet. Is thinking his strong point?

I would never compare the quality of a broadcast or DVD to YouTube, but if I wanted a sense of the production and to not base my decision on what others have said before I invested in a DVD, I wouldn't dismiss YouTube out of hand.

They've updated the website (as of now) with the new Principal Soloists, but haven't gotten to the Apprentices-Turned-Corps: http://www.miamicityballet.org/dancers.php Congratulations to all!

Ms. Pagliero!

I don't think anyone thinks that tours or presenting ballet is cheap, but as far as touring a full-length, I think these things are relative in terms of costs. "Giselle" has, at most, two costumes per dancer, and is a relatively short ballet as full-lengths go. (Sometimes "Giselle" is paired with a short ballet.) I would guess that Romantic tutus are less fussy to ship than pancake tutus. Unlike the Bolshoi "Le Corsaire", which they cut down to three hours to avoid overtime, with its hordes of costumes, "Giselle" is relatively cheap, although with one intermission, the in-house bar loses potential sales.

I hope we get some film clips that we haven't already seen from the Balanchine bio, or longer versions of them.

According to the email I received today, presales for "Friends" (password-enabled) for the Lincoln Center Festival 2012 are open, and general sales will open 2 April. Paris Opera Ballet will perform the Coralli/Perrot "Giselle", the Bausch "Orpheus and Eurydice, which exists on DVD (Belair, 2008) with Gillot and Bridard, and a triple bill of Lifar's "Suite Blanc", Petit's "L'Arlesienne", and Bejart's "Bolero": http://lincolncenterfestival.org/index.php/2012-paris-opera-ballet

I just got an email from the Lincoln Center Festival announcing the 2012 season and the opening of presales for Friends (general sales start 2 April), and highlighting Paris Opera Ballet from 11-22 July: French Masters of the 20th Century -- Lifar "Suite Blanc", Petit "L'Arlesienne", Bejart "Bolero" Wed 11 July 8pm Thu 12 July 8pm Sun 15 July 8pm Orpheus and Eurydice -- (sung in German) Bausch Fri 20 July 8pm Sat 21 July 8pm Sun 22 July 3pm Giselle -- Coralli/Perrot Fri 13 July 8pm Sat 14 July 2pm and 8pm Tue 17 July 8pm Wed 18 July 8pm Thu 19 July 8pm