Helene

The "First Position" Facebook Page links to screenshots of a profile of Michaela DePrince in the April 2012 issue of "Marie Claire".

I apologize for leaving off the Ashton program. I was thinking that it was interesting to group all of the Ashton and all of the Macmillan into separate programs instead of mixing the metaphor and sandwiching "Monotones I and II" between "Infra" and "Raymonda Act III", but I left out the thought.

Ismene Brown's article on the 2012-13 season was posted in today's Links. In her opinion, the season, which will suffer financially from post-Olympic season budget cuts, is "a phasing out of the "curator" approach of Monica Mason and considerably more vibrant creativity from O'Hare, in his tripartite association with new "artistic associates" Wayne McGregor and Christopher Wheeldon." There will be the company premiere of Liam Scarlett's "Viscera", created for Miami City Ballet, on a triple bill with McGregor's "Infra" and Wheeldon's "Fool's Paradise" in November, the company premiere of Macmillan's "Las Hermanas" on a Macmillan triple bill in November-December, a new Wheeldon and a new Ratmansky along with "Apollo" on a triple bill in February March, and a new McGregor with "Symphony in C" in May-June. There's also a new Scarlett to be performed in the Linbury Studio Theatre in May and a revival of "Metamorphosis" in March. The full-lengths are: "Swan Lake" (Dowell), "Nutcracker" (Wright), "Onegin" (Cranko), "La Bayadere" (Makarova), "Mayerling" (Macmillan), and "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (Wheeldon). A strong triple bill is the Folkine "Firebird", Robbins' "In the Night", and Nureyev's "Raymonda, Act III". (I dislike the Nureyev, but many like his choreography a lot.) Brown also noted the robust uses of the Linbury Studio Theatre, and along with the Scarlett will be Headspace, Bern: Ballett, a program of choreography by Royal Ballet Dancers, Danish Dance Theatre, Tuckett's "The Wind in the Willows", Phoenix Dance Theatre, and Wayne McGregor Random Dance. Most of the companies have ties with current and former Royal Ballet and Northern Ballet company members.

Sadly the only extra on the Euro-region DVD is an interview in English with Wenders, which was taped in an echoed-filled room with intermittent banging and crashing noises. It would have been much better if it had been in German with English subtitles.

Thank you! (I knew it had more syllables than "au bord" )

The Isadora Duncan Awards, which honor dance performances in the Bay Area, will be held from 7-8:30 pm at the ODC Theater in San Francisco on 26 March. According to the FAQ on the "Izzies" website, tickets are free to the public, but I don't see any info about whether reservations are needed: http://izzies.org/faq/ According to an announcement we received through "Contact Us" (emphasis added), Hosting the ceremony will be the celebrated choreographer Val Caniparoli and Denise Pate, Cultural Funding Coordinator for the City of Oakland's Cultural Funding Program. Among those presenting awards will be Edward Villella, Founding Artistic Director of the Miami City Ballet and former New York City Ballet dancer; choreographer Scott Wells, Artistic Director of Scott Wells & Dancers; KT Nelson, choreographer and Co-Artistic Director of ODC; former San Francisco Ballet ballerina Joanna Berman; choreographer Sara Shelton Mann, founding Artistic Director of Contraband; Rudi Soriano, choreographer and Artistic Director of Likha Pilipino Folk Ensemble; filmmaker and cinematographer Austin Forbord; Carlos Carvajal and CK Ladzekpo, Artistic Directors of the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival; Rob Bailis, former Theater Director of ODC; and flamenco singer/dancer Kina Mendez, niece of legendary flamenco singer “La Paquera.”

In the spot we were discussing, she wasn't dressed in a tutu -- she was dressed as a pirate and held the megaphone to the side when she made her quick shout. It sounded like Russian to me, but I assumed it was the Russian version of "au bord".

The skirts on the Lacroix costumes for Paris Opera Ballet are closer to the original skirts than the ones on the current costumes are.

Thank you, silvermash. It's worth it to go to the website and to click on the link for each program: there's commentary (in French) by Brigitte Lefevre and footage. (The same is true for the opera listings; there the commentary is by the Dramaturge or Music Director.) There are multiple programs in tribute to Rudolf Nureyev, 20 years after his death in 1993: Revival of his "Don Quixote" in November and December, including the New Year's Eve performance at the Bastille A gala on 6 March 2013, with excerpts from his choreography Dedication of the joint Paris Opera Ballet/Paris Opera Ballet School Tricentennial of the French School program on 15 April 2012 and the Gala of 21st Century Dance Academies on 20 April 2013, with participants from seven invited dance academies: Royal Danish Ballet School, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, Royal Ballet School, School of American Ballet, Cranko Ballet School, Hamburg Ballet School, and National Ballet School (Toronto)

In todays New York Times there was a review of New York Theatre Ballet's recent program at Gould Hall, and one of the pieces was by former NYCB dancer and the movie "Fame" actress, Antonia Franceschi. The review notes that "City Scenes" was originally choreographed for Ballet Black, and that Franceschi has lived in England since 1995. It's full circle for Franceschi: she was a student of Margaret Craske, one of Ms. Byer's teachers and mentors, and a teacher of teenagers at the company's school at least well into her '80's.

Thank you, Lynette H! Casting has been updated for the first week and added for the second week. There are a few changes to the first week's casting: Eric Hipolito is now in all three performances of "Mating Theory" Jerome Tisserand and Margaret Mullin dance in "A Million Kisses to My Skin" on the Sunday matinee, 18 March. http://www.pnb.org/S...Details-Casting Rep 4 performance casting weeks 1 and 2.xls

Lunkina did call out something into the megaphone in the HD.

The youngest of the Clarke brothers, Reece Clark, 16, was just chosen as the Best Young British Dancer by judges Gary Avis, Zenaida Yanowsky, and Deanne Bergsma: http://www.dailyreco...86908-23785163/ Apart from some dodgy biographical info about his brothers -- Ross is older than Russell and retired from Ballet Arizona a couple of years ago, and I'm assuming the 2006 article from the BBC is accurate -- it's great news. I wonder if there will be another Clarke brother to join Russell at BA?