Helene

She dances Kitri in Vancouver on Saturday, 18 February at 2pm.

National Ballet of Cuba opened a four-performance run of "Don Quixote" tonight at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. Remaining performances are: Friday, 17 February 8pm Saturday, 18 February 2pm Saturday, 18 February 8pm Live music by the Vancouver Opera Orchestra; I believe the producer said the conductor's name is Giovanni Duarte. Principal Casting from the printed program is: Friday 17 February: Kitri: Yanela Pinera Basilio: Jose Losada Espada: Alfredo Ibanez Mercedes: Jessie Dominguez Gipsy Chief: Omar Morales Graciosa: Grettel Morejon Queen of the Dryads: Amaya Rodrigues Love: Aymara Vasallo Saturday 18 February Matinee: Kitri: Sadaise Arencibia Basilio: Arian Molina Espada: Jose Losada Mercedes: Amaya Rodriguez Gipsy Chief: Omar Morales Graciosa: Regina Hernandez Queen of the Dryads: Dayesi Torrientes Love: Maureen Gil Saturday 18 February Evening: Kitri: Annette Delgado Basilio: Dani Hernandez Espada: Alfredo Ibanez Mercedes: Jessie Dominguez Gipsy Chief: Roberto Vega Graciosa: Amaya Rodriguez Queen of the Dryads: Estheysis Menendez Love: Aymara Vasallo

Thank you for the news, Rosa. That's great news.

I'll buy it for Lunkina, whom I've never seen, because each time I've seen Alizade, she's been paired with another dancer, and I've always preferred the other dancer.

You don't need a Kindle or another electronic reader to read the book: I'm not sure about Nook and the others, but amazon.com offers free software downloadable to a PC or Mac that allows you to read it on your PC. There are also free Kindle apps for iPhones, iPads, and Android phones, so that you can read Kindle books on them. I read books on my phone all the time, since the buses in Vancouver have very dim lighting at night, making reading the Kindle, as well as non-electronic books/magazines/newspapers, a struggle.

There isn't much an employee can do to "lobby with the powers that be", since the governement issues the work visas: it would be The Powers That Be who lobby with the government. There was a beautifuly Canadian dancer at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Alexandra Dickson, who had to leave the Company for a couple of years because of work visa issues -- the US would not grant one -- but eventually, PNB was able to sort it out so that she was able to return. However, it can take years. The work visa environment for foreign dancers in Russia has opened a bit, as we can see from the Bolshoi's abiliity to hire David Hallberg. The argument for Kampa is that she attended the school for training. (She was "finished" there, since she didn't start as a child). There are a number of younger students at the Bolshoi School who are coming up the ranks with a full/almost a full dance education from the school. The government had to decided whether to allow foreign-trained dancers to work in Russia, and this is a good sign for the kids at the Bolshoi's school that there is a chance for them if they earn it. Has anyone seen Kampa dance with the Boston Ballet? If so, I'd appreciate it you would comment on her dancing and style over the last few years.

They're lovely.

Is this the article you mean: http://www.latimes.c..0,5819007.story Rest in peace, Ms. Bethune.

The stagers from Monte Carlo didn't do their homework to see what the conditions would be when they came. They assumed it would be like working with their own company. That's often a mistake, as it was here.

In my reading, I thought the Monte Carlo stagers were more frustrated by having to "share" the dancers' attention with other stagers and rehearsals, not being able to extend a rehearsal because the dancers were scheduled elsewhere, and not being able to summon a dancer when s/he was in another rehearsal or had maxxed out the number of rehearsal hours in a day. I also noticed from the narrative that none of them were giving up their smoking breaks.

The amazon.com release date for Bel Air Classics's "Tribute to Jerome Robbins" by the Paris Opera ballet is 28 February 2012. It's available in regular DVD and Blue Ray. The ballets, recorded at Palais Garnier in September 2008, are: En Sol (In G Major, Robbins) with Gillot, Magnenet Triade (World Premiere by Benjamin Millepied) with Gillot, Pujol, Bezard, Moreau In the Night (Robbins) with Osta/Pech, Letestu/Bullion, Moussin/LeRiche The Concert (Robbins) with Gilbert, Carbone, Phavorin, Thibault Here's the trailer on YouTube, with a wonderful extended section from the second movement of "En Sol"/"In G Major":

This is available at amazon.com. Lead time for shipping is 1-3 weeks.

I just received a "New Release" email from Arthaus announcing a new Dance Theatre of Harlem DVD: Fall River Legend (Agnes de Mille) Troy Game (Robert North) The Beloved (Lester Norton) John Henry (Arthur Mitchell) There are more details and a trailer on the Arthaus site: http://arthaus-musik.com/en/dvd/neuerscheinungen/media/details/dance_theatre_of_harlem.html It will release on amazon.com on 28 February 2012, and can be pre-ordered.

I'm afraid the only dancers I've seen from MCB are the ones in the recent PBS show, but I definitely understand the dismay and disappointment.

I so love the word "Bailarin".

Martins was making substantially more than his peers, and his wife and son were on payroll at the time as Principals, while dancing less and less, and getting pretty bad reviews when they did dance. That certainly stuck in some members' craw when there were layoffs attributed to financial issues.

Is the 14.5 for the year of the Paris tour? If so, was the tour subsidized by a special tour campaign, and if so, was that incremental donations or a transfer from general fund money? Big donors usually want their names associated with a production, special performance, commissions, or at Seattle Opera, a lead singers fund, or, alternately, on a building or part of one, rather than paying for electrical tape, Workers Comp premiums, and toilet paper. It's very possible for a company to look lavish in some respects due to restricted funds, and, at the same time to lay off dancers.

Is that unusual for a ballet company? New York City Ballet has had its share, and PNB had deficit issues and has been struggling recently through the economic downturn. Have any ballet companies thrived through the last 3+ years of the economic downturn? Looking up numbers during the Francia Russell/Kent Stowell years, or during San Francisco Ballet in the 90's, it would be easy to attribute deficits to a lack of management skill, but that wouldn't tell the story of circumstances like the main venues being shut for seismic renovations.

I thought NYCB Principals are not covered by the union contract, and each negotiates his or her own contract with management. They might still be employees and get employement-based benefits that corps and soloists get -- I'm not sure about this -- but the union contract covers the corps and soloists.

I moved from NYC, where I was paying income tax to NY State and NYC, and a commuter tax to Yonkers. I took a 20% pay cut when I moved to Seattle. My take-home pay was the same. I'm not sure people always do the math correctly when evaluating a salary in a state with no income tax. That would, though, make Villella's, Boal's, and Welch's salaries in Florida, Seattle, and Houston directly comparable from an income tax viewpoint.

I didn't realize that bart -- I thought Florida had no inheritance tax.

Per-performance contracts have been common at ABT. This is touched on in the film "The Turning Point", where Emma and Freddie were told that they wouldn't be doing the "Giselle"s the following year, and Emma comments that this will hurt him financially, because he's now paid on a per-performance basis.

I wouldn't necessarily write off Snowbirds: there are new migrations all the time, a renewable source, they don't take off decades to raise families, and the ones a board would court have grown children out on their own, disposable income, and are almost always the ones featured in the legacy donation ads, regardless of geography. I know WA state has no state income tax -- nor does Texas -- and both states' residents are allowed a sales tax deduction against federal taxes as well, which is an advantage. However, we're not paying Peter Boal enough out here.

It's not so much that he was well-paid; I thought checkwriter's point was that it was a larger expense for a company with a smaller budget, which means less money for everything else. A lot of company costs are locked in by contract and can only be modified by concessions, such as the salary freeze/reductions at PNB, forced unpaid leave, etc. Costs for materials have gone up substantially as well: Speight Jenkins at Seattle Opera has cited the increasing cost of plywood as having a large budget impact.

Not necessarily: there have been prominent examples of Artistic Directors who change the direction of companies despite the popularity and/or quality of what they're getting rid of. The Pacific Northwest Ballet board was looking for continuity; not every board or artistic administration is interested in the same thing. Nacho Duato was able to dump the entire classical repertory and the ballet dancers from what was the Spanish national ballet and replaced it with his own contemporary dance. The was a big change of direction in Houston post Ben Stevenson. I'm not sure why there is the work "ballet" in the name "Ballet BC" post-Alleyne. There was a major artistic shift in Oregon Ballet Theatre after James Canfield, and several shifts at San Francisco Ballet. Perhaps, but some of those originators are not the standard stagers of the ballets. For example input from Violette Verdy and Suzanne Farrell for "Emeralds" and "Diamonds" is quite special. Presumably, this was a board-approved trip and a board-approved expense. Whose comfort are you protecting? Ballet Alert! policy is that public information is valid for posting here, and while some members might feel uncomfortable, there is no reason not to post the info. If it's the person being paid, it seems odd that he or she would be uncomfortable with public information being posted; someone who is had the choice of not taking a job in which his or her salary is on the public record. That doesn't mean that any member is required to post it, but a clarification of policy. Someone with the longevity and accomplishments of Villella likely would make more than a new person brought in, although that's not always the case. Getting the younger person cheaper is a standard business strategy. Sometimes it works, and sometimes when you pay peanuts you get monkeys.