Helene

I don't think you would have had the same impression had Cojocaru been wearing that tutu. That is why I've been confused by comments about how long the ballet was. Peter Martins didn't use the scene before the Garland Dance with the four knitting girls -- ABT's current production does -- and I've only seen Russian productions with "Cinderella", but I always thought his felt so short because the tempi were taken at Eurostar speed, and not because he cut so much.

"Sleeping Beauty" has a Prologue and Three Acts in its original version. Different companies present it in different ways. Here are the ones I've seen for which I can find programs and today's Bolshoi: NYCB: In the printed program from 2004 I have for NYCB's version, there are two acts and one intermission: Act I is "The Christening", "The Spell", "The Vision" . Act II is "The Awakening" and "The Wedding" (The split is an act later than the others with one intermission.) Mariinsky (1952 version on tour in Berkeley) and Pacific Northwest Ballet: Three intermissions Royal Ballet (2008): There were two intermissions, between the Prologue and Act I, and the second between Act I and Acts II&III ABT (2011) and today's Bolshoi performance: Prologue and Act I, intermission, Act II and Act III I could have sworn they left out the Act III description from the written version, but it was described by Novikova just before the beginning of Act II. I liked the way they transitioned between Acts II and III with the courtiers coming in. I know it's actually a dance, but it also looked like they could have been entering the castle. With such big music, the audience doesn't have to hear the stagehands banging the scenery around. I would have preferred if the scene had transitioned before the entrance of the "Fairy Tale" heroes.

New Rule: Only Italians are allowed to design costumes and headpieces for tutu and story ballets. (Except Mr. Lacroix, who is grandfathered in.) I couldn't believe how beautiful the costumes were. I don't like getting dressed up, but I'd even wear the wig if I could have the Queen's costume for Act I, sans the golden capey thing. That the impossible extensions -- which only showed up in the jumps when I saw her in Berkeley a few years ago as Nikiya, and I was hoping she had hidden in the attic -- were back in full force, and the most frustrating thing is that they are clearly a choice and a bad one. She has such incredible control, and even when she doing the crazy extensions, everything else is in place. I don't know how she manages to hold her back so straight while doing the arabesques: it's as if she's built like a pen knife. She has all of the gifts and the rest of her performance is purely classical. She's not making a point with the extensions by stretching everything neoclassically to push the envelope, and she's got the technical control to leave them out. In Vancouver, although it says "live" everywhere, they show it at 1pm on tape delay. The good news is that there is a tape, and it works. Because there weren't many more than 50 at "Esmeralda", I showed up just before the intro, only to find that it was sold out, and the only seats left for ticket holders were in the first two rows. (I also missed the interview with Hallberg, for which I would have come earlier had I know it would play before the broadcast.) I'm sure some of this was because of where I was sitting, even though the illusion was being a little above stage level, but I think I spent more time looking under Zakharova's tutu than over it. What was missing from the Prologue was a Fairy of Modesty. Modesty was missing from her performance. She was very glamorous from the beginning, and I don't mean in-your-face glamor, but natural, irrepressible glamour. That worked well in Act II when she was apart from Prince Desire, but not so effective when he partnered her, because she represented, at best, a desire, rather than an ideal. In one of the article posted in the last couple of days, Hallberg wondered at how Zakharova took over the rehearsal, and in close-up, it looked like she very much took charge of the dancing in Act III. There were lots of lovely things in her performance, but, temperamentally, I would rather have seen her in "Raymonda". (Isn't her coach Ludmila Semenyaka, who was in one of the Bolshoi "Raymonda" DVD's?) Sometime before 2008 there was an internet stream of "Raymonda" from the Bolshoi, I think a TV broadcast which ran several times, in which I was enthralled with Maria Allash. Since then I'd seen her once before this performance and was disappointed, because she seemed so wooden, and while I was hopeful initially, I thought she was missing the graciousness for the role. She did have a single expression, as if it she was in pain and was trying to mask it. Another vote for the Prince with the feathered crown: he had great presence and elegance. The one in the teal or green pants -- from India? from Arabia? from Persia? -- got a lot of screen time during Zakharova's solo, and he made the most of it. Dramatically, I think this production is a dud. In Russian classical ballet, do they use pointing to the floor to indicate death instead of the crossed arms? Having Carabosse point to the floor at the end of her curse was anti-climatic. If this was supposed to be a battle between good and evil, as multi-lingual Bolshoi spokesperson Novikova said during the intro -- it's amazing how she keeps going back and forth between French and English -- they might have cut half of Carabosse's unfocused prancing after the curse and given equal time to the Lilac Fairy, whose curse mitigation was easy to miss if you blinked. There was almost no mime in this production There was 10 seconds at the beginning when Catalabutte reviews the list and indicates that there's something wrong, but he can't put his finger on it -- a great set-up -- 2x10 seconds of Carabosse getting angry and cursing Aurora, and 10 seconds for the King to threaten to hang the four girls with knitting needles and the Queen to convince him otherwise by putting her head on his shoulder affectionately. There's not much more than another 30 seconds in the rest of the ballet. For the life of me I don't understand why directors are wiling to have characters walk around aimlessly to avoid "boring" mime than to have them do the simple gestures that further the story and get on with it. It doesn't take that long.[/soapbox] I wanted to slap down Kaptsova's leg the one time she did a big extension, but it was over quickly, and then she danced Florine beautifully and with great charm. The Fairy Tale figures seemed to be the hybrid of masks with clothes for the men, as if they could be aristocrats dressing up and performing, while the women wore tutus, which only the fairies wore, so it was neither one nor the other. For example, the Wolf was a man pretending to be a Wolf, not a man in a Wolf suit, and his performance was tempered accordingly. The Red Riding Hood and White Cat were neither here nor there, dramatically, but they gave it a good shot nonetheless. Again it may have been because I was seeing a close up, but Anna Leonova's Diamond Fairy looked muscular and hard. Of the four Act III fairies, I was most impressed with Maria Vinogradova's Gold Fairy; she danced with grace. The orchestra sounded fantastic at the Scotiabank Theatre in Vancouver. If the acoustics in the new theater are questionable, they miked it beautifully.

The Bolshoi site is not back up yet in English after the re-design, and this is my attempt to transliterate the Russian cast list for the 20 November performance. I apologize for butchering the names. (Corrections are very welcome.) The site doesn't distinguish among the Princess, and they might be in alphabetical order in Cyrillic, but one of the Princes, Karim Abdullin, was also cast in "Cinderella", and I'm sure you're right that it was the dark-haired Prince with 360-degree feathered crown who did more partnering than the rest. King Florestan: Andrei Sitnikov Queen: Kristina Karaseva Princess Aurora: Svetlana Zakharova Prince Desire: David Hallberg Catalabutte: Vitaly Biktimirov Four Princes Who Come Courting: Karim Abdullin, Yuri Baranov, Pavel Dmitrichenko, Vladislav Lantratov Фрейлины, which Google is translating into "Maids of honor". I assume the Lilac Fairy's entourage: Angelina Vlashinets, Yulia Grebenshikova, Elizaveta Kruteleva, Yulia Lunkina, Svetlana Pavlova, Maria Prorbich, Olga Smirnova, Anna Turazashvili Fairies' Cavaliers: Batr (?) Annadurdiev, Artemi Beliakov, Klim Efimov, Dmitri Efremov, Maksim Ollengeim, Denis Rodkin Dutchess: Olga Suvorova Галифрон, наставник принца, "Galifron" -- I think the man in the second act who's Desire's handler: Igor Simachev. Leads in the Peasant Dance: Anna Antrolova, Aleksander Vodopetov Carabosse: Alexei Loparevich Lilac Fairy: Maria Allash Fairy of Tenderness (Candid): Daria Khokhlova Fairy of (translating as) Carlessness (A type of flower). Maybe free-spirit?: Chinara Alizade Fairy of Generosity (Spreader of bread crumbs): Ksenia Kern Fairy of Playfulness (Twittering canary): Anastasia Stashkevich Fairy of Audacity (Violent): Elena Andrienko Diamond Fairy: Anna Leonova Sapphire Fairy: Viktoria Litvinova Gold Fairy: Maria Vinogradova Silver Fairy: Anna Tikhomirova White Cat: Yulia Lunkina Puss in Boots: Igor Tsvirko Princess Florine: Nina Kaptsova Bluebird: Artem Ovcharenko Little Red Riding Hood: Anastasia Stashkevich Wolf: Alexei Koryagin Cinderella: Daria Khoklova Prince of Fortune: Karim Abdullin Conductor: Vasily Sinaiski By the "yellow" one, do people mean the Fairy of Playfulness from the Prologue or the Gold Fairy from Act III.

Joining someone for a cigarette break is a standard way of getting to know someone better and getting ear time in a setting where the person -- boss, team member, person of influence -- is doing something pleasurable. It doesn't take that much effort to coordinate.

This is such an important point. I look at some of the things Leigh Witchel covers in the "Post" and am glad that I can choose to do other things that night. He's got to know what he's talking about across a huge range of dance, which takes years of visual experience as well as knowledge and context. Plus, he's got to be able to write about it in a tight format for his audience by the next morning. I might post here instead of blogging, but I think the principles are the same, since it's not about raising money through ad links. If I see something and am not sure what to make of it, or get busy with something else, I can choose to not write. If I need a month to mull it over, I can. If I want to focus on one piece in depth and ignore or simply give mention to another, I can. I get to set my own standards, and while I have numerous role models, if I don't reach that quality, no one is going to discuss why I should be fired. (I knew that rule we had about "discussing the discussion" was handy.)

For opening weekend, here are the events for kids in the email I got today: - Magnificent 20-Foot Tree - Holiday Carolers - Marvelous Magicians - Crafts for Kids - Mini Dance Classes - Story Time with Show-and-Tell Costumes - Lights, Lights, and LIGHTS - Larger-than-Life Sendak Statues - Costumed Characters - Mini-Stage for Pretending - Orchestra Meet-and-Greet As much as I hated doing dress-up as a kid, I would have made the trade-off with my grandmother to be able to do crafts and see and hear stories.

In the original plan, the two new Principals, Lesley Rausch and Rachel Foster, were cast in major debuts. For Rausch it was "Romeo and Juliet 'Balcony Pas de deux'" -- I would have lost money betting that Foster would have been cast as well -- and "Afternoon of a Faun", in addition to Aurora. For Foster, it was both "Faun" and "Baiser", in addition to "Bluebird". Unfortunately, an injury to Benjamin Griffiths stopped her "Baiser" debut -- Biasucci and Reshef each danced a second performance instead -- and an injury to James Moore looked to do the same for "Faun". Instead, Peter Boal paired her with James Tisserand for second weekend, and she was able to debut "Faun" on second Friday. Rausch's and Foster's interpretation of "Faun" was fascinating to contrast. Where Rausch entered the studio like the Young Dancer in "Variations Serieuses" enters the empty stage, and she became self-conscious as soon as she was aware she wasn't alone, and creating a push-me-pull-you ambivalence throughout the work, Foster, who made a dynamic and determined entry and "practiced" with power and energy, saw Tisserand and her attitude seemed to be, "Fine, you're here, so lets work." It wasn't until the kiss that there was a hint of change, but then how much of a change she left ambiguous. If someone described the two performances without identifying the dancers, I would have lost another bet by guessing wrong. In decades of seeing this work, in which the female role most often has been portrayed as a cypher, I've never seen anyone so direct and alive in it as Foster. Lesley Rausch and Jerome Tisserand made their debuts in "R&J", and what a tour de force for both. Tisserand's Romeo burst on the empty stage like he could not contain a single emotion, a whirlwind of adolescent ecstacy and energy. Watching shyly from the wings at first, soon Rausch's Juliet joined him in the scene in which they were alternately romping playfully and youthfully impassioned. For two dancers who tend to cool, they were on fire, and they had amazing chemistry together. It was another unique take on the role: Rausch gave herself to Romeo by revealing herself: she was like the tall, elegant, strong sails on a racing yacht. This pairing will be incredible in the full-length version.

I think that bringing in school choirs is a great idea, because it exposes another group that is already arts focused into the theater. It may be years before it bears fruit: in my own experience, my childhood was in the day of Bell Telephone Hour, Firestone Theater, and the Ed Sullivan Show, but, alas, not PVRs, and limited means to see live ballet in high school and college, where I had lots of opportunity to hear classical music. A so-so experience with Boston Ballet during my two years in the area after college kept my focus on music, but when I moved to NYC, that is when I became immersed in ballet. Had I not had the early exposure, including a few great live performances at ABT as a teenager, I might not have been tempted to go back and would have spent all of my time and money at Carnegie Hall, the Met, and NYCO.

I was having a conversation with a friend who dances Tango about partnering and how the man can make the woman look fantastic, and I thought again of Lucien Postlewaite in "Swan Lake" and the way he gestured to the audience to watch Carrie Imler's amazing feats and stood to the side with so much energy and attention, that we saw her through his eyes. I've watched Postlewaite modulate his facial expression based on the size of the venue, and I've seen him do more with his eyes than most film actors. (That and resembling a young Richard Chamberlain.) I think he could act in film. It's a real shame that PNB doesn't do HD broadcasts, because he'd be a natural for the big screen. One of the consequences of all of the schedule changes is that four young dancers, who were scheduled for a single, debut performance in "Divertimento from 'Baiser de la fee'", Leta Biasucci/Kyle Davis and Liora Reshef/Matthew Renko, were each given two. Biasucci and Davis performed first weekend and time to mull it over, while Reshef/Renko danced theirs back-to-back second weekend, but what a difference the opportunity a second performance makes in locking it in as their own. By the end of the run, "Baiser" was starting to look like a tryout for "Coppelia", and Peter Boal has a few more Swanhildes and Franz's than he has performances to give them. Davis, discussed above, gave a complete and nuanced performance dramatically. It was also a technically beautiful performance with a few noticeable, but perfectly appropriate, preparations. By contrast Matthew Renko danced most of the ballet in an upbeat way until the very last section. He, like Seth Orza and Carla Korbes from NYCB before him, dances to a tier of the theater that doesn't exist in Seattle, with boldness, brightness, and confidence, taking up the whole stage. His jump has snap at the top, which is so satisfying to watch. He was a focused and attentive partner to Reshef. In the famous solo there were no visible preparations in seeming defiance of the laws of physics, even as he constantly changed direction, and the only stops were the ones choreographed. This was magical. Biasucci's performance, matching Davis', had more of a dramatic arc than Reshef and Renko's, but Reshef had some very high moments. Temperamentally, it was interesting to see that in the Reshef/Renko pairing, Reshef was temperamentally more like Helgi Tomasson and Renko showed Patricia McBride's cheery optimism. Aside from her soft, rounded port de bras, which, happily, Renko's own matched in roundness, Reshef used her upper body most dramatically and effectively where she was reaching, and her faced showed a hint of shadow. In "Baiser" her lower body was a bit languid. While a bit inconsistent, she showed that she could break out of a soubrette mold and show strong temperament. Not so as Princess Florine, which is listed on the PNB website as her debut. (I thought she was cast for a performance when PNB did the full-length last, but she may have lost her partner to injury.) Her upper body, head, and arms were beautifully shaded, her facial expressions evocative, and she moved her articulate legs and feet independently, but balanced in strength and in harmony. It was a knockout performance, and in true classical style. I didn't see Carli Samuelson and Eric Hipolito's debut on Thursday as Princess Florine and Bluebird, but I saw their second performance on Friday. I was very impressed with Samuelson's upper body in particular. She used it to create a strong, bright presence: she was a true Princess. That is not faint praise, because the role is filled with gestures, and her arm and upper body made them rich and full. Overall, her dancing was a bit emphatic, hitting positions, but it was a great first run, and, importantly, she was able to show what she had in a prominent classical role. She was lovely as White Cat and she and Leta Biasucci were both charming as Little Red Riding Hood. Hipolito as Bluebird was stronger on Saturday night than on Sunday, with clearer beats and definition, but he was unusually upright, which cut the angle of the cabrioles and brisés volés and their impact. His body line was a bit limpid and needed more tension, as if he meant his position to be 25 minutes before seven. He was more alive as Wolf with Carli Samuelson.

I'm sure he likes the attention and the platform, but there's a famous story about Margot Fonteyn. The gist was that she often wanted what other dancers wanted, but she would sit back and let them make the suggestions and requests. Most of the time, her bases were covered, but other people were seen as making demands. The few times that no one else raised her issue, she would ask, and because she rarely asked for anything, she was seen as cooperative and undemanding, and they did everything they could to accommodate her. Generally, what I've seen quoted by him I might find misguided, and I might disagree, or, heavens, roll my eyes, but he rarely says something that I can't imagine others believing, and I'm sure they're happy that he's the one whose neck is sticking out.

I'm not his biggest fan, but he, like everyone else, is welcome to his opinion, and he's prominent enough to be quoted early and often. Clearly he has issues with Bolshoi management and the new theater. He's not the only dancer to criticize the renovation, although his description is a better sound bite: Bolshoi Soloist Anastasia Meskova was profiled in "Hemispheres" Magazine and was quoted as saying: “The old building saw so many things. It’s no longer a place I know,” she sniffs. “I feel like they knocked down a cathedral and put up cardboard.” (This feature article about the renovation is an interesting read.) I honestly don't think that Tsikaridze is the only dancer at the Bolshoi who doesn't think hiring David Hallberg is a good idea.

I just received this press release from PNB about how there will be live choruses in the lobby for "Nutcracker" performances: SEATTLE, WA — McCaw Hall will be alive with the sound of music, as a dozen area high school ensembles serenade audiences arriving for performances of Pacific Northwest Ballet’s acclaimed Stowell/Sendak Nutcracker. In all, 24 performances of PNB’s Nutcracker will feature free, live lobby entertainment. PNB started inviting high school choirs two years ago, and the program has been a great success, with wonderfully positive response from patrons and participants alike, so it has now become a PNB Nutcracker tradition. “The singers create such a festive holiday atmosphere in McCaw Hall for our audiences, and it’s a fantastic experience for the students,” says John Tangeman, PNB Manager of Audience Services. “We look forward to welcoming them back this year!” Vocal performances kick off on opening night with the North Kitsap High School Dramatic Arts Club’s cast members of “Much Ado About Nothing” (but dressed in “White Christmas” costumes) serenading guests with a selection of holiday songs. School ensembles from as far as Tumwater and Port Townsend are scheduled to perform. Other musical groups providing music during the run of Nutcracker include the renowned Dickens Carolers, as well as several groups competing in the popular Figgy Pudding Street Corner Caroling Competition. See performance schedule, below, for the full line-up. Pacific Northwest Ballet’s acclaimed Stowell/Sendak Nutcracker – the Northwest’s most cherished holiday tradition – runs for 36 performances November 25thru December 27. Tickets may be purchased by calling the PNB Box Office at 206.441.2424, online at PNB.org, or in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer St. A limited selection of Nutcracker tickets is also available thru Ticketmaster, 800.745.3000 or online at ticketmaster.com. No other ticket outlets are authorized to sell PNB Nutcracker tickets. -------- to our website software engineers who changed the post feature to keep formatting from emails, so that when I copy and paste them, I only have to increase the size, rather than try to replicate the formatting

Sure, if the reader is motivated and wants to dig for it. I haven't seen that many print publications that make a direct link to what's in print and what's online.

Most of what we read on the Internet from newspaper critics is the same version that appears in print, constrained by print space. I think this is a missed opportunity, since having a longer piece online could drive traffic to the publication's website, thus possibly generating more online advertising revenue through hits and links.

That wasn't the easiest paragraph to parse, but Mr. Kekhman is the principal owner of Joint Fruit Company (JFC), but the director and major benefactor of the Mikhailovsky Theater. The last sentence of the paragraph, "which once had to survive on meager City Hall funding" goes a long way to explain why he was chosen. Without his funding -- he took over in 2007, and the "Laurencia" production was created during his tenure -- it isn't clear how well the theater would have survived.

This wouldn't be the first time that a company changed direction or looked to create a different niche for itself. Ironically, it was Maya Plisetskaya who was ousted from the Spanish National Dance Company by the Spanish government's arts forces and was replaced by Nacho Duato, who since has been replaced by Jose Carlos Martinez. (The company now has a rep that resembles the non-classical Paris Opera Ballet rep.) However, given that many prominent dancers in Russia have said repeatedly that they want more non-classical rep, it seems like Mr. Kekhman is delivering. It's not what I would like to see the dancers in, but I don't get a vote.

In both performances -- I cant believe that just went right over my head.

Casting for week 1 is up: http://www.pnb.org/Season/11-12/Nutcracker/#Details-Casting The good news is that Benjamin Griffiths, James Moore, and Abby Relic, who were out of the "Love Stories" rep with injuries/illness, and Andrew Bartee, who was limited by injury, are cast in this rep in great roles.

Or the prominent "Credit Suisse" logo on the Bolshoi website, and that's a foreign company sponsor. (The English version of the site has disappeared, hopefully temporarily, since it looks like a major site re-design.)

If this were China, each would have to reimburse the state for their training. Le Yin, who danced for PNB as a Principal Dancer after dancing for the Houston Ballet, described this in a Q&A. It's not surprising that in a profession that calls adults "boys" and "girls", and in a theater where most of the dancers have trained in the school at state expense for many years and are coached privately by dancers who have a long lineage at the theater, that the theater considers itself a family, and the dancers are the children. In many families, children are investments, and that has not changed in the last 20 years. Osipova studied at the Moscow Choreographic Academy from 1996-2004, according to her English website. Vasiliev was trained at the Belorussian Ballet School according to the old English website, but for the major theaters, the assumption is a one-way talent flow to them.

During CBC coverage of the Figure Skating World Championships in Moscow last spring, one of the intros showed commentator Scott Russell standing in front of the Bolshoi Ballet and speaking about the reconstruction and how Nureyev and Baryshnikov had graced its stage. The amount of general ignorance in the mainstream press is amazing. The only recent artistic director I can think of is Mr. Burlaka. It's absolutely stunning that garbage like this would be printed in a major newspaper. Inexcusable. I don't think the Russian press would care about reviews in London, but the "Independent" should. Edith Wharton wrote a many books about how the crude, monied interloper took over "genteel" New York society. (Those vulgar upstarts started the Metropolitan Opera when they weren't given the prestigious seats at the old money Academy of Music.) The nostalgia for the old in the face of commercialism is nothing new, regardless of how the not-always-pretty origins were established, Russian oligarchs have been painted with the same, broad brush, and surely not all of them are Jewish. I'd be interested to hear how the descriptions of Kekhman are different than the others, apart from making fun of anyone who earned their money in a non-sexy field like high tech or oil. (Just as I was about to graduate from NYU's business school, it was renamed for a major donor who was known as "Pasta Man".) What I found most offensive after the allusion to Yanin were the way the writer puts his spin on things. For example, he quotes Bolshoi spokeswoman Novikova, and then concludes, that she "suggested that they had been "manipulated" as part of a plot against the theatre." What exactly did she say? He had the opportunity to quote her exactly. (From the "Esmeralda" HD, it's clear that she speaks English very well and on her feet, as well as French.) Of General Director Anatoly Iksanov, "He said that the theatre saw the pair as its children, and would always be willing to have them back, hinting that they had been lured to St Petersburg by the promise of pots of cash." What did exactly did Iksanov say to lead him to this conclusion? About Mr. Kekhman, "He suggested that a creative malaise at the Bolshoi was more of a factor behind the pair's decision than financial considerations." The author has just quoted Kekhman extensively: why not quote what led him to believe that Kekhman "suggested" this? My favorite is "Mr Kekhman admitted that he offered "good conditions" to Ms Osipova and Mr Vasiliyev, and had thrown some city-centre property into the mix as well, but denied that he was offering any more that other top European ballet theatres would." Based on his quotes from Kekhman, "stated outright" sounds more like Mr. Kekhman's style., rather than be forced by the author's pointed questions to admit anything. I agree, although this shows how low the standards have become.

There's no company in North America that has a ten-month schedule like the Mariinsky, Bolshoi, Royal Danish Ballet, or Paris Opera Ballet. Granted, all are rep companies that share with the Opera, but there are two theaters in Paris and Copenhagen. (I'm not sure what they are doing with the New Stage at the Bolshoi now that the main theater's been renovated.) The Mariinsky and Bolshoi tour regularly as well; during tours of full-lengths, generally just a few dancers share the leads, while the rest are home. The only NA companies that the number of performances that would warrant more than three performances a month are the companies who do lots of mixed rep and/or have lots of performances. Only NYCB has a schedule where they dance for months at a time straight: all other major NA companies share a theater with opera, and have six-eight reps a year, with usually between four-twelve performances total. For full-lengths, some Principal dancers might get one-three performances over two weeks as the lead, and, depending on the dancer, maybe another one or two as a secondary lead or featured dancer. (Aurora and Lilac, Titania and Hippolyta, Giselle or Myrtha and Peasant Pas, Sugar Plum Fairy and Dewdrop, etc.) For that month, or at NYCB, week(s) of full-lenghts, they are lucky to dance three times. For mixed rep, there are far more opportunities. As an example, in PNB's recent "Love Stories" program of five ballets and excerpts, which ran for seven performances over two weekends, the original casting, before injuries set in and dancers lost their partners, was: Nakamura: 3x "Divertimento from 'Baiser de la fee'" ('Baiser'), 3x "Romeo et Juliette 'Balcony Pas de deux'" ('R&J') Foster: 2x "Baiser", 2x "Afternoon of a Faun" ("Faun"), 3x "Bluebird" Porretta: 3x "Baiser", 2x "Bluebird" Korbes: 2x "Faun", 2x "R&J" Bold: 2x "Faun", 2x "Black Swan Pas de deux" ("Black Swan"), 2x Prince Desire ("Aurora's Wedding") Rausch: 2x "Faun", 1x "R&J", 2x Aurora Orza: 2x "Faun", 2x Prince Desire (could have been a typo, since his partner got 3), 2x "Gold and Silver" ("Aurora's Wedding") Postlewaite: 3x "R&J", 3x "Black Swan", 3x "Gold and Silver" Imler: 3x "Black Swan", 3x "Gold and Silver" Cruz: 2x "Black Swan", 3x Prince Desire (may have been a typo, since his partner got 2) Chapman: 3x Aurora For context, there are 11 Principals at PNB of 41 dancers + two apprentices at the time the program was danced, or about 25% of the company. (There are now 42 dancers + four apprentices, since the official annoucement yesterday that one dancer re-joined the corps after 8 seasons, and two more apprentices were hired.)

Because it's a description of her situation? Because she'd prefer to do more and wants a situation where she can instead of sharing with a number of other Bolshoi ballerinas, which is the reality of a large institution? Baryshnikov gave two reasons for defecting: wanting to dance more modern rep, and only dancing with the Maryiinsky a few times a month, which wasn't enough stage time for him. Obviously they needed more than that, and the market is such, that they found someone else to give it to them. It's not in the nature of institutions to accommodate individuals, apart from CEO's who are hired and fired like hothouse flowers, which is possible, because there's only one CEO and dozens of top dancers. If they make special arrangements for her, why wouldn't the other dancers want the same thing? I agree that it's not a fair comparison: Other dancers have nothing to do with their situation, their marketability, and their choices. If they can get more than they are getting now, whether that be artistically, financially, or a combination of both, it's up to them to make the trade-offs. If we think they are making poor artistic choices, we can lament them, but they are the ones leaving all of the perks at the Bolshoi, and they obviously feel it is worth the risk. Many dancers stay at companies because they've chosen prestige, stability, salary, city, repertory, and personal relationships over the progress of their careers and/or their own artistic satisfaction, and some of them complain publicly. Some are happy to be paid decently for something they love, even if they aren't wearing the big crown, others have said they've made peace with never going up the ranks, others have other roles within the company that give them satisfaction (like union rep, teacher). Sarah Lane isn't as marketable as Osipova or Vasiliev, but it is very likely she has or could have other choices than staying at ABT, if she's upset about being bypassed. That could be said of ABT for many decades, and it's the well-known and well-establish double-edged sword for dancers who join the company from ABT II or directly into the corps. It's not a company that is known for its Lifetime Achievement awards. Obratzova, one of the finest dancers I've seen dancing recently, is not at the top rank of the Mariinsky. Neither is Kondaurova nor Korsakov.

A thread about Ms. Lyon has already been opened in the "Ballet Obituaries" forum: http://balletalert.i...merican-ballet/ (I'm closing this thread to avoid duplication.)