Helene

Sounds like a dream weekend! Gelsey Kirkland, who was a phenom, was originally cast in the part, but as she describes in one of her books, she was too emaciated to take the role. I think if Kirkland had danced it, it would have been more obvious why she shot to the top. She had a very thick NY accent, though, and it would have been a stretch for her to have sounded like she grew up in Oklahoma City, with Tom Skerritt and Shirley Maclaine as her parents. On the other hand, it was meant to be a real "Meet Suzanne Farrell, just been born" moment, and, sweetly, because she was in the movie, a Shirley Maclaine, a-star-is-born, after a big break moment. (Those were Balanchine's famous words to Stravinsky, after Stravinsky wondered at Suzanne Farrell's rendition of "Movement for Orchestra" after she took over the role from a pregnant, couch-ridden Diana Adams.) In this case she gets the role because Anne Bancroft walks out on it -- the choreographer realizes that he wants a talented, blank slate for it, which Browne was, but Kirkland emphatically was not -- rather than someone else's misfortune. The "avant garde" choreography (lol) is the "Vortex" solo from Alvin Ailey's "The River", which premiered at ABT in 1970. That was the great Alexandra Danilova, who was a classmate of Balanchine's at the Mariinsky school, and who was one of the small group of dancers and singers who left the Soviet Union with Balanchine and didn't return from their tour. Balanchine, Danilova, and the other dancers stayed in Paris and joined Diaghilev's Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, and was a great star of the later Ballet Russe, with Frederic Franklin her frequent partner. She taught at School of American Ballet from the 60's through the late '80's. I remember watching her SAB variations class with her advanced students. She was charming and completely focused on the dancer she was critiquing at any given time, while all around her was teenage girl chaos. I loved her in this. She made the film for me, just by raising her eyebrow. It depends on the school whether they are discouraged from going outside the nest.

According to one guest, the wife of the director of one of Prince William's charities, who was interviewed after the ceremony, hats and dresses were required for ladies. I think many women chose the fascinators to avoid blocking the view of those around them. Her husband said there were small TV screens used by the guests who did not have a direct view of the ceremony. I was just thrilled to see so many men wearing so many beautifully tailored suits. I remember watching the broadcast of Prince Charles' first wedding a second time, just to hear Kiri Te Kanawa sing, a big performance in a very different kind of wedding, a much bigger show, but also the wedding of a musician and a great music lover. (CBC said that Prince Charles gave Kate Middleton musical selections which she played on her iPad, whereas Prince Charles would not have needed any help.) The most the style of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's wedding ceremony could have supported would have been a solo by one of the choir boys. A solo by one of the greatest non-Church singers in the Commonwealth would not have fit. I loved Princess Diana's dress. It was for a much bigger venue at a much bigger occasion. It was of its time, for a 20-year-old they insisted be a virgin, almost inconceivable now, and very '80's. I think she looked great in it, very much herself. The Duchess of Cambridge would have looked silly in a dress like that, but it's a different time, and thankfully, they have been allowed to have a different relationship: her dress allowed her to be within two feet of her future husband, and the slim silouette made them look like partners. She looked great, too, and very much like herself.

According to Time.com A link about the post-wedding parties, receptions, and speeches identifies the flower girl Prince Charles held on the balcony as the Duchess of Cornwall's granddaughter, so he already is a grandfather. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1382098/Royal-wedding-Harry-pays-tribute-William-dude--ditches-comments-Kates-killer-legs-speech-left-touched.html

I didn't think Prince William's was so bad, but a friend of mine who lived for many years in England compared Prince Harry's "galumphing" gait to a rugby player's. CBC said that because they were both in military uniform, and Prince Harry outranks Prince William, Prince William had to refer to his brother as "Sir" and obey his command ("for the only time"). There were reports passed on by CBC that Prince Harry's command was "Go for it!"

I thought she looked elegant. I loved the tiara she/the Queen/they chose for her (the borrowed), called both the "Halo" and the "Scroll". He looked happy as a clam. The whole thing was relatively understated and serious, despite the carriages and pomp. The Queen looked great in her yellow. According to CBC "yellow" was the bet-of-choice for the color of her dress, even though her favorite color is blue. On the balcony after the reception, Prince Charles looked so happy holding one of the little girls in the wedding party. I think he'll make a wonderful grandfather. I think one of the biggest appeals of the wedding was that there was so much protocol around it, there wasn't a lot of leeway. With so much Bridezilla-ism on the planet, it was a relief to see the purpose of the whole thing -- the occasion of marriage -- be front and center.

Olivier Wevers will lead a tour of works that interest him at the Seattle Art Museum from 6:30-7:00 tonight, 29 April, as part of SAM's "Highly Opinionated Public Tour" series. https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162271977164050 I wish I were in Seattle to see this.

I've moved the posts about the recent NYCB contract negotiation into the following thread in the "Ballet News and Issues" forum. http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/33756-nycb-contract-negotiations/

Excellent article by Philippa Karaly in "The Gathering Note" on the restaging effort: http://www.gatheringnote.org/?p=13721 Some highlights: I'm so glad to see this -- Uko Gorter was a wonderful dancer turned illustrator and, when we're lucky, character artist with PNB.

2023? Wow! Maybe the Royal Ballet will hire McKenzie, and ABT will get Ratmansky

In the Spring 2010 issue of "dance International" magazine, the cover story is how National Ballet of Canada Principal Dancer Aleksandar Antonijevic "is looking toward a new future behind the camera." The article also mentions Rosalie O'Connor, Andrew Oxenham, and Johan Persson as other dancer-turned-dance photographers. (Oxenham is currently a theatrical photographer, according to the article.) There are two photos in the issue by Antonijevic and one by his mentor, Cylla von Tiedemann. Tiedemann's influence in the composition of his photos is evident, but he has his own voice. New York City Ballet fans are familiar with Stephen Caras' work, and, more recently, Kyle Froman's book, "In the Wings". In Seattle, former Pacific Northwest Ballet Soloist Angela Sterling has taken most of the photos for PNB, and she is stellar. I just saw today a post on PNB's Facebook page, which links to photos by current PNB dancer Kylee Kitchens and Lindsay Thomas, who does the superb editing of the PNB videos, of rehearsals for "Next Step 2011", the 18 June program featuring choreography by PNB dancers, performed by students in the PNBS Professional Division. (I'm not sure if the link works if you're not signed in as a member.)

She's never been apologetic about Balanchine's behavior or her own. Given how destructive the relationship between them was viewed by the people around them who were willing to speak, that must rankle the most. I've always ascribed this to her religious worldview, a refusal to have regrets and accepting things, at least eventually, as experience. Sometimes the most damning evidence comes from those who are trying to protect someone or not show them in a bad light. Behavior shines right through.

Thus Hayden's often-quoted complaint that Balanchine changed company class to eliminate jumps because Farrell had knee problems, and how could a dancer maintain his/her technique with no jumping in class? The roles and expectations changed with Farrell. Plus some of the dancers themselves, i.e., "Just put us out of his misery, already." d'Amboise doesn't go on about this, but does say she brought Mejia in as a third, clearly as protection at first. I don't think he describes Balanchine's behavior as blameless. d'Amboise knew Balanchine's foibles well enough not only from observation, but from close personal friendships with his leading ballerinas. He sounds too strong-willed to deliberately whitewash Balanchine's behavior. To me he sounds like a guy, and he reminds me of the scene in "Carlos Saura's Carmen", where Paco de Lucia and another musician in Antonio Gades' flamenco troupe see that Gades' character is going over the deep end over Laura del Sol's Carmen character. They talk to him in that shorthand guy way, and when he makes it clear that he's heading over that cliff, they just shake their heads and wait for the train wreck to be over. He and the others of his generation had lived through this many times before. dirac wrote "In the case of Balanchine and Farrell the power really only went one way – she had as much power as Balanchine chose to allow her and when the crunch came it was clear where the real clout was." I think that d'Amboise's description of this makes so much more sense out of her ultimatum than either she herself did, or the other accounts that describe him making many of the casting and rep decisions, rather than rubber-stamping hers.

Which was quite unexpected, given Bejart's emphasis on men until then and then after Farrell. For me the context was all there, and I don't think that he was obligated to be flattering to Farrell personally -- his enthusiasm in "Elusive Muse" and elsewhere was about her dancing, personal beauty, and commitment to dance, not about her personality -- or that it was tacky in any way, so I'll agree to disagree. There are plenty of unequal relationships around, which I was reminded of yesterday re-watching Altman's "3 Women". His characterizations came as little surprise to me, given how enthusiastically catty and snarky he's been in other contexts, like "Elusive Muse".

That photo is from his chain-smoking days, before LeClerq's illness.

Thank you!!!!

I'm not sure how much more Claudia La Rocco could have slammed this: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/25/arts/dance/sofiane-sylve-avi-scher-and-dancers-review.html?_r=1 When I first saw the quote, "How can you justify putting a dancer like Ms. Körbes, of Pacific Northwest Ballet, in such pretty drivel?" in a Google alert, and that it was in the New York Times, I assumed the review had been written by Alastair Macaulay, and was waiting for a lynch mob. I don't think this will hurt Scher, because he seems to have a loyal audience and dancers really want to work with him, but this was the most directly harsh review of a program that I've read in a long time.

I had never read before that that Farrell asked for a power-sharing arrangement. The only thing I read was that she wanted to coach dancers in the ballets that had been created for her, and that Martins refused. What d'Amboise describes is a different story, a direct challenge to the position to which he had been chosen and appointed by the board. In the late 40's through the early 50's, almost every Balanchine premiere went to Nicholas Magallanes, Francisco Moncion, or Andre Eglevsky. Beginning in 1954 until Farrell became prominent with "Movements for Orchestra", d'Amboise created roles in "Western Symphony", "Ivesiana", "Gounod Symphony", "Stars and Stripes", "The Figure in the Carpet", "Monumentum pro Gesualdo", "Episodes", "Electronics" (yikes), and 'Raymonda Variations". He was also originally cast for "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux" with Diana Adams until her injury, and she was the original for "Movements for Orchestra". He had already established himself as the go-to partner for Adams, LeClerq before her illness, and Hayden. He premiered four roles with Farrell from "Movements" until she left -- "Meditation", the revival of "Ballet Imperial", "Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet", and "Diamonds", two while she was away, "Who Cares?" and "Cortege Hongrois", and one after she returned, "Davidsbundlertanze". (They were both in "Union Jack", but not with each other, and everyone who could walk was in "Union Jack".) Certainly as he matured, his stock rose, but he was well-established, with stronger roles in several more important ballets than he premiered with Farrell. Surely his stock rose like any other tall dancer amidst tall women, because, unlike Villella, he could partner them. He also describes how Balanchine wanted him to be the young Darci Kistler's partner in "Swan Lake", which he felt he was no longer up to, but offered to teach her the pas de deux. I think there's quite a difference between an interview in "Elusive Muse", where the subject was Farrell, and a memoir in which he went back to decades of notes and diaries that reflected his opinion and state of mind at the time. (The descriptions of Farrell's ultimatum was narrative, but he quotes from a diary entry from the day after recording his conversation with Farrell.) The various Balanchine companies and enterprises had already gone through bouts of Balanchine's obsession with other ballerinas, but after NYCB became a big institution, he never gave the kind of power to any of the others that he did Farrell, and his obsession with her affected far many more people. In his description of the conversations he had with Balanchine after returning from staging "Mediation" for Farrell and Jorge Donn in Brussels, he raved about her to Balanchine, and he was willing to serve as a go-between, which he really didn't have to do, if he didn't respect her as an artist and person. (I also never had read before that d'Amboise was at the re-conciliation meeting with Balanchine, Farrell, and Mejia.)

Stiefel gave a month's notice for the first performance, now cast with Stearns, and Hallberg gets one extra performance, while Gomes gets two. I don't know if Hallberg and/or Gomes are in the New Wheeldon or New Ratmansky; currently Hallberg is listed for opening night, the extra Don Q on 21 May, and then again for 28 May "Giselle". Gomes has two "Cinderella"s the week before his substitute "Swan Lake" on 29 June and the Saturday matinee following, and he has a second "Sleeping Beauty" four days after what was scheduled as his last performance, i.e., two performances in the last two weeks of the season instead of one. Stiefel was already on the "if" list, with the aforementioned Careno (retiring), Corella, and Beloserkovsky dancing infrequently, if not at all. The lack of depth of principal men at ABT was hardly an unknown unknown. Given how quickly ABT responded, either they knew Stiefel would not perform before the announcement and were ready, or they had a plan B, given how dodgy his knee has been and how little time he's given the company.

d'Amboise describes how he had many irons in the fire. One thing that surprised me when I read the book was that he doesn't talk about the small touring groups he put together, which Ashley in "Dancing for Balanchine" described as critical to her career. He also doesn't talk much about his own choreography. Ashley ascribes that d'Amboise casting her in "Saltarelli" was crucial in Balanchine's new way of looking at her, after which she was given many new opportunities, in additions to the ones she was given because of self-described luck, when many of the ballerinas were injured or no longer danced the "Tchaikovsky gut-crunchers", as Croce called them. He may have been more important to Farrell than Farrell was to him. He had already had great roles before Balanchine choreographed for him and Farrell. He had the advantage of being the tall, dark, handsome, but older Balanchine surrogate in Balanchine's later works for him and Farrell. He had other, outside things, his own little lecture-demo and touring troupes -- my mother, who knew little about ballet, talked for years about the one he did in Paramus, NJ with Hayden and other dancers, Hayden being the only woman she remembered -- choreography, a family, film, etc. He was also close to Hayden, Leclercq, and other company members, and he was one of the people who was there from the beginning, and saw first-hand the effect that Farrell and Balanchine's obsession with Farrell had on dancers who were his friends and to whom he was loyal and to the company as a whole. (One of the few times I saw Francia Russell almost lose control was when she started to describe how Farrell played Balachine, and then she stopped herself and said, "But she was young.") This is borne out in his critical comments, that Balanchine had given her control over rep and casting, which goes a long way to explain her expectation when she made an ultimatum, and her shock at being treated like everyone else who reportedly had ever made one. (d'Amboise gives the example of Kipling Houston in his book, and Balanchine's expected reaction.) He also explains Farrell's break with Martins and NYCB, by writing that she demanded artistic control over the Balanchine rep, a "You've got to be kidding" moment, especially considering how few works Balanchine left to her control in his will.

Hayden didn't get a lot of the early premieres. In the "Six Ballerinas" documentary, I think it was she -- if not it was Tallchief -- who said that Tallchief would get the first performances, and then Hayden would take over the roles. In "Dance as a Contact Sport" Joseph Mazo wrote about "Cortege Hongrois", the ballet Balanchine choreographed for Hayden's retirement: She was too much for the staid Pacific Northwest Ballet board and company during her short reign as AD and predecessor to Russell and Stowell. Yes, indeed. It may be hard for people to imagine just how beloved the Hayden-d'Amboise partnership was at NYCB in the first 10-15 years of d'Amboises' career. Just before the quote above, Mazo wrote:

Opinions and impressions are fine, when they are backed up; you described what you saw, even if others of us saw the performance differently. It's agendas that are not.

I think he did - rather more than he lets on, although I'm sure that when he says he has no regrets it's perfectly true. By the time there was a succession, I'm not sure d'Amboise wanted to be head of NYCB, but I'd bet more than I could afford to lose that he wanted to be asked (privately) if he wanted the job, or at least seriously considered.

Thank you so much for this :flowers: Obratzova has wonderful detail in her hands, expression, and timing. Her gifts were clear in the "Ballerina" film, when she was just a second year. There is something so finished and complete about her dancing. How I wish I could have been there! I really like Chudin as well. He has lovely free leg position in his pirouettes and lovely ballon. I love how in his variation he is dancing for her, not just an academic or show-off exercise, and it's so full of surrender. I also love how the nationals swirl around Odette and Siegfried, like the swans will in the next act.

I'm a professional, too, and I've made mistakes by overestimating. I'm disappointed that he overestimated. Sadly, a number of these decisions have to be made far enough in advance that when the type of opportunity a dancer needs to transition to the next phase of his or her career, there isn't a lot of wiggle room. The link I see between North Carolina and New Zealand is that he had to tie everything up, and ABT got caught in the middle.

How can I blame him given the number of times I've overestimated what I can do or made a commitment when it seemed like a good/feasible idea at the time?