Helene

Thank you for this -- I didn't even recognize her as the same person from the first season. Perhaps it's a bias from project management, but when you have a last-minute replacement/issue, you try to reduce the risk to your project, not increase it. This usually means having a solid Plan B and plan C in your pocket. I thought he made great TV, too, but from the producers' point-of-view, more in the "Any publicity is good publicity" sense. He got up there and said in up-front words and actions, "I don't buy into your show": 1. I'm not investing the time 2. I'm not interested in your style, or even making it a fusion (which I suspect his son would have in 2006). 3. I refuse to wear the right equipment (shoes) 4. I refuse to wear your drag 5. I'm not moving any way that makes me feel uncomfortable or is counter to my image. 6. I'm not a D-list celebrity who needs the exposure on your show. 7. I think the judges are attention-seeking clowns.I don't care what the judges think. There was also a point where it seemed to break through to him, but it was too late, especially given his lack of prep. It's always a bittersweet moment for me when the something finally clicks for the star, but there's not enough time to implement it. I loved the irony of him standing still and his pro dancer dancing circles around him, because that's the strategy most of the pro dancers use. He just made it so clearly obvious, and he brought attention to himself, rather than deflecting it to his partner, which is the part. (A lot of the stars would give their souls for that kind of power and the lack of stakes to be able to be themselves.) I'm not sure how much this is the case in ballroom competitions, but I know in ice dancing, there was lots of lip service paid to how only those couples who were matched in skills would be rewarded, yet there were men like Maurizio Margolio and Roman Kostomarov who were mediocre skaters with great diva partners (Barbara Fusar-Poli and Tatiana Navka) who won World and Olympic championships. On DWTS this also seems to be rewarded by rewarding good-looking couples with much lesser difficulty and complexity with similar scores to good-looking couples with much more difficulty.

According to the most recent press release, the program has been updated to: Agon (excerpts) Music: Igor Stravinsky Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust Carmen (excerpt)* Music: Georges Bizet and Rodion Shchedrin Choreography: Kent Stowell Lambarena (excerpt) Music: Johann Sebastian Bach and traditional African music Choreography: Val Caniparoli Monster (excerpt)* Music: RA Scion, Max Richter, Alva Noto & Ludovico Einaudi Choreography: Olivier Wevers Nine Sinatra Songs (excerpt)* Music: Songs sung by Frank Sinatra Choreography: Twyla Tharp Petite Mort Music: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Choreography: Jiri Kylian Red Angels Music: Richard Einhorn Choreography: Ulysses Dove Rubies (excerpt) Music: Igor Stravinsky Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust Rushed Goodbye Music: Xavier Rudd Choreography: Stacy Lowenberg Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (excerpt) Music: Richard Rodgers Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust Who Cares? (excerpt) Music: George Gershwin Choreography: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust *Added to original list

Karel Cruz is also very tall, and Seth Orza looks tall to me. William Lin-Yee is the only very tall man in the corps, with Tisserand and Bartee looking like the next tallest. Price Suddarth, an apprentice this year, looked tall in "Place a Chill". As Peter Boal only half-joked in a Q&A, "Our average height for women is 5'9". Our average height for men is 5'9"." Either Peter Boal or Otto Neubert said in a Q&A that they had hoped Milov would be back for "Cinderella", but that didn't happen. In the past he's danced at least Theseus in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"; I saw him in 2004. There is only mime and gesture in Act I, but some lifts in Act II where Theseus partners Hippolyta. I don't know if he's danced Act II Divertissement. In "Giselle" Albrecht and Peasant pas de deux both have partnering and lots of solo dancing, while Hilarion can have some strenuous dancing in Act II and lots of physical mime in Act I. Looking at Encores, only "Nine Sinatra Songs" jumps out to me as an obvious fit, but it's also a fit for Eames, and Spell. Olivier Wevers' own announcement lists his last performance as 17 April in "A Midsummer Night's Dream", which sounds like his last bow will be as choreographer, which would be bittersweet -- the program is full of works with roles he's performed -- but fitting. "Monster" was performed in January by Ty Alexander Cheng and Kylie Lewallen, both from Spectrum Dance Theatre, Andrew Bartee and Vincent Michael Lopez (also Spectrum), and Melody Herrera (Houston Ballet) and Lucien Postlewaite. I wonder which of the three parts will be presented, and whether the original dancers will perform.

I'll never forget how mortified I was the first time I was in Munich, having traveled overnight from Bonn and ready to catch another overnight in Vienna, in jeans and a casual shirt, and I bought a student rush ticket to hear "Die Schweigsame Frau". I assumed student rush was up in the nosebleed seats or in the very time side boxes with limited view, but my ticket was smack in the middle of the orchestra, and the seating was continental seating. The glares I got as I made my way to my seat from the patrons who had paid over 100DM for their tickets burned holes, but not one big enough for me to slink into. I've never been able to take the Met seriously. Perhaps it's because when I first went there, I had heard tales of the old Met and was a bratty teenager in the '70's during a huge shift to the casual, but it's always reminded me of a pretentious 1960's living room, except for the front curtain and chandeliers, the latter a gift from the Austrian government. New York State Theater was a people's house, as was City Center. McCaw Hall in Seattle has a big fancy glass wall between it and the Phelps Center (PNB building), but the rest of the building looks like an airplane hangar, and it's easy to park at the last minute and rush over the sky bridge into the hall and ignore the padded lobby walls that change from soft jewel tones to soft earth tones depending on the light and go straight to my seat. The inside is plush but comfortable deep red and aqua. This might seem odd to people in San Francisco, but as a visitor, being an opera buff, and knowing how important San Francisco Opera is to opera history in the US, plus how important the Christensen brothers were in establishing ballet in America, War Memorial Opera House would be a special place even if it weren't in a part of town where the buildings tell a different story of wealth and aspiration than in either New York or Seattle. It's hard to ignore what it represents, both as a memorial and as a civic monument, and it sits across from another Beaux Arts beauty, San Francisco's City Hall. Whenever I enter the lobby (third photo in the Wikipedia article linked above), there's a voice in me that says, "Watch your posture. Mind your manners. Respect this place", and I feel like I'm in a sanctuary walking up the side staircases with the cool, scalloped brass handrails. I'd be more likely to dress up to attend a performance here than in any of my "homes".

Well, Master P did freely say that he was only practicing about 2 hours a week, so there probably were limits as to how far Ashley was going to progress with him. Ashley was on the inexperienced side, but I'd probably put her solidly in the middle of the regular cast of pros in terms of teaching beginner dancers. Some of the more seasoned pros are actually quite poor in teaching beginner fundamentals, actually. It's understandable that she couldn't do much -- I don't think anyone could have unless he started with the others and there was some behind-the-scenes tough love a la Nick Kosovich -- but her sulky, "It's all a reflection of me" attitude was weak; had she acted directly and professionally, i.e., "This is what we can do in two hours a week", it would have been about him. He was what he was, and he came in late, without the prep that the others had, and that the producers allowed him to sub in at the last minute given his lack of commitment, and general lack of grace and coordination was inexcusable to start, but to pair him with an insecure DelGrosso, who was a first-timer on the show, made me think they were going for the equivalent of a "Trading Spaces" bad reveal. It's interesting that Romeo was going to compete originally, because in season 2 (2006), he would have been 16. (He was born in August, 1989.) I like watching him, and I suspect that he's more interesting at the grand age of 21 than he would have been at 16. I was also glad that Mike Catherwood got the boot first, after his snarky comment in week 1 about scoring higher than Master P. Louis is doomed :( Kirstie Alley makes Chmerkovskiy bearable, but I'd rather watch most of the other pros.

PNB just published a video of Ariana Lallone, Carrie Imler, and Stacy Lowenberg rehearsing the role of Hippolyta in the main studio at the Phelps Center. Jerome Tisserand is Lowenberg's partner (Theseus) in the short clip from Act II.

That was bart who mentioned the de Mille article, which was cited by Bernard Taper in his biography of George Balanchine. A trusty bing search brings up this auction item, "Theatre Guild Magazine January 1930", which lists the de Mille article in the contents. You or your friend might be able to get access to it from a major city or university library. Librarians should be able to help you search whether it was reprinted elsewhere, if the original is not available. Please let us know if you find it. I'm sure others would like to read it.

There are 44 members of the company plus two apprentices. Eight dancers leaving in one season means over 18% of the company members and over 17% of the company including apprentices are leaving in one season. There are 13 Principal Dancers on the roster, and with four leaving, that's a change of 30%. There are eight Soloists currently, and we lose one. Losing three corps members of 23 is ~ 13% change. With both Spell and Kerollis leaving, Kiyon Gaines is the remaining senior corps man from the Russell/Stowell era. Next year there will be three senior corps women remaining in the company: Kylee Kitchens, Brittany Reid, and Jessika Anspach.

If I were a heterosexual male, I'd move to Phoenix and get a subscription to the ballet, because a lot of young women attend, and many wear the smallest of sundresses, with bare, tanned legs and strappy, high-heeled sandals, vying with the ballerinas over who is wearing the least. puppytreats' post reminds me of this passage from "The First Wives Club", my all-time favorite trash novel: I remember reading that in stunned silence. Even the most modest dressing up adds up, especially for women in North America. I've been told that in France, most women have one or two theater outfits, and their friends expect to see them in it repeatedly. Here, we generally don't get off so easily. I was very surprised that when I went to an Saturday opening night of a new production at l'Opera Bastille a few years ago, even the women in their 40's and up were casually dressed, relatively, with very few wearing skirts or dresses. There were a handful of North Americans who were conspicuous by looking dressier, and, as I got closer to confirm my suspicions, by speaking NA English. As Leigh can attest, when I am one of the dressier people in a building, other people are dressed casually.

In the press release for the Season Encores Performance, PNB announced that: :( :( We have threads about Ariana Lallone's departure and Jeffrey Stanton's retirement.

Congratulations to your DD (dancing daughter), balletmom311 and thank you for sharing her experience of the ballet.

Marian Smith's program notes are now up on the PNB site; thanks to doug for the heads up: http://www.pnb.org/Season/10-11/Giselle/#Details-ProgramNotes

PNB has published the program to celebrate three dancers who leave PNB at the end of the season: Ariana Lallone, Jeffrey Stanton, and Stacy Lowenburg, whose choreography, "Rushed Goodbye" will be on the program: * Petite Mort (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart/Jiri Kylian) * Agon—pas de deux (Igor Stravinsky/George Balanchine) * Rushed Goodbye (TBA/Stacy Lowenberg) * Slaughter on Tenth Avenue—pas de deux (Richard Rodgers/ George Balanchine) * Who Cares?—excerpt (George Gershwin/George Balanchine) * Lambarena—excerpt (Johann Sebastian Bach and traditional African/Val Caniparoli) * Red Angels (Richard Einhorn/Ulysses Dove) * Rubies—excerpt (Igor Stravinsky/George Balanchine) Link to ticket info: http://www.pnb.org/Season/10-11/Encore/#Tickets

Friday, 8 April 7:30pm Oberon:Jonathan Porretta Titania: Carrie Imler Puck: Josh Spell Hermia: Chalnessa Eames* Lysander: Olivier Wevers Helena: Maria Chapman Demetrius: Lucien Postlewaite* Hippolyta: Ariana Lallone Theseus: Karel Cruz Cavalier: Batkhurel Bold Bottom: Ezra Thomson* Butterfly: Rachel Foster Divertissement pas de deux : Carla Körbes*, Jeffrey Stanton Saturday, 9 April 2:00pm Oberon:Benjamin Griffiths Titania: Lesley Rausch Puck: Eric Hipolito Jr.* Hermia: Rachel Foster* Lysander: Josh Spell Helena: Stacy Lowenberg Demetrius: Seth Orza Hippolyta: Carrie Imler Theseus: William Lin-Yee* Cavalier: Jerome Tisserand* Bottom: Barry Kerollis Butterfly: Margaret Mullin* Divertissement pas de deux : Laura Gilbreath*, Karel Cruz* Saturday, 9 April 7:30pm Oberon:Lucien Postlewaite Titania: Carla Körbes Puck: Jonathan Porretta Hermia: Lesley Rausch * Lysander: Jerome Tisserand* Helena: Kylee Kitchens Demetrius: Jeffrey Stanton Hippolyta: Ariana Lallone Theseus: Karel Cruz Cavalier: Seth Orza Bottom: Ezra Thomson Butterfly: Chalnessa Eames Divertissement pas de deux : Kaori Nakamura, Olivier Wevers *First time in role

Casting for Week 1 is up now: http://www.pnb.org/Season/10-11/MSND/#Details-Casting I'll post the grid, but the big news is that Kaori Nakamura will be back in the Saturday night performance in the Act II Divertissement Pas de Deux with Olivier Wevers!

In the article you cited, there are three tenets: 1. It respects the needs of all of an organization’s stakeholders. 2. It recognizes that transparency is essential. 3. It is inherently flexible. I don't think your comment that speaking about an injury is never gray follows both the need to protect all stakeholders and the need for transparency. For example, Dancer A has been rehearsing a new role and announces this on Facebook or Twitter. Dancer A does not appear in this role, because I injured my knee in rehearsal, and it's company knowledge since I did it in rehearsal. The new cast will be printed in the program, hence no substitution slip or curtain announcement. Dancer A is interviewed in "The New York Times" before the premiere and is asked "Why aren't you dancing the role?" According to this social policy, either Dancer A can tell the interviewer that he isn't dancing the role because I suffered a knee injury, because "The New York Times" is not Facebook or Twitter, or these guidelines cover all media, and I can't tell NYT why I didn't dance the role. It also makes little sense that Critic A can find out the info from any source and not disclose the source, and publish it in a book or article, but it can't come from the person it impacted. I might not want my knee injury to be public knowledge, but I also might want a pony: my injury has impacted a co-worker, and until there is clear law or precedent by case, or there isn't a human resources procedure for discussing injury under any circumstances, which includes the NYT or a documentary, I shouldn't have the right to take away my co-worker's announcement/description of that impact on his/her career. Speculation, on the other hand, is where the nuance comes in; for example, when he posts that I probably injured my knee because I'm anorexic, party all night, or came to rehearsal drunk, as does how I found out about the injury (eyewitnesses or company announcement vs. my best friend telling Dancer B's best friend). If I am working for a company, and I can't complete a presentation and a co-worker has to give up his/her weekend to do my work, my co-worker has the right to post on Facebook -- the NYT wouldn't be at all interested -- that I came back from a business trip and was too exhausted to finish, or had too much on my plate (the message given to co-worker by me or boss), that co-worker has the right to post that on Facebook. I don't see why it should be any different for Diana Adams' colleagues to discuss Diana Adams' miscarriages and their impact on their careers/the company at length in interviews and memoirs, especially after she's dead and can't comment, than it is for someone to discuss the impact of someone's illness or injury now. Whether it makes sense to do so is another story. Dancers have to maintain relationships with each other, and regardless of whether what they right is well within policy, they bear the consequences of telling the public, just as they bear the social consequences of passing on supposed secrets among each other. Dancers, like any other co-workers, can be tactful and give just enough info to be contextual, or they can be unthinking or think they are being more clever than they are. They can write about things that only affect them tangentially. What they can't do is claim to be misquoted when they write it on their own. If anyone should be restricted from disclosing illness or injury to the public from a legal point of view, it should be the employer, and ballet companies do it all the time, if selectively.

Thank you, PeggyR.

I'm not sure what the source is for SFB's program notes, but in them, there is a short history of the ballet and this production. While the notes state "With the bones of Petipa’s production intact but much new choreography, Balanchine’s Coppélia premiered in July 1974 in Saratoga Springs, New York." -- the third act was Balanchine's -- two people in the original production, Judith Fugate, Swanhilda's friend who finds Dr. Coppelius' key in the original and my last NYCB Swanhilda, and Helgi Tomasson, SFB Artistic Director and the original Franz -- describe the process of re-creating the first two acts: The notes also talk about how Balanchine expanded the roles using music from "Sylvia" and "La Source":

It may have been a money issue: the Trust usually requires that a company used the original sets and costumes or get permission for new production designs, which PNB/SFB did for their co-production. That requirement is why Francia Russell said they couldn't do "Liebeslieder Walzer" for PNB, which Kent Stowell especially loved: their sons had to get special permission to allow excerpts to be performed at their farewell gala without the sets.

This is in fact, not true. This has to do with disclosure of personal health information, and privacy in the workplace. While I won't speculate on whether or not the lack of disclosure could be "gamed" for incremental financial benefit, whether or not it does is irrelevant to the policy itself. When NYCB Dancer A gives an interview to New York City Dance Critic B or "Dance Magazine" or writes a book and says "I didn't/can't dance Role 123 because my partner was/is injured/sick/pregnant at the time", is that covered by the same policy? If it is an issue of disclosure of personal health information, then it seems to me that it should apply more to companies themselves than to dancers, since it is a disclosure made by an employer.

Did Hernandez replace Domitro who replaced Boada and dance with Zahorian in the last Saturday night performance? (i.e., am I sorry I flew out Saturday night?)

According to the 2011-12 press release, "Coppelia" is a revival, listed in the MCB rep list as (Trad., after Delibes/Saint-Leon). According to the San Francisco Ballet program notes, "Outside of New York City Ballet, the Balanchine Coppélia has been done only by companies in Boston; Zurich, Switzerland; Dresden, Germany; and Seattle—and now San Francisco.

I find this confusing, because as of the 70% mark on the Kindle version, I thought there was a lot of his relationship with Balanchine in the book. It is telling enough that he was one of the people Balanchine would confide in over breakfast and post performance snacks. He writes about Balanchine's human side in a direct way -- although the Duberman bio of Lincoln Kirstein covered some of the same ground -- and he writes about his feelings about seeing that side of Balanchine that few on the outside ever saw. He also writes about the effect of Balanchine's illness on the company before his death and "The Succession" was established, and about his visits to Balanchine during his months-long hospital stay. He writes about Le Clercq throughout, but mostly in snippets. Like in his descriptions of his relationship with Balanchine, what he does say is often short and to the point. He doesn't give a long description of Le Clerq's illness; instead the caption to the photograph in the middle of the description the trip to Copenhagen is: "Dr Mel Kiddon giving Patricia Wilde her polio shot, with Diana Adams and Melissa Hayden waiting for theirs, 1956. Tanny LeClercq protested, 'I hate shots! They make me sick. I'll get mine when I come back.'" He emphasizes Balanchine's escape hatch of Geneva Ballet much more than I've ever seen, and that also explains how he could have Kirstein terrorized by the idea that he really could walk from City Ballet at the drop of a hat. What I love about this book is what I love about Julia Child's "My Life in France": the author has had a full life, and despite the hardships and human messiness, has appreciated what s/he had, and that robust love and appreciation for people and experiences and his/her spouse seeps off of every page.

Alley did way more than "stay upright on [her] feet for the entire dance."

I love that part -- against the rest of the men, Tisserand is bouncing up and down on his trampoline. There are sports images scattered throughout, like the men in pairs that go hurdling horizontally across upstage. When William Lin-Yee hurdled about 10 feet off the ground, Ryan Cardea was right behind him, looking like a puppy following his master, or at least his alpha. By Saturday night, nothing in the role looked tricky for Imler. Did anyone see this weekend's performances? Friday night there were major debuts in "Concerto DSCH": Rausch and Bold in the pas de deux and Chalnessa Eames, Lucien Postlewaite, and Jerome Tisserand in the pas de trois, to be repeated at today's (Sunday's) matinee.