Helene

What I find most interesting and enjoyable is watching any participant discover something in themselves that they really didn't know was there. Close to that is watching someone turn the corner in the dance where they make a leap and "get" something. It doesn't really matter how "starry" the person is.

This new video highlights "Jardi Tancat" to what I think is the most beautiful song in the series: The couples are Ariana Lallone and Karel Cruz, Rachel Foster and Batkhurel Bold, and Carrie Imler and Olivier Wevers. The women look extraordinary. Kudos to editor Lindsay Thomas for the arresting final image of Foster and Wevers, the cherry on top. I could listen to Maria del Mar Bonet sing all day long.

Taranda is in both the Semenyaka and Bessmertnova "Raymonda"s. He's fantastic in each.

The Bolshoi version of "Raymonda" is quite different than the Mariinsky version.

Congratulations to Ms. Grinder

Doug Fullington will give an introduction to the four ballets in the "Director's Choice Program" at the Seattle Central Library's Microsoft Auditorium this coming Tuesday, 21 September, at noon, and it's free.

That was on a Monday. They did a warm-up for the finale the Saturday night before, which I was able to see.

My favorite Sugar Plum Fairies were Heather Watts, who always seemed to have a nice rapport with the kids, Judith Fugate, who was golden, and Lourdes Lopez, whose best roles I think were Tallchief roles (like SPF, Firebird, "Allegro Brillante"). I once saw Kyra Nichols do an alternative version of the SPF variation, but I couldn't tell if it was the one Denby described in a review of the original production.

Somova doesn't look like ballerina material in this video to me. She looks student-like. Like the later "Chaconne", in "Diamonds" Balanchine emphasized Farrell walking, especially the feet, which Farrell could make sing. I blanched at Somova's tendu front. I don't know what music she was listening to. That said, her arms were quite lovely in places, although that did not compensate for energy, dynamics, and musicality.

The silver lining in that broadcast is Tereshkina's Nikiya.

Many thanks for the link, Cygnet!

"The Magic Flute" was choreographed originally for the student workshop, and the principal male role was choreographed for Jock Soto. I'm not having any luck finding the rest of the original cast, but I did see Katrina Killian dance the role wonderfully when it was produced at NYCB. Perhaps she was the original female lead.

Her Nurse in "Romeo et Juliette" was dead on. I think he's saying "Chal".

"The Magic Flute" is definitely kid-friendly. The boys who get queasy when the girl and the boy get together will get over it

That's Rachel Foster (in black). The casting is up for Week 1: Friday, 24 September 7:30pm Petite Mort Sarah Ricard Orza/Seth Orza Chalnessa Eames/Benjamin Griffiths Lesley Rausch/Jerome Tisserand Rachel Foster/Lucien Postlewaite Ariana Lallone/Batkhurel Bold Lindsi Dec/Karel Cruz Sechs Tänze (Six Dances) Carrie Imler Chalnessa Eames Rachel Foster Kylee Kitchens James Moore Josh Spell William Lin-Yee Andrew Bartee Jardí Tancat Ariana Lallone Jeffrey Stanton Rachel Foster Batkhurel Bold Carrie Imler Olivier Wevers Glass Pieces Rubric Lindsi Dec Seth Orza Lesley Rausch Lucien Postlewaite Chalnessa Eames Jerome Tisserand Facades Carla Körbes Batkhurel Bold Saturday, 25 September 2:00pm Petite Mort Carrie Imler/Kiyon Gaines Amanda Clark/James Moore Maria Chapman/William Lin-Yee Rachel Foster/Lucien Postlewaite Laura Gilbreath/Olivier Wevers Carla Körbes/Jeffrey Stanton Sechs Tänze (Six Dances) Margaret Mullin Sarah Ricard Orza Abby Relic Brittany Reid Benjamin Griffiths Jerome Tisserand Kiyon Gaines Ezra Thomson Jardí Tancat Carla Körbes Seth Orza Lesley Rausch Lucien Postlewaite Chalnessa Eames Kiyon Gaines Glass Pieces Rubric Rachel Foster Benjamin Griffiths Sarah Ricard Orza James Moore Margaret Mullin Kiyon Gaines Facades Laura Gilbreath Karel Cruz Saturday, 25 September 7:30pm Petite Mort Sarah Ricard Orza/Seth Orza — Chalnessa Eames/Benjamin Griffiths Lesley Rausch/Jerome Tisserand Margaret Mullin/Jonathan Porretta Ariana Lallone/Batkhurel Bold Lindsi Dec/Karel Cruz Sechs Tänze (Six Dances) Carrie Imler Chalnessa Eames Rachel Foster Kylee Kitchens James Moore Josh Spell William Lin-Yee Andrew Bartee Jardí Tancat Ariana Lallone Jeffrey Stanton Rachel Foster Batkhurel Bold Carrie Imler Olivier Wevers 
Glass Pieces Rubric Lindsi Dec Seth Orza Lesley Rausch Lucien Postlewaite Chalnessa Eames Jerome Tisserand Facades Maria Chapman Jeffrey Stanton http://www.pnb.org/Season/10-11/DirectorsChoice/#Details-Casting

They're messing with my categories: Josh Spell is featured in a short video on Kylian's "Sechs Tanze":

Thank you for the reports, YouOverThere! It's always a joy when a work stands up to repeated viewings over more than one season. You were more patient than I towards "...smile from my heart", which I found pretty tiresome the first time. (Even the music couldn't get me through.)

Are these "print your own" like from Ticketmaster? The very nice person at the PNB box office who exchanged two tickets for me and helped me purchase three more offered to email them to me. I already felt like crying because the new printed ones for All Thrap would be generic instead of having the stunning photo of Carla Korbes in "Waterbaby Bagatelles" on them, but, in the future, I'm going to have to be ecologically correct as well as saving PNB postage and handling costs, and to get over how the emailed ones aren't going to look quite the same in my ticket vase.

PNB is performing a mixed bill next Wednesday and Thursday nights, 15-16 September 15-16 October at the Royal Theatre in Victoria, BC: Jardi Tancat (Maria del Mar Bonet/Nacho Duato) Romeo et Juliette Balcony Pas de Deux (Sergei Prokofiev/Jean-Christophe Maillot) Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux (Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky/George Balanchine) Red Angels (Richard Einhorn/Ulysses Dove) Petite Mort (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart/Jiri Kylian) The first and last pieces are in the opening "Director's Choice" program, and the company did the Dove at the end of last season. The surprise is "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux", which is listed on the PNB Repertory List with a debut date of August 13, 1985. I may have missed a rep program in which they performed this from the 1994-5 season until now, but I don't remember it having been programmed since I've been a subscriber.

According to the credits at the end, the film editor is Lindsay Thomas. I loved the way they used the balcony in the main studio, even if it made it harder for me to ID the dancers.

Mulligan is a young, British actress who became well known through Brit lit movies -- Kitty Bennett in the Keira Knightly "Pride and Prejudice", Ada Clare in "Bleak House" -- and was recently in "An Education", "Public Enemies", and the new "Wall Street" movie. She's going to play Liza Doolittle in Emma Thompson's remake of "My Fair Lady" and has been one the of names floated around to play Salander in the upcoming remake of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1659547/

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