Helene

Very close to all, but Damrosch Park was named after conductor Walter Damrosch, who helped popularize classical music. and Naming rights for sports arenas are for fixed periods, and after that, they or someone/some other business has to cough up the money for the next period. I wonder how long it will be before the same is true of performing arts centers and halls. If I had beaucoup $$$, there would be something associated with electricians at some opera house named after my parents.

Animals in opera and ballet make me nervous, like when someone loses a piece of costume or drops a flower. All I can focus on is whether the animal, no matter how many enemas it has had, will just go onstage, or no matter how trained will get nervous from an unexpected event or movement, just as something on the stage floor makes me expect someone to trip over it. I'm sure there are animals who are temperamentally suited to the stage and love to be in the spotlight (literally and figuratively), but, for me, it's never worth it.

Commercial and non-profit theaters in the US are often named after Important People in Theatre (Sondheim, Neil Simon, Richard Rodgers, Eugene O'Neill), but for ballet and opera, in Europe, the big theaters are generally named "Royal" and/or "Opera House"; the biggest exceptions are the Palais Garnier and Opera Bastille. In the US, where ballet is performed, there are in number of "Capitol" theaters in state capitols and not, civic names, like War Memorial Opera House in San Francisco, general names, like Symphony Hall (Phoenix), Academy of Music (Philadelphia), and Auditorium Theatre (Chicago), and institutional names, like Metropolitan Opera House. In the last four-five decades, most new or newly endowed theater complexes (Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center [Atlanta], AT&T Performing Arts Center [Dallas], Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts [Miami], Citi Performing Arts Center [boston]) and theaters (Wang Theatre [boston], have have been named after donors and companies, as have most of the newly built/completely renovated theaters (Marian Oliver McCaw Hall [seattle], Winspear Opera House [Dallas]). Also the Four Seasons Centre in Toronto. In the US, there is a long tradition of naming hospital wings, pavilions, and buildings, university buildings, and libraries, after donors. For the far less wealthy, there are the building donor walls.

Slow-motion was used most famously in the Vasiliev "Spartacus" film.

I hope they get a new home. But wasn't it Lincoln Center that blocked their attempts for a new house down by Battery (before the economy collapsed)?

http://www.balletaz.org/index.taf?mnid=about&smid=1126544328

I'm repeating here, but it's worth repeating: In Edwin Denby's original review of Balanchine's "The Nutcracker", he describes how moms and kids went to see the performance. One mother noticed outloud during the snow scene that Marie was missing her shoe, and the child replied that Marie threw it at the Mouse King (to save the Nutcracker). Denby's comment was (probably paraphrasing), "She saw it, and she understood." (My book is in storage, and I can't give the exact quote.)

It would be perfect for Día de los Muertos.

A number of companies did presented their "Firebird"s last season during the Ballets Russes celebrations.

But the name change is significant. Phillip Morris tried to hide under the Kraft brand name for a while but found that not to be so effective. Absolutely. I doubt this was triggered by issues with arts organizations, though. They had many more image problems than that. I haven't seen any official news that arts organization have turned down their money because of their core businesses. It is possible for other donors to tell administration that they will pull their funds if the institution accepts money from ABC (private donor, foundation, or company), and that this stays behind closed doors, but there's no evidence that this has happened.

I like "Red Angels" a lot -- I love the score -- but I haven't been impressed with other Dove I've seen, apart from a male/male pas de deux in "Dancing on the Front Porch of Heaven". "Vespers", despite a superlative all-female cast at PNB, left me cold. I missed "Serious Pleasures" in the "3 By Dove" program this Spring. The solos are at the end of the ballet. There are other solos and pas de deux before the solos.

From the Calendar: Mariinsky Ballet (Fokine): 3 Apr 2011 12pm As part of mixed bills: Cincinnati Ballet (Hougland): 18 Mar 8pm 19 Mar 2pm and 8pm Carolina Ballet (Weiss): Thursday Evening, September 16 8pm Friday Evening, September 17 8pm Saturday Matinee, September 18 2pm Saturday Evening, September 18 8pm Sunday Matinee, September 19 2pm Saturday Matinee, September 25 2pm Saturday Evening, September 25 8pm Sunday Matinee, September 26 2pm Saturday Evening, October 2 2pm Saturday Matinee, October 2 8pm Sunday Matinee, October 3 2pm Oregon Ballet Theatre (Possokhov): 26 Feb 2011 7:30pm 27 Feb 2011 2:00pm 4 Mar 2011 7:30pm 5 Mar 2011 7:30pm

Kowrowski looks fabulous in it. I didn't realize she was that tall! Watching her feet, I couldn't remember Kistler being able to move that fast in her 30's, but I couldn't see faces in those head-on shots. In a PNB video of the same ballet, I identified Lesley Rausch as Carla Korbes.

While it could mean some tweaks after the previews, and to work out the wrinkles, most likely it's a way to share the wealth and to give first sight to Part/Gomes and first official performance to Murphy/Hallberg. Very smart on their part. Isn't Balanchine's the only version with a Dewdrop? Most others I've seen just have the corps in the waltz of the flowers. Stowell's for PNB has Flora as a Dewdrop-like lead for Flowers. I can't remember if Christensen's did -- I saw it before War Memorial went through seismic renos. Stevenson's for Houston has a Flowers Couple. Many versions have Snow Queens and sometimes Snow Kings. It will be interesting to see Ratmansky's choices are.

I was just reading a Q&A in New York Magazine with Ira Glass ("This American Life") and came across this:

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NYCO announced it's 2010-11 season today: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/24/new-york-city-opera-announces-its-new-season/ They've got some interesting things lined up: *Séance on a Wet Afternoon (Stephen Schwartz, with Lauren Flannigan) *A Quiet Place (Bernstein) *Intermezzo *Elisir d'Amor *3 Modern One-Acts: La Machine de l’être (Zorn), Erwartung (Schoenberg), Neither (Feldmen, with libretto by Beckett) Also mentioned are two concerts: Lucky to Be Me: The Vocal Music of Leonard Bernstein (two days) Defying Gravity: The Music of Stephen Schwartz (Spring Gala, with emcees and participants from Broadway) NYCO is certainly differentiating itself from the Met with this programming.

Who's turned their money down? Especially since they've rebranded themselves to sound like "altruistic"? The more tobacco is stigmatized and marginalized in mainstream media, the more important it is to find other channels to get the name out there. Cash for social status was good enough for aristocracy with crumbling castles and crumbling fortunes. When the Basses came to NYC, they threw a pile of money at it. Luckily for NYC arts institutions, they've been quite competitive after the divorce, although he found a more direct route through re-marriage.

Altria is all over the arts world. The only thing that's changed is the name. In 2009, the company gave $3 million to arts organizations. (If you click the link at the bottom to download the detailed list, you'll need to rename the file to remove the ".aspx" or possible "open with" Adobe.) There are industries/businesses that have too much "ick" to be acceptable; the sex trade comes to mind, and I suspect New York arts institutions would reject a production sponsorship from New York Dolls Gentlemen’s Club, although not from the owner(s) personally. Yes, there are lines that are drawn -- and possibly drawn more frequently by companies whose founders are calling the shots on their own behalf -- but, who turned down money from Nike, even after there were allegations of sweatshops and child labor exploitation? Free wine from Chateau Ste. Michelle (owned by Phillip Morris' owners)? Free food from restaurants who might pay below minimum wage, and whose kitchen workers might get shafted in tip distribution? A 1.2M grant from the Walmart Foundation (to WGBH), whose parent company is not known for its altruistic labor practices? Big money from Boeing or Microsoft, after each pared thousands from its payroll?

That's why "right" is in quotes.

And I know which ones I'd trade in a heartbeat: "Steadfast Tin Soldier", "Western Symphony", Variations pour une porte et un soupir", "Kammermusik Nr. 2", "Gounod Symphony", "Meditation", "Tzigane", "Pavane", "Variations for Orchestra", "Scherzo a la Russe", "Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3" (if we get to keep "Theme and Variations"). Without Stanley Williams around to coach the young 'uns, "Bournonville Divertissement" would be my 12th. From the clips of Diana Adams in the Balanchine bio "Figure in the Carpet" is at the top of my list, too.

I disagree. I think Sam Miller was telling us that arts administrators do look hard at where the money is coming from and the reality is that the money has historically come from governments, religious institutions, private individuals with their wide array of political views, and companies, like oil companies, cigarette companies, software companies, luxury builders, etc. who are in it to enhance their reputation. As an arts administrator you can pretend you don't know the source or you can understand that unless you can self-fund or raise money from people/businesses/governments/institutions/grantors/foundations with the "right" ideas, you take most of what's offered or you won't have a company to run. Not everyone was happy with the politics of the de Medici's either. If you're a donor to NYCB, you can pull your money if you don't agree with the institution accepting money from Koch (or XYZ company/foundation/individual/institution). If you're a ballet student, you can refuse to go to the Kirov Academy because it's funded by the Unification Church. If you're a fan you can choose to boycott a company, picket, write letters, blog, or refuse to step foot in their named building. Until you or I or someone with the "right" politics can write the checks to replace the money from the Bad People.

Looks like Albert Evans, Peter Boal, Wendy Whelan, but is the last dancer Darci Kistler?

I had forgotten how wonderful Wyman was in this.