dirac

I'm sorry I missed this update. Only today I ran across an obit for Jones and was going to post it, and obviously you beat me to it, miliosr. She looks like a perfect Desdemona.

Thanks, miliosr. The whole point of these songwriter bios was to provide an excuse for showcasing a bunch of great songs, but if the numbers and performers weren't absolutely top-of-the-line they could be painful. This one was good. I didn't know it had been intended for Kelly and Sinatra, who would have been better as stars if no better casting as the two principals. When the writer was gay a whole new layer of fictionalization was called for, the most notorious example being the Cole Porter biopic starring Cary Grant, "Night and Day," with Grant uneasily nuzzling Alexis Smith as Linda. I always liked this story: One of the screenwriters, I think it was William Bowers, rang Porter to apologize for his part in making the movie. Porter told him he loved the movie, thought it was wonderful. A mystified Bowers consulted Oscar Hammerstein II, who asked him how many songs were in the picture. Twenty-plus, Bowers said. "Well, of course he loved it. You don't think he noticed that stuff that went on between his songs, do you?" Fun fact: For a time Balanchine lived with Lorenz Hart (no, not what you're thinking). Balanchine said Hart taught him English,

San Francisco Ballet prepares for its 2021 virtual season.

San Francisco Ballet prepares a virtual benefit.

A People interview with Tiler Peck.

A gallery of historical Nutcracker photographs from the Jerome Robbins collection.

Any new movies to add to our list? Any old movies revisited?

An Economist podcast with Misty Copeland.

A very merry Christmas to all who celebrate it and happy holidays to everyone! A Christmas Carol (1951) Pavlova and Gordeev in the Nutcracker pas de deux

So sorry to hear this, I realize she was 71, but it seems too soon. I didn't know that her son had Marfan syndrome until now. A sweet article by Reinking on the subject: She's dancing in heaven right now for sure, although that "Trumpet Solo" of hers may disturb the peace a bit. RIP. Thank you for the clips, volcanohunter. I've always loved that "Everything Old is New Again" number and Reinking in it, and young Erszebet Foldi is delightful as well.

An interview with Wei Wei of Hong Kong Ballet.

Q&A with Bayardo De Murguia of "Tiny Pretty Things."

How dancer-manager Louis Antoine Duport helped make the first performances of Beethoven's Ninth happen.

An obituary for dancer Sean Musselman, who has died at age 60.

Footage of Margot Fonteyn with ballet pupils is found.

Previously unseen footage of Margot Fonteyn comes to light.

The Ayala Royal Ballet performs outdoors in Miami.

Pennsylvania Ballet Conservatory live streams its Nutcracker.

American Ballet Theatre cancels its Met season.

An article in Town and Country on how New York City Ballet dancers are coping in the pandemic and ways to help.

Atlanta Ballet streams its Nutcracker.

New York City Ballet streams its Nutcracker.

😄

Footage of Taylor sitting next to Nancy Reagan listening to Ronald Reagan's first speech on AIDS (in 1987 !!!!) is featured prominently in Showtime's new four-episode documentary, "The Reagans." Taylor worked on Nancy and Nancy worked on Ronnie, and without Taylor the speech would probably not have happened. Those were the bad old days.

Smuin Contemporary Ballet presents "The Christmas Ballet" online.