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You've obviously read a whole lot else. Invisible Cities is short and is composed of many short chapters. As with Marquez, the writing is beautiful and evocative.

The first sentence hooks you, doesn't it? MR is not my favorite genre either, but I've read that one twice, plus Love in the Time of Cholera, and I'm happy to have recently read Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, which I think must qualify.

Great points, Jack. The thought of a one-act Balanchine Giselle, with the first act excised as in his Swan Lake, is tantalizing. But if at some point he'd turned his choreographic energies to Giselle, would we have lost a minor work, or one of the works we love today?

Wow, thanks for the link! I'm headed to DC (unexpectedly!!!!) tomorrow for the matinee. As I live right outside of Philly, it's only a 2 and 1/2 hour drive for me. Can't beat 35 dollar tickets. Too bad I was going to go into work tomorrow to catch up on stuff and now I'm heading to the Kennedy center. It's my first time seeing Don Quixote. I also have tickets to the Wednesday matinee on 5/14. That's so cheap I'm almost tempted to go, and I don't really even like Don Quixote. However, if you're not familiar with the Kennedy Center, beware the $22 parking fee. Use one of the garages across the street, next to the Watergate, and you can save $10-12.

These were all awaiting Taylor and Marcovici last month!

I saw yesterday's dress rehearsal, and it doesn't seem fair to review it, but I was pleased and surprised to see Sarah Lane as one of the fairies in The Dream. I don't know the company well enough to have recognized anyone else except the principals :Reyes, Whiteside, and Simkin. Are soloists usually cast as fairies in this ballet?

That was me, and I should have been more specific than "traditional." Here's what the description at that link says:

This is just a wild guess, but didn't he once say something disparaging about the music to some of the classics - something to the effect that it wasn't up to his standards? Anyhow, searching the George Balanchine Catalogue, I see that in 1946 he staged Act II, traditionally, for Ballet Theatre with Alonso, Youskevitch and Kaye. I hadn't known that!

Rashaun Mitchell danced for Cunningham.

That’s such and admirable (and none too easy, I would think, and none too common, it seems) attitude to take.

If he's Artistic Director, a major part of his job is to develop artists and that includes encouraging and rewarding them. And that will sell tickets.

When I think of a celebrity I think of someone who is more popular and therefore probably has more societal influence than most artists in the West, but of course In Venezuela and Russia, Dudamel and Gergiev qualify as both. In any case, I feel like everyone has the responsibility to use whatever influence they have. Then again, I'm not spending all my free time writing letters for Amnesty International, and that doesn't even require "taking a stand," so words are cheap. Gergiev's refusal to stand up to Putin re: gays strikes me as especially spineless and craven though, given that so many of the artists he works with, and so many of the people who buy the tickets that keep them employed, must be gay.

Thanks, Eileen. In the performance I saw, Lowery had plenty of projection (granted, I was in row O), but lacked Reichlin's technique, especially her speed. Reichlin made it look easy, which in turn allowed her to look both playful and imperious. I enjoyed Lowery, but she had to work, and she lacked Reichlin's big, plush jump. How was Reichlin in Diamonds? I imagine that at this point the role is a work in progress for her.

Thanks. Any new danseur apprentices? So out of touch. None listed, no. I thought Saturday's performances were wonderful overall, and I was especially delighted by many other dancers I didn't mention earlier, including Sterling Hyltin, so frisky in Rubies, and Ask LaCour, so noble in Diamonds. I'll miss the soon to retire Jonathan Stafford, who partnered Sara Mearns in the afternoon's Emeralds. Kowroski was underpowered but still grand in Diamonds.I wish the corps wouldn't grin in Diamonds, but Lauren King stood out nonetheless. I wish I could have Reichlin's Diamonds. Thank you, New York City Ballet.

In case anyone back in New York is interested, there are five apprentices dancing each performance of Emeralds this week: Jacqueline Bologna, Laine Habony, Isabella LaFreniere, Jordan Miller, and Mimi Staker. One more thing about last night. Someone at the Kennedy Center had the dubious idea of having a three week-long hip hop festival, which meant that ballet patrons in the evening were treated to - in fact could find no refuge outside the Opera House from - hip hop before and after Faure and Stravinsky. They even had speakers set up on the plaza out back. I hope everyone who came for hip hop will buy a ticket to something else at the center. Or maybe I hope none of them do, so those of us who go there to get away from pop culture for a few hours, and to reflect on what we're there to see and hear, can do so in peace next time. ""I Look Forward To An America Which Will Not Be Afraid Of Grace And Beauty." - JFK quote engraved on a Kennedy Center wall.

Fairchild was fine, in my opinion, and Veyette was even better, except for his serious expression, which broke only during the chase scene. It's always a treat to see husband and wife dance together. Poor Lowery suffered in Reichlin's shadow, but then who wouldn't? In the evening, Mearns was all I'd dared to hope for in Diamonds, which is high praise indeed. During Emeralds in the matinee, she at first seemed rushed and not always in step with the music, but she settled in quickly and was her usual glorious self. Stafford was fine, but she's the girl next door, not the dreaming woman of the Verdy role. Peck had more perfume and imagination, in the evening, and Krohn was lovely as the second soloist. There was some interesting curtain business today. There were no front-of-the-curtain bows for Emeralds in the matinee - the curtain opened as usual after the ensemble bows, but the applause died down quickly and no one appeared. There were only front-of-the-curtain and no corps bows for Diamonds - the curtain didn’t rise, and when Kowroski and Tyler Angle came out the first time they reached back as if to acknowledge the corps. For the evening performance, there was no red and gold curtain at all, only a black drop, and hence no front-of-the-curtain-bows.

Benjamin Griffiths and Jonathan Porretta will take part in the Route 11 Dance Festival Gala in Lexington, Virginia on Thursday, May 8. Griffiths will give a master class Friday, May 9 and Porretta will give one Saturday, May 10.

I wish. I didn't see the Joffrey until 1975 - February 6, 1975. I still have my program! Oooh -- aside from Trinity, what was on the program? Arpino's The Relativity of Icarus, which I remember being called "the first homosexual ballet," and The Green Table.

I wish. I didn't see the Joffrey until 1975 - February 6, 1975. I still have my program!

Thanks for the information, folks. Very interesting. Just not the kind of interesting that would make me buy a ticket, heh. While I admire the creativity of the concept and I like, for example, Cunningham's Beach Birds, I'm no great nature lover, and "the essence of the national park" isn't exactly what I'm looking for in dance. Nor do I understand why the essence of a park needs to be demonstrated to people sitting in that park - but then good art makes clear what boilerplate PR language cannot. Most of all, I guess, the prospect of dance performed to rock music and electronica leaves me cold.The first dance I ever saw was Robert Joffrey's "Trinity." But that was a lonnng time ago, and my tastes have changed . . . a lot.

Until I read the program description, I was happy to see that PNB and Oregon Ballet Theatre are coming to Wolf Trap August 27. That’s it. The ballets themselves aren’t even named. Does anyone have further details? I’d love to see PNB in a neo-classical program. Not in something like this.

Interesting abatt. I saw that movie recently and didn't interpret it that way. The way I saw it she was new to the role, the rehearsal was for her, and Martins had to see her do it full out and well before letting her perform it. She didn't ask to mark, but messed up and said she'd work on it later. PM basically said that this was her rehearsal, and there was no later. He ended up pulling her from the ballet. I sympathized with her, but didn't think PM was out of line. I can only imagine the pressure he felt to have the company at its best in St. Petersburg. Ansanelli later said something to the effect that she didn't hold that decision against him, or at least that (I need Helene-of-the-great-memory here ), it had nothing to do with her early retirement.

It's surprising he wouldn’t give the benefit of the doubt to an up-and-coming dancer worried about impending injury. What surprised me more was the apparent bewilderment with which he and others in the NYCB administration viewed her eating disorder. (Martins, for example, not so helpfully volunteered that he’d stopped his own weight gain by just laying off cheesecake). This was in the mid-to-late 90’s – in a ballet company! I’d have thought that at that late date they'd have been savvy and sympathetic.

So many places - the Frick and the 92nd Street Y come immediately to mind - put their talks and discussions online. I'd love to hear this one.

I found this great news in an email from the Merce Cunningham Trust today: The most recent workshop, City Center EVENT (2014), may be streamed here. I haven't had time to watch it yet, but I'm excited!