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it doesn't seem to be working for her to view herself as a sad victim who isn't receiving all the the help and attention which she deserves or the victim when others receive casting opportunities that she would like to have.

The interviewer, Graham Watts, describes her as (understandably) sad, but nowhere does she make herself out to be a victim, and quite the contrary when she says she realized she needed to lighten her demeanor and "pull myself together, be stronger and work in their style." A woman who leaves her home country for one whose language she doesn't know, persists for six years in a system that doesn't suit her, gives many beautiful performances nonetheless, and now dares to leave what she has for what she might not find . . . I admire her courage, and I hope she won't be a stranger to D.C.

The principle dancers turned in performances that was perhaps without flaw, but also seemed just a bit flat. The outstanding exception was Gonzalo Garcia. Paired with Megan Fairchild in the third movement, both his stage personality and his quick, long floating jumps gives great hope for many future appearances.

I enjoyed your review, dancesmith, although to my mind the principals in Symphony in C were anything but flat. Sarah Mearns in particular in the 2nd movement was everything I'd hoped for, luminous and grand and self-contained, and I loved the way she really looked at Askegard. I agree that Garcia was terrific, and it was a special pleasure to see Fairchild charming and dazzling after making little impression in the inferior Zakouski the previous afternoon.

Any program with the moving Serenade and the exhilarating Symphony in C is a favorite program of mine, no matter what's in between, and both have such hummable scores and lovely costumes that Moves isn't a bad choice. When the Merce Cunningham Company performs, the dancers must be counting like crazy, but except during partnered movements, if their timing falters, how often would we notice? These dancers accomplished an even more impressive feat, and there are hints of emotional drama in this work as well.

Serenade is so lyrical and finally elegiac that I always forget how much fleet footwork it contains. Phillip Neal was his unfailingly elegant self, and I won't stretch my paltry powers of dance description further on the other lovely protagonists except to quote with admiration for them Balanchine's rebuttal to those who called his ballets abstract: "how much story you want?"

Mike, I did see the program this afternoon, and I thought Carousel and The Concert were very well danced. Damien Woetzel, as we know, has the technique of a man half his age; Tiler Peck, at 19, probably is half his age, but they were both fine actors and looked good together. I've seen just enough Wheeldon that this looked like Wheeldon to me, and I was caught up in it immediately and wanted to see it again, and absorb more of the choreography, as soon as it was over.

Not so with "Zakouski." The word means "appetizers," of course; didn't someone say it's about three too many? The folk touches were nice, but overall I found this pretty dull, and far too long. The audience did give it a good hand.

I don't get to see NYCB in the black and white ballets nearly often enough, but when I do nowadays they never look as taut and energetic as they do in my imagination. The dancing lacks snap, crackle and pop. There were individual exceptions in "Agon" this afternoon: Reichlin in the Bransle Gay and Bransle Double, and Evans and Whelan for the most part. Certainly these three and others gave committed performances, but too often dancers couldn't quite fill out the shapes, and one young woman looked scared to death. Would that Villella would coach this up north; I'll bet it gets a great performance in Florida. I don't know if this one was under-rehearsed, or if the company was just tired from their long season, or both.

I haven't seen "The Concert" in 20 years, so I don't know what a great performance of it looks like, but I did love this one. Sterling Hyltin told an interviewer not long ago that she hoped to dance this ballet, I thought she'd be a natural in it, and in this her only 2nd chance, I thought she was. But as with "Carousel," everyone onstage seemed engaged. How could anyone not have a good time in a ballet this fun?

So, it was very good to see this company again, but for once at the Kennedy Center it would be nice to think we're seeing them dancing Balanchine at their best.

The phenomenon of the farewell performance at NYCB began with the farewells of of Patricia MacBride and Suzanne Farrell. But even after those landmark occasions, some important dancers were allowed to slip away uncelebrated. I'm thinking in particular of Maria Calegari and Bart Cook.

I remember Michael Byars being showered with flowers after his final performance in 1995 (?), as Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream. I don't think the company came out onstage behind him, but it was a sweet tribute nonetheless. Are soloists often honored this way?

Paul, you might want to open Windows Media Player and uncheck the option to make it your default media player. Or if you can't find that option, another way to do it is to open Real Player, or whatever ever else you might have, and make it the default option. Real Player is my default and it allows me to watch embedded videos right there on the page. Good luck!

(from Ft. Lauderdale, FL) Whoops! bart, you must have reported Villella's remarks accurately, for he said on Friday night that "This guy became referred to as The Dark Angel", while Saturday afternoon he was more equivocal.

In Suzanne Farrell's notes on some of the ballets NYCB is bringing to the Kennedy Center this week, she writes that

I have fond memories of dancing the Dark Angel, one of three ballerinas in the final movement.

Thanks for all the great, detailed reports, folks.

I thought the finest moment in the entire show was Stewart's for bringing Irglova back out to to speak, and her thank-you was lovely.

Wasn't that wonderful? Especially so since in demeanor she is so humble, so unselfconsciously unconcerned with presenting herself as a star.

A less popularly known ballet-goer is Richard Poirier, co-founder of the Library of America and Raritan, and former editor at the Partisan Review. And he's actually written about his NYCB infatuation (he's a very good writer) in various places, such as a chapter called "Balanchine in America" in Trying It Out in America: Literary and Other Performances (2003), and I know he's written about Suzanne Farrell too. So he's "supported" ballet by writing about it in his own sphere, which is American literature.

Wow, thanks, Ray! I'll ask for "Trying It It in America" via inter-library loan tomorrow.

It's not the postman!! Apologies for the late delivery. To be perfectly honest, they sat on my living room floor for a week and a half, because I couldn't stamp, stuff and label while at the ballet All issues should have been sent off last Tuesday.

Please don't apologize, Alexandra, I was just having a little fun. It gets here when it gets here, and whenever it gets here, I'm happy.

The postman has finally finished reading my new copy of the quarterly magazine DanceView, and with alternating sighs of regret and satisfaction has consented to let me have it. I'm pleased to list the contents of the Winter 2008 issue of this fine publication, for Ballet Alerters who don't already subscribe.

"Maurice Bejart -- 1927-2007" and "The Last Word on Julie Kavanaugh's Nureyev Biography" by John Percival

"A Conversation with NYCB's Megan Fairchild" by Michael Popkin'

"Working Hard: Morphoses Makes Its City Center Debut" by Mary Cargill

"American Ballet Theatre at City Center" and "New York Report" by Gay Morris

"London Report" by Jane Simpson

"San Francisco Report" by Rita Felciano

DanceView is the quarterly print companion to danceviewtimes. Subscriptions are available here.

I think minorities would be more likely to be colorblind in their choices, because they are more sensitive to discrimination. I could be wrong. I usually am.

I imagine you're right. Raven Wilkinson for AD '08!

Mike Gunther hints that the AD or some one in management who is non white male would be more open to non white casting or more accurately hiring.

This seems to mean that the "racism" that we may see, assuming it's there, is because of top down "prejudice". That's troubling, isn't it (if true)?

Well the AD has to choose, that's his or her job, and we all tend to love most and choose most often what we know best. Sometimes "prejudice" is just limited experience. In the interest of consciousness raising and equal opportunity in ballet, it might be best to avoid alienating people we don't know by condemning their taste as racist.

Raven Wilkinson's strength of character and pride in her own identity is striking throughout the Ballet Review interview Bart mentions. I was especially moved by the moment of consciousness raising she relates in regards to auditioning for Eugene Loring for a ballet he was doing for Joffrey Ballet. Loring expected her to be familar with "modern movement," but, no, she told him,

"I am trained in classical ballet [. . .] I'm a ballet dancer just like every other member of the Joffrey."

Then after waiting several weeks to hear if she'd been selected, she inquired of Joffrey himself, telling him she needed to know because she had an upcoming chance to dance in Europe.

When he heard this he banged his hand down on his desk and screamed, "Why are you black dancers always going off to Europe! This is your home!" I just sat there a moment until he'd calmed down, and then I said, "You know why, Mr. Joffrey? This is why. This is one of the reasons why." There was a long silence, and then he said, "I understand."

I'm both moved by Wilkinson's ordeal and touched by the well-meaning Joffrey's moment of revelation.

Ilyin was listed as a corps member, and in a couple of performances was one of the Fairy Knights.

The studio lighting and primitive videography certainly make d'Amboise's costume look opaque. On the other hand, the booklet that accompanies the dvd includes a still photo which clearly shows the original transluscent costume.

For what it's worth, there is another Lynes studio shot, published in a NYCB program, where d'Amboise wears the translucent costume without a unitard.

There is a tape of Filling Station at the NYPL that was recently shown at the Kirstein exhibit, but I can't recall how d'Amboise wore the costume.

I assume that's the same 1954 performance available on the Vai DVD. The film there is so grainy that's it's a little hard to tell, but it looks like his uniform is too thick to be translucent. I certainly can't see nipples.

My vote goes for a very dull 1993 ballet that was already revived in 1999, Peter Martins' collaboration with Wynton Marsalis, "Jazz (Six Syncopated Movements)." I wouldn't rush to see his "Reliquary" again either.

Now "Sleeping Beauty" has enough internal integrity of conception through choreography and music that it will survive a lot. But when a staging concept, whether modern or "storybook" goes against the essential grain of the work, then it will fail.

I'd just like to add that as Disneyfied as ABT's production is, for me, the dancers transcended it Saturday afternoon. I was moved.

Divertimento #15

I generally despise most things Balanchine, and I say most b/c I'm still waiting to come across that wow-ing piece. Divertimento 15 is a tolerable one for me, and it's a good one for SFB.

Thanks for writing, tikititatata. That's not a wower of a ballet, of course, but it is one that many people find breathtakingly beautiful. You might be interested in what Tom Phillips has to say in Three to Treasure about the ballet and the performance you saw.

ABT auditioned ballet students from the Washington, DC area. The young garland dance couple was not named in the program, perhaps because the audition was held just the Saturday prior to the Tuesday opening. The young lady is a student with, I believe, Washington Ballet and the "young man," I believe, studies with Maryland Youth Ballet. I don't want to specify their names for fear I might be incorrect. But clearly these young dancers had very little time to learn and rehearse a complex duet.

They were wonderful Saturday afternoon, and I didn't know girls ever did pointe work so young.

Did anyone see Wiles as Aurora?

Yes, and she was a lovely, girlish Aurora, happy and a little shy at her party. To my mind the slight nervousness she displayed before her balances worked for her in that it seemed perfectly in character, and then made her joy once she'd gotten through them -- and done so very well -- quite moving. After that she was all beauty and confidence wrapped around thrilling technique, and her wedding celebration dives into the Prince's arms were swift and fearless. And of course she and Hallberg look so good together.

The other special treat of an altogether wonderful afternoon was Part, who I thought looked lovelier than ever. She struggled in her Act III solo and finished off the music and there was a bobble or two elsewhere, but it almost didn't matter because otherwise she was perfectly warm and gracious and authoritative, and not, or so it looked to me, cautious. Just to see her stand with one foot back and wand held high and her back so beautifully arched . . . she would have saved the ballet for me if Wiles hadn't come through.

hbl, thanks for the recommendation. You can find a thread devoted to Barbara Milberg Fisher's "In Balanchine's Company" here.

I can see how Macaulay could get jaded, having seen La Bayadere evolve over the years, and his review does seem to be a bit weary of it all.

I don't think Macauley sounds jaded in the least. What he sounds like is someone who passionately loves the art form and the company -- "I have loved and been awestruck by this company in the past and await its return with hope that is too strongly mixed with frustration" -- and wants to see it at its best. This is why expresses not boredom but disappointment with specific aspects of the production.

The problem is, if one thinks descriptions of non-romantic sexual activity are "pernicious", even though these activities were a substantial part of RN's life, this is not a book to read.

Good point. From the flap jacket: "Sex, as much as dancing, was a driving force for Nureyev . . . we [] see Nureyev's notorious homosexual history unfold . . . "

I recently attended a very earnest and well-meant production of Sleeping Beauty Act III, done by a superb dancers more accustomed to a Balanchine and contemporary repertoire. . . .

. . . But the audience response to this was definitely more tepid than to the Balanchine or Tharp that preceded it. Was that because they knew or felt the difference between the real thing and sophisticated mimickry (however beautifully mounted)?

Bart, what kind of audience does Miami City Ballet get down there? I'm guessing you have a lot of retirees from out of state who've seen the classics done well and could tell the difference, but do you also have a lot of younger Floridians who maybe haven't seen those productions, and like the dancers have been trained on, so to speak, and have had their taste formed by, neo-classicism? But then the other thing that strikes me is that when dancers are asked about how they came to ballet, they often mention having seen the classics when they were young. I would think that a dancer who'd been entranced by Sleeping Beauty as a child would bring a lot of imagination to dancing it as an adult.

Just speculatiing . . .