bobsey

That is great news. How I wish I were there with you and Farrell Fan again. Maybe next year

Oh, after seeing the schedule, I am so disappointed. If I go for a whole week of five or six performances as I've usually done, now I must see three Midsummer Night's dream, or three Swan Lakes, or three Coppelias. That's too much!

I hope I can make it for a week this year, and that will be my 4th. Saratoga and surrounding area are great fun. You might even like to go to the County Fair, ususally in the 3rd week in July. I have stayed at the Gideon Putnam, from whence you can walk to the SPAC. but last year to the Hilton and enjoyed that very much. A highlight last year was meeting and breakfasting with rkoretzky and Farrell Fan. Try to meet both when you come this year. Join the picnic!

I think that if I had been producing Contact for NPR I'd have thought about it a long time, but finally would have bleeped it. NPR is not HBO. "****" got through, I noticed but not the unmentionable F word. I also noticed that Farrell Fan also bleeped it in his comments.

I'm not a big mystery fan but couldn't resist "A Small Death In Lisbon" , a city I have often enjoyed. It's a long book, 451 pages in paperback, got really great reviews and I'm not looking forward to the end. Maybe I can find something else by Robert Wilson. At Farrell Fan's behest I just finished "Holding on to the Air" by Suzanne Farrell and Toni Bentley, and loved it.

My five days in Saratoga were just the thing on these muggy July days. There is no better venue for ballet. And it was especially good for me with the friendship and excellent technical and artistic advice from rkoretsky and Farrell Fan who always led me in the right direction on some fine points I might have missed. Ancient Airs, Morphoses and Firebird started the week off. Alexandra Ansonelli looked so good in both the first two, to me she was outstanding. But some people I met in the hotel said they had come all the way from New York just to see Wendy Whelan in Morphoses and were completely thrilled at her performance. I paid close attention to her on the second time of Morphoses on Thursday and I see what they meant. I tend to be leery of ballets with dancers mostly just tangling their limbs in all sorts of contortionist positions, but I found there was more to it than just that in Morphoses. Jock Soto partnered her, while Damian Woetzel squired Ansonelli. Wednesday opened with Circus Polka, Robbins' proof that he wasn't always an old sour puss. It has a whole stage full of little girls romping around in formations under the direction of Robert LaFosse. It bought down the house, as it well should, and always does. I've seen I'm Old Fashioned four times. It's cute and clever, dancing to Astaire's steps, but should be retired after so many showings. It also closed the evening on Friday. The long-awaited Tarantella with Ashley Bouder and Daniel Ulbricht was a real winner on Friday. It's not easy to fine appropriate roles for Ulbricht, but this was just right for him, and both of them made the most of it. Lots and lots of action. Janie Taylor, with Millepied, Woetzel and Hubbe danced in almost frantic fashion throughout Jeu de Cartes. I thought it was better this time than in New York. The costumes look awfully good.

I will be there 7/15-20, and find you at the rear right. I'm looking forward to it.

The Saratoga Season is just a week away now. Hasn't the casting been published somewhere? I'm looking forward to my annual week with NYCB.

I have stayed at the Gideon Putnam in the State Park for the past three years. It's a fine place, good rooms, but somewhat pricey and often filed with convention-eers. I thought I might try the Sheraton this time. Any comment about that place?

Saratoga is about as ever - nice town - and lots to do in the area: Grandma Moses country and Green Mts to the east; Lake George and the Adirondacks to the north. And SPAC is a wonderful venue for ballet. But your question should really be answered by rkoretsky, who lives there and is happy to see ballet alert people. She's at SPAC almost every day.

Living 100 miles from NYC makes it a little hard to make it into Manhattan too often, but I've managed two subs to NYCB and one to ABT in the past year. Better for me is a week in Saratoga in July for the NYCB season and go to everything.

I've put everything on a database, including videos, although the size is not formidable at this point. Some of the old stuff is in Russian, and how do you alphabetize Cyrillic?

I, too, thought it was a great afternoon, and after reading Michael1 and Manhattnik's splendid reviews, I now know I was right.

I have the Australian Ballet version of Don Quixote with Nereyev. I got it off the air a few months ago. Wish I could tell you more, but thought you might like to know that it does exist in video. I could probably copy it if you can't find it anywhere else

I can sometimes be found in row 5 of the orchestra at NY State Theatre,almost close enough to make out the sweat bead on Damian's nose. But the other day I was in row 4 of First Ring and it's almost a new ball game, the patterns are more discernable, but the closeness and the appearance of the dancers' expression is missing. If money is no object, where do the cognoscenti - the primero balletomanes - prefer to sit?

Darci Kistler in Duo Concertant last February

Jennifer Dunning in the NY Times (12/2) in commenting about the children in the current NYCB Nutcracker wrote - "City Ballet uses children in its productions as consistently as the Royal Danish, Kirov and Bolshoi Ballets with their long histories of exposing dancers to theatrical performing early on" I have both the Kirov (1994) and the Bolshoi (1984) versions of Nutcracker and don't believe I saw any children at all. Did Russian ballet consistently use children as Ms Dunning states?

He traveled a lot and appeared with quite a few Latin American companies. The Coppelia is with the San Juan Ballet of Puerto Rico. It's really pretty good; he's in good form and his partner Anna Maria Castenon is just fine.

ABT's Pied Piper gets my vote

I like all of the above, but also the Royal Ballet's Mayerling, with Irek Mukhamedov, Viviana Durante, Lesley Collier and Darcey Bussell. Choreographer is Kenneth MacMillan, and music by Franz Liszt.

ABT, Saturday Matinee, Nov 3 To an almost full house ABT displayed what it can do in the realm of modern and exotic dance, but still in somewhat of the classical tradition. Gong, first of the program, is a delightful romp of brightly costumed dancers dashing about the stage in and out of the wings. The Mark Morris choreography was cast with several of the ABT stars: Ethan Stiefel, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy, the Cornejo brother and sister Herman and Erica, Marcelo Gomes. The music, styled after the Balinese gamelan and legong traditions was most appropriate. Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Belotserkovsky danced Sylvia Pas de Deux , she grinning like a Cheshire Cat. They are awfully good, and she is as cute as can be, and no harm in that. The audience could hardly let them go. Dim Lustre, not previously scheduled , was performed again, as last Saturday, this time with Susan Jaffe and Guillaume Graffin in the leads. It?s similar to Jardin aux Lilas, and with some sort of plot, that was obscure to me. Griffin?s costume, a white suit with tails and bulky trousers would make it difficult for anyone to dance very well. The same could be said about Stiefel last week. Finally, Marimba, danced by young members of the corps, on a darkened stage, with marimba and percussion players in the background, is lively and noisy with lots of stunning turns. But of the two new exotic productions, I prefer Gong.

ABT?s Saturday Matinee at City Center, New York. This was the most enjoyable performance at ABT that I have seen in the past two years. Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 is a lively piece with many athletic leaps and turns. Unfortunately, on two occasions there were falls at approximately the same location on the stage. Probably a slippery spot. But recoveries were fast and the action went on capably as before. Gillian Murphy, Ashley Tuttle, Marcelo Gomes, Sandra Brown and Herman Cornejo danced leading parts. Tuttle looking especially lively and precise. Anthony Tudor?s Dim Lustre was second on the bill with chief parts danced by Julie Kent and Ethan Stiefel. Some posts on this board have complained that there is too much Kent in ABT?s repertoire, and her performances should be avoided. I can?t see it, specifically, what?s not to like? She looked very stylish and able to me. It is true she seems to be cast much more than any other principal in the company, and on this Saturday she worked the kid?s matinee at 11:30, the regular matinee at 2, and was slated for a major role at 8. A long day?s work. Agnes De Mille?s Rodeo featured Erica Cornejo as the cowgirl, and it?s great to see a corps member do such a splendid job in a leading role. She danced with great verve, was funny, and really made the ballet her own.

I got a set of Bongo Drums and am working away with Latino CD's. Call me to Ancient Percussionist

My wife took ballet class for many years and danced in the chorus of two Broadway shows. She dragged me to NYCB subscriptions for several years. Then I discovered that I really liked it and became an enthusiast. Now I go as often as I can, and buy a shelf-full of videos.

To rkoretzky: you really did a great job covering the three weeks of SPAC, and I agreed with almost everything (with one or two minor exceptions) If you will be at Oct 27 - 2PM I'll be there, too, and would like to compare notes.