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Thanks, brokenwing, for that article. It's wonderful to be corrected with detailed information like that. After moving to Florida in 2001, I heard that Villella had worked very hard in his first Miami years to establish a serious Balanchine repertoire. It seems natural that he would want to preserve the versions that he knew. I don't know why the 2004 was truncated. I was intrigued by that phrase "Concert Version" in the program -- which alluded without explanation to the cuts. Now that I've read the article, I wonder whether Villella wasn't actually saying (without words): "This is not the best version of Apollo or the one I really like. It is, however, the one everyone else uses. For reasons I won't go into we have been obliged to use it, too. Don't blame me." I loved this part of the article .... Villella, a great and thoughtful artist both as dancer and artistic director, is one of those priceless links to the NYCB repertoire as it was performed in its heyday. The "Balanchine" he worked with was in many ways quite different from the ballet master who worked with Lourdes Lopez's generation. One more reason to wish that the sad story of his deposition had taken a more harmonious course. I did not mention Villella's own performance in this role, which very much benefited from the "character" aspects provided by the birth scene. Small, wiry, with very dark hair, a natural dance-actor, Villella was not your standard vision of Apollo. (Neither was Eglevsky, for that matter, though I never actually saw Eglevsky in this role..) Since I have never thought of this as a "danseur noble" role, I loved Villella's Apollo.. When Villella ascended the stairway to heaven with his muses, it was a triumph of guts, character, and the willingness of Fate to find and reward qualities that lie beneath the surface of a less than "noble" body and face. It also showed how much can be accomplished in ballet even without perfect line. "Way to go, Apollo !!"

Cristian, I really enjoyed reading your lovely account of Les Patineurs and your thoughts on Apollo (or the different "Apollos" currently on display throughout the world). West Palm doesn't get its season premiere of Program One until November 30 ( ) -- so I have plenty of time to think about what you and others have written. My first Apollo was Jacques d'Amboise, whose Terpsichores included Diana Adams and Allegra Kent. Repertory in Review has a good account of what Balanchine wanted in those days at NYCB. They did the birth scene -- winding cloth and all -- and the apotheosis on the stairway. We first saw Apollo wrapped in yards of white fabric, hopping forward towards the audience. d'Amboise was coltish, very young, very spontaneous. This prepared the way for the touches of stumbling, confusion, sudden bursts of exhaustion and petulance that Balanchine gives Apollo as he makes his uncertain (but preordained) way to becoming a god. According to Marie-Jeanne, who danced Terpsichore before World War II, Balanchine told Lew Christensen, the first American Apollo, "You are a woodcutter, a swimmer, a football player, a god. He wanted an unformed, unmajestic Apollo. He said that he had in mind a soccer player when he did it for Lifar. Lew had a kind of jerky movement, a roughness." d'Amboise captured much of that in his early performances 20 years later. Were those performances in the early 60s faster? slower? more or less robotic? I can't say. But there was an energy, a feeling of spontaneity, and a feeling of real suspense each time you saw the ballet. That is missing, it seems to me, in many performances today. My own feeling is that this began with Conrad Ludlow and, later, with Peter Martins, both of whom broke the spell by letting us in on their god-hood much too early in the proceedings. Martins and Farrell were gorgeous, glorious, almost mystical as Apollo and Terpsichore, but my own preference would be for d'Amboise and Adams or Kent. To answer Jack's question, I don't think Miami has ever attempted to revive the opening and closing elements that Balanchine himself removed. Certainly they were missing in 2004, the last time I saw MCB perform it. My program is punctilious about calling their ballet the "Concert Version." I guess I'm the only one here looking forward to Piazzolla Caldera. They did this in 2004. Last spring I got the chance to see Paul Taylor's own company dance it.. Works like this are exciting for the audience and for the dancers. You get to look at familiar dancers in an unfamiliar light. Occasionally, a dancer you may not have noticed before seem to stand out when you see them with a different kind of choreography. I got out my 2004 MCB cast list and found a number of very familiar names. Tricia Albertson, Jeanette Delgado, Callie Manning, Didier Bramaz, and Isanusi Garcia-Rodriguez had solos. In 2004, Delgado was newly promoted to the corps. This was possibly one of her first solo roles. Anyway, it was in Taylor, not Balanchine, that I focused on her and her potential for the first time. I see that I drew a Big Star in my program next to her name, with a couple of exclamation points.

I hope that was merely a oversight. For years it was company policy NOT to publish advance cast lists. That changed a couple of years ago, but for some reason they were unable to post the lists consistently even then. Cristian, did Lopez talk to the audience before the performance? If so, what did you think?

From an article by Arianna Prothero, posted on the website of WLRN, Miami's public radio station. For the First Time in 27 Years, Miami City Ballet Performs With New Artistic Director A key piece of news here is that Now THAT is excellent news. I assume funding would have to be found, and that this may lie a year or two ahead. But ... outreach to the Hispanic world to the south is a wonderful idea. Reminds me of Balanchine and his American Ballet Caravan in the early 1940s.

I appreciate your point of view on this Birdsall. And I agree with much of what you say. My hope is that some people might be impressed enough by the spirit and talent of the dancers to buy a ticket to Program One to see the "real" full-length Piazzolla Caldera. They might be puzzled by the opener, Les Patineurs. But they'll watch it while waiting for P.C. If they like that, they may even stay for the final work -- the masterpiece of the evening, Apollo, a ballet which haunts many kinds of people in all sorts of unexpected ways. But IF Apollo touches them on a level they haven't experienced before, they might be interested enough to return to Program Two. And so on. Years later -- who knows? -- Les Patineurs may become a much-loved work. Thus are ballet lovers born.

I love the idea and wish I lived in Miami to have experienced it (though I suppose these things aren't announced ahead of time.) On another MCB thread, cubanmiamiboy has given a description of the Wynwood Walls locale. Here's the quote: There's room in ballet companies, I think, for this and for grandeur and perfume as well. Piazzolla Caldera, scheduled for Program I this season, was a good choice. It should look spontaneous. The informal clothing added to the charm -- even the guy in the vertically stripped tank top and running shoes, looking like a bumble bee let loose among the night-blooming flowers. (Actually, that was Chase Swatosh, a fine dancer who excelled in 2 seasons ago in Taylor's Promethean Fire.) The idea started with dancers (a refreshing deviation from ballet's hierarchical structure) and got approval from management (good for Lopez). They received support from the admirable Knight Foundation.

I guess that retirements ARE the occasion for this sort of thing. (The description of Whelan's subtle readjustment of her performance with Neal is wonderful, and very comparable to Makarova/Nagy.) Cristian's account of the way BNC dancers cared for Alonso (their boss, but also a highly revered figure) is an extraordinary variant on the theme. I have seen elderly character dancers, especially those long retired from illustrious careers, receiving special consideration as well. I don't recall Balanchine getting anything like this when he performed the Don in his own version of Don Quixote. But he was strong and relatively young, and still a remarkable dance actor. I can think of examples of selfish behavior on stage. (A NYCB principal guesting as Albrecht almost ignored his Giselle, a dancer from a much less prestigious regional company. Nureyev in his later career was nut unwilling to one-up the ballerina in bravura passages. Etc.) But for some reason no examples of special generosity of the self-effacing kind come to mind. Perhaps this thread is destined, inevitably, to be a short one?

Opera News (Nov. '12) has a column by F. Paul Driscoll, in which he describes a performance given by Natalia Makarova as Giselle. She was dancing with a favorite partner, Ivan Nagy, who had just announced his retirement. Has anyone seen or heard of comparable acts of "artistic generosity"? (I don't mean the kind of male partnering which makes showing the ballerina part of the regular job.) It could be a special performance, a curtain call, or something else. The key ingredient is .... using artistry and personality to take the focus off oneself in the service of a larger, or higher goal.

Since neither Duato nor Swan Lake Act is on the horizon for MCB in the immediate future , my mind has been wandering back to the outreach (a.k.a. flash mob) at the Wynwood Art Wall. I don't know Miami at all well, and have never seen or even heard of this location. Has anyone been there? Is it something like the Plaza at Lincoln Center? Do people hang out there in expectation of something happening? Are flash mobs like this truly spontaneous and unexpeacted, or does the word get out to potential audiences that something is going to happen that they wont want to miss?

On the whole, I'm with Quiggin and checkwriter on this matter of Swan Lake. The question boils down to: where do you want to invest your time, money and effort? A full-length Swan Lake would take years to mount creditably at MCB. Is there a real demand for it? Is it really so essential to a ballet company, or to the ballerinas of MCB? I don't know. What I do know is that any large-scale project means that something else cannot be done. All of us have wish lists. When compiling those lists, we have to keep in mind what we are willing to give up. I am not willing to surrender the Villella repertoire (including as it already does the superb and superbly danced Balanchine white acts of Swan Lake) and the intriguing promise of what Lopez might do, for an attempt to create a world-class Swan Lake. For a full-length, given the nature of the company and the audience it serves, I'd prefer the Balanchine Midsummer Night's Dream. Having said that, I think that working with Cuban-trained dancers when appropriate is an idea worth exploring.. A starting point might be the Black Swan pdd, which appears now and then on MCB's programs. I've seen several MCB principals do this over the year, at at least one Corps member (at an Open Barre). These have been honorable efforts, but not at the level (style, technical brilliance, etc.) any fan can find on YouTube or on dvd. The distinctive MCB energy -- when poured into that particular bottle -- lost its fizz. If there is time, money, and support for this kind of effort -- why not give it a try? OFF TOPIC. Am I wrong in thinking that many Cuban defectors came to the U.S. precisely to have the chance to experience a range of works and styles not available at home? In Cuba, it seems to me, the price of great classical training -- and numerous performance opportunities -- is that dancers have also had to dance quite a lot of truly dreadful "contemporary" work. (One can see clips on YouTube alongside the classics.) The chance to dance the top-tier 20th-century and early 21-st century work that Lopez has been talking about is something most (not all) classical artists, from all the great ballet traditions, have embraced. P.S. Someone above posted about the flash dance that MCB's dancers performed in downtown Miami a short while ago. This is the kind of attention-getter that other companies are doing, so it's good to see MCB joining in with so much joie de vivre. Lots of attractive, talented young men and women dancing up a storm -- and clearly loving what they do -- what's not to like? Random Act of Culture at Wynwood Art Walk

I take your point, Quiggan. The idea that ballet "is" the 19th-century classics is, to me, as unsatisfactory as the idea that idea that opera "is" the the the tradition of Verdi, of Wagner, or of any other of the 19th century greats. Companies like MCB and the others mentioned in this thread can and should give their dancers the opportunity to dance in some of the great 19th century works. These can be done credibly, as last season's MCB Coppelia and the Balanchine Act II/IV Swan Lake (2003 and 2008 in full performance and 2011 at Open Barre). All were creditable. As Cristian mentions, Deanna Seay's Odette was much more than that. Let us imagine, for the fun of it, that MCB were to redirect its energies in the direction of something like a full-length Swan Lake. And let us imagine that they want to do it right, and that they invest in reinventing how classes are run, who coaches and how they do it, and a long, intense course of rehearsal. Dancers or former dancers who grew up in a culture of the classics could be hired to recreate something like the culture which has existed at Ballet Nacional de Cuba -- in class, perhaps as teachers of style, movement, and steps, perhaps as guest artists It could be done, for one ballet at least. But there is the problem of costs. Every project that one chooses to invest time and money in -- and a full-length Swan Lake would take years to mount creditbly at MCB -- means something else that cannot be done. When compiling "wish lists" for the future, it's essential to keep in mind what you are willing to give up.

You answer my question. I'm convinced. I think of the concept "bittersweet." The sense of sweetness is real. But, as you say, it's not "the whole story."

Helene, thank you for your post -- especially the detailed description of the staging of the opera's conclusion. The last time I saw this was 3 or 4 years ago, a production set in what appeared to be a mid-20th century military or fascist dictatorship. The ending was conventionally upbeat and "happy." Dramatically this worked.. However, your description of the way Seattle handles the concluding moments made me rethink how the opera actually ends. I remember that the final scene. The last words you hear praise Leonore and celebrate her reunion with Floreston. The last words you hear direct our attention attention on the success of the lovers. I really like the idea of idea of undercutting this with a visual reminder that one family's happiness can coexist with another family's misery. One question: How did you ending fit with the music? My memory is that the final chorus is celebratory and upbeat in a rather grand way. Often in contemporary opera stagings, what we see on stage has a way of undercutting the intention of the composer and the feel of the music. Some directors wish to impose irony -- or ambiguity --- when the music we are hearing is telling us something quite different. I would love to hear your thoughts on this (I confess that I love the idea and hope that it did fit perfectly with the music -- choral and orchestral.)

cristian, I would love to see you develop your point about a full-length Swan Lake. I know and appreciate your very high standards for the performance of classics like this. We both agree that mediocre Swan Lakes are in over-abundance in Florida. Wouldn't the ability to do it really well involve huge investment in time and money and, basically, a reinvention of the company? Would it work? Jack, I appreciate your points about Martins but don't necessarily buy the comparison. All artistic directors -- including Petipa and Balanchine -- have believed in the need to keep the repertoire alive by giving dancers a chance to work with "contemporary" choreographers. As I said, there are choreographers and choreographers. Martins, having a very long season and many ballets to produce, has gone, it sometimes seems, for quantity (numbers of new works) rather than quality. (On the other hand, even Balanchine had failures.) Lopez has a much more limited budget, many fewer programs, and an audience which has proved itself, on the whole, willing to accept a degree of "newness," while remaining generally conservative. My hope is that Lopez will approach new work as Villella did. (I'm omitting the period in which MCB danced many works by Jimmy de Gamonet, none of which I had the chance to see.) Villella's choice of "original" choreography was mixed, but on the whole worth the effort. The costly fiasco of the Twyla Tharp/ Elvis Costello Nightspot is balanced by the achievement and success of Lliam Scarlett and Alexei Ratmansky. As for works already created and performed elsewhere, what exactly is "new"? Kylian began choreographing in the early 70s; Forsythe, in the early 80s. That's 40 and 30 years ago. Both of them have produced work, much of it widely performed by companies comparable to MCB, that would fit into MCB programming without much more of a stretch than adding Taylor and Tharp, as Villella did. The point is, surely, WHICH Taylor, Tharp, Kylian, Forstythe, or whomever? As for commissioning new work -- a la Martins -- Lopez's references to plans for Morpheses (focusing on alternate venues) seems the best place. The MCB Board, with new financial oversight, knows just how much it costs to rent the Arsht or the Kravis Centers. Ballet audiences down here are educated but essentially anti-experimental. I have to trust that those in charge know that and will plan accordingly.

Thanks, brokenwing. Lourdes's openness to the press is refreshing. Villella came from an older generation and never seemed comfortable with reporters unless he was able to control the situation and the story. The story includes marvelous and helpful insights into the way Lourdes seems to be gradually, subtlely redefining things like class, coaching, interpersonal relationships. Makes me want to say about the season -- starting with the intimate Open Barre performances next month -- "I can't wait to see what happens." I realize that much of what I'm quoting below probably belongs on our TRANSITIONS FROM VILLELLA TO LOPEZ thread. I'm keeping it all here to avoid confusion. Everything in tihs article, whether related to casting for Program I and even ideas for for where the MCB repertoire will go in the future will have an impact on the Company in 2012-13. I hope there's healthy disagreement about what I am about to write, but .... Among the highlights for me: This has been missing in the up-and-down, boom-or-bust management I've observed. I hope the re-invented Board and the new General Director take note. Villella's teaching style produced what most people consider to be MCB's greatest and most appealing strengths: speed, momentum, joy, the ability to syncopate and go all out. I hope these remain a focus, even while paying more attention to "precision and details." Helping the dancers to refine their upper bodies, something often fudged in current performances, is an excellent idea. Can one have it all? I don't know, but it would be nice to see them try. Very interested to see how Catoya (I assume she is Terpsichore) and Guerra do together. My impression is that the popular husband-and-wife team of Guerra and Kronenberg actually become more interesting dancers when partnering with dancers they haven't worked with forever. Also, Catoya has a way on stage of making every partner look good. I'm not convinced that it's wise to bring in "guest artists." I would do a cost-benefit analysis on this one. Currently, MCB dances only 3 performances of each program in Miami itself. (Plus 4 in Fort Lauderdale and 4 in West Palm.) Guest principals mean fewer performances for MCB's own dancers, which means less chance to grow on their own. I'm actually enthused by her suggestions for additions to the rep. (I realize this will not be universally shared on Ballet Alert.) We need more Wheeldon. Based on what I've seen of his work, there's "good Duato" and (inevitably) "not so good Duato." The across-the-board criticisms I've often read on B.A. -- as when he was brought in to revive the fortunes of the MIkhailovsky in Petersburg -- seem unjustified and unfair. West Side Story Suite is a brilliant programming choice, given the nature of the MCB audience. On the other hand, I don't see that spending money on another production of Don Q would make much difference. (The lackluster quality of performances in the past had to do more with the failure to communicate the the style and feeling of the piece to the dancers, not with sets or costumes. Don Q works best when everyone takes it VERY seriously and gets the style. it should not be, as it has been, unfocused or a "sketch.") "Non traditional venues like museums or malls" etc. A great idea for Miami especially, and easily transportable to Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach.I could spend the rest of my life watching Balanchine, but I've felt for a while that well-selected Kylian and Forsythe will be good for the dancers and for the company. I know that "Kylian" especially, and "Forsythe" to a lesser degree, still manage to provoke either rage or rolling eyes in certain quarters. But they have been around for a long time, and much of what they have produced is hardly radical.

What a great idea! I hope our members check out the clips from videos already on the website. This level of videography shows everyone at their best, which is as it should be. I can't imagine a serious school which wouldn't want that. http://www.blindinglightvideo.com/#

That photo of Toumanova in mid air is a real surprise. Not that Toumanova could jump, but that a press photographer in the 30s could capture the sense of controlled abandon that jumps like this evoke. I don't think you find this very often in the staged Ballets Russes publicity photos of the period. Thanks, rg.

Wouldn't it have been an extraordinary privilege to be sitting in one of those chairs with Balanchine, Danilova, and all those others? It's interesting how much Leo Lerman and Gorey look alike, superficially, in this photo. I wonder how many "Gorey sightings" around Lincoln Center might actually have been "Lerman sightings." For those who don't have access to Ascending Peculiarity: Edward Gorey on Edward Gorey, here the the answer to AlbanyGirl's question as regards to "favorite ballerina." The year is 1974. Allegra Kent's Sugar Plum Fairy moved Gorey to tears on at least one occasion. Gorey loved Farrell ... at first ... A lot of people agreed with him on all these points. Gorey claims to have watched the Balanchine Swan Lake (Act II and IV) over a hundred times. I can believe it. Swan Lake was performed very, very frequently.. My second-favorite cartoon in The Lavender Leotard shows two children looking at those long lists convering an entire NYCB season. "There are twenty-seven Swan Lakes this season, but only twenty-one Firebirds." Very true, for certain years.

Thank you so much, nicolezly, for those video links. I won't have the chance to watch this video for a couple of days. In the meantime, it would be lovely to read what BA members who have seen it thought about it.

Once again, I'm unfamiliar with just about all the favorites. Except Philip Roth, of course, though I haven't read anything by him since The Great American Novel. (That title IS intended to be ironic .... isn't it? )

An interesting point and one I never thought of. I'll have to test the hypothesis ... maybe with (what?) (Proud Tower?)About your connection between ballet and magic realism. Makes me think of the Chagall designs for the Balanchine Firebird at NY City Ballet. Otherwise, my own taste veers away from too much "fantasy" in ballet, with a few exceptions like Midsummer Night's Dream, But then, Shakespeare, Balanchine, and Ashton are hardly magic realists (though all were are quite adept at making of magic). dirac, I also loved Master and Margarita, which.I read as a student at the time it was first published after decades of suppression. That's definitely one to re-visit. It does, now that you mention it, have quite a lot in common with the darker works of the magic realism school (most of which, I hasten to say, I know only from book reviews). So why, I wonder, does M&M feel so different from, more engaging than, those other works? (Speaking for myself only.)

That photo has a real Degas feel -- not just a superficial similarity. I mean the use of perspective -- composition: the way details (amazing) details merge into the larger composition -- muted, subtle color palate.How does he get all those details and also give a first impression of something almost impressionistic in its subtlety? (As in the fantastic blue-green dress of the ballroom dancer, 2 photos on). Wow! There are so many excellent photographers of dance, especially in these high-tech, digital days. This guy is one of the rare ones who strike me as a true artist. Thanks, pherank.

For some reason I find myself arriving late at this thread. Your list, phrank, is fascinating. I share several of your eclectic interests. Barbara Tuchman is one of those enthusiasms. Tuchman was remarkable in combining scholarship and density, while appealing to a large audience. Last spring I re-read A Distant Mirror, her treatment of the "calamitous 14th century." It's rich, dense, accurate, sharply written. The remarkable thing is how well she holds up when evaluated in terms of the more "serious" academic work covering the same period. Same holds for The Proud Tower. I guess I tend to like books that are either about, or which emerge from, periods of history that interest me most. My background is American Studies, but for some reason I don't read much U.S.-centered stuff any longer. Regarding 100 Years of Solitude. -- I wish I loved magic realism. But I don't, even though I've tried. So there it is. I much prefer writers more directly attached to the world around them, for example Mario Vargas Llosa. His epigraph to Conversation in the Cathedral is a line from Balzac. Roughly translated -- "You have forage through everything in the life of a society in order to be a real novelist. A novel is the private history of nations." Contradicting the paragraph above, I love Borges.

Exciting news, brokenwing. Thank you. A program shared by Lopez and Sheldon, each of whom brings serious credentials to the Balanchine/Stravinsky story -- is good news. I'm hoping that tickets are still available for the Saturday matinee.

Nemo enim fere saltat sobrius nisi forte insanit. -- Cicero. ("No one Dances sober unless he is completely insane.") Most of us on B.A. will prefer the more contemporary -- and more positive -- Veni. Vidi. Saltari. ("I came. I saw. I danced.")