miliosr

It's a shame Paquette had to drop out of some (all?) of his Jewels performances. But I give him credit for sticking with the big classical and neo-classical roles when he's nearing retirement. Ever since Paquette did that crazy number of Don Q's during Madame Lefevre's reign, I've thought that he views being an etoile as shouldering a tremendous amount of responsibility.

In the absence of Francois Alu, I would go with Pablo Legasa.

Carrie Seidman with updates on the Sarasota company: http://www.heraldtribune.com/news/20171020/sarasota-ballet-opens-27th-season-with-some-new-faces (One very interesting name joined the company.)

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/obituaries/dennis-wayne-charismatic-dancer-with-leading-troupes-dies-at-72.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fdance&action=click&contentCollection=dance&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

The Met will be premiering the opera version of Bunuel's The Exterminating Angel: http://www.metopera.org/Season/2017-18-Season/exterminating-angel-ades-tickets/?utm_source=OctHNGlobal&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=1718_SS&utm_content=version_A More background: https://www.metopera.org/thevoicemustbeheard/bunuel/?utm_source=OctHNGlobal&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=1718_SS&utm_content=version_A

There's a new documentary about the Paris Opera titled -- surprise! -- The Paris Opera. From the trailers, it looks like there's some overlap between this documentary and Releve. (How many film crews were filming at the same time?) New York Times review with trailer: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/17/movies/the-paris-opera-review.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fdance&action=click&contentCollection=dance&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront And a different trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IVQ2vzmRA4

Bummer! I was planning to go to Chicago for the entire length of their run there. I was really looking forward to seeing: Hugo Marchand in La Sylphide. Petit's Le Jeune home et la mort for the first time and the entire company in Lander's Etudes, Forsythe's Blake Works and Pite's The Seasons' Canon. Well, I may have to shift my plans to Sarasota and their Tudor/Balanchine/Ashton bill in the spring.

Alu has an Instagram post up about Rubies. It has the tags -- #jazz #bar #prohibition -- and then a little statement: (this is my story for this ballet)

Ex-San Francisco Ballet member Moises Martin (brother of Ruben) has an interesting post on his Instagram feed today. It doesn't qualify as official "news" but you might want to check it out.

What money? What money there is flows to Millepied's LA Dance Project. Or do what they're doing in Chicago -- ostentatiously (and tactlessly) promoting certain evenings by playing up Misty Copeland's involvement. Honestly, I keep coming back to the same thought: Kevin McKenzie wants ABT to be every kind of company except the company it actually is. Well, I guess we still have ABT-in-exile in Washington DC.

I actually thought he was taking a shot at Colleen Neary's Los Angeles Ballet with the comment about "fully professional". I think you're probably right that Clifford considers LA Dance Project to be "non-ballet". He may be guilty, though, of living too much in his memories and wanting to freeze dance as he knew it (which was Balanchine dance) in time.

I love following Clifford's Instagram feed because he always has some tart comment like this one from this weekend: "Yes kids . . . LA did have a fully professional ballet company once upon a time." Me-ouch!

Or Patti Smith

Regarding Kchessinska's house, a November 1971 Dance Magazine article published on the occasion of Kchessinska's 99th birthday contained this tidbit: "Kchessinska subsequently brought suit against the Soviet's provisional government for 2,000,000 rubles (approximately $1,000,000) for its failure to evict Lenin's followers from her home, which was occupied during the Revolution. After a lengthy process at law, the keys of her palace were returned to her -- whereupon she complained that furs valued at 227,000 rubles were missing from it." She (and her future husband, Grand Duke Andrei) would have much more to worry about than missing furs in their future . . .

Would love to hear from our French correspondents regarding Paul Marque's debut in the Villella role in Rubies . . .

From the latest Limon Foundation newsletter: "In his second year as Artistic Director, Colin Connor continues to expand the Company’s already eclectic repertory by commissioning works from talented rising choreographers and giving them the opportunity to create work on the renowned Limón Dance Company. Connor chose Adam Barruch, Rosie Herrera, and Yin Yue for their strong evocative movement and their dynamic use of rhythm, gesture, and music. Their unique contemporary visions and commitment to socially conscious dance will carry our tradition forward, ensuring thought-provoking, powerful works that will resonate alongside the Limón classics." Colin Connor is also choreographing a new work for the company's women. Based on Facebook and Instagram posts, the Limon repertory for 2017-18 looks like it will include The Moor's Pavane, Suite from A Choreographic Offering and The Unsung. It does look like the old policy of first Ruth Currier and then Carla Maxwell of programming classics from the modern dance and even ballet repertories has gone by the wayside. That's a shame as the company had made very productive use of such revivals as Kurt Jooos' The Green Table, Lar Lubovitch's Concerto Six Twenty Two, Anna Sokolow's Rooms, Antony Tudor's Dark Elegies and the solos of Daniel Nagrin.

This is two years late but are you thinking of Tracy Bennett? He died in 1991 at the age of 39. He wouldn't have been a "rising star" at 39 but the rest fits.

I've been checking periodically for information about the POB in Chicago in July 2018 but so far I haven't seen anything. The Harris Theater site, which is where they performed in 2012, has revealed nothing. Oh well, I'll keep looking!

Mathias Heymann left a post on his Instagram feed yesterday with the tags #hipmuscleinjury and #2weeksoff. Tough break for him and the company -- he's all over Jewels.

Reading this list is like doing the exercise you did in 1st grade: Which of these things is not like the others?

Fair enough. But I'm always happier to see a danseur retire certain roles while continuing to perform those classical roles still within his range. That to me is far more preferable than the Jeremie Belingard route of performing sporadically and then only performing the contemporary repertory.

Not a bad sampling of the company on the 11th. Good to see Karl Paquette at 40 still doing classical roles.

I've been reading the diaries/memoirs of Maurice Paleologue, last French ambassador to the Imperial court of Nicholas and Alexandra, which are posted online: http://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/memoir/FrAmbRus/palTC.htm The March 13, 1917 entry has this interesting tidbit at the end: "During a day which has been prolific in grave events and may perhaps have determined the future of Russia for a century to come, I have made a note of one episode which seems trivial at first sight, but in reality is highly significant. The town house of Kchechinskaia, at the end of Kammenny-Ostrov Prospekt and opposite Alexander Park, was occupied by the insurgents to-day and sacked from top to bottom. I remember a detail which makes it easy to see why the residence of the famous dancer has been singled out by mob fury. It was last winter; the cold was intense and the thermometer had fallen to -35. Sir George Buchanan, whose embassy is centrally heated, had been unable to procure coal, which is the essential fuel for that system. He had appealed to the Russian Admiralty, but in vain. That very morning Sazonov had definitely told him it was impossible to find coal in any public depot. In the afternoon we went for a walk together on the Islands, as the sky was clear and there was no wind. Just as we were entering Kammenny-Ostrov Prospekt, Buchanan burst out: "Well, if that isn't a bit too thick!" He pointed to four military lorries opposite the dancer's house; they were laden with sacks of coal which a squad of soldiers was engaged in removing. "Don't worry, Sir George," I said. "You haven't the same claim as Madame Kchechinskaia to the attentions of the imperial authorities." It is probable that for years past many thousands of Russians have made similar remarks about the favours heaped upon Kchechinskaia. The ballerina, once the beloved of the Tsarevitch and subsequently courted by two Grand Dukes at once, has become as it were a symbol of the imperial order. It is that symbol which has been attacked by the plebs to-day. A revolution is always more or less a summary and a sanction."

Francois Alu for the Edward Villella part in Rubies? https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-17-18/ballet/joyaux Update: Casting is up for Joyaux (Jewels): https://www.operadeparis.fr/en/season-17-18/ballet/joyaux/distribution#head Alu in Rubies on September 24th and 26th and October 1st, 7th (mat) and 12th!

Here are the updated stats: Balanchine (22) Ashton (4) Petipa (various stagings) (3) Fokine (2) Ratmansky (2) Robbins (2) Bejart (1) Bournonville (1) Eks (1) Forsythe (1) Jooss (1) Lock (1) Petit (1)