BalletGirl

Did anyone see Sara Mearns perform Odette/Odile today? If so, please report for the unfortunate, like myself, that could not get tickets to the sold out matinee. Thank You!

Bought tickets today and just wanted to let you know that the performance is at 7:30PM, not 8PM as stated above. Thanks

IMO---Maria Kowroski

Unfortunately, they have not released a commerically available video of Rolando, however I am very lucky to have acquired many videos of Rolando Sarabia while I was in school and at competitions. The videos include him in competition,rehearsal, performances (galas, Cuba, etc), one of him doing pirouettes on the back of a chair, competition rehearsals, etc, etc The some of the videos also include Joel Carreno, Joan Boada, Tetsuya Kumakawa, Luis Serrano, Alihaydee(sp?) Carreno, Viengsay Valdes (sp?) Carlos Acosta, Jose Carreno etc, etc, etc. They are all AMAZING dancers!

Danny Tidwell gone from the ABT roster?!?!?! NO! He is one of my favorite ABT rising dancers.

This is the link to some exciting news!!! Rolando and Daniel Sarabia have both now defected. Daniel is with Boston Ballet and hopefully they will hire Rolando now that he is in the US. http://www.mexico.com/notimexico/?method=u...d=4149〈=eng Now that's dancing that is worth a trip to Boston!

After visiting other company websites, it made me realize that ABT needs to update their website. For Example: Just saw on Cincinnati Ballet's website that Joseph Gatti from studio company is now a SOLOIST there!!-- Sounds like an awesome opportunity for him! Alex Wong (also from studio company) is now in the Miami City Ballet corps.

Not exactly sure of the brunettes, but Maria Kowroski is for sure the dancer in red.

ANY REVIEWS ON SFB IN PARIS?? PLEASE POST ANY NEWS. THANKS!!

OK, West Coasters!! Let's get the reviews on Giselle!! We never hear enough about SFB!! It's weird (well maybe its b/c I live on the East coast), but it seems like ballet is more East coast concentrated. Yet, we have great companies in the west: SFB, PNB, Oregon, etc. --it seems as though we don't hear as much news from the west coast companies. Any thoughts?

Last I heard of Melissa Wishinski was that she left the Royal Ballet (a while ago), where she was in the Corps, and is now freelancing with many different companies. Who knows??

One man asked me my thoughts on The Gates and I replied, "Well, I guess they are a little disappointing." His response was, "Well in my opinion, The Gates look like an out-of-control marketing strategy by Home Depot!"

Well, I ended up going to see the RBS performance last night! I think I expected too much from the kids, and I left somewhat disappointed, feeling like I had seen a recital.I felt the dancing was strained, with awkward transitions from the dancers, lacking rehearsal, and stage presence. I will only mention the highlights of the evening (in my opinion), which was La Fille Mal Garde performed by Joseph Caley and a technically brilliant Japanese student--don't have my program in front of me- sorry! However, the RBS kids are still very young have so much potential. I hope to see them perform again in their future companies!!

I have 1 ticket available for the Friday night performance and I am unable to attend. The ticket is for the orchestra and originally priced at $32. If anyone would like these tickets, please email me at COUTURETUTU@aol.com. THANKS

Sharon, Thanks for all the reviews and links!!

Trockadero is performing in NYC at the Joyce Theater. www.joyce.org--- check it out!

It all sounds so exciting!! Can anyone give a little more description of the divertisments? Also, is Helgi using any new dancers for leads roles. . . or anyone new that we should watch out for?? I wish I could go to see the new production!

Thanks for the article, Alexandra! I can't wait to hear the reviews!!

Any new reviews on SFB's Nutcracker?? Who's doing what, how they're doing, etc? It's been a while since I've heard anything about them--can anyone give an update? Thanks!

Did anyone go to see Studio Company at NYU Skirball this past weekend??

I could not agree more that Joel and Rolando Sarabia are not recognized for their extraordinary talents! Sarabia was supposed to come to Boston Ballet last year as a principal, but immigration issues became a problem. The thing about Bolle, Murru, and Kobborg is that they have a lot of coverage (Dance, Pointe, etc. magazines) that is seen in the US, while we don't usually ever see or hear anything about the Cubans. When I was studying at NCSA, I was completely obsessed with Cuba's incredible training and dancers and I wanted to go badly to learn what they learn. Don't get me wrong NCSA is a great school, but the Cuban schooling is so intense, focused, and driven. I revere the Cubans so much for their hard work, diligence, and excellence in ballet. I hope we will get to see more of Joel and Rolando in the future!!

Alice, I actually work with Erin Ackert and Lisa Reneau in NYC-- but anyways, she is off to Pennsylvania Ballet to do Nutcracker and maybe more. I love Erin, she is such a sweet girl!! Anyways, she is doing very well!!

Yes, as I recall in earlier days it seemed to be more common for dancers to be hired immediately into principal or soloist positions (i could be wrong here). For example, Jose Carreno, Vladimir Malakhov, Yuan Yuan Tan (i think), and many others. It just seems like this was more common in the older generations and nowadays you do not see that as much in larger US companies. Also, it seems like a lot of dancers that won these competitions have the "upper hand" when it comes to the pick of major companies. For Example, Carreno, Malakhov, and Tan all hold medals and prizes at major ballet competitions.

Is this normal for companies to hire students immediately into a soloist position? I am not undermining Nutnaree Pipithsuksunt's abilities, however, I just find it a bit odd for such a large, reknowned company (or for Helgi Tomasson) to just hire a student into a soloist position. I am sure there were some angry company members that are waiting their turn to be promoted. Any thoughts?? Also, I heard Nutnaree did a beautiful job on the London tour!! Best of luck to this new dancer!

I think that itinerary is old-- I am positive that this is from last year's tour. I hope they will update it soon! But thanks for the help PAmom.