cinnamonswirl

Yes, my impression was that Millepied wants more Paglieros (in the sense of her training) to broaden the company. Perhaps I am wrong to think this, but I don't consider the Conservatoire to be an outside school in terms of style. (I know that for the competition it is considered external now.) Is Conservatoire style and training different from that of the Ecole de Danse? Platel was trained at the Conservatoire, and I consider her to be one of the foremost exemplars of the "French school."

I don't count 2 years as being POB trained. I would call her POB finished. If you don't already have neat feet (or whatever), you're not going to acquire them in the last 2 years at ballet school, regardless of what school it is. Hallberg was the the school for a year, and while people talk about him having attended it, no one calls him POB trained. I wouldn't normally remark on it, but I did find it interesting given Millepied's expressed desire to expand where the dancers are drawn from.

But if the jury can't agree on a top dancer(s) for the Concours variations, then you are promoting solely on the third component (work over the previous year). So then what is the point of having the Concours at all? I find it interesting that out of 5 promoted, 2 (O'Neill and Viikinkoski) received most of their training outside the POB system.

My thoughts exactly! If you're not going to promote anybody, don't make them go through the stress of this ridiculous competition. Similar happens at the recruitment competition sometimes where they still ask people to compete when there aren't any vacancies. I'm not sure I agree. The dancers are supposed to be judged only on their performance at the Concours, not based on their performances during the rest of the season. If no one is promoted it means no one knocked it out of the park at the Concours.

That is remarkably far in advance. Maybe something to do with Millepied?

NYTimes article about Morgan, including a statement from Martins about not taking her back: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/08/arts/dance/kathryn-morgan-uses-social-media-as-she-gears-for-her-return.html?_r=0

Keep in mind that competitive exams like the Concours are part of French life in a way that isn't really true in Anglo-Saxon countries. Most French, whatever their field, will have gone through a similar process at least once - le bac, at the end of high school. If you want to do post-grad study, or join the civil service, you will sit at least 1, if not multiple exams. Most of the dancers I've talked to think the Concours is more fair because it isn't just the AD who is making promotion decisions. It's a whole panel of people who (theoretically) have equal votes. Yes, it is is more unfair in that great work throughout the season could be outweighed by a disastrous performance during the Concours. But if the AD/general administrator of the opera/director of dance/whomever you consider the decision-maker dislikes you, under the Concours you have a better shot of getting promoted than at a company like NYCB or ABT.

PNB and SFB both have the Pd2 in their rep.

In other interviews she has said it took over a year after being diagnosed for the doctors to find the right dosage. She also said she's already lost 20 pounds. I think she looks pretty good in the videos other than her weight. We can't tell anything about her stamina because the clips are edited and so far she's only done barre. She's clearly too heavy for a dancer (she's not at "dancing weight") but the raw ability is clearly still there. Also, from what I've read/heard, Martins turned her down without seeing her, so it seems unlikely her current weight was the specific issue. Also, do we know if Morgan actually broke her contract? Don't they come up for renewal every year anyway? I would love to see Morgan back at NYCB (assuming she was back in shape and had the appropriate stamina, etc.) But time doesn't stand still - the company has moved on; there is a new and different crop of up-and-coming dancers. It would have been nice if Martins had told her no in person, but why have her make the trip to NYC if she was just going to be told no? NYCB is not the exact same company as when she left and having to dance elsewhere may turn out to be a blessing is disguise.

I wonder if Hübbe would take her at RDB. She was lovely in Flower Festival at his farewell.

The French version of Wikipedia appears to list all of the directors ever: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballet_de_l%27Opéra_national_de_Paris

I would translate it ("bien travaillé") as "done a good job." It's often used a compliment in the sense of "Well done!"

If Abbagnato wants to be successful running the Opera di Roma it might behoove her to learn to be more diplomatic. She's lucky Lefevre promoted her as a parting gift IMO.

It is usually done with a double tour, yes.

In his New Yorker profile he said he wanted to make the company more diverse and less white. While a laudable goal, I wonder how is he going to do that? He can't just hire whom he wants because prospective dancers come in through the Concours, and he sits on the jury with other people. Or does he expect to either 1) change the recruitment process or 2) control the jury? Encouraging more minorities to attend the Ecole won't affect the company for several years -- at best.

My point was that some schools, such as Kirov, DO actively recruit (foreign) students.

SAB doesn't recruit students. You (the dance student) have to seek them out, audition, be invited to summer, and then be invited to stay for the full year. Compare that to a place like the Kirov School in DC, which has a very high percentage of Asian students (mostly Japanese, I think), and which actively recruits pupils by establishing relationships with schools and teachers overseas. Also, if you look at the SFB roster, all of the Asian dancers are foreign. Not a single Asian American. (There is 1 Asian Canadian.) When I was at SAB, there were a fair number of Asians in the lower levels (children's division), but when we got to intermediate/advanced, they melted away. Their parents didn't want them to sacrifice academics for ballet by attending PCS. I know that's anecdotal and feeds into a stereotype, but I do think it's telling not even SFB has an Asian-American dancer. (PNB has 1, and he trained at SAB.)

Any reviews?

Yep, I definitely agree.

I think the lighting is not the same and for me that made a big difference. I'm not very familiar with the Balanchine version though, so they could be more similar than I remember. Perhaps someone else can confirm?

Oh my goodness, please no! I quite like Martin's Swan Lake (I love the choreography for the ending, when she bourrees off into the rising sun), but I won't go anymore because of the ghastly sets and costumes.

I think the (newish) website is full of bugs. I just looked at the site in English and I can only see 3 etoiles (Albisson, Ciaravola and Cozette). On the French version I can't get past Albisson. It won't let me scroll any further.

On the French forums they are still saying she will retire with Manon. I think Lefevre even stated that during the presentation of the new season. I wonder if perhaps Manon was originally penciled in for earlier in the season, and was then pushed back for some reason?

I think she should stay at SFB -- even though that means I don't get to see her! In SF, she's a principal, she's well cast, she's been very well-received, etc. In Paris she has a lot of competition at the sujet level. But aside from any personal reasons she may have for wanting to go back to Paris, the lure of POB is very strong. For many of them it's POB or nothing. (Very few POB dancers move permanently to other companies -- the only principal I can think of is Sylvie Gulliem and that was 20 years ago -- and very few students from L'ecole de danse audition for other companies if they aren't hired by POB). However there will be a new AD in Paris next season, so who knows how that changes things.

I agree that Pereira is not principal material at the moment. To me she had a lot of potential when she was first promoted but seems to have stagnated since then. She was on the tour to DC (in the Emeralds pd3). Not everyone who makes soloist is promoted to principal.