Dale

It might be frustrating for subscibers to see something they saw last year or the year before, but I think it's important for dancers to be able to develop a role, such as Giselle, rather learn it, dance it once or twice and go back to it five years later (if at all). This happens all the time and the reason directors always give is, "Well, our subscribers don't want to see it again." What happened to Coppelia? That seems to be one and done. I think the combo of Midsummer and Diamonds is odd, but it also cuts down on 1 set of scenary that the company doesn't have to rent or pay for. Things are really tight for MCB. And maybe Villella wants to give Lopez another shot at Diamonds before she retires. And more Ballo... that's becoming a nice little egg for Ashley. The problem is from reviews of SFB and BB, not many dancers are right for the lead role. Maybe MCB, with their Balanchine training, will be.

Regarding Makhalina, I agree with Cargill. When I first saw Makhalina, I thought she was sweet, lovely, musical. She had a quality that is my favorite among the ballerinas I like - lushness. I think the tour in which the Kirov brought Vindagradov's Swan Lake, Firebird, and Scheherazade (in 1995 maybe) there was a change. As Marc pointed out, she became thiner and more rubbery. There was a glacial imperiousness about her that came off as shallow rather than mysterious. I also saw her on several smaller "Stars of..." type engagements in the late 90s. It may have been the surroundings, but her grand Kirov manner came off as a little ridiculous. However, since she has lost her favored status, I have read that she has matured (she's been married, had a child, divorced) and it has reflected in her performances. But due to her absences from the last three visits to the United States, I have been unable to view this progress. I hope it is true. About extentions, many people credit with popularizing the skyscraping syle to Sylvie Guillaum and that might be true of the practice in Europe and Russia, but at least in the United States there have been other very flexable ballerinas who were known for their extentions and out-sized arabesques before SG came on the scene, for ex. Farrell, Kent etc... And they were taken to task, by Croce for one. One instance in the late 60s, she said Farrell was careless in her use of her tricks and again when Farrell came back to NYCB in the 70s, other dancers were criticized for adopting Farrell's high-kicking mannerisms (Dudleson and Watts). For me, there is a difference between the gooey-legged ballerinas whose legs always go all the way up, all the time, and others. I think it has to do with a lack of resistance. An English writer recently called it frictionless. It has no impact. I also find many dancers known for their extentions and flexibility are sometimes completely hopeless as far as other technical concerns, such as turning or entrechat six. And many distort their bodies to the point where there is little "line" left. For example, in the last section of Diamonds, there is a developpe where Zakharova lifts her leg in a very high extention (which is fine), she pauses ever so slightly then shifts her entire torso so that she is now wishbone shaped. It's too much and frankly makes it look a little like a freak show. Now, the three other Kirov ballerinas I've seen do it also have a very high developpe, but there is not that final distortion. So I think Zakharova has crossed the line. Maybe that's what makes Bussell's extentions look more natural, her line always looks beautiful and it doesn't look as if she's made of pulled gum.

Calliope, it's got one of those nice confusing plots favored by the Russian classics In Walter Terry's book "Ballet," he says, "To sum up a rather complicated plot, let it be said that the ballet tells the story of Raymonda, bethrothed to a knight, and of her difficulties with an ardent Saracen while her lover is off fighting in the Crusades. The knight returns in time to save Raymonda from the unwatned attentions by killing the Saracen and, in Act III, everybody celebrates the happy outcome." We have a section on the ballet in the "ballets in depth" forum. It originally had chorography by Petipa to the most glorious music by Glazanov, which Balanchine loved and choreographed to several times with the feeling (but not literal) of Petipa. It has lots of Hungarian character dancing and typical Petipa "dream ballet" or white act. The part of Raymonda, at least the only other production I've seen other than the old ABT version, is very large and contains several solos. And the ABT managment will love that it has two big male parts.

Last Summer, Renee Renouf posted on the international forums that "Anne Marie Holmes that she would be mounting a new production of "Raymonda" for the Finnish National Ballet, and later would accomplish the same task with Boston Ballet. This is a natural tie in for the new Artistic Director of Boston is the Finnish born Mikko Nissenen." According to the blurb on Ms. Holmes on the contributor page of the April/May issue of Pointe Magazine, she will mount the production on American Ballet Theatre in 2004. ABT's Le Corsaire was set on the company by Holmes. Personally, I think this is great news. ABT had Nureyev's production of Raymonda about 20-something years ago and I didn't think it did the company's ballerinas justice (RN rechoreographed it so the man had the best parts). I can think of several excellent potential Raymonda's in the company right now In addition, we haven't seen the ballet in New York in quite a while. Editing to add that further into the magazine, it says the ballet is a "Finnish National Ballet/American Ballet Theatre co-production." The last co-production ABT was involved with was Kudelka's Firebird (with NBoC and Pennsylvania Ballet, which will show it this Summer). Firebird was to have been shown last Met season in New York, but was cancelled due to budget cuts.

The Mariinsky has put up the rest of the photos from the festival, including Maria Kowroski's Swan Lake and the gala night: http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/info/gallery/balfest03

Ib Anderson was the Poet to Kistler's Sleepwalker in the Balanchine Muse film.

I understand. I put that up because I think the ABT Studio Company is working on the London visit for this month. No other info has yet been released, but you can call ABT at 212-477-3030.

The studio company will perform this month (March 28 and 29) in London at the Linbury Theatre at Covent Garden. Performances include Antony Tudor’s Continuo, Stanton Welch’s Long and Winding Road, Brian Reeder’s Lost Language of the Flight Attendant and a World Premiere of a new duet by Robert Hill, set to music by Lowell Liebermann.

According to my sources close to the Kirov's U.S. Fall tour, the company also will, in addition to Detroit, visit LA's Kodak Theater (La Bayadere), Washington D.C., Orange County (Jewels, Fokine program) and tentitively Boston. Definitely not New York.

Thanks, Ari. I was a little confused on the theaters being used. Alexandra, I always found it out of character for the bolder sailor to stay behind, instead of going off with the girl with the red purse. I wonder what Fancy Free looked like when the ballet was one of several American "character" ballets in Ballet Theatre's rep.

Tsiskaridze did "Narcissus" in New York in the 1997 Diagalev Tribute night at the New York State Theater. He seemed properly theatrical and the crowd loved it. Inga, thank you for making our understanding of the Bolshoi dancers more complete. You mentioned that Anastasia Goriacheva danced in Ashton's La Fille mal gardee. She was praised for her performance as Lise by Ashton expert David Vaughn last year in an issue of "Dance Now." Regarding Fancy Free - Alexandra, I've seen the pas de deux switched between the shy sailor and the rumba sailor, depending on the cast. Recently at NYCB, Woetzel did the pas de deux and the rumba (as did Benjamin Millepied), usually when he headed a cast in which he was the "star" dancer. I agree that it makes more sense the original way. Currently, Stiefel at ABT is the shy solder and dances the pas de deux, as did Robert La Fosse (a Robbins favorite). It also seems as if all the companies, including ABT two weeks ago, are having a losing battle with the concert stage. Why didn't they hold this at the smaller theater, especially as it now seems as if they have many empty seats for a few dates?

According to the PA Ballet web site, Balanchine's Sonatine is out and the O'Day piece is in for the March program. Disappointing.

Thanks for all the tips. So, its middle section at the Merriam and stay centered at the Academy. I planned on taking the PATH to Newark, NJT to Trenten and then the SEPTA to Phillie for about $25 round trip. Unfortunately, if Penn Ballet is not doing Sonatine, I will probably only go see Miami City Ballet.

Manhattnik and Cargill, those two items stuck out to me as well. I didn't like the use of Vaganova in relation to Balanchine and Pavlova. Is there a difference between the Imperial School and Vaganova's teachings? I read an article where Irina Baranova, who studied with Olga Preobrazhenskaya in Paris, said they were not the same. And class and choreography are different, as Manhattnik said. For class, Rafferty might be right, regarding the developee, but for the Siren in Prodigal Son or Kammermusik No. 2, two ballets Von Aroldingen has coached Kowroski in is probably different. But I think you have to know the rules to break them. The writer isn't the first to question Schorer's decision to codify Balanchine's teachings. And I, too, wondered at some of the dancers the writer singled out, both positively and negatively. Different tastes, I guess. I do think NYCB dancers are still less bunchy muscled than many other companies. And I don't agree that NYCB dancers can't jump. Just looking at the principals, Whelan, Ringer, Somogi, Weese, and Kowroski all jump well, some higher than others, but I don't think they lack a jump. Nichols and Kistler, yes, jump lower than they used to, but they are over 37 (40, I think for both of them). However, this writer is not the first to find something missing at the State Theater, especially recently.

Some pictures of this evening, from the Kirov's site: http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/info/gallery/ba...st03/24_giselle

Some pictures for Jeannie's review, from the Kirov site: http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/info/gallery/ba...t03/23_bayadere

Pictures of this evening from the Kirov's own site: http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/info/gallery/ba...alfest03/22_cin

Some visuals for Jeannie's words. From the Kirov's site: http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/info/gallery/ba...t03/21_bayadere

A link to pictures of this night from the Kirov's own site: http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/info/gallery/ba...est03/25_jewels

New York City Ballet dancers rehearse all day almost every day, as many performersing artists do. So I'm not sure it would be fair to say the dancers were "tired." Those rehearsals are still working reheasals. Dancers often have a different approach to reheasals, or rather a different focus. Some mark, other focus on difficult passages, or judge stamina. That being said, I'd love to read more of what you saw during the performance proper.

Thank you Jeannie for all your evocative reviews. They are a pleasure to read. I was wondering how Whelan would be received in Rubies. She doesn't really have the Vishneva glamour girl approach to the McBride part.

Yes, the writer wrote this, "Balanchine, a devout hockey addict, ostensibly reduced the role of male dancer to towel boy, he was also a notorious womanizer who married no less than four of his company's female leads." When I read that, I thought "I never knew Balanchine liked hockey?" But now I gather it is some sort of hip euphemism for sex or someting... Silly article. I could see how some of the men might have had their quotes taken out of context. For example, Seth's "Titties.." comment could have been in response to the writer's question put this way, "Henry, if some uptown guys said you are gay because you're a dancer, what would you say to them?" In a certain context, in street language, that might be the way to answer. But I don't want to stereotype Seth or any of the dancers, because I don't know how the question was posed. Some writers are urged to take a quote and spin it into a story.

That's strange that all the demi-soloist parts were cut. I've seen that in the chamber version of the ballet, but never at State Theater. I think it would have been still to cut the section due to time constrants - I don't think after 1 pm on a Saturday night is too late. I've walked out of the theater after 11 after NYCB.

Liebs, were the Vienna Waltz costumes new? Because I thought they were different. The newer costumes in the last movements are white-white. The older ones were more ivory and I thought they looked more luxurious.

In sports, most of the leagues have first-year player classes on how to deal with the press, avoid loose women and handle their finances. On the men's tennis tour, they have something they call "ATP University" where the first-year players go to the tour's European headquarters in Monte Carlo (yeah, I know) at the end of the year and go through all this stuff with the media. They go over body language, understanding the role of the media (deadlines, a and b stories, look ahead stories, profiles) and what you can and don't have to say to the press. Many of the leagues do the same thing (NBA, WTA, NFL).