Dale

I remember seeing Ochoa at School of American ballet. Re: A lot of dancers seem to be coming out of Ullate's school/company. However, unlike other schools, I can't really pinpoint a common quality, such as good feet or lovely arms. They do all seem to have a love of dancing that's palpable to the audience. But technically they're different - de Luz and Corella have all the big jumps and turns, Rojo has all the tricks (balance, turns), while Laccara is very shaky technically - she's all extension and seduction.

The casting for opening night and some nutcrackers has been released: Casting Program and Casting Subject to Change *First time in role +Guest Artist OPENING NIGHT GALA Tuesday, November 26, 2002, at 7:30pm *Carousel (A Dance) *ANSANELLI, *WOETZEL, *RUTHERFORD, *van KIPNIS, *HIGGINS, *ANGLE Pause *Land of Nod *MARCOVICI, *La FOSSE, *FAIRCHILD, *ARTHURS, *Ku FROMAN, *Ky FROMAN, *ULBRICHT, *HALL, *SETH Intermission *Thou Swell *KISTLER, *KOWROSKI, *BORREE, *RINGER, *SOTO, *ASKEGARD, *MARTINS, *FAYETTE THE NUTCRACKER November 29 - December 1, 2002 FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 29, 8:00 PM [Fiorato] Sugarplum: KISTLER Cavalier: SOTO Dewdrop: SOMOGYI Marzipan: TINSLEY Hot Chocolate: RUTHERFORD, HANNA Coffee: HANSON Tea: HENDRICKSON Candy Cane: GOLD Mother Ginger: TBA Flower, S.R.: van KIPNIS Flower, S.L.: A. STAFFORD Doll (Girl): MANDRADJIEFF Doll (Boy): BOUDER Soldier: SEVERINI Mouse King: SETH Drosselmeier: La FOSSE Hostess: NATANYA Host: HOUSTON SATURDAY MATINEE, NOVEMBER 30, 2:00 PM [Quinn] Sugarplum: KOWROSKI Cavalier: ASKEGARD Dewdrop: TAYLOR Marzipan: EDGE Hot Chocolate: McBREARTY, FOWLER Coffee: NATANYA Tea: ULBRICHT Candy Cane: MILLEPIED Mother Ginger: TBA Flower, S.R.: BAR Flower, S.L.: BESKOW Doll (Girl): DRONOVA Doll (Boy): BARAK Soldier: Ku FROMAN Mouse King: *ORZA Drosselmeier: La FOSSE Hostess: ABERGEL Host: ROBERTSON SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 30, 8:00 PM [Kaplow] Sugarplum: RINGER Cavalier: BOAL Dewdrop: ANSANELLI Marzipan: RIGGINS Hot Chocolate: van KIPNIS, SETH Coffee: ASH Tea: CARMENA Candy Cane: ANGLE Mother Ginger: TBA Flower, S.R.: RUTHERFORD Flower, S.L.: TBA Doll (Girl): FAIRCHILD Doll (Boy): RICARD Soldier: Ky FROMAN Mouse King: HANNA Drosselmeier: KRAMAREVSKY Hostess: BESKOW Host: FOWLER SUNDAY MATINEE, DECEMBER 1, 1:00 PM [Fiorato] Sugarplum: BORREE Cavalier: MARTINS Dewdrop: TAYLOR Marzipan: EDGE Hot Chocolate: RUTHERFORD, HANNA Coffee: HANSON Tea: HENDRICKSON Candy Cane: GOLD Mother Ginger: TBA Flower, S.R.: van KIPNIS Flower, S.L.: A. STAFFORD Doll (Girl): MANDRADJIEFF Doll (Boy): BOUDER Soldier: SEVERINI Mouse King: SETH Drosselmeier: La FOSSE Hostess: NATANYA Host: ROBERTSON SUNDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 1, 5:00 PM [Quinn] Sugarplum: KOWROSKI Cavalier: ASKEGARD Dewdrop: SOMOGYI Marzipan: RIGGINS Hot Chocolate: McBREARTY, FOWLER Coffee: NATANYA Tea: ULBRICHT Candy Cane: MILLEPIED Mother Ginger: TBA Flower, S.R.: BAR Flower, S.L.: BESKOW Doll (Girl): DRONOVA Doll (Boy): BARAK Soldier: Ku FROMAN Mouse King: ORZA Drosselmeier: KRAMAREVSKY Hostess: ABERGEL Host: HOUSTON

Yes, and it's danced with two girls on either side of the ballerina.

There was one man already in the company - Edward Villella - but Balanchine wanted to showcase Suzanne Farrell as Terpsichore on tour. The two tried out the pas de deux, but she was too tall for him to partner comfortably, so Balanchine looked elsewhere.

I think one of the advantages the later muses had regarding their place in history was that they were able to dance Balanchine's entire rep. We know what Farrell was like in Tallchief's roles (Scotch Symphony, Allegro Brillante, Swan Lake, Nutcracker), but we've never seen Tallchief dance, say, Chaconne or Walpurgisnacht Ballet. Plus, recordings of Farrell are more readily available (until the two Tallchief tapes were recently released). Farrell also was a star during the "Ballet Boom." Descriptions of her in many books that came out during the 70s and 80s, especially in the collected reviews of Arlene Croce. Also, Farrell's story has a gothic allure. I think Croce wrote in her review of Farrell's autobiography that it was the perfect story for an anti-romantic age. I don't like comparing the muses - they're all wonderful But this thread reminded me of an interview from Ballet Review called, "Diana Adams on Suzanne Farrell" with David Daniel. It's interesting to read one great ballerina commenting on another. Here's a few of Adams' responses regarding the place Farrell had as Balanchine's muse. "The simple fact remains that no one has ever worked with him the way (Farrell) has. I remember saying to Mme (Nathalie) Gleboff (of SAB) - it was towards the end of Suzanne's third year in the company - "no wonder he wants her to do everything. All you have to do is look at a class. She's the only one who does everything he asks." Adams spoke about how difficult Balanchine's class was, "But Suzanne! She just did it -- everthing -- as if she didn't know or care that it was supposed to be difficult. ... If Balanchine said to do something, she never bothered to consider its difficulty or impossibility. She assumed it was possible, and did it. If he made a suggestion to her she applied it immediately and without question. She didn't hold back, didn't argue. She never even said, `But...' Now that may not seem unusual to you, but I've seen dancers argue with Balanchine about the correct way to do a plie. ... The intensity of her concentration was almost terrifying to watch. He'd give one of his paralyzing combinations; you'd be exhausted even before the music started. but Suzanne would zip through it without batting an eye. She didn't even sweat. Whatever quirky movement or odd rhythm he gave, she'd take it in and feed it back to him. He began to make things harder and harder. Suzanne inhaled and kept going. Balanchine was thrilled to have a dancer like that, and he often said so." On her gifts: "Suzanne is unusual for the sheer qualities of her physical gifts. Yes, she's a natural adagio dancer, but she's also naturally very speedy." ... "Almost any dancer, regardless of her gifts, begins her career by accepting a limitation about herself. By the time she is in terms of her physique and personality, she has typed herself as a soubrette, or an allegro, lyric, dramatic, adagio, or whatever ... Suzanne didn't; she bypassed the idea of self-classification according to type as if the idea never existed, which meant that every ounce of her talent was available to Balanchine. She refused to limit herself. Whatever Balanchine thought was possible, she thought was possible. ... There wasn't anything she couldn't do. Her range is unheard of. I remember once, a few yeas after I stopped dancing, I remarked to Balanchine that in one week Suzanne had danced ballets from the reperatories of virtually every important dancer he'd ever worked with besides dancing pieces he'd made for her. He just sort of nodded and said, `Well, you see, dear, Suzanne never resisted.'" That last comment is possibly why Farrel is often put ahead of the muses. I also came across an opinion of Tallchief in an old interview I just read with Andre Eglevsky in Ballet Review with Baird Hastings. "(She was) quite lovely. Clean -- technically brilliant. In Sylvia, in the coda, she did releves en attitude en avant, (turning) both arms closed at unbelievable speed, and this is what Balanchine set. Really unbelievable speed, really she was brilliant. Clean, neat, feet nice. Very musical." "You can see (the musicality) in certain parts, especially in something like Allegro Brillante, the ability to go from allegro to adagio work very easily, the transitions from very fast little steps to more expansive work." "She was a finished dancer. She had quality. she had excessively fast technique. She could fouette with eyes closed. Her balance was exquisite. ... Balanchine always choreographed things where Maria was just balance -- Scotch, Sylvia, Nutcracker, everything, the ends, just balance -- everything was balance for Maria." And the great thing is, you can see Sylvia Pas de Deux now and it does have many balances. Just as Diamonds shows off Farrell's ability to be off balance/yet stay on balance, or Allegra Kent's flexibility and remoteness in Episodes and Bagaku, or Melissa Hayden's swagger in Stars and Stripes. Or the 2nd movement of Symphony in C, which I had seen many times before seeing a picture of Tamara Toumanova in a tutu. When I did, I saw she had great, strong, thick legs. And then I thought about the moment in the second movement when the ballerina in a supported arabesque, slowly bends her knee and then gets up slowly and then repeats it in the other direction. Balanchine used those strong legs and made something beautiful that ballerinas would have to contend with for years. I also agree with Leigh that there is a link or a "lineage" of the muses that is even relected a little bit today - Toumanova to Leclerq to Adams to Kent and Farrell to Kistler and a little Calegari to, I don't know Kowroski and Meunier? Or Marie-Jeanne or Mary Ellen Moylan to Tallchief to Wilde and Hayden to Verdy to Ashley to Nichols (who does have a little bit of the Toumanova line in her) to Wheese perhaps, although Margeret Tracy did a lot of the Tallchief rep. Weese and Tracy also did a lot of the Patricia McBride rep. Who came before McBride?

I think one of the advantages the later muses had regarding their place in history was that they were able to dance Balanchine's entire rep. We know what Farrell was like in Tallchief's roles (Scotch Symphony, Allegro Brillante, Swan Lake, Nutcracker), but we've never seen Tallchief dance, say, Chaconne or Walpurgisnacht Ballet. Plus, recordings of Farrell are more readily available (until the two Tallchief tapes were recently released). Farrell also was a star during the "Ballet Boom." Descriptions of her in many books that came out during the 70s and 80s, especially in the collected reviews of Arlene Croce. Also, Farrell's story has a gothic allure. I think Croce wrote in her review of Farrell's autobiography that it was the perfect story for an anti-romantic age. I don't like comparing the muses - they're all wonderful But this thread reminded me of an interview from Ballet Review called, "Diana Adams on Suzanne Farrell" with David Daniel. It's interesting to read one great ballerina commenting on another. Here's a few of Adams' responses regarding the place Farrell had as Balanchine's muse. "The simple fact remains that no one has ever worked with him the way (Farrell) has. I remember saying to Mme (Nathalie) Gleboff (of SAB) - it was towards the end of Suzanne's third year in the company - "no wonder he wants her to do everything. All you have to do is look at a class. She's the only one who does everything he asks." Adams spoke about how difficult Balanchine's class was, "But Suzanne! She just did it -- everthing -- as if she didn't know or care that it was supposed to be difficult. ... If Balanchine said to do something, she never bothered to consider its difficulty or impossibility. She assumed it was possible, and did it. If he made a suggestion to her she applied it immediately and without question. She didn't hold back, didn't argue. She never even said, `But...' Now that may not seem unusual to you, but I've seen dancers argue with Balanchine about the correct way to do a plie. ... The intensity of her concentration was almost terrifying to watch. He'd give one of his paralyzing combinations; you'd be exhausted even before the music started. but Suzanne would zip through it without batting an eye. She didn't even sweat. Whatever quirky movement or odd rhythm he gave, she'd take it in and feed it back to him. He began to make things harder and harder. Suzanne inhaled and kept going. Balanchine was thrilled to have a dancer like that, and he often said so." On her gifts: "Suzanne is unusual for the sheer qualities of her physical gifts. Yes, she's a natural adagio dancer, but she's also naturally very speedy." ... "Almost any dancer, regardless of her gifts, begins her career by accepting a limitation about herself. By the time she is in terms of her physique and personality, she has typed herself as a soubrette, or an allegro, lyric, dramatic, adagio, or whatever ... Suzanne didn't; she bypassed the idea of self-classification according to type as if the idea never existed, which meant that every ounce of her talent was available to Balanchine. She refused to limit herself. Whatever Balanchine thought was possible, she thought was possible. ... There wasn't anything she couldn't do. Her range is unheard of. I remember once, a few yeas after I stopped dancing, I remarked to Balanchine that in one week Suzanne had danced ballets from the reperatories of virtually every important dancer he'd ever worked with besides dancing pieces he'd made for her. He just sort of nodded and said, `Well, you see, dear, Suzanne never resisted.'" That last comment is possibly why Farrel is often put ahead of the muses. I also came across an opinion of Tallchief in an old interview I just read with Andre Eglevsky in Ballet Review with Baird Hastings. "(She was) quite lovely. Clean -- technically brilliant. In Sylvia, in the coda, she did releves en attitude en avant, (turning) both arms closed at unbelievable speed, and this is what Balanchine set. Really unbelievable speed, really she was brilliant. Clean, neat, feet nice. Very musical." "You can see (the musicality) in certain parts, especially in something like Allegro Brillante, the ability to go from allegro to adagio work very easily, the transitions from very fast little steps to more expansive work." "She was a finished dancer. She had quality. she had excessively fast technique. She could fouette with eyes closed. Her balance was exquisite. ... Balanchine always choreographed things where Maria was just balance -- Scotch, Sylvia, Nutcracker, everything, the ends, just balance -- everything was balance for Maria." And the great thing is, you can see Sylvia Pas de Deux now and it does have many balances. Just as Diamonds shows off Farrell's ability to be off balance/yet stay on balance, or Allegra Kent's flexibility and remoteness in Episodes and Bagaku, or Melissa Hayden's swagger in Stars and Stripes. Or the 2nd movement of Symphony in C, which I had seen many times before seeing a picture of Tamara Toumanova in a tutu. When I did, I saw she had great, strong, thick legs. And then I thought about the moment in the second movement when the ballerina in a supported arabesque, slowly bends her knee and then gets up slowly and then repeats it in the other direction. Balanchine used those strong legs and made something beautiful that ballerinas would have to contend with for years. I also agree with Leigh that there is a link or a "lineage" of the muses that is even relected a little bit today - Toumanova to Leclerq to Adams to Kent and Farrell to Kistler and a little Calegari to, I don't know Kowroski and Meunier? Or Marie-Jeanne or Mary Ellen Moylan to Tallchief to Wilde and Hayden to Verdy to Ashley to Nichols (who does have a little bit of the Toumanova line in her) to Wheese perhaps, although Margeret Tracy did a lot of the Tallchief rep. Weese and Tracy also did a lot of the Patricia McBride rep. Who came before McBride?

I've gone through the episodes (at least the ones listed on the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library) and you could make about two Balanchine tapes, one of other rep. performed by NYCB dancers, and another two of ballet favorites performed by international stars of that era. I really do hope they release more of the performances. It's important that people see the dancers of the past, and those dancing the works that were created on them (there are Massine works as well). Yes, the performances were often taped in less-than ideal conditions, but it is better than nothing. How else are the future generations to know how great Maria Tallchief and Svetlana Berisova etc... were? And their greatness still shines through, even in these TV performances.

You can order it on Amazon.com. The VAI also said that they are looking into more releases from their CBC and Bell Telephone archives.

VAI has released Erik Bruhn - The Complete Bell Telephone Hour performances. On DVD, it has been put together with the previously released Nureyev BTH performances (interesting that they should be on a DVD together). Here's a description: Two legendary male ballet dancers are featured here in their best BELL TELEPHONE HOUR APPEARANCES. Rudolf Nureyv is showcased in rare performances of FLOWER FESTIVAL, LE CORSAIRE, BLACK SWAN, and DIANA AND ACTEON. Erik Bruhn is seen in clips from DON QUIXOTE, LA SYLPHIDE, SWAN LAKE and the balcony scene from ROMEO AND JULIET. The Don Q. is with Maria Tallchief (already released on Maria Tallchief BTH tape); Romeo and Juliet is with Carla Fracci - the balcony scene); Swan Lake is the Black Swan pas de deux with Sonia Arova; La Sylphide is from Act II with Fracci. I don't have the tape yet, but he also did Coppelia pas de deux with Arova for the BTH.

The ballet shop near Lincoln Center is closed now. The Barnes & Noble near Lincoln Center has a few more dance books than the average branch. And I like Sansha -- they carry the pretty Kirov note cards and calendar. The nearby Tower Records has a decent section of ballet videos and dvds in the Classical section.

I just saw the casting online at abt.org ... does anybody know if Veronika Part is still with ABT? Although she is a soloist, I would have thought she would be cast in something, a Swan Lake at least.

Manhattnik, I wasn't trying to be witty or hurtful, all I was saying was that whatever went wrong in the partnership between Part and Molina must have manifested itself on stage that night. Naively, I would think that if he was deemed too weak or not a right partner for her, the company would not have put them out there together. Unfortunately, we never had a chance to see them do the second movement of Symphony in C again this season as Part was replaced by Nina Ananiashvili on Wednesday night.

I was told the order was changed for Sunday's performance because the company felt the Harrison piece is more of a closer. And the Swan Lake pas de deux was put on in place of the Grand Pas Classique the balances of the later ballet put too much stress on Dvorevenko's formerly injured leg. I agree with Manhattnik, Dvorevenko looked a lot more "Balanchinian" in the first movement on Sunday night than she had earlier in the week. Gillian Murphy was exceptionally strong in the first movement, but was really high-flying with Stiefel in the third movement on - I forget which night - Saturday mat. I think. The energy level really rose when they came on. My two cents on the parallel moves in the third movement is that it should be together. Whatever is done, should be done together or made to look similar. Part did seem nervous (there was a moment when she was standing in the back furiously licking her lips and looking worried), but at Manhattnik pointed out, she did have some lovely moments, such as those gorgeous lifts and the way she parted the air with her hands. And her nervousness might have contributed to Molina's partnering mishaps (I mean, they would have been rehearsing together, right. And if things weren't going well, the coaches and the director most certainly would have changed things). He's young and might not have the experience partnering-wise in every situation. I remember he did a very good job with Jaffe last year, but she was a veteran. However, when Part danced on her own, she was very fine, especially in the series of pirouettes - maybe the best I've seen them done at ABT. I loved her in the role in 1999, and hopefully tonight things will be more comfortable for her.

Thanks for putting that up. I'd never seen her. She looks about right for the rep.

SOFIANE SYLVE OF HET NATIONALE BALLET TO APPEAR WITH NYCB AS A GUEST ARTIST FOR THE 2002/2003 WINTER SEASON Yoel Carreño of Cuba and Ask la Cour of Denmark to Join New York City Ballet New York City Ballet announced today that Sofiane Sylve, a first soloist with Het Nationale Ballet, will appear with NYCB as a guest artist for the 2002/2003 winter season. A native of Nice, France, Ms. Sylve studied ballet at the Académie de Dance in Nice and began her career as a first soloist with the ballet company of the Stadttheater in Karlsrhue, Germany, in 1990. She joined Het Nationale Ballet of the Netherlands in 1993 and was promoted to first soloist in 1998. Her repertory includes the full-length classics, as well as the choreography of George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, William Forsythe, and Hans van Manen. Ms. Sylve will make her first New York City Ballet appearances during the Company’s annual holiday season of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™. This will mark the first time that Ms. Sylve has danced in the United States. The Company also announced today that Yoel Carreño is joining New York City Ballet as a soloist. A native of Havana, Cuba, Mr. Carreño was formerly a member of the National Ballet of Cuba and was seen in New York during that company’s 2001 season at City Center. He is the half-brother of American Ballet Theatre’s Jose Manuel Carreño. In addition, Danish dancer Ask la Cour will join New York City Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet. Born in Copenhagen, Mr. la Cour studied at the Ballet School of The Royal Theatre and joined The Royal Danish Ballet in 2000. New York City Ballet begins its 2002/2003 season on Tuesday, November 26. For information on NYCB performances call 212-870-5570 or visit www.nycballet.com.

One of Part's grandparents is Estonian. I would guess from the last name, it would be on her father's side. I think she is stunning; a most beautiful Lilac Fairy and nicely dramatic in Fountain's... But I also think she's a natural in the Balanchine works she's done - "Dark Angel" in Serenade, Diamonds, Sym. in C and Emeralds. She was a little bit too pert as terpsichore in Apollo, but that can be fixed with coaching. She can get a little bit stronger technically, but then she'll surprise with some spot-on turns or clean tricky combination.

I'm glad Ms. Meunier cleared things up and I hope her injury won't sideline her too long. When a dancer is replaced in a program, nobody is more disappointed than the dancer herself. I count myself among those admirers Michael mentions. Her Swan Lake was truely exraordinary. She's a very special dancer, one that makes people go to mantinees when they don't normally. I hope she's receiving the support she deserves at ABT. Again from the TONY article, "It was the happiest time in my professional career," Meunier said of the time she danced Swan Lake. "I knew I could do all the steps, but just to put them together and to be onstage in front of an audience was a rush that I've never felt. I decided that I wanted to become a dancer after I saw Martine van Hamel perform Swan Lake. So it felt as if my dream had come true. After that, nothing was quite the same. I felt like I wasn't being challenged, and I realized I wanted something different out of my ballet career." On possibly becoming a principal at ABT: "I haven't done these ballets, so why would I be a principal? Being a principal there doesn't mean that you can be a principal here. You've got to learn these ballets and grow into them. I get to do a lot right now, which is what I want; I'm going to be trained, molded and nurtured into, I hope, a principal. I need to be educated. I'm like a sponge right now, and I want to learn it all. It's not that I don't think I'm a ballerina already -- I do. But I go by my gut instinct, which is different. Here, I'll be trained to be a classical ballerina. They're going to polish me up."

Monique Meunier was replaced in the gala Tuesday and will not dance the third movement in Symphony in C on Wednesday (Xiomora Reyes will be dancing with Stiefel). It's a shame as I was hoping she'd be able to start fresh with ABT. I hope whatever it keeping her off the stage won't last long. Meunier is quoted in last week's Time Out New York as being excited to be dancing with a classical company. She told Gia Kourlas, "I guess a part of me always wanted to be a classical ballerina because after I performed Swan Lake (by Martins in 1999), it changed my life. It just felt right. The fact that I was capable of getting through it was very gratifying, but what it did for me spiritually? I'm speechless when I think about it. It definitely took me on another path." MM explains that she becamse acquanted with Martin van Hamel and when performing at a benefit for Van Hamel's dance center, told the former ABT dancer about her situation at NYCB (not dancing so much) and was told ABT had room for another dancer. MM is working on Myrtha and wants to perform Kitri in Don Q. Hopefully she'll get the chance.

I guess I'm first, but I don't have my program with me. The night opened with a snippet from the latest Tudor revival "Offenbach in the Underworld." I have never seen this ballet, which I believe was performed last in New York by the Joffrey around 15-20 years ago. Anybody can correct me. I'm not really sure. First disappointment - Monique Meunier, who was to have danced Mistress of the Carriage Trade, was out. That aside, the scene takes place in a Paris bar with can-can girls and high society slumming. ABT's other new soloist, Veronika Part, looked sweet as the Opera Singer (she only dances a little bit at the end - a few turns). The highlight was the bawdy can-can girls and Olga Dvorevenko as the bar maid (Irina's mother). Next up was Dancing with Monet - a pair of pas de deux by Kirk Peterson to piano music. They were nicely danced in long 19th century dress by Gillian Murphy/David Hallberg and Stella Abrera/Carlos Molina. Abrera was rewarded for her passionate dancing with cheers by the audience. Portions of three more classical pas de deux were done in succession -- Grand Pas Classique with Dvorovenko and Belotserkovsky, Sylvia pas de deux with Nina Ananiashvili and Marcelo Gomes and Diana & Acteon with Paloma Herrera and Gennadi Saveliev. It was good to see Dvorovenko back on the stage after an injury. She was her usual flirtatious self and brilliante in her fouettes. Ananiashvili stood out for her musicality, but I didn't like her costume (she always uses her own). It didn't match the dusky silvery gray tunic worn by Gomes and had the little puffy sleeves on the upper arm that Balanchine didn't like. Dancing his ballet, she should have left them off. Herrera and Saveliev looked a little mismatched but he brought the house down with some split barrell turns (not sure how else to describe them). The first half ended with two songs from the George Harrison tribute. I forget the name of the first one, which was choreographed by Stanton Whelch. It had a man dancing in the middle while other dancers walked across the stage a la Robbins' Glass Pieces. Sometimes they'd be holding hands with another dancer or they'd stop and dance a bit. Others would take over the center area and it ended with a kind of circling around by the dancers. They wore rust colored hip-hugging jeans with cut off tops (woman) or tight opened collared shirts (men) in orange. The costumes were not attractive for all the dancers, especially Ms. Part, who is more curvaceous than the other dancers. Michelle Wiles looked best and came off best in her dancing, really letting loose a bit more than some of the others. A white screen came down, making the stage more shallow and My Guitar Gently Weeps began (choreographed by David Parsons). The dancers began to lose their inhibitions a bit more as they were basically asked to boogey from left to right in pairs, solo or meeting up with a partner in the middle and going off stage with them. Julie Kent, looking like a flower child, stood out, as did Angel Corrella and Ethan Stiefel (with an improved short spiky hair cut). I was not sure about the Harrison piece when it was announced. Except for a few exceptions, I'm not really sure rock music and ballet mix. Rock music seems to have its own kind of dancing, and we see it in music videos, concert stages and broadway. However, the two bits that were shown Tuesday were not awful...the Parsons suprised me. I'm interested to see the whole work. After an intermission, a well-done Fancy Free (w/Carreno, Corrella, and Stiefel) closed the evening.

Dirac, you wrote "The second might be, "A company with: good intentions, good training, good to excellent dancers, and good coaching that can go abroad and perform respectably without disgracing the nation." I don't think anybody used this definition to explain why SFB should be considered an international or national level ballet company. You see the company more often -- where do you think the company stands?

The 2002 Summer issue of Ballet Review is out. It includes: Nina Alovert on the Kirov's new Nutcracker, Leigh Witchel on Midsummer Night's Dream, Mark Dendy on Martha Graham performance at City Center, David Vaughan on Ashton in New York and Moscow, Marilyn Hunt - A Conversation with Kyra Nichols w/a photo album of Nichols in her best roles at NYCB, Janice Berman review of the recent San Francisco seasons (ABT and SFB), Doug Fullington on the Erik Bruhn film, Clement Crisp's London Report.

As I did in 1998, I found the company very appealing. There's a warmth and togetherness of the dancers that's attractive to me. The men are strong, perhaps stronger as a group than the women. But I think they do have a group of woman that can be stacked up against many other company's, even without Ms. Laccara (who left earlier this year). They do seem to have been able to cultivate a varied rep. I was impressed by the new ballets - the company, for whatever technical shortcomings it might have, does seem to inspire interesting choreography. Morris seemed to pick up on the company's comraderie in Sandpaper Ballet. And Wheeldon highlighted the wit and warmth in his latest piece for SFB. It was interesting to compare his work in San Francisco with that at NYCB, and I preferred Continuum for SFB. Damned and Chi-Lin might have been two of the weaker works brought to New York, but they were refreshing to me as they tried to invoke either a bit of a story or atmosphere with clever use of props and lighting, showing you can have narritive ballets without a cast of thousands and a plot from Disney. As Michael and Manhattnik said, shortcomings were revealed in the performances of Rubies and Paquita (although I thought the later was nicely done in many places, some more work on it will only make the company stronger). They are doing Don Q this season (working on it right now) and this should only improve their classical dancing. However, I think it is unfair to judge a company without seeing it its home theater or on just a few visits. But from seeing the company on its last few tours to New York, reading reviews from San Francisco as well as from its trips abroad, I think I would rank SFB as just under NYCB and ABT, but above or tied with Miami City Ballet atop the National companies. One thing that impressed me is that SFB got pretty good reviews on its recent trips to Europe (Miami did as well) while Pacific Northwest Ballet got mixed notices on its recent London visit. I have a feeling Washington D.C. viewers next month will give SFB even better notices as the rep is a little less "classical." I certainly wouldn't mind having SFB as my home company.

Who knows, maybe it will work. I remember a few years ago, there was a section of Histoire du Soldat that had Millepied partnering Meunier for a bit. It went perfectly. Meunier also is doing Offenbach in the Underworld. I did think that she would do one of the pas de deux, she's be smashing in Grand Pas Classique, but I guess at ABT she's just a soloist. While it's going to be great seeing Part in the 2nd movement of Sym. in C, she doesn't seem to be cast in anything else.

The updated casting: http://www.abt.org/city/calendar.html

Tuesday, October 15 at 7pm Opening Night Gala Harrison (excerpts - company) Sylvia Pas de Deux (adagio and coda - Ananiashvili, Gomes) Grand Pas Classique (pas de deux and coda- Dvorovenko, Belotserkovsky) Dancing with Monet A Gathering at Argenteuil, (excerpt - Murphy, Molina) Diana & Acteon (pas de deux - Herrera, Saveliev) Offenbach in the Underworld (excerpts - TBA, E. Brown, Meunier, Molina, Reyes, Lopez) Fancy Free (Corella, Stiefel, Carreno, S. Brown, Kent, Faye)