soubrette_fan

Can anyone identify the dancer on the cover of the 2007 Head Shots book? If I'm not mistaken, I think Savannah Lowery is the dancer to the left, but who is the one in the middle? Thanks in advance:-)

The NYCB website has one of the worst professionally created public-facing user interfaces I've ever seen.  It's a wonder anyone finds anything there.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree. It's especially difficult to navigate if you're on a Macintosh, as the only browser that seems to show everything properly is Internet Explorer - and that hasn't been updated for ages (and Microsoft has even said they are discontinuing development on the Mac version). Anyway, I sent an email to the NYCB office asking them about it, and this is the reply I received :

    Thank you for your interest in New York City Ballet.  Yes,  we are begining a

redesign now, we hope to have it complete by late spring or early summer 05.

In the mean time there is a work around you can use in other browsers.  By

clicking on the click here to print it will bring up another window which is

scrollable in any  browser.

Sincerely,

Carol Landers

Director of Research and Online Media

I hope it comes out soon.

Every morning, I look forward to sitting down in front of my laptop with a steaming hot mug of coffee and scrolling through all the new board posts and ballet articles, so I would like to say a big thank you to Ari - you've saved me from countless hours of searching the web for dance articles every day. Thanks to your hard work (and that of everyone else who posts to the 'Links' section), I have been kept up-to-date with news from all of my favorite dance companies, and have grown increasingly well-informed about those I previously knew nothing about. I wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors.

P.S. I would also like to thank dirac, for so graciously agreeing to take charge of the 'Links' section.

I don't know much about the book publishing business, and was wondering - how do publishers decide which dance autobiographies to reprint? Seeing as the University Press of Florida decided to reprint Farrell's autobio, does anyone think that there's a chance they would pick up on Merrill Ashley's? I'm very curious about this, because.....well, on my meager budget as a student, those prices for a used copy seem to run very high (and rightfully so, considering Ashley's status in the dance world.) Nevertheless, I've been wanting to read it for years, and unfortunately I can't find a library in my area that carries it.

Thanks to everyone who replies!

In addition to Giselle, I will also be attending the Gala. This will be my first time seeing Theme & Variations and Ballet Imperial - I can't wait!

I noticed on the Music Center's website that it says there will be a "free pre-performance talk" on hour prior to curtain (only for Giselle). Because I usually get stuck in a time crunch, I've never had the opportunity to attend one of these - until now. Can anyone tell me what they're like? Do any company dancers make an appearance?

Thanks, carbro and marga! You saved me from hours of googling.

Jacqueline- thanks for the tip, I will remember to check it out next time I'm at the supermarket.

From an article in today's Sunday times (URL posted by Mme. Hermine in "Links") :

At 4:43 a.m. on Thursday, March 24, Ms. Dvorovenko gave birth to a 7-pound 8-ounce girl named Emma Galina Beloserkovsky, bringing the number of mothers in her company to three.

I know Julie Kent and Victor Barbee have a son, but I'm clueless as to who is the third mother in ABT. Does anyone know who?

Thanks for the very articulate response, Anne74! Your analogy of the Balanchine style as a "language - the earlier it's taught, the more fluent and competent the student will be" was particularly helpful.

This may seem like an odd question (and I'm not even sure I'm phrasing this right), but here goes:

Is it more difficult for a dancer who's trained at SAB and is accustomed to performing a neoclassical repertoire, to transition to performing a classical work.......or is the reverse more difficult, i.e. for a "classically-trained" dancer (I know, it's a broad and ambiguous term but I can't think of how else to say it) who's familiar with performing works like Giselle and Swan Lake to make the necessary adjustments required for performing one of Balanchine's works?

I started thinking about this after reading a 2/11/05 article about Sofiane Sylve in the NYT, by Anna Kisselgoff, which I'll quote from here:

"When I go back to Amsterdam," Ms. Sylve said, "my coach, Maria Aradi, tells me, 'The Balanchine arms are O.K., but they're not O.K. in "Sleeping Beauty." ' I'll put that back in the jewelry box and take it out when I do 'Bizet' " - her shorthand for Balanchine's "Symphony in C."

Violette Verdy was born as Nelly Guillerm, and remained so I think, until her starring role in the 1950 film Ballerina.

Sara Leland - b. Sally Harrington.

Galina is such a beautiful name. I'm glad to hear that Irina had a safe and healthy pregnancy.

Is this the image of Reichlen & Labean?

Maybe in the future there will be some kind of virtual reality technological device that can transport us (however little) back to the moment. Until then, I will be content with fantasizing about myself in Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux.

These are certainly nice photos, but I do wonder where the site owner gets them from. So far as I can see there are no photographer credits - or have I missed that? If he/she has paid standard copyright fees it must have cost a small fortune!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The one of Paloma Herrera in grand plié (and showing off her beautiful arches ) is from a 1995 ABT souvenir book of photos done by Nancy Ellison.........and I don't see her name anywhere on the site.

The page loaded fine for me (I am using Mozilla Firefox 1.0), although it did take quite awhile because of all the graphics.

I'll second the vote for Irina Dvorovenko. I downloaded the "Inside the ABT Studios - Raymonda" video clips from the ABT website a while ago, and I was mesmerized with how beautiful Dvorovenko was in the studio - even with a freshly-scrubbed face free of make-up, her dark eyes and alluring features still shine through.

Sofiane Sylve - is it "So-fee-ann" or "Suh-fy-anee"?

Also, for her last name, is it "Seeve" or more like "Silve"?

Wendy Whelan - "Way-lan", or "Well-lan"?

Ashley Bouder - "Boo-der" or "Bow -der"?

Maria Kowroski? Is it "Kuh-rawski" or "Kuh-roh-ski" or "Kuh-ROW-ski"?

Nikolaj Hubbe?

Suzanne Farrell- "Farr-ell" or "Fair-elle"?

Zenaida Yanowsky?

I'll definitely be attending this! I live in Pasadena, and hopefully there won't be too much traffic getting downtown.

I know for certain that I'll be there for the Thursday evening mixed repertory program, but I can't make it to Ferri's "Giselle" on Friday - can anyone recommend which of the other castings I should try to get?

*Saturday, April 30 (matinee): Reyes, Beloserkovsky, Murphy

*Saturday, April 30 (evening): Kent, Carreno, Wiles

*Sunday, May 1 (matinee): Herrera, Gomes, Part

I'm mostly leaning towards either the Reyes/Beloserkovsky performance or the Kent/Carreno. As much as I would *love* to see Veronika Part, I'm not too sure about Herrera as Giselle (if any of you have witnessed otherwise, please feel free to correct me!)

Are those from Striking a Balance, or her more recent book, Grace Under Pressure?

After reading all of these fantastic reviews of Striking a Balance, I've become very interested in buying it (and fortunately I was able to find several used copies of the 1992 paperback edition on Alibris), but I was wondering, could anyone here post a list of names of all the dancers interviewed?

Thanks everyone. I figured it had to be something long!

Hello

I was watching my "ABT at the Met" video the other day, and I was wondering, at the end of the "Sylvia" pas de deux, Martine Van Hamel does these turns where she keeps her front leg in what looks like attitude, and then she just keeps turning on her other leg - What are these called? They look like fouettes, except instead of whipping her leg out to the side and back, it just stays in the front.