PeggyR

Program for the October tour: David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, New York October 16-27, 2013 Program A—October 16 & 19, 8 pm Trio* (Tomasson) Ghosts* (Wheeldon) Borderlands* (McGregor) Program B—October 19, 2 pm Trio (Tomasson) Ghosts (Wheeldon) Suite en Blanc (Lifar) Program C—October 17 & 18, 8 pm From Foreign Lands* (Ratmansky) Beaux* (Morris) Classical Symphony* (Possokhov) Symphonic Dances* (Liang) Program D—October 20, 2 pm Suite en Blanc (Lifar) From Foreign Lands (Ratmansky) Symphonic Dances (Liang) Cinderella—October 23, 24, 25 & 26 at 8 pm; October 26 & 27 at 2 pm How to buy your tickets: Two special pre-sale offers are available online, at Audience Rewards and beginning May 30, at Travelzoo. Tickets will be available to the general public starting June 10 by visiting our website or calling 212.496.0600

http://www.dancemaga...CBs-rising-star There are some performance memories that stay with you -- the details may be gone, but the feeling, the aura created by a truly superb performance, remain. Sylve is responsible for two of mine: an incandescent Diamonds, and a melting, beautiful, Symphony in C, second movement. Like any performing artist, she has her ups and downs, but when she’s ‘on’, there’s really is nobody quite like her.

Good grief, that brings back a memory: Omnibus (I think), Balanchine and some dancers, one of them Farrell. He had her point her foot, then he took hold of it and tried to flex it. I seem to remember he said something like, "See? See how strong her foot is?" What treasures those old programs were for arts lovers.

After falling in love with dancing thanks to the June Taylor Dancers on the old Jackie Gleason show, my mother said that I insisted on being taken to a Nutcracker, but no idea what company, since in the ‘50s, Philadelphia didn’t really have a ballet company. It might have been touring, no idea, or something by the Littlefields, one of whom I believe may have still been active in the area at the time. I do remember being enthralled. Living so close to NYC, we got a lot of touring companies, and my poor mother had to come up with tickets to everything. I’m pretty sure that aside from that first Nut, it was ABT I saw first and most often: my first really vivid memory is of John Kriza in Billy the Kid – I think Kriza was the first crush I ever had. Also saw the RB (Beriosova in Giselle), Kirov (another vivid memory was Sizova in something, maybe Aurora’s Wedding) and Bolshoi (Struchkova in Spring Waters) when they toured. Those were the days.

Actually, I was curious about "Esteban Hernández · San Francisco Ballet". He's not on the current roster.

??? I believe this is Isaac's brother. Is this a peek into the future?

Speaking for myself, I'm a subscriber, so I see whoever they cast for my subscription. If I want (and can afford) to see a program again, they don't usually sell out the regular performances, especially the mixed rep, so it's generally not hard to get a decent ticket after casts are announced, and if worst comes to worst, I go standing room. Anyway, I try not to get all that hung up on casts. Being open minded has resulted in a lot of surprises, most of them pleasant (e.g., Tan's lovely Tatiana; Tan isn't known as an actress, but I love the ballet and already had the ticket, so I went and -- Tan was unexpectedly wonderful); and sure, sometimes not so pleasant. I hope you get what you want, but these are all good dancers and it's unlikely you'll be disappointed, whoever you end up seeing. Enjoy!

Here in San Francisco, they only tell us the casts a week ahead of the performance date.

Smart move, taking Cinderella. It opens tonight, and according to the website, the entire run of nine performances is sold out.

Casts for the US premiere of Wheeldon's Cinderella. I've got tickets for May 3 and May 10 at 8 pm, plus May 4 matinee standing room (seats are old out, and I can't miss Van Patten). It'll good to see Katita Waldo back on stage (she was very good as Berthe in Giselle), and especially good to see Hansuke Yamamoto in a prominent role. I hope this bodes well for his future. U.S. Premiere - CINDERELLA Choreographer: Christopher Wheeldon Composer: Sergei Prokofiev Friday, May 3—8:00 PM—OPENING NIGHT Cinderella: Maria Kochetkova* Prince: Joan Boada* Hortensia: Katita Waldo* Edwina: Sarah Van Patten* Clementine: Frances Chung* Benjamin: Taras Domitro* Saturday, May 4—2:00 PM Cinderella: Sarah Van Patten* Prince: Carlos Quenedit* Hortensia: Katita Waldo Edwina: Dana Genshaft* Clementine: Clara Blanco* Benjamin: Myles Thatcher* Saturday, May 4—8:00 PM Cinderella: Yuan Yuan Tan* Prince: Luke Ingham* Hortensia: Marie-Claire D’Lyse* Edwina: Vanessa Zahorian* Clementine: Dores Andre* Benjamin: Garen Scribner* Sunday, May 5, 2:00 PM Cinderella: Maria Kochetkova Prince: Joan Boada Hortensia: Katita Waldo Edwina: Sarah Van Patten Clementine: Frances Chung Benjamin: Taras Domitro Tuesday, May 7, 8:00 PM Cinderella: Vanessa Zahorian* Prince: Davit Karapetyan* Hortensia: Shannon Rugani* Edwina: Dana Genshaft Clementine: Clara Blanco Benjamin: Hansuke Yamamoto* Wednesday, May 8, 7:30PM Cinderella: Yuan Yuan Tan Prince: Luke Ingham Hortensia: Katita Waldo Edwina: Vanessa Zahorian Clementine: Dores Andre Benjamin: Garen Scribner Thursday, May 9, 8:00PM Cinderella: Sarah Van Patten Prince: Carlos Quenedit Hortensia: Shannon Rugani Edwina: Vanessa Zahorian Clementine: Dores Andre Benjamin: Myles Thatcher Friday, May 10, 8:00PM Cinderella: Frances Chung* Prince: Luke Ingham Hortensia: Marie-Claire D’Lyse Edwina: Courtney Elizabeth* Clementine: Sasha De Sola* Benjamin: Hansuke Yamamoto Saturday, May 11, 2:00PM Cinderella: Maria Kochetkova Prince: Joan Boada Hortensia: Katita Waldo Edwina: Sarah Van Patten Clementine: Frances Chung Benjamin: Taras Domitro Saturday, May 11, 8:00PM Cinderella: Vanessa Zahorian Prince: Davit Karapetyan Hortensia: Shannon Rugani Edwina: Dana Genshaft Clementine: Clara Blanco Benjamin: Myles Thatcher Sunday, May 12, 2:00PM Cinderella: Frances Chung Prince: Luke Ingham Hortensia: Marie-Claire D’Lyse Edwina: Courtney Elizabeth Clementine: Sasha De Sola Benjamin: Garen Scribner

San Francisco Ballet corp dancer Madison Keesler has Tweeted that she will be joining English National Ballet next year.

Considering the quantity and range of roles she dances, it's amazing (and fortunate) that over the seven years she's been with SFB she hasn't suffered any noticeable injuries, that I'm aware of.

Welcome to the SVP fan club! She's an interesting, musical and very lovely Odette, as well as an excellent Tatiana in Onegin. The last time the Company performed Giselle, I was sitting next to an elderly woman who told me that when her husband retired, they traveled all over the world and always saw whatever ballet was available, especially Giselle. And, she said, SVP's was the best Giselle she had seen in 20 years. Although I thought her first act was pretty standard issue, the second act was sublime: I don't think I've ever seen anyone so completely weightless (helped immeasurably by Tiit Helimets strong partnering). I already saving my retirement pennies to see her performances next season. I hope we hear more of your impressions, Terez. I haven't been able to get to many performances this year, so I'm very grateful for all the comments here and on the SFB threads; really makes me feel like I'm there (and sad to hear what I've missed!).

Principal dancer Pierre-François Vilanoba will retire at the end of San Francisco Ballet's 2013 season.

My first thought too, although Giselle is always welcome and you can never tell about premieres. I'm particularly looking forward to the new Ratmansky. Note that I've modified the Ratmansky/Shostakovich: Symphony #9 is the first movement only; apparently the full work as yet has no title. Here are some links. ABT announcement: Interview: Review:

Announcement of the San Francisco Ballet’s 2014 season. (This is a link to a PDF of the brochure; there doesn't seem to be anything on the website yet.) Program 1: Giselle Program 2: Caniparoli: world premiere Ratmansky: From Foreign Lands McGregor: Borderlands Program 3: Possokhov: Firebird Wheeldon: Ghosts Makarova staging: La Bayadere, Act III (Kingdom of the Shades) Program 4: Wheeldon: Cinderella (U.S. premiere) (Note that this is ‘...back by popular demand!’, which is interesting since it hasn't even been seen here yet. ) Program 5: Ratmansky: Shostakovich evening length (West Coast premiere) Co-production with American Ballet Theatre Program 6: Tomasson: World premiere Morris: Maelstrom Possokhov: The Rite of Spring Program 7: Scarlett: World premiere Tomasson: The Fifth Season Lifar: Suite en blanc Program 8: Balanchine: Agon Balanchine: Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet Robbins: Glass Pieces

At the Saturday matinee, it was interesting to see what a second cast can bring to a work like Borderlands. Little star power here and no 240 degree extensions. What we got was some serious personality in the guise of soloists Daniel Deivison-Oliveira and Dores Andre in one of the later pas de deux. I don’t remember who performed this one on opening night, but whoever it was, they made virtually no impression compared to these two. Deivison-Oliveira and Andre turned it into a Forsythe-like push-pull battle of the sexes, ferocious, no holds barred (literally), very exciting. Fascinating to see how an infusion of personality can bring so much to otherwise nothing-special choreography. Also interesting was the recovery of a bad fall at the end of one of the Suite en Blanc variations. A young corps dancer who has frequently been given soloist parts: she fell, hard, right at the end – I think it was meant to be a scratch pirouette, ending (standing) with arms outstretched to the front. When she went down, you could see she was thinking about getting up, but there simply wasn’t time as the music was coming to an end. Instead, she stayed put, rearranged her legs and did the outstretched arms, all as if it were meant to be that way. Maybe someone in the wings was telling her to stay down, but regardless, it was a nice save. What broke my heart was her face when the company took their bow at the end. Everyone else was smiling but you could see she was in tears. I hope she got plenty of positive reinforcement backstage. (She was in Borderlands and looked fine; I doubt it anyone could dance that with an injury, so fortunately, no apparent damage done.)

Opening night, 1/29/13 Suite en blanc struck me as prettily old fashioned with, as Pherank says, a good bit of fluff. But pretty fluff, with Sasha De Sola a standout for her femininity and assured technique in the Serenade. Something of a disappointment was Sarah Van Patten’s Cigarette. I’ve been watching -- repeatedly, because it’s so wonderful -- the . Van Patten was good and she gave a nice emphasis to the toe taps, but she lacked Letestu’s gracefully wafting arms, pliant back, and general air of chic sophistication.In The Night marked a welcome return to the ballet season of Lorena Feijoo as half of the third couple (although I doubt if La Feijoo is ever ‘half’ of anything). I’d forgotten what a dramatic jolt she can provide, and provide it she did, and then some. As to Borderlands, Wayne McGregor’s world premiere, I made the mistake of attending the pre-performance interview with him and three of his collaborators. Unfortunately, McGregor is intelligent, articulate, funny and charming, and now I feel guilty for not being a bigger fan of his work. Oh well. Borderlands I found to be interesting mainly for it’s almost Pilobolus-like use of bodies to create shapes or seemingly multi-limbed creatures; otherwise it evokes Chroma with its boxy set (gray this time), and nondescript top-and-trunks costumes (gray this time). Color was provided by the lighting design and the electronic score - or maybe soundscape would be a better word; huge, beautiful washes of sound that pretty much ran out of steam by the end, and that surely would be improved by losing the tinkly electronic piano mishmash in the middle. During the Q&A, McGregor and the others spoke at length about the ballet being inspired by the work of artist Josef Albers. I make no pretensions of knowing anything about art in general or Albers in particular, but based on McGregor’s comments and some internet research, I can say that at least some of that inspiration was visible to my highly uneducated eye: particularly the dancers placed at the corners of the gray box, forming a box within the box. It would be interesting to hear how well others, with more knowledge about these things, felt the ‘inspiration’ was executed. The choreography, aside from the multi-limbed creatures, tended to look much like other McGregor choreography: rippling bodies, much aimless running around, and extreme extensions (Sofiane Sylve executed what may have been ballet’s first 240 degree développé). It seems odd that a modern or contemporary choreographer working without the restrictions imposed by classical ballet technique can’t seem to come up with a more varied movement palette. I do predict, however, some stunning still photos, when they start showing up. With the performers dressed alike, it was sometimes difficult to tell who was who, but if I matched the correct face to the correct body (not always easy with the various intertwinings going on), Frances Chung stood out. I think I like her in this kind of thing more than in strictly classical roles; she was terrific in Forsythe’s “...in the middle, somewhat elevated...”, among other contemporary ballets, and she seemed very at home in this. I’m attending tomorrow’s matinee, where I’m glad to see a lot of soloist and corp de ballet dancers in major roles. Always good to see the next generation as they develop.

Opening night cast for Program 1 2013 season: Program 1 - 2013 Season PROGRAM 1: OPENING NIGHT Tuesday, January 29 – 8:00PM Repertory and Casting SUITE EN BLANC Choreographer: Serge Lifar Composer: Édouard Lalo Conductor: Martin West Vanessa Zahorian*, Tiit Helimets*, Shane Wuerthner* Sasha De Sola* Frances Chung*, Myles Thatcher*, Hansuke Yamamoto*, Daniel-Deivison Oliveira*, Steven Morse* Sarah Van Patten* Davit Karapetyan* Yuan Yuan Tan*, Vito Mazzeo* Maria Kochetkova* IN THE NIGHT Choreographer: Jerome Robbins Composer: Frédéric Chopin Conductor: Martin West Piano: Roy Bogas Vanessa Zahorian, Ruben Martin Cintas Sofiane Sylve, Tiit Helimets Lorena Feijoo, Pierre-François Vilanoba BORDERLANDS Choreographer: Wayne McGregor Composer: Joel Cadbury and Paul Stoney Conductor: Martin West Mariah Kochetkova*, Jaime Garcia Castilla* Sarah Van Patten*, Pascal Molat* Frances Chung*, Carlos Quenedit* Sofiane Sylve*, Vito Mazzeo* Koto Ishihara*, Lonnie Weeks* Elizabeth Powell*, Francisco Mungamba* *Denotes premiere in role In the event of injury or illness, casting is subject to change

San Francisco Chronicle interview with San Francisco Ballet principal dancer Sarah Van Patten. A: I've heard of it, but I've never run into a baseball player. I wouldn't know one even if he bumped into me, unfortunately. Football is another story.

Casts for the Opening Night Gala. Great news: Lorena Feijoo is back and dancing Raymonda's Act III solo. TARANTELLA Composer: Louis Gottschalk Orchestrated by: Hershy Kay Choreography:George Balanchine Current Staging by: Elyse Borne Costume Design: after Karinska Conductor: Martin West Piano Solo: Michael McGraw Casting: Sasha De Sola*, Pascal Molat* Final solo from ARLESIENNE Composer: Georges Bizet Choreography: Roland Petit Staged by: Luigi Bonino Scenic Design: René Allio Costume Design: Christine Laurent Lighting Design: after Jean-Michel Desiré Conductor: Martin West Casting: Pierre-François Vilanoba* THE FLOWER FESTIVAL AT GENZANO pas de deux Composer: Matthias Strebinger, adapted by Holger Simon Paulli Orchestrated by: William McDermott Choreography: August Bournonville Current Staging by: Helgi Tomasson Conductor: Martin West Casting: Clara Blanco*, Gennadi Nedvigin IN THE PASSERINE’S CLUTCH Composer: Wojceich Kilar Choreography: Myles Thatcher Costume Design: Susan Roemer, Myles Thatcher Lighting Design: Kevin Connaughton Conductor: Martin West Casting: Dores Andre*, Dana Genshaft*, Joan Boada*, Jaime Garcia Castilla* Raymonda’s solo from RAYMONDA ACT III Composer: Alexander Glazunov Choreography: Rudolph Nureyev after Marius Petipa Reconstructed and Staged by: Grant Coyle, assisted by Bruce Sansom Lighting Design: after John B. Read Conductor: Martin West Casting: Lorena Feijoo 2nd movement of TRIO Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Choreographer: Helgi Tomasson Scenic Design: Alexander V. Nichols Costume Design: Mark Zappone Lighting Design: Christopher Dennis Conductor: Martin West Casting: Sarah Van Patten, Tiit Helimets, Vito Mazzeo grand pas de deux from DON QUIXOTE, ACT III Composer: Ludwig Minkus and Riccardo Drigo Choreography: after Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky Staged by: Helgi Tomasson and Yuri Possokhov Costume Design: Martin Pakledinaz Lighting Design: after James F. Ingalls Associate Costume Designer: Heather Lockard Conductor: Martin West Casting: Frances Chung, Taras Domitro pas de deux from ONEGIN, ACT I Composer: Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky Arrangement and Orchestration: Kurt-Heinz Stolze Choreography: John Cranko Staged by: Reid Anderson and Jane Bourne Scenic and Costume Design: Santo Loquasto Lighting Design: after James F. Ingalls Copyright Dieter Graefe Condctor: Martin West Casting: Maria Kochetkova, Vitor Luiz pas de deux from STARS AND STRIPES Composer: John Philip Sousa Adapted and orchestrated by: Hershy Kay Choreography: George Balanchine Current Staging by: Elyse Borne Costume Design: after Karinska Lighting Design: after Sarah Linnie Slocum Conductor: Martin West Casting: Vanessa Zahorian*, Davit Karapetyan* pas de deux from AFTER THE RAIN Composer: Arvo Pärt Choreography: Christopher Wheeldon Costume Design: Holly Hynes Lighting Design: Mark Stanley Conductor: Martin West Violin: Roy Malan Piano: Michael McGraw Casting: Yuan Yuan Tan, Damian Smith excerpts from SUITE en BLANC Composer : Édouard Lalo Choreography: Serge Lifar Staged by: Maina Gielgud Conductor: Martin West Casting: Sofiane Sylve*, Tiit Helimets* * Indicates premiere in role ^Indicated guest artist Program and casting subject to change

Indeed. That she got into this situation is not her fault. Ditto all of the others who've been incorrectly pushed into starring roles by Fateev et al. Agree with both comments. And what makes me sadder even than the technical and stylistic deficiencies, obvious even to my inexpert eye, is the complete lack of joy in her dancing, here and in just about every other clip of her I've seen; she usually looks terrified. I keep going back to that delightful Novikova clip in post #102 for a palate freshener. Loved the wonderful Espada.

Giselle - Sarah Van Patten Myrtha - Sofiane Sylve

O/O: Kondaurova

MovieTickets.com has it listed, but putting in my zip code returned a commercial for M&Ms, in Spanish But at least they seem to know it exists, even if there's no specific information yet. Edited to add: Sorry, just realized the link is for my zip code, which refuses to go away. I was trying to post the general Movie.com site. Be sure to change the zip to your own.