ViolinConcerto

Here's another piece of this mis-matched puzzle:

The Russian National Ballet Theater -- performing in Kalamazoo MI, with a modern version of "Romeo and Juliet" and a classical version of "Les Sylphides."

The name "Radchenko" appears again, but this time:

The Russian National Ballet is directed by Elena Radchenko, a former Bolshoi Ballet principal dancer.

Weren't we just talking about a Radchenko? Wasn't the name "Russian Classical Ballet Theater?" Wasn't the Radchenko a man?

Are there two Radchenkos?

Maybe we should draw up a little chart with all the names of the many companies touring the world that have "Russian," "Moscow," or "State" in their names, see what productions have been around, and figure this out!

Well, here's our answer: (posted today in "Recent Ballet Performances" by emilienne)

Russian National Ballet Theatre

Cinderella

20 January 2011, 7 PM

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

Orchestra Row T Seat 22

Music from the eponymous ballet by S Prokofieff

Choreographed by Elena and Sergei Radchenko

I also had a lovely time, and enjoyed the film (which I've seen enough times to know much of it by heart), the talk with Sean Lavery, the class as well as the performances. Sean referred to the opening lines of the film, which quote (and I've heard that this is misquoted) Petipa on Jan 22, 1904, saying "'All my work is reduced to ashes.' On that day George Balanchine was born." Sean spoke of his experiences with Balanchine (not as a teacher, because he had performed with other companies before he came to NYCB) but as a dancer. Sean was able to make everyone feel very much at ease, and I recall that as a quality that I saw when I watched him give a class as well. He asked the three dancers (Jenifer Ringer, Chase Finlay and Sterling Hyltin -- pronounced "Hill -TEEN") what their first roles were, what their "aha" moment was when they knew they wanted to dance, and what attracted them to NYCB. Jenifer Ringer mentioned, among other things, that she originally thought of dance as an after school activity, and wanted to be a veterinarian. Sean also referred to a few "insider" jokes, such as "PMS" -- Parent, Mouse, Snowflake -- as the first set of roles young corps member do in "Nutcracker," and "white-tights-itis" as a terror that young men experience when doing their first Cavalier roles in white tights, which don't hide anything! Chase Finlay said he'd had a few of those moments. All the dancers said that they loved dancing Balanchine because the choreography seemed so natural and "easy." (EASY FOR THEM TO SAY...) Sterling said she could rehearse his ballets in her head as she walked down the street.

I'm glad to see that others who watched the on-stage class noticed the young woman with the halter top and earrings... she was poised and lovely. I felt that Peter Martins gave almost all his attention to a few men, (there was one young man, on the short side, in the center, who I felt was quite good and Martins completely ignored) until the end. Martins really tried to squeeze in as much as he could in the short time he had, and worked well with the students. At one point, he said that he couldn't demonstrate a combination, and said "It would give me a heart attack!" A few of us were actually worried because he was huffing and puffing, All those years of smoking!

At the matinee I was very impressed with Justin Peck and Allen Peiffer in the "Themes" sections of "The Four Temperaments," and their work in "Cortege" as well. I was disappointed in Reecca Krohn, and felt that she was not as musical as Suozzi -- who I agree tried a bit too hard. I wrote "Mearns, Mearns, Mearns" across the top of the program page.... She can command the stage with a glance. I liked Maria Korowski in "Walpurgistnach" and Wendy Whelan in "Mozartiana" (though she was not as precise as I would have liked in some of the footwork) I missed the serene sureness that Kyra Nichols transmitted especially in her last 10 years with the company in those roles. Sometimes I feel I still see the shadow of Suzanne Farrell in Mozartiana (and Chaconne!)

And who was the conductor who lead Stars and Stripes? Is that the one that has just been appointed to lead the Hartford Symphony? Carolyn Kuan?

She is teeny tiny Clotilde Otranto and has been with the company for several years. She is an incredible dynamo.

Great!

Here are the programs-- (I am entering these on an iPod so PLEASE DOUBLE CHECK!)

Sat Jan 22, 8p (Balanchine's b-day)

Mozartiana

Prodigal Son

Stars & Stripes

Sun Jan 23, 3p

La Source

Concerto DSCH

NY Export Opus Jazz

Sat Jan 29, 8p

Walpurgisnacht Ballet

Dances at a Gathering

Symphony in 3 Movements

Sun Jan 30, 3p

Stars & Stripes

Outlier

New Stroman

Sat Feb 5, 8p

Cortège Hongrois

Outlier

I'm Old Fashioned

Sat Feb 12, 2p

Divertimento #15

after the Rain

The 4 Seasons

Sat Feb 12, 8p

Hallelujah Junction

Prodigal Son

I'm old Fashioned

You can get them individually!!

I'm looking forward to the SAB demonstration and the following performance, but am wondering how to find fast dinner for two 12-year-olds between 7:00 & 8:00... Dinner afterwards would delay a 3 hour drive home... If we took advantage of the box lunch available at the Koch theater, the old state theater... are there any suggestions for where to grab something to eat for the ride home? I'd have thought Vinny's pizza would do the trick but I see it is no more...

My apologies if this isn't serious conversation about the ballet... but I promise to deliver a review when we get back.

There's always the new 'Wichcraft in the Rubenstein Atrium on Broadway between 62nd & 63rd (just across the street from the plaza theaters). You can buy sandwiches, soups and salads there to either eat at the tables in the Atrium or take back to the theater.

Great place!!

I'm looking forward to the SAB demonstration and the following performance, but am wondering how to find fast dinner for two 12-year-olds between 7:00 & 8:00... Dinner afterwards would delay a 3 hour drive home... If we took advantage of the box lunch available at the Koch theater, the old state theater... are there any suggestions for where to grab something to eat for the ride home? I'd have thought Vinny's pizza would do the trick but I see it is no more...

My apologies if this isn't serious conversation about the ballet... but I promise to deliver a review when we get back.

Melissa's deli on Bway between 62 and 63 on the W. side of the street. on the E. side of Bway is "Breadsoul" that has decent sandwiches despite the weird name. The Flame diner on 9th Ave and 58th St as well. Also on on the E. side of Columb at about 65th St, AND the E side of 10th at 58th is a "Europan" or something where they have everything. Can't say any of those have the greatest stuff, but they'll get you all home!

Have a great time! Any way for Ballet Alert! people to identify themselves at the performance?

A friend is ill and has asked me to help sell her front row center tickets for this season. She is asking $100 each. The tickets are for the following performances:

Sat Jan 22, 8p (Balanchine's b-day)

Sun Jan 23, 3p

Sat Jan 29, 8p

Sun Jan 30, 3p

Sat Feb 5, 8p

Sat Feb 12, 2p

Sat Feb 12, 8p

Please p.m. me if you are interested. Thanks.

From the Saratogan, R. Michael Steel, who began his ballet career with New York City Ballet, has died at age 69. The initial reporting can be found here and the obit will be placed on Jan. 11th. After retiring from his dance career, mostly in Europe, he moved to Saratoga Springs and opened a school.

But that wouldn't be a stage hand union issue... would it? Lighting designers/directors aren't stage hands.

True. Was just thinking of some of the ways Companies have been cutting costs - relating to personnel.

Here's another piece of this mis-matched puzzle:

The Russian National Ballet Theater -- performing in Kalamazoo MI, with a modern version of "Romeo and Juliet" and a classical version of "Les Sylphides."

The name "Radchenko" appears again, but this time:

The Russian National Ballet is directed by Elena Radchenko, a former Bolshoi Ballet principal dancer.

Weren't we just talking about a Radchenko? Wasn't the name "Russian Classical Ballet Theater?" Wasn't the Radchenko a man?

Are there two Radchenkos?

Maybe we should draw up a little chart with all the names of the many companies touring the world that have "Russian," "Moscow," or "State" in their names, see what productions have been around, and figure this out!

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a0oxw90zC9Wc

A stagehand/prop person made close to 540k at Carnegie Hall.

That does not speak to what stagehands who work for NYCB or ABT receive.

NYCB and ABT had to let a few dancers go to cut costs, I doubt the unions gave anything back or got more flexible on their work rules.

There are also other ways to cut costs than to get concessions from parties with existing contracts.

At NYCB a few years ago I noted that Mark Stanley (lighting designer) no longer had a staff position, but was used as a consultant. That may also have been a cost-cutting maneuver.

Hope they do screen it again, because I just came upon this post after 4:00 p.m. and only caught a few minutes! Really intelligent commentary and great to see Carla and Seth achieving their potential.

I agree that the rep is disappointing, but what a great thing. World class dancers with live music visiting those smaller venues is such a good move. The live music aspect is so wonderful. Good for Peter Martins. I think he has really grown in his job (boy that sounded pretentious). I just thing that this is a good move and that the company looks much, much better now than it has in a while.

The commitment to live music -- which is commendable -- has a downside: there isn't that much Balanchine that can be done with the very small contingent of musicians that will accompany the dancers for the first season of performances.

But there's a lot of Robbins.....

If anyone is interested, there's a 2nd edition of Lifar's bio of Diaghilev on ebay:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SERGE-LIFAR-SERGE-DIAGHILEV-BALLET-1945-HB-VG-RARE-/130472615346

That's so sweet. I think some of that was used in the film, "Ballets Russes." Looking at the people in the back one of them looks like Nicholas Nabokov.

Very little of the money donated to an arts company goes to salaries, especially when donated funds are earmarked for specific projects.

That's a great point about projects and other restricted funds. A lot of donors want a specific production with their name on it and aren't as interested in wrenches and rest room supplies.

On the other hand, if a company needs a big pile of money to put on a new production or new ballet, people who write those big checks are critical.

Speaking as a former fund raiser, the MOST desperate need is for general operating funds (as they are known) and those are considered by most donors to be the "least sexy." I also think that salaries are among the least mentioned of all the financial needs... except when the request comes from a very small non-profit.

There are stories floating around that Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall Stage hands make a lot of money, and was recently mentioned on the radio.

My question is, When I make a donation or buy a ticket to a Ballet Performance, how much is going to the stagehands versus the Dancers and Musicians?

Warm Regards,

Every theater worker is part of a specific union, for example: Actors' Equity for actors obviously, then there are the abbreviated ones: AGMA,(Musical Artists) SAG (Screen Actors' Guild), SSDC (or SDC now for Stage directors and choreographers), IATSE for stagehands, DGA (Directors Guild of America), AFTRA (Radio and TV Artists). Dancers are part of AGMA ( former NYCB principal James Fayette is the NY Area director). And of course, there is 802, the Musician's union.

Stagehands' salaries (as dancers and musicians in major companies) are therefore paid according to negotiated union contract rates. Their salaries will vary with their seniority and how much they work. In New York, I believe that stagehands work for a specific theater, rather than a specific production (as actors, dancers and singers are hired for a specific production - unless they are lucky enough to be part of a repertory company, such as NYCB or ABT).

As to how much of what you contribute goes to whom, that would be very complicated to figure out, and different for each company (and perhaps each production). First of all, is the company a non-profit or a for profit organization? Only non-profit companies can accept donations from the public. Then you'd have to look at each company's Annual Report to see what their earned income versus contributed income is, and then look at the proportions of what is spent on salaries. Very little of the money donated to an arts company goes to salaries, especially when donated funds are earmarked for specific projects.

Here's from the stagehands' website:

Local One is the premier stagehand union of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (I.A.T.S.E). We are the Brothers and Sisters who construct, install, maintain, and operate the lighting and sound equipment, the scenery and special effects which thrill and delight audiences attending Broadway shows, concerts at Radio City Music Hall, Madison Square Garden and Carnegie Hall, the magnificent, spectacular productions at The Metropolitan Opera and throughout LIncoln Center, and the many entertaining broadcasts from CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, and PBS. We work at numerous cable TV studios and make possible the presentation of major corporate industrials and special events.

"By their works shall you know them." I haven't seen any writing on the matter myself, but I have to conclude that just from Balanchine's output during the time. Add it to his sudden motivation actively and vigorously to pursue American citizenship which culminated with his taking the oath of naturalization in 1958. NYCB publicity made much of this pairing at the time. The period "Jones Beach" (with Jerome Robbins) - "Stars and Stripes" (1950-1958) was viewed as Balanchine's celebration of his new citizenship. along with the wearing of Western-style fashion, including string ties, silver concho belt buckles, and shooting-style shoulder treatments on his sport jackets. At least his Stetson hat period didn't last very long. Balanchine had been in the US since 1933, so after contributions to opera and ballet stages, Broadway, and even Hollywood, what was the big rush to citizenship in the 50s? One answer was to satisfy residual suspicions that show people were "soft on Communism". Even Balanchine's friend and co-ballet master at NYCB, Robbins, had been tarred with the HUAC brush. To guard against xenophobia was secondary, but also very necessary, to courting friends at lending and granting institutions; although Henry Ford Sr. was gone, his suspicions were not forgotten in the business and financial quarter. But all that I saw and heard of Balanchine during the 60s, and study thereafter, I have to conclude that he was nothing if not a truly patriotic American, only with a nearly unique backstory.

Yes, very much so. I recall reading that Balanchine started wearing his Native American silver and turquoise jewelry (including a special bracelet) after he first visited Maria Tallchief's family on a cross-country return from CA.

He also often stated that he was VERY anti-Communist, probably based on the horrors he saw in post-Revolutionary Russia.

I watched a tape of "Western Symphony" a few nights ago, from the 1993 Celebration, with Susan Jaffee doing the Le Clerq role. I started off as a child (I remember seeing it at City Center, soon after its premier) with a very strong pro-"Western Symphony" bias because Hershy Kay had worked for my dad, and you know, I STILL love it. It's just total FUN!

Maybe I've missed something implicit in the discussion, but isn't it inescapable that men and women move differently? Not just that women are generally smaller than men, but that the distribution of weight around the body is different - with smaller shoulders and larger hips, women have the weight lower in their torsos, and with smaller hands and feet, not to mention larger thighs, the weight of their limbs is closer to their torsos. The dancers here must know better than a mere former science whizz how this allows for easier quick, small movements from women - try swinging a baseball bat by the wrong (large) end - and slower, heavier, perhaps more powerful movement from men. So it's a natural, inescapable dichotomy. Isn't what we make of the dichotomy another, separate but entwined story? (I want to thank kfw for his succinct account; my sentiments exactly!)

Excellent point. In case someone would like a wider discussion on this, there is the excellent book by Kenneth Laws: Laws, K.L., The Physics of Dance, Schirmer Books (New York), 1984. (Paperback edition, 1986.) He has a website as well.

Now, I still haven't read Homan's book, (it's sitting right there!) but the first few reviews I read thought she put things into excellent historical perspective. Maybe that referred just to ballets' beginnings.

Well, Hope Springs Eternal in the human breast.

Speaking of touring companies stopping at smaller towns (including mine) , has anyone heard of this one:

TCHAIKOVSKY'S ROMEO AND JULIET

Russian Classical Ballet Theatre

Last year we got one of the WORST touring Russian companies I've ever seen... the dancers kept slipping off point and the story was totally altered from the summary they put in the program ("Cinderella")

(edited to emphasize description)

Make sure you note that is a CD: music only. My little heart was beating a mile a minute until I read carefully.

There are so many issues here in considering ballet - past, present and future. With its roots in hierarchical society, there's bound to be a reflection (even faint remnant) of that in current choreography. (Of course, that often depends upon the training and historical understanding of the choreographer....)

But currently ballet reflects and integrates many strains of modern and ethnic dance. Modern dance choreographers such as Taylor and Morris (among many) use a great deal of the type of "Shared-center" partnering that Paul points out in Alonzo King's work. To me, that's an example of integrating ideas and techniques from his contemporary modern colleagues. These new strains will probably expand and increase the range of ballet in the future. Whether it's good or bad quality is a separate issue.

Our (we here at Ballet Alert) beliefs on what the future of ballet is, are like the four (or however-many) blind men and the elephant.... each of us (MacAuley and Homans included) brings a different history and perspective to the theater so that what we see and reflect on will be different.

And for that reason alone, I don't think that ballet can be dying. Personally, with all the blending and, for example, men on pointe in the Trocks, the question becomes, WHAT IS ballet?

Today, in the New York Times, MacAuley reviews and replies to the book. Here is the link.