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Opening night had a rehearsal feel to it. Not at all crisp or clean. Both the leads struggled (e.g., by my count there were only 23 true fouettes).

Those tickets must have disappeared quickly, because I've been checking regularly for the past couple of weeks. I ended up buying a standing room ticket for tonight (Tuesday). There were 4 remaining after I bought mine (the SRO tickets can be bought in person or via phone but not online after 10am the day of the performance, with the exception that SRO tickets can be bought on Saturday for the Sunday performance).

I haven't read the book (I hadn't even heard of the movie before yesterday), but my understanding that the movie pretty much follows the book with a few additions and deletions that don't have much impact on the central story.

Best...movie...ever This is what a movie can be, but rarely is. There was actually a plot and characters that plausibly could have been real people, very unusual for a 21st century movie. 12 Years A Slave managed to be both inspiring and tragic. The lack of special effects and CGI was very refreshing.

Given that with the various discounts the cost of tickets for 2 shows was about the same as the face-value of an orchestra seat for one show, I went back again to try to find what I am missing. I still don't get it. If anything, I was less impressed the second time around. I didn't see any real pas de deux between Aurora and Leo; Aurora danced a little and then jumped into Leo's arms and he carried her around for a bit. And I became more suspicious of the similarities between the last act of MBSB and the last act of Michael Pink's Dracula.

Here's an ironic tidbit: the name of the town that Matthew Bourne grew up in is Hackney.

I've never seen "rush ticket pricing" at the Kennedy Center. The co-worker that I often go to dance events with is not on their mailing list and never gets tickets at discounted prices unless I buy the tickets and use a discount code that was e-mailed to me, even though she goes to lots of programs there (she has season tickets to the National Symphony). Another interesting item that I learned last night is that it is illegal to sell your unused tickets inside the Kennedy Center, even at a lower price than you paid for them (which led in my getting a free ticket to the National Symphony!).

I wonder if Matthew Bourne has ever watched Michael Pink's Dracula. Much of the production beginning with the introduction of Caradoc brought back memories of Dracula.

I've gone to run-of-the-mill dance school presentations where I saw 14-16 year-olds perform more challenging choreography than anything that was in Sleeping Beauty. I still view Matthew Bourne's work as a satire on ballet.

Curiosity got the better of me, so I went tonight. It didn't do much for me. OK, it wasn't as bad as Swan Lake, but the ridiculous costumes failed to disguise the simplistic and uninspired choreography. I should have known better...

I received an email with a code for a discount for the National Symphony Orchestra for last weekend. I went to the Saturday concert. The folks at the ticket office said that they had nothing in their system that showed that any discount codes had been distributed.

Except when a co-worker went to the KC site it showed the regular prices.

http://tinyurl.com/lmbyldb The Kennedy Center website appears to be selling orchestra seats for $25 even without the code. But they are still selling seats in the 2nd tier for $39 and seats in the 1st tier for $65!

http://tinyurl.com/lmbyldb I wonder if the Kennedy Center sends different discount offers to different people depending on how many shows they've seen or if they've seen specific shows. My offer specifically mentioned my attendance at the Suzanne Farrell Ballet.

The Kennedy Center has offered a discount on tickets for (apparently) all the remaining performances (11/13-17). Any remaining seat in the orchestra can be had for $49 (there are a fewer cheaper seats in the top tier for some of the weeknight performances), except for the Friday matinee where orchestra seats will only cost $29. The secret code, which you didn't hear from me ;), is one-six-six-eight-six-two.

If there are any procrastinators out there, I am stuck with an extra ticket (balcony F11) for Friday. My unfortunately English-impaired co-worker had thought that she had switched her NSO ticket from Thursday to Saturday (she has season tickets), but when she looked at her ticket this evening it turned out to be for Friday, and the KC rules are that you can only change the date of a season ticket once.

I received an email yesterday that's even better: $39 for orchestra seating or $19 for balcony seating. Good for not only Wednesday and Friday, but also for Sunday evening! The Offer Number is 166599.

A co-worker and I managed to score $29 to the Nov. 7 Suzanne Farrell Ballet performance at the KC, which is the advertised lowest price. But I can't find any other $29 tickets available. Even the seats directly behind us (we're in the balcony) are going for $50. We bought our tickets almost a month ago. A case of "dynamic pricing"?

I made my second trip on Sunday evening. I enjoyed this performance much more (was it just because my seat was on the main floor?). Jonathan Jordan was a much more convincing Albrecht. Kateryna Derechyna, subbing as Myrtha, was almost frightening as a cold-blooded, remorseless Queen of the Wilis (I suppose that it's hard to feel remorse when you're dead).

I attended the sold-out Saturday evening performance (which caused me to be stuck with the worst seat in the house: the back corner of the balcony). I was a little disappointed. While Maki Onuki did a fine job as Giselle (I didn't see the flaws that the Washington Post reviewer mentioned), the other 2 featured dancers left me a little flat. Perhaps this was due to my distance from and elevation above the stage. They both seemed to me to be somewhat wooden, Brooklyn Mack (Albrecht) more than Aurora Dickie (Myrtha). Albrecht came across as neither princely (in the opening scene) nor like a man who's just fallen in love. It didn't help that it was next to my seat (on the outside aisle) that the ushers let latecomers stand so that I had a crowd of people standing next to me for the last 30 minutes of the first act (there must have been some people who thought that the show started at 8:00 rather than 7:30).

The casting schedule highlights a difference between D.C. and Colorado that I'm having trouble adjusting to: the preference for weeknight performances over Sunday performances. The WB has scheduled their best dancers for both the Wednesday and Thursday evening performances but only has them in 1 of the 5 weekend performances - Saturday evening - while the Sunday matinee has dancers who don't usually dance featured roles. Similarly, the Baltimore Symphony and National Symphony normally play Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, and rarely have Sunday concerts. With the Colorado Ballet, the 'A' cast generally dances on both Friday and Saturday evenings and almost never in the few weeknight performances, and either the 'A' or 'B' cast dances in the Sunday matinees. The Colorado Symphony almost never has a weeknight concert unless it's a special, one night-only event.

I did send an email to the Kennedy Center. They insisted that all the $25 tickets were sold. At least at the National Philharmonic concert I got to hear one of the greatest musical instruments ever built, a rare Matteo Gofriller cello, built in 1693. What a glorious sound it made! The tone was full throughout the entire range; no nasally tones at the high end.

According to an email from the Washington Ballet, the dancers in the featured roles for Giselle will be: Giselle Albrecht Hilarion Myrtha ---------- ----------- ---------- --------- Oct. 30 Maki Onuki Brooklyn Mack Jared Nelson Aurora Dickie Oct. 31 Maki Onuki Brooklyn Mack Jared Nelson Aurora Dickie Nov. 1 Ayano Kimuri Jonathan Jordan Corey Landolt Sona Kharatian Nov. 2 (mat) Aurora Dickie Tamas Krizsa Jared Nelson Kateryna Derechyna Nov. 2 (eve) Maki Onuki Brooklyn Mack Jared Nelson Aurora Dickie Nov. 3 (mat) Ekaterina Oleynik Hyun-Woong Kim Jared Nelson Morgann Rose Nov. 3 (eve) Ayano Kimuri Jonathan Jordan Corey Landolt Sona Kharatian

A friend and I decided to take in the National Philharmonic concert at the Strathmore on Sunday. The ticket price range was advertised as starting at $28. When I went to the website, it showed that all the $28 tickets were sold. Not surprising, since there were only 36 seats. More surprising was that all the $37 tickets were sold. I ended up buying tickets for $45. From where we sat, I had a clear view of all the $28 seats. There wasn't a single person sitting in any of them. I could only see a small portion of the $37 section, but there wasn't anyone sitting in any of the seats that I could see. A case of a lot of people deciding that it was too nice a day to spend indoors? Back in June, I went to the National Symphony's season-ending concert at the Kennedy Center. The website showed so many $25 tickets available that I decided that I didn't need to spend the extra $3 to buy a ticket ahead of time. When I got to the Kennedy Center, they told me that all the $25 tickets had been sold, so I also ending up spending $45. From my seat, I could see the half of the $25 seats that were on the other side of the concert hall. I counted more than 20 empty seats. A case of a lot of people deciding that it was too nice an evening to spend indoors?

Sally Turkel is with Ballet San Antonio. http://balletsanantonio.org/dancers/soloists/sally-turkel/ Last year, they started with 29 dancers but added 2 (Tracy Jones and Francisco Estevez) during the middle of the season. I think that the number of dancers is specified in the contract with the union.