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Oops! I forgot to include the link to the schedule: 2023-2024 Dance Season | Kennedy Center (kennedy-center.org)

The Kennedy Center is out with its schedule for next season. IMHO, it's a huge step down from the current season. ABT will be presenting Swan Lake(!) and NYCB will perform Jewels(!), and there will be a 6-day festival of Asian choreography. Ballet West will be the guest company for The Nutcracker. But there are no companies comparable to the Joffrey Ballet or Scottish Ballet filling out the schedule. There's no indication of whether the Washington Ballet will be performing at the KC. The modern dance season also seems uninspiring, with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre being the only recognizable name.

I got an email from a friend in Denver, but it doesn't add much to what California posted:

Though Julie Kent will be a co-AD and the other co-AD will be the current AD, who may have some loyalty to the current staff.

It was super tempting this morning when a ticket became available, I would have been in compliance with CDC guidelines, which only require isolating for days 1-5 (1st day of symptoms is day 0) and then masking for days 6-10, but in violation of Kennedy Center policy, which requires being symptom-free for 7 days. I'm guessing that the KC policy, and the similarly restrictive Lincoln Center policy (need to have gone at least 10 days since testing positive), are based on not counting on people who should be wearing masks to actually wear them. I would have been far more likely to infect people at the National Symphony concert I attended the evening before my symptoms started than I would have been today (fortunately, I wore a mask at the concert).

I tested positive for covid this evening (Sunday), so I don't know if I will get to this show. Especially since the most likely place that I caught it was at the Kennedy Center (watching Alvin Ailey). Given my situation, with an advanced cancer patient at home, it was probably irresponsible for me go to concerts and shows now that few people wear masks.

My impression is that the KC no longer sells standing room tickets, a change in policy that began when the current president (of the KC, not of the USA) took over.

The article is probably behind a paywall for most of the readers, but the link says it all (the article is dated Dec. 1, 2022): Dance critic Sarah Kaufman laid off by Washington Post - The Washington Post

My seat was in the back row of the upper balcony anyway. I would have gone for the back of the orchestra if I'd had time to "shop" for a ticket (a combination of it taking me longer to get there they expected from the hospital where I was visiting my cancer-stricken usual ballet accomplice, my first 3 choices for parking being unavailable - 1 of them due to construction, taking 7 minutes to drive less than a mile to an alternative parking location due to ridiculously long red lights, and having the misfortune to encounter people who were taking > 5 minutes to buy tickets).

I had assumed that they discontinued programs for environmental reasons. I don't think that printing programs is expensive (around $1/copy when printing large quantities). I have been able to do the QR thing with my Android phone, except that I haven't figured out how to save the program so that I could use my phone for something else and then come back to it. But that just gets the same thing as using the website (tkc.co/OH for the Opera House).

I attended the Thursday performance, For a number of reasons, including getting a seat in the last row of the upper balcony due to arriving late, I wasn't in the best position to objectively assess the performance. That being said, I wasn't impressed by the changes to the first act. I felt that they made the story less compelling. Having the men act like they were obnoxiously drunk while the women were dancing during the Harvest Festival was distracting. I didn't feel that the choreography for the corps in the first act was any sort of upgrade. I probably won't see this a second time, as the Sunday performance is already listed as a sell-out and there are only a handful of tickets left for Saturday evening. Reviews of performing arts presentations have grown increasingly infrequent in the Washington Post, so I'm not shocked that this presentation didn't get a mention. February is a very crowded month at the Kennedy Center, with Alvin Ailey, ABT, and the Washington Ballet performing the next 3 weeks, plus a full classical music schedule that includes recitals by Lang Lang and Joshua Bell.

ABT will be at the Wolf Trap on July 27 and 28. They will be dancing Giselle (performances of which are even more rare in the DC area than performances of The Nutcracker). Tickets go on sale Feb. 17.

Might the WB go for another married couple, specifically Gillian Murphy and Ethan Stiefel? They have some experience running a company...

In a stack of old unopened mail, I found a letter from the WB dated Dec. 16 stating that David Mallette of Management Consultants for the Arts has been engaged to coordinate the AD search.

There has been no mention of a job for Victor Barbee. Given that he's (I believe) 68, he might have decided that this was a good time to retire. (My last employer - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Environmental Modeling Center - started the "quiet fire" process for me when I was a mere 63).

Casting for February 15-19 performances of Romeo and Juliet at the Kennedy Center, per email from ABT: Wed.: Teuscher/Bell Thu.: Hurlin/Royal III Fri. matinee: Shevchenko/Forster Fri. evening: Trenary/Cornejo Sat. matinee: Boylston/Camargo Sat. evening: Murphy/Whiteside Sun.: Seo/Stearns

Les Ballet de Monte-Carlo presented their version of Cendrillon (aka Cinderella) at the Kennedy Center. Their version is a little different from the standard version, almost as much centered around Cinderella's father as around Cinderella, with both having flashbacks about when Cinderella's mother was still alive. Rather than a fairy godmother, the fairy was an incarnation of Cinderella's deceased mother. There was no carriage and no slipper: the prince had a foot fetish, and the fairy arranged for Cinderella's feet to be covered with sequins. I took in 2 performances, but for some reason I just couldn't get into it. It certainly wasn't because of the dancers, who were spot on and in the ensemble dances about as in sync as any company that I've seen. With the unusual telling of the story and the different characterizations, I found it a little hard to follow at the first show. The production was "cartoonish", with extremely silly (actually, ridiculous) costumes, especially for the women and a lot of slapstick comedy from the men, and I thought that the attention-grabbing costumes diverted attention from the actual dancing. Not only was the story a little different, but the music was not played in the usual order, e.g., Cinderella's Waltz was used in 3 different places, and there was even some music from Prokofiev's score for Lieutenant Kije (my accomplice felt good enough to attend 1 performance, and felt that the production "mangled" the score). I felt like for some scenes the mood of the music didn't fit the mood of that particular part of the story. The dancing was largely at a fast pace, with only a few slow pieces, and I felt that it emphasized athleticness over beauty (I know, "beauty is very subjective). Cinderella's personality was never really developed so I didn't find myself develop a true caring about her. My take was not widely shared by the audience, though it was a much younger crowd than is typical at the Kennedy Center, and I don't know how many of my fellow spectators have watched a lot of ballets. So I do wonder if the problem was with me; that it was too different from what I'm used to,

According to what I've found trolling around the Internet, the HB's current AD, Stanton Welch, will stay on as the other co-AD, but will now have more time to choreograph. Is Xiomara Reyes a potential replacement, since she's already on the staff?

It's not the greatest ballet of all time (the choreographer has referred to it as "dance theater"), but I find it tremendously entertaining. I am surprised, given that it seems to be something of a cash cow for the CB, that more companies haven't programmed it, especially regional companies that are often barely scraping by financially, since it will attract people who ordinarily would not go to a ballet. I realize that a ballet company is a little different than a symphony orchestra: a symphony orchestra can present a different program every week, so it can present "pops" concerts and still have a "classical" season, while a ballet company can only present a handful of programs each year.

The CB announced that they are adding an additional performance of Dracula, on Sunday October 16 at 7:30.

The CB also posted on their Facebook page that Ramos' frequent partner, Dana Benton, will also retire at the end of the season. My memory is a little sketchy, but I think that she is the last remaining dancer in the company who danced for Martin Fredman (according to my possibly incorrect memory, Sean Omandam was hired by Martin Fredman bur Fredman was fired before his first performance). I would have loved to get back to Denver for Dracula (and to do a little hiking), but my former frequent accomplice for all things ballet and symphony has been found to have advanced cancer and the job of looking after her seems to have fallen to me.

The CB's Facebook page contains an announcement that principal dancer Yosvani Ramos will retire at the end of the upcoming season.

Judging from an email that Julie Kent sent to subscribers and donors, the WB had some additional retirements beyond those of Sona Kharatian and Tamas Krisza that were celebrated in their season-ending program. IMnotasHasitshouldbeO, Katherine Barkman was the best ballerina that the WB had during my 9 years of watching, so it is disappointing that she has left.

They are retiring from performing, but both will be staying on in some capacity (both acted as rehearsal assistants this year).

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