Bill

Progress in the arts depends on great artists and great patrons-- for ballet, not just dancers but choreographers and impresarios, a la Balanchine/Kirstein for much of the last century. The question raised by this article for me is: who are those great artists today? It's entirely possible that they are with us and we just don't recognize them yet.

Fanciful - How about a public, outdoor performance of the 1934 Serenade program, staged at the Warburg estate (if it's still there) in White Plains?

An appearance at the Kennedy Center's Fall open house, from the K-Center website: "The 22nd Annual Kennedy Center Open House Arts Festival Saturday, September 16, 2006 11:30 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. Throughout the Kennedy Center... "[P]erformances are presented by Washington-area arts organizations. Featuring a huge parade and more than 30 performances, activities, and events... "Scheduled to appear: The Suzanne Farrell Ballet - performing classic works of the 20th century"

Bart is right -- the Festival website is complicated. But if you persist and get to the Don Q page, there are a few photos, presumably from last summer's Kennedy Center performances.

Yes -- the electronic thunder was a bit jarring. On first night it startled my wife, who gave an involuntary yelp, which embarrassed/amused my children no end.

My sympathies to her friends, colleagues and students. May she rest in peace.

I've found this to be a fun and instructive thread. Having attended and loved the opening Cojocaru/Kobburg performance, I have just a few impressions to share: The dancing was superb. To prep for the evening, I had watched Durante's Aurora a couple of times on video. I was amazed that, even from my not-too-close orchestra seat in audience left, Cojocaru was just as expressive while even more fluid with her arms and smile. Nunez was a strong and elegant Lilac Fairy and did a fine job with miming as well as dancing. That being said, the Bluebird was mildly disappointing for reasons mentioned above - in fact, my teenage son (undergoing mandatory ballet exposure) watched the Bluebird carefully and whispered "he didn't jump too high, did he?" Parental note: I was amused when my son nodded off at the start of the Grand Pas de Deux, roused himself a few moments later, and said "have they done the fish dives yet?" He was lucky to see them -- they were spectacular. I like the pastels of this production's costuming. Beautiful. Indeed, I thought that the most jarring part of the costuming was Calabutte's rich green jacket and tall shock of white hair -- once or twice it overpowered the more muted tones of the other costumes. Perhaps in costuming, the RB should go with pastels or jewel colors but not mix them up. I agree with the criticism of the ship in the Vision scene, although it reminded me of the Batmobile rather than a parade float. I also thought that the hunting party scene was unnecessarily truncated. These are quibbles, though. Overall Act II was very effective and suitably "Vision"ary. The orchestra was decent but the Kennedy Center's acoustics emphasized the low end where we sitting, which was distracting. My daugher (formerly a dd but now a rather demanding musician) told me I was being too critical. The audience came for an Occasion and they got one. The RB more than earned its ovations. Of course, this being Washington, a fair number of people streamed for the doors as soon as the curtain came down -- it was the shockingly late hour (for DC) of 10:40 on a Thursday. The sacrifices we make for art!

The Great Race is underway even as I type! Leigh, can't wait to hear all about your travels and the performance.

Young ladies like that give me the Wilis.

No argument with any of that, except that (i) I think each town in each country is weird in its own way (loose paraphrase of Tolstoy?) and (ii) of course there is a dance capital of the United States: New York. In light of the U.S. government's chronic lack of interest in funding/subsidizing national companies in the performing arts, it's not surprising that the center of economic power in the U.S., New York, is also the center for the U.S. "national" ballet companies. As a DC area resident, I've been interested in modern dance for a long time and have attended several of the small/amateur/semi-professional modern companies here over the years. In the Washington area, modern dance seems more vital at a grass-roots level than ballet -- small modern companies in the metro area are always forming, struggling, collapsing, and re-forming. My wife, who has been a Washington Ballet subscriber, finally got me interested in ballet, and my first ballet was a Kirov Cinderella at the Kennedy Center -- thank you (I think) Michael Kaiser. I am much more a fan of the Suzanne Farrell Ballet than of the Washington Ballet, but I'm glad both exist here, and I am happy that the Kennedy Center is booking the national and international ballet companies as much as it is. Do I want a more vibrant ballet scene here? Of course. I remain puzzled as to how ballet companies can significantly expand their audiences, in DC and throughout the U.S. The art is such a far cry from the spectator sports, video programming, and music that most Americans enjoy.

Looking forward to the London reviews. I have tix for opening night at the Kennedy Center, and I have convinced (I think) my teenaged kids to attend. The next generation and all that. I'll try to give some impressions -- totally unqualified to give a review. Can't wait!

You can buy tickets, without becoming a member, at the Kennedy Center website - you have to open an account there but it doesn't cost anything to do that. The website (just google Kennedy Center) is pretty easy to navigate.

Mwah! The Winger recently posted a picture of the Maria poster (with a bit of glare, but that's OK) along with a very nice sentiment about her anticipated return.

Pretty exciting...c'mon Kennedy Center, let's see what you've got!

Hope the server switch went smoothly for you, Helene. Thanks very much for overseeing these technical matters.

I'm hoping to see The Sleeping Beauty on June 22 at the Kennedy Center so will leave it to fate re casting...rooting for Rojo!

The Winger has added a shot of the Abi Stafford poster.

Ms. Sloan at The Winger posted a shot of a Darci Kistler poster for the Spring Season. That blog is a treasure.

Please, Ms. Farrell, program both! Alas, as John Updike said about Ted Williams, "Gods do not answer letters."

A bit of a digression, but in her autobiography Suzanne Farrell describes dancing for the Shah -in tents in the desert - as part of the Bejart company.

Helene -- I really like the logo and Amazon link. Many thanks.

From the Kennedy Center announcement regarding the 2006-2007 season: "The Kennedy Center's own ballet company performs two programs to include Bejart's Rite of Spring, the scene d'amour from Bejart's Romeo and Juliet as part of the Shakespeare in Washington festival, and Balanchine classics." Perofrmances scheduled for early June 2007.

I loved this observation by kfw. In November, I saw Magnicaballi and Prescott dance Duo for the Suzanne Farrell Ballet and they were a beautiful, youthful couple. But I enjoyed the Borree/Hubbe Duo even more, in no small part because Borree and Hubbe did look a bit weathered standing at the piano. The lines on Borree's (still beautiful) face reminded me of the lines on my wife's (still beautiful) face. Then the dance began, and the years did indeed melt away. Thanks, kfw, and thank you, NYCB.

I'm a terrible judge but I'd say the Opera House at the Kennedy Center was between two-thirds and three-quarters full. There was warm but not incredible applause -- I think the fourth movement of Duo and Romeo & Juliet got big hands, as did the end of the Firebird (end of the evening). Some nice applause as well for the Chagall backdrop that opens Firebird!

I went to "All Russian" night last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll hope that more experienced ballet-goers describe their Kennedy Center experiences. The two highlights for me were Tess Reichlen dancing the lead in Monumentum (her first time I think) with simultaneous abandon and precision and Yvonne Borree in a beautiful Duo Concertant -- I still think the spotlight on the hands in the 5th movement is a little cheesey, but that's just me. My only (very mild) disappointment was Ms. Sylve as the Firebird. She seemed just a little too cool. Ashley B. originally had been scheduled for the role and perhaps I was expecting more fireworks. I also thought that the Romeo and Juliet balcony pdd and the Firebird were very effective programmed back-to-back, especially after the abstractions of Monumentum/Movements.