SandyMcKean

There is only one thing to say........Crystal Pite is a genius, pure and simple.

P.S. If you haven't seen "The Statement", find a way (you can find parts of it, mostly rehearsals, on Youtube).

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.....derivative choreography set to even more derivative music.

PRECISELY my reaction.....you found the words to say it that I could not 😉

I just watched the digital presentation. To each his own, but frankly, for me, this program was at best ho-hum. (Additionally, the 2 pieces were far too similar IMO.)

Helene,

We may be talking apples and oranges, but here's what I think I know. As I say, no more digital tickets (including digital subscriptions) of any kind at SF Ballet these days. Yes, they did offer the ability to purchase digital streams of the current season in the past, but those "tickets/subscriptions" were only available to existing full live-seat subscription holders. I know this because my brother lives in the SF area and has had a full live-seat subscription for years. In recent years when he told me he could stream the performances, I decided to subscribe to the digital season too. That's when I found out you had to be a live-seat subscriber to get the digital streams.

P.S. Perhaps that's what you mean....in the sense that you would buy the cheapest live-seat subscription you could simply in order to qualify for the digital streams.

12 minutes ago, Helene said:

I didn't know the ballet didn't do that, or I would have subscribed and then watched the digital performances. 

The SF box office told me that there are no more digital tickets for anyone under any circumstances (including any sort of subscriber).....so your scheme would not have worked anyway 😟.

FYI, I called SF Ballet (not Opera) box office. The ballet no longer offers any sort of digital tickets (even for live-seat subscribers).

21 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

For comparison, the Australian Ballet has been offering individual livestreams for four programs each season. They cost 29 AUD (about $19) and are available on demand for 14 days. I don't know what 2024 will bring.

I'm so glad you mentioned this. I didn't know this company could be streamed! I will definitely give it a whirl. Probably not Swan Lake this month, but for sure in November I will stream "The Dream / Marguerite and Armand" which is sort of a "dream" program for me. I can't tell you how much I love Ashton's "Marguerite and Armand". I adore Ashton, but PNB doesn't do Ashton, so streaming is my only opportunity. I've seen "M&A" just once when the ROH streamed, and sections of it on Youtube. $29 over 14 days.....sweet deal.

20 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

As for the livestreams from the Paris Opera, they are available for seven days on demand following the performance.

volcanohunter, do you know of a way I can access Paris Opera livestreams here in the USA? I've tried and tried to find a way to do that, but have been unable to do so. Do you happen to have a link that would get me started?

20 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

It isn't exactly the same, but from the point of view of the consumer, it's a question of spending $300 vs. $125. Personally, I'm not particularly concerned about the live or almost live aspect.

For me it's night and day. Luckily, I'm close enough to attend PNB live, but these days I live far enough away and with deteriorating health, I don't get down there for every rep anymore. My objective, as it has been for 30+ years, is to see every PNB rep every year......hopefully multiple times. So for me, the streaming option is all about this year's season....the past is ho-hum to me. So for $300, I get 7 reps plus Nutcracker. If I count the Nut as 1 rep, each rep costs $37.50.....not too different than the $35 per rep of the past.

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My only expectation from ROH Stream is that insomuch as its cinema offerings are not available at any North American multiplex, as far as I can tell.......

Like you, I am very disappointed that the ROH is essentially not available in the USA. In past years, I went to all of those ballets, as well as several operas (about an hour drive to a participating cinema). No one loves PNB more than I do, but if the truth be known, during those years the ROH ballet became my favorite company. The Bolshoi streams are gone now too. I'm feeling deprived 😉.

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There was no subsequent press release that announced any change.

Well, the box office just told me a couple of hours ago that they decided not to offer digital tickets to individual reps. Maybe they changed their mind since that press release. There certainly is no way on their website that I can find to purchase such a single rep digital ticket for $35 like in the past

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 Not when an annual subscription to Royal Opera House Stream costs about $125 and the same at Paris Opera Play costs about $107, including livestreams.

I think we're talking some apples and oranges here. I'm pretty sure the Royal does not offer any digital tickets to the current season. volcanohunter, I think what you're talking about is a subscription that allows you to stream performances from past years that they house in a video library (similar to how the NY Met Opera does it). Paris is a bit more complex. They also only offer a streaming subscription to a library of past performances except they do include 4 live streams (but maybe you have to watch it while it is actually happening.....whatever hour that is).

PNB is different. You can stream each rep in this year's season for 5 days (immediately after the last live performance) as many times as you like. It's a video of the opening night performance from 2 weeks before. When it's gone, it's gone.

FYI....

I called the box office and indeed PNB is not offering digital tickets for individual reps this year. You can purchase a digital subscription for the entire season, but not individual reps. I'm guessing the indvidual tickets Helene speaks of above are only available to normal in-person subscription holders.

I see PNB offers a $300 streaming subscription to its 2023/2024 season. In years past, they also offered a digital ticket to an individual rep for $30. Look as I might, I can not find a reference to these digital tickets for individual reps for the 2023/2024 season. Have they discontinued those?

Due to mounting medical problems, I can no longer travel to Seattle to see every rep as I used to. Last season worked well for me by travelling a couple of times to Seattle for my favorite programs/choreographers, and then buying a digital ticket for each of the rest. I hope I can still do that.

Well, I saw them both on consecutive days and loved both. Oppenheimer wasn't 1 minute too long as far as I was concerned. Saw it with digital IMAX....highly recommend IMAX for this movie. I'll say it.....Cillian Murphy will be getting the Oscar for this....no question in my mind. Acting was terrific all the way around (Robert Downey Jr also hit it out of the park....welcome back Robert!). I recommend a little research on the historical players and dates before you see the movie. I thought the jumps in time (as well as jumps btwn color and B&W) very effective except I got confused occasionally, and a little research would have fixed that. Didn't expect that much from Barbie, but I was at the theater anyway to see an encore of the Met's Akhnaten, so I stopped by....why not? WOW, was I surprised. Amazing movie on many, many levels: visually stunning, acting superb (Gosling was on fire), the most clever satire imaginable, direction spot on, top drawer writing, fantastic commentary on today's social issues......and funny, funny, funny! As a guy's guy, I probably can't appreciate it as much as I might have. Makes me wish to be a 10 year old girl for a day (68 years ago now  ) playing with my Barbie collection. Put your biases aside and see this movie.....I'll be seeing it again.

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 wow did Kuu Sakaragi impress me with his clean technique and tight feet placements

BINGO

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I was sorry that Odette's exit was so quick....

I couldn't agree more. That's one of my favorite moments (every time Carla Korbes did it, tears came to my eyes), but that magic moment was just thrown away. At first I didn't believe it, so I backed up the video to see it again. Nope. Overall, I was not satisfied by the pieces chosen for Leslie (altho I assume she had a major part in those choices). The most exciting moments of the evening for me were in the video of her career.....so many great roles, done, oh so well. 

P.S. Frankly, I was hoping for "Red Angels" since it was in that role that I first fell in love with Leslie, but I didn't expect it since I believe only one person is allowed to play that music.

Thanks Helene for the tip. I will definitely be watching it again now that I know.

(BTW, although no one is a bigger fan of Leslie than I, I thought the Encore program generally a bit strange. Somehow their choices didn't fully work for me. None the less, I was so glad to have been able to be "present" at this fabulous dancer's, this prima ballerina's, farewell. Had I been there, I would have been screaming my head off.)

I streamed it last night. A couple of glitches, but overall it worked just fine.

One thing surprised me....I somehow expected Leslie to do the Black Swan from Act II, no the White Swan's death in Act II.

What an amazing place for Noe to land! (.....the well spring of so many greats).

P.S. Noe, how about talking Carrie into doing a "Master's Class" at CPYB every year or two???😉

Leslie is one of my most beloved dancers. Somehow I track my ballet "career" with hers. I noticed Leslie way back in the corps soon after she hit the PNB stage (as Helene said above: her port de bras was striking). I soon found that whenever she was on stage, my eyes went to her as if they were obsessed. I have followed her spectacular career ever since. I remember going to a Sunday matinee specifically to see her first Aurora....as always, she knocked it out of the park. Perhaps what I finally came to appreciate most about Leslie is her ability to dance any style: classic, Mr B (especially Mr B), "hip" contemporary (Red Angels), and out there contemporary (Agon). For me, I have never seen a dancer who "gets" Stravinsky like Leslie does. Stravinsky's rhythms are challenging for all dancers I presume, but it never appeared that way when Leslie was dancing to his music. The old saying is: "Hear the dance, and see the music"; I will be forever grateful to Leslie for showing me how to see Stravinsky's music (especially in Agon). I love when dancers land or stop or emphasize exactly as the composer's rhythm intends; how Leslie does that with such perfection to Stravinsky blows me away every time. There have only been two PNB dancers I was always willing to change my schedule to see: Leslie Rausch and Carrie Imler......Leslie, I can give you no higher compliment than that!

On 11/21/2022 at 12:29 PM, tutu said:

....kudos to the leadership team for fostering that culture.

BINGO!

P.S. Seattle and the Pacific Northwest is also a good venue for that sort of thing.

Who could forget Rachel Foster in the opening of Pite's Emergence when she was the larvae (or whatever) slowly and jerkily breaking out its chrysalis (or whatever).

Tutu, you're right!  I saw it twice in person and so far twice via streaming. Given the low level of lighting; subtly of parts of the music; Crystal's clear use of 3 dimensional space; and the energy in the audience, in person was magical. But never fear, they did a great job making the video too (and so nice that it was from opening night and not from the dress rehearsal).  BTW, at the Q&A after one of the performances I saw, one of the dancers (an apprentice) said that the entire company was so committed , and so working as a team, they KNEW they were going to "nail it". And they did!

P.S. My guess is that this performance was a break-out role for Amanda Morgen. She was more or less almost the only true solo part in the piece (literally for brief periods), and in those moments she created such drama and feeling it gave me shivers. She dominated the stage in a way I wonder if she has ever felt before (speculation on my part). I'd bet that in a few years when she gets her next promotion, this will be one of the roles mentioned.

I saw it twice. "Saw" isn't the right word.....more like "experienced" or "felt" or "swam in". My head exploded. Crystal Pite is a goddess of dance. I'd bet no company has done it better too (love to ask Crystal that -- one on one 😉)......the PNB dancers nailed it. All my life I've been a lover of nature and have, at times, immersed myself in it for months at a time. I never expected my 2 loves -- nature and ballet -- to join....but that's what Crystal does, lives, breathes. I'm buying the digital version today, and will likely watch it every night for the next 5 days!

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I was happy to see Diamonds. However, the lead ballerina, Rausch, was in my opinion no match for the exquisite performances of our home team at NYCB.  Particularly in her solo, there was none of the expansive, go for broke dancing I'm used to seeing from Mearns.

I can see why someone would react to Leslie this way; however, I've been watching her since she was an unknown at the back of the core. Leslie is just not a highly expressive person (at least outwardly). She's more of a "cool customer". She lets her dancing speak for her. She often reminds me of Patricia Baker who was a prima ballerina at PNB many years ago (and the idol of Leslie as a student). I believe Baker was often referred to as the "Ice Queen". Leslie emotes with her elegance and musicality (if you want a real treat somehow see Rausch dance to Stravinsky). "Go for broke" just ain't Leslie's style.

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Carrie Imler. I became obsessed with Imler and tried to find in the internet every tiny excerpt of her dancing. 

I understand! 😉. I have been an avid PNB audience member for almost 40 years (I normally saw 3 or 4 performances of every rep for most of that time). Thru all that time, Carrie was, and remains today, my most admired dancer. Beyond that, as I learned at dozens of Q&As with dancers, and a few one-on-one conversations with her, she is the most professional of dancers and a superb human being to boot. If I have a hero.....it is her.