Brice

Dena Abergal will be assiting Garielle Whittle, the Children's Ballet Mistress at NYCB-announced in a letter from SAB to parents of dancers at the school

Agree with much that has been said in previous posts...but one small question. Osipova's feet looked, well strange at times. Does she waer arch enhancers? And if so,....why????

I second DeborahB's sentiments...a wonderful program, it was a pleasure to have a relaxed, intimate, informative session with Ms Bouder, and have a chance to see her personality, hear her thoughts, etc. I stumbled on the program on the NYCB website, don't think it is very well publicized though......

Cutting corp dancers was not the only cost saving measure Mr Martins instituted. among other things, all the Ballet Masters, including Mr Martins, took a 10% pay cut, even thought some of them could ill afford to do so. It is too bad Mr Macaulay couldn't stick to more constructive substantive dance criticicsm in the space allotted to him in the NY Times. His pettiness and personal vendettas really undermine his own itegrity as a critic.

Bart, just wondering, which 3 companies were you referring to in your post? SFB? Boston? PNB? ABT?

Erica's performance was radiant flawless and beautifully nuanced. Peiffer was a wonderful parntner and his daning was clean and wonderful. both were completely on the music. Other standouts included Tess Reichlen as Arabian (GORGEOUS), tiler Peck as Marzipan, and Sterling Hyltim was commanding and dynamic as Dew Drop. All in all a great afternoon of ballet.

Please educate me....exactly what is a "soubrette" and can you give examples of dancers that you would consider soubrettes from NYCB...both then and now? Thanks

SAB students indeed are encouraged to succeed at the highest level, but winning a competition is not viewed as that. Indeed, I believe Mel have hit the nail on the head...preparing for a competition involves the relentless pursuit of practicing and refining the same 2 minute bit of choreography over and over and over....that's not to say it doesn't have value in terms of training and technique, but if SAB believes its curriculum and training program is rigorous and comprehensive (I didn't say perfect, yes we are all aware from this board of what they do very well and what they do not so well), then where oh where would a dancer get the extra hours in the day to train for competition? And would this be the best most efficient use of training time and resources? I can tell you that my DD, after 8-9 classes per week at SAB, an academic school schedule, and the additional rehearsal schedule she has for performance with NYCB, could not possibly fit in another minute to train for any competition, yet she is being inspired to succeed at the highest level on a consistent basis, and has no lack of wonderful scholarship offers and training opportunities despite the fact that she has never entered a ballet competition. There are many roads that lead to Rome.....

As the parent of an SAB dancer, I can tell you that participation in any competition, is, and has been for as long as I know "strongly discouraged"(notice posted on student bulletin boards) and viewed as so unacceptable that even though it"s not forbidden it may as well be.....

I just got through watching it, having ordered my copy in advance from Amazon, it was wonderful....but I did not see it initially on PBS, so I can not comment on what extra footage appears in the DVD that did not appear in that broadcast. I also thought the "subplot" regarding Ansanelli was interesting, but it seemed pretty clear to me from th footage why she didn't dance Serenade....she seemed to really be struggling with it in the short bit that was shown at rehearsal, and you could easily sense the tension between her and Peter.

cyneblanc, thanks for the links you provided, but how do I get to the reviews in English?

It will be interesting to see, as part of this anniversary performance, if SAB students will dance in any of the ballets.

Violette Verdy did geust teach recently at SAB for a few days.....

Loved, loved Nino Gogue...she is one to watch!

I too was overwhelmed yesterday- a touching an emotional afternoon, filled with great ballet. You could feel the warmth and love in the theater, and the performances were what greatness is all about. I was lucky to be sitting next to Kyra, with my daughter, who danced Kyra's last Mozartiana with her last Spring-what a thrill. And had to keep looking over the head of Marcelo Gomes, who sat in front of me. But everywhere I looked were luminaries from the ballet world, there to share the joy of Nikolaj's dancing. It was an afternoon that I, and my daughter will never forget. What talent there is at NYCB-both veteran dancers and up and comers.

Did anyone catch the Sat eve performance? I thought Damien Woetzel was full of cavalier swagger and movie star majic-dancing as light as a feather, but with power and pizazz. Ashley Bouder as mabel was excellent, she seems to own this part, and her comedy tinming and acting ability on top of some of the best dancing I've seen only adds to a wonderful performance. And Megan Fairchild is brilliant, I laughed out loud!

Saw Catherine in Ballo, as well as Erica Peirera-both gorgeous! And of course, Ashley....What a treat.

DRB, with all due respect, I beleive that Darla Hoover, another extraordinary teacher, was also very much involved with Erica's training at BAE, and deserves acknowledgement.

Yes, I did with my daughter. The Millipied work loked interesting, and I am looking forward to seeing the whole thing at City Center. The rest of the program was OK,but I was underwhelmed, with the dancers, the panelists and the other excerpts. Then again, I am a big fan of NYCB, and of Balanchine in particular. Mr McKenzie did not show up to lead the panel, it was Wes chapman in his place.

Leigh, not quite sure what you are saying re Bouder...maybe I'm tripping up on the analogy....Bette Davis? Please say more.....

Perhaps he DOES get it...and that's his take on it

Surprised Coppelia is not scheduled for the Winter season.......perhaps in the Spring?

drb, look for Skyla Schreter and Miwako chimura in the SAB Workshop performance of Twinkliana on June 2 at 8PM. I agree, these girsl, as well as the others , were wonderful.....

Yes, it is indeed exactly the same.

DRB thanks for the additional info. My daughter is dancing Mozartiana with Nina at Jacob's Pillow....