rkoretzky

I've been following this topic with so much interest. It's pushing many of my buttons: as a Jewish American I am always on anti semitism watch-- I think it's a knee jerk response for many of us who were raised in the USA in the first decade post holocaust, knowing survivors and hearing about family members who didn't survive. As a librarian, resisting any attempt at censorship, or any attempt for a few to decide the reading/viewing choices for the many. As a lover of all the arts, resisting attempts from any "lobby" to determine artistic choices, and as a mom whose son has (for the first time since breaking up with a girlfriend who was a singer, many exes ago) shown an interest in opera and has asked me to get tickets. Peter Gelb, you almost have to feel some sympathy for him. He's been in a world of trouble lately. A series of unfortunate incidents are (or should be) most embarrassing for him and for the met opera board. The met has announced on their website the replacement opera for HD. It is "Barber of Seville" to be shown on November 22. A supremely safe choice. I know I've seen it in HD, at least once, maybe twice?

Hi everyone. No postings from me for several years, but I've been reading and enjoying all along. It feels good to be back as an active member. So much has happened. Members have come and gone. My beloved NYCB season at Saratoga has shrunk, shrunk again, and finally will be moving in the right direction in 2015. And our community has had a heartbreaking loss. I thought I spotted Carley in Lincoln Center plaza last month, as so many of us did. It stopped my heart. My belated condolences to all who loved her, in person or virtually.

I am sure many of you are wondering what has happened to the lovely retirement gift that Chris Wheeldon gave to Jock Soto. Rest easy. It's good. I only saw the second part of "Rain" with Jock, on the retirement day. As was the entire audience, I was stunned. We saw the history of a friendship and a partnership unfold before our eyes. Toward the end of the pas, when Wendy reached out to touch Jock's face, I had the sense that she was casting his face into her memory forever. For the audience it was a privileged moment, an opportunity to glimpse this very intimate relationship, and a chance to watch Wendy say goodbye. I found it shattering and exhiliarating. In her pre-performance talk at SPAC last week Wendy spoke a bit about life after Jock. She is not weeping about his retirement, she is happy for him and she knows how happy he is. He is eating butter and putting cream in his coffee! She is jealous. I was worried about seeing "Rain" without Jock. A friend of mine who is a pianist with NYCB encouraged me to see it. I am so glad that I did--twice so far with Craig Hall and Sebstien Marcovici will debut tomorrow night. First of all, my ballet watching life would not be complete without having seen the first part. I have heard "Tabala Rasa" played several times, but this is an instance where I could truly "see the music". I never fully appreciated that exquisite section until I saw movement. Even though there has been much commentary that "Rain" seems to be two different ballets, I didn't quite see it that way. I would say different, but related sections. As the four dancers in blue exit and the two dancers in pink enter, the transition is as natural as taking the next breath. Blue is an inhale, pink is an exhale--and it begins again. With Jock and Wendy, there is a tension and an energy that isn't there with Craig yet. I think it will be. It was an auspicious debut for a very talented dancer and what a daunting task! I hope he is very proud of himself.

Everyone who has expressed support for us at SPAC would have been thrilled to see last night's attendance. I don't quite know why, but there were 5,000+ seats filled. That is inside seating-----and a nice crowd on the lawn too. Equal to two sell-outs at NYS Theater. We just need to do this again....and again....and again.....

The NYCB playbill for NYC seasons states the following: "The Saratoga Performing Arts Center is the summer home of the New York City Ballet". SPAC opened in 1966, a scant two years after the New York State Theater. NYCB has been at home in both theaters ever since. NYCB is the only ballet company in the United States with a permanent summer home. I acknowledge that I am very defensive about this. Perhaps you have to live here or have spent much time here, such as Farrell Fan, to truly understand. Sorry if I have caused any hard feelings.

Do you mean June/July 2006? I hope you do! DS has just moved to Los Angeles. He isn't much of a ballet fan but he does love "Slaughter". And I love "Dances". I think I just may be going to LA......

THANK YOU OBERON. You make an essential point here. In fact, I'll take it a step further: A sold-out house at the NYS Theater is a half-full (or half-empty) house at SPAC. Our theater is 5,200 seats, exactly double the capacity at Lincoln Center. We are tying to fill the equivalent of two theaters in an area with a fraction of the population and a fraction of the financial resources. Guess what? We aren't going to make it, if that is the goal, and if we are held to that goal I guess we should concede right now and turn the NYCB over to someplace else. Give us a break folks! SPAC wasn't destroyed overnight and we can't rebuild it overnight. We are doing our best. In fact I think we are doing very well. I have been at the ballet every night except the gala and at three of the four matinees thus far. The crowds are respectable--yes I would like to see more, but we HAVE a devoted audience and we need to undo years of neglect and begin to develop a bigger audience. Changes are occurring. Slowly. We are at the mercy of the elements. This season we have had scorching heat, oppressive humidity, and torrents of rain. Still our audience comes--again, not at the numbers that I would like but as I said we have rebuilding to do. As for Michael Korb and his calculations--no one here takes Michael Korb seriously. No one. Many of us know him--he is in fact a nice guy who can be hilariously funny. I didn't find this particular column to be one of his best. Not even close. He would laugh out loud at the fact that he was called a "reviewer" and that his piece is a "review". He knows neither of those is true. I know where Michael sits when he comes to SPAC. From his vantage point he can't see the balcony. Lots of people sit up there--many of my balletomane friends prefer it. So the place was likely more full than he thought. I've been to the state theater many times when the house has been disappointingly small. Does anyone suggest that NYCB find a new permanent home? I didn't think so. A million thanks to Farrell Fan and to Oberon for jumping in to defend Saratoga when the inital postings were just too disheartening for me to respond. Edit: Bart and I were posting at the same time. Thanks Bart!

Yes indeed Helene--and also generous of Darci and Albert as well as Miranda, to give up their roles so that all of us could share those moments.

Oberon, I know she has done it, at least the 2nd mvt pas de deux, in gigs, because I have seen her do so, with James, at least twice.

That is exactly what happened. And even though my DD and constant companion, and I both knew what was happening that day, and indeed had been briefed that there might be "a surprise", it was still an initial shock to see Jeny emerge--a very wonderful shock but nevertheless....and the expression on her face is something I'll remember forever. As for audience confusion, I suppose there was some. But most of the audience didn't know the ballet anyway, so I don't think it looked too weird to them, except of course there was no mention in the program. At the curtain call, all six came out.

Oh I was there!!!! It was bittersweet and a day to remember for many reasons. SPAC Thursday matinee audiences are a strange sort. Tickets are discounted with special senior/children's prices so the house is usually close to full. We get BUSLOADS of summer camps, senior citizen centers and the like. The audience is generally not very familiar with the ballet, the dancers and the program--although there are pockets of the Ballet Obsessed who do take the afternoon off from work, especially if we catch wise that there is something special to occur. In this case, many of us had a heads-up about James, and since he and Jenifer are local favorites and many of us have had a chance to know them a bit it was a special performance. Thank you James for honoring us with your last performance and giving locals who weren't at the two retirements in June (I'm so lucky, I was at both) a chance to bid goodbye to one of our dancers. In addition, there are oddities associated with outdoor performance--lighting at a matinee can look strange, and of course there is the weather which was a big story yesterday. I'm not a Fanfare Fan--so after that little ditty the ballet began in earnest with a lovely first movement Barber vc with Kistler, Bouder, LaCour and Evans. At the beginning of the second movement, Jenifer and James came out (!) and danced for the ages. Tears- welling- up- beautiful. Heart-wrenching. Unforgettable. It was so intimate that it almost felt like eavesdropping. James, so attentive a partner, so gentle and sensitive--and Jenifer, so secure with him and so transparent a dancer--she lets you see into her soul. I can't even imagine her emotions yesterday. After such beauty, I couldn't bear to watch the third movement of Barber, so I didn't. As much as I love the first and second mvts, both musically and choreographically, I am tepid about the third on a good day. Yesterday was not the day that I wanted to see it. After intermission the announcement was made that Jenifer and James would be the principals in 2nd mvt BSQ, Jenifer replacing Miranda Weese so that she could be James' partner for his last time. Throughout the first mvt (Kyra Nichols, Philip Neal, Ellen Bar--special mention to Ellen for a sweeping, luscious performance) the sky rumbled thunder and it became progressively darker. Exactly as the Intermezzo began, it began to teem rain. As James and Jenifer came out there was an ENORMOUS thunderclap and the power went out. Power was restored within moments, but it wouldn't have mattered, because those wonderful dancers didn't miss a step and the musicians didn't miss a note. Rain poured into the theater from both sides and the wind roared. Their partnering in that final pas cannot be described so I will not even try. I believe that cosmic forces were at work, the heavens were angry that we are losing yet another NYCB treasure--a gallant and dependable partner, a kind man, an example. However I am so happy for James, that he is retiring in his prime and that he has such an exciting new opportunity. In a break with the usual, the entire cast came out for curtain calls at the end of the Rondo. James and Jenifer were last--and even then he wanted his wife, partner and muse to be the one to receive the applause. But it was not to be--Peter Martins came out with flowers, Jenifer with another bouquet, flowers were tossed from the audience, and James Fayette stood in the center of the stage, with flowers in both arms, his wife at his side (and very slightly behind him), his colleagues applauding him and the audience standing and shouting--and for some of them, finally getting it, that it was a special performance. I wish all of you who love NYCB as I do could have been there with me. If you happened to be--I was the one who was screaming "Bravo James!!" over and over. Pretty unlike me.

I think "Faun" belongs on young dancers, and although I like Julie Kent in many things I am having trouble seeing her in it, regardless of the photo at abt.org Can we assume that the "Apollo" will be the full-length? Isn't that what ABT has in its repertory?

We MISS you Lou--and look forward to seeing you in the city and back here next summer. Juliet is here in town for the weekend and will be back later in the season. Other than that, no BTers that have identified themselves...but if you are here please do speak up! It's a little pressure to report on the entire season myself, although I LOVE it--just hard to find the time and I like to hear others' perspectives. Although many of us locals do spend hours dissecting each performance verbally....... In her curtain speeches each evening, Marcia has thanked the audience for coming, thanked them for supporting SPAC, for attending pre-performance talks, and spoken a bit about SPAC's history--the fact that this is the 40th season (but not the 40th anniversary, that will be in 2006---I'm no math whiz but I do know that the facility opened in 1966), and sung the praises of NYCB. It's nice. We are supposedly inagurating a new program next week as well--some of us who have been serving on SPAC's advisory committee will be actively greeting the audience and thanking them for coming to SPAC--we shall see how that goes. Just one thing I forgot to mention in my earlier review--and how could I forget this? Wendy and Philip in the 2nd act divertissment on opening night. No one else touches their level of artistry in that section at this point. I adore Jenifer Ringer and she is exquisite in everything, including the divertissment--but Wendy reaches a new place. She is otherwordly. Her feet don't appear to touch the stage and the audience is transported, along with her--it is the closest to heaven that I have glimpsed in this world. As for Philip Neal--I so worried about seeing this with Wendy and without Jock. No worries. He was fantastic. Oh and one more thing--beautiful sounds coming from the orchestra pit. Exquisite playing in the Barber vc from Arutro Delmoni and luminescent readings of Midsummer particularly under Andrea Quinn's baton. Now I am really done. Today the weather is close to perfect. Sigh.

Good morning on the first sunny day since July 4. I made at least three attempts this week to post--darn that day job of mine! It just gets in the way of what I need to do during this three week period. I finally decided to let it ride until Sunday morning and then give you some snapshots of what has happened during the first week of NYCB/SPAC 2005! I saw at least part of every performance this week--only saw the first act of two (out of four) Midsummers and only one (out of two) Glass Pieces. Everything got off to a great start on Tuesday night with pre-performance curtain speeches by Marcia White and Peter Martins. Marcia has continued that practice for the rest of the week--although her talks are increasingly shorter, they are of great importance in setting a tone and making the audience feel welcome and appreciated. I commend her for doing this, and especially for convincing Peter to participate on that first night. It isn't necessary for him to appear every time, but I would like her to continue the practice for herself. I do think brevity is a good thing--after all how much is there really to say? It becomes redudant after a while-and in conversation with one of the dancers yesterday I realized that it is difficult for them to be warmed up, ready to go and be cooling their heels backstage while she talks--but right now audience appreciation and development is job one for SPAC. (Hell would truly have frozen before Chesbrough would have appeared on that stage). So--on to the performances. As usually happens here there were some debuts. Peter Martins and Sean Lavery both mentioned this practice in their pre-performance talks. Although the SPAC season is treated with the same importance (at least we Saratogians hope so!) as the NYC seasons, SPAC is NOT crawling with nationally read critics, and it is an opportunity for the company to take some chances. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. As an aside--I think the national press SHOULD be here, and would help to draw more attention to our festival. I was at Glimmerglass Opera in Cooperstown for opening night on June 30 and met several well-known critics. Just something else for SPAC to work on. Megan Fairchild was given two "Ballos", this was a debut if I am not mistaken. I like Megan's dancing and was pleased that she was given two opportunities because she was visibly nervous for the first, giving a pleasant, but unaccented performance. By yesterday's mat she had settled into the role and it was much better, and she will continue to grow with it. In between we had Ashley B for only ONE (!) Ballo. More please! We were fortunate to see Ashley in rehearsal on Wednesday afternoon and even from that brief glimpse were able to see that we were getting something very special. Everything is in place--it is as if Ashley has sprung fully formed from the head of Zeus (or whatever the mythological reference would be--I just don't remember) to dance this role. The accents, changes of direction, fiendish hops on pointe, those uniques pas de chats--all there, all diamond-edged, all as clear as crystal. I think Mr B would be very very pleased. DeLuz partnered both cleanly and with his usual wide grin. The four soloists were just beautiful--my first good look at Hyltin and Scheller--the former a tiny bundle of energy and the latter with a lovely jump---and Riggins and Edge wonderfully satisfying too. MORE!!!!! Two contrasting performances of Lavery's R and J. Yvonne Borree and Jared Angle on Thursday night--Yvonne is lovely in this role. It is a good one for her and a pleasure to see a relaxed and expressive face. Interestingly it was Janie Taylor yesterday who seemed skittish. The big news from yesterday's perf was a magnificent debut from Tyler Angle. Yes! Yes! Yes! Again I had seen rehearsal and wondered if he would pull it off--I could see that the steps were there but wondered about the characterization--and am happy to say that he did himself proud. This after Jared's fully developed turn with Yvonne. Congratulations Angle family. NYCB needs new princes--tag! you're it!!!!!! Not a debut, but Saratoga had not seen Sofiane's Titania. We had two! Sofiane was glorious--regal in her queenly moments, tender and vulnerable with Bottom (a hilarious Henry Seth), suitably argumentative, then conciliatory with Oberon (on Friday night Tom Gold stole my heart). All that and a willingness to take her time with everything--so that when Oberon wakes her, she looks at him, acknowleges him, sees her own foolishness and only then does she reject Bottom (but rejects him in the kindest way, she doesn't shove him away but gently pushes him). Tess Reichlen was Hippolyta for opening and closing perfs. Again I am glad for two chances. No argument about her jumps, they are astounding. On Tuesday night though, her fouttees were very disappointing, wildly out of control and traveling all over the stage. Holding my breath last night.....she nailed them!!!!! On a dime, rock solid, finishing with at least a double--who knows? I can't count! We were treated to a Hippolyta debut by Gwenyth Muller. She has the presence and she nailed the turns the first time--beautifully done!!--but lacks the jump. This is apparently an effort to build strength in a new area a la Balanchine who did so all the time--and I applaud it. I hope that Gwenyth will be given more chances. Next week I will be at all but the Saturday performances. I'll try to post a little sooner. Please say a little prayer for better weather for us! RK

Saratoga Springs welcomed our company back last night with a bang! Many company members took time from their moving-in (thank you all!) to participate in our community Fourth of July celebration--riding down Broadway in carriages to our beautiful city park where there were welcoming remarks from our mayor, SPAC officials and Peter Martins, and then our sensational fireworks display. SPAC is back! Last night ushered in a new era with an executive director who is warm, accesible and seems truly thrilled with her job, a new board of directors who seem to be interested in furthering the goals of SPAC rather than furthering personal agendas, and a spirit of appreciation and a willingness to work together with us from everyone at NYCB. What has happened here is monumental and I am grateful to have been a part of it. The excitement here over opening night is something that I have not seen for many years. Tonight the perfect SPAC Midsummer Dream--and then more fireworks. Stay tuned.

I'm there on the 11th and 14th. Fitting it in between Peter and Jock in NYC, and collecting my daughter after a semester in London--or should I say collecting her belongings. I am only the porter and the payer.

Any news about a tour of this production, or Canadian dates? I have been hoping and planning to go to DC in June for this gig, pretty much since it was announced, but I am just not sure that it is going to happen for me. Too much going on in my life right now. Has there been any news of any other venues or dates? I can't imagine that all of the time and finance invested in this production will result in five days of performance and then....nothing. Please give me some encouragement.....

No Jock.

Well this person in Saratoga never tires of Midsummer! It is very special to us, since it was the first ballet performed on our stage in the opening season of 1966. This season is our 40th anniversary and so it is most appropriate to begin with Midsummer. We don't have it EVERY season--we do have it often, but it is just magical here. I've seen it indoors at the State Theater and it is a delight, but to be in a forest on a midsummer evening is transcendant. I am only saddened that we will never again see Peter Boal's feet fly though that scherzo. As for Opus Jazz, sadly many of the Saratoga ballet afficianados won't be seeing it. It is programmed only at the gala which most of us studiously avoid. Unlike the gala audiences in NYC, our gala attracts a racous crowd that drinks more and more and hollers more and more as the evening wears on. It is NOT a ballet audience, ticket prices double, and I want no part of it. Oh well.

Merci to both of you for responding. I did some checking on the web, as Sophia suggested. I was looking for influences on Ms. Bausch and discovered that she worked with Paul Taylor in the 50s. I'm a huge Taylor fan so that was the answer I was looking for--lol--even if what she does is nothing like Taylor's work. I also saw references to Joos. I wasn't really looking for comparisons to Balanchine but admit I am intrigued by the issue since I love Chaconne, particularly the music--and dislike Orpheus, particularly the music. Since Bausch used the Gluck score, that is another point in favor of seeing it. I do prefer ballet to modern dance, but am always game to see something that I haven't had exposure to--I love Mark Morris and don't really like much of Trisha Brown but feel that I needed to see Brown to know that I don't like her, and any reason to go to the glorious Garnier is well worth it, so I think my daughter and I will go. She'll be winding up her semester in Europe and I am meeting her to help her carry everything that she has collected home. More fun than having her ship her stuff!!!!

Can anyone share some thoughts about the Pina Bausch "Orphee" that is programmed for later this spring? I plead absolute ignorance of this production and have a possiblity of seeing it in June. I'd like to know a bit more about it--to put the question most simplistically--would someone who loves the Balanchine "Chaconne" (same music, right? but different thematically) enjoy this? Or would someone who loves the Balanchine "Orpheus" (same theme, different music?) enjoy this? Of both? Or neither? Not being too familiar with Ms. Baush, I'd love to hear some opinions, and merci.

Bejart? I can get by with French, but cannot make sense of the Bejart Ballet website. Can anyone help me with schedules for performances in Lausanne and elsewhere in Europe for this spring? Estelle????? Merci.

I did see Sylve in Emeralds in Saratoga last summer. Ari had spent a few days with us and had just left with sadness that she would miss it. As I told Ari, I wasn't really pleased with her performance, and yet I have been a Sylve fan from the first time I saw her (in Western, where her fouttes WERE amazing). In "Emeralds" I didn't see the warmth that Jenifer Ringer showed me the next night. Yet last winter season she literally took my breath away (did anyone else who was there hear me gasp?) as "La Bonne Fee", a role that requires warm, generous dancing. I think I would prefer to see her in "Diamonds", rather than "Emeralds". With all respect to Michael, who always shows us a very keen eye, I would love to see her in "Theme". The role that knocked both Ari and me out in Saratoga was "Cortege", and I have seen her repeat it at State Theater. I have read a few interviews with her and to me she comes across warmly, without haughtiness. But I seem to think of her in those "haughty" roles--Diamonds, Theme, Cortege. Even Slaughter and Western have those elements of haughtiness. How then to reconcile this breaktaking appearance as La Bonne Fee?

An interesting discussion of "Orpheus", which I have mentioned to many posters here is the one and only Balanchine ballet that I actively avoid. My first viewing was in summer 1979 with Baryshnikov. I disliked it so much that I don't even remember who danced Euridyce. I remember thinking that it was the first time I had seen Misha dance, and he was doing a part with almost no dance. Today with 25+ years of immersing myself in NYCB's repertoire, and studying the relationship between Balanchine and Stravinsky I might feel differently, but I doubt it. I have seen Orpheus a few times since but that first impression has never changed. I agree with Oberon that much of Stravinsky's ballet music is sublime (for me: Apollo, Agon, Violin Concerto, and Firebird are favorites), but the score of Orpheus leaves me cold, bored, and mystified. As my good friend FarrellFan would now say to me: "But how do you really feel about it?" As for the Noguchi costumes, they are hideous. I am intrigued by Oberon's idea of resetting Orpheus as a leotard ballet, a la 4Ts, when Balanchine scrapped the ridiculous Kurt Seligmann designs. I was about to say that I didn't know if it would work, given that Orpheus does have a story line, but then what about Apollo? That certainly works beautifully in simple costumes. Of course in the case of 4Ts, Balancine himself was here to make the design changes. I don't know what the Balanchine Trust would say about costume changes. The only change that comes to my mind immediately, since Mr B's death, is the corps swans in "Swan Lake" who are now in black. How does such a change come about? Which brings up a recent conversation I had about "Glass Pieces", the choreography of that looks fresh and 21st century to me, but the costumes and sets are so 80s that I find it distracting. Given Jerry Robbins' famous reputation for pickiness, how could any change to his ballets be implemented?

And thank YOU Dale, for the reminder about Pierette. I intended to include that , as well as to say that I hope Megan will be given a chance at Columbine in spring season. (Although I did love, love love Alexandra in that role). And hooray hooray! We will have Harlequinade in Saratoga this summer, for the first time in I don't know how many years. I know that my 20 year old daughter, who has literally spent every summer of her life at SPAC, had not seen it until last winter season. And another hooray hooray for Ballo being on our schedule. Now I'm just crossing my fingers that my other favorite new principal (yes Dale I agree with you, Ashley Bouder is a dancer that I want to see in everything, every night) will be doing it here. I was grieving that I couldn't manage a way into the city to see it this season......