volcanohunter

For the next six months the program is available on demand for internet users in the U.S. http://video.pbs.org/video/2365385279/

Good point.

I'm not unsympathetic to people who adopt stage names. My own surname is difficult for Anglophones, and since I dreaded seeing it misspelled in programs, I performed under a quasi-patronymic once I left school. From time to time dancers still come under pressure to come up with more euphonious stage names. I remember reading that the Royal Ballet encouraged Lauren Cuthbertson to change her name, suggesting that she take her mother's surname instead. But she didn't like the sound of Lauren Lewis, so she stuck with Cuthbertson. I can't help but admire Dawid Trzensimiech for sticking with his name, even though the intricacies of Polish orthography are very confusing to most non-Poles. It does strike me as a little eccentric that Raveau/Allard should change his name at this stage in his career, having already climbed so high up the POB hierarchy with his first surname.

JMcN, your conversion story is one of the best on this board.

Lloyd Riggins has staged a new production of Napoli for the Hamburg Ballet. Contrary to what the English-language description suggests, Bournonville's choreography is used in Acts 1 and 3. http://www.hamburgballett.de/e/_napoli.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvuG4Sncyvs

I have not had an opportunity to watch him all that extensively, but I definitely think Bezard has "something." I find him genuinely interesting, and he projects a certain kind of danger on stage. It's an unusual sort of charisma, but it's potent and intriguing. There is also a lot to admire in Chaillet and Magnenet, to be sure.

If you've got the means to circumvent the geo-block, the ballet is available on demand on French TV's Culturebox. I believe this is the first time the complete performance with Eleonora Abbagnato and Mathieu Ganio has been made available. Last year French television aired a heavily excerpted version of their performance, while the cinema broadcast starred Myriam Ould-Braham and Mathias Heymann owing to Abbagnato's indisposition. Here Ould-Braham and Heymann are Florine and the Bluebird. http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/festivals/lopera-de-paris/la-belle-au-bois-dormant-de-noureev-a-lopera-bastille-207377

If a 1.6 million euro hole in the budget can be plugged up by dismissing 16 employees and eliminating dance programming, it goes to show you that the theater was not spending much very much on dance. It also appears that Rosas is not a resident company of the theater being financed out of its budget. How long has it been since the theater had a resident dance company? From time to time I have heard it suggested that replacing resident ballet companies with resident modern dance companies had a specific aim. Modern dance companies are generally smaller and therefore less expensive to maintain, and they're also less popular, so later on they can be eliminated altogether, after which a theater's budget can be directed solely to opera. Of course, 27 years is a very long time to execute such a diabolical scheme, but on a day like this, I would almost be inclined to believe the conspiracy theories.

Ballet has not had much of a presence in Brussels since Maurice Béjart moved his company to Switzerland in 1987, but now comes news that La Monnaie plans pretty much to eliminate dance from its programming. The opera house anticipated receiving a government subsidy of 34.8 million euros, but will get 1.55 million less. In response, the theater is laying off 16 employees and largely eliminating its dance programming. A planned production by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui has been canceled. http://www.lamonnaie.be/en/danse/457/Babel-words Opera will also be affected. A Monteverdi cycle planned for 2016 will not take place, and the total number of productions each season will be reduced, as the theater tries to shrink its budget. http://www.lesoir.be/735811/article/culture/scenes/2014-12-16/monnaie-licencie-16-personnes-et-abandonne-danse Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker reacts: http://www.rosas.be/en/node/4415

If you're in Canada, the Yoshida/McRae performance can be watched on demand here: https://www.knowledge.ca/program/nutcracker

For viewers in Canada, this performance can be watched on the Knowledge Network site until January 10. https://www.knowledge.ca/program/nutcracker-0

Probably not Ivan, but I would put money on Kurbsky.

Another cast change. It will be Alexander Campbell as the White Rabbit. http://www.roh.org.uk/news/cast-change-alexander-campbell-to-dance-in-alices-adventures-in-wonderland-on-16-december-2014

The cast for the broadcast of Swan Lake will be Svetlana Zakharova as Odette-Odile, Denis Rodkin as Siegfried and Artemy Belyakov as the Evil Genius, with Igor Tsvirko as the Jester, and Nina Kaptsova Elizaveta Kruteleva and Kristina Kretova in the pas de trois. http://bolshoi.ru/en/performances/36/roles/#20150125180000

If you're headed to a screening today, PDF versions of the cast sheet are available in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian and Swedish. http://www.roh.org.uk/showings/alices-adventures-in-wonderland-live-2014 Alice - Sarah Lamb Jack/Knave of Hearts - Federico Bonelli Lewis Carroll/White Rabbit - Ricardo Cervera Alexander Campbell Mother/Queen of Hearts - Zenaida Yanowsky Father/King of Hearts - Christopher Saunders Magician/Had Hatter - Steven McRae Rajah/Caterpillar - Eric Underwood Duchess - Philip Mosley Vicar/March Hare - Paul Kay Verger/Dormouse - James Wilkie Cook - Kristen McNally Fish-Footman - Tristan Dyer Frog-Footman - Marcelino Sambé

I presume this is because they attempted to survive as commercial channels and couldn't. This sort of degeneration isn't limited to arts channels. What passes for "science" and "history" on specialty channels often makes my hair stand on end. For a number of years I did have a satellite service that allowed me to pick and choose thematic packages, so I had no sports, no lifestyle or home improvement channels and no music videos, but I can't say that what was left over gave me a stupendous television experience either.

I don't doubt that re-negotiating rights would be complicated, but at least PBS could start by making the locally produced content more widely available. It's absurd that KET's documentary about Wendy Whelan, for example, wasn't given a national audience. And obviously I wouldn't expect the BBC to give PBS anything for free.

The part I find most dispiriting is that they don't think it would be a good idea to show both. Would it be too much to ask PBS to start a dedicated arts channel? There is already PBS World, which groups together news, documentary and science programs, and PBS Create, which collects the DIY shows. It wouldn't even require creating huge amounts of new programming. There is so much in the vaults already. And yes, there is arts content produced by local PBS stations that never gets wide distribution. Why not show the entire country any operas shot by Minnesota Public Television? I know the science shows and Antiques Roadshow are more popular, but what genuinely surprises me is that we haven't seen the launch of PBS Drama, which would show re-runs of Masterpiece Theater and Mystery 24/7. There must be an audience for that.

Usually Paris Opera screenings in Quebec are delayed, but the Etudes/Nutcracker/Défilé program will, for the most part, appear in Quebec cinemas on Thursday, December 18, as it will at most European locations. In Gatineau it will be screened a day early, on December 17. And why not? The program is pre-recorded anyway, and its festive character would make a little less sense after Christmas. Screenings in France, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and Switzerland are listed here: http://www.fraprod.fr/cinema-fetez-la-danse-avec-le-ballet-de-l-opera-de-paris-134.html

The list of Carmike Cinemas screening Alice on December 16 (7 pm local time in the U.S.) includes one or two locations that don't seem to be included on the Fathom Events master list. As the saying goes, check local listings. http://www.carmike.com/Events/Event/391 http://www.fathomevents.com/event/roh1415-alices-adventures-in-wonderland/more-info/theater-locations

I don't think it's so surprising. Hallberg was out of commission for half the year, and in his reviews of the Hallberg performances he did see, Macaulay expressed some reservations.

Alexei Ratmansky's staging of Paquita premieres at the Bavarian State Ballet on December 13. So far there's relatively little information about the run: no casting, and the company has posted only a brief video on Facebook of a rehearsal of the long mime scene. But the company's web site does include dress rehearsal photos, if you scroll down the page. https://www.staatsoper.de/en/staatsballett/productioninfo/paquita/

I must confess that I lasted only the first half hour, so I missed Walken's tapping.

Davit Karapetyan has tweeted about suffering from back spasms. I don't know whether this throws his performance on Saturday into doubt. https://twitter.com/DDanceK/status/543119767180046336