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Recorded last autumn, the Royal Ballet's production of Kenneth MacMillan's Manon will be shown at Canadian cinemas on Saturday, February 28, at 1:00 p.m. local time. Manon: Tamara Rojo Des Grieux: Carlos Acosta Lescaut: José Martin Lescaut’s Mistress: Laura Morera Monsieur G.M.: Christopher Saunders The trailer's here: http://centralsystem.digiscreen.ca/ShowPag...on=237&ch=3 From the Royal Ballet web site: http://www.roh.org.uk/cinemas/manon/index.aspx Most screenings will take place at Empire Theatres. www.empiretheatres.com/opusArte Participating cities: St. John's, Halifax, Sydney, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Charlottetown, St. Catharines, North York, Mississauga, Ottawa, London, Kitchener, Kingston, Richmond Hill, Burlington, Bolton, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, North Vancouver and Victoria. It's also showing at the Princess Twin in Waterloo: www.princesscinemas.com and the Ridge Theatre in Vancouver, www.festivalcinemas.ca, at 10:00 am PT. On a side note, it appears that the Coast Capital Playhouse in White Rock, BC, the Paradise Cinema in Williams Lake, BC, and the Hudson Village Theatre in Hudson, QC, have also signed on to the Opus Arte network, but I haven't been able to verify exact dates for Royal Ballet/Opera screenings there.

Upon retiring from Alberta Ballet Patrick Canny joined the Calgary Police Service. His wife and fellow dancer Amanda Walsh later became a florist.

The Goldwyn Follies, featuring Vera Zorina and the American Ballet of the Metropolitan Opera in choreography by George Balanchine, is coming to DVD on April 7. If you're interested, it can be pre-ordered at Amazon, its catalogue number being B001PPLINC. I often complain about Balanchine being underrepresented on video, so I suppose the 'Water Nymph Ballet' will have to do for now.

In case you haven't seen the DVD, or if you're itching to see in on the big screen, the Royal Ballet's recording of La Fille mal gardée, with Marianela Nuñez and Carlos Acosta, will be shown at Canadian cinemas on Saturday, January 31, at 1:00 p.m. local time. The preview's here: http://centralsystem.digiscreen.ca/ShowPag...on=236&ch=3 Most screenings will take place at Empire Theatres. www.empiretheatres.com/opusArte Participating cities: St. John's, Halifax, Sydney, Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, Charlottetown, St. Catharines, North York, Mississauga, Ottawa, London, Kitchener, Kingston, Richmond Hill, Burlington, Bolton, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver, North Vancouver and Victoria. It's also showing at the Princess Twin in Waterloo: www.princesscinemas.com and the Ridge Theatre in Vancouver, www.festivalcinemas.ca, at 10:00 am PT.

Since the Fonteyn and Sizova videos are highly abbreviated, I would recommend the Cojocaru/Bonelli performance. I don't actually hate the Dowell version, and in many respects I think the dancing of the corps is superior to the later video, but Durante leaves me stone cold, and I find Solymosi's performance grotesque--a caricature of the ballet prince. I have no complaints whatsoever about Cojocaru and Bonelli. I like Nuñez in the original Lilac Fairy sections very much, but the more I watch it, the more tedious I'm finding her non-stop triples in the prologue. Yohei Sasaki has to be one of the least exciting Bluebirds on video, but I try to ignore him and focus on Sarah Lamb instead, even if it means skipping over his solo. Still, the leads carry the day, and the production is solid, so I do think it's among the best available.

A DVD of the program will be released and can be pre-ordered at Amazon. The Amazon catalogue number is B001PSVHNK. http://estore.websitepros.com/1652646/Detail.bok?no=1420

He grew up in California, but he was born in Montreal, so he would have qualified as a Commonwealth citizen under the old rules. Richard Cragun, on the other hand, was born in California, which, presumably, is why he didn't join the Royal Ballet upon graduating from the school.

Last spring I was looking at the Ballets Russes posters hanging in the foyer of the Théâtre du Châtelet and hoping that since 2009 marked the centenary of Diaghilev's first ballet presentation in Paris, we might see some Ballets Russes-related releases on DVD. I'm more than a little frustrated that Paris Dances Diaghilev and Joffrey Ballet's Tribute to Nijinsky, both of which were released commercially on VHS, have not yet been released on DVD. For that matter, I wouldn't object to a DVD release of Herbert Ross' Nijinsky either.

I think the question is, why, since the Royal Ballet opened itself to "outsiders," are British dancers and British training having trouble holding their own in the new multinational pool? To put it crudely, why aren't British dancers and British training more competitive? Why are the Prix de Lausanne kids leapfrogging ahead of their British classmates? It's not about driving the foreigners out, it's about raising the standard of the natives.

No doubt. But the issue at hand is the quality of British training. If the Royal Ballet School graduate most likely to achieve principal status is a Prix de Lausanne winner who spent one or two years at the RBS, having received the bulk of his training elsewhere, what does this say about the quality of the RBS? Why are so few of those who trained at the RBS from their early years achieving the same results? The fact that a slim majority of RB principals have no connection to the RBS whatsoever, and that most of those who do spent a relatively short period of time there would seem to reflect badly on the training offered there. If the Commonwealth presence in the Royal Ballet has been reduced, why has this happened? Has it simply become too expensive for young Australians, Canadians and others to study at the RBS, leading most of them to train at home instead? As far as I can remember, the last Canadian to be a principal at the Royal Ballet was Jaimie Tapper, who trained and began her career at home. Is Leanne Benjamin, now in her mid-40s, likely to be the last "colonial" to climb through the ranks to the top? I first saw the Royal Ballet live in 1981 in New York. The programs from that tour list 23 principals, including character artists, the vast majority of whom were born in England, plus 5 "colonials" and one "foreigner." Looking through the roster, filled with English and Celtic surnames, the only conspicuous foreigner, besides Gerd Larsen (and Genesia Rosato, who is, of course, a native of England), is Alessandra Ferri. I don't need to tell you that the Royal Ballet I saw in 2008 looked very different.

Yes, it is literally breathtaking. I was completely overwhelmed by the transformation the very first time I saw it. Mind you, Balanchine didn't need stagecraft to do it. The first time I saw the second movement of Concerto Barocco I had the air knocked out of me in exactly the same way.

Not so much an alternate ending as a post scriptum. Quite unable to decide which one of them gets to arrange the parties at Aurora's and Désiré's, Cattalabutte and Gallison launch a television show on which they compete head-to-head organizing fabulous soirees, picnics, hunting excursions and gala balls, with a jury of fairy tale characters deciding the winner. Seriously, every time I see The Sleeping Beauty I wonder how those two will ever get along.

I love the Balanchine version. I was about to write "unequivocally," except that I've never cared for the extended sequence with Marie's bed going round and round the stage. I find the rest completely magical and was able to convert one self-described ballet hater into a Balanchine lover by taking him to a performance of Mr. B's Nutcracker. When a grown man turns to you in the middle of the battle scene with a seven-year-old's look of enchantment on his face, you know that the ballet's "done it" for him.

Yes, they do seem to be quite frugal in their scheduling, don't they? If I see that Roy Orbison special one more time, I'm going to reconsider my membership fees. There doesn't seem to be a great deal of enthusiasm for Dr. Atomic among some PBS affiliates. KCTS Seattle will delay its airing until January 25, and my other PBS affiliate, WGBH Boston, is burying it with a middle-of-the-night showing on its second channel (which I don't receive). I don't know how widespread this tendency is.

From the New York Times: I must be living in an alternate universe.

One of the things that worries me is the possibility of not seeing Yanowsky. I'd think she'd be too tall for Acosta in most ballets. I agree with you completely that a Rojo/Acosta performance would be preferable to a Zakharova/Bolle performance. But that's just it. Since Massimo Murru is getting older, La Scala doesn't really have anyone other than Bolle to showcase. Its list of "guest artists" is twice as long as its list of "primi ballerini étoiles." The situation at the Royal Ballet is entirely different, and I don't like the idea of its other principals getting short shrift. Wouldn't it be nice, then, if Acosta were to use his contract to get the Cuban National Ballet on film?

First off, this is not an invective. Back in May I went to the cinema to see the Royal Ballet in MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet, a production that starred Tamara Rojo and Carlos Acosta. Since it was being screened as part of an Opus Arte series, I assumed that the ROH's home label would be releasing the DVD in the future. However, in April Acosta's web site reported that he'd signed an exclusive contract with Decca's DVD department, and it turns out that Decca will be releasing Romeo and Juliet, as well as Manon, filmed in October, and La Bayadère, to be filmed in January. Will Swan Lake be next? I understand that since Acosta is 35 years old there may be some apprehension on the part of Decca to get him on film before his technique begins to decline, but is maxing out the video catalogue with Acosta performances a good thing? It's good for Acosta fans, but is it good for the Royal Ballet? Obviously, the Royal Ballet has agreed to this, though I have no idea who's paying for what. Still, I wonder about a number of things. Didn't the Royal Opera House buy Opus Arte to facilitate the distribution of its performances? Is it a good idea for it to farm out the distribution of its ballet performances to another company? And more importantly, does this trend indicate that only Royal Ballet performances starring Carlos Acosta will be filmed, assuming that Decca is paying the production costs? For the record, I am neither a detractor nor a particularly big fan of Carlos Acosta. I've made a point of seeing him live to discover what all the fuss was about, but didn't experience a "you'll tell your grandchildren all about it" epiphany. I found him delightful in La Fille mal gardée and think he's a terrific choice for La Bayadère, but was disappointed by his Romeo and wished that another dancer had been filmed. No dancer is perfectly suited to every ballet, and if only for this reason I can't help thinking that this current tendency in the filming of the RB is a worrying thing. Shouldn't casting be determined by dancer suitability rather than contractual obligations? Is this fair to the other dancers in the company? As my topic title suggests, I'm left with an uneasy feeling about the Royal Ballet, at least on DVD, appearing to be something of a rent-a-corps for an illustrious dancer. Ballet companies have been known to do it in an attempt to raise their international profile, but the Royal Ballet is most certainly not that sort of company. I don't know how you all feel about this, but my internal fairness gauge is reacting badly.

I love the photo, and I love the vast quantity of snow. I wouldn't care to dance on it, but as a viewer, I think it's worth every flake.

Don't despair. Apparently, some U.S. cinemas carry this stuff too. No updates as of yet. http://digiscreen.ca/splash/index_en_US.html Look at it this way. Right now it's -24°C outside (-11°F, wind chill: -24). We need some sort of compensation for putting up with this.

Empire Theatres has posted the next batch of Opus Arte offerings. Screenings take place at 1:00 p.m. local time. http://www.empiretheatres.com/opusarte January 17 & 18 - Tamerlano (Teatro Real) January 31 - La Fille mal gardée (Royal Ballet w/Nuñez & Acosta) February 14 & 15 - La Bohème (Teatro Real) February 28 - Manon (Royal Ballet w/Rojo, Acosta, Martin, Morera, Saunders) http://www.roh.org.uk/cinemas/manon/index.aspx March 14 & 15 - Un ballo in maschera (Teatro Real) March 28 & 29 - La Dame aux camélias (Paris Opera Ballet w/Letestu, Bullion, Moussin, Martinez, Gilbert, Paquette, Grinsztajn, Denard) April 11 - Messiah (Choir of King's College) April 25 & 26 - Castor et Pollux (Nederlandse Opera) May 2 - La Bayadère (Royal Ballet) (probably Rojo, Acosta, Nuñez) May 31 & 31 - La Fille du régiment (Royal Opera) I'm glad to see that the series is continuing. It's also encouraging that the POB's Lady of the Camellias is getting two showings; it's the first time for a ballet. I can only assume that the screening of the POB's Cinderella in September was well attended. I believe that the participating cities for ballets are the same: Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton, St. John's, Halifax, Sydney, Charlottetown, Bolton, Burlington, Kingston, Kitchener, London, Mississauga, North York, Ottawa, Richmond Hill, St. Catharines, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, North Vancouver and Victoria. The operas aren't screened in the Atlantic provinces, where Empire Theatres is in the business of showing the Met. The Digiscreen web site hasn't been updated yet, so I don't know about other theatres.

Some upcoming broadcasts: Monday, December 29, on Bravo Canada at 8:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. PT Thursday, January 15, on CBC Bold at 10:00 a.m. ET / 7:00 a.m. PT and 5:00 p.m. ET / 2:00 p.m. PT

The Tale of the Magic Flute, an abbreviated version of Mark Godden's The Magic Flute, will air on CBC Bold on Wednesday, December 31, at 10:00 a.m. ET/7:00 a.m. PT and 2:00 p.m. ET/11:00 a.m. PT, and also on Saturday, January 3, at 10:00 a.m. ET/7:00 a.m. PT. CBC Bold: where all the cancelled CBC shows go. (Please excuse my cynicism.) http://www.cbc.ca/bold

Previously Heinz Spoerli's Cinderella had only been available as a Region 2 disc. It's now scheduled to be released in North America on January 13. The Zurich Ballet production features Karine Seneca as Cinderella, Stanislav Jermakov as the star dancer, Jozef Varga as the stepmother and Nicolas Blanc and François Petit as the stepsisters. A PDF of the booklet is posted online, and a trailer is available in the catalogue section of the Bel Air Classiques web site. The Amazon product number is B001O5LVXK.

It wasn't exactly a ballet, but the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation produced a film of Roxana set in the swinging '60s in which the title role was played by the National Ballet of Canada's Greta Hodgkinson. Rex Harrington, retired by then, and Christopher Body also appeared. http://www.roxanathemovie.com/

Indeed, so am I. Though I hope that someday the 1983 performance will be re-issued as well. By then Nureyev was certainly past his prime, but think of the rest of the cast: Noëlla Pontois as Raymonda, Manuel Legris and Laurent Hilaire as Bernard and Béranger, Monique Loudières as Clémence, Claude de Vulpian (!) as Henriette, Jean Guizerix (!!) as Abderam, Yvette Chauviré (!!!) as the Countess, plus Isabelle Guérin and Frédéric Olivieri in the Saracen dance, Françoise Legrée and Patrick Dupond in the Spanish dance and Marie-Claude Pietragalla and Fabrice Bourgeois in the Csardas. Talk about luxury casting.