volcanohunter

I probably ordered the tickets in English because both the e-mail and the questionnaire itself were in English. Mine arrived last Friday. Perhaps not all the questionnaires were sent out at once and yours is still forthcoming.

Unfortunately, I didn't write them down as I was filling them out online because the system is rigged to prevent ballot stuffing, so I couldn't go back to reread the questions. They concerned both opera and ballet programming, asking, more or less on a scale of one to five, what sort of programming I preferred. I was asked about 19th-century ballet, neo-classical ballet, modern choreography and modern opera-ballet productions (Bausch, Waltz, etc.). In addition, the questions concerned the relative preference for 19th-century narrative ballet, 20th-century narrative ballet, abstract ballet, mixed bills and visiting companies. I'm sure the perceived bias of the POB management was an issue, though who can tell whether the results of a survey would have any sort of influence over it. On the operatic side, the choices offered were Italian, French, German/Austrian, Wagner, and Slavic opera. There didn't seem to be as much emphasis on period as I would've expected. The questionnaire also asked whether I attended symphonic concerts, how many Paris Opera performances I attended in the last year, which other Parisian musical theatres I'd visited, which media sources I used for concert information (not particularly relevant in my case), my occupation and where I lived. I'm assuming that the questionnaire was sent to those who purchased tickets to the Paris Opera in the last year. Obviously, I wouldn't be a typical patron. In my case a relevant question would have been something like: what would you be willing to cross the Atlantic for to see?

This may be an aside, but I think it's important to remember that the National Ballet of Canada was never founded with any sort of 'national' mandate, inasmuch as it was not the initiative of the federal government but the private enterprise of some very determined ballet lovers in Toronto. It was actually a bit presumptuous on the part of the Celia Franca and the original board to call it 'National,' and many resentful Canadians (well, Winnipeggers) would have taken it as proof of a Torontonian delusion that their city lies at the centre of the universe, and so forth. In the television biography that Veronica Tennant completed just before Franca died, the great lady explained that the frequent touring the company did in its early days was necessitated by its inability to mount extensive Toronto seasons, which suggests that she would have preferred to stay put. The older Winnipeg company was the one that ultimately received the Royal Charter (before the Royal Ballet received it!), and at the inaugural Governor General's Performing Arts Awards in 1992 RWB founder Gweneth Lloyd was among the recipients (Betty Farrally was already deceased). Celia Franca received it two years later. Ludmilla Chiriaeff, founder of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, was squeezed in in between the two to prevent Quebec from feeling slighted. Evidently these were some of the 'censures' Franca had to endure for grabbing the title 'National' without asking anyone's permission. The RWB has always been a touring company, though perhaps it tours a little less now than 4-5 years ago. Ballet Jorgen and Atlantic Ballet Theatre are quintessentially touring companies, playing smaller venues that the bigger companies are never likely to visit. What's really interesting to me, and this is surely a topic for another forum, is that Canadian ballet companies never visit Winnipeg. The National Ballet visits Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia every other year, Alberta Ballet tours B.C. and Saskatchewan, Ballet BC tours Western Canada periodically, Atlantic Ballet visits smaller cities in Quebec, Alberta and B.C. in addition to playing the Atlantic provinces, and Ballet Jorgen plays smaller venues throughout Canada, but the RWB seems to have some sort of quarantine wall around Winnipeg that prevents the others from visiting. This can't be a good thing for students of its school, who only ever see their parent company live. And no, you're not likely to see many of them on television. The last one to get an airing on the CBC before it gave up on the performing arts was Alberta Ballet, which has managed to produce two DVDs in the last year, just under the wire, I think. As for the others, most of their programs are sitting in CBC vaults, not likely to be released commerically in the near future and likely to pop up on Bravo or Artv only when Canadian Content quotas need to be met.

The other day I received an audience questionnaire from the Paris Opera. It was very nice of them to ask, though in light of the fact that I'm not likely to visit Paris all that frequently, I can't pretend to be a typical patron. Still, it got me to thinking about the audience questionnaires I've filled out in recent years, and I'm curious about the experiences of other BTers. For example: Do you think audience surveys are worthwhile, or do they lead to pandering on the part of arts organizations? Do you think that arts institutions actually pay attention to the results of such surveys, or do other factors predominate in programming? Put it another way: do some companies choose repertoire in spite of what surveys and box office receipts tell them; is this a good thing? Have your requests or suggestions been heeded? Do theatres really need to ask whether audiences prefer Italian opera to German opera?

Another report on the same program: http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/culture/0,,4194542...t-sa-mort-.html Much the same, including sound bites from Pech and Bélingard, though this report shows a bit more of Clairemarie Osta in Sacre.

The France 2 link up top no longer leads to the Raymonda report, but you can still pull it up here.

I think it's more practical than mere "cosmetic fudge." Sorry if I chose a poor illustration. I just meant that filming a New York company outside New York doesn't change the New York-centric nature of Dance in America. I don't doubt that the other houses may be easier to film in. Undoubtedly the Met has been able to capitalize on the decades-old habit of tuning in to an opera on Saturday afternoons. For regular listeners, being able to see what they'd been listening to all these years was obviously very exciting and a natural progression. The fact that star singers are also familiar to audiences because of radio is something choreographers and dancers can't hope to compete with.

The Hamburg Ballet recently mounted Pierre Lacotte's La Sylphide. The following clips feature Hélène Bouchet as the Sylph, Thiago Bordin as James, Sébastien Thill as Madge and Carolina Agüero as Effie. http://www.hamburgballett.de/video/sylphide.html

Behind-the-scenes goodies on the broadcast of Raymonda http://culturebox.france3.fr/raymonda

The matter of producing DVDs is still closely tied to the issue of television broadcasts. To date the POB and the RB haven't issued any recent performances that weren't taped for television first. As long as PBS limits itself to a single ballet broadcast per year, which will be the San Francisco Ballet this Christmas, you won't get more than a single DVD out of the bargain. And to further complicate things, PBS often relies on foreign broadcasters to help do its work, hence Jewels from the Paris Opera aired under the "Dance in America" banner. The "Dance in America" series also showcases other forms on dance, leading to a very paltry presence for ballet. DEMCAD may not like my opinion, but relatively speaking I think that ABT is overrepresented on PBS. When was the last time you saw PNB, Miami City Ballet, Houston Ballet or Boston Ballet on "Great Performances"? It's supposed to be "Dance in America," not "Dance in New York." The fact that PBS tapes ABT performances in D.C. or Costa Mesa is a cosmetic fudge. The Metropolitan Opera managed to circumvent the problem of reduced PBS broadcasts by going directly into movie theatres. I don't know who pays the production costs of those simulcasts, but PBS has certainly been happy to air the programs subsequently. Strangely enough, there are now more Met broadcasts on PBS than ever before, and these broadcasts are making their way to DVD. Potentially, ballet companies could do the same. Unfortunately, the Met broadcasts have been so successful, that no one else can elbow their way in. Between the live broadcasts and their repeat showings, most weekends are already booked. Still, the fact that ABT's Met season starts after the opera season's finished creates a window of opportunity, if movie theatres could be convinced that there's an audience for ballet out there, and I'm not sure that's the case. For two seasons now, primarily during the Met's hiatus, one of the movie chains in Canada has been showing opera and ballet performances from the Opus Arte catalogue of (mostly) future releases, predominantly from the Royal Opera in London. What's telling is that while the opera screenings are shown on both Saturdays and Sundays, the ballet screenings show on Saturdays only, suggesting that their audience is smaller. Given that track record, I don't know that movie theatres would be willing to take a chance on live ABT broadcasts from the Met, much less live NYCB broadcasts from the State Theater or any other American ballet company.

Here's revisionism for you: a report from French television on The Nutcracker as performed by the National Circus of China. http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/culture/musique/0,...-noisette-.html

Milwaukee Ballet is offering discounted children's tickets for about half of its performances, which would imply that ticket sales for those shows are slow. http://www.milwaukeeballet.org/nutcracker08.html

The Paris Opera has posted an excerpt with Gillot and Martinez on its web site. Judging by this, I'm glad that this cast is being filmed, because what's lacking on DVD is a great Jean de Brienne, and Martinez may be it. http://www.operadeparis.fr/Saison-2008-200...768&IdS=549

Yesterday the POB opened its all-Béjart program and France 2 news is already reporting on it today. Nice turnover. The report includes comments from Jérémie Bélingard and Benjamin Pech. Skip ahead to 32 minutes past the hour. The menu on the right doesn't seem to be synchronized correctly, so click on the preceding segment. http://jt.france2.fr/player/20h/index-fr.php?jt=20081210 Or, since these clips tend to disappear after a week, try this link.

In the early 1990s I saw the Ballett des Gärtnerplatzes perform a version, but it was more Tanztheater than ballet. You'd think I'd be able to remember the choreographer, but I can't, nor can I find the program. John Neumeier choreographed a full-length Peer Gynt, but it's set to a score by Alfred Schnittke.

As I recall, those of us who saw this performance in cinemas last year were similarly surprised. I wonder whether the set loses something in translation to a two-dimensional screen. Having seen the performance on both movie and TV screen, I've reconciled myself to the set because the quality of the dancing compensates for it. But that's multiple viewings talking.

TFO, Ontario's French-language educational network, will broadcast La Sylphide on Sunday, December 21, at 8:00 p.m. ET. No further details are available at the moment, but since this time slot is generally devoted to performing arts programming from French television, I'm going to assume it's the POB production of Lacotte's staging with Aurélie Dupont and Mathieu Ganio. If I see a spot to the contrary, I'll be sure to post a correction. http://www.tfo.org

Yes, the documentary is fascinating, and Anastasia Yatsenko in particular dances beautifully. But, oh my, the portrait of Nikolai Tsiskaridze that emerges is not flattering. Most of all I was happy that a complete performances of Misericordes was included. Much as I love dance documentaries, my greatest frustration is not being able to see ballets in their entirety, so thanks to the makers for showing us the finished product.

If this has already been mentioned elsewhere, my apologies. Jerome Robbins will finally get the Amercian Masters treatment on Wednesday, February 18, 2009. http://www.thirteen.org/pressroom/pdf/am/j...romeRobbins.pdf http://www.thirteen.org/pressroom/pdf/am/j...utTheArtist.pdf http://www.thirteen.org/pressroom/photo.php?get=3137

Here's a report on the current run of Raymonda from France 2 evening news. Skip ahead to 33 minutes past the hour. There are brief comments from Marie-Agnès Gillot and Nicolas Le Riche. I understand that the Gillot/Martinez/Le Riche cast is going to be filmed for television. http://jt.france2.fr/player/20h/index-fr.p...;timeStamp=1978 These are the bits that are always edited out of the 30-minute newscasts I get on TV5 in my neck of the woods. Also, a report from TF1: http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/culture/0,,4183720...-de-paris-.html P.S. Because the ostrich-feather thing never gets old, here's an interview with Zizi Jeanmaire that aired yesterday: http://tf1.lci.fr/infos/culture/musique/0,...souvenirs-.html

WNET has all the answers. Here is a detailed cast list for the performance. http://www.thirteen.org/pressroom/release.php?get=3041 Photos of the production: http://www.thirteen.org/pressroom/photo.php?get=3043

That's not fair, Marc. I didn't say that I reacted to every one of her roles that way. I don't find her Odette-Odile nearly as objectionable. Yes, I have seen her subsequently, and yes, I still think she's tacky. I was simply stating that my first exposure to her Giselle filled me with a revulsion quite unlike any I'd experienced as a ballet viewer.

I still do. So do I. The first time I saw a clip of her Giselle I was momentarily tempted to put my eyes out (but thought better of it and turned the video off instead).

Alberta Ballet premiered its new Nutcracker in British Columbia's capital last weekend, and the presenter, Dance Victoria, is reporting its greatest-ever box office success. Presumably the bases for comparison are the National Ballet of Canada's biennial tours, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet's annual tours and performances by Ballet BC. A reprint from the relevant article in the Victoria Times Colonist: http://www.albertaballet.com/news/press-re...victoria-series Alberta Ballet has spent a lot of money on this production, so I hope it works out for them. P.S. Sales in Calgary are going so well that an extra show has been added. If the company believes it can sell 2,400 more tickets, good for them. http://www.albertaballet.com/news/press-re...show-in-calgary

Here are trailers to the two Nutcrackers that will be screening at Canadian cinemas on Saturday, December 13. National Ballet of Canada, choreography by James Kudelka, at Cineplex-Odeon theatres, 2:00 p.m. ET. http://www.cineplex.com/Movies/MovieDetail...e_Noisette.aspx Accoring to the National Ballet's web site, the scheduled cast is to feature Sonia Rodriguez as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Piotr Stanczyk as Peter/The Nutcracker, Xiao Nan Yu as the Snow Queen, Noah Long and Aarik Wells as her Icicles, Lorna Geddes as Baba and Kevin D. Bowles as Uncle Nikolai. San Francisco Ballet, choreography by Helgi Tomasson, primarily at Empire Theatres, mostly at 1:00 p.m. local time. http://centralsystem.digiscreen.ca/ShowPag...resentation=232 last year's trailer: http://www.digiscreen.ca/nutcracker/digiscreen.html The cast features Damian Smith as Drosselmeyer, Elizabeth Powell as Clara, Maria Kochetkova as Clara in the grand pas de deux, Davit Karapetyan as the Nutcracker Prince, David Arce as the Mouse King, Yuan Yuan Tan as the Snow Queen, Pierre-François Vilanoba as the Snow King, Vanessa Zahorian as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Sarah Van Patten as the Genie, Nicolas Blanc in the Chinese dance and Pascal Molat as the lead Russian dancer.