volcanohunter

Today, March 1st, at 19:45 CET (1:45 pm Eastern), La Scala Ballet will stream Manuel Legris' production of Le Corsaire. The cost is €9.90 for HD and €11.90 for Ultra HD. The stream will be available for a week, and each rental has a 72-hour viewing window. https://lascala.tv/en Streams of Giselle, Mauro Bigonzetti's Madina and Legris' Sylvia are also available to rent for €4.90. P.S. I have to wonder how Legris is spending the company's money. He replaced the Makarova Bayadère with the Nureyev production. Now he has replaced the (imperfect) Holmes Corsaire with his own (imperfect) production. There's no compelling reason to do this, but I suppose he earns staging and choreographer fees.

Exactly. The last run of Sleeping Beauty before the pandemic was also a bit ragged, though I thought the one before that was excellent. Symphony in C will also be a big test. Etudes is more straightforward and possibly less pretentious. Suite en Blanc is more "artistic" and the music is more sophisticated. It also has a lot more soloist roles, there basically is no corps; everyone gets a demi-soloist role at minimum. Both ballets coexist just fine at the Paris Opera Ballet.

Suite en Blanc is very demanding technically, and since the company's technical standards have slipped conspicuously over the past five years or so, I suspect the ballet is intended to get them back up.

I agree. There are no dud programs. I'm not the biggest fan of Alice's Adventures, but it is a chance to see Svetlana Lunkina's zany Queen of Hearts. I am a little worried about whether the company has enough convincing Basilios. Since I have to travel for the performances, I am sorry there is a big gap between Don Quixote and Jewels.

When I read the plot of Of Love and Rage, I suspected it might not be to the liking of Hope Muir. She did attend the New York premiere, so whatever she decides, it will be based on first-hand experience.

Ratmansky’s Of Love and Rage is notably absent. Onegin hasn't been done in Toronto since 2016. The previous production of Don Quixote was last presented a really long time ago. And to be honest, I'd much rather see Helen Pickett's one-act take on Madame Bovary, than Cathy Marston's full-length Victoria, which was canceled by Covid.

The parade of legends: 2023 https://www.instagram.com/reel/Co94lNCoXJ5/

A photo of the défilé today at a gala honoring the memory of Patrick Dupond. The company and school were joined on stage by almost 40 retired étoiles.

Ratmansky's version of the "finger fairy" variation, based on the notations from 1903 (if I'm not mistaken), includes the pointed index fingers, so it's safe to assume they've been part of the choreography all along. One of the differences in Ratmansky's staging is the sequence where the fairy extends her arms to her right four times going from low to high (and then repeats). In Ratmansky's version the elbows are bent and the hands remain at shoulder height every time.

I'm pretty sure Google is mistaken. By the time The Sleeping Beauty reached the Paris Opera, it had been running on electrical power for a long time. More likely Petipa was inspired by the recent electrification of the Mariinsky Theater.

It's symbolic of an electric current.

The Vienna State Ballet livestreamed this program in January 2022, and it was terrific.

A reminder that the Pacific Northwest Ballet stream of Giselle is available until 20 February. The cost is $35. https://order.pnb.org/23-digital/giselle

Wiebke Hüster is similarly unimpressed by Goecke's apology. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/16/hanover-state-opera-ends-contract-marco-goecke-ballet-director-dog-faeces-incident The excrement came from Goecke's unwitting dachshund.

Michaël Denard has died at the age of 78.

I'm not surprised. My guess would be that ticket sales are up. People are probably curious to see what the fuss was about. To me this is a non-apology. In effect, "but she's a bigger bitch than I am" or "she made me do it." https://www.ndt.nl/content/uploads/2023/02/STATEMENT-UND-ENTSCHULDIGUNG-VON-MARCO-GOECKE-ZUM-VORFALL-AM-11.2.23-IN-DER-STAATSOPER-HANNOVER.pdf

The Bavarian State Ballet has decided not to dump Goecke's works.

This is a really good point. And at some performances I've attended, there haven't been physical tickets. Furthermore, if the ticket is on the Ticketmaster app, it's impossible to take a screenshot of the barcode for quicker retrieval, and I've been in a situation, where the code stubbornly refused to be scanned. I guess we're expected to ask for group selfies instead of autographs now.

A figure-skating version of The Snow Queen with Laura Lepistö in the title role and 50-somethings Susanna Rahkamo and Petri Kokko as the wizards. English subtitles for the Finnish narration can be turned on. Available until 9 April 2023.

PNB is having a flash sale for the March 23rd performance of the Boundless program.

I'm assuming it was an act of premeditated hooliganism. A new production was premiering that night, so Goecke had good reason to believe that the FAZ critic would be there.

Bringing a bag of dog poo into a theater foyer doesn't exactly sound like an "impulsive" action. Did he happen to see the critic entering the theater as he was walking his dog and decide, "alright, I'll show her!"? (Can we cancel his twitchy ballets while we're at it? )

Verdi's Falstaff from Florence, with John Eliot Gardiner conducting. The production by Sven-Eric Bechtolf stars Nicola Alaimo as John Falstaff, Ailyn Perez as Alice Ford and Sara Mingardo as Mrs. Quickly. The video is available on demand until 10 June 2023.

Ratmansky's version of Carabosse is completely devoid of glamour, though. It's not difficult to understand why no one would invite her to a christening, she's more witch than fairy. I think the shift to a Carabosse played by a young, glamorous woman has underscored her almost membership in the sorority of fairy godmothers and why she is so bitter about being excluded.

Generally speaking, the male Carabosses I've seen have come across as merely grotesque, more caricature than character. Marcia Haydée's is perhaps a bit different. She devised the role for Richard Cragun, and it has more of a glamorous drag queen tinge.