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I agree about Maxwell @BalanchineFan. She and Coll really created an emotional narrative in the Fancy Free pas. I find both Maxwell and Emma VE to be more compelling, accomplished and consistently interesting than some of the current principals. The program began with a Stars and Stripes excerpt done by the SAB advanced class, rehearsed by Suki Schorer. I hope the young dancers had as much fun doing it as I had watching. They were bursting with energy. All the excerpts were well done and there was quite a range. Stand outs for me, other than Emma VE and Maxwell, were Huxley's excerpt from Opus 19/The Dreamer and Laracey & Stanley in the Symphony in 3 pas. The musical sensitivity brought to those pieces was lovely. Ballets represented were: Stars & Stripes, Opus 19/The Dreamer, Symphony in 3, In the Night, Fancy Free, Liebslieder, The Concert and Ballo." Stirling Hyltin was a disarmingly charming host and Suki Schorer was brought on to say a few words.

I just got back from Inside New York City Ballet: Mr. B. & Jerry. It was delightful, and I have some thoughts to share later. For now I have to mention the final piece was the principal woman's solo from Ballo Della Regina danced by Emma Von Enck. WOW. Fast, articulate, joyful, breathtaking. She is made for this role and is ready.

I believe you've summed things up pretty well @cobweb. Fairchild is indeed a fine dancer who delivers, as you say, sparkling performances but she is never going to surprise me with her imagination or musicality. I'm eager to see Tiler Peck in Ballo, not only because I've never seen her do it, but because she will bring something unique and special to it. Relinquishing roles is an interesting piece of things. Sterling Hyltin spoke of this in interviews as she was retiring. Mearns (as stated in social media) has relinquished Lilac Fairy and Dew Drop, Fairchild - Dewdrop. My feeling is that dancers have roles and respect is given for seniority. For example (again stated on social media) Fairchild could have dropped Dewdrop from her rep this past Dec. but chose to perform it one more year. I too find E. Von Enck, Maxwell, Kikta more compelling dancers that some of the principals. As for Laracey, I've said this before but I think they should have made her a principal, even though she probably doesn't have a lot of years left, and let Gerrity and LaFreniere mature as artists for a couple of years. I haven't seen any shows yet this season, and am really looking forward to next week. Thank you all who post reviews!

I'm on board with that. I'm seeing it on Thursday, can't wait. I hope Mejia stays healthy.

I don't disagree, at the same time we don't know exactly what she was asked, and how her answers were edited. I assume it was a much longer interview that was sliced and diced to create what is perceived to be most interesting to readers.

I read the book, admittedly skimming some parts, and agree. She devotes pages and pages of context to some events/ideas, and barely any context to others.

This made me laugh, and I so agree. I live walking distance from Lincoln Center and I still feel that way. I believe NYCB is thinking about performance times. I received, as did many of you I'm sure, a NYCB survey asking what days/times I most wanted to attend. performances, and what days I'd go to matinees. I wonder if they are thinking of changing things up. A number of performance venues seem to be moving start times earlier that 8pm.

To me the music itself was slow, and one point the rehearsal director pushed the pianist to go faster. There is no way to know who set/asked for a particular tempo, but many things could be at play. Perhaps it's the first run-through, or there was a need to work on a particular coordination, or ports de bras.Whatever the reason it wasn't performance tempo and at some point the pianist was asked to go faster. I don't think that means anyone was at fault.

Thank. you abatt and matilda. If there are 6 performances of Ballo there are several possibilities with Fairchild, Peck and perhaps Woodward. My guess is Emma VE will do one of the solo roles. Still I have hope she'll be given a shot at principal On another note, Fairchild's rehearsal post on intagram was noticeably under tempo. I heard the rehearsal director pushing the pianist to go faster.

Has Tiler Peck done Ballo in the past? I don't remember her being cast in it, but I could be wrong.

I'd love to see Emma Von Enck tackle this role.

Thank you Volcanohunter, for posting this. A very interesting interview. Cojocaru is a very thoughtful person and artist.

I have hope for that! I saw one of her pieces on the program she presented in City Center, and two of them at Vail. In my opinion they were well constructed, musical and used ballet vocabulary well. I wouldn't say they were memorable, but she has craft and musicality. That's promising in my book.

Interesting article. I'm a big fan of Cojocaru and her ability to create a world on stage. I was a bit surprise to see a piece on her in the NYTimes, since no plans to perform in the USA were mentioned.

I'm not excited about the first week, but I'm very happy to see that Mearns is back. I wonder if Bouder will be cast in Liebeslieder.

New York also has a few Nutcracker options that are popular even though not performed by major companies. New York Theatre Ballet does a Nutcracker that is short and very suitable for antsy young children. New York City Children's Theater also does a short one, that's interactive. There are others. They are in smaller venues, so kids are up close, and have fairly cheap tickets. Sometimes as low as $12. I'm just saying that people with kids are sometimes looking to give them a taste of Nutcracker specifically geared for children that won't break the bank.

Sarah Lane is a quality dancer. I'm sorry she isn't with a company. She's made her own decisions for whatever reasons.

My understanding is that the younger children are those who are able to commute, and enroll in the SAB at an early age. There is weeding out, and dropping out process and only some of them move on to the pre-professional division. There they are joined by students from summer intensives who have been invited to stay the year.

Many students are pretty advanced in their training before starting at SAB. There are dancers in the company who were comp kids, (Mearns is one), however they weren't recruited or given scholarships via competitions. The way into SAB is by auditioning for the summer intensive and being invited to stay the year. The amount of time spent at SAB before being asked to be an apprentice varies. Sometimes it's short. There are also a few company members who grew up in the NYC area, and went all the way through the school. I believe Ashley Hod received most of her training at SAB. In any event NYCB doesn't recruit from competitions the way some other companies do.

I saw the movie today. So many good points have been already been made. I'll just add a few thoughts. I enjoyed it and think it's worth seeing, but ultimately found it a bit unsatisfying. As others have said, it is film about Bernstein's relationship with his wife Felicia. A relationship made complex because he was gay and she always knew it. The flaw in the film, for me, was that there was no deep dive into Bernstein as a person, other than his sexual orientation. Felicia was the a way more complex character, and Carey Mulligan gave a wonderful performance. The movie ended rather abruptly, which I guess makes sense, since it was about their marriage. Once Felicia was no longer there, there wasn't much to do but show Bernstein working, flirting with men and partying. Still, all and all, an intriguing movie.

Thanks for this review BalanchineFan. I'm always glad when Ulbricht is allowed to expand beyond the Candy Cane type roles.

India Bradley did an episode of the podcast, Conversations on Dance, a couple of years ago and spoke about mother's background, as well has her own early training.

Debra Austin was a wonderful dancer. It's not Balanchine but I love her performance of La Sylphide at Pennsylvania Ballet. Here's one short example. There are other longer excerpts on youtube.

Wendy Whelan gave quite a shout out to India Bradley on instagram after her dewdrop performance. "the Nutcracker just birthed an exciting new #dewdrop" https://www.instagram.com/p/C0r8a8hpLcW/?img_index=1

Thank you for this report. I've been a fan of Laracey's for a long time. She is amazingly consistant it the radiance, grace and beauty she brings to every role she does. IMO she should have been promoted to principal with the last batch.