Estelle

She played in a recent (French) movie by Cédric Kahn, called "Les poupées russes" (IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0409184/). I haven't seen it, but it was quite successful recently at the French box office.

It reminds me of an anecdote: when my husband and I saw "Dances at a Gathering" a few years ago performed by the NYCB at the Edinburgh Festival, at one point he somewhat naively asked me "was the score composed on purpose for the ballet ?"

cygneblanc, is it the photograph which is there (with a couple of dancers) ? http://www.lesetesdeladanse.com/fr/presentation/index.html From what I've seen on another site, it is Yuan Yuan Tan and Yuri Possokhov. There's also a tiny photograph of a dancer in a red tutu there: http://www.parisinfo.com/rub988.html?OTCP_..._type=evenement The official site of the festival announces that the audience of the cancelled performance of July 7th will get free tickets for a new performance on July 14th (I wonder what they have planned for the people who can't attend a performance on that day- a lot of people are likely to go on vacation in this period...) and that those of the cancelled performance of July 8th will get their money back. Also a new performance of the Balanchine-Tomasson program will be scheduled on July 16 at 3:30 PM.

Thanks BalletNut! Some other reviews: -by Debra Craine in the Times: http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/pri...1687160,00.html -by Jenny Gilbert in the Independent: http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/theatre...ticle298168.ece It's a pity the organizers haven't thought about a way to protect the audience from the potential bad weather: having some rain in July isn't very surprising, I remember a performance in the Cour du Palais-Royal which was interrupted by a very rainy and stormy weather (lightning, thunder, strong winds... It even broke my umbrella when I was on my way to the metro), and fortunately it was a cheaper ticket (the SFB performances are quite expensive- the cheapest tickets are at 25 euros- considering that it uses recorded music, and that the POB is performing in both of its theaters in the same period with orchestras and some cheaper tickets- this is not meant to criticize the organizers, as they can't rely on public subsidies, but I wonder if they managed to sell enough tickets in such circumstances !)

The previous thread about the same topic is there: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=19849 In order to prevent having two threads about the same topic, I'm going to close this one.

Thanks for the link, BalletNut. Unfortunately, there probably won't be many available reviews in French of that tour, as the French press often pays so little attention to ballet (and some of the few newspapers who do publish ballet reviews, like "Le Figaro", generally don't put them on their web site ) One small article on yahoo.fr: http://fr.news.yahoo.com/050706/202/4hott.html An introductive article in "Les Echos" (financial newspapers): http://www.lesechos.fr/info/rew_loisirs/4280428.htm There are also the following articles on danceinsider.com: http://www.danceinsider.com/f2005/f0706_1.html http://www.danceinsider.com/chevalier/c070805.html Unfortunately, I won't be able to attend any SFB performance (I had originally planned to go to Paris this week-end for other reasons, and hoped that maybe I could get a last minute ticket, but had to cancel my Paris trip because of an ankle problem). They haven't been lucky with the weather: it has been quite cold and rainy in Paris recently, and one performance was cancelled because the temperature was too cold.

It seems that the Ballet Gulbenkian, one of the main Portuguese dance companies, created in 1965 (I think that now its repertory included mostly modern/ contemporary works) has just stopped functioning (thanks to ballet.co for the links): http://www.ecotopiadance.com/2/biographien2_de.htm The website of the company doesn't seem to have been updated yet: http://www.musica.gulbenkian.pt/ballet/ There is something about it on the site of the Gulbenkian Foundation, which finances the company (and many other cultural institutions in Portugal). But it is only in Portuguese, and I don't speak Portuguese: http://www.gulbenkian.pt/noticias/destaque...id=329&lingua=1 Also there's the following brief article in Spanish,which says that the demise of the dance company is part of a "restructuration" because of the changes of the dance scene in Portugal. http://actualidad.terra.es/cultura/articul...kian_387426.htm [edited to add] It also seems that the Ballet of Saragossa (Zaragoza, Spain) ceased existing a few months ago. Its web site isn't active any longer. That's really sad for the audiences, and also for all the unemployed dancers. The only articles about it that I've found so far are some articles iin Spanish: http://www.elperiodicodearagon.com/noticia...asp?pkid=165574 The mayor of Zaragoza, Mr Belloch, decided in February that the company would be dissolved at the end of June, saying that the company didn't earn enough money and cost too much. http://www.20minutos.es/carta/10804/0/BELLOCH/BALLET/CARTA/ An open letter from the choreographer Mauricio Wainrot to Mr Belloch.

(Actually it's bleu, blanc, rouge: blue, white and red )

You're welcome ! I'm stuck at home with a sprained ankle (nothing dramatic, but not the most convenient way to start one's vacations) so I had enough time to spend on google... The reviews made me regret I never saw Shannon Lilly on stage. Now I'm just wondering about where she is. Anyway, she had a busy career

King, I don't know if you're still looking for all those people, but : -the following page lists Clyde Nantais as the executive director of the Boston Dance Company: http://www.bostondancecompany.org/id4.html -Alphonse Poulin is listed as a faculty member of the Julliard School (and also teacher for various companies): http://www.juilliard.edu/update/journal/po...504_Poulin.html -Sanson Candelaria used to dance with the Ballets Trockadero de Monte-Carlo, and unfortunately seems to have passed away in 1986 (a search in the catalog of the New York Public Library list obituaries for him in December 1986 in "Dance and dancers" and February 1987 in "Dance Magazine"). -Dee Dee Weathers is listed as a ballet teacher at Higher Ground Dance and Pilates, Anaheim, California: http://highergrounddance.com/faculty.html and she performed in several films: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0915770/ -cydney spohn is listed as a board advisor of the North Carolina School of the Arts: http://www.ncarts.edu/ncsaprod/kenan/boards.asp and is a faculty member of Akron University: http://www3.uakron.edu/dtaa/faculty_staff.htm -Gregory Schramel (former Miami City Ballet soloist) and Marjorie Hardwick (husband and wife) founded the New Orleans Ballet Theater in 2003 ; however I couldn't find a web site for the company: http://publications.neworleans.com/no_maga...eatReports.html http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2003-06-10/hot.html -Leslie Jonas stopped dancing at 34, graduated from Brown University and is now is a graphic designer: http://www.gdusa.com/people/2_01.php http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2004-06-08/hot.html -David Bushman performs as a dancer and singer: http://www.agencegoodwin.com/en/bushman-d.html -Elaine Bauer is listed among the staff of the PNB school: http://www.pnb.org/pnbschool/staff.html -Tracy Owens is listed on that page but I don't understand what the page is (the top is in Dutch), I think it's a list of teachers: http://www.euronet.nl/~hjs/n4/docenten.htm

Thanks to google I found the following page on the site of the Danville Ballet Company (a pre-professional company of the Bay Area): http://www.danvilleballet.org/Pages/guests...ly-simpson.html Ms Shannon Lilly-Simpson is listed among their guest artists; it says she joined the Northern Ballet Theatre (in UK) in 1994 and then the Diablo Ballet (California) in 1997, the it seems that she went back to the NBT (I found some reviews on ballet.co.uk listing Ms Lilly-Simpson among NBT performers in 1998 and 1999). Also on the NBT web site, it is written that "[Nicola Cross] is now living in London with fellow ex-Northern Ballet Theatre dancer Konrad Simpson" so I guess it means the couple separated. [edited after some further web-research] It seems that between 1999 and 2004, Shannon Lilly danced with the French company "Ballet du Rhin", as I found her name in the following reviews: -in April 2000: http://www.alsapresse.com/jdj/00/04/11/SA/2/article_15.html -in June 2001: http://www.humanite.fr/journal/2001-06-04/2001-06-04-245277 -in April 2003: http://www.alsapresse.com/jdj/03/04/24/MU/9/article_50.html -in May 2003: http://www.ballet.co.uk/magazines/yr_03/ju...u_rhin_0503.htm (diary of Maina Gielgud) http://www.ballet.co.uk/weblogs/gielgud/archives/000012.html http://www.ballet.co.uk/weblogs/gielgud/archives/000006.html -in October 2003 : http://www.humanite.presse.fr/journal/2003...03-10-21-381012 However, she isn't listed amond the present dancers of the Ballet du Rhin. But SharonF, you might try to contact the Ballet du Rhink by email (ballet@onr.fr), since she still was there in the 2003-2004 season and so they might know where she is now.

Yes, the company's policy seems to have changed gradually in recent years; it seems to me that all the POB dancers used to be hired directly from the school, except a few (e.g. Ghislaine Thesmar who was hired directly as a principal or Michael Denard who was hired during a special audition open to exterior dancers), while now there seem to be every years two auditions: one which is only for the POB students, but offers fewer positions than before, and one which is open for anybody, which offers sometimes one steady position or more (it was the case this year for Ms Pagliero) and some surnuméraires positions (the number seems to vary depending on the needs of corps de ballet for the season). The surnuméraires only have a one-year contract, but they sometimes manage to get into the company later (but I don't know what is the procedure to integrate them into the company). For example Nicolas Le Riche started as a surnuméraire (I remember some interviews in which he said it had been a bit hard for his pride at first !) as he was 6th and there were 5 positions that year (the ranking was the following: 1- Martinez, 2- Bart, 3- Duquenne, 4- Guerri, 5- Bridard. Not a bad year for the school )

cygneblanc: how many surnuméraires of each gender got a position ? And do you know which girls will choose to repeat a year ? Allister Maddin's low ranking is a bit sad considering that he received so many positive reviews at the school performances (but I never saw all those students, alas, having not seen the school performances in recent years...)

Yes, we agree about that. I wouldn't like the debate to sound like a question of French chauvinism ;) I wonder which proportion of former POB students get jobs in other companies, and which proportion completely give up dance. In recent years, there were for example Mehdi Angot who now is in the corps de ballet of the English National Ballet, Béryl de Saint-Sauveur and Maxime Thomas now are in the corps de ballet of the Scala of Milan, and also Fabrice Calmels (a bit older) who now dances with the Joffrey Ballet, but I haven't heard much about the others.

I think that the citizenship issue and the schooling issue are a bit different: I don't think that the country of origin of a dancer is a problem (after all there have been many examples of brilliant dancers from abroad, e.g. Eleonora Abbagnato or José Martinez recently), while the schooling is more important (though one could also mention some famous POB dancers who were not trained at the POB school, like Michaël Denard or Ghislaine Thesmar). Also I agree that it is not very logical to train a lot of dancers and then to offer them almost no positions. Of course there are some other companies than the POB (and sometimes I find it a bit sad that most of the POB students seem to have the POB as their only purpose in life and no "plan B" in case they don't get there) but unfortunately, as there are fewer and fewer ballet companies in France, there also are fewer and fewer positions, and so the dancers either have to join modern/contemporary dance companies, or to go abroad (and then one might question the reason for all the subsidies given to the school by the state). It would be interesting to know more about the hiring policy of the school in the last decades: how many POB school students were hired by the company directly, how many competitors there were each year, how many positions of "surnuméraires" were offered, how many surnuméraires got permanent jobs with the company, etc. It seems to me (but perhaps it's a wrong impression- I don't follow the company closely) that in recent years there have been fewer steady positions and more surnuméraire jobs; I don't know if it is just a consequence of the number of retirements each year, or if it is a deliberate policy... The retirement age reform seems to have been unfortunate from that point of view- on the other hand, I don't think that it would have been logical to continue with such a difference in retirement age, and anyway it was considered as gender discrimination by some court... Perhaps the POB direction should have asked for some extra budget to get one or two extra jobs for the new students each year ? Of course this could cost a bit, but for example they did manage to find some extra money to give former director Hugues Gall his salary for several months (I've read the total was about 180000 euros for six months) after he actually stopped working (for some complicated matters of pension), so when there's a will there's a way...

Thanks. One job for six competitors, that was a tough year ! Could you precise what you mean by "taking some girls from abroad" ? Do you mean that some dancers who were not trained at the school were offered positions ?

Thanks for the results, cygneblanc ! Could you tell us how many competitors there were for each gender ? It is frustrating to see that so few positions were available; I guess that for the girls, the fact that female dancers now can retire at 42 instead of 40 perhaps is one of the causes of the scarcity of positions (I don't criticize the reform itself, as such a difference of retirement age between men and women was not logical, but it is a bit sad if it means that some girls have to be "sacrified" during the transitional period). Also do you know how many one-year contracts of "surnuméraires" will be available today ?

http://www.sfballet.org/performances/nutcr...snow_queen.aspx The link above includes a photo of her as the Snow Queen in the first production of the SFB's "Nutcracker" in 1944 (and also an interview). http://www.voiceofdance.com/Insights/featu...000000000000137 That article mentions that her career at SFB started in 1938 (but it doesn't say at which age). [Edited to add the following:] http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/schools/lhssp43.htm There's a Jocelyn Vollmar listed among the Lowell High School (San Francisco) graduates of 1943.

Hi AgnesY, and welcome to Ballet Talk ! A POB tour to China is indeed announced on Manuel Legris' website: he'll perform in Pékin (Beijing) on Sept 16-17 ("L'Arlésienne" with Clairemarie Osta) and in Shanghai on Sept 22-23 ("L'Arlésienne" with Isabelle Ciaravola). It's a bit difficult to find some detailed information about that tour. One page on the site of the French minister of Culture says that the program in Beijing will include Lifar's "Suite en Blanc" (which hasn't been performed in Paris for a while), Petit's "L'Arlésienne" and Béjart's "Boléro", while another page lists "Giselle" instead of "Suite en Blanc". The theaters are listed as "Grand Hall du Peuple" in Beijing (Sept 16-17) and "Grand théâtre de Shanghai" in Shanghai (Sept 22-25). I hope this helps ! [Oops, my post was written at the same time as Azulynn's].

Now both of you are making me feel jealous ! :grinning-smiley-001: But I'm happy to read that Elisabeth Maurin had the great farewell performance that she deserved. I remember that a few years ago poor Carole Arbo had such a poor farewell performance, dancing only a short work in the middle of a mixed bill (while in general farewell performances are in full-length works with big roles, like Juliet, Giselle, La Sylphide...) At least this time it was a great moment for the dancer and tje aidoe,ce/

Here are a few links about Lifar: (in French) http://www.cndp.fr/balletrusse/portraits/lifar.htm http://www.danceworksonline.co.uk/sidesteps/people/lifar.htm http://www.abt.org/education/archive/chore...rs/lifar_s.html (in French) http://www.universalis.fr/corpus.php?dref=255&nref=T400811 Unfortunately, very few of his choreographies still are performed. The Paris Opera Ballet, which he had directed for years, hasn't performed anything by him for years (I think the last work of him that was performed was "Suite en Blanc" around 1996 or 1997, plus something during a homage to Chauviré a bit later), except by the POB school. He was born in 1905, but no homage was done for the 100th anniversary of his birth, and I don't think anything is planned for the 20th anniversary of this death in 2006. He was indeed a controversial character with a huge ego and a tendancy to cast himself a lot (well, from that point of view there were some similarities with another Russian POB director a few decades later :grinning-smiley-001: ) and there still are debates about his attitude during WWII, but he undoubtedly improved the level of the company and I find it very sad that his heritage is neglected so much.

Some casts for the Roland Petit program have been changed on the POB web site: Eleonora Abbagnato will dance the first performances of Carmen with Nicolas Le Riche (instead of Clairemarie Osta- who is still listed for some further performances) and Aurélie Dupont and Manuel Legris aren't listed any longer. for "Carmen". Lucia Lacarra will be partnered by José Martinez.

Thanks for sharing your impressions with us, cygneblanc. It must have been a very moving evening ! Did Manuel Legris also attend the program (he's injured but could have been in the audience) ? And also, what was the audience's reaction ?

Really? Is that what it means. I see... I asked my French teacher and she said it litterally means "Flower of the Flour" and doesn't make sense. She's an idiot lol. Neways, thanks of the info. "Fleur de farine" does indeed literally mean "flower of the flour", and it means a very white flour. It's a somewhat archaic term (it can be found in some translations of the Bible for example) so it's not very surprising that your teacher didn't understand it, especially as she's not supposed to be a ballet expert.

Oh, I regret so much having never seen Loudières and Legris in that ballet (and also in many other ballets)... And I only saw Platel in her farewell performance, and it was a great evening. It is a good thing that the POB seems to want to film more performances now, but it's a pity that a whole generation of dancers isn't shown much in videos (e.g. almost nothing with Elisabeth Maurin, only "Les Noces" and Gamzatti for Platel, only Pétrouchka and R & J for Loudières, etc.)