Francis Timlin

Ballet West's 50th anniversary season is 2013-14.

Here is a link to the 2010-11 OBT season: http://www.obt.org/10-11/index.html It's obscured by a busy design on the home page.

You are correct -- Russian is the single holdover from the last Lew Christensen production.

Here is a link to the Stern Grove website: http://www.sterngrove.org Note that there is a pre-performance lecture at 12:00 noon on performance day (July 27).

The Seattle Times devoted considerable space on Sunday, June 22, 2003 to a series of articles on our new Opera House, opening this Saturday, June 28 as Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/ente...rtainment/mccaw

The program is a triple bill -- comprised of three different ballets from San Francisco Ballet's repertoire. The opener is Allegro Brillante, a 1956 work by George Balanchine set to Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No. 3. There is no plot; the work is brief (13 minutes). The middle work, Waltz Project, was premiered by SFB earlier this season. Choreographed by Peter Martins, it is a collection of 13 different waltzes by as many different composers. The final work on the program is Paquita, a surviving fragment of an otherwise lost work originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and staged for this production by Natalia Makarova. Does this information help?

Yes. If you are in The City that weekend, I highly recommend it.

Yes -- the annual performance at Stern Grove will be held on Sunday, July 27, 2003 at 2:00 p.m. [stern Grove is an outdoor venue in the Sunset District of San Francisco; admission is free, but crowds are enormous. Arrive well before noon to stake out territory.] The program will be Allegro Brillante, Waltz Project (Peter Martins) and Makarova's staging of Paquita.

Yes -- several times. I saw the opening night cast (Noelani Pantastico and Jeffrey Stanton) at dress rehearsal; Patricia Barker and Stanko Milov last Saturday evening; and will return this evening to see Kaori Nakamura and Olivier Wevers. As I mentioned when this production was first acquired by PNB from English National Ballet a couple of seasons ago, I think we are very fortunate to have such a production and the depth of company members to bring it to performance with relative ease. The entire company is performing at such a consistently high level right now that is a pleasure to see all of the casts on offer.

Here is the author's biographical information: http://music.uoregon.edu/About/bios/smithm.html

Incidentally, there will be a *25th* anniversary "roast" for Kent and Francia in April (1977-78 through 2002-03). (Patty's gala was for her *20th*) Cheers!

You might have had that impression because there was a gala presented to celebrate her 20th anniversary with the company (1981-2001). However, she is performing at the height of her powers -- retirement would be altogether premature. Next season's programming has been planned to honor Mr. Balanchine and is balanced heavily in favor of Ms. Barker's best repertoire. It is also the opening of our new performance hall, with galas and special programming -- I am reasonably sure that she plans to be there. She has always been and continues to be one of the hardest working, most committed members of the company.

Happy to oblige! This is a marvelous program -- so much so that I will be returning to see two other casts later this week. I think that the juxtaposition of "Paquita" and "Theme" was a brilliant programming choice. Mr. Campbell is correct in describing it as "didactic without appearing so." The Saturday, February 1 performance featured one young principal (Carrie Imler) paired with a young soloist (Casey Herd) in "Paquita." Ms. Imler, CPYB and PNB trained, is a turner and has rock-solid balance. I counted (yes -- I count!) 34 fouettes (including doubles as ending flourishes) with no hint of traveling. Mr. Herd is a jumper and executed his solos well. I am sure that he will grow as a partner. There were some cast shifts among the soloists due to an injury that occurred on opening night, with some resulting unevenness in quality which should also smooth out during the second week of the run. Louise Nadeau and Jeffrey Stanton were well matched in the "Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux." Ms. Nadeau has grown is stature as an artist as she has matured. Her performance appeared to be weightless, effortless and possessed of a very French effervescence -- perhaps as a nod to Violette Verdy. Mr. Stanton is known as one of PNB's most attentive and intuitive partners and did not disappoint. The novelty of the evening was the opportunity to see the "Esmeralda Pas de Deux," set by Kaori Nakamura and Olivier Wevers. Alas, although scheduled, they did not perform last Saturday. (I hope to be able to see them on at least one of the performances this week.) Noelani Pantastico and Astrit Zejnati gave a pleasant and competent performance. The glory of the evening, however, was Patricia Barker, partnered by Stanko Milov, in "Theme and Variations." As often as she has performed this role, it is altogether to her credit that Ms. Barker finds new avenues of exploration and continues to refine additional nuances. On this occasion, it was the new freedom in her control of port de bras and epaulement which impressed me the most. I speculate that these qualities are at least partially the result of increased exposure to roles in "Paquita," and, especially, "Sleeping Beauty," the latter of which she has described as the most difficult work she has ever done, and which she will perform later this spring. The ensemble was in its element -- everyone radiated an aura of "this is what we live to do" confidence and assuredness.

Casting is now available for the complete run: http://www.pnb.org/season/casting3.html

My best recommendation would be to keep checking the PNB website at the following URL: http://www.pnb.org/season/russian.html Casting generally appears on the program information page approximately one week prior to opening (in this case, January 30). Casting for the second week is generally delayed until early in the second week. Cheers!

Roni Mahler is teaching and coaching at Ballet San Jose of Silicon Valley.

Hi, Leigh. Ronald Hynd and his wife, Annette Page were responsible for the staging and coaching; they were assisted by Amanda Eyles, a choreologist from the Benesh Institute and a former ENB ballet mistress. Kent and Francia have a long running personal association with Ronald and Annette, dating from the late '60s in Amsterdam and continued in Germany. The version remains very faithful to the Sergeyev version for Royal Ballet. The look of the production and overall artistic aesthetic is vintage Royal Ballet. The standard number of fairies in the Prologue (six, plus the Lilac Fairy). The Lilac Fairy includes extended mime and dancing. In the pre-performance lecture, Doug Fullington (at Kent's behest) ran through a fairly comprehensive exposition of the mimetic sequences, so that we would be properly prepared. The Prince had one solo in Act 2 and another in the final pas de deux, but certainly nothing overbearing. It's worth a trip out here the next time around, Leigh. Terry, I have not (yet) seen Kaori and Olivier (who are paired together for three performances, two already past). I *did* see her last night in an all-to-brief turn as the Fairy of Temperament in the Prologue. She has splendid instincts for this style and I am certain that her Aurora shines. (She is the only principal who has previously performed Aurora, while with Royal Winnipeg.)

Hi, Alexandra! It's hard to pass up such a clarion call; unfortunately, I'm out of time at the moment, but can assure you that all of the good things that you have been hearing are absolutely accurate! I've asked my colleague and fellow Seattleite Dean Speer to write his impressions. We will both be attending at least three performances, hoping for a view of three of the four casts. A last-minute substitution last evening played havoc with those well-laid plans, but any time spent with this production is time well-spent, in my view. Cheers to you.

I'm pleased to hear positive reports about the RB Bayadere, since it just arrived in the mail from Amazon (with royalties payable to Ballet Alert). I'm looking forward to an unstructured evening of viewing it at home tonight. Any comments on the Balanchine videos ($25+ each) would be welcome. Cheers.

In the instance of the RAD, unfortunately not. As I mentioned on the UK newsgroup, the RAD is a *very* commercial operation and the current administration is very oriented to the bottom line. They would never qualify for 501©(3) status in the U.S. I could give you examples of Mr. Watchman's callousness toward longtime RAD teachers (a summarily fired U.S. Administrator, for one) that would make your teeth ache. Such a move is entirely in character for someone who has never been a dancer, a dance teacher, or had any other serious or noteworthy commitment to the arts and who has demonstrated abject disregard toward those who have dedicated their lives to the cause of promoting the RAD. The Richardson collection is emblematic of the problems emanating from the top at the RAD today. As to the proposed purpose of the funds (student scholarships), this is very much needed in an organization that extracts tribute from both students and teachers at very nearly every turn. I say all of this as a longtime follower and supporter of numerous RAD teachers who work very diligently to provide the best training for their students as outlined by the RAD, which, in itself, is an excellent syllabus. I do wish, however, that the Board of the RAD would get someone in charge who understood the concept of *service* to its constituents (including making the constituents aware of the availability of resources such as the Richardson collection) instead of locking it up and then selling it to the highest bidder.

Martine Van Hamel was still performing with Netherlands Dance Theatre 3 as recently as last year. I saw here in several works here in Seattle and she was radiant, strong and attention-riveting. The same qualities she always brought to bear on her "state occasion" Myrthe performances at ABT and on the Makarova/Baryshnikov video. NDT 3 should be on the list of anyone interested in what can be accomplished by dancers in their 50s and 60s.