BW

It would be interesting to really know if the economy this year has effected the scholarships given by the summer programs. Summer programs are the bread and butter of so many ballet schools, as well as their companies. My guess is that they have been impacted. In this country, the USA, I do believe that not too many schools have sizable endowments.

Dancing Times Online

As one dance-filled year ends, we look forward to many potentially exciting events in the early months of 2008. Spring Dance at the London Coliseum deserves much advance coverage about the companies and dancers to be seen. Next month Gerald Dowler talks to Wendy Whelan of New York City Ballet and in our March issue Mindy Aloff will re-introduce this great company, which has been too long absent from our shores...The study aids, starting March and written by Elizabeth Marshall, will be devoted to Serge Diaghilev. We can confidently look forward and wish all our readers a Happy New Year.

Thank you, rg!

Yes, thank you drb and thank you, too, tiptoe.

Many thanks drb and carbro for your Erica Pereira reviews - wish I'd been there! With regards to the fan club, my guess is that it was less Long Island and more of her friends and classmates - as well as family - from in and around Manhattan.

Am very much looking forward to seeing both Ms. Pereira and Ms. Morgan in the upcoming season.

i attended nycb's performance on friday, 12/7...

i thought kathryn morgan was brilliant in marzipan (can't make it her debut of sugarplum, am eager to read other's reviews!...

We, too, attended Saturday's matinee and I agree with BSS. Though I am not enough of balletomane to write in technical terms as to why I felt Miss Hytlin was so lovely as the Sugar Plum Fairy, I can attest to the fact that she was. There's something about Sterling Hytlin that reminds me of Darci Kistler as a young dancer. It may be that it's just her coloring and her face. Hytlin and Stafford did absolutely look very good together. It is extremely important to me to have a Sugar Plum Fairy who exudes both beauty and warmth, and Sterling Hytlin surely did both wonderfully.

As for Erica Pereira, I have to admit that I am prejudiced because I am so fond of her and have known her for a long time. Erica was definitely at home in the Marzipan Shepherdess role and made it all look completely effortless through both her grace and speed. She is a natural. It was particularly fun watching her as she morphed from a maid, into one of those glorious, whirling snowflakes, and then into the storybook shepherdess looking both fleet of foot and graceful in this debut performance of hers! There is a quality of lightness to Erica Pereira's dancing that strikes me as exceptional. It is my great wish that one Ballet Talk's excellent dance reviewers will have the chance to report back upon Erica's debut as the Dewdrop Fairy on December 22. I think she will be great.

And just quickly - kudos to Mary Elizabeth Sell in Snow and Coffee and Cameron Dieck as an exceptional Mouse!

Looking forward to seeing a great deal more of these dancers in this coming season!

I have been using my Bushnell Xtra-Wide (900 ft FOV (field of view) 4 x 21 binoculars for a long time and I find them to be excellent for ballet performances. I wear "progressive" lenses and have never had any problems with these binoculars...and do find them quite sharp. They are auto focus, don't weigh very much and, although not expensive, they are very good. From Bushnell's site it seems they make a newer version... Bushnell Xtra-wide. I bought my first pair at the shop under the NY State Theatre.

Naturally where one is sitting will have an impact on the use of any binoculars... In the past I used to sit in the orchestra, but on December 8th I'll be sitting in the Third Ring of the NY State Theatre and we'll see what we think.

'SingerWhoMoves' date='May 17 2007, 01:10 AM' post='203997']

So sad to be out of NYC for this- but I was just browsing the company website, and noticed that Erica is now listed as a member of the Corps de ballet. Congratulations Erica!

Thank you, I'm so glad it has finally been publised! Erica Pereira is now a member of the corps! I have no idea if there's been any other acknowledgement but she was told right after her second performance on Saturday. This could not have happened to a nicer, more down to earth, and lovely person.

I fell in love, in a way, with his first book - the one in which he walks across Afghanistan. I'm not going to try to review it, but will just say that Mr. Stewart is a very well read fellow and writes beautifully. His second book - the one about his time in Iraq - is altogether different and just as compelling but in a very different way. They're both out in paperback.

Don't know if you all caught this in May 12th's NYT, an article by Daniel J. Wakin, Live From Washington, Opera for the College Crowd:

Students wandering into some college auditoriums on Sept. 23 may receive a few unexpected lessons on subjects like the nature of Bohemian love, consumptive heroines and life in a garret.

The Washington National Opera said it planned to simulcast a live matinee performance of Puccini's La Bohèmea to 14 college campuses and 2 high schools. The feed to the institutions will piggyback on an outdoor broadcast at the Washington Monument, an annual event begun two years ago.

This season the Metropolitan Opera led the way with regular live and recorded broadcasts. But the Washington Opera has taken a different tack. The Met sends its broadcasts to movie theaters around the country, which charge $18 a ticket. The campus simulcasts will be free. Two local movie theaters will also have free showings.

"We are convinced that it's very important to try to make opera more accessible," said Kenneth R. Feinberg, the Washington Operas president. We've got to reach out and try to find young opera lovers."

He said the other main goal was to spark interest among donors and foundations to contribute money to the opera company... "We are so happy to make this simulcast free not only to our university partners across the country, but also to local students and anyone who wants a taste of top-quality opera," Mr. Domingo said in a statement released by his assistant.

The company named the institutions involved as Bryn Mawr, Princeton, Tulane, University of Massachusetts, West Point, Wellesley, the University of Washington, the University of Virginia, the University of Colorado, Temple, Rice, the University of North Carolina, the University of Arkansas, Union College, Brockton High School in Massachusetts and Lowell High School in San Francisco...

What a great opportunity (and a smart move!) - and one that I hope will pay off by both building an audience base and ultimately help with longterm funding. Perhaps some of you who read this board will be able to take advantage.

Ever since September 11th, I've been on a Middle East theme - except for a brief aside for Jane Eyre, which I loved. The highlights for me have been The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books by Azar Nafisi, Against All Enemies by Richard Clarke, See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terror by Bob Baer, The Places In Between by Rory Stewart which was breath taking...and I'm now his second book - this one about his time in Iraq The Prince of the Marshes: And Other Occupational Hazards of a Year in Iraq as well as Lawrence Wright's The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 - and I heartily recommend them all for their illumination.

Many thanks, dirac.

I'd almost forgotten that you all discussed "other performing and fine arts".

Had the pleasure of seeing both The Barber of Seville and Il Trittico offsite in a movie theatre in HD and my reaction was "Wow!" I can only speak as a non-aficionado and say that it was a fantastic experience!

Although I have attended a few operas both at The Met and The NY State Theatre - both of these performances that I experienced with friends, some of whom were experienced opera buffs and some who were not, were excellent and have conditioned me to go back for more. We are really looking forward to the next season.

Bravo for The Met in their forward thinking! Can't help but think that with the proper techniques that the ballet might be well served by following The Met's lead on this.

Well, let's not split hairs here... Whether the editor gave it the title or not - 99% of that article discusses the dancers and speaks to how well they performed.

I'd have to guess that many weren't enthralled with other aspects of the production...though I have to share that two people to my left in the orchestra loved the sets - so "go figure", as they say!

Yes, thank you, indeed, BSS! However, Natalia's excerpt leaves out the very important contrast that Popkin draws - because she's left out this portion: "the ballet has furnished an effective vehicle for a group of the company's most talented young dancers."

Michael Popkin's piece titled "The Kids Are All Right" goes on to draw out this observation by writing

...On Saturday afternoon, the brilliance of the two young leads -Erica Pereira as Juliet (18 years old and still an apprentice dancer) and Allen Peiffer ( just a few years older) as Romeo - tipped the scales in favor of the production.

Ms. Pereira is a slight but strong dancer with beautiful arms, long legs, and a flexible back who caused a stir among ballet aficionados at last year's School of American Ballet workshop. She has not only physical facility but also appears to be a natural actress. Her dramatic reading of the character on Saturday afternoon - progressing credibly from innocence to eroticism, determination, and then fear before a compelling death scene - was extraordinarily precocious.

Mr. Peiffer was just as striking as Romeo: He's a prince by physical type, long legged and with the stretched lines and elegant physique more commonly found in boys trained at the Kirov or Bolshoi academies in Russia than at New York City Ballet, where the men have recently tended to be punchier and more muscled. As was true of Ms. Pereira, he transcended the given material and gave a coherent, dramatic reading of his role. Of everyone who danced Romeo these past two weeks, he realized the death scene the best. Upon discovering Paris approaching the tomb with flowers, Romeo jumps on the catafalque and then pounces upon his rival and kills him. With Mr. Peiffer, this moment was finally unforced and convincing...

In my reading of this review, I feel the thrust is much more about what was "right" with this performance and much less about what so many feel was wrong with the production.

We often try to understand an artist's work by learning about their lives and personalities. Macaulay's doing so here in the way that he did may be a case of taking two incidents removed by almost 20 years. Linking them as being part and parcel of the same thing is stretching things a bit far. Taking a tour through Peter Martins' oeuvre would make more sense, allow the readers to draw a similar conclusion.

Just read the article and I agree with you, Farrell Fan.

I was frankly flabbergasted that Mr. Macaulay devoted all that space to the slap, and with his appalling attempt to somehow tie it to Mr. Martins's alleged history as a wife-beater.

drb, it's true in some spheres of British life they do seem to thrive on airing dirty laundry but this seemed to be a real grasping at straws kind of attempt to "understand" the meaning behind the real slap used in this production.

Honestly, there were a number of things in the production that I didn't like, but as I said in my earlier gushing post - they fell by the wayside when Romeo and Juliet danced together...

I wonder why this critic appears to need to dwell upon this so much? Me thinks he protests too much.

P.S. zerbinetta, we must have been posting at the same time... Great minds and all that.

And it's amazing how those photos can be improved when you use iPhoto, for example.

For me, the answer is in the dancing.

drb, I can't really come close to your description but...

Erica Pereira made that ballet for me. Yes, I know her but I clearly was not the only one who felt that way in New York State Theatre today. She was astoundingly wonderful. Ethereal as a dancer - perfect, lovely, light as a feather, graceful and completely natural in her performance. It didn't seem like a performance - it seemed real.

As an actress - well, let me just tell you that people were crying. CRYING! She was amazing. She could be child like, in the beginning, and then shy, while when she became a young woman in love - it was as though it was all happening right then and there. It was completely believable and breathtaking. Everyone around us was talking about her and asking who she was...

I wish I had the words to describe her performance properly. Erica's Juliet was compelling in all ways - as an actress she was excellent while her dancing was breathtaking. The young man who played Romeo, Allen Peiffer, was well cast - his acting was very good in the second act. To me in the balcony scene it was so clear that they were in love. Their pas de deux was so lovely - I wish I could have filmed it.

The critics may not like Martin's actual ballet (and there were parts that I did not like either...some of the costumes (not all, thankfully) were really not attractive and the set was very sort of expressionist/simplistic style... It served it's purpose OK...but when the second act started it didn't matter what the set was - your eyes were on the two young lovers who were clearly and desperately in love.... The death scene was very moving... When it was over, there were standing ovations...bravos....curtain calls. It was a real success for Erica. I really hope that some of the press covered it because you'd have to be blind not to see her astounding talent. She was so truly outstanding because of the combination of her acting and the amazing quality of lightness to her dancing. All you could say was "Wow." She took your breath away.

My appologies to the other dancers who stood out, particularly Daniel Ulbricht - my heart was too stolen tonight to talk about anyone else.

Brava Erica and congratulations to Peter Martins for picking her to dance this role!

In today's Newsday.com, the article written by Appollinaire Scherr, "Love of ballet keeps tiny dancer on her toes":

At New York City Ballet last week, you might not have noticed Erica Pereira of Plainview among the 40 other beautiful dancers framing the action in Balanchine's "Symphony in C." But this Sunday, when the 18-year-old apprentice takes the lead in the company's new $1.5-million production of "Romeo + Juliet," everyone will.

"She is very impressive, I want to tell you. And she has exactly what I was looking for," says artistic director Peter Martins, who choreographed the new work. Not only does she fit his image of the Shakespeare heroine - "so tiny and frail, so dark-haired and so fair-skinned" - but she matches his hopes for the character as well.

"I wanted true youth," Martins explains. "I've seen many great ballerinas portray youth and I've been impressed, but the 'acting,' in quotations, always bothered me. I always felt, if I ever do the ballet, maybe I can find kids who can really evoke the deep emotions that are required. And I think I've found them....

The Swan Lake video is from Erica Pereira's performance at Ballet Academy East, while, obviously, the slides in the photo gallery are from rehearsals of Romeo and Juliet.

Will be attending on Sunday and can't wait.

And you'll note that apprentice Erica Pereira, who is 18 years old, is dancing the role of Juliet on Sunday, May 6th.

Thank goodness it's finally "official"! As the mother of an old friend of Ms. Erica Pereira's, I'm thrilled to be able to say out loud how happy we are that she's going to be performing the role of Juliet on May 6th! 3 cheers and merde! :huepfen024: Can't wait to see the performance. :grinning-smiley-001:

In today's paper, 2/22/07,

Alastair Macaulay, chief dance critic of The Times Literary Supplement and chief theater critic of The Financial Times, both in London, has been appointed chief dance critic of The New York Times. The announcement was made by Sam Sifton, the culture editor.

Mr. Macaulay, who will begin his new job on April 1, was the founding editor of the British quarterly Dance Theater Journal in 1983 and was a guest dance critic at The New Yorker in 1988 and 1992. He began writing dance criticism in 1978 and has taught dance history at various colleges and universities. He has contributed dance criticism to The Financial Times since 1988...

I didn't know John Rockwell had retired in December, though I had noticed his byline missing.

Thought you all would be quite excited by this news - but I know see there is already a discussion! Please forgive my excitement and delete away!