abatt

I noticed some additional casting info for the spring season. Apollo will be danced by Hallberg, Gomes and Max B. No info on the Muses, though. Has Gomes danced this role before?

I saw her in Home, and of course I always enjoy seeing her. However, her vast talents as a ballet dancer seem largely wasted in a lot of the Ailey rep. I remember seeing her in many Balanchine ballets during her tenure w. DTH, including Dark Angel in Serenade and Siren in Prodigal Son. To see her do hip hop dancing seems like a major step down.

I received an email from PBS reminding me of the Wed Dec 14 Nutcracker broadcast on TV. That performance will be hosted by Chelsea Clinton.

• Watching the clip from the Colbert report made my morning. So will Hallberg now have "groupies" showing up at hs ABT performances? I wonder why Hee Seo was removed from all of the upcoming Nutcracker performances at BAM.
  

Personally, I'm not unhappy that City Opera left the Koch. It has and will give other dance companies the opportunity to rent a suitable theater in New York City. I'm looking forward to seeing Paul Taylor there in March.

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/12/01/talks-break-down-between-city-opera-and-unions/?ref=arts

More bad news over at NY City Opera

Here's an interesting article that I read recently in the NY Times re "dynamic" pricing.

http://www.nytimes.c...+Jackman&st=cse

Natalia, you have touched on only a few of the problems that NYCB has created for itself with this new pricing strategy. NYCB seems to believe it is selling tickets for a really hot limited engagement, like the Hugh Jackman show on Broadway. On most regular rep nights the expensive center seats remain largely vacant at NYCB. Why are center orchestra seats at NYCB so much more expensive than center orchestra seats for ABT at the MET? In addition, the ABT rep makes a very important point in the article that dynamic pricing should not result in undercutting your subscriber base. NYCB failed to recognize this basic, important point in its new pricing strategy.

One thing I can give NYCB credit for is filling in the side seats in the orchestra, 1st and second rings. The reduced prices on those seats have attracted customers. The only problem is that large chunks of the centered seats are now empty because they are significantly overpriced.

(As an aside, I saw Hugh Jackman on Broadway. He is a very entertaining guy, but I'm amazed at the prices people are willing to pay to see that show.)

Maybe they are planning a DVD release down the road, and are using the same casts on both nights so that they have a backup version in case of any mishaps on stage or in the filming process.

The Giselle market in NYC this spring is saturated, so I'm surprised Mikhailovsky is bringing Giselle to New York. (ABT is doing it in May and Paris Opera Ballet in July). I think more people would go to a novelty like Laurencia.

I decided to make it an extra special Thansgiving weekend by attending the opening night performance of Nuts at NYCB. I had never seen Tiler Peck do Dewdrop before. She was incredible. Every air position was spot on. Gorgeous lines and such musicality! She was a joy. Sara Mearns was Sugar Plum, and Jonathan Stafford was her Cavalier. Mearns may not have the most pristine classical technique, but she was thrilling to watch. Every moment is filled with drama and excitement when she dances. Stafford is a bit reserved compared to Mearns, but he was a strong partner for her. He danced his solos very well. Georgina P. did coffee. She has all the steps down perfectly, but she seems to avoid the overt sexual innuendos of the role that others play up. Periera was Marzipan. All the kids were very well rehearsed. It was a nearly full house.

Anyone else see Nuts this weekend?

Kathryn stated on her twitter page that she expects to be back on stage around the fourth week of Nutcracker. I'm glad her condition is under control.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/28/arts/dance/mediasuite-at-david-h-koch-theater-goes-unused.html?_r=1&ref=arts

Here's a link to an article in today's NY Times regarding a media center that would enable NYCB to do high def broadcasts. However, NYCB is not making use of it,for reasons discussed in the article. The most amusing part of this is where a NYCB stagehands rep states that City Opera wanted the facility, and a City Opera official flat out denies that assertion. Life seems to move at a glacial pace on some issues over at NYCB, but on others (like kicking people out of the fourth ring so that half their usual audience is gone on most rep nights) it was full steam ahead.

I think using the word "creamy" for a ballet dancer refers to lyricism and beautifully flowing phrasing.

Yes, I loved watching Alicia Graf dance. I saw her many times with Dance Theater of Harlem, and later at Alvin Ailey. It's such a pity that her dance career at Ailey ended so soon.

Does anyone surmise that Osipova's departure created additional room at the top for this promotion.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/nov/20/stephen-sondheim-on-critics-awards

Stephen Sondheim disputes Michael Kaiser's position. See article from the Guardian, above.

There is a bar running all along the front of the balcony. It ends up being directly in you line of vision. I would avoid the first row of the balcony.

They still have not cast The Dream or Apollo. I suspect Hallberg, Gomes and Stearns will all do lead roles in the Dream, and Cornejo will do Puck. It's almost certain that Hallberg will do Apollo. Do we think Bolle will get an Apollo? He's done it in Europe, I think.

I have to say that I, too, was very disturbed by the veiled anti-Semitism in the Independent article.

I think Kaiser's position is arrogant and insulting.

There are professional critics such as Deborah Jowitt who have have parted ways with their publishers and are now only available to us through their blogs.

Jowitt's situation is the exception, rather than the rule. I think Kaiser is referring to ordinary people who have never been compensated for or earned a living from writing arts reviews.

That' s true Jack. Professional critics do get their tickets for free. However, I don't think any company would revoke the privileges of a professional critic, even if they dislike what the critic wrote. I think a blogger may be much more at the mercy of the kindness of the press office. In fact, it's my understanding that even companies that have given tickets to bloggers have more recently scaled back on free ticket privileges because they are losing too much money by giving away orchestra freebies to bloggers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-kaiser/the-death-of-criticism-or_b_1092125.html

This is a link to an article in the Huffington Post, in which the head of the Kennedy Center bemoans the death of professional arts criticism, and derides chat boards and blogs as legitimate sources of arts criticism. I thought this would be an interesting topic.

Personally, I think that some of the reviews and critiques I read on forums like this are often more insightful and detailed than the reviews of the "professional" critics. The style and quality of the writing may be more informal, but the content sometimes equals or exceeds that of the "professionals."

The thing that I do watch out for in evaluating the opinions expressed in such forums is whether the writer is friends with the dancer he is commenting about. That fact calls into question the objectivity of the writer.

Another issue with bloggers is that some obtain their tickets for free from the company, and fear that the company will cut off their privileges. Their reviews tend to paint an overly-rosy picture of a performance in order to ensure continued free ticket privileges.

I think it's fair to presume that Mikhailovsky's new big star, Ms. Osipova, will be featured in the Giselle that they are bringing to the Koch theater in June. What was the point of hiring such a high profile dancer if not to use her on high profile engagements? YOu are right, however, that no official casting has been announced yet regarding the tour.

Is the tour going to any other destinations in addition to NYC/Koch Theater? I'm trying to discern to what extent the announced ABT dates for O/V's appearances may now be fiction due to conflicting obligations to the Mikhailovsky. I also think it's crazy for the MIkhailovsky to allow Osipova to perform Giselle in mid May with ABT at the Met, and then have her do the same role with the Mikhailovsky a few weeks later across the plaza. The audience base will be diluted/diminished.