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I will probably wait to swap the tickets to see if there's any injuries but I ended up with two Boylston/Cirio performances and Abrera/Hammoudi (which I will not swap!). I'm disappointed there's only one Lane/Gorak show (which I can't attend) and that there's not debuts--even though I see that everyone's getting fair time, casting wise. No Part, though

In case anyone is planning on attending Tour de Force III this Saturday, Diana Vishneva and Edward Watson will no longer be appearing. Sergei Polunin replaces Watson, but in a different piece by Maliphant ("Silent Echo") and Phillip Stepin replaces Vishneva. The box office is refunding tickets--I decided to bail as I have been through enough masochistic suffering from these productions to not even get to see Ed Watson in the flesh and no Vishneva.

Something we should also remember is that ABT dancers, even corps members, likely make more money than dancers at many other companies (just like NYCB dancers). Also, the allure of living in NYC, a great arts city, is probably very great, as well as being able to travel on bigger international tours and national tours. Many long standing corps members may feel those perks outweigh other regional companies, even if they may have more access to principal roles at them.

This "Schlagobers" would fit the criteria for ABT's spring 2017 appearance at Segerstrom (something never performed by ABT and never performed at the Center before).

I'm seeing it next week. Sometimes my season ticket package at Segerstrom feels like it gets masochistic. How does it rate on the actual dancing <-------> writhing/emoting pendulum?

A one act. It was one part of a triple bill.

I thought Paquita had been performed here before, and a google search confirms SF Ballet did in the early 2000s. I'm guessing no on that front then.

Last time around, I think (and correct me if I'm wrong) they performed at Berkeley, so maybe they are doing that again? I imagine a big part of why they are coming is whatever deal Ardani and SCFTA clearly have.

In my season renewal email, the Mikhailovsky engagement now shows Le Corsaire, instead of Laurencia. The description now reads, "Celebrate this storied ballet, featuring Russian superstar Ivan Vasiliev, whose jaw-dropping leaps are the stuff of legends." So bye bye Osipova and Polunin??

Zing! To agree with Josette, I thought the Mikhailovsky Flames of Paris was not so great, and so I'm not thrilled about the idea of continual appearances. I dread the idea of more Eifman (even if I think Red Giselle is the least worst evil of his), and I find Maillot's choreography to be smug. A Josette says, the choke that Ardani has on the rep of SCFTA is beyond irritating and it grows more so each season. Thankfully, the ABT Nutcracker/school opening ensures something I don't despise every season, and I hope the Golden Cockrel suggestion is what is planned. It wasn't even a few years ago that we had SFB; I would like to see more American companies (not out of any nationalistic pride), but because I have found so many of these European ballet projects to be interminable, and at least we would be able to see some classical ballet. When was the last time Balanchine was even seen at the Center? I'm thinking SFB in Symphony in C several years ago???

I see California already posted this, but it would be good to have a topic for any changes or updates that occur. http://www.scfta.org/scfta/media/General/Press/2016-17-Full-Season-Announcement.pdf Tour de Four - Gala - August 27, 2016 The program includes four works being performed at the Center for the first time: Clay by Vladimir Varnava, Zeigist by Alastair Marriott, Tristesse by Marcelo Gomes and Le Divertissement du Roi by Maxim Petrov. The casts include: Natalia Osipova, Zlata Yalinich, Joaquin de Luz, Marcelo Gomes, Denis Matvienko, Alexey Neviga, Vladimir Shklyarov, Friedemann Vogel, Edward Watson and soloists of the National Ballet of Canada, the Royal Ballet of London and the Mariinsky Theatre Mikhailovsky Ballet - Laurencia - Nov 18-20, 2016 Featuring Osipova, Polunin, and Vasiliev ABT - Nutcracker (Ratmanksy) - December 9-18, 2016 Batsheva Dance Company - TBA - February 8, 2017 ABT - Program TBA - March 14-19, 2017 Eifman Ballet (40th Anniversary Tour) - Red Giselle - June 16-18, 2017 La Scala - Cinderella (Bigonzetti) - July 28-30, 2017 Featuring Polina Semionova and Roberto Bolle I'm pleased about ABT touring in addition to the Nutcracker--I thought we would be on a Nut-only diet for a few years. Tour de Force looks generally horrific as usual, though I appreciate the chance to see Edward Watson in person. I find the appearance of the merry band of lovers (Osipova, Polunin, and Vasiliev) interesting; hopefully some of the female principals from the Mik get a shot as well. And thankfully, if we have to see Eifman we get Red Giselle. Having left the last two tour programs at intermission, I am pretty done with him (and Maillot after the tedious Chore last week).

I (we) have been semi-heard. Just received this offer in the email: It says to "tell your family and friends." I do think it's a little abrupt to offer it for tonight as one of three options and send it at 2pm, but what can you do?

Heart-stopping indeed. I guess I should specify that it was face down, legs splayed back, chest hitting first (thankfully not her chin/face). I was watching through the binocs from the Balcony and saw she gave Hammoudi a little reassuring nod/smile, so I figured she was more surprised than hurt, thankfully. But, really bravely finished that they didn't let it get to them. And yes, there is a lot of competition for Nutcracker audience, with Long Beach ballet's also being very popular. Southland's particularly so due to the array of guests, which, in the past, have included many, many ABT dancers like Abrera, Radetsky, Irina&Max, etc. Also problematic is that those dancers and their parents/families will be at Southland's Nut during the weekends performing, so that gouges a lot of the young dancer audience. Personally, none of these productions hold a candle on ABT's, obviously, but they are certainly battling uphill to break people's routines.

Alright, I am just back from the Sunday matinee with Abrera/Hammoudi so I want to comment both on this show and opening night. First, there was a mention of Gorak being removed from the casting; however, he did the Russian dance this afternoon and was the Recruit doll on opening night. So if he's injured it isn't likely severe; if he's not injured, then I don't know what is going on. The mysteries continue perhaps... I really like this production overall, though like others, wished for a more imaginative take on some of the 2nd act dances. Ratmansky is obviously capable of it, given the reversal in Arabian (which I think is still a little problematic). I am actually surprised how much I liked it based on the idea I had in my head from the past several years of reviews. I think the first act is fairly masterful (as far as Act 1 Nuts go). I love the kitchen scene, and I love how it eats away at the party time (as a former Nut performer, the first act has always been interminable). The mirroring between the young couple and the principal couple is adorable and I admit to getting a little misty upon the ending both times I've seen it. The snow scene is also a wow, though I think we have a lot of students performing in the corps for the tour, and new corps members. I find the cast sheets almost unrecognizable from the Sleeping Beauty tour and there are several names that I haven't seen in either show who are still listed on ABTs website: Elina Miettinien and Gemma Bond were two I was looking for after the SB tour and I have seen neither. Victor Barbee was Drosselmeyer on Thursday, and it was a fine portrayal, but Alexei Agoudine took over the Sun mat and was better: more flamboyant, more clearly separate from the rest of the party goers. The Clara/Nut/Fritz were really well done by all the young kids. Some other standouts and casting: Like Josette said, Sarah Lane was luminous as Clara's friend, as was Skylar Brandt (Chinese) who casually tossed off about 4-5 pirouettes at the end of the tricky apotheosis turning sequence. What a stunner. She was also the "canteen keeper" doll on Thursday, and she was really robotic with her movements. Zhiyao Zhang was the Harlequin doll for the Sun mat and he was very impressive and clean with his dancing. Cassandra Trenary was Chinese today and I thought she was a little smothered by wig and costume, though fine. She was better in tandem with Lane as Clara's Friend on Thursday evening. On to the main couple. Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomes were gorgeous, stunning, luxurious, etc. on opening night. Gomes, in particular, seemed to be in much better shape than he was on the SB tour. I thought his age showed in March, but he was really crisp. California is right that the lift is not a dead lift. In fact, it looks distinctly different in origin than what Gomes posted on his instagram. Perhaps this is a recent change, but it seemed much more similar to the other video posted (maybe someone who has seen it in NYC, also, can comment). Stella Abrera and Alexei Hammoudi were also very, very lovely today. Stella took a big splat on a saute arabesque (really, a simple step), that seemed like she maybe hit a slick spot. She was flat on the ground. However, she was incredibly lovely the rest of the time and didn't seem particularly tentative after the splat, so big props to her. It looked like the lift wasn't going to go off but I'm not really clear whether Hammoudi was waiting for the music to hit the press lift, and Ormsby Wilkins was a little "late," or if Hammoudi was having a little trouble and Wilkins tried to give him an extra second for the crash. Either way, they hit the lift a second or so ahead of the music. I thought they gelled the best during the coda. And I completely agree with PAmom that Stella "got" the acting right: she had the childish moves down in a way Murphy did not (though Murphy certainly wins the technical prize, or whatever!). She reflected the tug between child and adult very well and I thought brought out more nuances to the choreography in that way. However, both couples were a true pleasure to watch. I'm a little flummoxed by Segerstrom's unwillingness to put any promos or offers up for this (and trust me, I've called to ask). There are a LOT of seats available for the run (on average 1000 each show, aside from Copeland's soldout shows), and I would willingly plunk down for a few more if there was incentive on offer to return because I find this ballet delightful. I think if they want this to be a yearly tradition they need to do a little something to breed the audience further, to make people want to see multiple casts. A "come back again" for 15% off is a good idea, or expanding their rush policies. Unlike the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, which does do some promo specials year round for their dance series, there has been literally nothing here to develop the audience and it shows.

I'm just home from opening night and will write more tomorrow; however, Veronika Part was replaced by (a truly divine) Gillian Murphy tonight and I was hoping that if anyone has info on whether she is injured, they could let me know publicly or privately--I'd really like to see her during the run, but I don't want to buy tickets to her second show if she's got a injury, only to be surprised again. They had enough time to print the cast slip with Murphy on it, so it doesn't seem so last minute (though ABT posted this morning on their Facebook that Part/Gomes were the opening cast). PS. Glad you NYCers didn't like this one so much--glad to have it out here for awhile. Really lovely overall!

I received an email from Segerstrom regarding the casting changes. They have offered to waive exchange fees if your cast was changed which is nice offer, though I think regular exchanges are only $5/ticket and subscribers are charged $2/ticket (which is minuscule). Here is the text of the email: I'm not sure how much moving has actually occurred as my dates stayed the same, though Abrera/Hammoudi moved to one weeknight and I would have preferred getting tickets to that to avoid the higher weekend prices--oh well. I'm just wondering how much uproar is actually caused by this movement which is all too common with ballet companies and they've never seem to care before. Is it an attempt at goodwill for the future, or ...?

I can't remember if I wrote about it when I saw it, but it was not worth a lot of money. I would hope they put some really substantial work on the program in addition. At the end she cuts up lemons and distributes them to the front row or so while some folk-ish music plays. So those who like to sit in the front may be in for a surprise.

For anyone still deciding whether to attend the Mariinsky in LA, from Facebook: Had my tickets already. FYI This would be for the A. Matvienko (Fri) and Shapran (Sat mat) casts.

Josette, I look forward to hearing about A. Matvienko and how she compares to Skorik or Tereshkina. If it was a less busy weekend, I would have gotten tickets to see her as well.

I held off on posting after opening night because I have almost no familiarity with Raymonda, and so wanted to let it sink in with another performance. Sorry to say, but these were fairly banal nights of dancing and the ballet itself offers little rewards, imo, especially if there is no charisma coming from the ballerina playing Raymonda. The company looked like the B-team and everyone seemed to accept that and dance like it. Tereshkina was technical perfection, as you would expect, on opening night. She is regal, but hard like a diamond and had little warmth for her Jean de Brienne, Shkylarov. I still think they are really mismatched (I believe I saw them in Swan Lake here a few years ago). He struggled with lifts, and she seemed a little peeved at him at one point in a fudged lift. When he did his solo in Act III, he was very successful, but it's hard to buy into a love story where both parties seem pretty disinterested in engaging with each other. It was disappointing to see only changements by Tereshkina in the Act II variation, instead of the beating entrechats done by Novikova in the past. Act I is made overly long by a ~5 minute musical interlude before the dream sequence. The computer projection on the scrim during this is bizarre (how do orange clouds signify traveling to dream world to meet her lover?) and on opening night, a computer mouse pointer arrow was present through this entire time. Kristina Shapran was one of Raymonda's friends on opening night. I will be seeing her in Cinderella in a few weeks, and it was disappointing to see how ram-rod stiff her back is. I was second guessing (while watching) if I made up the fact she went through the Vaganova Academy--but, of course, she did. Hopefully this is a one off thing, and not a regular occurrence. Nadezhda Batoeva was Henriette on Friday and she seemed to be the most alive soloist in the whole cast. Skorik is "improved" (in that she didn't fall out of anything like she did here in Swan Lake last time) but there is still a lack of poetry and shading to her dancing. Everything is hit with exactly the same punch, and her legs seem to move independently from whatever is going on with her torso and arms. She has the same blandish face throughout the entire ballet. I booked it after curtain and missed the promotion, but this certainly wasn't an earth-shatteringly good performance that announced her arrival. It was perfunctory and little went wrong, but neither was there much excitement. I'm not going to wax on at length about the problematic Orientalism in this ballet--it's something the board has talked about at length with various works. However, it's a real turn off for me especially with the dances in Act II for the "Saracens" and the "Moors"--as did the "evil" music that played anytime Abderakhman was onstage. The hokey duel between Christianity and the Other (de Brienne with a giant cross over his sparkly spandex chain mail) was beyond silly. I wish I could be more positive because it's the Mariinsky and I have been looking forward to this for the better half of a year, but for me, this didn't work on a lot of levels.

I did warn you when you first asked about ticket sales! To be fair, the weekend shows seem like they are fairing decently, but they have an upcharge in prices (about $20/seat it seems) which has made me not buy one for the third cast yet. I assume the name recognition of Cinderella has helped sales for that, though it is by no means a sell-out for the LA dates when I last looked at seat availability. There were lots.

I've been holding off on buying my Tereshkina tickets because they've been selling slowly and I was hoping for a discount. Today I randomly logged into SCFTA and it seems they are running a (secret?) promo for opening night. I got great $119 tickets for $30. It doesn't seem to be for the other dates in the run (I checked Friday eve and Sun mat), but you may want to look yourself. No promo code required; I just selected "Promo Price" vs "Regular Price" when it asked once I selected the seat (who would choose the regular price?!). Perhaps someone else has better info, but if you have been waiting this may be your chance.

Cornejo and Ferri have been working together for Cheri--perhaps they have developed a close bond? I think there's a pretty big difference between bringing back a beloved retired dancer in a signature role, and bringing back dancers who recently retired. Ferri is a class apart--I'd be surprised if people stayed away based on her age?! Extremely jealous of those who make it.

Casting for the Mariinsky's engagement in LA at the Music Center (Cinderella) has been posted online. It's...very detailed. http://www.musiccenter.org/about/Our-Programs/1516-Season/Mariinsky-Ballet---Cinderella/ I tried to paste over the table but it did not keep the formatting.These are the basics, though: TH 10/8 - Vishneva/Zverev F 10/9 - A. Matvienko/Stepin Sa MAT 10/10 - Shapran/ Zverev Sa EVE 10/10 - Batoeva/Shklyarov Su MAT 11/11 - A. Matvienko/Stepin

Helene and Jane: is the Queen in the purple costume in the trailer for the Golden Cockrel? If so, when I was watching it (before you gave your descriptions) I immediately thought Part would fit into "whatever" role that was.