lovemydancers

My prayers to everyone in the destruction zone. My cousin, his wife and toddler were evacuated from Brick, NJ via military vehicle during the height of the storm. In advance of the storm, they were advised to stock up on batteries, but not advised to evacuate. (Still wouldn't have been my choice to stay, but....) They are among the lucky as well. Four feet of water in their house and two lost vehicles, but three homes on their block burned to the ground because the fire department couldn't reach them. There were fatalities in their neighborhood as well. They are happy to be replacing things like carpet and sheetrock, at this point.

Winners include Beckanne Sisk of BalletWest and Turning Pointe. http://www.pgfusa.org/awards-winners

I could tell ya, but I'd have to kill ya.

On the other thread, Abatt said: I would not be surprised if Ms. Jaffe continues to coach specific roles at ABT. UNCSA's Chancellor, John Mauceri, states often that he has strong convictions that the Deans of the various schools at UNCSA should continue to work professionally in their fields as well as lead their schools. The Chancellor himself continues to conduct orchestras all over the world, including high profile Hollywood-type events. I hope Ms. Jaffe is able to continue to coach at ABT. Dean Stiefel was not able to successfully serve two masters (administrative/teaching, vs. performing) in part due to scheduling challenges. Hopefully, Dean Jaffe will have a little more flexibility with coaching opportunities than Dean Stiefel had at the mercy of his performance schedule.

You are right, Helene, they do hire from them - one of my daughter's contracts was from an open audition with one of the companies you listed above. But also remember that some AGMA companies are required to hold an open audition by agreement, even if they are not hiring.

That was fun! Thanks for sharing!

I think this statement is key, and I suspect a fair percentage of retiring dancers do not want to continue in the dance world. Burnout aside, I can see how the perfectionist tendencies of these dancers could deter them. No perfectionist wants to risk producing anything less than they are (or were once) capable of.

A good friend is going. He has only been to one other ballet performance in his life, and all he can say is "Ah, Patricia McBride....". I'm looking forward to his reaction to POB's Giselle.

Completely agree - I'm not one to get too hung up on whatever the traditional look is, but the ladies' Rubies costumes just don't suit the ballet at all.

Lane and Phillips dancing on the news in Chicago: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/video?id=8592774

I have had the same issue as kfw with being unable to title links. But everything else looks fine.

I wonder if the Board gave any thought to the fact that Linda Villella is the Director of the MCB School. If Edward leaves town, does she go too?

Columbus Dispatch review

BalletMet On Demand opens tonight: On Demand

This is a great event, and really does attract folks ages 1-100. The variety of pieces has something for everyone and as Helene suggests, the casual, outdoor venue is perfect for those who want to try a non-threatening taste of dance or even just a nice, free evening out for the family. Last year the event was in conjunction with an organization called Waterfire, who gave a somewhat choreographed presentation of lighting small bonfires on the surface of the river and on the park grounds at dusk. This made a wonderfully unique backdrop for the dance performance which followed the lighting ceremony. The press release does not mention whether Waterfire will participate again this year, but regardless, giving the community free or inexpensive access to ballet is something BalletMet seems to do better than any other company I am familiar with.

Courtney Muscroft dances with BalletMet. She is lovely.

...and the summer intensive students start arriving.

Beautiful as always, Ami.

Alice Reid obituary

Not to mention his DEMAND that his audience CLAP!

Perhaps you missed it (since you were late), but Jacques reserved his highest praise for Melissa Hayden. Peter Boal asked him to say something about his favorite dancer(s) and listed off about 20 names of the most incredible NYC based dancers we all know and love. I thought Jacques might beg off such a loaded question, but after thinking a while he strongly said: "Melissa Hayden". He then preceded to tell story after story about her including an extremely poignant one about how he went to visit her at her death bed (I doubt there was a dry eye in the place). He spoke of Melissa Hayden in the same way at her memorial service/tribute performance several years ago. Animated storytelling at its best, all while sobbing uncontrollably. There was not a dry eye in the house then either, but it was an equal split between tears of compassion for D'Amboise, and tears of laughter over his wonderful stories. He clearly loved her very much.

Yes, for June 26th.

A friend who lives in Chicago purchased Giselle tickets mid-morning the first day they went on sale, and said much of the orchestra was already sold!

Agreed. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should. I didn't find that enjoyable at all.

Yes, I hope this opportunity is more successful for him that Ballet Pacifica, but IS he resigning from the UNC position too? Where's the announcement of that? He seems to be have been involved with a lot of initiatives in the last few years, but though much is said of his dedication to these endeavors, he hasn't stayed very long at any of them. He is a talented dancer and insightful person, I hope he can 'dedicate' a few more years to this opportunity and truly make his mark at RNZB and elsewhere so that we in the USA notice too. Yes, he is leaving UNCSA at the end of the school year. This was announced to the UNCSA community several weeks ago, by Ethan Stiefel himself. Here is UNCSA's press release. Press release