ABT Met 2010 Info

[California]

Is Kirkland still performing Caraboose in Sleeping Beauty? Any indication of her involvement with the spring 2010 repertory, either in staging or performing, in Beauty or anything else?

[Helene]

So far, the only info on the ABT website is principal casting for "Sleeping Beauty". There's little info on the staging, as the company is only in the subscription renewal phase.

http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/sea...ckagetypes.aspx

To get any details, you have to pick a day from the drop-down box.

[Ambonnay]

An excerpt on ABT dancers from A Macaulay's weekend NYT article on "Choreographic Climate Change", a summary of the last decade of dance (not limited to ballet, of course):

"Speak to dancers of the 1980s, and they're aware how many of today's dancers can quickly pick up complex steps that few could then. it is not unusual to see the male stars of American Ballet Theater do sextuple pirouettes on half-toe and then pause there, without needing to bring the heel to the floor; that's just one piece of virtuosity I don't remember seeing 20 years ago. Sure, this isn't one of ballet's golden ages. But I watch David Hallberg and believe that America has never produced a finer example of the princely, noble type of dancer, and I'm aware that Ballet Theater has in Herman Cronejo, Angel Corella and Marcelo Gomes performers no less remakable." (italics added)

[Ambonnay]

Some interesting observations from Corella as to why he is not more featured in the Met 2010 ABT season:

http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/dance/...-leon-interview

"Q: I was just thinking: Did you leave ABT and not tell anyone?

A: [Laughs] Well, not really, no. Between the fact that ABT has a lot of people and I spend a lot of time with my company, it was just…[Pauses] For this Met season, I was totally available. I said to Kevin [McKenzie, artistic director], “I’m here 100 percent depending on what you want me to do,” but all he had to offer me are two ballets.

Q: What will you dance?

A: The opening night of Don Q and one Romeo and Juliet with Diana Vishneva. I was a little bit sad, but that’s how things work. I think also it’s because my company’s going to perform in New York. Probably he feels like it’s too much Angel for one year. He has a lot of people now like Marcelo [Gomes], David [Hallberg], Roberto Bolle. They’re also bringing a lot of short ballets that I’ve done for many years; there’s also Lady of the Camellias, which would have been a great ballet to do. I think because I’m here with the company [his own], I’m not going to be there for the rehearsal process. [Lady of the Camellias choreographer] John Neumeier is very intense. It’s funny because the pieces he’s done at ABT have been done on me, and not only done on me, but literally based on my personality. There was Spring and Fall Getting Closer. [in that], I’m some sort of light that everyone wanted to get close to. He had me onstage for almost 50 minutes."

[bart]

Very interesting interview. Thanks, ambonnay. Corella, commenting on his career with ABT and his aspirations for his own company, comes across as a very thoughtful and impressive guy.

[California]

Good point. I wonder what other members think about the special June 3d performance, where 3 pairs of Basilios/Kitris will be dancing their applicable portion of a single ballet, versus a "regular" performance? Has the ABT done something like this before?

It was not planned, but in late March 1978 at the Kennedy Center, the world premiere week of Baryshnikov's Don Quixote, ABT had more than one set of principals at one performance. Kirkland and Baryshnikov had done the Saturday matinee and returned to the Watergate Hotel for dinner. Martine van Hamel was Kitri in the evening performance, but suffered a terrible injury on stage in the first act and couldn't continue. My memory is a little hazy, but I believe they first tried to get Cynthia Gregory to finish the evening, but she was scheduled for the Sunday matinee and declined, so Kirkland and Baryshnikov returned to finish the evening performance. I don't recall if they started over or picked it up from Act II. Perhaps others on this list remember?

[abatt]

I'm surprised by his comments. I had assumed that his lack of appearances at ABT was his choice due to lack of availability. Corella is one of my favorite dancers at ABT, and I've gone to see productions solely to see him, even if I don't like the other leads in the production. I think McKenzie is making a mistake if he is trying to somehow punish Corella by essentially freezing him out of the MET season.

[Dale]

The latest release:

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE CELEBRATES

70TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

MAY 17-JULY 10, 2010 AT METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE

BOX OFFICE OPENS SUNDAY, MARCH 28

American Ballet Theatre’s 2010 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, May 17-July 10, will celebrate the Company’s 70th Anniversary with a tribute to legendary ballerina Alicia Alonso and the 30th Anniversary of Natalia Makarova’s production of La Bayadère. The season will also feature the Company Premiere of John Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias. Tickets for ABT’s Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House go on sale at the box office on March 28.

Principal Dancers for the 2010 Metropolitan Opera season will include Maxim Beloserkovsky, Roberto Bolle, Jose Manuel Carreño, Angel Corella, Herman Cornejo, Irina Dvorovenko, Marcelo Gomes, David Hallberg, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy, Veronika Part, Xiomara Reyes, Ethan Stiefel, Diana Vishneva and Michele Wiles. Alina Cojocaru, a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet, and Natalia Osipova, a leading soloist with the Bolshoi Ballet, will appear as guest artists during the season.

J.P. Morgan is the Leading Corporate Sponsor of Make a Ballet. American Airlines is ABT’s Official Airline. Northern Trust is the Official Sponsor of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre. LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is the Official Sponsor of ABT II. Mandarin Oriental is ABT’s preferred hotel. The 2010 Metropolitan Opera House season is also made possible with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Recovery Act, the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council.

American Ballet Theatre’s 70th Anniversary season celebration will open with an Opening Night Gala performance featuring ABT’s Principal Dancers on Monday, May 17 at 6:30 P.M. For information on ABT’s Spring Gala, please call the Special Events Office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3239. ABT’s Spring Gala is sponsored by NBC Universal and Graff.

Company Premiere

John Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias will be given its Company Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on Tuesday evening, May 25 with Julie Kent as Marguerite and Roberto Bolle as Armand. Set to music by Frédéric Chopin, Lady of the Camellias was choreographed by Neumeier after the novel of Alexandre Dumas fils. The ballet features scenery and costumes by Jürgen Rose with original lighting design by Neumeier, reconstructed by Rolf Merkel. Lady of the Camellias was given its World Premiere by the Stuttgart Ballet at the Weurttemberg Staatstheatre, Stuttgart, Germany on November 4, 1978, with Marcia Haydée and Egon Madsen in the leading roles. The ballet received its United States premiere by the Stuttgart Ballet at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington, D.C. on May 15, 1979, with the same cast. American Ballet Theatre will present eight performances of the full-length ballet, May 25-27 and June 4-7.

Full-Length Ballets and 30th Anniversary of La Bayadère

In addition to the Company Premiere of Lady of the Camellias, American Ballet Theatre will perform five full-length ballets during the 2010 Spring season beginning with La Bayadère on Tuesday evening, May 18. Diana Vishneva (Nikiya), Marcelo Gomes (Solor), and Gillian Murphy (Gamzatti) will lead the season’s first performance of the three-act classic. The season’s eight performances of La Bayadère, May 18-24, mark the 30th anniversary of the ballet. Natalia Makarova first staged “The Kingdom of the Shades” scene for ABT in 1974 and subsequently produced and choreographed the complete version (in three acts) for American Ballet Theatre in 1980. The World Premiere of Makarova’s production was given on May 21 of that year, danced by Makarova (Nikiya), Anthony Dowell (Solor) and Cynthia Harvey (Gamzatti).

Set to music by Ludwig Minkus, arranged by John Lanchbery, La Bayadère was conceived and directed by Makarova. The ballet features scenery by PierLuigi Samaritani, costumes by Theoni V. Aldredge and lighting by Toshiro Ogawa. Dina Makarova serves as production coordinator.

The season’s first performance of Don Quixote will be led by Paloma Herrera and Angel Corella on Friday evening, May 28. Staged by Kevin McKenzie and Susan Jones, with choreography after Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky, Don Quixote is set to music by Ludwig Minkus and features scenery and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Natasha Katz. The McKenzie/Jones staging of the current production was first performed by ABT in June 1995.

The Sleeping Beauty returns to the repertory for eight performances, June 14-19. Set to a score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, The Sleeping Beauty, choreographed after Marius Petipa, has additional choreography and staging by Kevin McKenzie, Gelsey Kirkland and Michael Chernov. The production features scenery by Tony Walton, costumes by Willa Kim with additional costume designs by Holly Hynes, and lighting by Richard Pilbrow and Dawn Chiang. Gillian Murphy and Jose Manuel Carreño will lead the season’s first performance of The Sleeping Beauty on Monday, June 14. Guest artist Alina Cojocaru will dance opposite Jose Manuel Carreño at the matinee performance on Saturday, June 19. This production of The Sleeping Beauty received its World Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York on June 1, 2007.

Eight performances of Swan Lake, choreographed by Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa, will be given beginning Monday, June 21, with Veronika Part and Roberto Bolle leading the opening night cast. Swan Lake is set to the score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky and features scenery and costumes by Zack Brown and lighting by Duane Schuler. This production of Swan Lake premiered on March 24, 2000 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

The final week of American Ballet Theatre’s eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House will feature eight performances of Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet beginning Monday evening, July 5 with Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes in the title roles. Set to the music of Sergei Prokofiev, Romeo and Juliet features scenery and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis and lighting by Thomas Skelton. The ballet received its World Premiere by The Royal Ballet in London on February 9, 1965 and was given its ABT Company Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House on April 22, 1985.

A Celebration for Alicia Alonso

As part of American Ballet Theatre 70th Anniversary season, the Company will celebrate the life and career of legendary dancer and ballet director Alicia Alonso. Alonso joined Ballet Theatre in 1940 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1946. Famed for her interpretation of the title role in Giselle, Alonso also starred in the World Premieres of ABT’s most critically-hailed works, including George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Antony Tudor’s Undertow and as The Accused in Agnes de Mille’s Fall River Legend; all roles that were created on her. Alonso’s 90th birthday will be marked by a special performance of Don Quixote on Thursday evening, June 3, featuring three Principal casts. Paloma Herrera and Marcelo Gomes will dance the lead roles of Kitri and Basilio in Act I, Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo take over the leads for Act II and Natalia Osipova and Jose Manuel Carreño perform the leading roles in Act III at the birthday celebration.

Repertory Festival

American Ballet Theatre will offer two weeks of repertory programs June 8-12 and continuing on June 28 through July 3. The programs include an All-Ashton program featuring Sir Frederick Ashton’s Birthday Offering, The Dream and the Company Premieres of The Awakening Pas de Deux from Ashton’s The Sleeping Beauty and Thaïs Pas de Deux. On Tuesday evening, June 8, Diana Vishneva and Jose Manuel Carreño will dance the Company Premiere of Thaïs Pas de Deux and Paloma Herrera and Cory Stearns will perform the ABT Premiere of the Awakening Pas de Deux. On the same evening, the season’s first performance of Ashton’s The Dream will be performed by Gillian Murphy as Titania, David Hallberg as Oberon and Herman Cornejo as Puck.

American Ballet Theatre’s repertory festival also includes an All-American Program featuring Twyla Tharp’s The Brahms-Haydn Variations, Paul Taylor’s Company B and Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free. An All-Classic Master’s Program presented on June 29, June 30 matinee and July 2 will include George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, pas de deux from Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon and Antony Tudor’s Romeo and Juliet, as well as ballets from the All-Ashton and All-American programs.

An ABT Premieres program on the evenings of June 9, June 11, June 28 and July 1 will feature Tharp’s The Brahms-Haydn Variations, along with Alexei Ratmansky’s On the Dneiper and Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free.

Memorial Day Matinee

A special Memorial Day matinee performance will take place on Monday, May 31 with a performance of Don Quixote. Tickets for the matinee are specially priced from $20 to $95. For more information, please visit, www.abt.org <http://www.abt.org> .

ABTKids

ABTKids, American Ballet Theatre’s annual one-hour introduction to ballet, is scheduled for Saturday morning, June 5 at 11:30am. Following the ABTKids performance, Angelina Ballerina™ will greet all ticket holders and pose for photos. All tickets for ABTKids are $25. The ABTKids performance is generously supported through an endowed gift from Thomas and Lydia West, in loving memory of Vivian B. West.

ABTKids Workshop Series

ABTKids Workshop Series, activity-based programs led by ABT Teaching Artists, are available to ABTKids ticket holders only on Saturday, June 5 (9:30 am). On Saturday, June 19, ABT will hold a Sleeping Beauty Workshop at 11:00am. Saturday workshops will be held in the rehearsal studios of the Metropolitan Opera House. Tickets to the workshops are $20 per person. For tickets and more information on ABTKids Workshop series, please call 212-419-4321.

The Metropolitan Opera House box office opens Sunday, March 28 at 12 Noon for single ticket sales. Tickets, priced from $20-$111, are also on sale by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at ABT’s website www.abt.org <http://www.abt.org> . The Metropolitan Opera House box office is located at Lincoln Center, Broadway between 62nd and 65th Streets in New York City.

Lady of the Camellias is generously supported through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund. This production is generously sponsored through an endowed gift from Ruth and Harold Newman.

La Bayadère is generously sponsored by an endowed gift from Drs. Philip and Marjorie Gerdine. La Bayadère is presented in loving memory of Mrs. Caroline Newhouse.

Don Quixote is generously supported through an endowed gift from Anka K. Palitz, in memory of Clarence Y. Palitz, Jr.

Swan Lake is generously underwritten by The Rosh Foundation. Costumes for Swan Lake are generously sponsored by the Ellen Everett Kimiatek Costume Preservation Trust.

ABT’s production of Romeo and Juliet is generously underwritten through an endowed gift

from Monica and Ali Wambold.

Joan Taub Ades and Alan M. Ades, Adrienne Arsht, Arlene and Harvey Blau, Devon and Peter Briger, Susan and Leonard Feinstein, Edward A. Fox, Lori and Stephen Garofalo, Julia and David H. Koch, Konrad R. Kruger, Jill L. Leinbach, Charlotte and MacDonald

Mathey, and Jean and Lawrence Shaw are Co-Underwriters of The Sleeping Beauty.

Additional funding is provided by the NIB Foundation. Special thanks to Caroline Newhouse. This production has been made possible with public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Repertory Festival is generously supported through an endowed gift from Monica, Stefano, Cosima and Tassilo Corsi.

The All-Classic Series is supported by The Estate/Trust of Mme. Marina Svetlova and the Audrey Love Charitable Foundation.

On the Dneiper is generously supported through an endowed gift from The Toni and Martin Sosnoff New Works Fund, The Ross Stretton Choreography Workshop Fund, Leila and Mickey Straus, and the Rudolf Nureyev® Dance Foundation.

Fancy Free is generously underwritten by an endowed gift from Avery and Andrew F.

Barth, in honor of Laima and Rudolf Barth.

The Dream is presented in loving memory of Clarence Y. Palitz, Jr. by his family.

The Dream has been made possible with public funds from the National Endowment For the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.

Company B is generously supported by a gift from Marjorie S. Isaac in honor of ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

CA, Inc. is a Sponsor of ABT’s Family Initiatives.

[richard53dog]

I'm really looking forward to the repertory programs, there are more than in the last few Met seasons (but perhaps this was done deliberately to compensate

for the very limited season last fall and the nonexistent one this fall in NYC)

Whatever the rational , I'm for it, and I'm looking forward particularly to the Classic Masters program and the All-Ashton one. There's lots of Ashton, and ABT seems to have made room for a fair amount of Ashton lately, and I for one am happy with that.

I'm approaching Lady of the Camellias with a bit of trepidation, it seems like an odd piece to me, and I'm not certain it's just me. Why didn't they do this before Ferri retired? Come to think of it, Ferri did dance it at La Scala shortly before she hung up her toe shoes and I read quite a number of reports from Milan that found the piece bewildering .

It's nice that Osipova and Cojocaru are scheduled. I loved Cojocaru's Aurora when I saw it with the RB in DC a few years back.

[Ambonnay]

I got most of the tickets that I had ordered on top of my subscription tickets, yesterday! However, some tickets I ordered are still in the process of being shipped, when I called the Metropolitan Opera box office about some "missing" tickets. I am pretty happy with the seats I got for the various performances

[Ambonnay]

The NY Times has an article on Corella:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/14/arts/dance/14corella.html

[Helene]

One thing in this article really annoys me:

Starting a ballet company is no easy feat, as Christopher Wheeldon discovered in trying to establish Morphoses; after struggling to establish financial security, Mr. Wheeldon announced last month that he was leaving the company.

Mr. Corella might find himself luckier by virtue of geography, as European countries have a tradition of state support for the arts; connections, because members of the Spanish royal family are supporters; and more limited artistic ambitions. The challenges are nonetheless considerable.

While there is almost always luck involved -- the article describes the fortuitous offer by the mayor of La Granja de San Ildefonso -- and the ballet environment in Spain is quite different than in the US -- although the lack of a classical company in Spain cut both ways -- Corella spent a focused six years to create the foundation (a school) and a company before he hired a dancer. He was heavily involved in the administrative aspects, and it took him substantial longer to raise the 1.3m Euros than it did Wheeldon. (I'm assuming that 1.3m Euros in Spain=1.3m dollars in North America.) Even had Wheeldon not walked away from Morphoses, from all published reports, they took a substantially different approach to creating a company, and had substantially different underlying aims.

[4mrdncr]

One thing in this article really annoys me:

Starting a ballet company is no easy feat, as Christopher Wheeldon discovered in trying to establish Morphoses; after struggling to establish financial security, Mr. Wheeldon announced last month that he was leaving the company.

Mr. Corella might find himself luckier by virtue of geography, as European countries have a tradition of state support for the arts; connections, because members of the Spanish royal family are supporters; and more limited artistic ambitions. The challenges are nonetheless considerable.

While there is almost always luck involved -- the article describes the fortuitous offer by the major of La Granja de San Ildefonso -- and the ballet environment in Spain is quite different than in the US -- although the lack of a classical company in Spain cut both ways -- Corella spent a focused six years to create the foundation (a school) and a company before he hired a dancer. He was heavily involved in the administrative aspects, and it took him substantial longer to raise the 1.3m Euros than it did Wheeldon. (I'm assuming that 1.3m Euros in Spain=1.3m dollars in North America.) Even had Wheeldon not walked away from Morphoses, from all published reports, they took a substantially different approach to creating a company, and had substantially different underlying aims.

Hi Helene, good points all. Just some clarifications....

MONEY: 1.3M euros is substantially more than 1.3M dollars because the dollar is so low. When I was there in 2008 and 2009, the exchange rate was about 1.86 dollars to 1 euro. So almost equal to the British pound exchange rate. (For ease of math I would usually do 2dollars = 1euro and be glad I got any loose change back in my measly pockets.)

Also, Angel and his family established the Foundation, because they decided to fundraise using a "northamerican" [their term] model of private & corporate investment, since the Spanish governments were not willing to participate at the time. In fact, though the Foundation is still headquartered in Barcelona, after 4 years of trying to gain the government's support, Catalunia declined to finance them. It wasn't until the Mayors of La Granja and Segovia decided to make the city a "World Cultural Heritage" site, and return Segovia to its past as a center of arts & culture, that the offer was made of the Palace of St. Cecilia.--which is empty and still needs to be renovated.

There is NO school yet.. Angel & Carmen held a summer intensive last August at CB's "temporary" studios, and have toured the country doing "educational workshop/demos" for school children, but that's it so far. (There is a prospectus however that details the curriculum for the school when it opens, and an architect has been retained to build the new studios and renovate St. C's. It's going to be quite beautiful if it's ever finished.)

But for Spain, Angel had to create a "product" first before people would invest in it. That product was CBCL. Prior to its inception in early 2008, for 7-8 years, Angel was touring small groups of dancers--mostly friends from ABT and NYCB--in order to prove that there were audiences for classical ballet in Spain and eventually gain support. So those tours, and as he put it "a lot of knocking on doors, and breaking down walls", eventually got people, and Spanish government ministers interested, and luckily (finally) La Granja-Segovia finally stepped in as "angels" for Angel.

At the moment, I deeply understand the difficulties faced by Christopher Wheeldon and his company--being US based of course, I am very cognizant of funding issues, or lack thereof. I realize Mr. Wheeldon's purpose and business model were different; which is another reason why Morphoses was so intersting to me--as I've posted before, it was the PROCESS (of forming a ballet company) that intrigued me, not just the dancing. I wish him (and Morphoses) well.

[Helene]

MONEY: 1.3M euros is substantially more than 1.3M dollars because the dollar is so low. When I was there in 2008 and 2009, the exchange rate was about 1.86 dollars to 1 euro. So almost equal to the British pound exchange rate. (For ease of math I would usually do 2dollars = 1euro and be glad I got any loose change back in my measly pockets.)

Did he raise the money from American donors? If that's the case, then he raised money worth substantially more than 1.3m dollars; however, only if he pays the US dollar equivalent in Euros in Europe, or if he spends his money in the US, does he have the additional buying power of the exchange rate.

It doesn't help a person in Great Britain or Europe to know that his pound or Euro is worth 1.X US dollars when he has to buy something in Pounds or Euros.

[mimsyb]

I got most of the tickets that I had ordered on top of my subscription tickets, yesterday! However, some tickets I ordered are still in the process of being shipped, when I called the Metropolitan Opera box office about some "missing" tickets. I am pretty happy with the seats I got for the various performances

I sympathize. The Met somehow "lost" two of my subscriptions. Even though I had paid by credit card when ordering, when I received my confirmation notice there were two entire subscriptions not there. After many phone calls and much distress how this could happen, the Met admitted to an "error" and I got my subscriptions back. I lost my usual seats, but the Met did make good and put me in better seats than I had previously! But it took some doing!

[bart]

The Spanish government has a huge deficit, increasing difficulty in borrowing (a la Greece), and declining tax income due to recession and the highest unemployment rate in Europe.

This turns out to have been bad luck for Corella as for everyone else. That's why I admire what, based on what 4mrdncr says, seems to be a well-thought out and long-term business plan.

I don't know whether Wheeldon or, later on, the Wheeldon-Lopez partnership (whatever that was) ever thought things out so clearly or in such depth.

[Ambonnay]

New booklet of season with photos up:

http://www.abt.org/performances/trios/trios.html

[sealings]

who's in the romeo and juliet photo with bolle?

[bart]

who's in the romeo and juliet photo with bolle?

It's no one at all, according to the credits at the end of the booklet, when mention only Bolle. I guess it's "Romeo and Fill-in-the-Blank." Hmm.

[carbro]

Irina Dvorovenko is scheduled as Bolle's Juliet, so it may be she.

It's certainly a dramatic photo, but I much prefer ballet brochures with dancing photos over those with Artistic Interpretations.

[Ambonnay]

Why is Hallberg nowhere in the photos? Gomes is in three photos plus the cover (duplicative of one of the inside photos). Stiefel gets two photos, as does Bolle.

Also, Michele Wiles is noticeably absent from the photos, when Murphy appears three times.

Note Murphy has new photo for her bio on the ABT site.

[carbro]

Note Murphy has new photo for her bio on the ABT site.

Thank you, Ambonnay. Here's Murphy's page.

[4mrdncr]

MONEY: 1.3M euros is substantially more than 1.3M dollars because the dollar is so low. When I was there in 2008 and 2009, the exchange rate was about 1.86 dollars to 1 euro. So almost equal to the British pound exchange rate. (For ease of math I would usually do 2dollars = 1euro and be glad I got any loose change back in my measly pockets.)

Did he raise the money from American donors? If that's the case, then he raised money worth substantially more than 1.3m dollars; however, only if he pays the US dollar equivalent in Euros in Europe, or if he spends his money in the US, does he have the additional buying power of the exchange rate.

It doesn't help a person in Great Britain or Europe to know that his pound or Euro is worth 1.X US dollars when he has to buy something in Pounds or Euros.

There was no way for American's to donate, because the Foundation wasn't registered in the US or with the IRS. Some American patrons (who also had ABT connections) have supported the company, but most of the funding has come from the Castilla-Leon government, and a few Spanish and international corporate sponsors. Like most money, it's what it buys that is most important.

[4mrdncr]

Irina Dvorovenko is scheduled as Bolle's Juliet, so it may be she.

It's certainly a dramatic photo, but I much prefer ballet brochures with dancing photos over those with Artistic Interpretations.

I agree carbro, that dramatic photos do not always impress like dancers in motion do. Personally, because the photo is (I think by F.Ferri) it's possible it's from an older pic, and the invisible Juliet is A. Ferri. At least it does look like her hand and arm (proportionally I always thought she had large hands, but was able to disguise it by her so graceful use of them.)

[vipa]

In case it hasn't been mentioned - individual tickets go on sale March 28.