ABT to scrap 2010 NY Fall season

[Dale]

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that ABT will not perform a fall season in NY, in order to rehears their new Nutcracker, which will have it's premiere at BAM:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...festyleArtEnt_4

[richard53dog]

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that ABT will not perform a fall season in NY, in order to rehears their new Nutcracker, which will have it's premiere at BAM:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...festyleArtEnt_4

Too bad. They had that very short, location challenged season last fall in NYC. I look forward to the rep programs they have been presenting at City Center in the fall so I'm not happy with this.

I wish them success with their Nutcracker but I'd rather they not make this particular schedule adjustment

[ksk04]

Well this is only for one year, hopefully the money they bring in from the Nutcracker will enable them to do a little longer season in the fall than their usual 2 1/2 week run.

[sandik]

I hope that ksk04 is correct, and this will be a brief hiatus, but I'm very disappointed. It seems, looking at it from the other side of the country, that ABT had found a great balance between mostly mixed rep shows in the fall and the big, program-length shows in the spring. This change seems like a shift towards the latter.

[4mrdncr]

How sad, once more a ballet company is reduced to doing Nutcracker, in order to fund anything else. And to think I use to cheer that at least one company in the world wasn't doing Nutcracker each autumn/winter, and I could actually see some new/interesting choreography instead. Sorry, but I hate looking around each fall, and no matter which direction I face, all I see are Nutcrackers. I don't mind it once and awhile, but all the time, everywhere?!

[jsmu]

How sad, once more a ballet company is reduced to doing Nutcracker, in order to fund anything else. And to think I use to cheer that at least one company in the world wasn't doing Nutcracker each autumn/winter, and I could actually see some new/interesting choreography instead. Sorry, but I hate looking around each fall, and no matter which direction I face, all I see are Nutcrackers. I don't mind it once and awhile, but all the time, everywhere?!

Yes, indeed. It's hard to believe that Nutcracker was ever a Great Idea (when Balanchine began this trend, as he did so many others, so many of which have gone similarly wrong), and that's in spite of one of the world's great scores--for ballet or anything else. It's far too obviously an ordeal to be endured for most dancers and all orchestras playing it--and the non-Balanchine choreography of it is usually even more of an ordeal. Surely there could be SOME alternative? Cinderella? Tales of Beatrix Potter? ANYTHING????

[MJ]

A new Nutz is always risky, a Fall contemporary season is as well.Cash is king, and the economy is not improving. Better to keep your powder dry.

[richard53dog]

But this report isn't quite as drastic as it originally seemed.

It's not the same as two or three weeks at City Center but ABT will perform at NJPAC this November. No, not Manhattan , but easy to get via PATH

It was reported on this thread:

http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=31671

[dirac]

How sad, once more a ballet company is reduced to doing Nutcracker, in order to fund anything else. And to think I use to cheer that at least one company in the world wasn't doing Nutcracker each autumn/winter, and I could actually see some new/interesting choreography instead. Sorry, but I hate looking around each fall, and no matter which direction I face, all I see are Nutcrackers. I don't mind it once and awhile, but all the time, everywhere?!

Yes, indeed. It's hard to believe that Nutcracker was ever a Great Idea (when Balanchine began this trend, as he did so many others, so many of which have gone similarly wrong), and that's in spite of one of the world's great scores--for ballet or anything else. It's far too obviously an ordeal to be endured for most dancers and all orchestras playing it--and the non-Balanchine choreography of it is usually even more of an ordeal. Surely there could be SOME alternative? Cinderella? Tales of Beatrix Potter? ANYTHING????

It may be an ordeal for many ballet regulars, but for others who are not frequent balletgoers or who are bringing their children for their first experience of ballet it may still be very satisfying. Some companies are putting on Snow Queens or Cinderellas, but although those are less familiar they're not necessarily superior as aesthetic experiences. And people who come out every year for Nutcracker as a holiday tradition may not be similarly attracted by the alternate offerings. There have been seasons when I've taken a year off from Nutcracker and felt better for it. But even then I usually wind up watching Balanchine's Nutcracker on video.

[Ambonnay]

I look at the Nutcrackers as a necessary evil, to generate cash flow, especially in today's climate where large donations are presumably more difficult to come by.

That being said, if 1 out of every 1000 children or teenagers who watch a Nutcracker somewhere were to develop an interest in taking ballet lessons or end up interested in attending ballet performances from time to time as an adult, that would be a meaningful long-term benefit.

I take some solace from Ratmansky assisting on the ABT Nutcracker project.

I wonder whether these two youtube excerpts of Stearns/Wiles in a Nutcracker (which one????) are dress rehearsals of the ABT one? I noticed Wles linked to these videos from her Facebook site. Could Stearns/Wiles somehow have collaborated on a Nutcracker for another company as guest artists, or are these January 2010 videos of the upcoming ABT Nutcracker? The Stearns/Wiles pairing is in keeping with how ABT has recently paired the two in full length ballets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFVCgGt4zXA

[Mme. Hermine]

Looks like they did a guest appearance somewhere to me.

It may not be the only one they did but I found this on this board somewhere:

Michele Wiles and Cory Stearns are scheduled to guest in the Wilmington (DE) Ballet/Academy of the Dance's production on December 19 and 20.

[AG]

Looks like the Wilmington set to me....

[Ambonnay]

Mme. Hermine and AG:

Agreed. Plus I doubt the Ratmansky Nutcracker is yet ready for dress rehearsals like what Wiles/Stearns were doing.

[MJ]

I look at the Nutcrackers as a necessary evil, to generate cash flow, especially in today's climate where large donations are presumably more difficult to come by.

MacKenzie or David Koch mentioned ABT expects nutcracker to help ABT's financial stability.