School of American Ballet Workshop 2014

[rg]

F.Y.I.

according to a filmmaker involved with footage related to the 2014 School of American Ballet Worskhop, Live From Lincoln Center has named Dec. 12 as the air date, or at least, i suppose, ONE air date.

[Kathleen O'Connell]

The whole SAB workshop? What a great idea for a broadcast! (Although "Live" wouldn't seem to be an apt descriptor if they're presenting the 2014 SAB Workshop.) It's nice to see young achievement celebrated, and even those students whose ballet careers don't extend beyond dancing in the back row of the Workshop corps have achieved a ton. (It would be nice if the broadcast makes a little fuss over them, too.)

[sandik]

For those of us who weren't paying close attention, could you refresh our memories about what was performed?

[rg]

to the best of my recollection, this is the program (see scans) that was filmed for LFLC.

f.y.i.

[Helene]

It's nice to see that Darci Kistler staged "Swan Lake," since she was recognized as a future star from her own performance of the role in the Workshop.

[sandik]

Oh, that will make a lovely broadcast!

[Dale]

The release:

LIVE FROM LINCOLN CENTER: 40TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON

“Curtain Up: The School of American Ballet Workshop Performances”

Rare glimpse of Rehearsals and Performances by

Future Dance Stars at School of American Ballet

with Host Audra McDonald

Friday, December 12, 2014 at 9:00 p.m. (ET) on PBS (check local listings)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — For the first time on Live From Lincoln Center, the curtain will be drawn back on one of the world’s premier ballet academies – the School of American Ballet – with the presentation of the School’s 50th Annual Workshop Performance. Taped during a live event in May 2014, this coming broadcast will feature performances and rare behind-the-scenes footage, demonstrating the legacy and continuing tradition of the excellence fostered at this prestigious academy and showcasing the talented dancers of the future. Live From Lincoln Center’s 40th anniversary season presentation of the “Curtain Up: The School of American Ballet Workshop Performances” will air on Friday, December 12, 2014 at 9:00 p.m. on PBS (*check local listings), hosted by Audra McDonald.

This past Spring, the 50th Annual Workshop featured a program specially chosen to recognize the School’s co-founder George Balanchine and former faculty member Alexandra Danilova, who together launched SAB’s first year-end student showcase in 1965. The all-Balanchine program, which was presented at Lincoln Center’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater, included the seminal Serenade as well as excerpts from such famous works as Coppélia, Swan Lake, and Western Symphony. These excerpts were taught by some of the world’s most-acclaimed instructors and foremost stagers of Balanchine’s work, including Peter Martins and Darci Kistler, who also appear in this broadcast, talking about the school and its history, the works, and the dancers to be featured. This broadcast represents the first-ever School of American Ballet presentation on Live From Lincoln Center.

>> Watch a preview here: http://youtu.be/9dpt4isQPhE

The School of American Ballet (SAB), the official training academy of the New York City Ballet, was founded by Lincoln Kirstein and legendary choreographer George Balanchine in 1934 as the first and most essential step in their mission to establish a uniquely American classical ballet company. Since its founding, SAB has elevated the quality of American dance and is today the premier ballet academy in the United States, training more students who go on to become professional dancers than any other institution. At the end of each school year, advanced students are selected to perform in the School’s Spring Workshop, which is presented in this broadcast, providing audiences a unique opportunity to witness the pre-professional debuts of the nation’s most talented ballet students as they prepare to embark on professional ballet careers with notable companies in the U.S. and abroad.

This episode of Live From Lincoln Center is directed for television by Matthew Diamond, who also directed The Nance which aired earlier in this anniversary season as well as Dance in America, as well as documentary segments contributed by Elliot Caplan, the filmmaker in residence at the Cunningham Dance Company from 1983-1998). The executive producer of the Live From Lincoln Center series is Andrew C. Wilk.

About School of American Ballet

The School of American Ballet, founded by legendary choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein in 1934, is the premier ballet academy in the United States. Approximately 570 boys and girls ranging in age from six to nineteen attend classes during the Winter Term at SAB, which is both a resident organization of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the official academy of New York City Ballet. While children enrolled at the School hail from the New York metro area, SAB’s intermediate and advanced classes are filled with talented students from around the U.S. and abroad, with more than 60 living in the School’s onsite residence hall. Each year, twenty advanced students on average sign professional contracts with dance companies around the United States and abroad. Not only do SAB alumni comprise 97 percent of New York City Ballet, but dancers trained at the School also currently appear on the rosters of over 70 U.S. and more than a dozen international companies. For more information: sab.org

About Live From Lincoln Center

Live From Lincoln Center is a cornerstone of performing arts broadcasting, presenting the world’s greatest artists and performances in music, dance and theater from Lincoln Center’s renowned stages. Now in its 40th season on PBS, the pioneering series—produced by Lincoln Center—has been seen by hundreds of millions of viewers since its debut and celebrated by 13 Emmy Awards and other honors for its broadcasting excellence. Additional Live From Lincoln Center content is accessible online at PBS.org and watch.lincolncenter.org. For more about upcoming broadcasts, visitlivefromlincolncenter.org

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Join the conversation during the broadcast: #LFLC

[Jack Reed]

I'm looking forward to the broadcast, and having attended Workshop this year, I'd like to mention for whatever additional interest it my have, that, despite the credit in the program rg posts above, this short version of Swan Lake turned out to be different from the Balanchine version NYCB presented apparently beginning in 1951 and developed by him over the years into the mid-70s when I began to see it there and subsequently when it was revived by MCB a few years ago and, mostly, currently here in Washington, DC by TSFB, (where however, Ms. Farrell has reverted the "Valse Bluette" of my day to the "Four Cygnets" Balanchine had already replaced by then).

Maybe Mme. Danilova chose an earlier version in Balanchine's series for Kistler's debut in 1980. Maybe she chose one from her earlier experience. I'm just curious. At any rate, it's something different.

[KarenAG]

Oh, I cannot wait for this!!! Thank you, RG and Dale.

[KarenAG]

I'm unsure how to post a video, but there is another preview for this on YouTube entitled "Curtain Up: If There Were A Story".

Those students are AMAZING!

[Natalia]

This aired late last night on WETA, the Washington, DC, PBS affiliate. A lovely show with just the right amount of backstage and rehearsal footage to precede each of the four ballets. Kudos to the producers for the relaxing pace of the editing of the on-stage portions, so much better than the wacky frantic presentation of the Miami City Ballet and other recent 'Dance in America' shows.

The student dancers were, for the most part, magnificent. I was particularly impressed by Addie Tapp (Waltz Girl in Serenade), Baily Jones (Russian Girl, Serenade), Lyrica Blankfein (waltz of hours lead, Coppelia), and, especially, Christopher Grant as the lead cowboy in Western Symphony-scene 4. Wow, what a charismatic, high-flying performer he is! I sure hope that he was taken into NYCB after graduation, although I couldn't find his name on the roster...maybe because he is an apprentice?

On the other hand...

The Odette in the Swan Lake excerpt, Alston Macgill, looked scared to death and seemed the feeblest of all swans on stage. While she performed steps commendably, her port de bras is of the wet-noodle variety. It marred an otherwise-divine flock of swans.

[Alexandra]

I thoroughly enjoyed this and was very grateful to PBS for showing it. This is a talented class! It's good to remember that these are, well, STUDENTS, and their performances can't be expected to be at the level of 30-year-olds. I thought they were very refreshing, and the zest with which they danced "Western Symphony" is something I'd like to see in a regular season!

[Natalia]

Funny how audiences at the great Russian academies (Vaganova, Moscow, Perm or even the USA's Kirov Academy), don't have to be reminded that these are students. Russian teachers would not put a student onstage to dance a major classical role if he/she is lacking basic port de bras. SAB obviously cares more about what's going on below the waist and, thankfully, the port de bras was acceptable in most of the dancers on view in the PBS telecast.

Unrelated but forgot to mention earlier: The cygnets dance in this production is a hoot, with those daffy 360-degree pinwheel turns near the end. What was Balanchine snorting when he devised those turns? Or is this Cygnets Quartet also attributed to Kistler-Martins? If they are Balanchine's, then I understand why Mr. B replaced it with the Valse Bluette. LOL!!!

[Mme. Hermine]

Darci Kistler said this before the Swan Lake segment:

"My history with this ballet, Swan Lake, was it was my workshop performance, so this is kind of like coming full circle for me. Madame Danilova taught me Odette, the swan queen. Everyone thinks oh, I just did it. No. It's all technique. Everything is thought out and technical and then you have to be spontaneous and you have to let it go....I remember Mr. Balanchine slapping me and telling me "Don't look at ABT, don't look at Makarova. I want you to be young and yourself." So I've tried not to put any of these affectations on the children and let them be their own imagination of what they think a swan is."

I'm really conflicted about that last sentence.

[sandik]

Kudos to the producers for the relaxing pace of the editing of the on-stage portions, so much better than the wacky frantic presentation of the Miami City Ballet and other recent 'Dance in America' shows.

Did anyone catch who was in charge of camera work and editing for this? It did indeed remind me of the late, lamented Nashville period of DiA.

[Helene]

In the "Dancing for Mr. B" documentary, Kistler said that Balanchine gave her instructions about the PDD that she didn't understand: Don't look at your partner, you're not in love with him. He said that freed her (15-year-old-self) to be herself, because she hadn't had the kind of experience that could inform her. I don't know if that's what she was trying to say, allowing each dancer to be herself, but I thought it was curious that she framed in terms of being a swan, since there's no consensus on how much of a swan Odette is (and when) in the white acts.

How much of "Swan Lake" was done at Kistler's workshop? There's rehearsal footage (with pianist) of the Pas de deux, and maybe some footage of the actual workshop performance has surfaced, but were all of the other elements included? If people recognize the end of the Pdd in the telecast as Martins', how did Kistler's end?

[volcanohunter]

For the next six months the program is available on demand for internet users in the U.S.

http://video.pbs.org/video/2365385279/

[Alexandra]

Darci Kistler said this before the Swan Lake segment:

"My history with this ballet, Swan Lake, was it was my workshop performance, so this is kind of like coming full circle for me. Madame Danilova taught me Odette, the swan queen. Everyone thinks oh, I just did it. No. It's all technique. Everything is thought out and technical and then you have to be spontaneous and you have to let it go....I remember Mr. Balanchine slapping me and telling me "Don't look at ABT, don't look at Makarova. I want you to be young and yourself." So I've tried not to put any of these affectations on the children and let them be their own imagination of what they think a swan is."

I'm really conflicted about that last sentence.

-----------------------------------

I thought she was using Balanchine's approach - don't imitate, just be yourself. Very different from the "set every finger" approach, but from what we read, that was his.

[sandik]

That was how it came off to me as well.

[Mme. Hermine]

I understood about Balanchine's approach, but using the word "affectations" to describe a characterization of a swan seemed odd.

[rg]

is it possible Kistler meant 'affectations'?

[Natalia]

I've re watched this several times since the original viewing on Dec. 19. The port de bras of SAB soloists was wonderful in Serenade and Coppelia! Western is 'free form' so no problems there. The only problem was with Odette in Swan Lake.

So I take back any generalizations about port de bras at SAB. But it goes to show how one bad apple can hurt overall perception of a troupe. It should not. SABers were great. I blame the coaching of one specific piece (Swan excerpts).

[atm711]

I don't like criticizing students BUT---the dive into a penche arabesque in SL---It looked more like a preparation for a fish dive. I guess my real complaint is with the Coach. Also, I--do not agree with the s tatement Kistler made about Balanchine saying---'don't watch any one else--just be yourself'. The student missed out on a wealth of instruction.

[sandik]

Also, I--do not agree with the statement Kistler made about Balanchine saying---'don't watch any one else--just be yourself'. The student missed out on a wealth of instruction.

I agree that it would have been a very different experience for that dancer if she had been coached in a more traditional fashion, but I'm sure that Kistler was reporting accurately -- I can easily imagine Balanchine saying that to her (Kistler), and I can understand her desire to teach as she had been taught.

[Amour]

I've re watched this several times since the original viewing on Dec. 19. The port de bras of SAB soloists was wonderful in Serenade and Coppelia! Western is 'free form' so no problems there. The only problem was with Odette in Swan Lake.

So I take back any generalizations about port de bras at SAB. But it goes to show how one bad apple can hurt overall perception of a troupe. It should not. SABers were great. I blame the coaching of one specific piece (Swan excerpts).

My husband and I attended the Saturday night workshop performance filmed here for PBS. I have to say Serenade was even more breath taking live than what you can see in this broadcast. So much better than what NYCB does. Coppelia and Western Symphony were also very good. Truly the only disappointing performance was the Swan Lake. We were a bit surprised, because Macauley had featured it (and Alston McGill) in his preview article on the workshop performance a few days earlier. However, we both felt the problem lay with Darci, since the students were still obviously talented. We left with the impression that Suki Schorer (who coached Serenade) was a great teacher and, surprisingly, Darci not so good. Given how great Suzanne Farrell is, we had thought Darci -Balanchine's last great ballerina- would be a good teacher but the Swan Lake did not reflect it.