Jeannette

Great news! When was the last time that this was danced at NYCB? Villella revived it in Oklahoma but rarely seen recently.

Oh, Hallelujah! Not a “Woe is Ukraine!” theme. Paquita is set in Spain, last time that I checked. I wonder if this will include Balanchine’s Paquita Pas de Trois or stick to the known A3 diverts? (Ratmansky’s Munich revival included all music/parts.) SAB kids in the Children’s Mazurka, maybe?

The Legris version of Sylvia is much closer the mid-20th-C traditional POB versions than to the late-1990s Neumeier version, which was more modern and fashionable in its own way. The more traditional POB version is based on versions staged by Staats (1929), Lifar (1949), & Darsonval (1979)…the Legris version has elements of those editions (what I saw from Vienna in 2018). For me, the return of a traditional Sylvia to POB is a plus.

You beat me to the punch, Sebastian! Our favorite upcoming tome is now further delayed to 30 Sept 2024. https://www.amazon.com/Petersburg-Noverre-Marius-Petipa-Russia/dp/1839984163/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=3CIY4NOTD1E1A&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.NHVp2T_hUswrsA9Ne_SOqnTNmAjJs-X6NyBKoEIxd30.c7ByAu8_kQQVXES5i163Gw8H6xrYXYW22xPg4bJjBoc&dib_tag=se&keywords=Petipa+book+by+Wiley&qid=1710463567&sprefix=petipa+book+by+wiley%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-1

I’m very sorry to report that the Moscow Classical Ballet leader and choreographer Natalia Kasatkina passed away last night, in Moscow. She and her husband Vladimir Vasiliov co-choreographed many works that they toured throughout the globe, including Vanina Vanini, The Geologists, The Creation of the World (Adam & Eve), Lysistrata, Mowgli (based on The Jungle Book, w music by the young UK composer Alexander Prior), La Traviata, Rite of Spring, The Fairy’s Kiss, and their versions of all the full-evening Petipa standards. I usually saw the MCB company at the Kremlin Theater, although they had their own theatre - New Kolobov Opera Thrater - near the Hermitage Gardens in Moscow. MCB had a number of excellent soloists, such as Nikolai Chevychelov now and Irek Mukhamedov, Stanislav Issaev, and Vladimir Malakhov in the past. May she rest in eternal peace! https://www.oreanda-news.com/en/kultura_i_dosug/people-s-artist-of-the-ussr-natalia-kasatkina-has-died/article1508065/

I saw it at the Kennedy Center when it premiered in 2019. Miami and DTHarlem, I believe. It was the most boring piece of DEI-WOKE crap that I’ve ever seen. I honestly cannot remember the number of men vs women wearing the big red bags. Sorry, @Emeralds.

I can’t wait for Ratmansky to get out of the patriotic p.r. mode. His Tchaikovsky Overtures work for Munich is his best “normal - non-war” ballet in two years. Even his Coppelia in Milan presented a fighting angle in the A2 divertissements but was otherwise peaceful.

Living in Puerto Rico, I select my trips to NY/NYCB very carefully, mostly to see the classic pieces by Balanchine & Robbins…with a bit of new Ratmansky or Peck in the mix. My four-day weekend offered most of this - Peck’s recent “full evening” COPLAND DANCE EPISODES was my unexpected surprise - so light, bright, with fascinating group choreography, including most of the earlier RO-DEO. Ratmansky’s political SOLITUDE was my big downer - I don’t like dark ballets in bunkers. “Boo!” All the way! I hope that this won’t be Ratmansky’s leitmotif for the rest of his time at NYCB. If so - MoveOn.org! The greatest gifts of the weekend were the grand-scaled Balanchines: the elegance of LIEBESLIEDER, FOUR TEMPERAMENTS, and SYMPHONY IN THREE MOVEMENTS…most of these works with the lean beauty of Ashley Laracey. (Balanchine would have promoted her to Principal ages ago!) I also loved Robbins’ OPUS 16/THE DREAMER, with gorgeous Unity Phelan and Taylor Stanley in the Baryshnikov role as the main man. My next trip to NYCB should be in late April, for the rare BOUREE FANTASQUE, plus SYMPHONY IN C and BRAHMS-SCHOENBERG! Robbins’ DANCES AT A GATHERING will be the cherry on the sundae! p.s. Never in a gaz-illion years would I travel to see the horrendous NYCB program being presented at Sadlers Wells. Even if the ghosts of Pavlova & Nureyev would be in the corps. Gustave LeGrey? Love Letter on Shuffle? Good grief.

That’s not so far from where I’ve worked recently…despite my so-called “retirement” status. I’ll probably just wait for the troubles to end before seeing either Russian or Ukrainian ballet companies in person.

Exactly. The FSB tracks dual citizens, knowing that they eventually return to Russia to visit family. I’m thinking of all the “Brighton Beach/Little Odessa” Russian citizens who used to frequent Lincoln Center, to enjoy ballets. Many may have bought tickets to the various pro-Ukraine performances.

Emeralds, the FSB tracks computers for donations and other online activities…as do other governments, for different reasons. 😉 I once considered buying a ticket to a pro-Ukraine Gala in Orlando, FL. Woe is me!

Thanks, Buddy. I also enjoyed Russian Seasons at NYCB (live, with Wendy Whelan as the Bride) and the Bolshoi film. Will we ever see the Russian artists overseas again? In the meantime, I was very sorry to read about the Yekaterinburg ballerina Ksenia Karelina (dual US-Russian citizen, now living in L.A.) who was arrested while visiting her parents in Yekaterinburg. She is accused of helping Ukraine by having donated a whopping $50 to a NY-based pro-Ukraine charity. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/02/20/russian-secret-service-arrest-american-woman-high-treason/

That’s right, @DrewCo - I was thinking of Ratmansky’s The (Four?) Seasons to Glazunov’s score, which I saw premiered at The Met in NYC…Isabella Boylston or Stella Abrera in the leading female role with the main pdd. Ratmansky is one trip after another in my archives! Coming back to add another Ratmansky fave: Of Love and Rage, to a compelling score by A. Khachaturian…my last trip before COVID, to Costa Mesa, CA, where I had a very nice talk with the choreographer, discussing my trip to StP for Cinderella (where I met my husband, so a good luck ballet for me, even if I didn’t like the set)!

Despite some good dancing moments by the soloists, Solitude was probably the least impressive Ratmansky premiere that I’ve attended. My faves were the Petipa recons in Zurich and Berlin…and The Seasons at ABT. Namouna is my fave NYCB work. Bright, grand, Imperial. It’s probably not right to expect that style nowadays. My secret wish is that Ratmansky may resuscitate his Art of the Fugue (to Bach) that he began creating at the Bolshoi, just before the war…adapted to NYCB dancers. Without political ties.

Bruce, I’ve been delighted to meet Alexei Ratmansky during receptions or talks related to his premieres in many locales, beginning with his Cinderella in St Petersburg, 2002/03 period…then Miami, Berlin, Costa Mesa, etc. This may be my 20th live Ratmansky premiere in the past 20 years. I know that he needs to fulfill his pro-Ukraine wish (p.r.?) at this moment. It doesn’t make sense to go against the flow now. I wouldn’t expect a jolly Harlequinade from him in this moment! I just wish that the situation would change because I was so delighted with the other types of his ballets, even Odesa or Songs of Bukovina, which have Ukrainian themes but have a certain degree of positivity threaded with the sadness. I’m afraid that if the war continues, we’ll be looking at a ten-year series of tragic ballets set in dark bunkers. I’m praying for more Namounas or Whipped Creams!