now voyager

Margot Fonteyn was 46 when I first saw her Juliet and I found her completely convincing (and utterly ravishing) as a 14-year old.

I am thanking the stars that my 17 hours of flying is scheduled for the day AFTER my 24 hour booking window! But it could easily have been otherwise, and if, heaven forbid, one has to call (say, to exchange a ticket), it’s a much smaller window (and I’d predict, with calls compressed into that shorter window, even longer wait times...) I never saw The House, but I believe there were some schoolchildren who sent something saying how they HATED the ROH? What with one thing after another, I find my feelings heading in that direction. As for the RB’s new season, I am among the many dismayed by the minimal Ashton. I look forward to seeing the Coppélia again with the benefit of now having seen Sergei Vikharev’s gorgeous Petipa reconstruction and Pierre Lacotte’s charming French one. I look forward even more to the fall’s triple bill, and, at the end of the season, to another chance to see Tombeaux. I did not think 24 Preludes was among Ratmansky’s best work, and am curious to see its reimagining. (Many) years ago, the Royal Ballet had productions of Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake that I loved unreservedly. I find the current productions far less satisfactory, but hope to see one or two dancers I admire newly cast in key roles in the classical repertoire. I’ve seen brilliant performances elsewhere in Onegin recently, but I welcome the chance to see the RB’s new generation tackle its challenges. Manon at the beginning of next season seems to me to be too much too soon, and I don’t think I’ll be doing much pond-crossing for the other programs.

If the weather is good when you are there, do try to get out of town to see the Catherine Palace and Peterhof. When the Mariinsky's new season's subscriptions are announced, that will give you a partial schedule for the month, but the complete schedule is unlikely to be released until about 2 months prior. I suggest that you also take a look at the Mikhailovsky's schedule when making your plans.

Yermakov has, in my opinion, long deserved this promotion, but I think there are others, most notably Stepin among the men and Novikova and Osmolkina among the women, whom I also would have promoted years ago were the decision mine to make.

For the historic stage, most of the stalls seats are relatively flat, so I would only take the first row, or the aisle seats in the side sections. The front rows of the stalls boxes and dress circle, if not too far to the sides, offer a very good view.

I am deeply grateful to the Links team for their work. I usually look at the compilation daily, and frequently read one or two linked items, but, like some of the posters above, I read fewer published items nowadays, given what I consider to be diminished quality of some reviews (mindful of my blood pressure, I won't read Lyndsey Winship, for example), but even so, I find it invaluable to know what's out there.

Sarasota Ballet’s just-announced new season includes Ashton’s Les Rendezvous, Dante Sonata, AND full-length Romeo & Juliet! Also MacMillan’s Las Hermanas: https://www.sarasotaballet.org/events/2019-2020-season

Raymonda, Giselle, Swan Lake (which is indeed scheduled for February 23) and Jewels will be “live.” The others are repeats. (The Romeo, for instance, was shown in January 2018 IIRC.) The new Bolshoi season has not yet been announced.

Happy Birthday to Lynn! My very first Giselle and Swan Queen (in the full-length), an amazing Juliet, a gorgeous Fairy of Beauty, a masterful Girl in Green, and a peerless Natalya Petrovna. And, speaking of Prologue Fairies, I will never forget Ann Jenner’s. Happy Birthday, Ann!

I would choose left, so as not to miss Juliet's run down the stairs in the balcony scene.

Prominent among the not unexpected disappointments.

The casting for the Bolshoi’s summer season at the ROH is now posted on the ROH website. Some unexpected pleasures, and a few (not unexpected) disappointments.

In this case, ignorance may be bliss. PAMTGG was a ballet choreographed by Balanchine in the early 1970’s. Its title was an acronym for a commercial jingle then in use by an airline then in business: “PanAm makes the going great.” Here’s a link to a review: https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/18/archives/dance-balanchine-offers-pamtgg-work-based-on-jingle-given-by-city.html

I don’t think that because someone loves 2 Pigeons, it necessarily means he/she is uncritical about the entire Ashton oeuvre. I love 2 Pigeons and many other Ashton works, and I consider Ashton one of the great choreographers of all time, but I disliked Varii Capricci ( even though I loved its original cast), and while Jazz Calendar is a lot of fun in spots, I find some of it uninspired. (For that matter, I love Balanchine, too, but PAMTGG was one of the worst ballets I’ve ever seen, and I really dislike Variations for a Door and a Sigh.)

Birthday Offering needs careful casting, which I don’t think it received in the RB’s last run— when it’s better danced (as I thought it was) by ABT than by the Royal Ballet, something’s seriously wrong. I think Daphnis is a beautiful ballet.