Looks as if the much-needed rehaul of nycballet.com will be unveiled on July 31, according to a large notice on the website. Here's hoping they release information in a new timely fashion and those annoying frames (that don't work with all browsers) are removed. Of course, I hope they continue the strong aspects of the website, such as the casting and front row pictures. And the ticket purchasing software has been pretty good.

If the ticketing software is currently the same as was in place in late 2005, then I think it could definitely use improvement. For the Metropolitan Opera and Covent Garden, one can see exactly what seats one is purchasing --and try other seats if one prefers. But when I bought tickets on the NYCB site last year I was not able to see what I was buying--they wouldn't even guarantee a section; I had to wait until the tickets arrived in the mail and they weren't the section I had asked for which had sold out. Since the Met and Covent Garden have similar complexities (subscribers, house seats, etc.), I don't feel particularly charitable about this either. In any case, thanks for the heads up--Come the first of August, I will be checking out the new site and certainly look forward to being able to navigate it more easily.

My immediate response to Dale's post was to click on the Yahoo smiley.

As you see, I'm holding the impulse in check until I see the site. :yawn:

Mmm...the new site is now to debut on August 1, according to the front page on nycballet.com.

It's now up. Just took a real quick peek at it. Very nice visuals. Some new? information including a Lincoln Kirstein centennial planned for 2007. Will explore more later.

It may be hard to judge usability across the site until all of the functionality and content is added, but in my opinion, the new site looks beautiful and airy -- the old site was very cramped -- and speaks intelligently to the viewer.

Well, it still has the old inner-frame format. On my AOL Explorer browser (based on IE), I get no internal scroll bars. On Netscape, however, I do.

Looks like we won't have the music samples. . But I can't wait to see what "The Buzz" is all about!

As Drew may not know the ticketing software is not the same. However, implementing a new online ticketing system is very, very expensive. Care to make it possible by giving.

I contacted NYCB through their site and explained the problem I was having. Got a very nice reply, noting that my message was forwarded to the web consultant who was unable to duplicate my problem.

When I reported that my issue was resolved, the consultant asked what I'd done, in case they get similar reports. I'd merely run disk clean-up and then defragged my hard drive.

This was a case study of good customer relations. I appreciated it!

Maybe we should chance the title of this thread to something like: NYCB's new website IS up: what do you think?

Ballet companies seem to be struggling to reinvent their web presence (Seattle being one example) as a way of encouraging more visits (therefore, closer involvement and emotional identification with the company) and making it easier for people to select and obtain their tickets.

In the arts, it's often the case that: as NYC goes, so goes the rest of the nation. I hope we get lots of thoughts and comments from all sorts of people -- fans, ticket-buyers, and even those who don't get to NYC at all.

For the Nutcracker (only event currently on sale):


So, for Orchestra, you can pay $110 (regular rep: $82) and all you know is you'll be seated somewhere, if you get a seat, with the only certainty that they won't be too good, since you've got to pay $200 to get a "sweet seat".

The other houses at Lincoln Center, as well as City Center and Carnegie Hall, all offer specific seats. This has got to hurt sales, especially out-of-town sales. For summer events held at NYCB's State Theater, such as Mostly Mozart and the Lincoln Center Festival, they do offer specific seat selection. Why is Lincoln Center's Crown Jewel the only inhospitable enterprise?

Lots of things are expensive. Oversized, 24-page brochures on heavy stock (Is it my imagination, or is the paper heavier than usual this season?) are expensive, but it is felt the expense pays off in ticket sales. Come to think of it, I remember when, halfway through the season, the brochures ran out, to be replaced by simple calendars printed on simple bond paper. That must have saved plenty of money!

In (partial) defense of the ticketing software, I know that NYCB does not sell its side-ring seats on line, so whatever you get will be full-view. But it's sure to make a difference when ordering orchestra tickets (isn't that about half the house?), where some people prefer to sit front, others middle and some rear. Just small customer relations matter. But as more and more performing arts organizations have adopted this feature (they seem to find the money!), NYCB's failure to incorporate it in the recent upgrade is likely to be seen as a missed leadership opportunity.

As for me, I can't remember the last time I bought a single ticket for NYCB that I didn't buy in person, so this really isn't my issue.

Darn right. Ticketmaster can't tell you what NYCB seats you're buying. NYCB can't or won't. Am I going to plan a trip to New York around iffy seats for the same program two or three times in a row? Forget it.

This is my first post here, but I agree emphatically with all those who believe individual seat selection is essential. I live about 50 miles from the city and cannot get to the box office every time I want to buy tickets. I can order individual seats for every other venue I know of in New York except the State Theater. I don't mind paying a surcharge for online ordering if I know where I'm going to be sitting. I've nabbed many a great seat at the Met, Broadway theaters, Carnegie, even on trips abroad to London, Paris, and Berlin, all from my desk at home thanks to individual seat selection. The argument that this is expensive and that one should "contribute" for the privilege is completely specious. Online seat selection is what every professional arts organization is now expected to do. I could have easily lived without the pretty Flash animation and the easier scrolling if NYCB had put its energies into the most serious deficiency of their website. As it is, they've missed their opportunity and created considerable potential ill will.

UI changes are relatively inexpensive compared to integrating an online ticketing system with the website and the box office. I agree, though, that seat selection is expected from the top arts organizations. (The Bolshoi site is a dream this way.) One of my frustrations with both Ticketmaster and the PNB websites is that they select the "best" seats for you. I don't often agree with the computer's definition of best, especially as a short person, and the section choices are rarely refined to allow aisle vs. center, rows 1-10 vs. rows 11-20, etc. in the orchestra. As a result, I waste the time of a box office person to be able to get the seats I want.

Of course integrating online ticketing is an expense. But the NYC Opera, using the exact same venue, offers seat selection when you buy tickets online! So evidently software for the State Theater is already in place, though whether it's compatible with the NYCB site is another issue. (I misspoke in my previous comment. I thought the ticketing problem pertained to the State Theater. But it's just NYCB.)

It is obvious NYCB's site is unfinished, with dancer biographies out of date and new dancers not yet covered. I still hold some hope that online ticketing will be integrated when the site is truly finished, and maybe one should not jump to conclusions until the season is underway.

Another area where the NYCB site could learn from the big building at the rear of the plaza would be to incorporate a true database of ballets, performers, and performances. The Met Opera site is phenomenal in this respect. With just a mouse click, one can investigate every opera presented, every cast, every performer's complete Met history, even reviews. I refer to this information quite frequently when discussing opera on other forums. I'm sure ballet fans could find equal value in a comparable database for the City Ballet.

That would be a dream come true.

The Metropolitan Opera seems to have a very different relationship with its past -- it revels in it while marketing the current -- than NYCB does.

In addition to the Met, the San Francisco Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago have online annals. Chicago's is the plainest, it's just a chronological list of performances. The Met's and SFO's are searchable with flexible search criteria.

ABT has a very basic repertory archives with each ballet they have done, the premier and the premier cast.
No later performances though, and that's the difficult part to assemble. You can sort by ballet title,
choreographer, and composer. This is very bare bones, but it's better than nothing.

Richard

On a completely different note, I just want to say how much I'm enjoying the expanded repetory section on the site, which seems to offer photos of every production back to the Ballet Caravan days.

Those of us who complain about bum ballets now never had to sit through "Filling Station" (1938) or some of Balanchine's own duffers, like "The Figure in the Carpet" (1960) which has everyone done up in mock-Thai makekup and costumes.

I'm not anticipating a revival.

Actually, I'd love to have seen "The Figure in the Carpet" -- an article in Ballet Review described Verdy's section as very lovely and similar to Serenade. The one little snip I've seen of Adams' variation made me wish this ballet wasn't lost. And in a way it isn't completely lost as Balanchine recycled Adams' variation into Farrell's in Union Jack. McBride's section also was admired by those who saw the ballet.

And, I'm really looking forward to seeing Filling Station on the D'Amboise DVD. I can comment then if I liked it or not.

But I agree with the new updated repertory section. It also lists the time of the ballet.

I agree. Does anyone know how much of the variation and the ballet were filmed? I had hoped that there would be a revival of at least the section originally choreographed for Francia Russell and six women ("America: The Princess of the West Indies," according to Choreography by George Balanchine) for Russell and Kent Stowell's retirement gala performance, but, alas.

And I suppose this is too much to hope for, although completely technologically feasible: video clips. NYCB could coordinate with the NYPL to show an old then a new clip. Let's dream big here!

probably important to keep in mind re: MET OPERA that it has a strong sense of data gathering, and a publication, OPERA NEWS that likely helps feed the web site much back/historical information.
most ballet companies have this information only so far as often over-worked press offices can compile and file it and organize it along with daily chores of every other sort.
the MET's 100th anniv. if mem. serves was an occasion to gather and organize its past history in a formal way.
perhaps if BALLET NEWS still existed there would be a certain ready store of information in its database for web sites to draw upon.
but as we know, this magazine has long ceased publication.

True enough; yet NYCB has one of the world's best archives for dance nearby. BTW does the NYPL have any plans to digitize its film/video collection? Is that a goal for the collection?

alas, all one hears of the NYPL is buget cuts; the interest i suppose is there concerning preserving its extensive archive of films, but i'm afraid the funds seem not available. i gather that even the extra-urgency to get some of the more fragile films preserved is not being conducted in a timely fashion and much of that old, delicate film is in real danger of being lost altogether, for good.

This is so sad! Yet not a year goes by without a new issue of the complete symphonies of Beethoven! Ballet is so rooted in tradition yet not positioned (inclined?) to preserve it very well. I know: old news.

I just sent a message to Carol Landers recommending a "Search" box, having the repertory list be sortable by composer, name of ballet, etc., and something that would show the visitor what category (on the home pate) to select to obtain specific information.

I'll let you all know what she says!

By the way, any time I've heard former company members discuss "Figure In The Carpet" they all say that it can't be "rewoven" so to speak. Gone! That teeny fragment on the video biography of Balanchine just is so wonderful, isn't it?

I heard back from Carol Landeers, and she said to view the site as having a gradual "roll out," with music excerpts and searching to come. Hopefully she and the IT/creative team working on the site will know what a fabulous resource they have here, and will seriously consider all our suggestions.

Did she say anything about seat selection for net purchases? I think that is the bread-and-butter issue.

My sister has worked box offices for years, and so I have heard many, many stories about seat selection. If you get the seat you want, and if this means that you're happy with your experience, you're much more likely to return -- that is certainly not wasting the box office staffer's time!

Sorry, drb, I did not ask about on-line ticket purchases, as my frustration was strictly with finding specific information. Most of the tickets I buy are through the 4th Ring Soc., usually sides, and they don't mail order or phone order those.....but now that I'm thinking about it, it would be a real bonus to be able to get them online.

I just sent off an email on that subject, and will report back.

If anyone's curious about ticketing systems - here's what I've learned over the years...

NYCB uses Tessitura, a ticketing system that was developed by the Metropolitan Opera in response to the unique needs of arts organizations for their ticketing systems (w/ regards to customer service, fundraising, etc.). Basically, Ticketmaster and such wasn't offering the kind of flexibility and customer service that was needed (ever get a Ticketmaster agent who tries to tell you that row B way on the side is better than row H center?). Many non-profit performing arts companies are over on this system - you can usually tell that if an org has its own in-house ticket people instead of Telecharge or Ticketmaster, then it is probably on Tessitura.

http://www.tessiturasoftware.com/

Basically, being able to choose your seats from a seat map online is fairly new to the ticketing world, and so it would probably take a little bit before Tessitura offers it (if they haven't already). Would be lovely if it were available for NYCB but it would need to be developed by the ticketing software first.

For most companies though, Tessitura will spit out a seat location for you - I don't know why NYCB doesn't offer a seat location when you're purchasing, but each organization runs it differently. Perhaps because there are many different ways to get tickets on NYCB's web site - student rush, 4th Ring society, etc. - that they find it easier to give a seat loc to the patron later rather than immediately.

What *is* nice about NYCB's ticketing system is the listings of availability that is updated every 15 minutes. I find it a wonderful way of gauging whether to wait or buy now for performances... or to find better seats in certain sections based on availability at that performance.

Anyway, that's my fairly rudimentary knowledge of ticketing for you and hopefully that explains some of the quirks of NYCB's online ticketing...

From Carol Landers: "In all probability, online seat selection for repertory will become available sometime in 2007. However, it is unclear whether it will or will not become available for George Balanchine's The Nutracker™."

Thanks, Klavier. I guess that precludes the winter rep season, since online single performance tickets go on sale September, 25, 2006.
Did she really write that lengthy expression with the TM, rather than say just Nutcracker?
Fascinating.

She certainly did. I would not misquote.

"Basically, being able to choose your seats from a seat map online is fairly new to the ticketing world, and so it would probably take a little bit before Tessitura offers it (if they haven't already). Would be lovely if it were available for NYCB but it would need to be developed by the ticketing software first." (Art076)

That was really interesting, Art076....but consider, airlines can do it! And they've bascially been running as "non-profits" lately.

Art076: Thanks for the additional background. But it doesn't really alter my disappointment about the company's delay in updating their system for online purchasing of tickets. Choosing one's own tickets may be relatively new to the arts world, but many arts organizations are making it possible and, indeed, have been doing so for a while--including the Met which, you mentioned, originally developed Tessitura....Certainly, I don't expect NYCB to have the most up-to-date techno-geeky website in the world--but I would like them to keep up with the Jones's. Or, say, the New York City Opera.

On the "business" end, I'll mention that when I know I can get good seats--that is, seats that I myself consider good--I am likely to buy more (and more expensive) tickets. I can't be the only person who feels that way--and as Sandik notes, happy customers are returning customers.

Since this post is a little irritable, I'll add that I arrange my ballet going from out of town and cannot buy tickets at the box office unless I wait until the last minute--which is nerve wracking when one has travelled hundreds of miles to see a particular performance and sometimes (though not always) means quite mediocre seats or, admitedly much more rarely, no seats.

For many years, of course, we had no such technology issues to complain about since the technology didn't exist and certainly wasn' t dreamed of by me. But it does exist now and I wish the company would treat it as a priority.

In partial (though not very strong) defense of the City Ballet, I will quote these additional words from Carol Landers in her email to me:



Going through a Nutcracker order yesterday (which I ultimately didn't buy), I found this "Comments box" on screen 3 of the online ordering form. The problem is of course that the Comments area is buried deep within the ordering process, and one is still forced to ordering tickets sight unseen. I entirely agree with those expressing their dismay that the City Ballet has not treated seat selection as a priority.

The virtue of ordering directly from seating charts for me is that I can immediately figure out what the stage will look like from any given unsold seat (This, of course, requires some prior knowledge of the house.)

This is much more likely to give me what I want than trying to verbalize preferences to someone who will inevitably have his or her own understanding of what my words mean.

From the box office's point of view it seems a good investment, saving both time and money and reducing customer complains and/or returns.

Well, today rep is on sale on line and I did a test order to see how much attention is paid to what you write in the little comments box.

I wish you good luck. I remain guardedly optimistic that suggestions from the public will be incorporated into the website. Just this morning I saw that one little suggestion of mine (that is, that from the dancer bios there could be direct links to their Dancer on Dance interviews) was implemented. And just this morning I submitted another suggestion - let's see what happens.

Of course, the most crucial enhancement to the site, individual seat selection, will take much more time and effort. But perhaps if more people express a wish to see this done, it will be viewed as a greater priority.

I just tripped over a terrific feature. The site links to webcasts of two seminars from the 2004 Balanchine Centennial. The first hour-long one is a panel discussion introduced by Joan Quattrone, NYCB's Director of Volunteers & Program Resources, and featuring Nancy Reynolds, Benjamin Millepied, Peter Martins and Bernard Taper.

The second is in two one-hour parts. Peter Boal hosts Merrill Ashley, Suki Schorer and Kay Mazzo, who each present aspects of Balanchine technique, helped by then-SAB students Tiler Peck, Rachel Piskin, Kaitlyn Gilliland and Andrew Scordato.

Unfortunately, I was not able to enlarge the small screen size, but nonetheless, there's some great stuff! I hope they post more!

For the first couple of years you could see this in any size you wanted, but a few months ago they went to this 2-inch only size. Since it streams at 216KBS it could support a quarter screen size. Does anyone out there know how to bypass this disgusting limitation? Ahhhh, the joys of site upgrades...
It was wonderful to see these dancers' potential then, and I'm sure it must have been instructive for dancer-viewers, that is when one could see the details. I wonder what NYCB is afraid of.

I think there may be other explanations besides fear.

Perhaps they were receiving complaints from users with 56K modems who couldn't stream the video without choppiness. But the best solution I've seen in cases like this is to let dialup users access one version of the file at lower resolution and broadband users another. Certainly the technology exists to allow for hour-long broadcasts to be streamed at considerably larger screen sizes.

Dr. B., why not send an e-mail inquiring about the matter to Carol Landers yourself?

We'll soon know, as they go on sale in four days:


Subscribers are promised the best seats, yet singles go on sale 11 days prior to the end of subs sales. I wonder how that works. In any case, I did buy tix online last fall, and I was pleased with the honorable selection that they sent.
When I received my subs renewel info, there was a letter/form included regarding a farewell event for Kyra Nichols on Friday, June 22 (the night before ABT's Ferri farewell). Worth checking out when online is up. It is a date not included on any subs series.

I bought tickets via the website for a trip to New York in February (my one chance this year to see ballet). I requested Orchestra seats and wrote a note in the comments section saying I did not want to be in the first four rows. (One can't see the dancers' feet and the seats aren't banked at all.)

I received the tickets in the mail: second row. Perhaps that was all that was left and perhaps they misread my comments and thought I wanted to be in the first four rows. But I'm unlikely to be buying tickets again via the website until they change the system. I love the company and was able to pick up better seats once I was in the City, but I can't wait for them to fix this.

I tried online sales this morning, but it is just like last season: no selection process is in effect.
Caveat emptor.

Are you surprised?