http://www.regardencoulisse.com/articles/article.php?num=839.

Here's an interview of POB's AD. She's saying that NYCB will be in Paris in september 2008. Yeah I can't wait.

Great !

I'm looking forward to knowing more about the programs they will bring

Sounds like it will include West Side Story Suite. It's great to hear that NYCB will be continuing its expeditions into the world far from Lincoln Center. Good for whomever is in charge of this policy!

Given Lefevre's professed fondness for musical comedy and "typically American," energetic theatrical dance -- what would you all like to see NYCB include in its programs?

Edited to add: cygneblanc has posted the repertory here:
http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...mp;#entry223407

Sales began this morning

Can anyone recommend hotels that are nice, comfortable, but moderately priced?

I'm never sure what moderate means without a price range, but Leigh and I stayed at Des Trois Gares hotel, which was a 10 minute walk from two Metro stops and a 7 minute walk to Opera Bastille. The standard rates are 75-100 Euros, depending on the room type. The rooms were plain, clean, and comfortable. The people who worked there were very nice and very patient speaking English to me, even after I figured out how to say my room number in French without a melt down. I would stay there again in a second.

Thanks, and that sounds like my price range exactly. Thanks for the comment on location too....that's always important!

You might also want to look into renting an apartment, then you can eat in rather than out at every meal and I've always found that to be a big savings.

A second recommendation for the Hotel de 3 Gares. Clean, smallish rooms, comfortable - best price I have found for a moderate hotel near the Marais (where I prefer to be). However, do check your schedule, if you're going mostly to the Garnier, you may want to get something in its neighborhood, though I would still prefer the Marais.

You can save 12% on the hotel by going through a shopping portal.

Sign up at http://www.shopathome.com (if you wouldn't mind using me lwitchel@aol.com as your referrer I get $5. Woohoo.)

Use booking.com to book the hotel. I love them as first stop booking engine for Europe. Their prices are as good or better than anyone else's, the reservations are cancellable without penalty (MAKE SURE TO DOUBLE CHECK THE TERMS AS YOU BOOK) and you get 12% back from shop at home 30 days after the stay. It helps. What I've done is made all reservations at booking.com and then some I've used and others I've beaten via Hotwire or Priceline, but for Paris, I'd rather stay in a more moderate hotel in a better location than a better hotel in a less interesting neighborhood.

BE SURE to save your tracking number from shopathome.com (copy it on the screen before it flips over to booking.com, or there are three month's worth of them listed for you in your account information at shopathome) and also your confirmation email from booking.com. This rebate has never been credited automatically; I've always had to inquire, but then I would get it 7-10 days later. It's worth the small amount of trouble.

I would look at Tripadvisor.com. I wish I could have recommended my favorite Paris hotel from about 12 years ago, the Frémiet in the 16th arrondisement, but it's changed hands and become this exhorbitantly priced boutique thing called the Hotel Sezz. But one property I saw that is quite inexpensive is the Hotel Perfect in Montmartre. It sounds like a cross between a hostel and a hotel, but the price looks right.

Thanks to all......and Leigh I will use your name if we go that route!

I'd also suggest looking at budget hotels from hostelworld &tc (do a search for it). Two or three years ago, I stayed at one that was a 15 minute walk from the Palais Garnier (incidentally, I did not see any ballet on that trip - I thought "oh what a lovely building" and then WALKED AWAY FROM IT...the follies of the young and stupid). It was $40 per person for two nights, and was quite clean and comfortable despite being a little stark in the furnishings. Quite a few good (and reasonably priced) places to eat in the surrounding area as well. I can't seem to remember what the name of it is, but I know that one at least is still in business.

At the risk of sounding ignorant, will casting for this tour be affected by the participation of several key dancers in Morphoses? Or is there no conflict?

Morphoses performances follow the tour to Paris.

Two weeks before opening night, NYCB has apparently dropped Vienna Waltzes from its programme in Paris, replacing it with Tchaikowsky Suite #3. Any theories on why they might have done that?

I think the number of set pieces and costumes for Vienna Waltzes is pretty substantial. Tcha Suite 3 has no sets.

TCHAIKOVSKY SUITE NO. 3 has minimal decor compared to VIENNA WALTZES.
SUITE 3 has a painted ballroom surround, backcloth, legs, and a swirling-nebula painted scrim, which remains in place until the THEME AND VARIATIONS section (designs by Nicola Benois).
Ter-Arutunian's designs for VIENNA WALTZES are much more elaborate, with a rising and changing elements in the background for the successive sections of the ballet, plus the raising and lowering of other elements, such as trees and swagged draperies and chadeliers, not to mention all the costumes.
apparently VIENNA WALTZES is one of the only (or THE ONLY) ballet for which any extraneous 'watching from the wings' is forbidden b/c of the complex changes required to get the large cast on and off and in and out of the costuming that's different from section to section. (The Merry Widow even involves little props, cafe tables, and 'extras' to play waiters.)
i imagine the whole VIENNA W production needs a very high flyspace once the background elements roll up and out of view to bring in new ones.
and then there is the background, wall of mirrors, turning the stage into a gallerie des glaces.

I'm just rather surprised that they've left it so late to make the change...

it is odd that these logistics weren't foreseen a while ago.

The cleaning bills for a corps full of women in long dresses in each of three movements alone must be staggering.

I think that the NYCB stage manager is sent a few weeks ahead of the rest of the company to inspect the theater for logisitical issues relating to lighting, scenery... They probably didn't realize until very recently that there would be logistical problems at the theater re the Vienna Waltzes set pieces. With respec to the above comment on the dry cleaning costs, I once attended a fourth position discussion where this was addressed. According to the speaker, immediately after a performance, the costume is sprayed with Fabreeze (spelling?). The costumes are not dry cleaned until the end of the season. The costs must be tremendous. (I'd love to find out who they use. My dry cleaner managed to destroy a silk blouse by blasting it with too much heat in the pressing process. )

Suite #3!! Those lucky Parisians!!! Theme, the last section, should be full of brilliant, top-quality dancing.

I'm sorry Paris won't get VW. Theme is great, but the preceding three movements of Suite #3 are not on the same level. VW is an unusual ballet showing Balanchine's invention in a way that is less often seen.

Casting is up for the tour:

http://www.nycballet.com/nycb/content/cast...er1_TSMenuID=30

Lucky Parisians get Bouder's debut in Theme and Variations.

I had received an e-mail from the POB warning about that programming change, and as Jane, was a bit surprised that such a change occurred so shortly before the performances- and a bit disappointed, as "Theme and Variations" has already been performed by the POB (well, unfortunately, not in recent years) while "Vienna Waltzes" has never been, and will very probably never be...

Dale, thanks for that link about casting !

I understand that the estate of R. Strauss denied POB the right to use the Rosencavalier music and NYCB only has those rights for the USA. Thus the change of ballets.

Thanks for the explanation, liebs ! So it has nothing to do with cleaning bills Pity for the lost opportunity to see "Vienna Waltzes" in Paris- but well, surely there will be much to enjoy in "Tchaikovssky suite n. 3".

Sad, and interesting - especially as they've danced Vienna Waltzes abroad in earlier years.

Official word from the company (and a "thank you" to NYCB for taking the time to clarify this issue):

NEW YORK CITY BALLET
TO PERFORM GEORGE BALANCHINE’S
TSCHAIKOVSKY SUITE NO. 3
IN PLACE OF VIENNA WALTZES
AT THE OPERA BASTILLE IN PARIS

New York City Ballet and the Paris Opera have announced that NYCB will perform George Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 as part of the all-Balanchine program that opens the Company’s upcoming season at the Opera Bastille, replacing the previously announced Vienna Waltzes.

The program will now consist of Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, Episodes and Tschaikovsky Suite No.3, and will be performed on Tuesday, September 9, the opening night of the Paris engagement, and again on Thursday, September 11, and the evening performance on Saturday, September 13.

The change in program was required after much negotiation with the estate of Richard Strauss, whose music from Der Rosenkavalier is used in the final movement of Vienna Waltzes. As the estate would not grant European rights for Strauss’ music to be performed with choreography, NYCB and the Paris Opera decided to present another Balanchine work rather than perform an incomplete version of the Balanchine masterpiece Vienna Waltzes without its final movement. Vienna Waltzes has only been performed outside of the United States on one previous occasion, in London in 1978.

Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3, which was created in 1970, features more than 50 dancers, and concludes with the choreographer’s Theme and Variations, which was originally created in 1947. These performances will mark the first time that NYCB has performed Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 in Paris in nearly 30 years.

NYCB’s engagement at the Opera Bastille, September 9 through 21, will mark the Company’s first performances in Paris since 1995, and the first time that NYCB has been presented by the Paris Opera since 1965. The season will feature four different programs and include works by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Christopher Wheeldon, and a Robbins collaboration with Twyla Tharp. The season will also mark the first time that a non-French dance company has been invited to perform at the Opera Bastille, the modern opera house that opened in 1989 that, with the Palais Garnier, is one of two principal venues that is home to the Paris Opera.

In addition to the performances at the Opera Bastille, NYCB will also perform a joint gala performance with dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet on Thursday, September 18, at the Palais Garnier.

Prior to the Paris season, NYCB is performing a one-week engagement in Copenhagen, Denmark, which opened on Monday, September 1, at the Tivoli Concert Hall.

Well, I have to say I'm very happy with the change.

Even if Suite n°3 has been performed by POB before, I'm really looking forward to see it danced by NYCB. It will change us from Jewels and the Four Tempers...

I hadn't realised how lucky we were! (though in fact it was 1979)

Thanks to the NYCB for the detailed explanation !

cygneblanc, I guess that like me, you're nostalgic of the "Balanchine- Tchaikovsky" program that was performed by the POB about a decade ago during the Dupont era, aren't you ?

Yes, yes, I'm nostalgic ofthe "Balanchine- Tchaikovsky" program .

If our current AD could resuscitate it...I know I'm dreaming but one never knows...

cygneblanc, I have had the same wish for years...

But back to the topic- I'm looking forward to seeing some of the NYCB performances !

So what are you going to see ?

I will see the Balanchine/Robbins program on september 10th, the Balanchine program on september 11th, and the Balanchine/Martins/Wheeldon/Robbins program on september 16th.

I can't wait to see everyone, especially Darci Kistler and Ashley Bouder

http://www.femmes.com/culture/spectacles/l...a-de-paris-5128

A day at NYCB seen by a french journalist

Thanks so much, cygneblanc. Here is how Google's elves have translated it: http://google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2...sl=fr&tl=en


New to me:
If you read French seulement un peu and are confused by some of the less colloquial interpretations, pass your mouse over a sentence and you can see the original French text. Neat feature!

cygneblanc, thanks for that link !

I'm going to see the three programs of the 12th and 13th (so no chance to meet you, unfortunately).
I'm looking forward to seeing Ashley Bouder too (but for Darci Kistler, the reviews of some of her performances posted here make me feel a bit cautious, alas...)

Casting is up on the NYCB website for the week of Sept 16. Sebastian Marcovici is doing Apollo. Sara Mearns and Tess Reichlin are also listed for Apollo.

A review of the first night
http://www.lejdd.fr/cmc/culture/200837/new...ain_148099.html

I'll write tomorrow or friday a review of tonight's performance since I'll be also on the opera tomorrow night...

http://www.liberation.fr/culture/351311.FR.php

another review

Overall, I can say it is a revelation for the french public, who is used to see Balanchine danced by POB, to see the NYCB. The musicality of all the dancers is amazing, as well the fluidity of their dance. While POB dancers have clearly the two parts of the body separated when they dance, NYCB’s dancers’ body is only one piece. The result is maybe less aristocratic, but it is more musical and much more dynamic in the ensembles.

Serenade
A very nice beginning. Women skirts would gain to be a bit shorter. I’m afraid the not so good critics I read about Darci Kistler were true. If she demonstrated a real stage presence, she was very clearly eclipsed by a brilliant Ashley Bouder.

Symphony in three movements
A very plesant surprise.

I’ve seen the Niels Christe’s rendition of this Stravinski work danced by POB’s school. It was a very strong, serious, and dark work. I wouldn’t have imagined something lighter could have been done with this music. Well, Mister B. did it, and how well !

The piece is light and humoristic but yet is very musical. All the soloists, and especially Albert Evans and Wendy Whelan, displayed a great musicality. The dancers’spirit were excellent. They were dynamic and precise.

My favorite work of the night. It reminded me Rubies. This work was extremely well received by the audience

Brahms/Haendel
A light disapointment, the costumes are beautiful but besides that, it was a bit boring. The dancers were all excellent but the music wasn’t very inspiring and the choregraphy is quite conventional…

To be continuated tomorrow with the Balanchine’s triple bill

Many thanks for the review, cygneblanc I'm looking forward to reading your thoughts on the next program.

When I first saw "Brahms-Handel", it was ready-made for me to love: it featured my two favorite male dancers, Ib Andersen and Bart Cook (dancers about as different as night and day, except for size and their inherent musicality), an at-peak Maria Calegari, and Merrill Ashley, as well as a number of great soloists, and an anticipated collaboration between Robbins and Tharp.

What I saw was a disappointing mush to what I agree was dull music. (Maybe in its original, the Handel is more interesting.) Not even Andersen/Calegari/Cook/Ashley could save it, even seeing it with them three times.

cyneblanc, thanks for the links you provided, but how do I get to the reviews in English?

Hi, Brice.

Enter into your browser http://google.com/translate . From there, you get a page where you can enter the address of the page you wish to translate -- cygneblanc's links in this case. You should make sure that both menus (which are defaulted as Spanish to English) read French to English. There are two menus, one for a website address and one for brief passages.

You'll find some less than colloquial -- some very humorous -- interpretations. If you place your cursor over the English passage, you can see the original French text, so if you have some French, you might get a better idea of the sense of the sentence or phrase.

You can also try http://babelfish.yahoo.com/ . I didn't test whether it displays the original over the translation.

Finally a review in english

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/905a30c2-80ea-11...?nclick_check=1

Mine are coming. I've been very busy the last few days but the one thing I can say is Wow! Wow! Wow!

Thanks, cygneblanc. What a review. (The contrast between Crisp's response to NYCB in Paris and his feelinsg about NYCB in London last year is fascinating.)

What a wonderful tribute to Divertimento No. 15 and the way NYCB danced it.:
If I were the NYCB's advertising director, I'd select a few of the following and scatter them all over a full-page ad for the upcoming NYC season:
So, do you think he liked it?

Looking forward to your own review(s). And ... anyone else?

September 16, 2008
Duo Concernant
A very nice Pas de deux danced by Yvonne Boree and Robert Fairchild. It allows dancers to show some versatility. Both dancers showed a great technics. It’s a very intimate work. One may think dancers could look lost on the very big stage but I was under the impression I was alone with them.


Hallelujah junction
From what I’ve seen form NYCB until now, it’s definitiveny my favorite work. It’s just brilliant. The choreo is amazing. It allows NYCB dancers to show us their vitality, their joy, and their excellent skills. You want to go on stage and dance with them!

After the rain
I need more than this pas de deux to be convinced by Christopher Wheeldon’s works. Of course, things could have been worse, but they could have been better, too. That being said, Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall were so beautiful and brougt us in their world.

Dances at a Gathering
I can see now where french choregrapher Jean-Guillaume Barre took his inspiration for Péchés de jeunesse. It’s a very subtil work, very light, with pastel toned costumes.
We were for one hour in another world, in the country with a blue sky. All the dancers were excellent, and although there is no story behind this work, everyone played his part very well. This work gives you a canvas so that you can build your own story. I liked that very much.

Overall, my favorite night until now. Everything was extremely well received by the audience and the theater was full!

Balanchine’s triple bill, september 11, 2008
Divertimento n°15 is a jewel, but if a diamond is missing, everything fails ! The jewel wasn’t broken on september 11. Divertimento was so well danced. I was particularly impressed by the women soloists (Ana Sophia Scheller, Erica Pereira, Kathryn Morgan, Tyler Peck and Megan Fairchild) who were all impeccable. The men weren’t bad but I’m under the impression this work was designed for women. Consequently, they weren’t able to impress me much.

I was a bit afraid of Episodes, and I was right. All the dancers were excellent, the choreo translates the music, the full thing is very reflective, but I got it really only during the Fugue. No doubt, it was just too cold for me! That being said, this was well received by the audience while Divertimento’s reception was a bit cold

Tschaikovsky’s suite n°3
There is Themes and Variations, and the others parts. Ashley Bouder was really the STAR of the night, she was shining. Some people were standing for her at the end, which is very rare in Paris. Her partner, Gonzalo Garcia, didn’t equal her, but was good! The corps de ballet was really a jewel-case for Miss Bouder.
As for the others parts, the elegy was nice and very lyrical, while both the walz and the scherzo would gain to be shorter!

In case you missed it, pmeja has a Link today to Roslyn Sulcas' New York Times review of a joint performance of NYCB and POB dancers at the Palais Garnier:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/arts/dan....html?ref=dance

It was a mostly Balanchine performance, ending with Symphony in C. Some of the author's comparisons of New York-versus-Parisian style were quite interesting.

Did anyone see this? What did you think of it? Even for thsoe who weren't there, what do you think of the entire 2-week engagement? What about the $2.3 million price tag. Was it worth it? What impact, if any, will this engagement have on NYCB in the future?