Earlier, nysusan linked to the City Center Website for details on MCB's 6 performances there. Here's their complete tour information from the MCB website:

Fall 2008 Tour

October 24-26, 2008
Los Angeles, CA

Symphony in Three Movements (Stravinsky/Balanchine)
Liturgy (Part/Wheeldon)
Tarantella (Gottschalk/Balanchine)
NIGHTSPOT (Costello/Tharp)

Music Center, Performing Arts Center of Los Angeles County
Tickets: 213.972.0711
www.musiccenter.org

January 21-25, 2009
New York, New York

January 21 at 8pm, January 23 at 8pm, January 24 at 2pm:
PROGRAM A -- Balanchine and Tharp Classics
Symphony in Three Movements (Stravinsky/Balanchine)
La Valse (Ravel/Balanchine)
In The Upper Room (Glass/Tharp)

January 22 at 8pm, January 24 at 8pm, January 25 at 3pm:
PROGRAM B -- Balanchine Masterworks
Square Dance (Vivaldi, Corelli/Balanchine)
"Rubies" (Stravinsky/Balanchine)
Symphony in C (Bizet/Balanchine)

New York City Center
Tickets: 212.581.1212
www.nycitycenter.org

Mailings have gone out from the Board of Trustees to MCB supporters in Florida urging them to

Miami City Ballet will be in New York at City Center in January. How does MCB compare to the
San Francisco Ballet and NY City Ballet? Is it worth seeing them? The program for NYC indicates that they will be doing alot of Balachine Ballets.
Thanks.

Allegromezzo18, it's probably a good idea to read through two portions of the Board to get as much information as you can.

1) Relevant MCB threads like this one:
http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.php?showtopic=28198

2) Recent reviews. I include the latest from Alistair Macaulay in the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/21/arts/dan...amp;oref=slogin

All comparisons are, ultimately, a matter of personal judgment and experience. I think the consensus, however, is that MCB's first Manhattan performances are not to be misssed. If you want to choose only one, I'd go with the one that includes La Valse and In the Upper Room.

The company is smaller than SF (and of course NYCB). Currently there are 56 dancers (including 13 principals), more than enough to cast each of these ballets fully, with multiple casts, and at an extremely high level.

My own Guiding Principle in these things is: More ballet is better than less. . I hope you do decide to attend. If you do, please share your thoughts and impressions with us.

I think the following quote from the New York Times recent review by Alistair Macaulay directly answers the question of SFB and MCB dancing Balanchine “The Four Temperaments:

"New Yorkers saw a distinguished account of “The Four Temperaments” by San Francisco Ballet little more than a week ago. But the Miami version — danced at a brisker tempo, with a more slicing attack and with ultrabright musicality — is, as when I saw this company dance the ballet in the mid-1990s, the best account of this masterpiece I have seen since its maker’s death."

I would second Macaulay's opinion of MCB's 4Ts, except that I saw it a few years more recently than he did. Having seen all of SanFrancisco's recent programs at City Center, and feeling that the single best presentation was their excellent presentation of 4T's, I would give Miami one better and say that the 4Ts I saw by Miami about three or four years ago was the single best overall performance of that ballet that I have ever seen.

I use the word "overall" because for me, Bart Cook has never been equalled in Melacholic. But as much as any ballet (including, for example, Serenade), the success of 4Ts depends on its ensemble. Miami has consistently impressed me with its strong but disciplined energy.

Go.

Very different companies, and I think SFB stopped being a Balanchine company for all practical purposes a while back. They're best now at "contemporary" ballet. MCB does Balanchine very well (I thought their Square Dance to be particularly fresh) but I would not use them as a stick to beat NYCB with.

Seconding both Bart's recommendations, I would add, having seen MCB's Symphony in C, that program would make a fine second choice for it alone, IMO.

I'm going to take the liberty of continuing Bart's numbering and add a link of my own.

3) You may be able to see glimpses of Symphony in C among the Youtube clips here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziMPyb7Tvkw

Go.