Next season's programs have been released:

http://www.kennedy-center.org/programs/newseason/#DBC

Suzanne Farrell continues to bring back "lost" Balanchine ballets. Her March performances will include Haieff Divertimento.

Hopefully PNB will bring something better than "Jardi Tancat" to Ballet Across America.

Sadly, the Mariinsky is bringing the 1952 version of Sleeping Beauty.

That is discouraging. But I imagine that touring with the reconstructed version is difficult.

Amen to that. And it'll be interesting to see how "Haieff Divertimento" is received in Farrell's staging. Wasn't it last seen when NYCB revived it for the Balanchine Celebration in 1993 with Whelan and Martins? Anna Kisselgoff liked it then, but if memory serves, other critics thought it was flat without the original principals. In Repertory in Review, Nancy Reynolds writes that despite many calls to revive it,


That amuses me and makes me want to see it again.

They're taking a Ulysses Dove triple bill to Jacob's Pillow.

Of course, I never saw the original cast of "Haieff Divertimento" but saw the 93 revival and felt it was miscast. At the heart of the work is a very jazzy, loose, sensuous pas de deux (think of those qualities mixed with Square Dance) that didn't seem to fit the revival leads. Whelan was a little too angular while Martins seemed to be cast for his partnering skills. Ten years ago I had wished to see Ringer dance it with Boal. I think they would have captured the right style. There were a series of articles in Ballet Review at the time of its revival. It was mentioned how the dancers really loved performing it and it was very popular.

"Mariinsky Ballet
Feb 9 - 14, 2010
Russia's world-renowned Mariinsky Ballet returns to perform Konstantin Sergeev's 1952 version of the full-length staging of the beloved fairy tale ballet, The Sleeping Beauty. "

I actually love this version of Sleeping Beauty so I feel an ingrate to complain but... I guess it's true no more reconstructions--pity because I knwo Kennedy Center has a big enough stage to hold the 1890 reconstruction, and this year I, for the first time, actually would have had enough advance warning to save up for a trip to see it in person. Oh well...

Millepied's "3 Movements" to Steve Reich! And PNB is on the same program as Ballet Arizona, and the as-yet-unseen-in-these parts Morphoses! Neither have announced what their bringing. Nor has ABT, but the handsome promo booklet includes beautiful photos of Kent in ""Syliva" and Part, Gomes and Wiles in "Symphonie Concertante." Both ballets would please me very much.

It's a very intriguing dance -- I hope to see it again soon.

I partly understand the disappointment about Sleeping Beauty, but if I still lived in D.C. then I would be more inclined to complain about a week of Spartacus than the Sergeyev Sleeping Beauty -- which I remember loving and in which I saw the first (and probably only) really great overall performances of the ballet I have ever seen including the company's -- that is the Kirov's -- performances of the reconstruction (which I also found stunning as a production despite the not-the-least-bit reconstructed or even traditional style in which it was danced).

But Spartacus? I assume the Bolshoi plans to feature Ivan Vasiliev but I remain skeptical. Even if Vasiliev pulls it off, does the company have any mature male stars (I mean mature and I mean stars) who can remotely compete with the dancers who made Spartacus at one time compelling? I gather Acosta had a huge success as a guest artist dancing it in London, but without major male performances what exactly is the point?

Actually I'm being a little disingenuous, because to be honest even if they have such male stars I would prefer any number of Bolshoi works to Spartacus...Heck I'd prefer they bring Coppelia...especially since, when I saw the Bolshoi dance a Spartacus excerpt roughly six-seven years ago or so--with a bunch of streamlined looking men who did not remotely recall the Bolshoi of old--I thought they looked as if they believed in the ballet even less than I did.

Oh well...perhaps I am too pessimistic and it will be rip-roaring. I will read about it on Ballet Talk and kick myself for not seeing it. Hope so...

Love it or not, Spartacus is considered the Bolshoi's signature work in Russia, much like 'Swan Lake' or "Sleeping Beauty' are the signatures of the Mariinsky. I am sure that it will sell out not just because it is 'The Bolshoi' but because every person of Russian heritage within 100 miles of the Kennedy Center will be running to the theater.

That said, I too am disappointed particularly considering that the Bolshoi could have brought Flames of Paris (easy to tour, minimal sets - projections) or Coppelia (very tough to tour with 19th-C realistic sets...but so is Corsaire, touring to DC soon). Another possibility would have been their delightful Massine triple bill or a 'mixed bill' that would have included their new Paquita Grand Pas, Messerer's Class Concert, Tharp's Upper Room and/or a Balanchine. But Spartak-Spartacus it shall be.

I would have loved to see any of these, especially "Class Concert", but I am excited for the rare chance to see Spartacus.

Nobody today can compete with the "mature male stars" of the past, Drew. But if you limit your urge to buy tickets with this criterion, staying home and watch the next episode of Lost is a fine alternative

The Bolshoi is playing for safe with Spartacus. None of the other ballets mentioned here, can guarantee the same box-office appeal: just playing the devil's advocate, but imagine how a Massine triple bill would fare (Massine, who? and to be honest, it's really not that delightful the way they dance it), or the Paquita Grand Pas (another new/old reconstruction...), Coppelia (and yet another...), Class Concert (all the stars have to be there and local kids need to be trained), Flames of Paris (Stalin's favourite??) ....

Definitely better than "Jardi Tancat"