I’m a student at ballet west and kind of disappointed with no posts on here. I am guessing that it is a smaller company than I thought it was. I saw Rosalinda and Peter Pan. Rosalinda was great, although at some parts it was hard to follow. It was probably one of the funniest ballets that I have seen. Peter Pan was also fabulous. I had no idea that there could be virtual effects like the ones used in Peter Pan. My eyes were light up the whole time. It was hilarious. I never would have thought I would see a hip-hop dancing alligator in a ballet! It is definitely a must see. I didn’t get a chance to see the nutcracker this year due to the fact that I was dancing in it. (I was so honored to be on stage with the professional dancers.) But I have seen it in previous years. It is a lot of fun and always a tradition for my family.

Thanks for posting that, Dancing Ostrich. I'm disappointed that there haven't been any reviews from Ballet West as well. Sometimes we've found that someone will come on and check a forum and if there are no posts, well, they think there's no interest. BUT if people begin posting, then others will join in, so I hope you've started something! You may have to post about a few programs before coaxing others to join you, but please don't give up!

What did you think of the season overall?

Dancingostrich, I just wanted to let you know that I saw Ballet West's Rosalinda too. It was really amusing and even my 11 year old daughter laughed at all the right moments! Which cast did you see??

Forgot to mention that I used to post "reviews" here from time to time about what I would see at Ballet West, but I'm not much of a writer and there usually little to no interest or response, so I stopped............

Yvonne, as a west coaster, I'd be interested in your reviews and thoughts on Ballet West. I hope you'll begin writing about them again.

Hi, Yvonne! Good to see you again

You did indeed post reviews of Ballet West. It's not that there's no interest, it's that when one doesn't see the program it's hard to comment more than "Thank you for posting that!" But this is a major American company and we'd like to keep up with it. We've also found in the past that if one person comments, others often will follow. Our Ballet Moms and Dads forum started with two members -- it's now more than 8,000 posts. So please tell us what you've seen.


Yvonne and dancingostrich -- what did you see this past season? What dancers did you especially like (or not)?

Tip: You can subscribe to this forum so that you'll get any posts made in the forum. That's a good way to keep up with what's going on if you don't have time to check the board every day. There's a little icon that looks like a tablet at the bottom right of the screen. Click it!

Yvonne, please post on Ballet West. As Alexandra said, sometimes it's hard to comment when you have not seen that particular performance, but we are reading. I have a very selfish reason for wanting people to post on this company and others - as Alexandra wrote in her post on the new issue of Ballet Alert!, I am doing a series of interviews with dancers all around the country, not just New York. People's posts on Ballet West, Penn Ballet or Orlando Ballet is a way I can find out which dancers are of interest. (Feel free to mention a few of Ballet West's top or interesting dancers)

Hi Dale,

I didn't get to see much ballet this season ( One of my daughters was recently married and that just about broke my budget!)

I am planning on attending a mixed bill this Fall because I really want to see Theme and Variations. They are also doing Giselle and The Sleeping Beauty, in addition to another mixed bill and the Nutcracker. I like story ballets, but due to my budget, I have to pick and choose, and I usually choose Balanchine...

As far as interesting dancers, I very much like Principals Tong Wang and Jessica Harston. Soloist Kristin Hakala is a pleasure to watch (she has a very light and airy quality to her dancing - I'd love to see her in The Leaves are Fading.)