For Balanchine's 100th birthday, could you please give us a present?

How about bringing "Jewels" with Paris Opera Ballet doing "Emeralds," New York City Ballet doing "Rubies" and the Kirov doing "Diamonds"?

Oh, Alexandra, what a great idea.....
at the risk of seeming too greedy, though, couldn't we just ask for a Balanchine Centenary and not put any company/casting/coaching restrictions on our request? You can certainly say that as loyal balletomanes, we all have *plenty* of opinions!

If it's Vilar, it is the Kirov. Although, I suppose, that by funding improvements to the Royal Opera House & Kennedy Center buildings, Vilar is indirectly benifitting all troupes that play those houses, too.

Who are the 'company angels' of NYCB & POB, at present? Do those two companies have their own Vilars...or just large groups of 'Baby Vilars'?

Ah, but with my hat trick, Vilar could spread his angel wings and benefit ballet as a whole [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'm all for a Balanchine Celebration, Juliet. All the ballets, revivals of lost ones, films, videos, chats with ballerinas. But I still want to see "Jewels" danced in the native language of the music [img]smile.gif[/img]

Not to be a party pooper, but do we have any evidence Vilar likes Balanchine at all? We know he likes Gergiev and Michael Kaiser and the Met. Will there be an atrium involved? Can we put his name somewhere? Maybe we could call it the Vilar Celebration of Balanchine. . .

So? We can build an atrium. Put it in the pot with the rest of the Lincoln Center rehab plans!

I don't know or care whether he likes Balanchine or not. Great patrons of the arts are always on the lookout for imaginative ways to show their support. This impending centennial offers many opportunities [img]smile.gif[/img]

You may not care whether Vilar likes or dislikes something, but I'm quite sure he does. I know that he states vigorously he gives without strings, but nonetheless, I see his giving as being very, very directed. Fine and dandy, it's his money, but we get what he wants to see, and if he ain't interested, the checkbook does not come out.

Ah, but how could he resist giving, to the ages, The Vilar Definitive Multinational Jewels? Better than a building. Buildings get bombed, memories remain [img]smile.gif[/img]

We have gotto get you into fundraising, Alexandra!

Okay. You'll find me cheap, but hardworking and imaginative. [img]biggrin.gif[/img]

"dare i say it? a CABINET post!..."

Ann Bass is a bit of a 'company angel' for NYCB. More so Irene Diamond, but she's more involved with new works, or maybe that's where she has been directed. I'd certainly give money to a NYCB fund that is for reviving old or lost works.

Is the Vilar's donation for the Kirov Opera to come for 10 straight years as well? If so, I guess you could say that the ballet comes as a by-product of the Opera and Orchestra visits. Just as well. Vilar also is on the board of the "White Nights Festival."