Haglund's Heel

More of what we want to see is coming

The Nutcracker at Wethersfield, created and directed by NYCB's Troy Schumacher at the historic Wethersfield Estate in Dutchess County, New York, will stream from December 23rd through December 26th. Live performances reserved for high-end donors who are supporting this ambitious project began on December 4th at the Wethersfield Garden.

NYCB dancers participating per the website are Sara Mearns, Tyler Angle, Ashley Laracey, Taylor Stanley, Mira Nadon, Erica Pereira, Ralph Ippolito, Eliza Blutt, Gabriella Domini, Savannah Durham, Claire von Enck, Emma von Enck, Malorie Lundgren, Mary Thomas MacKinnon, Miriam Miller, Davide Riccardo, Kristen Segin, Mary Elizabeth Sell, Mimi Staker, KJ Takashi, & Cainan Weber. Per a recent I-gram post, it appears that Sasonah Huttenbach has joined the cast as has Julio Bragado-Young.

The media created for this project is elegant, enticing, gorgeous, joyous, and is filled with the beauty that we depend on Nutcracker to bring to us each year. Please take a look, mark your calendars to watch December 23rd - 26th, and consider cutting a year-end check to Schumacher's organization, BalletCollective Inc., a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. EIN 45-3021279. Support what you want to see, not what you don't.

https://www.nutcrackeratwethersfield.com/

https://www.nutcrackeratwethersfield.com/stream

https://www.instagram.com/nutcrackeratwethersfield/?hl=en

 

New SAB documentary series

We're looking forward to On Pointe that begins streaming on December 18th on Disney+. Director Ron Howard has captured some compelling footage for the official trailer. 

The best line in this trailer comes from the mom of a Nutcracker kid. She observes with resignation, "I looked at that calendar. It's about to get real."

 

observations 11/14

From today's Google Doodles -- thanks to yukionna:

 

From Google:

GoogleDoodles

1.67M subscribers

 

In honor of Native American Heritage Month in the U.S., today’s video Doodle—created in partnership with Native American guest artists Lydia Cheshewalla, Chris Pappan, and Yatika Starr Fields— celebrates Maria Tallchief, member of the Osage Nation who was America’s first, major prima ballerina. Not only a trailblazer for Native American dancers, Tallchief is widely considered one of the country’s most influential ballerinas of all time. On this day in 2007, a bronze sculpture of Tallchief and four other Native American ballerinas was unveiled in Oklahoma at the Tulsa Historical Society in a piece titled “The Five Moons” by artist Gary Henson.

 

 

NYCB cancels 2021 winter and spring performances

Say it ain't so. Say it ain't so.

We will have to wait until September to see NYCB on stage in person per the company's announcement today. It is also tragic that the "good news"  they wanted to publicize is that they plan to waste their first year back on a bunch of  ballet-ignorant experimentalists who don't know their asses from a hole in the ground. Perhaps that was just NYCB's way of softening the blow and the disappointment of the cancelled seasons: Heck, we were just going to miss a bunch of crap anyway. Thanks for telling us.

That first season back had better be loaded up with all things pretty by Balanchine. It's best to withhold those donations until the schedule comes out.

Maria Kowroski and Ask la Cour will officially retire in October; Gonzalo Garcia will retire in February. It would seem that others might just disappear without fanfare. It is possible, you know.

And in other news to go with these times, a full nest of Asian Giant Murder Hornets was discovered in a tree trunk in Blaine, Washington which is at the Canadian border. They probably had plans to visit selective polling sites in eleven days.

Our hope is that in eleven days, we will experience euphoria that will take us all the way through to the middle of next year.

 

Program reminder – NYCB Fall digital Season Week 4

Tonight at 8:00 PM 

www.nycballet.com

https://www.youtube.com/nycballet

https://www.facebook.com/nycballet

_{(available until Tuesday, October 27 at 8pm EDT)}

RODEO: FOUR DANCE EPISODES (Third and Fourth Episodes)
Brittany Pollack, *Justin Peck, Daniel Ulbricht, Gonzalo Garcia, Andrew Veyette
Conductor: Andrews Sill. Filmed on 5/11/2017.

PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION (Excerpt):
Tuileries: Tiler Peck
Bydlo: Sterling Hyltin, Sara Mearns, Claire Kretzschmar, Abi Stafford
Promenade: Gonzalo Garcia
Ballet of the Unhatched Chicks: Tyler Angle, Gonzalo Garcia, Joseph Gordon, Aaron Sanz*, Andrew Veyette*
Solo Pianist: Stephen Gosling. Filmed on 5/10/2017.

YEAR OF THE RABBIT (Year of Our Lord pas de deux)
Indiana Woodward, Taylor Stanley
Conductor: Daniel Capps. Filmed on 1/25/2018.

POLYPHONIA (Excerpt):
IX.: Lauren Lovette*, Andrew Veyette*
X.: Lauren Lovette*, Megan Fairchild*, Alston Macgill*, Sara Mearns, Andrew Veyette*, Jovani Furlan*, Roman Mejia*, Silas Farley*
Solo Pianists: Stephen Gosling, Alan Moverman. Filmed on 1/30/2020.

RUSSIAN SEASONS (Excerpt):
IX.: Abi Stafford, Sara Mearns, Amar Ramasar
Conductor: Andrews Sill; Solo Violinist: Arturo Delmoni; Soprano: Veronica Mitina. Filmed on 2/1/2018.

X.: Taylor Stanley*
Conductor: Andrew Litton; Solo Violinist: Kurt Nikkanen. Filmed on 4/26/2017.

MERCURIAL MANOEUVRES (Pas de deux)
Tiler Peck, Tyler Angle
Conductor: Andrew Litton, Solo Pianist: Alan Moverman. Filmed on 4/25/2017.

EVERYWHERE WE GO (Finale)
Maria Kowroski, Sara Mearns*, Indiana Woodward*, Teresa Reichlen, Russell Janzen, Taylor Stanley*, Gonzalo Garcia
Conductor: Daniel Capps. Filmed on 10/3/2019.

Program reminder – NYCB Fall Digital Season Week 3

Tonight at 8:00 PM 

www.nycballet.com

https://www.youtube.com/nycballet

https://www.facebook.com/nycballet

You don't want to miss tonight's NYCB Digital Season performance.

You'll be picking your jaw up off the floor after seeing Emily Kikta blaze through the soloist section of Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet. Never has a cloud of pink tulle swirled more beautifully. You'll see a majestic, soaring eagle who magically becomes a ballerina. (Didn't Petipa do something with that theme?) Memory of her first performance in this role some eight or nine years ago still gives Old Hag the goose bumps. The whole program tonight is beyond superb, but Emily – oh, Miss Emily...

BRAHMS-SCHOENBERG QUARTET (First Movement)
Ashley Bouder, Russell Janzen*, Emily Kikta
Conductor: Andrew Litton, Filmed on 5/15/2019

DUO CONCERTANT
Megan Fairchild, Anthony Huxley
Solo Violinist: Arturo Delmoni; Solo Pianist: Elaine Chelton. Filmed on 4/30/2019.

DANCES AT A GATHERING (Scherzo and Finale)
Megan Fairchild, Sterling Hyltin, Unity Phelan, Tyler Angle, Adrian Danchig-Waring, and Peter Walker, with Ashley Bouder, Lauren King, Gonzalo Garcia, and Roman Mejia
Solo Pianist: Susan Walters. Filmed on 10/3/2019.

SYMPHONY IN C (Fourth Movement and Finale)
Erica Pereira and Troy Schumacher**, with Ashley Bouder, Maria Kowroski, Indiana Woodward**, Joseph Gordon**, Tyler Angle, and Sebastian Villarini-Velez**
Conductor: Clotilde Otranto. Filmed on 9/28/2018.

 

 

Program reminder - NYCB Fall digital Season continues

Tonight at 8:00 PM 

www.nycballet.com

https://www.youtube.com/nycballet

https://www.facebook.com/nycballet

_{(available until Tuesday, October 13, at 8 PM EDT)}

 

KAMMERMUSIK NO. 2 (First Movement)
Sara Mearns, Teresa Reichlen
Conductor: Andrews Sill; Solo Piano: Cameron Grant. Filmed on 5/2/2012.

OPUS 19/THE DREAMER (First Movement)
Unity Phelan*, Gonzalo Garcia
Conductor: Andrews Sill; Solo Violin: Arturo Delmoni. Filmed on 1/30/2020.

MOVEMENTS FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA
Maria Kowroski, Ask la Cour
Conductor: Daniel Capps; Solo Piano: Alan Moverman. Filmed on 4/28/2015.

CHIAROSCURO
Ashley Laracey*, Lauren King*, Brittany Pollack*, Andrew Veyette*, Justin Peck*, Giovanni Villalobos*
Guest Conductor: Harrison Hollingsworth. Filmed on 5/12/2017.

RED ANGELS
Maria Kowroski**, Jennie Somogyi, Adrian Danchig-Waring**, Jared Angle**
Guest Electric Violinist: Mary Rowell. Filmed on 5/29/2013.

GLASS PIECES (Third Movement)
Company
Guest Conductor: Harrison Hollingsworth. Filmed on 2/21/2017.

––––––––––––––––––––

Update: In case some hadn't heard, the new panda cub at the National Zoo is a boy! The gender reveal party was yesterday. As most everyone knows, the cub's father, Tian Tian, has been an avid painter for many years. He created two abstract paintings – one pink, one blue – for the event. When the cub's handlers unwrapped the blue painting, there was great cheering and presumably some bet collecting to go with it. Here on the blog, we were kinda hoping to see pink, but we didn't have any money on it.

 

observations 10/2

Whoa Nellie, what a newsy Friday morning to wake up to! Holy Mackerels, how this world can change overnight!

We are, of course, talking about the fact that the new cub at the National Zoo has opened its eyes, begun crawling, and now weighs 3 1/2 lbs. What did you think we were talking about? Mama bear spent time yesterday rolling the cub off of herself onto the floor, stepping back, and waiting for it to crawl to her. Take a look - the first 30 seconds are a little slow but then the choreography takes off:

____________________

Here's a nice little interview with Jock Soto in a local Santa Fe online paper. He talks about his teaching -- in person and on Zoom. Interestingly, though, he says, "At New York City Ballet, they’re not even in class together until January." So, it sounds like at the time of this interview, the company was still planning to rev up again in January. That is certainly a positive sign, isn't it?

 

Program reminder - NYCB Fall Digital Season begins

Tonight at 8:00 PM 

www.nycballet.com

https://www.youtube.com/nycballet

https://www.facebook.com/nycballet

_{(available until Tuesday, October 6, at 8 PM EDT)}

SYMPHONY IN C (First Movement)
Ashley Bouder, Joseph Gordon**
Conductor: Clotilde Otranto. Filmed on 9/21/2018.

IVESIANA (“The Unanswered Question”)
Janie Taylor, Anthony Huxley
Conductor: Andrews Sill. Filmed on 5/1/2013.

LIEBESLIEDER WALZER (excerpt)
Maria Kowroski, Jonathan Stafford
Solo Pianists: Andrews Sill, Susan Walters. Filmed on 5/22/2012.

LIEBESLIEDER WALZER (excerpt)
Lauren Lovette*, Jared Angle
Solo Pianists: Andrews Sill, Susan Walters. Filmed on 1/20/2016.

EPISODES (excerpt)
Teresa Reichlen*, Adrian Danchig-Waring
Conductor: Daniel Capps. Filmed on 2/6/2020.

TSCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX
Tiler Peck, Joaquin De Luz
Conductor: Clotilde Otranto. Filmed on 9/21/2018.

STRAVINSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO (finale)
Sterling Hyltin, Ask la Cour, Sara Mearns, Taylor Stanley**
Conductor: Clotilde Otranto; Solo Violin: Kurt Nikkanen. Filmed on 9/21/2018.

 

NYCB, SAB, Catazaro, Ramasar, Longhitano win; Finlay doesn't.

Judge James D'Auguste dismissed Waterbury's claims against NYCB, SAB, Catazaro, Ramasar, and Longhitano, but will allow one claim against Finlay to proceed.

Can we please move on now? Can we please figure out how to get both Catazaro and Ramasar back on the ballet stage when that stage comes alive?

https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=rPLVUnskYCM89NLHno7z4g==&PageNum=3&narrow=

https://nypost.com/2020/09/28/nyc-ballet-cleared-in-porn-suit-as-case-against-ex-dancer-proceeds/