Hi!<BR>I'm sure there will be some changes in the company before the start of the winter season. The only change that has been publically announced is that Alexander Ritter is leaving to join Boston Ballet. Other departures will probably be revealed when fall promotional material starts coming out for NYCB and other companies. It's probably best to avoid posting information about departures until the info is made public, since premature rumours can sometimes make a difficult siutation even worse.<P>There do seem to be some gaps in the company, but there's no guarantee that anyone will be promoted. My feeling is that there might be male promotions to soloist and female promotions to principal before the end of the year. Possibilites (just educated guesses): Alexandra Ansanelli, Antonia Carmena, Jason Fowler...Ulbricht and Orza seem to be getting solo roles, but are younger.<BR>I have heard that eight students were made apprentices, but only know four (the Mae Wien Award winners). At SAB, Ben Griffiths has joined Boston Ballet II. I'm sure we hear about the other apprentices soon. One of last year's apprentices, Jerome Johnson, got his contract mid-year, and I suspect the others probably know if they will get a contract-we'll know when new company rosters are published.<BR>Kate<p>[This message has been edited by ksneds (edited July 09, 2002).]

<B>City Ballet’s Casting Crisis A Key to the Company’s Values</B><BR>by Robert Gottlieb for The New York Observer<P><BR>The biggest story at City Ballet this season wasn’t the Diamond Project—that was the saddest story; the biggest story was casting. An entire generation of dancers is fading or phasing out: Margaret Tracey into retirement (there’s a rumor that she may teach; teach what?); Miranda Weese still out with a serious injury; Kyra Nichols only slowly coming back after an extended maternity leave; Yvonne Borree gone for the first weeks (but then why is she there in the first place?); Darci Kistler less and less like her former wonderful self. And halfway through the season, Heléne Alexopoulos followed Tracey into retirement—but with what a difference! Tracey long ago not only undermined her talent but betrayed it, while Alexopoulos is a textbook example of a dancer who understood her talent, never overextended herself, and made a singular contribution in the dramatic roles that were right for her. On her final night, she danced both an icy Siren in Prodigal Son, radiating antiseptic viciousness, and a ravishing "Gold and Silver" waltz in Vienna Waltzes. Alexopoulos, with the company 24 years, is one of its last dancers to have worked under Balanchine, who died in 1983. Seeing them vanish one by one is like watching Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians.<P><A HREF="http://www.observer.com/pages/book2.asp" TARGET=_blank><B>click for more</B></A>

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Eight Is Enough <BR>The NYCB's new trove of Diamond Project commissions demonstrate, as they do annually, that the golden age of ballet choreography is long gone.<P>TOBI TOBIAS, NY Mag<P>The New York City Ballet is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its Diamond Project this season. Named for its chief benefactor, Irene Diamond, it was ostensibly devised to keep the company's repertoire on the cutting edge by a periodic wholesale commissioning of new work in the classical vocabulary.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><a href=http://www.newyorkmag.com/page.cfm?page_id=6198 target=_blank>More</a>

<BR> Does anyone know if there are any tapes/DVDs available of the 10th anniversay Diamond project performance? Any information wouold be appreciated.