NYCB does not release casting until Wednesday of the previous week - similar to most companies. Even then, casting can change due to injury, illness or other issues. In fact, I saw one performance of 'The Nutcracker', where Joaquin de Luz did the Candy Cane solo, but the didn't appear in the finale.

Most companies don't post casting months ahead of time like ABT because - it's very risky. As has happened many times at ABT, a dancer will get injured or be ill or get pregnant, and be unable to dance. And then people who have bought tickets get upset because they're not seeing the originally posted cast.

Casting is really a tricky business - almost always, if one dancer gets hurt or sick, it affects other casting and other ballets. There's a million and one issues involved, especially when a company is rehearsing and/or performing more than one ballet at the same time. Which is why most companies prefer not to release casting very far ahead of time - and generally only post principal casting.

As to the Nutracker:

Nutcracker tickets can sell out quickly for certain performances, especially since they've already gone onsale. Matinees tend to sell out first, then Thursday and Friday evenings. The performances are at odd times too, I guess to cater to the younger members of the audience.

Starting on Sept. 26, 2005 ticket availability will be posted here: http://www.nycballet.com/nycballet/html ... ility.html

I think what it comes down to, if you really want to see Joaquin De Luz, you'll have to wait until a week before the performance to see the cast list (at www.nycballet.com), and then hope that tickets are still available for the performance (Often, even if the chart shows it's sold out, there can be tickets available at the box office). Even then, there's no guarantee - casting isn't a sure thing until the dancer is on stage in the ballet!

Cheers
Kate

Thank you very much Kate, I think that I'll risk and try to find tickets when I have more guarantees about Joaquin performing.

I understand very well what you say, I know that can be many circunstances making a schedulled cast change and that if this happens one can be very dissapointed but I honestly think it is better to announce the foreseen casting in advance and of course advising that it may vary.

The NYCB website indicates that casting for the first week of Nutcracker will be posted during the week of November 14. Casting for further weeks will be posted each week.

Unfortunately, companies may not know very far ahead who is dancing. THE NYCB contract (and therefore, I would guess, most AGMA contracts) only require the company to give dancers two weeks notice of casting, minimum of one week. So the decisions on casting may be delayed until those in charge have a better idea of who is healthy, ill, injured etc.

It's better for the company and dancers NOT to have the casting change more than absolutely necessary because it makes it difficult for everyone to schedule their lives.

Also, the NYCB dancers don't return to rehearsal until next month, so there's no way for the company to have any idea on casting until they see the dancers again.

Good luck!

Also, you might want to keep an eye out to see if Joaquin is guesting anywhere in the NY area during the Nutcracker season. It's a great way to see dancers in a more intimate setting, and those announcements tend to come out much earlier. Though again, there's no guarantee.

Kate

Thank you very much Kate, I really appreciate your help as I'm not used at all about how this matters work in the USA.

I'll try to find out if that week we could see Joaquin dancing (I'm really interested in seeing him) anywhere in NY. I would prefer to see him in other ballets than in The Nutcracker...

Thanks again and kindest regards

In her lasting blog posting NYCB dancer Kristin Sloan talks about the recent New York Choreographic Institute Round Table discussion, which included the artistic directors of NYCB, ABT, Royal Ballet, San Fransisco Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet and others. (It's still not clear who was permitted to attend - it seems that it was invited persons and possibly also press).

http://www.thewinger.com/

KAte

Greetings

A look at the Winter Season brochure reveals some further additions to the company from the apprentice ranks. Congratulations to Giovanni Villalobos, William Yin-Lee and Daniel Applebaum who are now members of the corps.

Kate

The website has been update for the 2005-06 season and Jerome Johnson's name has re-appeared on the roster.

Kate

Carolinia: Yes, it is true, NYCB only posts casting one week in advance. Be grateful that they now post online; in olden times it was necessary to go to the theatre (or get a secret phone number) to see the cast list.

This practice has several origins. First and foremost, in the house of Balanchine the choreography is presumed to be the main attraction, followed by the music. According to this philosophy, the director assures that only dancers capable of interpreting the work in question will appear. For much of the company's history, programs could undergo wholesale changes at the last minute if a particular dancer was not able to perform. (Today, all parts are double-cast, so the show goes on as announced, barring massive disaster.)

Practical considerations also intervene. NYCB performs a larger repertory over a longer period of time than any other dance company: two 9-week seasons, each incorporating more than 30 works over 36 performances, plus 4 weeks (32 performances) of "The Nutcracker' and 2 weeks (14 performances) at a summer festival. In short, some 100 performances over the course of nine months. Under these highly demanding conditions, injuries and illnesses often force cast changes. In addition, efforts to introduce new dancers into certain roles do not always succeed in rehearsal, and the management has long reserved the right to postpone or cancel widely rumored role debuts.

The company does announce repertory in advance, so you can try picking ballets de Luz knew before coming to New York; Martins generally accedes to dancer's requests to perform familiar roles. I'm sure de Luz also wants to learn new roles, but there's no way to predict when and where he will appear, unless you have some personal contacts.

A final possibility: a table in the lobby sells tickets that subscribers have returned to the company. You must pay the box office price in cash, but you get a good seat at no notice, and they almost never sell out.

Jared Angle has been promoted to principal. This is a promotion well deserved and it' wonderful to see Angle returining so successfully from a several years blighted by injury:


NEW YORK CITY BALLET PR0MOTES
JARED ANGLE TO PRINCIPAL DANCER


New York City Ballet announced today that soloist Jared Angle was promoted to principal dancer following a performance on Friday, November 11 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Mr. Angle had just performed in Peter Martins’ Thou Swell at the Tivoli Concert Hall for an audience that included Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

NYCB was performing in Copenhagen as part of the festivities surrounding the reopening of the Tivoli Concert Hall, which had been closed for a year for renovations.

Mr. Angle was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, and began his dance training at age six at the Allegheny Ballet Academy. He entered the School of American Ballet, NYCB’s official school, in the fall of 1996. In 1997, Mr. Angle received the Rudolf Nureyev Scholarship to continue his training at SAB for the 1997-1998 school year. Mr. Angle became an apprentice with NYCB in March 1998, joined the corps de ballet in July 1998, and was promoted to the rank of soloist in February 2001.

Since joining New York City Ballet, Mr. Angle has danced featured roles in many of the Company’s works, including George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Divertimento No. 15, The Four Temperaments, Emeralds from Jewels, Liebeslieder Walzer, Robert Schumann’s “Davidsbündlertänze,” Symphony in Three Movements, Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2, and La Valse; Sean Lavery’s Romeo and Juliet; Peter Martins’ Jazz (Six Syncopated Movements), Octet, Stabat Mater, Them Twos, and The Waltz Project; Jerome Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering, The Goldberg Variations, In Memory Of…, and Piano Pieces; and Christopher Wheeldon’s Mercurial Manoeuvres. He originated featured roles in Mr. Martins’ Burleske, Harmonielehre, Morgen, and T?l? Gaisma; Richard Tanner’s Soirée; Helgi Tomasson’s Prism; and Mr. Wheeldon’s Carousel (A Dance).

Friends, did anybody see Teresa Reichlen this year? I wonder if she made full recovery from her rather recent leg injury.

Happy to see the news about Jared Angle, who has talent to burn and the felxibility to succeed in a wide range of roles. In fact, I wonder if his willingness to try almost anything has contributed to his injury problems. Now that he has rank, he may feel more comfortable in saying "No" when his body rebels.

Reichlen is scheduled to dance in the opening performance of the Nutcracker (see thread in the Holiday Performances sectin), so that's a good sign.

Kate

Review of opening night from the NY Times:



Click here for more.

In what is mostly a review of Suzanne Farrell's company's performance in Washington, Rockwell echos most everyone's sadness as our losses continue to mount from Peter Martin's shunning of Balanchine's living legacies. Time is running out.

Balanchine's Flame Is Tended by a Washington Troupe, Too
By JOHN ROCKWELL
The New York Times
Published: November 24, 2005


Click here

Amen to that!