Now there's free Wi Fi at Lincoln Center (from the NYCB website):

NEW WiFi has Arrived

Wireless Internet Access has arrived at Lincoln Center and is available to the thousands of individuals who visit Lincoln Center's 6.3 acres annually. This free wireless internet access at all of the Center's outdoor public spaces is made possible through an agreement with Nokia in cooperation with Nokia Siemens Networks. Now all wireless devices compatible with the 802.11b/g standard including WiFi enabled laptops, cell phones, and PDAs will be welcome. To use Lincoln Center's wireless network, you will need a laptop or handheld device with an 802.11b/g compatible wireless card or built in 802.11b/g wireless capability. To connect (1.) Search for availble networks. (2.) Select Lincoln Center's wireless network. (3.) Launch your internet browser and you will automatically be connected to Lincoln Center's internet browser portal. NOTE: Lincoln Center understands that each comopputer and network card operates differently. For technical support, contact your PC or network card vendor. For WiFi Network Terms and Conditions of Use and Privacy Policy, click HERE.

An aside of sorts. I was looking at the Russian Mariinka ballet forum (I speak very little russian) where there is a discussion of Alina Somova's recent debut in Don Quixote. Comparisons are made to five other ballerinas. Not surprisingly three are Russian and one almost Russian--Diana Vishneva, Olesia Novikova, Natalia Osipova and Alina Cojocaru.

The fifth ballerina interestingly enough is Paloma Herrera, who is praised by the poster from Saint Petersburg for her "passionate" Kitri.

While getting ready to post this I remembered the first time that I saw Paloma Herrera. After her dancing in the second act of Giselle, I concluded --"I guess you don't 'have to be' from Russia to be a really great dancer."

[several 'typo' corrections made the next day]

The season ends with five promotions!

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE NAMES FIVE SOLOISTS



Kristi Boone, Misty Copeland, Yuriko Kajiya, Sarah Lane and
Jared Matthews have been promoted to the rank of Soloist with American
Ballet Theatre, it was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.
All promotions become effective August 1, 2007.

Kristi Boone was born in Rochester, New York and trained at the
Draper Dance Studio. She danced with the Rochester City Ballet and received
full scholarships at San Francisco Ballet School, the Chautauqua Institute
Ballet Program and ABT’s Summer Intensive where she was named a Coca-Cola
scholar in 1998 and 1999. Boone joined ABT’s Studio Company in August 1999
and became a member of ABT’s corps de ballet the following year. Her roles
with the Company include Her Stepsister in Cinderella, an Odalisque in Le
Corsaire, Katherine in Christopher Wheeldon’s VIII, Zulma in Giselle, Bianca
and a Carnival Dancer in Othello, the Polovtsian Princess in Polovtsian
Dances, a Harlot in Romeo and Juliet and the Fairy of Fervor and the White
Cat in The Sleeping Beauty, as well as leading roles in Antony Tudor’s Dark
Elegies, Mark Morris’ Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes, Twyla Tharp’s In the
Upper Room, Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort and William Forsythe’s workwithinwork.
In addition, Boone created a leading role in Jorma Elo’s Glow – Stop.

Misty Copeland was born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in
San Pedro, California where she began studying ballet at the age of 13. She
won first place in the Los Angeles Music Center Spotlight Awards and
continued her studies at Lauridsen Ballet Center. Copeland studied at the
San Francisco Ballet School and American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive
on full-scholarship, and in 2000, was named ABT’s National Coca-Cola
scholar. She joined the ABT Studio Company later that year and became a
member of ABT’s corps de ballet in April 2001. Her repertory with the
Company includes a Shade and the Lead d’Jampé in La Bayadère, Blossom in
Cinderella, the Goat in Sylvia, an Odalisque in Le Corsaire, a Flower Girl
in Don Quixote, the pas de trois, a cygnet and the Hungarian Princess in
Swan Lake, the Fairy of Valor in The Sleeping Beauty and the peasant pas de
deux in Giselle. In addition, she has performed leading roles in Twyla
Tharp’s In the Upper Room and Sinatra Suite, as well as Mark Morris’ Gong.
Copeland created a leading role in Glow – Stop.

Yuriko Kajiya was born in Nagoya, Japan and began her dance
training at Matsumoto Michiko Ballet. At age ten, she moved to China to
study at the Shanghai Ballet School where she graduated on scholarship.
Kajiya was one of the youngest finalists at the Third International Ballet
Competition in Nagoya, Japan in 1999 and, the following year, won the Prix
de Lausanne Scholarship and Public Prize, enabling her to study at The
National Ballet of Canada’s school. She joined the ABT Studio Company in
2001 and joined ABT as a member of the corps de ballet in 2002. Her
repertory with
ABT includes a Shade in La Bayadère, Blossom in Cinderella, a Flower Girl in
Don Quixote, the pas de trois in Swan Lake, the Waltz in Les Sylphides and
the Fairies of Fervor and Joy in The Sleeping Beauty.

Sarah Lane was born in San Francisco, California and began her
dance training in Memphis, Tennessee. She later trained with Timothy Draper
and Jamey Leverett at the Draper Center for Dance Education in Rochester,
New York. She won the Silver Medal, the highest medal in the Junior
Division, at the Jackson International Ballet Competition in 2002 and won
the Bronze Medal at the Youth American Grand Prix. Lane joined American
Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in August 2003 and became a member of the
Company’s corps de ballet in April 2004. Her roles with the Company include
Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty, Amour in Don Quixote, Anne in
Christopher Wheeldon’s VIII, the Two of Diamonds in Jeu de Cartes, the pas
de trois in Swan Lake, a Goat in Sylvia and leading roles in Drink To Me
Only With Thine Eyes, Glow – Stop, In the Upper Room, Sinatra Suite and
Theme and Variations.

Jared Matthews was born in Houston where he received his early
ballet training under the tutelage of Victoria Vittum and Gilbert Rome. He
attended summer programs at North Carolina School of the Arts, The Joffrey
Ballet, School of American Ballet and American Ballet Theatre’s Summer
Intensive. Matthews was invited to join the ABT Studio Company in 2001 and
joined ABT’s main company as a member of the corps de ballet in 2003. His
repertoire with ABT includes the Head Fakir in La Bayadère, the peasant pas
de deux in Giselle, Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, von Rothbart, Benno and
the Neapolitan Dance in Swan Lake and leading roles in Drink To Me Only
Thine Eyes, In the Upper Room, Petite Mort, Sechs Tänze, Sinfonietta,
Symphonic Variations and workwithinwork. In addition, he created a leading
role in Glow – Stop.

-30-

In reference to our conversation of NY Times coverage of performances, an interesting Q&A with the NY Times arts & leisure editor. I do think the asker of this particular question should be a bit red-faced - he didn't seem to have checked the coverage carefully, and I don't think it was wrong to let Gia Kourlas review the performance in question.

I do think the head critic should do the important performances, but then again, if the 'youngsters' need to get a chance at the big time as well.

Also, the previous answer gives a clue as to why we don't get overnight reviews - the arts newsroom shuts at about 5:15.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/09/busin ... ted=4&_r=1

Kate

Alistair Macaulay discusses the 2007 Met Season:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/15/arts/ ... 5maca.html

A nice article, but who let that awful photo make the printed page? It's not that bad a shot of Cornejo - but 'rear end' shots are not generally advisable, nor is choosing a shot of someone with their eyes completely shut. It also looks like it's been poorly cropped from a much larger shot in a way which removes all context and sense of distance & motion from the image. ABT generally has a very good selection of images from their top-quality professional dance photographers, so I questions why the NY Times needs to take their own - especially as suggested by this shot and some past ones - the photographer doesn't seem to be experienced in capturing dance on camera.

Speaking only from the perspective of the paper I write for (which is one of the larger US dailies), it is standard policy to use staff photographers (or paid freelancers) whenever possible. I think that using photos provided by the subject (or the subject's employers) is regarded as a conflict of interest. Perhaps, though, in these days of cost-cutting, papers will change their minds on that one, but for now, there is no faster a way to get the photo desk's feathers ruffled than for someone to suggest they print a submitted photo. It is traditionally only done when you're dealing with a historical photo.

But I must agree -- the photo they did use in this article was awful. Well, Cornejo's, um, assets aren't necessarily awful to look at, but it was a strange angle and the framing that included the awkward face made by the front female dancer was odd. You would almost think the awkward photo was meant to echo something in the article, but I don't think it did. Cornejo's dancing was raved about, and the corps came in for quite a bit of praise, too. Just looks like someone was asleep at the wheel on the editorial side.

I'm pretty sure that NY Times has used ABT sourced pictures in the past. Very few newspapers or (internet or print) magazine have staff photographers for the arts, so I strongly suspect that the vast majority of publictions use images provided by companies or agents.

For one, not all companies permit outside photographers to have access -- not only is there not room to have many photographers, it's distracting and you want to maintain some level of control, so you don't get screw ups like this one. (There are a lot of photographers who might be very experienced, but are not competent when it comes to capturing dance). Dancers can be quite picky about which images are used, and I think they have a right to be because a performance lasts only in a memory, an image for much longer and images by their very nature capture a split second which can be taken out of context.

I can't see why that would be a conflict of interest...photos are images and dance-wise, they don't really have a point of view. Showing an image of x dancer in x pose doesn't say anything postive or negative about a company. It's the words in the article that form the opinion. It's not like a publication is being paid by the company to use a particular image or being paid to use the images. Images tend to be provided free to all legit news organizations so long as they are being used in a review or feature.

The way it generally works is that companies hire one or more photographers to take press images on a contract which gives the company access to the images and then the company provides a selection to the press. (Occasionally in Europe - mostly in Germany - you run into instances where the control remains with the photographers, which can be very problematic) So in the end, the publication gets to choose which image -- I've never been told to use a specific images, and time and availability permitting companies will usually try to provide alternate images if the available ones don't meet your needs.

Kate

I'm only sharing my professional experience on this issue, Kate. I can't begin to count the number of times I've had interview subjects offer me their own pictures, and the number of times I've had to explain that we simply can't take them. I think it may partially be the photo desk's way of protecting their shrinking turf.