ballet blog with occasional diversions

observations 10/8

Only a couple of more chances to see Alexei Ratmansky's new Pictures at an Exhibition during the fall season at New York City Balletthis Thursday and Saturday evening. Ratmansky may still be tinkering with the choreography. Either that, or else Haglund was so tired last night that he completely missed the two annoying arm and hand sequences from the night of the premiere. But overall, this is a highly interesting and entertaining new piece. Cameron Grant is playing his hands off, the dancers are dancing their feet off, and the Kandinsky backdrop design is slipping around in its own paint. You're not going to get a total experience like this anywhere else.

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Ballerina-ButterflyDo you remember that fancy brooch that Sarah Jessica Parker and Cindy Chao co-designed to auction off at Sotheby's to benefit New York City Ballet? Estimates were that the sparkling ballerina butterfly would go for $750,000 to $900,000. Well, yesterday at Sotheby's the bids fluttered up to $1.21 million. No word on who bought it, but maybe he or she will show up wearing it at the next NYCB gala.

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Pennsylvania Ballet opens next week with its highly anticipated first season under Angel Corella. We're going to try to get down to Philly to check things out although it may be hard to squeeze it in between Alessandra Ferri at the Joyce Theater, Wendy Whelan's Farewell, and all of the local Oktoberfest activities. We'll do our best, though, because we know you expect nothing less.