Friday October 30, 2009 - Monica invited me to the annual Halloween festivities at the School of American Ballet. On Valentine's Day and Halloween, the young dancers are permitted to spiff up their classroom garb with personal accoutrements.
When you attend these 'open house' events at SAB you can choose from among various classes to watch and Monica and I quickly agreed that we wanted to be in Suki Schorer's studio. Suki (above) has caught my eye so many times among the audience at performances and of course she has written a celebrated book. Today she was adorably dressed-up as a fanciful witch and she put the girls thru their paces with boundless energy and spot-on technical corrections.
There were some celebrities in her class today as well as advanced students from the School. The 90-minute session swept by swiftly and while many of the girls wore cute outfits and there were moments of comic by-play, the dancing was serious.
We then stopped to have (delicious) cookies and tea in the lounge area and watched several NYC Ballet luminaries coming from and going to rehearsals: a very nice way to get in the mood for the upcoming season. Thank you, Monica!
DRATS, being a resident of the (ugh) burbs, I had to choose: Morphoses last night or SAB today, so I chose Morphoses and what a magnicent series of four ballets I saw.
Edwaard, Melissa and Wendy of NYCB(then and now) were brilliant.All the other dancers were fantastique as well.
The music was live and fantastic.
I believe City Center was sold out and the fans were delirious.
A Great evening.
JIM
Posted by: jim | October 30, 2009 at 05:05 PM
Philip - We, too, enjoyed Halloween day at the school and it was finally nice to meet you through Monica.
Jeannie & Cal
Posted by: Jeannie Griffin-Peterka | October 30, 2009 at 06:41 PM
I love going to the SAB open houses. It's such an exciting glimpse into the world that creates the biggest stars of NYCB, and I love watching the dancers mature and make their way up the ranks.
Posted by: Laura | October 30, 2009 at 07:38 PM
I'm sooo Jealous! Not making it to Morphoses either. :-(
Posted by: Sandi D. | October 30, 2009 at 11:41 PM
I agree with you, Laura. I remember seeing Amar in SAB classes as a shy seeming boy with huge brown eyes. I was delighted to see him taken into the company, watch him mature and now receive the promotion he so richly deserves.
Posted by: Jeannie | October 31, 2009 at 09:52 AM
Jeannie, thank you! It was really nice meeting you both, and how wonderful that you make the trek to NYC to support the Company! It was such a fun day, seeing all the activity and watching the up-and-coming dancers.
Posted by: Philip | October 31, 2009 at 10:13 AM
I, too, had the pleasure of observng Suki's class at SAB yesterday (and what a treat it was to have the opportunity to see a few of the company dancers, including NYCB's newest soloist, taking the class). I also had the good fortune to observe two of Jock Soto's classes (Advanced Men and Adagio Partnering) in the afternoon. The depth of talent at the school continues to be very impressive and the future of NYCB remains very bright.
Posted by: Bob | October 31, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Jeannie, I have just had an opportunity to visit your website which is absolutely beautiful!
Take a look, everyone:
http://www.griffinpeterka.com/
Posted by: Philip | November 02, 2009 at 09:59 AM
Thanks so much, Philip.
Posted by: Jeannie | November 04, 2009 at 05:08 PM