captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, tensions rising-- the u.s. puts thousands of american troops on heightened alert as the threat of russian moves into ukraine grows more serious. then, volatile markets-- major stock indexes take a steep dive then regain the day's losses amid ongoing concerns over inflation and interest rate hikes. >> there's a lot of concern in markets about how fast the fed is going to go in terms of tightening monetary policy. >> woodruff: and, political stakes-- tamara keith and amy walter discuss both parties' moves to punish their own members and president biden's pledge to get out and talk to voters more. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> woodruff: it is the most acute crisis between the west and russia since the end of the cold war, and today both sides escalated their military deployments. the u.s. is putting troops on higher alert, nato says it will reinforce its eastern flank, and russia is adding to its already 100,000 troops on ukraine's borders. nick schifrin begi our coverage. >> schifrin: moscow calls them drills, but they sound like preparations for war. russia's defense ministry today released new video of ships and military vehicles on trains deploying toward ukraine's border. these trucks will travel 3700 miles, from russia's east. from the west this weekend, american weapons traveled 4800 miles to land in kyiv. the u.s. says the additional 200,000 pounds of ammunition and other items inside these crates, shows the u.s.' commitment to ukraine. >> schifrin: simultaneously, nato's secretary general, during a press conference with swedish

and finnish defense ministers, announced increased alliance support for nato's eastern flank. heading to southeast europe: dutch f-35s and french troops under nato command. heading to the baltics: f-16's from denmark. and deploying to the black sea: spanish ships. >> these deployments are proportionate and in line with our international commitments and they reinforce european security for all of us. >> schifrin: today in a phone briefing kremlin spokesman dmitry peskov used the announcement to call nato the aggressor. >> ( translated ): we can see the statement published by nato on an enhancement of the contingent and the deployment of forces and hardware to the eastern flank. all this leads to the further escalation of tensions. >> the nato presence is in no way threatening, because it is compared to the significant military buildup by russia in and around ukraine, a very limited presence. >> schifrin: for years, nato did not deploy to its eastern european members.

but since russia annexed crimea in 2014, nato has deployed battle groups of at least 1200 soldiers each to estonia, latvia, lithuania, and poland. and after a telebriefing this weekend by his national security team, president biden put 8500 u.s.-based troops on high alert, who could deploy quickly to eastern europe. defense officials tell pbs newshour those forces could come from bases including fort bragg, fort carson, and fort campbell, destined to the nato response force or n.r.f. pentagon spokesman john kirby: >> in the event of nato's activation of the n.r.f., or a deteriorating security environment, the united states would be in a position to rapidly deploy additional brigade combat teams, logistics, medical, aviation, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, transportation, and additional capabilities into europe. >> schifrin: at the same time, the u.s. is drawing down its kiev embassy. all families are required to depart, and non-essential

employees can leave if they want. the united kingdom announced the same. ukraine called it disappointing. foreign ministry spokesman oleg nikolenko: >> ( translated ): or so we consider this u.s. move as premature and a manifestation of excessive caution. in fact, there have been no cardinal changes in the security situation recently. >> schifrin: but the west is convinced the threat to ukraine's government could be fatal. this weekend, the u.k. released new intelligence revealing russia planned regime change and had picked a pro-russian leader. u.s. officials tell pbs newshour the u.s. agrees with the british intelligence, which was released by foreign secretary liz truss. >> the reason we put that out into the public domain is we are going to call out every instance of russia trying to influence democracy, trying to subvert ukraine, false flag operations and sabotage. >> schifrin: calling out russian actions, but little is stopping russia's buildup, that surrounds ukraine. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin.

>> wdruff: in the day's other news, jitters over ukraine and broader economic worries sent wall street into a deep dive, before it climbed all the way back. the dow jones industrial avege plunged more than 1,100 points, but ended up gaining 99 on the day to close at 34,364. the nasdaq rose 86 points. the s&p 500 added 12. we'll take a closer look at what's fueling the market's fears, later in the program. new numbers today indicate t pandemic's omicron wave may be peaking across the u.s., with the daily average of new cases below 700,000. but deaths are still rising, and hospitals across the south and west are still overwhelmed. the head of the world health organization forecast today that

the emergency phase could end this year, but he also had a warning. >> it's dangerous to assume that omicron will be the last variant or that we are in the endgame. on the contrary, globally, the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge. >> woodruff: also today, the u.s. supreme court rejected a lawsuit against proxy voting in the u.s. house of representatives. it was adopted at the start of the pandemic, allowing members to cast absentee ballots. republican minority leader kevin mccarthy wanted the court to reject it as unconstitutional. the high court agreed today to hear challenges to affirmative action in college admissions for the first time since 2016. two lawsuits charge that the use of race in admissions decisions at harvard university and the university of north carolina,

discriminates against asian-americans. federal prosecutors in minneapolis charged today that three former police officers violated george floyd's civil rights in failing to prevent his muer. in opening statements, they said the men did nothing when fellow officer derek chauvin pinned floyd by the neck until he died. chauvin waconvicted of murder last year. the defense argued chauvin was the senior officer and called all the shots. in iran, the government opened the door today to direct talks with the united states on restoring the 2015 nuclear deal. the foreign minister spoke in tehran as negotiations with other world powers resumed in vienna. >> ( translated ): if we get to a stage where reaching a good deal with strong guarantees necessitates direct talks with the u.s., we will consider this in our agenda to lift sanctions. >> woodruff: in response, the

u.s. state department it remains open to direct meetings with iranian officials. president biden has indicated he wants to rejoin the nuclear deal that president trump abandoned in 2018. rebels in yemen, backed by iran, fired missiles into the united arab emirates today, and u.s. troops intercepted them with patriot missiles. some of the americans had to take cover during the exchange. it was the second such attack in a week by the rebels. china has made a new show of force near taiwan, sending 39 warplanes, the most since october. the planes flew over an area near the pratas islands, southwest of taiwan. the chinese declined to say what their purpose was. it came as two u.s. navy aircraft carrier groups sailed in the south china sea over beijing's objections. back in this country, judges in georgia have approved a special grand jury to investigate whether former president trump

tried to interfere with the 2020 election results. a district attorney requested the assistance. the special panel will be seated in may, and serve up to a year. there's further evidence of the pandemic's toll on students. data from 26 states shows high school graduation rates fell in at least 20 of them after the first full school year disrupted by covid. the non-profit education news agency chalkbeat did the analysis. and, the world's biggest galactic observatory has arrived at its destination one million miles from earth. as depicted in this nasa animation, the james webb space telescope reached its planned orbit around the sun today. that critical moment came a month after launch. by june, if all goes well, the $10 billion telescope will begin looking deeper into space than humanity has ever seen. still to come on the newshour:

newshour: what is behind the volatile ride for the major stock indexes. a tamara keith and amy walter break down the latest political news. a miami dance troupe revisits the classic ballet "swan lake" and gives it a new spin. and much more. >> woodruff: as we reported earlier, nato is increasing its troop presence in eastern europe. and the united states announced today it was putting 8500 troops on high alert to deploy to the region. to discuss the details of today's developments, we're joined by two experts. andrea kendall taylor is a former senior intelligence official who focused on russia and eurasia. she is now the head of the transatlantic security program at the center for a new american

security, which is a bipartisan national security and defense policy institute. and phillip karber has served as an advisor to the secretary of defense. he is now the president of the potomac foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan policy research group. >> woodruff: and we welcome both of you to the newshour. andrea kendall taylor, excuse me, to you first. how much of a change in posture is this for the biden administration to be making this announcement about troop readiness? and what is your sense of how meaningful this troop deployment could be? >> well, i think this signals a shift in the way the biden administration is approaching the conflict. so far, you know, they've been talking a lot about deterrents and laying out the cost for putin if she should take action. to me this signals that they see that conflict is becoming more likely in the coming weeks. and so they're shifting to

a more proactive footing to help prepare for that conflict. i think at this point, the key for the biden administration and its nato allies is to ensure that this conflict, should it happen, remains contained to ukraine. and so they're starting to preposition forces and take these steps to prepare for scenarios in which conflict could potentially spill over or tax nato member states. i think this is a real shift in their footing and how they're thinking about the likelihood of conflict between russia and ukraine. >> woodruff: how would the presence of us. troops in the area in addition to nato forces keep any conflict contained to ukraine? >> i think the key is kind of preparing for scenarios in which conflict between russia and ukraine could spill over into nato member states, particularly poland and romania. we wants to be prepared for those pockets. i also think a key goal

and objective of prepositioning forces like this is to signal alliance resolve. i think we want to be crystal clear with president putin that the alliance has the resolve to respond so he doesn't look to test any other nato member states. and i also think there is one broader audience, and that is xi jinping. and i think he and china will be watching very closely to see the united states ability to marshal a coalition to respond. this signals the united states willingness to move beyond sanctions and to change the security environment in which any revisionist actor would see. i think for all of those reasons, to shore up the credibility of the alliance and to prepare for potential scenarios, these steps by the biden administration and nato allies are important ones and welcome. >> woodruff: signals to nato, to russia, and, as you say, to china as well. philip karber, let me

bring you into this. how do you see these troops, were they to be deployed, being used? where would they be? what exactly would they do? >> i agree withverything my colleague said, but the response so far has been kind of underwhelming. we're preparing to lean forward and get units ready to deploy, but we haven't deployed anything yet. to answer your question, i think the options -- the most affective options would be to move air units, particularly fighters, into romania, poland, perhaps f-18 fighters with harpoon anti-ship missiles into bbulgaria, and get more awax aerial surveillance, so the ukrainians, who are basically blind in terms of long distance

identification of where attacks might come from, we pass that intelligence to them. those would be the most significant and fastest things we could do. so far they haven't left yet. and then, of course, there is the option of having ground forces. but the most i think they're talking about is one briga unit, and that's not very much. so i's -- lastly, there is an ongoing naval exercise we're participating in in the metropolitan, so that is helpful. and they're sending some units to the baltics. >> woodruff: philip karber, staying with you for a moment, sending in potentially air support, sending in naval support, in what, surrounding ukraine? how do you see this geographically playing out? >> i do not see naval

forces going into the black sea. i think that would be -- it's just too dangerous. and too outnumbered, frankly. but having awax flying overkraine and give them early warning of an attack, and also help their small air force respond to a much larger ussian attack, would be enormously helpful. and having our fighters there to protect the awax, so they're not taken pot shots at, that sends a very strong message. our air power is our strongest message sender in terms of military capability, and still have defensive posture into nato countries. and it also gives them the sense -- you say, you're trying to assure the allies. they say we don't want assurance. if this war comes to our

border, we're not looking for speed bumps. we want real help. >> woodruff: two quick questions: one, how quickly do you see this kind of support being deployed and making a difference? because it clearly would have to integrate with what else is on the ground with nato. >> in terms of the air, we could probably get a number of squadrons, maybe a couple of wings, within three to seven days, thuandthat would be very quick and very powerful. the ground forces take, obviously, a lot longer. we have pre-positioned equipment in germany and poland, but whether the jgermans would let us move it, who knows. likewise, it takes time to move the troops from essentially western poland to anywhere near the belarusan border. >> woodruff: and one other question: in terms

of military, the numbers are a lot smaller thn the 100 or more than 100,000 troops the russians have around there. so in terms of military balance, do you see them making a difference? >> the air could seriously make a difference over eastern ukraine and give the russians a real second thought about whether they want to launch a major air offensive, which a lot of people are warning about, flying in over belarus, over the metropolitan, hitting ukraine from all sides. if we had strong awax, early warning, and also strong fighter capability, i think that would give them severe warning. one other thing that should be noted: we just sentome supplies to ukraine. those supplies had been ordered and purchased by ukraine as part of their military aid. literally months ago. so we haven't sent any new stuff yet to ukraine, and we really -- everything we send right now is helpful. >> woodruff: and finally, a quick last

questi to andrea kendall taylor: is this what the u.s. and nato were announcing today -- is this likely to change pputethinking? >> i don't think so. we should note only putin knows the answer to that. he keeps us on our toes because it works to his strategic advantage. but i would say given senior russian official statements and certainly the continuing buildup of russian forces on the ukrainian border, it does appear we're headed towards conflict. i don't think we're going to deter the conflict. so what we're looking to do through sanctions and our u.s. forces, is to make this asostly an action for putin as possible. he is taking a great risk here, and we need to do everything we can to raise the cost for his actions, to reassure our allies, and, again, to make sure that this conflict stays contained to ukraine.

i think that is the shift we're seeing from this administration, moving towards just deterrence to recognizing we're going to have to kind of manage and navigate this situation, thinking about refugee flows and pre-positioning humanitarian aid. so i think the conflict is coming. we're getting closer, and the steps that the administration is talking about doing, i think signals where their thinking is, that we're getting closer to conflict. >> woodruff: it is sob berg. andrea kendall taylor, philip karber, thank you both very much. >> thank you for having me. >> woodruff: as we reported, it was a wild ride for the markets today. amna nawaz looks at what's behind this volatility and the market's recent slump. >> nawaz: ju, at one point, the dow jones was down more than 1,000 points, and the s&p 500, which is a wider gauge of the stock market, had fallen into correction territory, a drop of

10% from its previous high. all of the major indexes came back, finished on a positive note. but they are down since the start of the year. to understand more about all of this, we turn to dana peterson, chief economist at the conference board, a non-partisan business think tank. >> nawaz: david peterson, welcome to the newshour. thanks for being with us. i want to ask you about what we saw before that late rally this afternoon, which was a continuation of a weeks' long slide. what was behind that? what were investors watching and worried about? >> i think is investors were watching and worried about a number of thing. certainly tech stocks have sold off with the raising interest rates. there is a lot of missing in terms of earning, in the fact that omicron interrupted business. many workers were sick and they required guarantee, and that really affected

profits. also, there is a lot of concern about geopolitics, and certainly what is going on in europe, and implications for financial markets. >> nawaz: and what about uncertainty overseas as it relates to the u.s. weighing a response over russian aggression into ukraine. is tat playing into all of this as well? >> i think so. certainly in eastern europe, the standoff between russia and ukraine and nato and the u.s., is putting upward pressure on gasoline prices, not only in this region, but globally. and that is adding to inflationary pressures we're feeling at home in the u.s. >> nawaz: what about that rally? and what does that tell you? does it tell you all the concerns by investors are fading? >> you could have a lot of volatility from day to day, and you could have some good earnings news. but there is a lot of concern in the markets about how fast the fed is going to go in terms of tightening monetary

policy. they're going to finish up the (indiscernable) and raise interest rates. but how many interest rates are we looking at? tthree, four, five? we see the size of the balance sheet, and that happens with allowing them to mature and roll off, but those are all forms of tightening. and markets are getting a little concern about what that means for them. >> nawaz: let me ex you about the omicron, because even without lockdowns -- the big concern is lockdowns would create economic holdup, but without the lockdowns, we have seen some major economic disruptions. something like nine million americans weren't looking r work because they were either sick with covid or caring for someone who had covid. so even as cases of this latest variant could be cresting in part of the country, is there a longer

term accumulative economic toll ahead? >> our thoughts are this is going to be pretty short-lived. the delta variant really swept through the world and impacted the u.s. in the third quarter of last year. we saw the epic growth, relative to other growths during the pandemic, around 2%. so we're looking at 2%, 2.5% for the first quarter. when we look at omicron in south africa, it was very intense but very short-lived. hopefully by we reach the second quarter, we will see better activity. when we asked consumers back in december, they were still looking forward to buying goods and services and going on vacation, so that is really constructive for the second quarter. >> nawaz: what about the feds. inflation is running at the fastest pace in 40 years. they gather tomorrow for a couple of days. do we have any idea when they'll

start to raise those interest rates and by how much? are you worried if this down slide continues they could act more aggressively? >> sure. tomorrow they will begin their two-day meeting, and i think it is prtty anticipated th the fed will give a strong signaling that the taper, once it is finished in or around march, they will raise interest rates by 25 basis points, and they'll get three or four hikes for this year. but a big concern, as you said, is what if inflation doesn't cool off? what if we continue to see inflation notably above 22%towards the end of this year, will they go more? will they go 50 basis points? what the fed has indicated, we're looking fofor three or four interest rates raises.

>> nawaz: what does this mean for american families? they're paying more for goods every day. they're looking at this same uncertainty, in the economy and the pandemic. what is everything we're seeing in the markets, the volatility, the week's long down slides, what does that pleen for them? >> if you own assets, this has not been the best weeks for you. if you own stocks or bonds, with the selloff you ha lost some interest and somcapital. if you have savings accounts or checking accounts that have interest, higher interest rates are good for you. it is really about sentiment. do people, even average americans who may not own any financial assets, if they believe the stock market is a harbinger of weaker growth going forward, they may be concerned about their jobs prospect. so far many people are working. we have the great resignation, people are

resigning, but they're going off and finding ne jobs. and the economy, certainly at the end of last year, the last quarter, was still doing quitwell. even with this first quarter weakness, 2%, 2.5% growth is actually pretty good for the u.s. economy, but we do anticipate stronger growth in the second quarter. it is really about how long these disruptions last, and certainly how ordinary americans perceive what is going on in the stock markets. >> that is dana peterson, making sense of a wild day on wall street for us. thank you so much for joining us, dana. >> thank you. ♪♪ >> woodruff: after senate democrats were unable last week to change the senate rule, the filibuster, to make it possible to pass voting rights legislation, arizona's state democratic party censured senator kyrsten sinema. she, along with senator joe manchin of west virginia, made

up the only two democratic hold outs on that major vote. the move in arizona is part of a growing trend of political parties taking on their own members over key issues. to help us make sense of this and other news brewing in politics i'm joined by our politics monday duo, amy walter of the cook political report, with amy walter and tamara keith of npr. >> woodruff: hello to both of you. let's pick up on this, tam. it is starting, as we said, starting to be a trend. the republicans have been going after their members who voted to impeach former president trump. now we're seeing the democrats do that. what do these kinds of moves say about the parties? do they end up helping them politically? do they end up healing? i mean, what are we seeing? >> tamara: as you say, this is primarily been a

republican trend. in particular, republicans who voted to impeach former president trump have been targeted by their state parties. and now senator sinema being censored by her party, the arizona democratic leadership in that party believes that voting rights is one of the existential issues. and so they are censoring her. she isn't up for re-election this year. what it signals is she is out of sync with at least part of her party. and certainly the state parties, whether it be republican or democrat, that is where you're going to find the activists. that is the most active activists, the people who are volunteering their time and being part of these state parties. and they are expressing frustration. >> woodruff: amy, is there a cost to the parties for doing this? does it end up strengthening them? how has it worked out?

>> amy: that's a great question because i think there is a cost, in some cases, for the party, and there is also a cost for the way congress works, or in this case doesn't work very well. arizona is a great example of this, right? this is a 50/50 state. we had donald trump narrowly win there in 2016, and in 2020, joe biden narrowly wins in that state. it is a true purple state. the last three elections there for senator, john mccain, kyrsn sinema, mark kelly this last year, they all narrowly won. but all three outperformed the presidential nominee of their own party. in other words, they got voters to cross over and support them who didn't support the presidential candidate. so you would get a trump and a kelly voter. you could also get a voter

who voted for hillary clinton but also voted for john mccain. by the way, arizona is also a state that has censored three of its last four senate candidates, or members of the united states senate. not mark kelly, but two republicans and then, of course, sinema. so it is completely out of step with where the state is. the state, you win by attracting independent and cross-over voters. so i don't know it is particularly good politics. but to tam's point, the parties now have become really just about what the activist basis wants, much more than whether or not this is the kind of candidate who can w in that state, number one. and the candidate who can deliver for the state on the most important issues to people there. >> woodruff: we will see how this plays out at some point down the road. but i do want to bring up something that -- in fact, rst i was going to ask

you about something president biden said at his news conference last week about a change in approach, but i have to bring you a little bit of breaking news from the white house this afternoon. president biden was having a meet ing the east room, talking about the economy, and i guess as the press was leaving, fox news reporter peter doocy asked the president a question about inflation. this is one of those i didn't know i was on live mic moments. but here it is. >> that's a great asset. more inflation, what a stupid son of a bitch. >> woodruff: i don't know if you could hear the whole thing, but peter doocy was asking that the fact that ination was going up was an asset, and you heard the president's answer. tam, i'm reminded of ronald reagan, we're going to start bombing in five

minutes. i think every politician has done it. do these kinds of things matter or not? i'm told that peter doocy laughed it off on the air later. >> tamara: he did. and former vice president, then vice president joe biden, also had a hot mic moment with an even nau naughtier word when obamacare passed. and that became part of his signature. i'm not sure if this is where this is headed. but president biden said right before that, i don't want to answer a bunch of questions about russia because i don't want to distract from this event i'm doing about inflation. and then he has this hot mic moment that is absolutely going to distract from the event he is doing about inflation. the critique that the biden white house is trying to respond to, that has come through in focus groups from voters, i that the president is not directly addressing the issues they care about most enough. the white house has tried to r meemedy particularly

this event. and now we're talking about peter doocy and a bad word. >> you're going to hear some frustration, especially in conservative circles, that president trump said bad things about the press all of the time. he was rebuked for it. this is, you know, following a behavior that then candidate and newly elected president biden said he wouldn't engage in. i think, again, lowering the tthe temperature was supposed to be his calling card and unifying the country. he has to do more to convince the voters he is doing both of those things. >> woodruff: speaking of convincing the voters, one of the things he spoke about in the news conference that went on for almost two hours, is how he is hoping to get out more this year and

connect more with the voters. here is what he said. >> biden: sp part of the problem is i have not been out in the community enough. i am here an awful lot. i find myself in the situation where i don't get a chance to look people in the eye because of both covid and things that are happening in washington. to be able to go out and do the things i've always been able to do pretty well: connect with people, let them take a measure of my sincerity, let them take a measure of who i am. >> woodruff: tam, does the white house think -- is it a thought that getting out more, talking to voters, could make a difference in how the president is seen? >> tamara: every president believes that if they could just get out and talk to voters more, give more speeches, they could convince them. but this white house also realizes that the last three months or so have been completely consumed by negotiating with

democrats, ngotiating with their own prty in congress, trying to get legislation done that they haven't yet gotten done. and there has been a widespread perception among voters expressed through polls and groups, that the president isn't talking about the things they care about most because they were so focused on the legislative negotiations. so president biden is probably going to keep calling senators, but the white house is now insisting they are not going to tell us about every conversation, in hopes that if they don't talk about it, if they don't talk about bruno and talk about the senators, maybe people will pay attention to something else. >> woodruff: amy, what is your take? can this kind of thing make a difference? >> amy: so in talking to democrats of next we're myself, and watching congresswoman elisa flogman, outside of detroit, what they'll tell you is we need something

tangible, one or two things, that the president can focus on that we can pass. make it something that voters understand and that it relates to their lives. whether it is about child care, prescription drugs -- those were the two things that the congresswoman pointed to. and that is what they're desperate to see of this president. but a challenge for this president, in looking through some of the polls that have come out in the last few days, marking the year anniversary of this presidency, is that voters have essentially lost confidence not on his ability to be affective on certain issues, but they've lost confidence in him to actually do his job affectively. to actually be an affective president on issues like being a good commander in chief, or being able to do a good job in handling a crisis. he has dropped significantly on those issues. he has to show some wins on those fronts. >> woodruff: and that

takes more than just traveling around the country. >> amy: that's right. >> woodruff: amy walter and tamara keith, thank you both. >> you're welcome. >> welcome. >> woodruff: as covid rages on this winter, the miami city ballet continues to dance, preparing to perform "swan lake" in february under the careful eye of celebrated choreographer alexei ratmansky. jeffrey brown spent a day with ratmansky and dancers to seeow they've brought this traditional ballet going back to its rediscovered historical roots. it's part of our arts and culture series, canvas. >> yes, now, almost good, except you'll want to exit with your feet going back. >> brown: a dance studio several weeks before opening the classic ballet, “swan lake.” >> you make it clear for the audience that that is how the love is born. >> brown: and alexei ratmansky, one of the world's leading choreographers, was working with dancers of the miami city ballet

to bring to life this fairytale of a prince, young women turned into swans, and doomed love. >> we need to find a good quality for every movement and we should get the feeling that the movements are born from the music, or vice versa, the music is born from their movements, but... >> brown: but they go together. >> yes, exactly. >> brown: ratmansky, now 53, was himself a dancer, trained at moscow's bolshoi ballet school, before turning to making dances. choreography, for him, begins with the music. >> i put on my headphones and i have this little tv in my head. >> brown: in your head? >> and i see the little figures of dancers doing steps. and then i need to find a good combination of steps, remember them, develop them, find a good explain what i mean, explain it well to the dancers. inspire the dancers. >> brown: but with ¡swan lake', he's done something different: returning to the origins of one

of ballet's best-known and most- loved works. composed by tchaikovsky, “swan lake” was given classic shape in 1895 by choreographers marius petipa and lev ivanov in a production at st. tersburg's mariinsky theater. and then it took wing: it's been reworked and restaged fomore than a century with subtle and larger changes to both story and choreography. it got the over-the-top treatment in the 2010 film,“ black swan.” ratmansky, a student of dance history, wanted to explore it anew, and found early notations in an archive now at harvard university. >> it's the quality of this ballet, which is a masterpiece. you always want to learn from the masters. >> brown: was there a moment where you went-- you were surprised and kind of shocked yourself? >> absolutely. i just, i finally saw the logic in everything. >> brown: his new ¡old' version,

first put on by the zurich ballet, strips down some of the action, and emphasizes the¡ pantomime' and acting. so much about ballet is different now, he says: dancers' bodies, training, even their toe shoes. he calls this a ¡historically- informed production.' >> we try to use all the historical materials available, but it's preparatory work. when we get into the studio, we need to make it live theater. >> brown: and that, in an exclusive north american premiere, is now in the works in the art deco miami beach home of the miami city ballet, a company that's taken on old and new ballets and been acclaimed for its artistry and energy. the company houses a school for the very young. up to dancers like these, age 16 to 18, working under spanish- born arantxa ochoa to prepare for auditions with ballet companies far and wide.

training in technique. but also, she says, mental preparation. >> we not only care for the training that, you know, how do they do that perfect peg or how that leg is up there, pointed toes, all of that, but also that they're in the right place. because that's, you know, once you get in the company, a lot of them, they get to the company but then you have to survive in the company. >> brown: artistic director lourdes lopez knows the ballet life well. born in cuba and raised in miami, she became a principal dancer with the new york city ballet. a painting in her office shows her with its legendary leader, george balanchine. she returned home ten years ago to take the helm here. >> somehow it felt, felt organic. the art form has given me so much as an immigrant, right. it has changed my life and it continues to change my life every day. i mean, i'm sitting in front of you today because of ballet. >> brown: a ballet company, she says, feeds and feeds off its city. and this one is very much miami in its energy and style.

>> i think american dancers have a sense of urgency, certainly miami city ballet dancers have a sense of urgency when they're on stage. there's a youthfulness. there's a hunger that they're just going to eat space and they're going to just go for it. >> brown: there's also an energy and pride here in the diversity of talent: latina leadership, dancers from all over, especially central and south america. >> for me, to come to miami city ballet changed my life. >> brown: katia carranza came to miami from mexico at 19. she'd had plenty of classical training, but found a new world of dancing here. what was the biggest difference? >> well, for me it was like everything, it was much faster than what i knew. and here i realized there is a lot of ways to move your body, and it was a little bit more exciting and more energy and, you know, different for me. >> brown: nathalia arja came from brazil at 15. now she and katia are company

veterans, getting the extraordinary experience of working with alexie ratmansky to create his new-old vision of¡ swan lake,' especially honing their mime movements to convey the emotns he wants. >> we'll spend hours just having a conversation of, how do you say, “you promised to love me,” so... >> brown: without the words. >> without the words, just body language. and swan lake is, it's difficult technically. but most, there is an extra layer of how, you know, being clear of how you tell the story. >> brown: and can you say that to me right now?“ you promised to love me.” >> it would be ¡you. to me. promised to love.' but there are so many ways to do that. >> brown: of course, the real¡ black swan' in the studio: covid. this production has already be postponed due to the pandemic and, several weeks out, lourdes lopez knew it could happen

again. >> it's like the bird just doesn't want to land here, but... >> brown: but you're goi to bring her down. >> i'm going to bring her or him down, whatever it wants to be, >> brown: for now, the hard work, and the giant leaps go on. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown at the miami city ballet. >> woodruff: originally from mexico city herself, gaby hernandez understands firsthand the challenges immigrants can face in the united states. as the executive director of the "long beach immigrants rights coalition" in california, she empowers those in her community to push for better resources and protections at both the local and national level. tonight, hernandez shares her brief but spectacular take on immigrant justice in the u.s. >> being undocumented and being vocal about it is just one of my identities. but it's one of the identities that shapes who i am and what i do.

e immigration system, many people say it's broken, it's not broken. it's exactly working. it was designed to work. and that is to work against poor immigrants of color. it's risky to be so vocal about this, right. but at the end of the day, i know that citizenship is not gonna be the savior of, of everything. i see a lot of black and brown communities still being impacted by the systems even while they have citizenship. it definitely does provide an avenue of resources for folks, but there's more that we need to do. and i think the key is to work towards dismantling the systems that are oppressing us, beyond citizenship. i'm from mexico city. little did i know how much i was gonna have to face ithis country. i didn't speak any, any english at all. and i came here when it was seventh grade. i wish i would've had support from counselors, you know, from more mento in the school, that didn't actually happen. they placed you in esl classes, and then that's all you take.

the realization that i had was that the system wasn't set up for me. so i think we need a system that is actually welcoming families in a dignifying way, and that gives people the resources that they need once they get here to thrive. and also, i say a lot of times we're here because you're there. and that's the reality of it. we're in this country because the u.s. has put their hands in our countries for many, many years and many generations and many ways. and that's through policies, that's through interventions. and i think for me, it's important to, to have that context in mind, to then work towards abolishing it because it's not working for us. we know that we've seen that. i think it's in my blood to do organizing. and i think when i realized that the resources don't really come to you, unless you're demanding them. the organization that i serve as an executive director for is the long beach immigrant rights coalition, led by immigrant women, women of color, undocumented women, immigrant women, first generation women. and we're not only fighting for immigrants, policies, we're working with immigrants and fighting for those policies. for usafety is somebody having

housing, right? not being kickedut of their home. someone not having to fear that police is gonna collaborate with ice and then end up deporting them. right? for us, we're looking at the bigger picture and i think that's what makes us unique too, as an organization. we are combining immigrant justice work along with criminal justice, right. because we know that our communities are impacted by both and sometimes there's that sepation that exists. and for us, we wanto highlight that no, actually as a person of color,s an immigrant, you're impacted by many systems in this country. so there's more, and it's intersectional and our lives are intersection. and so our hope is that we're able to help people have the tools to organize in their communities and their own neighborhoods because that's really gonna get us to the real change. my name is gaby hernandez and this is my bef, but spectacular take on immigrant justice in the u.s. >> woodruff: you can watch all our brief but spectacular episodes at pbs.org/newshour/brief.

this pandemic have been difficult for all of us, but particularly for students, who have experienced major disruptions to both their education and social lives. our student reporting labs is explorinhow many young people are dealing with this "new normal" in a special program that will premiere tomorrow. here's a look at a slice of their reporting on how teachers and students are adapting. >> do some tricks. >> during the pandemic, i noticed that a lot of students were skateboarding. i could see the skate park from my house. when i see kids interested in something, i'm going to figure out a way to brick that into the classroom. >> reporter: his king is a teacher in gipson, colorado, trying to solve a problem that is missing. >> there is something missing in the education system. kids find themselves not

wanting to go to school. why can't we take that something else and make it part of the class. >> reporter: they're learning about urban design and how to build a stronger community. >> we came up with solutions to those barrrs to make skateboarding more accessible to more kids in our community. >> mostly what we're doing right now is trying to get skate park in avon to make things a little more accessible to kids thre, and also help reduce the crowding. we're working on getting funding from the tony hawk foundation to revamp this place that we're standing at right here. and, um -- my group specifically has been working on a desigthat we think could be really cool. >> i'm actually, like, doing work for my community. its not really, like, just a class anymore. i'm part of something bigger than just this class. >> reporter: with each new trick, students understand more about

themselves, as well as how to connect, how to teach, and how to learn from one another. >> it is hard. if you're learning to do from the most basic skill to a really difficult skill, it takes a lot of resilience to get back up and try again. >> it is one of those things if you could put your mind to something and kind of get into it, you can really prove to yourself you can do whatever you want. >> i always thought it was super cool and i thought the skaters were super cool. it makes me feel good, and i like learning new things. >> school can be stressful for kids these days, i think it is really important we have these days to be able to relax. because it is not like we get recess anymore, you know? we don't get to play with our friends and use our imaginations. if we get rid of that creativity, by the time we're adults, we're not going to be doing anything useful for the world. we're not goi going to be able to solve the world's problems because we won't be able to think outside

of the box. >> it helps in conquering your fears. when you finally own up to it, it is relieving. i recently learned how to drop in. it is pretty scary, but i did it. >> reporter: and while the teacher is teaching her students how to face their fears, at the same time she had to do it herself. >> i learned how to drop in. and i was scared because you fall. and i'm looking at a student who is a language learner, who i've watched take so many risks in the classroom. and i've watched him sit there and struggle when he was younger, and i, like, forced him to read and write and grow. he has got the drop in, and he totally can do it, and he is cheering me on. so of course i'm going to take that risk. >> woodruff: what a great teacher. and this program is exceptional. you can

>> woodruff: you can watch our student reporting labs' full show, "our new normal," tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. eastern on our youtube channel. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provid by: >> a raymond james financial advisor tailors advice to help you live your life. life, well-planned. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular has been offering no-contract wireless plans, designed to help people do more of what they like. our u.s.-based customer service team can help find a plan that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv.

>> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ hello, everyone. and welcome to "amanpour & co." here's what's coming up. >> people are justifiably outraged. >> a key american ally at a cross roads. former british prime minister tony blair onbritain's future amid the boris johnson scandals and whether diplomacy can defuse the standoff over ukraine. >> then -- >> who gets top billing? >> wt really went on behind the scenes during the filming of "jaws"? that dramatic turned into a west end comedy. i'm joined by ian shaw, son of the original cast member robert shaw. plus former senate majority leader trent lott talks to walter isaac son about healing the partisan divide. and finally the hit irish band blending punk and poetry.