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Since Margaret Tracey is out, there are several ballet and cast shifts coming this week. Ben Millipied is also not dancing (injury??).
Walpurghischnact (sp??) was fine, though one corps member seemed very out of sync. And the overall effect was a touch sloppy.
I was thrilled to finally see "Dances at a Gathering" and was not disappointing. Carmena replaced Millipied as the man in brick, and though he did a fine job, it was obvious that this was a pretty last minute substitution (anyone know if this was Carmena's debut in Dances?). Carmena is a bit short for Kowroski, and there was one scary moment when something appeared to go wrong in a lift. As this was my first time seeing "Dances" I don't know if there was actually an error-anyone else who was there care to comment? All the other dancers did a great job, and I was pleased to see Marcovici dancing so well. I also noticed that James Fayette seemed to take special care and notice the few times he was parterned with his wife. I'd love to see them really dance together at some point
Concerto Armonici was fine, but a large portion of the audience had left after "Danced". Again I was impressed with Philip Neal, and liked Jared Angle.
Other notes..Hubbe is alive and well! Hopefully I'll get to see him dance this week.
ABT matinee was interesting. Corella did not dance-it was explained in the ABT talk before the show that he is too tired from "Pied Piper" to do much else right now. Guiseppe Piccone was a fine Solor, and in retrospect, probably a better partner match for Susan Jaffe. The corps was excellent-very few missteps in the long dance sequences.
I thought "Pied Piper" was fun, and worthwile, despite the lack of dancing. The lighting and digital imagry were fabulous, though part of the screen was blocked from my view up in the balcony section. Apparently, the sunrise is real-taped in Arizona, and then blended in with the other images.
The rat puppets and costumes were really inventive, and I'll bet the dancers had fun doing something a bit different! Herman Cornejo was an excellent Piper-gotta keep an eye on him!
My only complaint was the villager's costumes...ughhh. They need to eliminate the masks and about half the layers of materials..
All in all-great day despite the rain! More details and more reviews to come in the next few days!
Kate
P.S. From what I understand, Ashley Bouder learned "Firebird" yesterday-and the same day she danced it!
