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It has been this way for the past few years. One ballet for a week (more or less). Some ballets get more performances, some fewer, depending on expected ticket sales.

It makes rehearsing more economical, but it discourages the audience member who might want to see four casts of Romeo and Juliet, but not if it means seeing four R&J's in a row. It's even worse for ballet-loving tourists passing through New York. If you're in for 4-5 days and want a nice helping of ballet, are you really going to attend more than one Giselle?

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There are few companies in North America that schedule more than one program in a fixed week. ABT does it with their fall season and NYCB for its rep seasons, aside from a block of Swan Lakes, Sleeping Beautys, or Midsummer Night's Dreams. San Francisco Ballet alternates two programs over two weekends, and Ballet Arizona did the same for its last two Balanchine Celebration weekends. Almost every company has a fixed program repeated over a week/weekend or two, with programs often a month or more apart, as the companies either share space with an opera company and/or symphony and have to alternate, or they tour to other cities, like Miami City Ballet.

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It has been this way for the past few years. One ballet for a week (more or less). Some ballets get more performances, some fewer, depending on expected ticket sales.

It makes rehearsing more economical, but it discourages the audience member who might want to see four casts of Romeo and Juliet, but not if it means seeing four R&J's in a row. It's even worse for ballet-loving tourists passing through New York. If you're in for 4-5 days and want a nice helping of ballet, are you really going to attend more than one Giselle?

One Giselle and one R&J would be enough for me! Being that I would be one of those ballet-loving tourists I would probably spend money on a NYCB ticket, since ABT comes to my neck of the woods.

I think they are coming to Detroit and dancing Swan Lake, not sure if I will go as I saw them do it in Cleveland last year.

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Nysusan, how did the Kent performance go?

I thought it was funny that John Rockwell's NYT review of Sylvia seemed to respond to our complaints about casting:

"Lovers of ensemble acting sometimes wonder why American Ballet Theater so restlessly switches its casts in the big-story ballets it offers during its spring season. Why not pick the best dancers and showcase them?

But ballet is different from theater or even opera. Ballet Theater has lots of fine dancers who deserve to be featured. And comparing different dancers in the same roles is not a competition, or not only a competition — not just an Olympic-style event in which judges (balletomanes, critics, fans) rank their favorites. Different dancers shed different light on the works themselves."

It also has lots of fine dancers who would appear to better advantage if they weren't miscast. :flowers: Any more Wiles reports?

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Nysusan, how did the Kent performance go?

It was quite flat - not much of a surprise there. Kent was meltingly lovely from start to finish. She looked so cute shaking her little bow at Eros and the audience wasn’t about to quibble over a few wobbly pirouettes...

Saveliev was fine, as were Radetsky as Orion & Lopes as Eros but none were particularly distinguished. Kristi Boone danced well but didn’t have the same authority as Carmen Corella as Diana. Still, I was glad I went to see it again, it’s a lovely ballet. Getting to see Fang and Grant DeLong as Jason and Ceres was worth the price of admission.

beck_ hen, you’re in for a real treat with the Herrera/Hallberg Romeo & Juliet. I just saw them in Corsaire and Herrera was a completely different dancer from the one we saw in Sylvia. At first I thought it was because the role of Medora suited her and the circus atmosphere both allowed her to be more effusive and at the same time made her look somewhat demure (compared to Reyes, Cornejo & Corella). However by the time the 2nd act pas with Conrad came around it was clear that the partnership with Hallberg was a big part of the equation. They have great chemistry, he really brought out the best in her and I regret that I won't be around to see them in R&J.

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