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but when Raina Gilliland took command of that stage, there was no doubting the star authority of a true stage-filler. What glorious line, the confidence, the ease; how Balanchine!

Wasn't she something else? What a spitfire! I thought this 4T better than the one I saw only a couple of months ago from the "pros."

And for the costumes alone (as well as much more, including excellent orchestral work in a great acoustic) it would be worth catching this Gounod Symphony.

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When this year's program was announced, the presence of one Great Balanchine plus one Rare Balanchine convinced me to see a performance. Luckily, I chose the matinee, because I was so blown away :yahoo: by the high level of the 2007 vintage that I had to return in the evening.

Both performances of 4Ts (staged by Suki Schorer) were first-rate, and yes, better than is often seen at State Theater. None of the dancers in the afternoon cast -- including corps -- repeated their role in that ballet in the evening, except Matthew Renko, whose performances were richly detailed, no holds barred reponses to the music, as fulfilling and exciting performances as any I have seen of that role. He also provided the elegant focal point in Les Gentilhommes in the afternoon. Holly Darger's Choleric in the evening precociously and serenely took command.

Kristen Segin danced Sanguinic (with Cameron Dieck) in the afternoon, but really took flight leading Gounod (staged by Susan Pilarre) in the evening.

Both performances brought us, finally, the baby-faced Callie Bachman finally getting to perform the R&J balcony pas, uninhibited and feral, partnered with remarkable aplomb by tall and handsome Russell Janzen.

Some years, the workshop brings one or two special dancers to our attention. Some years are disappointing. This year was a treasure trove, and I expect to be seeing and reading about many of today's youngsters -- from the youngest Twinklianinos, who already demonstrate the discipline and polish required of professionals, all the way up -- as they move on to other stages.

Congratulations and best wishes -- and grateful thanks -- to each and every one. :angel_not::off topic::flowers::flowers:

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I was at the Saturday evening performance. The dancing by all -- from the tiniest to the graduates -- was at a very high level. We have much to look forward to from the male section in coming future years. In Twinkliana, both Joseph Gordon and Austin Bachman (in the Friday rehearsal) were extraordinary. We are talking top tier male dancing. For the immediate future, however, l think that Matthew Renko, who did Melanchonic in the Four T's, is definitely one of the best of this season. The girl who impressed me the most was Raina Gilliland (again in Friday's rehearsal) as the lead in Choleric. Terrific class.

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.... The girl who impressed me the most was Raina Gilliland (again in Friday's rehearsal) as the lead in Choleric. Terrific class.

So far a number of us seem to have been impressed by Raina, 17, the younger sister of NYCB's Kaitlyn Gilliland. She is the daughter of former ABT dancer Lise Houlton, and has danced for her mother's company in Minnesota. Here are two photos of her with that company:

http://www.minnesotashubert.org/Enchantment/Bio/Raina.htm

http://www.mndance.org/about/news.html

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(from New York City) I'm in more or less agreement with what's been said, having seen the dress rehearsal and all three performances, but we've left Dale's question about Gounod a little up in the air, and I thought I'd explain here that that's where I think it's likely going to be for now, as the minuet third movement was entirely omitted this time around. For what it's worth, Croce wrote about the revival in 1985 that "Originally, the third movement was danced entirely by groups. Balanchine, after a season or two, inserted entrees for the principals, and these are the only parts of his choreography that have been lost. Peter Martins made new choreography that passes for authentic Balanchine. ..."

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I'm reviewing for Pointe, but the one pleasure I wanted to add (haven't read the comments closely yet, so this is probably duplicative) was that I sat down without having read the program past the dancers' names. When 4Ts started, shortly into it I thought, "Hey, this setting is really good. Who did it?" I made a note to myself to check the program, but then Schorer came out for her bow. I'm not surprised; most settings I've seen by her have been like paintings restored by a master conservator. The whole thing glows.

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What is Les Gentilhommes like? I know SAB has done it in a workshop a few years back and the company has done it, but I don't know anything about it except that it's only boys and they all wear white. Has anybody seen it?

Les Gentilhommes is a beautiful ballet with 9 men. The male leads takes turns leading and following the corp members. After the introduction with the lead and the corp dancers, they break into groups of pas de trois with the lead male on stage for the majority of the time. The ballet runs about 20 minutes. I think it is very romantic and wonderful to see a ballet where men command the attention. It is a demanding ballet. The men are in white tights and romantic flowing blouses. The music is Handel Grossi Concerti Opus 6 # 9 and #2. I saw the dress rehearsal on Friday with cast A and the Saturday evening performance with cast B. I thought that both casts were wonderful, but Saturday night's cast was more on the music and the lead was wonderfully romantic. Today's NY Times gave the choreography an OK review. Sometimes Peter Martins seems like he is just trying to copy Ballenchine and misses the mark. With this ballet, the master would have been very proud.

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I agree with the several people who said the SAB 4Ts was better than the company's. But I have a question, is the Mae Wein award actually the kiss of death?

I have been catching the award ceremony almost every year since its inception, when I was only eleven years old and the students seemed impossibly old and sophisticated. I was looking at this year’s copy of Allegro and there was a list of all the award recipients by year. It is NOT a list of dancers who have had dazzling careers like you would expect. It seems like most of the recipients leave the company early, don't rise through the ranks the way you'd expect, or hardly appear on stage. I know the typical career at NYCB is to stay in the corps forever and that's a pretty amazing career to have anyway; obviously not everyone can become a principal dancer. But still, most of City Ballet's dancers come from SAB and the Mae Wein award winners are presumably the cream of the crop, so you would expect that they would be the ones to achieve lofty heights.

OK, all of the recipients from 1987 to 1992 have left the company (Emily Coates to dance for White Oak Project, Robert Lyon maybe retired, Samantha Allen and San’gria Bello probably went to other companies as they were quite young when they left) except for Arch Higgins who virtually never dances anymore (is he injured?) and wonderful senior corps member Elizabeth Walker. That’s not so significant, those people are older and it’s not that surprising that they’ve left the company.

Then you have the recipients from 1993 to 1999. Of those, Jennie Somogyi and Benjamin Millepied have had very successful careers. Edward Liang, Aesha Ash, and Darius Crenshaw, all dancers of color, left the company. Also Aubrey Morgan, Kristina Fernandez, and Jessy Hendrickson. Carla Korbes left the company for PNB. The talented soloists Adam Hendrickson, Craig Hall, and Seth Orza all had their moments in the spotlight where they had lots of featured roles, and then they ceased to be favored and now dance rarely. It must be very nerve-wracking to become a soloist because it seems like you either soon become a principal dancer or you are virtually never onstage and your career grinds to a halt. Janie Taylor never dances anymore (is she injured?) Stephen Hanna was recently promoted to principal dancer but has been performing very little this season. I feel like this is the most “statistically significant” crop of Mae Wein awardees because the younger ones are still (perhaps) on the rise.

2000-2004: Jessica Flynn left the company. Ashlee Knapp, Georgina Pazcoguin, Allen Peiffer, Daniel Applebaum, William Yin-Lee, Vincent Paradiso, and Giovanni Villalobos have had completely undistinguished careers in the corps so far. (I don’t mean they don’t dance well, just they don’t do solos.) Our big success stories here are Ashley Bouder and Megan Fairchild!

About the rest of this crop, time will tell. I hope new principal Andrew Veyette will continue to dance a lot. Tyler Angle has been featured lately; I hope he won’t sink back into oblivion. Sara Mearns is soloist du jour. Soloists Ana Sophia Scheller and Tiler Peck may have already had their moments in the sun.

No one can take their eyes off Amar Ramasar when he dances. For a while he had many important roles, now he is another rarely-seen soloist. Glenn Keenan isn’t put forward anymore either. Kaitlyn Gilliland languishes in the corps but we’ve seen her do lovely things recently.

Of the eight recipients for 2005 and 2006, it looks like six of them did not join NYCB.

I know it’s a big company, they can’t all dance all the time, etc etc. But I don’t think it’s really about whether they “get promoted” but about whether they get to fulfill their early promise. I am left with an impression of young talent just bursting forward, being put on display for a while as a “young new sensation,” and then withering on the vine. Sorry to be so negative.

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It must be very nerve-wracking to become a soloist because it seems like you either soon become a principal dancer or you are virtually never onstage and your career grinds to a halt.

This has been the conundrum since the company became large, in the 70's. Some soloists, especially in Spring seasons where there are a lot of accumulated injuries, dance constantly, but for soloists who aren't on a quick trajectory to Principal, they live in soloist limbo, performing relatively rarely.

In smaller companies, like Pacific Northwest Ballet (46 dancers currently, I think), soloists tend to get at least one meaty role per program (staggione system), if they are healthy or not guesting, because there aren't enough dancers not to.

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Hello, ivanov. Nice to see you delurk.

Basically as you probably know, the Wien award is not given by NYCB. It's given by SAB. There are plenty of students the school likes and the company is less interested in. In one or two cases recently I think the Wien was given to someone the school knew was not going to get into the company, almost as encouragement or to help them get a job elsewhere.

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Amen, Farrell Fan! It should also be noted that many of the dancers Ivanov cites have had to deal with major injuries. Also, not everyone is destined to be a star, or even a soloist. Every major ballet company needs some steady, long-term corps dancers to keep things on an even keel. Many NYCB corps dancers are pursuing their education while doing what they love and earning a living dancing; some also pursue writing, painting, composing, modeling and other 'artistic' endeavors as their dance careers continue. And two have recently become mothers.

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Also, the current 'stars' of NYCB got into the company before the Mae Wein award was first presented, and Jennie Somogyi and Benjamin Millipied have become stars in just the past few years. What I am trying to say is that the award doesn't equal instant success/ fame, and you have to give the dancers time and let them learn first. And I have no clue where you are coming from when you say some of those people hardly dance! I must see at least 5 or more of those people danicng every night, and if you are going to say they are hardly dancing... then who is dancing? People who haven't won the Mae Wein award??

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I'm just a member of the audience, but ivanov's characterizations strike me as overly negative. To say for example, that the ever more prominent Amar Ramasar is now just "another rarely-seen soloist," does not seem to me to comport with reality.

Yes, just saw him in Dances at a Gathering, where he was quite prominent, and I've caught him in numerous other ballets besides. Of the names mentioned, Craig Hall was just promoted to soloist, Gina Pazcoguin is a head-turner even when seriously miscast (as the R+J Nurse), and Seth Orza and Allen Peiffer both danced the lead roles in Romeo and Juliet. But I agree that there are corps members who seem to have been around for a long time and rarely if ever get opportunities to shine. I look at the roster and see names, read bios of people I'm barely aware of - Sophie Flack, Dara Johnson, Christian Tworzyanski (well, he's easy to spot 'cause he's the big blond guy, but he's had only limited solo opportunities). One wonders what happens to young people like these, whether they are content to avoid the limelight, or they become disillusioned and disappointed as others shoot past them.

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Pardon me for interrupting this very indulging conversation about Wein Winners and current soloist, but considering the topic is about the SAB workshop, I'd like to report my views on the performances.

I attended both the Sat and Mon night performances, and I have to say the talent shown in both were astounding. I know every year people talk about great dancers that are seen, but I can honestly that this year was the first time in a very long while that I've seen such abundance of phenomanal dancers who must be destined to live tip-top careers.

The program started off with Twinkliana, a ballet choreographed by Sean Lavery, which features 7 children; 6 girls and 1 boy. Both casts were simply charming and energetic and so extremely talented for how young the are, espeically the boys. Joe Gordon (Sat) and Austin Bachman (Mon) displayed very clean and mature dancing in there variations.

The program continued with Peter Martin's Les Gentilhommes. Personally, having seen this ballet's premiere way back in 1987 and its continuous changes since then, I have to say I'm proud how this new generation of young male dancers came up to the taste to pull off this rather difficult ballet with grace and ease as the original cast did. The lead Sat night was Javier Ubell who, despite his short stature, danced quite big with his incredible bounding leaps. I find him a little reminiscent of Gen Horiuchi, the originator of the role. On Mon night, the ballet was led by Matthew Renko, another immensely talented dancer. Though his dancing did not have as much attack as Ubell's, his whole performance was coated with a calm, proud presence; a savoir faire that is needed for this ballet.

Immediately following was another Martins piece; the balcony scene from his recent Romeo + Juliet production, which was both times danced by Callie Bachman and Russell Janzen. What a thrill it was to finally see her dance the ballet she was destined to do. Ever since I saw her on the Pointe magazine cover, her looks alone captivated me and I knew I must see her do Juliet. Though her injuries kept her from doing the full length production, she couldn't be stopped from performing this role at some point. Both nights on Juilliard Theater stage, she went full out for the intense 10 min pas de deux, both her and her partner giving as much passion and acting one could give within those short minutes, being very impressive considering there wasn't a storyline to build up from.

After the intermission was Balanchine's The Four Temperaments, one of his best and most popular ballets. The casting for this was flawless. Each dancer gave a great interpretation of their role and expressed their feeling of their dances to the audience. All the Themes did their part beautifully; no exceptions. Now, over the years, every once in a while there will be a dancer who does the same part for all the shows (such as Benjamin Millepied did La Source in 1995). It could be because there weren't any other dancers up for the part or simply because the dancer is so good they have "earned" it. Which ever reason it is, Matthew Renko is a rare one, and for good reason. Having done Melancholic Sat night, he really stuck out in my mind; he made me awestruck. So imagine my delight Mon night when I got the chance to seem him repeat another fabulous performance. He was so expressive without being overdramatic (which could be the case sometimes), longing for something but not needing it. And dare I mention his backbending! I thought he would snap in two. Incredible! Having seen NYCB do this production multiple times, I've never been fond of any of the Melancholic dancers besides Peter Boal (who was the best for the role); I feel that they might find a replacement. Sanguinic was danced by Jacqueline Damico and Russell Janzen on Sat night, giving a slightly rough but all together good performance. Mon night was lead with Kristen Segin and Cameron Dieck, giving a splendid performance. Having already seen Segin dance Sat in Gounod Symphony, I was beside myself to see her do yet another demanding role, coming through with full colors. (Both Holly Dorger and Raina Gilliland where exceptionally skillful and demanding Cholerics in their own ways.

Last on the program was Gounod Symphony, a ballet that I've only seen a couple of times. A gorgeous piece with a large corps, this ballet is very demanding for its principles who dance nearly the whole time throught out the three movements. Some might find this ballet boring, but I found it drawing me in. The corps genuinely looked like they were having fun, making one pattern after another. And one can not help but stare at the marvel that is the central pas de deux, which does nothing but display grace, beauty, and technique for the ballerina. Mon night principles were Sara Adams and Zachary Clark, both very appealing dancers and did a lovely job. However, I was more intrigued by the Sat night cast, being Kristen Segin and Joshua Thew. Unfortunately I cannot report much on Thew, not because I was unhappy with his dancing, but because Segin held my attention the whole time. Her dancing is demanding but not harsh; she has the dancing of a dainty female dancer but with the energy of a male. Overall, her dancing is incredibly precocious. Dare I compare her to a younger Janie Taylor, who did the exact same role for her workshop in 1998. I am hoping to see her dance again in the future.

The Mae L. Wein winners (Sara Adams, Cameron Dieck, Russell Janzen, and Kristen Segin) all had wonderful performances, but I bet my money on some other kids who might (and hopefully) get an apprenticeship with NYCB. I have to say they few I pick in this great display of talent has to Russell Janzen, Callie Bachman, Matthew Renko, and Kristen Segin. They all displayed a great presence and technique and maturity in their dancing that are rare to come across (so Peter, PLEASE, sign them up now!)

As I've said, a wonderful job this year and I wish all the youngsters the best of futures.

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Pardon me for interrupting this very indulging conversation about Wein Winners and current soloist, but considering the topic is about the SAB workshop, I'd like to report my views on the performances.

I attended both the Sat and Mon night performances, and I have to say the talent shown in both were astounding. I know every year people talk about great dancers that are seen, but I can honestly that this year was the first time in a very long while that I've seen such abundance of phenomanal dancers who must be destined to live tip-top careers.

The program started off with Twinkliana, a ballet choreographed by Sean Lavery, which features 7 children; 6 girls and 1 boy. Both casts were simply charming and energetic and so extremely talented for how young the are, espeically the boys. Joe Gordon (Sat) and Austin Bachman (Mon) displayed very clean and mature dancing in there variations.

The program continued with Peter Martin's Les Gentilhommes. Personally, having seen this ballet's premiere way back in 1987 and its continuous changes since then, I have to say I'm proud how this new generation of young male dancers came up to the taste to pull off this rather difficult ballet with grace and ease as the original cast did. The lead Sat night was Javier Ubell who, despite his short stature, danced quite big with his incredible bounding leaps. I find him a little reminiscent of Gen Horiuchi, the originator of the role. On Mon night, the ballet was led by Matthew Renko, another immensely talented dancer. Though his dancing did not have as much attack as Ubell's, his whole performance was coated with a calm, proud presence; a savoir faire that is needed for this ballet.

Immediately following was another Martins piece; the balcony scene from his recent Romeo + Juliet production, which was both times danced by Callie Bachman and Russell Janzen. What a thrill it was to finally see her dance the ballet she was destined to do. Ever since I saw her on the Pointe magazine cover, her looks alone captivated me and I knew I must see her do Juliet. Though her injuries kept her from doing the full length production, she couldn't be stopped from performing this role at some point. Both nights on Juilliard Theater stage, she went full out for the intense 10 min pas de deux, both her and her partner giving as much passion and acting one could give within those short minutes, being very impressive considering there wasn't a storyline to build up from.

After the intermission was Balanchine's The Four Temperaments, one of his best and most popular ballets. The casting for this was flawless. Each dancer gave a great interpretation of their role and expressed their feeling of their dances to the audience. All the Themes did their part beautifully; no exceptions. Now, over the years, every once in a while there will be a dancer who does the same part for all the shows (such as Benjamin Millepied did La Source in 1995). It could be because there weren't any other dancers up for the part or simply because the dancer is so good they have "earned" it. Which ever reason it is, Matthew Renko is a rare one, and for good reason. Having done Melancholic Sat night, he really stuck out in my mind; he made me awestruck. So imagine my delight Mon night when I got the chance to seem him repeat another fabulous performance. He was so expressive without being overdramatic (which could be the case sometimes), longing for something but not needing it. And dare I mention his backbending! I thought he would snap in two. Incredible! Having seen NYCB do this production multiple times, I've never been fond of any of the Melancholic dancers besides Peter Boal (who was the best for the role); I feel that they might find a replacement. Sanguinic was danced by Jacqueline Damico and Russell Janzen on Sat night, giving a slightly rough but all together good performance. Mon night was lead with Kristen Segin and Cameron Dieck, giving a splendid performance. Having already seen Segin dance Sat in Gounod Symphony, I was beside myself to see her do yet another demanding role, coming through with full colors. (Both Holly Dorger and Raina Gilliland where exceptionally skillful and demanding Cholerics in their own ways.

Last on the program was Gounod Symphony, a ballet that I've only seen a couple of times. A gorgeous piece with a large corps, this ballet is very demanding for its principles who dance nearly the whole time throught out the three movements. Some might find this ballet boring, but I found it drawing me in. The corps genuinely looked like they were having fun, making one pattern after another. And one can not help but stare at the marvel that is the central pas de deux, which does nothing but display grace, beauty, and technique for the ballerina. Mon night principles were Sara Adams and Zachary Clark, both very appealing dancers and did a lovely job. However, I was more intrigued by the Sat night cast, being Kristen Segin and Joshua Thew. Unfortunately I cannot report much on Thew, not because I was unhappy with his dancing, but because Segin held my attention the whole time. Her dancing is demanding but not harsh; she has the dancing of a dainty female dancer but with the energy of a male. Overall, her dancing is incredibly precocious. Dare I compare her to a younger Janie Taylor, who did the exact same role for her workshop in 1998. I am hoping to see her dance again in the future.

The Mae L. Wein winners (Sara Adams, Cameron Dieck, Russell Janzen, and Kristen Segin) all had wonderful performances, but I bet my money on some other kids who might (and hopefully) get an apprenticeship with NYCB. I have to say they few I pick in this great display of talent has to Russell Janzen, Callie Bachman, Matthew Renko, and Kristen Segin. They all displayed a great presence and technique and maturity in their dancing that are rare to come across (so Peter, PLEASE, sign them up now!)

As I've said, a wonderful job this year and I wish all the youngsters the best of futures.

Welsley,

Those were very kind words for the kids of the SAB workshop. I know that the Saturday night cast worked very hard, as hard as the Saturday afternoon/Monday night casts and they weren't reviewed until now. So thank you. I have seen Javier dance before and he reminds me of a young Angel Corella (ABT) or Joaquin De Luz (NYCB). Both are short of stature for male dancers but when they are on the stage they take it over and dance very large.

Edited by carbro
snip! Unofficial news
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Having seen the final dress rehearsal and all three SAB Workshop performances, I'd like to recap my impressions.

First, they were excellent, if a tad too long. At the last minute, Peter Martins decided to throw in the balcony scene from his new “Romeo+Juliet” which made the first section run an hour– a long sit for us older folks.

The youngsters (ages 11 to 14) were delightful in Sean Lavery’s “Twinkliana” to Mozart’s variations on “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” – 6 girls and 1 boy and two (mostly) different casts. The one holdover I detected, Isabella DeVivo, was delightful in the 6th variation in all performances and the pas de deux with Austin Bachman on Saturday afternoon and Monday evening. Perhaps Isabella has the most distinctive gargouillades both right and left required for this variation. The only thing that I found a little creepy about “Twinkle” was the pas de deux (they’re just too young).

This was followed by Martins’ “Les Gentilhommes”, a work to Handel music for 9 boys. Although very well danced by both casts, it is quite long (and sometimes boring) with a spot about 2/3’s of the way through where he should have stopped (like Jerome Robbins, Martins doesn’t know how to edit).

Then came the “Romeo+Juliet” with 16-year-old Callie Bachman as Juliet. She was supposedly Martins’ muse whom he created the role on, but she injured her knee in March and was forced out of the premier in early May. She seemed rather blank to me, wonderful line and technique, but not much sense of abandon to young love. Her partner, Russell Janzen, is a tall, handsome, ardent Romeo. I continue to find Peter Martins' choreography rather repetitive and predictable (although this scene is the best thing in the new production). At least at SAB we were spared the creepy and cheap looking set from the new production.

BTW, Callie’s younger brother, Austin Bachman, 13, was the male lead in the first cast of “Twinkliana” and is exceptionally talented.

Suki Shorer's staging of Balanchine’s “Four Temperaments” strikes me as definitive and faithful to Mr. B, and yet she left the students with the freedom to offer their own interpretive choices -- Cameron Dieck was the partner of Kristen Segin in Sanguinic at the matinee and then switched to Phlegmatic in the evening. The differences between his Phlegmatic and Richard Greenberg's in the afternoon were significant -- Cameron's more sensual and Richard's more architectural, but both were valid within the framework that Suki (and Mr. B.) provided for them. And while Cameron at the matinee and Russell Jansen in the evening were both wonderful partners in Sanguinic they didn't seem to be offering the same degree of support to their respective ballerinas, Kristen Segin and Sara Adams. Also, in the three couples stating the Theme there was quite a bit of switching around and substitution between matinee and evening which made those sections look different, but valid, at each performance. Matt Renko as Melancholic was the only constant between performances, and there his matinee performance seemed less mannered. I was distracted by his facial expressions in the evening where he seemed to be acting rather than letting the choreography create the "melancholy temperament". Not having Peter Boal to coach that section was probably a liability for Suki, since Peter was such an outstanding interpreter of that role. Raina Gilliland was exciting and emphatic as Choleric in the first cast (she’s the younger sister of NYCB’s Kaitlyn).

In Balanchine’s “Gounod Symphony”, staged by Susie Pilarre, the corps of 12 girls and 6 boys was exceptional and the first cast leads, Sara Adams and Zach Clark, were pretty great. The second cast leads, Kristen Segin and Josh Thew, were not as good and looked pretty tired before it was over. It’s a beautiful work with some incredibly complex choreography for the corps – in the final movement, the corps is aligned in 5 parallel rows of 6 dancers each (boys at the ends with 4 girls in the middle). They go through a series of parallel Balanchine ‘daisy chains’ that are just astounding to watch. The corps had obviously been drilled for months and they were perfection – especially the second cast corps which was anchored by Cameron Dieck (the tallest man) and Francisco Estevez (the shortest) who helped keep the lines straight and the movements precise and musical.

The Saturday matinee casts danced at Monday night’s gala performance, making them the 'preferred' cast, but with the possible exceptions of Zach Clark in 'Gounod' and Taina Gilliland as 'Choleric' in 4T's, we found both casts equally competent and interesting. It's a great dilemma for the stagers to have such talent in depth that they can confidently field alternate casts of such strength -- not just technical ability and stamina, but musicality, maturity and individuality.

As to Mr. McCauley’s comment in the NY Times that this might not be remembered as a vintage year for SAB, I found this vintage to have a robust, distinctly masculine flair that will do just fine in the future.

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