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Stella Abrera


angelica

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I love this remark from Gottlieb's review:

"As for the third ballerina, Stella Abrera, Tharp has provided her with a career-making role. She’s been on the second level of ABT casting for far too long; here, she’s dynamic, glamorous, expansive..."

So true...so true!!

I have been advocating for Stella Abrera's promotion to principal for lo these many years. She has come back from a career-interrupting injury stronger than ever, and truly deserves to dance the leads in the great classical ballets. I hope someone at ABT is listening to the critics, because no one there is listening to me.

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Is there anyone on this forum who had the good fortune to see Stella Abrera dance the title role in Giselle opposite James Whiteside with Ballet Philippines last night? If ABT doesn't give her this role in the next series of Giselle performances, then I will have to regret the rest of my life that I didn't move heaven and earth (which is what it would have taken me) to see her dance there.

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I saw her dance Giselle last night with Whiteside as Albrecht. There was a storm and the roads were flooded the orchestra couldnt make it to the venue because many of them were stranded so they had to play a CD I guess. I wasnt sure I'd make it to the venue but I went anyway and I'm so glad I did! She was phenomenal! We import a lot of dancers from all over the world to dance lead roles and she is one of the best I've seen. Such beautiful hands and a beautiful face. Totally worth ruining my dress shoes for in wading through the flood. You can see photos of her on Ballet Philippines' facebook page.

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A tiny snippet of Stella Abrera dancing Giselle at Guggenheim's Works & Process at the 21:14 mark.

https://youtu.be/CceZmIZnGAQ

It would be lovely to see her dance the whole ballet. Why ABT didn't follow up Abrera's good press from her recent perforrmance in Australia is baffling. They have a PR department, its job is to promote the dancers. What are they there for if they don't do at least that much? The company website certainly isn't getting any attention from them as well.

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Stella will appear tonight and tomorrow night at the Joyce theater in New York City with Emery LeCrone Dance Company. Also appearing with the LeCrone Company will be Russell Janzen (NYCB), Hammoudi (ABT) and STephanie Williams (ABT).

Stephanie Williams is a late addition, filling in for Sara Mearns. (Per Mearns' twitter account, she has withdrawn from these performances with the LeCrone company.)

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Mearns came down with altitude sickness in Vail on the weekend.

And she seems to have flown in just a day or two beforehand, judging from her Tweets. A year ago, Daniel Ulbricht Tweeted that the altitude hit him like a ton of bricks. I wonder how much guidance the Vail staff gives dancers about altitude adjustment. Vail is 8,000+! Denver is 5280. I'm acclimated to Denver, but when I go to Vail, I feel dizzy and light-headed for a couple of days. The dancers are athletes, of course, but it impacts even them.

I'm told that professional sports teams (baseball, football, hockey, basketball) try to arrive a couple of days early, schedules permitting, to adjust. And there's a reason there are so many training facilities in Colorado -- figure skating, Olympic training - it's like legal blood-doping to adjust to altitude. People underestimate the impact of altitude (e.g., President Obama in his first debate here in 2012).

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apparently they do have oxygen backstage (VIDF posted a pic of the tanks on their instagram). also I noticed my hotel in Vail had a whole page of instructions on preventing altitude sickness. I am sure the Vail people do not overlook telling their dancers about it.

Coming from Toronto, I certainly noticed that I was short of breath and my heart was pounding on the slightest uphill walk (and this despite the fact that I walk and bike a lot at home). I was amazed that the dancers could leap about energetically apparently without effort, as if they were back home at sea level in NYC.

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When I went to bike camp in Colorado, I couldn't climb six stairs without being winded. I told one of the instructors that I wished I had come a few days earlier to acclimate, and I was told I would have had to come a few weeks earlier, and the other instructors agreed. These were serious athletes (or had been), at the same level of condition as dancers.

That's why they have oxygen tanks in the wings.

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Back to Stella- she and Hammoudi looked terrific last night dancing with the Emery LeCrone company. I have not been a Hammoudi fan in the past, but he did an excellent job with his solos and partnering work. Stella was sublime. I was less enthusiastic about Williams and Janzen, but in fairness, I suspect they had very little rehearsal time together since Williams was a very last minute replacement to this program.

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