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Julie Kent, Marcelo Gomes, Sarah Smith


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Exceptional casting for a school production. I knew about Kent and Gomes, but not about Smith. Wow!.

Now that ABT has withdrawn from the Miami market, it's a rare chance to see these dancers close up. Boca Ballet's Giselle production, which I saw a few years ago with Hubbe, is simple, of course, but quite attractive. It's well-danced by the students.

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Exceptional casting for a school production. I knew about Kent and Gomes, but not about Smith. Wow!.

Now that ABT has withdrawn from the Miami market, it's a rare chance to see these dancers close up. Boca Ballet's Giselle production, which I saw a few years ago with Hubbe, is simple, of course, but quite attractive. It's well-danced by the students.

Will Julie and Marcelo dance at all the three performances?

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...and I'm SOOOOO going to the Sunday matinee. :yahoo:

Still, I'll try to get off work earlier on Saturday-(and maybe also on Friday)- to see if I can attend those performances too. I mean...this is my first live Giselle IN TEN YEARS!!. And I suspect that Kent and Gomez will make for a beautiful couple.

Oh, I can't wait...Giseeeelle...yaaaay!!! :yahoo:

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...and I'm SOOOOO going to the Sunday matinee. :yahoo:

Still, I'll try to get off work earlier on Saturday-(and maybe also on Friday)- to see if I can attend those performances too. I mean...this is my first live Giselle IN TEN YEARS!!. And I suspect that Kent and Gomez will make for a beautiful couple.

Oh, I can't wait...Giseeeelle...yaaaay!!! :yahoo:

Cristian, so how did it go? Waiting for your report.Thanks.

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...and I'm SOOOOO going to the Sunday matinee. :yahoo:

Still, I'll try to get off work earlier on Saturday-(and maybe also on Friday)- to see if I can attend those performances too. I mean...this is my first live Giselle IN TEN YEARS!!. And I suspect that Kent and Gomez will make for a beautiful couple.

Oh, I can't wait...Giseeeelle...yaaaay!!! :yahoo:

Cristian, so how did it go? Waiting for your report.Thanks.

bingham...the performances are to be this weekend...

I will report for sure. :thumbsup:

Meanwhile, I've been watching some footage...

Kent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfdDKGkFW18

and Gomes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duzEDciaJ9E

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Cristian, we were posting at the same time. :) Thanks for the links.

You're welcome, bart. Now...after watching the clips, I might have a preconceived notion of what will I get, but nevertheless I would like to ask members about their personal experiences with Kent's Giselle and Gomes' Albretch...

Any input will be very appreciated... :thumbsup:

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Cristian and Bart, Oooops, sorry. Got too excited that i missed the dates.

:thumbsup:

I saw Kent's Aurora a while ago when they brought McKenzie/Kirkland's SB to Miami, and found her lovely to watch, if not technically impressive. She had that "thing" that comes with years onstage. She had a regal quality in her dancing, which she blended really well with doses of delicacy. Whatever I missed from the technical side, she made it up with her accents. :flowers:

Gomes I saw recently at Mme's gala in NYC dancing the first act of DQ, and I was like WOOOW!! Such a great personality onstage. Loved him, loved him. :clapping:

Oh, I can't wait...

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I saw Kent's Aurora a while ago when they brought McKenzie/Kirkland's SB to Miami, and found her lovely to watch, if not technically impressive. She had that "thing" that comes with years onstage. She had a regal quality in her dancing, which she blended really well with doses of delicacy. Whatever I missed from the technical side, she made it up with her accents. :flowers:

Gomes I saw recently at Mme's gala in NYC dancing the first act of DQ, and I was like WOOOW!! Such a great personality onstage. Loved him, loved him. :clapping:

Oh, I can't wait...

While I haven't seen her do Aurora, and haven't seen her in Giselle in a bit, Giselle is a much better (I think) role for her, so it should be good!

That clip (which I had seen before) does not do her justice I don't think. There is a pigeon-head thing going on in the hops on pointe that is seriously unfortunate but which I don't recall from ever seeing her do the part. She is so delicate and fragile appearing that she is immensely believable as Giselle, and the technique has always been better for her (I think) than something like SB or SL.

Can't wait to hear about it!

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She had that "thing" that comes with years onstage. She had a regal quality in her dancing, which she blended really well with doses of delicacy. Whatever I missed from the technical side, she made it up with her accents. :flowers:
The clip has an example of this. Shortly before the 1-minute mark, Giselle makes a curtsy to stage right (her mother) and then to stage left (Albrecht). The first is formal and gracious. The second begins in the same way, but Kent raises her eyes this time. We don't see Albrecht, but I assume they are making eye contact. She expresses her feelings for him, not in her face, but in the way she opens up her arms and holds the position longer, makes it more like a wide embrace. It's a marvelous touch. What a good preparation for the quick, shy hand-kiss that follows before she resumes her dance.
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She had that "thing" that comes with years onstage. She had a regal quality in her dancing, which she blended really well with doses of delicacy. Whatever I missed from the technical side, she made it up with her accents. :flowers:
The clip has an example of this. Shortly before the 1-minute mark, Giselle makes a curtsy to stage right (her mother) and then to stage left (Albrecht). The first is formal and gracious. The second begins in the same way, but Kent raises her eyes this time. We don't see Albrecht, but I assume they are making eye contact. She expresses her feelings for him, not in her face, but in the way she opens up her arms and holds the position longer, makes it more like a wide embrace. It's a marvelous touch. What a marvelous preparation for the small but very touching preparation for the quick, shy hand-kiss that follows before she resumes her dance.

I saw Kent dance Giselle with ABT about 5 years ago. She was partnered by Julio Bocca (she was subbing for an injured Alessandra Ferri). I thought it a lovely performance, not the most impressive from a technical point of view, but filled with beautiful touches that added up to a moving characterization. And Bocca's support was tremendous, what a partner he was. At the very end she mimed to Albrecht to stop weeping, that everything was ok; it was a beautiful finish to a fine performance.

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I saw Kent last year doing Giselle at her first full length back from maternity leave. I imagine she has more chemistry with Marcelo Gomes (from what I've read) than Carreno, who I saw her with. She's not a personal favorite of mine, but she certainly wasn't a bad Giselle and I think she would be excellent with Gomes who she has a real rapport with. Like others said, she has certainly thought a lot about the role and that comes across with very small touches.

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I don't recall having seen Gomes as Albrecht, but I recall that the NYT Reviewer for Hallberg's Albrecht with ABT last year said that only Gomes could match Hallberg's many entrechat six'es done as part of the Albrecht variation. This is a version of the Albrecht variation that not all danseurs perform, but it is something to be on the look-out for from Gomes in Act II.

At the very beginning of the linked video are the Hallberg entrechats in the Bolshoi version of Giselle from earlier this year:

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Alastair Macaulay, who someone says is a fan of David Hallberg, wrote in his review of Osipova and Hallberg's Giselle, "the volleys of entrechat-six were a match for those by Marcelo Gomes earlier in the week."

More directly related to tomorrow's performance will be his review of Gomes's Albrecht, which says like this:

"There are perhaps three main versions of the steps for Albrecht’s last dance in Act II: Mr. Gomes chooses the long series of entrechat-six that Rudolf Nureyev introduced to the ballet, and he brings heroism to them that I don’t recall since Nureyev. You marvel at the height and ease of each jump, at the flashing brilliance with which his legs and feet crisscross in the air and — perhaps best of all — at the perfect rhythm with which he alights every time on the downbeat."

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... "Mr. Gomes chooses the long series of entrechat-six that Rudolf Nureyev introduced to the ballet"

I was wondering what Nureyev looked like doing that, and found this (see around 1:50 of the video):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWTcf1j9GTQ

Could Hallberg be out-Nureyeving Nureyev in the entrechat-six'es initiated by Nureyev for Albrecht? I think each danseur has his own strengths. Hallberg's lines look more elegant while he is doing the entrechats, and his upper body and arms seems better than Nureyev.

Also, interesting that I don't recall Hallberg doing the steps that Nureyev does around 2:30 in the video. Did I just forget, or was it an artistic choice to only do part of what Nureyev portrayed around the entrechat-six'es?

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I don't seem to be able to find enough to start a new thread, but leave these thoughts:

Bolle & entrechats (are those all entrechat-sixes??)

Here is Baryshnikov's version of the Albrecht variation, with no entrechats and with two series of traveling brise volees across the "diagonal" of the stage (see around 2:04):

I wonder what the third Albrecht variation Alistair M refers to, may be?

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I was wondering what Nureyev looked like doing that, and found this (see around 1:50 of the video):

Could Hallberg be out-Nureyeving Nureyev in the entrechat-six'es initiated by Nureyev for Albrecht? I think each danseur has his own strengths. Hallberg's lines look more elegant while he is doing the entrechats, and his upper body and arms seems better than Nureyev.

Nureyev is 42 years old in this clip and had already entered his long decline . It's not very fair to compare this clip with Hallberg's dancing now. And you are right, all dancers have their own strengths and weaknesses anyway. Nureyev in his prime was far more of a virtuso than Hallberg ever will be but elegance and polish were never great strengths of his. But he had incredible electricity and magnetism.

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David's entrechat sixes look more like vibrations than beats, which I think is beautiful, especially in the land of the willies. Unless you are looking carefully, you don't notice that he is changing legs with each jump.

I think Bolle's sequence was entrecha quatres with a few sixes at the end (the front leg of his fifth position does not change until the end).

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