31 replies to this topic

[4mrdncr]

 miliosr, on 27 May 2011 - 02:58 PM, said:

 FauxPas, on 27 May 2011 - 12:32 PM, said:

I don't know what happened to corps boy Ricardo Torres (I didn't care much for him) who looked like he was being given a shot at solo parts.  He disappeared fast and no longer dances I think.  I have seen pictures of him on Facebook where he looks very pumped up like a bodybuilder - not a ballet dancer physique.

I saw him in a magazine advertisement.

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Some like Jesus Pastor (who was only good in modern choreography) didn't turn out the way ABT wanted and weren't reengaged.

Any others?

Eric Underwood to the Royal Ballet in 2006 -- now a soloist
Bo Busby to Boston Ballet in 2006 -- corps
Alejandro Piris-Nino to Hubbard Street Dance in Chicago -- no longer on their roster

Retaining Underwood and/or Piris-Nino wouldn't have helped ABT in the long run.  Underwood is a proto-Ed Watson who specializes in modern pieces at the Royal, and Piris-Nino went off to dance in an explicitly modern company.

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Alexandre Hammoudi is being given major opportunities this season.  Neither Blaine Hoven nor Jared Matthews have quite developed excitingly though Hoven looks better this season - Matthews has a tendency to be bland.

As for internal promotions - Hammoudi, Philips for sure.

Hammoudi, for sure, is on the fast track to soloist.  I thought Hoven was as well but his rise appears to have stalled.  Matthews appears to have plateaued since he became a soloist.

Would like to see McKenzie utilize G. Davis, Delong and Forster more.

Matt Golding - to Corella Ballet (first soloist) 2008, then Het National Ballet (I think principal now?)2010

[naomikage]

 4mrdncr, on 27 May 2011 - 07:26 PM, said:

Matt Golding - to Corella Ballet (first soloist) 2008, then Het National Ballet (I think principal now?)2010

Matthew Golding is now a principal with the Dutch National Ballet, his recent Don Quixote choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky is now on DVD. He guested in Tokyo Ballet's La Bayadere in April and he was terrific, good technique, fine partnering, tall and long limbed. He might have grown to a principal candidate in ABT but he chose to dance major roles earlier, he said in an interview. ABT has lost a major talent.

[4mrdncr]

 naomikage, on 28 May 2011 - 04:58 AM, said:

 4mrdncr, on 27 May 2011 - 07:26 PM, said:

Matt Golding - to Corella Ballet (first soloist) 2008, then Het National Ballet (I think principal now?)2010

Matthew Golding is now a principal with the Dutch National Ballet, his recent Don Quixote choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky is now on DVD. He guested in Tokyo Ballet's La Bayadere in April and he was terrific, good technique, fine partnering, tall and long limbed. He might have grown to a principal candidate in ABT but he chose to dance major roles earlier, he said in an interview. ABT has lost a major talent.

I have a lot of footage of Matt learning Solor from Angel with Herman Cornejo, and Iain Mackay.  Having watched him in class, rehearsals, and performances with and without Angel, I agree with your assessment of his talent and ABT's loss.

[Nyankeesy01]

I agree. I was so excited when Matthew Golding joined ABT and to be able to see him grow through a variety of roles, but that unfortunately didn't get to happen!
Perhaps something can be worked out in the future...?

[miliosr]

Let the speculation begin:

http://www.pointemag...d-daniil-simkin
http://www.pointemag...1/next-guys-abt

I would say Simkin and Hammoudi are locks to advance but you never know . . .

[richard53dog]

 miliosr, on 04 June 2011 - 09:57 AM, said:

Let the speculation begin:

http://www.pointemag...d-daniil-simkin
http://www.pointemag...1/next-guys-abt

I would say Simkin and Hammoudi are locks to advance but you never know . . .

I would tend to agree. But Simkin still has to work more on his partnering. He and Sarah Lane had problems coordinating their supported pirouettes in the peasant pdd in the Giselle I saw on the 28th. But he was pretty dazzling in his solo variation.

[Colleen Boresta]

I enjoy seeing guest artists at ABT, but I do agree that ABT should work much harder to promote from within.  What about Mikhail Ilyin (is that how you spell his name?) and Joseph Phillips?  They seem very promising.  They were both getting a lot of dance time, solo roles, etc., a couple of years ago, but I haven't seen them much in the past year or so.  With regard to Simkin's partnering abilities, I think he's gotten much better at partnering.  When I saw him in Don Q as Basilio, there was a slight wobble during his first over the head one-handed lift, but the rest of the partnering went smoothly.  And I thought his partnering with Sarah Lane was fine when I saw them dance the peasant pas de deux at the June 1st matinee of Giselle.  As for Hammoudi, I haven't seen him that much.  I did see him yesterday in Lady of the Camellias.  (He was substituting for Sascha Radetsky.)  During one of those incredibly high lifts, he almost dropped his partner (I think it was Simone Messner) twice in the same lift.  (First he started to drop her a bit, then a little more.)  Fortunately there were no injuries.  Hammoudi made it seem like it something his character would do, but I think everyone knew it was a mistake.  Also, as much as I love Herman Cornejo (and hope he comes back to ABT injury free soon) his partnering problems originally were much worse than Simkin's (in my opinion anyway),

[miliosr]

 Colleen Boresta, on 05 June 2011 - 03:14 AM, said:

I enjoy seeing guest artists at ABT, but I do agree that ABT should work much harder to promote from within.

ABT's management is really at the point where they have to promote from within unless they want to become the ballet version of the New York Yankees and start spending wildly in the free market to shore up the male principals ranks.

[mimsyb]

 miliosr, on 05 June 2011 - 05:25 AM, said:

 Colleen Boresta, on 05 June 2011 - 03:14 AM, said:

I enjoy seeing guest artists at ABT, but I do agree that ABT should work much harder to promote from within.

ABT's management is really at the point where they have to promote from within unless they want to become the ballet version of the New York Yankees and start spending wildly in the free market to shore up the male principals ranks.

I love all this speculation of "promoting from within". I'm pretty sure that any of the above mentioned men are capable of moving up.  I think perhaps the rep that ABT does during the Spring Season rather demands that more "stars" dance the roles than secondary dancers.  During the four performances of the mixed rep seen last week, all three choreographers used corps, soloists and principles in wonderful harmony and everyone looked superb!  Just look at the "second cast" of "Dumbarton" and everyone of the dancers was from the corps! Not too shabby! Blaine and Forster were wonderful in "Troika", and the casting for "13 Diversions" surely showed the strong capability of all involved. (Cory Stearns was the only principle in the second cast) Why ABT pursues this policy of full lengths over and over while allowing only four performances of new works is beyond me.  I know they have to sell seats, but it's also the responsibility of a company to not only educate a public as to newer works, but also to give ALL their dancers an opportunity to dance!  To do the very thing they have trained so long to do.  There are just so many times one can carry a spear before one decides to move on.  While it was nice to see Angel dance in Giselle again, and I truly was glad to see Sarabia dance in Don Q, I was so happy to see the other dancers get a chance during the so-called "rep" week.  Give dancers more to dance and they will get better.

[Simon G]

 mimsyb, on 05 June 2011 - 05:59 AM, said:

I love all this speculation of "promoting from within". I'm pretty sure that any of the above mentioned men are capable of moving up.  I think perhaps the rep that ABT does during the Spring Season rather demands that more "stars" dance the roles than secondary dancers.  During the four performances of the mixed rep seen last week, all three choreographers used corps, soloists and principles in wonderful harmony and everyone looked superb!  Just look at the "second cast" of "Dumbarton" and everyone of the dancers was from the corps! Not too shabby! Blaine and Forster were wonderful in "Troika", and the casting for "13 Diversions" surely showed the strong capability of all involved. (Cory Stearns was the only principle in the second cast) Why ABT pursues this policy of full lengths over and over while allowing only four performances of new works is beyond me.  I know they have to sell seats, but it's also the responsibility of a company to not only educate a public as to newer works, but also to give ALL their dancers an opportunity to dance!  To do the very thing they have trained so long to do.  There are just so many times one can carry a spear before one decides to move on.  While it was nice to see Angel dance in Giselle again, and I truly was glad to see Sarabia dance in Don Q, I was so happy to see the other dancers get a chance during the so-called "rep" week.  Give dancers more to dance and they will get better.

I read an interview with Rachel Moore in which she explained this. Around 85% of revenue comes from three acters - it's what people want to see and this is key, as wonderful as new work is for morale what's the point of playing to half empty theatres, indeed it's financial suicide. Tickets for three act ballets also cost more, yet conversely because they don't have to pay rights, choreographers, designers, composers fees actually cost less to stage than an evening with new works. Petipa and Tchaikovsky aren't members of AGMA or PRS.

For every one new work in a season ABT has to programme 80% Swan Lakes or other three act ballet to cover the costs.

The public wants what the public gets.

[mimsyb]

 Simon G, on 05 June 2011 - 07:32 AM, said:

 mimsyb, on 05 June 2011 - 05:59 AM, said:

I love all this speculation of "promoting from within". I'm pretty sure that any of the above mentioned men are capable of moving up.  I think perhaps the rep that ABT does during the Spring Season rather demands that more "stars" dance the roles than secondary dancers.  During the four performances of the mixed rep seen last week, all three choreographers used corps, soloists and principles in wonderful harmony and everyone looked superb!  Just look at the "second cast" of "Dumbarton" and everyone of the dancers was from the corps! Not too shabby! Blaine and Forster were wonderful in "Troika", and the casting for "13 Diversions" surely showed the strong capability of all involved. (Cory Stearns was the only principle in the second cast) Why ABT pursues this policy of full lengths over and over while allowing only four performances of new works is beyond me.  I know they have to sell seats, but it's also the responsibility of a company to not only educate a public as to newer works, but also to give ALL their dancers an opportunity to dance!  To do the very thing they have trained so long to do.  There are just so many times one can carry a spear before one decides to move on.  While it was nice to see Angel dance in Giselle again, and I truly was glad to see Sarabia dance in Don Q, I was so happy to see the other dancers get a chance during the so-called "rep" week.  Give dancers more to dance and they will get better.

I read an interview with Rachel Moore in which she explained this. Around 85% of revenue comes from three acters - it's what people want to see and this is key, as wonderful as new work is for morale what's the point of playing to half empty theatres, indeed it's financial suicide. Tickets for three act ballets also cost more, yet conversely because they don't have to pay rights, choreographers, designers, composers fees actually cost less to stage than an evening with new works. Petipa and Tchaikovsky aren't members of AGMA or PRS.

For every one new work in a season ABT has to programme 80% Swan Lakes or other three act ballet to cover the costs.

The public wants what the public gets.

So true and also so sad.  The company that gave us Tudor, DeMille, and so many other greats now is a company (mostly) of war horses!  Alas, time moves on.  While I love a good war horse when beautifully danced, and a company such as ABT will always be judged by it's ability to produce them, I just wish there was a way financially to allow for a better mix of rep.  Which in turn would allow the dancers to have more actual " quality dance time". (exactly how many "hop ballones" do the female dancers do in the vision scene of "Don Q"?) At least make the choreography interesting?   I wonder if any of the names listed on the seven pages of "donors" in the program have any say (or opinion) about where their money
goes?  And where is it written that new works can't be choreographed to Mozart or Tchaikovsky and done in leotards?  No huge payout there to a composer or a designer.  It just takes a bit of imagination and lots of courage. Are six piroettes more interesting when performed by Basilio than when performed by Apollo?

[richard53dog]

 mimsyb, on 05 June 2011 - 10:29 AM, said:

 Simon G, on 05 June 2011 - 07:32 AM, said:

 mimsyb, on 05 June 2011 - 05:59 AM, said:

I love all this speculation of "promoting from within". I'm pretty sure that any of the above mentioned men are capable of moving up.  I think perhaps the rep that ABT does during the Spring Season rather demands that more "stars" dance the roles than secondary dancers.  During the four performances of the mixed rep seen last week, all three choreographers used corps, soloists and principles in wonderful harmony and everyone looked superb!  Just look at the "second cast" of "Dumbarton" and everyone of the dancers was from the corps! Not too shabby! Blaine and Forster were wonderful in "Troika", and the casting for "13 Diversions" surely showed the strong capability of all involved. (Cory Stearns was the only principle in the second cast) Why ABT pursues this policy of full lengths over and over while allowing only four performances of new works is beyond me.  I know they have to sell seats, but it's also the responsibility of a company to not only educate a public as to newer works, but also to give ALL their dancers an opportunity to dance!  To do the very thing they have trained so long to do.  There are just so many times one can carry a spear before one decides to move on.  While it was nice to see Angel dance in Giselle again, and I truly was glad to see Sarabia dance in Don Q, I was so happy to see the other dancers get a chance during the so-called "rep" week.  Give dancers more to dance and they will get better.

I read an interview with Rachel Moore in which she explained this. Around 85% of revenue comes from three acters - it's what people want to see and this is key, as wonderful as new work is for morale what's the point of playing to half empty theatres, indeed it's financial suicide. Tickets for three act ballets also cost more, yet conversely because they don't have to pay rights, choreographers, designers, composers fees actually cost less to stage than an evening with new works. Petipa and Tchaikovsky aren't members of AGMA or PRS.

For every one new work in a season ABT has to programme 80% Swan Lakes or other three act ballet to cover the costs.

The public wants what the public gets.

So true and also so sad.  The company that gave us Tudor, DeMille, and so many other greats now is a company (mostly) of war horses!  Alas, time moves on.  While I love a good war horse when beautifully danced, and a company such as ABT will always be judged by it's ability to produce them, I just wish there was a way financially to allow for a better mix of rep.  Which in turn would allow the dancers to have more actual " quality dance time". (exactly how many "hop ballones" do the female dancers do in the vision scene of "Don Q"?) At least make the choreography interesting?   I wonder if any of the names listed on the seven pages of "donors" in the program have any say (or opinion) about where their money
goes?  And where is it written that new works can't be choreographed to Mozart or Tchaikovsky and done in leotards?  No huge payout there to a composer or a designer.  It just takes a bit of imagination and lots of courage. Are six piroettes more interesting when performed by Basilio than when performed by Apollo?

Theoretically, there is a solution to this in the fall City Center seasons. Some seasons ABT has put on up to three weeks of very varied mixed programs. For myself, I find I enjoy these quite a lot but it all goes back to what you first started with. When I started going to ballet in the late 60s, the companies I saw a lot of Royal Ballet, NYCB, and ABT all put on a lot of mixed programs. When Bolshoi made their occasional visits around this time, they also put on mixed evenings.

So I hold out hope for ABT to continue their City Center seasons. The problem is that they have been very hit or miss the last few seasons and clearly the BAM Nutcracker seasons are going to mean much shorter City Center seasons, if they occur at all.  

But what can you do? When even NYCB starts to dramatically increase the number of full length evenings, the handwriting is on the wall. The full length programs sell tickets.

[vipa]

[/quote]

Theoretically, there is a solution to this in the fall City Center seasons. Some seasons ABT has put on up to three weeks of very varied mixed programs. For myself, I find I enjoy these quite a lot but it all goes back to what you first started with. When I started going to ballet in the late 60s, the companies I saw a lot of Royal Ballet, NYCB, and ABT all put on a lot of mixed programs. When Bolshoi made their occasional visits around this time, they also put on mixed evenings.

So I hold out hope for ABT to continue their City Center seasons. The problem is that they have been very hit or miss the last few seasons and clearly the BAM Nutcracker seasons are going to mean much shorter City Center seasons, if they occur at all.  

But what can you do? When even NYCB starts to dramatically increase the number of full length evenings, the handwriting is on the wall. The full length programs sell tickets.
[/quote]

True but NYCB did very well with sales in its Black & White series, the nights I was there looked very full.  Of course if you don't have a Balanchine it is easier to drum up excitement with "story ballets" especially with stars.  I still think that ABT  could put together rep programs that could be marketed well.  Perhaps they are too expensive to mount but imagine an "Americana" program with Billy the Kid, Rodeo and (Pillar of Fire, 2 Virgins and a Devil, or Lilac Garden etc.) with a flashy pas deux shoved in there choreographed by whoever - the assignment being that it be flashy, and to accessible music (I'd say Stars & Stripes pas, but ABT can't have that).

The rep program presented by ABT this season was dismal.  Maybe it is to expensive for them to draw upon their past, but they have done a lot of crowd pleasing ballets in the past.

Also, what ever happened to the early Eliot Feld pieces.  Are they available?  If memory serves Intermezzo, At Midnight were very good pieces.  Harbinger less so, but good.  These were a lot better than those being brought to us by Millepied.

Going very off topic.  Moderators please do whatever.  Thank you.

[FauxPas]

Just a note that Herman Cornejo's injury seems to be long-lasting.  He is out of "Sleeping Beauty" and will be replaced by Corey Stearns on the July 6th Wednesday matinee with Xiomara Reyes.  Johann Kobborg will replace him partnering Alina Cojocaru on the 8th.

[vipa]

 FauxPas, on 16 June 2011 - 12:53 PM, said:

Just a note that Herman Cornejo's injury seems to be long-lasting.  He is out of "Sleeping Beauty" and will be replaced by Corey Stearns on the July 6th Wednesday matinee with Xiomara Reyes.  Johann Kobborg will replace him partnering Alina Cojocaru on the 8th.

Thanks for posting.  I wasn't going to see SB this season (having exhausted my ballet budget), but I just bought tickets for Cojocaru/Kobborg!  He is close to 40 if not 40 already - It's not likely that I'll have another chance to see them together.

Good opportunity for Sterns.  Hope he does well.