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PNB Returns to New York City Center Feb 2013


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I saw Foster's nurse last Friday, and she is excellent. I've seen Carrie's too. I'd say Carrie's is a bit more dead on in terms of the comedic nature of the role, and Rachel's is more intensely emotional (superbly so). The only negative is: as good as Carrie is as the nurse, the role does not give her a chance to show the full range of her incomparable abilities (e.g., Carrie in Square Dance is to die for).

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For anyone who wants more opinions and descriptions, Nakamura and Moore danced opening night last Friday, and they were reviewed in "Seattle Times." sandik saw both couples performing in NYC, and her review should be published in "Seattle Weekly" by Wednesday.

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Does City Center exchange tickets on the day of the show? If only bad tickets are available, is one better off buying them and exchanging them, if possible, or waiting until the day of, in case of cancellations, in light of how bad the bad seats are at City Center? Are other reputable sources of tickets available?

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Remember that sets will have to get there as well. I certainly hope Nemo is friendly to the east coast and all the snow is cleared away quickly. The Groundhog already announced an early spring, this is no time to be fashionably late.

Indeed -- they close their run of R&J here on Sunday around 5 pm, and have to be ready to go in NYC the following Friday evening. Sets are travelling by truck, and there are several mountain passes in the West to navigate, even before they get to the Northeast!

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If it weren't for that final curtain call, most of the costumes could have been packed before the end of the last act, since the corps is wearing black capes for the funeral procession.

Updates on the PNB dancers' progress:

From much earlier today

On the plane. Just dodged a 2.5 hour delay. Now it's just 40 minutes. Be there soon NY

From three hours ago

And we are here! Hello nyc!
pic.twitter.com/eUyrlAfk
\

And,

Get ready for a whole BUNDLE of NYC On Tour webcasts! Starting tomorrow:
http://ow.ly/i/1uoGk

Doug Fullington flies out tomorrow with the 60 members of the orchestra. Over 200 people are on this trip!

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Update from Peter Boal via Twitter:

Crew re-routed to Baltimore, no bus for the musicians, sets are in Iowa, and we open tomorrow night. As they say in Seattle, "No worries"

Doug Fullington told us in the pre-performance Q&A that they've made arrangements to rent drops in NYC if the sets don't arrive in time for Wedneday. PNB is doing the truncated "Apollo," -- there are no stairs to heaven or birthing platform -- "Agon" and "Concerto Barocco" are no-set friendly. I would guess that PNB was able to ship the Balanchine triple-bill costumes ahead.

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They got there in one piece, including the musicians!

Here's a photo that PNB just tweeted of a curtain call after "Agon"

https://twitter.com/...3839104/photo/1

I'm wub.png to say I can't tell who three of the corps women are from their photos. I'm assuming all are as listed in the PR casting.

From L-R:

Either Chelsea Adomaitis, Jessika Anspach, or Leah O'Connor -- probably O'Connor

Emma Love

Elizabeth Murphy -1st Pas de Trois

Jonathan Porretta -1st Pas de Trois

Kylee Kitchens -1st Pas de Trois

Batkhurel Bold - Pas de Deux

Lesley Rausch - Pas de Deux

Jerome Tisserand - 2nd Pas de Trois

Maria Chapman - 2nd Pas de Trois

Andrew Bartee - 2nd Pas de Trois

Either Chelsea Adomaitis, Jessika Anspach, or Leah O'Connor

Either Chelsea Adomaitis, Jessika Anspach, or Leah O'Connor -- probably Adomaitis

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Then it must be O'Connor to the far left and Adomaitis to the far right. I was confused by O'Connor's height relative to Love, but she may be doing a deeper plie at that point. Also none of the three have dark hair in their official portraits, but that also could be the lighting.

Thank you for the ID!

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PNB dances "Apollo" in a smoother, more musical, more flowing, and less linear way than I've seen others perform. Seth Orza is wonderful. His interpretation is less rude and seems a bit more mature and confident than others. The muse of poetry was truly wonderful in this version. Terpsichore by Carla Korbes was so natural; she is like a woman and a girl at the same time. This was the best performance of this ballet that I have ever seen.

"Concerto B" presents a beautiful piece of music by J. Sebastian Bach. I bought my ticket just to see this. However, the spacing was off and some of the dancing seemed a bit sloppy. B. Bold starred in this piece, as well as the pdd in "Agon", which really confused me. He is round, not angular, and does not seem to have the appearance of a strong line. Last year, I saw NYCB's Maria K in "Agon" and she epitomized the role, but her lines did not come across in PNB's version. However, I enjoyed seeing the interplay of chaos and order, as well as the expression of the music in the dance.

Jerome Tisserand received a lot of applause, as did the New York company alumni, Carla and Seth. Bold was greatly appreciated by the audience, too.

The top level was virtually empty, shamefully. The sight lines in the balcony are far superior to the orchestra, where I had trouble seeing in the past, even from the second row. One of the reasons I waited to buy a ticket until the last minute was my belief, based on sitting in the orchestra in the past, that seeing the stage at City Center was difficult, and the online seating charts did not advise how many great,upper level tickets were available.

For the most part, the musicians were excellent, especially in the Bach piece.

No one from the theatre or PNB made any announcements, comments, or speeches. This created a bit of a feeling of distance, especially after reading so much about this company and its outreach efforts.

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More from PNB's Facebook Page:

Jean-Christophe Maillot is in the studios with us today and tomorrow.

New York is about to see a new kind of Romeo and Juliet!

The photo is of William Lin-Yee being lifted by the two acolytes. I think that's Andrew Bartee on the left in the image in the mirror.

New York will see Carrie Imler's comic timing, acting skills, and full commitment to a character on Sunday when she performs Nurse in "Romeo et Juliette," but, sadly, they won't get to see this:

Imler's in black, Adomaitis is in the red leotard, and Angelica Generosa is in the back to the right.

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I saw the first night Balanchine program and NYCB should beg, borrow or steal Carla Korbes. What a wonderfully mature artist--they are so few and far between here at NYCB. Seth Orza's Apollo has much to learn yet from Peter Boal. I read somewhere that Orza said he was studying the role by viewing tapes of Martins---he has the perfect mentor in Boal, who understands the role so well. (I am biased---Boal is my all-time favorite in the role)

I, too, detected opening night jitters from the Company. It should all disappear when they learn their Balanchine can be topped by no-one......

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I saw the first night Balanchine program and NYCB should beg, borrow or steal Carla Korbes. What a wonderfully mature artist--they are so few and far between here at NYCB. Seth Orza's Apollo has much to learn yet from Peter Boal. I read somewhere that Orza said he was studying the role by viewing tapes of Martins---he has the perfect mentor in Boal, who understands the role so well. (I am biased---Boal is my all-time favorite in the role)

I, too, detected opening night jitters from the Company. It should all disappear when they learn their Balanchine can be topped by no-one......

Korbes is a wonderful. She certainly shows that there are world class dancers outside of the major cities. She is musical & masterful. She should stay in PNB as I'm sure she is going to. IMO - while she'd be a great asset, NYCB doesn't really need her. I believe there are many mature artists at NYCB.

I loved the PNW Balanchine night, but I have to admit that it made me appreciate the NYCB more. I realized how amazingly high my expectations are when I go to a NYCB performance. PNB has wonderful dancers, but there seems to be a looseness to their dancing. Shapes and positions don't quite gel. It is also revealing that Korbes is so outstanding. Her performance was in another realm in comparison to the other dancers.

Again, I loved the performance, but I feel a little like there may be a lack of appreciation for NYCB out there. To me that company had a depth in dancing and rep that can't be beat.

I

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I think the looseness is part of the PNB style - it reflects the late 1950's - 1960's decade when Francia Russell danced / was ballet mistress and Kent Stowell danced for NYCB.

Obviously NYCB cherry picks their best students from summer programs to attend year round, and then cherry picks them again when they graduate from SAB. They *should* dance Balanchine well, and I think the reviews over the past 2 seasons especially indicate that they are raising the barre (no pun intended) even higher.

I enjoy this forum, but I enjoy the dancing even more. Watching various companies dance should be similar to visiting a variety of museums in NYC. The Met is always going to be the Met. I love it, especially the American wing. But I also love to visit the Gugenheim, MoMa, etc. I can appreciate Monet's art and still enjoy the Picassos, Van Goghs, etc. It's a shame that the Republicans demonize the National Endowment for the Arts and PBS. Those institutions bring art - especially dance art - to the masses through television and sponsorship of tours. I wish I could see MCB, Houston, Ailey and all the others every year on tours and Dance in America programs. I'll step down from my soap box now. ;)

PNB posted this video on FB today, if you watch the 2nd half you can see some of the 1st night show, as filmed from just off stage.

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