20 replies to this topic

[aurora]

angelica, on 14 December 2012 - 06:23 AM, said:

I would be more than happy to see Kajiya and Gorak promoted. But only after Stella Abrera is promoted to Principal. It breaks my heart to see all the promotions that leave her behind.

I don't share your opinion (I realize I am in the minority here apparently) but in any case, promoting Gorak out of the corps would have no impact on whether Abrera ever makes principal.

[angelica]

aurora, on 14 December 2012 - 06:33 AM, said:

angelica, on 14 December 2012 - 06:23 AM, said:

I would be more than happy to see Kajiya and Gorak promoted. But only after Stella Abrera is promoted to Principal. It breaks my heart to see all the promotions that leave her behind.

I don't share your opinion (I realize I am in the minority here apparently) but in any case, promoting Gorak out of the corps would have no impact on whether Abrera ever makes principal.

If you don't believe that Stella should be made a principal, then perhaps the following won't make sense: but I believe that when ANY promotion is made in a company, it has an impact on most if not all of the dancers, who would be likely to reflect on their own positions within the hierarchy and their own chances for promotion, if not now, then in the future. Obviously I cannot speak for Stella, but if I were in her shoes, I would feel every promotion as a reminder that I'm being overlooked.

[aurora]

angelica, on 14 December 2012 - 07:03 AM, said:

aurora, on 14 December 2012 - 06:33 AM, said:

angelica, on 14 December 2012 - 06:23 AM, said:

I would be more than happy to see Kajiya and Gorak promoted. But only after Stella Abrera is promoted to Principal. It breaks my heart to see all the promotions that leave her behind.

I don't share your opinion (I realize I am in the minority here apparently) but in any case, promoting Gorak out of the corps would have no impact on whether Abrera ever makes principal.

If you don't believe that Stella should be made a principal, then perhaps the following won't make sense: but I believe that when ANY promotion is made in a company, it has an impact on most if not all of the dancers, who would be likely to reflect on their own positions within the hierarchy and their own chances for promotion, if not now, then in the future. Obviously I cannot speak for Stella, but if I were in her shoes, I would feel every promotion as a reminder that I'm being overlooked.

It might be a reminder, but as a professional, she must be aware that male and female dancers serve different roles and DANCE different roles and it can have no impact on her in any way if a male dancer at a lower rank is elevated. It might be a reminder to her husband of his limited chances for promotion at this point, but for her it really shouldn't make a difference.

[angelica]

aurora, on 14 December 2012 - 07:22 AM, said:

angelica, on 14 December 2012 - 07:03 AM, said:

aurora, on 14 December 2012 - 06:33 AM, said:

angelica, on 14 December 2012 - 06:23 AM, said:

I would be more than happy to see Kajiya and Gorak promoted. But only after Stella Abrera is promoted to Principal. It breaks my heart to see all the promotions that leave her behind.

I don't share your opinion (I realize I am in the minority here apparently) but in any case, promoting Gorak out of the corps would have no impact on whether Abrera ever makes principal.

If you don't believe that Stella should be made a principal, then perhaps the following won't make sense: but I believe that when ANY promotion is made in a company, it has an impact on most if not all of the dancers, who would be likely to reflect on their own positions within the hierarchy and their own chances for promotion, if not now, then in the future. Obviously I cannot speak for Stella, but if I were in her shoes, I would feel every promotion as a reminder that I'm being overlooked.

It might be a reminder, but as a professional, she must be aware that male and female dancers serve different roles and DANCE different roles and it can have no impact on her in any way if a male dancer at a lower rank is elevated. It might be a reminder to her husband of his limited chances for promotion at this point, but for her it really shouldn't make a difference.

If we're going to stay concrete about this, the promotion of Kajiya, whom I thoroughly enjoy, would make a huge, if not fatal, difference to Stella's chances of promotion.

[abatt]

I saw the Simkin - Lane performance last night.  Simkin was wonderful in his solos , but there were some glitches in the partnering.  One lift in particular went badly and looked particularly sloppy.   I was more disapponted with Lane.  Her solo work was very small scale.  This was my only ABT Nutcracker for the season.  None of the couples I've seen since this production premiered have equaled the stellar performances of Muphy and Hallberg.  I suspect we won't be seeing them again in the ABT Nutcracker, as they have moved on to bigger and better things during the ABT non-Met season.

[angelica]

I saw the Veronika Part - Alexander Hammoudi performance last night, which played to a full house. And Veronika brought that house down. She was luminescent, utterly divine, expressive, rapturous. And best of all, she appeared  Self-Confident! Her feet were wondrous in their expressiveness and beauty, and she floated over the stage in her grand jetes. She may not have the always-reliable steely technique of some other dancers, but she is born to dance. (I've heard that having a high instep and very flexible feet makes it more difficult to do multiple turns, for example, which is why we chew our nails for her in ballets with 32 fouettes. I believe Alessandra Ferri had the same sort of pliant feet.)

Alexander Hammoudi made a valiant effort to be a worthy partner. But although he has a nice ballet line, he's not a great technician. These days we expect multiples turns from our male dancers, as well as an easy intuitive technique (think Cornejo, Corella, Carreno), and Hammoudi is not a natural turner. However, with an extra half-second of preparation, the couple managed the Grigorovich lift with Veronika appearing completely at ease up in the air. Hammoudi danced with a graciousness and modesty that seemed to reflect an awareness that he was dancing with one of the greats. He showed a similar modesty during the curtain calls.

The applause was thunderous. This was Veronika at her very best.