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ABT in DC-Kennedy Center, spring 2013


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We now have casting for all programs, including Symphony in C in the 2 mixed-bill programs. Only 'tbd' is the female soloist for 1st movment on one of the nights.

http://www.kennedy-c...ts/?event=BNBSE

The all-important 2nd mvmt will be led by Seo/Gomes and Part/Hammoudi, on nights 1 & 2, respectively. Oh yeah! smile.png

I'm a bit surprised that Misty Copeland didn't get Bizet 3rd-movement lead, as it calls for an energetic jumper (one of her fortes); Boylston (another gt jumper) and Kajiya (???) named instead. Misty might yet get to dance Bizet 3rdmvt at one of the casts at the Met.

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We now have casting for all programs, including Symphony in C in the 2 mixed-bill programs. Only 'tbd' is the female soloist for 1st movment on one of the nights.

http://www.kennedy-c...ts/?event=BNBSE

The all-important 2nd mvmt will be led by Seo/Gomes and Part/Hammoudi, on nights 1 & 2, respectively. Oh yeah! smile.png

I'm a bit surprised that Misty Copeland didn't get Bizet 3rd-movement lead, as it calls for an energetic jumper (one of her fortes); Boylston (another gt jumper) and Kajiya (???) named instead. Misty might yet get to dance Bizet 3rdmvt at one of the casts at the Met.

Unless i have misunderstood the cast listings, Copeland is down for first movement in Symphony in C in New York. (Same cast Osipova is dancing 3rd movement.)

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Thanks, Drew. I didn't realize that detailed casting of Bizet in NY was now out. So maybe Misty will get the 'tbd' 1st Movement on the Wednesday cast in DC? Too bad that DC won't get to see Osipova in 3rd mvt. Another reason to hike up to NY, if work allows.

The Corsaire casts in DC look wonderful. I'm especially excited about seeing Joseph Phillips' Ali on Sat night.

Tickets just went on sale today to non-subscribers, by the way. The Sunday Osipova/Vasiliev Corsaire is selling quickly.

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.....Unless i have misunderstood the cast listings, Copeland is down for first movement in Symphony in C in New York. (Same cast Osipova is dancing 3rd movement.)

Misty is no longer shown in the Symphony in C castings in NY. As mentioned a couple of days ago, she is also out of the Kennedy Center tour. I hope that she is OK.

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I just got an email with a discount code from the Kennedy Center for the ABT engagment.

$59 select orchestra seats for Apr 11, 12, and 13 mat only

$45 select orchestra seats for Apr 9 and 10

Code is 154109

Is it a mere coincidence that the only dates they are not discounting (and that are selling well) are ones where Osipova and/or Vasiliev are cast?

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Something odd. The Kennedy Center site now shows this casting for tomorrow night's opening Symphony in C:

http://www.kennedy-c...E#relatedEvents

It seems that "Matthews" replaces Paloma Herrera as the female lead in the first movement?!

...Symphony in in C (34 min.) - Matthews, Whiteside, Seo, Hammoudi, Boylston, Simkin, Lane, Matthews

The Moor's Pavane (21 min.) - Gomes, Stearns, Abrera, Kent

Symphony #9 (26 min.) - Part,...etc.

This at 4:45pm EST. Hopefully it's an error and they're in the midst of updating casting.

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I will be a super with ABT again. We rehearsed with the company today and did costume fitting. The costumes and scenery are from Teatro de Colon. Had a great time watching a little bit of the company class. Roberto Bolle, Julie Kent and Danil Simkin are a joy to watch. The Class was taught by Nancy Raffa. She and Anna Marie Holmes conducted the supers' rehearsal. As a treat Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev were off to the side rehearsing. Ivan was in blue jeans and street shoes, but when the music for Conrad's dance started Ivan jumped in and gave the supers a small performance. We all clapped at the end. Also Damian Woetzel was there visiting.

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I went tonight (Tuesday, for the opening) and thought it a very strong program. I'll be writing for danceviewtimes (probably tomorrow, as I'm going tonight as well). All the ballets were new to DC -- "Symphony in C," "Moor's Pavane" and Alexei Ratmansky's new "Symphony #9." The dancing was excellent across the board, I thought, and very heartfelt. I thought Ratmansky's ballet simply stunning. It's one of his not-pure-dance ballets, with a lot of emotional and, I think, historical undertones, and it's a whirlwind of movement. There's only one performancne of the mixed bill, and I hope people will go. Tonight was very well sold, but there were some seats available.

Hope others went and will report!

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I went tonight (Tuesday, for the opening) and thought it a very strong program. I'll be writing for danceviewtimes (probably tomorrow, as I'm going tonight as well). All the ballets were new to DC -- "Symphony in C," "Moor's Pavane" and Alexei Ratmansky's new "Symphony #9." The dancing was excellent across the board, I thought, and very heartfelt. I thought Ratmansky's ballet simply stunning. It's one of his not-pure-dance ballets, with a lot of emotional and, I think, historical undertones, and it's a whirlwind of movement. There's only one performancne of the mixed bill, and I hope people will go. Tonight was very well sold, but there were some seats available.

Hope others went and will report!

I went, and really enjoyed the show. Their selections were much more to my liking than the NYCB's. My only gripe would be about the women's costumes for Symphony in C. - it made the dancers look too girlish If it weren't so inconvenient and expensive to get to the Kennedy Center, I'd be tempted to go back tonight.

I sat in row CC, which was the last row that was full. Row DD was about half full and row EE was essentially empty.

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I attended last night’s performance, as well, and had a more mixed reaction.

I thought the men outshone the women in Symphony in C, which does not make for a great Symphony in C. The performance got off to a bit of a rough beginning: the corps seemed to be off the music at the start, and I thought Paloma Herrera’s dancing in the first movement was stiff, unmusical, and almost ungainly. Overall, ABT’s corps and demi-soloists were very polite and tended to soften Balanchine’s steps. I wished for more crispness and attack, particularly in the first movement.

This was my first time seeing Hee Seo dance, and I agree with the comments I’ve read here along the lines of: exquisite upper body, not-so-exquisite legs and feet. In the second movement, she had some truly lovely, even breathtaking moments, such as her heartstopping falls into her partner’s arms. Seo undoubtedly has beautifully expressive arms and a lovely, pliant back. But I was less impressed with other aspects of her dancing, such as her batterie, and there were passages in her dancing that seemed slightly anonymous. A promising performance, but Seo didn’t quite sustain the “hold-your-breath-for-the-entire-adagio-movement” quality that Nancy Reynolds writes about.

For me, Daniil Simkin stole the performance with his silky, effortless virtuosity and wonderful musicality in the third movement. His partner, Isabella Boylston, was quite fine, but my eye was constantly being drawn to Simkin (and not through showboating but the rarified quality of his dancing). Strong performances also from James Whiteside and Alexandre Hammoudi. The finale was powerful and thrilling, as it should be.

The Moor’s Pavane wasn’t really my cup of tea, but there was some interesting dancing coming out of the male-male Moor-Iago pairing, with Gomes and Stearns. Julie Kent looked lovely but didn't have much to do.

Ratmansky’s Symphony No. 9 was almost as scintillating on second viewing. Veronika Part was wonderful and powerfully brought out the dramatic undercurrents of the piece. I much preferred her to Semionova in the original cast. It’s a shame Herman Cornejo had to pull out of the performance (hopefully it’s only precautionary?), but Jared Matthews was a dynamo in the virtuoso role. Perhaps not quite as explosive as Cornejo, but still thrilling. Craig Salstein was once again a delight.

But can I say that the Ratmansky suffered a bit in comparison to the Balanchine (not really fair, I know)? Particularly in the choreography for the corps, which was full of energy but perhaps had a bit less to say than Ratmansky’s work for the soloists.

P.S. Orchestra seats for Thursday's Corsaire are being discounted for $35. Code is: "154462."

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It's a shame Herman Cornejo had to pull out of the performance (hopefully it's only precautionary?), but Jared Matthews was a dynamo in the virtuoso role. Perhaps not quite as explosive as Cornejo, but still thrilling.

Bad news about Cornejo - he had to pull out mid-performance when they did this piece at City Center last fall. Anybody know what the problem is? I hope this is just a terrible coincidence. He is cast in some great roles in the Met season.
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. Julie Kent looked lovely but didn't have much to do.

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I think that was part of the reason they revivied it - Give Kent something to do that's not very difficult. That's her only assignment for the KC Tour, since she does not do Le Corsaire anymore. I suspect the reason they are doing Month in The Country at the Met is to give Kent a relatively easy role to do.

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It's a shame Herman Cornejo had to pull out of the performance (hopefully it's only precautionary?), but Jared Matthews was a dynamo in the virtuoso role. Perhaps not quite as explosive as Cornejo, but still thrilling.

Bad news about Cornejo - he had to pull out mid-performance when they did this piece at City Center last fall. Anybody know what the problem is? I hope this is just a terrible coincidence. He is cast in some great roles in the Met season.

The program merely said that he was ill, and made it sound as if it was something of a last-minute switch.

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. Julie Kent looked lovely but didn't have much to do.

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I think that was part of the reason they revivied it - Give Kent something to do that's not very difficult. That's her only assignment for the KC Tour, since she does not do Le Corsaire anymore. I suspect the reason they are doing Month in The Country at the Met is to give Kent a relatively easy role to do.

Isn't that strange? I haven't seen Julie Kent dance in years but do have a ticket to see her in Month in The Country at the Met (she's not the reason I bought the ticket). Why do they keep her on if she is so limited that they have to find things for her to do?

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. Julie Kent looked lovely but didn't have much to do.

.

I think that was part of the reason they revivied it - Give Kent something to do that's not very difficult. That's her only assignment for the KC Tour, since she does not do Le Corsaire anymore. I suspect the reason they are doing Month in The Country at the Met is to give Kent a relatively easy role to do.

Isn't that strange? I haven't seen Julie Kent dance in years but do have a ticket to see her in Month in The Country at the Met (she's not the reason I bought the ticket). Why do they keep her on if she is so limited that they have to find things for her to do?

There are a lot of different types of ballets, and they need different types of dancers. Some emphasize technique, dramatic ballets need people who can bring a character and different situations to life, and often older dancers have the maturity to do that better than the technicians. I think we need all of them :) (I don't think Natalia Petrovna is so easy a role, either. It doesn't have fouettes in it, but the pas de deux are not simple.)

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I saw the mixed bill this evening. Most of the people who post here are more educated about the ballet than I am, so it was interesting for me to read the mostly positive reviews. My reaction to Symphony in C was that is was not the pristine, classical dancing I expected. To me, it did not seem sharp and clear. The Moor's Pavane was the high point for me, and I thought Simone Messmer was the standout. I wondered if the men could have given it more force. In Symphony No. 9, it seemed to me that Ratmansky threw in everything but the kitchen sink. Everyone was moving all the time, there did not seem to be much purpose or even beauty to a lot of it, and then there were these moments that I guess were supposed to be coy humor, like the repeated falling to the floor in jerky steps, that just made me say What??? And why???

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Meow, I was there this evening too, and didn't think it quite as strong as last night, in some ways. It still looks to me as though they're cleaning "Symphony in C". Tonight there were more Balanchinean touches. (I actually liked last night's absolutely un-Balanchinean joy.) Re "Symphony # 9," you might be interested in this interview with Ratmansky in the New York Times by Brian Eibert called "For the Love of Shostakovich, the Destroyer." It addresses the musical issues you raise and gives a lot of interesting background on the music and the ballet. Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.c...ch-project.html

My take on Ratmansky is that he's genuinely doing something new, and often I "get it" (or at least think I do smile.png ) on subsequent viewings. Opening night, I saw the historical references; tonight it seemed more of a dance piece. It's both, and probably more. He DOES do a lot of things at once. There's one section where the small groups of dancers are all doing something a bit different, and with different musicality, at top speed, I knew there was a reason for it, but it certainly shook my eyes. But it all comes together, and probably if I see the piece 2 or 3 more times, I'll be able to read it as a whole and it will make perfect sense right off the bat.

One humorous note. There's a section in the ballet when the lighting (by Jennifer Tipton) takes center stage for just a second and changes the piece. Stops the flow cold, changes the mood, makes one aware that something earth shaking is about to happen. It's so stark and arresting that the woman sitting in front of me -- who seemed to have been texting, head bowed, all evening -- suddenly sat bolt upright and didn't take her eyes off the stage for the rest of the piece.

Edited by Alexandra
clarity
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Well, there are pirouettes :) But she has such a soul that it doesn't matter. I thought she started a bit quietly, and ended strongly, but two friends who were there that I spoke to were very moved by her performance. Unexpectedly, I thought she was quite strong (and oh, so beautiful) in the finale.

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I decided that the Metro isn't THAT expensive or inconvenient, and with tickets discounted by $20 it was too much to resist going back. I think that Meow summarized it pretty well. Symphony in C is, I think, a piece that has more appeal to people who understand the technical aspects of dance than to people like me who just like an engaging show. My opinion of Balanchine's work will probably seem as stupid to serious dance fans as my opinion of Mozart's music seems to serious music fans. I enjoyed the Tuesday performance a little more. There one lead ballerina, I think that it was the second one (the one who was quite tall), who seemed somewhat mechanical. I found The Moor's Pavane to be more meaningful the second time around (plus this time I read the program notes beforehand), even though I thought that the dancers weren't quite as in sync as on Tuesday. I was struck by how little movement there was in the audience during this piece; it seemed that everyone was totally engaged in the piece. I too did not find a followable "program" to the choreography for Symphony no. 9, but I didn't care. The dancing was challenging and entertaining, and any excuse to listen to something by Shostakovich was good enough for me.

As I said in my earlier post, I thought that the ABT did a better job of programming than the NYCB. Three ballets that were completely different accompanied by music that ranged from Baroque to Romantic to Modern. IMHO, that makes for an interesting show.

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