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Cojocaru and Kobborg


Alymer

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Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg are leaving the Royal Ballet after the summer tour to Japan. Their last performance at the Royal Opera House will be on 5 June in Mayerling. News came in a press release from the Royal Ballet this morning,

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Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg are leaving the Royal Ballet after the summer tour to Japan. Their last performance at the Royal Opera House will be on 5 June in Mayerling. News came in a press release from the Royal Ballet this morning,

Thanks, Alymer. Very sad to read this but I'm sure that they have great plans for the future. I'm looking forward to finding out what this may be.

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This is very bad news for the Royal Ballet, coupled with Leanne Benjamin's retirement and the unexpected departure of Mara Galeazzi this will leave a big gap in the upper ranks and to lose both Polunin and Kobborg in just over a year adds nothing to the health of the company. The one male dancer who to me looked capable of taking on leading roles, Brian Maloney, also goes this month. Kevin O'Hare will need to find replacements fast and although I'll upset some of the fans by saying this, there isn't anyone coming up through the ranks with sufficient talent and/or experience to be made a principle right now.

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There has been a lot of speculation about why Alina Cojocaru has not performed more often with her home company, and I doubt anyone official is going to frankly tell us why. Hopefully she is healthy enough to continue performing for another 10 years, wherever she decides to hang her hat.

Most of the dancers lamented above are retiring at the usual time (late 30's early 40's) when ballet bodies break down. I do think this creates some hope for the long suffering soloists who want to move up the ladder. This could be the start of some very good things at RB. Kevin O'hare is making interesting choices, let's hope he nurtures the 90+ dancers he has in his troupe.

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Cojocaru had several major injuries that coincided with Big Event premieres. One I believe was Chroma. During rehearsal she injured her neck and back. Then there was the blowout with Polunin during rehearsal that preceded Polunin leaving the company. Her partner Johan Kobborg also accumulated injuries. This seems to be a familiar story of a dancer losing favor with management because of chronic injuries and her well-known (and acknowledged) "perfectionism".

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I'm sure there are many companies who would be willing to take the risk that Cojocaru might become injured and not be concerned with her perfectionism. Her "Sleeping Beauty" (one of the greatest performances I've ever seen [on a NY visit]) and "Giselle" had NYers running out of superlatives.

Carla Korbes is on the delicate side with regard to injuries, although more recently she's had the hard luck of having injured partners. It's part of the privilege of seeing some of the world's great dancers.

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ABT should hire Cojocaru on a more regular basis. Herman needs a world class partner who is the appropriate size. Reyes is now over 40, and there is nobody else suitable to be Herman's partner at ABT.. Yes, I'm a fan of Sarah Lane, I do think Lane has the potential to be a principal, but her talents have not been nurtured at ABT,and her star does not seem to be rising at ABT to a level where she would take on all the major roles that Reyes performs with Herman. Kajiya is the right size, but is really not a realstic choice for a regular partner for Herman either. Kajiya is a very good soloist, but I do not regard her as someone who could take on the major roles of the rep with success.

On a separate note, I know that ABT is very focused on presenting new Ratmansky works (which I favor) but I would certainly enjoy seeing the new Liliom at ABT, which was created for Alina.

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Very sad news for the Royal Ballet surely. Cojocaru is one of the today's great ballerinas. It would be wonderful to have her dance more often with ABT, but in any case one can only wish Kobborg and her the very best.

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ABT should hire Cojocaru on a more regular basis. Herman needs a world class partner who is the appropriate size. Reyes is now over 40, and there is nobody else suitable to be Herman's partner at ABT.. Yes, I'm a fan of Sarah Lane, I do think Lane has the potential to be a principal, but her talents have not been nurtured at ABT,and her star does not seem to be rising at ABT to a level where she would take on all the major roles that Reyes performs with Herman. Kajiya is the right size, but is really not a realstic choice for a regular partner for Herman either. Kajiya is a very good soloist, but I do not regard her as someone who could take on the major roles of the rep with success.

On a separate note, I know that ABT is very focused on presenting new Ratmansky works (which I favor) but I would certainly enjoy seeing the new Liliom at ABT, which was created for Alina.

I second the opinion about Sarah Lane - principal material that needs to be nurtured. I also second the request for the new Lillion. The bits that I've seen on Youtube look terrific. I'm sorry that Alina is no longer in the June 21 Swan Lake at ABT. I've never seen her replacement live - Maria Kotchetkova and I am interested in seeing her. Maybe ABT is trying to recruit her. IMO she'd be crazy to leave San Francisco Ballet for ABT.

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Kotchetkova will be beautiful. I saw her Sleeping Beauty PDD with Joaquin DeLuz at the Joyce - it was

the Gala for Ballet Next in 2011. I still wish the opportunity would have gone to Lane. After all, they have

to have a decent amount of rehearsal time together. I guess there is little sense of fairness and practicality

in the Ballet World.

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Kotchetkova will be beautiful. I saw her Sleeping Beauty PDD with Joaquin DeLuz at the Joyce - it was

the Gala for Ballet Next in 2011. I still wish the opportunity would have gone to Lane. After all, they have

to have a decent amount of rehearsal time together. I guess there is little sense of fairness and practicality

in the Ballet World.

I know that Lane did SL with Barcelona ballet, but I think that people who bought a ticket to see Alina want to see someone with a name, not a first timer.

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While in many ways Kochetkova would be crazy to go to ABT, she has spent so much of the last year on a plane, including back and forth to NY and Russia, and it might be an easier or no commute from NY metro.

I don't know much about Kochetkova's travels, it just that it seems to me that SFB has a richer rep for their dancers, than ABT. It's not as big ballet oriented. I just hope that I get to see Alina Cojocaru again.

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I'm sure there are many companies who would be willing to take the risk that Cojocaru might become injured and not be concerned with her perfectionism. Her "Sleeping Beauty" (one of the greatest performances I've ever seen [on a NY visit]) and "Giselle" had NYers running out of superlatives.

Carla Korbes is on the delicate side with regard to injuries, although more recently she's had the hard luck of having injured partners. It's part of the privilege of seeing some of the world's great dancers.

Well with Cojocaru when Polunin (whom they were grooming to be the next major star) suddenly left, the Royal let it be known to the presses that the preceding event was a disastrous rehearsal with Cojocaru. Tense rehearsals are part of the business, but the fact that the Royal Ballet talked about it openly was a sign to me that they blamed Cojocaru or she no longer had the support of the management.

The times I've seen Cojocaru she's been exquisite, but the last time I saw her (in Giselle) she seemed racked by injuries. She's said many times that in Kiev she sustained a bad foot injury but over-danced through the injury that never really healed and accumulated more injuries. I don't blame her if she just wants to give her body a break and choose a less demanding schedule.

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Well, I'm certainly all ears about what happens to them next. Living in CA, it would have been doubtful that I'd see her perform in either London or NYC, but I'm still all caught up in this very big news. Enjoyed reading everyone's comments!

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Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg are leaving the Royal Ballet after the summer tour to Japan. Their last performance at the Royal Opera House will be on 5 June in Mayerling. News came in a press release from the Royal Ballet this morning,

Both have appeared with a new ballet company called Crystal Ballet that produces new works specifically for digital download. The company's first release was a four-part production called Genesis that featured dancers from The Royal Ballet (including Sarah Lamb and Steven McCrae), The English Ballet and Kobberg from the Royal Danish Ballet.

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