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2014 Met Season


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Even though there are many "guest" artists, I thought it was encouraging to see that McKenzie gave lead roles to Lane, Gorak, Copeland, Kajiya and Matthews in Coppelia. I'm hoping that these soloists get the TBA Cinderella too. Having Kent do Cinderella at this stage of the game is absurd.

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So Veronika Part is not Russian? .

I don't know how many people recognize that she is Russian or even notice that her first name is spelled with a "k." She wouldn't get the "bump" the way Osipova would.

Part also doesn't get that many big review nights, and casual fans rely upon those and the dancers with big preview articles if they're making decisions not based on the dates they're free. When Part was reviewed in the past, she often had mixed reviews from Macaulay, which doesn't help her to sell tickets to casual fans. When people are told that they just don't know to what heights Osipova will next soar, they want to be there to see for themselves. Part is not that kind of dancer, and she never will be, and she's not a rarity, as in "You must catch that one Cojocaru Aurora."

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Another thing to notice about review nights - usually the review night is the opening night of the run of that particular ballet/program. Usually, ABT has distributed the first performance of the run among the principal ballerinas. Part in the past has often danced the first "Swan Lake", "Bayadere" or "Sleeping Beauty" since she made principal. (The New York reviewers sometimes will skip casting they have reviewed before and concentrate on role debuts or guest appearances). Spring 2014 Part has no first performances of the run of any ballet. Semionova has the first Don Q and T&V. Hee Seo has the first Cinderella. Kent has the first Manon. Vishneva has the first Bayadere and Giselle. Misty Copeland has the first Coppelia. Murphy has the first Swan Lake and Dream Titania. Herrera, Reyes and Part have nada. Herrera and Reyes are veterans at this point with some diminishment of technique (that doesn't stop Kent though). Part is at the peak of her maturity. So it is clear that ABT is starting to sideline some principals from major opportunities.

I also must mention that Part has made significant strides in the last few seasons getting lots of new roles (Kitri, Sylvia et al.) and more performances. The downside is that she hasn't been dancing with Bolle or Gomes who are her best partners. Though Part seems to not have problems with Cory, at least onstage, the difference in their stature as artists is clearly evident onstage. Part cannot work on the highest level due to his bland, low impact acting and shaky partnering. I also must add that Part is a full-time member of the company year round, like Semionova (a proviso in her hiring), Herrera, Kent, Reyes, Boylston, Seo et al. but unlike Murphy and Vishneva who have commitments elsewhere. it is all rather distressing and except for a few exceptions - Lane stuck with the matinee of T&V but getting a Coppelia, Gorak in Coppelia, etc. this is a distressing picture of the company.

If Part decides to leave ABT for say English National Ballet or god bless us, the Royal Ballet, ABT is really screwed for principal ballerinas. Herrera, Reyes and Kent are not going to be dancing much longer - ditto Vishneva though she is a star and is already moving into less technically showy, more dramatic parts. Semionova is an excellent dancer but doesn't move or excite the balletomanes in the way Part does. Murphy is spending a lot of time in New Zealand. Seo has yet to show that she can carry other roles than Giselle or Juliet with authority and technical command. Boylston is growing by leaps and bounds and is pulling her weight. Lane and Abrera I honestly don't know why they are still there. Misty Copeland I think is a charismatic and fine dancer and versatile but not a heavy hitter in the 19th century classics. In five years this is going to be a decimated company.

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I hope they find a worthy partner for Part in her Bayadere matinee. For me, that will be a "super Saturday" in which I will go to both the matinee and the evening shows.

I've been wondering if they are perhaps holding the Bayadere TBAs for Hammoudi, in case he is back to 100% by then? His partnering can be quite shaky, but it would still be nice to see him get a shot, especially after missing out on so many performances last year. I really hope he can pull his technique/partnering skills together.

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The thing I find most disturbing about ABT's treatment of Part is that they have refused to give her certan roles. I always thought that they didn't give her Juliet, Manon, Tatyana in Onegin and Giselle because of her height - maybe she is just too tall for all those lifts. However, they seem to have no problem giving those very same roles to Semionova, who is just as tall and Part. Frankly, David Hallberg's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head last season during some of the lifts involving Semionova in R&J. Semionova was a very bland and uninspiring Juliet and Tatyana. If you're going to make the guys lift tall girls in these roles, why not give Part a shot too. She's earned it. Not fair.

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The thing I find most disturbing about ABT's treatment of Part is that they have refused to give her certan roles. I always thought that they didn't give her Juliet, Manon, Tatyana in Onegin and Giselle because of her height - maybe she is just too tall for all those lifts. However, they seem to have no problem giving those very same roles to Semionova, who is just as tall and Part. Frankly, David Hallberg's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head last season during some of the lifts involving Semiona in R&J. Semionova was a very bland and uninspiring Juliet and Tatyana. If you're going to make the guys lift tall girls in these roles, why not give Part a shot too. She's earned it. Not fair.

Part has had some serious cross-over publicity (a Letterman appearance and she gets mentioned on a regular basis in James Wolcott's column/blog for Vanity Fair). But it's also the case that even among balletomanes there is not absolute consensus about her greatness or her fitness for every role. Personally, I would like to see her get a shot at Tatiana, but the company would absolutely need to give her the right partner.

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The thing I find most disturbing about ABT's treatment of Part is that they have refused to give her certan roles. I always thought that they didn't give her Juliet, Manon, Tatyana in Onegin and Giselle because of her height - maybe she is just too tall for all those lifts. However, they seem to have no problem giving those very same roles to Semionova, who is just as tall and Part. Frankly, David Hallberg's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head last season during some of the lifts involving Semionova in R&J. Semionova was a very bland and uninspiring Juliet and Tatyana. If you're going to make the guys lift tall girls in these roles, why not give Part a shot too. She's earned it. Not fair.

There are a couple of tall( over 6 ft ) and strong- looking members of the corp, Gray Davis and Thomas Forster,who could partner Veronika if given a chance. Thomas partnered her in S in C in LA last July.

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The thing I find most disturbing about ABT's treatment of Part is that they have refused to give her certan roles. I always thought that they didn't give her Juliet, Manon, Tatyana in Onegin and Giselle because of her height - maybe she is just too tall for all those lifts. However, they seem to have no problem giving those very same roles to Semionova, who is just as tall and Part. Frankly, David Hallberg's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head last season during some of the lifts involving Semionova in R&J. Semionova was a very bland and uninspiring Juliet and Tatyana. If you're going to make the guys lift tall girls in these roles, why not give Part a shot too. She's earned it. Not fair.

There are a couple of tall( over 6 ft ) and strong- looking members of the corp, Gray Davis and Thomas Forster,who could partner Veronika if given a chance. Thomas partnered her in S in C in LA last July.

I thought she looked quite good with Whiteside last year, and he seemed to have little difficulty partnering her.

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So Veronika Part is not Russian? Or should she change her last name to Partovskaya?

Veronika's father is Estonian, hence the name "Part" which means "duck" (as in the bird). She was raised, however, as Russian and doesn't speak Estonian at all (but has been seen at NY's Estonian House where she performed The Dying Swan to a SRO Estonian audience).

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I hope Ms. Part isn't discouraged with her matinees - I for one am very happy only because it's easier for me to come into the city for a matinee and I haven't been able to see enough of her in the last few seasons.

I can never get enough of Veronika Part. I think she is an exquisite dancer, completely unique, authentic, expressive, and vulnerable. Yes, I hold my breath during the most difficult technical challenges, but she invariably gets through them and it makes me only love her more. If Bolle had trouble lifting her, I would guess that it's a matter of not enough rehearsal time.

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In his review of her Juliet with Royal, Macaulay states definitively that Osipova will not be performing at all with ABT at the Met in 2014.

In Ms. Osipova’s case, London’s gain is New York’s loss. She will not be dancing with Ballet Theater in its 2014 Metropolitan Opera House season.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/23/arts/dance/natalia-osipova-and-evgenia-obraztsova-dance-at-the-royal.html?_r=0

Cojocaru is already listed on the schedule, so the mystery remains: who will do all those TBAs?

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Gabe Stone Shayer's former classmate at the Bolshoi's affiliated school, Joy Womack, would be a great addition to the ABT corps. I'd love to see her at ABT by the time that the Met season rolls around.

I'll never forget Gabe and Joy's respective soloist performances at the Kennedy Center two years ago, when the Bolshoi's school participated in Proteges with Lavrovsky's Classical Symphony (to Prokofiev). I believe that Joy and one of the academy's teachers, Ilya Kuznetsov (not the Ilya Kuznetsov from St P and the Mariinsky), were in NYC a few months ago, taking in local classes, shoe fittings, etc., as per Joy's on-line blog. So the ballet community in NY knows her.

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I realize it is still six months away, but travel plans in May / June mean that I'll be away from New York for part of the spring season. So I'm wondering, out of the spring schedule, which are the ones not to be missed? So far, I'm thinking Manon and Giselle. Coppelia will be at NYCB in February so I could see it then. But I've still only been to a few ballets, so I really have no idea.

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Well, the TBA cast for two performances of Manon have been filled in. The leads are Reyes and Matvienko, with the secondary roles filled by Boylston and Radetsky. I was hoping the TBA Manon would be Cojocaru, but no such luck.

I can't say I'm too excited about this casting, either, and I had assumed that ABT was holding those spots for a potential guest star. It's actually shaping up to be more of a "home team" season than in some recent years.

I see there is also initial casting up for Gaite Parisienne--the two casts are Part/Stearns and Seo/Gomes. I'm not at all familiar with the ballet, but perhaps others can deduce which roles they will be dancing. Always exciting to see Part take up a new role!

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I see there is also initial casting up for Gaite Parisienne--the two casts are Part/Stearns and Seo/Gomes. I'm not at all familiar with the ballet, but perhaps others can deduce which roles they will be dancing. Always exciting to see Part take up a new role!

This is so interesting -- at one point in the history of ballet in the US, I don't think you could find someone who was following the art form who wasn't very familiar with Gaite -- it was that ubiquitous. Now it's performed rarely, by a small number of companies.

Olivier Wevers, who had been a principal at Pacific Northwest Ballet until he left to start his own, more contemporary company, just had a program with a work to the score for Les Sylphides. His version is utterly different (a salacious dinner party) but it was fascinating to realize that many, probably most, of the people in the audience had not seen the Fokine. If you asked them if they were ballet 'fans' they would likely say yes, but it's a work that hasn't been performed in the Seattle area in years, except for student shows. And yet a work that used to be in almost every performance of the Ballet Russe is unknown to them...

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Well, the TBA cast for two performances of Manon have been filled in. The leads are Reyes and Matvienko, with the secondary roles filled by Boylston and Radetsky. I was hoping the TBA Manon would be Cojocaru, but no such luck.

I can't say I'm too excited about this casting, either, and I had assumed that ABT was holding those spots for a potential guest star. It's actually shaping up to be more of a "home team" season than in some recent years.

I see there is also initial casting up for Gaite Parisienne--the two casts are Part/Stearns and Seo/Gomes. I'm not at all familiar with the ballet, but perhaps others can deduce which roles they will be dancing. Always exciting to see Part take up a new role!

Just my luck to be out of the country for Part's debut in Gaite Parisienne as well as her Bayadere!

Not to pick nits (okay, picking nits), but you would think that the people who keep the ABT calendar would know how to spell the name of their own ballet!

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Re - Gaite Parisienne, if I remember correctly from the old ABT production, there are 3 good female roles and 3 good male roles. I remember Roni Mahler being good as the "flower girl" (I think, correct me if I'm wrong)

The other casting is a disappointment. Maybe others will disagree, but Misty Copeland in Duo Concertant is just wrong. I just don't think she has the delicacy and lightness to do it.

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Here's a video of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo doing Gaite Parisienne. It's a compilation of scenes shot over the period 1945-54, with sound taken from a 1954 performance. Cast is headed by: Alexandra Danilova, Frederick Franklin, and Leon Danielian. The sound quality is not good, and most of the shots are definitely amateur, but it gives you a sense of what this looked like in performance at the time, including the frequent freneticism of both Massine's choreography and Offenbach's music.

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