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2014 Met Season


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Busy day at work. Here's the release:

COMPANY PREMIERE OF FREDERICK ASHTON’S CINDERELLA, A SHAKESPEARE CELEBRATION,

AND REVIVALS OF LÉONIDE MASSINE’S GAÎTÉ PARISIENNE AND KENNETH MACMILLAN’S MANON

TO HIGHLIGHT AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE’S

2014 SPRING SEASON AT METROPOLITAN OPERA HOUSE

MAY 12-JULY 5, 2014

OLGA SMIRNOVA AND VIKTORIA TERESHKINA

TO DEBUT AS GUEST ARTISTS;

VLADIMIR SHKLYAROV AND AMY WATSON

TO APPEAR AS EXCHANGE ARTISTS

BOX OFFICE OPENS MARCH 30

American Ballet Theatre’s 2014 season at the Metropolitan Opera House,

May 12-July 5, will be highlighted by the Company Premiere of Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella and a Shakespeare Celebration to include Ashton’s The Dream and Alexei Ratmansky’s The Tempest. Season revivals include Léonide Massine’s Gaîté Parisienne and Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon. Tickets for ABT’s Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House go on sale at the box office on Sunday, March 30 at Noon.

Principal Dancers for the 2014 Metropolitan Opera House season include Roberto Bolle, Herman Cornejo, Marcelo Gomes, David Hallberg, Paloma Herrera, Julie Kent, Gillian Murphy, Veronika Part, Xiomara Reyes, Polina Semionova, Hee Seo, Daniil Simkin, Cory Stearns, Ivan Vasiliev, Diana Vishneva and James Whiteside.

American Ballet Theatre’s 2014 Spring Season opens with a Gala Performance featuring ABT’s Principal Dancers on Monday, May 12 at 6:30 P.M. For information on ABT’s Spring Gala, please call the Special Events Office at 212-477-3030, ext. 3310.

Guest Artists

Guest Artists for the 2014 Spring season include Alina Cojocaru, principal dancer with English National Ballet, Maria Kochetkova, principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet, Denis Matvienko, a guest artist with the Mariinsky Ballet and Vadim Muntagirov, principal dancer with The Royal Ballet. Olga Smirnova, a leading soloist with Bolshoi Ballet and Viktoria Tereshkina, principal dancer with the Mariinsky Ballet, will make their American Ballet Theatre debuts as Guest Artists this season.

Exchange Artists

Vladimir Shklyarov, a principal dancer with the Mariinsky Ballet, and Amy Watson, a principal dancer with The Royal Danish Ballet, will perform as Exchange Artists during ABT's 2014 Spring season as part of an exchange program with their respective companies. Shklyarov will dance the role of Solor in La Bayadère on Thursday, May 29 and Watson will perform Myrta in Giselle on Thursday, June 19. Watson will make her ABT debut in the role on Saturday evening, April 5 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Company Premiere

American Ballet Theatre will give the Company Premiere of Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella on Monday, June 9 with Hee Seo in the title role and Cory Stearns as the Prince. Set to the score by Sergei Prokofiev, Ashton’s Cinderella features sets and costumes by David Walker. The ballet received its World Premiere by Sadler’s Wells Ballet on December 23, 1948 at London’s Royal Opera House. The original cast included Moira Shearer as Cinderella, Michael Somes as the Prince, Frederick Ashton and Robert Helpmann as the Stepsisters and Alexander Grant as the Jester. Staged for ABT by Wendy Ellis Somes with additional staging by Malin Thoors, Cinderella will be given eight performances through June 14.

A Shakespeare Celebration

American Ballet Theatre’s 2014 Spring Season will also be highlighted by four performances of a Shakespeare Celebration, featuring Frederick Ashton’s The Dream and Alexei Ratmansky’s The Tempest, Monday, June 30 through Wednesday, July 2.

Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg will lead the opening night cast of The Dream on June 30 portraying the roles of Titania and Oberon respectively. Staged for ABT by Anthony Dowell with Christopher Carr, The Dream is set to music by Felix Mendelssohn and features sets and costumes by David Walker and lighting by John B. Read. The Dream received its World Premiere by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on April 2, 1964, danced by Antoinette Sibley as Titania, Anthony Dowell as Oberon, Keith Martin as Puck and Alexander Grant as Bottom. The ballet received its United States premiere by The Royal Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York on April 30, 1965, danced by the same cast. The Dream was given its American Ballet Theatre Company Premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York on May 24, 2002, danced by Alessandra Ferri as Titania, Ethan Stiefel as Oberon and Herman Cornejo as Puck.

Alexei Ratmansky’s The Tempest, a ballet in one act, is set to music written for the play by Jean Sibelius. Adapted from William Shakespeare’s play of the same name, the ballet features sets and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Robert Wierzel. Tony Award-winning director Mark Lamos served as the production’s dramaturg. The Tempest received its World Premiere by American Ballet Theatre on Wednesday, October 30, 2013 at the David H. Koch Theater in New York with Marcelo Gomes as Prospero, Daniil Simkin as Ariel and Herman Cornejo as Caliban. The ballet’s first performance of the Spring Season on Monday evening, June 30, will feature Marcelo Gomes as Prospero.

Revivals

The Revival Premiere of Léonide Massine’s Gaîté Parisienne will be presented on Tuesday evening, May 20 for four performances through May 22. American Ballet Theatre’s production of Gaîté Parisienne, set to music by Jacques Offenbach, with

costumes by Christian Lacroix, scenery by Zack Brown and lighting by Steven Shelley,

was given its Company Premiere on January 19, 1988 in Tampa, Florida with Cheryl Yeager as the Glove Seller, Victor Barbee as the Baron and Johan Renvall as the Peruvian. The ballet received its World Premiere by the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1938 at the Theatre de Monte Carlo in Monaco with Nina Tarakanova as the Glove Seller, Frederic Franklin as the Baron and Léonide Massine as the Peruvian. The revival of Gaîté Parisienne is staged for ABT by Lorca Massine. The ballet was last performed by the Company in 1999. Gaîté Parisienne will be presented this season on a program along with George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations and Duo Concertant.

A revival of Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon is scheduled for Monday, June 2 with Julie Kent in the title role, Roberto Bolle as Des Grieux, Stella Abrera as Lescaut’s Mistress and Daniil Simkin as Lescaut. Staged for ABT by Julie Lincoln and Yuri Uchiumi, with designs by Peter Farmer and lighting by Christina Giannelli, the ballet is set to music by Jules Massenet, orchestrated and arranged by Martin Yates. Manon was given its World Premiere by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London on March 7, 1974, danced by Antoinette Sibley as Manon and Anthony Dowell as Des Grieux. Manon was given its United States premiere by The Royal Ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York on May 7, 1974, danced by the same cast. The Company Premiere of the full-length Manon, with sets and costumes by Nicholas Georgiadis and lighting by Thomas R. Skelton, was given on May 28, 1993 at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, danced by Alessandra Ferri as Manon, Julio Bocca as Des Grieux and Gil Boggs as Lescaut. Manon was last performed by ABT in New York in 2007. The ballet received its Revival Premiere on February 23, 2014 at Biwako Hall in Shiga, Japan. Manon will be given eight performances through June 7. Principal Dancer Diana Vishneva will celebrate her 10th Anniversary with American Ballet Theatre at the matinee performance on Saturday, June 7.

Full-Length Ballets

American Ballet Theatre’s 2014 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House includes five additional full-length ballets opening with Don Quixote on Tuesday evening, May 13 led by Polina Semionova as Kitri and Cory Stearns as Basilio. The ballet, which will be given eight performances through May 19, is staged by Kevin McKenzie and Susan Jones, with choreography after Marius Petipa and Alexander Gorsky. Don Quixote is set to music by Ludwig Minkus and features scenery and costumes by Santo Loquasto and lighting by Natasha Katz. The McKenzie/Jones staging of the current production was first performed by ABT on June 12, 1995.

La Bayadère, choreographed by Natalia Makarova after Marius Petipa, will be given seven performances, May 23 through May 29. Diana Vishneva as Nikiya, Marcelo Gomes as Solor and Gillian Murphy as Gamzatti will lead the season’s opening night cast of the ballet. Set to music by Ludwig Minkus, specially arranged by John Lanchbery,

La Bayadère features scenery by PierLuigi Samaritani, costumes by Theoni V. Aldredge and lighting by Toshiro Ogawa. The full‑length La Bayadère received its World Premiere by the Imperial Ballet at the Bolshoi Kamenny in St. Petersburg on February 4, 1877.

La Bayadère, Act II (The Kingdom of the Shades) was first performed in the West by the Leningrad‑Kirov Ballet in 196l.

Natalia Makarova first staged The Kingdom of the Shades scene for American Ballet Theatre in 1974 and it received its premiere at the State Theater in New York City on July 3 of that year, danced by Cynthia Gregory as Nikiya and Ivan Nagy as Solor. Makarova subsequently produced and choreographed the complete version of La Bayadère (in three acts) for ABT, which received its World Premiere on May 21, 1980 with Natalia Makarova as Nikiya, Anthony Dowell as Solor and Cynthia Harvey as Gamzatti.

Eight performances of Giselle begin Monday evening, June 16 with Diana Vishneva dancing the title role opposite Marcelo Gomes as Albrecht and Gillian Murphy as Myrta. Set to music by Adolphe Adam, with scenery by Gianni Quaranta, costumes by Anna Anni and lighting by Jennifer Tipton, Giselle has choreography after Jean Coralli,

Jules Perrot and Marius Petipa and has been staged for ABT by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. The world premiere of Giselle, one of the oldest continually‑performed ballets, occurred at the Theatre de l’Academie Royale de Musique in Paris on June 28, 1841, danced by Carlotta Grisi as Giselle and Lucien Petipa as Albrecht. The ballet was first presented by American Ballet Theatre (then Ballet Theatre) at the Center Theatre in New York City on January 12, 1940 with choreography by Anton Dolin and scenery and costumes by Lucinda Ballard. The leading roles were danced by Annabelle Lyon and Anton Dolin. American Ballet Theatre’s sixth production, featuring scenery by Gianni Quaranta and costumes by Anna Anni, was created for the film Dancers, produced in 1987 by Cannon Films. This production’s first public performance was given on March 20, 1987 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California, with Marianna Tcherkassky as Giselle and Kevin McKenzie as Albrecht. The current staging is by McKenzie, using the Quaranta and Anni designs.

Swan Lake, choreographed by Kevin McKenzie, will be given eight performances beginning Monday evening, June 23 with Gillian Murphy as Odette/Odile and Marcelo Gomes as Prince Siegfried. Swan Lake is set to the score by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky and features scenery and costumes by Zack Brown and lighting by Duane Schuler. This production of Swan Lake premiered on March 24, 2000 at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. with Julie Kent (Odette-Odile), Angel Corella (Prince Siegfried) and Marcelo Gomes (von Rothbart).

Coppélia, with staging by Frederic Franklin after Nicholas Sergeyev, will be given six performances, May 30 and 31 and July 3 through 5. Coppélia features music by Léo Delibes, scenery by Tony Straiges, costumes by Patricia Zipprodt and lighting by Brad Fields. Misty Copeland will lead the season’s first performance of the ballet on

Friday, May 30, dancing opposite Herman Cornejo as Franz. Franklin’s staging received its ABT premiere at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa, California on February 14, 1997, danced by Paloma Herrera (Swanilda) and Angel Corella (Franz).

ABTKids

ABTKids, American Ballet Theatre’s annual one-hour introduction to ballet, is scheduled for Saturday morning, May 17 at 11:30 A.M. All tickets for ABTKids are $25.

ABTKids Workshop Series

ABTKids Workshop Series, one-hour activity-based programs led by ABT Teaching Artists, are available to ABTKids ticket holders on Saturday, May 17 (9:30 A.M.) and to matinee ticket holders Saturday, May 31 (11:00 A.M.) and Saturday, June 14 (11:00 A.M). Saturday workshops will be held in the rehearsal studios of the Metropolitan Opera House. Tickets to the workshops are $20 per person. For tickets and more information on the ABTKids Workshop series, please call 212-419-4321.

Single tickets for American Ballet Theatre’s 2014 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House, on sale beginning Sunday, March 30 at Noon, are available at the Met box office, by phone at 212-362-6000, or online at ABT’s website www.abt.org. The Metropolitan Opera House is located on Broadway between 64th and 65th streets in New York City.

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The one casualty of the new casting is that Seo loses her Nikiya and instead dances two Gamzattis. Her style and temperament seem more well suited to Nikiya, but I'm still doubtful about her ability to carry the lead role in a classical ballet. Has she danced Nikiya before at the Met? This was probably a wise decision on ABT's part, though I can't imagine her being an ideal Gamzatti, either.

It's great to see Murphy cast in Cinderella, as she always seemed like the obvious choice for the role. I wonder if David's uncertain availability was holding up the casting announcements for those two Cinderellas and the Dreams. I have such fond memories of David as Oberon and Gillian as Titania. How wonderful to see them paired in these two ballets.

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IMO too many guest artists when so many on the home team need to be developed. From the start I thought Maria Kochetkova as a guest this year was odd. Last year was something of an emergency. Kochetkova is a fine dancer but IMO not a big ticket seller with a name and following like Cojocaru. Funny though at one time the idea of ABT importing a guest from SFA would have been shocking.

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The one casualty of the new casting is that Seo loses her Nikiya and instead dances two Gamzattis. Her style and temperament seem more well suited to Nikiya, but I'm still doubtful about her ability to carry the lead role in a classical ballet. Has she danced Nikiya before at the Met? This was probably a wise decision on ABT's part, though I can't imagine her being an ideal Gamzatti, either.

---------------------------------

I saw Seo debut in Gamzatti years ago when she was still in the corps and I thought she was very good. If I hadn't seen that performance I'd agree this role would seem like not a good fit. But she played the character quite well.

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Is it my imagination or does Vasiliev have ONLY two performances (both Don Q) listed???? Hardly seems that he is now rightfully a 'principal' (not being injured as far as I know - I'm seeing him dance Rubies in Milan on Saturday) ... as there are some ABT guest artists who are dancing more in the main Met season and certainly with greater variety in terms of roles. Surely this couldn't be because of any 'exclusion' clause vis a vis the November Mikhailovsky stint could it?. That would leave more than three months either side in any case - even if he had, say, six commitments through the ABT MET season. Wonder how he must feel ... if, of course, this wasn't at his own request. Wonder too, therefore, how long he can rightfully remain rightfully itemized as an ABT principal??? Good to see many more opportunities being given to the burgeoning home team.

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(Vasiliev was a no show during ABT's recent visit to Japan, although he was only cast in two pdd).

Very interesting!!! He may have been ill I suppose. I will assume that Osipova DID dance as contracted. Certainly she is dancing a lot in London. I'm supposed to see them both on Saturday in Milan. I will let you know if they both show up in Rubies.

I wonder if the 'breakup' means that they won't dance together very much any more. That said, they are doing their Vasiliev and Osipova show in California twice this year and are again scheduled for the Mikhailovsky in New York and a further Romeo and Juliet in Milano .... ???? I would imagine that the commercial tow would be considerable.

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A few hours ago, Vasiliev tweeted a link to clips from his gala at the Mikhailovsky, which was just a few days before the ABT Japan engagement. I don't have a link to it, but vaguely remember that he was said to be too ill/exhausted to make the trip to Japan:

http://www.mikhailovsky.ru/en/media/video/ivan_vasiliev_gala/

Buying tickets for his future engagements with Osipova looks to be a very risky venture!

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I'm assuming that the Mik will be smart, and simply cast them with different partners, so that they can both appear on the NY Tour. As for these other engagements scheduled in California and elsewehre, I certainly have my doubts. The California engagment is an Ardani production, so the question is whether their loyalty to Sergei Danilian (Ardani's head honcho) will outweigh their dislike of one another. Are tickets even on sale for their joint appearance in July in California? Personally, I would be thrilled if he ditched his scheduled performances in July with Osipova and instead appeared in NYC with the Bolshoi in Spartacus this summer. I can dream.... I saw Vasiliev as Spartacus a few years ago in D.C. and he was outstanding.

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Any mention who will ABT send to MB and RDB as part of the exchange? If Boylston's debut with MB as Gamzatti in April is part of the exchange then ABT got a hell of a deal. Whoever at ABT negotiated the exchange the Commerce Department should poach her/him as part of the trade treaty negotiating team.

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Any mention who will ABT send to MB and RDB as part of the exchange? If Boylston's debut with MB as Gamzatti in April is part of the exchange then ABT got a hell of a deal. Whoever at ABT negotiated the exchange the Commerce Department should poach her/him as part of the trade treaty negotiating team.

Isabella Boylston was part of the exchange with RDB. She danced with them in December for their Nutcracker. I know she danced Dewdrop but I can't remember is she danced any other role in that production with them.

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If Boylston's debut with MB as Gamzatti in April is part of the exchange then ABT got a hell of a deal. Whoever at ABT negotiated the exchange the Commerce Department should poach her/him as part of the trade treaty negotiating team.

Thanks for the laugh. I agree completely! I think it's reasonable to conclude that Boylston's Gamzatti in April is considered part of the exchange. Actually, I like Boylston's Gamzatti. I'd be interested to hear what the Russian audience thinks of it. ABT's best Gamzatti at present is Murphy.

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Any mention who will ABT send to MB and RDB as part of the exchange? If Boylston's debut with MB as Gamzatti in April is part of the exchange then ABT got a hell of a deal. Whoever at ABT negotiated the exchange the Commerce Department should poach her/him as part of the trade treaty negotiating team.

Isabella Boylston was part of the exchange with RDB. She danced with them in December for their Nutcracker. I know she danced Dewdrop but I can't remember is she danced any other role in that production with them.

n

She also danced the Sugar Plum Fairy. She will dance Gamzatti at MB in April. I hope she gets coaching in the role while she is there.Kevin is probably getting her ready for a promotion.

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Any mention who will ABT send to MB and RDB as part of the exchange? If Boylston's debut with MB as Gamzatti in April is part of the exchange then ABT got a hell of a deal. Whoever at ABT negotiated the exchange the Commerce Department should poach her/him as part of the trade treaty negotiating team.

Isabella Boylston was part of the exchange with RDB. She danced with them in December for their Nutcracker. I know she danced Dewdrop but I can't remember is she danced any other role in that production with them.

n

She also danced the Sugar Plum Fairy. She will dance Gamzatti at MB in April. I hope she gets coaching in the role while she is there.Kevin is probably getting her ready for a promotion.

Boylston's Twitter feed recently showed her getting coached by Tatyana Terekhova in St Petersburg for Giselle. With her debuting in that role next month, along with her past and upcoming guest appearances, I agree she's being groomed to be promoted. She's getting more opportunities (and principal parts) than any other soloist right now. I imagine it'll happen by the Met season (but I also imagined that other promotions - Gorak for one - would have been announced by now).

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I just took a quick look at the La Scala website, and it indicates that due to injury Osipova's role in Rubies is assigned to a different ballerina.

http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/opera-ballet/2013-2014/jewels.html

Ah, well, I did get to see her in Rubies twice in London with Steven McRae who was, it has to be said, wonderful. They were wonderful together. Loved how she put the twist into her second variation. She did, I understand, dance the Rubies pas again in Brussels with McRae and the Sleeping Beauty third act pas with Golding. Hope the injury is not so severe that it will stop her making her Royal debut in Sleeping Beauty (again with Golding's debut as a fully fledged RB principal) next week. Something tells me that she will be fine!! Lucky you NYers to get those two Giselles of hers with Sarafanov. That is heavenly casting .... and she looks so good with him .... and they are both currently at the peek of their powers. Do enjoy. Last time the Mikhailovsky was in London at the Coliseum we had the Osipova / Vasiliev Giselle followed by the (married partners) Novikova / Sarafanov. Both were excellent. Hope they will bring Flames next time. We had the Osipova/Vasiliev take in the Ratmansky version of Flames that was done for them at the Bolshoi. That was probably the last time you'll see that original cast I'd hasten to imagine. Still, magic CAN happen .... or so I keep telling myself. As Shaw put it: 'You never can tell, sir .... You never can tell!!' (The punctuation is mine. Shaw - who hated to be 'Georged' in public - would have detested it. Wryly, of course.)

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I'm assuming that the Mik will be smart, and simply cast them with different partners, so that they can both appear on the NY Tour. As for these other engagements scheduled in California and elsewehre, I certainly have my doubts. The California engagment is an Ardani production, so the question is whether their loyalty to Sergei Danilian (Ardani's head honcho) will outweigh their dislike of one another. Are tickets even on sale for their joint appearance in July in California? Personally, I would be thrilled if he ditched his scheduled performances in July with Osipova and instead appeared in NYC with the Bolshoi in Spartacus this summer. I can dream.... I saw Vasiliev as Spartacus a few years ago in D.C. and he was outstanding.

I have my subscription tickets, though since they moved the show dates from February to July I have been operating under the assumption it may not end up going through.

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Any mention who will ABT send to MB and RDB as part of the exchange? If Boylston's debut with MB as Gamzatti in April is part of the exchange then ABT got a hell of a deal. Whoever at ABT negotiated the exchange the Commerce Department should poach her/him as part of the trade treaty negotiating team.

Isabella Boylston was part of the exchange with RDB. She danced with them in December for their Nutcracker. I know she danced Dewdrop but I can't remember is she danced any other role in that production with them.

n

She also danced the Sugar Plum Fairy. She will dance Gamzatti at MB in April. I hope she gets coaching in the role while she is there.Kevin is probably getting her ready for a promotion.

Boylston's Twitter feed recently showed her getting coached by Tatyana Terekhova in St Petersburg for Giselle. With her debuting in that role next month, along with her past and upcoming guest appearances, I agree she's being groomed to be promoted. She's getting more opportunities (and principal parts) than any other soloist right now. I imagine it'll happen by the Met season (but I also imagined that other promotions - Gorak for one - would have been announced by now).

That is a very good preparation for her debut.It would be wonderful if ABT can get T Terekhova to coach full time the company in addition to Irina.

Surely, ABT/KM should promote several deserving corps dancers before they leave for greener pastures.Look where M Golding and Sae eun Park are now.

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I'm assuming that the Mik will be smart, and simply cast them with different partners, so that they can both appear on the NY Tour. As for these other engagements scheduled in California and elsewehre, I certainly have my doubts. The California engagment is an Ardani production, so the question is whether their loyalty to Sergei Danilian (Ardani's head honcho) will outweigh their dislike of one another. Are tickets even on sale for their joint appearance in July in California? Personally, I would be thrilled if he ditched his scheduled performances in July with Osipova and instead appeared in NYC with the Bolshoi in Spartacus this summer. I can dream.... I saw Vasiliev as Spartacus a few years ago in D.C. and he was outstanding.

I have my subscription tickets, though since they moved the show dates from February to July I have been operating under the assumption it may not end up going through.

Segerstrom is still not selling their tickets yet. The engagement looks very iffy.

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Vasiliev is scheduled to dance DQ with ABT in DC on 4/20, let's see if he's going to show without the "O" factor.

Thanks for the laugh. I agree completely! I think it's reasonable to conclude that Boylston's Gamzatti in April is considered part of the exchange. Actually, I like Boylston's Gamzatti. I'd be interested to hear what the Russian audience thinks of it. ABT's best Gamzatti at present is Murphy.

Actually I agree with you that she's an excellent Gamzatti, my earlier comment may be a little catty. A world class principal for a up-and-coming soloist just doesn't seem like an even trade to me. May be ABT threw in Susan Jones (to stage Sylvia for MB) as a sweetener.

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