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Which Sleeping Beauty?


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Ideally, I would see Part / Gomes, but that day does not work for me. So it will be either Lane / Simkin or Kotchekova / Cornejo.

I saw Cornejo in DQ and while I liked him, he didn't blow me away as I thought he would. But everyone is raving about his Swan Lake yesterday.

Incidentally, if this makes a difference: the Weds eve with Cornejo has row G on the left aisle available and the matinee with Simkin has row K in the center.

Any thoughts?

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Ideally, I would see Part / Gomes, but that day does not work for me. So it will be either Lane / Simkin or Kotchekova / Cornejo.

I saw Cornejo in DQ and while I liked him, he didn't blow me away as I thought he would. But everyone is raving about his Swan Lake yesterday.

Incidentally, if this makes a difference: the Weds eve with Cornejo has row G on the left aisle available and the matinee with Simkin has row K in the center.

Any thoughts?

Interesting dilemma. The thing to remember about Sleeping Beauty is that it is really all about the ballerina. If it was Cojocaru/Cornejo I'd say go for that, but after seeing Kotchekova in Swan Lake, and having seen Lane in Sleeping Beauty a couple of years ago, I'd go with Lane. The caveat being that Simkin has a history of partnering problems that could throw Lane off her game and make the wedding pas kind of scary.

I'm really interested in hearing other thoughts about this.

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Underwood was to me the most talented ballerina in the corps. A few seasons ago I really thought she had an amazing potential, after seeing her in giselle and La Bayadere. Sadly, it looks like she had a really bad injury last year. When i found out that she had been given Lilac Fairy this season I was thrilled, so this is really really bad news, I had my ticket already just to see her, damn !!!

Also, I never got why Osipova debuted in SB 2 or 3 seasons ago, and since then she hasn't done it again, or am I wrong here ?

same thing with Vishneva who stopped doing first Don Q (a few seasons ago), then SB and SL, and is not even doing Sylvia this season sad.png((((

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Underwood was to me the most talented ballerina in the corps. A few seasons ago I really thought she had an amazing potential, after seeing her in giselle and La Bayadere. Sadly, it looks like she had a really bad injury last year. When i found out that she had been given Lilac Fairy this season I was thrilled, so this is really really bad news, I had my ticket already just to see her, damn !!!

Also, I never got why Osipova debuted in SB 2 or 3 seasons ago, and since then she hasn't done it again, or am I wrong here ?

same thing with Vishneva who stopped doing first Don Q (a few seasons ago), then SB and SL, and is not even doing Sylvia this season sad.png((((

I also was thrilled when she was cast as LF and terribly disappointed on her being replaced. I still remember her Zulma (or was it Moyna?) a few seasons ago. Good luck to her.

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Also, I never got why Osipova debuted in SB 2 or 3 seasons ago, and since then she hasn't done it again, or am I wrong here ?

same thing with Vishneva who stopped doing first Don Q (a few seasons ago), then SB and SL, and is not even doing Sylvia this season sad.png((((

It seems like McKenzie gives wide latitude to certain dancers to pick and choose their roles, even when ABT has invested time and money into training these individuals in a particular role that they only actually perform once at ABT.Osipova was scheduled to perform SB the season after she debuted it with ABT, but never made it back to America due to "passport" issues. (Osipova was rehearsing R&J in London at the time. Cojocaru replaced her.) I can understand why Vishneva has given up Don Q at this stage of the game, though. I think Vishneva simply does not like the ABT SB. I saw Vishneva do SB with the Mariinsky in DC a few years ago, and she was lovely. No clue why she only chose to dance Sylvia for one season. By the way, if Osipova is unable to dance her Sylvia assignment on Saturday evening, that will have been another complete waste of ABT's training resources. I know sometimes things happen that are out of your control but ....

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Also, I never got why Osipova debuted in SB 2 or 3 seasons ago, and since then she hasn't done it again, or am I wrong here ?

same thing with Vishneva who stopped doing first Don Q (a few seasons ago), then SB and SL, and is not even doing Sylvia this season sad.png((((

It seems like McKenzie gives wide latitude to certain dancers to pick and choose their roles, even when ABT has invested time and money into training these individuals in a particular role that they only actually perform once at ABT.Osipova was scheduled to perform SB the season after she debuted it with ABT, but never made it back to America due to "passport" issues. (Osipova was rehearsing R&J in London at the time. Cojocaru replaced her.) I can understand why Vishneva has given up Don Q at this stage of the game, though. I think Vishneva simply does not like the ABT SB. I saw Vishneva do SB with the Mariinsky in DC a few years ago, and she was lovely. No clue why she only chose to dance Sylvia for one season. By the way, if Osipova is unable to dance her Sylvia assignment on Saturday evening, that will have been another complete waste of ABT's training resources. I know sometimes things happen that are out of your control but ....

I have a suspicion we all tend to be more forgiving in some cases than others and I'm not sure how justified it is either way. Who knows if Vishneva gave up on Sylvia--which she danced wonderfully--or ABT decided not to invite her to dance in it this season? She certainly has cancelled at ABT. I had twice bought tickets--and airfare and hotel--to see her when she did so. Of course, I try never to hold an injury or illness against any dancer whatever my frustrations/disappointments. (And I don't assume the visa issues the year Osipova cancelled Sleeping Beauty weren't real--though certainly her management would still be to blame. I had tickets and airfare and hotel bills for that one as well.)

Perhaps I should mention that I try to design these trips so that at least I'm always interested in the repertory as well (Sylvia this year) or so that I'm seeing other dancers I especially want to see (Cornejo this year, but also Semionova). But usually at ABT, especially for full-length ballets, there is one ballerina I am especially eager to catch...In days of yore I made several Gelsey Kirkland pilgrimages solely to see HER, and she was a particularly cruel divinity.

Anyway, I personally don't think ABT has been the loser in its association with Osipova, though they haven't won as "big" as one could wish. She brings an awful lot, including an awful lot of training, to the table. And she replaced Copeland when Copeland was injured in the midst of the run of Firebirds last year.

As for whether Sleeping Beauty this year was up to Osipova or not, who knows? I don't, but I do know that one season ABT prevented her from dancing Sleeping Beauty in New York with the Mikhailovsky by exercising a no-compete clause. Ballet is a rough and tumble business.

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