Helene Posted September 28, 2015 Share Posted September 28, 2015 We have a thread on the Bouder pregnancy here: http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/40681-ashley-bouder-announces-her-forthcoming-cygnet/?hl=cygnet Link to comment
abatt Posted September 28, 2015 Author Share Posted September 28, 2015 I saw each of the SL casts. The only one I saw twice was Mearns and T. Angle. Russell Janzen may not be the most technically brilliant dancer, but I thought he was the most engaging of the three Siegfrieds. His partnering was always secure. There was a freshness to his acting, and I thought there was a romantic connection and ardor in his encounters with Reichlin. I thought Reichlin did better witht he ballroom act than in the adagio white acts. She had no trouble with the technical demands. In fact, the black act was her strongest. However, sometimes in the adagio sections she rushed through the choreography with no stretch of her line. She also failed to convey what little mime exists in this production. In the final act where she mimes tears, she ran the back of her hand along the side of her face. That gesture had no meaning. All in all, shw was better than during the last run of SL. I had skipped Bouder's last outing in this ballet (2013?) because I found her performance so disappointing.back in 2011 or 2010. She has improved, but there are still problems with choppy phrasing. She is frequently more concerned about hitting the next position than connecting each dance phrase to create a flow. That being said, she killed the fouettes with great speed and double fouettes. She overdid the laughing mockery in the ballroom act. The most satisfying of the O/Os was Mearns. While all of these ladies could use training in increasing the fluidity of their arms and hands, Mearns was the best of the bunch. One thing I noticed during this run of SL is that Mearns' use of her back and spine has diminshed in this role compared to her prior performances. I'm not sure whether that's due to age or a choice, based on her previous long term back injury that kept her off the stage for a very long time. Her's was the most compelling of the Odettes, and the most moving. Her performance on Tuesday was not her best effort. Her Sat matinee was much better. She did not complete the fouettes at either performance, but the Saturday performance was much stronger. I think she completed something like 28 or 29 before she came off pointe, but I really wasn't counting. A look of fierce determination came over her face when she made her entrance for the foiettes - like she was taking her final exam on fouettes. I wrote about Sterling already, above. As for the smaller roles, Huxley and Ulbricht were both excellent in pas de quatre, as were M. Fairchild, T. Peck. A. Scheller and A. Isaacs. In the pas de quatre, Krohn and LeCrone seemed out of their depth. Joseph Gordon was fantastic as Benno. Looking forward to the company's resumption of rep performances this week. Forgive the typos. Link to comment
abatt Posted September 28, 2015 Author Share Posted September 28, 2015 PS- Russell Janzen's hair is niow black, and Bouder is a blonde. I remember Janzen's hair being more in the brown range. Link to comment
NinaFan Posted September 29, 2015 Share Posted September 29, 2015 PS- Russell Janzen's hair is niow black, and Bouder is a blonde. I remember Janzen's hair being more in the brown range. Yes, you're right that Janzen's hair was brown. He must have just colored it black, as I saw him rehearsing last Wednesday and it was still the usual medium brown. Link to comment
Susu_nyc Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Other than the four principals from this run and Maria Kowroski, have any current company members performed Odette/Odile? I would like to see Lauren Lovette take on the challenge. Link to comment
abatt Posted October 1, 2015 Author Share Posted October 1, 2015 Somogyi did O/O many years ago. Link to comment
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