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Sara Mearns as Carabosse


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22 hours ago, jkr3855 said:

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BNfXJNbl8ao/?taken-by=saramearns&hl=en
Sara Mearns seems way too young to be edged into carabosse, if this is indeed accurate??... nor should she be cast as a character dancer  ... and I really think her tendency toward drama and glamour is best when tempered by roles that call for some restraint

I hope at least that she'll be alternating it with lilac

 

 

I saw that instagram post too and really love the idea.  I'm sure Mearns won't be limited to Carabosse, I expect her do to Lilac too (best Lilac I've seen) but I'm sure her Carabosse will be great too - Delicious, glamorous, evil.  I can't wait.  She has developed a lot of stage craft over the years, so I wouldn't worry about it being lacking in nuance. I wonder if Maria Kowroski will be back to do it.   

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Carabosse has traditionally been danced by principals with either slightly or much diminished technical abilities, or soloists/corps. It's an unusual casting decision. I don't think this is a revolutionary statement. I'd prefer to see a soloist/corps do it. YMMV

Edited by jkr3855
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NYCB's Carabosse is young, beautiful, larger-than-life, and, most important of all, very glamorous. I'd be shocked if Mearns didn't shine in the role. 

 

And the role hasn't been reserved for dancers near the end of their careers with diminishing technical resources. Merrill Ashley, the role's originator, retired seven years after the ballet's 1991 premiere; she may have been in the afternoon of her career, but she was hardly on her way out the door. By way of a recent example, Marika Anderson took on the role a few seasons ago (and was wonderful).

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Since they are doing two weeks of SB, NYCB  gives alternate roles to its principal dancers so that they are fully employed during that two week period.  Mearns will probably share Lilac with Reichlin, Krohn, and Lowery.  There will probably also be some new additional Lilac's.  Giving Mearns Carabosse isn't a push toward retirement.  It's just a delicious addition to her rep to keep her engaged with the production.  I'm wondering whether they will also give her a precious metal dance.  As I recall from the last run of SB, while the first cast of precious metal dancers were fabulous, the quality of the casts diminished with the subsequent casts. 

 

Regarding Merrill Ashley's origination of Carabosse when this production premiered, I recall reading an article in which she stated that she had been training to dance Aurora.  However, due to lingering injuries, she could not dance Aurora and was given Carabosse instead.  She was very disappointed.  Although she continued on for another 7 years at the company, I don't think Ashley ever got to dance Aurora.   Am I correct about that?

Edited by abatt
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Merrill Ashley did guest with the Royal Ballet as Aurora.  Most happily so.  (Oh, and I - for just one I'm sure - would lust to see Mearns as Carabosse in Martins' production.  Sadly - with the plunging pound - in this all too strange world of ours - I fear I won't make it ... but can dream.  I so wish they would do a cinema relay.  That too I realise is probably not a practical suggestion.  Would that it were.  

Edited by meunier fan
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On 12/5/2016 at 0:24 PM, abatt said:

 

Regarding Merrill Ashley's origination of Carabosse when this production premiered, I recall reading an article in which she stated that she had been training to dance Aurora.  However, due to lingering injuries, she could not dance Aurora and was given Carabosse instead.  She was very disappointed.  Although she continued on for another 7 years at the company, I don't think Ashley ever got to dance Aurora.   Am I correct about that?

Not with NYCB. She also alternated Carabosse with Lourdes Lopez, who was good as well; Croce said that Ashley looked like Hepburn as Mary of Scotland and Lopez looked like a living, sneering Velazquez.......a 'black widow.' She commended both. Carabosse is usually done by dancers at least somewhat close to the end of their classical dancing (or corps dancers like Marika Anderson who have not been promoted) and this was true for Ashley as well, who was already over forty and had had many dreadful injuries by 1991 (I am a rabid Ashley fan.)

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