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OneSwan

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    Balletgoer
  • City**
    NYC
  • State (US only)**, Country (Outside US only)**
    NY
  1. You and at least half the patrons in the audience. Myself included! I did very much enjoy the performance, despite the disappointment of not seeing Osipova in the titular role. Cornejo was fantastic, radiating purity and strength in every movement. Reyes was absolutely fine and really accredited herself well given the last minute debut. But she wasn't vivid for me, if that makes sense. Her dancing didn't draw me in, and I found myself focusing on the other dancers on stage (don't mean to suggest that focusing most of my attention on Cornejo was anything other than a pleasure.) I'll echo the others who liked Vasiliev as Orion, I thought it suited him very well. Thanks to those who reported on Part's debut in Sylvia; now I'm regreting not having taken the day off from work to make the performance.
  2. Attended yesterday's matinee performance. I echo the other posters who felt there was a significant amount of symbolism drawn from Russian history and culture which, alas, my American mind wasn't able to fathom. Still, I very much enjoyed all three pieces in the trio. I was least engaged by Piano Concerto #1, but I think that may have had a lot to do with the cast. All three parts have lots of interesting layers and would definitely be worth repeated viewings. There are playful moments, and purely beautiful moments, and heart-wrenching ones; it's quite a sweeping work. It felt like a ballet for the whole company, which was nice: lots of interesting choreography for the corps. Some notes on the performances: Veronika Part's performance was the highlight of "Symphony #9" for me: really richly detailed and nuanced. I was impressed by James Whiteside in "Chamber Symphony"; what a gift that role is to the men who are cast in it! Lots of opportunities to really shine, and I thought James did. Sarah, Yuriko, and Hee were polished and lovely, but didn't bring much individual presence to their roles. Gillian was injured and Christine Shevchenko subbed in for her in "Piano Concerto #1". She carried off the last minute performance capably, but ultimately fell rather flat for me. I hope to see more of her partner, Calvin Royal III, though. Of course he was outshone technically by Simkin, but his partnering abilities impressed me and he had this evident joy in dancing at certain moments that I found engaging. He's got some presence...would be glad to see ABT give him more chances to develop like they did with this role.
  3. Seconded. She dances with real flair and charisma. I was disappointed yesterday when someone subbed for her at the last minute in "Fancy Free", that's the kind of ballet I like her best in. I really enjoyed Sara Mearns' debut yesterday in "Allegro Brillante". It was wonderful to see how fully she threw herself into the role: such passion!
  4. I attended the 11/12 evening performance of Seven Sonatas, In the Upper Room, The Garden at Villandry, and Duets. I struggle to find much of anything to say about Duets. Clearly it didn't engage me! I found the Cage score more interesting than the dancing. Seven Sonatas was wonderful. I was left totally bemused as to why I hadn't been all that excited about it when I first saw it at Avery Fisher Hall two years ago (well, perhaps the awful sight lines there had something to do with that!) I recall thinking it was a pretty, accomplished ballet, but not being wowed. Last night, however, I found it to truly be something special. It's a really rich ballet, one which I'm now eager to see again. It has real emotional nuance and complexity despite being plotless; it's an abstract ballet, but you feel that something is at stake. Maria Riccetto was particularly mesmerizing: she seemed impassioned and inspired, more lyrical and compelling than I've ever seen her before. The Garden of Villandry was disappointing to me. Watching from up in the balcony I admittedly didn't have the best vantage point for this small-scale, intimate work. Still, I imagine from any angle I would have found the piece to be choreographically undistinguished (and repetitive), as well as lacking any kind of dramatic momentum: the ballet ends in just the same place it started off, and we have learned nothing about the characters by the end of the ballet that we didn't know within the first few minutes. The suitors, as danced by Roddy Doble and Gennadi Saveliev, are utterly identical: the ballerina could save herself a lot of time spent pawing at the air in the direction of whichever suitor isn't currently partnering her and just done a coin toss! Said ballerina, Veronika Part, was lovely but in a pretty bland way. I couldn't help but wonder why ABT couldn't have given us Lilac Garden instead: it's clearly the superior "love triangle in an Edwardian garden" ballet. The evening ended on a jubilant note with Tharp's In the Upper Room. I'd never seen it before and it was just: wow. The entire cast was great, but Luciana Paris and Simone Messmer were particular stand outs. They absolutely threw themselves into their performances, and their joy in doing so was wonderfully palpable. Their joy became my joy, and I found myself beaming by the end of the ballet.
  5. I saw three Mariisnky performances this past week: the Tuesday evening Little Humpbacked Horse with Tereshkina and Shyklarov, the Thursday evening Anna Karenina with Kondaurova, and the Friday evening mixed bill of Carmen and Symphony in C. Friday: I had mixed feelings about Carmen. I really liked the simple, starkly dramatic set of a bull ring and high backed chairs looming ominously above it. And I liked some of the choreography and felt it articulated the characters well: for example, the oft-repeated step where Vishneva would raise her right leg in front of her and point her foot out, making her leg into a kind of saber...sexy and appropriately combative for Vishneva's very glamorous, imperious Carmen. But I thought the story was really muddied, and Vishneva and her three partners (Smekalov, Ivanchenko, I can't remember who subbed in for Pykhachov) had pretty tepid chemistry. Vishneva lacked the passion and fire I've seen her bring to other roles. Not a bad performance by any means, but I expected more from her. Lopatkina gave the performance of the night in Symphony in C, in which she was truly glorious. Seeing her after Somova in the first allegro was a real study in contrasts. I saw Somova last in 2008 when the Mariinsky were at City Center and thought she was less awkward Friday than she was then, but the level of her dancing is still noticeably sub par in comparison to every other Mariinsky ballerina I've seen in a principal role (and that includes dancers like Shirinkina who are still ranked with the corps). I don't dislike extreme extensions in and of themselves, but she still doesn't seem fully in control of her long, super-flexible limbs: she snaps in and out of these extreme poses instead of gracefully developing her arabesque. She did show a lightness and fleetness which could be compelling, if it didn't so often feel rushed and insubstantial due to her poor timing and sense of the music. Lopatkina, on the other hand, danced with such an amazingly regal gravity. Her steps seem to blossom as she dances them; they just unfurl in the most beautiful way. I wish I could articulate it better. My favorite moment of her performance was the section where Korsuntsev was standing behind her and they did a series of steps where his arms would be in first position while hers were in fifth, and then vice versa. It was so simple but so very, very exquisite. I really loved Shklyarov in the third section of Symphony in C and was happy to get to see him again after enjoying him so much in the LHH. And Obraztsova and Shirinkina held their own, particularly Shirinkina, who seems like one to watch. Thursday: I went in with very low expectations after having read the pretty disappointed posts here about the Monday performance by Vishneva. But I thought Kondaurova was great! She is really a true artist in the way that she can develop a character and then manifest her through every little gesture and step she makes on stage. Batuschan said that Lopatkina's Anna was like Madame Bovary, and I felt there were elements of that character in Kondaurova's Anna as well. Kondaurova played Anna at first as an almost nervously restless, bored woman who wanted more from life than what marriage with Karenin and her position in society gave to her. She didn't seem to love Vronsky himself (who was danced by Yermakov as very aggressive, demanding, almost predatory) so much as want desperately to love and feel loved. In her pas de deux with Yermakov Kondaurova's arms were often reaching past him: it was as though even when her Anna was with Vronsky she was still reaching for more and never felt fully satisfied and secure in his love. I loved how after she and Yermakov danced the first pas de deux that represented the consummation of their affair Kondaurova brought her arms around herself and slowly caressed them while she was sitting on the floor next to the prone Yermakov: it was as though even after experiencing passion with Vronsky her Anna still felt cold and alone and craving connection. These scenes made a heartbreaking contrast with how she was with the boy playing her son, who she totally curled herself around and enveloped in her arms. The final moments of the performance were some of the most emotionally wrenching and intense I've ever seen in a ballet. I left the performance having been completely blown away by Kondaurova. Tuesday: Shyklarov was such a delight, and Tereshkina was a fun, gutsy, playful Tsar Maiden. Kondaurova was lovely in her two all too brief appearances as the Young Mare and Sea Princess. Strong performances all around, but I hated the production itself. LHH showed me that there is, in fact, a ballet with uglier costumes than ABT's Sleeping Beauty. The sets were equally awful. The ballet itself is pretty charming, though there are some places where it feels disjointed, like the detour into dancing-birch-tree-people land while Ivan and the horse are on their way to the Tsar. All in all, I so very much enjoyed the Mariisnky's residence at the Met. I wish they came to NYC more often!
  6. I would love to see Veronika Part dance Giselle. In her July 2011 Dance magazine feature she says she hopes to dance the role: Kevin, please listen! And I echo the earlier suggestion that it would be great to see her do Manon with Marcelo. I'd also like to see Misty Copeland as Kitri.
  7. Notes from my three day Sleeping Beauty marathon: Thursday: Irina, Marcelo, Hee Seo. I decided to attend this performance after enjoying Hee Seo so much in smaller roles throughout the season. I thought it was a good debut, but I was expecting a bit more. Seo gave a gracious, graceful performance (beautiful port de bras, beautiful balances), but didn't seem convincingly authoritative or powerful: hers was not a fairy you really felt could go toe to toe with Nancy Raffa's gleefully wicked Carabosse. I hope her interpretation of the role develops with time and gets a bit more spine to complement the warmth and tenderness in evidence on Thursday night. Marcelo was, as always, the most ardent and devoted of Princes (and partners). I count myself lucky that he ended up subbing in for Maxim, whose performance I was expecting to have to endure. I heartily agree with Christine174's earlier comment that after everything Marcelo's done this season (so much subbing!) he should be given "a huge huge bonus and a round-trip ticket to Hawaii" Maybe we can take up a collection. Irina gave an okay, if not especially engaging or exciting, performance of Aurora. She is so gorgeous, but I just don't find her to be a beautiful dancer. Hobbled-looking jumps and awkwardly ear-whacking arabesques marred her performance. Friday: Alina, Johann, Kajiya Alina was just on fire Friday night. By miles the best Aurora I've ever seen. Every step was a delight to watch if not, perhaps, a delight to dance: her face showed a lot of strain and concentration, particularly in the first act. ABT's SB isn't the most emotionally nuanced of ballets, but I appreciated how Alina gave her Aurora distinct shadings in each of her three scenes, something many ABT ballerinas (like Irina) don't do. She was girlish and eager to please at her birthday party, dreamy and yearning in the vision scene, and confident and tender during the wedding scene. Johann was a wonderfully attentive partner who seemed to enable her to be her very best. I didn't find him thrilling in his solos: it was really Alina's night. And what a night it was! Just stunning. Kajiya was a disappointing Lilac Fairy (she substituted for Maria Riccetto). She was pretty "blah" and undistinguished. I'm struggling only two days later to remember much about her performance. Saturday matinee: Gillian, Marcelo, Veronika Gillian did a strong, assured Aurora, but coming after Alina's it felt a bit anti-climatic and underwhelming. Marcelo was, as always, a joy. But the performance, for me, really belonged to Veronika. Lilac Fairy is one of my favorites of her roles: I find her to be just about perfect in it. She manages to be radiant and warm while at the same time displaying a quiet, effortless, thoroughly convincing authority. Her Lilac is really regal: she came across as more of a princess than Gillian's Aurora did. Unlike Seo's or Kajiya's, Veronika's was a Lilac Fairy who could convincingly face down Carabosse and drive the action of the ballet forward. She was utterly commanding, and thoroughly captivating to watch: even her smallest gestures were brimming with feeling, meaning, and intent. I'll stop gushing about Veronika now and give some attention to Misty Copeland and Sascha Radetsky, who did a surprisingly delightful Bluebird pas de deux. Sascha and Misty both looked like they were having a ball. They made what is so often just a (thrilling, when well-executed) series of tricky jumps and leaps into a playful, flirtatious, and altogether charming little vignette that reminded me that there is actually supposed to be a story behind the pas de deux (of the princess falling in love with the bluebird). I don't know why Sacha's not being given more opportunities. Especially when the principal male ranks are thinning and Sascha gained all that experience dancing principal roles with the DNB. I'd also like to see Misty get more cracks at bigger soloist roles like Bluebird: when she gets them I think she really rises to the occasion. She definitely did on Saturday. She has so much personality when she dances, so much attack and charisma. I feel like she might be better off across the plaza, but ABT is lucky to have her.
  8. Regarding Friday night's Part/Stearns Swan Lake I very much agree with the earlier poster who wrote: "I fail to see why a Swan Queen of her stature has to have a novice Prince." I look forward to seeing Veronika in Swan Lake every year and this performance was such a disappointment to me. Veronika can be so heartbreaking in this role, but it really felt like she was ill at ease and holding back on Friday and I attribute this mostly to the deficiencies of Corey in partnering her. Veronika usually makes such beautiful use of her expressive Vaganova back, particularly when she dances Odette, and on Friday she was uncharacteristically stiff throughout the performance. Her performance seemed frozen emotionally as well, and I didn't feel any connection or trust between her and Corey. They didn't seem like people who wanted to be on the same stage, let alone die for their love of one another. I think ABT needs to give up on trying to make this partnership happen. Over the years I've spent watching Veronika I've noticed that her relationship with her partner seems to affect her own, individual performance more strongly than for many of the other ABT ballerinas: when she isn't totally confident in her partner she can come across as tense, restrained, and simply uncomfortable, as she did on Friday night. But with a partner like Marcelo, she can outshine any other ballerina in the company in Swan Lake. I hope that ABT gives her the chance to shine in this role again next season. Despite my disappointment in Veronika and Corey's partnership, the evening had bright spots. Veronika's performance was only lackluster by the (very high) standards her past Odette/Odile's have set. In a pleasant surprise, her fouettes were the strongest I've seen from her. While Corey was bland dramatically and lacked stage presence and connection with his partner, at least his solos were well-executed and engaging. Jared Matthews and Hee Seo were both truly excellent (and Melanie Hamrick solid if not as exciting) in the peasant pas de trois. Hee Seo has become one of the highlights of this ABT season for me; I'm consistently impressed and excited by her performances. I hope to catch her Lilac Fairy this season, but next year I hope we can see her as Aurora.
  9. I saw Coppelia the evening of Monday the 21st, with Osipova and Simkin. It was my first time seeing ABT's production which, like Colleen, I don't think compares favorably with City Ballet's version. I also found it to be slow-paced, as well as lacking in narrative cohesion. But Osipova and Simkin were truly wonderful, so I ended up very much enjoying what would otherwise have been a pretty lackluster ballet. Osipova was a spunky, utterly charming Coppelia and her pirouettes and jumps were a particular delight. This was my second time seeing her, and I enjoyed her more in this role than in the role of Aurora, which I saw her dance last summer. She seemed more confident and vivid on stage last night than in last summer's SB. Simkin's acting was not as strong as Osipova's, but he was just breathtaking in his Act III solos. Once Osipova left the stage for him to begin his first solo it felt like he'd been let off a leash. I've never seen another male dancer who can do the jumps and leaps that he can. He is not yet the most confident or engaged partner, and his acting is still developing, but when he is dancing by himself he is just such an absolute joy to watch. He's one of the most exciting dancers I've ever seen, and I look forward to watching him for many, many years to come. The corps and soloists were not giving their finest performances on Monday night, but Hee Seo was very lovely as Prayer. Beautiful, impressive balances and port de bras. Her performance made me sorry that I was out of the country for her Giselle debut earlier this season. I hope that the company continues to give her a chance at principal roles.
  10. I attended last night's performance of Swan Lake, with Sara Mearns and Jared Angle dancing the principal roles. It was my first time seeing NYCB's full evening Swan Lake, which I found I mostly disliked, but putting that aside... Sara Mearns was wonderful! Her Odile was truly stunning, one of the very best I've seen. So many ballerinas dance Odile so seductively and vampishly as to tip over into camp (I'm thinking of you, Irina Dvorovenko!), but Mearns isn't one of them. Her Odile was utterly self-possessed, completely in control of the ballroom but existing in a world of her own. No pawn of Von Rothbart, this one. It was a really distinctive and fully realized interpretation of the role. Her use of her arms was particularly wonderful: her movements with them were so strong, it was like she was almost literally carving out a space apart for herself. I wish that her Odette was up to the level of her Odile, but I didn't find it to be. While she danced beautifully, I didn't find her Odette to be engrossing and artistically fleshed out like her Black Swan was. It was lovely, but it wasn't unique. Jared Angle was not much help here: though he partnered her ably and very responsively from a technical standpoint, I felt like he and Mearns had zero chemistry together. As for other performances... Daniel Ulbricht was a really impressive Jester. So much fun to watch, it made the pain of looking at his horrifically ugly costumes tolerable. Tiler Peck was absolutely delightful in the pas de quatre in the second act: so quick and light and clever. Alina Dronova was another highlight of the second act, in Neapolitan. I find her to be a really charming dancer and I wish she got featured a bit more. I really look forward to seeing Sara Mearns dance Odette/Odile again next season. I think that her Odette will only get better, and I can't wait to see what she eventually brings to the role.
  11. OneSwan

    Alina Somova

    I'd encourage you to exchange (though, if you have a ticket to her 02/10 performance at least you'd have the consolation of seeing the exquisite Ekaterina Kondaurova as Myrtha!). I saw Somova live several times in 2008 and found her to be graceless and utterly lacking in musicality. Why see Somova when you could see Tereshkina, Vishneva, or Lopatkina instead?
  12. Today (12/30) I saw the matinee performance with Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes. Like several of those who wrote about earlier performances, I had decidedly mixed feelings about this version of Nutcracker. The big dramatic conceit of Ratmansky's production is that this is a story about the tension between childhood and maturity. Ratmansky builds a narrative around this that extends through the entire ballet, so this production differs from others I've seen where the dramatic action is entirely contained in the first act, and the second is just a celebration. Unfortunately there are a number of places in the ballet where Ratmansky's choreography seems out of sync with the score, and this is apparent from the very first scene. The curtain rises on a chef and two maids incongruously leaping and spinning about the kitchen. The scene felt contrived and tacked on, and it concluded nonsensically (why is Drosselmeyer arriving at the Stahlbaum's in the kitchen? And why is the “giant” Nutcracker with him?). Most troublingly, it lacked warmth and conviviality, as did the party scene which followed. I thought the battle scene was staged well and particularly liked its set (a giant chair, from which Clara watches the battle before throwing her slipper). I didn't dislike the snowflakes-cum-Wilis as much as most have seemed to, but felt like the scene never really took off. It would have been better, I think, if Clara and the Prince had been lost offstage and left the snowflakes alone to dance, instead of constantly running around amongst them. The first half of Act II was disappointing to me. Clara and the Prince arrive in some sort of Wedgewood U.N., presided over by an oddly Arabian Nights-style Sugarplum and Cavalier. Their costumes are awful enough to rival what to me are the gold standard for terrible ABT costumes: the princes in the first act of their current Sleeping Beauty. The national dances are mostly uninspired. Arabian is a particular let down: it's a weird little sexual psychodrama and it feels completely out of place. Chinese and Mother Ginger are far and away the highlights and both are a lot of fun. The sugarplum pas de deux (here danced by the grown up doubles of Clara and the Prince) begins with young Clara and the Prince disappearing into the giant version of Clara's dollhouse from which Clara and the Prince have just emerged. I felt like Ratmansky's decision to give the sugarplum pas de deux to Clara and the Prince fit really well with the music: in its grandeur and sadness it seemed fitting as they experience the joy and anguish of real, grown up love. The final scene, where Clara wakes up at home in bed and cries until she finds the nutcracker doll under her pillow, is likewise deeply poignant. These scenes made me wish the rest of the ballet was on their level. Veronika and Marcelo are two of my favorite dancers, but this wasn't one of their best performances. Marcelo did an admirable job with the big pas de deux's endless series of lifts, and Veronika was beautifully emotive, but the performance did not have the nuance or spark that they bring to so many of their other roles. This Nutcracker was worth seeing once for its intriguingly divergent take on such a familiar ballet. Though I see City Ballet's Nutcracker every holiday season, this production won't be one I see again.
  13. I saw the opening night performance (Friday 11/26) with Jenifer Ringer (Sugarplum), Jared Angle (Cavalier), and Ashley Bouder (Dewdrop). It was interesting to watch Jenifer and Ashley in the same act because they're such very different dancers. Neither Jenifer or Jared has Ashley's whiz bang technique but I really enjoyed them in their roles. I thought Jenifer was a very tender and maternal Sugarplum, very lovely, and her partnering with Jared had a true warmth to it. I don't think Jenifer shines as much in solos but I love how she dances pas de deux and interacts with other dancers (even in minor scenes, as when listening to the Prince's pantomime or leading the little angels, she seemed dramatically present and engaged with the other dancers in a very rich way). Last year I saw Ashley as Sugarplum for the first time and I like her much more as Dewdrop: I think the role is just better suited to her (in part because there's no pas de deux) and obviously it really showcases her remarkable turns. Teresa Reichlen's Coffee was a highlight for me Friday night, as always, and I'm so glad she's continued to dance the role even after her promotion. I was amused by how Sean Suozzi, after doing a very reined in and tentative Candy Cane, seemed to regain his confidence after his big solo was over, and treated the audience to a much more enthusiastic set of jumps at the very end of the ballet (when the sweets dancers are bidding Marie and the Prince goodbye). Do I see any individuality from one year to the next? I do. Partly from seeing different dancers but I also find that I notice new aspects of the ballet each year...at least so far!
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