Amicos

I’d love to know about Brandt’s debut. Did anyone see her performance last night?

Yeah, this is great. If McK is going to continue to snub her, perhaps she can start a great guest artist career and dance all the roles she should be dancing while in her prime!

I’m so disappointed with the casting, or shall I say, the non-casting of Lane. It’s bad enough that KMc’s dislike for her is so glaringly (if not shamelessly) obvious, but to cast Gorak opposite her in the (1) R&J he gave her is just cruel...oh and a matinee too? Wow.

Yeah, that is a shame. I remember forever ago an AD of mine said...if you make a mistake, nobody will know except the dancers in the wings unless you draw attention to it...most of the time, that’s absolutely true. I hate to hear Lane struggle with this, she really is one of the most lovely dancers ABT has. That said, I’d still rather see her than some of the others ABT has to offer these days, mistakes and all. And yes, when she’s “on” no one can touch her (i.e., Manon)

Agreed...and a real disservice to the company as a whole.

I have to say, I’m shocked that Ahn and Bell are the only promotions this year with the Principal male roster being what it is. I mean Bolle is gone, Hallberg, it seems, prefers dancing elsewhere, Simkin is definitely splitting his time and Lendorf seems to be plagued with injury....has ABT ever done another set of promotions in the same year as the initial one or are they just planning on using the soloists for principal roles indefinitely? (Yes, I’m a bit bugged!).

As others have mentioned, it doesn’t seem likely that there are going to be female Principal promotions this year though if there were/are, I’d say Trenary is hands down next up (Brandt as close 2nd). For principal male promotions this year, Forster and Hoven get my vote. Clearly Bell is on the Principal track though I think a year (at least) as soloist first, seems appropriate. Corps to soloist promotions, I predict only male this year as well. Bell is a shoe in and Shayer is certainly deserving, even with the injuries. Perhaps Ahn?

I was at the Saturday 8p show. Can’t say I enjoyed it nor can I say I didn’t like it which is the problem. I can’t say I felt much of anything. The ballet was just gray, literally (costumes, sets, even the chair!) but also gray emotionally. The lighting, sets and costumes certainly contributed to that but more than anything it was the monotonous, angular, repetitious choreography that prevented me from attaching to any of the characters in any meaningful way (with the exception of the role of Adele played/dance by Zimmi Coker). I know the story of Jane Eyre well, though I found myself thinking...what’s going on there? Perhaps, if there was more actual dancing to break up the (odd) mime, or brighter scenes, or something?! All of this said, there were a few times in the long one hour acts (one intermission...ack!) that I thought were quite nice; the music overall was enjoyable especially the scene with Young Jane and her friend. I enjoyed the dancing in that scene too (Catherine Hurlin and Anabel Katsnelson). I also thought the first PDD (Devon Teuscher and James Whiteside was nice, the music especially). I thought both fire scenes were very well done and Cassandra Trenary was really really good. I did like the scene with her and Whiteside near the end. Speaking of Whiteside, as others have said, I thought he did a great job as Rochester. Teuscher was also good but again, the choreography was so boring to me, my eyes just wandered. The last scene was a bit moving between Jane and Rochester but I thought it could have been so much more. I like Sarah Lane a lot but did not like her choreography at all. The party scene, or whatever that was, could have been deleted without much notice. Zimmi Coker was a breath of fresh air every time she was on stage, such energy and presence. My only complaint was that I wish the choreography had more actual dancing. I’m definitely going to be looking out for her.

Hmmm. Weird. They updated other Corps photos too and nothing about promotions. Then again, their website always lagged.

Re: Gisele. Looks like ABT just updated her photo in the dancer section. Think that would be unusual if she left the company.

Great news, congrats to all. Looking forward to seeing all of their potential come to fruition, providing KMc actually uses them!

I noticed Coker in Swan Lake and had read several comments about her in La Bayadere. In SL she was in front stage right. She was solid in her technique, beautiful arms, nice feet. I believe she was promoted to the Corps this month. She’s one to watch methinks!

This is my first post at BA, though I have been reading posts here for quite sometime. Sadly, I am only able to make it to NYC for an ABT show once a year. I envy those of you that can go to several! This year I chose Swan Lake (it's literally been 30 years since I've seen it) with Teuscher, Stearns and Zhurbin/Forster at the helm. Here's what I thought... First, someone in a previous post had mentioned a swan puppet? I had no idea what that meant until the prologue. I've never seen von Rothbart wrestle a swan before and have to say I spontaneously chuckled. Fortunately, I caught myself before I actually made a noise! Someone also mentioned a "snooze fest" in Act 1 and some other parts of the ballet, which I was surprised by but have to admit, I found myself quite bored in sections. The costumes were beautiful though in some scenes looked quite heavy? Sets were lovely. Orchestra had a rocky start in the very beginning but settled well and played great. I absolutely love this music! Now for the dancing...From my experience in the ballet world, arms are among the last to develop and not everyone truly masters them. Devon Teuscher, however, has with a vengeance. From the center of her back to the tips of her fingers, every bone and ligament was used. I was mesmerized by her Odette due to her use of her arms more than anything else. I had seen an interview of her once talking about her difficulty with long, luscious arabesques and unfortunately she is still struggling with them, which was a tad disappointing. Many of them didn't even reach 90 degrees. Her Odile was exciting, with a stark contrast to Odette as expected. Being a turner, she had no trouble with her fouettes, except I think they traveled way too much and the musicality could use improvement. That said, her quad pirouette at the end wasn’t shabby! She was also doing something with her acting towards the audience; giving these "ah ha, I'm fooling him" looks. Unfortunately, I don't think it worked. It was distracting, if not comical. Overall though, she is a lovely dancer and I really look forward to watching her mature. Cory Stearns was not impressive to me at all. His physique and acting were good but he seemed heavy, too close to the ground in his jumps. His turns were a bit off as well. I was not impressed and even disappointed after I saw Tom Forster as purple Rothbart appear in Act 3. Wow! Why wasn't he Siegfried? His jumps soared, bravado shined. He commanded the stage for the short time he was on it. Hoping he gets more attention from KMc! Stephanie Williams and Zhong-Jing Fang danced the big swans. The contrast was striking. Fang was light and airy. She held balances (attitude half turn) and had a gorgeous line. Williams however did not look good to me and was distracting in her heaviness (not talking about weight). I was a bit surprised for ABT, even corps members. The Cygnettes did a very good job; tight and clean. Catherine Hurlin, Katherine Williams and Blaine Hoven were up for the Pas de Trois and it was lovely. I do hope Hurlin makes soloist soon, would love to see what she is capable of over her career. The rest of the cast was good but I thought there was a lot of disparity among the dancers. Some were fresh, light on their feet, beautiful lines, clean turns, gorgeous feet, overall lovely technique. Others seemed heavy (again, not weight), bored maybe, a tad sloppy in parts. Could it be lack of rehearsal, rehearsal notes or attention? I thoroughly enjoyed myself and am glad I saw the show. Can't wait to see more!