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ABT To Unveil New Sleeping Beauty For 75th Anniversary


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Volcanohunter: I really don't remember, but I'll watch for it on Friday for you.

And to be clear, I think the style of the production is great; it just seems at odds with the flash-bang-whirl of the Met Season, fly-in guest artist schedule, especially when there does seem to be little rehearsal time and, in the past, a lack of emphasis on blending styles. I hope it is something that isn't lost in the rush or discarded when it becomes too hard to schedule the time for fixing it--that's my only point.

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Just to get us started, here's the biggies for opening night casting:

...

Plus what seemed to be an infinite supply of corps dancers, extras, and dancing children.

That seems to be standard for all productions of SB...

But not for ABT's previous version, which, despite its enormous, ripped-right-out-of-a-Thomas Kinkaid castle seemed oddly underpopulated! There were only two children and eight couples in the garland dance, for instance, and what looked to be about a 2-to-1 ratio of fairies to courtiers in the Prologue.

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I saw the premiere last night, and it went very well. The sets and costumes are beautiful, harmonious, and opulent. There are a lot of wigs.

Choreographically, as ksk04 reported, the chainés were all done on a low demi-pointe, except in Aurora's last act variation. I think the only men who did a pirouette were Simkin as Bluebird and Marcelo in his last act variation. All pirouettes were mid-calf that I recall, except for an accidental blooper. The Prince has only the Act III variation, and it is a deceptively killer variation - there's no walking to a corner to prepare for coupé-jetés. The diagonal in the Bluebird-Princess Florine pas de deux with brisé volée with a relevé to arabesque, chassé and pas de chat had the arabesque on demi-pointe by Princess Florine.

I don't think the men of the company had much dancing except for the fairies' cavaliers in the Prologue, Bluebird, and the Prince. The corps de ballet did beautifully in the Prologue and Vision scene. When the women stand on one leg, which these days is called "B Plus," here, the foot on the non-standing leg is not fully stretched but is softy broken on demi-pointe. Everything is stylistically softer than what has developed in ballet over the last decades, and it was fascinating to take it in. The port de bras is soft, no exaggerated lines, it was more romantic in feel than what we tend to consider classical ballet, at least these days. There were no penché arabesques, no high extensions, no split jetés - it was wonderful to see dancers attempt to dance with quality, grace, charm, gentleness.

In the Vision Scene, Aurora's variation is to the music danced by the Lilac Fairy in the Russian versions or what Nureyev used as the Prince's solo in the Vision Scene in his production. The pirouettes are not for counting, as Vishneva did only single pirouettes for the first two unsupported pirouettes in her Act I solo. The Rose Adagio, which she floated through, ended with an unsupported double pirouette from Aurora.

Visneva, whom I've seen dance Aurora with the Mariinski, was superb. Her Act I Aurora was an effervescent, high-spirited, spontaneous young girl. Her Vision Scene was gorgeous, romantic, beautiful arms, musical, expressive, sublime. Her Act III Aurora was gracious, radiant, beaming, generous. I loved her in the role. Marcelo Gomez was completely at ease and a pillar, and he and Vishneva were a joyous couple. I don't know if I've seen Christine Trenary before, but she was a beautiful and charming Princess Florine.

I did not like the Lilac Fairy's long costume, I'm sorry to say that with the wig, huge feather headdress, lilac tights, shoes, and gloves, the majestic Veronika Part looked like she was dressed for the Golden Horseshoe Saloon at Disneyland, which is not located far from Segerstrom Center for the Performing Arts. I also did not feel Aurora's Act I costume was effective; her friends' dresses were prettier.

As for the Prologue variations, I particularly liked Stella Abrera's attack and presentation as Violente (Golden Vine in some versions) and Sarah Lane's soulfulness as the Breadcrumb Fairy. Ms. Part projected nervousness in her solo and made it look difficult (not that it's not) and had had difficulty with the last pirouette; the variation for the Lilac Fairy is similar to the Royal Ballet version; she was relaxed and generous after she got through the solo.

They need to do something about the King's royal robe in the Prologue, as is was often lying in an untidy heap in front of him, behind him, beside him . . . . I loved Tatiana Ratmansky as the Queen, she had a delightful coquettish air and affection for her husband. I found myself watching Roman Zhurban as the Indian Prince in Act I, he was truly entertaining! Leann Underwood was quite vulnerable and expressive in movement and her acting as the Countess - she handled the costume so well and moved so effortlessly, it made me want to see her in a true dancing role. Gemma Bond was lovely as Cinderella, and I wished she had danced one of the Prologue fairies. I did not care for Isabella Boylston as the Diamond Fairy, her hands were spikey and stiff and seemed to have an animation that had nothing to do with the choreography. (I am seeing her Aurora on Saturday with Joseph Gorak.)

My hat is most off to the glorious Diana Vishneva. Twice at the beginning of Act III, her little pages either stepped on her long gossamer cape or her dress, so that she could not walk forward. And both times, when she had to position herself and her long costume downstage right while the fairy tale characters came on, and she turned and gave the most beautiful, loving smile to her little pages and then she greeted each fairy tale character with grace and brilliant warmth. What a ballerina she is.

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The Bluebird variation was the short version, though it felt slightly longer than the Russian one, but that may be my imagination. The whole BB pas was completely charming, and the grand pas actually makes sense now in terms of the steps they do: the version we normally see always felt asymmetric to me in terms of the steps she does versus what he does.

I think ksk accurately describes what we saw on stage last night, and I think it's great. I think it's great that they have done all of this in service to the art of ballet. It wasn't about superstars doing tricks, but it was all in service to the dramatic arc of the story. The company danced beautifully and the mime, port de bras, and epaulement all had meaning. They showed that you don't need tricks to get the audience on your side. Yes, some of the dancers looked a bit uncomfortable doing it in the old-school style, but it's important for them to try rather than be stuck at where they are. I hope this, along with Ratmansky's long-term employment, is a sign of the direction ABT's going. This was the best dancing I'd seen them do in a long time.

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It wasn't about superstars doing tricks, but it was all in service to the dramatic arc of the story. The company danced beautifully and the mime, port de bras, and epaulement all had meaning. They showed that you don't need tricks to get the audience on your side. Yes, some of the dancers looked a bit uncomfortable doing it in the old-school style, but it's important for them to try rather than be stuck at where they are.

Totally agree with this. I think this style is also something that will settle into some of the dancers over time, hopefully. Changing instincts about the way you've been even standing onstage, for your entire career, is something small that really requires on-stage practice to get right. For now, they all have to be extra vigilant about hitting it all properly and that will ease with time.

I agree with Josette that Boylston stood out badly for me as the Diamond Fairy; her solo seemed to mark a jarring stylistic variation from almost everything else we saw. I will be interested to hear if she looks better and softens up as Aurora, so I am glad you'll be able to report.

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Just to report that you'll have one more (rarely-posting!) member present for this production: I'll be there on Saturday night in my long-held seat just a few rows from the stage. Many thanks to earlier posters who are thereby prepping me for what I'm to see . . . Sounds as if I'm going to be very pleased indeed! Will be closely observing in order to post any interesting details which might escape the sharp eyes of other posters. Any comments about the pre-performance lecture? Who was the speaker?

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Thank you also to Josette and Andre Yew for your reports.

There were no penché arabesques, no high extensions, no split jetés - it was wonderful to see dancers attempt to dance with quality, grace, charm, gentleness.

I can't help but wonder how willing Svetlana Zakharova will be to play along with this approach once the production reaches La Scala. I love the idea of not seeing the underside of the ballerina's tutu.

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Thanks for the link to the OC Register review -- I thought that Lenihan made a very interesting point at the end.

"What a gift, in this day and age when ballet companies are morphing into more “contemporary” ones, to be mulling over questions about ballet."

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I can't help but wonder how willing Svetlana Zakharova will be to play along with this approach once the production reaches La Scala. I love the idea of not seeing the underside of the ballerina's tutu.

In an interview with Wilfried Hosl for Munich "Paquita", Ratmansky said, "You can't show your underwear to the Tsar! Just common sense, you know. Dont need to be an art historian to understand that."

There were a few 6-o'clock penchees. I'm not sure how prevalent that was. I also just read the LA Times feature on it, and Ratmansky does say how difficult it was for the dancers to adapt to the different style.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-ca-american-ballet-theatre-sleeping-beauty-20150301-story.html#page=1

Look at the juxtaposition of:

Ratmansky has had a similar reaction as he discovered how the choreography evolved from "then" to "now." "All the changes, I feel, went from sophisticated and complex to simple," he said. "From the graceful to the pushy and athletic. From feminine to unisex. It's not progress, it's just changing the style."

to:

For Gillian Murphy, who will dance Aurora on Wednesday, "The interesting challenge is to bring the contemporary knowledge that we have, that's been handed down through generations — and the evolution that we've had as dancers over that time — to make that material come to life in a way that honors the original intention. But also I think our modern use of footwork and port de bras will only enrich and enhance the original intention of Petipa."

I'm not so sure whether the Imperial ballerinas who danced the work originally would have thought that Petipa needed enhancement wink1.gif, especially the Cecchetti-trained ballerinas whose footwork created a sensation.

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Helene's comments remind me that the pointework in SB is really intense. It's all compact, intricate, and elegant, but so beautiful to look at. Throughout the night, I was thinking of the Danish style or maybe Ashton when I watched the footwork in the new SB.

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That is an odd thing for her to say. If we take her at her word, the exemplars of the modern port de bras are Balanchine's and Forsythe's, neither work of which she's especially known for. I'd characterize both as taking the classical port de bras to ever more stretched out extremes, with Forsythe being an even more extreme version of what Balanchine did. There is more contrapposto in the body, with the shoulders and hips twisted apart each facing more disparate angles. The head is tilted and turned more. Basically everything is bigger, more exaggerated, and more aggressive, and the lines are longer. But that's kind of what we already have today with other Sleeping Beauties compared to Ratmansky's. So I'm not sure what she's getting at.

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Murphy has also done Ashton, and we can only hope that she's embodying Ashton's virtues. Ashton's idol was Pavlova, and his most influential teacher was Vera Volkova, with whom Ashton and Sadler's Wells dancers, including Fonteyn, defied de Valois and took class. Volkova was a student of Vaganova, but before Vaganova became Artistic Director and five years before she published her book on pedagogy.

Bournonville and Petipa were weaned on the same breast of French ballet. It's not surprising that the roots are similar and that especially the variations for men were similar in style to Bournonville. Doug Fullington said in the Works & Process presentation where Jerome Tisserand demonstrated Desire's last act variation -- linked above by volcanohunter to start at that moment -- that it had everything in it and showed the transition from petite allegro to grand allegro at the time the variation was notated.

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