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Promotion!! Cirio to Principal, Hoven to Soloist.


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I really wonder why no promotion for Royal. What are they thinking. He has been doing soloist roles for years and IMHO has the potential to be a major draw. If I were an AD, I would have him as a priority to develop, whereas if I were Royal, I'd be looking around at other companies. It would be no surprise if, like Baca, he was lured away.

Agreed. I'm happy for the two who were promoted, I like them both.

But I'm disappointed for Calvin Royal and Gabe Stone Shayer.

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Jeffrey,IMO, deserved to be promoted based on his performances this past season. None of the other male soloists made much impressions. If, ABT is doing DQ next season,Jerff would make a terrific Basilio. Congrats Jeff/

Maybe, Calvin must be planning to leave ABT( based on his latest Instagram)So the company did not want to waste a promotional space.

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Another imported, (short) male principal who can't dance as good as people like Calvin, who've been sitting in the corp for 6+ years. Yay? Congrats to Blaine Hoven, whom it took ABT 13 years to promote to soloist, but as for Cirio I think this is yet another, sad and terrible decision by McKenzie. I feel bad for the dancers they have whom are just as good or better than Cirio, languishing away in the corp.

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Congrats to both Cirio's and Hoven! Odd that no females were promoted this year. Sarah Lane???

Cirio becomes the first Filippino male Principal, following on Abrera's achievement last year. Pinoy Power!!!

Yes, please promote Sarah Lane! Now that Stella has been named a principal, we must focus our attention on Sarah. I'm getting on in years and don't want to leave this world without seeing her promoted!

I actually like seeing Cirio onstage. He has an interesting face and a good stage presence. We haven't seen him in any leading roles, it's true, but I'd take him over Whiteside any day (but you all know that by now and I know that many of you don't agree.) I wish that Hoven had made it to the top sooner so that a tall male principal would have been there sooner.

As for Calvin Royal III, I've had my eye on him for several years and love watching him dance. However, I've noticed that he often doesn't point his feet enough. Has anyone else noticed that or is it my hallucination?

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I've loved seeing Cirio this Met season and am very glad that he's being promoted. Even if he's only done Colas this Met season, he was a principal and has done many leading roles at Boston Ballet. He basically followed the same track as James Whiteside, who was also promoted a year after joining. Cirio is not as short as Cornejo, has good partnering skills and greater range than Simkin, and he's pretty young, so I could see him staying for quite some time.

Sad for Sarah Lane, but hopefully she'll be next in line when there's an opening to the female principal roster.

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As for Calvin Royal III, I've had my eye on him for several years and love watching him dance. However, I've noticed that he often doesn't point his feet enough. Has anyone else noticed that or is it my hallucination?

I haven't noticed the feet in particular but I have often felt that he's not stretched out enough, he doesn't embrace and fully articulate that glorious tallness.

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I think the promotion of Cirio was a good move. He's versatile, has a winning way on stage, is a good actor, has danced lead roles at Boston (he was a Principle there), so I think he'll be of value to ABT. There will come a day when even Herman will start to cut back on roles. Simkin is good; I always enjoy watching him, so I think there's a place for both Daniil and Jeffrey. At this point, we don't know the status of Lendorf with the company. There seems to be a few female dancers now on the horizon for stardom, i.e. Trenery, Brandt, even Shevchenko (also small), so there may be a need for more than one smaller male dancer. I have no answer in regards to Sarah Lane or Joseph Gorak. That news may still be coming. Or not. Both have been passed over before,so who knows at this point. Also, I'm in the minority, but I don't feel Calvin Royal was ready for promotion just yet. Despite his winning way on stage, he has some technical issues to address. And no, it's not an illusion. He doesn't point his feet all the time. He goes in and out a bit for me. Some nights really wonderful, some nights just OK. But the best promotion was that of Blaine Hoven. He's worked so hard over the years, so this is well earned. Good for him!!

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I haven't noticed the feet in particular but I have often felt that he's not stretched out enough, he doesn't embrace and fully articulate that glorious tallness.

From mimsyb: "Also, I'm in the minority, but I don't feel Calvin Royal was ready for promotion just yet. Despite his winning way on stage, he has some technical issues to address. And no, it's not an illusion. He doesn't point his feet all the time. He goes in and out a bit for me. Some nights really wonderful, some nights just OK."

[sorry, some time I must learn how to put two quotes in one post.]

Thank you, cobweb and mimsyb. It's good to know my eyes are not deceiving me.

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Prior to coming to ABT, perhaps. But not since. Whiteside's first Met season with ABT as a soloist was very different from Cirio's.

I meant precisely since they came to ABT, in response to those who said Cirio was promoted faster than anyone before. Both were principals at Boston Ballet, both left to become soloists at ABT, and after one year, both were promoted to principal. Same trajectory.

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I've loved seeing Cirio this Met season and am very glad that he's being promoted. Even if he's only done Colas this Met season, he was a principal and has done many leading roles at Boston Ballet. He basically followed the same track as James Whiteside, who was also promoted a year after joining. Cirio is not as short as Cornejo, has good partnering skills and greater range than Simkin, and he's pretty young, so I could see him staying for quite some time.

Sad for Sarah Lane, but hopefully she'll be next in line when there's an opening to the female principal roster.

Much to my dismay Sarah Lane is not on the AD's radar as a principal. Last year he chose to engage Maria Kochetkova rather than promote Lane. IMO a mistake. Interestingly, in an instagram photo, Lane said that the first time she did Aurora (in the old production) she had 2 weeks to learn it. Last year, in the Ratmansky production she was the one Aurora whose first go at it was at the Met. Clearly she's not being helped along.

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I meant precisely since they came to ABT, in response to those who said Cirio was promoted faster than anyone before. Both were principals at Boston Ballet, both left to become soloists at ABT, and after one year, both were promoted to principal. Same trajectory.

But Whiteside danced numerous lead full-length roles in that intervening year, while Cirio danced one. I'm not talking about time at ABT alone. I'm talking about content. (As I wrote: "Whiteside's first Met season with ABT as a soloist was very different from Cirio's.")

As fondoffouettes said above, Whiteside had to prove himself first as a capable lead and partner across ABT's core rep. Cirio has not yet done that.

(Gorak, for one, has -- at least to a significantly greater extent. Admittedly, with some shortcomings.)

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Congratulations to Blaine Hoven who has been with the company for quite a long time. Sad to see Sarah Lane overlooked once again! Perhaps all the Sarah supporters here ought let Kevin McKenzie know how they feel about this exquisite dancer. I hope Gorak, Royal, Forster, Stone Shayer and other valuable company dancers have patience and get their promotions soon. I always like to see promotions from within rather than from the outside as guests or new company hires. Nurturing and growing a company from within is harder than importing but I wish Mr. McKenzie would concentrate more on it.

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This type of situation is not uncommon in the ballet world. Joe Walsh left Houston Ballet as a principal, went to San Francisco Ballet as a soloist, and was promoted the same year. Kajiya and Matthews went to Houston Ballet as soloists and she was promoted after Nutcracker. He had to wait until June. We do not know why Whiteside had to do more principal roles. I know, from being in Boston, that Cirio has danced numerous classical roles, as well as Balanchine leads and contemporary roles, many more than his male soloist counterparts at ABT. Additionally, he has guested around the country and world, guestings that are not mentioned in his ABT bio for some reason. As ABT fans, it can be disappointing not to see favorites within in the company promoted. Imagine how SF dancers and fans felt or Houston dancers and fans felt with the aforementioned additions. This is the ballet world.

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This type of situation is not uncommon in the ballet world. Joe Walsh left Houston Ballet as a principal, went to San Francisco Ballet as a soloist, and was promoted the same year. Kajiya and Matthews went to Houston Ballet as soloists and she was promoted after Nutcracker. He had to wait until June. We do not know why Whiteside had to do more principal roles. I know, from being in Boston, that Cirio has danced numerous classical roles, as well as Balanchine leads and contemporary roles, many more than his male soloist counterparts at ABT. Additionally, he has guested around the country and world, guestings that are not mentioned in his ABT bio for some reason. As ABT fans, it can be disappointing not to see favorites within in the company promoted. Imagine how SF dancers and fans felt or Houston dancers and fans felt with the aforementioned additions. This is the ballet world.

To clarify, my concerns about Cirio have nothing to do with his being an "outsider." He became a member of the company when he was hired a year ago; that's good enough for me.

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Isn't it interesting that Lendorf's injury led to Cirio being cast as Colas, which was his most significant lead role of the season. Similarly, last season Abrera's Giselle was only possible because Semionova was injured. That Giselle was a key component to her rise to principal, in my opinion. The moral of the story: while injuries are quite unfortunate, they potentially give new opportunities to dancers to demonstrate all they can do. The question is why does it take a major injury for McKenzie to cast new people in roles.

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Isn't it interesting that Lendorf's injury led to Cirio being cast as Colas, which was his most significant lead role of the season. Similarly, last season Abrera's Giselle was only possible because Semionova was injured. That Giselle was a key component to her rise to principal, in my opinion. The moral of the story: while injuries are quite unfortunate, they potentially give new opportunities to dancers to demonstrate all they can do. The question is why does it take a major injury for McKenzie to cast new people in roles.

1 debut per season due to injury does not mean that it takes a "major injury for McKenzie to cast new people in roles."

Cassandra Trenary, Gorak and of course Copeland have all debuted in major roles in the same period. As have lots of other people since almost everyone was a debut in Fille (except Gillian).

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Two things that may be holding Gorak back a bit - partnering and acting. Cirio is rather experienced at both - Gorak looks like a work in progress. In the big story ballets you need some

stage presence and Gorak can come off as an elegant dancer but recessive, boyish, sexless and tentative actor.

I very much enjoy Gorak and his lovely line and deportment but I agree with FauxPas here. I'm not sure how one attains stage presence but acting and coaching might help. He should talk to Roman Z for some tips.

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My personal opinion is that an ABT principal dancer absolutely must have not only "lovely line and deportment" but also be oozing with musicality, epaulement and expressiveness. A male principal dancer should also be an excellent partner. Cirio has all these qualities. Gorak still doesn't. I hope he is able to learn them, but artistry is often an elusive quality for highly technical dancers.

This is why I prefer most of ABT's other principal ballerinas to Murphy. Someone here on BA (I wish I could remember whom) used the word "athletic" in referring to her upper body. My vision of a true ballerina always includes natural epaulement: In a word, Abrera.

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