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ABT Swan Lake in Singapore


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Casting has been announced for ABT's tour to Singapore March 2018

 

https://www.esplanade.com/festivals-and-series/dans-series/2018/swan-lake

 

Dancers for Singapore’s performances

15 Mar, Thu, 8pm
Misty Copeland
Herman Cornejo
Alban Lendorf

16 Mar, Fri, 8pm
Hee Seo
Cory Stearns
James Whiteside

17 Mar, Sat, 2pm
Gillian Murphy
Alexandre Hammoudi
Thomas Forster

17 Mar, Sat, 8pm
Isabella Boylston
Alban Lendorf
Calvin Royal

18 Mar, Sun, 2pm
Christine Shevchenko
James Whiteside
Cory Stearns

*Cast subject to change

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It seems clear that they are not planning on assigning SL to Abrera at this late stage of her career.  

 

So now we know to expect a Shevchenko SL when the spring season is announced. 

 

I think Lane will certainly be cast in SL during the NY run, given that there are 8 SL's to be cast.  Misty probably gets two, and  hopefully Shevchenko, Lane, Murphy, Boylston, Seo, and Teuscher each get one show in NY.

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39 minutes ago, abatt said:

It seems clear that they are not planning on assigning SL to Abrera at this late stage of her career.  

 

So now we know to expect a Shevchenko SL when the spring season is announced. 

 

I think Lane will certainly be cast in SL during the NY run, given that there are 8 SL's to be cast.  Misty probably gets two, and  hopefully Shevchenko, Lane, Murphy, Boylston, Seo, and Teuscher each get one show in NY.

Yes, I think Shevchenko essentially picks up the spot vacated by Part. Assuming Misty gets two performances like last year, that doesn't leave room for any other debuts as O/O.

 

They did cast 8 different Swan Queens was back in 2014, so I guess it's possible:

 

http://www.abt.org/insideabt/news_display.asp?News_ID=485

 

But two Misty performances are money in the bank; I can't imagine them changing that this year unless she's not up to it physically.

 

Edited to add: On a somewhat unrelated note, it's hard to believe Murphy will be 39 when she dances O/O this spring. I realize she's been prone to injuries in recent seasons, but her dancing has shown no technical diminishment to my eyes. She still dances circles around many others...

Edited by fondoffouettes
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1 hour ago, abatt said:

It seems clear that they are not planning on assigning SL to Abrera at this late stage of her career.  

 

So now we know to expect a Shevchenko SL when the spring season is announced. 

 

I think Lane will certainly be cast in SL during the NY run, given that there are 8 SL's to be cast.  Misty probably gets two, and  hopefully Shevchenko, Lane, Murphy, Boylston, Seo, and Teuscher each get one show in NY.

I would not be so sure about a Lane SL during the NY run. But we'll know for sure soon.

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On 10/23/2017 at 1:03 PM, nysusan said:

I would not be so sure about a Lane SL during the NY run. But we'll know for sure soon.

 

My summer trip then needs to be ultra carefully calculated. I certainly DON'T want to spent all that money and and effort to be stuck with bland Seo or weak Copeland. In descending order my interests go to Murphy, Shevchenko and Lane.  Geez...the female lineup is quite thin this days...😶

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Lendorf must still be injured because he's been replaced by Simkin in SL. And, Royal replaces him as Purple Von Rothbart on opening night.

For Whipped Cream in Hong Kong the week after, Royal has replaced him in both of his shows (that'll be a debut role for Royal - good for him!). 

Wondering if Lendorf will make it to the Met season at all.

Edited by ABT Fan
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1 hour ago, ABT Fan said:

Lendorf must still be injured because he's been replaced by Simkin in SL. And, Royal replaces him as Purple Von Rothbart on opening night.

For Whipped Cream in Hong Kong the week after, Royal has replaced him in both of his shows (that'll be a debut role for Royal - good for him!). 

Wondering if Lendorf will make it to the Met season at all.

I'm sure ABT won't  change the casting until the day before his first show, even if they know weeks before that he's not performing.  That's their MO.

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15 hours ago, Barbara said:

He posted on his instagram account from Chicago where the company is now performing. I figured he was there for rehearsals and was injury free. But maybe the terms of his contract require him to show up a certain number of days even if he is injured? 

Some of the ballet books I've read -- I believe Hallberg's memoir and also Dance as Life -- have discussed how injured dancers are expected to show up to rehearsals, and maybe even class (I can't remember), to just observe things if they aren't able to dance. I didn't realize that would even extend to times when the company is on the road. 

Not sure how strict these policies are, though. When Murphy was injured in the last Met season, I remember her posting on Instagram about a trip down south (I believe to her home state of SC), and she seemed to stay there for an extended period of time to recuperate.

I'm sure, on the one hand, it's disheartening to have to to observe rehearsals as an injured dancer. On the flipside, it might help an injured dancer morale-wise to still feel like he's still a part of the company even when he can't dance. I'm reminded of Hallberg's intense sense of isolation, and subsequent depression, when he was dealing with his injury all on his own in NYC. That, of course, is an extreme example. 

14 hours ago, abatt said:

I'm sure ABT won't  change the casting until the day before his first show, even if they know weeks before that he's not performing.  That's their MO.

You know, I used to give them the benefit of the doubt, but the past few seasons have really led me to believe that it's their MO, as you say, abatt. Of course, I'm sure there are times when they are holding out hope a dancer may still be able to dance, but there have been too many instances of them dragging their feet to update casting when it's clear a dancer is not going to go on. 

Edited by fondoffouettes
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Judging from numerous Instagram posts and stories, it looks like the company's accommodations in Singapore are significantly nicer than those in Detroit, and that the dancers enjoyed a day off exploring and relaxing after their long travel.

If anyone is in Singapore, it'd be great to read any reports on Christine Shevchenko's Odette/Odile this Sunday — her role debut, I believe. Excited to see her in this at the Met in June!

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I watched Christine Shevchenko make her debut as Odette/Odile in the Sunday afternoon matinee at the Singapore Esplanade Theatre. After an initially nervous start during the prologue, she was pretty solid throughout and her greatest strength was her port de bras and penchees.

Where she really shone was during the Black Swan pas de deux in Act III and she also completed her 32 fouettes during the coda, albeit with quite a bit of travelling. James Whiteside was competent as Prince Siegfried although I had watched David Hallberg perform the same role 5 years ago with the Bolshoi and he was slightly better.

And if anyone is interested, for the opening night production last Thursday, Misty completed 13 fouettes to about half of the coda music before switching to pose turns en manege to fill up the rest of the coda 😊.

Apologies for not writing a more comprehensive report as I started attending ballet productions only a few years ago and have watched less than five to date. So, I am not really qualified to provide a more detailed critique. But I would say if you wish to watch Swan Lake at the Met, you wouldn't regret purchasing tickets for Ms Shevchenko's performance.  

Edited by leeyl
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Yes, thanks leeyl! It's great to hear that Shevchenko's Odile was so strong. Now that I think about it, she may really have the potential to eventually excel in both roles to a degree that's not possible for many dancers. Her strengths seem nicely balanced between adagio and allegro. The coming years could be exciting to watch!

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I thought I'd second what leeyl said about Shevchenko, but before that I’ll just note that Copeland got a standing ovation at the end of her performance here. My personal impression was that, apparent technical deficiencies aside, she's miscast in this ballet.

I mention this only to highlight the fact that, in spite of the much more muted response at the matinee, Shevchenko came across as very much a natural for Odette/Odile – I was particularly struck by the refinement in the way she moved. So although her Odette seemed still a work in progress – she was such a tender young thing, not quite a woman yet, much less a queen, and so somehow a little remote, like she was beyond the reach of great passion (and her mime could be more expansive) – she was lovely to watch.

But her Odile - I was impressed by how well-formed she was, and how subtle. Interestingly, Shevchenko seemed to underplay Odile’s malice. This Odile went about the seduction with the lightness, playfulness and insouciance of the perfectly heartless. I felt a real frisson when she did the imitation of Odile – with dancers who have over-egged their Odiles up to this point, the audacity of the act registers but the act itself rarely convinces – but Shevchenko’s Odile was so perfectly demure, gentle and pure in those few seconds that for once I could see how it was possible that Siegfried saw Odette in Odile.

And Shevchenko and James Whiteside were well-matched physically, which is not something that could be said of the leads in the other performance I saw. They looked good and danced well together. It’s true that there was something self-contained and opaque about Whiteside – he wasn’t quite the emotionally vulnerable prince as Siegfried is supposed to be in this production (and he wasn’t dramatically aware to the tips of his fingers the way Cory Stearns was as Rothbart) – but at least for me it didn’t take anything away from the pas de deux, and his solos were confidently handled. His landings were impressively quiet.  

 I could go on about the other aspects of the performances, but I’d better stop here...

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6 hours ago, rhys said:

But her Odile - I was impressed by how well-formed she was, and how subtle. Interestingly, Shevchenko seemed to underplay Odile’s malice. This Odile went about the seduction with the lightness, playfulness and insouciance of the perfectly heartless.

Thanks so much for your report, rhys. I particularly like what you wrote here. It sounds like a very appealing and successful characterization.

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Thanks for the report, rhys! I'm thinking I really should take off from work to see Shevchenko and Whiteside in the matinee on June 20. 

Edited by cobweb
correct spelling of names; still not sure I got it right
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I hope I haven't opened a can of worms by providing the link...😋

Just for comparison, this is the fouette sequence performed by Shevchenko last Sunday:

In her performance in Singapore, she was less self-assured than shown in the clip above, probably due to nerves. But her a la seconde turns were excellent and my friend who attended the matinee with me (and knows less about ballet than I do!) actually gasped in appreciation. Glad I picked the right performance to watch!

Edited by leeyl
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