matilda

The news was apparently announced after the curtain went down on Rubies last night. Numerous company members have posted about it on their Instagram stories -- I think Roman Mejia might have been the first. Emma has shared most or all of them on her own stories.

I think Alec Knight is a slam-dunk soloist promotion, and I was surprised when he wasn't promoted with Bolden and Riccardo last fall. He's gotten big opportunities in the past year, especially as a partner. He's very tall and incredibly handsome. He's scheduled for the last performance of the season, when promotions are often announced... and so are MacGill and Maxwell for that matter. Regarding Kikta, she also performed Rubies last night -- the same performance after which Von Enck was promoted. So that would have been the perfect time. Now, I don't think it's going to happen.

In the program there is a list of donors credited for supporting Play Time, plus the "New Combinations" fund for new works. And Swarovski sponsored the costumes (they are covered in crystals). So I don't think this was a burden on the company budget.

Had a fantastic time at the ballet last night for Pictures at an Exhibition / Red Angels / Playtime / Glass Pieces. Pictures had strong performances from the whole cast, especially Nadon who more than did justice to the Sara Mearns role. Phenomeonal attack. Von Enck had a successful debut in the Tiler Peck part, and I appreciated how she brought her own interpretation and wasn't trying to imitate Tiler Peck. Tyler Angle had an uncharacteristic partnering flub in the slow pas de deux with Alexa Maxwell; he struggled to get her into the tricky final traveling lift. His solo dancing was very good though, and I'm impressed by his improvement this whole season after a questionable "should he retire?" period. Takahashi had to do more partnering than usual (mostly with Olivia MacKinnon, who is too tall for him), and he still looks uncomfortable in that area. Count me in as a Red Angels fan. Love the funky feel with that electric violin, plus the spotlights and red unitards. Nadon and Danchig-Waring were pitch-perfect as expected; both shine in neoclassical work. Gordon and Afanaskenkov were more classical in style -- it almost felt like watching Igor Zelensky and a Russian ballerina take on funky contemporary ballet -- but I enjoyed their performances too. The audience loved it. I wish Playtime hadn't been included on this otherwise fantastic program. For me, this ballet is as bad, maybe even worse, than Gustave le Grey. I find the costume silhouettes grotesquely hideous and the choreography completely forgettable. Solange's music has some appealing melodies but lacks a coherent structure. The work almost has a 1950s musical feel but doesn't lean into that element enough. I know this was a big draw when it premiered because of Solange, but the audience response was very tepid last night. No fault to the cast -- they looked great. Glass Pieces always brings down the house, and this was an energetic and sleek performance from the corps and principals, especially Phelan and Danchig-Waring who are first-rate in bendy modernist works. What a masterpiece. I almost wish it were longer.

I haven't seen it but the cowboys theme sounds cringe... like, "let's combat offensive Asian stereotypes by throwing the ballet into the most stereotypical white-Americana hick setting."

Agree with the comment above. This isn't merely a "body shaming" situation or a matter of just a few extra pounds. Ashley gives the impression of being very much in denial. It's very sad to see such a once glorious dancer engage in public self-sabotage.

Not sure about R&J, but I think the Martins Swan Lake would be perfectly fine with a full visual makeover. Of course, Martins would have to agree to that. And it would be expensive, but cheaper than creating an entirely new version. Martins' staging on its own is OK and probably better suited to the NYCB dancers (and to commercial tastes) than Ratmansky's. (I'm not one of the people who thinks NYCB needs to distance itself as much as possible from Martins.)

I just listened to the episode and heard Jaffe say those programs will be for the 2025 "Koch Season," not the Met. I think full-length ballets will continue to be prioritized at the Met. Jaffe sounds overall intelligent and empathetic and like she knows what she's doing, even if I'm not necessarily excited about all of her programming choices. Playing the role of AD and ED simultaneously sounds like a nightmare. And the company's financial situation sounds challenging to say the least. I would also love to hear more about those "difficult conversations" with dancers 🤔 Some of the principals and soloists are beyond the point of "stepping it up" at this point and would be better off retiring difficult classical roles altogether.

I was also there last night. I like Interplay for its jazzy music and technical tricks, and it has a very 1950s feel that reminds me of old movies. Alston MacGill as the pink girl was a standout and looks ready for so much more. Victor Abreu (blue) has improved his partnering since opening-night Bourrée Fantasque -- lovely dancer but I have yet to see him land a clean double tour. Other Dances.... nearly cried! Tiler Peck looked as amazing as ever. Yesterday she posted this Instagram post saying: "I truly cannot put into words the joy I feel getting to perform this incredible piece, Other Dances. Not many dancers get the chance to dance this role and I do not take that lightly. When I had the opportunity to work with the one and only @mishabaryshnikov123 on it, he told me it was all about coloring and letting the music take you away. It was an incredible experience working with such a luminary and one of the ballet’s original dancers. I will be channeling all of the wisdom he passed on to me in my performance tonight!" Well, she definitely conveyed all of that! And Mejia wasn't so bad either This performance alone was worth the ticket. I hated Gustav and will avoid it in the future should it ever come back (hopefully never). I get what Pam Tanowitz is doing -- "deconstructing " -- but now I've seen two of her ballets and that's enough. Maybe in a more avant-garde setting or in the context of a college thesis performance this would work for me, but not at Lincoln Center. Felt like the ballet equivalent of a short contemporary piece tacked onto the beginning of a classical-music concert by a composition PhD who "knows" music but can't seem to create anything listenable. Year of the Rabbit, from 2012, remains one of Justin Peck's best works. Very creative corps formations and exciting choreography for the leads. It was a little disappointing watching this knowing that he never evolved much beyond this early style though. The only thing this work suffers from is mediocre music, but the score is listenable and pleasant enough. Von Enck was amazingly energetic and precise in the Ashley Bouder role, but Maxwell and Chan were also standouts. The house was very undersold -- more so than usual.

To the inquiry above, I think there is a big difference between being not-stick-thin and being "out of shape." There are at least a few dancers at NYCB who wouldn't make it in Russia because of their body types, and might not even have been favored at NYCB in a different era. But they are still "in shape." Out of shape means the dancer has put on excess weight that is inhibiting their movement and partnering abilities and, to put it bluntly, looks bad on a ballet stage.

I remember something on Instagram about Nadon understudying Diamonds in the fall. LaFreniere is still currently cast in week three Year of the Rabbit so the injury may not keep her off stage for that long.

The botched throw was the difficult one seen here with Olivia MacKinnon rehearsing apricot. Last night, Fairchild did that pas de quatre instead. I didn't realize it was supposed to be green woman. Sounds like Nadon didn't have enough time to learn both sections. For whatever reasons, management chose not to have Bouder (in the matinee cast) do all shows and instead they threw on Nadon. The current BSQ production does have the palace garden scene for movements 1, 2, and 4 and the ballroom curtain for movement 2.

Saw the Dances at a Gathering / Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet program last night. DAAG was lovely with strong dancing by all, including Tiler Peck post-injury and the debuts by Mejia (brown), Macgill (blue), and Zuniga (brick). Macgill held her own sharing so much stage time with Peck and looked very comfortable with this free-moving choreography. I think she's due for a soloist promotion. Phelan gets a lot of criticism here but she was stunning as mauve girl. There was a funny blooper in the section where three women get thrown from one man's arms to another's. Fairchild (apricot) was supposed to take a dramatic dive but something went wrong and Tyler Angle just carried and placed her body into Coll's arms. People in the audience laughed and I'm sure many of them thought it was intentional given the ballet's playful tone. Mira Nadon stepped in for LaFreniere as the Green girl. She was good, but the role is so brief and I don't understand the point of the "character"? I can see why management cast Bouder in the matinee cast... brief stage time and no partnering. Really feels like they threw her a bone with that one. In Brahms, Sara Mearns went full-on Sara Mearns in the fourth movement. This is a role where she does NOT have to tone anything down. She was thrilling and at times had a big smile. Her performance was worth the ticket alone. Veyette's dancing was a bit sloppy at times but he brought tons of energy and personality. As for the other movements, Gerrity was ravishing in the first movement; I'm often lukewarm on her but she really glowed. This is an odd role for Stanley, who doesn't really have the classical polish or clean double tours for this role -- at least not last night. Von Enck and Huxley were fantastic in the third movement; no issues with classical technique there, and Huxley danced even bigger and bolder than usual. MacKinnon was an epic mismatch for the second movement. The steps were there but the drama, detail, and musicality were not. I will cut her some slack though, because this was apparently a "throw in debut" (her words via Instagram). Too bad Woodward pulled out because she would have been perfect.

Agree, although that's much more the case among the men. Subpar technique/artistry plus age-related decline are glaring problems among the principal guys at the moment. Bell and Camargo being notable exceptions. Other than Trenary, who has other strengths, and Copeland, who is essentially retired, the female principals are technically strong and have no problem with classical choreography. (Murphy is at the end of her career but used to be a powerhouse, so I don't really count her.) Brandt, Hurlin, and Teuscher are the only female principals I currently consider all-around great and exciting artists though. Thankfully there are some promising soloists in Curley, Roxander, Misseldine, and Park. Looking across the plaza at NYCB, there really is no comparison when it comes to talent at all ranks and quantity/quality of repertory though.

I feel like ABT has tried quite a few approaches since the end of the guest era, and all of them have met a fair share of half-empty houses. Filling the season with war horses, commissioning expensive Ratmansky premieres including the divisive reconstructions, and now trying more contemporary works tied to literature. I agree that Bayadere and Corsaire, though I would love to see them again, are not really box-office hits. And if they were, I'm fairly confident they would still be performed despite the "issues." (Note how Madama Butterfly remains an opera mainstay -- it was revived this year at the Met and sold very well.) Jaffe's main obstacle is that ballet simply isn't mainstream-popular anymore even in NYC, and only the most familiar titles like Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty or Romeo and Juliet, or celebrity names like Misty Copeland, will get the "masses" to show up. Not sure what the solution is but I admire Jaffe for at least trying new things. Although I share the lack of interest here in much of the upcoming season and don't feel too excited about Crime and Punishment either. I worry that cutting the summer season so short was the start of a death spiral. Fewer performances = less relevance, less excitement for the existing audiences, less opportunity to attract new audiences, and less opportunities for the dancers and therefore an obstacle in attracting top talent. I also don't think Trenary will ever get a Swan Lake. Not only does she not fit the usual physical mold, but she currently struggles with highly classical choreography. Misseldine, a soloist in her early 20s, got the role before her. Park could be next.