Batsuchan

The violin solo playing has been distressing. I wonder why? It has been distressing every time I've seen ABT's "Swan Lake" in recent years, though this week it has been better than at the opening night gala, where I literally had to cover my ears, it was so dreadful. At first I thought it was just ABT's inability to find a decent solo violinist, but now having heard the Cuban Ballet's violinist botch it just as badly, I guess the solo is much more difficult than I imagined. Still, unacceptable, in my opinion. Anytime I have friends going who've had musical training, I warn them in advance.

I will echo all the praise for the AMAZING performance with Semionova/Gomes tonight! As fantastic as Semionova was, Gomes was unbelievable! He lifted the performance into the stratosphere! And Polina clearly knew it--at the end, when she received her bouquets, she gave them both to Marcelo!! So touching!! I will expand on this more later, but I agree with Classic_Ballet, make Semionova a PERMANENT guest artist PLEASE!!!

Oh my!!! This is shocking!! I was *so* looking forward to seeing Semionova and Hallberg together in "Swan Lake," because they looked so gorgeous together in "Don Quixote"! That being said, I'm not too disappointed, because I was most interested in seeing Semionova's Odette/Odile, and Marcelo is always the most selfless, supportive partner, so I'm sure he'll try to give her everything she needs. (Plus I'll get to see Marcelo's Siegfried, which somehow I managed not to buy a ticket for this year!) Seriously though--McKenzie needs to do something about his roster of men. They've been dropping like flies this season!

You’re right—unfortunately, these deals won’t help the long-time loyal subscribers. I just wanted to point out some of the steps other arts organizations have taken to attract “the audience of tomorrow.”

Polina Semionova talks a bit about her “Don Quixote” performance in her recent interview in NY Times: That was EXACTLY what it seemed like to me when I was watching—I really felt like she was meeting the moment and giving everything she had, and that made it extremely exciting and satisfying. Definitely one of the most enjoyable and memorable performances I’ve ever seen!

Drew—thank you very much for your explanations! I think I would like to see Odette turn to her sister swans for comfort, and see Siegfried search for her. Having an intermission between Act III and Act IV would definitely provide enough time for costume and scene changes, but I’m not sure ABT would want to add another intermission (and I’m not sure *I* want another intermission). Hmm.. ** As for Thursday night’s performance, I agree with abatt and Roberto Dini. Julie Kent certainly had her technical flaws, but she had this suffering, tragic aura that roused my sympathy, and then she looked so in love with Carreno’s Siegfried that I was moved by her performance and could overlook the lapses in technique. In the NY Times interview with Polina Semionova that came out yesterday, Polina sayid that Julie Kent is her favorite dancer because when she performs, “it’s not overplaying, it’s not too little, and you will see it from the last row.” I think this description perfectly describes what I saw last night. Carreno was in great form, as others have already described. I will sorely miss those multiple-revolution pirouettes with the leg fully extended. Wow. I noticed that he wears a different costume from the other Siegfrieds in Act III. He wears all black, whereas Hallberg wore white tights and a blue velvet top. I guess it was up to him to choose? (Not that I mind either way.) Hallberg was great as von Rothbart in Act III, though Gomes owns the role. I’m just happy I got to see my new favorite in the corps, Renata Pavam, repeat her tiny bourrees again as the Italian princess. I enjoyed Murphy as Odile much more than on Tuesday—or perhaps I was mentally prepared for her bitchy Odile. This time she seemed energized by the occasion, however. She did some multiple-revolution pirouettes during the fouette section with her arms up in fifth position, garnering gasps from the crowd. She stopped ahead of the music again, and may have come off pointe once in the middle, but I appreciated that she took risks and went for it. It was thrilling. At the end, it was great to see everyone come out and applaud Carreno. It was raining flowers throughout all the bows and curtain calls. Bravo and thank you, Jose!

I admit I just saw dyed black hair and heard someone say that was Osipova, so I could very well be mistaken. Yes, it was definitely Ferri--with her long black hair down and wearing this wine red shirt/dress. I saw her walk into the Grand Tier at intermission and recognized the outfit when she came out on stage later--otherwise I wouldn't have been able to tell. And I also think it was Victor Barbee who came out with Carreno's daughters (before McKenzie)--he went to stand by Julie, so that would be my guess. I was kind of surprised not to see Corella there--but I guess since Cornejo was not there either, they are touring somewhere?

I am also feeling “priced out” of NYCB performances now. Unlike many other posters, I am relatively new to ballet watching. Over the past year, I saw about a dozen performances not because I’m a big NYCB fan, but because I was determined to learn more about NYCB and broaden my ballet horizons. And a big reason that I was willing to do that was because I could get reasonably-priced good seats in the front and center of the fourth ring (and sometimes the third ring if I had a discount). Under the new pricing scheme, however, I don’t think I’m willing to pay so much to sample ballets I’ve never seen before and am not sure I’ll like. For comparison, a number of other cultural institutions offer great discounts for younger patrons, something NYCB might want to consider if they want to attract new, younger audience members. ABT, for one, has a fantastic deal—if you’re under 30 and buy 3 or more performances, the tickets are $30 each and they are good seats in the Orchestra (Orchestra balance and rear). That’s like 3 for the price of 1! And you get exchange privileges too. Thanks to this program, not only have I seen a ton of performances, but I’ve also been able to convince many of my ballet-newbie friends to see a few. “Well, I don’t know if I’ll like ballet, but it’s only $30 each? Ok, why not!” The NY Philharmonic has a similar program—if you’re under 35, buy 3 or more (selected) performances, and they are $32.50 each. At Carnegie Hall, if you’re under 40 and join their Notables Prelude group by paying $20, you can then buy $20 tickets to selected performances in a certain month starting on the 1st of that month. The Met opera weekend lottery and weekday rush also allowed me to see two performances for about $25 each—and I definitely would not have gone if I had to pay full price. As others have said, it would be fantastic for NYCB (or any cultural institution, for that matter), if they had a donor to fund a program like that!

Welcome to the board, nanushka! Like you and nysusan, I too was somewhat surprised and taken aback by Gillian’s very gruff portrayal of Odile. I’ve only seen ABT and NYCB’s versions of “Swan Lake,” so I’m totally clueless about other stagings of Act IV. (Other than the Soviet version with the happy ending, which I suspect I wouldn’t like.) Perhaps this is a topic for a separate thread, but could someone please tell me about the more satisfying versions that they’ve seen? I completely agree with nysusan and Ray that the choreography in the beginning with the swans appearing on stage, flapping around, sitting down, and getting up and going off-stage seems random and boring and adds nothing to the story. It’s clearly filler. But I understand that they need to kill time at that point. The ballerina needs time to change out of the Odile costume into the Odette one, and they need to switch the set from the ballroom scene to the lakeside scene. How do other stagings handle this? (Listening to my recording of “Swan Lake,” I realize that there is some music that is omitted in McKenzie’s staging.) I have to admit that the moment in Act IV where we first see Odette standing on the rocks is actually my favorite moment in McKenzie’s staging. At that moment, the music resolves from the turbulent, dissonant passage and drum roll into this soaring, expansive melody, and Odette is revealed in all her majesty, bathed in moonlight, towering above all else. To me, the image underscores Siegfried’s terrible mistake—how could he ever confuse the skanky Odile with this wondrous, lofty creature? This moment always gives me chills. But, then it’s all pretty anticlimactic from there. In the performances when Odette and Siegfried really seem to be in love, Act IV always seems too brief to me. I always find myself wishing that they had more time to dance together. (I’ve already written about how I prefer the interpretations where Odette doesn’t seem mad at Siegfried.) Near the end of the scene, the part where von Rothbart picks up Odette, and then Siegfried grabs her from him always seems odd to me (why does von Rothbart let Siegfried take her at all?), and no matter how well Odette is played, to me it always seems a bit abrupt/random when she decides to go and jump off the cliff. There is no clear impetus. On the other hand, even if the staging is not great, Tchaikovsky’s score gives you so much. I always think it is so clever and powerful to give the restatement of the main theme in a major key, and I love the triumphant, soaring finale. I always walk away feeling moved by the music. But I agree that with better staging, it could be SO MUCH MORE.

As mimsyb wrote, Tuesday night’s performance with Murphy/Hallberg was a great improvement over Monday night’s show. Although Gillian usually strikes me as an athletic, powerful dancer, she was beautiful as Odette, and had the fluidity and vulnerability that I found lacking in Dvorovenko’s portrayal. It helped, of course, that she had the naturally-noble Hallberg as her partner, and they had lovely chemistry together. At the start of the Odette variation, I noticed that Murphy didn’t do the small beats (tiny rond de jambe or petite battement?) going into the developpe, or rather that they were not very well-defined compared to other Odettes I have seen. However, in the diagonal of en dedans and en dehors pique turns (not sure what they’re really called), she pulled off some effortless, perfectly-centered quads and some hyperspeed chaine turns that were jawdropping. I was also really impressed near the end of this scene, when von Rothbart is on the rocks, trying to draw her away from Sigfried, and it really looked like she was straining against some magical, magnetic pull. In Act III, her Odile was more strong and imperious rather than dangerously seductive, but Hallberg’s Prince was smitten all the same. Murphy pulled off ridiculous fouettes—after the first quad, I accidentally blurted out, “Oh my god!”—but she did end slightly before the music. On the whole, however, I think I may have enjoyed Monday’s Act III more. It felt like Gomes threw down the gauntlet with his electrifying von Rothbart performance, and to answer the call, it felt like Dvorovenko and Carreno stepped up their game and really went for it. Wow! On Tuesday, however, Savaliev simply paled in comparison in Gomes. Actually, from my perspective, it was awful. Perhaps, as others have commented, he’s dealing with an injury, but to me, it looked like he had forgotten half the steps and was trying to find his place in the music—such was the lack of command and precision. He certainly didn’t ignite the performance, and although Murphy and Hallberg danced very well, Act III never reached the same level of excitement for me. That being said, their Act IV was significantly more emotionally satisfying for me. I’m wondering if this has something to do with Hallberg, because the two performances I’ve seen with him have both been on the more satisfying side. I have noticed that there are two ways that ballerinas play Odette in Act IV. In the first route, which Dvorovenko chose, Odette is upset, almost angry, when Siegfried returns, and it seems like she is rejecting him when she keeps pulling away and finally jumps off the cliff. I find this to be very unsatisfying because then there’s an abrupt reversal from a lovers’ spat to them being happy in heaven, like, “No, I never want to see you again!” to “Hooray, we’re united at last!” In the second route, however, Odette is more sad than upset; she doesn’t feel betrayed because she never truly believed Siegfried could save her. Under this interpretation, Odette and Siegfried seem to commiserate over their star-crossed fate, before choosing death as their salvation. I’m beginning to think that Hallberg lends himself to the latter interpretation, because he just looks so broken, so devastated by his mistake that there is no point in chastising him further; Odette can only join him in his misery. As much as I love and worship Marcelo Gomes, I think Hallberg may be my favorite as Prince Siegfried. He’s so naturally noble, and he has a quiet pathos about him, and a vulnerability and innocence that work perfectly for Siegfried, in my opinion. I cannot wait to see him and Semionova on Saturday and all those lovely, long lines! ** A few other notes: First, let me echo christine174 and mimsyb in the praise of Renata Pavam! I mentioned in my earlier post that she caught my eye on Monday night (as she does in every performance), and it was such a delight to see her in the pas de trios on Tuesday. She definitely has the fluidity and lightness that I adore; her pirouettes seemed to float, her tiny bourrees skimmed the surface of the stage, and the use of her arms was magical. She’s petite, yet she carries the motion through the tips of her fingers and toes in a way that magnifies her presence. While watching her last night, I thought, I would love to see her in Act II of “Giselle.” She would be the very picture of ethereal grace! I certainly hope she continues to dance with ABT for many years to come, and hopefully in a more prominent position! Also, let me give a shout-out to Roman Zhurbin, who danced the Spanish dance on Monday and was the lead man in the Czardas on Tuesday night. I’ve become so used to seeing him playing older, often comical men (Kitri’s father, Dr. Coppelius, Gavrilych in “The Bright Stream”) that I sometimes forget what a fine dancer he can be. @ christine174 – you make a good point about potentially doing “Swan Lake” earlier in the season to entice new ballet-goers to see more performances later in the season. I was under the impression that “Swan Lake” is later in the season since it’s popular among families and kids are out of school by then…? If that’s the case, why not split it into two runs? Since “Swan Lake” is selling like hotcakes, perhaps they could do 4 or 5 performances earlier in the season, followed by another 4 later in the season. Just a thought.

GASP! I nearly jumped out of my chair when I read this! Hooray! Thanks for the info, bingham!

I totally agree with FauxPas, abatt and mimsyb regarding Gomes in Act III last night! It really felt like the performance came alive (finally!) when he burst onstage. In his very capable hands, the relatively minor role of Von Rothbart became a showstopper, and it was 100% believable that Odette (in the prelude) and the entire court in Act III would succumb to his charms. As abatt said, his performance alone was worth the price of admission. I wish I could say the same for the rest of the performance. I was not feeling Dvorovenko’s Odette either. To me, she seems to be a very technically-capable dancer—she’s still got great extension and hit all the 180-degree penchee arabesques; her balances and turns were very secure; and she still has the flexibility in her back to pull off beautiful swan poses. However, her dancing lacked that silky, fluid quality and touch of etherealness that I look for. She hit all the poses and steps perfectly, but as abatt said, it felt a bit choppy and disconnected. Overall, her Odette gave me the impression of athletic prowess, rather than otherworldly grace. As others have commented, her Odette did not have much chemistry with Carreno’s Prince either. She seemed very comfortable in Carreno’s hands; the partnering looked smooth, and they pulled off some overhead lifts were stunning, but I never believed they were in love. That being said, Dvorovenko seemed fully in her element as Odile. (Or maybe it was that Gomes’ magnetic performance galvanized the rest of the cast.) Here the powering-through-the-elements style worked well, and I think playing the femme fatale fits Dvorovenko more naturally. At one point in her variation, Dvorovenko did one of those turns where her right leg is in attitude and she’s arching backwards—and she did it so slowly that it was magical. In the fouettes, she started with a double pirouette and then pulled of nearly 32 singles that stayed in one place—to great effect. Carreno responded with some truly jaw-dropping fouettes with the free leg fully extended—with MULTIPLE revolutions. Wow, simply wow. Act III was definitely a highlight for me. Act IV was okay for me. Mostly, I was impressed by the power of Tchaikovsky’s score. I’ve heard it tons of times before, and I wasn’t buying the love story last night, but I couldn’t help but feel moved by the music. What a genius. Speaking of which, thank you to the solo violinist. I’m not sure if it’s the same person who played in the Opening night gala, but if it is, thank you, thank you for practicing. I was wincing during all the off-key notes in the gala (same thing happened at the Cuban ballet too!), but last night the violin solo was pretty much in tune (if somewhat awkwardly played). ** A few other notes: I thought the corps looked only okay in Act I—definitely looked like they could use some more rehearsal. However, the swan scene looked fantastic to me. I was sitting right off the left aisle, so I had a fairly central view, and I thought they looked great. I didn’t notice the problems with Simkin’s jumps and turns that FauxPas saw—in fact, to me, his pirouettes looked much more centered and well-finished than the ones he did in “Coppelia” last Monday, when he had to cheat the endings. And his jumps are so nice and airy. The trio was not perfectly synchronized, but Kajiya and Lane looked much more comfortable being partnered by Simkin than I remember. I used to worry anytime Simkin had to lift a girl, but now he looks more secure. In Von Rothbart’s dance with the four princesses, Renata Pavam stood out for me—she always seems to catch my eye—and her tiny bourrees toward Von Rothbart were magical. It really looked like he was reeling her in with an invisible string. Finally—a small complaint. What was up with the squeaky floor? I don’t think I’ve ever heard the marley squeak that much before. It totally ruined the effect of the Prince’s reverie in Act I. I hope they powder it or do something before tonight’s show!

Thanks for the info, YID! Hi puppytreats! You can see photos from the gala here: http://www.kommersant.ru/dark-gallery.aspx?PicsID=603690&l=1&stpid=21 I know you're curious about how the "Lady of the Camellias" with Bolle went (as I was), but from what I can tell from the text of the article (via GoogleTranslate), it seems that Bolle was not nearly as good a partner for Diana as Marcelo...Can't say I'm surprised though.

Before I write about Saturday night’s performance, I have a little confession to make… When I first saw ABT’s production of “Cinderella” in 2007 (with Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes as the leads), I was just a casual ballet viewer. At that point, I was going to see ballet not so much because I loved it, but more because my friends and I felt like it was something we should do now that we lived in NYC—we needed to be cultured! And I really wanted to like watching ballet—after all, I had done it for 7 years as a kid and picked it up back in college, so I knew my glissades from my jetes and assembles. Unfortunately, ballet performances seemed to have a strong soporific effect on me. Although I never found the dancing boring, something about the combination of the cool, dark theater, the (usually) beautiful music, and the lovely images just lulled me to sleep, and pretty soon I’d be fighting to keep my eyes open. It happened during an NYCB performance of “Swan Lake” and during a performance of “The Dream” by ABT. (Somehow I had managed to stay awake for a performance of “Jewels” at NYCB, but I walked out thinking, well that was pretty nice! And that was it.) So going into this performance of “Cinderella,” I had very little to compare it to. At that point, I had no idea who Julie Kent or Marcelo Gomes were. I didn’t even really understand what the difference between ABT and NYCB was. Mostly I was hoping not to fall asleep. But then Act I started and I was immediately intrigued. “Cinderella doesn’t have pointe shoes! That’s interesting!” I thought. “What a colorful backdrop! What a cool set! And-oh!-she’s climbing all over it!” This production challenged all my preconceived notions of what ballet was supposed to be. The lead ballerina, barefoot?! And jumping on tables?! And throwing things?! And I thought it was so funny to see the stepsisters walking on pointe shoes like they were walking on stilts. So much for being graceful! I had no idea ballet could be FUNNY! I also thought it was refreshing to set the story in the 1920s or so instead of a vague fairy-tale time (like any other film or production of “Cinderella” I’d seen). How gorgeous the girls look in their flapper costumes! And the men are so dapper in their coattails! And I really liked how Cinderella’s pointe shoes were substituted for the glass slippers. Having Cinderella dance in one pointe shoe in Act III was very clever, I thought. In addition, the pas de deux were like none I had ever seen. They seemed more free and romantic—not so formal, polite, and academic—and the lifts were spectacular. And Julie and Marcelo really made me believe they were in love. By the end of the performance, I was dying to see more ballet. And not only that, I wanted to learn everything that I could—about the dancers I’d seen, about ABT, about ballet in general. That was the start was the start of my ballet addiction. Thanks to that performance, I am here writing on this forum now. ** So given this experience, I was rather excited to be going to Saturday night’s performance with the cast that started it all for me—Kent and Gomes, and I was thrilled to be taking three friends, all of whom had seen no more than a few ballets apiece. And they absolutely LOVED it. They found the staging inventive, they loved the pas de deux, and they thought the stepsisters were hysterical—just like I did four years ago. And it seems that they may have caught a bit of the ballet bug as well. After the show, one friend (coming from out of town) commented, “That was wonderful! I can see why you go all the time. I would go every week if I could!” Seems like “Cinderella” worked its magic on her. So while the critics and the educated ballet fans may attack the choreography, or bemoan the excess of mime, I think Kudelka’s “Cinderella” offers a refreshing and intriguing take on the Cinderella story, and is very different from what your average non-ballet-viewing person thinks of when they think of ballet. I probably wouldn’t recommend it to my ballet-savvy friends, but for those who don’t know much about ballet, but who have an open mind, like a good story, and enjoy a little slapstick comedy, I think it’s great. Of course, some of the magic of the performance depends on the cast, and last night’s was fantastic. When I saw Julie Kent as Cinderella four years ago, I thought, “what a beautiful ballerina!”—and the same holds true today. Granted, she is not nearly as technically impressive as the other principal dancers (anymore), but even though she may do less, she makes it look lovely. During the dress rehearsal, when Julie and Marcelo were standing on the side, chatting and laughing, the lady sitting next to me exclaimed (with a touch of jealousy), “Look at Julie! She looks like a teenager! She’s so pretty.” And I agree. In addition to her girlish figure, there is something about her manner, her seeming utter lack of guile, and her bright, sweet smile that makes her seem young and innocent. She’s effortlessly endearing. It reminded me a bit of Cojocaru’s Giselle—I just wanted to root for this charming, good-natured Cinderella! And Marcelo Gomes just makes everything marvelous. Prince Charming indeed! He looked absolutely smitten with Julie’s Cinderella, and their pas de deux were gorgeous. In his very capable hands, the partnering was effortless, and the lifts were spectacular. I’ve seen my fair share of impressive pashmina-style lifts in, say, “Romeo & Juliet” or “Lady of the Camellias,” but I liked that the lifts in “Cinderella” were more about the movement than a camera-ready pose. All of a sudden, Cinderella would leap—and end up seated on his shoulders. In the Act II pas de deux, I especially love the lift where Cinderella is up on his shoulder, and the Prince twists her as he brings her down. I gasped when they did this. And in the final pas de deux, the Prince practically throws Cinderella up, holding her supporting leg, so she makes an arabesque above his head—amazing. That brings me to the stepsisters, with the bossy blonde played by Simone Messmer, and the freckled, bespectacled redhead played by Maria Riccetto. As fantastic as I thought Luciana Paris was on Tuesday night, Riccetto outdid her. I’m never ever going to be able to look at her the same again!! I loved her as the schoolgirl in “The Bright Stream,” but I had no idea she was such a comic genius! She had the audience totally cracking up. When she did her solo for the Prince sans glasses, there were peals of laughter throughout the theater reminiscent of “The Bright Stream”! The stepsisters have some difficult choreography to tackle—it must be painful to walk on pointe like that, and it can’t be easy to do some of those crazy steps and seemingly-mishandled lifts—but Messmer and Riccetto (with the help of Roman Zhurbin and Julio Bragado-Young) pulled them off wonderfully. One friend commented, “it must be so much fun to be a stepsister!” They nearly stole the show during the bows and curtain call too. Riccetto came onstage looking lost; she asked Eric Tamm for directions, and finally Julio Bragado-Young stepped out and guided her to the front of the stage. Then she was completely taken aback when she was given her flowers. When Marcelo and Julie came out, she was drooling all over him, bowing to him instead of the audience and curling up against his side, until finally he stole her glasses. Messmer pushed Ricetto aside and ran to greet the conductor (Ormsby Wilkins), who gamely lifted her off the floor into a huge bear hug. Too funny! And in the curtain call, Ricetto went under the curtain and only stopped curtseying when Messmer dragged her offstage. Really, the bows were almost a whole show in themselves! It was a wonderful evening. Now, on to “Swan Lake”!

Thanks Waelsung for the clarification! I'm going to try not to get my hopes up too much, because otherwise if the 2012 spring season is announced and there is no "Onegin," I will be very disappointed! I was not aware there was another score for "Cinderella"! Hmm...interesting. That is funny! That was precisely my reaction when I saw Ashton's "Cinderella"--"This looks just like "Sleeping Beauty," but the story is different!" Though I fear Ashton's "Cinderella" might end up Disney-fied at ABT, and I'm not sure I could handle that... ** On a different note--it occurred to me today that we've discussed a lot about what ballets we'd like to see, and what would make financial sense, but I wonder what the dancers themselves would like to dance, and how much that should influence the ultimate decision. (And of course, what the corps would like to dance may be different from what the principals would like to dance.) For example, I find it very interesting that the NYC critics all absolutely hated "Lady of the Camellias," and several viewers did too, yet Marguerite seems to be a coveted role for the ballerinas. Vishneva says it's one of her favorites; I remember reading that Hee Seo wanted to play Marguerite, and at some point Polina Semionova had said she wanted to dance the role. I wonder what ballets the dancers themselves would want to do, if they could pick...

Thanks Natalia for all the links, translations, and video clips!! I love it! She reminds me of Tatiana Tarasova (the grand dame of figure skating coaches)--she'll smother you with affection if you do well, but don't you dare make her mad! I noticed that Olga Smirnova and Sergei Strelkov both were supposed to dance in Diana Vishneva's benefit gala tonight. Is it unusual for recent graduates to participate in galas (especially if they're not going to the Mariinsky, like Smirnova)? Or is it pretty commonplace?

Ah, but let's not forget that Angel Corella did substitute for an injured Herman Cornejo in the 6/1 "Giselle" with Reyes. But then again, Corella is practically a guest artist at this point. I was kinda looking forward to seeing Max and Irina together, but it will be nice to see Carreno one more time! And I am SOO looking forward to seeing Gomes' Rothbart!

[Moderator Beanie On] I merged two threads to create this one. Please post your own comments, reviews, etc., here. Thanks. Bart [Moderator Beanie Off]. I don't think this has been posted already, but apologies if it has. On July 12 they'll be showing "Giselle" in 3D at various movie theaters across the US. http://www.fathomeve...nt/giselle.aspx It appears to be a performance at the Mariinsky, with Natalia Osipova and Leonid Sarafanov as the leads.

I agree! I'm totally splurging and seeing multiple performances for just this reason. I've only seen Vishneva and Obraztsova live (and loved them both), so I can't really make a recommendation, but I will also point out that Kondaurova won a Golden Mask award for her "Anna Karenina." Regarding Vishneva vs Obraztsova, I agree with the others, see them both if you can! But Waelsung is right; Vishneva does dance with ABT in NYC, whereas it is quite rare to see the others in full-length ballets in NYC. (And perhaps if the house is relatively packed to see Obraztsova in LHH, the management might feel more inclined to give her the promotion to principal she so deserves. )

Here are pictures from the opening (with Vishneva)... http://foto.rg.ru/gall/0762d4c2?1 ...as well as some video footage (a pity I have no clue what they're saying) http://www.tv100.ru/news/Dvizhenie-nikogda-ne-lzhet-41931/ And the full program for the gala is up: http://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/2011/6/23/1_2000/ From what I can tell, the last two are not officially in the company yet (not on the website), and might still be students...?

Thanks for the heads-up! I'm going a bit off topic here, but I vote for using some Scriabin music in choreography! And I've always thought the final movement of Shostakovich's violin concerto #1 would make for interesting dance music, though the rest of the concerto might be difficult.

I think you're on to something here! As nysusan pointed out to me, the music is rather dark, but most productions don't really address the darkness of the score and try to pass it off as a light, bright fairytale (suitable for children). I like my music dark and minor, but even I am not a huge fan of the score, and I'm sure there are people like the lady sitting behind me at the dress rehearsal, who remarked at the end of Act II, "well, I liked the pas de deux music and that was about it." Somehow I doubt that anyone will be commissioning a new score for "Cinderella" any time soon though...

I saw Ashton's "Cinderella" with the Royal Ballet in April, in London, and I thought it was only okay. Perhaps I would feel differently if I saw it danced with ABT's stars, but I personally wouldn't care to see that version over the current Kudelka one. I did not particularly care for the stepsisters in drag (whereas I love the Kudelka ones), and it bothered me that Cinderella's father would allow her to be treated as a servant. To me, the story seems better when she has an evil (or indifferent) stepmother. If ABT produces a new "Cinderella," why not Ratmanksy's version? (I actually have only seen bits of it, so I'm not sure that would necessarily be better.) Or perhaps he could stage a new one for them? As for "Onegin"--if ABT does it next year, I bet Kent, Vishneva and Dvorovenko would all be tapped to play Tatiana. Polina Semionova also has it in her rep, so she could potentially dance it too (and Cojocaru too, I think).

I agree! Here are some more (belated) notes on Wednesday night’s performance with Part/Hammoudi and Abrera/Stearns. (It was only a week ago, but two ballets back, so it feels like ages ago!) First, I will say that I never thought “The Bright Stream” music would get stuck in my head when I first saw it, but after seeing four performances, I can now recall certain phrases and the accompanying choreography. This is not necessarily a good thing, because I’ll be walking down the street, and I’ll randomly recall the man-sylph flicking his hands and tapping his toe to the music, and then I’ll start giggling to myself like a crazy person. Perhaps Wednesday night’s cast was not as technically outstanding as the Reyes/Vasiliev/Osipova/Simkin cast, or as secure and polished as the Herrera/Gomes/Murphy/Hallberg one, but there were other details, other interpretative decisions, that I enjoyed. I definitely felt that you can’t go wrong with any of the casts for this ballet, and if you can, collect ‘em all! I adore Stella Abrera, and she looked gorgeous and glamorous as the ballerina. It was instantly believable that this chic city girl would catch Pyotr’s roving eye. She and Stearns made a handsome pair, and this was the only cast where I felt like the ballerina and ballet dancer might be romantically involved instead of mere partners. This interpretation gave credence to the ballerina’s claim that she had no interest in Pyotr and made the confrontation scene with the sylph and dacha dweller even more delicious. I wrote that Osipova’s mime read wonderfully clear, but Abrera’s mime definitely equaled it. In the early scene where the ballerina and Zina, reunite, I realized for the first time that the ballerina was giving Zina corrections on her dancing. Abrera’s jealous rage when confronting the sylph/dacha dweller, and her macho posing during the duel scene were also fantastic. Having already seen Hallberg and Simkin’s hilarious performances as the sylph, I set the bar high for Stearns, but he passed with flying colors. His sylph arms and poses were not ballerina-perfect like Hallberg’s, and he was not nearly as virtuosic as Simkin, but he combined the comedic aspects of both performances to great effect. Like Hallberg, he obviously looked like a man in a sylph costume, and he was bigger than the dacha dweller (again played by Barbee), so he immediately looked hilarious. And like Simkin, he hammed it up, making his sylph alternatively ultra-feminine and then abruptly stepping out of character with some masculine gesture. I really can’t pick a favorite among the three sylphs I saw. They were all fantastic in their own ways. (And I sincerely hope that Stearns’ current injury has nothing to do with his pointe shoe escapades, because I would love to see his sylph again.) I was a tad worried about how Part would handle some of the trickier bits of choreography, but she was perfectly fine as Zina. Hammoudi is a handsome dancer, but he needs some more polish and experience. He fudged a few of his pirouette sequences, and although I didn’t see any partnering problems in the pas de deux per se, it did not look effortless. As the accordion player, Gennadi Savaliev was not over-the-top like Salstein, so his pursuit of the schoolgirl (Gemma Bond) felt somewhat predatory, making it seem like she might really need the tractor-driver dog to protect her. With Salstein and Ricetto, on the other hand, the only real danger was that the schoolgirl might burst out laughing before the joke was up. All in all, however, it was another entertaining performance. If “The Bright Stream” is back next season, and I bet it will be, I will encourage/coerce everyone I know to go see it!

Murphy and Hallberg were glamorous and gorgeous as Cinderella and Her Prince Charming tonight. But Kristi Boone and especially Luciana Paris as the stepsisters nearly stole the show! Paris' physical humor and comic timing were PRICELESS! Personally, I'm a fan of this production, and I would definitely take ballet-newbies to see it, but I know it has its detractors. The house looked pretty full from where I was sitting though. At the dress rehearsal this afternoon, Stella Abrera was Act I's Cinderella, Xiomara Reyes and Sascha Radetsky led Act II, and Julie Kent and Marcelo Gomes performed Act III. I saw Guillaume Cote practice a little bit, and what I saw did make me wish I could see his performance with Abrera tomorrow. Hopefully some other posters will see it and comment on it!