RUKen

Why would she? She was supposed to have retired with a "Sleeping Beauty". The schedule was set. The fact that SHE decided not to perform in "Beauty" and dance something else probably meant that ABT had to do some very quick juggling. I find it remarkable that ABT was able to give her a slot and in a ballet she preferred. OK, so it was a matinee, but I think they did the best they could, given the circumstances. I can't speak to any thing else regarding her retirement, but her final bow was lovely and well earned. If she was unhappy about the circumstances it certainly didn't show.

It's really not that remarkable. Paloma was scheduled to appear in the matinee performance of Giselle all along--you can check out the advance schedule in post #2 (dated October 16, 2014, from Dale) of the ABT 2015 Met Season thread. Her performance in The Sleeping Beauty was canceled and her scheduled performance in Giselle became her farewell. Usually, long-time principal dancers are given their own choice for their farewell performance, but it appears that TSB was assigned to Paloma, until she put her foot down.

Osipova danced the premiere of The Firebird in Orange County and originated the role, though no doubt Copeland will dance it at the LA Music Center next summer and there will be publicity galore.

Misty Copeland was one of the three dancers that the lead in Firebird was set on by Ratmansky, along with Osipova and Isabela Boylston (though Josette is correct that she did not "originate" the role as the first performer).

Apparently Ms. Kochetkova has revised her Twitter page to refer to herself as a guest artist at ABT rather than as a principal.

(...and apparently she knew what the rest of us didn't.) RUKen 1 July 2015

Are discounted tickets for the Royal Ballet performances being made available at the David Rubinstein Atrium?

I saw Lane do the old version with Cornejo. They definitely did the fish dives. Personally I found seeing the old version quite interesting so I'm glad someone did it. I don't know why Lane & Cornejo were the ones, but I can attest to the fact that they can do the fish dives.

Just Google "Lane Cornejo Sleeping Beauty" and you will see a photo taken by Rosalie O'Connor of this pair performing a beautiful fish dive.

(If I could have figured out how to insert an image into a reply on this board, I would have done so.)

It's quite amusing to hear ABT now say that they sell performances, not performers -- when we learned from that quickly yanked YouTube video of a prominent company spokesperson that that's not at all the way they work.

I think that the box office employees work for the Metropolitan Opera House, not ABT. If I'm correct, then their words do not necessarily reflect ABT's thinking.

Nobody else has commented on the Monday dress rehearsal, so I will. I apologize that my ballet vocabulary is not as extensive as the more frequent commenters on this board.

They rehearsed Act 1 with Misty Copeland and Joseph Gorak (the Saturday matinee cast) in the leads, and then repeated the balcony pdd with Evgenia Obraztsova and Herman Cornejo (the Thursday leads). After the intermission, Act 2 was skipped and Act 3 was rehearsed with the Obraztsova/Cornejo cast.

Copeland and Gorak seemed tentative in their partnering, and Misty needs to develop more depth in her characterization of Juliet; she seems to rely on a few stock facial expressions. Joseph was very convincing as Romeo.

Because Obraztsova/Cornejo performed the balcony scene immediately after Copeland/Gorak, it was easy to see the difference. Evgenia showed a wide range of expressions and was always in motion; she never seemed to be waiting for her turn to dance the way Misty sometimes did. She and Herman looked not like a new pairing but like they had danced together for years. Their "performance" in Act 3 was equally satisfying; I've always been a fan of Herman Cornejo and now I want to see much more of Evgenia Obraztsova. I think that anyone who is going Thursday night will see a great performance.

After Act 3 was finished, and they briefly rehearsed the bows, the crypt set was broken down and the bedroom set was in place during the notes. While others were getting notes, Misty was on stage in warmup clothing running through some of Juliet's movements by herself. Kevin McKenzie then gave her a few notes before the rehearsal ended.

The backdrop does not look to me like the R&J set, and it is definitely not a window in a New York City studio. Possibly she is rehearsing for something else...

Has Hee Seo always had back to back performances of Juliet on the 15th and 16th? Was Semionova in that spot? Crazy to have her dance two nights in a row.

Semionova had originally been scheduled for opening night on the 15th.

I say to cast the "visiting stars" in some of these ballets would probably go a long way to sell seats. I would pay money to see Vishneva dance "Lilac Garden", or Osipova dance "Rodeo". Think outside the proverbial box a bit.

In the short term, that probably would sell more seats, but in the long term, I think it would perpetuate the decline in sales for the company. In my opinion, they have over-relied on guest stars to boost the box office. Dancers have been promoted to principal status before they have developed the skills to perform at a level that will excite the audience (I'm thinking Simkin, Seo, and Boylston), and some soloists that have shown promise have not been given enough opportunities to perform lead roles (most notably Stella Abrera, but also some others that have left the company). All of this has been discussed at length on this board--I think that boosting ticket sales will require a long-term commitment to rebuild the company back to the status it had a decade or so ago.

(Full disclosure--I'm as guilty as anyone of buying tickets for performances with guest stars, but until the last few years, I was very happy to choose only from among the scheduled performances of the company dancers.)

Any news of casting in NYC? I wonder if Osipova will be allowed to perform, given that Kevin has some kind of non-compete clause in the ABT contracts. That's why the Mikhailovsky performed in the fall instead of last spring.

Osipova is no longer on the ABT roster; she is appearing as a guest performer. I doubt that the non-compete clause applies to her.

Casting has been posted for the Kennedy Center performances:

Marianela Nunez, Carlos Acosta – Tue., June 9 & Fri., June 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Sarah Lamb, Federico Bonelli – Wed., June 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Iana Salenko, Steven McRae – Thu., June 11 at 7:30 p.m., Sat. June 13 at 1:30 p.m.
Natalia Osipova, Matthew Golding – Sat., June 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Roberta Marquez, Alexander Campbell – Sun., June 14 at 1:30 p.m.

His dancing in La Sylphide and Tarantella on YouTube are really on of the best, this remark really makes the lecturer sound silly. She must not have even bothered to google his name.

Or she may have taken her tone from his self-description -- if he was self-depricating, she might have thought that was the "official" tone.

If that is the case, she should have stated something like "in his own words, he and his wife were second-rate dancers", or whatever he actually said.

I agree with Canbelto's description of this as a depiction of a Happy Revolution. Ratmansky's version for the Bolshoi, as I recall, highlights the senseless violence of the times much more clearly.

No one else has mentioned the little girl who performed a character dance in the last act. She was a great performer!

If you manually adjust the numbers in the Met's calendar URL, you can also view the June and July calendars, linked below:

http://metopera.org/metopera/season/calendar.aspx?monthyear=5-2015

http://metopera.org/metopera/season/calendar.aspx?monthyear=6-2015

http://metopera.org/metopera/season/calendar.aspx?monthyear=7-2015

I guess the folks at ABT were not too pleased that this info was uncovered, because all of the ABT info has now vanished from the Met calendar. Not that there was any ever doubt, but this confirms that ABT reads the entries on this board. LOL.

From memory, the remainder of the season is:

First week of June--La Bayadere

Second week of June--The Sleeping Beauty

Third week of June--Romeo and Juliet

Fourth week of June--Swan Lake

Last week through July 4th--Cinderella

Thanks Dale. Interesting info. Still not clear to me if the May 18 gala is the start date for the season.

Although ABT has still not posted their spring schedule on their website, a glimpse of the first three weeks is available on the website of the Metropolitan Opera. The season begins May 11th, and the company is performing "Classic ABT" through the 16th. (No details are available, but clearly this is a repertory performance that will include some of the historical pieces mentioned in the press release.) The gala is on May 18th. From the 19th through the 21st they are performing Othello. Giselle runs from May 21st through the 28th, and The Sleeping Beauty begins on the 29th. The Met Opera schedule only runs through May, so that is the extent of the ABT schedule that is posted.

Didn't even focus on the May 18 date. That is late. The Met Opera season ends on SAt May 9. Is Kevin trying to push the season further into July to accomodate more guest appearances for the season? (Osipova?)

Is it possible that ABT will take a week off while the Royal Ballet performs in New York? Maybe the RB will perform in the Met rather than the Koch? (Wishful thinking, I know...)

Xiomara was Herman's most regular partner. Who is short enough to be his regular partner going forward? As Amour indicated, are they planning on offering Kochetkova a more regular gig so Herman has a partner?

Herman Cornejo and Xiomara Reyes were not partners during the past spring season. Cornejo was scheduled to dance with Kochetkova (Don Quixote), Cojocaru (La Bayadere and Giselle), and Copeland (Coppelia), whereas Reyes was paired with Lendorf (Don Quixote), Vasiliev (also Don Quixote), Jackson (Manon), Gorak (Cinderella), Matthews (Giselle), and Radetsky (Coppelia). It seems that Kevin McKenzie was preparing for Reyes' departure, though it is not clear that he resolved the issue of who will be the best partner for Cornejo. In any case, only Copeland (of those named) is currently on the ABT roster.

I believe you strongly agree with Ballet Alert'a "no politics" policy and ask that you consider that calling the Act by the politically driven nickname "Obamacare" is incorrect.

Although "Obamacare" was initially used by political groups that did not want the plan to succeed, the term has been generally adopted across the political spectrum, is more widely recognized, and its use no longer connotes disapproval.

Just my two cents...

California wrote: I just took a look at the Dance collection catalog and found a recording of Manon I plan to see next time I'm in New York: Ferri, Bolle, Cornejo, and Murphy, taped in performance at the Met June 14, 2007...Would that have been her retirement year? Performance?

(The quote function on this forum no longer works for me, thus the paraphrasing.)

Allesandra Ferri did indeed retire from ABT in the spring, 2007, but her final performance was in Romeo & Juliet the week after Manon. I attended an open dress rehearsal in which she participated on June 18th of that year.

I believe that back in the 1970's, ABT was a resident at the Kennedy Center as well as at the Met. I don't know what part of the year that the company was in DC, but their stays were significantly longer than the current visits of about a week. (Unfortunately, I cannot find any details about this on the ABT website, but I have an old ballet history book at home that is my source for this.)

Cargill commented (in post #11) on the absence of an Ashton ballet in the fall season, despite Ashton being mentioned as a choreographer for the anniversary season.

The release by ABT (included in post #12 above) makes clear that the anniversary celebration will extend through December 2015, so Ashton's contribution is probably his Cinderella which was performed by ABT in June and is likely to be repeated next year.

Edited to add: The performance dates for the fall season have now been posted at: www.abt.org/performances/kochtheater.asp

Is the Othello in the crystal ball the Lar Lubovitch Othello or the John Neumeier Othello (or something else)?

The fall season will be at the Koch Theater (the former State Theater), after the NYCB season and before the Mikhailovsky season.

Interfax is reporting that Sergei Filin was discharged from the hospital in "normal" condition on Sunday morning:

http://voiceofrussia.com/uk/news/2014_06_28/Sergei-Filin-in-intensive-care-7454/