California

"First Position" is scheduled for broadcast on Bravo on basic cable Friday, July 5, very early morning.

Nobody has mentioned Ethan Stiefel, who performed with both ABT and NYCB. If he does a good job at New Zealand in the next year or two, might he be on a short list for companies like SFB or PNB? ABT seems a bit of a leap, assuming Ratmansky declines, but perhaps not.

Thanks for correcting that - it did seem odd.

This discussion reminds me of interviews with Marcelo Gomes, who started working on partnering at an early age in Brazil. Here's an interview from 2003 that discusses that: http://balletalert.com/dancers/interviews/Gomes.html Elsewhere, I've seen discussions of the fact that, at least in many (most?) American ballet classes, there are so few boys that they learn how to partner many different types of girls. As others have noted, it seems strange that Simkin's dancer parents didn't anticipate this during his "homeschooling" in ballet.

If Wikipedia can be trusted, I think Julie Kent at 44 is oldest. Herrera was born in 1975, Kent in 1969, Murphy in 1979. I can't find a birthdate for Reyes in a quick Google. A few more: Vishneva 1976, Cojocaru 1981, Semionova 1984.

They have a program specifically for "Liberal Education for Arts Professionals" for professional dancers on their several campuses: http://www.stmarys-ca.edu/node/4106 It's a great idea for dancers thinking ahead to the next phase of their careers.

Those of us who lived through the Kirkland era can empathize! You held your breathe through that first announcement, hoping she hadn't cancelled (again). At least you know ahead of time.

The actual schedule has appeared on the ABT site, although without casting: http://www.abt.org/calendar.aspx?startdate=11/1/2013

Here's the YouTube clip -- I do wish they'd bring it back somehow! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fTbFsZ6mm4

Doesn't ABT have the Lubovitch Othello in its rep? I'd love to see that brought back. There's a little clip of Ferri and Gomes on YouTube that is very powerful. Would all three ballets be too long?

Is Wellington, NZ at sea level? Vail is at 8,000+ ft and most people need a few days to adjust to the altitude. Dancers are athletes, but still...quite an adjustment to add to his jet lag.

Yes. This change is now on the ABT site: http://www.abt.org/calendar.aspx

Here's a 1981 article about Harvey's rise in the company in the Baryshnikov era: http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20078370,00.html She was Baryshnikov's partner in the 1983 Don Quixote, broadcast "Live from Lincoln Center" and still available on DVD.

At the Friends open rehearsal Monday afternoon, I noticed a pair getting ready for that lift in the wings. (I couldn't see if this was Semionova or Herrera or Part, so I'm not judging any of them.) A second man was standing in front of them, facing both, lifting her up onto his shoulder. The pair then makes their entrance. It looks very daring when they enter during performance and I'm guessing they all need that extra boast off-stage to get into position. Another lift that looks unbelievably difficult comes when the pair is in the center of the stage, he gets her around the back of his neck and she somehow ends up head down in front of him. Yikes! It looked difficult in performance and in rehearsal. It wouldn't be at all surprising if somebody got injured during one of those.

Baryshnikov has some interesting things to say about the attack (and about Ratmansky):

Diana Vishneva posts a little information about her Met 2014 plans on her web site: definitely Giselle, maybe Swan Lake. http://www.vishneva.ru/en/questions?p=2

Gillian Murphy will be replacing an injured Carla Korbes in Swan Lake with the Royal New Zealand Ballet July 18 - August 24. Lucky New Zealanders! http://www.nzballet.org.nz/news/news/rnzb-announces-cast-change/ http://www.nzballet.org.nz/shows-and-events/the-vodafone-season-of-swan-lake/casting/

I agree. I saw Murphy and Gomes Monday night. Both are great, individually and as partners, in this ballet. They repeat at the Saturday matinee, which I would recommend if you can only see one.

At the Friends dress rehearsal Monday afternoon, we got a printed program that said Osipova, Cornejo, Vasiliev, and Salstein would be rehearsing Act III. Instead, we saw Reyes and Cornejo in practice clothes in the far back corner running through a PdD, with plenty of other dancers out front doing various practice elements. Reyes also practiced some solos in practice clothes to the orchestra accompaniment. There were so many dancers on stage at that point, I couldn't tell if Vasiliev was there or not. Part, Semionova, Herrera were all there in costume at least for one of the acts.

Macauley's review of Swan Lake just appeared on-line. Diplomatically, perhaps, he says nothing about Vasiliev as Rothbart: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/24/arts/dance/american-ballet-theaters-swan-lake.html?ref=dance

I saw three of the SLs this year (Murphy/Whiteside, Kochetkova/Cornejo, Kent/Gomes). I agree with most of what has been said, and add just a few more points: Murphy: I saw her in SL a year ago with Gomes and thought she was not quite 100% this year -- balances not quite as sustained, turns not quite as fast. I don't know if that was the new partner (Whiteside) or the brief illness that took her out of the Ratmansky a few weeks ago. She added one detail to the fouettes I don't remember seeing before: on a couple of the rotations, she fluttered her arms up and down in swan arms! The physics of making that happen while turning are mind-boggling. Kochetkova: I look forward to seeing her again in SL. Sparkling technique, speed, elevation. Kent: This was exceptionally moving and dramatically appropriate, as others have noted. I don't have a problem with simplifying some of the choreography, but she's really pushing the envelope at this point. Some of the fun of SL is seeing how different dancers execute the famous "bits" of choreography, and she has dropped much of it -- the schooching backward arabesques in Act III replaced by a small circle of pique turns, e.g. I only counted 24 fouettes (all singles), but that might be my mistake. In II, I noticed an example of the vaunted Gomes partnering: she was in arabesque, on pointe, let go of his supportive hand, but lasted only a second or two - she started to learn forward and his hand was at her waist in a nano-second to support her. Cornejo: Wow! What a debut! I saw him in Mercutio and Puck last year and the speed, height, precision, energy were all there in his Siegfried. I can't wait to see him in this again. He also seemed to have worked out all the detailed acting throughout very effectively. One odd thing in his variations in Act I: he almost always looks straight at the audience, rarely the party-goers. Isn't he supposed to be entertaining his subjects in this? (Gomes does this a little, but not as noticeably.) Gomes: Along with his luxurious dancing -- never rushed, always in perfect form, I loved his detailed characterization. He lived this character start to finish. Kent and Gomes: A very nice touch during the second all-stage curtain call: They walked to opposite corners, stage front, turned their backs on the audience, and gave long, sweeping gestures to acknowledge the corps. It was so coordinated that it looked like they had done this before (has anybody seen this before?) or had planned it beforehand. Gomes does a gesture like that himself during curtain calls, but I haven't seen both principals do this. Both came up through the ABT ranks themselves, of course. Vasiliev: This was painful to watch. He threw in his usual tricks and the audience loved it, but he seems such a mismatch size-wise. Perhaps they need to make some alterations in that costume for him, so he looks more like an aristocrat and less like a jester. Matthews and Whiteside: I thought they were both very effective as Aristocratic Rothbart -- menacing, sinister, manipulative.

His complete commencement speech this morning has been posted by Northwestern University. He has some interesting things to say about the arts: http://vimeo.com/68869537

Thanks to LaKarsavina, curtain calls June 19 - evening (Boylston-Simkin): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpNnJH4IAdw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhVDqSfNFe4

At least somebody had the good judgment not to cast Vasiliev at the Saturday matinee with Gomes as Siegfried. What an interesting third act that would have made!!! I think ABT audiences are seeing pretty clearly why the Royal Ballet did not offer a position to Vasiliev. I almost feel sorry for him. It's going to be hard to find appropriate roles and partners other than Osipova. He needs to invest in some serious coaching -- soon!

Curtain calls from June 17, thanks to LaKarsavina: