California

I saw this ballet Monday night for the first (and, almost certainly, the last) time. Copeland rode in on the yak to thunderous applause from the almost-sold-out house. Even the second rows of side boxes were mostly sold (despite those atrocious sight lines). Although I had looked at the NY Times video clip of one Praline variation, I didn't really notice if she was faithful to that or not. No obvious mistakes. She seemed in great spirits and did bring some enthusiastic energy to the second act. Cirio was impressive as the boy and drew loud cheers for his more athletic moves. I am pretty sure Ratmansky was in the audience - side orchestra, about row O, on the aisle. So was Macaulay, on the opposite side of the house. The audience seemed to love this ballet. I am glad I saw the sets/costumes after reading all the hoopla. Lots of very inventive and apparently difficult choreography. But the music was just deadening to me and I don't think the choreography is sufficiently interesting to sit through it again. I can see people bringing kids and ballet newcomers to this and at least there's a lot of worthwhile choreography for that introduction.

I take issue with the widely held view that experience as a dancer is essential to being a good dance critic. Some of our best critics never set foot in a dance studio -- Robert Gottlieb and Arlene Croce, e.g. Having a good eye, memory, writing ability, and experience in other ways with the art form -- indeed, with all the arts -- are what matter.

Thanks for the correction. I saw Royal Ballet's cinema broadcast a few years ago, with Nunez and Bonelli. I believe they also had rehearsal shots in the international Ballet day broadcast. I also have the Acosta DVD and that's with Rojo, so I misremembered that. http://www.roh.org.uk/news/the-royal-ballets-manon-to-be-relayed-live-to-cinemas-across-the-world-on-16-october-2014 https://www.amazon.com/Manon-Tamara-Rojo/dp/B002NEZ0D8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498422087&sr=8-1&keywords=manon That's such a demanding role, does anybody really look like they're near-death?

I'm not sure this means she's retiring from the company. Vishneva dropped Swan Lake several years ago, didn't she? There are some really demanding technical roles that seem as difficult for the women as for the men as they get older - Don Q, Bayadere, SL.

You might be referring to an old photograph, perhaps? She's now 80, born in 1936: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carla_Fracci

It's hard to see how they could bring back Onegin without guests like Ferri and Vishneva. Perhaps Nunez could be brought over? She would also be a fabulous guest in Manon. (Her DVD with Acosta is glorious.) I see on YouTube that Kochetkova does Onegin with SFB, but I doubt people here would admire her dramatic interpretation, having seen these other possibilities. I wonder if Simkin has Onegin potential with the right partner - his partnering and dramatic expression have improved so much, along with his extraordinary technique. But with Kochetkova? I doubt that would be satisfying overall. Hammoudi was acceptable at the matinee Saturday, but he is still a disappointment. He just doesn't have the presence of others. Too often, a walk is just a pedestrian walk. An arm moves, but it's not presented. He never seems invested in the total package that changes an ordinary person to a dramatic dancer. On another matter: somebody asked how the russians pronounce "Onegin." There's actually a YouTube channel for pronunciations:

I could go for a three-year rotation of Onegin-Manon-R&J -- similar appeal in all of them, great music, different choreographers, lavish partnering. BTW - Bolle and Nunez are doing 5 performances of Onegin at La Scala this fall: September 23 - October 18: http://www.teatroallascala.org/en/season/2016-2017/ballet/balletto7.html

Just back from the Cory-Stella Saturday matinee -- my second look at this wonderful pair. I teared up again in the final PdD! She so beautifully captures the complex emotions of the moment -- anger, resentment, haunting memories, lingering love, whatever...it's all there, all quite genuine. I did notice that some of their lifts, especially in the Act I bedroom PdD, suffer in contrast with Vishneva-Gomes. Specifically, she ends up on his shoulder or back, horizontally, in several lifts, but the entries all seemed cautious, overly-labored. But that was the only noticeable problem with the technique. A detail from the Vishneva-Gomes curtain calls Friday night: While all her friends and colleagues were bringing out lavish flower bouquets, Irina Kopolkova brought a bunch of yellow sunflowers. It seemed odd at the time, but I noticed today that in Tatiana's bedroom in Act I, there is a large bunch of sunflowers on the wall. So that was actually a thoughtful detail immediately understood by two Russian women.

A few minor details: I noticed a professional film crew Friday night in the Grand Tier box closest to the stage. I wonder if they're making an archival tape for the NYPL or perhaps footage for Russian TV. Anybody know? When the corps men enter in Act I, they all do fun tricks. I noticed a spectacular revoltade/540 several nights, including Friday. Is that JooWon Ahn? Anybody know?

At a Friends' Spotlight Seminar Tuesday, Luckett interviewed Copeland, Teuscher, and Shevchenko about "dream debuts." He asked Copeland about her scheduled debut in Praline next Monday, given that she had aleady cancelled twice. She seemed to rush to say: because of injury. And, yes, she did hope to debut next week. An awkward exchange, it seemed.

One of my favorite critics today (Robert Gottlieb) said in reviewing the ABT season a couple of years ago that he never attends Manon as he considers it too schmaltzy. I haven't seen him at Onegin and wonder if he shares the feelings some of you are expressing for avoiding it. I might note that Sara Mearns said on Instagram that she went to see Hallberg last night and I noticed Gillian Murphy at the Wednesday matinee (again, judging from Instagram, Abrera is one of her best friends). I don't think I've noticed Macaulay at any performances, although perhaps I overlooked him. Judging from what you see on YouTube, Onegin is very popular world wide and is regularly performed (Dutch National, Bolshoi, La Scala, San Francisco, Canada, Royal Ballet).

Yes - but not as weak as the matinee, which was by far the better performance. A young child was sitting with grandparents near me and they left after the first act. The whole dueling thing is maybe not a great ballet for young kids! Hard to explain why Hallberg and Seo were such a disappointment. I blame him for his stiff, ominous, nasty characterization as much as her flaccid one.

Having now seen all four casts, I was surprised at some of them. The weakest was Seo and Hallberg. Seo is pedestrian and uninspiring, as Abatt noted. He was just mean-looking in Act I - very difficult to see how Tatiana could fall for him at all. It also seems he didn't have a mustache in Act I, but had acquired one in III. With some searching on YouTube, it turns out he performed this in Russia with Smirnova and I wonder if their coaching made him such an unattractive character. Here's a clip. The big surprise for me was the Wednesday matinee, Abrera and Stearns. From YouTube, it seems he performed this with Dvorenko, which might explain his strong portrayal. Hers was extraordinary. I never tear up at the ballet, but she got to me in the final PdD. He was an effective foil for her interpretation and their partnering seemed solid. Weak attendance, but this was not a good ballet for young children at a weekday matinee. I hope the Saturday matinee does better and would recommend it. Nobody beats Gomes-Vishneva for high-risk partnering and I can understand the over-the-top emotions from those two. And nobody beats her Act I bourees; Abrera and Seo were okay, but Ferri barely moved on those. Bolles and Gomes are such strong partners, those high-risk moves are glorious to watch. I worried with Hallberg and Seo, as they just didn't seem solid; I don't know how to explain that, other than lack of familiarity as partners and perhaps worry about injuries.

Many of the dancers are scheduled for the Vail International Dance Festival July 29-August 12, including Dorrance (who is artist-in-residence): http://www.vvf.org/arts/vail-international-dance-festival http://www.vvf.org/arts/vail-international-dance-festival/performing-artists.aspx

Yes - as I said - what a ridiculous cultural practice! Is this a test of how fast they can shoot their gun? or how good their gun is? If they want to test accomplishment, swords or fist fights would seem better, but maybe they thought that was too lower-class.

I had never seen this ballet, but wanted to see the four killer casts, especially as several are close to retirement. I was concerned about comments here that there wasn't much dancing, so I was pleasantly surprised at the Monday opening. Lots of interesting things for the ensemble, e.g., in Act I those running jetes for couples on the diagonal at top speed and some tricks for the corps men when they entered in Act I. And the partnering choreography was extraordinary - imaginative without being gimmicky. Of course, Gomes-Vishneva did it so expertly that it was glorious to watch and I'll be interested in seeing what the other principals do with it. I like that Cranko would repeat interesting partnering ideas three or four times so you could get a good look at it. (I'm remembering Balanchine's "rule of three" for something innovative -- they won't believe what they saw the first time, they'll get it the second, and savor it the third.) Never having seen the original productions, I wasn't disappointed by sets and costumes, although the costumes seemed rather peasant-like, even in the ballroom scene. The various scrims used to change scenes were clever and worked smoothly. Gomes and Vishneva were extremely emotional during the curtain calls, but that's so understandable given their long, glorious partnership. I did hear a lot of Russian being spoken in the audience. The house seemed sold out, but it's not possible to know how many of those were from the "rush." I never understood the whole dueling-with-pistols thing and just googled it. Seems it was an upper-class phenomenon in Europe where refusing to duel when challenged showed you were unmanly and weak. Hints that the winner somehow was the better person, for not getting killed. Apparently thousands of people died in duels in Europe and it was practiced to a lesser extent in colonial United States. What a ridiculous cultural practice!

Terrific video of Sara and Daniil in their final leaps. Nice to see they have a "spotter," just in case.

Ah, but we got to see three performances of their quite spectacular Don Quixote, too, that season - the gold standard, even if they couldn't squeeze the entire production onto the State Theater stage.

I remember reading an interview with Gillian that she started doing fouettes when she was very young. Just one perfect one, then she worked up to two in a row, then three. Over time she worked up to 32. I wonder if there are balancing and placement issues that need to be inculcated at an early age. Stamina is surely part of it, too.

ABT doesn't seem to do much touring internationally any more, and I have wondered if it's dependent on a host country picking up the tab. They were in South Korea a few years ago, as noted. And they were in Dubai this spring, with Giselle debuts by Lane, Copeland, and Murphy. So at least they got a serious run-through before the Met season.

In the latest round of grants, several ballet companies will benefit. Most grants this cycle are going to educational and community outreach activities. A few things of special interest: Ballet Arizona: $20,000 for free outdoor performances (p. 8) San Francisco Ballet: $60,000 for the New Works Festival (pp. 39-40) Ballet Tech: $30,000 for Eliot Feld's NYC school programs (p. 182) Dance Theatre of Harlem: $30,000 for a national tour (pp. 185-6) New York Baroque Dance Co.: $10,000 for workshops on Nijinsky's "Sarabande" (pp. 198-199) School of American Ballet: $40,000 for tuition free classes (p. 207) Charlotte Ballet: $12,500 for performances of Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring" (p. 223) Eugene Ballet: $15,000 for national tour of "Mowgli: The Jungle Book" (p. 235) Pennsylvania Ballet: $30,000 for new work by Helen Pickett (p. 248) Ballet Memphis: $10,000 for program of work by Balanchine, McIntyre, Adam (p. 259) https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/Spring_2017_State_List_FINAL.pdf Use the "search" tool on PDF for "ballet" and you'll see several festivals and outreach activities that will include ballet.

There's pretty solid evidence that Balanchine was motivated to create his Nutcracker to bring in revenue, and companies around the country jumped on the financial bandwagon. His version, of course, does have some wonderful choreography, but I rarely see Nutcracker more than once a year. There's also some indication that he made his one-act Swan Lake in 1951 to bring in revenue and get more recognition, even though it must have seemed like a sell-out to his most ardent fans at the time. I remember one report that he was going to leave out the four little swans, but Kirstein objected, as ticket-buyers expect it! If you-know-who helps the bottom line at ABT, more power to her (and them)!

There are two different issues here. (1) lowering performance standards and (2) moving away from classical ballet to pop culture. It would be nice if ballet companies could survive only by performing pure classics (whether that's from the 19th century repertory or Balanchine). But that's tough financially. And I confess I have enjoyed some of the more "pop" things I've seen, e.g., Septime Weber's Alice (in Wonderland) is chock full of really interesting choreography that the classical dancers seem to enjoy performing.

Given the precarious funding at US ballet companies, with declining government support, I can't fault ABT's reliance on her bringing in audiences -- just as I don't fault regional companies for doing Peter Pan, Dracula, Alice in Wonderland, and other ballets that they know will sell and prop up their budget for the year. This is the world we're in!

I have not seen this film, but I did see her in performance at the Joyce back in early March. You could see glimmers of what we all remember fondly - the flexibility, stretch, extension - but I guess the choreography she developed with male partners and a musical group is just not my cup of tea. She was barefoot, of course. I left the theater thinking: well, I'm glad I saw her once, but I can't imagine ever going back.