Josette

Thamires Chuvas is working on the solo from the Diana and Acteon pas de deux. 

I got an email less than an hour ago from the National Ballet, stating that they are cancelling the remaining performances of Romeo and Juliet as of tonight, but currently anticipate proceeding with their June season.   

Well, that is wonderful news! I also saw posted on their website that a Herculean effort is being made that ticket holders to A Midsummer Night's Dream can see the film made of the opening/closing night. 

Due to contracts for new works and revivals, it may be more complicated than moving the programming to next season. SFB usually announces the next season in April.  We shall see!

I wonder how these cancelled performances will affect the programming for next season.  Both Ratmansky's The Seasons and Marston's Mrs. Robinson will not be premiered this season and should be programmed for next year. [I am trying to have something to look forward to.] 

It would be wonderful to see the streamed capture of A Midsummer's Night Dream. 

My heart goes out to the dancers.  This leaves Jewels in mid-April and Romeo and Juliet. 

I got notice today that Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre is cancelled this month, as is everything at the L.A. Music Center through March. 

I want to go to the Swan Lake with Shevchenko and Forster on July 2 but I am waiting. 

1 hour ago, angelica said:

I have a ticket for Hurlin/Bell in my subscription. I LOVE Shevchenko but have never seen Hurlin in a major role, so I do want to keep that ticket. Is this ballet worth seeing twice? I almost died during the last act of the Ratmansky Sleeping Beauty.

angelica, if you LOVE Shevchenko, you must see her in this! This is a two-act ballet that keeps a brisk pace and is nothing like Ratmansky's  Sleeping Beauty. I saw it four times, didn't care for it during the premiere, then completely changed my mind and got more out of it with every performance. I have no desire to see Hurlin in it again but would gladly see Hee Seo and Shevchenko again and again. 

9 hours ago, Leah said:

They are so low on male principals- only 3 full time - that I really think both Forster and Bell will be promoted this year, especially given the amount of opportunities each one is getting.

 I currently have a ticket to see Seo/Royal in this at the Met but am considering changing to Shevchenko/Forster. Any suggestions from those who have seen either or both?

I can only vouch for Shevchenko/Forster and Seo, who are all worth seeing in this ballet.  I have never seen Royal - who  did not perform - in a featured role, except for Pierrot in Harlequinade, which does not allow any of us to imagine what he would be like as Chaereas.  

It was Lonnie Weeks who danced the closing solo in Wheeldon's Bound To, and who is actually referenced in meunierfan's post from  June 10, 2019, cited above. Greco did not dance the closing solo;  Jaime Castillo was the alternate for that solo. 

21 minutes ago, Needlepoints said:

Josette,

When Luis Ribagorda and Eric Tamm left ABT they went into selling real estate in New Jersey as a career.  Whether either one did it for the whole time he was away from ABT I don’t know.

Tamm was in perfect shape and very impressive.

I just saw with my own eyes from the printed cast insert in the program made available and handed to all audience members for the performance that I did not attend that Katherine Williams danced the Saturday matinee performance as Queen of Babylon.  

  I went to four of the five performances and it was Katherine Williams as the Queen of Babylon for the ones I attended.  

I saw Shevchenko and Forster's second performance on Saturday night, which was again infused with meaning.  To make any sense, this ballet requires a ballerina with dramatic ability who can show the development of the character.  I also have to mention Forster's beautiful, clean line enhancing the choreography. 

I was fortunate to have seen Hee Seo with Aran Bell on the Sunday matinee.  Aran, understandably, looked a bit tired and thinner but was fully engaged. He has such an appealing personality.  On one of the hoists to a torch lift, he did grimace, but he should be applauded for getting through a difficult week of a premiere, dancing three out of five performances, plus having to rehearse with a new partner. 

I was not ready for See Heo's utterly exquisite, moving performance, and I was in tears at the end.  She was living the role, such that you could follow the character's feelings at every moment.  It was a seamless, searing performance.  During the curtain calls, she was holding back tears out of emotion.  She made sense of the horrific pas de deux with the King of Babylon.   

I also have to mention Katherine Williams'  magnetic performance as the Queen of Babylon; both Blaine Hoven and Joo Wan Ahn as Dionysus, with Hoven in the final scene being particularly moving and upsetting to watch; and opening night's Lucianna Paris giving full meaning to the role of Callirhoe's Maid; also Tyler Maloney and Eric Tamm as Polycharmus; and all three dancers who danced the role of Plangon, including Katherine Williams, whose dialogue with Hee Seo at the downstage left corner of the stage was particularly insightful to the rest of the ballet.  

Eric Tamm danced really well and it was great to see him back on stage.  What has he been doing the past few years?  He looked great.

Oh, thank you so much, sf_herminator for your report. I so appreciate your comments. I was going this Thursday. What a shame for the dancers not to be able to perform. 

I feel like I saw a different ballet tonight.  Shevchenko and Forster were extraordinary: gorgeous dancing and so expressive and moving. They took my breath away and transformed the ballet. I can't wait to see them again on Saturday evening.  The entire cast looked more settled in and danced very well. 

Sarah Lane, an expressive dancer, would be beautiful in Of Love and Rage. 

I came out of the premiere thinking along the lines of "what was that?" more than loving or even liking it.  Part of the problem may be that I saw The Royal Ballet last week and have recently attended performances of SFB, so I have raised expectations.  Nevertheless, the dancing last night was excellent.   I'm seeing four performances.  The dancing is non-stop, as AB'sMom says above, and I'm not sure if that is favorable, having seen a sublime performance of Dances at a Gathering by The Royal Ballet seven days ago, where there is stillness.  

Aran Bell really impressed me in his total commitment, charisma, and natural acting ability; I also appreciated the performances of  James Whiteside and, especially, Cory Stearns.  Cory Stearns did traditional mime in his role and he had a centered stillness in his characterization that I found impressive.   Catherine Hurlin gave an excellent first performance in a principal role, dancing with fluidity, beautiful line, and musicality - as she always does-, but was not expressive facially (unlike Aran) and she tended to have her mouth partially open at all but a few moments.    I was in the front row, and her lack of emotional range at this point in her career was troublesome for me.  She did not, however, do any fake acting or put on a phony acting face, so she will likely grow in that area.  Aran already shows exceptional, believable emotional range, both facially and in his body.  

I also have to say that I was uncomfortable with a newly created ballet where women are valued as to which is the most beautiful (irresistible) and especially in the scene where the King intends to take her without her consent,  knowing that she loves her husband and with the husband present.  

There was a lovely moment near the end where the reunited couple kiss downstage and she is lifted above him diagonally and at an angle while he is kneeling - easily the best part of the evening and very moving. 

I am very interested in seeing the other two casts. 

I stay at either Hayes Valley Inn or Inn at the Opera when I go to the ballet.  There's a good variety of restaurants in the area.  The breakfast at Hayes Valley Inn for the ten-ish years I've been staying there, including twice last month, has always included thin slices of ham and American cheese slices, plain yogurt, and peanut butter.  

Sasha Mukhamedov looks tall, but maybe someone who saw her in The Sandpaper Ballet can let us know.  

Thanks for posting the first night cast. I am attending only one performance, on March 12. 

I wish that they would post Hermia, Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius.   The lovely and talented Madison Keesler publicly posted on her FB page a clip of Patricia McBride's dancing the solo for Hermia, so perhaps you  can extrapolate some meaning from that. 

Ben Freemantle's comment about one show, no tech ... Is something that will happen, even no stage rehearsal and learning the role two hours (or less) before the show. 

I agree- I very much miss Aaron Robison and Ulrik Birkkjaer, as much as I do appreciate all the dancers. 

I saw Van Patten dance Juliet twice and was bowled over, I also loved her in Diamonds and in Swan Lake.  I saw De Sola again last night in Etudes and found her in her element, dancing with radiance and finesse. I particularly appreciate her in the Sylphide section, which can sometimes come off as camp. De Sola danced one of the most effective Olgas I have seen in Onegin, where she and Myles Thatcher as Lensky had a deep connection.  

I did not find Cnderella to be one-dimensional and loved preparing and performing the role. 

Sasha Mukhamedov said in a pre-performance talk on February 21 that she was cast as Hippolyta and learning Titania (which Yuan Yuan Tan is cast as, as well as Sasha De Sola, as shown in the photo above). She also said that she will be dancing the tall girl in Rubies, which she danced at the Dutch National Ballet, and is learning Diamonds and loves Diamonds. Esteban Hernandez said in a previous pre-performance talk that he is cast as Puck and learning Oberon.

Oberon does not do any partnering but does dance fast and furiously. I'm sure most people here know that Villella was the original Oberon and Arthur Mitchell the original Puck. Titania has a pas de deux with a consort and also with Bottom and does not have a pas de deux with Oberon.  There are a lot of opportunities for the dancers, what with the two sets of lovers and the beautiful divertissement pas de deux in the second act. I am most interested in who will be cast in the  second act pas de deux. 

Do we know for a fact that Angelo is cast as Puck? He could be cast as Oberon.  He danced brilliantly in Etudes on the 21st.