Josette

I am a huge fan of gorgeous Isabella DeVivo and this past season I was overjoyed to see her dance principal and solo roles brilliantly in classical, neo-classical, and contemporary works.  She was a showstopper in Ratmansky's The Seasons and outdanced her extremely capable colleagues in Blake Works II with her musical phrasing. She has everything it takes to be an outstanding principal dancer and she should be given every opportunity to progress.  I also love Julia Rowe, which I have mentioned for years in this forum. 

Chuvas was breathtaking in the new Dwight Rhoden work and should have been promoted.  I also am waiting for Sasha Mukhamedov to take her rightful place as a principal at SFB, as she is dancing now without injury. 

On 6/4/2022 at 7:56 AM, RUKen said:

I don't think it has been mentioned yet on this thread that Christopher Wheeldon's "Like Water for Chocolate", which is premiering now at the Royal Ballet, is a co-production with American Ballet Theatre.  We can expect it to be performed in New York in the next year or two.

According to a Segerstrom Performing Arts Center email that I received  months ago, ABT is scheduled to premiere Like Water for Chocolate in the U.S. in March of 2023 in Orange County.  I saw  all casts of The Royal Ballet's world premiere of Like Water for Chocolate in early June, including the General Rehearsal and opening night.  The production was hugely popular with the audience.  I loved it as danced by The Royal Ballet, who are brilliant dance-actors, and will see it performed by ABT in March, as I live in California.  I would assume that NY audiences will see it in summer of 2023 and there will be a great deal of discussion in Ballet Alert about it. 

Congratulations to William Bracewell and Reece Clarke for their deserved and eagerly awaited promotion to Principal Dancer!  

Aaron Robison can do it justice.

I saw it twice in Chicago pre-Covid.  It is an amazing work. Ciro was fantastic - what a great dancer he is! I did not get to see Rojo, unfortunately.   If I were not going to London in June for Like Water for Chocolate, I would attend. 

The season is starting a week earlier and ending a week earlier than usual. 

4 hours ago, pherank said:

I'd love to hear your thoughts on De Sola and Cauthorn's partnership, Josette. Sounds like you had a very full weekend.

I loved them.  I'll get back to you with more details.

I saw all four casts in SFB's last performance weekend at the opera house and had a wonderful time.  I will report my thoughts this weekend when I have a break from work.  Just briefly, I will say that Frances Chung is amazing in the way she continues to flourish and deepen as an artist.   Her Odile with Joe Walsh was one of the most memorable and thrilling Black Swan pas de deux I have ever seen, and this was not just about a technical display or counting fouettés or how long a balance lasted. 

Helgi Tomasson came out for a bow at the very last performance on the Sunday matinee.  There was a huge roar and ovation for him and he looked barely able to contain his emotion - I'm so happy to have been there for that moment. 

The casts for the pas de trois and the soloists for the Act III national dances changed frequently from what had been originally announced (for example, I never got to see in the pas de trois Thamires Chuvas, who had been beautiful in Dwight Rhoden's new work, and Carmela Mayo had the opportunity to dance- she is always a delight to watch).   

Please delete as redundant.  Thank you!

On 4/6/2022 at 5:20 AM, volcanohunter said:

Laurent Hilaire is recently unemployed. I hope he is being considered for the job. He is somewhat less Nureyev-crazy than, say, Legris, and is less likely to replace existing productions.

And it has been announced that Laurent Hilaire has accepted the position.  

Alexandre Cagnat is now with Staatsballett Berlin as a Demisoloist and will be dancing the Prince with Polina Semionova in The Sleeping Beauty! 

Bravo, Alexandre!

I saw Chung dance a refined, exquisite Kingdom of the Shades from La Bayadere, and am hoping that I will see her in one of the last four Swan Lakes that I have tickets to. 

I keep checking casting to see who the fourth cast of principals will be.  

Francois Alu was finally promoted to the rank of etoile of the Paris Opera Ballet at a performance of La Bayadere on April 23, 2022.  Congratulations to Monsieur Alu!

1 hour ago, pherank said:

Thanks for plugging Starry Nights, Josette - I just added that topic. As I recall, it was a success last time, and it makes sense for SFB to do these short "tour" performances in the greater Bay Area.

Pherank, I saw your post after I had already posted above. I plan on returning to see SFB at Frost Amphitheatre in August.  

Throughout the last 14 years since I've been attending, SFB has regularly left a gap and added a performance for ballets such as Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet. I am attending the final four performances and went online yesterday to see how tickets were selling - extremely well, so this is terrific for those who want to go and will be able to get good tickets or take children/family and sit together. 

I just noticed emails from Stanford Live and SFB announcing Starry Nights with SFB for two evening performances on Aug. 5 and 6, 2022.  I went to SFB's first live performance last summer at Stanford's Frost Amphitheater and had a wonderful time.  They are performing Tomasson's 7 for Eight, Robbins's In the Night, and Forsythe's Blake Works I.  

In another Pointes of View earlier in the season, it was said by one of the participants that Tomasson's Romeo and Juliet would be performed in 2023.  

I saw Program 6 three times, including the last performance on this past weekend.  The tribute to Roy Bogas was beautiful.  I have already expressed some of my thoughts about the performances under the topic of Julian MacKay's leaving SFB.  I totally agree with what Terez says above, particularly about MacKay, Chuvas, Sidford, and the very accomplished Max Cauthorn. 

Mathilde Froustey danced in The Fifth Season on Saturday, April 16, 2022.  She is not dancing to her full technical powers that we are used to seeing, but I have say that she had a slip mid-solo and went down to the floor that was unbelievably graceful.  And then she got up and did a gorgeous en dedans double pirouette en attitude derriere.  Also remarkable was WanTing Zhao with Henry Sidford as her partner.  She always puts forth a point of view.  She was the one female dancer who dared not to smile and she gave a compelling performance. 

It has been wonderful to see Henry Sidford given so many opportunities to dance this season. 

I saw Possukhov's Magrittomania for the first time on April 15th, brilliantly led by Joe Walsh and YY Tan.  What a remarkable and witty work.  Absolutely amazing. 

It was a beautiful evening and so moving to see her dance with Ulrik, Luke, and Max.  The Diamonds pas de deux was breathtaking.    The four exceptional dancing excerpts showing her transparency and versatility as a performing artist were interspersed with videos of her talking about her career and life, including some clips in the Balanchine repertory, and homages by Helgi Tomasson, ballet masters, dancers, and choreographers, including a particularly serious comment by Yuri Possokhov.   

I saw Julian MacKay in Prism and The Promised Land on Friday night and watched him intently throughout as I knew he was leaving.  His dancing was excellent, and I don't see how he could not be considered to have mastered "contemporary" choreography.  His dancing had no hesitation whatsoever, everything was fully executed and sharp.  His last, eloquent moment at the front of the stage in The Promised Land spoke volumes.  He was again an excellent, attentive partner for the beautiful Thamires Chuvas in The Promised Land - there were no partnering issues.   At the end of the performance, when Helgi Tomasson pulled him and Ben Freemantle to the front of the stage, after taking a bow, Julian MacKay ran over to Helgi Tomasson to shake his hand.  That is a class act. 

I also loved watching Ben Freemantle dance with great freedom, wit, and joy in Finale Finale and then in The Promised Land.  What a shame he is not continuing in ballet (at least for me) but I wish him all success in his new career activities.  

7 minutes ago, pherank said:

One of the comments on Mackay's posting: "Hopefully go somewhere where they use you more - you are ready to dance Romeo and I’d actually love to see you as a joyous Colas"

Presumably this person was pointing out that Mackay is primarily a Classical Ballet dancer, and performs traditional roles. But he's not well versed in contemporary ballet - not yet, anyway. And I'm not sure that he cares to develop those kinds of roles. At SFB under Tomasson, the idea was to develop as an all-round dancer in many genres. Mackay may have been too limited in his interests to really fit in well at SFB. Currently, he's nothing like an Ulrik Birkkjaer, Yuan Yuan Tan, Wei Wang, Sarah Van Patten, Angelo Greco in his range of interests and abilities. Each of these dancers have relished learning new techniques and styles.

 

I had seen him several times before he joined SFB and appreciated his enthusiasm, but did not think him by any means a pure classicist.  He has an engaging personality.  His lines were smudgy and bettered by other male dancers at SFB, which was evident in the grand pas de deux in The Nutcracker.  Still, I would have liked to see him in Swan Lake.  He was very effective in Rhoden's contemporary work last Saturday and was fully there for the beautiful Thamires Chuvas.

I saw MacKay dance with Fogo (she was exceptional) in The Nutcracker and then last week in Dwight Rhoden's The Promised Land, and will see him in his last show on April 15, after which it appears that I will have seen him in all the ballets he has danced with SFB.  He seemed to have a distracting, localized claque present at both of the performances I saw with him.  He was quite good in the Rhoden ballet. I think that there are better dancers already in the company.   Hernandez will be back dancing next season with SFB so there is one male principal position taken.  I wonder who will be dancing Swan Lake, given that MacKay will not be performing. 

I am eager to know whether Yuan Yuan Tan will dance the final Swan Lake, closing Helgi Tomasson's directorship.  

Last night's Gala was Ulrik Birkkjær's last performance with SFB. On March 20, he posted on his public FB page that he was leaving SFB.  I was fortunate to see him dance and act an unforgettable performance as James in La Sylphide last weekend. 

He was remarkable in everything he did - for me, particularly notable and performed with great sensitivity were his performances as The Poet in Neumeier's The Little Mermaid (perfect casting), in Rhoden's Let's Begin at the End, in Marston's Snowblind, and in the Millepied ballet from a few seasons ago (the name of which I do not recall, but he danced with Dores Andre).  I wish him great success in all he does.  

Ulrik Birkkjær danced his last performance with SFB at the Gala last night. On March 20, 2022, he posted on his FB page, available for the public to see, that he had performed his last James ever in his last season with SFB.  I am sure that I am not the only person who will miss him.