Golden Idol

Can't we let go of this, Ms. PhD in the Humanities? I THOUGHT I was apologizing. Helene, if this exchange strikes you as uncivil, accept my apology too, and please feel free to delete any or all of it.

Aurora, didn't mean to be snotty. I'm a book editor, so this is just how I think.

Aurora: 2011. That was last summer. If I meant 2012 I would have written "this past summer." Angelica: I'm no great admirer of Cory but I agree with you about him in Pavane. The only other time I felt he wasn't a cipher onstage was in Shadowplay, as the bare-chested god, or shaman, or whatever the character represents, which required him to look forbidding and sinister.

Department of Slips and Falls: Add Craig in Rodeo on Thursday night. He also lost his orange bandanna, which had to be kicked offstage by two other dancers. I'm dismayed to read of the others that occurred on Friday and Saturday (I did not attend these performances, alas), especially Cornejo's . Recall that he was out of commission all last summer with an injury. So who is to blame for preparing a slippery stage floor at City Center?

Yes, it was Gorak. Good dancer, but you should have seen Cornejo do that on Tuesday night. He spoils you for anyone else.

Very enjoyable opening last evening. I can't say I was enthusiastic about the Mark Morris piece (I don't, for the most part, admire his work), but the whimsy did engage after the first few pieces, and Cornejo was a standout. My first look at Whiteside was very positive: tall, good line--probably why Kevin engaged him as he looks toward grooming him into a principal to succeed his recent retirees. Both PdDs were lovely--but can we please see ALL of Cruel World again sometime soon, and not just this haunting PdD with Marcelo and Julie?. Sarah Lane's series of Aurora-like balances in Stars & Stripes were occasionally a trifle wobbly in the arms but I think this might have been her insecurity over Simkin's partnering (though he wowed the audience in his variations). For the person here who once posted that Sascha is going nowhere at ABT (with which I more or less agreed), I must say he scored big in Rodeo, and his tap solo deflected some attention away from Xiomara (who was charming). It's a perfect role for him. The historical film interlude on Rodeo was very good, but a little too much of Kevin talking and not enough footage of (and no commentary from) the ABT dancers rehearsing the piece, which I would have appreciated. Onward to tonight (Upper Room!).

In the past, I've said of Vasiliev, "subtle he's not." And, really, not a lot of subtlety is required to dance Ali, though you need bravura technique to burn (and he has it). However, he genuinely surprised me last season with Solor. In addition to the bravura I expected, he brought a completely unanticipated sense of longing and frustration to the character in the second and third acts. When he chased after Nikiya at the end of the Shades scene he was a man utterly distraught. (His variation was also tinged with what looked like frenzy.) And in the dance with Gamzatti and Nikiya's ghost at the wedding, Solor was quite undone by his broken heart and by confusion and even horror over what was happening to him. Mind you, I've admired others in the role (particularly Marcelo) but Vasiliev was more than equal to its emotional challenges.

I had no beef with Corsaire's costumes, except for Lankendem's. I agree--no dancer has ever looked good in that outfit, not Malakhov (in the video), nor (just this past season) Sascha, Jared, or Daniil.

Cornejo and Carmen C. broke up? Where was I when that gossip broke?! Too bad, though...

California, TDF only very occasionally had ABT tickets available this spring/summer, usually for Wednesday mats or a night when the casting was, well, let's just say not what it might be. Yes, NYCB was on TDF quite often throughout the past year, and frequently on weekends! On a related point, I was surprised last summer when the Danes popped up on TDF, and this year the Australians, too, but NOT the Paris Opera Ballet, which as I'm sure everyone here knows, sold like hotcakes--no discounts available anywhere, that I could tell. (And apropos POB, when a few weeks ago the Lincoln Center website said there were no tickets for Giselle under $95, I went to the box office and was able to get a nice rear orchestra seat for $65--so if any of you out there want to try for the remaining perfs, try doing it in person at the b.o.)

Ditto the second night of Firebird (the McKenzie tribute) and the following Thursday (the first double-bill w/ The Dream): both heavily attended. Apropos ABT's income reports: another blog, where rules of civility and common courtesy seem not to apply as they do here, insults "ballet alert" readers for our apparent willingness to accept ABT's version of their financial situation. Very distasteful.

Re: Golladay - Do you know why he's retiring? Is Tobin leaving ABT, too? And on a sort of related point, does anyone know what became of Carlos Lopez? His leavetaking last year (or was it the year before?) caught me by surprise.

Oh, well, Classic_Ballet, I guess you're right. I didn't see him in that R&J, but if you say so... (Maybe I'm more forgiving that you!) By the way, I should also say that I sat up and took notice of Arron Scott's Birbanto last night. Apart from his Dance of the (ahem) Golden Idol, I haven't seen him do an extended role before, and I was pleasantly surprised. Craig played it with great swagger, and he kicks higher in the Pirate dance, but Scott impressed me. More, please, Mr. Scott. On the other hand, it looked to me that Jared was playing the slave trader with the exact same grin on his face that he used as the ballroom von Rothbart. But whereas he was "out of his element" (as someone posted here last week,and I tend to agree) as Rothbart, the weaselly grin seemed appropriate for Lankendam.

Abatt and Classic_Ballet, I think you're being a trifle too tough on Kobberg. Now, I haven't seen him at the Royal, so cannot comment on his level of performance there, and yes, the three times I've now seen him at ABT he has struck me as quite competent, but not flashy in any way. However, bear in mind that he partners VERY well, and did so last night with Osipova. And really, most of what Conrad has to do is partnering. Remember, too, that anyone might look underpowered when Osipova and Vasiliev are also on stage. True, he's not the most exciting danseur but he's no embarassment, and he is a small price to pay (if that is the case) for having Alina make guest appearances with ABT (sort of like having to take Ricky Bonynge if you want Joan Sutherland). Now, of course, if you're going to make the argument that engaging him is cheating one of the ABT company members out of dancing a role, well, that's another story, and I'm not going to get into that.

Well, California, that's my point entirely. Although I certainly love trolling around YouTube to see what's been posted, be they clips from HDs or telecasts by European companies, or surreptitious bits caught shakily on cell phones from the audience, we should be seeing--occasionally, at the very least--telecasts of ABT performances on American public television. I'm not eager to knock City Ballet, which had a Nutcracker telecast last year and a telecast of their (well danced, but very ugly production of) R&J the year before, but why is ABT left out in the cold?

Griffie wrote: I hope that they are in as many recordings as possible because their legacies will have them appreciated for all they deserve. You mention what is to me a very sore point. WHAT recordings? Dance in America is no more, and ABT hasn't done a telecast in years. At least Cornejo did Puck for a telecast of The Dream years ago with Steifel, but apart from the ballroom von Rothbart, Marcelo is very poorly documented on video. Here's a wish list--and I invite others on this site to do their own. Since the live '80s telecast of La Bayadere, during which Makarova was injured and replaced halfway through, has never been released commercially, it's high time for another; Marcelo, Veronika, and Gillian, please. Or Marcelo and Diana in Onegin. Or Marcelo and Cojocaru in Sleeping Beauty (well, Cojocaru and anybody, frankly). But you know what we will probably get, eventually? A holiday telecast of Ratmansky's Nutcracker, after the cost of the new production has been sufficently amortized and it is thought that a video won't keep people from buying tickets to it. Mind you, I'm not against such a telecast, but there are other ballets and performances I'd rather see professionally captured on video. Is ABT now such a hard sell to Public Broadcasting?

More to the point about the Kennedy Center season is the programming of The Moor's Pavane (and another piece TBA) on the bill with Symphony in C. This is encouraging news.

The more I think about it, next year's Met season isn't all that hard to predict, at least 80 percent of it. First, there are the full-lengths that are given in alternating years, so in 2013 we'll have Sleeping Beauty and Don Q. That's two weeks filled. Then the obligatory Swan Lake. Three weeks. Revivals of Onegin and Firebird, the latter on a double-bill with something--I would prefer The Dream again, but maybe Les Sylphides (which bores me to tears). That's five weeks. The new Symphony in C (about which I'm personally not enthusiastic, but I don't enjoy Shostakovich, so shoot me). That's six weeks. How much more time is left? Sure I'd like to see Manon and some kind of mixed bill, but the annual Met season doesn't allow for a whole lot of innovative programming.

Manon is overdue for revival. Each of the times the PdD has been performed in recent seasons at a gala or on a mixed bill, it wows the audience. Marcelo and Diana, please.

But look at the schedule now: Vasiliev dancing Ali four days in a row? Even for someone as strong as he is, this is insane.

Alina has danced Tatiana? I wondered whether it's in her repertoire! Yes, let's hope if she comes back next summer ABT will cast her in a revival. It goes without saying that she would make a lovely Olga, too.

Last night's perf was indeed terrific, and I agree with pretty much everything of what you've all had to say, but about those lifts... I don't want to sound cranky, because the dancing was truly bravura, but didn't you feel the multitude of whiplash lifts--over and over again, more and more and more--got a little tiresome? I'm usually of the "more is more" school, but last night I would have wanted the choreography to be a teeny bit more judicious, and not pile it on. What I liked most about each of the PdDs was how sharply they delineated character and relationship, in particular the first PdD for Onegin and Tatiana. His wafting off into bits of a solo variation, his attention and interest in Tatiana clearly wavering if not minimal, it struck me as the dance equivalent of someone who in conversation is so self-absorbed they launch into a monologue and talk at the other person rather than with them. Marcelo is such a warm personality on stage that I was surprised how well he could play "aloof" and "dismissive." (In act 2, "abusive," too.) David might be even better at this, given his pale looks and his height (literally, "hauteur"), but I confess Marcelo did convince me. This was, for me, the best I've seen Jared dance--he was perfectly cast. In the future, though, I'd be curious to see Eric Tamm dance Lensky; I think the part would be right for him, too. And as for Osipova--well! Superb, in fact, so superb that for the first time I wondered in the last act: Where's Olga? What happened to Olga after the duel? (A bit like in Norma; I always wonder what became of Adalgisa...) I will be very curious to read other reports of how Bolle and Kent perform, because when they danced the letter scene at the opening night gala, it was a rather pallid affair--merely a sketch, it seemed, of what it might turn out to be. So: Paging other commentators!!!

This is a reply to Cubanmiamiboy about why Nikiya is smiling when she dances with the bouquet. Please correct me if I'm wrong, or if my imagination is working overtime, but I assume she was led to believe the flowers came from Solor (doesn't Aya gesture toward Solor to indicate they're from him?), and this momentarily cheers her in the midst of her heartbreak over his betrothal. Cojocaru played it this way at both of her performances. (Though the evening with Cornejo was wonderful, with Vasiliev it was stupendous.) And to Bart Birdsall, who cannot decide whether La Bayadere is his favorite ballet: It is far and away mine. (I am, after all, Golden Idol, whose variation is also my favorite of all time, with the Rose Adagio and the Corsaire pas de trois admittedly a tie for close second.)

I concur with Faux Pas' comments on the final Bayadere and since I am, after all, Golden Idol (not Bronze...no, never Bronze, please) I must say that Craig's was the best of the three I saw in this past week's revival. (Didn't see Arron Scott, alas.) Simkin was wonderfully showy but again he slipped on the top step when returning to his seat, and Joseph Phillips' idol was neat but very cautious--no abandon. (Unlike Corella--but when will we ever see anything like that again?) Salstein's landings on his knee were a little loud, but he gave it his all: much appreciated, Craig!

Having seen Vasiliev before, I knew what to expect: big, big, big! Yes, it was thrilling. But pairing him with Misty... not a great idea. In Act 1, he almost lost hold of her in one of her deep bends and she gave him a very annoyed look. But, then, she was playing Gamzatti very haughty--not with the kind of pathos that Gillian can inject into the role and give it some sympathy--so perhaps it was all of a piece. (She did get some wild applause at the curtain calls.) That said, I have rarely seen the final act danced so well--Vasiliev turned Solor's delirium and despair into something of a mad scene. Much as I love Marcelo in this role, Vasiliev made the most of the drama in the final scene.