nanushka

Did Skylar dance two straight triple bills on Saturday? I know she danced all three works that evening, and she had a story up that suggested she may have done the same that afternoon. If so, that’s nuts! But she’s amazing.

I think the context matters — she was basically asked why she never got promoted, and she cited multiple possible reasons (including her own flaws): "So I feel it’s all of those combinations."

He has such a boyish face too, which adds to the effect. Ah well, an excellent dancer nonetheless! Especially for his age.

My favorite example of this comes in the PDD: at the moment when Balanchine would definitely have choreographed a développé à la seconde (there's a certain point in almost every adagio where he puts one, and you can always hear it in the music), Ratmansky seems about to do that, but then the développé turns into a promenade in passé (maybe in demi-plié?), so you think, "Oh, he tricked us" — but then it turns back into a completed développé, and to top it off he has the man do one as well, standing behind the ballerina! So brilliant. I think sometimes that what Balanchine was to Petipa, Ratmansky is to Balanchine. (Sometimes.) I completely agree on Whiteside — he looked fantastic Saturday night. As for Bell, I've warmed to him, but I still don't find his physique particularly appealing; he's so broad-shouldered, and he seems to carry himself in a way that somewhat exaggerates it. (Maybe a bit too slouched? not sure that makes sense, though...)

The Times arcticle includes a nice reminiscence of her first Giselle:

There were plenty of problems with the performance, but I personally did not see Lane's nerves as being among them. She looked fine in that regard.

I do remember reading not too long ago that the heel dancing (which certainly is iconic, even if it's not 1928) was not a constant in the work's history, but I can't remember where, and I haven't found it in a quick check of some of the obvious candidates. Will keep thinking, though. Certainly, Apollo is a work that Balanchine continued to tinker with throughout his life even more than most.

It feels very pièce d'occassion (even if it wasn't intended or commissioned as such), so we may not need to worry.

I completely agree with both of these ideas. I like the Brahms music — just not for dancing. I can see the appeal in theory, but in practice I don't think it works well as a basis for a ballet. I did quite like Shevchenko's costume; the others, not so much.

Pretty underwhelming T&V tonight. Those tempi are just awful — everything ends up so disconnected, step pause step pause step. No sense of the phrasing, which was especially deadening in the PDD. Gorak looked seriously underpowered. Ronds de jambs with the top of the leg angled way down, double tours that were really one-and-a-halves (cheating on both ends), two-handed lifts that should have been just one, etc. He got her up at the end but his leg almost buckled a few times before the curtain came down. Lane was lovely and looked plenty secure, but especially at such a slow pace the whole performance just didn’t make a big impact. I do really like ABT’s costumes for the ballet, and I like it done against a black backdrop. The Tharp I just found annoying. Too much running off and onstage, nothing really settled. The best part is a still-too-short duet for Cornejo and Brandt during the second movement, when for once there’s actually a connection made and a chance to settle into some dancing. The choice of the Brahms quintet doesn’t help, imo. The Seasons, on the other hand — I could watch that piece every night.

Yeah, I also don't see anything reported here that suggests Lane was showing her nerves onstage. Some of us may may have recollections of her doing that on past occasions, but did she do so last night? I've certainly seen numerous dancers get the timing wrong for the turns at the end of that second variation, just before the PDD. (If that's the part @laurel was referring to — the report said "in preparation for her exit," but the dancer doesn't exit there — the male dancer comes on.)

The @abtofficial IG account has a story up announcing that tonight’s performance is dedicated to Alonso. ETA: ...and Hammoudi has a story up now with audio of KMcK giving a curtain speech about her.

So Tharp puts Hoven in a dress and then makes a joke out of Cornejo refusing his invitation to dance? Ugh. I'll obviously have to see it to judge, but sounds like that could be a really unfortunate creative choice.

Right. I think that in itself is a type of (implicit) comment, of a sort.

Maybe just by me! (And Adrian, it would seem.) Thanks for the link. I guess in my experience such names are common enough that I just wouldn't ever think to comment on them in the way Macaulay has, then.