nanushka

This has been a big year so far for breakout opportunities! I guess the era of "Hee Seo Ballet Theatre" is over!

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. As we've all seen plenty of times before, widespread acclaim on Ballet Alert does not a successful ABT career make!

That's really what it comes down to, though, isn't it? How much more interesting would it be to see Trenary, Lane, Brandt, etc getting shots and second shots at all those roles?

Just the fact that several posters now have said something along these lines is telling, though, isn't it? "A reliable partner." That's damning with faint praise for a principal ballerina, I'd say.

That seems no more presumable to me than any number of other explanations for the piece's appearance. And I say that with no particular agenda or implication in mind. I just don't think we can presume such a thing (indeed, "unless...evidence surfaces to the contrary") about Seibert's or the paper's purpose for writing or publishing the piece -- nor do I particularly think their motivation(s) matter(s) all that much. The piece exists, as a thing to be commented on, regardless of why.

I have mixed feelings about Seibert's piece. On the one hand, it seems unfortunate that Seibert writes so extensively about two apparently (at least to his eyes, as his descriptions suggest) middling performances when other excellent ballerinas are also performing. On the other hand, Seibert's appraisals strike me as refreshingly honest and a valuable reminder to his readers that ballet can be so much more than what now appears on the Met stage approximately twice each week.

I guess these are the "real acting chops" that Gia Kourlas was lauding and that Misty herself said she's come to rely on: “I used to muscle through these things. I can’t do that anymore. There needs to be something more, something else.”

Yes, the float drove south on Columbus right past Lincoln Center at around 1:15 before Saturday's matinee. A bunch of kids from the morning event were about and excited to see it.

And face the wrath of Copeland's disappointed fans? No way. They need them to keep buying up the tickets.

Murphy's post suggests to me that Lendorf will dance with Shevchenko.

Then it fits perfectly as part of the overall ABT "marketing" "strategy"!

Interesting. I wonder if that was always intended, and the calendar just didn't reflect it, or if that was a change. I'm so sorry to have missed Veronika's QofD!

And it's one thing for a dancer to have an area of general technical weakness that results in an occasional slip, but to keep putting the same dancer in the same role before paying audiences when it's well established that she cannot perform one of its most iconic steps (here I refer to the QofD's Italian fouettés...don't mean to relitigate old arguments!) seems to me quite objectionable.

For the dancers' sakes I sure hope they're hiring stand-ins!

Wouldn't the retirement of Martins likely make some difference in that decision (depending, of course, on who would replace him)?

What else would be on people's wish lists for such a project? I would love to see Gounod Symphony. I hope it's not lost again with the imminent end of Suzanne Farrell Ballet.

The recent Allegro B / 4 T's / Symph in C program was a perfect example of that -- and with the dessert itself being, in a somewhat different sense, another app/entree/dessert arc in miniature!

Clearly it was done to earn cred in the hacker world.

Given how sleek and up-to-date ABT's website is I imagine that pulling this off was quite a challenge.

Ick in about four different ways.

A profile of Irina in the Times by Gia Kourlas, focused on the former's current role in The Americans. What she says in the last two paragraphs, about the support she feels as an actor, in contrast to what she felt as a dancer, is particularly striking.

Thanks, rg and Kathleen, for the info!

Personally, I'd hardly go so far as to say that seeing her in it is not a "still valuable" experience, despite the fact that she may not be ideal for the role. The 2nd movement was quite beautiful; I can forgive the 3 minutes she's onstage for the 4th.

I've never visited the collection but hope to soon. Is it currently required for one to be a NY resident and/or to have a NYPL card? I live in NJ -- so I'm close, but I'm not sure if I'm eligible. Thanks!

I agree with much of CTballetfan's report, especially regarding Allegro Brillante. Tiler Peck is a wonder. Such a blend of technical brilliance and expressive grace is so rare. Her turns were phenomenal, and so many small moments with the hands and arms were infused with fresh insight. Andrew Veyette looked positively run down. Especially in the segments where he dances in unison with the other men, he stood out as the weakest of the five. Some steps seemed only marked rather than danced full-out. Low, low energy. I've warmed to Megan Fairchild from seeing her more this year, but I was not impressed by her Symphony in C 1st movement. Perhaps I've been too obsessively watching the Paris video of Tiler Peck dancing this, but I missed the latter's musicality and expressiveness. I particularly enjoyed the third movement with Harrison Ball and Alston Macgill. When jumping, Ball seems to just hang in the air. Standouts in 4T's were Teresa Reichlen and, announced as a replacement before the performance, Aaron Sanz in the 3rd theme PDD. I was entranced by Aaron's gorgeous hands. Also, I've seen Indiana Woodward in the Sanguinic corps twice now this year, and her total commitment to even a small part such as that is striking; she fully embodies the role.