nanushka

Last night's Swan Lake opening was a real mixed bag. Cory Stearns looked more emotionally engaged than in the past during Acts I-II. There were some smiles in Act I, before things turned introspective; his brief solo in front of the scene-change curtain in the interlude was ardent; and he seemed truly moved by his encounter with Odette. He was more of a blank in Act III, though — I don't think he does sexually charged passion as well as those other emotions. And it's really unfortunate that, in all these years, no one has gotten this guy into some better makeup. The top half of his face just reads as a blank from any significant distance. (I was somewhat further back in orchestra than usual tonight, so I particularly noticed this.) His eyes could really use some definition. As usual, Cory's dancing was generally very good, though with some occasional minor slips — the sorts of things that would be easily forgiven or perhaps even go unnoticed with a dancer who's really going for broke, but with one who's all about refinement and control seem to have less of a place. He has such nice lines, though. The PDT was Blaine Hoven, Catherine Hurlin (1st var.) and Katherine Williams (2nd var.). Blaine has been looking quite good this season — I didn't love his Lescaut as much as some here, but there was much to be admired in it. The same was true here. Hurlin and Williams were both quite good, with one particular standout moment being the former's manège near the start of the coda, which got big applause. You could see where she gets her nickname. We had prime casting for the cygnettes, with Brandt, Trenary, Paris and Graniero. Graniero was the weakest link, looking particularly effortful in the series of pas de chats to stage right that so many ABT cygnette quartets seem to struggle with keeping in tempo. Otherwise, though, the number was fast and crisp. Speaking of, David LaMarche conducted, and as I've often noticed his tempi were kind of all over the place, and often very fast. This can be nice, but only if there's a real attention to the dancers, and I really didn't get a sense he was giving that — the Black Swan PDD coda being a particular case in point. Hee Seo had a very mixed night, with some of the best and some of the worst dancing I've seen from her. Her Act II was the former, overall. She was dramatically engaged, had lovely extensions, fluid port de bras, very nice speed, luxurious arabesques. Unfortunately her variation ended on a very slightly off note, as her finishing diagonal of turns was the weakest part of it. Then she waited a bit too long to come back onstage for her bow, and the applause wasn't perhaps as strong as expected, so there was that slightly awkward sense that the audience was responding to the dancer's call for applause rather than the dancer responding to the audience's call for a bow. Roman Zhurbin as usual was the perfect lakeside Rothbart, though I unfortunately missed some of it, as I was seated too far to the right to see him hanging out by the ruined pillar. April Giangeruso and Melanie Hamrick were, as often, the two big swans, and Hamrick was, as always, the stronger of the two. I went last night for two main reasons: to check out Hee Seo's progress as O/O, which I hadn't seen her dance for awhile (as I've tended to avoid her in most things for a number of years now), and to see Forster's ballroom Rothbart. Forster had an off night, in terms of his dancing, but he was dramatically compelling in the role. From the very first snap of his head to gaze on his prey in the prologue, he invested every moment with force and meaning. There was more dramatic intelligence in that prologue than Cory showed all evening. The same was generally true in Act III, though his dancing was uncharacteristically less than fully impressive. Certainly it was among the stronger 50% of performances I've seen in the role, but it just felt like he wasn't hitting his full potential. His partnering of the princesses in the first half of the solo seemed a bit labored, both in his management of the stage space and in the lifts. Overall, he just seemed not as his best, with the arabesque balance as an example: in his preparation, he seemed ready to go, but then just before he lifted the leg one could see he lost his center, and by the time he regained it and was able to reach the pose there wasn't time for him to really hold it. Still, he continued to put in a strong dramatic performance for the rest of the act; shooing off the princesses before the PDD, for instance, his gesture was deliciously dismissive. (I got the impression from his curtain bow at the end of the performance that he may have been disappointed in himself, as he really didn't seem to fully take in the applause before rushing back off behind the curtain.) The first three portions of the Black Swan PDD were decent, though not as strong as Act II. In the coda, though, things really went awry. As mentioned above, LaMarche took the fouetté bars very fast — to the point that Seo couldn't possibly have performed them in time to the music. She began them well, warming up from a few singles to at least one double; but then trouble struck. She hadn't been traveling much, but suddenly she went sharply toward downstage right, almost tipping over. She fell off pointe a few times, and then actually had to do one full rotation just hopping around on the ball of her foot; she did manage to get back on track by the end, I think, though I may have been covering my eyes at that point. The coda continued to speed on toward its conclusion, and in the final supported pirouette, Seo again very nearly tipped right over to the right. The corps, by the way, looked quite good all through the night, and especially in Act II. I get the sense from social media posts that the company is in very good spirits this season; the programming (with substantial stylistic variety in the first half of the season and more of the old standbys held off until the second half) may have served them well. I'm very excited for tonight's performance from Christine Shevchenko, and I'm also very curious to see how Hammoudi does. He's disappointed me often in the past, both in this role and others, but he gave such a strong performance in On the Dnieper that I wonder if he may be working harder and reaching his potential more now than in prior years.

I love this so much:

For all I know, they may be right. I imagine they must have been tracking and comparing page views on reviews vs. other dance articles for quite some time now. Still, it’s disappointing.

I enjoyed the article (and I've loved watching Hurlin dance), but it's just unfortunate that this is week 6 of the Met season, and we've so far gotten only two reviews. Not so long ago, we'd get one for most every opening night, and for major ballets sometimes another later in the week.

I don't see that happening. He has a loyal fan base here, and he's guaranteed a hearty welcome in NYC any time he wants to dance here. I expect he'll continue on, with a role in the company similar to that of Roberto Bolle.

Alexandre Hammoudi (@alexhammoudi) has a multi-part Instagram story up with footage of the final minute or so from last night's Manon, shot from the wings.

I agree it's not pointless to make such comparisons, but there are some additional factors involved that complicate those comparisons. For example: In an NYCB ballet, a principal may appear in only a single movement (e.g. Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet), or in a couple of movements (e.g. Symphony in C), and yet be considered to have danced a principal role. There aren't that many ABT ballets like that. NYCB principals often individually dance much more frequently than ABT principals, even when making the closest possible comparisons — e.g. comparing ABT's fall season (of shorter works in repertory) to one of NYCB's "standard" three seasons (fall, winter, spring). During those seasons, one of the busier NYCB principals will fairly regularly dance in back-to-back performances, sometimes even twice in one day (matinee and evening), sometimes even in two different ballets on one program. Furthermore, the busier (and uninjured) principals often sustain this over the course of 4-6 weeks, rather than just 2 weeks. Obviously, those two factors are connected, and there are other differences. But in comparing the two companies' structures, repertoires, etc., it's definitely more complicated than just counting ballets and counting principals. (And I don't mean to suggest that was being implied — I'm just laying out some of the additional factors.)

I've never been a particular fan of Jose Sebastian (though I don't have any particular aversion to him — he's just never really captured my interest and attention) but the prospect of two potentially strong debuts convinced me to finally get a ticket. I, too, felt this way about Devon's O/O two years ago. For the first time in I don't know how many years (a lot), I'm seeing three, as Forster's Rothbart convinced me to check out Hee Seo's O/O again — despite the fact that Cory Stearns is unlikely to bring out her best (which hasn't been enough for me in the past).

I think no matter which cast you were changing it from, it may well prove to be an upgrade in the end!

After Christine Shevchenko's exceptional performances in Le Corsaire, I would not be surprised if her Swan Lake ends up being one of the major events of the season. To my eyes — and, I think, for many who wrote about her recent performances here — she had an even fuller command of the stage, an even more intense expressivity, and an even stronger command of technique than ever before. Although she appeared very thin (almost alarmingly so, especially in the Act I Corsaire costume), judging by her dancing, she is now in excellent shape. All that said, I find it disappointing that she was given only one Odette/Odile this year. Looking at the calendar, it makes sense that Misty would have two; Isabella has typically only had one, which doesn't bother me; Hee always seems to get two, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but I've gotten used to it. I get the sense that Devon and (especially) Aran are currently much favored by ABT artistic leadership, so I suppose it was to be expected that they'd get two. Anyway, I would not be surprised if Christine's performance ends up feeling like even more a special event, given that there will only be one.

Cornejo has some amateur footage of last night’s final PDD up as a multi-part story on his Instagram.

This is exactly what I was hoping for from Lane in this role. Very excited to see this on Friday. Thanks for your review. We did see Lane as Odile here, and I thought much the same was true of her performance then. It sounds like her Manon is a further big step for her artistically.

Blaine Hoven seems to confirm that Cornejo will dance tonight:

Very much agree about Mack’s performance (which I saw on Thursday). I thought he was actually reasonably tall, though. He looks nearly the same height as Stearns here (though it’s possible the angle of the photo is a factor, and it’s true one of Cory’s knees is bent), who used to partner Veronika Part:

Great to hear. I can imagine this being a good role for Teuscher.

I was thinking about what you wrote in the "Promotions" thread, regarding Shayer, while watching Scott today. I've never loved Scott, but he definitely comes across more as a man than a boy in this role, unlike Shayer. The drama made much more sense. (Not that it has to in Corsaire...)

No need to be sorry, I just don’t recall those being quite Part’s words. Is there a source? The fact that her former sponsor now sponsors someone else does not indicate that “the sponsorship” was given away. (ETA: Khawly was already Shevchenko's sponsor while Part was still on the roster, according to old playbills I have.) I also don’t see how the cited info from their website necessarily means that a sponsor can successfully go to ABT management saying “I want you to make X a principal and here’s a bunch of money if you do.” Basically, I don’t think the limited info we have (at least that I’ve seen) supports some of the assumptions being made. Which isn’t to say those ideas are false — just that they’re not yet substantiated.

On the first point, giving the contract to a new principal is not the same as giving the sponsorship to a new principal. On the second point, I’m not sure we can assume that’s how it works. Is there a basis for that idea in the available info?

Oh yes, I do recall that. Sorry, I thought you meant something different. I think her sponsor was still willing to sponsor her but ABT didn’t renew her contract regardless. The part that didn’t ring a bell was about her sponsorship being taken away and given to someone else.

Yeah I don’t recall it being about her sponsorship in particular — at least not according to the information that was publicly available at the time.

What particular impact(s) do you see that as having on the ABT principal roster? I can imagine a few possibilities.

Yes, this means that there are constant opportunities for principals to dance in featured roles. On a given night, as many as 4-6 female principals alone may perform. ABT is lucky to find roles for 2. If ABT had more female principals, as @ABT Fan noted above, they would likely not get as many roles as they would seem to deserve — and as they would need, to stay in top shape.

Really? I have little doubt he would if it came to that. ETA: I don’t think he’s constrained by what’s justifiable.

Noooooooooooo! This is so disappointing. I was really looking forward to seeing him tonight, and now I'm seeing Ahn twice in the role. (Was already set to see him Saturday afternoon.)

Agreed, but I think she does still have an impact. At least in past years her SLs have been total sellouts often. SL sells well regardless but doesn’t always sell out.