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nanushka

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Posts posted by nanushka

  1. Quote

    Trenary, a 29-year-old principal dancer with Ballet Theater, is on a mission to be authentic — to make it seem as though, as she said, “life is unfolding in front of you through this vocabulary that is very not humanlike.”

    I think this is a perfect description of what I saw in her performance this afternoon. Was it technically perfect? No, certainly not. (Among other things, she had trouble again with the hops, as described in the article; but she quickly transitioned to a different approach that served her well for the remainder.) But I have rarely seen a dancer perform this role with more life instilled into every moment, especially throughout the first act. Trenary is a stage actress of a very high calibre. She was living the role. She and Whiteside made an excellent pair, too. The Act II lifts were breathtaking, as he held her high and she reached out out into space, not with strain but with expansion. (I also thought she came out of them quite a bit more gracefully than Brandt, using just one hand on Whiteside's shoulder rather than two.) That said, I often thought she could have danced bigger. (E.g., the side-by-side assemblés in Act 2, quite underwhelming.) As I said, it was not a perfect performance — but so dramatically satisfying.

     

  2. 4 minutes ago, California said:

    Apologies for an extremely trivial matter that I noticed: The NY Times spells ABT American Ballet Theater instead of the company's own American Ballet Theatre -- in the header, editor's note, and text. I found the same thing in several other articles in recent weeks on ABT. I assume the Times finds the spelling "theatre" pretentious and incorrect in the US, but it's a proper name! 

    Yes, this has long been their house style and I have always found it really annoying. I agree that proper names should be respected and given accurately.

  3. 3 minutes ago, dirac said:

    The article seems misguided, to say the least, but I understood what Shayer meant about feeling less burdened by color in Russia (and Paris). He would not be the first artist of color to feel that way and say so, even if  he does place himself in rarefied company.

    Yes, I got that as well, and I don't think the idea is really at odds with the facts about Russia that others have raised here. Those two ways of describing the role race plays (or doesn't) in contemporary Russia both seem understandable to me. (I have no first-hand experience of Russia, but both fit what I've heard and read elsewhere.)

  4. 53 minutes ago, abatt said:

    Shayer never even mentions height as a potential issue.

    Nor does he mention the numerous featured roles that do not fit his argument — e.g. Mercutio, Bluebird, the boy in Whipped Cream, Espada, peasant PDD, etc.. And the "why did I get promoted to soloist if they didn't think I was ready?" logic is just flawed. He was getting lots of soloist roles. What he wasn't getting were many principal roles.

    He implicitly criticizes ABT for promoting him "suddenly" in 2020, apparently due to his race, but he publicly pushed them on exactly that point in the lead-up to his promotion.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CBxy5iJgh8H/?igshid=OGIzYTJhMTRmYQ==

    I have zero doubt that perceptions of race have been and continue to be an obstacle for many talented dancers at ABT and elsewhere, but I also don't think Gabe's essay is the best articulation of the problem. And in my opinion his dancing really was not up to the higher standard he suggests it was.

  5. 1 hour ago, choriamb said:

    Andrii Ischuk's Hilarion was great both nights (his projection and energy were slightly better on Thursday).

    Ischuk and Curley were both very good on Wednesday as well. It seems the company has a lot of strong younger men now.

  6. Gabe writes in the Times:

    Quote

    In Russia, I found this freedom. There was no history to support American stereotypes, and so I was so alien, so foreign, that I was the author of my past, present and future for the first time. Also, the Russians didn’t care about diversity, so they didn’t plaster my face on a billboard or in a catalog to show they filled a quota.

    My nearly 12 years dancing for the American Ballet Theater could not have been more different. Back in the United States, my skin color seemed to snap into the spotlight. I tended to get cast in swarthy, sinister roles, like the evil sorcerer in “Swan Lake,” and subservient, exotic roles like the lead fakir in “La Bayadère,” where I played a beggar. When I was given the title role of Harlequin in “Harlequinade,” a significant role, I was still playing what is essentially a comic court servant. I couldn’t help feeling humiliated, like I was doing a shuck and jive. Would I ever be ready in their eyes for a more aristocratic role?

    The leadership of the American Ballet Theater does not agree with the way I am characterizing my tenure with the company. They said I lacked the technical and artistic skills for the roles I sought. But if so, why did I get promoted to soloist in 2020 if they didn’t think I was ready?

    His full ABT repertory list is here.

    (For those without access to the full NYT text, try this link.)

  7. 6 minutes ago, abatt said:

    Did anyone else notice that in the two lifts that Cornejo did in which he lifted Brandt overhead, he did each lift in two stages.  First she was lifted relatively low above him.  Then he paused  and fully extended his arms to lift her higher above his head.  That's how you lift a barbell, not your beloved Giselle.  It took me out of the ballet.

    Oh I disagree. I thought the lifts were very effective. He lifted her overhead, and then very slowly raised her higher and higher. As @fondoffouettes described it above, it looked like she would float away. I imagine it would have been rather easier for him to simply raise her up and keep her suspended.

  8. 36 minutes ago, California said:

    I found a really poor quality recording of Bouree Fantasque, but no credits.

    Yes, that's the Boston Ballet recording I referred to above; a bit of info is very dimly visible at the opening.

  9. I haven't watched it in quite awhile so don't have fresh recollections, but there is a video on YouTube of Boston Ballet performing Bourée Fantasque. The video is titled, simply, "Bourée Fantasque." There is also a detailed write-up in Reynolds' Repertory in Review (pp. 100-102).

  10. OED definition A.1.b (with examples given from 1447 to 1664 and from 1952 onward):

    Quote

    Chiefly of a person or (a part of) the body: full and plump; fleshy, corpulent; oversized, overfed; (in later use) full-figured; voluptuous. Also in extended use.Revived in the 20th century.

    Failure to adhere to the preferences of certain conservative usage opiners does not constitute misuse.

  11. 35 minutes ago, Becki Lee said:

    When do they announce promotions?

    Traditionally in the final week of the Met season — but the company is now under new artistic management, and the Met season now extends into late July (with new contracts, I believe, starting August 1). So the pattern may change or remain as it was.

  12. I assumed if it was a new role(s) she was stepping into, it might have been named, and I thought the NYT wording left open the possibility that these were board roles she’d already had. The timing is noteworthy, but it certainly may just be happenstance.

  13. 12 minutes ago, California said:

    Yikes is right! But when there's a change at the very top of a big organization, it's not unusual for there to be a string of departures. There has been enough time for her to get to know Jaffe and her vision and perhaps conclude...well...conclude that leaving might be a good idea.

    True. But the timing seems unnecessarily disruptive. I'd have expected her to depart either sooner or later if that's all it was.

  14. I don't disagree about Kourlas's restraint, nor about the explicit focus of her criticism. I'm curious what others think (and what Kourlas thinks), though: are there many roles in which Pereira wouldn't have been miscast? Many roles in which her "body...comes to life through them" (in Kourlas's words)? I can't think of many.

  15. Now that they're only performing in NYC ~6 weeks a year, I wish they'd lay off on the repeat productions, year after year. Swan Lake every summer is one thing, and pretty understandable. But both The Dream and Romeo and Juliet two years in a row? Even for Giselle, three years in a row seems really unnecessary. The repeat programming makes the loss of a full 8-week Met season seem especially tough to take.

  16. 33 minutes ago, vipa said:

    I just want to clarify my statement about Emma Von Enck, @nanushka. I wouldn't say that she reminds me of Fairchild or Hyltin either for that matter. It's just that I can see her moving into the Fairchild rep.

    Yes, that’s what I was referring to as well: I imagine (or hope to see) her fitting into Hyltin’s rep, a bit more than Fairchild’s.

  17. 1 hour ago, vipa said:

    The sailors were Ulbricht, Walker, Vallarini-Velez. Walker's variation was a bit fuzzy technically and vague musically. The other two men were excellent.

    Agon is a ballet I can't get enough of. I hadn't seen much of LaFreniere before her promotion, and one was a very weak showing. Post promotion I've seen her in Concerto Barocco and now Bransle Gay in Agon. Both times I've been taken with her attack, musicality and technical clarity. Eager to see more of her. Miller and Janzen were wonderful in the pas. Her line soaring, his partnering wonderful, their connection quietly dramatic.

    I was there too and completely agree with your assessments of the first two performances (if not both pieces). Walker just didn't seem to have the style for Fancy Free. The other two men were great. I don't need to see the piece again soon, it just doesn't do it for me overall.

    Agon does, and I was so happy to see it again. I've never liked LaFreniere as much as I liked her today. This piece really suits her. Mabie and Ricardo didn't seem quite up to the same standard, but were pretty good. A number of final moments were sloppy in both PDTs. I saw Miller do the PDD a number of years ago and wasn't too excited to see her again, but this afternoon's performance was very satisfying. Janzen looked great throughout the piece.

    I had to leave before Brandenburg, wish they'd kept that piece first on the program. Next time, perhaps.

    I saw Emma Von Enck in La Source and, while others have compared her to Fairchild, I actually thought of Hyltin more. I'm curious to see where she goes, but bet it'll be worth watching.

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