nanushka

Yes, I noticed that. It's true they've cut back quite a bit, though, so perhaps with the season opener, followed by two premieres bookending Bayadère, they didn't want to do 4 weeks in a row. It's unfortunate, though.

Perhaps it's meant to embody the spirit of prayer rather than simply demonstrating the act of putting one's palms together (which of course is not the only way to pray)? Just one possibility. I've only seen the Balanchine choreography once live and a few other times on video so would have to rewatch in order to offer any sort of stronger case. (And the Mozartiana preghiera would be an obvious counter-case.)

So glad to hear she's dancing well, since it sounds like she's been injured. Did (or will) anyone see the Boylston/Cirio/Copeland cast? Would love to hear how that went (or goes tonight). Boylston seems more like a natural Gamzatti to me (as does Teuscher, in fact).

Whiteside's case seems to me to be far more comparable to Copeland's than Trudeau's case does, given that Trudeau does not seem to have been posting as a paid endorser, did not have a "sponsored" post on his feed pushing out to non-followers, and was apparently just spreading the word about a company that donates to a charitable cause he finds worthy of supporting. (At least that's my understanding, based on his post.) Personally, I'm neither picking at nor lauding anyone, just noting distinctions.

I just today noticed that Fang is now listed for two performances of Mercedes/QofD in Don Q. Don’t think that was the case when that casting was originally posted.

Thanks for the details. I haven't seen the Mariinsky reconstruction, only earlier Mariinsky productions (e.g. the 1977 video with Komleva), in which Nikiya was in pointe shoes in the first scene. (That's where I saw Gamzatti in character shoes in the second.) The choreography in that first scene (for her opening solo and for the fireside PDD with Solor) must be rather different in the reconstruction! I'd be less surprised if it were the second scene (the confrontation with Gamzatti) where she was in character shoes, since that scene is mostly mime.

So Nikiya was in character shoes for the second (rajah's palace) scene and pointe shoes for the first (fireside) and third (betrothal) scenes? I, too, had only seen it done with Gamzatti in character shoes in the second scene and the start of the third (before she reenters to dance the pas d'action).

To be clear, you are suggesting discrimination/segregation based on innate genetic characteristics? Wholly in jest, I hope!

I wonder if there is, indeed, a "right to see the stage," though. What about an audience member sitting behind a rather tall person who blocks their view? Surely the tall person can't be faulted their height? Though I do agree with you, in general, that one should at least be mindful of the possible effects of one's wardrobe choices on others in an audience. (Jangling bracelets are my personal pet peeve.)

That was a remarkable performance. Seeing Bayadère this year makes me really miss Veronika. She truly shaped my conception of the role of Nikiya.

I've never seen the shades corps look as bad as they did last night, but specifically when they were in block formation doing uniform steps/poses after the completion of the winding entrance. The entrance itself has definitely looked worse in the past (it didn't look too bad last night — having read reports on here, my initial reaction was, "Oh, they must have improved since opening night"), but the amount of wobbling/shaking/readjusting/hesitating/etc. (to the point of nearly falling over, it seemed, in some cases) in that later block sequence definitely seemed unprecedented to me. And much of it was in the front row. There were numerous murmurs all around me from others who apparently saw the same.

Agree with much of the above praise for the leads and criticism of the shades corps. In Brandt's variation, the diagonal of chaines near the end was stunning — tight and fast. Wow. And yes, I also noticed that about Brandt's jumps. She wasn't getting much height at all. I don't recall if that's typical for her. My takeaway: Cornejo is still a star; this was a stellar debut for Brandt; and this was a very, very strong debut (with potential for further seasoning in the role, which I hope she'll have the opportunities to achieve) for Lane. (In particular, I'd like to see her dancing Nikiya as if the movements are more deeply engrained. There were lots of little adjustments last night in many of the steps.) I had to miss Giselle unexpectedly and chose to skip last week's double bill, so this was a great start to my Met season!

Could be. But there is a myriad of possible explanations, and I'm not sure there's enough publicly available info to even make a reasonable guess.

If Ms. Copeland also shares with her social media followers notices about products that her colleagues support which in turn support charitable non-profits — then yes, indeed she is!

There’s definitely a good number of names in tonight’s shades lineup that I don’t recognize, though it’s quite possible some were around last year and I just don’t recall.

Did anyone see the debuts this afternoon? And who has been dancing the three shades so far (last night and today)? BTW Gabe Shayer posted an IG story saying that he'd be dancing the bronze idol tomorrow night.

On the other hand, promoting products is a part of the day-to-day lives of many dancers (Mearns and Copeland among them), so perhaps it's all of a piece? The latter seems pretty nearly transparent to me as well.

The Raymonda original libretto is one I've never read. Does anyone know if it's available anywhere online? I'm curious how and whether the text itself speaks to this question of her characterization.

I’ve seen artists (including perhaps dancers, though I don’t specifically recall) featured in “sponsored” posts (i.e. those appearing on non-followers’ feeds) coming from the sponsors’ accounts, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen a “sponsored” post coming directly from an artist’s account. (I’d be curious to see examples of the latter, if others have encountered them.) And yes, to be sure the post was paid for by the sponsor, not by Copeland.

Macaulay's comment was in reference to Giselle, not Firebird (which hadn't yet been performed this season when he published).

I’ve been going to ABT performances pretty consistently since well before 2012 and can’t recall any time Lyle wasn’t in the company since he first joined.

Yes, definitely true. I meant to write, "ABT's new Ratmansky Harlequinade with Copeland" — thinking that there might be, for that at least, a variety of constituencies (those interested in a prominent new Ratmansky work, those interested in a new Petipa reconstruction, those drawn in by the charming ad campaign, those interested in Copeland, etc.) who might fill the house a bit more, at least for the (originally scheduled) Copeland performances.

I would have thought that ABT’s new Ratmansky Harlequinade would have drawn a broader and rather different audience than NYCB’s Harlequinade, but perhaps that explains it.

Interestingly, as of this afternoon, the Sat eve Copeland performance looked no better sold than the Fri eve non-Copeland performance — at least in orchestra.

Hmm, it doesn't seem very unusual to me. He did the same thing in Swan Lake. Balanchine seems to have been a bit more interested in male virtuosity than Petipa; he was choreographing for Tomasson; and Saint-Léon created Franz as a role en travesti, so filling in that gap (actually two gaps — a variation each in Acts I and III, I believe) probably seemed a quite natural move. Great clips. McBride, who created Balanchine's Swanilda, has coached at least some of the lead dancers for this run.