nanushka

I too agree with @FauxPas’s overall analysis of the current roster — but then again, even when there has been a stronger soloist roster, ABT hasn’t often (at least in the past 10-15 years) been a company where promising junior dancers have been given opportunities to jump into full-length leads to cover injured or otherwise incapacitated principals (which I think could be an exciting prospect, with the right dancers). They’ve long tended to rely on other principals (e.g. Hee Seo Ballet Theatre) or guest artists to do that, at least at the Met.

Possible. But at least the ones seated near me yesterday (who seemed to be starting much of the cheering) were young, student-aged fans at a holiday matinee, at a time of year when many ballet students are in town. And I believe many of the seats they were in hadn't sold well until a day or two before, when the company may have released them for discounted tickets.

Yes, they even cheered when she came out for the Act II PDD — although she'd just been onstage mere minutes before, and was doing nothing but bourrée on to dance again. I too was disappointed by Shevchenko's overall performance, though it definitely had some very nice moments. I particularly agree about her Odile — mean and stern were the words that kept coming to mind, and her dancing in that PDD seemed jagged. I'm thinking I'll skip Brandt's and Shevchenko's O/O next year, giving them each some more time to develop, and maybe check out Teuscher, given the reviews on here. (Her O/O had seemed characteristically chilly to me in the past.) I was very impressed by Calvin Royal's Siegfried. Most everything he does he does quite well, though I wish he did more at times. (I'd like to see him add in some more impressive steps, for example, rather than sticking mostly with the basics). Andrii Ischuk's Rothbart was quite good, too. Perhaps he gained some confidence after his previous performance? Certainly, he could use a good deal more charisma and stage presence, but the basic goods are definitely there. I trust he'll work with them more in the future, and I'm very glad he was given the role. He did better with it than a number of the other younger Rothbarts have in the past 4-5 years. (I'm very much looking forward to seeing Curley on Wednesday.)

Wow, so Teuscher and Ahn get two perfs and the KM event instead of Shevy/Bell. I wonder why.

I agree on all those points — don't see him as principal material (unless he dramatically improves), thought he deserved the soloist promotion, thought his public comments were very much not a good look.

I didn't see Shayer's Rothbart, but even Vasiliev couldn't pull that off. To start, those boots look silly on a short dancer. And the whole scene really requires a commanding presence. Having seen Shayer's disappointing Espada (which, for me, also best suits a taller dancer), I expected to find his Rothbart disappointing if I'd stayed. I think he's being tested for possible promotion to principal. He's made something of a public stink about his lack of and/or delayed promotion in the past on social media, and I wonder if McKenzie is trying to either keep him appeased or give him a fairer shot.

I too mostly agree with @abatt and @fondoffouettes about Brandt's Act II Odette. (I also had to leave at intermission. Not the sole reason, but the auditorium — at least where I was seated — was almost unbearably warm and humid. It was incredibly uncomfortable breathing into a mask, and I have generally never been much bothered by that in the past. I've sometimes noticed that the Met auditorium is warm before an ABT performance, but then once the doors shut and the air starts getting pumped in, it cools down. This definitely did not happen last night.) Starting with the PDT, I thought Frenette's debut (if that's what it was) was very promising. His solo portions especially were quite good. But his nerves were really showing. As an example, on several occasions he finished partnering a supported pirouette by suddenly remembering to put on a big smile. He could also find a better way to manage his height during those, as he had a tendency to hunch over while supporting his partner. (I'm not on Instagram much anymore, but when I used to be, Frenette's posts often reminded me a bit of Sara Mearns', in his rather nice willingness to be really open and honest about his vulnerabilities and struggles/strivings. Mearns, though, doesn't let those show onstage one bit, unless they're dramatically appropriate. Frenette will very likely mature as an artist, and I look forward to seeing that.) Granlund, too, was quite promising — I don't think I've ever seen her in the PDT before — but there were numerous bobbles throughout both the ensemble sections and her solos (including the slightly botched finish mentioned above). Coker looked great, as always, though I agree about her mouth. Cornejo's Act I variation was quite strong — especially his extraordinarily fluid turns in second. Moving to Act II, the four cygnettes were quite good, and they kept up the tempo throughout — something ABT cygnettes often have a problem with especially with the pas de chats to stage right late in the piece. Their ending, too, was cleaner than I've often seen at ABT. Brandt's highlight was definitely the adagio PDD. Veronika Part has always been my ABT gold standard for Odette; I love a tall dancer with gorgeous long legs in the role of swan queen. Brandt is obviously not that, but her manner of slowly unfurling the développé extensions was truly breathtaking. As mentioned above, her backbends in the lifts were quite striking, but for me they struck a bit of a note of the grotesque — exaggeration to the point of senselessness. ("Why is Siegfried carrying her around upside-down?") If she tones those down a bit, with a slightly less extreme effect, they'll be fantastic. I wish I'd been able to see her Odile, but I trust there will be many more ABT Swan Lakes in her future.

It's a good idea, but creating another level wouldn't create more money — and I imagine that would be the primary thing preventing more promotions. (I don't think there'd be another strong reason to cap the number of soloists. If they wanted to have some soloists like Zhurbin and Paris, and then a bunch of others who seem more like they're moving up, they could do that with just the existing three levels, couldn't they?)

Yeah, I'm pretty excited to see Brandt/Cornejo and Shevchenko/Royal. About Royal, I have similar thoughts to some of those expressed above, but even if it's not the most masterful debut I expect it to be worth seeing. And although I don't feel the need to see Murphy's O/O again at this point in her career, I'm excited enough by Forster's finally getting to dance Siegfried here that I'm seeing a third performance as well.

I suppose it depends on what you mean by “it,” but anything is rarely all about anything.

Oh yes, I agree about the Met part (for donors, but also for other reasons), just not that — considering potential venues other than the Met — the Koch would be particularly problematic. I love seeing ABT at the Met (except when they misprogram for the space). I’m ok putting up with its imperfections as a venue for dance. I enjoy the overall experience.

Enh, I don't see that as a real concern. There's enough of a difference between a junior resident company and one that just uses the house at certain times of year, while also using other venues (in NYC and/or elsewhere, as they do). They're "America's ballet company," after all. 😏

I so wish it were a company with an identity like that now.

Lots of very good thoughts there, @Drew. Now that the Met season has been reduced to five weeks, and pushed further into July, I really hope ABT finds an additional NYC venue — or one or two additional periods each year when they can use other venues they've previously used, to expand their local offerings in intelligent ways. I also really, really hope that under new leadership there will be greater recognition that their marketing team simply must seriously step up their game (or, perhaps better, be booted and replaced). It's been exasperating for far too long, seeing their third-rate efforts. With all of the challenges they currently face, a good number of which are beyond their control, this is one area where they could be doing so much better, and think (hope) it could make a difference.

We should also keep in mind the disruptions of the past 2+ years, including the fact that ABT has not had a Met season since 2019 (and now that season looks and feels rather different, shortened and starting up in June rather than May); plus, Of Love and Rage is not benefiting from any momentum that could have been gained after its CA premiere two years ago. So while Of Love and Rage itself is certainly somewhat to blame for the poor ticket sales — and, as @abatt notes, the overall state of the roster, in comparison with the (most recent) "golden years," may also be somewhat to blame — there are also numerous other factors compounding the problem.

Unfortunately I don't think that's how ABT tends to do things, at least under McKenzie. (Maybe next year?) I remember too many Met seasons in which certain dancers have been worn ragged filling in for sick or injured colleagues. I'd love to see Frenette, Klein and others given more opportunities to step into lead roles.

Actually nope, looks like 36 was correct. Article from September 2020 giving age as 34 is the one linked on his Wiki page. (Always check the sourcing!) https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/10/arts/dance/american-ballet-theater-promotions-pandemic.html

I think 37 or 38. (Wikipedia cites birth year of 1983 or 84, but I think 84 or 85 actually.)

Forster also has only one — though the day before one of Stearns'. But Forster, Royal and Camargo should certainly be able to cover Stearns' two, unless they want to prepare Ahn for other reasons.

Interestingly, Gia Kourlas seems wholly unbothered by the sexual politics of the work ("a meditation on love, loss and forgiveness") in her very positive Times review:

Yup, got that. My own point was that the venue probably didn't help, and that some of the characteristic elements of Duo — e.g. the dancers standing around listening to the music, and the odd (IMO overly precious) ending of the piece — probably made it seem especially unusual to those in the audience who come to ABT for the narrative classics. Assuming there wasn't any widespread polling happening, I think that probably explains what you heard or overheard. Those who love ABT for the classics aren't going to NYCB to see mixed programs (so they don't know anything about how often Duo is programmed there), and they likely aren't checking dates in the program either. They're just reacting to what they see onstage. There's no single "ABT audience." To fill a house of 4,000 (or even come acceptably close) requires drawing in a number of different audience constituencies. There are plenty of people who attend ABT who are excited to see Theme and Variations or Cinderella; probably significantly fewer who are excited to see Duo; and, so it seems, even fewer who want to see this new thing called Of Love and Rage.

Duo Concertant also just doesn't work well at all on the Met stage. (And it's kind of a weird piece.) I imagine Theme and Variations is quite acceptable to many in the ABT audience, as far as non-story ballets goes. If only it were on a program that really made sense.

I’m quite torn between Shevy/Bell and Brandt/Cornejo T&Vs. Can’t really get justify both, given that I’d only plan to see that one piece.

I haven't seen either of the mixed bills mentioned (ABT's or NYCB's), so I have no idea whether there's a connection. But like many arts institutions, the Kennedy Center announced in the summer of 2020 a number of "social impact initiatives," currently featured here on its website. It's reasonable to assume that these have resulted in some changes to programming. Some people will find those changes to be welcome, while others won't.

An article in the Times gives at least a partial explanation: