nanushka

According to ABT’s announcement of the recent promotions, they are effective September 1, which I believe is typical for their annual summer ones.

22 hours ago, Beezus21 said:

I think Chloe Misseldine is exquisite to watch, but it's hard to believe that her family connection to ABT has not helped her become a soloist at the young age of 20! Elisabeth Beyer, who is also 20, is still sitting in the Studio Company waiting to be promoted to an Apprentice. How does that even add up?!

It doesn't. Promotions are never (or never just) about the math.

24 minutes ago, balletlover08 said:

Waski was at Boston previously and did their whole season before coming to ABT and doing all of the Met season. So she probably was just exhausted. She will hopefully be in better form after some rest. On one of her instagram captions she said she did 25 shows of Swan Lake in 2 months which seems like a lot. 

Out of curiosity, has she talked publicly (on IG or elsewhere) about her reasons for going to Boston and/or for returning to ABT?

Misseldine has far more than just technique, from what I've seen of her. In the Swan Lake pas de trois (and even in her brief scene as Lady Montague), she stood out as a remarkable, very special onstage presence with a unique and eye-catching movement quality. I doubt her promotion had anything to do with who her mother is. Her abilities speak for themselves.

1 minute ago, FauxPas said:

Also, I wonder how much planning was done for the Fall season at the Koch and if Jaffe is making changes to that.

When is Jaffe taking over? Although there was an event for McKenzie's "farewell" on Saturday, I thought he was actually continuing on through the fall season. (That may have changed, or I may have misunderstood whatever I read that gave me that impression.)

The Times is reporting that Roman Zhurbin has also been promoted to principal:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/arts/dance/ballet-theater-promotions-daniel-camargo-catherine-hurlin.html

Quote

Zhurbin, 37, was born in Russia and came to the United States as a teenager, beginning his ballet training at LaGuardia High School at 15. He has spent almost two decades with the company, building an extensive list of parts that includes the title role in “Don Quixote” and several characters in “Romeo and Juliet.” Critics have praisedhis ability to bring depth to characters in narrative ballets.

"The title role in Don Quixote." Well, yes, I suppose, but...

I had a very different experience of Forster's dramatic performance. I felt that he was dramatically committed at every moment. It was not a dramatically extreme performance — rather subtle, in fact. But I felt he used his face, head, shoulders, carriage and demeanor to project a complete character and character arc. I saw important shifts in the interactions with his mother in both Acts I and III, and with O/O throughout Acts II-IV.

As noted, his partnering was excellent — really exquisitely attuned to every detail of support and characterization. He didn't disappear behind his ballerina, but he remained completely devoted to presenting her first and foremost.

Technically, his dancing was indeed somewhat underpowered and imperfect, especially in his Act III solo. He generally did a good job of covering the deficiencies, but by that point he seemed a bit tired. The Act I solos were stronger, and the jetes were gorgeous throughout.

His death leap was one of the more impactful that I've seen — in particular, because it was visually striking without being showy. He didn't jump up and strike a pose before plunging down; rather, he bolted straight forward into the fall. There were a few quiet gasps near where I was sitting, but no burst of applause, which I thought was telling of the effect he achieved. As in other aspects of his dramatic performance, he was impactful without pushing for impact.

Forster is certainly not "the complete package," but I'm so glad he's finally being given these opportunities! I'm excited to see his Romeo.

35 minutes ago, cobweb said:

It is bound to be a problem during a long season of mostly full-lengths, if you don't have a soloists who can quickly and reliably take on major roles. They need to do some major reshuffling and major beefing up of the soloist roster. 

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.

5 minutes ago, California said:

Shevchenko cheerleaders: I'm wondering if there is a contingent of Ukrainians who might be cheering her on for their own reasons. 

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.

1 minute ago, JuliaJ said:

I would hope Shayer is not on the principal track from what I've seen in the past few weeks. He doesn't fit well into either the danseur noble or the short, jumping virtuoso category. I can't imagine him leading any full-length classics. 

I was not against his promotion to soloist given the principal roles he had previously taken on, but I felt his very public suggestion that his career was stalled over race -- during a very rocky moment in American racial politics -- was not a good look for him and ended up making his promotion look like a PR move. 

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.

2 minutes ago, cobweb said:

Also like others, Gabe Stone Shayer doesn't do it for me as Purple Rothbart. Not sure why he was even cast in this role, it needs someone taller who can look menacing. 

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.

36 minutes ago, AB'sMom said:

Maybe ABT needs to follow the European example and have more than three main levels of dancers. There are soloists on track to be principal dancers, but others who are kind of clogging up the pipeline. I don’t mean that to sound as rude as it does. I just mean that there could be a category for dancers like Zhurbin and Paris, and another for dancers who are expected to continue to principal.

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.

38 minutes ago, Rock said:

Is it all about money? Selling tickets? What they think will sell?

 

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

53 minutes ago, Helene said:

I wouldn't underestimate the difference to big donors.  The Met is a much more snazzy venue.

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.

1 hour ago, miliosr said:

As for the Theater Formerly Known as State (TFKaS), ABT be wary of being perceived as the "junior" resident company there - always living in the margins between New York City Ballet seasons. By that way of thinking, better #1 at the Met than #2 at the TFKaS.

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.

14 minutes ago, nanushka said:

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

 

 

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.)