nanushka

This seems right to me. I don't tend to think of ballet narrative as realist drama. Edited to add: Or Wagnerian narrative, for that matter.

Ballet Is Woman — i.e. Balanchine Ballerina Fest! (1) Mozartiana (Suzanne Farrell) (2) Serenade (Sara Mearns, Ashley Bouder, Tess Reichlen) (3) Symphony in C (Tiler Peck, Veronika Part, Skylar Brandt, Sarah Lane) Exactly. I could watch those three ballets, with those 8 dancers, over and over and over.

Year after year, ABT gets beat up in the New York Times about the nature of its spring season. I wonder if these fall seasons we've been getting are part of a misguided attempt to fight those sorts of perceptions of the ABT identity? I agree with miliosr's idea above, though. The answer, it seems to me, is "Do you, and do it well."

...from apprentice to corps, rather.

Just watched Noella Pontois in the POB Darsonval Sylvia on YT. Such an impressive, glamorous dancer! Would love to hear any reminiscences or observations regarding her.

Some further details from Luis Ribagorda:

That can definitely be a factor in the overall structure and effect of a work, it's so true. I had a similar experience recently in the first two movements of Mozartiana at ABT, when Veronika Part's opening preghiera made attention to Daniil Simkin's gigue nearly impossible.

That would definitely be one viable interpretation, based on one set of reasonable criteria.

Isn't the point perhaps that what one defines as "the essence" is in large part a result of one's own interpretation of the work? "I think" may be the key phrase there, then. To only focus on one aspect could indeed be "getting" the ballet, if that aspect is "the essence."

I may be remembering the details wrong, but at one point the supposed publication date seemed so close that –– logistically –– one would have imagined that at least a good chunk of it had to be already written. That's my only reason for holding out hope. I don't have the sense that it was only a concept.

Was the Croce definitely going to be a bio? I was hoping (if it ever came out) that it was going to be more critical than biographical. I didn't realize that the latter had been specified in the initial info that circulated.

I imagine some of Copeland's partners might be rather unhappy as well, if what she says here is indeed true:

The similarity is indeed remarkable, particularly in that photo. I had no idea she was so young –– 18, and just a year out of the academy!

What a great homecoming!

This may not have been a definitive take on the role, but it sounds like a performance that I would definitely like to have seen, at least once!

Heavens am I sorry now that I fired off that little attempt to be cheeky on my phone while walking down the sidewalk after the performance, but let me just repeat here that it was not intended as a criticism of the company or even meant to identify a "problem" per se. I am aware of the basic outlines of the history and demographics of Russia, of the distinctions between race and ethnicity, of the many non-racial varieties of diversity, of the problems with viewing race as a black/white binary, etc. etc. As I've said above, in response to another member who, I think, attributed (perhaps from a perfectly reasonable assumption) meanings to my comment that were not intended, I was merely noting this: –– how visually striking it is, from my perspective as a balletgoer in NYC, to see an ensemble on stage that looks overwhelmingly white. That is the only message that was intended. I apologize to all if I was too shorthand with my original words; the tone of my postings on that particular evening was meant to be lighthearted. Of course, I look forward to any further discussion of the topic in general, but I hope that will be taken as my meaning.

Interesting. That would suggest a (potentially -- assuming such companies outlive those who were around to see the Balanchine era) significantly longer-lasting period of general discomfort with discretion and variation. Edited to add: And of course it needn't be one or the other. There may well be some degree of change in the years corresponding with the loss of personal legacy and some additional degree with the loss of institutional legacy.

Thanks, abatt. I strongly recommend Nancy Goldner's long analysis in Balanchine Variations and, somewhat less strongly, Laura Jacobs' essay "Balanchine's Castle."

This question definitely intersects with the one sandik just recently posted on the "Lincoln Center Festival 2017" thread (applying that question to choreographers other than Balanchine, obvs).

Great question. I agree we're in a transitional period, and I suspect we won't fully enter that next phase until those who remember having seen these works in the Balanchine era are more vastly outnumbered among the ballet-going population, and among the population of teachers/coaches, critics, etc. Edited to add: I don't think it would be that way with the work of just any choreographer, or even major choreographer. I think there are a number of reasons that this is particularly the case when it comes to Balanchine.

I find that my perception of a dancer's height, especially on video, is often strongly determined by body proportions, nearly as much as by height itself.

One of those he created for her was in fact this one, with d'Amboise. I'll definitely rewatch soon myself with your observations in mind. Thanks!

That is exactly what my comment was intended to express. It was visually striking.

Yes! So much better.

Very nicely put!