nanushka

I really don't think this is Kevin's style. (They barely even allow second curtain calls now.) And not to diminish the role but...it's Princess Praline.

I thought more of Lane's posts along those lines were after the promotions announcement, but I could definitely be wrong. Perhaps she just thinks (like many of us) that there's more reason to hope this year, given the opportunities that she's had. I just hope that doesn't mean we're all in for an even bigger disappointment!

Brilliantly done! God, that closeup of Joey Gorak's foot. *swoon*

James Whiteside posted a rehearsal video on IG:

Seriously. Yes. Everything you said.

My assumption, based on the timing, was that the Times was given the info in advance and allowed to publish the article this morning with ABT sending the press release to all other press contacts immediately following. In any case, I don't see any reason why the press release should preclude additional promotions to principal next week.

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for a program with Other Dances, Symphonic Variations, and one of the Ratmanskys (ideally either the new one or Serenade, which I still haven't seen), all with good casts, so I don't have to spend time and money on more than one performance from this pretty unexciting season.

I have never heard a native English speaker pronounce it oSIpova. If anything I think English speakers tend toward the penultimate syllable, whichever that may be. (In this case, osiPOva, which is incorrect.) Russian is Slavic while the other three languages you mention are not. So in any case those other languages' tendencies aren't really relevant.

Thanks so much for the precise and clear description! That's hard to do, without resorting to phonetic symbols that aren't widely known!

What I hear at 33:00 is closer to -nyova than –noyva.

My initial point was a speculation (somewhat facetious, but not completely) that perhaps certain ballet-goers –– whether Russian-speaking or not –– are drawn to names that sound distinctly Russian. Kochetkova and Vishneva fall into that category; Part does not (and in fact is not a traditionally Russian name, I believe –– I forget her father's background). Even today, among certain ballet-goers, there is a certain veneration given to Russian dancers, especially female. My saying "if she'd been an -ova" was meant to refer to that. I did not mean to leave out -evas or any other Russian-sounding variants. It was a point about perceptions, not spellings. I recall reading elsewhere on Ballet Alert that the end of Vishneva's name was properly pronounced -nyova (approximately –– not trying to be phonetically exact here!), but perhaps that was incorrect.

It's there in the Russian pronunciation, though!

Yes, I think he is. At least, he has the proportions of a tall dancer. They may not be able to wait long enough to groom him, though, since he's only had a few leading roles and never in a full-length. I fear Hammoudi may get the nod in the meantime.

I agree. I think Macaulay is at his best as a dance historian –– e.g. in the very detailed and comprehensive article on "evolutionary changes" in Serenade in the Winter 2016-17 Ballet Review. I don't find him to be as convincing in his writing on individual performances. More than with almost any other reviewer, when I've seen the actual performance (or at least others by the same artist –– though that's obviously less fair of a comparison) that he's writing about, I'm left wondering "How is that what he saw??" Edited to add: Which is not to suggest that I necessarily want to read reviews that merely confirm what I've seen myself. Rather, in such a situation, I want the reviewer to help me "see better" what I've already seen –– or to see it better the next time around. I simply haven't had that experience very often if at all from reading Macaulay's reviews.

Shevchenko and Teuscher would seem a bit premature to me –– though I agree they are headed in that direction, and I hope they get there in another year or two –– so I'd put them more under "Possible" than "Likely."

At this point, Shayer seems to get more soloist opportunities than Scott, so it would be odd (though not unprecedented) for the former not be be promoted.

Ah but she does have that Russian name, which is may be a selling point. I often wonder if Veronika Part's career would be different if she'd been an -ova.

In the root of the word is "mania" –– i.e. "madness." But otherwise, I completely agree with everything you've said, aurora!

I'm curious, what do you have in mind as some examples of his being willing to be "anti PC"? Things such as the infamous "ate too many sugarplums" comment, or other sorts of things?

That was indeed a particularly galling example, I remember. It's one thing to bring in a guest whom otherwise New Yorkers would not have a chance to see or to see in a particular role. It's quite another to bring in one from the other big NYC company to dance a role he already regularly dances (in the context of Tchaikovsky Suite 3) right next door.

Yes, this is from today:

I think it could go either way. We may just have to keep our eyes on the roster and the next season brochure. If she is retiring, I would not be surprised that she chose to go out in this quiet sort of way.

...beginning with his requisite soft dig at balletomanes. As if we're all still throwing dead cats on the stage like in the good old days.

Patrick Frenette has been quite a prolific and often excellent backstage photographer this year. It's been great to see his work scattered across various IG accounts. He's also really grown as a dancer in just a few years. When he started with the corps he sometimes stood out in the wrong way, and now he almost always stands out in the right way.

It makes sense now that she seemed so moved by the demanded second curtain call, and that JW let her come out first for a solo bow. I still feel so sad that we'll never see her dance that again.