choriamb

I was wondering the same thing...

(I think this counts as a legitimate source. If not, apologies to the moderators...remove if needed.) I think we can infer from this ( https://instagram.com/p/08_JiOP_9V/ ) that Bouder has learned the lead in the new production of La Sylphide: if so, yay!!!

...except for the way they quietly announced Hallberg's Spring 2015 absence in the midst of the good-natured media frenzy the week before Sleeping Beauty's debut...that, friends, is the proper way to bury bad news.

Hmmm...while I despair with everyone else over ABT's public relations during the past two weeks, I don't think that the Washington Post article supports the notion that Herrera's Spring season was created with deliberate malice. While Reyes' comment "All the guests take a lot of performances from you. It’s hard to keep in shape when you’re only doing one performance now and then..." is entirely true, it's a burden that all of ABT's principal ballerinas share. Kent, Herrera, and herself were not maliciously singled out for a reduction of their repertory: they've danced about the same number of performances as ABT's other principal ballerinas over the past 2-3 seasons. (For dancers who potentially DID have legitimate grievances in that department, see Dvorovenko and Corella.) That all three dancers were originally scheduled to dance only a small number of relatively lightweight ballets before their farewell performances this season seems pretty natural: I don't find it unusual that an Artistic Director would try desperately hard to keep retiring dancers uninjured so that their heavily advertised and sold-out farewell performances would go off without a hitch. Companies like NYCB and PNB that don't sell on the basis of advance, full-season casting don't have to worry about that. To me, Herrera's quote in the WP article ("I really wanted to retire with something that meant something special to me,” she continues. “It was not very nice that I didn’t have a choice. It was like, ‘You have to retire in this production.’ ”) was qualified by the next paragraph ("Herrera, 39, gave the role a try earlier this month in Orange County, Calif., where Ratmansky’s version had its world premiere. His account is not the standard..."). It suggests to me that Herrera had chosen her farewell performance on the assumption that Ratmansky's SB would be more like the SBs that she's danced in the past...and, once she found otherwise, decided she didn't want to retire doing something unfamiliar. So, was there any ill-will AFTER Herrera cancelled SB? Possibly. Any ill-will before she cancelled? Not that I can see. (And McKenzie did arrange for her to dance her farewell with Bolle in both scenarios.)

...well, at least the dancers agree with us! From a timely episode of NYCB's dancer "Screen Test" series released this week: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Ey0d3GZ53j0#t=128

Also, I know I'm probably alone in saying this...but where's the Robbins?

Sigh. Pam Tanowitz and Emery LeCrone could both give NYCB new works more closely aligned with its heritage and style than several of the male choreographers the company has turned to in the recent past -- Elo, Bigonzetti, or Preljocaj, e.g. And if the company wanted something more visceral / cinematic along the lines of those three, there's Crystal Pite. Agreed. Given her dance pedigree and growing following, Tanowitz in particular has become a glaring omission: she's actually bankable. (And I'd love to see something by Pite, although she's less known in NYC.) Credit where credit is due: ABT--which has less money to throw around and fewer good venues for untried works--consistently has women in its choreographic workshops (Tanowitz and Pena were in the one that Hallberg spearheaded last fall) and have shown Aszure Barton and Jessica Lang in their Fall season. (Can't blame 'em for blowing their budget on Ratmansky while they have him, though.)

Absolutely agree. And in the perfect world, that might have been what they would do. But there are all kinds of interlocking elements in this kind of schedule, and it may be, at this point in the process, the only option they had was the one they took. Every so often, my sister and I try to teach ourselves mahjong. Like chess, it's a game where you have to think several moves ahead of the one you're currently making. I am not very good at it, and I would not be very good at scheduling performances. Agreed with sandik. This isn't just a matter of finding a "switchable" performance...it's also a matter of finding when a partner with whom she wants to dance can be open...and Hallberg's departure has left ABT with no slack. (Osipova still doesn't have a partner for the following night.) Too, while we in the audience may have received more pleasure from seeing her in a gruelling role like Aurora, it wouldn't be surprising if Herrera (after last week's SB) decided that she actually wanted to savor her last performance, rather than exit the stage feeling dead.

.

Thanks for the reports, Josette and ksk04! It's so good to hear that this version might be an audience winner AND good for the company's growth. I agree, Cassandra Trenary and Leann Underwood are both rather special: I'm glad you think so too. And any time I'm reminded that Vishneva and Gomes are at the top of their game (in one of the harder ballets in the canon, no less), this little balletomane sleeps a little more soundly.

From the Times: He will be replaced in some of his 13 scheduled performances by the Mariinsky principal Vladimir Shklyarov, in “Giselle,” and by Leonid Sarafanov, a principal dancer with the Mikhailovsky Ballet, in “La Bayadère” and “The Sleeping Beauty.” It will be Mr. Sarafanov’s debut with Ballet Theater. So, I believe these 2 replacements make the number of guest artists 10 total who will be at the Met. I'm quite speechless. I wish that someone in the ranks could have gotten these too, but I understand it in this case. Hallberg's other slots were all opening nights, nights where he supplied the star wattage, or involved fly-by guest ballerinas who would need an experienced partner. At least the open slot for Swan Lake seems surely destined for someone in the ranks, as it's a sure seller anyway and with an in-house ballerina. (I'm not holding my breath for Giselle...but is there anyone at the corps level with whom Osipova has danced?)

Thanks -- all I could remember was that it wasn't your reconstruction! (which is being restaged for the Pacific Northwest Ballet School show in June, just saying...) Thanks for the correction, doug. [sotto voce] And thanks, sandik, for notice of the revival of doug's reconstruction: count me in!

After seeing Ratmansky's Don Quixote and Bright Stream live and his Le Corsaire on video, I'm still holding my breath a bit. I can't wait to see how he rises to the occasion! He's brilliant at vibrant crowd scenes with multiple points of focus (those villagers in Don Quixote never looked better), but I worry that those more formal groupings that make up Aurora's wedding will go too academic, like the Jardin Anime in his Corsaire (although the Bolshoi dances it beautifully). To my eye, the downside of his ability to lead the focal point toward the entire company (rather than a single pair of leads) is that the narrative threads in his productions tend to suffer. I also fear that he'll feel the need to undercut sentiment too much. (I'm assuming here that the costumes/staging of the Vision scene in his DQ--a manic tropical fever dream--were created with his approval.)

Thanks again, Amy and Natalia, especially for those points about Sokolow's "choice" of modern dance in pre-ballet America ;) and the review of the folk dance discussion. The latter reminds me of Tim Scholl's article in Ballet Review a few years back about elements of the Georgian khorumi for male folk dancers in Balanchine's Serenade...and my seeing an archival photo of Serenade costumes at another point that suggested that the women were Amazons. I wonder how many other passages of folk dance performed by women in Balanchine's works would be freighted with a different meaning for us if we knew that they would originally have been danced by men.

I'm glad she's doing this one, too: Misty is really growing in the more actorly roles. (Although I'm also really disappointed not to see Marian Butler in the role: she's lovely it in it and embodied it for me.)

Agreed. When I moved to New York 10 years ago, Imler and Paul Gibson--the first really good male dancer I had ever seen--were the two dancers who I actively missed. (NYC types, imagine if Ashley Bouder had a cousin: such a technical powerhouse and stage animal that it isn't appreciated how great she can be as a stylist.)

I don't expect much this year--she's a slow burner like Kowroski--but I wouldn't be surprised if she were great after she's had the role a few seasons. I remember seeing one performance of Barocco when Lowery was paired in the corps with Saski Beskow that was the best thing I saw that season...and Wendy Whelan was one of the leads! I think Lowery has been less enjoyable as a soloist, because the powers that be keep trying to show off her jumps in tall girl roles (and she just seems to lope). She's actually way more interesting in really reined-in or delicate roles...given her height/power, there's a controlled tension.

I attended the Wednesday 5/29 performance. Smirnova's Nikiya justified all the praise: it was technically pristine, dramatically well-thought, and seamless. Her epaulement, in particular, is gorgeous...and why hasn't anyone written about her great jump? She adjusted her projection and musicality a bit during the first act, gaining full focus when Muntagirov first came on stage--perhaps helped by seeing a familiar face. Given that she shares so much of Vishneva's control and dramatic intelligence, it will be interesting to see if Smirnova acquires Vishneva's projection and exciting ability to discard a bit of her poise at times. To go too limp and accelerate too fast. (Excitement really only entered the game during a set of blazingly fast turns in her solo Shades variations.) But when you consider that Smirnova was dancing on one of the most intimidatingly huge stages in the world in a foreign country with a relatively new partner in an unfamiliar company's production and under four years of professional stage time... Given what I had read, I was expecting Muntagirov to be a soulless technician. But I think he's more than that. Excellent technique and very solid partnering with simple, clear mime. In time, his Solor characterization may not become memorable, but it will at least be believable. Not everyone can be Gomes. [Pauses to pull out desk drawer. Briefly gazes misty-eyed at black-and-white press photo of a Brazilian dancer. Closes drawer.] Seo executed Gamzatti's technical demands calmly, if not exuberantly. But I'm not in love with any of ABT's Gamzattis. Their interpretations--or maybe the artistic staff's--are just a grab bag of camp vamp, spoiled rich kid, and ordinary girl. It's dramatically better to just pitch the character as EITHER a flat villain OR an innocent unexpectly handed a love triangle. The one time when Seo went whole-heartedly villain, stalking toward Solor in his chamber after the Shades scene, things got interesting. (FWIW, I vote for "innocent princess": Gamzatti tries to bribe Nikiya to forestall her father killing her, then is attacked with a knife for her pains. Also, it makes Solor seem less wimpy.) Roman Zhurbin was a good High Brahmin. Arron Scott's Bronze Idol performance was clean and charged at times with real excitement: good acceleration and phrasing. Devon Teuscher's technical command and musicality made watching the Second Shade a pleasure, for once. The corps were turban-ridden and hard to differentiate, but Luciana Paris, Brittany DeGrofft, Cassandra Trenary, and one of warrior men looked special. (Aside: I haven't seen Marian Butler and Leann Underwood this season. I hope they're back for Giselle.)

I thought I'd start a topic on this as I just attended the Tuesday (5/20) "Classic Spectacular" performance. Apologies for writing a novel: I was seeing some of these performers for the first time. Theme & Variations It sounds snide to say that Semionova looked better in the adagios than the allegros, but I do mean it seriously. At that point before the ballerina's second solo variation when the female corps surround and support her in a daisy chain, Semionova used her head and epaulement with extrordinary control and fluidity. At one point, she simply looked like a woman lost in thought, looking past a rose arbor. I've never seen that particular sequence look unlabored...much less have a meaning. She and James Whiteside (whose performance became more polished and easy as the piece progressed) looked similarly good in the pas de deux. It wasn't my favorite performance of these leading roles, but bringing something new to light in a work like this counts for something. The corps looked very good. The four female demi-soloists, in particular, gave an intelligent, beautifully-synchronized performance: special appreciation for Zhong-Jing Fang, who captured all the grace notes. Christine Shevchenko subbed for Luciana Paris...and very seamlessly. Duo Concertant Add me to the Misty Copeland fan club. Several years ago, I saw Copeland give the kind of steely, perfumeless performance of a Shade in La Bayadère that made me purposely avoid her. But she and Eric Tamm (who had never commanded my attention before) just gave the best performance of Duo Concertant that I ever expect to see. I recently saw Sterling Hyltin and Robert Fairchild (one of my favorite dancers) perform DC and felt that, while it was nice-enough second-tier Balanchine, I had seen enough: it looked lost on the Koch stage. Copeland and Tamm (whose musicality made me completely forget Fairchild) just inhabited those roles in a way that felt definitive: every musical nuance, shading, and partnering interaction was illuminated. Even from the Grand Tier, they had me riveted. When I noticed in the cast lists that Copeland was leading the run of Coppelia and cast as Lescaut's Mistress opposite Vishneva and Gomes in Manon, I had wondered if Kevin McKenzie was slowly trying a technician out in roles requiring more stagecraft. Now I understand: she's already there. Gaîté Parisienne There aren't depths to plumb here, but they gave it a very fun performance. A few years ago, only Craig Salstein, Kristy Boone, and Marian Butler would have been able to fill out those demi-soloist roles with any panache. This time around, everybody looked good, and some people looked great. Joseph Gorak nailed every debonairely rakish inflection of The Dance Master. He gave the most fun, chic performance of the night overall. (Speaking of overalls, extra marks for managing to look good in high-waisted gray tights.) Misty Copeland (again) gave a perfectly-judged, committed, funny performance as the Flower Girl (filling in for Luciana Paris). Eric Tamm (again) visibly stood out for both his partnering and musicality, even as an anonymously-dressed (well, as anonymously-dressed as you can be in Lacroix) Billiard Player. Skylar Brandt got special applause as the Lead Can-Can Dancer and thoroughly deserved it. Patrick Ogle and Thomas Forster gave solid performances too. Marcelo Gomes (The Baron) and Hee Seo (The Glove Seller) played the piece with a lovely, light touch, less as a star vehicle than a group effort, which was appropriate. Craig Salstein replaced Daniil Simkin as The Peruvian (presumably to forestall the need to put Simkin on oxygen after his two T&V's). In sum: The company as a whole is looking very good. Whenever I see ABT in a mixed bill that showcases all the ranks, I stop worrying about the health of the company.

I attended the Saturday 5/17 matinee of the show. Craig Salstein, needless to say, performed Gamache with flawless timing and musicality. I really like how all the character parts are handled in this production: the slapstick isn't overblown and the story is clear. Arron Scott looked great as the Gypsy Man...and not only because he was, happily, shirtless. Not as polished as Daniil, but the one guy who didn't look diminished dancing next to him. aurora, I echo your assessment of the "80s metal hair band" costumes in Act 2. (Gypsies wear pink cropped tops? No wonder they're an oppressed people.) In group movements, the corp women looked good and coherent. Individually, Gemma Bond was a charming Amour. Christine Shevchenko presented well as a Flower Girl. Stephanie Williams and Isadora Loyola mined the Act 1 mime and the dance for all they were worth. Zhong-Jing Fang made her steps matter in Act 3. Query: Was Irina Kolpakova onstage in Act 1 as one of the townspeople? Stella Abrera's Mercedes was as musical and well-thought-out as everyone else has said. I even preferred it to her Queen of the Dryads. Brava. I liked Isabella Boylston's performance. She had a dodgy landing at the end of the very first jete sequence in Act 1 that I suspect threw things a bit. I would guess that the phrase "DON'T TENSE UP" was playing in her head until her first exit. At any rate, the mime and port de bras were presented rather loosely until about midway through the act. For the rest of the show, she was a pleasure. Her jumps are world-class; her port de bras has become lovely and articulate (no more broken wrists); and she's shaping phrases in interesting ways. Unexpectedly, I preferred her Vision Scene to her Act 1. Her interpretation was closely tied to her interactions with the Don, so she never looked generically classical. (In general, she made Kitri's interactions with the Don, which are often glossed over, seem believable.) I like that she's a stage animal. She didn't just interact with the audience (which you get most of the time...if even that at NYCB). Or with just the audience and her partner (which you get if you're lucky). She interacted with the audience, her partner, and the entire company. Daniil Simkin gave a great performance, too. The bravura, the musicality, and the line are all there and his mime is lovely. I don't know ABT's version of Don Quixote, so I can't tell you if any of the trickier partnering moves were cut (although I suspect at least one ended early). Isabella and Daniil didn't perform the tricky partnering with wild abandon...but they also didn't slow things down or sacrifice any stagecraft. Both of them held onto their musicality and mime through the harder bits. Boylston's port de bras and face never stiffened up, even through the wedding promenade sequence. They didn't express surprised exultation after each success. Much professionalism on display.

.

They've posted a cast list on the "On Tour" page at http://www.nycballet.com/Season-Tickets/On-Tour.aspx

I'm with the pro-Aurélie Dupont crowd. Her approach to Giselle is unique: I've never seen a ballerina so completely engaged with the other dancers onstage for the sake of the narrative. It made one reallize how inward-facing most great dramatic interpretations I've seen have been (and I saw Vishneva's first NYC performance of Giselle with Corella and Part). Most dramatic dancers establish their character in those asides when emotions play across their faces when they confront the audience away from the main action. Better dancers do that and coordinate a dramatic call-and-response with their main partner, acknowledging corps de ballet members too. But I can't recall a single phrase Dupont danced that wasn't clearly addressed to another dancer. No soul-searching was addressed to the ether. Nothing was solely registered as an inward reaction (except the appropriate moments in the mad scene). It worked: I've never seen the narrative purpose of each step articulated so clearly. Her Giselle never just danced. Every phrase in the first act established her role in relationship to a different character onstage; each arabesque in the second articulated a new plea addressed to Myrtha. One's eyes remained on Dupont, but one was left with a deeper impression of the secondary characters, too. (The production in itself is very generous to the secondary characters, but having also seen Ciaravola peform in it, I can say that Dupont took this aspect to a far higher level.) For instance, in the past, I've always thought the fleeting steps and the play with the petals in Act II were simply to Romantic-era gestures to Giselle's ghostly lightness and maidenliness. Dupont's interpretation and interaction with Albrecht clarifies that other than a light gust of wind or the shaking of a tree branch, Giselle is in a realm where she cannot directly communicate with Albrecht at all. She showed remarkable integrity in this approach: Giselle and Albrecht aren't permitted the satisfyingly romantic resolution of a direct look into each others' eyes even at dawn. None of the longing gazes that I've seen in the Russian interpretations, moving as they are. If by "dramatic" you mean "exciting" or "moving," look elsewhere (and that's what I usually do). You will not be swept away by images of flung flight or stirred by reallistic images of broken fragility. But if "dramatic" means "narrative," this is the most dramatically perfect interpretation you will ever see. N.B. Speaking of frailty, Dupont never rotated her shoulders inward slightly--as Kent, Vishneva, and most others do--to suggest vulnerability: she maintained a grand port de bras throughout. Would be curious to know whether this was a nod to the style of the day or whether she's one of those dancer who believes in consistentally maintaining the same line for all roles. ----- Regarding the other dancers: Veronika Part's mime as Myrtha remains the gold standard, but Marie-Agnès Gillot's interpretation is more complete overall--technique, musical interpretation, and mime. One wishes she had been first-cast for the NYC run. (Like others, I was less impressed with Cozette technically and dramatically.) I primarily came to the second performance to see Gill and she was well worth the ticket. I loved Ganio's technique and thought he took his mime interacting with Dupont as far as possible, given the grandeur of his prince in the first act and her invisibility in the second. Paquette (in tune with Ciaravola) adopted a more sympathetic approach and was less technically magnificent. The Peasant Pas was technically solid on opening night night with Giezendanner/Révillion and they are quite close to making these characters fully interesting dramatically as well. Bourdon/Ibot were slightly less polished both dramatically and technically (though still at a very high level). Bourdon in particular revealed no signs of tension: good girl. I echo everyone else's comments about the corps. (On a shallow stage! With little preparatory time! After a gruelling North American tour!) And, by the way, can I just say that it's so lovely to finally see a company with arms as articulate as its legs? ----- Incidentally, is the repeated kissing the hem of the robe (first Bathilde's by Giselle, then Giselle's by Hilarion, then Giselle's by Albrecht) as a way to show that Albrecht has come to honor Giselle's greatness in most productions? And, if so, extra points to POB for making me notice this.

I saw the Monday performance as well. The three leads all gave accomplished performances--and Ali's ridiculous headdress apparently aspired to become a pair of sunglasses, so Ethan performed some of those flawless turns blindly. For me, though, Stella, Craig Salstein, and Kristi Boone were what really elevated the evening: it was so lovely to see both lead and secondary lead roles performed on an equally high level. As everyone else has said, Craig Salstein's mime was notably good: it was not just realistic, but kinetically exciting, too. A spectacular sense of timing, a full-body attack, and Birbanto's dance variation received the same treatment. It's hard to imagine a better lead pirate woman than Kristi Boone. For commanding, voluptuous grandeur, look elsewhere. But for sparkling, unaffected gamine charm, no one in the company can touch her. The pirate character dances led by Boone and Salstein were among the few I've seen that never felt overlong. (I hope she escaped that shipwreck.) Stella gave the performance of the evening, though. It's rare to see an American-trained dancer with a truly seamless line--where the mime is completely integrated into the movement, each action completely enchained with the one before it. I haven't seen a line this good married to full-blown technical command on the Met stage since the Kirov was here last summer (Vishneva's performances this spring excepted). She was beside three of the finest artists of their respective generations and, to my mind, gave the most refined performance of all. Such integrity. (And speaking of lovely lines, does anyone know where Marian Butler is? I've missed seeing her in the corps this season.) Regarding the Odalisques, a query: do they usually coordinate their dramatic responses (i.e., are all three unremittingly unhappy or have they, pragmatically, decided to smile for the nice gentlemen)? The contrast of Sarah Lane's consistently unhappy face with Adrienne Schulte's equally consistent smile made the former look overwrought and the latter clueless (Isabella Boylston's interpretation was pitched in-between, but I didn't quite follow it). And I hate that this distracted me, because Lane's musicality and Boylston's daring gave their variations some lovely moments.

In the third paragraph from the end of the review "Boston Ballet - Don Quixote - Boston" at DanceTabs.com (I believe this is considered a legitimate professional source, and the reviewer Alan Helms is a regular in Boston publications), it is mentioned that James Whiteside is moving to ABT. He's a principal at Boston Ballet: might any of our Boston friends know at which level he's entering ABT?