choriamb

Thanks for your review...do you have the patience for a minor tangent? Do you mean "contractually an opener" literally? I ask because required program order positions are a new concept to me (and Carla Korbes' farewell performance ended with Serenade).

I agree with Kaysta. While I don't think the Spring season will be reliably enjoyable, I'm interested in it for that very reason. While I've enjoyed returning to see the same (now-retired) senior dancers and guest artists for a few years, I'm pretty ready to see some new works (as long as they're dramatic and balletic) and quite excited to scope out their younger dancers. I don't expect ABT's mid-career dancers to change much--and as I like most of them, I'm happy with that--but I think some of the younger dancers are going to be major artists. There's the same pressure cooker that was in play at NYCB when Bouder, Mearns, and Peck were developing a few years ago (even though the company overall was in the doldrums): a small clutch of young allegro technicians competing for the same rep (and driving up technical expectations company-wide in the process) + an unusually large dose of stagecraft (the Robbins season and full-lengths) + a mess of new choreography (good or bad). I love knowing that I saw Bouder, Mearns, and Peck from their earliest days...I fully expect to feel the same about the new crop at ABT.

I saw Thursday evening and the Saturday matinee. I'll echo laurel on Thursday's performance...leading with Brahms/Haydn gave the evening an impetus that lasted the rest of the performance. Murphy was lovely in the Tharp on Thursday: she made her partner look better (yes, it works both ways), commanded the stage, and was musical in a way that elevated everything. Boylston increasingly looks good in the same ways: during the Thursday and Saturday matinee shows, it was interesting to see how much more comfortable the same man could look dancing with her as opposed to other ballerinas. I think she occasionally imposed a grand manner on her interpretation at the expense of piece's style, but to my mind, that's preferable to fading into the background. It was good to see Devon Teuscher developing more of a presence on Saturday, too. She beamed rather than sparkled in Valse Fantaisie...but she articulated her arms beautifully and the show worked. Re: the ballets themselves, I agree that the Monotones I cast looked particularly great on Thursday: it fitted Abrera's line and manner like a glove. (Not surprising, given her training...but I hadn't reallized until I read the program notes that Georgina Parkinson was one of the piece's originators.) It did take the Monotones II cast a few minutes to warm up to the stage, but by the end they produced the right kind of magic. I hadn't reallized how much this piece relied on the juxtaposition of humanness and inhumanness. When I first saw Monotones II via Morphoses with Wendy Whelan (from whom otherworldly emotionlessness and linearity are expected), I was disappointed; having Part (usually beautifully human and lush) going through the same abstract movement gave it a frisson. I agree with the folks who say that The Green Table and Company B aren't choreographic masterworks, but I do enjoy them as solid dance dramas that show off the whole company. It's cool to occasionally see Craig Salstein and Arron Scott do something relatively lightweight like Company B where they can really show off their musicality and timing (rather than their 20 tours). Blaine Hoven and Luciana Paris made the Standard Bearer and Old Mother in The Green Table something special. And I liked Sarah Lane better as the Young Girl than I have in any other role: I sometimes feel her stagecraft becomes a prisoner to technical perfection in classical roles...here, she was believable and sympathetic. *** Enter fanboy mode *** And on the evidence of what I've seen this season, I don't think Cassandra Trenary could become a major ballerina: I think she already IS. I just can't get over how free her port de bras and head are for her age...and how well she's using them dramatically. It usually takes dancers of her level--not to mention plenty of principals--years not to be tense slaves to their technique, but Trenary's shoulders look almost as loose as Vishneva's. She interacted more reallistically with the other dancers in Brahms-Haydn and After You than anybody on stage, and her musicality was more noticeable in secondary roles than that of most of the leads. I've always viewed the Young Girl in Le Spectre de la Rose as thankless at best, ridiculously trapped in dusty crinoline at worst. But at the Saturday matinee, Trenary blew away the cobwebs while retaining the perfume. She not only looked equally important to the action, she looked natural...like a debutante returned yesterday from one of the cotillions you could still find occurring somewhere in the South. I can't wait to see her in larger roles.

I just saw this Saturday's matinee of Harlequinade and N. Y. Export: Opus Jazz. Ashley Bouder wrote on Instagram that Colombine might be her last role before her maternity leave, and she danced like it. Act II had the magic it can have be when a ballerina has the timing and line that can instantly summon quietness onstage. (The Alouette sequences--flying from Harlequin, calming for Colombine--actually made sense without notes.) Bouder’s port de bras in adage has become one of my favorite things on the NYCB stage: I'm going to miss her a lot this upcoming year. Andrew Veyette looked really engaged as Harlequin throughout (and one of his first-act variations sparkled), but he's still settling into the acting and partnering. On the corps side, the Patrouillle segment was as funny as it ought to be. The Scaramouches were a luxury cast of taller senior corps artists: I love the detail Gwyneth Muller brings to things like this. (And speaking of Scaramouches, I want to know who the tallest, black-haired mini-Scaramouche girl was in Act II: one to watch.) NYEOP is a gift to the company's stage animals--every single one of the men looked fabulous tonight--but Georgina Pazcoguin still owns this piece. (Both of these pieces made me miss seeing Lydia Wellington…I hope she’s back for Winter 2016.) A very well-spent afternoon.

Random thoughts: -- I'm so glad that Abrera and Trenary are getting such great partners for their Sleeping Beauty debuts: it will make such a difference. And it's good to see that Boylston is getting Lendorf for Sylvia, La Fille Mal Gardee, AND Swan Lake for the same reason: if any ballerina has paid her dues debuting in difficult ballets with random or relatively inexperienced partners, she's that ballerina. It will interesting to see what happens to her artistically with a solid, consistent partner. -- I'm curious to see what else the soloist women pick up, particularly Trenary, Shevchenko, and Paris. -- Part and Copeland sound totally right for the Queen in The Golden Cockerel. I wish Murphy and Paris were cast too: it sounds like it needs verve. -- Interesting to see that the male TBDs seem to line up with Hallberg's roles in the rep: I wonder if McKenzie is assuming his return, but playing it safe? -- I'm not too surprised that Gomes isn't dancing leads in Le Corsaire or La Fille as he's pulling double duty in Sylvia, Swan Lake, R+J, and most of the Ratmanky ballets (it will be interesting to see if he does both the Astrologer and the Tsar in The Golden Cockerel). Between Cockerel, SB, and La Fille, this is a dream season for male character artists (and a great training ground for the up-and-comers who are still figuring out how to inhabit the stage).

The distressing thing is that we haven't even touched the topic of the men's pajama tops...

Agreed. I wavered the entire time between wishing for more shading in her port de bras (she was exuberant to the point of jazziness) and enjoying seeing someone so technically secure in THAT role that they could play! (I've unfortunately missed all my chances to see Bouder so far.) I thought that the first three movements came off better than usual, too. When three softer, more Romantic ballerinas are cast, they just blur together in all the tulle and low lighting. For a long time. Because Krohn (one of the "right" type for this role) was followed by Le Crone (spiky) and Scheller (Scherzo!!!), all three movements actually seemed to have a reason to exist. Le Crone's angularity sometimes jars in non-neoclassical works, but here it usefully cuts some of the sugar: it made the second movement seem dangerous in a way that I haven't seen before. I'm glad that I finally saw Liebeslieder Walzer, but suspect its charm relied heavily on its original cast. I thought Ashley Laracey came off better than anyone on stage: she projected throughout, but was reserved enough (unintentionally? intentionally?) to look like a girl of the period. Others seemed slightly too forthright at times, although Sterling Hyltin had a beautiful dignity in the first half. (The Angle brothers, of course, did what Angle brothers do for ballerinas.)

Daniil Simkin wrote that he's rehearsing it on his Instagram account.

Dear Megan, Welcome back to NYCB. You will dance Theme twice in your first week. Love, Peter [ Casting is up for Week 2! - Choriamb ]

I once saw Imler/Gibson paired with Apple/Milov (I think) in Stravinsky Violin Concerto...but that doesn't change the numbers.

...and, for what it's worth, I think the entire season looks absolutely spectacular! Fewer warhorses, another viewing of Beauty, more Ashton, a return of the Shostakovich Trilogy, and an outlier of the sort NYC usually doesn't get to see in The Golden Cockerel. If I'm in NYC, I'll be there. It will be interesting to see what they throw into that second mixed bill other than the new Ratmansky. The new Fall Mark Morris piece? Some Tharp after all?

While I've never seen Hammoudi in a technically demanding role at the Met, I had thought he lacked dramatic and physical projection on that stage. However, I just saw him dance with Stella in a piece by Emery LeCrone at the Joyce in a role with knotty partnering and allegro work that has changed my interpretation of his abilities somewhat. Technically, Hammoudi was solid throughout (his jumps were even exciting at times), and Stella looked at ease. Also, having a closer view of his face at the Joyce, I'm beginning to think that his stage presentation is simply very wryly underplayed--more French than Russian. As Stella seems comfortable with him and a Nutcracker Prince can afford to be subdued, I think the performance is worth a shot.

Me too!

Glad to hear that you're healing up: get well soon, Birdsall!

Thank you so much for the link, fondoffouettes: I wasn't aware of that video. Beautiful!

Oooh, one of my very favorite videos...van Hamel is so gorgeous in this! Outlier comment here, but I'd be curious to see ABT in a mid-to-late period Balanchine black-and-white (Apollo doesn't count) just to see how they handled it. It seems a shame that Boylston and Whiteside, in particular, won't get a crack at Agon or Stravinsky Violin Concerto.

Agreed with Kathleen, fondoffouettes, and Helene. ABT's dancers bring something special to early Balanchine works in particular, probably because their diet of ballets is closer to that of the dancers who originated the roles.

Spectre and Valse-Fantaisie are both gifts to the short nascent-partner-but-great-technician contingent: the partnering in the latter is comparatively light, although it has crazy batterie and jumps. Monotones doesn't come off unless it's as smooth as glass, though: I wonder whether it will be cast taller or shorter. I'd love to see Part or Murphy in this.

It mentions "Paris, France" as one of the places the ballet will tour...

I'm glad her last performance was recognized: the corps won't be the same without her.

So, they could potentially have "locals" in all three parts of the Ratmansky mixed bill at the Los Angeles Music Center (edit: accidentally wrote "Segerstrom") next July: Copeland originated Firebird, Abrera's presumably first-cast second soloist for Symphony No. 9 (now that Messmer's gone), and Kochetkova has done Piano Concerto with SFB. That would be a rather nice marketing/donor hook.

It just occurred to me that with the most recent round of promotions, ABT now has two locally marketable principal dancers for their LA season. Abrera, from South Pasadena, could plausibly be presented as a "hometown ballerina." Kotchetkova's repute is stronger on the West Coast than it is in NYC. Planned or coincidence?

I'm not sure height is really the reason: there's ALWAYS room for short-to-medium height women, as they can dance with men of any height. (McKenzie at least doesn't seem to have a problem with tall men partnering shorter women: Whiteside has partnered Reyes; Gomes has partnered Herrera. The fact that they haven't done so more frequently was probably due to the temporary overload of senior, medium-to-tall principal ballerinas: Part, Murphy, Semionova, Wiles, Kent, Vishneva.) I imagine what has shaped Lane's casting also is whether a given pairing has a sufficient popular following to fill a reasonable proportion of the Met. Lane and Cornejo are both critical darlings...but neither has enough of a popular following to fill half of the Met: they could never regularly be paired profitably. Hallberg, Bolle, and Gomes have popular followings, but are desperately needed for tall ballerinas. Stearns and Whiteside don't have followings. At the moment, Simkin's really Lane's only viable partner from a box office perspective. I think that's what will shape casting going forward: Copeland, Kotchetkova, Simkin, and Lendorf (who all have popular followings or novelty in their favor) will be primarily paired with the short-to-medium height dancers without popular followings...not each other. As he's being groomed, I imagine that Gorak will be paired with Copeland and Kotchetkova a LOT.

Thank you, Ashton Fan!

I'll miss Underwood too: she had a wonderful feel for the audience and the word "luminous" really fits her. I regret that we never saw her Lilac Fairy. During the Fall season a few years back, ABT performed Cunningham's Duets under the worst of circumstances: it was the first piece on the bill, the audience was not prepared for it, and the first duet (a deer-in-headlights performance) had received an icy reception. Underwood's performance with Patrick Ogle in the second duet was the most gripping thing I saw on stage that year (totally in Cunningham style, to boot), and they actually got the audience back on board. Cold stage. Second-string Cunningham. Unsympathetic audience. And she saved it. That's a real stage animal. I always looked forward to seeing her in the demi-soloist and character parts that she appeared in more recently. I hope that her next steps are happy ones.