choriamb

I've always loved the idea that those of us in the ballet world can hear, say, Bach's Concerto in D Minor played somewhat as it was played in the 1950s just because Concerto Barocco's choreography demands the tempo to which the dances were choreographed. (Of course, I then wonder whether Balanchine slowed down/sped up tempi from the norms of his day for his own purposes before preserving them in amber.)

(Argh. Thanks for the catch. I knew she wasn't raised in China, but picked the wrong NA country.)

Yes, Seo's the first. But ABT has had three other female soloists from Asia in recent memory--and more in the corps--so there wasn't the same sort of visibility gap. (Yan Chen is Chinese, Yuriko Kajiya is Japanese, and Elaine Kudo's mother is Japanese. Kudo, in particular, was very visible in the media because she was recorded dancing with Baryshnikov in Tharp's ballets.) Too, Chinese and Japanese ballerinas are seen far more frequently as principals of other major companies: Miyako Yoshida at the Royal Ballet, Yuan Yuan Tan (and the US-born Frances Chung) at SFB, Misa Kuranga at Boston, Kaori Nakamura at PNB, etc. spring to mind. That's not even counting soloists. Then again, "Asia" is a pretty wide net to cast. FWIW, Seo's actually the only specifically Korean ballerina at a major company that I know.

I agree that the money freed up by the retirements of the three senior ballerinas was what probably made this possible. (I disagree that ABT is the Yankees: that would be NYCB! Simkin's situation isn't that bad...after all, now the four shorter men have the decidedly petite classical technicians Lane, Brandt, Trenary, and Kotchetkova, And Cornejo and Simkin have also been paired with the slightly taller Copeland and Boylston respectively (not to mention Paris). 4:7 is a great ratio...and part of the reason I think these promotions were so savvy. Also, I think Lendorf punches above his weight: wasn't Gillian Murphy slated to dance with him in Don Quixote a few years ago (before she was replaced by Reyes due to injury)? The tall side of the situation is odd. As depressing as it is to imagine Gomes and Hallberg's retirements, it makes the casting for that side of the story more explicable. If he's like most other male dancers, Gomes (for instance) is likely to retire before either Murphy or Part and, 1-2 years before then, will reach a point where he's unable to support them sufficiently...at a point where they'll be far more reliant on his help. From that perspective, it actually makes sense for Part to be working so much with Stearns (and Murphy with Whiteside/Hammoudi): they're grooming the men who will help them sustain their late careers. Still, even given the possibility (likelihood?) that one of the senior tall women will be out with a pregnancy at some point, that side of the team would be safer with one more tall man (even with Forster added to the mix).

I think FauxPas and stuben's posts point to something that always seems to get lost between the Fall and Spring seasons: just how deep the talent in the corps really is. There are so many lovely dancers in the corps--like the ones who were just promoted as well as Fang, Giangeruso, Williams, and others--we just have to get chances to see them in featured roles.

Today, Principal at ABT...tomorrow the world. Many, many congratulations to her!

I thought it might be Copeland's year; hoped against hope that it would be Abrera's year; and expected Trenary, Brandt, and Forster to rise in a few seasons. But I NEVER foresaw Paris and Scott getting the recognition they deserve for their wonderful stagecraft: that is so utterly brilliant!!! And we get Lendorf as the icing on the cake! Congratulations to all! (I'll agree with a few other posters: Gorak and Baca are still on the rise. I think the lack of action this year was more a matter of letting them get more principal and soloist roles under their belts before exposing them to all the expections that a promotion would entail. I suspect Royal and Shayer are still on the make too: they're just early in the game of acquiring soloist roles/stage time in the classical rep.) Kevin McKenzie, you have renewed my faith in you.

If y'all are talking about the Bayadere Muntagirov danced with Smirnova, IMHO he was clean but didn't project enough dramatically for the Met. (As opposed to Smirnova whose emotions did read clearly, but who projected in a very stylized fashion.) Then again, folks weaned on NYCB tend to find the amount of expression that I expect excessive. At any rate, I'd bet that Muntagirov read more clearly in the State Theater.

One other note: there's a video of The National Ballet of China's The Red Detachment of Women by the uniform exhibit.

Hayward and Hay were just promoted to First Soloists: http://www.roh.org.uk/news/promotions-joiners-and-leavers-at-the-royal-ballet-for-201516

I'm yanking my last comment, as I was debating about the debate. Board moderators, you are all jewels: thank you.

That's great to hear. Given how many different partners (with varying levels of experience) the poor woman has been required to dance with over the past two years, it probably helped just to have the same partner in the same ballet twice in a row!

The first ones to mind are a very funny solo in Paul Taylor's Black Tuesday, Chinese in Ratmansky's Nutcracker, and Mark Morris' Gong (she either created it or took it over immediately). Historical cast lists usually only show the principal roles, but she occupied a lot of the corps and demi-soloist parts made over the past two decades.

See https://instagram.com/p/4b3lqAzBAA/ I'm sorry to hear that we won't have a chance to see Marian Butler again: a beautiful stylist who had more roles created on her in ABT's rep than many principal dancers. She always had that indefinable corps virtue of being completely in sync yet looking somehow more right. (I'll miss her Cowgirl too, ABT Fan.) Congrats to her and Schulte on two great careers: they've made many audiences happy.

As I've griped a lot about ABT's Web site (and, for all I know, their entire Marketing staff could be grinding their teeth over their lack of budget to fix it), I thought I'd mention that they're starting to do social media right. Their Instagram account has been consistently good for months now. They've also just started to use YouTube better: the video quality is far higher than it was when they started (though nowhere near NYCB levels) and it looks like they've discovered a content strategy (interleaving videos of former stars with the most on-the-make corps members--Brandt, Trenary, and Baca--to lend them some glamour by association before role debuts). One positive thing about Moore leaving is that any longtime vendor contracts--like the Web design firm and the print publicity agency---are bound to come up for review under the new regime.

I'll second nanushka. Shevchenko has range: she was one of the dancers who really inhabited Symphony in C when ABT performed it a few years ago, and she has also looked great in character-driven parts in Ratmansky's ballets.

Given that it wasn't performed by the National Ballet of Canada either, I wonder if Ratmansky has simply decided to retire Chamber Symphony. (I thought it was the weak link in the trio: the other two parts were instant masterworks.) At any rate, you're in for a treat!

Removing my last response because it could potentially hurt feelings.

I'm too lazy to look this up, but don't NYCB dancers have year-round contracts (i.e. no layoff) and superior compensation at all ranks? Quite a few of their principals/soloists perform rarely and in severely limited roles: I can't imagine all of them are thrilled with their careers either. They would simply have a greater financial incentive to stick around while preparing for their next move.

I'd give Watts the benefit of the doubt and assume that she means "the first crossover star the US ballet world has seen in decades." Funny to think that Center Stage is about 15 years old. Funnier still to think that ABT--whose stars have had a rather nice track record of appearances in feature films in the past--is now headed to LA more regularly. It does make me wonder how much the popularization of ballet in US popular culture has been tied to New York's power as a cinematic center. I wonder if ABT's extra appearances in LA will have any effect on the number of ballet TV/film appearances we see in general.

I saw it too. The show stretches over three floors: older and Chinese-made holdings dominate the bottom floor and it gradually shades into mainly contemporary and Western-made holdings on the top floor. Oddly for me, I enjoyed the historic costumes more than the couture. While it was interesting to see the archive Lanvin on the top floor (and the Stephen Jones hats used throughout were endlessly inventive), I thought the bottom floor and the small uniform exhibit at the head of the stairway leading down to it were the most enjoyable parts of the show. If you're short on time, try to catch them...they're buried a bit further back in the gallery.

Such a wonderful, singular artist. My condolences to his family and friends.

2003. See https://archive.org/web/ . (And there's a balletomane with digital design skills here...just sayin'.)

I'd love ABT to tour the US more too. That said, on the topic of smaller venues like college campuses and early dancer exposure, isn't that what ABT II does? When I was at Indiana University, they swung by for a few performances (Kylian, a classical pas de deux, and a random piece to Holst's "The Planets") and masterclasses.

Congrats to Jared! He really grew into his talent over his last two seasons at ABT: I'm glad he's getting a chance to put it to use!