NinaFan

I was at Wednesday’s matinee performance of Swan Lake with Copeland/Simkin. Of course this is MY personal review of the performance, so others may not agree.

First let me start off by saying that the reason I attended this performance, is because I am HUGE Simkin fan, and I rarely miss any of his performances. He was a wonderful partner yesterday, and of course his solos were spectacular as always. His final leap was breathtaking. I’m used to the wonderful chemistry that he has developed with Boylston, however, there was absolutely no chemistry with Misty.

Now on to Misty. Regrettably I wasn’t crazy about her interpretation of Odette/Odile. I felt no emotion from this Odette. She left me cold. I want an Odette to bring me to tears (which Veronika Part usually manages to do). Misty’s Odile was marginally better than her Odette, but there was not much of a range besides some flashes of a quick evil smile. Don’t hold me to it, but as far as the fouettés, it looked like 23 singles and maybe 2 doubles. She could not hold her arabesques and does not have much back flexibility. There was no suppleness to her spine. She just leaned her head back and looked best when she could lean into Daniil for support.

Nina Ananiashvili set the bar very high for me, and whether it is fair or not, everyone I see is always compared to her Odette/Odile. So feel free to disagree!

2008 -- that makes sense. A Saturday matinee makes absolute sense to me because those are they days I take my mom, and I know she was there for that Corsaire (funny the things you remember). The interview is in May, so it may have been an early season casting change when Maxim pulled out. Notice that he mentions he *might* dance Espada that very season. this implies to me that he wasn't originally cast, although I guess it's not quite the same as an understudy.

I’m pretty sure that I was at that 2008 performance as well. If you go back far enough in ABT’s news area, you can see the casting that was posted on May 6 for the May 24 Saturday matinee performance. It notes in 4th paragraph: "The matinee performance on Saturday, May 24 will feature debuts by Cory Stearns as Conrad.....". See link below which includes casting at the bottom of the page.

http://www.abt.org/insideabt/news_display.asp?News_ID=223

Any non-subscribers actually went to the box office today? Was it very crowded? How did it go in general?

Yes, it was very crowded, but it went smoothly. I am a subscriber, but I needed to buy some additional tickets. I got there ten minutes before the box office opened and waited an hour. They had 6 windows open, plus they were using the opera ticket window when no one else was waiting. Fortunately the timing worked out perfectly as I had tickets for Paul Taylor at 2:00PM.

Puzzling information about ticket sales for the Met season: The Met Opera site for ABT says subscribers get:

• Advance Access to Individual Tickets

This is the page you get when you click "subscribe" from the calendar on the ABT site.

http://www.metopera.org/Season/Tickets/ABT-Subscription/

I don't recall a perk like that in previous years and sent an e-mail to the ABT contact listing to ask if those advance individual tickets would be available on-line or only in person at the box office. The reply: individual tickets go on sale March 20. But I thought that was the date for individual tickets sold to the general public and would be both on-line and at the box office. So I tried again -- no answer yet -- if you buy a subscription, do you get on-line access prior to March 20 to additional individual tickets and can you buy those individual tickets on-line?

This perk is not so uncommon with other American dance companies. It would be very nice if ABT would add it and I might even get a Trio package to qualify.

Has anybody else figured this out?

I ordered a trio/create your own series online just a few days ago, and was given the option to order additional single performances at that time. The offer/link does not come up until you have completed your trio/create your own series order. This is the same option I've had in the past.

The printed playbill for the current DC tour lists the entire company, from Principals to Apprentices, including several Principals not cast for the tour's SB performances. Principals listed, in alpha order:

Abrera, Boylston, Copeland, Cornejo, Gomes, Kochetkova, Lendorf, Murphy, Part, Semionova, Seo, Simkin, Stearns, Whiteside

When one compares this list against the one on the ABT web, one sees that three supposedly "permanent" Principals are missing: Bolle, Hallberg & Vishneva.

Are those three gone from the permanent Principals list but the ABT web has not caught up with reality, reflected in this week's printed playbill of the full roster? If they are not full Principals and they are not in the category "Guest Principals," what are they?

I'm saddest about Hallberg no longer being on the printed list in my playbill.

Bolle and Vishneva are both scheduled to dance during ABT’s 2016 MET season. I have not heard anything about Hallberg leaving ABT. Isn't he still out from injury?

PS- Russell Janzen's hair is niow black, and Bouder is a blonde. I remember Janzen's hair being more in the brown range.

Yes, you're right that Janzen's hair was brown. He must have just colored it black, as I saw him rehearsing last Wednesday and it was still the usual medium brown.

I think her Giselle is a very powerful thing and I'm glad I have it on dvd but her arms frustrate me even though I love everything else about it. But I can't imagine her doing Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty, and the short videos I've seen really didn't paint the greatest picture. Sometimes I feel like a dancer can be too strong.

I can't speak for her Swan Lake, as I haven't seen her dance the role. However I saw her in Sleeping Beauty about five years ago and I thought she was exquisite. She was charming as Aurora. Since she was mugged in NY about a week before the performance, I was afraid that she wouldn’t dance. And who could have blamed her if she had been frightened enough to leave NY. However, she danced as scheduled. Like many others on BA, I was disappointed that she did not dance the new Ratmansky version this past spring.

I’ve seen Osipova dance Giselle three times. First with ABT, then with the Mikhailovsky, and mostly recently with ABT again. My favorite was with McRae. She just keeps getting better and better.

If the past is an indicator, the $29 tickets go on sale on Aug. 2 as well. Not sure if 3 performances qualify for subscriber privileges. Maybe someone else does.

Standard Series buyers and Create Your Own Series buyers with six or more performances can purchase additional performances at the discounted rate. I have a Standard subscription, so I am not sure about the rest of the benefits, but I believe there is a fee for exchanges if you have less than six performances on a create your own series.

Actually I think Simkin is better suited for noble roles than Cornejo. Height wise, he's definitely taller than Cornejo by at least 2".

What he needs is more experience. I remember when Cornejo was just a newbie principal and his partnering skill wasn't great at all. I still don't think his partnering is strong enough but he's definitely gotten better as the years progressed.

IMO, Simkin's youthful look is actually an advantage in a certain roles.

I second that! I have rarely missed any of Daniil’s lead performances at ABT. His partnering and acting keep getting better and better. This year’s Swan Lake was the cream of the crop. He is every bit the Danseur Noble with very secure partnering, dazzling jumps, and elegant soft landings.

Gorak was dancing last year with Yuriko Kajija - it was a lovely performance.

Unless they made some last minute cast changes, I believe Gorak only danced Cinderella with Reyes last year. Yuriko danced Coppelia with Gorak.

Thank you choriamb. I noticed Nunez is also dancing July 2nd so I will go standing room and hopefully sneak a seat :-)

I find this to be a very rude practice. I can’t tell you how many times there have been disruptions that continued into the performance because latecomers were escorted to their seats during an appropriate pause and found people sitting in their seats. I prefer to be on or close to an aisle, and it is not unusual for me to buy a seat that someone in standing room might find tempting. If I buy a seat, I expect to be able to sit down without the hassle of the usher having to argue with a squatter in the dark with their flashlight.

If you don’t want to remain in standing room, and you don’t want to buy an orchestra seat, then you should buy a ticketed seat elsewhere in the house, such as Balcony or Family Circle.

The night Part and Murphy danced, Makarova was in the audience and, lucky me, I scored an autograph. She was very gracious. I was surprised there wasn't more of a fuss around her, and wondered if people were just being polite and giving her space. Would there have been a fuss around Baryshnikov?

I think people were just giving her space. I saw Makarova moving very quickly with Kevin at both intermissions at the Kochetkova/Sarafanov La Bayadere. One of the times she was carrying a bouquet.

Baryshnikov was sitting a few rows in front of us at the Monday night Vishneva/Gomes Sleeping Beauty. He tried to keep his head down when he got stuck in a crowd on the way back to his seat. I’m sure he was recognized by some people, but I didn’t see anyone approach him. Some years ago, I did see a few people approach him at a performance. I just admired him from afar.

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.

Unless a dancer is injured, I am not aware of any NYCB principals who do not perform regularly or are only cast in limited roles. Like all ballet companies, NYCB has their share of injuries which prevent dancers from performing. Jennie Somogyi and Ana Sophia Scheller both returned this past Spring season after being out with injuries. And as everyone knows, two principal dancers are currently on leave performing in Broadway shows.

Program reads "Toman Zhurbin's and Alexander Hammoudi" for the two Rothbarts. Since Purple is the major role, assume Zhurbin???? Or Hammoudi.

Cast names are usually listed in order of Swamp Thingy and Purple Rothbart. So as ABT Fan mentions, you should find Hammoudi's name by the Black Swan pdd (which is purple Rothbart).

Or, Classic Ballet, you can combine vacation and ballet. Perhaps a trip to Washington to see the Mariinsky's Raymonda. We don't yet know any casting, but at least we know it won't be Hee Seo.

Without taking a plane, from NYC you can easily visit Washington DC, Boston, and Philadephia and go to the ballet there. I've done arts-specific vacations, and on work travel I tried to squeeze in performances -- ballet, opera, theater -- whenever I can.

Yes, you are both so right! We just took Amtrak to DC just to see the Royal Ballet’s Don Q!

Bobstone17's location is LA. If that is where Bobstone17 has been seeing the Company, LA gets a different experience with casting, which is dominated by the ABT roster. Guests don't go to LA. "Nutcracker will no longer be seen in NYC, and the dancers for whom members have been craving promotions -- not everyone for all -- were cast prominently. "Sleeping Beauty" was important enough for Vishneva to have made the trip.

Perhaps the Company looks different in another city, where rehearsal time has been concentrated on limited rep, and to fresh eyes.

You make an excellent point. And of course the West Coast does not have an eight week season with so many ballets and roles to fill.

I used to have trouble selecting which performances to see, because there were so many great dancers to choose from. Now when I review the schedule,my task is a lot easier. Very few people left on the roster that I'm thrilled about seeing. However, it's getting harder to avoid the performers I have no interest in by virtue of the casting changes.

I feel exactly the same way.

KM took over the company practically on its deathbed and revived it. It's arguably the world's best. He's the Red Auerbach/John Wooden/Vince Lombardi of ballet. Appreciate what we have, huh?

It is over twenty years later, and the company now has a skeleton crew of dancers. Many talented principals, soloists and corps dancers have either retired or just left in the last few years.

Sorry, but ABT is just not the company that it once was with regard to in house talent anymore. I can’t believe that I am alone in being totally disgusted. And while guest stars (when they actually show up) are thrilling to see once in a while, they should only be in a fraction of the performances, not the majority. As a result, I have attended fewer performances this year. So while this may not be affecting someone like you, it has significantly affected my attendance this season. Also, ABT's bait and switch tactics, some of which did not leave me enough time to trade in my tickets, was dishonest. As soon as ABT knows a dancer is out, it should be listed as TBA if the replacement has not yet been assigned.

I expect my attendance will continue to be down if things do not change. In my opinion, ABT needs to re-build their company roster (at all levels) with extraordinary in house talent equal to what it was only just a few years ago.

I would be very sad to see this 75 year old company (which I have always loved) continue in its present state of decline.

It is horse's mouth official: One can only reserve "best available" seats from mobile devices. no specific seat choices allowed from ipad, iphone or other mobile devices.

That seems rather short sighted of them! At least you know it's not you, and that switching to a non mobile device will allow you to select your own seats.

I still cant get to sspecific seat selection. Is there a trick to this? Thanks in advance for guiding me!

Here is another idea. If you happen to have a second browser, give that a try. Sometimes I have a problem on a site and then switch to my other browser, and the site works just fine. If you don’t have a second browser (let’s say you are using IE), try downloading another browser (Firefox is a good one) and see if that works for you. I know it’s extra work, but having a second browser comes in very handy.

The Met ushers can be overzealous in tossing people out, though. Several years ago when I still lived in NYC, I bought an orchestra ticket to the POB at the Met quite spur-of-the-moment after a day of walking around the Upper West Side. After sitting down a few minutes before the curtain was to go up, the usher came over to me and demanded that I "go back" to standing room.

He was quite miffed when I showed him the ticket.

The ushers have their hands full trying to stop people from moving around and the taking of photography; however that does not excuse such bad behavior. They have a right to request to see a ticket, but just assuming that someone is guilty is quite atrocious conduct on the usher's part. I would have been very upset had it been me.

Just noting that people regularly buy up the standing room spots even if there are seats available, particularly the standing room orchestra and dress circle. It's the cheapest way into the the theater without being relegated to the family circle. Then once they are in the auditorium they try to hunt down good open seats.

You’re right, and this practice caused some disruption in the Orchestra section on Monday night when some people sat in what probably looked like vacant seats. A couple of people arrived after the start of the performance, and the usher tried to seat them in the dark (after the first pause, but when the orchestra was already playing.) The usher was using a flashlight and had a heck of a time getting the people out of the seats so that the rightful ticket holders could take their seats. I was all the way at the other end of the row, and I found it disruptive even from where I was sitting.

I think Lane did an interview with Glamour before the Oscars in which she apparently revealed more than the film's producers were comfortable with. After the Oscars, she did further interviews, claiming that she had been contacted by the producers after the Glamour interview and asked not to say any more until after the Oscars.

So, she didn't reveal the "gag order" until after the Oscars, but she had apparently "spoken out" at least once before, and it sounds like they weren't happy about that.

Thank you nanushka! That would explain why I had heard about Lane as Portman’s dancing double fairly early on, but then heard nothing else about it for months!

It would be just as much in Aronofsky's and Millepied's (financial) interests for Portman to win an Oscar as for they themselves or the film to win one. Just because the controversy didn't ultimately prevent her from winning one doesn't mean there weren't fears in the lead-up to the Oscars that it might. Indeed, it was reported at the time that, according to Lane, she'd been asked to keep her mouth shut at least until after the Oscars.

if I recall correctly, Lane honored their request not to speak out until after the Academy Awards were over. I would hope that no one would hold it against her for disclosing that she was a dancing double after Ms. Portman won the Oscar.