ABT Fan

Casting hasn’t been officially updated yet, but these rehearsal clips on Trenary’s and Robare’s IGs pretty much confirm Robare will be dancing Oberon with her instead of Camargo. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjOSLwAAzoT/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= https://www.instagram.com/reel/CjRIVvdJWJE/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Yes!! I was really hoping for that. I’m there. For that same performance, Daniel is still listed as Oberon. But Cassandra has had several IG stories showing her rehearsing with new corp dancer Andrew Robare. There’s another story today. I’m wondering if that casting will be updated soon.

Casting for The Boy is finalized: Tyler Maloney gets two and brand new corp dancer Jake Roxander gets one. This is in addition to Klein already having two shows. Still waiting for that one Puck TBA to be decided.

Haha, too funny. He’s more than earned his right to goof around…and he can still move!

Good question. I've been checking a lot myself. I think a lot of it has to do with Tyler Maloney having been injured, he had surgery on his arm a few months ago (see his IG, link below; his last post talks rehab, surgery, etc). He has done The Boy and they probably need to see if he can recover in time. There are 3 TBA's so I see room for a debut (if Magbitang got one I'd be there in a heartbeat.) https://www.instagram.com/tylerrrmaloney/?hl=en

Thank you Drew for leaving this post here as I missed the discussion on the other thread. Happy for Xander.

I completely forgot about that DQ cancellation. Well, I hope we’ll get to see him in Sinfonietta and/or learn that he has a guesting gig somewhere and is not out with an injury.

I will pass on Program 2 which has the new piece for Toogood and Cornejo, that premiered at Vail and was on their live stream. I didn't care for it at all, and in fact I skipped over the last 1/3 of it or so. (I positively hated the costumes which I thought resembled those of The Boy in Whipped Cream, and I thought the choreography was boring.) If I see anything, it would probably be 3 (a Jamar Roberts piece and Robbins In the Night) or 5 (with the Graham co, whom I rarely get to see).

Not that we saw and nothing official was announced. He and Shevchenko had their T&V's removed, without explanation, but the following week he did his two Romeo's without incident. Maybe he has some guesting gigs that conflict with part of the fall season (like Trenary). It's possible we could see him in Sinfonietta. But, it is odd that he's not cast in Seasons and I really thought we'd see him debut as Oberon. Added: is anyone else curious about, or reading into, the programming of The Dream, which they haven't done for years? Which contains two of the best roles for Murphy and Cornejo, the most senior dancers on the roster.....?

Nice to see Trenary finally get some decent casting. She will be gorgeous as Titania. I’m thrilled Coker gets a Princess Praline debut. Curious that several of The Boy and one Puck are TBA. I assumed Shayer would get those, as he’s done Boy before. Could we possibly get a debut by Magbitang, who I assume will be moved up to the corps for the season, for one of those?? Also agree that’s it’s strange Bell isn’t listed anywhere, not even for The Seasons.

Yep, those are the only three current dancers who do that role. I agree with canbelto that Misseldine is too tall for it, and The Boy, her partner, is obviously short as well. I suspect we’ll have probably two debuts as PP.

Ah, I see! Yes it completely overlaps with Whipped Cream. I thought maybe she could do both and toggle back and forth, but looking at the list of dancers for Twyla there isn’t enough for two casts so she must be doing every show. She’s so great as Princess Praline and I was looking forward to seeing her in that again, but I guess not. So there will have to be a PP debut for someone, maybe McBride or Coker.

She's very good in Tharp. In fact, a few years ago pre covid, when the company did their Halloween class and a lot of the dancers dressed up, Cassie dressed up as Twyla and did some of the combinations in Tharp style. It was hilarious and spot on. I saw the clips on IG.

After watching this video, I've clearly never seen this ballet before. ABT last did it in 2015 so not sure how I missed it. Through the entire 22 minutes I kept seeing Shevchenko and Trenary - this choreography fits them like a dream. Their bios say they have danced this before so I really hope they're cast in the fall. Ahn, Royal, Bell, Han, Curley, Klein, McBride, Hurlin would also be great in this. So much jumping, omg! I hope they start cardio training early.

Same! Given what Jaffe said in that interview about Bayadere’s second act I doubt she’ll change that, and agree it would be a shame to lose much of the choreography. But I hope the “troublesome” elements are dealt with.

How interesting that it was Ratmansky who brought him over. I should send him a thank you note. 😊

I hope in September, Magbitang is bumped up from apprentice to corps member. After watching the clip tutu posted, my feed highlighted this video of Magbitang and Yamada, both current apprentices but filmed last year when in the Studio Co. I thought he was amazing this season, and in Flames of Paris it's clear he's a major talent. Yamada is as well. I'd love to see him be cast as The Boy in Whipped Cream.

Thank you for posting that, tutu, that was magnificent. I wish they were doing Seven Sonatas again this Fall - we haven't seen that in years.

So happy to hear this. I first noticed Pogossian a few years ago (right before the pandemic) when he was paired with Lane in Brahms-Hayden Variations and then saw him again in AFTERITE. I thought the same as you then. One thing to keep in mind, we all know Cornejo probably won't be around much longer and Brandt will need a new partner. Sure, she can dance with taller guys, but the opportunity will be there for Cornejo-sized talents like Pogossian, Klein, Crispino, Gonzalez, Magbitang.

Wow, I’m thrilled with The Dream - Cornejo and Klein as Puck please. I’m not sure if I’ve ever seen Sinfonietta. Surprised about Whipped Cream - will all of that scenery and the parade of characters fit in this smaller theater? Another great opp to showcase Klein as the boy.

I think Misseldine has that "it" factor. She has the perfect proportions for ballet, incredible technique, dramatic ability and a maturity well beyond her years and level of experience. She's like Bell and it's rare. I suspect she will not remain a soloist for very long. They will probably do Giselle again this coming year (either in the Fall or at the Met) and I wouldn't be surprised if they give her Myrtha as her first big role. In the not too distant future I can easily see her as O/O, Gamzatti, Nikiya, Medora. Park on the other hand, with only 6 months in the company, we've seen her in 2 Demi-soloist roles - that's it. I thought her SL peasant pas was fabulous but I don't think she was any better than Coker. And, I certainly didn't get an "it" factor vibe which IMO would justify such a rapid fire promotion. How the company feels they can judge anyone worthy of a soloist promotion after so little experience is beyond me. It's not like she came from a different company. This one definitely raises a lot of questions.

I went last night and again this afternoon. They were drastically different performances. Last night I had very high expectations and I was not disappointed. I haven't seen a lot of Seo in recent years and never her Juliet but I thought this could be her best role and I really think it is. She had me at her very first entrance: 100% believable as a young, naive girl, exquisite dancing throughout with natural, nuanced acting. She had some trouble with a few turns in Act I but other than that her technique was gorgeous and strong. After seeing Carmago as Dionysius in Love/Rage I figured his dramatic abilities would make him a wonderful Romeo and they did. I'm so glad he's joining as a full time principal. He was a boyish, natural Romeo (not a prince, which I kinda hate in R&J), great partnering, clean strong dancing. These two had fantastic chemistry and exemplified the drunk on love, can't live without you kind of passion that this ballet needs to be believable. Seo was beside herself with torment during the scenes with her parents and Paris and consumed with passion during their bedroom scene. Carmago was so overcome with despair at the tomb I got chills. The only thing that went "wrong" with them was during that iconic lift in the balcony scene where Romeo is on his knees and he holds Juliet up while one of her legs is in arabesque and the other is in low passe - he was struggling to keep her up, maybe his hand position was off, and on the 3rd press it looked like he was losing his grip and she put one her hands down on his shoulders. It wasn't a visibly big error and this was his third (!) Romeo this week so the guy was probably exhausted. Other than that, he was incredibly strong in both partnering and in his own solos you'd never guess he had such a rough week. I found myself holding my breath, in every good way possible, because these two captivated me completely. Ahn as Tibalt was a big surprise. He needs to develop his facial expressions more, but the carriage of his entire body was perfect - domineering, cocky, in control. A fabulous death scene. Forster's Tibalt is the best I've seen so far (I haven't seen Zhurbin's) - it was frightening. Ahn came very close, hurling his body at Romeo. Shayer was ineffective as Mercutio. As others keep saying, his dancing is rather sloppy. He has extreme flexibility and lose joints which he takes great advantage of at the expense of line, form and clean movement. Acting wise he was fine, but he did not make much of an impression on me. Zhurbin as Lord Capulet was as perfect and profound as could be. This afternoon was Trenary's debut and Royal only debuted Romeo earlier this week, so I hope they are both really proud of what they accomplished. - Where they succeeded: Trenary's dancing was pretty much perfect; luscious, expansive, musical, technically spot on. Royal's partnering was superb, he showed amazing stamina, no wavering near the end as I've seen with a few Romeo's in the past, gorgeous presence and engagement, high jumps. - What needs work: not sure if this is fixable, but their chemistry wasn't fully there. And, they didn't have that love at first sight and burning passion that Seo/Carmago did; they came close during the balcony scene so I think they just need more experience. Some of Trenary's acting choices didn't really work - when she finally agreed to marry Paris, she gave a hearty nod with matching body language, while Seo's "yes" was a reluctant acquiescence which dramatically made more sense. And, I didn't see a development arc from a young girl to a young woman faced with adult choices - Trenary was lovely throughout but she was the same young, lovely woman. Royal is not blessed with good feet nor knees that appear to straighten all the way so unfortunately those two things diminish lines and can make a few steps look a bit awkward. But, he was blessed with the most gorgeous long arms I've ever seen which perfectly go with a billowy long-sleeved blouse. Probably one of my favorite things about Royal is how much he truly loves to dance, he just oozes joy out of every pore, he can't contain it. His face and huge smile never fail to light up the opera house. But, as Romeo, having a huge grin even when it's completely natural and genuine doesn't always work - he also needs to work on not only character development but how to convey other emotions, although he did a good job expressing grief in the tomb scene. Lyle as Tibalt was very good but he faded into the background a bit and his death scene wasn't very strong. Ribagorda fortunately reprised his role as Benvolio and made a big impression. The biggest revelation of today was the completely outstanding Jonathan Klein as Mercutio. I'd love a good explanation as to why this man is still in the corps. He danced like a principal - far surpassing any hope I had of him, and I thought he'd make a strong debut. Everything about his performance was extraordinary - I am still thinking of the Mandolin dance. One or two of those super fast jumps he couldn't get his left arm position up quite fast enough, but other than that this man has a huge jump, gorgeous, fast pirouettes, beautiful feet, the ability to execute difficult jumps with ease, and dramatically it was if he has been doing this role for many years instead of debuting it this week with wonderful, intelligent theatrical choices. He alone was worth the entire afternoon. Also, he was giving me major Johan Renvall vibes. Like I've already written a few times, the company is rich with talent these days. Jacob Curley kept catching my attention - both last night and this afternoon he was positioned right behind Lord Capulet in the ballroom scene and I couldn't stop watching him. He would make an excellent Tibalt. I wouldn't want him to be type cast as always the bad guy, after this season, but I hope to see him in that role some day. So many other dancers I could point out, but then this would become 10 pages long. Lastly, I can never go to ABT's R&J without thinking of dear Freddie Franklin, and Abrera as Lady Capulet. I wish they had brought Abrera back to guest in this role, even once. Added: Royal's husband was sitting up front and threw several bouquets up on the stage during the bows. It was lovely to see. Last ADD: One thing Trenary did artistically that I really respect - as she was dying her final collapse was in a semi fetal position partially face down, not the common and overly-dramatic "let me roll over onto my back while I'm bleeding to death and do an extreme backbend over the concrete slab to show off how flexible my back is because this looks so cool". I've always hated that. Some dancers don't overdo it like Seo the night before. But, it still doesn't make sense. If MacMillan choreographed it that way, it still doesn't make me like it. I'm glad Trenary went with a more realistic, and yet still effective, choice.

I believe I remember her posting that she has family, a sister I think, in Boston and she alluded that that was the reason she went there.

Oh no! Thanks for the info.

Quoting myself… It’s almost like ABT reads this site because they just posted this, Royal is dancing Saturday: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cf_3YL2KsPP/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=