ABT Fan

13 hours ago, Becki Lee said:

Just to be clear, surprised about the timing for Cassie in the Tharp show. Not the casting! ☺️☺️

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.

1 hour ago, Becki Lee said:

A little surprised (but excited!) to see Cassie is performing in the Twyla Tharp program at NY City Center Oct 19-23.

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.

On 7/19/2022 at 1:22 PM, canbelto said:

There's videos of Sinfonietta on YT:

 

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.

5 hours ago, JuliaJ said:

I don't really have a problem with ABT updating Corsaire and Bayadere to get rid of the "oriental" settings and other unfortunately dated elements, but I hope the choreography pretty much stays in tact.. It would be a shame to completely do away with two solid full-lengths from the rep. I'd rather see the company spend money on new versions of those than on additional mediocre contemporary pieces, personally. In any case, I'm thankful I saw the "real" Corsaire during the 2019 run. 

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.

34 minutes ago, nysusan said:

Article about Camargo in today's NT Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/20/arts/dance/daniel-camargo-american-ballet-theater.html

 

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.

52 minutes ago, griffie said:

Pogossian knocked all our socks off - not just blazing through the jumps with splendid height and technique, but great dramatic presence onstage. Where has he been, able to develop such assurance and command of the enormous Met stage with so little exposure? A wonderful new talent. His smaller stature means he might not have the danseur noble career, but I'm hoping he's given a Puck in the fall season's The Dream. 

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.

1 hour ago, nanushka said:

Out of curiosity, has she talked publicly (on IG or elsewhere) about her reasons for going to Boston and/or for returning to ABT?

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.

2 hours ago, DPell said:

Cornejo has Covid. https://www.instagram.com/tv/Cf_811AA0WA/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Oh no! Thanks for the info.

8 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

So, this is confusing. Per my other post on the SS casting thread, Cornejo was replaced by Royal at Saturday matinees performance, per ABT’s site and the Met Opera site. But Trenary has recently posted an IG story which Cornejo even re-posted of them doing a tech rehearsal. The scenery is clearly R&J so it’s from this week. The story was posted yesterday when I believe her tech rehearsal was. So is the updated casting wrong? Is Cornejo still going to perform Saturday?

https://instagram.com/cassiepearlt?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

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=

So, this is confusing. Per my other post on the SS casting thread, Cornejo was replaced by Royal at Saturday matinees performance, per ABT’s site and the Met Opera site. But Trenary has recently posted an IG story which Cornejo even re-posted of them doing a tech rehearsal. The scenery is clearly R&J so it’s from this week. The story was posted yesterday when I believe her tech rehearsal was. So is the updated casting wrong? Is Cornejo still going to perform Saturday?

https://instagram.com/cassiepearlt?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

6 hours ago, tutu said:

With those big eyes?  Yes please.  Could be really interesting.

I think I’m only going to be able to get in one R&J, and I’m thinking I’ll make it the Seo/Camargo performance if I can get the timing to work.  Sounds like it’ll be a perfect way to appreciate Seo’d strengths, and I can finally see Camargo in action.

The discount code ABTPRIDE works on a lot of the seats. I got one for this performance myself. Code doesn’t work on the most expensive seats it seems, but orchestra down front on the side for example does.

Oh no!! Cornejo has been replaced by Royal at Saturday’s matinee. I mean no offense to Royal, but I was so looking forward to seeing Cornejo with Trenary! (And, I was thinking this was probably the first Met season in recent years that Cornejo wasn’t injured; although I don’t know the reason for the substitution.) Ugh.

2 minutes ago, ECat said:

Most of Victor Barbee's roles with ABT as a principal were lead character roles. I may be incorrect, but I think Kathleen Moore was also more of a character dancer.

They both still danced lead roles. Moore did Myrtha, Other Dances, I think Lilac Fairy, but never an O/O, Kitri etc. 

20 minutes ago, lacdescygnes said:

Perhaps Zhurbin's promotion means ABT will show more ballets like The Green Table where character artists have more of a leading role? Zhurbin was terrific (and terrifying) last time ABT staged The Green Table, which seems like far too long ago

Interesting idea, I hope they bring back Green Table. Agree, Roman was both terrific and terrifying in that.

I see everyone’s point on Roman. He has always been a favorite of mine and I was over the moon when he was made a soloist years ago in recognition of his exceptional dramatic abilities. I found his promotion to principal so shocking because one it’s rare (now) at ABT to honor an actor and two I always consider how few principals there are (this isn’t NYCB) so I immediately think of a spot that could have gone to someone else (now or in the near future). But, my later point shouldn’t matter in terms of Roman and there isn’t a current male soloist waiting in the wings to be promoted imo. The one thing about Roman is that he makes the “smallest” role one of the most important. And, when you’re able to see multiple casts in a given ballet, like I did in DQ for example, even though there are other very good actors in the company, when you’re able to compare one role from one night to the next with Roman and other casts you can really see how exceptional he is.

26 minutes ago, abatt said:

She was with Texas Ballet Theater, not Houston Ballet.   Is Houston Ballet the same thing as Texas Ballet Theater?   

Nope. Texas Ballet Theatre was once known as Dallas Forth Worth Ballet. Different company.

14 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:

Victor Barbee?

He was a principal dancer dancing principal roles before he transitioned mainly to character roles. I think that's the same with Michael Owen, but not certain.

12 minutes ago, nanushka said:

The Times is reporting that Roman Zhurbin has also been promoted to principal:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/12/arts/dance/ballet-theater-promotions-daniel-camargo-catherine-hurlin.html

"The title role in Don Quixote." Well, yes, I suppose, but...

This flabbergasts me. I love Zhurbin - he is a remarkable and invaluable actor. But, to principal? Have they ever promoted someone to principal before who only does character roles and rarely ever actually dances?

1 minute ago, AB'sMom said:

Kind of surprised that Zimmi Coker wasn’t promoted. Misseldine is in her first full season, if I’m not mistaken. 

Yes, agree about Coker. It's Misseldine's first Met season, Park only joined as an apprentice last November!

The soloist rank is now really lopsided, so many more women than men - and they only promoted one guy.

Yay! Hurlin promoted to principal, and Carmargo joining as principal.

Promoted to soloist: McBride, Granlund, Misseldine, Han, Park.

Surprised and disappointed that Curley was not included.

But, major congrats to all of them! So well deserved.

54 minutes ago, AB'sMom said:

Scout Forsythe just posted (on her Instagram story) that they have an important company meeting from 11:45-12:15 today with “IYKYK” in parentheses. Makes me think it’s the meeting where they will announce promotions. 

I'd say that sure sounds like it!