ABT Fan

Agree. It still kills me that I (we) won’t be able to give her a proper farewell and see her dance one last time. I’m glad she’s happy that DC turned out to be her last show (according to her recent NY Times interview) but I feel robbed. We all know that ballet is a short, difficult career, but hers has felt especially cruel. In the end, she more than deserved a final performance at The Met in front of her adoring peers and fans and to bow one last time to thunderous applause.

Oh yay! Thank you for posting. I watched their Creole Giselle on tape I don’t know how many times as a dance student. I can’t wait to watch it again.

They only seem to be focusing on the soloists who are “rising stars “. They haven’t included Forster in any of the debuts deferred series either, maybe that is forthcoming, but out of the entire company he had the most debuts scheduled. Cate Hurlin has posted on her IG clips of her and Bell dancing Bayadere and of the Gamzatti solo. Those are worth checking out.

Abrera gave a recent interview to DanceMagazine about her retirement, and it sounds like she won’t get a rescheduled farewell. Maybe I’m reading into it, but if her farewell was going to happen at some point (but when?) I’d think she’d mention it. https://www.dancemagazine.com/stella-abrera-2646009112.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3

Yikes. Well, I’m glad I didn’t miss anything. I was a bit tempted to tune in but I had other things going on. This is the time for them to get their act together, now of all times. It doesn’t sound promising. I also feel bad for the dancers for so many reasons. Artistically, critical time is being lost during a very short career and financially I wonder how they’ll survive.

I wonder if they’d do Giselle in the fall, which would give her her proper farewell. I kinda doubt they’d do any classics at the Koch though, but maybe they’ll consider this. Agree about Forster. I’m most upset over his lost opportunities. I think his promotion this summer was a given. All around sad. I also can’t imagine a summer without the ballet. Hopefully, the dancers (and other staff, musicians, etc) were all able to file for unemployment back when the tours were canceled.

OMG, so adorable! Love the little mohawk.

I’m trying to cut them some slack. The government and CDC updates are coming fast and furious leaving businesses little time to figure things out. I’m sure everyone is more than aware that if they had to cancel the Met season it would be catastrophic financially and artistically for the company, especially after canceling all of their tours, so no doubt they’d want to do whatever they can to save it or at least a portion of it. And, no final farewell performance for Abrera? I’m trying not to go there yet. As of right this second, flights are still happening, not to say flying is the wise thing to do. I have a friend who is a flight attendant and as of yesterday flights were about half full. I thought it would have been a lot less.

They may have been caught off guard by this fast changing situation or are trying to figure out Plan E. I highly doubt at this point they’ll open May 11. Maybe they’ll do a reduced season. But, obviously if the dancers can’t rehearse soon enough that won’t happen either. And, taking class in their kitchens won’t keep them in performance shape. It’s an awful situation all around, for everyone.

I don’t want to think about the Met season being cancelled. That would be devastating. But, it’s only two months away. Personally, I’m going to wait to buy tickets.

I wonder if they are going to cancel any of their other tours. Chicago is next week so I’m assuming that will still go on. But, then there’s Durham followed by Detroit next month. Even domestic travel is being postponed by a lot of businesses (such as my own). It would be terrible if they have to, yet completely understandable, but it would be detrimental to the dancers and their bottom line.

Thank you. I think I learned this a long time ago as it now sounds familiar, but I didn’t remember it when I made the initial post.

According to Tidwell’s brother, Travis Wall, he has passed away. I remember him from ABT, especially in Le Spectre de la Rose. What a beautiful jump he had. I was very sad when he left the company, he had such talent and potential.

There’s a synopsis here: https://www.abt.org/scfta-presents-world-premiere-of-love-and-rage/

I’ve been wondering if they’d cancel the R&J tour due to coronavirus. If they don’t and Copeland can’t dance, who would sub?

They could be, but given Cornejo’s size the options are severely limited. Copeland, Lane and Boylston are the only principals short enough to dance with him. Soloists Brandt and Trenary are of the right size obviously, and are the only soloists of the right size who could also handle SL, IMO.

I think because some folks thought that Lane understudying was still a possibility, even a slight one, given that no other principal or soloist, besides Lane, was of the right size to dance with Cornejo who had also performed, or even rehearsed, SL before. Boylston is as well, and she’s doing Bayadere with him, but her subbing would depend on how many days there are between Cornejo’s show and her own regularly scheduled one for her to recover. Now that Brandt is learning SL on her own, it may be that her subbing is the more likely scenario giving Lane even fewer performance opportunities than the measly few she currently has.

If I remember correctly, Copeland pulled out days before the show saying she didn’t have enough time to learn the choreography. Perhaps someone else can recall the specific details.

I would much rather see Trenary in SL (or as a sub) than Brandt. Trenary recently did Dying Swan for a side gig, or maybe it was ABT’s cruise gig, but she had clips on her Instagram that were extraordinary. Guess I’m in the minority but I’m not too impressed with Brandt’s (albeit a work in progress) rehearsal videos. Edit: correcting myself. Trenary did White Swan pas with Whiteside for an ABT cruise gig. See video below:

Some Berthe’s do this better than others and make it look like she’s petting and stroking her head to console her, and you barely notice the hair pins being removed. But, when it’s done poorly I agree it’s bothersome.

Regarding Simkin, since he is only doing ONE performance at the Met (and why?), I wonder if this will be his last season with the company. Perhaps he has other commitments in Berlin over the summer and prefers those to ABT. Or, it’s not his decision. But, one show isn’t a good sign either way.

I just noticed that casting for The Seasons leaves out Abrera as The Spirit of the Corn. Hee Seo will debut in her spot with Forster. Replacing Abrera is bad enough, but they couldn’t have given that role to someone else, who has less to do but is deserving of a new opportunity? Katherine Williams would be beautiful. Separately, check out this beautiful trailer for Love/Rage which is on Bell’s and Hurlin’s IG.

There is still one response from Lane in the comments. She says she doesn’t support Hicks or Trump, just using part of a quote. Um, no. She never should posted it, nor the money references. Just don’t say anything! Someone commented that Lane is cast less for the Met than some of her colleagues. If by colleagues they mean her fellow principals, she is cast WAY less then ALL of them. Even considerably less then Brandt, Trenary and Hurlin. I can’t imagine how she must feel. Maybe she’s being pushed out and she knows it. But, posting stuff like this online doesn’t help her. I really hope she rethinks and refrains from anything more like this.

Nothing negative about her dancing. She’s an extraordinary technician. I agree with canbelto that she’s regal and more of a Myrta, a natural Myrta IMO, very strong and commanding. And, not at all girlish. Sort of like Murphy whom I can’t imagine as Giselle.

I agree with the above, and was quite surprised with Shevchenko being cast. I’m sure finances have a lot to do with bringing in extra coaches. Also, Irina was vocal about her forced retirement, so I can’t imagine she’d want to work for McKenzie again.