ABT Fan

Also, speaking of Cornejo, this season marks his 20th anniversary, yet I see no date marked as his celebratory performance. Kinda crappy, no?

They almost never replace the uninjured partner, so I wouldn't worry. We have 3 weeks till his next major assignment (Corsaire), so hopefully his injury is minor and he'll be back in full swing. (fingers crossed!)

Oh no! I hope Cornejo's injury isn't serious. I've really been looking forward to seeing him and with Lane in Manon and Sleeping Beauty.

Really looking forward to the return of On the Dnieper later this week. I didn't care for Songs of Bukovina when I first saw it, but perhaps with a second viewing (and a different cast - Shevchenko/Royal) I'll like it better. And, eager to see the new piece, The Seasons.

I was there last night and agree with the others regarding Gonzalez. Lots of promise, and for his first principal role (he hasn’t even done a soloist role yet) he did extremely well. Very good technique, beautiful and clean jumps and good partnering of Lane. But, he lacked projection and energy. He is very young and inexperienced so I hope with more opportunities and good coaching he will improve in these areas. (I also hope we’ll see him as Bluebird or Benno, etc.) Teuscher smiled a lot and her dancing was fine, very good even, but she lacked the wit and charm (and overt personality) that I feel this part requires. Abrera was spot on when I saw her in this last year and really funny. Royal was awful, and it pains me to say that. As noted above, he played Pierrot as angry (extremely so) and a bit spastic. It was all wrong and though I thought the audience in general was low energy (except for the children’s sections, as it was cleared filled with their families) he got no laughs. Why didn’t they cast Zhurbin instead, their most accomplished actor? Hallberg was wonderful in this last year, but for whatever reason was not cast this time. I thought Royal and Teuscher had no chemistry. Lane was gorgeous, secure, light and just lovely. The lark section is so beautiful and I’d prefer to see it as a stand alone. Lane needed a stronger fellow principal cast to feed off of. The children were adorable and very well rehearsed, but I still feel that their section goes on way too long with too much repetitive prancing. I don’t need to see this ballet again. Some lovely parts but not enough dancing (and by the adults).

Sarah Lane just posted an Instagram story (public facing, but you can't link a story here) that says "Last chance to see Whipped Cream coming up", and then lists her performance dates. So, it seems that the company has already decided, and told the dancers, that they're not doing it next year.

A lot of casting updates/additions. Casting for Brahms-Haydn Variations has finally been posted, plus changes for the other two Tharp ballets. Also, Young Jane in Jane Eyre is now listed - Brandt, Hurlin and young corps dancer Breanne Granlund alternate (Granlund is also listed for principal casting in Ratmansky's The Seasons. This is the first time she's being featured). Ahn has been the given the last TBA for Ali on 6/15. Birbanto's are now listed. https://www.abt.org/performances/master-calendar/

It's opening night. Hard to believe the season is finally here! I'm looking forward to seeing the debuts of corps dancer Gonzalez as Harlequin and Royal as Pierrot. But, most of all, seeing the ever glorious Lane again as Columbine.

Thank you, abatt and NinaFan. I'm going to skip it!

Question about Met seating: In an attempt to change up where I usually sit and to save some money, I'm thinking about grabbing a Grand Tier box seat for a performance or two. Not the partial view ones, but one of the seats in the first row (i.e. Box 34-2 or Box 34-3) which according to the seating chart should be full view. Has anyone ever sat here for a ballet? What is the view like? Is it actually full view? Will I still be able to see facial expressions without opera glasses or is this too high and on the side? I would choose this seat for something like Tharp Trio or the Ratmansky Trio, not one my must-see's (i.e. Lane's Manon). Any advice would be appreciated!

I would love to see The Dream return. I can't help but wonder, with this new full-length by Ratmansky for next year, will they also re-program Whipped Cream AND Harlequinade AND Sleeping Beauty AND an evening of his repertory? Or, are they going to put away W.C. and/or Harlequinade for awhile? They just brought back SB so it's likely it'll repeat again next year. I love many of his ballets, but it's on the verge of becoming overkill. He dominates 4 out of 10 programs this year (that may be because they're celebrating his 10 yr anniv). We need an evening of Tudor. Bring back Paquita (they have the female talent) and there so many other ballets that need to come back. Mix it up people and honor your history!

I would also love to see Forster in this. I think he'd be amazing, but I wouldn't buy a ticket only to see him if the leads didn't entice me. And, right now there's only one O/O that I want to see (but, not her partner).

Nice to see Shayer back on the casting sheet, but, he's not been re-cast as The Boy in Whipped Cream. The two TBA's have now been filled by Klein (who just danced this on tour). I'm happy for Klein, though, as he's another corps dancer who deserves bigger opportunities. But, I'm curious why Shayer wasn't cast since he's obviously recovered from his injury. He stated on Instagram that he had torn his ACL dancing this part at the Met last season. Perhaps the part is deemed too taxing right after recovery. Hope he'll get a few Bluebirds. Now if only they'd release the Tharp casting. And, there is still one Ali up for grabs. I'm always impatient for Purple Von Rothbart and secondary "principal" roles like Bluebird/Princess Florine to be released, but they always wait until the 11th hour for those.

Wow, this is amazing news. Congratulations to her!

I wasn't either. Nor, did I know that he regularly taught ABT company class. He was a legend, though.

It's been discussed at length here:

I am happy they're bringing back Taylor's solo in Episodes. I think this is a tribute (even unintentionally) to Peter Frame, as well. I wonder who will be cast - Stanley, Danchig-Waring, Farley, Chamblee?

I just tried to view the casting, and I got this once I clicked on the link: We are experiencing high traffic. You are currently in a temporary waiting room to enter the Kennedy Center website. This waiting room is in place to manage the high traffic we are currently experiencing. From this waiting room page, you will be redirected to the Kennedy Center website, once traffic allows. When you are on the Kennedy Center website, you will be able to view and purchase tickets for all events taking place at the Kennedy Center. Thank you for your patience and your interest in the Kennedy Center. Your number in line: 3785 Number of users in line ahead of you: 735 My number in line is 3785?! I've never seen this before....I mean, I know it's probably because of the Mariinsky casting, but still, hilarious!

Catherine Hurlin of ABT and Siphesihle November of NBC won this year's prize! Kristian Lever of Hamburg won the Choreographic prize.

I love their photo on the beach! Very appropriate.

Yes, it was. https://www.abt.org/casting-announced-for-fifth-and-sixth-weeks-of-abts-2015-spring-season-at-metropolitan-opera-house/

Yes, same here!

Thanks for the update, mussel. So, obviously this means that ABT will run Giselle at the Met next year! And, how I wish they'd bring back Paquita. They have the female talent to do it, in spades.

Well, Copeland is still scheduled to dance this at the Met, like she did last year.

I received the latest Met brochure today (that has a newer, nicer format with some really gorgeous photos), and interestingly some of the TBA's are filled in along with other casting changes that aren't on the website. It's always the other way around. Since it seems like all of these changes are debuts, I think it will be less likely they'll change again, but who am I kidding, they probably will! According to the brochure: On the Dnieper is now Forster, Seo, Hurlin, Hammoudi and then Stearns, Teuscher, Shevchenko, Whiteside. Very disappointing because I wanted to see Shevchenko along with the first cast (she was originally cast as Natalia, Seo's role, but is now doing Olga). Le Corsaire's two Lankendem TBA's now go to Hoven, which will be a debut. Happy I should get to see that. The one Ali TBA on the 15th is still there. Manon's Lescaut TBA's go to Simkin (with the Lane cast). Whipped Cream's The Boy TBA's are still there. And, according to their Instagram's, corps dancers Alexandra Basmagy and Lauren Post are pregnant so they will miss the season along with Murphy.