ABT Fan

Agree. When seeing their SL in March, I'm making it an art-filled weekend myself. I love the Philly art museum; they have world-class collections and great exhibitions. I always visit there when I go to Philly. When you book more than 2 weeks ahead, you can get good rates on Amtrak providing you can be flexible with the travel times. More expensive than the bus, but less than $100 round trip.

Yes, it will be a difficult season without Gomes. I'm dreading it. Hallberg is already a permanent guest artist with the Australian Ballet; given his near-career ending injury and long recovery a few years ago, I doubt he's looking for any other "homes"; my guess is that he's permanently dialed back for self-preservation. I wonder if Cirio will return to English National Ballet again to guest as he did last Fall through January. Lendorf is still injured and has recently been replaced for their Asia tour in March. I also don't see anyone of Gomes' or Hallberg's stature in the ranks, and I think many here will agree with you. That's why I favor a male guest artist, or two, this time around.

If they were doing Bayadere on the road prior to the Met, I'm sure Ahn would make his debut then. I agree that they need to try out Forster (and Hoven). I'm on the fence about Forster handling a full-length, but he should be given a shot. He's been a soloist for three years now. Though, anything can happen during the Met season, as we clearly saw last year with the multitude of injuries amongst the women. Last minute opportunities may open up for the male soloists out of pure necessity.

Murphy finished up the tour (according to her Instagram), so whatever her injury was, it doesn't seem like it was serious.

Agree completely. Yep, there is usually one or two lead roles that isn't assigned till later on. I really hope they're looking for guest artists (at least one) for Bayadere. This is one season when it's needed. If those are given to Stearns, they better cross their fingers and toes and pray to the almighty ballet gods that he doesn't get injured, because that'll be an unreasonable schedule. If Lendorf returns to the Met season, hopefully he can make it through uninjured.

At this point, the Met season is only two months away. There are still a lot of TBA's on the schedule, a few that belonged to Gomes and Hallberg. The company just finished their month-long US tour and they're back in NYC for a minute gearing up for their two-week Asia tour later in March. I wonder if this will be sorted before that tour. Single tickets go on sale in about a month, and I want to be able to scoop up a bunch but not without casting announced. Of course, it can certainly change. Also curious if Stearns will keep all of Gomes' shows that he was given, or if a few will be distributed (probably not). Possible Bayadere casting is definitely keeping me on edge.

"...five performances of Giselle at the Durham Performing Arts Center in downtown Durham in March 2020." My first thought was, who will be debuting as Giselle (and Albrecht) during this run? (Prior to their Met season debuts a few months later...) In two years time, that could be Trenary? Royal?

Oh thanks. I got the dates mixed up. And, your explanation makes sense.

Lendorf must still be injured because he's been replaced by Simkin in SL. And, Royal replaces him as Purple Von Rothbart on opening night. For Whipped Cream in Hong Kong the week after, Royal has replaced him in both of his shows (that'll be a debut role for Royal - good for him!). Wondering if Lendorf will make it to the Met season at all.

This must be their "insurance" for the 5/21 performance in case Osipova or Hallberg (or both) withdraw they'll still have a sold-out audience.

Ditto! I played that video countless times while growing up. He was sublime.

I've decided to head to Philly for their Swan Lake run next month. I'm looking forward to seeing Baca in a lead role, and how he's progressed since his ABT days. Feels like he left NYC eons ago, but it's barely been 2 years. And, this will be first time seeing Lillian DiPiazza. Separately, looking at their roster, it's interesting that they only have two soloists (one male, one female) and that neither of them are doing the leads, but several of their corps dancers are. Perhaps O/O and Siegfried doesn't suit the soloists' temperaments; I've never seen them dance. Even though it seems to be Corella's MO to give corps dancers a shot at lead roles, still nice to see so many of them cast.

I wondered why they were left off too.

I saw that too. Am eagerly waiting for any reports on her debut. And, for Hallberg's show tonight.

If you go to nycballet.com and do a search for "Martins" in the upper right corner, it brings up what seems to be a pretty thorough list of his ballets (the first entry is his bio). See the link below. And, I loved his Gentilhommes work. Saw it many years ago and thought it was a great opportunity for the men to shine. https://www.nycballet.com/search/default.aspx?cx=014089268659530043236%3Arjoqv_mymzy&cof=FORID%3A11%3BNB%3A1&ie=UTF-8&q=Martins

Simkin posted on his Instagram a few weeks ago that he's working on Harlequinade:

Yes, but as a former dancer, I know all too well all of the "stuff" that they're probably schlepping to the theatre on their own.

The Holiday Inn Express is half a mile from the Opera house, walking distance by NY standards. But, it's 22 degrees there and if they're lugging heavy dance bags w/ extra stuff for the theatre, they might not be walking. It was probably the cheapest hotel.

That's awful. And, the floor tile looks like it hasn't been cleaned in a long time (unless the pattern is one of those marbled ones that looks dirty up close). I see safety instructions in most hotels, but this one goes overboard. There should be a #11: Find a safer, and cleaner, hotel.

Did anyone else receive Taylor's brochure for their upcoming Lincoln Center season? Let's just say that their cover photo is, well, how should one say, far more suggestive than I'm used to seeing from them. It's a great photo, and the dancer is beautiful. But, um, wow.

Same here. Thanks, Laurel. Lane and Cornejo really have a special partnership. I wish they were paired more often.

We were discussing Aran Bell upthread and trying to figure out how tall he is. ABT posted a photo from last night's cast of Thirteen Diversions on their Instagram which clearly shows Bell as the tallest one of the bunch, taller than Stearns (though Stearns looks to be slouching just a little). So, he's got to be over 6', much taller than I thought, which is great!

That's correct. He gave a TV interview (I believe it was during PBS' presentation of the premiere) where he said he wanted the dancers to be able to portray innocence and young love naturally, without having to act.

Uh, no kidding! And, the dancer who plays Siegfried here - what legs and feet! What jumps! My favorite clip is of Chase's white swan posted earlier. Such great comedic timing and not overly done. Brilliant!

Cornejo did WC last year but wasn't cast this year. Could have been his choice.