ABT Fan

So, if ABT is consistent with the past few years, we should be hearing about promotions this week.

Fingers crossed for a few long overdue ones to be announced. (And, there's usually a surprise or two, at least for me.)

I don't think Part's last IG post means she's retiring. It reads to me as if she's just acknowledging her last SL and her feelings about it.

53 minutes ago, nanushka said:

Patrick Frenette has been quite a prolific and often excellent backstage photographer this year. It's been great to see his work scattered across various IG accounts.

 

He's also really grown as a dancer in just a few years. When he started with the corps he sometimes stood out in the wrong way, and now he almost always stands out in the right way.

I agree completely! His photos are beautiful and are captured at the perfect moment.

I loved him as Wilfred in Giselle. That can really be a throw-away role, but he brought so much depth to it I was continually drawn to him. He has a great presence on stage and fine technique. Hopefully, he'll continue to grow and get better roles.

I regret not seeing this performance now. If only I knew (not like I would have expected her to announce this ahead of time). ☹️

I saw her SL last year with Whiteside and she was wonderful despite some loss of flexibility. Whiteside bored me to death, though he partnered her well. I just couldn't sit through him again, though others said he was much improved this year. 

If she's not retiring (gosh I hope not), we'll see even less of her now.  She hardly does much as it is. But even if she's just leaving SL, I think it's safe to say she won't be taking on any new roles now or any new partners.

9 hours ago, chicagoballetomane said:

I think the lack of coverage of the ABT season is a puzzling contrast to the constant coverage of Sara Mearns' every move.

That's exactly what I've been thinking.

1 hour ago, Natalia said:

 

The season brochure clearly states that this version will add the recons of two of Nijinska's 1921's creations: Three Ivans and Porcelain Princess/Mandarin (Chinese). There's no mention of Scheherazade (Arabian) but maybe  it'll be added as a surprise? On the flip side, they'll likely eliminate some of the 1890 dances that didn't make it to the 1921 London version, such as Hop o my Thumb and Cinderella?

You just reminded me that I never received any brochures this year on the Met season. I always get several. Hmmmmm.....

I didn't realize Ratmansky was going to tweak or add anything to Aurora's wedding for this program. Is he making permanent changes that'll be incorporated into the ballet, or just for this program?

It's an excerpt from his SB. 

What info are you looking for?

55 minutes ago, lacdescygnes said:

That may be the main issue for ABT if they want to show Onegin again next year - without Vishneva, Ferri or Bolle (although he may come), they won't have as compelling a set of casts. As much as I'm happy to see the rising crop of soloists this year (and I really loved Brandt in Le Corsaire), I'm not sure that they have the acting experience to pull off the part of Tatiana. 

Who is to say they'll be without Vishneva, Ferri or Bolle? Vishneva could return as a guest artist, just like Ferri keeps doing. Right now, we haven't heard that Bolle won't be returning, so we can assume he still will. If they all don't, then I agree they'll have a casting issue. But, I wouldn't be surprised if Copeland is given a Tatiana.

4 minutes ago, CTballetfan said:

I too would like to see another week of mixed bills.... I'm all for livening up the ABT repertory while keeping the big moneymakers like Giselle (still love it) and SL so the company can stay solvent. Maybe we need to start a new topic to discuss this? How do others feel?

Is it time to start a 2018 Met Season Prediction thread? We could continue the discussion there.

I would LOVE to see an additional week of mixed rep, but I believe that doesn't sell well. However, given the apparent low attendance for say Golden Cockerel and some of the Onegin performances, what would be the difference?

I think if Vishneva wasn't leaving and Ferri wasn't returning (again), they wouldn't have scheduled Onegin. Instead it would have been another full-length dance-intensive ballet, not a "fluff" drama. And, the female soloists would have collapsed in exhaustion (or injury) from having to sub even more principal parts than they already did. It's certainly been exciting and inspiring to see so many debuts and last minute substitutions, but this year I was actually glad when this week came around because I think it gives a lot of dancers a much needed break (and injured dancers more time to heal) before charging through the last two weeks of the season.

24 minutes ago, cubanmiamiboy said:

 

I have never been a fan of all this complex period pieces from literature being translated into dancing form. It looks to me that Oneguin, just as Anna Karenina or Manon, they all tend to be a long series of sequences focused on the ballerina running around dramatically in floating dark dresses and endless adagio pdd's. I even dislike R&J. I find them very boring.

This reminds me of the film The Turning Point when the aging ballerina Emma (Anne Bancroft) says regarding her upcoming performance in Anna Karenina: (I'm paraphrasing here) I'll be wearing a long dress covered head-to-toe emoting my a$$ off while the younger dancers will actually be dancing [in other ballets]....

...or something like that!

18 minutes ago, California said:

Yes - as I said - what a ridiculous cultural practice! Is this a test of how fast they can shoot their gun? or how good their gun is? If they want to test accomplishment, swords or fist fights would seem better, but maybe they thought that was too lower-class. 

A test of not only how fast, but how accurate their aim was. Though a lot of guns in those days (especially rifles), compared to today's, did not have a high accuracy rate. 

Using fists was definitely lower-class - you had to get your hands dirty! Same with swords to a lesser degree.

By using guns you could maintain distance while praying that your opponent (and his gun) had a worse aim than you.

What?!?!

I never would have expected this. Very sorry to hear.

If they were doing Spartacus or La Bayadere (or even SL), I'd probably cough up the money. 

Regarding Semionova, I saw her O/O 3 years ago with Gomes (who replaced an injured Hallberg). While I too love long arms/legs for SL, I found her positively boring. Her technique was solid and I don't recall any missteps or fouetté issues, but her character development was nonexistent. The only thing that saved that performance for me was Gomes.

Speaking of long arms/legs, I see a potential SL star coupling in Catherine Hurlin (who I hope is promoted this year) with Calvin Royal (who better be promoted this year). Not only do their physiques match beautifully, but I've seen them partner in small roles and I can see great chemistry. 

Cool to see a different perspective on those leaps.

Any reports from last nights Seo/Stearns/Gomes?

We've discussed the fouetté issue to death, but maybe Mckenzie needs to gather all of the current O/O's in a room (except perhaps Murphy because she doesn't struggle, but maybe for solidarity reasons....) and say that from now on everyone only does singles and without arm flourishes until they can complete them cleanly. I think part of the issue may be that the standards now require bigger and better tricks from both men and women (dancers, AD's and the public are all guilty of encouraging this). So dancers face immense pressure to try. Of course, there are many folks who disagree, including a lot of us on this board, but let's face it, as many of us have already written about ad nauseum, who gets the loudest applause and "bravos/bravas"? Not the dancer who just completed a heartrendering mime sequence or a delicate petite allegro, but the one who did air-splitting grand jetes and 540's and a dizzying array of turns. I love all of that too especially when said "tricks" are part of the story or character, they're important. But, purity of technique is more important. To single out Simkin for a moment, when he performs all of those gasp-inducing steps, he (nearly always) does them cleanly and lands perfectly, and he's improved his artistry so much to boot. That's what makes them exciting. If he fell on his fanny after every 540 he might get some gasps but for the wrong reason. I think maybe these ladies are hoping (this time) to get through the darn fouettes with doubles in tow (especially if they've done them in rehearsal) because singles are generally considered too simple nowadays. And, who knows what they're being coached to do. But, I agree that singles are beautiful and exciting but like anything else they have to be done cleanly. I think the audience, critics, etc would be very receptive to a blistering set of cleanly executed singles. Certainly more so than what we've been seeing. 

Just now, nanushka said:

"Martina's lover"!? This is cray.

That part made me howl! 

1 minute ago, aurora said:

http://www.daniilsimkin.com/photo-so-this-happened-last-night-with-a-culmulative-amount-of-4-reharsals-sarah-lane-sarahlaneps103-rose-to-the-occasion-and-performed-her-abt-abtofficial-debut-of-the-title-role-odetteodile/

 

Great photo!

*GASP*

Four rehearsals?!

I now have even more respect for what Lane accomplished last night.

Thanks for posting that! And, yes, that's an awesome photo.

4 minutes ago, nanushka said:

It's just frustrating when the most technically deficient dancers end up getting the most performances –– 4 out of 8 9 this year (and only 1 of those was unscheduled).

I share your frustration, to the "nth" degree! And, I think many others do too.

45 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

That's true, but Seo has nothing to lose. She's been flubbing choreography for years, before and after becoming a principal, and it's had no negative impact on her career. She still gets cast frequently.

 

I'm sure Lane felt like a lot was riding on last night, and she was also sick. I thought she held it together pretty well, all things considered. I wouldn't go so far as to say she broke character.

I completely agree with this.

Also, I rarely see Lane miss a step or a piece or choreography so poorly, so I think she was also shocked herself at what happened. Yes, a dancer must not show disappointment when things go wrong, and she needs to learn how to keep a poker face. But, as I've already said, given the circumstances of last night I'm cutting her slack. And, I'd do that for anyone else in that situation, not just Lane. As much as I want to see nearly perfect performances every night since it's ABT and it's at the Met, these people are still human. It's the recurring problems at nearly every performance by some dancers that I'm not ok with I won't accept!

What a night! For me, this was a triumph for Lane. Positively gorgeous Odette, clear and emotional mime, the most beautiful port de bras and swan-like movements. She even did the head-twitch to the side during her entrance with her over the head port de bras that I love, but not a lot of dancers do that anymore or do it well. And, I must mention again her multiple arabesques that were held in perfect balance (no wobbling) for a really long time! Really lovely characterization - you saw her pain and anguish. 

Before Act III I was really nervous given all of the fouetté disaster talk we've had this week, and I wasn't sure how she'd pull off the evil seductress. Well, she marched out with Lendorf (who was terrific as Purple Rothbart) ready to conquer! Wonderful attack, mischievous smiles, throwing her head back with conviction. The part where Odile (in her final "I've got you now" moment) briefly turns herself into Odette before turning her back to reclaim herself, was so clear - a real character swicheroo. Usually, I don't see much difference in the acting, just a lot of arm flapping. She did fall off pointe after something, but I can't remember what the step was. I thought she was terrific in the coda except those bloody fouettes, but her recovery with an impossibly held arabesque was impressive. I know some folks will say "no excuse" regarding the fouettes, but given her short preparation time and the fact that she was dancing sick, I'll give her a pass. Plus, the rest of her performance was so amazing! Near the end of the coda she was way off balance during a supported pirouette, but that was Simkin's error. And, she didn't get much height with her plunge off the cliff. (Why doesn't Odette get a running start like Siegfried?) 

Lane's chemistry with Simkin was terrific; not as good as it was in Giselle, but again, they had little rehearsal time. Simkin still looks like a little kid to me, God love him, but that's not his fault. He continues to improve on everything, it's not just tricks with him anymore. He puts real emotion and character development into whatever he does. Now HIS leap off of the cliff....ginormous height with a deeply arched back! Wow!

The peasant pas was Trenary, Brandt and Gorak. A real "dream team". But Gorak had a new weird big fake smile throughout. Besides that he danced and partnered beautifully. But, I think he's thinking too much about the steps (and whether or not they look nice) so he needs to let go. I want to see him take it to the next level. His two ladies were beautiful. Nothing to critique really. 

I can only imagine the performance Lane could turn in with proper rehearsal time. Without it she was still incredible.

Lane fell out of her fouettés and early but she finished with another amazingly held for an eternity arabesque. Other than that her Odile was incredible, completely in character. No sweet girl there. Complete contrast between her Odette and Odile. More later.