ABT Fan

Thanks for posting such a great article. Though the abundance of typos drove me crazy.

The parts of him with the little ballet students was so adorable (and next to them he looked like a giant!).

Casting for their gala on May 18 has now been posted online. Maybe because this is for their 75th anniversary, but they've listed far more dancers than usual for a gala. All of the soloists (except Hammoudi, but maybe that's an oversight) and even a handful of corps dancers.

Definitely. And, Copeland can certainly dance w/ Cornejo, but not Simkin, even though height-wise it would work. She's way too strong for him. I also hope Forster and Royal will be made soloists soon. I agree Copeland will be made a principal, most likely either during or right after the Met season. And, probably Hammoudi at the same time. Gorak is absolutely principal material and is on the fast track. But, I'd be surprised if they promoted him this year since it was only last year that he was promoted to soloist.

Simkin isn't cast for much, and wasn't last season either. His size and partnering difficulties make him hard to cast. Shevchenko is too tall to dance with either Simkin or Cornejo. Brandt has performed w/ Simkin before while guesting. Back in December they did Flames of Paris in Italy: http://www.daniilsimkin.com/photo-1-show-down-2-more-to-go-with-robertobolle-friends-here-at-the-teatro-regio-teatroregiotorino-in-torino-from-left-to-right-sarah-lamb-frederico-bonelli-yours-truly-daniil-skylar/. So maybe we'll see them together at ABT someday.

Abatt, regarding Seo, I didn't say she was just hanging around the theatre and went on out of the goodness of her heart. Of course she was an understudy. That was my point. It was also my point that she had to jump in for Gillian at a moments notice and that's precisely why an understudy is needed. I strongly doubt that a star dancer scheduled for Bayadere will be on call in the theatre as an understudy. That's what I was trying to say. So since it seems like only stars ( with maybe one exception, I can't access the schedule right now) are doing Nikiya, a regular dancer would have to know the part as well and be on call.

That's exactly what I've been thinking. How could no one else (meaning a "regular") been taught the role if only to sub in at a moments notice in case of injury. We saw last year how Seo had to jump in mid-performance for Murphy in SL when she got injured (but Seo performs this role regularly). I highly doubt ABT has a "star" sit in the theatre while another one performs as a back-up so why not further develop the regular who learned it and let them do it?

Seriously!

Orchestra Row F on the center aisle is a great location. Not too close at all. I prefer to sit even closer, but I like to see faces and feet.

I don't care for it either. And, it reeks of pretentiousness.

Please, oh please, let Smirnova and Chudin NOT be replaced with more guest artists.

Adams and Sisk were Soloists. Is it common at this company to jump a rank (First Soloist) when promoted? Congrats to all of them!

Murphy will not disappoint!

No they don't perform Bayadere every year. They haven't announced next year's season yet so no telling if they'll do it next year too. They'll rest a war horse ballet every now and then for a few seasons before bringing it out again. Bayadere sells well (esp with all the big guest artists who are cast in most of the principal roles) so if you want to see it you should go this season since we won't know for months if it'll come back next year.

Are they allowed to "reimagine" Balanchine's Midsummer with new/different sets and costumes? I thought that altering any aspects of Mr. B's ballets was prohibited under his trust.

As long as they don't flap wildly in attempt to stay on balance.

I just looked up this episode on imdb.com and Stephen Hanna will star in it.

Sterling Baca has been given the TBA slot in Fancy Free (formerly Hallberg's) for May 13 and 16. Good for him!

What a lovely video. Thanks for posting that. Does the dancer really not know it's coming?

I've skimmed this thread and can't find mention of who I'm thinking of. There was a male NYCB dancer who died of AIDS probably in the early 90's. He was considered a rising star at the time. Anyone remember who this was?

Please share your reviews with us after the performances! If anyone goes tomorrow night, I'd love to hear how Gorak does in his first T&V.

I was certain that Firebird was created on Copeland and she was the first cast (but I see ABT's site says it was Osipova). It was a big deal (at least to me) that a newly created work by Ratmansky had a soloist as its first cast principal. Maybe Copeland was first cast at the Met and that's what I'm thinking of?

Corella did get a farewell. He performed SL. I was there. Usually dancers don't get farewells at ABT unless they're retiring and Wiles didn't retire. She left to start her own company so I didn't find it odd. Last Met season was unusual in that 3 soloists were given farewells. I've never heard of a soloist being given a farewell before. And only Radetsky was retiring; Matthews and Kajiya went to Houston. I personally think they were give farewells to try to appease some of the public outcry over the company's treatment of their homegrown dancers vs guest artists and their not being promoted or given better roles and hence their departures. McKenzie's statement in the WP was unprofessional and disrespectful to Herrera. I can understand why she changed her mind after performing SB once and why Bolle withdrawing would be the final straw. She's been extremely loyal to this company and deserves better. Reyes joined as a soloist so she didn't work her way up from the corps, but she still had to work to get promoted. I've always liked Kent (though I think she should have retired years ago) but she's clearly gotten better treatment then Reyes and especially Herrera for obvious reasons.

Casting update: Thomas Forster has been given the "TBA" in Les Sylphides on May 11 and 14. Hooray!

What? What is the reason behind this I wonder (since the article doesn't say)? Anything to do with the recent change in artistic leadership? And, the dancers were really fined for making mistakes during performances??