Username

33 minutes ago, Amy Reusch said:

That is still a long ballet...  Romeo & Juliet carries two hours... is the story strong enough to hold the audience that long?

A lot of action, a lot of drama. Kept everyone fully engaged.

1 hour ago, ksk04 said:

I've never seen Seymour live (too young, wrong country), but have watched many clips online and admire Seymour's dancing greatly. I admit to not seeing the resemblance between them based off last night's performance, especially since Seymour is quite musical (there's also the beautiful feet...). Seymour is also sexy, erotic, and dangerous (based on what I've seen), while Osipova seems simply dangerous. Perhaps that is a valid interpretation but like I said, it didn't work for me, despite admiring her obvious talents/ability. Or maybe there is something else I am missing.

Maybe that's why Osipova succeeds disturbingly in this role. The sexual energy of an infatuated seventeen year old girl can be powerfully dangerous, rather than sexy and erotic.

Someone who knows more about this than I, said that this Ratmansky production has transformed Vishneva. Where her Aurora was previously unfocused, bland and too gymnastic, in this new ABT production where her legs seldom sweep above the level of her hips, she is more youthful, more nuanced, poetic and engaging.

I agree about the age thing. The ability to portray youth does not correlate with being young. Still Lane has a youthfulness about her appearance and presentation. Vishneva is very mannered and to my eye calculating in her presentation. That's what makes the difference. The greatest Aurora I've ever seen was Cojocaru about 4 years ago. She was far from 16 but portrayed innocence that grew into something else.

Even when she WAS 16, Vishneva was very mannered and calculating. She does always seem to be taking what she does very seriously. I hope she gets to have some fun sometimes...

I have a question about cast decision as well. If I do decide to see the new SB in NY after all, I'd definitely want to avoid Vishneva - just can't fathom a credible Aurora pushing 40.

Unless they cast a 16 year-old as Aurora, nobody will be credible anyway. So there's really no difference between 39 year-old Vishneva, 31 year-old Lane and 29 year-old Boylston; they are all too old. Personally, I'll go see Vishneva while we still have her.

Yes, Odinthor. The ex-ballerina I was with said that Florine had a couple of mistakes, including one egregious one when she exited the stage. Vishneva also messed up a few steps, probably to be expected, given the degree of difficulty of much of what she was doing. I really hope her performance in this role is captured on film, because I want to see it again and again.

IMO, she is even lovelier (neater) than classmate Zhiganshina, even though the latter bested her at that competition in March.

But Zhiganshina always seems to be enjoying herself - she can't stop smiling, even when trying to play a dramatic role. Her facial expression when she messed up her landing at the end of the PDD is priceless.

plus she is dancing on August 4 Mariinsky Swan Lake in pas de trois with Ivannikova and Zyuzin.

Is this correct - a yet-to-graduate Vaganova student will dance the pas de trois with the Mariinsky? She seems like a very nice girl who actually responds in person to comments on the (many) videos her dad posts. I hope she goes on to have a glittering career.

I wish I could see the black swan pas de deux clip again or the white swan mentioned by Username above, but both are blocked.

That's unfortunate. I thought it was only a matter of time before they were blocked. All I can find now is this rehearsal clip:

If you watch this video, you will see at least three errors in Act 2, one of which nearly resulted in Kondaurova falling. Perhaps this explains her slightly cold demeanor towards Askerov?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3Zp1K3WDjM&list=WL52F53A1A85254056