morningside

I saw opening night with Hee Seo and Daniel Camargo-- they were divine. Initially I was unsure, as I had heard middling reports about Camargo, and the opening scene in Act I with Romeo & friends looked out of sync and under-rehearsed (understandably, as he stepped in for Cory), but by the balcony pas I was full-on swooning. Camargo's style is somehow very different from others on the roster-- there are moments where his lines aren't totally "formal" the way they would be if it was, say, someone like Hallberg, but there are also moments that are jaw-droppingly crystalline. He did a diagonal set of tours that left me agog. Propulsive, elegant, perfect. Overall he's very appealing and has a warm and wonderfully natural quality to his dancing and acting. I really cannot wait to see him again (by Act III I had decided to buy a ticket to Friday's show with the same cast) and am thrilled he's joining the company permanently. Hee was also just stunning-- she's never been my favorite in general (probably because of that one season where everyone was injured so she was cast in everything), but this is absolutely her role. Dramatically, she was excellent. The stark beauty of her line and her total abandon in the balcony and bedroom pas brought me to tears. It was the best Romeo and Juliet I've seen in recent memory. Other thoughts: Joo Won Ahn and Luciana Paris were excellent as Tybalt and Lady Capulet. Gabe Shayer's Mercutio had swagger, but he was very sloppy with no refinement. I've seen the sword fight between Tybalt and Romeo many times, but last night it was truly thrilling, despite one of the swords being bent. Very special evening!

This Met season is shaping up to be such a dud. Both programming and casting is uninspiring-- normally each year I see each ballet at least twice that week but this time around I can barely cobble together 3 programs that interest me for the entire season. I know he's supposed to be a genius, but too much Ratmansky!

37 minutes ago, On Pointe said:

It may not be unbelievably painful for the female dancers to have photos of themselves in states of undress passed around to a few male colleagues.  Not that I think they liked it,  but dancers tend to be far more comfortable than the general public with exposing their bodies.  Case in point,  Ashley Bouder proudly displaying her bare behind on her Instagram.  (For that matter,  so are professional models.  In many of the shots on Ms. Waterbury's  Instagram,  she is very scantily clad.)

It doesn't matter if dancers or models are comfortable with their bodies or have posted pictures pictures of themselves scantily clad. The difference is the matter of agency, and of consent. And there is a tremendous difference between a scantily clad commercial photo and one that is illicitly taken during an intimate situation. 

1 hour ago, bcash said:

People might be inclined to assume otherwise because of the conclusion of the Martins investigation. 

Anyway, I'm annoyed that most media outlets other than the NYT use "ballerina" or "dancer" in their headline to describe Waterbury. She's a model and student, a former ballet student, but not a dancer and certainly not a "ballerina". The use of these descriptors plants the impression that this is coming from someone who's an established member of the company, when in reality she's not.

For what it’s worth, she does seem to dance with Michele Wiles’ company, Ballet Next, as recently as this summer. And presumably for pay, which makes her for all intents and purposes, a professional dancer and ballerina. I do agree with you though that the media coverage makes it seem as though she’s a NYCB company member when she is not.

I completely disagree with cubanmiamiboy. I thought Stella was superlative. She is clearly working through a minor injury-- this is apparent from pulling out of Firebird, Myrtha, etc-- but she had the fortitude to persevere and pull off a truly beautiful, affecting performance. I cried at the sheer beauty of her perfectly Romantic lines and port de bras, and the meaning that she imbued into every step of choreography until it was no longer choreography but just pure storytelling. I know that many audience members, including many who post here, would have been sorely disappointed (and whined about it, and complained about ABT's spotty casting) if she chose to not dance Giselle this year, and I for one am just as grateful to have seen this performance as I was to have seen her previous two Giselles at the Met. 

2 minutes ago, nanushka said:

Agree. I always go immediately to the old site, which at least is moderately navigable.

It's not like you have any other choice. Anywhere you click from there will either redirect to the Met's site, or lead you immediately to the old site..

3 minutes ago, cobweb said:

I don’t find the landing page very fresh. I find it a jumble and it’s hard to find the links I want. 

They should also IMHO take new photos of the dancers with a consistent style. Last time I looked they had cropped all the photos into extreme close ups that looked odd. 

I said fresh-er. Remember the one before that? At least this one looks like its from this decade. Again, lipstick on a pig. 

5 minutes ago, Emma said:

The Met Opera has a student discount program where you can buy individual tickets to ABT instead of 3 packs. It may not reach as many young adults as NYCB's 30 under 30, but it certainly helps.

This is true, but like you said, it's a Met Opera program, not one that was conceived or developed at ABT. Instead, they quietly got rid of their 18-29 program this year. 

8 minutes ago, cobweb said:

The website I believe is just a year or so old, but it is a confusing, jumbled mess. 

The fresher-looking landing page for the website is a year or two old, but when you click through, it's the same old, dated calendar and webpages that look straight from 1999. They just put a wrapping paper on it.

Boylston is too tall for Simkin; it's hardly ideal. While I also do not find her especially enthralling, I do think that Kochetkova is generally reliable as a performer in a way that Copeland, Lane, etc are not: she's got that Russian-style technical clarity and precision that can seem quite exciting. You know she's going to finish those 32 fouettes, with embellishment. There's no question. She's also extreeeeemely tiny, which makes her a better fit proportionally, especially with Daniil who is so slight. And I do think she has a large Russian following-- a crowd that has been markedly lesser in the Met audience this season with the lack of Russian guest artists and the departures of Semionova and soon, Vishneva. 

Royal's promotion is way overdue! There has not been a single show where my eye has not been drawn to him-- not just because of his height, but also his incredible elegance, line, stage presence, and sparkling, crisp dancing-- even if he's just in the corps carrying a basket, you just want to look at him! And Ratmansky seems to like him, so here's hoping.

I'm going to be the outlier here and say it-- the emperor has no clothes. I came into the Sarah Lane/Cornejo Giselle eager to see what all the fuss was about, and while Sarah Lane was extremely technically proficient-- her Act 2 entrance especially, with those very fast, tight whirling turns-- her Act 1 was a complete snooze for me. I adore Herman (his Albrecht is more of a flirty playboy than Marcelo's, whose devastating Albrecht seems more ardently, adoringly, genuinely in love), and I found they had very little chemistry together. Herman was wonderful as always. Sarah Lane is extremely technically secure, and executed the steps perfectly fine, but she lacks the "it" factor-- the proportions of her limbs are short and fleshy, and I find that she dances small. She's a soubrette dancer-- boring. I left totally unmoved. Her facial expression for the entirety of Act 1 was a plastered on smile, with eyebrows raised so high as if to say, "this is me being a young, sweet, likeable girl!" Someone above described her acting as "naturalistic", and I have to disagree entirely-- her stage presence is extremely forced. On the other hand, for the few minutes that Cassandra Trenary was on stage in the peasant pas, she was buoyant, sweet, and winning, without having to "act" like it. I echo those above-- she would be a fabulous, natural Giselle. For the most part, excepting some lovely jetes, Sarah's jumps also felt heavy; even those Giselle signature entrechat with the changement in coupe were rather low to the ground, the feet not totally stretched.

Also, Sarah needs to bang her shoes. They were SO noisy last night. Loud shoes are distracting, but typically not a dealbreaker -- unless you're a GHOST.

Christine Shevchenko seemed much better last night than the night before, when she stepped in for Gillian. I'm sure she will grow into the role well-- it's hard to hold muster on that big stage opposite seasoned stars like Marcelo and Stella!

I also saw Isabella and Daniil last night-- maybe I'm getting to be too cranky with my New York-audience high standards-- but I was almost disappointed. His tricks were fabulous as always, and his Basilio had a charming swagger, but they had little chemistry together. I know Isabella has a reputation for being a little sloppy in the upper body-- honestly its one of the things I like about her-- she seems alive, modern, and distinctly American in that way-- but last night it was too much. Her Kitri was having a great deal of fun, but with very little control and very careless in the upper body. I think Isabella is gorgeous and dynamic, but expected more maturity from her as someone who has been a principal for a few years now. She lets her face drop often, breaking character, during turns and interstitial steps. Her arms were a mess during the coda fouettes (30, single, traveling a ton, no fancy fan tricks-- she's young! So talented! Is it unreasonable to expect more fireworks?). Act I variation was fantastic, though. 

2 minutes ago, hyacinthhippo said:

 

Maria Kowrowksi always delivers.  She is amazing and the most senior dancer at NYCB.  I saw her last night and she is looking as strong and secure as ever, and brings more artistry and glamour to the role than anybody else IMO.  

Yes! Those limbs! So happy to see her back in a classic tutu Balanchine ballet role. Here's to many, many more years of Maria!!

Isn't Stella the first Asian-American (not just the first Filipina) principal at ABT? Hee Seo is from Korea; Stella is from California!

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but to my eye it looked like Shlykarov was doing entrechat huit (eight!!) rather than entrechat six...? Either way, he was phenomenal! And Stella, of course, was otherworldly. And it was tremendously touching to see all the outpouring of support for Stella from her colleagues on social media, particularly on Instagram-- in the comments of her own post, Julie Kent agreed that Stella should be promoted to principal too