Kaysta

Oh man, I am so darn excited I get to see Cote and Lobsanova again! And I've heard wonderful things about Sonia Rodriguez! Jan 23rd cannot come quick enough!

Kennedy Center casting is up! PRINCIPAL CASTING (subject to change) Leontes Piotr Stanczyk (Jan. 19, 21, 23 eve) Evan McKie (Jan. 20, 24) McGee Maddox (Jan. 22) Guillaume Côté (Jan. 23 mat) Hermione Hannah Fischer (Jan. 19, 21, 23 eve) Jurgita Dronina (Jan. 20, 24) Heather Ogden (Jan. 22) Sonia Rodriguez (Jan. 23 mat) Perdita Jillian Vanstone (Jan. 19, 21, 23 eve) Elena Lobsanova (Jan. 20, 23 mat) Rui Huang (Jan. 22, 24) Florizel Naoya Ebe (Jan. 19, 21, 23 eve) Francesco Gabriele Frola (Jan. 20, 23 mat) Skylar Campbell (Jan. 22, 24) Polixenes Harrison James (Jan. 19, 21, 23 eve) Brendan Saye (Jan. 20, 24) Félix Paquet (Jan. 22, 23 mat) Paulina Xiao Nan Yu (Jan. 19, 21, 23 eve) Svetlana Lunkina (Jan. 20, 22, 24) Tanya Howard (Jan. 23 mat)

Well said! And it's been liked by 20,000 people and shared almost 10,000 times, so the original commenter actually did PAB a favor with the publicity!

Back from an awesome day at NYCB. Not sure if anyone else was there and wants to chime in, but I greatly enjoyed both Pereira and Scheller. I know Erica Pereira has her detractors on this board (and because of that, I was a bit nervous to see her, thinking I'd be disappointed) but I was impressed with her. I thought she was a wonderful Sugar Plum Fairy. I saw three different SPFs at Pennsylvania Ballet this winter, and I thought Pereira was the best of those I've seen.. I also enjoyed her more than Sterling Hyltin, who I saw last year. I was looking out for the 13 tricky PDD moments listed earlier in this thread, and the only place I thought I saw a little bobble was in the pique turns into penchee lunge, but otherwise (to my untrained eye), I thought she nailed it! And she danced with confidence, (didn't appear nervous at all). She held some beautifully long balances in the pas as well. I was very impressed. I'm glad I didn't try to switch my tickets. Antonio Carmena was just ok to me. I thought he did pretty well in most of the partnering during the pas. His turns a la seconde were a wee bit slow and they traveled quite a bit during the coda. Georgina was exquisite as usual in coffee. And Unity Phelan and Cameron Dieck really stood out in hot chocolate (I would have liked to have seen them as SPF/Cavalier). Last but not least, the young prince and Marie were both outstanding (Philip Henry Duclos, Emerson Tate Alexander). What fantastic acting skills from the two of them. And I couldnt' help but notice the really nice feet on the young prince when he was walking. He looks like a future NYCB dancer! Still have not decided if I'm heading back into the city tomorrow . Guess I'll see how I feel when I wake up.

Nobody does the snow scene as well as NYCB! The only thing that is missing is a boys choir (which PA ballet has).

Excited for my first trip this winter into see NYCB's Nutcracker tomorrow. I'm debating whether to make the trek in on Sunday night (5:30 cast) as well, because I'd really like to see Mearns and Peck but I dread making the trip into the city two days in a row. Decisions, decisions.

I would be offended for the poor Sugar Plum Fairy, not for any linebackers out there. You are being too literal, because I think we all know what was meant when he used the term "played." Tutus (and ballerinas) in general, are considered the epitome of femininity in our culture. As discussed by Helene and others in this thread, it is not rocket science to see the intent behind the comment--that the Eagles were playing like girls (because a man being called a girl/woman/feminine/soft by another man is considered such a horrible tragic insult <insert major eye rolling>). Anyway, like others, I'm going to get ready to watch the Rose Bowl and walk away from this conversation. If my alma mater, the Iowa Hawkeyes, can play with the strength, poise and passion of a professional ballet dancer, they have a good chance for an upset. Happy New Year!

I think if you were a women you would feel differently. It is offensive to women for men to denigrate other men by calling them women or other female gender identifiers. I'm not going to lose sleep over it, but it is offensive.

I saw this on facebook yesterday and thought it was an awesome reply!

It's sickening because at this point the demand doesn't suggest the price should be higher. If the Ferri R&J does not sell at a rate that allowed dynamic pricing, I would find that sickening as well. They are taking advantage of Misty's fans.

In comparing the number of seats left for Misty's performances with the Saturday non-misty matinee, the price increase doesn't even have to do with increased ticket demand, as the shows have sold comparably. It truly is sickening.Maybe now that the word is out in which shows Misty's dancing, we'll see increased sales and they could have used the whole dynamic pricing crap, but that certainly doesn't appear to be the case right now.

Personally, I'm not so sad to be missing Misty's performances. I'm going to make it a weekend in DC and have tickets to the Saturday matinee (Boylston and Gorak) and evening (Lane and Cornejo). I am very excited to see these casts, as I did not get a chance to see them in the spring (I saw Murphy/Gomes and Murphy/Whiteside).

I understand that it is illegal to put those videos up on youtube (and I would certainly never illegally tape any performance) but I sure am thankful they exist. Those videos have allowed me to learn about companies and artists I would have never knew existed. Because of those videos, I've traveled and bought tickets to companies I wouldn't have otherwise known about (so you could say the pirated videos actually end up helping the company--dancers gain exposure to new audiences, increased ticket sales, and increased guesting opportunities). Not to mention how awesome it is to learn about the historical greats that I'm too young to have seen live (Maya Plisetskaya!, Margot Fonteyn!)

Sorry, I didn't realize there was already a thread. Feel free to move this to that one! Anyone else going to see this in DC? I'm ditching my NYCB tickets to make the trek down to DC to see the US premiere of The Winter's Tale. I am anxiously awaiting casting, as I have tickets for the Saturday matinee. I loved this company in R&J, so I'm sure I won't be disappointed no matter which cast I get to see. I just hope the weather holds out for me, because I am really looking forward to this one!

It was fun to read and watch, too! Thanks!

Glad to hear of some good debuts! I should have gotten tickets for this cast!

I've been staying close to home this Nutcracker season, watching PAB and Central PA Youth's Balanchine Nutcrackers instead of trekking into NYC, but I have tickets for NYCB next Saturday. Erica Pereira and Ana Sophia Scheller are cast as SPF and Dewdrop. I haven't had much of chance to see either of these two, so I'm kind of excited. Plus, Georgina Pazcoguin is doing coffee and she is my favorite. I only wish I got to see her Dewdrop!

Thanks, I just ordered it from Amazon. It'll be good to see it on video before I see it in person, so I have some idea of what to expect.

I just ordered my tickets for the Saturday matinee. I'm not too picky about the casting, as I've never seen Raymonda, and I've barely seen any of the Mariinsky dancers (outside of Shyklarov and Tereshkina)

https://www.instagram.com/p/_TIB0iyJcd/?taken-by=abtofficial Maybe Gorak will be performing this week after all? Or is this older video? It was just posted on the abt official instagram page.

Wow, it seems like everyone is loving the bees this year. I love Ratmansky (I think he is a genius), but the biggest thing I disliked about his Nutcracker was those darn bees. The concept is cute and all, but when I think waltz of the flowers I think about Balanchine's version, and the bees were just too cutesy for me. Although, I only watched the Ratmansky version once, and I often find I enjoy his choreography more each time I view it. Maybe next year I'll take a road trip and see if the bees grow on me.

Ok, so I saw two casts: the Saturday afternoon matinee of Chelsy Meiss and Harrison James and the Saturday evening cast of Cote and Lobsanova. Before I talk about which one I prefer, I'd just like to comment on Ratmansky's choreography. Besides the Ratmansky R&J the only other R&J ballet I've seen is MacMillan's version (I've seen ABT live and I own the Royal Ballet video with Cuthbertson). While I do enjoy MacMillan's version, when I watch it, I find I'm mainly sitting through the first half waiting around for the actual dancing to begin (the trio of Romeo, Mercutio and Benvolio and the balcony pas). My issue with MacMillan's version it that I feel like there is way too much clanging of swords back and forth, and not enough actual dancing. Which is why I prefer Ratmansky's choreography over MacMillan's. Yes, there is still a lot of clanging swords, but they are actually dancing while they clang their swords! One young teenage male sitting behind me (who most likely was forced to go the ballet by his parents), kept snorting as Romeo, Mercutio and Tybalt did tours and various other jumps while swinging their swords, but I found it a vast improvement in comparison with MacMillan, where I'm counting the moments until the dancing comes back. Ratmansky's choreography of the balcony pas was breathtakingly beautiful to watch. There was a lift (which was performed to perfection by the evening cast of Cote and Lobsanova) where after Romeo lifts Juliet, he catches her in the crook of his outstretched arms (and for a minute I actually thought Cote was going to drop Lobsanova but of course he didnt'!). I don't know what this lift is called (I can't recall seeing it in any other ballet) but I'm pretty sure I audibly gasped out loud. Another choreographic moment that stood out to me was in the 3rd act, after Juliet got the sleeping potion (but before she drank it) where her parents come in with Paris to let her know that she will be forced to marry Paris the next morning. Ratmansky uses the two men (Lord Capulet and Paris) and Juliet's mother (who is portrayed throughout the ballet as cold, almost to the point of uncaring) to show their dominance over Juliet. The choreography highlights that Juliet has no free will, and that she is a pawn to her family's political aspirations, that her parents simply view her as a commodity to be traded. Throughout the ballet it's made obvious that the nurse is the only motherly figure Juliet has, with Lady Capulet played as cold and aloof. Anyway, the scene was disturbing in it's portrayal of how girls/women were viewed during that time period. Now on to the casts: Chelsy Meiss portrayed her Juliet as more of a firecracker: fiesty, and passionate (while Lobsanova's was a bit sweeter and softer). To my non-trained eye, there may have been some partnering issues (as the overall partnering looked smoother with the evening cast) with Harrison James, but overall I found their performance lovely and full of chemistry. I'm not sure who danced Mercutio (as they listed a bunch of cast changes at the beginning) but I thought the matinee Mercutio was fantastic. As I mentioned a couple of days ago, the evening cast of Cote and Lobsanova was on a whole different level. They were fantastic together, with Cote very strong in his partnering. This is the first time I've seen Lobsanova dance, and from what I could tell, she is a star (at least in this role). The corps dancing was also fantastic and in sync (and it also seems that Ratmansky gives the corps more opportunities to dance in this version in comparison with the MacMillan version, even Paris actually gets to dance a bit!). Overall, I was very impressed with the company and with Ratmansky's choreography. It was well worth the very long drive and I might make it a yearly trip (depending on the repertoire). I don't know how long NBOC has sole rights to Ratmansky's R&J, but it is my sincere hope that someday ABT will dance this version in place of MacMillan.

National Ballet of Canada gave me one of those moments tonight. The kind of moment where you know you'll remember the performance for a long time. Lobsanova was amazing! Hope she is dancing at the Kennedy Center in January. The balcony pas was so beautiful and stunning. I am so glad I made this trip! Now I have to sleep as I have a long drive home!

Elena Lobsanova....WOW! That is all I can muster right now. Wow!

Oh my goodness, am I glad I made the trip up here! Just saw the matinee of R&J and I loved Ratmansky's choreography! I would love to see ABT switch from MacMillan to this version. And the NBOC dancers are just lovely! I can't wait till tonight's performance! Toronto is pretty awesome as well!