Kaysta

Glad to hear you say this Amour, because I thought Seo was decent; better than I thought she'd be based off previous reviews and I was thinking maybe I'm just easily pleased. I did see the stumbles you mentioned. Gillian's Italian fouettes were so sharp and impressive, I wanted to jump out of my seat!

Wow Kim is impressive. Even though I only moderately like La Bayadere, it's worth seeing it just for Act 2 alone. It may very well be my favorite single act in a story ballet.

Yeah, he was playing the garland waltz after the sleeping beauty premiere. I love it, makes the wait more festive!

Im hoping that maybe, just maybe, she'll want to visit her friend Angel in Philly and come guest next year. That would be awesome! Really, that whole pas de trois is fantastic. I was very impressed with Erica Cornejo as well. I've never seen her dance live, but if she's a principal at Boston, she's obviously done pretty well after leaving ABT.

Feeling very sad over Reyes retirement right now. I am watching the ABT Swan Lake video from 2005 where Reyes and the Cornejos do the pas de trois. Her performance in that video sums up why I love her dancing. Not only is she technically strong, she dances with such a lightness and pure joy, that you can't help but feel happy watching her dance. (Her Cinderella had the same impact!). It's beautiful to watch, and I'm glad this was filmed so I have at least one of her performances to remember her by.

Ooooh, this is not looking so good for her Juliet. Which stinks because I just bought a ticket to it yesterday. On the bright side, I'll hopefully still get to enjoy an evening of Marcelo!

Well, based off of the good reviews on Kochetkova, I think I'm going to add tickets to Saturday night's performance and make it a double Bayadere day!

Another good review coming in from the Wall Street Journal. http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-sleeping-beauty-review-back-to-its-russian-roots-1433279187

Thanks for the reply Helene. It's is always interesting to hear these perspectives as I really don't know what goes on behind the "curtain."

Thanks, vagansmom, that is what I suspected. That is why the whole "lets give Hee Seo more performances so she can get better" doesn't fly with me. (Again, no offence to Seo, I do enjoy her dancing). More performances might make one more nuanced and better artistically, but it isn't going to necessarily fix the technical deficiencies (especially if they have been dancing the role for years). I think this is pretty much true of most professions. I'm a physician and while I'm better at the art of medicine now than I was when I finished residency and took my specialty boards, all of the minutia I memorized is now gone from my brain. The smartest (book smarts anyway) I ever felt was when I first finished training, so in my brain I kind of pictured that to be true with the technical aspect of dancing.

As someone with two left feet who has never danced a day in their life (or at least only when I've had a few drinks and no one is watching me), can you more knowledgeable folks answer a question for me? In the case of someone like Seo, can we expect after dancing for many years for her technique to still improve if given more to dance? I would fully expect artistry to develop with additional performances, but in my non-dancer's brain, I would expect technique to be present at that point and that additional performances won't necessarily improve that (at least in most cases). To me, Seo's artistry is beautiful, it's her technique that is at times lacking. Is that wrong of me to assume this?

I couldn't see them from the side of the dress circle either.

Me too!!!! This production belongs to ABT (and La Scala, haha) and its artists!

I'm not one of the incensed over cast changes, though (except for the invitation to Cojucaru, because at that point, they DID have time to teach that role to an in house ballerina).One of the casting changes (which was unfortunately due to injury) allowed me to see one of the most exquisite Giselles I've ever seen. I really love ABT, and I just think it's a shame that the loyal soloists and corps members (who work their butt off for the company, day in and day out) are not rewarded the way they should be. No disrespect intended for the guest artists who are wonderful dancers. Just to make clear: not complaining about injury withdrawals, I'm complaining about the way they are handled.

I'm not faulting Osipova by saying she "withdraws"Whether one withdraws from injury or because they withdraw for other reasons, they are still withdrawing. That is not being negative towards Osipova or faulting her, it's the truth. The star strategy is not a myth. Their own CFO discussed it openly. Several of the retiring dancers have openly discussed it. As for KM's reliance on Seo, no one quite understands it. I agree she is not a "star" ( although I actually enjoy her dancing in some roles). She's the fallback option for KM when his star strategy falls through (for whatever reason). She gets a ton of performances thrown on her, increasing her risk for injury, when the problem could be solved by giving more of the soloists and talented corps members a shot at learning these roles. What happens if Seo needs to pull out for whatever reason? A company as talented and esteemed as ABT should have many dancers (FROM WITHIN THE COMPANY) that can fill in on a moment's notice. You don't see the Mariinsky calling around the outside world when one of their stars get injured.

I completely agree. But artistic integrity means squat to KM, it's all about that star strategy.I'll lose it if Osipova withdraws and they replace her with....wait for it....poor Hee Seo.

I'm surprised they don't give Misty one of Seo's back to back Juliet's. Then ABT could make even more money.

Thanks so much!

This comment totally made my day.

Sorry, I'm slightly dyslexic when it comes to left and right. Which side is the balcony on in Romeo and Juliet? I'm going to add on some side orchestra seats for Obratszova's performance and am trying to decide where to sit. Which by the way, there are a ton of tickets left for that performance. What was it ABT's CFO said about stars selling more tickets?

Oh, I so hope you are right!

I thought it was magical. Bravo to Ratmansky and the ABT dancers. Glad I got to see Gillian and Marcelo, they were excellent (unsurprisingly!). Thought Simkin and Trenary were also wonderful. I really liked the costumes! Even the mustard and Aqua ones. Boylston's diamond costume was so sparkly and beautiful under the lights. Definitely looked like a costly production, but well worth it. My one big costume complaint is about the wedding dress for Aurora. It was pretty, but the Queen (aka mother of the bride) had a way more opulent dress. Maybe times were different back in Aurora's day, but I'd be a mighty pissed off bride if my mom out-dressed me on my wedding day---I'm just sayin' Oh. I also nearly ran into Ratmansky during one of the intermissions. I wanted to say something but he was with his son and I was too shy/chicken. I probably would have just babbled incoherently about how I think he's a genius anyway, so I probably saved myself some embarrassment!

I'm loving it so far. I think everything is amazing except Lilac Fairy's mullet dress ( short in the front, long in the back).

Wow! Kochetkova has a heavy load next week.

When I saw this topic quickly I thought KM was actually leaving. Feeling disappointed right now.