Kaysta

I thought that happened this afternoon at the Bayadere with Kim, Seo & Gillian. I thought Seo looked much stronger than Monday. Much better Act 1, better use of her arms, more sensual, more plasticity. OK, yes she fell off pointe about 3 times during the Shades scarf dance but she covered it pretty well. And Gillian seemed energized. Her jumps, fouettes & Italian fouettes were much better than Monday. And boy, can she turn!!! I think she did a quintuple pirouette in the wedding scene. Kim seemed slightly toned down from Monday but still fantastic. His jumps, air turns, whizzing fast chainees are just out of this world! The partnering with Seo looked a little labored again but no such partnering problems with Gillian. I truly hope ABT invites him back next year. He's such a phenomena!!

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.

That flute guy has been playing on the 66th Street platform for years. He always plays something related to the performance that's happening at Lincoln Center that night. A few years ago the NY Times ran a story about him, I think. There is now also a trumpet guy who has muscled in on the flute guy's "territory". Only in New York. kids. Only in New York.

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

I'm very sad I won't see Ms. Reyes dance with ABT, but she has expressed that she isn't retiring from dancing and I hope that means her fans will see her again, perhaps guesting with other companies.

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.

As noted in the RB Tour topic, Osipova has withdrawn from her Washington DC Don Q with the RB on tour. No info on whether she will withdraw from her RB Chicago and NY performances, or her ABT Juliet.

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.

It's easy to forget that one reason the current generation of NYCB ballerinas is so good is that many gained an disproportionate amount of stage time at a key point in their careers in the wake of a huge talent drain in the mid-to-late '00s (Meunier, Korbes, Ansanelli, Sylve, Weese). As good as Sterling Hyltin looks in many roles now, it took every minute of six years after reaching principal status for her to begin commanding the stage (and she was dancing the cream of the repertory the entire time). Likewise, as much as I love Maria Kowroski, I don't want to see her in anything in which she hasn't logged at least two seasons: would she be as good as she has become in much of the Farrell repertory if she had been sharing the roles with more dancers? Even a quick study like Ashley Bouder is routinely criticized for being too harshly energetic in her first performances in NYCB's full-length productions (Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty) whenever they swing into the repertory--all of which is equally routinely smoothed away by her second performance. What would her performances be like if she had only one per season?

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 was seated in the balcony, and the gold ornamentations shown hanging at the top of the above photo are not visible from the balcony level.

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

Frankly, I'm all in favor of ABT's having an important work in its rep that isn't particularly amenable to an international airlift of guest stars.

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

I made it extremely clear that what you said was the "truth." I just pointed out there was a way to very easily express that at least in the case of Bayadere and any possible further withdrawals, there was a clear and unfortunate reason for it. Given how incensed people have been over changes to casting, using 2 extra words to make that explicit would just be a nice thing to do.

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.

Read that first statement and the second and apply logic.

He pushes Hee Seo. He cares only about big stars.

This makes no sense. One of the narratives on this board is clearly wrong, or at least flawed.

I don't particularly like Hee Seo, and I know ABT does rely on the star system to an extent (this is NOT particular to him--it has gone on at ABT forever, and I notice pretty much everyone likes the star system to an extent when it is stars they themselves love).

But to say he doesn't give dancer X or Y a chance because of the star system, and in virtually the same breath complain about too many chances being given to people like Hee Seo (and Isabella Boyston...or even Misty, who yes is a star in the eyes of many but has certainly put in her time toiling in the company ranks) is illogical to say the least. Hee Seo is not a star, she is probably the principal with the least star power.

Also can we at least say something like "if Osipova is forced to withdraw"

She had a fairly catastrophic fall in Giselle, it was not clear if she could get up, and when she did she was horrifically unsteady on her feat. She did finish the ballet (mostly partnered work) like a professional but it was obvious she was not 100% and she was visibly limping and having difficulty walking at curtain calls.

One is of course entirely correct in calling her action with regards to Bayadere "withdrawing" --it is what she did, but it is not as if she chose to do so, and given all the moaning and rending of hair about cast changes it would be nice if that was made clear.

I'm sure she would have preferred to not have fallen, not be injured, and to be able to perform as scheduled.

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 know that this is crazy and has nothing to do with money but I wish they'd give it to Sarah Lane. She learned it. Has an amazing look for it. I just don't get why they don't give it to her.

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.

The orchestra section is SOLD OUT for Misty Copeland's R&J.

She is definitely being made principal at the end of this season, whether we like it or not!

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

The balcony is stage left, orchestra right. You want to sit on orchestra left

Thanks so much!

Canbelto, you mentioned the Panorama. WHAT Panorama? I didn't see any moving back cloths. A short bit of the Panorama music was played as Stella and Captain Cook moved into the wings on their boat.

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?

Courage! A better tomorrow must be coming . . . maybe???

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!

This is not a spoiler. This was widely publicized. Sorry you aren't enjoying it.

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).

The website now shows Kotchekova replacing Osipova in Bayadere:( Sarafanov still dancing.

Wow! Kochetkova has a heavy load next week.

When I saw this topic quickly I thought KM was actually leaving.

Feeling disappointed right now.