Kaysta

5 hours ago, cobweb said:

I had been hoping to see Sleeping Beauty in the fall but the Harry Potter convention took up all the city's hotel rooms. Now I want to see Swan Lake but it's the flower show! ... and my favorite hotel is booked up. I will have to make it a day trip. I am considering the matinees on March 10 and 11, and possibly the evening show on March 10. Can those of you familiar with the company evaluate/recommend casting? I would be most interested in a lyrical, soulful Odette. Thanks for any comments! Also, is there standing room?

So it looks like the Odettes are Oksana Maslova (3/10) and Mayara Pineiro (3/11).   I enjoy both of these dancers, though I think they have very different strengths.  If you are going with more soulful, I would choose Maslova, with the caveat that she has very Russian technique and if over-extensions bother you, you might be disappointed.  I don't mind the over-extension, but my eyes are less trained than the vast majority on this board. I love her dancing.  She has a beautiful port de bras, and very flexible back.  Sometimes her technique makes me a little nervous, but she surprised me in the fall by doing a great job with the Rose Adagio.  I think her acting/characterization are great though, so I'm pretty sure she'll give a moving Odette.

Mayara Pineiro is my favorite dancer at PAB currently.  She will bring the house down in Act 3 with Odile, and she is an amazing technical dancer.  I think her artistry has grown since she's been at PA, but I don't think her Odette will have quite the soulfulness that Maslova's will have.

In the setting of both O/O, I actually think Lillian DiPiazza is the best suited for both roles.  Her and Baca perform on Friday night, and the following weekend.

21 hours ago, canbelto said:

Hmm I don't know ... their full-length productions have not sold well this season. I have gotten email offers about discounts. Their upcoming Swan Lake (usually a cash cow in whatever form) has plenty of seats left.

It will be interesting to see how Jewels sells.  If the Philly crowd is still more pro-Balanchine than full length, I would expect to see Jewels sell better.

Besides Nutcracker, one program with Balanchine.  

Which I suppose is a good thing, since there really aren't many Balanchine-trained dancers left in the company.  

I used to be a huge Mearns fan, but I'm not sure how I feel about her right now.

Not related to dancing (and maybe not fair to her) but based off of her instagram posts and the way she reacts to partnering mishaps, she comes across as a bit of a diva to me, and that unfortunately impacts the way I view her dancing.  It also doesn't help that, as noted above, her dancing style can be over the top (whether the role calls for it or not).  I just feel kind of turned off by her lately, though I admit I LOVE her in Diamonds, and I quite enjoy her O/O.

Tiler Peck on the other hand, can do no wrong in my book.  I'm so thankful for every chance I have to see her dance.

Interesting.  

She said she wanted to come back to America to dance (even if it was in the corps) and didn't get any takers (she specifically mentions ABT and Washington Ballet, but I wonder who else she reached out to?).

I think she is a lovely dancer, and is certainly talented enough to dance with many companies in the US.  Was she turned down because they think she'll be a distraction?

On 11/3/2017 at 12:39 PM, orangerose said:

The tickets I bought when they first came out ended up being for Seo/Stearns... I was pleasantly surprised as Seo as Aurora when they came to Detroit, so we'll see!

I'm not a Seo fan, but I love her Juliet (granted her partner when I saw her was Gomes).  Not so sure of Stearns, but he was very good in Onegin, so maybe he's grown as an actor.

Maya Plisetskaya, especially as Kitri.  I can’t stop watching her YouTube videos as Kitri.  She lights up the stage like nothing I’ve ever seen.

And because I didn’t see my first live ballet performance until 2012, I never got to see Ethan Stiefel live.  (Or any of ABTs amazing male dancers).  I have the Corsair and Dream videos of him, but I wish I could have seen his Siegfried, Albrecht and Romeo.  😢

The defense of Martins reminds me of the defense of Joe Paterno at Penn State.   Some people have such love and respect for an institution that they cannot accept that someone a part of that institution could do bad things.  It’s a deep scary version of hero worship that allows one to ignore common sense in order to defend the “perpetrator.”

I witnessed it first hand at Penn State.  In one sentence, PSU fans would talk about what great attention to detail Coach Paterno had in readying his team to victory.  In the next, they’d state that there was no way he knew about what was going on, and that even if McQueary did tell him what he saw, he was too old and straight-laced to have any clue what it could mean.  It was scary to watch people whom I consider quite rational under normal circumstances defend him.

Note:  I’m not comparing the offenses here, just that the mindset to defend is similar.  I don’t know if Martins physically abused or sexually assaulted anyone (though I believe the victims that have come out).  But I do believe there is a pattern of him “chasing” younger women, and I believe he slept with dancers.  Whether he offered them anything in return doesn’t matter to me.  I would not want someone I cared about working or learning under him.

32 minutes ago, aurora said:

There are actually laws preventing adults from dating 16 year olds so we don't need to worry about legislating. If you had a 16yo daughter you would be fine with her dating a 34 year old man?

And this wasn't the 20s or the 50s. This was not a sexually repressed time. He lived (also when he was an adult) with his 16yo gf Heather Watts. Are people going to argue that wasn't a sexual relationship? I mean I suppose that is possible, but it seems highly unlikely.

You don't have to be a creep to be a good artist. But that isn't really what this is about. The issue of "can one enjoy great art made by horrible people?" applies to people like Wagner and Kevin Spacey. This case isn't about rejecting Martins' art (his dancing days are over, and his choreography is lousy), it is that he shouldn't be in a position where he is able to continue such behavior.

Nor do you have to be an artist to be a creep, for that matter. Did you think the behavior described by Roy Moore, which was denounced almost across the board was acceptable? This is virtually the same thing, yet because he is an "artist" people here seem to want to give him a pass.

 

I completely agree with you, aurora.  Martins needed to go, I’m glad he made the decision to retire instead of dragging it out.

14 hours ago, canbelto said:

And if you want vintage footage, here's Allegra Kent:

 

This is awesome, thanks for sharing it.  She sure showed pure joy when she danced this role.

1 minute ago, abatt said:

Wondering whether they will reassign Marcello's roles to other ABT dancers or go out and look for some guest artists.

This is the one time I’m in favor of guest artists.  No one in the company can fill his spots.

Wow!  Very upsetting news.  I will miss seeing him dance but without more information, I won’t judge the situation. 

Casting is up.

As hard as it will be for me, I’m skipping this year as I’m irritated with the company and don’t want to give them my money.  I hope others go and report back though. 

Still no casting.  I don’t have any super strong recommendations, as PAB has lost most of their Balanchine-type dancers.  Personally, I have really enjoyed Alexandra Hughes Dewdrop.  She was promoted this year to soloist and is on the advertisements, so they may be giving her a SPF.  I’ve never seen her in that role but I do love her Dewdrop.  She trained at SAB.

1 hour ago, canbelto said:

I think Angel's eye is on the prize which is the successor to Kevin McKenzie. He wants to build up enough of a fanbase in NYC so if he takes over ABT he can bring over some PABallet dancers who NY audiences are familiar with.

Agreed, which is even more annoying given all of the changes he’s made (and not all of them for the better).   

Nope, that was the whole email.  Except it had my name at the top.  I agree it sounded very abrupt and I am quite offended, though I admit I was already mad before she sent the email, so I'm not sure if I'm being hypersensitive.

To clarify, that was the ENTIRE second email with which they responded, after I asked if the donation dollars for both NY friends and PAB donors was the same amount, as that was not clarified on the website.  To be fair to them, they did thank me in the original email for being a donor.

No where on the donor website page does it mention advanced casting notification for donors above 2500.  I think they are trying to cover themselves at this point.  I did tell them that they should list all of the perks available at a given donation, as maybe I would have boosted my donation so that I could get the perks that I wanted.  

Oh well.  The whole process has left me with a very sour taste in my mouth.  It would probably be a good idea for me to just stop going there for a while and branch out and see other companies.

Now I just received this email:

Quote

The order in which we release casting is dancers, Board, donors and the public, often these list are released within 30 minutes of each other.  Best wishes, Name Redacted

Oy vey.  That is all I have to say.

Also, let me know if anyone sees anything about advanced casting as a benefit for an above 2500 donation.  I don’t see it, but I’m on my iPad so maybe it’s not on the mobile site.

Finally received a response to my email. They said that advanced casting notice is available to Philadelphians who donate 2500 or more a year.  And that only NY friends who donate the same amount will receive the same benefit.

if that’s true, great, but that isn’t what they have on the website.  Still not going to restart my donation to them.

Thanks, Drew, you state it much more eloquently than I ever could.  I’m not opposed to them wooing NY donors.  I’m just opposed to those donors receiving perks that I, as a loyal donor, don’t receive because of my zip code.

Well, I officially just cancelled my monthly recurring donation.  I'll likely still go to a few performances a year, but I'm going to cut back and try to branch out and start seeing the Washington Ballet.

I don't understand why they are doing what they are doing with this NY friends thing.  It's easy to fix the problem, just give all donors advanced notice of casting.  Maybe they figured us locals should just be happy to see whatever cast they throw out and that we just don't care about casting.  And who knows, maybe most patrons don't care.   But it angers me.  And if there is one thing I've learned about Philadelphians in general, is they do not appreciate being seen as less important than New Yorkers. 

Hope Angel raises lots of money from his NY friends.

I've emailed them letting them know of my displeasure a few days ago, but I've heard nothing back.  Because of this, I'm discontinuing my monthly donation to them and going to give it to NYCB instead.  If NY is more important than Philly, I may as well give my money to NY too.

It is definitely a slap in the face to those of us who regularly support the company.  Apparently, Angel thinks the NY audience is more important than his Philly audience.  Guess what, Angel?  I care about casting too.  I wait until casting is up before I buy my tickets, so now I get second pickings for seats after NYers select?  That's a bunch of crap.  I think I'm going to be frequenting Washington Ballet and NYC much more now.

This whole “NY friends of PA Ballet” is ridiculous.  Apparently NYers get advanced notice of casting, before those of us who live in and regularly support the company.  

I think I’m done with PAB.

Like others, I’m disappointed with Lane’s casting, though I’m excited to see her Nikiya and Kitri.  But I thought her Swan Lake was phenomenal and would have liked to see her dance it again (without all of the pressure of a possible promotion on her shoulders, and with ample time to prepare).

I’m disappointed to see Brandt did not get a Kitri.

Too much Copeland in back to back Saturday matinees.  Ugh, so now I lose out on Swan Lake and Juliet.  And what a not-so-inspiring Saturday of Swan Lake with Copeland and Seo.  As that is the only time I can go unless I book a hotel room, I think I’ll be seeing less this year.  Many of the casts I’m excited about (Lane Giselle and Nikiya, Teuscher and Shevchenko Swan Lakes are during the week when I can’t get to NYC.

At least I get to see the Teuscher/Ahn/Trenary Bayadere.

I’m going to be saving some money this year.