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Kaysta

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Everything posted by Kaysta

  1. WOW!!!!! So exciting! I wish I could be there to see it. My, look how ABT has changed in such a short time!! I am excited and PROUD to be a fan of this company right now. The future is being groomed! No more Rent-a-Russians, going with the home team! (Not a knock on Kochetkova, I consider her part of the home team at this point and hope she heals quickly)
  2. Thanks, NinaFan and abatt. I'm going to wait to see how I feel tomorrow. I think I may go, as it'll be a chance to see Stella dance.
  3. I'm torn on whether to go see this tomorrow. I didn't see it last year, and it might not come back anytime soon, so it may be my only chance. But part of me wants to have lazy weekend without trekking in to NY.
  4. I actually love Lane's Aurora, and thought she had the best characterization, albeit with a shaky rose adagio, during the Kennedy Center run last year. I'd love to see her O/O. But has been said before, different strokes for different folks!
  5. Agree with Lane to principal and Royal and Shayer to soloist (prefer Royal over Shayer, but like them both). Also agree that there are more exciting and promising women coming up through the ranks then men right now. I love Teuscher, Brandt and Trenary and I can't wait to see them take on more roles. It is a shame that ABT let Baca get away. He could have been a future ABT principal.
  6. So happy to hear the mostly positive reviews for Sarah! Hopefully this is just the start of more principal roles for her. Promote her, Kevin McKenzie!!!!!
  7. I so wish I could see tonight and tomorrow's performances! For everyone attending, I look forward to reading your thoughts!
  8. I agree that Lane's performance was stronger than Murphy's but I still greatly enjoyed the night cast. It was so emotional to see both Hallberg and Murphy in those roles. And Abrera is on fire this season. She is dancing at such a high level right now. Definitely the best Myrta of the bunch (and her Giselle is pretty amazing as well).
  9. I agree, the performance was fantastic. Sarah Lane was a fantastic Giselle. In Act 1, she was sweet and endearing with Albrecht. Her and Danil had great chemistry. She had some very minor bobbles, which were probably nerve related, but it didn't take away from her performance. Her mad scene was an emotional wallop. It made me cry, it was so hauntingly beautiful. If the New York Times wants to highlight a dancer who can act, I hope they saw Sarah's debut. While I enjoyed her act 1, I thought it was her act 2 that really shone. She has a lovely upper body with beautiful arms and back. She may not have the highest jumps, but the softness and pliancy of her upper body makes up for it. When she stretched her arms out in front of Albrecht to protect him, it was powerful. Danil did a great job. I was impressed with him today because I think he did a good job letting Sarah shine. Their act 2 pas was stunning. I know it's part of the choreography , but I was a wee bit disappointed he chose to do the brises instead of entrechat six. But that's just because I love those entrechats there with that music. Overall, it was very enjoyable debut performances and I'm so happy for Sarah Lane. I really feel her promotion is coming this year, and she most definitely deserves it. On a non-ballet note, the chocolate babka at Breads across the street may be the best thing I've ever eaten.
  10. Karen, I am so sorry! I hope you get a new bus soon and can make it here.
  11. Happy Giselle day! Today is the day I've been waiting for since the casting went up months ago. Sarah and Gillian's debuts! Hope the rain stays away.
  12. I've been listening to the Strauss score everyday since Monday and I am very excited to see the production again, now that I've familiarized myself better with the music. I think it will add to my overall enjoyment of the piece. I'm looking forward to it coming back the end of June!
  13. Saw the gala performance. While I loved the settings and costumes and I thought the dancers danced phenomenally, the one thing that kept me up thinking all night was Strauss' score. I had never heard it before and that was a mistake because it's very different from most ballet scores and at times I was questioning its danceability. I'm not criticizing Ratmansky's choreography, I am a huge fan and think he's brilliant. And I greatly enjoyed the evening, but I think I'll like this work better after listening to the music a few times to familiarize myself with it. That way my brain is thinking less about Strauss and concentrating more on what's happening onstage. But it was danced beautifully. So nice to finally see Hallberg dance! And Sarah Lane and the Princess Praline solo with that footwork! That alone was worth the trip to see it! And there were times that the action on stage made me full out belly laugh (which isn't a reaction I'd expect from a ballet). So I enjoyed it and am looking forward to seeing it again. But after I educate myself about the Strauss score.
  14. Saw the last performance of the Here/Now festival. While the dancing was fantastic, I could barely stay awake during the first two pieces (though I did enjoy seeing Tess Reichlen in Red Angels). Normally I love Hyltin and Stanley, but I just couldn't get into Varied Trios. These 2 pieces were just blah... to me. Barber Violin Concerto was a bit better (in fact it's the first Martins work I enjoyed) thanks to the amazing dancing of Mearns and especially Alexa Maxwell (who filled in for Fairchild). The second half was much better, as I enjoyed all 3 pieces. Maria K and Ask Lacour were even better today in After the Rain then they were a few weeks ago. Kowroski's body is insane. This PDD really highlights her absolutely stunning long legs, and the positions and lines that she makes are just breathtaking. I hope she keeps dancing for awhile so I can see more of her because it really is a privilege to watch her dance. Tiler Peck and Chase Findlay were the leads in Polaris. I enjoyed this much more than I expected to. I loved the way Thatcher moved the ensemble around... he has a talent at choreographing groups of dancers across the stage. And Tiler was her usual evervescent self. The best was saved for last, which was Concerto DSCH. Garcia and De Luz were the stars of the show. I also loved Mearns and Angle (and wow is the second movement pas just lovely choreography). The background corps dancers were full of energy and danced with great electricity. I was a little let down with Bouder. I hate saying that as she is one of my favorite dancers but I thought she kind of went in and out with her energy levels and she was out danced by her two partners. In fact, I thought several of the corps dancers had more energy as well. I know the dancers have been through the ringer with this Here/Now festival, (and Concerto DSCH looks like a very hard ballet to dance) so I'm sure that likely played a role. But in my opinion, she has seemed a little off to me in the 3 or so performances I've seen her in this spring. I still love her though, and can't wait to see her in the fall. I wont be seeing Midsummer's this year, so that's a wrap on the NYCB spring season for me. I didn't hate the Here/Now festival. In fact it exposed me to some works I wouldn't have necessarily sought out myself. But I am looking forward to NYCB reverting back to a nice mix of Balanchine and the newer stuff next year.
  15. Saw today's matinee cast of Boylston and Simkin. They were both fantastic. I think Kitri is the perfect role for Boylston. She is a very energetic dancer, and technically strong, which suits the role of Kitri. I find her arms and hands less distracting in this role (in comparison to her Odette, where the arms were distracting at times). I didn't really see her lose the characterization and I thought her and Danil had great chemistry. During the coda, her fouettés were perfect crisp singles with very little traveling. Danil was his usual technical wunderkind self. There was a minor bobble on the second one handed lift in the first act, but it didn't take away from anything. I think he partners Boylston well. His solos were breathtaking (I think he's the best turner I've ever seen). And he and Boylston brought the house down with the act 3 coda. The other standout performance was Skylar Brandt's Amour. She has excellent speed and sharpness in her footwork. I can't wait to see her Kitri one day. In fact, I can't wait to see her tackle many leading roles, as she has a bright future!
  16. Hopefully more is coming. I'm just going to hold out a few days before I tear it apart. But I agree, if it stays as is (with all of the links leading back to the old page), then it wasn't a very professional job and the criticism will be warranted.. But I'm naively hopeful more is coming. As for the pictures of the dancers, I actually like the close-ups, though I agree Lendorf's picture needs to match the rest.
  17. I know nothing about website design and implementation, but clearly they are actively working on changing it over. Personally, I plan to withhold any criticism until the process is complete.
  18. It looks nice and up-to-date! Way better than the previous version. http://www.abt.org/ It looks like they are still working out the kinks, as not all of the links are working. But welcome to the 21st century, ABT!
  19. http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/arts/At-PA-Ballet-5-dancers-get-promotions-.html So, Corella did exactly what he was rumored to be doing. Getting rid of Murawski so he could promote Torriente. It seems like a slimeball move to me. No offense to Torriente, who I think is a beautiful dancer and is certainly worthy of a principal position. I am quite happy to see the Hughes promotion. She has stood out for many years and it's nice to see her get noticed.
  20. Maybe I'm naive, but I didn't once think of gang rape during the scene in question in Odessa. At least not a physical rape. I thought of it as depicting a woman who had no control over her own fate. She was imprisoned by her place in that culture. I really don't mind ballet getting dark, so long as it's not obscene, like Abatt described above with the Scarlett piece.
  21. While I was not impressed with Thursday night, I will agree with you on this. Mayara Pineiro is a star. I will go out of my way to see her perform next year. She and Jermel tore the house down with Tarantella. I'm sure I would have enjoyed her black swan and Tschai pas as well.
  22. Yay for the start of the ABT season! I'm seeing two casts this week, the Shevchenko/Lendorf Wednesday matinee and the Boylston/Simkin matinee on Saturday. I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts.
  23. I'm surprised that it was Monaco, as he hasn't really stood out to me, though it seems that may be due to lack of opportunities. I apologize for the misidentification. I was at Thursday's performance, and I have to agree with McCauley (gosh, I hate saying that, as I find him borderline detestable). Outside of Tarantella, I thought it wasn't the best night of dancing I've seen from this company. I didn't enjoy either of the previews, Rush, or Tschaikovsky pas de deux (which is one of my favorite Balachine pieces). Somnolence had some enjoyable moments (mostly the PDD with Torriente and Baca) but I thought it was over-the-top. And Rubies was cut due to Aldridge's injury. Overall, it was exceedingly disappointing evening. I'm sad to hear of more departures: especially Alexander Peters (who was also very good in Somnolence on Thursday). So now we have Murawski, Peters, Aldridge and Monaco leaving. I wonder if there will be as much turnover as last year. While I enjoy Torriente's dancing (and I realize she came from a principal position at CNB), I'm going to feel very disappointed with this company when they promote her after kicking Murawski to the curb.
  24. I could be wrong, but I think the dancer you noticed in the corps was Peter Weil. He has absolutely amazing technique.
  25. I hate the score for Everywhere We Go. To me, there was absolutely no subtlety in it, it's just loud and obnoxious. But I get that is my personal opinion, and we all have different tastes in music, and obviously there are many folks who do like it. Overall, going through the list you have posted, it seems he leans towards more contemporary composers. I guess I'm less into the newer stuff and tend to prefer my music with more of a classical bent (though I'll admit I enjoyed Desetnikyov's music for Ratmansky's Odessa). It will be interesting to see what everyone thinks about the Decalogue.
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