Kaysta

Warning, I'm about to go on a cranky rant: I haven't seen Peck's new work (in fact, I've been actively avoiding all of his work).  I will admit that I have not seen all of his stuff (still have not seen The Times are Racing,Year of the Rabbit or Rodeo) so maybe they would change my opinion for the better, but I do not find Peck's work appealing at all.  I've been trying to figure out what it is about his stuff that gives me a visceral reaction (and not a good one) and I think it has to do with his music choices.  No disrespect intended to Sufjan Stevens, but I don't want to listen to his music while watching classical dance.  And Peck keeps going back to him, over and over, like the two of them are some sort of a Balanchine/Stravinsky combination or something.  Maybe I'm not the intended demographic and I'm just not "young" enough to get it.   And meanwhile, Lauren Lovette actually choreographed a beautiful first work for NYCB (to a beautiful Schumann piece).  To me, she should be getting more opportunities (assuming she wants them).  Enough with the Peck/Stevens.

Tickets for Isabella Boylston's ballet festival in Sun Valley, Idaho are now on sale.

The website lists the dancers who are performing, but no repertoire yet.

Ballet Sun Valley website

I've never been to Idaho so I'm debating on whether to go out west and get tickets for this.

I have to be honest, I have not been impressed with him at all lately.  He appears to have a lot of stiffness in his back in all of the performances I've seen him dance this year.

3 hours ago, abatt said:

You may know that Ten in Seven is composed by corps member Emily Kitka's father, who is a music professor.  Emily Kikta, who has a lead role in Ten in Seven, is good friends with corps member and choreographer Peter Walker.  Those connections explain how this music ended up being used by Walker.  I agree with you.  It sounded like generic jazzy elevator music. It was inoffensive but unimpressive.  .

You know what both the choreography and the music in Ten in Seven reminded me of?  Center Stage the movie.  Now I get why serious balletomanes might find Ten in Seven cliche and bland, but as someone who was first introduced to ballet through Center Stage, I found it amusing.  I was waiting for Jody Sawyer and Cooper Neilson to pop out from behind the curtain. 

Back in Philly.  So just to add regarding Odessa...Sara Mearns did not dance today, Unity Phelan danced in her place.  She was fine, but I do wish I could have seen Mearns dance this role.  I hope Odessa comes back next year, I'd really like to see it again.  I loved everything about it, the music, the costumes, the lighting, and the amazing choreography.  Pretty sure this is going to be a highlight of the 2017 dance season for me.

As mentioned above, I enjoyed most of the works today, except for the dreadful Jeu de Cartes.  Ugh, it was horrid.  Not the fault of the dancers, but I just found the choreography repetitive and boring.  And I love Megan Fairchild, she is one of my favorite NYCB dancers, but honestly I had a hard time staying awake for this.  I actually had to guzzle some coffee after watching it.  

Other thoughts:  After the Rain PDD was gorgeous.  My first time seeing it, and my first time seeing Maria Kowroski dance in person.  She was absolutely stunning,.  I was completely mesmerized.  I was thrilled that I enjoyed For Clara.  With all of the talk about female choreographers, I went in wanting to like it and I did.  Honestly, I think the choreography was better than any of Justin Peck's works I've seen.  I hope they continue to give Lovette opportunities, because I thought it was enjoyable for her first NYCB work.  Welker's Ten in seven was also pretty enjoyable and quite different.  I thought Ashley Isaacs and Taylor Stanley, in particular, stood out, though all of the dancers seemed really into it.

Overall, I expected not to like the majority of what I saw today, and I really enjoyed the day.  So glad I went!!!

A quick word before I start the long trek home....

I wasn't that excited for today, but outside of Jeu de Cartes, I enjoyed all of these pieces.  

But Odessa!!!  I absolutely loved it.  I think it's Ratmansky's best work.  For me, it's the best new work I've seen in my young ballet watching life (and may be my favorite non-Balanchine non-story ballet). A big bravo to Alexei Ratmansky!  And thanks to California for convincing me to go!  

Will write more more when I get back to Philly!

On 5/2/2017 at 6:06 PM, California said:

It would violate the protocol of Friends open rehearsals to say anything about Ratmansky's new Odessa, which premieres at the gala Thursday night, so I will just say this: GO SEE IT, IF YOU CAN.

I was totally going to skip this weekend and do some spring cleaning, but now this is making me feel like I need to go!

She is so perfect in this role.  Just this little snippet makes me tear up.  Wish I could see her again, but Tuesday nights are not doable for me.

8 minutes ago, canbelto said:

This is what I jotted down:

 

 

 

 

Thanks, canbelto!  So it was Alexa Maxwell.  I have to keep my eye on her, I thought she was fantastic.

Good to know I understood the plot.  It was definitely a fun ballet and I would like to see it again when I'm not obsessing over whether they are aliens or pirates.  One of the NYT's reviews called them gnomes. 

Just got back from the matinee.   Loved Russian Seasons, though it was amazing.  Taylor Stanley, Rebecca Krohn, Sara Mearns, and Megan Fairchild were all amazing.  If anyone else was there, who was the dancer in the purple dress, Indiana Woodward or Alexa Maxwell?  Whomever it was, she was absolutely fantastic.  All of those power house dancers on the stage, and I found my eyes wandering to the dancer in the purple dress.  

Namouna was an interesting experience.  I'm not sure how I felt about it, but I'd like to see it again someday.  Is there a story to this ballet?  Because I made one up in my head and it goes like this:  A sailor gets stuck/lost on an alien planet.  At first the aliens are hostile, especially the alien overlord (Ulbright today?) but then a bunch of smoking women come and try to seduce him.  Then more women come to seduce him.  Then he meets an alien in white and they fall in love and get married.  Everyone is happy.  The end.  

This is it for me for the Here/Now festival.  I have tickets for next week, but I think I'm going to sit that one out and get ready for a lot of ABT.

Yeah, that's crazy.  I hope our credit card information is safe.  I know the ticket sales go through the met opera system, but what about the membership dues and such?

2 minutes ago, California said:

 

On Instagram, she seemed ecstatic about performing this four times this season.

 

It showed.  You can't teach what she did last night.  Just pure innate musicality emanating from every part of her body.  A very memorable performance.

What a fantastic night!  It seriously restored my soul after a couple of rough weeks. I loved all 3 pieces.  As someone who hasn't seen a ton of Balanchine, I was amazed that these 3 works came from the same mind, as they are all so different.  

I already sang sang the praises of Allegro Brilliante, but I really enjoyed the 4 T's and especially Symphony in C.  I've only seen one other Balanchine's leotard ballet (Symphony in 3 Movements), which at the time, I wasn't sure if I liked it or not.  Happy to say I didn't feel that way about the 4T's.  I really enjoyed it, especially the 2nd and 3rd variations.  The 4 dancers in the background during Phlegmatic were the highlight.  

Symphony in C is my kind of ballet.  Sara Mearns was breathtaking in the Adagio.  And I thought Alston Macgill held her own with the senior principal ladies.

So happy I made the trip in.  I'm staying in the city tonight instead of trekking back to Philly late.  It feels good to enjoy the performances without the stress of the trip home.  Think I'm going to do this once a month.

You know that feeling when you wish whatever you are watching would just keep going on forever?  That's how I just felt watching Tiler Peck in Allegro Brillante.  Her musicality is insane.  For lack of a better way of describing it---it feels like she is composing the music with her body.  The music and her movements are so entwined that you can't watch or hear one without the other.

Maybe I'm getting a bit cheesy (and today is my first spring season ballet and my first day off work in 3 weeks, so I'm a bit looney) but she was really special in this role.  So happy I had a chance to see her.

Looking forward to my first ever 4 T's next.  I cannot put into words how happy I am that spring ballet season is here!!!

I am so looking forward to May 27th.  It will be a fantastic day of Giselles!

The TBA on Gillian's debut as Giselle has not been filled in yet, but this looks promising....  Oh I hope this is what will happen.  What a day of Giselle's the 27th of May will be!

Holy price inflation for Jewels.  I just bought my one (and only) ticket for the Saturday matinee.  150$ for 3rd ring side!  Would have liked to have possibly seen two casts, but I'm not paying for another performance.  Lots of good seats still available though.

 Just saw the matinee with Baca as Conrad, Maslova as Medora, Weil as Ali, Soca as Lankedem.

The most memorable performance of the day was Weil's Ali.  He was fantastic, and had no problems with the overhead lift today.  Surprisingly, he was my favorite Ali of the three I saw (Soca and Baca were the other two).  I look forward to seeing more of him.

Baca and Maslova both started off a bit shaky to me today, but I forgave them during their stunning pas de deux.  It was perfection. 

One other dancer I'm looking forward to seeing next weekend is Oksana Maslova as Medora.  I loved her Cinderella.  I believe she was also partnered with Baca and if I remember correctly, the two of them had fantastic chemistry.  While her technique isn't as strong as Pineiro and DiPiazza, she has those beautiful Russian/Ukranian arms and back.  Next year, I believe her white swan will be a revelation.

I agree, while beautiful, the sets and costumes were a bit over the top.  I'm happy to hear they were rented, because all I could think of was how expensive this production must have been, and I'm not sure how the finances are at PAB (or at any arts institution these days).  

Thanks for your reviews, California.  I also caught a few performances and completely agree with you about Pineiro.  She was a fantastic Medora.  I think she has grown so much over the last two years and has has really become the star of the company.

Corella has brought in some very strong male dancers-  I was very impressed with Soca, Baca and Babayev.  And though at PAB before Corella, Jermel and Craig Wasserman also turned in very strong performances.

Overall a very successful first run.  Wish that it was selling a bit better though.

On ‎3‎/‎7‎/‎2017 at 5:23 PM, ABT Fan said:

 

I just checked availability again, and I'm shocked at how many unsold seats there are. I really hope somehow that changes in the next day or so, though that seems unlikely.

Generally (outside of the Nutcracker), I feel like there usually is quite a few seats left over for PAB performances.  I always buy tickets to extra performances at the last minute, and I never have a problem securing what I want.

I will say that the Academy of Music (while historic and beautiful) has A LOT of bad sight lines.  Many of the seats are not really useable due to the way the building is constructed.  When the orchestra and parterre and balcony are filled up, that's a pretty good crowd.

While I like many of the choices, I feel like this company is becoming quite ABT-esque.  It will be.. uh interesting... to see all of these new dancers tackle T&V and Jewels.  

Per her Instagram, Lauren Fadeley has been promoted from soloist to principal soloist.  Congrats, Lauren!

On ‎11‎/‎1‎/‎2015 at 7:07 AM, cubanmiamiboy said:

I usually turn my whole body around and S T A R E with a long, hateful, Joan Crawford look right deep into the offender's eyes. It works more than not.

I've done that, but it doesn't seem to work for me.  Maybe I'm a crappy actor, or maybe people just don't care.  Who knows.  But this is one of my biggest pet peeves in the entire world.  I don't know why candy wrappers rankle my soul so much, but they do.  I get agitated, which then means I miss a portion of the performance, because I'm thinking about how annoyed I am. 

The funny thing is that I can tolerate more during some performances versus others.  Kids yapping during the Nutcracker is ok, because I've preconditioned myself to expect it.  But when I go to the Philadelphia Orchestra to hear Tchaikovsky's Violin concerto in D Major, and some person is sucking down a bag of sweets, the death star stares start.

I think I need to learn relaxation techniques, because proper manners are a thing of the past in this country.