Saw Skorik and Parrish - wow, I knew I wasn't seeing a top pair, but this was rather shocking in its mediocrity. She is a beautiful girl, with gorgeous legs and a uniquely supple upper back. Her beautifully hooked feet are quite lovely at the top of developpe. But she has zero charisma, stretches the music beyond her ability to fill it, and starting with the act 1 solo, which was a contest btw her and the conductor, really lost confidence, She clearly has no idea what to do with Odile, had no relationship with Parrish, and treated every phrase as a requirement to get thru, including the annoyingly Russian habit of making 32 single fouettes look like an Olympian task of will.
Parrish was much worse. He has a beautiful line, legs and feet, but is a very weak partner, coming to grief numerous times in Black Swan, and giving her little support in white swan as well. He seemed incapable of finishing any of his pirouettes without dropping to his heel midstream, and was obviously labored in the overhead lifts. I was wondering how he got out of the corp, much less cast as Siegfried.
Baybordin was open, generous, and fun as the Jester, but the best solo performance of the night, hands down, was the Rothbart - eating up the stage on his jetes, and smoldering for filth everywhere else.
The corp made the performance all about the 1st act dances, the white act, and the very enjoyable, committed act 2 character dances. It's a shame the solo couple were not worthy of them.