MarzipanShepherdess

Thank you for this perspective! That's interesting, last night Eurydice's death registered to me as more of a slow pull under the curtain versus a sudden disappearance, and I did feel like we were seeing the "behind the scenes" a little more than we should have. The parts that felt like they weren't quite landing for me were mostly the parts that made the heaviest use of props (like the sequence where Apollo comes on with the bow and the other mythological figures come out with their own corresponding props, and they assemble a figure out of all the props which Orpheus then dances before). The final moments, with Apollo dancing with the mask representing the now-dead Orpheus, didn't feel like they had the emotional impact they should have, it felt like the dancer was really relying on the presence of the prop to communicate everything and not projecting much himself.

I thought it was a very strong debut by Unity. Lots of enthusiastic applause and cheers for her (and Amar) both right after their pas de deux and during the curtain calls. Apollo and Orpheus were great, but Agon was the piece of the program that got the most enthusiastic audience reaction. I feel awful for Ashley Laracey, who has been dancing so well this season and getting so many great and well-deserved opportunities--hopefully she at least gets to have her Apollo debut in the fall as it seems unlikely she'll be back on stage this spring. Not sure how City Ballet is determining when dancers down with COVID can return to performing, but it seems like people are out for two weeks or so? Still, I was glad to have the chance to see Sterling dance Eurydice since it's not one that will come again. She was, predictably, glorious. I'd never seen Orpheus before and loved the sets and costumes, but had mixed feelings about the ballet as a whole. It reminded me of Balanchine's Firebird, in some ways: visually, it's so striking but I'm left hungry for more dance-wise (even though it has more exciting choreography than Firebird). Sterling was definitely the highlight for me.

I noticed, something weird definitely did happen--it looked to me like she actually briefly collided with one of the corps girls as she was coming onstage from the wings and they were rushing en masse to stage left. But everyone recovered gracefully. I love Symphony in Three Movements and wish City Ballet staged it more. From the opening diagonal of corps dancers doing those lunging movements and oh-so-dramatic ponytail flips to the sinuous, sharp yet sharp second movement pas de deux to the big energetic finale with so many dancers on stage, it's such a feast. Ashley Laracey was the highlight for me, I thought she was very precise and had the quickness and jump the role needs. I had never really been particularly struck by her before this season, but she also stood out to me last week in her Goldberg Variations solo and partnering. She seems to be bringing her dancing up to new heights this spring. I echo everyone else who was lukewarm on Scherzo Fantastique. It was a nice chance to see some dancers I enjoy (Taylor Stanley and Miriam Miller especially) but it is not a standout ballet for me, choreography-wise. Firebird: I went in feeling bummed knowing I wouldn't be seeing Sara Mearns, but I was really wowed by Isabella LaFreniere. As@BalanchineFan and @cobweb said, the Balanchine Firebird isn't exactly the meatiest role dance-wise but Isabella absolutely made the most of every single second she had! In her final solo, she really brought a pathos to the role that was for me unexpected, evoking how the Firebird is a powerful creature but also very much constrained by the magic that governs her existence. I don't love the Martins Swan Lake but I'd really love to see Isabella do Odette/Odile, after that performance.

Same, as someone who had tickets to see Sara in Firebird on Friday and is sad to hear she won't be gracing us with performances for a while. Kikta is the replacement casting I'd be most excited to see. Such a loss that the Tanowitzs won't be performed the rest of the season, I'm really glad I had the opportunity to see them before the cast got so winnowed by COVID. I wonder if they'll alter the fall programming to make room for them given that they weren't able to have their full run this spring and seemed to be well-received.

The Smith (which is right across the street) is my reasonably priced pre-ballet go-to. For meat eaters, Bar Boulud also has entrees under $30.

Also attended the Saturday Serenade/Goldberg Variations matinee and felt it was a wonderful afternoon. I really liked the duo of Serenade and Goldberg Variations and felt they balanced each other well. Serenade is such a lush, profoundly emotional, intense 30 minutes, and GV to me feels more playful, less emotional weighty but lots of intellectual interest and beauty. Each great in its own way. Agree with @abattand @JuliaJthat Miriam Miller is a fantastic new Dark Angel, her gorgeous lines, port de bras, and arabesque all on show to great effect. IMO Hod's made a fine debut with room to grow--hopefully she will dance Russian Girl bigger and with some more fire as she gains confidence in the role (and I recognize it was no mean feat to even make the debut given her recent recovery from COVID). I was just blown away by Sara's Waltz Girl; I've seen her dance this role a number of times but it really feels like she continues to evolve it in such moving ways. On Saturday, I was particularly struck by the intensity with which she clung to Aaron Sanz's hand as Miriam was leading him offstage, really trying to pull him back towards her: this Waltz Girl was not going to just accept that parting peacefully. That moment really informed the ending sequence for me, making the final resignation to fate that Sara projected while kneeling before the final lift, and the sense of transcendent acceptance in her final backbend, that much more moving. Thought the whole GV cast looked great and will add to the praise for Isabella and Sterling that I was especially struck by Miriam and Preston as the opening and closing pas de deux couple (such gravity and elegance), Chun Wai Chan in the second part knocking out some amazing turns, and Ashley Laracey who was lovely and light in her part I solo.

Yes! Would love to see it again. A lot to take in and engage with. I really enjoy how Tanowitz continues to twist and subvert classical ballet conventions (for example, doing a lot with flexed instead of pointed feet, doing these movements that are kind of burlesques on pliés, etc). Throughout Law of Mosaics, I kept seeing things I hadn't seen before in ballet, like arabesques that then fracture into off-kilter backbends. Sara Mearns has an unusual solo which closes the piece, very emotional and heavy, weighted down, slow and constrained movements...it made me think of some comments Sara made during a talk following her evening at the Joyce this spring about being interested in exploring "small" in her dancing now after years of striving to dance really big. Tanowitz definitely gave her an opportunity to do that and challenge herself artistically, hard to imagine anyone else doing that solo. I hope they bring Law of Mosaics back for future seasons. Gustave Le Gray, Tanowitz's other piece on the program, is not brand-new like Law of Mosaics but is new to City Ballet and I also found it fresh and engaging. Four dancers and an on-stage pianist, who towards the end of the ballet gets recruited into movement and continues to play the piano in a crouch as the dancers slowly move the piano across the stage--again, something unexpected that was exciting and impactful. Naomi Corti subbed in for Anthony Huxley--she also subbed in for Mira Nadon in Law of Mosaics, quite a night for her. The costumes have these strips of fabric that attach at the ankle and shoulder, which create an orb effect when the dancers are turning; one of the more successful creative costume choices I've seen in a while, which felt like it enhanced the choreography rather than distracting.

She was scheduled to dance in the new Tanowitz tonight and Naomi Corti subbed in for her last minute. Hope it’s not an injury.

VERY excited for the fall Abraham premiere. Lots of ballets I'm excited to see, especially Vienna Waltzes, La Sonambula, the Ratmansky pieces, and Donizetti Variations.

Agree, she's really going out on top. I respect her decision to do so, but it does make for a particularly painful retirement from an audience perspective because she's still such a fantastic dancer!

I'll miss Tess SO much and am so glad I got to see her send off. She gave a beautiful final performance worthy of her legacy: elegance, grace, regal mien, beautiful, beautiful lines, gorgeous jumps and penchees. She was my favorite as Siren and Rubies Tall Girl, and I'll miss her as Titania, Choleric, Sugar Plum Fairy, in Diamonds, and as Coffee. Appreciate that the NYT piece gave credit to all she accomplished on and off-stage via her AGMA work and leadership within the company when they were navigating the revenge porn case. She is definitely a dancer I admire both as a ballerina and as an individual. Serenade was particularly lovely last night, the corps looked REALLY good all night and it felt like they were giving 110% in honor of Teresa. One of my favorite roles to see Sterling in and she was just glorious, so fleet and full of emotion. And of course her blonde hair looks particularly striking streaming down in the final lift. Emilie Gerrity was a very fine Dark Angel and Erica continues to impress me with how she is evolving as an artist with growing presence and depth. Agree with Jacqueline that Indiana and Harrison were lovely in Andantino both individually and as a pair, but I didn't find the piece itself as compelling as Sonatine. Would not mind if I don't see it again, whereas Sonatine I hope to see more of. There is something very princely to me about Harrison, I'd love to see him in the future as a Siegfried. Mixed feelings on Unity in TchaiPas. I sometimes feel like in her port de bras there's too much elbows and wrists angled so as to break up the lines...there's a smooth quality I find missing. But beautiful, elegant footwork and jumps. The final fish dive was really alarming, Jovani seemed to catch her fine but must not have had a secure grip as he almost dropped her out of the pose (but fortunately was able to grab Unity so she didn't actually fall). Lots of gasps from the audience in my section. It was a shame as his solos were quite well done.

Saw last night's Swan Lake II program. Have appreciated reading everyone's POVs here on the "warp speed" one-act Swan Lake. This seems to be a minority opinion but I do enjoy for what it is even as I miss the character development and opportunity to see a ballerina embody both Odette and Odile that you get in the full-length (and I miss the four Cygnets too). Love the arctic sets, the black swans, and the Ivanov-Balanchine choreography. Teresa was pretty sublime last night, I will really, really miss her but admire her for going out in such exquisite form. Beautiful, beautiful pencheés and arabesques. Very tender partnering with Russell, it felt like they were saying goodbye to one another as dance partners and as Odette/Siegfried at the end of the ballet and that was quite moving. In 4Ts I enjoyed Emily Kikta (but was haunted by memories of Teresa as Choleric, such a great role for her)...I think she's growing into the role and could bring more attack and confidence, but I'm sure it will come. I thought the corps looked good, many apprentices making debuts. Gonzalo was gripping in Melancholic, it's one of my favorite solos for a man in Balanchine and his expressive port de bras and flexible back shone so beautifully. Turns weren't what they would have been a few years ago, but glad to have seen him in this role for a final time, he did himself credit. Sonatine is short and sweet, this was my first time seeing it and I was struck by how gorgeous the music is. Strong debuts from Indiana and Anthony. It felt like the kind of ballet that needs quite compelling dancers to bring it to life, no big bravura choreography or anything showy, and they did it well. Fun to see it followed by the Black Swan PDD which is like night and day. Unity to me has the mien and potential to be an impressive Odile but isn't quite there yet. Some lovely moments (beautiful balances and wonderful in that series of those aggressive jetés towards Siegfried with the legs in front, don't know the proper term), and then others were it felt like she could have embodied the character more fully and just didn't seem to have the complete confidence the Odile characterization demands. She seemed to be reining herself in for the manege jetés, maybe trying to save energy for the big fouetté sequence. She traveled a lot in it, I didn't count but it seemed like she didn't quite make it through. Gordon felt more confident and fully embodying his role to me, though of course it's a much less challenging PDD for Siegfried than Odile!

Those who miss Lauren onstage will be glad to know that she's dancing in two pieces as part of Tiler Peck's "Artists at the Center" performances at City Center in March: https://www.nycitycenter.org/pdps/2021-2022/artists-at-the-center--tiler-peck/

Was so glad to be back at NYCB for my first performance of the winter season. Reasonably full house, maybe 3/4? Walpurgisnacht: I've read that this is one of Sara Mearns' favorite roles and it shows. She is thrilling in this, particularly the final series of turns which she really threw herself into, gaining glorious speed as she went across the stage. Janzen was debuting as her partner in this role and seemed to struggle in his final solo and just not really be in form. I've been noticing in recent seasons how Erica Peiera is growing as a dancer years after her IMO premature promotion, she had some lovely jumps. The corps was mostly apprentices and junior corps members and they looked a bit under-rehearsed. Someone fell pretty hard (I think Dominika, who I can recognize from On Pointe) and someone else I couldn't recognize had a bit in the finale where she was doing different steps than everyone else (smoothly, just the wrong steps). Still love this ballet even when some of the cast is not at their best. Unanswered Question: An interesting little oddity. The opening movement in which the ballerina is held aloft by 4 male corps dancers, advancing towards the main male dancer who is both reaching for her and retreating from her is quite striking but I found that even within the six or so minutes the choreography was repetitive. It's not a wholly satisfying ballet to me and I think Balanchine works with some similar choreography and motifs more powerfully elsewhere (Serenade, Agon, etc) But glad to have seen it again after many years. Moves: So much here to take in with Robbins choreography. I love the references to calisthenics and yoga in the choreography, the pointe percussion, and all the side profile corps arrangements. Emilie Gerrity very strong in the main female solo role. Slaughter on Tenth Avenue: I always find this fun and they've updated it with a pandemic gag: after the gunman hides his gun under his hat and is about to take his seat, he puts on a KN95. Got the biggest laugh of any of the jokes. Teresa was pitch-perfect as Striptease Girl as always and seemed to be having a lot of fun in one of what's sadly one of her last performances.

Given the tightening restrictions just announced in the UK last week performing to live London audiences in December seems VERY optimistic, but good luck to them!

At this point I will be shocked if ABT performs at the Met in the spring. Even if they COULD perform there to a live audience due to gathering restrictions being lifted, I have trouble imagining a large enough percentage of their audience (which like opera’s skews older) would be willing to attend to make it worthwhile. I miss live ballet so much, but can’t envision attending a performance next spring myself with everything we now know about indoor aerosol transmission.

Very happy to see this crop of promotions! I am not a Lane fan at all, but I do feel sorry for her fans who won’t be able to give her the send-off they surely wish to.

Yes they have had one for at least ten years if not longer. The proceeds from the sale of the dancers’ autographed pointe shoes and slippers fund it. I don’t recall them ever publicly fundraising for it in the past, but recently Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside have been encouraging those watching their live-streamed classes to donate.

Skylar and Irina and Max could definitely be “liking” it to say “hey you jerk we saw this”. A like is not always a like. For someone who self-professes to be such a woman of faith and virtue Sarah sure seems to sling a lot of mud at her colleagues and have some pretty hateful heroes.

Wow. I don’t follow lane on Instagram but went to look at that post after you referenced it here. Posting a long caption beginning “the greatest examples are those who have the courage to live in humility, who do not need to be puffed up...” on the day of Herman’s big anniversary extravaganza certainly seems like some serious shade directed at her former dance partner. Have to say I don’t think that was very classy or gracious of her, regardless of the current state of her feelings towards Herman.

Wonderful tribute to Herman tonight. I know that his physique doesn’t make him an ideal Apollo, but I enjoyed him in the role. I think he performed it adroitly and confidently—for me, it worked. Misty, Skylar, and Cassandra were all good as muses. The tango with Erica was short, but high on charisma and panache. It was a lot of fun to see Herman dance tango, especially with Erica and especially knowing how sentimental this piece is for him (he first came to ABT to perform it with Erica at an Argentinian cultural event and asked to take class with ABT, this kicking off his connection to the company). He and Erica were both fabulous and full of energy. I grant that Ghosts is not Tharp’s best work, and I seem to be in the minority here, but I really enjoyed it. It’s a PERFECT vehicle for Herman, with ample opportunity to appreciate his refinement, his charisma, his wit, speed, turns, and leaps. He had a manège that was just breathtaking, and a pirouette series that could truly be described as thrilling. It really felt like a love letter from Twyla, highlighting all Herman’s gifts in a major way. I agree with @ABT Fan that there’s no one else in the current male roster I can imagine pulling it off. I can see different dancers doing bits of it well, but no one doing the whole. What a credit to Herman’s artistry that is. Royal and Hurlin particularly stood out of a very strong Ghosts cast, Royal for his elegant hands and arms and Hurlin for her strength and speed (aptly named “greased lightning” in the program). Shevchenko also looked great, and Hoven made a strong case for why he should really pick up some of those TBA slots in the spring.

Yes, I think Hoven and Ahn are similar heights. I don't think lack of a suitable partner is what is holding Sarah back. It seems like her problem is more that she isn't a favorite of Kevin's or in demand as a partner (at least from the male principals like Cornejo who have influence on who they dance with). She seems to have similar issues to those Veronika Part had--not broadly liked by her peers or by management, and it certainly seems to impact casting.

I'm pretty excited for this season! Last season there were no ballets I wanted to see multiple performances of, due to casting, but this season there are several where I'll definitely attend multiple performances. I'll be heart-broken to see Stella retire, of course, but I'm glad she's going out properly feted and getting to dance some great roles like Giselle and Juliet. Hopefully we'll also be graced with a Lilac Fairy and some appearances in the mixed bills and in Of Love and Rage. I'd have loved to see her one last time in Ashton's Cinderella, but oh well. Very much looking forward to Shevchenko/Royal/Hurlin's Giselle debuts, and to Hurlin as Aurora and Gamzatti. Also THRILLED Kimin Kim is coming back for Bayadère, a ballet he's phenomenal in. And seeing Osipova as Giselle and Juliet will be a treat. I'm glad to see the guest stars being judiciously balanced with opportunities for soloists and corps dancers. I echo those lamenting that Blaine Hoven hasn't gotten anything major, though I expect he'll show up in the mixed bills and the new Ratmansky. I'm glad Jane Eyre is back, but I wish we were seeing some Jane debuts rather than the same dancers from last season.

That’s wonderful news!! Well-deserved. She danced wonderfully this tour.

Saw the matinee today with the divine Tereshkina! A few last minute changes: Yekaterina Chebykina performed act I as Christina but then Maria Shirinkina subbed in for the last two acts. Maria Illiushkina also subbed for May Nagahisa in the act III pavlova in king candaules variation. This was my first time seeing Paquita and I was nervous I’d be really disappointed I’d made the trip down to DC after reading people’s reactions here! Though it’s not my new favorite ballet, I really enjoyed it for what it was. Would I rather have seen La Bayadère? Yes. But opportunities to see the Mariinsky are rare for me sadly and I’m glad I came. Tereshkina brought fireworks, as expected, but I also really enjoyed two new-to-me corps dancers. First, Maria iliushkina who did the best of the act III variations after Tereshkina in the pavlova in king candaules one. She has a lovely, lyrical, floating quality and her balances were beautiful. I also really enjoyed lira khuslamova as the widow. It’s a small role, but she made a lot of it with her gorgeous poet de bras and the air of stately grief she brought to it. Though Paquita has a silly plot and no real emotional weight, I did appreciate all the substantial solos that gave me the opportunity to see soloists shine, particularly Shirinkina and Shakirova. Was just reading above that this was the first time the Mariinsky has toured here with kids and I’m glad they did—they were a highlight for me. I was so impressed by their refinement and coordination with one another, doing MUCH harder choreography than I’ve ever seen similarly aged kids from ABT or NYCB or the Royal Ballet do. They were really great. I wish I had the chance to see Tereshkina more often. She just sparkled. She always radiates this strength and absolute technical security. So, even though Paquita may not be a fabulous ballet in its own right, more than happy I got to see this performance.