CTballetfan

Has anyone read this just published book by Zoe Anderson? If so, what did you think? How does it differ from Jennifer Homan's book?

Sounds like she's up for the challenge to turn around another arts organization with problems and be a dynamic successful fundraiser. More power to her. Many people on this board feel that there are real challenges on the artistic side of ABT and now that Moore, who administered the organization with integrity and skill, is leaving, that compounds the problems. Any successor needs time to make his or her mark so it may be rocky going at ABT for awhile. I've spoken with her a few times and I like her and wish her well.

I would just like to add that anyone who thinks Gillian Murphy dances harshly and not soft, should have seen this performance of Juliet. I have not been so moved and invested in a performance since Vishneva's Manon. Stunningly beautiful dancing and acting.

I think Gillian has become my favorite ABT dancer

Also hats off to Isadora Loyola, who really shone as one of the harlots.

Yes Gillian is my favorite ABT dancer too!

And a season that's finally free of the floopity-flopity Julie-Kent-vehicle drivel (i.e. Othello, Lady of the Camellias, Onegin, Merry Widow, etc.)!

I would like to see Manon, Onegin, or Lady of the Camellias b/c IMO they are great dance drama when led by a superb dramatic dancer like Julie Kent in her prime. Usually there is one such ballet during the season. I have seen them all, some multiple times with different leads. Who will be the next Alessandra Ferri to perform Manon? Certainly not a rent-a-Russian ballerina. I think they need to start training some of their promising young dancers to be able to interpret these roles. It will take time and effort but down the line it will be worth it.

I just went on to the new website and to my dismay discovered that you cannot self-select your seats. You select the section and price and they select your seats. No one likes this. I will have to call and ask what seats are available. A real pain. It used to be done this way and only served to frustrate buyers. At these prices you should be able to select your seats from those that are available.

Thank you all for your comments and recommendation. I hope to get there!

In the first act of SL last spring (2014) Gillian was very passionate. I was completely carried away-- enough to think that it was the best interpretation I had seen in recent years. She had everything! And then she was injured and Hee Seo came on for Act II and my heart sank. I may wait till the last minute and if there is no advance notice that Gillian is replaced I might come in. Still want to see her in Act II.

Thanks, Drew, for your helpful analysis. I'll check out the Royal Ballet clips of Cinderella on YouTube before I decide. Wish I could see both ballets but two weeks in a row is too much given that it takes nearly 2 hours each way on the train.

I'm debating whether to come in for Cinderella (which I have not seen) or Swan Lake, my favorite full-length ballet. Last year I had tickets for the ill-fated SL performance in which Gillian injured herself after performing a spectacular first act and was quickly replaced in Act II by Hee Seo. Not the same level at all. Do you think Cinderella compares in any way to SL? I know it's a comic ballet. Do you think it's worth seeing? Are any announced casts preferable? Or should I try again to see Gillian and Marcelo in SL and hope there are no cast changes before the performance. It will be getting late in the season, the dancers are tired and overworked, and anything can happen. Your advice would be helpful.

Sorry---my reply to choriamb did not get into my post. Still getting the hang of how to do this. What I wanted to say is that I agree with choriamb about the NYCB dancers. They start out with terrific talent-- all the basics and each brings her own grace and style-- but frequent performing of that role seasons and deepens the artistry of their performance. Case in point: a few years ago Sterling Hyltin was an inexpressive Juliet and Odette/Odile. I felt as if I were watching a school production with her carrying these ballets. And yet.....I knew the germ of a mature interpretation was in there when she would grow into the role. Now IMO she is a strong interpreter of both roles--and so many more roles as many of you have pointed out this season. Time and opportunity to perform each role can bring a dancer to his or her potential if she/he has the goods to begin with. So should we give KM the benefit of the doubt with Hee Seo as choriamb suggests? Throw her into the same role over and over to deepen her artistry? I think the jury's still out on that one.

Totally agreed.

Setting aside any casting conflicts and partner height and language requirements which might also support the use of Seo, there's one other reason why McKenzie might have chosen her: he thinks that a promising but incomplete artist would benefit from a heavy dose of stage time in these roles at this early point in her career. He's not favoring her: he's sending her to bootcamp.

After all, the retiring ABT ballerinas specifically mentioned the difficulty of improving in roles that one performs only once a year in the Washington Post article mentioned in other threads. It may be less-than-ideal for us in the audience, but McKenzie has few other ways to foster his artists. There's no substitute for stage time.

It's easy to forget that one reason the current generation of NYCB ballerinas is so good is that many gained an disproportionate amount of stage time at a key point in their careers in the wake of a huge talent drain in the mid-to-late '00s (Meunier, Korbes, Ansanelli, Sylve, Weese). As good as Sterling Hyltin looks in many roles now, it took every minute of six years after reaching principal status for her to begin commanding the stage (and she was dancing the cream of the repertory the entire time). Likewise, as much as I love Maria Kowroski, I don't want to see her in anything in which she hasn't logged at least two seasons: would she be as good as she has become in much of the Farrell repertory if she had been sharing the roles with more dancers? Even a quick study like Ashley Bouder is routinely criticized for being too harshly energetic in her first performances in NYCB's full-length productions (Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty) whenever they swing into the repertory--all of which is equally routinely smoothed away by her second performance. What would her performances be like if she had only one per season?

Just thinking the same thing. Why not a woman for the job?

If KM is mainly a fundraiser, what does Rachel Moore do? Isn't there a development department at ABT?

Thank you to those of you who filmed both farewells. Heartwarming. So sorry to have missed their final performances but "almost there" vicariously thru the videos. Yes the dancers love them both, and although both were gracious to KM, they could not be effusive toward him. But boos from the audiences--totally inappropriate. The Met is not the bleachers at Yankee Stadium!

Murphy is the kind of dancer I'd want to see in anything she wants to dance.

Ditto! For my taste she is ABT's greatest asset. I love her in everything she does.

Thank you all for the correction and to you, Califonia, for checking out the review. I guess I was so shocked I didn't remember whom he was talking about!

I reread AM's review to be sure I didn't give him short shrift in this post. Based on what posters have said who attended Stella's performance, I think he got it right. What he seems to like about Boylston is her buoyant jumps, which others have also praised. But he didn't like her hair. This is not the first time he has criticized a dancer's hair. I'll never forget my shock when in a review several years ago he said that David Hallberg flying through the air, his long blond hair waving, looked like a member of the Hitler Youth.

Thank you all for sharing this magical evening with those of us who could'nt be there. And thanks especially for the link to the YouTube clip of the curtain calls. I hope Stella will get many more leading roles!

I agree with Amour, center orchestra seats are the best, preferably no closer than row J. Although the last 3 years my subscription seats were center orchestra rows E, F, and G but the slope upward does not start until about Row M so if you are short like me you have to hope that the person sitting in front of you is not too tall. I also think rear orchestra is fine, but bring your opera glasses. I don't like sitting in the upper decks-- I like to see the expressions on the dancers' faces. Have a fabulous time at the ballet!

As to the glitterati parading up and down the aisles, at the 4 or 5 gala performances I attended in the last few years, I agree--they are mostly interested in the gala and themselves, not the dancing. But the crowd has been getting noticeably younger. Many 20 and 30 something's all decked out and on display than in earlier years. Sorry to have had to miss it this year. It's always fun.

All of these cast changes, and overloading one dancer to cover so many of the vacated ballerina roles, reinforces my decision this year not to take a subscription. You study the casting before you select the ballets and casts you want to see, but you know that chances are that maybe half of your cast choices will not dance and that substitutes you enjoy less will be given the roles. Big disappointment. It seems as if disaster is dogging this company. From the mess-up with Herrera's farewell appearance to the injuries and cast changes today, the company seems unstable and the leadership rickety. What a comedown from a great ballet company. I am looking forward to the responses on this board from those who attend tonight's gala. Will it be a triumphant evening showcasing the best of American ballet or an embarrassment?

This large (200 box) collection will be a major cultural resource. It makes sense that it reside in the Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia, where materials from the Dance Theater of Harlem are housed. The press release did not state whether the collection was donated or whether Columbia purchased it. The Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Columbia has purchased many important collections in all fields over the years and has one of the finest manuscript collections in academia. As an acquisitions editor I had the privilege of working with the staff there on a few collections that the publishing company I worked for microfilmed for preservation and planned to digitize, including the Alexander Gumby Collection of African-American culture. I wonder whether the $800,000 grant to process and catalog the collection will include digitization. That, in my opinion, should be the ultimate goal, so that researchers do not have to travel to the campus to research the materials. If properly done, the entire collection would then be searchable, making academic research easy. Other major universities, Harvard in particular, have set as their goal digitizing their rare book and manuscript collections and making them available to off-site researchers. Imagine being able to see the rare dance footage in the Mitchell collection on your computer or iPad (no YouTube necessary). A very exciting development!

I hope ABT announces the fall dates and program soon. Last fall I saw them at the Koch and the company looked so good on that stage. Alive and vital and accomplished. The mixed bill was perfect for that venue and showed the dancers to their best advantage. Perhaps they will continue the 75th anniversary celebration and bring back more of their best loved pieces--as you said, Push Comes to Shove and other signature pieces. No full length clunkers with heavy, cumbersome costumes, distracting wigs, and lots of strutting and not enough dancing. And maybe no rent-a-dancers! One can only hope. I'm excited thinking about it! The night I attended, Rachel Moore spoke to the audience and said how happy the company was to return to this stage after 37 years! It is the best venue for dance in NYC.

Today's digital version of the NY Times reports that tonight's edition of 60 Minutes on CBS will carry a feature on Misty, her childhood struggles and rise to soloist at ABT. If there are people in this country who don't follow ballet (and there are many), but do watch this always top 10-rated TV program, they too will now know her story. After this nationwide exposure, how can she not be promoted to principal?

What are we to make of the new video promo for La Sylphide? Reminds me of a Gothic mystery, complete with ghost. I too would rather have seen a snippet of dancing.