CTballetfan

Forgot to mention Sara Mearns in Symphony in C second movement at the Saturday matinee. Beautiful and ardent. The quality I most value in a ballerina is the ability to convey a sense of inner depth, something otherworldly, transcendent, transporting... ??? Obviously, I can't fully describe this quality in words. If anyone else knows what I'm talking about it and can describe or define it, I'd love to hear it. I see this quality in Mearns, Kowroski, and Veronika Part. It is the quality that I most hope they can develop in the younger dancers.

Yes the three adjectives you used--otherworldly, transcendent, transporting--are what I look for too and seldom find. But those ballerinas who convey these qualities in a particular performance leave the viewer with an indelible memory that can last for many years. And that's why we go to the ballet--to hopefully be transported to the realm of art and forget about the everyday world. It's the same in great music and literature. This season's posts on this board tell me that many of you found that moment in a number of spectacular performances by NYCB ballerinas.

I just saw this and thought it rather fantastic:

http://www.mycoloures.com/2016/02/misty-copeland-recreates-iconic-edgar.html#axzz3zo4UudcE

Pretty spectacular and expensive to stage, with gorgeous costumes and background figures to match. I was reminded, however, of Tiler Peck's portrayal of Degas's Little Dancer last year and the exquisitely beautiful pose she struck as the dancer. I'll have to read the article to see the reason for the project of Misty as a Degas dancer.

When I was a teenager one of the first ballets I saw at NYCB was Verdy in The Firebird and I was totally blown away by her performance. I knew I had just seen something incredible. I remember it still. If this is professional ballet, I thought, I want lots more.

I loved the young man from South Africa. Both his classical (from Fille) and his contemporary pieces were amazing.

Yes I agree with Kaysta. He has so much talent, energy and personality. I ended up watching the whole thing and he won a bunch of prizes, including audience favorite. Madison took second place and a scholarship to Houston Ballet. Love to see her at NYCB in the future.

Thanks, California, for this link. I watched all the classical pieces and some of the self-choreographed ones. This was a real treat for me. A few of the dancers really stand out for their technical skills, musicality, and personality. To put a word in for the American dancer, Madison Young, she looks like she could fit in right now in the NYCB corps--I loved that she communicated not just the steps but a true feeling for the role. Go Madison!

It's hard to believe he would be satisfied with just the LA Dance Project after leading one of the world's major companies. Would he be a candidate to return to NYCB as artistic director after Martins? That sounds like a good fit because of the constant infusion of new choreographers.

What a shame about the extravagance of the costumes and the failure of the dance because of it. I have been privileged to see only one J. Peck ballet, Year of the Rabbit, which was so refreshing, innovative and playful and had simple costumes that showcased the choreography, and I loved it. I saw excerpts of Everywhere We Go with the perfect costumes by Janie Taylor, and Rodeo, also with costumes that enhanced the choreography, and I hope Mr. Peck will get back to his real gift-- wonderful, contemporary takes on classic choreography where the costumes and scenery (if there is any) complement rather than detract from the dance. This whole discussion reminds me of the discussion on this board of the wigs in ABT's Sleeping Beauty.

I am blown away by this teaser trailer for The Most Incredible Thing! Can't wait to hear all your reviews of the piece. Incredible costumes.

The only benefit to the select-your-own series, other than to see only the performances you want, is to lock in the price per ticket. If you don't expect to have to exchange your ticket, then it's a good deal. They begin to hike the prices for the most popular performances when single tickets go on sale and keep hiking them as the season progresses and tickets to the most coveted performances become fewer.

Does ABT do a choose your own subscription like NYCB? In the past, I've never subscribed and only ordered single tickets so I could pick out my seat, but it would be nice to have the ability to exchange, should it become Hee Seo Ballet Theatre again this year (even though I really do like Seo in some things!) Right now, they are only offering by day, but it would be easier if I could just pick and choose the casts I'd like to see instead of exchanging a bunch of performances.

Two years ago, I did a select-your-own series. This was made available I believe after the close of the standard series sales and before tickets for individual performances were open to the public. But check with the box office.

I just saw the ad in the Times and the credit is to Devon Teuscher and Pauline Waski.

I've been trying to refrain from posting after watching this mockery of dance but I feel impelled to ask why??? Especially why Ethan Steifel got involved in it. Better quickly forgotten by all!

Very excited to see this performance and Ethan's choreography. I think he has been teaching the male company members recently and I too second the hope that he will be the next artistic director!

Yes a real treat to see this performance in live streaming from Yale. Even though the stage was miniscule she and her partner managed to transform it with their artistry. But the subtitles on the video were unreadable on my device and all I caught were the names of the ballerinas. Also my reception was not good, which detracted from the experience. But thank you, Yale, for providing not only the program, but the streaming for those of us who did not want to get there at least two hours ahead to snare the free tickets. I live 10 minutes from campus and I appreciate the varied cultural opportunities the university provides for the community.

Yes the lectures are free and open to the public, as per the notice from the Yale music school. I don't have the link but check on the music school webpage.

Lovely! They have both always been my favorite dancers and after many years together, I am very happy to hear that they married. If they are planning on a family, I better hurry up this spring season to catch Gillian -- to my mind she has been the best American classical ballerina for at least the last 5 years and she is still at the top of her game.

Thank you, California, for the video. I think I'll live on my memories of Ferri as Manon at ABT, maybe 2007 or 2008, the most breathtaking dramatic ballet performance I've ever seen, before or since. Somehow I can't picture her as a 14-year-old Juliet. Even some of the ballerinas 15-20 years younger than she have trouble investing the character with the innocence called for in the role. But I would love to see Stella do it-- I think she can pull it off.

Sadly, no mention of a Push Comes to Shove revival. A few TBAs, but that seems like the sort of thing that would be highlighted. Perhaps Tharp wouldn't approve. Perhaps Ratmansky thought it was a bad fit for the company at this point in its history. Perhaps the likely leads (Cornejo & Simkin) balked. After Cornejo did an excerpt last year (was that at the 2015 gala?), I thought we'd be seeing the entire ballet. Guess not.

Plenty of other interesting things, though, so it all depends on casting, at least for me.

Yes, sorry no Twyla Tharp, esp. Push.. I'm old enough to remember Baryshnikov in this and how amazed I was by the choreography, music, and dancing. It would have been nice to acknowledge Tharp's 50- year anniversary this year with her.

At last we have some news to talk about re ABT! Right way I read the two reviews of RDB's The Golden Cockerel provided as links by BAers--thank you both. Costumes look gorgeous and I expect it is a glorious spectacle. Tempting. I'm glad to see Sylvia back-- I saw it with Gillian Murphy when it was last performed and would want to see her again. My not so fond most recent viewing of Fille was at the Paris Opera House 3 summers ago when all but the soloists and corps had decamped for their Lincoln Center performances-- so disappointing. Although we were grandly seated in center orchestra seats and struck up a conversation with a family of four visiting from Australia who were dressed to the nines for the occasion, by the time the chickens danced in Act I we all decided we'd had enough and vacated our block of seats at the end of the act. I am hoping Stella will be cast as Juliet--it would be worth sitting through this long ballet to see her. Looking forward to everyone else's comments on the announced ballets.

Thank you, volcano hunter, I don't feel so bad now!

I went online at 12:03 pm yesterday, just as the box office opened and discovered that there were hardly any orchestra tickets to the high demand fall performances--the evenings with five new ballets and the Oct 11 Sunday matinee farewell performance for Somogyi. This leads me to think that they did a bang up subscription business this year. In the end I opted for seats to my favorite ballet, Jewels, for spring, and even there, there was not much to choose from. If we have a mild winter I'll get tickets at the last minute for the new ballets during the winter season. Very difficult to get from central Connecticut to NYC in snow. One more comment--is it my imagination or have the extra fees tacked on to the ticket price increased? I bought two tickets to a single performance and was charged $6 plus $15 for the privilege. The same thing happened last week when I purchased 2 tickets for a fall performance to ABT-- $6 plus $14 for buying over the Internet. i understand the $6 fee, but what about the $14 or $15 fee? Has this always been standard?

Nice that they announced the casting early (the casting for Bard in October has not been announced). I had already purchased tickets for the November 1 matinee and am pleased with the casting of Brahms-Haydn because I have not seen Lendorf and Kochetkova before, and Gillian, my favorite ABT dancer, is scheduled as well. Here's hoping no replacements are needed.

My experience with create-your-own series is the same as KarenAG's. The box office was accommodating and offered me exact seating in different sections (all the same price) for all the performances, so my seats were locked in on the phone call.

That was absolutely lovely. I enjoyed hearing Megan talk about all those aspects of preparing for her show and how she keeps in shape to be ready to return to ballet. Thanks for the link.

If the past is an indicator, the $29 tickets go on sale on Aug. 2 as well. Not sure if 3 performances qualify for subscriber privileges. Maybe someone else does.