alexL

Just simple chaine turns and an arabesque balance+some posing at the end to fill the music. I think her free leg looked a little better tonight than in that Youtube video that went viral. To be honest her aggressive and jerky port de bras in Act 3 was more distracting than the lack of fouettes(think of the broadway port de bras of the NYCB dancers in their version of "Swan Lake")

I had written a lengthy review about Copeland/Cornejo then my phone somehow blew the entire thing. I'm too tired to rewrite the whole thing but simply put, while Copeland performed better than I had expected I still don't think she deserves 2 slots of SL. Cornejo still has his skills and his epaulement superior to Whiteside's. In case anyone is wondering Copeland did a series of chaines instead of the fouettes. She didn't have the stamina to keep up her speed until the end. Given her history maybe this was the better option. This evening's Pas de trois(Cirio, Lane, Brandt) was way superior to the matinee's(Royal, Giangaruso and Fang). Cirio, Lane and Brandt are over qualified for this-Brandt even did entrachat quatres in her solo. Lane looked lovely with her soft port de bras and effortless footwork. Very sad to see Cirio leave- hopefully he'll get to dance the principal roles more often at ENB.

Shevchenko brought the house down with her technical mastery in the 3rd act. She perfectly performed the 32 fouettes alternating some doubles, triples, a la seconde turns followed by the fast singles then ending in a quadruple pirouette. The turns weren't out of sync with the music like Devon's 15 double pirouettes-Shevchenko was technically strong enough to change the speed of her pirouettes so that all her turns would look musical and perfectly in sync. Also her turns barely traveled on stage unlike Teuscher who traveled a lot to the stage left. The only problem for me was that she opened her mouth quite a bit during the black swan pas de deux. She didn't do it during her solo so I'm guessing she was just extra nervous during the pas. I do believe she deserves to be cast more like Teuscher as to me she is a more complete dancer both artistically and technically. I didnt mind Whiteside at all as Swan Lake is all about O/O. I can stomach a bad Sigfried but not vice versa. I happen to have a ticket for tonight's SL to see Cornejo but I am a little worried for Misty.

I'd say Brandt and Simkin did a very good job of making most of the limited rehearsal time(Just one minor note: Brandt has the habit of opening her mouth during the pas. It was particularly noticeable today and I do hope she fixes it in future) I didn't see any major partnering mistakes or mishaps in the solo variations. Simkin brought the house down with his jumpy variation in the 2nd Act. The matinee audiences showed lukewarm responses with tepid clapping until Simkin's solos(up to this point the biggest audience reaction came during the "death"of Harlequin which generated some genuine laughs). Brandt received moderate applause after her well executed solo(those hops made my feet hurt while watching. I wish I had the guts to shout bravos...) With Simkin I had no problem following his mime. His dramatic (and sometimes over the top) style of acting really worked well in this ballet. To me the most difficult part of the Harlequin's solo is the fact that he can't exit the stage after the taxing solo. Instead of bending down and have some air, he has too sit down on the stage left and maintain his posture throughout the Columbine solo.(think about the pas de deuxs in Bournonville's ballets) As everyone has mentioned the costumes are gorgeous. I'll be sitting closer on Friday so that I can observe them better.

Thanks everyone for the detailed reviews! I will be seeing Brandt/Simkin and Lane/Cirio this week. Seems like Simkin is a good fit for this role with his dramatic acting style and big jumps.

Actually Makarova version is easier one to perform compared to the other versions because the music ends earlier. In other versions Gamzatti has to do 20 something fouettes after the 6 Italian fouettes to fill the music. Here's a video of Irina Dvorovenko at age of 18 performing Gamzatti with the longer music. Back to the topic, I'm very excited to see 2 Harlequinade this week. If anyone is seeing Lane/Cirio tonight please leave a review. I'm seeing them on Friday.

Those are sissonne jumps. I rarely see dancers land it in perfect 5th nowadays.

I forgot to mention Catherine Hurlin. Her point shoes did not make a single noise after each landings and this rarely happens with the current ABT dancers. Loved her relaxed shoulders and easy footwork. I'd love to see her in the soloist roles more often.

Bouder/Gordon were great indeed. Such a contrasting style compared to Peck/de Luz. Gordon doesn't have de Luz's mind boggling jumps and turns but he has boyish charm that's suitable to the character. I can't believe that Bouder had never danced Swanilda until this week. Her Swanilda was a little more animated than Peck's. I wish I could've seen Hyltin because she has totally different stage presence compared to Peck and Bouder. I'm very looking forward to seeing tomorrow's triple bill and Laracey's debut in Concerto Barocco.

Trenary had the best Italian fouettes out of all 3 Gamzattis I've seen(Brandt, Murphy, Trenary). After seeing both Brandt and Trenary now I think Trenary is the better actress white Brandt is the better turner. Trenary didn't break her character throughout the pas and her solos whereas Brandt was visibly cautious throughout the Act1. Interestingly Trenary's Gamzatti wasn't aware of the snake in the basket- she was upset and confused for a moment until she realized the culprit was her father. Then she tentatively goes back to fetch Solor. This made her a more sympathetic character in the last act when Solor was accusing her of killing Nikiya. Ahn mostly did well considering this is his only 2nd Solor performance. It would be great if he can land the double tours smoother.

I'm looking forward to seeing Bouder and Gordon in this evening. Sadly it seeems like the corp haven't made any improvement since last Friday when I saw them. Sigh.

Seo was quite good today to my surprise. Is this my lucky day? I will have to see her in SL to find out. I didn't expect to see that lightening fast pique turns from her at the end of the Act2. Knowing her history I thought she might wobble at a random point but she did not. She held onto her legs as she went backward in arabesque hops then continued with some well executed chaines turns to exit. Her scarf variation went very well and she didn't fall off from her point!(She had to fudge one of the landings but she still was able to land in good 5th position) Her jumps and port de bras were never the issue and they were beautiful as usual. Whatever she's doing for her physical training, please keep on doing it. Everyone already have written about Kim's spectacular dancing. It's a pity that Kim only dances twice with ABT this year. He is a great Basilio and NY ballet fans deserves to see it live. Like other Russian guest male dancers in the past(ie Shyklyarov) he uses every corner of the huge MET stage. Murphy did made some technical mistakes(usually in turns where she almost came off pointe. she covered them well though) but I loved the nuisance in acting that comes from her experience (how she naturally handed her wedding crown over to Aya in Act 1 or how she walked towards Solor at the end of the 2nd Act). The corp in 2nd act was way better than Wed Evening. The shaky legs during the balances always happens and it wasn't as bad as the Wednesday performance. Lane's mistake was more visible one but Stephanie Williams actually had more problems throughout her variation. I also noticed her sickled foot and turned in legs. Shevchenko was the better one out of the 3 shades but she didn't do anything exceptional.

Ashley Hod fell badly at the end of today's Mozartiana. Not sure how she fell- I was looking at Schumacher(who performed wonderfully. I actually attended today's performance to see him in this role) then I heard her scream and realized she had fallen on stage. She was able to walked off from the stage by herself but it looked very painful. I really hope the injury isn't too serious... Because of Ashley's injury Emilie Gerrity substitued her part in Pulcinella Variations(the announcement incorrectly stated Unity Phelan will substitute). She literally just had her lipsticks on without the usual pancake foundation. Thank god she was available to step in last minute. Another substitution was Daniel Applebaum who stepped in for Joseph Gordon in Glass Pieces(I'm assuming he's saving his body for tomorrow's debut in Coppelia)Bravo to all the dancers who kept the show going after such a startling accident.

Another casting update(maybe I'm the only person who didn't notice this until now but here it goes...): SL on June 23rd matinee will be performed by Copeland and Cornejo instead of Simkin. I kind of saw this one coming though.

Tiler Peck's upper body was a little tense at moments especially in the first Act- although one does not go to NYCB to see the best epaulement. Her footworks were exquisite as always and her acting was so way better than last time I saw her in the same ballet(including her miming). Overall, a very good performance. Watching his performances, I can't believe de Luz will be retiring soon. I saw almost all of his performances during the Robbins festival and I still want to see more of his dancing!(his bittersweet smile at the end of his last DAAG made me shed some tears!) Speaking of epaulement, he always has relaxed shoulders unlike many of the NYCB dancers. Regarding the corp dancing- all corp members had different musical timing which made me think they lacked rehearsal time. Each individual executed steps nicely and non of them made any visible mistakes but they were all over the place at the same time.

An update on Harlequinade casting- Skylar Brandt will be dancing in place of Misty Copeland. That is June 6th mat and 9th eve. I also just realized that Simkin will be dancing with Boylston in Swan Lake on 19th and Aran Bell is dancing Rothbart on 22nd. Why didn't I see this before? Anyway, I happened to have June 6th ticket and am very excited to see the Brandt/Simkin pairing!

I was also at tonight's performance. I loved the risk Peck and De Luz took for those fish dives. The second one she almost got out of his arms and I loved it. I have seen Tiler many times in Tchai Pas but in terms of technicality tonight's was the best. Joaquin brought the house down with the huge jumps and excellent partnering. I also enjoyed Kowroski in Apollo and Hyltin(and pretty much everyone) in Symphony in Three. Lastly, I hope Finlay continues to work on his stamina. Regarding Lowery, I've seen her perform better than tonight. She was technically strong dancer at one point in her career then started to appear less and less on stage(possibly because of the injuries). It's a pity because I did enjoy her dancing when she was "on". I wish her the best for the rest of the spring season.

Emily Kikta and Reichlen are both 5'10"... although I think Kikta might be slightly taller. Miller is slightly shorter than that according to her.

It was Benjamin Millepied's. Kabuki? Really? It was a modern dance piece that has nothing to do with the traditional kabuki art form. Saburo Teshigawara is a very respected modern choreographer who's been active since 80's. If anything, he had studied ballet before becoming a choreographer so ballet has greater influence in his work than kabuki.

Katherine Williams will be dancing Myrta on May 17th and 19th instead of Paulina Waski.

Casting for week 2 is up.

Cuban National Ballet, NYCB, ABT and now this. Seems like I will have a very busy month in May. It's a pity Sarafanov won't be perform in Sleeping Beauty.

I would see Cornejo for sure. I'm actually seeing him in pretty much everything this year.

I've opted to not get Hallberg/Osipova ticket and decided to go to NYCB to see Dances at a Gathering instead which is performing on the same night.

Russell Janzen executed those steps way better than Finlay last week and he is taller than him. Also, I've seen Finlay heavily panting in the middle of the performance in several occasions. Maybe he just needs to learn how to distribute his stamina as a principal dancer. I for one would love to see Sonatine instead of 5 Duo Concertante! It's only 12-13 minutes long as well.