alexL

I'm glad that it isn't a serious injury! I guess he pulled from next week's performances to have enough recovery time.

Herman's character will be danced by Jeffery Cirio on next Tuesday's Whipped Cream. I was hoping the injury is minor but I guess not... After the 3rd act pas de deux his walking posture looked a bit awkward and slow. He took some extra time to exit from the stage...and that was the only sign of injury I could see. Once again, I thought he was just tired after the exciting first 2 acts. I wish the best for his recovery. Simkin's portrayal or Basilio isn't as natural as Herman's but he did all of his duties plus some extra tricks. His jumps and turns were excellent as always (he finished the 3rd act variation with 3 540s in a row AFTER a series of barrel turns) I was also impressed by how he maintains his back flexibility. Simkin may look young but he is turning 30 this year! Bella was such a strong partner and she can pretty much support herself. Simkin had surprisingly easy time performing the one hand lifts because Bella was able to maintain her position like nothing. In comparison, Lendorf had a harder time with the lift because Christine couldn't quite position herself up in the air (Lendorf didn't have this issue when he was partnering Murphy few years back). Despite Simkin's technical excellence and much improved partnering skill, I still think Herman is the best Basilio with ABT. I won't elaborate anymore since everything has been said by others! Plus, this is just my personal preference but Herman had the softest port de bras out of all 4 Basilios I saw (Cirio, Lendorf, Simkin, Cornejo). I usually like Lendorf but he is way better in prince roles.

Very excited about Abrera, Gomes, Murphy casting on Giselle. I'm also happy for Shevchenko, Teuscher and Lane for their debuts! It's a little surprising to see Brandt not being casted for Kitri though... I think those tba slots are reserved for Hallberg but who knows...

Also, I'm pretty sure everyone knows this news by now but Semionova is pregnant. I doubt that she will be returning for the ABT Spring seoson.

Oops, my mistake. Thank you for correcting me. I don't know why but I felt like I was seeing R&J pretty much every year in recent years... but then I also remember seeing Vishneva and Gomes in Manon (I believe it was her 10 year anniversary performance with ABT). What's wrong with my memory. Did Tereshkina and Smirnova performed as Nikiya with ABT that year as well? I remember their performances but I'm not sure which year it was. I would be great if Tereshkina and Shklyarov visit ABT once more. If the app's prediction is correct, then ABT will bring R&J once more this year. Last year they posted about the Spring season on October 23rd so we only have a few more days to find out!

Romeo and Juliet has been on their repertory every year since at least 5 years ago.

Same here. In fact, most New York audiences that I've spoken with felt the same way. There was a delayed applause when the curtain went down because everyone was confused whether the ballet had ended or not.

I agree with mimsyb about almost everything. I've been to Friday and Saturday mat so far (planning to go back tomorrow again)and the biggest reaction from the crowd came when "The Tree" was presented on stage. Just breathtaking. Someone said that this ballet heavily depends on ensemble's chemistry and now I understand why. I felt that Friday's cast interacted with each other much better, especially during the dramatic trial scene. Choreography wise, I thought that pas de deux were quite decent while solo dances could've been choreographed better (perhaps except King Leontes' solo in Act 1). Lunkina owned the role of Paulina but I wish I could've seen her dance more..She looked way too comfortable in this ballet and I felt that she had a lot more dance in her. I'd love to see Lobsanova in a classical role.

Thank you for the video! Kolegova looks lovely in the video although I feel the music is a bit slow... Is Kolegova petite? She looks quite short in all the videos but she looks average height in photographs.. It seems like short dancers like Osmolkina and Novikova are being overlooked in Mariinsky... Has it always been like this? All current principals at Mariinsky are very tall except Vishneva who is somewhat petite. Maybe Shapran will be promoted one day because of her height? I'm not saying she isn't qualified- it seems like being a good performer isn't enough to move up the rank at Mariinsky. This is just my opinion though.

I'm glad that Lendorf will be in the City! Hopefully his name doesn't suddenly disappear from the roster right before the seasons starts.

Forgot to say that I was referring to Cirio. Believe me, I very much appreciated his dancing this season but he still needs more coaching IMO. I thought ABT would nurture him so that he can take over some of Cornejo's roles but I really didn't expect him to be promoted this quickly. Now I'm starting to wonder whether Cornejo is retiring in near future.... Maybe AD knows something we are unaware of.

This is puzzling. I do appreciate his dances but let's be honest- he isn't Angel Corella or Ethan Stiefel.

I forgot to mention Brandt and Teauscher who performed wonderfully throughout this season. Teauscher in particular has been very consistent this season. I really enjoyed her as flower girl and Gulnare. Neither dancers are that great at acting just yet but I'm sure they will make some improvements once they get more experience on stage and proper coaching.

Don't forget about Lendorf! He's a better partner than any dancers (Scott, Simkin, Salstein, etc) mentioned above and can dance the bravura roles very well. He can actually partner up with Murphy so she will finally get a partner who is as good as she... other than Marcelo of course. Also he's still 26-27. I just hope that his inclusion to ABT is still permanent after his injury break.

If ABT can't train the world class dancers, then they might as well start importing the stars to keep their audience. Or else, they better start giving their dancers better coaching because non of them are attracting enough audiences except maybe Bolle and Vishneva. Gillian is a wonderful dancer but almost all her shows I attended were sold poorly with the exception of Swan Lake. Also, if they want to recruit someone outside ABT, that someone better be an actual star. Recruiting Osipova and Vasiliev made sense to me. I was glad when Lendorf joined ABT but then he became injured... If ABT does perform La Fille again next year, I will definitely see him as Colas! Plus, he can actually partner up with a female dancer who's as tall as him.

I remember alot of people laughing during Simkin's portryal of dying Mercutio. Then no one really laughed when Scott was performing the same scene the other night. I dont remember how they reacted to Salstein but they probably didn't laugh as much as they did during Simkin's performance. Seems like that Russian style of acting is perceived as campy in US.

I remember Gorak and Lane in the Nutcracker. My friend was genuinly worried for Lane's safety whenever he did overhead lift. I'm afraid his partnering skill still hasn't improved much since then. I guess he will need a few more seasons to hone his skill to become a good partner. Stearns needed 5-6years to become reliable and even now he still makes me nervous at times (he almost dropped Murphy during a pas de deux in La fille and I was sitting close enough to see the moment of terror on Murphy's face)

Waski stands out to me even when she's standing on the background and I hope she gets more soloist opportunity. She also seems quite tall! The current soloists can be great in roles like Aurora, Giselle, Nikiya, or Juliet but just not as Odette.

Seems like they've given up on grooming the next great Swan Queen... I believe this is one role that requires tall pricipal dancers... or maybe that's just my preference. However, they will have many promising Kitris in near future! I also hope they can renew their DonQ production. I have a question unrelated to this subject-didn't ABT perform Jewels many many years ago? It's not on my wishlist because I'm happy with NYCB's performace but I just want to know whether my memory is correct... I am pretty sure that ABT performed it about 8 yrs ago or something... or not. Maybe I'm mistaken!

I wasn't very impressed by Part when I saw her back in 2009 but I changed my mind this week. Other than Part I don't really have any favorite for Odette. I like Gillian as Odile but not as Odette. I know many people will hate me for saying this but I never liked her port de bras in SL. To me, the gold standard is Nina and no one on current ABT roaster comes close to her.

I thought Veronika did 30...plus a double turn at the end that didn't come out clean. Maybe I was counting wrong. Her 32 fouettes were better executed when she danced Medora 2 weeks ago. I know she can pull it off when she's on... unlike Seo who never seems to go past 26-28. Whether she did 28 or 30 turns I thought she was just exquisite especially in the white adagio. Her arms can speak themselves! I brought my non-ballet fan friend with me and even she said the same thing. Part did look a little tired after her Odile variation but she still didn't make any jarring mistakes. After seeing 4 performances in a row, I can say that Part is the best swan ABT has to offer at the moment. Whiteside did his duty of supporting her really well. Other than those fudged turns in 1st Act he was technically fine. Marcelo's interpretation of von Rothbart has changed throughout the years and I think he really owns this role now. It's sad that he only performs the role once this year. I even prefer him as von Rothbart than Siegfried!

Well, to me the best Ali will always be Corella. I still don't understand why he retired so early. I too plan to travel to Philly to see Corsaire...

According to her instagram, Gillian's tutu actually belongs to Dvorovenko. In fact, it is handmade by Irina's mom! While Cirio is still an excellent Ali on his own right, I still think Simkin is the strongest Ali in current ABT. Vasiliev is also a great Ali but I'd prefer him in other roles simply because his partnering is way too good to not be displayed. Besides, he can always pull out his "inner Ali" no matter which role he performs. I would see him perform in almost any role, really.

Well, it seems like at least Osipova and Polunin will be in NY in Nov 10-12. I'll be very sad if Mikhailovsky does skip NY this year because Levedev is the reason why I joined this forum! He was stunning as Albrecht.

Yes- I think the only time that I felt Conrad and Ali were equal was when I saw Vasiliev dancing Conrad 3-4 year ago. (Simkin was the equally impressive Ali) I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I've always liked Ali much more than Conrad because of those showy tricks.... I've also seen Cornejo in La Fille and he was thousand times a better Colas than Stearns for many obvious reasons. Really, the only difference from last season is his jump. This is my 5th time seeing his performance during this season (Sylvia, Ratmansky trilogy, twice in La Fille and Le Corsaire) and his jumps have been consistently "average" for his standard. As you can tell, I'm also his huge fan and I just hope he isn't injured or anything. Maybe he's reserving his body for the big R&J night with Ferri...