its the mom

Elizabeth recently posted this on Instagram. I think this is from a while back, but she is really delightful to watch. You can tell she loves what she is doing. https://www.instagram.com/p/BFrUOO-MR_6/

Gordon danced it at the Vail International Dance Festival last year. It wasn't the whole ballet, just the pas portion, but from pics, it looks as though he well-suited for the role.

I agree, Drew, the corps looked very happy and engaged. My only complaint was that it was a bit crowded at times. In fact, on Friday night, in the final corps dance, Sterling Baca, was hit in the face during the cartwheel sequence. He was visibly in pain during the rest of the dance, but did come out and finish. After, I was at the stage door, and I discovered that he had, in fact, broken his nose and was on his way to get it "re-set." I think it takes people a while to warm up to "La Fille." It is not the usual bravura dancing and the pas work is not the standard pas, male variation, female variation, coda with turns and fouettes. But it is one of the most difficult for the lead dancers to dance, or so I am told. It was quite awhile ago that Boston did this ballet. The first weekend, the ballet was poorly sold. But after the glowing reviews, the second weekend was a sell-out. With ABT's scheduling, this can be a problem. Additionally, I just wanted to mention that, for me, this was the best I have seen Boylston. It is very sad that so many of the shows were poorly sold. I am sure yesterday with Misty dancing and last night with Gillian's 20th anniversary performance, there was a bigger crowd.

While I do not begrudge any of the promotions, it really makes for a very top heavy company. http://www.bostonballet.org/company/dancers/dancers.html

We will miss Elizabeth Mateer in Pennsylvania. San Francisco is gaining a beautiful and dedicated dancer. I have watched her in many roles and have always been impressed.

I posted already, and I know there are very few Boston fans on BA, but last chance to see Swan Lake (Gonzalo Garcia is guesting) and to see the Mirrors program. "Belong" is worth the ticket price alone!

Actually Cirio is a pretty good turner. I follow him on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/9UtX_Cj_0B/?taken-by=jeffreycirio

I know that Leta will be wonderful in "Square Dance." Cannot wait to hear the reports.

Thanks for that background, volcanohunter. Although an older piece of choreography, for me, it was mesmerizing. I actually thought it would be my least favorite of the evening and it ended up being my favorite. Just a man and woman and dance - where have we heard that one before? I wanted to get to Boston to see it again, but I have not been able to do so.

We are nearing the end of the ballet season in Boston. I really enjoyed Swan Lake this time around, as I feel the dancers have really settled into their roles this year (this is a repeat from last year). The Smoke & Mirrors program is a mixed bag. I particularly liked "Belong," which was choreographed by Norbert Vesak for Evelyn Hart and David Peregrine. I believe they performed it in Varna to standing ovations and numerous curtain calls. I saw it on opening night with Eris Nezha and Lia Cirio. The audience went wild. Additionally, Yury Yanowsky, a former principal with the company, choreographed a ballet entitled, "Smoke & Mirrors," which uses innovative costumes for partnering. It's a good program to see.

It was interesting to watch the full first cast yesterday afternoon (Cirio replacing Cornejo). I felt there was more of a "conversation" going on rather than just one dancer performing after another. I would like to have seen Cornejo with his actual cast to see if the feeling was different, but I could not stay last night and I don't think I will get back for it. One of the problems with choreographing these new rep pieces is usually the second cast does not get as much rehearsal as the first cast. So, that could be the difference for Simkin/Scott. Maybe he just did not have time to come up to speed. Scott is a talented dancer, but I also know he has a lot on his plate, too. Without the addition of guest dancers, the company dancers will have to take on more roles. This is a good thing, in my opinion. I liked this quote from Macaulay's review, "Though “Sylvia,” “Sleeping Beauty” and “La Fille Mal Gardée” excerpts were vehicles for the lead dancers Maria Kochetkova, Hee Seo, Veronika Part, Mr. Stearns, Isabella Boylston and Jeffrey Cirio, these dances all demonstrate that in 2016 Ballet Theater is presenting itself as a true company." (sorry no time to correct and make internal quotes singular) I think that is what he is indicating. He may have something there.

Cornejo danced this afternoon in Seven Sonatas. As an aside, I liked Symposium a little better the second time around. I saw it at the gala and felt the same way as you, abatt. I hope they give Cornejo a rest so he can perform Colas with Misty next week.

Balanchine catalogue notes: http://www.balanchine.org/balanchine/display_result.jsp?num=141 And a good article from Dance Magazine: http://dancemagazine.com/news/secrets_of_iserenadei/

I was hoping to hear reports of last night. I am unable to make the shows this weekend. I got a text from a friend after "Serenade" who was extremely disappointed.

There was a performance for students today with excerpts from different ballets.

Thanks, Helene and PAmom. They already have four full casts of the ballet. I think I said it before in this thread, to think that these dancers can put more into their already busy schedules is ridiculous. They are not machines. Time constraints do not allow every role to be covered when there are already numerous casts.

This is last minute, but there is a live stream of McGregor working with Royal Ballet on "Obsidian Tear" today at 2:15 p.m.

For me, this speaks volumes about the Balanchine sensibility. How can this be permitted? (By the way, this is a Dark Angel rehearsal.) https://www.instagram.com/p/BE_o1QgyQf6/?taken-by=maslovaoxy

It is physically impossible to have corps understudying soloists, who are then understudying principals. Do you understand what it takes to put all of these rehearsals together for Met season? Just to get even one new soloist ready for a new principal role takes many hours of rehearsal and coaching. Can you imagine what it is like to schedule these rehearsals? Think about how many ballets and how many casts... and then imagine trying to coach corps members when they are learning their corps parts or coach soloists when they are learning their soloist roles. Scheduling rehearsals in a ballet company is a nightmare on a normal basis, but when you are talking about a Met season or an SFB season, it has got to be crazy.

I understand everyone's disappointments, but do you realize what the rehearsal for Met season looks like? These dancers are already rehearsing 6-7 hours a day after their class to learn the roles they are cast to dance. So, it's not so easy to just add another understudy role to their already busy days, especially a principal role.

Sorry, volcano hunter, I misunderstood. And many who joined PA Ballet under Corella this year have not performed much of those choreographers either. Thanks for your clarification.

ABT does not do a "ton" of Balanchine, Kylian and Forsythe. In their rep archives, there are only four Kylian works listed and no Forsythe pieces listed, however, I do believe they did Forsythe's "workwithinwork" at some point.

He's looking for dancers who can do everything? Can his new dancers perform Balanchine choreography the way it is supposed to be performed? How much Kylian and Forsythe have the new dancers done? I just would not use that as an excuse.

I know this is just my opinion. While I think Baca is a strong partner, very handsome, and has great potential, I don't believe he is "there" in terms of his solo work. Much of dance is being in the right place at the right time. I think it's a win for him, in reality. He will go to PA Ballet and be coached by Angel, who hopefully will truly develop him as a principal dancer. Is it a loss for ABT? Possibly. But ABT will always attract talent. Who knows? Maybe he will go and "get finished" at PA Ballet and come back to ABT.

Agreed!