Dreamer

It is less than one hour till curtain on the opening night! Who else is here?

Yes, fingers crossed. One of the pieces on Program 2 is Divertimento No.15; if I had to chose only one ballet to see this season it would be this one with Frances Chung.

Where is Frances Chung? She is not scheduled for DQ and is missing from the gala cast. As far as I remember she was always part of the opening night gala. Hopefully she is not ill or injured.

It is official now that Thiago Soares will be performing with the company on tour in Los Angeles. The news came with the announcement of his retirement on his Facebook.

Tsvirko is back at the Bolshoi? The stint in Budapest is over? Good for him. When I saw a gala of the Hungarian State Opera and National Ballet in New York last November it looked as if it was borrowed from the playbook of Shen Yun propaganda shows. No wonder Tsvirko did not last in that hostile environment.

Thank you for the link. Having missed the broadcast at the movie theater I was happy I could still see it on my iPad.

I attended Friday (Lane/Gonzalez/Copeland/Royal), Saturday matinee (Brandt/Simkin/Seo/Hammoudi) and Saturday evening (Trenary/Maloney/Shevchenko/Hoven) performances. My initial plan was to attend just one performance as I was not sure if this would be my cup of tea. After Wipped Cream I didn’t think that another full length Ratmansky’s ballet can be something I woul’d thoroughly enjoy. But I was up for a big surprise as I absolutely adored this ballet that had a flair of the old world with its acrobatic free, pure choreographic delights. All three Columbines and Harlequins were excellent in their own right. But perhaps, the two corps members superseded the star power of Simkin, who, to my eyes, had a hint of complacency and lacked that joyful freshness exhibited by the younger dancers. I liked Gonzalez and Maloney equally well as each dancer had unique qualities and style but I would probably give Maloney a slight lead in this “contest” because I found his Harlequin to be more mischievous and sly, although Gonzalez was stronger technically. Tyler Maloney first caught my attention in the Saturday matinee performance in the minor role of one of Leandre’s servants. He struck me as someone with an incredible expressive face, like a silent film actor. He was so funny that he even upstaged the hilariously comical Duncan Lyle’s Leandre. The ultimate Columbine for me was Sarah Lane. In Act II in those supported grand jetes with the change in direction, Lane looked like a bird flying around her partner. And in her passé releve she was going so high up on pointe as if pulled up by an invisible string. A view of breathtaking beauty and grace. Brandt was a charmingly cute and adorably sweet heroine. She was technically flawless but I still felt a bit underwhelmed by her performance. Maybe because I expected more, a bit of a miracle she was capable of judging from a few rehearsal videos of Harlequinade in her Instagram feed. Copeland unsurprisingly got the loudest ovation but did not bring anything particular to the role of Pierrette dancing it with a plastered grin throughout. Seo and Royal did not leave a mark on me. Hammoudi and Hoven did a commendable job. I agree with others about Shevchenko—this girl is destined to be a star and should be given all support necessary by ABT to achieve her stardom. A big bonus of this trip was the always glorious Southern California sunshine. It was hard getting back to the rain soaked Bay Area but I guess I shouldn’t complain. Dancers have to go back to a snow storm and freezing temperatures of NYC and I’ll take rain over snow any day.

Danielle Rowe is married (or maybe they are just partners) to Luke Ingham and they are parents of the cutest little girl whose pictures can be found in their instagram. Danielle is a member of SFDanceWorks, a company founded by James Sofranko. I saw a piece she choreographed for that company and liked it a lot. Looking forward to seeing her new work commissioned for SFB. The appearance of Misa Kuranaga is very strange indeed when Frances Chung, Sarah Van Patten and Jennifer Stahl are missing from the program.

Is it Berlin or Munich? Just a few months ago Polunin starred in LaChapelle’s “Make Love, Not Walls” campaign for Diesel. He also used to have a tattoo of the Ukrainian trident on his hand. He doesn’t seem to have long lasting or strong convictictions.

Meanwhile, the latest issue of the Italian dance magazine Danza & Danza has a photo of Olga Smirnova on its cover. Smirnova is also a recipient of magazine’s “Ballerina of the Year” award for her role of Nikiya performed during the Bolshoi’s tour of La Bayadere at La Scala last September.

Olga Smirnova’s husband, Dmitri Kostov, held a position of an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs Russia. (I don’t know if he still does.) Equaling an ED to the company’s head is an exaggeration.

I always thought Nick was a redhead. But here is his Instagram post:

Lendorf also got replaced by Gonzalez in Harlequinade in the January 18 performance at SCFTA in Costa Mesa.

I was nowhere near California during those times so I am not a witness to that era. But I envy people who have stories like these to tell. My hastily written unkind comment about LA referred to the orchestra of the time Salonen was Music Director. I had the impression that LA Philharmonic musicians did not really understand how Salonen wanted to interpret music or maybe did not respect him enough and sometimes disregarded his guidance to the point of sloppiness. I don’t think that Salonen was happy and felt fulfilled in that position either.

He is in Amsterdam conducting Cinderella at Dutch National Ballet. If you scroll the link below to the info on Orchestra it shows that Martin West is one of the conductors for the run. https://www.operaballet.nl/en/ballet/2018-2019/show/cinderella

This is a great choice for MTT replacement. I heard Salonen conduct the Los Angeles Philharmonic (when his was their Music Director), the Philharmonia Orchestra of London and San Francisco Symphony. I sometimes felt that LA did not deserve Salonen—he was too intelligent, refined and mild-mannered. They are now much better off with flamboyant, high-powered Dudamel. While SFS musicians seem to be on the same wave length with Salonen and I could always sense the respect they have for him.

Froustey joined the company as a Principal so I can see why she would get more roles than Messmer. There was also, probably, a desire on Tomasson’s part to keep Froustey beyond the one year of sabbatical leave she took from POB. Inititally, I wasn’t swept off my feet by Froustey but she keeps getting better with every passing year. Messmer, on the other hand, is no longer a stand-out for me. There is some sort of disengagement in her dancing. But since I rarely get to see her maybe I simply caught her on her “bad” nights.

I don’t seem to be the only one who heard about it. Quiggin mentioned it in her/his post as well. As I said earlier, I don’t recall all the details of that incident. It may have been that Kochetkova made a comment in private but it didn’t sit well with Messmer who decided to address it in public.

For Messmer’s sake I hope she is happy at MCB as she seems to hold the same type of grievances against both ABT and SFB. I personally don’t see that working with López she has become much better artistically. But at least she seems to be dancing more. And she is a principal. On the lack of roles and insufficient rehearsals time at ABT (from her 2013 interview to Time Out New York): ”But it’s just not enough for me, and that soloist rank right now is such a difficult and unhappy place to be. We all want more. It’s the hardest place to be in a ballet company. So what do you do? You ask for more and you don’t get it”. ”I think our coaches at ABT put in everything they can, but there are a lot of ballerinas and a lot of guest artists. They’re working from noon to 7pm, every day. They can only do so much with the time they’re given, and I need more of a process than that”. After leaving SFB (from her 2015 interview to Dance Magazine): In leaving ABT, a company in which she felt she had little room to grow, her aim was obvious: more meaty dancing roles. When that didn’t seem to be happening in San Francisco, Messmer told artistic director Helgi Tomasson that the company wasn’t the right fit. According to Messmer, she asked him if he wanted her to remain for the Paris tour, and he told her that he was planning on having her dance Choleric in George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. Yet she never got to dance it. “I was never called to a rehearsal,” she says. After the Paris season, she left. “Very quickly.” “But in general I was floating on the ether because I wasn’t a focus of the staff, therefore my rehearsals were almost nonexistent”.

You are absolutely right, Drew, in your assessment of gender inequality when it comes to such characteristics as a “team player”. But I really meant it in a completely gender neutral way when I chose those words. I believe there was a discussion on this forum around the time Messmer left SFB and links were provided about a dustup between her and Maria Kochetkova that played out in the open either on Twitter or Instagram. I can’t remember it now what the conflict was about and whether I felt inclined taking anyone’s side. But it did struck me as odd that Messmer decided to post her arguments in a public domain. I don’t think that an open conflict between company’s artists reflects well on that company and I would thinks that the Artistic Director is likely to take a note of it. During the recent Balanchine Festival at the NY City Center I got to see how dancers from various companies interacted with their fellow dancers, colleagues or former teachers. I don’t want to assume that their enthusiasm and excitement was always sincere and genuine but I noticed that Simone seemed to keep her distance. I must say, though, that offstage she is a strikingly beautiful woman with feline aloofness. So who knows, maybe it is the way she comports herself.

I saw Simone Messmer with ABT and SFB on few occasions and loved her. When she left SFB I thought it was a big loss for the company so I started seeking her performances with MCB whenever I could. But every time I saw her perform with MCB I was less than impressed as she did not leave much of a memorable imprint on me like other dancers did (for example, Jeanette Delgado and Nathalia Arja). So maybe there was something Helgi saw in her to be a problem for the company rather than an asset. It was also my understanding that she didn’t get along with other dancers at SFB; she for sure is strong character and an independent mind but not necessarily a team player. Wish her best of luck nonetheless.

I would love to see Kathy joining a company and performing. Her exercise videos on YouTube were so helpful for me in fighting my physical ailments and getting me in a better shape. Best of luck to her.

I can see how it can be a disastrous experience for people with allergies being seated next to a dog. I feel for them. Luckily I am not allergic to animal hair or smell but I am extremely sensitive to perfume and alcohol. Recent changes in many venues around the country allowing people to bring their alcoholic beverages inside the auditorium is more than annoying to me. A person reeking of beer can be just as bad a as a smelly dog. Adding to the insult is the proclivity of some folks to shaking their iced drinks every few minutes during the performance. And I will never understand why some patrons feel the need to douse themself with a strong, long lasting, suffocating perfume.

There’s been no plans announced so far but one can always dream, right? Based on the past frequenciy of US appearances the Bolshoi is due to be back in 2020. Should the company make its US tour ut would likely be at the Kennedy Center since the Lincoln Center does not have its summer festivals any longer. Maybe they can also extend the tour to Costa Mesa in Southern California. Segerstrom Center in Costa Mesa planned to bring A Hero of Our Time this past summer but, alas, this plan fell through.

For those of us who cannot make it to London in the middle of summer lets hope to see the Bolshoi during the 2019-2020 season at the Kennedy Center. I wonder what would they bring after Mariinsky's Raymonda, La Bayadere and Le Corsaire. A mixed bill? The Pharaoh's Daughter? Coppelia? Hopefully, no Anna Karenina and no Lady of the Camellias. The Winter's Tale would be a back draw for me.