mrpereira

I attended Friday nights show i left after Square Dance. The performance started out with Ashley Bouder talking about the ballets we would be seeing . She also told us she had danced 2 Square dances since Spac started . She said tonight we will be seeing the lovely Erica Pereira who has wonderful Balanchine technique. Erica and Taylor were GREAT together. The core was equally Great. Except for 1 hick-up one of the core members got her feet tangled up causing her to slip and almost take Erica off her steps. Erica being the professional she is just kept count and stayed on point. The audience seemed to love the performance 2 curtian calls for Erica and Taylor and many SCREAMS from the audience of BRAVO AND BRAVA!!!!!. After the performance was over Erica was mobbed at the rear stage doors by many young FANS who were waiting for autographs and pictures. I was glad to see these future dancers can appreacate and enjoy Erica's talent.

You changed the photo in this post. Originally it was a posed saut de chat.

The fact is that Erica doesn't have a great jump compared to some other NYCB dancers (and of course Ashley). Right now my biggest problem with her is her lack of stage presence or charisma. She's tiny, so she needs to work especially hard on both technique and projecting, especially projecting confidence and charm. That's something that, say, Lauren King or Gina Pazcoquin have in spades. I'm not dismissing Erica the way Macauley did (calling her "vapid and inconsequential") but she really does need to work on things.

I respect your opinion but do you really think the ballet masters and Peter Martins would let Erica dance these parts if they felt she could not preform up to the standards of NYCB. I THINK NOT.

Not a posed pic. This was taken during Romeo and Juliet seems to me she can jump

I agree. Erica is ok in certain roles but she's doesn't even approach the virtuosity of Ashley or the musicality of Tiler. Still, hopefully, she will look a little more confident in Raymonda, not like she's about to break down and cry, like last Friday. As I said before, casting her in Ashley's place isn't fair to her or the audience. This Bournonville stuff has just been a killer for everyone to take on. Hopefully, we'll at least see Sara and Tiler for Midsummer.

Amour you seem to be saying that Ashley's and Tiler's injuries were caused by Bournonville stuff. And I have to disagree with you about Erica about to break down and cry. I was at that performance and she was under enormous pressure to deliver a performance in a ballet which she never danced as a core member. This was asked of her under VERY SHORT NOTICE!!! In my opinion she did an fine job with what she had to work with.

If Pereira was making her debut in "Raymonda," you don't know how much time she had to learn it. The casting change was as result of an injury to Bouder and was made public last-minute, which isn't proof of a short learning period, but an indication of one, and each Spring towards the end of the season when injuries and illnesses mount, there are a lot of people who have to be coached through whispers onstage because of so many last-minute rehearsals. I remember back in the day getting insert slips in the program where the list of substitutions was as long or longer than the actual cast lists and casting was like a game of Tetris.

I'd be interested in hearing how she dances with a little time to let it sink in.

Truer words were never SPOKEN Thank You!!!!!

Glad to hear Erica was strong and confident. We have enjoyed watching Erica from when she did Square Dance in workshop at SAB. I think we will be seeing some wonderful and exciting dancing from her in the coming weeks.

Thanks abatt for your post Anthony is one of my favorite male dancers with NYCB. We are hoping he gets promoted soon.