stuben

Will definitely miss Craig but hopefully he will be a guest or return as one of the ballet masters or teacher? Loved him in Fancy Free 😍

12 hours ago, Inge said:

Oh, good to hear! I saw Christine last year and loved her intensity, but this year's reports were more muddled. 

Hopefully Waski gets her chance soon as well. That injury must have been heartbreaking. 

Christine did a great job last year as I recall as well, she commanded the stage then so the reports this year are interesting to read. I always try to give dancers like her the benefit of the doubt that maybe she was under the weather or just over rehearsed or used? I wasn't at her shows so I can't speak to that but hope she will have a better rest of the season.

As for Waski, I am gathering that her injury must have happened right before the season, as seen here right before the season started in April😳 I agree Inge that this must have been heartbreaking especially it seems she was so looking forward to her debut on this post from April 😥 

<https://www.instagram.com/p/BhIJHiHFHpa/?hl=en&taken-by=powi295>                                  

I can see on another thread that she is returning but wonder which shows she will be back in, guess I will just have to take my chances to see her perform this year. Skipping this week though since one Firebird was one too many IMO and not quite sure how I feel about Afterite.

1 hour ago, abatt said:

Have to agree with NYSusan.   ABT is no longer a world class company.  With a few exceptions, they are a very mediocre roster of dancers. There were never half empty houses in the days of Carreno, Corella, Ananiashvilli and Ferri in her prime. 

Ah the Golden years of Carreno, Corella, Ananiashvilli and Ferri, and might I add Reyes, Herrera, Kent, sure miss them around. I may be the minority here but I had hoped Waski was going to make her debut, I see a lot of potential based on the few times I have seen her dancing. She seems to have an elegant ethereal type of quality that translates well on stage. Wonder what had happened, one day she was listed and the next gone? I think someone from above thread mentioned injury? If so, I do wish her well and have another chance for us to catch her.

Interesting and hopefully this won't be an extended version of the Land of Sweets from the Nutcracker. A new ballet is always refreshing and glad to see something like this is being considered in the repertoire, I am sure this would be a good thing for young audiences.

I do have to add that I like Mark Ryden and his artwork so the art will be quite fun to see in itself!

Don't want to sound selfish here and I do love Vishneva, but hope this will help Sarah open a principal door?

21 hours ago, Ashton Fan said:

.......

Of the Auroras I saw .......Her second and third acts were better. Is she a good dance actress rather than a classical ballerina? ............

 

I do not want to create an international incident .......

 

 

 

I wouldn't worry about creating any international incident Ashton Fan as I feel likewise if I mention anyone that may offend other members, we should all understand that fans are fans and we all have our opinion As for the Auroras, it was unfortunate you didn't get to see two of the best IMO, Stella and Sarah, but that would mean sitting through two more shows for you. I am not sure if you have seen Sarah in anything in the past but IMO she has been and still is the best of all. I am no ballet aficionado and may noy be using the right wording, but I am a ballet fan and have watched her all these years, she dances with fluidity and grace. The fact that she has yet to be promoted to principal is a sin! Again, IMO the fact that neither Stella or Sarah were given opening night was a slap in the face or worse And, I read somewhere that Sarah's show (it may be due to a matinee) was the only sold out one? Well, like yourself I don't want to cause any incident, with any BA members, either by this suggestion

13 hours ago, vipa said:

 

I so agree angelica.  I have always found her upper body and arms among the most beautiful in the ballet world.  I'm sorry to say that I see no indications at all that a promotion is in her future at ABT.

Sarah has been the true Aurora IMO, the clip of her rehearsing looks absolutely elegant and fluid, nothing looks forced IMO, something is definitely wrong if she isn't promoted soon. I was shocked and saddened to see that she was only given one show and a new coming having and opening and closing night, seems like there are favoritism but then again, the choreographers have their muses. I pray that Sarah will have her day in the sun as she has always been a beautiful dancer in technique and artistry, just need the powers that be realize it!

Sarah Lane has been very busy with Roberto Bolle's touring group, and she'll also be dancing gigs with Danny Ulbricht's "Stars" group. She's plenty busy!

So glad to hear this and so disappointed about her and Stella, IMO Sarah is Aurora and Stella a close second, both dance with such grace and emotion, unfortunately this is not felt in the higher ups

I was so disappointed with the announcement. The photo is fine, but the quality is terrible. I thought to myself, "This is public relations from a top company?" Very dull.

I guess to each their own since I actually thought it is a lovely composition, clean and simple. What is most beautiful to me is how both dancers are in unison, it may look easy but I am sure it is not, also it shows off the lovely phyisque of the dancers. I think the dullness comes from the quality of the printing instead of Fabrizio's wonderful photography! Again, to each their won

Have to say I do like the announcement photo by Fabrizio Ferri with Teuscher & Waski, two of my favorites on one cover! A keeper for sure! Hope this will mean a few performances with them for my grandchild to see!

No social media update from the Company though?! Wonder if this is something they will announce?

Looks like Hallberg won't be back either

I do think "stars" are always going to help sell. I agree with someone above who said that it will be a long and maybe painful process of mainly using homegrown talent, b/c most of us outside of NY do not really know the corps members or up-and-coming dancers....

This is why I love the NYCB website, each dancer corps or otherwise, have a voice! They have managed to get in a short video of the dancers for anyone not in the area or know enough of these talents and what they have done to get into the company! This may also be why many of the dancers at ABT have to do their own social media to basically help the audience know who they are?!...

Another factor in the low attendance at the beginning of the season is that the first three weeks overlapped with NYCB. Those weeks included both Ashton's and a lot of Ratmansky's. Definitely though, ABT could have done a lot more to promote Cockerel.

Good point and forgot about the overlap, which should be an even more important note for ABT to take about promoting what they do during this time! So marketing is not doing their job as the NYCB

I agree with several of the comments on this thread, especially about the scheduling of the season, I too, felt sad to see the low ticket sales for the start of the season, but then again I thought (and again my own take) Sylvia was a poor choice. I may be wrong but having seen the draw of the later half of the season, perhaps they should have started with either a classic like SL or SB? Then into the rest, just to get the attention of those "visitors" to the ballet, in general I feel that everyone knows Swan Lake and like any form of advertising.... get their attention first?

I also feel that the low attendance of performances like Cockerel could be the lack of knowledge about this ballet for many new comers? I am thinking there should be more "education" in the ballet schools or studios about the history of ballets, I know in any given local studio, everyone knows of The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, but I doubt many know of Cockerel or similar ballets, so I would start in the education level long term.

As for short time to get people interested, I thought they should have combined Cockerel with Firebird? Two birds in one day? Cockerel can easily be a one act ballet (as I have read many comments), this might help to be a Ratmansky night too!

I mostly like his work, but I do feel that some that are a bit dark may not fare well with some of the audience, I actually heard someone snore during a part of "Serenade After Plato’s Symposium", I don't think it was his choreography but the lighting along with the music?! Since the rest of the show I saw was lively and lighting was bright, that does help especially if you are in the evening shows.

I also do believe in nurturing from within vs imports, since after all this is called the American Ballet Theatre, with emphasis of the "American", otherwise, it would be called the "Russian Ballet Theatre" or "International Ballet Theatre"?! My take on this would be ... why hire US/homegrown talents and let them sit in the corps to be supporting roles for imports or heavily PR dancers!?

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.

Should be another interesting show tonight! Cornejo and Cirio both in one show! Hope you are wrong about Cornejo though since I think he still has a lot to offer! Glad to see Lane paired with Cornejo tonight... finally a show for her!

Wow. FF I agree completely. Never thought Cirio would be promoted after barely a year and without dancing more lead roles. He's done several secondary roles and I believe he's very talented, but I don't agree with this timing. I'd also want to see him dance an Albrecht or Siegfried first. And what about Gorak???

Hoven on the other hand...I'm very happy for him and he's completely deserving of this after slogging away in the corps for 12 years (and dancing brilliantly the last few years)! But, not Royal too? Perhaps they could only promote one to soloist, but Royal has been churning out soloist/principal roles for years. I hope he doesn't leave but he's been in the corps for 5 years so I wouldn't blame him if that happens.

I do wonder if this may be the reason of a recent post from Royal I read from another thread...something about his "next chapter"? Maybe he knew this was coming? I too am in agreement that we don't loose him as we just did with Baca! Also, I don't think it was an ultimatum but maybe in Cirio's contract before he joined? Just my own theory but happy for Hoven

Stuben, it never occurred to me that you were suggesting a lessening of the evening. Stella's triumph trumped everything else. And I felt the same way about the Ogre and Ogress!

It is all good angelica but thank you for clarifying

I was there last night. Sorry to have missed Trenary but she seems destined for great things so I'm sure I'll have a chance to see her next year. Stella's 20th anniversary performance was very beautiful. Complete thoughts here:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2016/07/stellas-20th-anniversary-at-abt-peter.html

Thanks for the share canbelto! Nice review for Stella and agree that this role is long overdue for Stella, agree with Poison Ivy about having this role for her when she was younger too! I saw one error but helped me see whom Waski replaced.. confirmed Hamrick! Jewels were in unison as mentioned

With Stella's exquisite dancing and sublime port de bras, and Veronika's mime in Act II, I could forgive everything I'm not crazy about in this production (others have already posted about this earlier and I agree with them).

I've been waiting 10 years for Stella to dance leading roles, every since that wretched injury caused her to withdraw from the Wednesday matinee of Giselle back in the oughts, and I'm so glad to have lived to see this day. She was fabulous all season in everything she danced, and I'm already looking forward to next season to see her tackling new roles. I would love to see her as Nikiya and Juliet, at the very least. Her upper body sings.

Absolutely angelica! I agree about this, by no means that I had this thought in mind about lessening the evening and as for the mask... glad that Kathleen reminded me these were the Ogre and Ogress I forgot their titles but those are the ones that bothered me and no wonder! :lol: They were supposed to!

That's an interesting reaction. I skipped the production in D.C. because from what I'd read and seen online I felt the same way. The clips that have surfaced since have only confirmed I made the right decision for myself. But if what Ratmansky has more or less tried to do is to bring back original details in the steps and bring back the 1921 Bakst designs, or the spirit of them at least, I wonder why so many of us in the 21st century, especially those of us with an interest in ballet history, dislike the result. I suppose there is more than one answer, a couple of which vaguely suggest themselves to me. And I see from BA archives that the Bakst production failed to sell as well as expected, so perhaps a lot of people didn't like it then.

I really did try to look past this during the show but I just can't come to be in love some of the characters, Imperial or not For me, it might be the puppet heads/masks (or whatever they are called) they are just not appealing, not that everything had to be beautiful since Carabosse is a wonderful character and I do love when Marcelo and all the others are in full makeup, just can't really explain, again this is purely IMO!

To respond to Stuben's question about the Act III characters, for me the entire production was so over the top, what's a few more characters? I hardly noticed...

That is true never thought of it that way since I have gotten used to the costumes etc since last year!

What an evening! So glad my friend had an extra ticket Stella… Stella… Stella! It was such a memorable evening, and so glad we were there to celebrate with her 20th and long awaited debate…finally! Sublime indeed and thrilled that it was with Marcelo no less, love was in the air last night! Brava to all for a fabulous evening!

Everyone showed their support in the company too in the performance, what a wonderful gift to Aurora when the Jewels sparkled, danced by Shevchenko as Diamond, Waski (Sapphire), Giangeruso (Silver) and S. Williams (Gold), they were all about the same height and so together in musicality with clean crisp dancing. Loved the match up here! I last saw Waski and Giangeruso in Swan Lake as the Big Swans and they are indeed a good pair, hopefully we will see these two in soloist rankings soon.

If I was to nit pick about last evening, it would be the “extras”, this was my friend’s first Sleeping Beauty and I had to explain the Act III characters, the Tom Thumb big head puppet and what I call the walk-ons, these may be the original choreography but IMO not quite necessary, wonder how other feels about them?

With all the excitement on this thread, let's not forget tonight's excitement of Stella's long...long...long awaited debut! I wish her a successful 20th Anniversary show and the company to celebrate with her!

Seems like the theory of training the young talents within the company is a good one vs spending the dollars on out sourcing!? Perhaps this will awake the AD and board to look within for the next generation of dancers, and there are a few we have all seen with such potential, and IMO have lacked the attentive coaching what a few is lucky enough to have, hopefully this experience will change some thinking!

Excited to hear about the rest of the cast as I see Lane is Princess Florine today?!

And the recorded version of Makarova and McKenzie was in 1988, making her 47 I believe.

I think it a bit harsh to criticize her appearance in a rehearsal photo of her apparently not in makeup [not you Rick]... Yes ballet is about appearance more than opera but surely we suspend disbelief regarding their ages somewhat.

Very few dancers actually look like 14 year old girls (nor do actresses in the role for that matter). If she dances it well and with emotion I'll be thrilled! I don't care if she looks 14!

I may have misspoken or have been misunderstood in my statement in regard to the NYT photo and do apologize for my comment, by no means disrespectful for one of my most favorite dancers I was merely making an observation and indeed that photo didn't do justice to such a beautiful dancer! At my age I can only say I wish I had looked that good or in that shape