Kathleen O'Connell

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I'm part of that small minority too. I also loathe the hops on pointe; in fact, I loathe any hops on pointe. I think they look like a circus trick and flatter no one. (Your mileage may vary of course.) They're not the thing I'm going to judge a Giselle by, although I agree that it's better to work out a valid and expressive substitute in advance and just do that. An aside, I saw Trenary's 2021 Giselle. I don't remember the hops on pointe, but I do remember her mad scene, which was first rate.

Per her IG account, she's off to Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business for an MBA. I wish her all the best, but I'm sorry I won't see her onstage anymore—I was always happy to see her name on the cast list. 💐

In terms of the actual amount of dancing time, Copeland Dance Episodes at 80 minutes or so is longer than this season's All Balanchine program (Concerto Barocco, Kammermusik No.2, and Raymonda Variations), which clocks in at about 70 minutes of dancing time. The Balanchine + Ratmansky II program (Pictures at an Exhibition and Swan Lake) has about 70 minutes of total dancing time as well. I think the only Spring 23 program that was substantially longer than 80 minutes was Masters at Work III program (Fancy Free, Agon, and Brandenburg). I think the combined effect of the variety offered by a mixed bill and the breathing space you get with intermission can make it seem like more dancing has happened.

Another thumbs up for "Time and the Dancing Image." It is excellent. ETA: I prefer Jowitt's work to Homans' for the simple reason that Homans always seems to write to promote an agenda whereas Jowitt writes to support an idea.

He was terrific in Sanguinic—and I'm not even going to mention his partner because I think he's got potential to be more than a backstop for ballerinas. 😉 (OK, it was Gerrity, and she was terrific too.)

I've seen Kitka partnered with Walker (her husband) and IMO, it didn't quite work. He's tall enough, but his slender rangy-ness isn't an ideal match for her Amazonian splendor. Bolden might be a better match in terms of physical scale if he's tall enough. He's a fabulous backstop for Mearns for just that reason. Perhaps NYCB needs a "Principal Tall Girl" tier much as some companies have a "Principal Character Dancer" tier.

Jonathan Stafford was really good with this particular bit. When the briars started to clear after his first thwack, he'd look down at his sword with body language that suggested nothing so much as "Holy Sh*t!" His Firebird Prince Ivan was delightful for similar reasons. He wasn't always compelling as a Balanchine capital-P Princely-Consort-to-the-Boss-Lady, but he did Naive-but-Endearing-Rescuer-of-Princesses well. (He was the only Ivan I ever saw who made it seem absolutely right that he ends up with the Princess rather than the Firebird, even though the latter has the best steps and a snazzy costume.)

Heck, I'd buy a ticket for that.

Martins' Carabosse has always been danced by one of the company's ballerina's, no? (And usually one of the senior principals, although there have been exceptions like Marika Anderson, who was terrific.) I think it's important to the spirit of the production that Carabosse be as glamorous as she is scary. (Not that a man in drag can't be glamorous, I hasten to add, but in ballet men are usually cast as women to drain as much glamour out of the role as possible.) One of the big surprises of the production's premiere was just how fabulous Merrill Ashley's Carabosse turned out to be. And as much as I love Janzen, I'm not sure he's got the "I just LOVE being a villain" dramatic chops to pull it off. Now Gilbert Bolden might be another matter ... 😉 ETA: Why would you want to see Carabosse performed by a man? For contrast with the Lilac Fairy?

Heck, I'd show up just for Kowroski's Carabosse.

I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this casting as well. To me they seem like natural Lilacs. In my mind's eye, Phelan's Lilac is the distilled essence of benevolence while LaFreniere's is power and grandeur all the way down. And I agree with everyone else that E. Von Enck seems to have Aurora written all over her. She is a delight. The best NYCB Aurora I've seen yet was Sterling Hyltin: she sparkled.

It really is! Of course he can do all the steps, but he imbues his Puck with genuinely otherworldly quality that I've never seen anyone else attempt.

He's the kind of dancer who makes you realize that pyrotechnics can be more than Wham! Pow! effects. I'll always have a soft spot for Veyette's handling of the role: he threaded the needle between charming village swain and preening opera house ham better than anyone I've seen.

This. I can't help but regret the opportunities that were squandered during the Martins regime. Woodward and Gordon were absolutely on fire in yesterday's matinee performance of Donizetti Variations, by the way. I got winded just from watching them. But they weren't just fast: the steps were as clear as spring water and as bubbly as champagne.

He and his solo were absolutely the best thing about it. I'm really going to miss watching him dance.

The cast for the 2014 performance of Davidsbundlertanze that I saw was cast as follows: Farrell's role: Rebecca Krohn von Aroldingen's role: Reichlen Mazzo's role: Laracey Watts' role: T. Peck The men were T. Angle, Catazaro, Janzen, and Suozzi. Janzen danced the Lüders role. I'll admit that while I won't go out of my way to avoid it, it's not among my favorites. The shadowy critics with the giant pens are a real buzzkill for me—right up there with the miming of flapping angel's wings in Serenade. Cringe.

She performed van Aroldingen's role.

This would be my vote. I've seen Gerrity in a couple of Mearns' signature roles (e.g., the role Ratmansky made on her for Namouna) and they looked great on her. Gerrity has her own style, but the two dancers share a kind of fearless attack that certain roles call for and that Phelan, for one, doesn't have.

Your average Hollywood movie is longer than 80 minutes, no?

The older I get the edgier it needs to be for me to feel young again. 😉

After watching this, absolutely! He's one of my favorites because he always looks like he's living his best life when he's on stage dancing.

I'd add Serenade after Plato's Symposium to the list of keepers. (It's actually my favorite of the ballets Ratmansky did for ABT.) It's odd: I think every ballet Ratmansky did for NYCB is a keeper—even though not all of them are crowd-pleasers—but his work for ABT seems more hit-or-miss.

This is one of the specific allegations in the court filings.

For me—and I'm speaking only for myself—the issue isn't looking at nude images of women. People have been doing that since cave-paintings and our museum walls are covered with women in all their naked glory. It's consent. If a woman is OK with her partner sharing nude or sexually explicit images of her with others, that's their business. But if those images are shared without the woman's knowledge or consent, that's a different matter. It's a breach of trust. If a woman's colleague shares an explicit photo her with other of her colleagues without her consent, and exposes what she believed was a private, intimate moment to public gaze—the gaze of people she works with closely day in and day out—she's stopped being their colleague and has become a commodity. I'd consider it workplace harassment and I'd argue that any organization would be right to sanction employees who were engaged in it. Alexandra Waterbury wasn't anyone's colleague, so Finlay and Ramasar's behavior with respect to her isn't the same kind of breach of trust. But the men involved shared images of women they worked with too, and that's a different matter.