Emma

I find it a bit strange Mearns was asked (had chosen?) to retire Lilac, as I believe she is younger than Bouder and Hyltin, who still dance the 16-year-old Aurora. Not that I'd want any of those fabulous ballerinas to have to retire roles while in their prime.

If soloists are given the opportunity to learn and perform principal roles they wouldn't get to dance otherwise, and ballet is exposed to an audience who would be able to see it otherwise, it sounds like a great idea. ABT does much less touring now, so it's harder for younger dancers to get opportunities to develop before being thrust on stage at the Met. Now, if ABT is in truly desperate straits and is mounting full scale productions of Bayedere, well...not so great.

Agreed. Crazy to think that the most recently promoted female principal was Lauren Lovette in 2015.

Isaacs is back in a pointe role (as Ruby on the Sat. mat.)

No, the Levin. If you look into past winners and the year they won, it was typically awarded to young corps dancers. For example, Taylor Stanley and Lauren Lovette received the award after a year and two years respectively in the corps. Actually, it seems in the past few years it's changed.

Interesting. While I think Segin is a lovely dancer and always appears to be so happy on stage, I had thought the purpose of the Levin award was to acknowledge potential in junior members of the corps. Perhaps the purpose of the award is changing now to award longstanding corps members to boost morale?

From my recollection it's mostly partnering. Definitely not a bravura role.

I haven't seen Trenary's Aurora but have heard wonderful things. I saw Seo's Aurora in DC; Marcelo was her prince. Marcelo stole the show. Oftentimes, when Seo was dancing in front of the corps, I forgot she was dancing and watched the corps instead. She was pretty but bland.

Mack is a stunning dancer—he has charisma and technique to spare. I remember seeing him in Washington years ago wondering why he wasn't dancing with a major company.

Is Lovette out the entire Nutcracker season? I understand from instagram she's working on her choreography at NYU.

And Yukionna, thank you too!

Yes, that's standard for the NYT's wedding announcements.

I can't speak to the choreography itself, but Tereshinka lacked the wit, charm, and lightness the role requires. Her variations did not sparkle, and her movements felt exaggerated but lacking musicality at the same time. For example, in her second variation, she focused on her pliés down in fourth, and seemed to stay there for a while, rather than on the beat to perk up to attitude or passé.

I thought the Calliope and Polyhymnia were weak, with a bit sloppy technique and very awkward facial expressions, but Khoreva was stunning. For me, she lived up to the hype, and I can't believe she's at most 20 years old. I'll submit a lengthy review of the Wednesday and Thursday performances tomorrow.

What does it mean to be a trainee at the Mariinsky?

Yeah, there's not much of substance in that letter. And I'd disagree that DC is going through a "cultural renaissance," especially when that statement is based in part on the number of Michelin starred restaurants in the city. H Street is pretty fun though. But Baltimore still has much more homegrown culture/artist residents/fun areas (imo).

ABT also does very well with families, assuming they bring family friendly repertory. Their weeknight Sleeping Beauty was packed with children. In fact, in my experience, ABT programs have sold much better than City Ballet's. The Washington Ballet under Webre also presented a number of family friendly story ballets. I can't imagine it would be easy to bring children to Kylian's Petit Mort or Forsythe's In the Middle Somewhat Elevanted.

I should add I am excited about Jane Eyre and Manon. I wish one of the two overlapped with NYCB for the out of towners (i.e. me).

4/8 weeks of Ratmansky, including full weeks of Harlequinade and Whipped Cream. Do they sell well?

Incognito mode/private browsing may also work.

Yeah, I didn't mean that the score for R&J was different (although to be fair all I've seen from any R&J production is Kathryn Morgan's videos), but my friends were certainly not impressed and were expecting a much more moving and emotional production, more classic ABT than NYCB does a full-length story ballet.

I'd argue if ABT invested in marketing like NYCB does, Sylvia would have sold better. I'm on the younger/newer to professional ballet side, and I hadn't heard of La Sylphide until NYCB restaged it and invested significant marketing into selling it. The house was packed. But perhaps that's an argument for another thread... I think the problem with the NYCB Don Q is that the audience would expect the ABT Don Q, and would perhaps be disappointed when the score, among other things, is different (I haven't seen Peter Martins' Romeo & Juliet, but I've heard that complaint about it from friends).

That article, linked below, was very disheartening to read. Although I'm no longer in Washington, I was a bit disappointed to see the direction of the Washington Ballet. There's little marketing to the broader public and tickets are expensive. Their mixed bills largely overlap with those that the major companies bring to the Kennedy Center. I'm not shocked that the house continues to be rather empty (I saw one Friday evening show where maybe the theater was a third full). Septime Weber's programs were funky, different, and fun. When I left DC, I couldn't distinguish the WB from any other company, and I'm sorry that it doesn't seem that the situation has improved. https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_danc/washington-ballet-is-struggling-with-empty-seats-and-a-3-million-debt-what-will-turn-it-around/2018/10/22/9f05bba0-d0b2-11e8-8c22-fa2ef74bd6d6_story.html

From up thread, it looks like Brandt was supposed to be the first dancer (in the cast list) in the second cast, but instead replaced Murphy in the first cast.

Thank you for posting that video! It's so beautiful. And Mimi Paul seems like such a great coach for Megan, bringing out her extensions to their fullest and make sure she danced as swoony (is that a word? with full sweep?) as possible.