sohalia
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Posts posted by sohalia
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Here we go!
http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/ent-columns-blogs/jordan-levin/article62443842.html
Ratmansky World Premiere: The Fairy's Kiss
Other company premieres:
Walpurgisnacht Ballet (Balanchine)
Glass Pieces (Robbins)
Calcium Night Light (Martins)
Carousel Pas de Deux (MacMillan)
Bach Partita (Tharp)
Program I: Giselle
Program II — ‘Serenade,’ ‘Carousel Pas de Deux,’ ‘Calcium Light Night,’ ‘Glass Pieces’
Program III — ‘Walpurgisnacht Ballet,’ ‘Polyphonia,’ ‘The Fairy’s Kiss’
Program IV — ‘Bach Partita,’ ‘Arden Court,’ ‘Who Cares?’
And of course The Nutcracker.
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It's now on Netflix, for anybody who hasn't seen it yet.
I just finished it and was a little disappointed to be honest. We never get to know Misty the person, the struggles to make it, her dreams, her relationship with her family, how she felt after she was promoted to soloist, then principal, the UA ad who went viral, how she feels about being famous now etc...We get other people giving us tidbits of information here and there, but it never comes from her. I honestly learned more from Wikipedia in 15 minutes than I did watching this documentary, and it seems like she had such an interesting background that never got explored here.
I feel like it was a missed opportunity; you have Misty right there and that's all you do with it? She's such an amazing dancer, and we barely see her dance. The camera shots were awful as well. This could have, and should have been so much better.
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MCB is announcing their 2016-2017 season this coming Monday. They posted a preview photo on Facebook, saying that they will do 5 company premieres and one world premiere. And with this photo, it looks like they are going to do Calcium Light Night.
I look forward to seeing what else they do.
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Sohalia, I'm so glad you enjoyed it. It sounds like a great program. One thing I was going to point out is that 'Bourree Fantasque' first movement is often cast with a taller woman and shorter man, to emphasize certain comedic moments, i.e. when she kicks him in the head, or when he comes in to hug her. Do you think some of the mishaps were choreographic? If it was that and it didn't come across to you, it's still problematic, just thought I would share that little tidbit of information. I for one, can't wait until they're performing 'Bourree' in NYC!
Thank you, I did not know that and it is a very important casting detail indeed. Then the partnering makes complete sense.
However, yes there were still a few mistakes here and there. I remember a near fall out of a pirouette from Ito, and just overall an impression that they were a bit too timid and not as secure in their steps as they should have been. It may be because they weren't initially set to dance and got thrown in there on short notice? The printout casting I got at the theater did not even have their names listed to dance that movement at all.
But yes, Bourree was really fun to watch, and hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did when they perform it in NYC!
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Here we go!
I was a bit bummed and surprised at first when I saw none of the Delgados, especially Patricia, were set to dance in any ballet last night.
I LOVED Year of the Rabbit. I am a Sufjan Stevens fan to start with, and this ballet was just incredible. I already want to see it again because I feel like I missed a lot of things. There is a lot to look at, all the time, and I thought the choreography was very clever and beautiful. I actually found myself looking at the shapes and patterns the Corps was making more often than I was watching the soloist. It was very visually appealing and interesting, and the lighting looked great. It was also a much faster ballet than I anticipated. In the end, it was really well received; many were on their feet clapping for a while.
I saw a principal cast composed of Tricia Albertson, Nathalia Arja, Zoe Zien, Shimon Ito, Renan Cerdeiro and Jovani Furlan, all making their debuts. All three ladies were quite lovely, and the men did great as well (I wouldn't expect anything less from Cerdeiro and Furlan). I thought Arja was phenomenal, she really danced with abandon and energy, and the lifts with her short pas de deux with Furlan were amazing. These two worked well together.
I also have to say the slow pas de deux during "Year of our Lord" between Furlan and Zien almost brought me to tears. The music, the lighting, the dancing, the emotion... It was fantastic. I didn't expect to get such a reaction from these two.
This was my first J. Peck ballet, and I get the hype around him now. This was fantastic, and I really appreciated all the shapes and "out of the box" moves like making the ballerinas glide across the stage that he came up with. The simple costumes, strings-only score, lighting and the absence of any set or background really highlighted the raw beauty of dance and movement. Very interesting to watch, and like I said, I already wanted to see it again 5 minutes after it ended.
Sunset was... eh okay, I guess. I am not a fan of pointe-less ballets to start with, but that is just my personal liking. The score was great, but overall I didn't really feel moved by this ballet, and I didn't find it memorable. In the program they have a quote that says "I'm always startled to meet people who aren't moved to tears by it" in the NY Observer. Well, call me cold-hearted I guess?
There is a part where one of the girls walks on the men's shoulders, and later sort of rolls around on their backs while they are kneeling, or even walks on them, and all of these just looked clumsy and awkward to me. You could tell she didn't really look comfortable doing most of these moves, and really was trying to not faceplant. And if I can see that from my high up mezzanine seat, that's not good.
The section where the orchestra goes quiet and the dancers use nocturnal sounds is pretty interesting, but it kinda got lost on me. Maybe I was still on such a high from YOTR that I didn't appreciate this ballet as much as I could? I don't know, but in the end, I didn't really care for it.
Finally, I also loved Bourree Fantasque. The costumes were fantastic, and I thought overall it was a very precise, clean and clever ballet. It was very colorful, joyful and full of elegance. Like YOTR, it was very well received, with again many people standing up at the end.
On the casting printout, the first movement was scheduled to be Simone Messmer and Kleber Rebello (which I was super excited about following my Delgado disappointment), but they announced before the show started that these two would be replaced by Shimon Ito and Jordan Elizabeth Long. Sadness again. I am not sure how last minute that replacement was, but it showed. I say that with an untrained eye, and I could tell there were some obvious mishaps and missed counts, and overall they didn't exude as much confidence on the stage that I would have liked to see. They just looked a little unsure of themselves during the entire movement. Besides, I am not sure they are good partners for each other to start with. Ito is quite short, while Long is much taller and slender. When she would go on pointe, the height difference really showed and was startling to me. With that said, they did some pretty good acting and got a few laughs out of the audience.
Second movement was Albertson and Rainer Krenstetter, and both were fantastic. I always love watching Albertson dance, and am never disappointed. Krenstetter was a great partner for her as well; both are tall and long, and matched very well.
Third movement was Nathalia Arja and Renato Penteado, and once again, I thought Arja looked fantastic. She had great energy, confidence in her steps, and like in YOTR, danced with abandon and complete trust in her partner.
The ending was excellent, and it really is beautiful to see all 42 dancers on stage, with all these beautiful costumes, and the genius of Balanchine really shines through here. The entire ballet simply is Balanchine. The big ending with everyone on stage was probably my favorite part, and it was very clean and precise, which is probably difficult to achieve with so many people. Walking out of the theater, I could hear people thrilled about it, commenting how beautiful it was. I do hope MCB dances it more often.
Overall, I had a great night, and I hope MCB decides to keep YOTR and Bourree in their regular repertoire. Seeing the audience's reaction, it's highly likely. The highlight for me was Nathalia Arja, who made me forget my Delgado/Messmer disappointments. Maybe I am a little biased, she was dancing the Sugarplum during the Nutcracker a few years ago, which is the very first MCB ballet I saw, so I guess I'm sentimentally attached to her in some way. However, she truly was shining last night, and I thought she had the most energy and confidence out on the stage out of everyone.
Now I really wish I could watch YOTR again... somebody make a movie?
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Seeing all these positive posts about Bourree is making me even more giddy for tonight. I will definitely report back.
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The company has already performed this program in Miami and one night in Naples. Was anybody there? Any comments?
I will be going to the Fort Lauderdale "premiere" this coming Saturday. I have been wanting to see Year of the Rabbit for a while. I am a big Sufjan Stevens fan, and have heard good thing about Peck's ballet.
Bourree Fantasque should be lovely as well. I have not heard of Sunset before.
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Casting for Feb. 23rd to 28th is up. R. Fairchild is back dancing, and will debut in Agon. Also making their debuts will be Phelan and Janzen in Episodes, and newest member of the Corps M. Miller is set to debut in Agon. Scortado will also debut in the 4th movement with King in Symphony in C.
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Wasn't sure where to put this... But look at her pirouetting away in company class! 6 and half months pregnant and still as amazing as ever.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BBarfutP_7a/?taken-by=ashleybouder
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Thanks you so much!
Sure! I'm a native French speaker so always willing to help for these translations. Now the international press has picked up on it so you don't really need me anymore ;)
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I don't read French -- could someone post a precis of the Paris Match article?
According to our informations, the famous choreographer and ballet master of the Opera de Paris is leaving his position...
His appointment to the position was surprising in the closed world of ballet dancing: Millepied, this Frenchman who has had a career at the NYC Ballet, became in the fall of 2014 one of the youngest artistic directors of the Opera de Paris.
His arrival was both welcomed and sometimes critized. Millepied represented this American ideal that would shake up and revive this ballet "house." Celebrities, galas and numerous sponsorships. The Opera de Paris, on the eve of presenting their new season on February 10th, is on the verge of communicating the possible rescission from Millepied.
Many rumors were floating around... some mentioned the desire of his wife Natalie Portman to get back to the US. Others were pointing at the difficulty in decision-making, and how tedious of a process if it to want to make a change or suggest anything. Millepied was probably seeing himself more as a choreographer than someone doing admin work. They were asking him to be both. It appears he has chosen to get back his freedom, maybe to return to the LA dance Project, or to his many american friends and their numerous projects.
The 2016/2017 season will present two new ballets created by Millepied, a program that now looks like a farewell. The choreographer will have boosted in two years a new generation of classical dancers, started a subtle revolution with the health of the dancers and the equipment (with new floors in the studios). His style however didn't win everyone over, and his hype in the media angered some... internally, the Opera didn't appreciate "Releve", a documentary on Canal Plus that followed him around. His impact however is for many very positive. The company has found a satisfying pace, that even the NYT applauds. Now everybody will have to be re-done, again. Who will follow in his footsteps? Will they pick a dancer or a personality coming from the Opera him/herself? Possible. In the meantime, we hope that Millepied will not forget his native land.
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Wow that is harsh.
I haven't seen it yet (and won't until the spring) but it's a shame that they went so overboard with the costumes. While I like to look at (some) pretty costumes, and I think they can enhance (certain) productions, they certainly are not worth it if they hinder the movement. You could tell by looking at the cuckoo bird costume that it would hinder Tiler Peck's line. And as much as I disliked the cuckoo bird costume, some of the others shown in the W link looked even worse.
But I'm sure Justin Peck will bounce back with future works. Sometimes it takes a few skunks to turn out a masterpiece.
I agree with you on the costumes. I liked the 4 main character's costumes, and was thankful they changed Peck's costume a bit to make it a little lighter and less... oppressing on her? The costume in the preview video was a little too much, so I'm glad they changed it. Now having seen most of the other costumes, I could see how it gets overwhelming on stage. I agree that it's too much. I agree with a lot of points in the NYT review as well.. why are the 5 senses dressed the same? Why are the monks dressed with Hogwarts hats? I like that they tried to take us really into another magical dimension, but it didn't translate well into a ballet. I find the 9 muses pose (inspired by Balanchine's Appolo) very beautiful, and loved it when Peck posted a little excerpt from rehearsals... However, seeing it in costume just doesn't render the same effect.
I look forward to reading further reviews.
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Interesting. I was excited about this ballet , then yesterday read an article about the costumes and how Peck really had to dial down on the choreography or it would have been too overwhelming to the viewer to have all these big costumes move... That struck me a little, and I remember thinking "well that's not good." I guess now it does fit into what you guys are saying so far.
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More photos and more costumes....It looks like they may have changed Peck's headpiece; I like the one in this slideshow a lot better.
Merde to everyone tonight! Can't wait to hear the reviews.
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Basically what they did was to move everyone who was supposed to be in the Saturday cast into the Tuesday cast. You can see alll the casting info on the website, whcih was updated. There were so many cast changes that they placed an insert of the changes into the programs - something they stopped doing years ago. The only change announced from the stage was that Erica Pereira replaced Lovette in the soloist role for Walpurgisnacht.
I was bummed about seeing Reichlin in the second movement of Symphony in C instead of Mearns. The consolation, however, was that I got to see Mearns as the lead in Walpurgisnacht instead - one of her best roles. I thought Tiler Peck and J. DeLuz made the relatively minor ballet Sonatine look like something very special. Still tryimg to get used to Hyltin as the lead in Mozartiana. So far, I'm not convinced that this is a good role for her. I was blown away by Huxley as the lead in Mozartiana. I haven't seen such crisp, clean and fast footwork in the male solo variations since Damian Woetzel left. No fudging or blurring of the choreography here. Every step was crystalline. However, Huxley and Hyltin are a mis-matched couple. Every time she went on pointe the height difference between her and Huxley became a distraction. I wasn't overly impressed by any of the casting in Symphony in C. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't excellent either. Reichlin is making progress in her role, but she lacks the mystery and grandeur for the role. Being super tall isn't enough. Her fully stretched positions, however, were appreciated.
Lauren posted on her IG that she tweaked her knee and was getting an MRI. I hope it's not too bad, but that is why she couldn't dance last night.
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The Pharaoh's Adventures In Wonderland !
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Tiler Peck posted the instagram reaction to this:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BA5LR_MGLUd/?taken-by=misstilerpeck
Also Megan Fairchild had a cute reaction:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BA5DyQNuiPe/?taken-by=mfairchild17
Awww Gonzalo is all bummed! I hope they get a good day of rest, and all can make it back to their homes safely.
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I must admit at first I wasn't a fan at all of T. Peck's headpiece, but the more I watch it, the more I have grown to like it. I still think the wings are perfect for her, and I don't think this will hide her sharpness, musicality or technical strength. Moreover, these 4 dancers are J. Peck's favorites, and have been in his ballets many times, so I trust him to really emphasize each of their strengths and do what's best to bring out the best in them.
I find the costumes very different and other-worldly, and very different to anything we have seen before. I think it fits the theme really well of the dark fairy-tale from the late 19th century. I actually showed the preview to one of my friend who has no knowledge of ballet whatsoever (she does work for an orchestra, so she's close to the art and classical worlds), and she absolutely loved it. She liked the uniqueness and the feeling that it was set in a completely different world. It was pretty thrilling to see someone 'outside' of the fan-base get excited about a new ballet.
With that said, I really look forward to reading everyone's thoughts on that ballet. From my understanding, it has been quite a production, so I hope it delivers.
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Week Three casting is up: http://www.nycballet.com/NYCB/media/NYCBMediaLibrary/PDFs/Press/Casting/NYCB_Casting_February-2-7,-2016_lobby.pdf
Even more debut principal roles for Unity Phelan again this week, and I know she's dancing the J. Peck's as well. I so wish I could see the premiere of The Most Incredible Thing. The Feb. 2nd casting for all the ballets is quite exciting, actually. Anybody want to fly me up to NYC?
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Well, this looks amazing. T.Peck's costume and wings are incredible, and just from this preview, her movements in it were exquisite. Those 10 seconds almost gave me chills. She IS a bird.
J.Peck has been posting a ton of photos and videos from rehearsals on this Instagram. I so wish I could attend the premiere!
Here is an article about the costumes: http://wwd.com/eye/design/marcel-dzama-justin-peck-ballet-costumes-10317277/
In the photo slideshow you can see closer looks at the 4 main characters' costumes, but also Claire Von Enck, Unity Phelan and Gretchen Smith. T. Peck's costume just blows my mind. Absolutely gorgeous.
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Casting for Week 2 has been posted. Loads of first times in roles, and some more Corps members getting some exposure. Phelan will debut in both Glass Pieces and Who Cares? Gordon is also dancing like... 4 different ballets during that time period, and will also debut in two ballets in Fancy Free and Who Cares?
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I randomly stumbled on the NYCB Dancers page looking for something else, and I noticed Miriam Miller was just added in the corps de ballet list. She was still listed as an apprentice when I went to see the Nutcracker a few weeks ago. She danced Snow and Flowers on the evening I attended, so her promotion is fairly recent.
Congrats to her on getting a contract!
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A new, short ballet documentary following MCB was released on Teen Vogue - "Why We Dance"
http://www.teenvogue.com/story/miami-city-ballet-debuts-why-we-dance-film
The very last shot is gorgeous. I'm bummed it's so short!
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Oh I had no idea she was married previously, not too long ago too. Well, I hope she finds for-ever happiness with her baby-daddy and now fiance.
Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra are retiring
in Miami City Ballet
Posted
http://www.miamicityballet.org/press/miami-city-ballet-announces-final-performances-kronenberg-guerra
Longtime Miami City Ballet principal dancers – and husband and wife team – Carlos Miguel Guerra and Jennifer Carlynn Kronenberg have announced that the 2015- 2016 season will conclude their time with Miami City Ballet, departing after 15 years and 22 years, respectively. Their tenure at MCB has been an acclaimed one as they danced leading roles in a diverse repertory, performing for tens of thousands in South Florida, as well as on national and international stages.
The couple plan to continue dancing, primarily as freelance artists, and look forward to sharing their joy of performing with new audiences through local and national guesting engagements. They will also be teaching, coaching and holding master classes at several schools throughout Florida, the United States and abroad.
Good luck to them in their new endeavors. I smell some promotions at MCB!