zobeide

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I went last night, and was able to see Peck as Sugarplum and King as Dewdrop.

Tiler Peck is truly divine. She made everything look so easy, and she was so light in her dancing it truly felt like she was floating. The lifts with Garcia were incredible too and done very sharply; you could tell she has full trust in him. Garcia was very gentle with her and would bring her down from lifts very delicately. I am so thankful to have seen Tiler dance. She seemed so happy to be out there and that she was just basking into it all. She truly is gifted and was made to be a ballerina..

I,too, attended that performance. In fact, I've seen every one of Tiler's four Sugarplums this year because I love her so much. She is technically very assured, extremely musical and as the Sugarplum Fairy, has the exact kind of charm and graciousness the part demands. In the opening with the little angels, she seems to just skim the floor and does all the renversées that some other ballerinas can't manage. I also love that when she does the fishdive, she turns her head up towards her partner (of all the Sugarplums I saw, she was the only one who did this -a move I believe Suzanne Farrell started, sometimes called the "ginch") I thought Tiler did well with Garcia (who does his own virtuosic ménage, not just the standard grand jetes). However, I thought she did the best with Tyler Angle. She was really able to luxuriate in those moments when he holds her in a backbend or in the last sequence, perform her chaineés very fast because she knows he will catch her in the right position.

In contrast, I also saw Hyltin/Vyette, Krohn/Ramasar and Lovette/Huxley. Of these others Lauren Lovette was definitely the weakest. She is not nearly as technically proficient as any of the other women and seemed to lack confidence. In her opening with the angels, her pirouettes started going off badly and at one point she nearly fell. Her chaineé turns at the conclusion, were fairly slow, as if she had no confidence that Anthony would catch her properly. And when, at the end, Drosselmeier's nephew kisses her hand, instead of elongating her arm and hand, Lauren dropped her wrist, which made the gesture look like one is kissing the queen. Huxley did well, the best he could with her, but I do hope they find someone else for him as a regular partner. Rebecca Krohn and Amar Ramasar were a bit bland (not much projection) but Rebecca used her long limbs to really stretch out positions very elegantly. She also used her head a lot, tilting it backward or to the side, which made her dancing look very lyrical. With Sterling Hyltin and Andrew Vyette, I really liked him but not so much her. He is an excellent partner and of every Cavalier I saw, he was the only one not too tired to get his working leg at 90 degrees for the a la second turns. Sterling is excellent technically. However, she was,IMO, really lacking when it came to projecting charm and graciousness. That graciouness should be established in the entrance she makes with the little angels and during her 4 minute solo. Her failure to smile or make eye contact with any of the children plus her not seeming very relaxed when she dances (which I realize is no mean feat) is what, for me, was the problem. Even in the PDD with Vyette she seemed pretty tense and barely smiled, though it came off without a hitch.

On Sunday, I will see the final Nutcracker, with Mearns as Sugarplum and Tyler Angle as Cavaliier. The real reason I'm going, though, is to see Tiler as Dewdrop and Ulbricht in Hoops. I'm also very interested to see Phelan and Dieck in Hot Chocolate since I missed their debuts as Sugarplum and Cavalier. I also hope to see little Avery Linn who I have yet to see this season. And then (finally) onto the winter season.

Well actually I found an old video with Diana Adams and Magallanes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnPPQEuM-mA

The choreography has changed slightly but if I'm going to GUESS PM's 13 hazard points I'd say:

1. At 0:30 the supported pirouette in developpe a la seconde. I did see a ballerina fall off pointe at that moment, it requires a lot of strength.

2. The tricky arm changes at 0:58

3. The pique turn into penchee lunge sequence at 1:17. Adams handles it okay, although she doesn't lunge as quickly as some SPF's would do today and she makes a weird bobble at 1:26 in the second of those pique turns.

4. The pirouettes at 1:50. They have to be done with no preparation, with the last one at 2:03 being rather tricky (and probably the fifth hazard point).

5. The aforementioned pirouette at 2:03.

6 & 7. The two shoulder jumps at 2:35. If done perfectly we shouldn't see the Cavalier pushing the SPF onto the shoulder at all -- it should just look like she jumped right into a sit position on his shoulders. Also he has to turn her to the audience at that moment.

8. That floating lift at 3:27. If done well the SPF should look like she's riding the wave of the music upwards. Adams' timing is a bit off -- she comes down when the music is still going up.

9. The backwards lunge that follows that lift at 3:30.

10. (Not choreographed in this video). At 3:58 nowadays the SPF is put into that little pulley and slides forward in arabesque.

11. The tricky hand changing positions in 4:19 while doing a promenade.

12. The sustained balance that has to be held at 4:35 (Adams doesn't hold the balance for that long.)

13. The fishdive at 4:47.

That was fun! Anyone else want to make guesses as to the 13 dangerous moments PM is talking about?

If you want to consider the entire time the SPF and the Cavalier are onstage (after both of their solos) the SPF does a series of very quick chainees turns towards stage right and has to land in the arms of her Cavaler with her hands over her head in a kind of fifth position. The first time I saw Tiler/Gonzalo perform that this season they screwed it up. She landed face down because he didn't catch her quickly enough. But he adjusted to correct position almost immediately.

Well actually I found an old video with Diana Adams and Magallanes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnPPQEuM-mA

The choreography has changed slightly but if I'm going to GUESS PM's 13 hazard points I'd say:

1. At 0:30 the supported pirouette in developpe a la seconde. I did see a ballerina fall off pointe at that moment, it requires a lot of strength.

2. The tricky arm changes at 0:58

3. The pique turn into penchee lunge sequence at 1:17. Adams handles it okay, although she doesn't lunge as quickly as some SPF's would do today and she makes a weird bobble at 1:26 in the second of those pique turns.

4. The pirouettes at 1:50. They have to be done with no preparation, with the last one at 2:03 being rather tricky (and probably the fifth hazard point).

5. The aforementioned pirouette at 2:03.

6 & 7. The two shoulder jumps at 2:35. If done perfectly we shouldn't see the Cavalier pushing the SPF onto the shoulder at all -- it should just look like she jumped right into a sit position on his shoulders. Also he has to turn her to the audience at that moment.

8. That floating lift at 3:27. If done well the SPF should look like she's riding the wave of the music upwards. Adams' timing is a bit off -- she comes down when the music is still going up.

9. The backwards lunge that follows that lift at 3:30.

10. (Not choreographed in this video). At 3:58 nowadays the SPF is put into that little pulley and slides forward in arabesque.

11. The tricky hand changing positions in 4:19 while doing a promenade.

12. The sustained balance that has to be held at 4:35 (Adams doesn't hold the balance for that long.)

13. The fishdive at 4:47.

That was fun! Anyone else want to make guesses as to the 13 dangerous moments PM is talking about?

One

Well actually I found an old video with Diana Adams and Magallanes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnPPQEuM-mA

The choreography has changed slightly but if I'm going to GUESS PM's 13 hazard points I'd say:

1. At 0:30 the supported pirouette in developpe a la seconde. I did see a ballerina fall off pointe at that moment, it requires a lot of strength.

2. The tricky arm changes at 0:58

3. The pique turn into penchee lunge sequence at 1:17. Adams handles it okay, although she doesn't lunge as quickly as some SPF's would do today and she makes a weird bobble at 1:26 in the second of those pique turns.

4. The pirouettes at 1:50. They have to be done with no preparation, with the last one at 2:03 being rather tricky (and probably the fifth hazard point).

5. The aforementioned pirouette at 2:03.

6 & 7. The two shoulder jumps at 2:35. If done perfectly we shouldn't see the Cavalier pushing the SPF onto the shoulder at all -- it should just look like she jumped right into a sit position on his shoulders. Also he has to turn her to the audience at that moment.

8. That floating lift at 3:27. If done well the SPF should look like she's riding the wave of the music upwards. Adams' timing is a bit off -- she comes down when the music is still going up.

9. The backwards lunge that follows that lift at 3:30.

10. (Not choreographed in this video). At 3:58 nowadays the SPF is put into that little pulley and slides forward in arabesque.

11. The tricky hand changing positions in 4:19 while doing a promenade.

12. The sustained balance that has to be held at 4:35 (Adams doesn't hold the balance for that long.)

13. The fishdive at 4:47.

That was fun! Anyone else want to make guesses as to the 13 dangerous moments PM is talking about?

I went to last night's performance-(yes, I'm in the city for a few days...wanted to catch the City Ballet's Nut and perhaps "An American in Paris"). Mearns was Sugarplum and Peck danced Dewdrop. Miss Peck was wonderful. She really nailed all the technical tricks, and something I noticed..she seems to like to luxuriate in her balances, but in a way that the subsequent steps don't suffer. They are there, perhaps in a tiny faster approach so they are always on spot-(unlike other ballerinas, like Viengsay Valdes, who ends up suppressing whole segments). I really liked her dancing, at least in this role. Very energetic and fast...just as I love my ballerinas. The Sugarplum adagio later on with Mearns and Tyler Angle didn't look to me as polished, I particularly didn't "get" Angle. He lacked elevation in his sequence of jete menages.

I will try to catch another performance, so let's see.

Cheers and Happy Holidays everyone!!

I have to agree with cubanmiami boy that Tiler Peck is a wonder. I've seen all of her Sugarplums this season (all of which were with Gonzalo Garcia, except for one with Tyler Angle) and I will see one more on Decrmber 29. I love her musicality, which you discussed - she is one of 2 ballerinas (the other being Ashley Bouder) who can slow down and, as you say, luxuriate in a particular movement and then catch up and it looks wonderful.

As for Tyler Angle, his days of being a great solo dancer are, IMO, over. But I believe he is the best partner in the company. When he and Tiler danced the Sugarplum/Cavalier PDD, he did the 2 shoulder sits, no problem. He lifted her high over his head twice. And unlike with Garcia, Tiler really threw herself at him with abandon. Also, Tyler really threw her up high in the air before catching her in the fish dive. Yes, their arms were not always at the same height and yes, both his cabrioles and his manège of jetes lack height. But I believe Tiler was much more relaxed with Tyler than with Garcia and really enjoyed dancing with him. In the performances you saw, Sara Mearns was Sugarplum and she freely admits that because she is a somewhat larger ballerina, she is more difficult to partner. As a result, the only men that usually partner her are Tyler Angle or his brother Jared. Both are no longer great technicians but are fantastic partners.

Has anyone heard anything about casting at the Kennedy Center yet? The suspense is killing me.