Fleurfairy

i hate to say it, but I expected this. They seemed to lead very separate lives ever since Robert went to Broadway. 

Interested about Hallberg as well. From what I heard/saw this season, his dancing was tentative. This obviously is due to coming back from his serious injury, but it made me wonder if he will ever be the same. Kind of like how Darci Kistler (whom I adored) had that terrible ankle injury. And she came back, but her dancing never quite had the same fearlessness. And Hallberg is not on the young side of his career either. 

20 minutes ago, vipa said:

For promotions I feel like this is Sarah Lane's now or never time. She did a first class (IMO) Giselle, a fine white act of SL and a less fine black act (but as a last minute sub and debut, there has to be some slack given). Her dancing has been confident and first class in every other ballet. So AD now or never. If it doesn't happen for her this time I think she should find another company while she is still young enough to have great years as a principal. More years of little swans, peasant pas, SL pas de trois etc. just doesn't seem right.

Totally agree. This was a defining year for her - Aurora (she also danced Aurora in Kirkland's version years ago), Odette/Odile, Ratmansky's Clara, Giselle,  and she originated Princess Praline. I'm very nervous for her. But yeah, this is do or die time. The fact that Simkin seems to really love dancing with her might be a big vote in her favor. 

1 hour ago, Natalia said:

 

Not a classical tutu or tiara in sight. We used to get T&V or similar during these fall seasons.

 

No other ABT "legacy" works, like Sylphides or any of the Tudors. The only option this year to see Tippet's gorgeous Bruch Violin C. is in Buenos Aires. Agnes de Mille? Mark Morris' or Tharp's "new classics"? Whatever happened to ABT's spectacularly designed Ballet Imperial? Ah...but we're getting a double dose of Millepied.

Yes my thoughts exactly! I would have loved to see Fall River Legend or Appalachian Spring. Millepied....no I will not spend money to see anything he does. 

2 hours ago, abatt said:

NYCB is doing Other Dances in the spring of  2018, on an All Robbins program.

So is San Francisco Ballet now that I look... 

3 hours ago, choriamb said:

And I agree with the members who wish ABT had a demi-soloist position so that Fang, Post, Hamrick, and DeGrofft would be properly recognized.  But one joy of all these in-house promotions is that corps members may now have a shot at roles formerly assigned exclusively to soloists/principals. (Fang in anything involving a slyph! Post in Monotones!)

I couldn't take my eyes of Fang as Zulma in Giselle. She was so incredibly lovely. Hamrick in Act I stood out to me as well, but I'm not sure if that was because of her dancing, her beautiful face, or that she's Mick Jagger's girlfriend. 

Ergh, more of the same. Nothing I'm really interested in except Other Dances. I was hoping for Cinderella. 

The New York Times is fake news. The Dance section is a travesty. Alastair McCauley, a man who has never danced a day in his life, being the Times' authority on ballet. Which is why 99.9% of his "reviews" are historical exposition on the ballet (which he can Google) and the rest a fragment of a sentence about a dancer's facial expression or the like. 

14 hours ago, California said:

At a Friends' Spotlight Seminar Tuesday,  Luckett interviewed Copeland, Teuscher, and Shevchenko about "dream debuts." He asked Copeland about her scheduled debut in Praline next Monday, given that she had aleady cancelled twice. She seemed to rush to say: because of injury. And, yes, she did hope to debut next week. An awkward exchange,  it seemed.

I just cannot picture Misty in this role. It is rapid-fire pointework - something that is not her forte. I'll give her a lot of credit for trying if she does perform, but I would not be surprised if she withdraws. 

I wonder if it would fit the music to add the little pick-up steps (my mind's blank...are they emboites?) with the fouettes like in the coda of Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux. They look great but they are a little easier than just fouettes because the dancer can put her other foot down for a millisecond and catch her balance. Might be the solution for these ABT women that have trouble. By the by, this isn't just an ABT problem. I've seen both Teresa Reichlen and Sara Mearns fall out of them recently in Swan Lake. They are a killer!

1 hour ago, NinaFan said:

 

nanushka - As far as older people changing their seats, I see it happening all the time regardless of age.  Just recently an usher had to yell at some younger adults from moving around for better seats as the lights were dimming. 

 

Now this I can commiserate with. The Met Opera House is just not built for ballet. It's built fine for opera when seeing is not absolutely necessary. I recently sat in the orchestra for Giselle and while I admit I am a very petite person, the woman in front of me was tall and had a huge mop of curly hair to boot which dwarfed my view of the stage. I spent the entire performance leaning right and left trying to see around her and it was incredibly frustrating and had I had enough gumption, I would have changed seats. There is not enough of a pitch to the floor, it's pretty much level. So if you have a big person in front of you, you are screwed.

5 hours ago, LadyBubbles said:

I must confess I'm a little apprehensive about Sarah Lane subbing in so late. I'm not saying that I think she's not capable of a great O/O, in fact I think she is totally right for the role. But let's face it, she probably hasn't had much rehearsal time (surely not nearly as much as she did with Giselle, considering she knew it would be her big role of the season since last year), and there's also the fact that unlike Devon Teuscher, she hasn't had the chance of performing it prior to tomorrow (yes, I know she danced it in Barcelona but that was a different version and it was more than 5 years ago).

I hope it goes well. Her technique is good and her acting has improved. Her nerves are what worry me. I hope the confidence that she has demonstrated all this season shows in her O/O debut.

I think she's got this. She's a professional. And let's face it...ballet dancers are always practicing Swan Lake from childhood on. I have confidence that Daniil will take care of any small nerves. They have a great partnership.

I think Balanchinomane was saying that Misty's celebrity covers for her artistic deficiencies.  She shrewdly marketed herself (while she was still a soloist) as this groundbreaking alien in the dance world. At that point, McKenzie's hands were absolutely tied in terms of promoting her. I don't believe had Misty stayed a non-celebrity, that she would have ever become a principal dancer. Her fame outside the ballet world absolutely got her that promotion. I compare it to Tom Brady performing King Lear at The Globe. You know how the quality of the performance will be, but it's the spectacle that will fill the seats.

All that said, I think Misty is a beautiful dancer in the right roles. For instance, I would love to see what she could do with The Leaves are Fading.

Can anyone explain  dynamic pricing? I don't know what they term means. Does pricing go up based on speed of ticket sales?

Interesting that she was cast as Princess Praline in two separate runs of Whipped Cream, none of which she ended up performing. That Ratmansky choreography is a killer and she's not an allegro dancer. I suppose they still have her on the calendar to sell tickets. Skylar Brandt will most likely be her replacement as has been the case in LA and in NYC. I feel sorry for the people that don't know any better and are spending good money to see her in Whipped Cream.

As for Swan Lake, I am excited for Alex Hammoudi - his career seemed to be at a little bit of a standstill of late. Hope he pulls out all the big guns today! 

Was Misty able to do them in Don Quixote? If not, what did she do in their place? 

14 minutes ago, abatt said:

But is should matter to ABT.

Definitely. It's an insult to the art form. 

14 minutes ago, cubanmiamiboy said:

Now I can quite see the meaning of "dumbing down" a choreographic sequence, vs. getting creative due to injury. Because that is what Copeland did tonight. She totally dumbed down her fouettes sequence. She did only 19 singles...travelling extensively...and making up the rest of the music with her own fillers. Her is probsbly the worst Black Swan coda I have ever seen, only second to an even bigger disaster I saw via Skorik many years ago.

A really sad spectacle to witness that was.

I also enjoyed her Odette. And Cornejo totally showed her through.

I think Misty does shine in certain roles, Juliet being one. But oh dear, Swan Lake is not for her. I guess if her mere casting sells the tickets, it doesn't matter to an uneducated audience. 

29 minutes ago, Drew said:

 

I can imagine your disappointment about not seeing the fouettes because you have written forcefully on their importance many times, but I can hardly imagine a solution more disrespectful to the intent and spirit of the ballet than the one you suggest here. If I were attending a performance of Swan Lake rearranged in that way  I wouldn't just be disappointed or critical -- I would feel disrespected and completely thrown out of the ballet's story and mood. The older, traditional solution that makes a little more sense is different ballerinas altogether for Odette/Odile. I don't know how the bulk of ABT's audience would react to that, as it has not been done for a while. And, for my taste, the fouettes alone are not a reason to go back to that way of staging the ballet. But at least it would not be treating the fouettes as a gala stunt, but keep them in the framework of the ballet.

 

(I know very well an injured Makarova had someone dance a Kitri variation for her etc. one evening, and there are one or two other examples surely NONE of which made for ideal performances, and 'hardcore balletomanes' as you wrote above, also know the difference between Don Quixote and Swan Lake.)

I think cubanmiamiboy was saying that the entire role should be cast on the basis of someone who can check all the technical boxes required, including the fouettes. So if an AD knows that a certain ballerina can't do fouettes, she shouldn't be O/O at all. He wasn't suggesting some other random ballerina run in during the coda, do the fouettes, and run back out again.

44 minutes ago, cubanmiamiboy said:

I am at the dress rehearsal right now. Lane and Teuscher are in.

Please give us all the details when you are able!! I'm so sad I can't get down to NY this week to see Lane if she performs. 

Sarah Lane also guested with San Francisco Ballet last year in their Nutcracker - she danced the Pas De Deux. 

Sarah Lane could (and should) step in for Kochetkova if she's still injured next week. Lane has danced O/O with Angel Corella in Spain so she's not entirely new to the role. She can also go easily with Kochetkova's scheduled partner Daniil Simkin. 

1 minute ago, nanushka said:

 

I wonder if we're all just talking about two different things, then. Other than Ratmansky (who has a very prominent role in the artistic direction of the company and may well be creating for them for quite some time yet), these aren't the people whom I think of as representing "the future" of the company. A grim present, perhaps – though I personally wouldn't want to make such an assertion without seeing even a single performance.

Exactly. Waelsung is talking about the current crop of principals, some of whom are injured. Which happens in every company in the world and is an inevitability of ballet. It's not a reflection on ABT that they are injured. We are talking about the current soloists who have been given big opportunities the last few weeks and have delivered. That's how a company is grown, by letting the lower ranks have chances so they get the experience under their belts and can develop their artistry. Anyone can attend performances of "Roberto Bolle & Friends" and programs like that if they want to see an amalgamation of international ballet stars for a night. 

14 minutes ago, Waelsung said:

 I'm not interested in Ferri's comeback (wonder if she'll be doing these until she's 100 years old), nor in Vishneva's retirements. 

I hear you there. No idea why ABT keeps bringing Ferri back in her mid-50's to do roles like Juliet who is supposed to be a teenager(!) I can suspend disbelief but up to a certain point. 

10 minutes ago, Waelsung said:

 

Yep, that would be me, no doubt. The only thing is I would be all for developing ungrown talent if I saw some, but, like I said earlier, except Shevchenko and - maybe - Lane, I just don't see any future wolrd-class stars in the making. Unfortunately, if the company goes the way the ABT seems to be going (no more guest stars to save money, but home-grown dancers available on the cheap, even if they're not ready and have no potential to ever be), it will very quickly turn into another provincial company. The local crowd will always be there to cheer the home team, but big-league attendees (and sponsors) will not be enthusiastic enough to keep the budget sane and the price of the seats even remotely affordable. Hate to burst everybody's bubble, but the ABT future DOES appear to be pretty grim.

Wow, I think you are the first person I've ever heard of that is actually a proponent of guest stars at ABT. In my eyes, 2017 has been a triumph for ABT so far. 

Oh interesting. Sarah paired with Shayer, that could be a really nice partnership. And Skylar with Zhang. Glad to see these corps men getting some opportunities.