CharlieH

@Ashton Fan Thank  you for the thorough answer to my Qs. Sad situation which can hopefully be resolved within the next couple of years. In retrospect, it’s somewhat amusing to re-watch my recording of the last telecast of Cinderella, ca 2002, and see the intermission interview in which the designers are self-congratulating left and right!

Added to my summer holiday reading is this delightful book by Laura Jacobs:

https://www.amazon.com/Celestial-Bodies-How-Look-Ballet/dp/0465098479

In a series of poetic essays, Jacobs perfectly captures why we balletomanes adore our art of choice. I especially love her musings on Serenade.

What do you think?

ABT has just updated its Corps roster. All six of the Met season’s apprentices have been promoted to Corps de ballet, not just Zimmi Coker, as mentioned above. In addition to Zimmi:

Sierra Armstrong

Simon Hoke

Fangqi Li

Joao Menegussi

Javier Rivet

Departed Corps, in addition to those mentioned earlier in this thread: Elina Miettinen and Sean Stewart.

https://www.abt.org/the-company/dancers/

Someone mentioned Alejandro Virelles as a potential ABT joiner. He just joined Berlin Staatsballett, just in time for Ratmansky’s Bayadere.

https://www.staatsballett-berlin.de/en/ensemble

1 hour ago, nanushka said:

Oh I completely agree he's not a WOW. (And agree they need a few.) He's miles closer than Cory, I'd say, but I don't think he'll ever quite be that. He could be really really good I think, though, if given the right opportunities (as he was in a few cases this summer).

Yup. 

If promotion to Principal were based solely on technical capability, I’d add Gorak to the list...fantastic, sharp Prince Desire two years in a row. But, again, I haven’t seen WOW on the overall performance & personality side yet.

We were so spoiled with many WOW guys at ABT from the 1970s until fairly recently.

8 hours ago, nanushka said:

Have to seriously disagree here, having seen Forster as Espada this summer. Cory could never have performed that role so well. Forster has a lot of stage presence (or at least has the potential for that — he may not have always shown it in certain other roles). Cory disappears into the scenery.

I enjoyed Forster in Ratmansky’s Symposium...& other pure dance roles. I haven’t yet seen his charisma shine through. ABT is in serious need of WOW male soloists & Principals.

1 hour ago, Barbara said:

... I'm thinking of Hoven but Forster in particular.....

 Also hoping Lendorf can return soon...

Re. Hoven & Forster:  read my (& others’) comments about “spice.” Cory Stearns is a hot tamale in comparison to those two, regardless of Tech capability.

re Lendorf: Sorry, he’s had his chances. It seems as if he’s been injured since he joined. Moveon.org!

Just when we thought that we had seen it all with Ardani-style Ballerina Vanity Projects like Isadora, here comes Vishneva’s latest:

https://wwd.com/eye/people/diana-vishneva-ballet-dancer-1202762649/

Sleeping Beauty Dreams promises to bring out Aurora’s edgier side...what she dreamt during those 100 years! At $160 - $200+ bucks a pop in some venues, Vishneva better put on her pointe shoes, but I somehow doubt it.

12 hours ago, bcash said:

I was just thinking about Vogel. North American audiences see this gorgeous danseur noble  too little!

Shklyarov would be a great guest for ABT.  Both New York companies are kind of lacking in exciting male talent in the principal ranks lately. 

Vogel is almost 40. ABT must think of the future. Sorry, I admire Vogel and absolutely loved him in the La Scala Raymonda.

I’m sticking to my first thought, Osiel Gouneo, still in his 20s, who has wandered around Western Europe for far too long. 

Besides...

Let’s get a little Cuban spice back at ABT! 😆 

7 hours ago, Dreamer said:

Shklyarov is back at the Mariinsky. He remains a guest artist at  Bayerisches Staatsballett. Matthew Golding is also a guest there. ABT could have hired Igor Tsvirko who is now with the Hungarian National Ballet or Nikita Chetverikov, who left the Perm Ballet a couple of months to join the Czech National Ballet. But both of these dancers have spouses who require an employment contract as well. Maybe this limited their choices. 

Tsvirko? ABT has plenty of shortish demi-caractere dancers, even after the departures of Cirio & Simkin.

I’m thinking more about Golding’s O-mouth.

My three choices:

1. Age 28...and oh-so-great: Osiel Gouneo  

2. Or how about Kimin Kim - age 25 and so alive!? He could come with his coaches, Vladimir Kim & Rita Kullik...and ABT could sure use them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQPHhizNAEo

3. Let’s go really young. Age 20 with talent a-plenty: Julian Mackay, most recent partner of Skylar Brandt on Russian TV.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAIk9x3LC1_68vYCH1eoPgw

Re. Golding: A “no” for me as he  seems to have the most annoying facial expressions, sorry!

It depends on the technology chosen - there are seven or eight options - and your own equipment. It’s amazing that this possibility exists. Not every potential ballet lover resides in NYC or in a handful of European capitals.

I’ve ordered a number of recent Vienna ballet airings, including the Nureyev Raymonda a couple of months ago with divine Olga Yesina- wow! Worth every penny.

I’ll take NYCB and ABT - both! Sure, if I know casting in advance I may not opt for Sara Mearns...but if it’s Ashley Laracey or Emily Gerrity, YES! My point: It’s great to have options, to allow the rest of the world to see a lot of live ballet without having to travel and spend megabucks on airfare and hotels. It’s 2018. 

Buddy, this began with whoever coached the first Apollo at the Mariinsky in the mid-1990s. Asylmuratova and her fellow muses. Forgetting the stager...Francia Russell perhaps? But the dancers and their own coaches often override the Balanchine Trust stagers.

Buddy, the playful (“facial”) approach is typical Mariinsky Apollo muses and, to me, is dead wrong compared to Farrell and other NYCB greats who don’t show teeth or flirt with the audience. It’s what many in this forum complained about in Assylmuratova’s Terpsichore, for example, who actually smiled at the audience in spots - not just to Apollo. Same problem with Veronica Part, even when she had moved to ABT. Of course each audience member interprets a performance through his own prism. The flirty approach seems jarring to those used to more poker-faced muses, like Farrell. Remember, the muses are teaching cerebral lessons to the young Apollo.

If one prefers flirty, chacun a son gout!

Heads up that this new production of the traditional French SYLVIA will be live streamed to subscribers (or single-ticket purchasers) on Nov 24. Legris suggests that his edition will follow the traditional stagings of the POB, mentioning Merante, Staats, Darsonval. The designs will be by L. Spinatelli, known for her very luxurious style. No minimalism here.

The full Vienna opera and ballet schedule of live streams, and information on how to book specific performances, is here:

https://www.wiener-staatsoper.at/en/staatsoper-live/wiener-staatsoper-livehome/

Info on Sylvia bookings:

https://www.staatsoperlive.com/en/live/697/sylvia-2018-11-24/

I wish that US theaters would offer this sort of thing to home-computer subscribers. Vienna is incredibly generous in its opera & ballet offerings. $16 for US-viewer ticket is well worth it, IMO. I’d pay $20 to “live-stream attend” ABT performances in my living room, wouldn’t you?

5 hours ago, FPF said:

But why would her spirit have the swan queen form, rather than a fully human form? 

...

White Swan = Ultimate purity? Human body can never be pure. Just wracking my brain for an explanation (!). 

1 hour ago, FPF said:

Yes, you have it exactly. At the beginning (overture) it shows Odette first in a dress, captured by Von Rothbart and transformed so that she is wearing the white swan tutu. At the very end, Odette in the swan costume is floating overhead while her body, retrieved from the lake by Siegfried, is wearing the dress. 

My first thought upon seeing Scarlett’s ending was, “Aha! Odette is as fake as Odile.” Then I thought that perhaps Scarlett is illustrating the religious idea:  the human may be gone (a corpse) but the spirit lives. Siegfried doesn’t realize it...he is not yet religious, so he only sees the corpse. 

Pointing out that North American cinemas viewers’ thoughts on this production are beginning to come in, via this thread (beginning with the 9th post, August 3):

https://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/42425-royal-ballet-cinemas-season-2017-2018/

Thanks, @Drew My initial surprise was expressed due to Cinderella not being on the ROH schedule. From what I’ve been able to quickly research, the ballet was last presented at the ROH around 2011. From a purely marketing point of view, the title Cinderella means more to the general public than Fille Mal Gardee, Sylvia or Ondine. Cinderella’s omission can only be explained, IMO, by either:

a) a rights problem, such as the Ashton Foundation’s designated stager (Ms. Ellis?) not allowing its presentation, for whatever reason;

b) problematic designs - ROH holding out until new designs can be prepared (the last set of designs were roundly criticized, eg, heavyish solo-fairy dresses, orange sky, etc.);

c) lack of adequate leading cast (?)...likely not, with brilliant potential new leads, such as Francesca Hayward.

Maybe Ashton’s Cinderella will return to the ROH schedule - and a long-awaited live cinemascast - for the 2019/2020 season?

@California

Thanks for the tip-off. I may indeed be hopping on Amtrak for this! Still...

Why is this ballet seemingly being nixed by Ashton’s own company? Why no recent DVDs or cinemacasts?

I’m a big fan of all the portions that feature the 12 “Stars Corps” ladies and the four season fairies (and their cavaliers); they’re in every act, in fascinating movements and patterns. To me, they comprise one of Ashton’s finest tributes to Petipa.

Related questions, just out of curiosity:

Is there a reason why Ashton’s Cinderella has not been performed for so long? 

Does anyone recall the last season when it was performed by the RB? (Perhaps ABT has performed it more recently?!)

Has the Ashton Cinderella ever been programmed in the cinemas offerings?

Lastly - Is the 1969 telecast starring Sibley and Dowell (so wonderful!) the latest Ashton Cinderella to have made it to commercial DVD? I recall a BBC telecast around 2002/03, starring Cojocaru and Kobborg, which doesn’t seem to have made it onto commercial DVD. Grrr.

I just realized that I’ve truly missed this gorgeous ballet.

On 6/25/2018 at 7:16 PM, Fleurdelis said:

This is wonderful news, obviously an impressive achievement. I can't wait to see her on the Bolshoi Ballet TV show, I'm dying to know what she is about.

FYI, May & her Mariinsky partner, Victor Caixeta, did not appear at the competition.  Yuri Fateev participated as a coach. 

Final list of competitors can be found here, with photos & bios. May is not there.

https://tvkultura.ru/brand/show/brand_id/63029/

The show just completed filming, for airing next January.

The U.S. and Canada initial screening was on July 31. Some cinemas will repeat it on August 7.

https://www.thewonderfulworldofdance.com/the-royal-ballets-critically-acclaimed-new-production-of-swan-lake-released-in-cinemas-across-the-usa-on-july-31

I caught it in NY. I’m wondering if others may be as disappointed as I am with this production? The RB waited 30+ years for a new Swan Lake and got this??? All of RJ Wiley’s portions based on 1895 - the treasures of the Dowell production - are gone! The sets/projections are either gaudy (ballroom with Merry Widow staircase) or cheap (A1 painterly 1970s trees, the crazy gate to the side; the lakeside acts’ simple rock cluster). Extremely dark lighting. OK, the return of traditional classical tutus on all swans is a plus...but Von Rothbart’s TarantulaMan get-up is ridiculous! 

Not to take away from the magnificence of Nunez, Muntagirov & other performers. Akane Takada was especially wondrous in the Pas de Trois; most beautiful feet I’ve seen in a long time!  

The New Zealand gig appears to have been temporary. Part is not on the active dancer roster, yet their main season is in full swing (with the reversed seasons downunder). This explains her availability for the Osipova-Isadora event. I’m wondering if Part’s fellow 1996 graduate at the Vaganova Acad, Daria Pavlenko, might also be able to take part in these special Ardani events & tours as a freelancer (in the future, of crs)?