BalanchineFan

Standing room is sold day of and only in person at the box office.

Neither post mentioned when Alexa Maxwell performed Dewdrop. I'd think Friday or Saturday. Did they have a student matinee? That casting might not be publicized on the digital board. Just guessing. I called regarding standing room today, and was told they are well enough sold out that standing room should be open for the rest of Nutcracker. I had also looked for seats, and there are just a few single seats here and there throughout the entire theater for the remaining weeks. Practically nothing (though there could be returns, I suppose, if people get sick or their plans change.).

Unity Phelan posted an IG story congratulating Alexa Maxwell on her Dewdrop debut! Yay! There was a picture of Alexa in costume in a dressing room. Here's a link for as long as it lasts. Alexa Maxwell sharing the news https://www.instagram.com/stories/alexamax/3254803558801023006/

Thank you, @Fernie M and all the others who posted ideas. I chose the date very carefully with friends, so I can't change it. It's a wonderful production, I go almost every year and I'm sure we'll have a great time regardless of casting.

Ooh, Bolden and Kikta as SPF and Cavalier! I wish I had tickets to that! I don't particularly like the casting I ended up with, but I'm sure it will be fine.

They used to. Standing room is at the back (or, one might say, the TOP) of the fourth ring. Just last night I got tickets to a matinee on Friday Dec 20th. We couldn't find three seats together anywhere. It looks like it's selling quite well. Bring your binoculars, folks. I love that film. I saw Rebecca Krohn and Lauren King leading the Flowers, too. There's another on Youtube with Megan Fairchild as Dewdrop.

I noticed that too. 😍

More Nutcracker with Alistair MacCauley presiding. Emma von Enck -Anthony Huxley and Ashley Hod -Chun Wai Chan with Suki Schorer, Jonathan Stafford, Wendy Whelan and Sara Mearns speaking.

I found Gustave Le Gray interesting, but not classical. The dancers wear red... body suits, you could call them. They are similar to the suits certain sky divers might wear with fabric between the leg and arm, and between the legs, creating a kind of sail. The dancers also push a piano across the stage, I don't remember if the pianist was playing then, or not. Visually striking, I found it fascinating, but no one would compare it with Dewdrop. You wouldn't think a cast of four would fall victim to Covid, but they did. The performance I saw, Naomi Corti was replacing one of the men.

I know this post is months old. I agree, it's not great marketing, but it works in terms of creating a rehearsal schedule. Suppose you want to promote 4 dancers to soloist. You wouldn't want them to rehearse their corps parts for a month and then, BANG on opening night you throw four new corps members onstage and give the four new soloists new soloist roles. If you announce promotions at the end of a season everyone has time to rehearse and prepare.

Could be. Certainly, there wasn't much uproar about missed opportunities the last time Hutchinson danced with NYCB. She's quite lovely. I guess no one thinks Pam Tanowitz is a way to climb the ladder at NYCB. As @abatt said, they want to acknowledge the companies lead by former NYCB dancers and the breadth of NYCB's influence. While dancers want to be promoted, NYCB has so many performances and so often that you don't usually hear dancers complaining about lost performance opportunities. I could have missed it, I suppose, or maybe that's not something one says publicly. On the other hand, I've seen posts joking about the slog of put-in rehearsals when other dancers are out injured. To me, they seem to want to share the load. I went to the open rehearsal before Thanksgiving. It's always such fun. Megan Fairchild danced SPF, Tyler Angle was the Cavalier (he looked great, they both did!) Mira Nadon was Dewdrop (sort of like the Sleeping Beauty cast last spring). Emily Kikta was Coffee (beautiful, leggy and sultry) and Sara Adams lead Marzipan. Sebastian V-V was Tea, Daniel Ulbricht as Candy Cane (which seemed impossibly fast, I can't believe no one asked for a slower tempo). Mary Elizabeth Sell is back and looks as good as she ever did. She and Victor Abreu danced Hot Chocolate. Fairchild had a few amazing attitude turns that hung in the air and floated before she closed to fifth. Some of the dancers watching gasped. You could hear them from the fourth ring where I was sitting. Gilbert Bolden did Mother Ginger and the little Polichinelles were great. You can tell Fairchild is rehearsing, working things out onstage, lively, engaged, speaking audibly at times. Sometimes I try to figure out what she's working on. Nadon seems so polished it's not like she's rehearsing. She repeats things from time to time but, honestly, it seems complete the first time. I'm always so impressed with Dena Abergel, Arch HIggins and all the people who teach those small children. Those kids know their business onstage.

I’m excited to see Alexandra Hutchinson as Dewdrop. From her bio, she’s danced a lot of Balanchine. NYCB had two dancers from DTH perform last year in a Pam Tanowitz piece. They were great. So it’s certainly not the first time NYCB has had guest artists. Don’t they typically have a few guest Drosselmeyers? Alexandra Hutchinson bio https://www.dancetheatreofharlem.org/people/alexandra-hutchinson/ I can't imagine two missed Dewdrop opportunities will set anyone's career back.

I think she has a Dewdrop scheduled, tho. No, sorry, it’s Coffee. I’d love to see her dance that too!

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/24/arts/dance/the-nutcracker-gives-young-dancers-a-spotlight-role.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare ‘The Nutcracker’ Gives Young Dancers a Spotlight Role

Most Nutcracker audiences don’t care about casting, buy tickets in August or September and couldn’t tell you who danced SPF or Dewdrop if their lives depended on it. Since principals can make a lot of money guesting they often get time off to guest during Nutcracker. I think it’s an excellent practice for NYCB, where the Nutcracker season is 50-60 performances long. It allows for debuts at NYCB and helps promote ballet across the country, increasing the smaller companies’ star power and earning power. And NYCB has a deep bench! The quote is from a NY Times article, 2015. Peter Martins.

It sounds to me like she wants to stay close to her home in CA after her father's death. Her IG posts about him have been very moving.

I am just recovering from Covid in NYC, and Nutcracker season is long. There are sure to be some unexpected surprises, casting wise. I'm just hoping they don't have to cancel anything. A full Nutcracker season - THAT would be BOLD and EXCITING, imo!

I’m glad Gilbert Bolden has a Cavalier, too. It’s not a debut but he has kept working on it.

Hi Orel, Thanks for the links. I'm going to ask for your book on LeClerq for Christmas. And I'm loving your talk about her life.

Has any choreographer done that? I mean, in the past 40-50 years? Imo, Natalia Makarova was the last one.

I really loved this program. If you have PBS Passport it is still available ($10/month). Local PBS stations are certain to repeat it. Highlights for me where the lovely performance of Serenade, with Unity Phelan, Indiana Woodward, Miriam Miller, Russell Janzen (oh, I miss him!) and Aaron Sanz. Unity and Indiana seem to have blossomed into their roles; full, expansive, alive and totally at ease in every moment. I also particularly enjoyed the duet between Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia in The Times Are Racing. Perfection! Harrison Coll and Peter Walker danced well, as did the three ladies (Gerrity, Segin and MT McKinnon), but Coll and Walker are so different physically that the unison doesn't come off as spectacularly as with Justin Peck and Robbie Fairchild. I couldn't hear any of the tapping. I thought the sound wasn't great for Square Dance or for Times Are Racing. It could be that my home TV set doesn't have great sound, or great sound settings, but the orchestra seemed to get softer and softer during the Square Dance finale. Not really helpful as the movement ramps up. Did anyone else have this issue?

Thank you for the link. I'm glad they're getting press. Jaffe's ideas don't sound that bold to me, just what everyone is doing these days. It's an odd article. It doesn't sound like the author writes about ballet often, Jaffe "retired for performance"? Or maybe they just don't proofread things at Town and Country.

Excellent points @volcanohunter @Kathleen O'Connell @Helene and @vipa I sometimes wonder if it would have made a difference if Kirkland had been told “you are enough.” But then, remembering her first book, I doubt it. Perhaps someone even said those very words to her. You often just can’t absorb what people are telling you, try as you might. Or what YOU want is different.

India Bradley danced an intriguing duet with Claire Kretschmar in Justin Peck’s ballet to Caroline Shaw’s music, Partita. In the Kyle Abraham created during the pandemic, When We Fell, she held penchée arabesque for… about two days(!!) (filmed on the Promenade). She did a demi role in Bourree Fantasque (she and MT MacKinnon both looked great!) and another demi in the Bizet. And thank you for mentioning Lauren Collett, @cobweb. I’ll look for her. Regarding the “facial expression” issue, I wish we had a larger word to describe it. To me, it’s a question of performance; how a dancer performs onstage other than doing the steps, other than their musicality. I find it’s much deeper than deciding when to smile. It brings life and humanity to the stage. You see the whole person. I don’t think Balanchine ever focused on it. My guess is that he wasn’t great at getting what he wanted from his dancers in that domain (or he was preoccupied with other issues) so he left them to their own devices and simply cast people who worked it out for themselves. Many, many memoirs are filled with dancers trying to figure out their roles and what he wanted. Do others have ideas about this? Agree? Disagree?

I haven't seen her in many (any) featured roles. What have you seen Lauren Collett do? How did she capture your attention?