mille-feuille

I liked Stella -- her brief pas de deux with Whiteside was one of the few passages of actual ballet dancing last night. I was sitting in Row T of the Orchestra and I just did not feel that Teuscher was projecting that far. I felt like I was squinting the whole night to see her. Lane's role was very light on dancing and was mostly comedic relief, but she made the most of what was there. Hurlin was effective as Young Jane. Trenary was nicely creepy as Bertha when she was in the shadows, but when light was shining on her I found the creepiness to be significantly lessened. I did like the foreboding music that foreshadowed Bertha's appearances. None of them stirred any emotions in me at all, though, except for Whiteside now and then. He conveyed Rochester's attraction to Jane, torment about keeping Bertha hidden and her eventual death, and general broodiness well.

Well, it was definitely not my cup of tea. Marston's Jane Eyre is light on sustained passages of ballet dancing and heavy on dramatic walking, inscrutable mime, and impassioned writhing and yanking. The most actual ballet we got was a pique arabesque now and then. On the bright side, Whiteside was good as Rochester (or as good as he could've been, given that choreography). Many critical reviews praised Marston's storytelling abilities, but I found the details of the story (which I assume were contained in the aforementioned inscrutable mime and/or writhing and yanking) to be very muddy indeed. Interested to hear what others on this board think.

I'm going tonight, mainly because Whiteside impressed me so much in On the Dnieper and I wanted to see more of him. I usually find his aura a little too broody (it almost seems like anger or darkness is below the surface with him), but needless to say that kind of aura would be perfect for Mr. Rochester. Very much looking forward to seeing more of Hurlin as well.

She ended up choosing Sunday matinee. Thank you for the input! I'm glad she'll see one of your recommended casts.

Thank you, Helene and sandik! My friend's bought tickets -- here's hoping she gets hooked!

I have a friend in Seattle who expressed interest in watching ballet, but given that I've never seen PNB in person I don't know which cast to recommend. Any advice, those of y'all who are knowledgeable about these matters? Thanks in advance!

Agreed about Mack. I never saw Baca and am lukewarm on Royal, but I love Forster and Hoven and don't see why they aren't given more shots--they've often wowed me and always have been at least solid and satisfactory.

I enjoyed The Seasons but it didn't steal my heart and take my breath away like, say, Concerto DSCH does. I think it'd benefit greatly from brighter lighting -- especially in the opening scene, it looked like the dancers were dancing in a huge black cavern! (This might be a little improved in the smaller setting of the Koch as well.) Some kind of set design would also go a long way, I think.

My thoughts exactly! I thought the shirts looked a little silly during the actual ballet, but in those bright lights during the curtain call...

Thank you for the reports Leah, nanushka, and canbelto! Here's hoping they don't squeak too much -- or if they do, that my companions don't notice. I'm so excited for these ballets after reading the reports here, and it'll be interesting to see how Ramasar dances/ how I react to him. Before his dismissal and rehiring, I loved him in the fourth movement of Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet.

For those who've seen Bouder dance recently, have her shoes been less squeaky? I'm thinking of bringing some ballet newbies to this weekend's Tchaikovsky Suite No. 3 and I'm hoping her shoes won't distract them too much...

I went to today's (5/12) matinee. Pereira and Ball looked nice in Valse Fantaisie. It's not Balanchine's most inspired, in my opinion, but even his middle-of-the-road stuff is just lovely. The four corps members looked great, as did Pereira and Ball. I did find him a little "lurch-y" at times. I preferred Ulbricht's A Suite of Dances today to de Luz's at his retirement. Ulbricht was casual, playful, and introspective -- it was very soothing to see. (Special shout-out to the latecomers behind me who were SQUEAKING their boots and RUSTLING their plastic bags and LOUDLY WHISPERING for what felt like an entire section of the ballet.) The Tanowitz was so terrible. I just couldn't stand it. Next time if it's programmed, I intend to skip it and do a crossword in the lobby or something. It was cruel and unusual punishment that the curtain came down partially before the ballet was ending. I was so sick of the dreadful choreography I almost burst into applause for the curtain (until I realized the ballet was continuing). At least the dancers looked good. 😐 I agree that Bright was pleasant but too short -- I wanted more, especially after the Tanowitz. Sara Adams and Emilie Gerrity looked lovely, as did Sara Mearns. I thought Phelan was a little low-impact, but Taylor Stanley really shone. Pollack and J. Angle underwhelmed in the second movement, but Mearns and Mejia were on FIRE in the third. I was grinning from ear to ear the moment the two of them started dancing. I want to see so much more of him! It was my first time seeing Western Symphony in person and I'm still basking in its playful, fun, energetic afterglow.

Agreed completely.

YES! I couldn't focus on the dancing during her sections of Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 last winter because of her darn shoes!! Thankfully my guests (new to the ballet; I'm always trying to get others hooked!) somehow didn't notice.

I plan on going to one performance in which he's dancing and taking it from there. Before this incident, I admired Ramasar so much because I found his dancing to have such an inherent nobility and masculinity (kind of similar to what I've been seeing from Joe Gordon). If we take Ramasar at his word and believe that all he did was share intimate photos of one corps member and encourage Finlay to share photos with him, perhaps it wasn't a fire-able offense. But it is the antithesis of noble behavior. I can't say how I'll feel until I actually watch him dance, but I fear that the "magic" he once had will be gone, replaced with a sense of revulsion and sadness.

Perhaps wishful thinking, but I interpreted her "goodbye for awhile" to just be referencing the fact that NYCB isn't performing Pictures through at least Spring 2020.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/05/050525105357.htm Some would argue otherwise. I believe that the struggle to overcome these base tendencies is part of what makes someone a worthy human being.

I've found most Peck that I've seen agreeable but bland, so I was pretty blown away by last night's Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes. My favorite Peck works have been Rodeo and Pulcinella Variations; on the other hand, I've found most of his collaborations with Sufjan Stevens forgettable. His only ballet to electronic music that I like is The Times Are Racing. I'd love it if he stuck to orchestral music...!

For me personally it's not that the Petipa reconstructions are similar to Ratmansky's original works--I have problems with the individual ballets and the frequency with which they're performed. Whipped Cream felt like it was for children; I saw it twice and would not go again. (I also kind of hate the waltz of the whipped cream tufts.) Harlequinade had too much mime, and too much children dancing. I go to the ballet for sweeping grandeur, lightning-fast petite allegro, bravura dancing--there's only so much cuteness I can take. Seeing these two ballets on the schedule over and over again gets a little annoying. I haven't seen his Sleeping Beauty so I can't comment definitively, but wasn't the consensus that it also was mime-heavy? Ratmansky's Nutcracker, on the other hand, hasn't been performed in New York in awhile. I'd love to see that back, as it is heavy on dancing. Specifically, adults dancing.

Zachary Catazaro has just posted on his Instagram that he was offered a reinstatement at NYCB as a Principal Dancer after an arbitrator found his termination to be wrongful: However, he's declined the reinstatement. No post yet from Amar Ramasar, although his Instagram bio says "Principal Dancer with the New York City Ballet." I'm not sure if that was removed when he was fired or not. Amar Ramasar will rejoin NYCB and undergo counseling (https://www.pointemagazine.com/zachary-catazaro-amar-ramasar-firing-determined-wrongful-2635066151.html).

I'd never been a huge fan of Peter Martins, but perhaps he could bring some verve into their dancing of Balanchine's ballets. Just off the top of my head, I found the Mariinsky's interpretations of Rubies, Apollo, and Tschai Pas to be unwatchable. If he can improve their Balanchine style, then more power to him I suppose.

Does anyone know why the scherzo was dropped?

I happened to watch a few clips from Creole Giselle and that production seems to have Giselle stabbing herself (albeit not, perhaps, fatally were it not for the shock/ her weak heart):

I've been admiring Mira Nadon too! So glad I'm not the only one. She has an elegance to her dancing (and also her dramatic pale skin/dark hair combination) that makes her stick out to me. I was very happy when she was taken into the corps; I hope to see more featured roles for her!

Ratmansky's statement came off (to me) as upholding traditional male/female roles in ballet specifically. He also did not insult anyone. I'd say he sounded, at worst, old-fashioned. I personally have been lukewarm on the same-sex partnering I've seen so far, and have found it to work better for men (not surprisingly, as they train in how to partner and are generally stronger), so maybe I'm old-fashioned too. Polunin is making statements about humanity at large, and being derogatory and inflammatory in the process ("Men, what's wrong with you? [...] You are an embarrassment. [...] Need a good slap!").