balletlover08

Seems like Chloe and Cassie are definitely in Petite Mort if those are the costumes. 

I think the dream may be coming back also. Cassie posted a story of Gillian Murphy in the costume. 

10 hours ago, Caballetfan said:

Just glanced at the summer Met casting on the website and curious as to why ABT still hasn’t yet cast Trenary as O/O in a Swan Lake or Brandt as Juliet in R&J. Saw Trenary rehearsing SL with Cornejo on her IG stories a few weeks back…(potentially in anticipation of getting cast?) and for sure thought she’d land a show this time around!

My guess is the lack of short male principals? Cornejo dances with Brandt in SL and maybe 2 shows is too much? For R&J, cornejo dances with Trenary, but I guess they could have casted Royal with Brandt if they wanted to but cast him with Hurlin instead. 

5 hours ago, Pointe533 said:

Hi everyone! I apologize if this is not the right place as I am new here. 
 

I‘m looking to buy tickets for a performance of Giselle for the Met season. I specifically really want to see Chloe Misseldine dance Myrtha, but it doesn’t look like the site shows Myrtha casting for any of the performances. Does anyone know if this information is typically posted ahead of time, or will it just be the principal couple posted only? 

I’m assuming it will show up maybe in the next week or so? 

She does have two Myrthas on tour: one with Cassie and James, and one she did with Isabella Boylston and Joowon. I would guess that she would likely dance one or two Myrthas at the MET with either couple. 

4 hours ago, stuben said:

Actually, that is what I meant by "competition" since a friend's daughter did the YAGP, and she took months to train in the one piece she performed in. I had assumed that is how Erik Bruhn competition worked too. That to me is the key issue about young dancers coming out of competition and being moved up so quickly without the proper introduction into reality. I would think the reality of a professional company dancer would most likely have several pieces to learn at one time, and that, I am sure, takes time to get into the groove by experience.

Therefore, I wonder if other more seasoned dancers were given the opportunity to audition for these types of roles vs just placing someone without more rep time as many of the seasoned dancers. I, too, follow many of the dancers on their social media and I see that Chloe's mother was a soloist, and is now a ballet mistress for the Studio Co. This is only speculation but I can't help but wonder how much influence she has in her child's career, it would not surprise me as things like this happen to any business. Again, I don't disagree with others that she has potential but doesn't that require more time to allow her to grow before moving her up so quickly? I have often wondered about so many within the company who have potential (I am sure they would not have been hired if otherwise) yet are never given the same opportunities or coaching that a few do. Perhaps the company has a lack of coaches these days as well.

The Erik Brun competition is one that ABT competes at every time it’s held. She wasn’t competing only for herself but also representing ABT. Cat Hurlin and Aran competed last time for ABT. I assume she was chosen by Jaffe and obviously she has to rehearse it since ABT wouldn’t want to be embarrassed on the stage. I think that’s quite different from other big competitions. 

Yan has been a part of ABT for quite awhile teaching at their summer intensives and as guest ballet mistress of ABT Stuco prior to Chloe joining. Obviously ballet is often about connections and who you know, but there are other children of ABT dancers who were never promoted. And yes, I’m sure it’s great that she has her mom to coach her, perhaps that’s an additional reason why she’s cast. Management feels like she would be “ready” with the additional coaching.Skylar Brandt famously sought out private coaching for Giselle and swan lake prior to getting cast because she wanted to show she was ready and should be cast. Irina cannot simply coach everyone as great as she is. And if you wait around for coaching that can’t happen you may not get cast. 

i think there is a trend again in the ballet world of early promotions of young dancers from the US to Russia. It’s expected that there will be a learning curve and some bumps in the road. But I expect that their dancing to improve vastly as they continue to develop in their roles. This isn’t just a defense of Chloe, but a defense for most of the younger dancers being promoted earlier now. There is also a trend now of dancers doing YAGP, Prix de Lausanne or other competitions to get noticed by schools or companies and I don’t see that changing in the future. ABT handles it pretty well though requiring most dancers to do Stuco before entering the main company. 

I wondered if perhaps Chloe just had too much on her plate the last few months.  Perhaps she was either miscast in LWFC or didn’t have enough rehearsal time. She had her Myrtha debut in NC that she spent months preparing (justifiably so that’s an important soloist role). The next week she flew to Toronto for the Erik Bruhn competition that she also spent months preparing for (they did grand pas and a work by Lauren lovette). Everyone else was already in OC preparing for LWFC while she was at the competition. She flew directly to OC to perform there. Then she did 2 YAGP galas back to back and is now heading to Chicago on tour again. I did get to see quite a bit of the black swan pas de deux and that actually looked good to me! Could definitely use more work but good for one so young. She’s definitely one that will likely get a Swan Lake sometime in the near future.

Source: I follow her on instagram so I see the stories she posts about rehearsals and I didn’t see her post much on LWFC at least compared to the others. 

Been meaning to post this for awhile but kept forgetting. It's been up awhile now so perhaps others have already seen it but Chloe posted a video of rehearsing Myrta for her debut with Kolpakova. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CooJwkhg0Ye/?hl=en

1 hour ago, MoMo said:

Waiting  for casting to be published for Like Water for Chocolate. ABT will be premiering it March29-April 2nd, at Segerstrom in Costa Mesa.  I have seen a few rehearsal scenes on Instagram: Herman Cornejo and Cassie Trenary. Also Devon Tuescher and Joo Won Ahn. Skylar Brandt showed a scene with Jose Sebastian with a fabulous lift! 

Seems like carmaggio and Sunmi park as well (Carl Lopez posted a story but it may be gone now). 

On 11/16/2022 at 1:49 PM, ABT Fan said:

Susan Jaffe probably decided the Met casting. But, agree that Hurlin/Bell should be cast together.

I'm so perplexed: 12 performances of Like Water?? No Ratmansky? No retirement announcements? I'm disappointed Seo/Camargo aren't paired together in R&J again, though I know that only happened because Stearns had to bow out last summer.

Trenary is debuting in Like Water, so assuming Brandt will be too (I really thought she'd get a Juliet this year).

One hope: with the Giselle debuts of Teuscher and Hurlin, that means both of them will most likely only do one Myrtha, leaving room for Myrtha debuts. Fingers crossed for Misseldine.

Well, casting for Giselle on the Duke tour has been announced and you got your wish, Misseldine is debuting as Myrtha in the Boylston/Ahn cast Saturday matinee. Here's the link https://dukeperformances.duke.edu/events/abt-american-ballet-theatre-giselle-2/. No other Myrtha debuts I think (Hurlin was injured last time when she was supposed to do Myrtha so maybe technically her). There is a TBD for Brandt/Cornejo's cast but that might be filled by Trenary? 

According to StudioCo instagram here is the following promotions. 

Elisabeth Beyer (yay!), Tillie Glatz, Yuma Matsuura and Aleisha Walker are joining the company as apprentices. 

and Maddie Brown, Finial Carmechi, Kayke Carvalho, Yeonseo Choi (She's only 16 and was a finalist at the 22 prix and her lilac fairy solo was great), Kyra Coco, Brady Farrar (wow, I've been following him since he won the hope award at YAGP), Ayami Goto, Takumi Mayake (just graduated from Royal Ballet School, danced the lead in Raymonda at their grad show VERY talented according to those who saw the performance), Vince Pelegrin, Sylvie Squires, Alejandro Valero Outlaw. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch5bfIIvG5j/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Ch5bOwYvUNU/

40 minutes ago, abatt said:

I also found the promotion of Park surprising.  Look on her bio.  She's been at ABT for about 6 months.  Her roles as demi soloist were flower girl and peasant pas. She was never an apprentice at ABT.  We will never know what happens behind the scenes.  Maybe McKenzie  knows from seeing company class or rehearsals that Park will be successful and deserves more. I'm not saying she isn't talented, but the promotion at this juncture raises questions.

 

 

She was in stuco for maybe 2 seasons and then was an apprentice from 11/21 to 2/22 which is what the nutcracker season? 

44 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

I wouldn't necessarily describe Coker as overlooked. She only had two Met seasons under her belt before the pandemic hit. I think there's reason to hope she may be promoted within the next year or two.

Waski did not appear to be in good form on the occasions I saw her this season. I remember being impressed by her before her hiatus from the company, so maybe I just saw her on off nights or she's still working to get back to 100 percent after rejoining the company. 

Waski was at Boston previously and did their whole season before coming to ABT and doing all of the Met season. So she probably was just exhausted. She will hopefully be in better form after some rest. On one of her instagram captions she said she did 25 shows of Swan Lake in 2 months which seems like a lot. 

Here's an article that PointeMagazine did on Chloe Misseldine on her latest promotion to soloist. They have quotes from Nancy Raffe, Yan Chen (her mother and former soloist of ABT) and Kevin Mckenzie. 

https://pointemagazine.com/chloe-misseldine-ballet/ 

There is a funny full circle moment. Yan was former principal of now defunct National Ballet in Washington. When Kevin came to ABT from national ballet as artistic director he brought one dancer with him, Yan as a corps member who he promptly promoted to soloist following her 1st met season. Now at the end of his tenure at ABT, he promotes Chloe (Yan's daughter) to soloist after her first corps member. Which means Yan was one of his first promotions and Chloe one of his last, I guess that puts into perspective what 30 years is. 

8 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

An interesting fact about Chloe Misseldine - she actually is second generation ABT.  Her mother is the Chinese ballerina Yan Chen who danced at ABT in the 1990's.  I saw Yan Chen as Swanilda in "Coppelia" in which she was charming (I think her partner was Angel Corella).  Chen was working her way up the ranks but was plagued by injuries and also was married and started a family which also includes Chloe's older brother Adam. 

So we know where the talent comes from.

Yes! Chloe is also lucky in that her mom has been her lifelong coach and is guest ballet mistress at ABT Stuco and sometimes teaches company class. We know the lack of coaching at ABT (Irina Kolpakova cannot coach everyone) and getting outside coaching must be expensive so development is hard without a good coach.

They were on a podcast together with Robert Hill and they mentioned that they were actually grateful for the pandemic because it allowed Yan to coach Chloe in Orlando and really work on the technique, "the little stuff" and artistry.  

I knew Cat Hurlin would make principal after 2 successful debuts in Don Q and Swan lake! Very well deserved. 

I'm surprised about Roman Zhurbin, doesn't he do mostly character roles? Maybe more of a thank you for your service promotion? Confused about this one. 

Now the soloists rank is lopsided towards the females. Though perhaps Luciana Paris intends to retire soon? But I totally called Chloe Misseldine to soloist this season. She was given lots of demi soloists roles and she knocked them out of the park. Sunmi I was not shocked about but I didn't guess it thinking they would go Coker instead. I feel like Misseldine and Park are two that are on the principal track getting promoted basically after their first Met season. Betsy may end up being a forever soloist and Breanne I think still has a chance. 

I'm bummed about Zimmi Coker as I thought she would be soloist now. 

Sungwoo Han was great in the pas de trios so I figured he may be promoted but I was also expecting Curley, Frenette to be promoted also. 

12 hours ago, MoMo said:

ABT usually promotes during last week of Spring/Summer season. Thus during R and J week. I agree with your female choices. I will add Patrick Frenette, Jarod Curley, Jonathan Klein to soloists. Elwince is an Apprentice and he should be promoted to Corps. ( All my opinion and hope). 

Oh absolutely yes! I think Patrick, Jarod and Jonathan will be promoted. There is a dearth of male soloists right now so they will need to promote soon. I have heard wonderful things about Elwince so I expect he will be promoted to corps soon. 

On 6/26/2022 at 3:57 PM, ABT Fan said:

Do you mean WILL be turnover?

We’ll have to wait and see what she does, but new leadership usually involves changes so I’m hoping she will make some in favor of promoting some corps dancers (if McKenzie doesn’t do it himself before he leaves). 

When does ABT usually promote? 
 

i think Cat will be promoted to principal soon. Zimmi, Chloe and Betsy to soloist. I’m unsure on the male side but that’s my guess for the next batch of female promotions. 

1 minute ago, canbelto said:

Well ABT's spring Met audience is extremely conservative and would probably want 5 weeks of nothing but Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet. This is an audience that finds T&V avante garde. I think Ratmansky's full lengths of Sleeping Beauty and Harlequinade were fairly popular. His other works less so. 

Then ABT may be better off sticking only to the classic full lengths for the MET. They can do all the advance garde shows elsewhere, maybe segerstorm or on tour? I think there is an audience for newer modern, jazz works etc. Just maybe not for very conservative audiences. 

I saw this on Instagram story from Sungwoo Han's page. 

https://www.instagram.com/sungwoohan__/?hl=en

Sungwoo Han, Chloe Misseldine and Sunmi Park are all debuting pas de trios in Sawn Lake on 6/30 (Gillian's show I believe) and again on 7/2. If anyone goes please let me know your thoughts on how they do! All three are brilliant dancers, but I have to say Chloe has been a sentimental favorite of mine and I'm happy to see that others are enjoying her also. 

I love this news! Stella is such a star, and I think she will do wonders in this role. It’s also nice that her husband runs studio company so there will be easy collaboration between the two. I hope she’s considered for the permanent role also! 

On 5/24/2022 at 2:26 PM, DPell said:

Patrick Frenette is also debuting Mithridates in Of Love and Rage this season. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CdegPljsKAl/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I just saw Chloe Misseldine is debuting as Queen of Dionysus in Of love and Rage this season also (randomly checked her page on ABT lol). 

5 hours ago, ABT Fan said:

Sooooo….potential big news. Trenary has just posted clips of herself rehearsing SL with Irina on her IG. No mention of any casting dates and I see nothing on ABT’s site. Do understudies usually get 1:1 time with Irina? I’d think not as she’s stretched pretty thin. SL is a month out and there are no TBA’s. Perhaps someone is already injured and they’re getting her ready. Hmmmm….
 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cd_tz6NJ1hC/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

She posted snippets of dryad queen in the same leotard/tutu which we know she has performances for. I think we may see her bc of an injury or some other reason, 

1 hour ago, California said:

I saw ABT's final performance of Don Quixote at the Kennedy Center Sunday afternoon with Joo Won Ahn and Hee Seo. A few observations:

• Joo Won Ahn was a joyous Basilio who truly seemed to enjoy performing today. I don't know if this was his debut in the role. He was just promoted to principal during the 2020 lockdown. His jumps and leaps have a very nice relaxed and effortless balloon, even if he doesn't add the complications and embellishments we saw this week from Simkin and Bell. 
• Hee Seo has not been one of my favorites, although I understand others have praised her Juliet. Her happiness throughout did not seem as natural and genuine as Ahn's, but okay. She has a solid technique for most of the challenging choreography, including the hops on pointe and pique turns in the dream sequence, but her fouettes in Act III were very unfortunate. I do understand that many on this list think we pay too much attention to the 32 fouettes in this and other works, but I wonder if dancers with real problems shouldn't be permitted to substitute something else (as Makarova often did). She started with a few doubles, then fell off point and had to add a step to get back into the turns, then started travelling seriously on the diagonal to a front corner of the stage where she ended badly. Audiences cheer madly no matter what, but it was pretty awful. I don't know if she was just having a bad day or if she always has difficulties with these fouettes.
• Partnering: They had a problem with the same Act I move that gave Shevchenko and Stearns problems last night. He lifts her straight up, then brings her down into a fish dive position. So far so good. Alas, she slid down to the floor and lay there flat on her stomach for a moment. It wasn't a great distance, and she didn't seem to be injured, but both seemed startled. The back-to-back mishaps remind us that this move is more difficult than it seems when perfectly executed. The one-armed lifts in Act I seemed solid and they held them for a decent time. No extra curtain calls in front of the curtain, as applause died down quickly. No flowers or flags.
• Luciana Paris was a sizzling, exuberant Mercedes, but less secure as Queen of the Dryads. Her Italian fouettes got off to a shaky start but finished strong. 
• John Gardner was Kitri's father at some performances and Sancho Panza at others. As recently announced, he and Amanda McKerrow will be Guest Repetiteurs for the Met season. It was nice to see him bring his extensive experience to the stage. https://www.abt.org/amanda-mckerrow-and-john-gardner-guest-repetiteurs-2022-season/
• Calvin Royal III gave the Ukraine introduction.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE MET: For those who can only see a few performances in June at the Met, I'd make these recommendations:

1. Daniil Simkin: It is such a treat to see him again as a guest and who knows if he will return after this visit. Don't miss him.
2. Herman Cornejo: He is in top form, but he's 40 years old (41 in May). Don't count on him being around in this shape for many years more.
3. Aran Bell: He is as good as it gets, but (fingers crossed), we'll be able to see him for many years ahead. 

Great insights, thanks California! 

I think Sierra Armstrong was supposed to debut as Queen of the Dryads this matinee as they split Mercedes/Queen of the Dryads. So perhaps you saw Sierra instead? 

1 hour ago, ABT Fan said:

Thanks for your thoughts.

No surprise to hear this about Bell. He is indeed a rare talent, from what I've seen, with a maturity way beyond his years.

Very surprised about Hurlin. I wonder if any of these limitations you saw were due to nerves. She's done the leads in Nutcracker and Love & Rage, but this is her first major principal role in a full length. This makes wonder what her O/O debut will be like. She was supposed to debut Aurora at the Met in 2020, so if she cannot hold unsupported balances or do any hops on pointe, it makes me wonder why Ratmansky would cast her.

Misseldine posted a clip of her performance as Flower Girl on her IG, and from that short video she demonstrated everything you said. She was featured a lot on their tours last year. I have a feeling she's going to be a star sooner rather than later.

And, re: your comments on Stearns - he's always been blah, and yes, serviceable at best. I've never understood his promotion to principal - 10 years ago maybe the thinking/hope was that he'd improve or maybe they needed a tall principal. He is very handsome and "princely" looking - perhaps that's another reason. The only thing I saw that he was good in was The Moor's Pavane, opposite Roman Zhurbin. I think Zhurbin's extraordinary dramatic abilities must have pulled something out of Stearns, because he electric. 

Hurlin was injured in the fall (but I'm unsure what the injury was exactly). She didn't perform at any of the fall shows. She came back in time for Nutcracker in December but perhaps her injury is still bothering her for the balances and hops on pointe? 

Speaking of, Hurlin's role in Bernstein was danced by Misseldine at the fall shows (alongside Bell, Brandt, Trenary etc). That was when I first realized that Hurlin was injured and also when I realized that Chloe was likely going to be a star sooner rather than later (gaining the trust of Alexei to cast you in your first year in the corps). 

I too was impressed by the short clip that Chloe posted, she is a wonderful turner. Is that flower girl variation unique to ABT? I've seen the first one danced by other companies but not this one. 

1 hour ago, vipa said:

Looks like Brandt is doing all she can to have some control over her career. I don't mean this as a derogatory statement. It's a competitive business and casting is a zero sum game. Dancers try to be noticed in classes, rehearsals and in the roles they are given. Sometimes guesting helps. It boils down to - I hope he (it's almost always a he) notices me. Brandt is going beyond, and doing it blatantly. Good for her. I say that because he has the goods to back it up. I hope this kind of thing doesn't become a trend - I guess.

Unfortunately...I think it's a result of the social media world we live in now. As the ballerinas coming up the ranks get younger the more this will happen. Popularity I feel has always played a role in who's cast but now with social media, strategic posting will become the norm. I don't have a problem with it as long as the talent backs the posting. 

Skylar just posted another video of her on instagram practicing Odette and she has now added Odette to the stories...she hashtagged #day3 so presumably she's been heavily practicing SL. She likely is the understudy for Copeland then.