canbelto

Did anyone see Maria Kowroski as SPF? I'm curious as to how she did.

I attended last night's Nutcracker. The good: Athan Sporek's Nutcracker Prince continues to delight. Devin Alberda's Soldier remains a very strong interpretation. Georgina Pazcoguin brought the sex and sultry back to Coffee! She also brought back the bent leg pirouettes in the finale. Anthony Huxley's Candy Cane. Sara Adam's Marzipan was well danced and she actually did have the gargouillades. The two principal women Tess Reichlen as SPF and Sterling Hyltin as Dewdrop were both wonderful although one could argue that neither was a "natural" in the role. Reichlen had gorgeous extension and a magisterial presence as the SPF, Hyltin's jumps as Dewdrop really flew and hung in the air. Although normally I would have loved to see Hyltin as SPF and Tess as Dewdrop I'm glad I saw these two interpretations last night. The bad: Ask La Cour at this time is not dancing an acceptable Cavalier. His partnering was awkward -- there were many moments when things should have looked more seamless. The shoulder jumps are one such moment. His solo was quite frankly awful -- he tried to do the cabrioles and that didn't work, then he tried the menage and gave up maybe halfway through, then in the pirouettes a la seconde he also tried and ended up stumbling out of them.

He followed up with this. Besides the ick factor that he doesn't seem to think is a problem at all (Nureyev being "all over" a teen SAB student), would Victor Barbee appreciate having his personal business spread over social media in this way?

Was at tonight's performance. I loved some things about it but other things not so much. The good: Fiona Daly and Athan Sporek as Marie and Prince were delightful. Alec Knight is maybe the best Mother Ginger I've ever seen: he had the audience eating out of his hand. The flowers and snowflakes have only gotten stronger through this run. Harrison Coll is a delightful Drosselmeier, and Kennard Henson a wonderful soldier. Some disappointments: Unity Phelan looks amazing in that Dewdrop outfit but it wasn't till tonight that I realized that she is not a particularly strong jumper. In that diagonal where the Dewdrop does a pas de chat with a ronde de jambe to "sprinkle" each flower she sort of gave up on the jumps and just did ronde de jambes. Other jumps looked effortful. Indiana Woodward was great in the celesta variation but the grand pas de deux eludes her. She dances it very well but without the grandness the music requires. She also doesn't have much extension: arabesques don't really go much above 90 degrees. Fabulously talented dancer, but maybe she's just not a natural SPF. On the other hand Harrison Ball really looks like a Prince and his solo with those turns a la seconde was superb.

I saw last night's performance. Sterling Hyltin's SPF was exquisite. Andrew Veyette looked in much better shape than he has in a long time, and his partnering was excellent. He lifted her so high in that big carrying lift that the audience burst into applause. Other highlights included Anthony Huxley's Candy Cane, Lauren King's Marzipan and Spartak Hoxha's Soldier. Preston Chamblee's Mother Ginger was not as funny as Alec Knight's, and Megan LeCrone needs to retire Coffee. She looked like she was sleepwalking through the role. In fact, I think the whole role of Coffee needs coaching. It's been a long time since I've seen a Coffee that was actually sexy.

I find it really weird that Messmer says she refuses to socialize with co-workers. In general ballet companies do tend to be close-knit crews and good relationships with co-workers are important. Even at super-competitive places like the Mariinsky, Bolshoi et al. I've seen dancers socialize on tour. i once saw a Mariinsky contingent at NYCB on an "off night" of a tour to NYC. You don't have to be besties with anyone, but in a workplace where you have to spend SO much time together I would think having close relationships with colleagues would make a very punishing, tough profession just a little easier.

For those keeping track of Alastair Macaulay's lament that they do not do the full stop before the backbend, tonight Joseph Gordon definitely did a full stop when Tiler did the backbend before he turned her around in the promenade.

According to the casting sheet Reichlen has been replaced tonight with Megan LeCrone.

I just checked -- the doll is in blue in the playhouse 90 tv version, and sort of light blue in the 93 film version.

I was at the "Behind the Magic" session NYCB had this evening. Dancers included India Bradley, Emma von Enck, Roman Mejia, Georgina Pazcoguin, the Angels, and Indiana Woodward and Harrison Ball. I was surprised that Colombine now wears a bright blue dress -- she's always worn a pink dress before. Two SAB students also did a bit of the grand pas de deux before Woodward and Ball did the whole thing. Woodward seemed to get stuck on the slide and therefore didn't slide before balancing, but was overall a lovely SPF. Looking forward to seeing them do this next week.

I think Sara is definitely one of those dancers who enjoys taking us "behind the scenes" in her social media and that includes the downs as well as the ups. She also seems to be intensely self-critical which I actually enjoy because sometimes she points out things that I wouldn't have noticed.

I don't agree with the Tiler Peck/Robert Fairchild comparisons, bc in that case the two of them aggressively marketed their fairy tale courtship, wedding, and marriage. It was all over mainstream newspapers. That came on the heels of Fairchild's star turn in An American in Paris. I admire them enormously as artists but their marketing of their personal lives was in retrospect unwise. Kathryn Morgan's social media following seem to be ballet students who simply relate to her down-to-earth ballet tutorials as well as her openness in discussing some issues in the ballet world (but being tactful and fair about it -- she's not Gelsey Kirkland). The comments in her YT videos are mostly ballet students. And as I said, if she's marketing, she's not marketing her personal life, but rather her professional one.

Maybe Washington Ballet? A smaller company and Julie Kent definitely focuses more on the classics.

Thanks for the review. According to Mearns' instagram she almost fell off the slider last night, so it sounds as if Janzen covered for the almost-blooper very well.

I dont think she can do Balanchine rep at the demanding pace that NYCB requires now. OTOH she might be a good fit for a smaller company that does Balanchine.