canbelto

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.

I have tickets for December 4, 5, 12, and 14. I want to see Joe Gordon as Cavalier, Tess Reichlen as both Dewdrop and SPF, Sterling Hyltin as SPF and Dewdrop, Indiana Woodward as SPF, Harrison Ball as Cavalier, and Unity Phelan as Dewdrop. Also welcome the return of Georgina Pazcoguin's Coffee, looking forward to Roman Mejia's Tea, the Candy Canes of Ulbricht, Huxley, and of course Robert La Fosse's Drosselmeier.

Yikes I have tickets now for four Nutcrackers.

I saw this on DVD as well. I didn't have a problem with the Iolanta staging. I think the fact that the magic takes place inside Iolanta's head is a very acceptable interpretation of the opera. I loved Sonya Yoncheva's interpretation of Iolanta. I had more of an issue with the Nutcracker, as I felt the choreography was almost non-existent.

A number of ballet dancers have tattoos that are hidden by costume. I think Polunin's tattoos are more unusual in that they are in areas (his hands have "Natasha" tattooed on them -- oops) that are harder to hide by costume.

There are three great articles about the upcoming NYCB Nut in the NYTimes. Nutcracker Princes Interview Breaking down the Waltz of the Flowers Andrew Litton talks about the SPF's celesta variation

Can I say how fabulous Svetlana Zakharova looks as host?

I already have tickets to two performances: Dec 4 and 5. I'm curious to see how the Peck/Gordon partnership goes.

I hope Hod returns soon! I like the splitting of the Candy Cane variation. This variation always gets the crowds screaming and I like that both principals (Ulbricht, Huxley), soloists (Ball, Schumacher) and corps (Alberda, Mejia) get to do it.

Hyltin's SPF is always worth watching. I think of all the ballerinas she gets the "fairy" aspect of SPF the most.

I think a larger issue is Tea is probably the weakest choreography of Balanchine's Nutcracker. It always gets the least applause and this was before the makeover and after the makeover. If it was allowed, I'd take a bathroom break during Tea.

I do remember Arthur Mitchell saying in one of his interviews that if there were numerous invitations for NYCB to be filmed on television but a caveat of those requests was that Mitchell not be filmed. Balanchine rejected any invitation with that caveat.

But it is kind of cool to see where Balanchine lifted steps from Coffee Solo 1.0 into Coffee Solo 2.0. The arm movements are very similar, as is the general prancing around stage.

Here is the old Coffee solo: Here is the Coffee solo. I thought it was created special for Gloria Govrin.