canbelto

ABT has absolutely no business dancing Balanchine in the first place. I have never seen an ABT attempt at Balanchine that wasn't an unmitigated disaster.

ABT's less commercial release was 2005. It's hard to believe but NYCB has since put out three commercial releases: the Nutcracker (2011), Opus Export Jazz (2010) and Balanchine in Paris (2016).

The NYCB women are way more into the contouring makeup. Sometimes they overdo it. For instance Sara Mearns wears so much makeup onstage I once had difficulty recognizing her offstage.

I went to three performances and the energy in the house was very high for Boylston/Simkin and Lane/Cornejo but just not there for Shevchenko/Whiteside. A shame as Shevchenko gave a beautiful performance but to critkcets from the audience.

I was at three performances this week: Boylston/Simkin, Shevchenko/Whiteside, and Lane/Cornejo. A comparison of the three casts here: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2018/06/abts-don-quixotes-chart-path-for-abts.html

I've stood next to him. Hes around 6'1" or so. His actual height is about the same as Marcelo Gomes.

Fairchild is NOT short. But at this point in his career I doubt he'd be willing to return to a full-time classical ballet gig.

Every company needs to have a reliable roster of soloists who won't ever be on the principal track but are there to fill out the less glamorous roles. In NYCB Megan LeCrone, Sean Suozzi, and until recently Savannah Lowery were like that.

Agree about Herrera. She never developed beyond her initial wunderkind potential. Towards the end of her career she was still basically a great turner, a pleasant stage personality, but with almost no upper body expressiveness and with a stiff arabesque.

Has to be Herman Cornejo: corps 1999, soloist 2000, principal 2003.

It's this move at 0:44: Years later Allegra Kent refilmed this ballet. At 3:00 you see how she brings her neck all the way down in the arabesque penchée. I think Suzanne Farrell started it. Now almost all the ballerinas who dance Symphony in C second movement do that more extreme penchée. It's the same move, but as I said, a more extreme accent.

Here is a video of the "Kitri jump" over time. Seems it was always a big grande jeté but the Plisetskaya head kick was like the touching of the nose in second movement of Symphony in C. One move given an extreme accent.

If you're part of TDF all dates for Whipped Cream are on TDF.

Mikhail Baryshikov coached Other Dances for NYCB. I don't see why he can't do the same for ABT.

Actually in a talk st City Center about Harlequinade Ratmansky mentioned this issue of only Gergiev having the keys to the music library. He did say there are/were workarounds to this though.

Well I know that the last time I saw it the singer was IMO painful to listen to for an hour and took me out of the piece entirely.

Hmm the good thing is that the internet exists. So here is Odile's tutu. It's a mulit-colored tutu with some emerald green/purple/black patterns. Then here's the wall in Act One: It's not ugly. It's evocative of a time and place (a medieval courtyard) with vines growing on the wall.

Hmm. I think in the case of Ratmansky's Swan Lake I'm 1000x more interested in seeing the choreographic text than the scenery and fabrics used to make the costumes.

I assume this decision was made because Liebeslieder despite being so beloved has never sold well (it was this way during the premiere as well) and DAAG has always sold well. But you do have a chance to see Liebeslieder in the winter so ...

I'm very tired but I was there tonight and it was just one of those performances where everyone was on. I thought Katherine Williams made a wonderful debut as Queen of the Dryads. This role brings out the best in Isabella Boylston -- her jumps and balances were amazing. Fouettes good -- singles with doubles mixed in, little traveling. Simkin was spectacular. I lost count of how many 540's and 9-pirouettes in a row and saut de basques and whatever else he did. Stella Abrera and Calvin Royal were a really handsome Mercedes and Espada. Cate Hurlin and Cassandra Trenary also excellent as Kitri's friends.

Thank you for all the detailed reviews! Based on the reports I just bought a ticket to Shevchenko's Don Q. I really can't sit through ABT's version of Swan Lake anymore.

This musical also doesn't sound promising. If anyone wants a good idea of how Michael Jackson performed, there so much video footage. His career was exceptionally well-chronicled. If this musical is about his life story, well, that's a very complex story and I'm not sure a jukebox musical can do it justice.

I was surprised when Cirio joined ABT instead of NYCB. NYCB actually seemed to be a better fit for his interests and style of dancing than ABT. But then again the talent pool at NYCB is much deeper and there's less need to find people from outside.

Here is Cirio's full statement on Instagram:

I do know this: the Vaganova grads since he took over have looked healthier, fuller-bodied, more muscular even, with toned calves and thighs, and stronger feet.