canbelto

Mikhail Baryshnikov is coaching Other Dances:

Yeah congrats to her on her second career. NYCB dancers are quite the talented bunch (and I don't just mean dancing).

I'm happy Chase Johnsey found a new artistic home. He is an extremely talented dancer.

Well in the dance world it happens a lot. Joaquin de Luz regularly partners Tiler Peck and they used to be in a relationship.

They might not speak but they did dance together in Divertimento this winter and if there was tension between them it wasn't apparent onstage.

I have a feeling Joaquin's farewell will have Prodigal Son because that's in the fall repertoire. In that case Maria or Tess would do just fine. But Tiler Peck also partners him frequently.

He and Unity are still together judging from their social media.

Congratulations Megan!

Per Cameron Dieck's instagram he is leaving the company after this spring season.

Per a comment in Adrian's instagram he is out for 4-6 weeks which probably means the entire season.

I've noticed that most ABT dancers don't have a plan B when they falter. It's not just Misty. Sarah Lane in her O/O debut fell out of the final few revolutions during her fouettes and just stood there and looked crestfallen for the remainder of the music. Stella Abrera in her Giselle variation also fell off pointe. She had to put her other foot down and then sort of continued but barely traveled across the stage. I'm an admirer of both Stella and Sarah and think this lack of Plan B has to do with the way they are coached (or not being coached).

I'm 5'3" and have stood next to Tiler. I'd say 5'5" is about right. Sterling is about the same height as Tiler. Most female ballerinas are medium height. The really tall girls like Maria Kowroski or Tess Reichlen are rare. One thing that makes Tiler look shorter is that she has somewhat small feet without much of an arched instep. Very often long, arched insteps often give the illusion of height onstage.

Justin Peck's choreography definitely isn't DeMille but it's not the ballet-lite stuff of Christopher Wheeldon's AAiP. It's more like modern-dance lite, if that makes sense.

Well it's made over 1mil for three weeks now. I think it will have a respectable run.

Not an option for me

Well I think Amar is different from Fairchild for a few reasons: 1) Robert Fairchild moved almost immediately into a leading man role and got nominated for Tony. Jigger really isn't a star-making role. 2) Fairchild also went to London where he ... well we all know how that story turned out.

Anyone see this? I saw it this weekend. I thought Amar was pretty great. http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2018/04/easter-is-for-musicals-carousel-and.html

Deleted.

No there was one performance I saw where they actually danced together. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/01/arts/dance/city-ballets-season-of-renewal.html

I forget too. Sometimes I wonder what's happening with her. She hasn't talked about an injury. She was able to dance a complete Juliet in the Winter. But for whatever reason ever since she got promoted to principal she barely dances.

There are some cast changes to this week. Lauren Lovette's debut in Spring of The Four Seasons is not happening. Sterling Hyltin replaces her. Anthony Huxley goes on in his debut in spring. Lovette has to have the lowest workload of all the female principals. For whatever reason, it seems as if she dances once in a blue moon.

I have accompanied school kids on these field trips and want to say that puh-leeze don't blame the teachers when this happens. School kids tend to get very hyped on any field trip and that energy is often very difficult to contain. I've been the subject of some extremely demeaning, insulting comments. One person said "How do you deal with these animals? I'd be afraid for my life." Right in front of a kid. It was very upsetting.

Interestingly in the documentary "Dancing for Balanchine" Merrill Ashley says that when she first entered the company she was not very technically strong and spent many years in the corps and more years as a soloist. It took her many years to build up that strength.

I think Stella in her prime was certainly deserving of principal at a top tier company. She still has so many lovely qualities as a dancer, but IMO her technique is not as strong anymore. All those years when she was dancing Lilac Fairy, Myrtha and Gamzatti and holding down the fort as a soloist she could have been a beautiful Aurora, O/O, Giselle, Nikya, etc. Alas now it's too late. Don't get me wrong she's a wonderful dancer still but her career never developed the way it should have. As for Lane I believe she also is in her mid-30's when she finally got promoted. Again, we'll never know how her career might have progressed had she not spent so many years dancing the peasant pas de deux.

I've been to a few PTDC performances this season. One thing is worrying: Michael Trusnovec has now cancelled several shows. I've gotten inserts of his replacements in all the shows I've been to. Trusnovec has been so much a part of the PTDC as I've known it. His retirement will be very very hard for the company.