canbelto

Kaysta the good news is that there are a number of videos of Smirnova and Chudin dancing Diamonds. It's not the same as the real thing but this interpretation has been filmed for posterity. Now can the NYCB puh-lease release their own commercially filmed, HD version of Jewels?

Anyone see the afternoon cast with Kovaleva in Diamonds?

If you still want to see the opening night cast I think standing room tickets are available.

Only opening night.

I went to the first two performances. Here's what I wrote: http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2017/07/superjewels.html

For what I'm talking about, it's 22:50 in this video. The POB dvd with Clairemarie Osta definitely includes this movement too. It's not as staccato as the way NYCB does it but it's there. Actually when I watch the 2005 dvd I'm shocked at how much that French style has deteriorated.

Hmm I was there last night and will write more later but I was shocked at how many accents were deleted. For instance Ould-Braham and Heymann did not do the staccato arabesque with the leg slowly being raised and held at different intervals.

FYI they opened up the 4th ring for Taming of the Shrew.

Well guess what just because you don't use them doesn't mean it's not a necessary part of any company nowadays because most people do buy their tickets online.

I really can't believe it's 2017 and ABT lacks a functional self-supported website. Whenever I buy tickets now I go to the theater website (Met or David K...).

As of now Sara Mearns is injured and hopes to be well enough to dance Diamonds. But she couldn't finish her Saratoga assigmments.

Gilbert is also a very strong classical dancer (there aren't many left in the POB company, sad to say). Here she is in Giselle's variation:

Pujol's Emeralds was preserved on video. But that was over 12 years ago and she's retiring. Ganio is probably the best classical male dancer the POB has right now. Saw him a few years ago in Giselle and he was magnificent. Here's a clip of Pujol's solo:

I will say this so: the last couple times I saw Wendy I was shocked at how much her technique had eroded. For instance in La Sonnambula those silky smooth bourrees were rather effortful. I already mentioned Glass Pieces too. With Veronika I didn't any erosion of technique -- in fact she seemed to be getting more consistent and was also coming out of her shell on social media. She posted some very funny pictures. So I think her dismissal must have come as a greater shock because she might have felt that she'd finally arrived at a good place -- getting along with her colleagues, becoming more consistent, having roles created on her (via Ratmansky).

From everything I've read or seen about Wendy, she seemed to have been one of those ballerinas whose motto is: "My work is my life and my life is my work." In Restless Creatures she says "If I don't dance I'd rather die." She probably thought that having a baby would disrupt her total and complete dedication to her career and was stung when NYCB moved on without her. Again, I only bring this up because for years Wendy was described as a completely down-to-earth, devoted-to-her-craft ballerina and she handled her retirement with a lot less equanimity than expected. I was shocked that she says she doesn't go to the ballet anymore nor does she keep in touch with her colleagues at NYCB.

I saw Wendy in Nutcracker around 2008. She wasn't the joyful sprightly type but she was technically excellent in the grand pas de deux. The one tutu role I saw her struggle with throughout her career was Diamonds. She wasn't bad, but romantic reverie roles were never her thing, and her upper body was too harsh and angular to look good in the Diamonds tutu.

DV's quote: I think I love her even more now. Working "fake news" into her statement is all sorts of awesome.

Here;s a good article about Whelan: The pertinent passage: To me that's pretty harsh, considering the NYCB does a massive amount of Nutcrackers every year.

Whelan had hip surgery around 2011 and was never really cast that often after the surgery. I remember seeing her in Glass Pieces post surgery and noticing how much flexibility she had lost.

I don't want to get into a discussion about which type of "transition" hurts more but I'd imagine Wendy Whelan must have been stung by Peter Martins phasing her out of roles, more so than Veronika being suddenly given the pink slip, because Veronika was never the marquee star of the company. Whereas when I first started following NYCB if there was a debut there was no discussion of who'd be in it -- it'd be Wendy. At the time the corps girls in the company strived to look like Wendy -- dark hair pulled back in a severe bun, a sort of Grecian makeup that emphasized the contours of the face rather than the typical focus on the eyes, lips, etc. Some roles were exclusively Wendy's -- Agon, Symphony in Three Movements, La Sonnambula, The Cage, Glass Pieces, In Memory Of ..., all the Wheeldon works. And after watching Restless Creatures, it seems like Wendy still hasn't gotten over it. It was sad to hear that she doesn't keep in touch with her former NYCB colleagues and the rift between her and Peter Martins hasn't been mended.

Veronika posted this lovely picture of herself on instagram with a very gracious message:

Got one more: Diamonds

Another angry reaction:

Hmm Diana Vishneva just posted this wherw she makes her feelings known:

Idk if one should read anything into this but Aurelie Dupont's instagram has very few pictures of "company life." It's very focused on herself and her own (dancing) career. It's a real contrast, to say, the IG accounts of Manuel Legris or Julie Kent or other former dancers who have transitioned into running a ballet company.