Hippolyta

I attended Chloe Misseldine’s debut this afternoon. She was stunning. The sold out theatre was absolutely rapt during the Act II pas de deux with Aran Bell and then broke into wild applause at the end. Her performance had emotional nuance, beautiful phrasing and line (gorgeous arms and back), and was technically assured. She and Bell were terrific together. It was a star turn.

Other highlights of the matinee were Kento Sumitani as Benno and Jared Curley as Purple Von Rothbart. I don’t remember seeing Sumitani before but he was charming and looked great in his variations. Curley was very charismatic as you would expect. The company as a whole looked great, including the swan corps.

I just looked as well now that there are suddenly tickets available. Those prices are steep!

As much as I’d like to see Cornejo, I am so glad I was there last night to see the fantastic performances by Lane, Simkin, and Hurlin. 

Newish poster here. I also attended Thursday night’s performance. My sense was that Lane was fine, even despite the turns, but because the tempo was slow it lacked the thrilling energy you want to see, as others have said. And Gorak was so sadly disappointing. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing at the end when the final lift fell short. I also felt that their interpretation of the pas de deux was odd. Their movements seemed very punctuated and thus at odds with the music. It really missed the mark for me in terms of lyricism and lushness, despite moments of beauty.  And there seemed to be partnering problems then too. You could tell the audience knew it was a lackluster performance because the applause was so tepid afterward. 

The energy improved immediately once the Tharp started. 

Glad you enjoyed my reviews. I wish Christine Shevchenko had performed, though, as I would like to see her O/O too.

I hope ABT starts coming to Wolf Trap regularly each summer. Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet (a couple of years ago) both seemed to do well. 

Forgot to add that the Neopolitans were also beautifully danced both nights by Gorak and Klein and then Ahn and Sung Woo Han. They each had a different feel - Gorak and Klein elegant and Ahn and Han energetic - but both thrilling. I hope Klein continues to get opportunities. 

Lurker here. I've been reading this forum for a while, but I'm somewhat new to ballet, really avidly following it and attending performances for the last four years or so, so take my opinion for what it's worth --

I attended both the Friday and Saturday night Swan Lake, so I saw Copeland/Cornejo and Teuscher/Bell. I only went on Friday night to see Cornejo because I have never had the chance to see his Siegfried. Copeland danced both white swan and black swan. She did not do the fouettes in Act III and instead did the manege of steps. I don't like to be mean, but she was very mediocre. Her movements lacked musicality and her arms seemed clunky to me. She could not hold many of her poses very long. I was sitting in the loge, so if there was any subtlety to her performance, I didn't see it. Her Odile was bit better than her Odette. The crowd went wild for her, though, and it was cute to see a little girl there with her Misty doll. Cornejo of course was terrific as was everyone else in the company. Luis Ribagorda was a strong Benno. I find he has a striking stage presence with great characterization. The pas de trois with Ribagorda, Brandt, and Trenary was fantastic. And Jose Sebastian's Rothbart was sensuous and sinister (though he didn't really manage that balance).

Saturday night with Teuscher was night and day compared to Copeland. I saw her debut at the Kennedy Center a few years ago and she was even better this time out. I found her performance to be full of subtle movements and beautiful phrasing, She and Bell were great together. I really felt the romance unfolding between them. Thomas Forster danced Rothbart beautifully (and eked out more of a balance than Sebastian). The pas de trois with Royal, Stephanie Williams, and Katherine Williams (who subbed for Melanie Hamrick) was also good, though Stephanie Williams was weaker than the others. The cygnettes were almost perfect (with Brandt, Trenary, Erica Lall, and Anabel Katsnelson). Catherine Hurlin also really stood out as a big swan and one of the princesses.

I’ve been a lurker for a while, but my response to this WaPo article is different than many. I’ve read previous articles with negative insinuations by Peggy McGlone about other institutions where I have some knowledge of the situation on the ground, so I would not take everything in the article at face value.

I, for one, was never interested in the showmanship of the TWB during the Webre years, but am delighted with the new direction of the company under Kent. I have been very pleased to see Kent improve the quality of the dancing and perform ballet repertoire, such as The Dream, Lilac Garden, or Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, here.

I also don’t think that Kent’s salary or provided housing seems that out of line relative to the heads of other arts institutions. I remember coming across Webre’s salary somewhere and thinking he was woefully underpaid. And there are some other arts institutions that offer housing as a perk for leaders. It makes sense that TWB had to offer Kent an attractive package to entice her to leave New York for DC. (And it’s not as if renting out the house she and her family are living in would have provided that much annual income for TWB.)

As for the audiences, I hadn’t noticed the theatre being really empty until the program opening the season a couple of weeks ago. Given that the company was mostly repeating works from the previous season and didn’t advertise the guest stars until the last minute, I wasn’t surprised that that particular program didn’t sell well. But I assumed that Kent programmed it to give the dancers a breather.

I agree with other posters that TWB developing a particular niche for itself like Sarasota Ballet could be worthwhile, but I’m not ready to say that TWB is doomed just because of one negative article and the loss of a well-liked dancer. For now, I praise Kent for the successes the company has had over the last couple of years and forgive a few stumbles out of the gate while she finds her footing and carries out her vision for the company. Granted, I’m only one audience member, and it will remain to be seen if TWB can thrive financially in the full cultural scene of DC.

This is very disappointing. 

I imagine the logistics of finding space at other theaters will be difficult. 

But I for one would be thrilled if they, say, expanded to two weeks at the Kennedy Center or came back to Wolf Trap again.