sunshine67

There are two more performance remaining for the New Jersey Ballet Nutcracker. December 12th at 2pm & 6pm at the Levoy in Millville, NJ. Maria Kowroski is our new Artistic Director. Tickets are available at https://levoy.net/event/new-jersey-ballets-nutcracker/

So wish I could see this! I remember Catherine Hurlin as a young Clara. Enjoy, California!

One of my favorite ballet for so many reasons. Circling back to Isabella LeFreniere and Laine Habony . SAB performed Divertimento No. 15 for Workshop and both dancers were in the ballet. Habony was a principal cast in Divert- I believe Tani LeClecq's spot (and Tiler Peck) and LeFreniere was the lead in Walpurgisnacht Ballet. Let's bring those dancers and Mimi Staker back for those ballets. I was at those performances because one of my students and I did have such high hopes for both of those dancers! Both LaFreniere and Habony were the only two new corps members in Snow and Flowers that same Nutcracker season. And I can remember Habony has been through in ballet after ballet - learned Concerto Barocco from a video according to IG and on stage in an hour. It seems with Maria's retirement there will be more opportunities for LaFreniere. But I believe Habony could also do those same roles. She is not as tall but she is not a short girl, either. Her classical training would do well for those tall girl roles. Regardless, I want to see someone new at NYCB and I do not mean these younger corps dancers. I want to see LaFreniere, Habony, Bologna, Staker, Claire Von Enck, Olivia Boisson in principal roles (all SAB Workshop featured dancers). I do love Emma VonEnck and Mira Nadon but I am still heartbroken for those dancers who were lost in the transition years. I cannot imagine forgoing other opportunities to commit my life to NYCB to only be passed over during by the transition team. What a toll on their spirit. As a teacher, I have seen dancers lose heart. It is hard to give your heart on stage when you are repeating Snow and Flowers year after year. Come on NYCB ... give us the 'lost generation' please.

Thank you for sharing this list! This is amazing!

Bald can be very sexy! But with some makeup on the head to reduce the shine!

I have tickets for next Saturday's performance of Serenade with the other cast. I missed Gerrity performing last go around so I am very excited to see her in the second cast. There were only 4 shows and two casts this season, so only two casts. I do believe Gerrity will bring so much more than LeCrone can deliver. I spent more than 10 years as a dance sponsor in the Chautauqua Institute (summers) and Serenade was staged by Patti McBride. I was privileged to see Isabella LeFrienerre perform the Waltz Girl and Laine Habony perform the Russian Girl - and they were incredible performances for such young woman (15 years old). I hope those two are understudying those roles at NYCB and we will see them both get the opportunity one day. It seemed Martins had both of those dancers on that trajectory before the fall out and believe they were both being groomed for great things from a young start.

I agree. I was able to catch last Friday night and it was painful to watch MacKinnons expressions all through Symphony in C. I don’t find the technique there, as well. I was also able to see the Sunday matinee and Valse Fantasisie was just lovely. I plan on catching that with Indiana Woodard and am so excited.

Agree on all points - especially Devin's photographs!

I agree on Indiana - it would be a great role for her! And yes, Claire was not good in rubies. Emily Kitka is fantastic and I am sure Mira will be great. Laine Habony would have been a great choice for Rubies. She has been doing demi's for Diamonds for years. It's time to see her cast in a more featured role.

The Third Movement is treated as a run on. The both male/female role is performed by a corp member - usually a stepping stone. Last time NYCB had WS on the rep Harrison Coll and Laine Habony were the 3rd Mov runs ons. They basically jumped in pre-finale and in the finale. They were adorable! And obviously Harrison Coll has jumped up as soloist! Hopefully we will see more of Laine Habony this season. I missed the Gala last night but I saw in video clips she was on Megan's right hand in Theme and Variations.

It looks like NYCB heard your request! - 31 out of 39 performance days will include Balanchine! https://www.nycballet.com/NYCB/media/NYCBMediaLibrary/PDFs/0054-FY19-Marketing-SpringCalendarRefresh-v03.pdf

Well said. And yes, I believe Whelan will be quite gracious transitioning LeCrone and other dancers. Martins was slow to do this to his favorites (and LeCrone was one of his favorites) - as much as I love Darci, there were too many times she was 'mismatched' with a younger man and it was off-setting. I think Georgina is on-fire in her artistry right now. She is so strong. She is like half the company - capable of SO much more than she was given a chance to do. And then add injuries/surgery. I hope we thats changed and we see more of her in the Spring.

I also was fortunate to see Amar and I miss watching him dance. I wish, as the elder, he would have spoken up and nipped that texting situation in the bud as a leader. Hopefully he will return to the states full-time soon and we will all be the luckier for it!

So excited to see Megan return. Becoming a mother (of a gorgeous baby girl!!) is going to impact her artistry, no doubt! It will be exciting as she was already a full-scale performer.

I was at this performance and I still get a kick out of Laine Habony's shoe save which is on her Instagram post. She was finally cast in a few roles as Flowers and Coffee last season - hopefully we will see her as SPF or Dew next year. Not sure what caused Martins to drop her from the castings as she was on his radar in her early years. Same with Dutton-O.

Nadon was outstanding, btw, as Courage. I cannot remember anyone dancing Aurora in their teens. Bouder debuted at 20. Overall, there were dancers that had been overlooked for too long finally getting a few roles - but not enough. Dutton-O, Habony, Alberda, Applebaum ... some new faces in the corps this year that truly shined! It will be interesting to see what happens in the Spring and Fall with Whelan on the team. Hopefully Justin Peck will cast something other than his regular dancers and give someone else a chance to shine. There are so many dancers on the roster. Many are capable of much, much more if they were given an opportunity to rehearse and grow. Fingers Crossed! great write up! Totally Agree on Devin Alberda. Both this season and last fall. He has flourished since Martins left.

Hello everyone, I'm new here. I ran across the forum in a Google search one night and have been hooked since. I travel extensively for work (and pleasure) and have the privilledge of watching performances all over the country and occasionally oversees. I was not a professional dancer, but did begin studying tap and ballet in my 30s! I was, however, a competitive cheer coach! I love to move my body to music in any way possible! And I love to watch others do the same. I have been told by many I have a great eye for ballet technique and I admit I believe I was a dancer in another life - or so I can dream! I do spend a great deal of time in NYC and am an avid-fan and patron of NYCB. My views are my own and I hope to share and appreciate while hanging out here!