bellawood

Thanks, going tonight. Was wondering if Joe Gordon would dance.

Chan (on insta stories) says he has COVID, so here's hoping that dancers out are not hurt but just under the weather.

Namouna reminds me of why I am so excited to see what Ratmansky does with this ballet company — Alexei Ratmansky and Mira Nadon in the same room?!? — it will be a blast. I love this ballet. Débuts for both Roman and KJ, and they had a dance-off. So much fun. Sara looked incredible. Ashley was extremely commendable in the Wendy role, though Ashley/Roman is not the most natural pairing. Mira is just a phenomenon; we are lucky to watch her trajectory. The whole company energized.

Back again tonight. This is certainly a good ballet season for Joseph Gordon — Raymonda, Donizetti and La Source are all in his wheelhouse. He tosses off the variations in La Source like they are no big deal. This is a ballet that really suits Indiana. I’ve become more and more invested in her development as an artist — no longer B cast Tiler and Megan but her own person. She really has beautiful feet and legs, a playful spirit and brings energy to the stage. The soloist role was Olivia MacKinnon, who acquitted herself well barring a little wandering turn moment. Is it wrong to think that Mary Thomas is maybe the more interesting MacKinnon? The corps in this ballet was very young and someone slipped, but not badly. I’m trying to figure out everyone’s faces!

Second intermission— Afternoon is a great ballet when it’s cast correctly — I think Christopher Grant and Dominika A. Did a wonderful job playing the roles, coltish, unsure, self-absorbed. Audience loved it. I’ve now seen Haieff four times over two years and I think that’s enough. (Amazingly it’s been four different casts.) It is a nice showcase for corps members and Alexa Maxwell, who has danced corps roles in two ballets tonight despite her promotion. Corps standouts to me in this are Andres Zuniga and Jacqueline Bologna.

I agree with BalanchineFan about the behind the music, particularly when they do Stravinsky! At the ballet tonight and there is a large gaggle of SAB students who were just greeted by Suki Schorer. Just watched Square Dance and reflecting on this afternoon’s discussion, I think Erica Pereira was technically secure in this shot-out-of-a-canon ballet. My hesitation is that she doesn’t play, and there are so many opportunities to play within the speed. She’s just hanging in there; there’s no confidence to give a wink to the audience. This could be that she doesn’t have the elite musicality we expect in principal roles. I can’t believe Tiler doesn’t dance this.

I am seeing Pereira tonight and am kind of astonished that she has gotten all of Megan’s shows of Square Dance instead of a debut in Megan’s place, plus La Source. Was it last year I saw her dance Rubies with Roman, with Mira as tall girl? In that cast she absolutely disappeared. I’ve liked her best when dancing with Daniel Ulbricht in 3 Movements, or in Brahms-Schoenberg 3rd movement. I do love Taylor Stanley in Square Dance though, I think Taylor was promoted directly after a performance of Square Dance.

I find it heartbreaking that he has to retire. So beautiful on stage. The stories in this article are hair raising! If he’s serious about writing that memoir I will read it!

Sorry! Ran into friends at the way end of the 1st intermission and spent the second yakking with them so did not report in. I really enjoyed Kammermusik. Harrison Coll was out (old-school paper slip in the program) and Peter Walker danced in his place. I always think this ballet should actually have Agon-style black and white costumes, the current ones being Opus 19-adjacent. I think it would make more sense that way. I hate the ponytails. I am not too objective about this performance because I basically watched Mira the whole time, but it was crisp and interesting. Raymonda was Tiler’s debut and she was wonderful. Just so in control, so nuanced — she just understands how to use her body so well. You would never know it was her debut. This is a great role for Joe Gordon, he makes these variations look so easy and relaxed. Their partnering looked secure and natural. The variations were well done by all: Olivia MacKinnon had the horrible hopping arabesque one, and looked as natural as one can look doing it. Other standouts were MT MacKinnon who has a big jump (I never noticed before) and Malorie Lundgren who was pretty wonderful in the last variation, quite self -assured and full of personality. The audience loved it.

Hi everyone, here this evening, first intermission. Dual debuts for Sara as 1st violin and Isabella as 2nd. I thought Isabella danced with a lot of energy and attack and had a very successful debut. Sara seemed a little muted and tentative (less so in the 3rd movement) and will need some time to get back to full “Sara” strength I think, but she had an enormous relieved smile during the curtain call (an enthusiastic reaction). The corps looked a little underpowered and under-rehearsed — somebody ran into Sara during one of what I think of as the “walk arounds”. But, so good to see this ballet live again and this spring gives them ample rehearsal for the 75th anniversary celebration in September.

Maybe KJ danced the Gonzalo role and Joe Gordon the Joaquin? Who ended up with the girl at the end? If it was KJ then he danced the Gonzalo role.

I was thinking about Cobweb's comments up thread about the relative wisdom of the promotions this winter. A few thoughts: KJ Takahashi is a very specific sort of dancer -- very small, very good jumps and turns -- and he's already been cast in many of the Daniel Ulbricht-style roles we see in the company (Faun in 4 Seasons, etc). I'm not suggesting that he will ever be a principal, but he fills a specific niche very well, and I don't think it's a niche where partnering is paramount. He has gotten some roles outside that corridor (the Huxley role in Justin Peck's ballet, the Joaquin role in DCSH) but to me he's too short to really fill those shoes entirely -- Roman is more a 1:1 replacement for Joaquin and has the hot-dog City Ballet DNA from Joaquin and Damien Woetzel. Thus, men who really need the time to learn how to partner wonderfully (in particular Gilbert Bolden) might find that their promotions are slower to come. Davide is gorgeous but has not had many featured roles, something you can't say of KJ. I think the women's promotions were dictated by the fact that there were so few female principals, and even fewer healthy ones. To me, there is one dancer who stands quite far out from the rest, Mira Nadon. Her promotion was inevitable and didn't seem rushed when you saw her work this winter (particularly her Violin Concerto debut, frankly astonishing). Isabella LaFreniere is a long-time favorite on this board; I loved her Firebird but otherwise have not yet had that "I can't take my eyes off her" moment. However, I am willing to defer to management's taste on this since they have huge experience. Emilie is just as Cobweb described her, a highly skilled dancer whose performances sometimes feel muted. I think without the many retirements her elevation may never have come. But -- though she may not be a legend like Maria, Sara or Wendy, there have been many principal dancers in my time watching NYCB that she's on par with -- Rebecca Krohn or Abi Stafford, to name two recent examples. I feel for Ashley Laracey but she's 40. The only real headscratcher for me is Olivia MacKinnon. To me her stage presence is unremarkable.

I’m sorry Mira is not cast in Barocco, frankly. She’s lower on the totem pole, I understand. But first violin would be a great role for her. Tiler/Joe Gordon in Raymonda is intriguing.

It's just unimaginable for Jovani and his poor sister's little girls. I remember that his mother also had a devastating health crisis in the last two years.

My pleasure to be of help! The three principals are colloquially known as the Waltz Girl; the Russian Girl, who does the famous 5-woman slide into splits (danced frequently right now by Tiler, Erica Pereira and Ashley Bouder) and the Dark Angel, whom you know as the dancer who leads the second principal man across the floor with his eyes covered (right now often Emilie Gerrity or Megan LeCrone). Also, fun fact, the boys who lift Waltz Girl up at the end are called "the blueberries" and aren't listed in the casting.

She's Waltz Girl -- the photos were from the final moments of the ballet --

The other day Jovani showed rehearsal footage of square dance, which would be a debut for him at nycb (not sure if he danced it in Miami).

Who has danced it in the company? Sara Mearns & Ashley Laracey? To me the obvious casting would be Unity/Sara and then Mira/Isabella --

Yes, Clara Miller has a lovely post on her Instagram about leaving -- injuries were just too much. https://www.instagram.com/p/Cocz4YkuHJQ/ Olivia MacKinnon did a q&a on her Insta stories and said that she will be dancing "as one of the Russian Girls" in Serenade--

Yes, I think this is his niche (he's also quite a wonderful dancer) -- in the spirit of Jared Angle and James Fayette (and I'm sure others) before him.

She’s great in that B-S first movement solo role. Is she taller than Tess? Couldn’t Russell (or her own husband) partner her?

Taylor Stanley is also terrific in Square Dance—

abatt was right on the money in terms of announcement timing! as for youngest recent-ish promotions, I think besides Tiler, Megan was 20 and Maria was probably 21 or 22. Sara was a little older, no? have to think kikta/von enck are in the next possible group; I would think Gilbert Bolden might be promoted to soloist rather soon also.

I'm sorry to hear these reports of Isabella LaFreniere's Aurora debut; it must have been very hard to switch partners at the last moment, and who knows how much rehearsal Peter Walker had prior to last week? If I recall, she also had some major issues during the COVID-abridged "Black Swan PDD" they did last winter -- this memory comes from reports on this board; I didn't see her dance Black Swan personally. A major contrast from her assured performance in Firebird. The pre-COVID Aurora/Desire pairing I saw was Lovette/Gordon who were beautiful together (and she nailed the emotional elements), but Lauren had incredible difficulty in her variations and balances. She seemed overwhelmed, and I can easily imagine this ballet creating psychological hurdles for dancers. I hope Isabella shakes off any nerves and has a more successful second go!

I think we have to resign ourselves that the top candidates for promotion to Principal -- Mejia, Nadon, LaFreniere, and Gerrity -- will have to wait at least until Spring (maybe then we will see Mejia after Ball's early retirement?). I personally feel that if they were planning to promote this winter they would have done so before the SB run. But we have a few days left of Winter 2023 to prove me wrong!