bellawood

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!

Jovani Furlan is missing his Sleeping Beauty performances due to a family emergency and is in Brazil. https://www.instagram.com/p/CoxAuynuOmS/?igshid=MDM4ZDc5MmU=

It’s still on the nycb Instagram stories for a few more hours!

How was the performance, Balletwannabe?

She looks quite impressive! - also lots of footage of Isabella doing the rose adagio — plus Megan and Joe looking 💯.

I forgot to mention I had one thought after Rondo: is this the next perfect principal pairing for Concerto Barocco? Nadon 1st violin and LaFreniere 2nd — she can do that huge jump in from the wings in the third movement.

Thanks, Pirouette! What this tells me is that Sebastian V-V is an incredible workhorse for the company, even though we never talk about him as someone who might get promoted.

exactly this, i think -- before the pandemic, Mira Nadon was learning second movement symphony in C -- that was from an interview she did with Michael Breeden on his podcast from winter 2020. They learn the roles sometimes years before they are tapped to perform them -- but that they are chosen is an important hint.

Hahahaha pirouette! I think you'll fit right in. I think we are all hungry for promotions to principal and are trying to read the tea leaves. I think casting Emma VE would have been a big risk but NYCB casting used to take risks like that -- Sara doing SL at 19, for instance, and any number before. My biggest question about LaFreniere is not that she can't do the role (she's obviously very strong technically) but why she's not partnered with Peter Walker or similar? Jovani Furlan seems a bit short for her. She also looked great with Chan in Episodes last Sunday, but who doesn't look great next to Chan? He makes all his ballerinas look wonderful (and of course Tiler has snapped him up for her SB). With poor Harrison Ball retiring (he's only dancing one more time, at his farewell, and debuting Afternoon of a Faun then, I mean it breaks your heart), I wonder if they will move Roman up sooner? I have to say I have also been very favorably impressed by Harrison Coll in his shows this winter, particularly Copland Dance Episodes (which I saw on Tuesday and unabashedly loved, by the way).

Oh my goodness Harrison Ball is leaving city ballet! https://www.balletherald.com/harrison-ball-bids-farewell-haieff-divertimento/?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-balletherald&utm_content=later-32774417&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkin.bio

I think it's a very good sign for her future promotion that she is dancing only debuts this winter (I think). Cobweb, did you mean that you think they will promote at the end of the winter season or wait until the end of the year? I have kind of assumed we wouldn't get any promotions until spring (or maybe even Fall 2023).

Was there too -- couldn't agree more. She's somehow so complete as a dancer already -- and one can only imagine that she will grow so much in the years to come. She's so young! But her command, her self-assuredness, and also her frankly beautiful and glamorous presentation that are innate are so compelling. What fun it will be for all of us to watch her! Otherwise I preferred the Woodward/Mejia cast of Valse-Fantaisie to Pereira/Ulbricht, very sporty and zippy last night. I noted that Jonathan Fahoury was listed but not dancing last night, replaced in Haeff by KJ Takahashi (I assume in SVC as well though I was not looking at the corps closely last night). And had I not seen Joe Gordon dance Donizetti on Saturday I might have given Andrew Veyette a higher grade but the comparison is not in Veyette's favor, though he has good comic timing and made me smile in the "excuse me" section with the women. Finally, I read Faye Arthur's review of this same program from last week in Fjiord Review, and I wanted to offer something up for discussion. She calls the end of SVC's Aria II "problematic", which echoes the Russell Janzen's opinion about Agon's PDD in his Times op-ed from last spring. To me, to suggest something is problematic is to say the creator is offering an endorsement -- i.e. Balanchine believed that the ominous and heartbreaking hand-over-eyes moment at the end of this PDD would provide a clue to the audience about how he thinks men should treat women. But, in my view, this moment --and the whole Aria II -- captures a moment in a couple's relationship without judgement. Not every relationship is healthy! Not everything ends well! I enjoy reading Faye's reviews but felt this was a misrepresentation of the work. I should add a caveat that I've never done any outside reading about SVC and there might be plenty of information I'm ignorant of.

Some hints to SB casting on Jovani Furlan’s insta stories via a rehearsal call sheet, including possible SB/Desire pairs: T. Peck/Chan (thought for sure this would have been Gordon) and Woodward/Huxley — of course we’ve also seen Furlan rehearsing with LaFreniere so that gives us 3 of 5.

I'm so glad to hear this! I had a ticket to go but life got in the way yesterday. I am seeing it on Saturday evening with the first cast.

I am seeing this Wednesday and am really excited about it -- she has a big week, this on Wednesday and then the lead in the new Peck.

I'm going to see him dance in this tomorrow night, I'll report back -- it also struck me as an odd pairing since he rarely dances with Megan.

Finally, SVC — a ballet I will never tire of, no matter who dances it or how many times I see it. I thought that both principal women were excellent, particularly Unity. I know Emilie Gerrity is a source of discussion on this board but I think she does beautifully in this ballet, bringing a great deal of vulnerability to the role. Taylor Stanley is always a joy to watch. I agree with (I think) abatt that Russell is a bit of a weak link here. His jumps seem underpowered, particularly at the end of the Toccata when he leads the men in those grand pas de chats. I want them to be flying and he just wasn’t. The corps looked well rehearsed though, especially in the capriccio.

A few thoughts during the second interval: Haieff Divertimento — I particularly like the choreography for the corps men/women. Christina Clark is very long of limb but I felt that she didn’t push or stretch enough, particularly in arabesque— not higher necessarily but longer. Valse-fantaisie was danced very competently but not very excitingly by a veteran crew. Daniel Ulbricht’s jump is starting to look effortful, maybe it’s just how he is feeling today. Erica Pereira is a very clear dancer in her movements but it never feels like she’s sharing the joy. Next is SVC. I am seeing the other cast on Wednesday because I couldn’t resist seeing Mira in this ballet so I can do apples-to-apples in a few days.

At the matinee thought I’d share in real time since I am by myself! Donizetti was the debut of Woodward/Gordon. This is a very good role for him because of his truly excellent turning. He looked at ease in the role and of course he has such lovely port de bras anyway which helps with that impression. I think he can play more in the future, including exaggerating the slow to fast turns — he went from medium fast to blizzard but I think he can push that further if physically possible. Indiana was dancing very big. I love watching and re-watching the Studio 5 with Violette Verdy coaching Tiler Peck in this ballet and Indiana was definitely lacking some of the “perfume” Verdy talked about. In the first variation there’s a moment where Verdy talks about having a secret “only for yourself” that you then share with the audience. Indiana had no secrets today. This was always a ballet I enjoyed Ashley Bouder in, not just because of her incredible jumps, but her sometimes wink-wink stage presence worked very well here. So while technically Indiana looked great I think there’s some shading to be done to her performance in the future. The corps looked pretty good: someone fell right at the end and I always feel bad when that happens but I understand those are the risks of dancing full out at speed. India Bradley was featured and I think she’s gotten stronger. In fall/winter 2019/20 she did the soloist/Suki role in La Source and was not up to it, both times I saw her she stumbled or fell. (The other soloist I believe that season was Emma Von Enck who was predictably amazing and secure). One of the boys was an apprentice so good for him!

week 3 casting is up, notable to me are: LaFreniere/Nadon in Rondo (which I don't think I've ever seen) Maxwell in the main girl role in Fancy Free Mira Nadon in the final movement of Episodes (I always loved Jennie Somogyi in this movement) Olivia MacKinnon featured in 2nd cast Rondo w/Indiana Woodward