Drew

I don’t buy into the logic that her age should be considered a factor and apparently WADA doesn't either...but the CAS did, so it played a big role in their justification for their decision. Of course, that could be bulls**t—and they were just grabbing around for excuses. My view is the same as yours. (Though I also would like to see the age of skaters at senior events raised.)

I completely agree, but the way it has played out in this particular case also foregrounds problems with having minors compete. (Of course it's hardly the case the case that seventeen-year olds are likely to be that much savvier than fifteen-year olds in terms of dealing with coaches and adults around them, but at least their age can't be used, as Valieva's has been, to the detriment of fair play for everyone else.)

Valieva will be allowed to compete. I couldn't have been happy to see her disallowed, because it's a sad -- devastating -- situation for her. But I still find it unspeakably depressing that she is being permitted to skate. One of the reasons given by the CAS is her status as a minor, and I personally hope this causes figure skating to revisit the age of competitors at the Olympics and International competitions. (If you are too young to answer for drugs in your system, then maybe you are too young to compete when the stakes are this high. Fewer triple axels or quads at the competitions? especially as performed by immature bodies? I can live with that.) I feel incredibly sorry for the other skaters. As for Valieva's team-mates: in my mind, the asterisk next to her name extends to them. (Will I watch the ladies competition? Haven't decided, but quite possibly. Mr. Drew on the other hand--who loved Valieva in the team competition--definitely will not.)

Thank you for the report. I would love to have seen this—I have been especially curious about the Act I waltz. I can’t help saying in response to your ABT recommendation that I think David Blair’s ABT production was —for choreography and storytelling—better than their current one.

I can't even....

Loved Chen's long program...Loved his short program even more...In general very much enjoy his skating. (Also enjoyed several other skaters including Brown.)

I've been resistant to Valieva because I dislike Ladies figure skating becoming a sport of 15 year olds and I object to a coaching system (Tutberidze) that produces top skaters who all seem to burn out by age 17. But after tonight's skate, I surrender.

This has been more or less my reaction...

Hello and Welcome! I'll plunge in...but most of my ABT going is rather from years past, not recently, so take it for what it's worth! In fact, ABT has a lot of new principals right now--and that combined with the pandemic and all the lost performing experience means it's a bit of a transitional time. The results may be super exciting (watching young talent explode) but ... as I look over the casting I think there are a lot of question marks over the season. I'm still sure you will see some good dancing whatever casts you see! With all those caveats: In Don Q I'd go for Brandt and Cornejo--he is well past his sensational prime but a great dancer is still a great dancer (and I do consider him a "great")--and she is coming into her sensational prime. For Love and Rage, I suppose it makes sense to see Ratmansky's first cast which is Catherine Hurlin and Aran Bell --both early in their career and neither a principal just yet. (Edited to add: California corrected me on this; Bell has been promoted.) But this is a "best guess" -- and I'm sure the Shevchenko-Foster cast will be very good in the Ratmansky too. Shevchenko was recently promoted to principal as was Forster. I have always found him a very beautiful dancer (British too) though I'm not as sure how he rates on the bravura/excitement scale. (I'm actually hoping to see all three casts in this: Seo and Calvin Royale too.) I've never seen Trenary in a major classical role or a full length one other than a Ratmansky work but if I were picking a Juliet from the current crop she is the one I'd try to see and her Romeo is Cornejo (it will be a debut for her but he is very experienced). Trenary is a genuinely interesting dancer and I would love to see that performance. I'm not sure ABT's ensemble will compare well dramatically with the Royal's in the Macmillan (assuming you have that as a standard) but in the leading roles I think Trenary/Cornejo could be terrific. Murphy is coming towards the end of her career -- I have always considered her one of the best American ballerinas (and best ballerinas) around. At ABT certainly one of the most consistent and the one that I would, in the past, have been most confident recommending. I simply don't know how she is dancing now and, therefore, am less confident recommending her than I would have been in the past. But she is, at any rate, the "real deal"--I see her partner in R&J and in Swan Lake is Foster. (Even if she can no longer turn like a demon or balance into the night, I would be tempted by her Swan Lake. She was never one of those 'Russian' style Swan Lakes with super high extensions.) Seo doesn't have a lot of vocal fans on this site. I've seen her "off" (dull) and "on" (luminous) but if you like lovely classical lines and lyricism, I believe she is worth seeing and a bit undervalued. I infer from reviews I've read she may not be as consistent with the bravura as, say, Boylston. Personally I might still prefer her in a classical role to the latter though Boylston is probably more exciting. There are other terrific dancers dancing--I wish I could say more about them in these ballets, but as my opinions would just get more and more speculative, I think I had better stop! Hope you have a great trip--please do report your impressions of whatever you see.

I remember the impact on me of Frigerio's designs for Nureyev's Romeo and Juliet. May he rest in (sumptious) peace...

It's a loss and a terrible one that most of her ballets have not been preserved but their indirect impact on ballet history is, to some extent, probably still around. I am thinking of the The Ashton repertory, which presumably channels some of Nijinska's influence, but there may be other examples.

Sad news. May she rest in peace....

How disconcerting for your friend...

It certainly is sad news...Let's hope new sites for dance writing emerge...And big thanks to Dance Tabs and Bruce Marriott for what they have done.

Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 is one of my most dazzling Reichlin memories as well...I think I saw it the season she was first dancing it.

“Outbursts at the stage door”—that must be charming to witness....

VERY sorry to learn Reichlin is retiring. Wishing her a fabulous new career whatever she does!

I have been assuming everyone's source for "Vaziev is a bully towards the corps" is the same one source--his yearly appearances on World Ballet Day. Is there another? Re World Ballet Day: I thought his relatively brief appearance in 2021 was the most unpleasant to watch of any of his appearances as he singled out one person for humiliation and that seems to me worse than acting the martinet towards many or calling out a lot of different people (especially when you know you are on camera).

Les Ballets 1933 was in most respects a failure--but it was also an important artistic event that (I think) impacted the trajectory of ballet history from the use of baby ballerinas to Balanchine's future commitments and even future works....some of which got a first try out with this company. I'm glad it happened. Institutionally it was a blip on the ballet history radar or barely. I'm not saying I put the Harkness in the same category, but note that at least there is still a Harkness Foundation supporting dancers. Some companies (not referring to any in particular here) can also be important for the audiences they bring to ballet even if they don't dance Swan Lake at standard of the Mariinsky or have major new rep.

I guess I'm a little more optimistic about the company than you are, but I can't deny I've occasionally had similar concerns. Unlike some who are posting, I see the company live very little. But in 2019 I was at one live performance of the Grigorovich Swan Lake (London tour) that was going fine--without being all that compelling--when Tikhomirova took the stage as the Neopolitan Princess in the ballroom scene. The difference between her and the other dancers was palpable--she danced her solo with such life and rhythmic energy that the other dancers looked faded and dull. I enjoyed her performance but it almost depressed me because they all should have been dancing like that! I gather she isn't likely to progress beyond the soloist stage (VolcanoHunter has reported elsewhere on Tikhomirova's lack of success carrying the evening in principal roles and she isn't getting cast in them now anyway), but certainly she danced with what I thought was "the sheer joy of moving to music." That said, my tastes are pretty eclectic: obviously, I don't dislike everything I get glimpses of happening under Vaziev and I am looking forward to seeing what happens with Sergeenkova.

In the video I have seen (of her Swan Lake and of Diamonds), Sergeenkova seems less gymnastic/uncoordinated than some of the other super flexible dancers I have seen--less ultra skinny in her legs too. I do see the extra band she has on her shoes and I find it slightly distracting. (It's as if I'm watching a rehearsal.) But I liked the fact that, on video at any rate, her recent Diamonds was without tragedy airs -- and I was intrigued by the way she really seemed to look at her partner and respond to his presence. The Bolshoi of the 60s/70s is long gone--like the NYCB of that era. Vaziev may be injecting more of his own aesthetic into the company (for good or ill) vis-a-vis his more immediate predecessors but the company he came into was already a different one from the Bolshoi of Maximova etc.

I always thought of North Carolina School of the Arts as very prestigious, so I tried to look up their ballet alumnae. According to Wikipedia they include several NYCB dancers --LeCrone and Claire Kretzchmar among those still dancing. They both did some "finishing" at SAB, so perhaps one wouldn't go directly from NCSA to NYCB--but it certainly has had a serious reputation for pre-professional training... Among current ABT dancers Murphy studied there....Hayden is mentioned in the first paragraph of Murphy's ABT biography and there is a scholarship named for Murphy at NCSA. In roughly the same generation Maria Ricceto. (And much of the ugliest stuff in the Times report dates to the mid-90s.) At one time (late 80s) SAB even tapped the Dean of Dance at NCSA to be its new head. This was a vague memory in my head, but google confirmed it--Robert Lindgren. (Vague memory also recalls something about an attempt by him to introduce a modern/contemporary dance course at SAB that was NOT well received and may have led to his departure. Others may remember more.) But anyway NCSA has a history as an important arts training institution....

I feel this way too...and can only guess how discouraging it is for her...

The value of a school-centered approach (for companies that have the resources) is enormous. Even ABT has been working to make that happen in recent years. Many ballet fans feel this way. Me too. (Schools do seem to go through ups and downs. I remember how excited people were when they saw what was happening under Claude Bessy at the POB school.) For my taste, the occasional relation with guest artists would not have bothered me at ABT had it remained more limited—especially given their (to my taste often dull) repertory and the need to fill the Met—but over-reliance on guest artists, especially those who only came in for a one-shot performance and, at times, the company’s seeming failure to fully develop internal talent did bother me. As noted by others, that has gone through a sea change in recent years. But actually it’s a kind of uneven history—seasons with heavy-reliance on guest artists years at a time....and then the emergence of more dancers from the ranks and then the pendulum swinging back. A stable school could make a big difference as it already seems to gave done.

Do you not trust the company's board on these issues? Have their members expressed a desire for that kind of change? That is, I'm imagining these or related questions would have been brought up in the interview/vetting process. As you may know, the director of the ENB school is Viviane Durante, and Rojo presided over brand new digs for the school as well--neither of which things suggest she thinks a company's school is unimportant. I don't have figures, but the school website lists about 20 alums who are in ENB at the present time including soloists, a principal, and what they call a "leading principal." (Overall, that would be less than the percentage at San Francisco of dancers from their school but over 30 percent of ENB's dancers--and one doubts their school has the pick of the crop in London.) Tomasson had a super distinguished tenure at San Francisco. Bravo to him! But it wasn't an easy transition (as noted by others above) and he did/does bring in dancers from outside the company-- Mackay recently but quite a number of others -- not as guest artists but as soloists and principals, and I would be surprised if Rojo didn't do that as well. Naghdi even made a guest appearance--very rare at San Francisco. Which I agree is a good thing. For all I know Rojo will be a bust in San Francisco, but I think she's a very compelling figure and am "rooting" for her and the company 100 percent.