Drew

4 hours ago, Inge said:

I'll be going because even if it's a major disappointment, hearing Stravinsky live is never a loss. And Ferri + Cornejo = take my money. 

I also missed Firebird in its initial years but no one I've spoken with seems excited about seeing it again. Christine Schevchenko seems like a good fit for this, so I'm optimistic. 

I am unable to get to NYC for this program and not a big McGregor fan, but actually still feel much as you do, and wish I could see this.

I like the Ratmansky Firebird a lot —though it has to be said that on this board, I seem to be an outlier. It does need confident, musical dancers giving 200 percent. But in any case, as you say, hearing Stravinsky live is never a loss. And publicity-wise, I would have thought these two scores in particular on the same origram would have a certain appeal —

4 hours ago, canbelto said:

I was there for the Super-Giselle and here's my thoughts. Since I will no longer be blogging after this thanks to BA for reading my blog for so many years:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2018/05/robbins-festival-ends-supergiselle-at.html

I will very much miss your blog, but hope to keep reading your thoughts about performances here.

22 minutes ago, maps said:

Brilliant film by Hurwitz was shot at Alder Manor/WB Thompson in Yonkers.   Thompson was from Alder Gulch in Montana-went to Exeter later US envoy to Russia Kerensky years.  [Kent's R & J photo shoot was National Cathedral in DC.] https://www.instagram.com/p/BiW3nnJHFvH/?taken-by=mister_rom

 

Thanks!

Oh dear! Sending thoughts to her....and I hope it turns out that something can be salvaged.

1 hour ago, cobweb said:

I’m not on Facebook so I don’t know if  missing anything but does it say where the Harliquinade photos/videos were done? Curious about the locale. 

I didn’t see anything about the location.

On 5/17/2018 at 4:28 PM, Helene said:

ABT tweeted this delightful photo with the link to the casting announcement: []

 

The entire video feature on the Petipa-Ratmansky Harlequinade:

As the Mariinsky season winds to its close in July...David Hallberg scheduled to appear with Alina Somova in Giselle:

https://www.mariinsky.ru/en/playbill/playbill/2018/7/12/1_1930

Choreographing to Beethoven is always risky, but your report (and the photos) makes this sound a very enjoyable evening.  The desert setting sounds pretty wonderful too....

Welcome — New York does have extraordinarily wonderful ballet seasons! I look forward to reading your thoughts on performances (and other ballet-related topics)....

She is what...21?

49 minutes ago, Fleurdelis said:

Some interview. All the insightfullness of saying that Volga flows into the Caspian sea.

Hmm...Just a handful of questions answered by a still very young ballerina at the beginning of her career--what would one expect? I thought the stories about how she found out she was a soloist -- and also about getting lost at the theater her first day and asking directions of someone else who turned out also to be lost were charming enough.  As for her refusing to go into more depth when asked a personal question about disappointments in love -- that seems very sensible.    

From the photo--love Boylston's new hair and, for my taste, much better suited for the nineteenth-century repertory and even for the 20th-century ballets that are set in the past...

On 5/16/2018 at 3:57 PM, cobweb said:

Week 6 casting is up. Some exciting debuts in the final performance of the season, including Ashley Laracey debuting in the lead role of Concerto Barocco!!

Great news!! After seeing Laracey's debut as the "second ballerina" I was wondering if/when her debut in the "first" ballerina role might happen -- I see the company didn't waste any time.

At any rate, Balanchine has a more legitimate claim to be part of a Petipa gala than, say, Wheeldon or Maliphant....

1 hour ago, mnacenani said:

Dear Drew it may be more problematic than we think to allocate necessary rehearsal time to any ballet which has been off repertory for considerable time. I saw two out of three recent Coppelias with a friend who is a Moscow Academy graduate and former dancer and current ballet writer and lecturer, and she said the CdB looked under-rehearsed, which wasn't visible to my eye. I saw the matinee alone where coaches were sign-directing the CdB and leads from behind the proscenium and when I reported this some members commented that this is what happens when the production has been under-rehearsed.

Planning is the responsibility of the leadership of the company. Of course you are right that it must be difficult or “problematic”  to put together the company’s schedule—and, in particular, difficult  to produce special events, but is the Bolshoi one of the world’s great companies or isn’t it? Capable of deciding programming priorities or not? 

Exactly who makes what decisions I don’t know. I assume Laurent is correct that Vaziev does not have carte blanche...But one way or another, the Petipa “bicentennial” might I think have been handled differently. The Bolshoi ran into an unexpected  tragedy with Vikharev’s death. They also seem to have made some decisions that were not forced on them.

I remain a huge admirer of the company and am plotting ways to see them in London next year. And I hope they bring the Vikharev Coppelia with them—uh...properly rehearsed.

It has occurred to me that I should have remembered that when the season was first publicized there were plans to celebrate Petipa announced that seem to have fallen through. An evening of reconstructions by Ratmansky, Burlaka, and Vikharev.  Vikharev’s death made that original plan unworkable but again, it should have been possible for the Bolshoi of all companies to revise the plans and still have a historic Petipa evening...Closer Bolshoi watchers than I may know exactly what happened or is happening with that program. I will be happy to eat crow if I have been unjust, but the program Mnacenani posted as what was originally announced as a Petipa gala rather raised my hackles...

Well yes...NOW it can’t be thrown together for May 31st. Who would imagine that it could be? But the season certainly could have been planned with room for something that resembled an actual Petipa gala at some point in the schedule. That is, it could have been done, if it was judged important. I find it puzzling that it wasn’t, but I don’t make the decisions -or write the checks.

I do understand Petipa ballets (in various post Petipa productions) are put on all the time in Russia especially at the Bolshoi—well, Robbins and Balanchine are not rarities in New York, but they get special celebrations from time to time as has Bournonville in Copenhagen. Seriously, what country has a greater claim to Petipa’s overall career than Russia? 

If such a gala celebration doesn’t interest the Bolshoi leadership, then it doesn’t interest them.  It is their company and remains a great one. But if their Petipa gala is not exactly Petipa-centric, it is not because the company is on tour in Beijing or can’t work out a rehearsal schedule etc. etc.  It’s because they decided not to go that route—or, perhaps, it never occurred to them to consider that route in the first place. (When the calendar was still being worked out in some fashion.) And I still think that seems a shame.

3 hours ago, mnacenani said:

Dear Drew I couldn't agree with you more - I for one with limited knowledge of heritage choreography would love to see what you suggest. The snag is probably that the names and CdB would not be rehearsed in rare pieces off repertory and it would take an enormous amount of time to come up to standard. 

If these companies —Bolshoi and the Mariinsky which you referred to as well—made it a priority (and already in the season planning stages) they could surely find ways to organize rehearsal time. And, at the Bolshoi, something like Jardin Anime is danced as part of the regular repertory in any case...I don’t doubt that such a Petipa gala would still pose challenges. The question is: does the company leadership care enough to meet the challenges. They staged Nureyev against the odds —and if a Petipa celebration is impossibly hard for Bolshoi ballet masters/mistresses, pedagogues and coaches to put together then the Bolshoi has bigger problems than I could ever have imagined. It is not like the centenary was sprung on them by surprise.  It has been know for some time when Petipa was born (cough).

But I don’t believe the Bolshoi couldn’t have done something that was more of a genuine Petipa celebration even if the end result wasn’t altogether pious about pure Petipa. I think the leadership (or the leadership that controls decisions) was not that interested. And to me that seems a shame.

But certainly I hope you have a great time at the gala. 

Well it sounds like a fun gala, but the lack of interest in organizing it around Petipa in a more concerted way does rather strike me. It would be a bore to just have chestnut pas de deux—DonQ, Black Swan, Corsair (and more ‘after Petipa’ than Petipa)—but surely a gala could be organized in a way that truly put Petipa and his heritage more at the center—including some rarities or corps set pieces and/or character dances. 

Macmillan? Cherkaoui? Wheeldon? Preljocaj? Cranko? Perhaps the idea is that Petipa is the motherload, but I am dubious. Again, fun gala, and I hope everyone who attends has a great time. I sure would. But I think it’s indicative of something—not sure what, but perhaps something equivocal—that the truly Petipa-centric gala at Bolshoi theater involves gatherings of students from top schools, as if Petipa was high class training material, but when you bring out the professionals suddenly it’s a generic gala. They could be celebrating anything...

(Mariinsky has scheduled another gala for Petipa that is somewhat less eclectic that this one. I can’t do links as I have lost internet connection on my computer and am now dependent on phone.)

Is this a debut? I had vaguely thought she had danced Aurora before with the company (not just Act I w. the school) .... ?

3 hours ago, Buddy said:

Did someone say -- “Maxim Petrov.”  😀

 

Thanks so much, Drew, and great to hear.  I’ll look this over much more carefully along with the rest of your review. It sounds like typical Petrov which I love. I’ll think about any past resemblances to Alexei Ratmansky, which don’t come to mind. Maxim Petrov’s works are usually a mixture of exuberance and fine artistry with a very good feel for Western entertainment. This may hopefully be the beginning of a more global career. I actually proposed the Miami City Ballet to him and wrote them but so far nothing has come of it.

 

I remember you have been a champion of Petrov. I didn't think Concerto Armonico looked like the Petrov I've seen--and mostly enjoyed--online except in its skillfulness and exuberance. Admittedly, video is not the best way to judge. In any case, I'm all for a young choreographer trying out different things.  (I do hope he remains committed to classical ballet.)

Curious about the impressions of anyone else who saw this program too....

The seasons' final program for Atlanta Ballet was Bach to Broadway. On paper this was my favorite of the season, though in the event a mixed bag in part because of misleading advertising--or at least it seemed misleading to me. The announced program was 7 for 8 (Tomasson) to Bach, Balanchine's Who Cares? and a premier by the Mariinsky's Maxim Petrov (or Max Petrov as they said over the loudspeaker) to Tcherepnin's Concerto Armonico (ie Concerto for Harmonica).

I confess to having thought beforehand that the company might well need every last member of Atlanta Ballet II to fill the stage for Who Cares? But when the curtain went up, it was on the pas de deux to "The Man I Love"--that is, this was a four person version of Who Cares? -- no ensemble at all. Nowhere on the program or in the announcements or publicity for the program was there any indication we were going to see a reduced "highlights" Who Cares? I know the choreography for the pas de deux and solos make up the meat of the ballet which is what we got, but Who Cares? sans ensemble is not exactly the full-on Broadway celebration Who Cares? Nor does opening on a "highlight" have the same effect as when the highlight emerges later in the ballet against the backdrop, as it were, of the ensemble. If I had been warned ahead of time I might have adjusted. But I wasn't and it threw me for the whole performance. Obviously this must have the Balanchine Trust's okay and perhaps others can report to me if this is how the ballet is usually performed by smaller companies etc. But I was bummed. Petrov was in the audience for this and I kept thinking--'well I hope somebody tells HIM, this is not what Balanchine designed.' The reduction to the male lead and three ballerinas, did make the ballet more than ever seem like "Broadway Apollo" -- down to the fact that, like Apollo as it's often performed now, it's a truncated version of something that's better in its entirety.  All that said, Balanchine is Balanchine and the inventiveness and musical responsiveness of the choreography make the dancers look good. At this afternoon's performance I thought most of the dancers could still use more speed and more power but Nadia Mara in particular had a lilting flow at times that was very appealing.

7 for 8 is presumably well known to San Francisco Ballet fans. I appreciated the first and last pas de deux danced (at this performance) by Jessica Assef and Moises Martin. With their long, elegant lines they are very well matched and this was the first performance by Assef I've seen all season where I felt her dancing had real distinction and "flavor." She certainly has gorgeous legs -- probably the most beautiful in the company, at least as best I can judge. But on the whole, though tasteful work --and what else would one expect from Helgi Tomasson -- 7 for 8 is not a ballet I'd be eager to see again unless by an entire cast of dancers who could find more depths in it, as Assef and Martin did. (I did enjoy Jackie Nash's swift sequence of pique turns alternating with a sort of slowed down rond-de-jambe along  the floor.)  The ballet's black costumes against a dark grey/black background with -- you guessed it -- dim lighting did no-one any favors either.

For me the program highlight by some measure was Max Petrov's Concerto Armonico which I thought terrific. In a publicity video posted on the company's youtube channel but not played at the performance Petrov says his inspiration was America [edited to say: actually he says it's the music and the music made him think of America etc.], but I'd say it's pretty clear his inspiration was Ratmansky.  I guess one could say he seems to have looked closely at some Ratmansky ballets created in America (Concerto DSCH which the Mariinsky dances and Shostakovich Trilogy or at least a portion of it which he could have seen in St. Petersburg at Vishneva's Context festival). In any case Concerto Armonico had many elements that, to me, recalled Ratmansky: complex patterns with hyperactive, busy choreography and stage images, down to a lively, smaller solo male dancer weaving in and out of the action and an adagio for two couples  or "double" pas de deux at times merging into a quartet; classical dancing alternating with and sometimes integrating everyday movement--including what looked like a game of Rock, paper, scissors; a sense of community out of which the individuals and couples emerged--sometimes watched over by the community, sometimes simply watched by them--maybe occasionally a hint of dissonance between community and individual/couples; certainly a quiet sense of threat or anxiety occasionally overtaking the more festive joyful moments and the more intimate ones; attentive musicality and striking visual designs including a front curtain and alternating backdrops of abstract design recalling Miro crossed with...well perhaps Kandinsky? Perhaps Rothko?

But all of this was so integrated, so skillful, so effectively calibrated, that though one could see the Ratmansky "influence" the ballet still seemed a genuinely substantive work on its own account. The only huge negative was the lighting which was possibly the worse I have ever seen for a ballet I otherwise liked a lot -- not just dim, though it often was that -- but tonally weird at times and seemingly oddly cued. Actually at this afternoon's performance Petrov and the man sitting next to him in the audience got up rather noisily in a quiet portion of ballet and quickly headed (I infer) backstage.  I sincerely hope it was to complain about the lighting.

I think Concerto Armonico is my favorite of the company's season's premiers. I can't say for sure on the basis of one viewing, but I'm inclined to think this could be a keeper and not only for the Atlanta Ballet; that is, that it could be taken up by other companies. (And though it sounds cynical to say so, it might do very well for a company that can't afford to obtain a Ratmansky for its repertory. The "harmonica" hook has to be a good thing too.) Still, multiple viewings would give me a better idea.  I did feel the dancers were on the stretch -- though I enjoyed them, Jackie Nash in particular -- and I would have been happy to be able to see this a second time with the premier night cast.

I can’t speak for fictional characters in operettas, but I wasn’t bored in the least.

Thank you. I had seen the last 30 minutes when it was live-streamed, but wanted to see the rest.

Scarlett says many of the things one wants to hear him say--well, that I do anyway--but I agree that it's impossible to tell how successful he has been until the production premiers.  And indeed maybe not even then as it may need to mature a little in performance...

8 minutes ago, pherank said:

I think I know why:

"Gemma Bond is seven months’ pregnant and sniffily from a cold, two attributes that give her a charmingly lopsided, whispery quality as she wheels around the studio calling out musical counts..."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/theater_danc/when-world-class-dancers-leap-into-a-new-role-choreographing-world-premieres/2018/03/09/c8e3e182-216b-11e8-94da-ebf9d112159c_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.1176890bead6

Ah--Perhaps that's it...In any case I'm interested in seeing more of her work.