mussel

Didn't ABT tour HK not long ago? The Arts Festival must love ABT. It's a relatively long season consider HK is not a major ballet city. I wonder if Hallberg and Osipova will be casted in R&J.

Ibot is by far the best of all the peasant pas, perfect form, beautiful line, super high jumps, flawless and smooth landings.... I can't believe he's still a coryphee, POB needs to promote him NOW! Axel with his peasant pas partner Heloise Bourdon:

I think DQ casting in Barcelona will be a pretty good indicator what casting we are going to see at the Met 2013. Given the state of the Spanish economy, I am surprised to find the tickets are pretty well sold 3 months in advance. Some performances are 75% full already.

To celebrate the Bastille Day on July 14, POB decided to stage Giselle Act III for the matinee show: Giselle (Isabelle Ciaravola) and Albrecht (Karl Paquette) meets for one last time. Giselle changes her mind about forgiving Albrecht: She zeros in on the two-timer and tries to finish the job Myrtha failed to do: The POB dancers are very friendly, but Isabelle and Karl are the most fun, and she is espeically talkative.

I don't know how much POB paid for its supers but ABT pays only tokens. The supers at ABT do it for the love of the art form, being able to rub elbows with dancers, see the backstage actions, watch the dances upclose and personal, plus the bragging rights that they performed at the Met. I assume it's much easier to find 30 super dancers in NYC than in DC because of Broadway. I imagine the super dancers would do it for less just so they can put "Paris Opera Ballet" on their resume. I also noticed there're at least 6 supers in Giselle, they're the guards that made the entrance before the huntig parites arrived.

Too bad, K Mc is in Taiwan... That's what ABT wants you to believe. 18 corps men, the others were supernumerary dancers. The corps men took curtain bow in the front, the supers stayed behind.

That's POB's way of doing it, it's the same glacial pace in its Blu Ray recording with Gillot as Myrtha. I think the fast bourrees ABT does really grab your attention.

NYT Macauley's review is out,

For whatever reason, 4th ring seats for 7/14 2pm and 7/18 are not listed online, therefore, there are plenty of prime seats available in that section. For example, front row A seats are still available, or for $25 a ticket you can score center seats in row G. They are available at the box office or Center Charge 212-721-6500, just not online.

I have to defend MacKenzie. Here is Dupont in her own words (bolded text is mine): About one month ago, I e-mailed ABT [American Ballet Theatre], which is a company I love. And I know that ABT invites dancers from everywhere. They have a lot of Russians, they have a lot of Royal Ballet, they have many, many dancers and very good dancers. So I sent a little e-mail and said, “You’re performing Eugene Onegin by [John] Cranko, and I just did it in Paris, and I love dancing this ballet. I don’t know if it’s possible, but I would love to join the company and dance with you.” And they said no, that they were not interested. And: I would love to have just one performance. Just to be in New York and to be with ABT, and to be on an American stage in this wonderful company. I think they have a lot of dancers, so it’s difficult to leave a performance for a French dancer. It’s okay; I understand. We don't know when the exact "one month ago" occurred but, regardless, what did she want them to do -- toss aside a scheduled dancer to accomodate her? ABT's scheduling is tumultuous in the best of times; the last two New York seasons have been especially so. Throwing a 39-year-old ballerina with no connection to the company into the mix at this time would have caused even more headaches than normal. I think it would be great if ABT had her (and Belingard) as guests but -- geez -- give management some lead time! Casting for next year already drafted even before the current Met season, I think it's the same case at POB, she should have known better. It's not possible to accommodate a late guesting request, it's not fair to other dancers. Also, isn't it POB has a very strict guesting policy for its dancers? I really hope ABT will find a spot for her before she retires. BTW, I spotted the Kissingers, Bernard Tschumi, Baryshnikov, Caroline Herrera at the opening night.

Thank you, mussell. Big change. Hey, hey, hey...the 'super Peasant PDD couple' from the Washington, DC performances is now on tap for two of the Giselles in NYC: Heloise Bourdon and "my" Axel Ibot!!!!!! July 14 @ 2pm and July 18 @ 8pm. Not-to-be-missed. The casting posted on Lincoln Center website and the one on the playbills are different. Your Ibot is on the playbills but not on the website, so I don't know which one to believe. I just keep my fingers crossed the casting on the playbills are accurate.

1. Can you elaborate on that comment? 2. You have added to my anxiety about my choice to avoid seeing "Giselle" in NYC. Just go. You and only you decide whether you like POB's Giselle or not, other's opinions are irrelevent. They don't come to NY that often, if you miss it you'll wonder for the rest of your life what you'd missed. If you like it, you'd be glad you've come. If you don't like it then don't go the next time you're in Paris or they're in NY. Life is too short to miss such an iconic ballet danced by such an iconic troupe who originated the ballet.

Playbills for 2 of the programs, with dancer bios and complete casting (including corps), for the Lincoln Center season are available for PDF download: 20th Century French Masters Giselle

ABT just posted Nutcracker BAM schedule: http://www.abt.org/calendar.aspx?startdate=12/1/2012 12 performances between 12/7 and 12/16. I hope casting will be announced before the tickets go on sale on 8/20.

Natalia, thanks for exciting news. I'll definitely add that to my Blu Ray collection. Hope it'll be ready by Christmas. There's dearth of Vishneva video on the market.

Smith Center in Las Vegas inaugural dance season will include its residence dance company, Nevade Ballet Theater's Nutcracker and R&J. Touring companies will include NYCB Moves and the Joffrey Ballet. Jewels will be performed jointly by NBT, PNB, and Ballet West in October. NY Times article on the Smith Center: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/us/smith-center-aims-to-put-las-vegas-on-culture-map.html?pagewanted=all

I rather hope not. That sounds snotty, so lets not put words in her mouth. Maybe she is just happy to take advantage of different rep than she has access to there. Anyway it isn't like the Mariinsky was exactly eager to give her swan lake, if I remember correctly. And as problematic as ABT's is, I'd rather have it, with the mime passages and sad (if truncated) ending intact. Happy ending and no "I am the queen of the swans" mime is watered down as far as I'm concerned. You're right, I didn't mean to give people impression I put words in her mouth. It's just my impression of her reps at ABT in recent years.

I think Seminonova/Hallberg is a more likely pairing in Swan Lake as they did same this past season I think that's a given. Gomes is Vishneva's partner of choice. Vishneva mentioned Manon's her favorite role and she loves to dance Onegin so V/G will probably be in Onegin and Manon. I expect Vishneva will dance A Month in the Country. If you look at her reps past several years she seemed to move away from the 19th century Russian to 20th century narrative at ABT. It's like as she's saying "If I want to dance the Russian classics I'd rather do the real things at the Mariinsky than your water downed versions, so I'll dance the roles I don't normally do at MT". I think Osipova will dance Aurora as she did in 2010, possibly with Hallberg and I expect Ratmansky will cast her in one of his trio. They danced Symphony in C at the Met last year and they sold out.

Swan Lake Sleeping Beauty Don Q Le Corsaire Onegin Manon New Ratmansky full length A Month in the Country Symphony in C 2013 Met season follows the similar pattern in recent years: 7 weeks of full lenght and a week of mixed bills - the obligatory Swan Lake, 3 Russian/Petipa classics, a MacMillan, an Ashton, a Ratmansky, and some others. There may be some more one-acts to fill the mixed bills gap. Swan Lake: no suprise, it is ABT's license to mint money. Le Corsaire: already announce it will be in DC in April and LA in July, so it will not be scheduled during the final 2 or 3 weeks of the Met season to allow time to ship the sets to the Left Coast. Don Q & Beauty: 2 war horses will return after a year of hiatus. Onegin: a major revival with decent box office record usually returns the next year. Symphony in C: no surprise as it will appear in Kennedy Center in April. I expect Kent, Part and Semionova to be casted in the 2nd movement, Osipova in the 1st or 3rd movement. Not sure of Firebird whether it will return, ABT needs to share the sets and costoms with HET. I expect at least one new male principal will be announced, I can't say who, but it will not be a surprise.

I already have ABT withdrawal symptom so please post reviews or links to reviews for the Taiwan tour. 7/12 Apollo D. Hallberg, V. Part, M. Hamrick, H. Seo Flames of Paris (PdD) S. Lane, D. Simkin Cruel World (PdD) J. Kent, C. Stearns Diana and Acteon (PdD) X. Reyes, H. Cornejo Thirteen Diversions M. Riccetto, J. Matthews, I. Boylston, M. Gomes, S. Abrera, E. Tamm, S. Messmer, A. Hammoudi La Bayadere 7/13 - V. Part, M. Gomes, H. Seo 7/14 Matinee - P. Herrera, C. Stearns, S. Abrera 7/14 Evening - G. Murphy, D. Hallberg, I. Boylston 7/15 V. Part, M. Gomes, H. Seo

Please post reviews or links to reviews for the South Korea Giselle tour. Giselle 7/18 - J. Kent, M. Gomes, G. Saveliev, G. Murphy 7/19 - H. Seo, C. Stearns, P. Ogle, V. Part 7/20 Matinee - X. Reyes, H. Cornejo, S. Radetsky, S. Messmer 7/20 Evening - P. Herrera, M. Gomes, J. Matthews, G. Murphy 7/21 Matinee - H. Seo, C. Stearns, P. Ogle, S. Abrera 7/21 Evening - X. Reyes, H. Cornejo, S. Radetsky, S. Messmer 7/22 Matinee - Y. Kajiya, J. Matthews, G. Saveliev, D. Teuscher 7/22 Evening - H. Seo, C. Stearns, P. Ogle, V. Part Korean promotion clips:

I suspect POB is aware of ABT's male principal problem and not casting him in the Peasant pas is a way of hiding him from ABT poacher.

Package discounts, BOGO or 25% off, are now available for all 3 POB programs: http://lincolncenterfestival.org/index.php/2012-festival-packages

Which orchestra did POB use in Chicago? POB will partner with NYCO orchestra at Lincoln Center. I assume POB will use Kennedy Center in-house orchestra in DC?