mom1

I think she did, indeed, crash. However, my daughter, who had her opera glasses, reports that her feet were perfectly pointed as she sailed into the wings before lights out. We thought Vishneva was beautifully expressive. Beautiful!

Thanks for the review. I heard that Fernando Bujones is coming out of retirement for the spring Gala and that it's already sold out. Do you know?

Did anyone see the Orlando Nutcracker? I was wondering how it was. Thanks.

I don't remember everyone. I think Toni Sabreen Doctor danced Spanish and was in corp of snow. Wei Dongsheng is my favorite dancer with Atlanta Ballet and he did not perform at all. Another dance that was excellent was the ballerina doll in 1st act. I don't know who danced that, but she was excellent. I believe Aldawna C. Morrison was Drosselmeyer. They had a last minute substitution for Arabian and I did not catch the names of the dancers.

Is anyone going to see Atlanta Ballet's Nutcracker this year? I have not been for many years, so was looking forward to today's performance. I love the Fox Theater. It is designed to make you feel as though you are sitting in an outdoor Medeval Theater, complete with turret walls and stars in the sky. Atlanta's Nutcracker is set in Russia, so costumes and sets are different than any other Nutcracker I've seen. Very unusal, but very beautiful. I have to say, with the exception of Christine Winkler and John Welker, who were beautiful to watch as "Ballerina Marya" and the "Prince", the rest of the dancing was a bit disappointing. Professionals were cast only in lead dancing roles and corps were mostly students. The little ones, who were cast as soldiers, various roles in the Party Scene, ponchinelles, etc. mostly looked under rehearsed. A number of times they were looking to each other for stage direction and looked a little lost. Jonah Hooper, Mark Kopystianskyj and Tian Shuai were very funny as "Trepak" with all sorts of tumbling and antics. Definitely a highlight of the show. I was most surprised by Stacey Slichter, a seasoned dancer with Atlanta Ballet, who danced Dew Drop. She is very athletic and very dynamic, but I felt as though I was watching a collegiate gymnast more than a ballet dancer. I also would have loved to see more of John Welker. He was excellent, but didn't have as big of solo as I would have expected. I have to say I was a little disappointed. Next year I would love to fly to New York or Chicago and see another version.

It was cute... very brief. They called it the Harlequin Dance. I thought the young students were featured more than Janie Taylor and Tom Gold. I kept thinking she must have been freezing in the tutu although, she looked lovely. I was interested to see what she wore on her feet. I believe they were pink dance sneakers. I hope, for their sake, they did not continue on the parade route. My sister was watching the parade from her hotel window, eye level with the balloons, just a bit in front of Macy's. She said most of the performances we saw on tv were inserted into the parade, but are not part of the parade.