bingham

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Les Patineur would be perfect for Herman (and Daniil,Arron Scott,J Gorak). Same with La Fille...Les Rendevouz was also a lovely Ashton ballet. i saw Gelsey K. Danced it with Danilo R.( could never spell his name) when she returned to ABT.

Thank you, Drew. I know of other BT members who are in StP now; hopefully they'll report, too. I'm particularly interested in next week's performances by the Vaganova Academy...including the graduation of Assylmuratova.Zaklinsky's beautiful and talented daughter!

They have a dancing daughter ? With those parents, she must be a beauty.

MT Beck, Katherine Higgins, and Gisele Bethea of USA passed the 2nd round. Miko Fogarty (representing Switzerland) also made the finals.

Who should be promoted at the end of this season? Based on their performances this Met season, i would say, Joseph Gorak and Christine Shevchenko deserved a promotion.

Congratulations to Keith. ABT definitely needs another male Ballet Master to coach the very talented male corps de ballet.

Here is the list of Juniors who've made it to Rnd2:

http://www.moscowbal...com/en/node/310

Several Americans here, including Maria-Theresa Beck, Katherine Higgins, Jennifer Bummer, & Gisele Bethea. Miko Fogarty - a young Californian featured in the First Position documentary - is also here, competing for Sweden (typo?). The Ukrainian Olesya Shaitanova comes with big hopes, as does Russian Alyona Ledyakh, from famous ballet family. Also, I see that Ksenia Rychkova of the Moscow (Bolshoi) Academy is competing in Rnd2; she earned the top prize among females in the recent 'Russian Ballet' competition led by Grigorovich, who also leads the jury here. Unless something surprising happens, she should be a 'shoo-in' for the Jr Ladies Gold Medal. I'd like to think that all have an equal chance, though.

Miko Fogarty is competing for Switzerland.Her father is Swiss,I think. MTBeck is a student at the Bolshoi Academy.

Casting info is available on the ABT website re Lilac Fairy and Carabosse casting.

Leann Underwood as Lilac Fairy

This is the second time I've seen Vishneva and Gomes dance R&J. Am I the only one who saw that something was wrong with Marcelo? His dancing was elegant as always, but his technique didn't wow me the way it has in the past. I got the impression he might be injured.

I got that impression too. During the balcony scene he danced very small and cautiously in his own solos. His partnering and acting were excellent, but I felt that his technique was significantly diminished compared to his prior performances of Romeo.

I hope that if it's Vishneva's anniversary, she will agree to do more than 2 or 3 performances of full lengths next season.

On a separate note, I don't see the obligatory Swan Lake up on the list. Could they be giving that a rest after doing it every season for 15 plus years?

Maybe, Ratmansky is preparing his version of Swan lake.

Cinderella with A Dowell and M Barysnikov as the ugly sisters would be great casting if KMc could convince Misha to come back. but I hope it will be La Fille...( and not Ondine)

Has there been any news on the fall season yet? In a recent interview with Valerie Lawson in Australia, Alexei mentioned that he was going to do a new "Tempest" for ABT.

You guys have obviously not been to enough NYCB performances where incredible performances get no curtain call. Or, they do but the house is mostly empty. This happened during a Sleeping Beauty with Tiler Peck where she took a curtain call to a mostly empty house. I was horrified. No flowers, no applause, after an absolutely stunning Aurora.

I know it's a wishful thinking but wouldn't it be terrific if Tiler Peck would do a Gelsey Kirkland-like change of company.

I think that the fourth listed name may be Lankadem, not Ali.

On a separate note, I'm glad to see that Ivan is being integrated into the ABT roster and dancing with Herrera.

You're right. I could not imagine him dancing Ali.

Casting has finally been announced for Le Corsaire...still not word on what the mixed bill program is let alone casting.

Jul 11

Mixed Programme

TBA

Jul 12 Le Corsaire

X. Reyes

H. Cornejo

S. Lane

D. Simkin

M. Ilyin

Jul 13

2:00 pm

G. Murphy

M. Gomes

Y. Kajiya

J. Matthews

L. Ribagorda

7:30 PM

V. Part

C. Stearns

I. Boylston

R. Doble

A. Scott

Jul 14

P. Herrera

I. Vasiliev

S. Abrera

S. Radetsky

C. Salstein

Is J Matthews dancing Ali on July 13 ? That would be a debut for him?

Remember that ABT also lost Georgina Parkinson not so long ago. ABT would do very well to hire Irina and Max to do some coaching. However, I think the negative publicity from the articles will preclude that type of job offer. Such a shame.

During the time of Lucia Chase, the arrival of Makarova, Barysnikov and other European guests(Dowell,Haydee,Seymour) caused a similar situation for the regular ABT dancers. Cynthia Gregory and Fernando Bujones were very vocal of their dissatisfaction.Fernando left the company for a while

ABT's priorities are out of whack. Instead of spending their money on Guest Artists they should be investing it in the company eg. Hiring more coaches, teachers, developing their talent etc. I had a feeling Irina and Max left because of this. Her comments come as no surprise. She isn't the first ABT dancer (current or former) whom has recently complained about the excessive Guest Stars, lack of development, and working conditions. It's sad.

ABT ,more than anything, needs more coaches. This is their chance to get someone familiar with their repertoire.

Pardon my naivete, but Is it possible that Osipova's move to RB creates more opportunities for ABT to revamp its lineup of principals (many of whom are leaving or have left) and promote new talent? In other words, win-win-win for all involved-RB-Osipova-ABT?

Osipova is still going to dance w/ ABT at the Met Season; how many performances I don't think anyone knows yet (I know some folks discussed on an early page possible conflicting seasons with ABT vs RB, but I haven't been able to find them). She never danced in ABT's fall season but did tour with them - and how her tour performances w/ them will be affected is I believe still not certain.

I don't think it could ever be a black or white win-win-win - what is a "win" for another dancer getting a new opportunity isn't necessarily a "win" for ABT. If she doesn't perform that much w/ ABT starting next season, then of course that opens up opportunities for others (seasoned principals and/or soloists), but she is arguably the biggest box office draw right now for a ballerina so ABT won't necessarily "win" if her performances become very limited with them.

Not sure which principals you're referring to as "many of whom are leaving or have left"? Not many have left recently - not females anyway. A lot have cut back on their performances w/ ABT as they have other company obligations now (Murphy), or due to age or impending retirement (Kent, Dvorovenko). But, promoting new talent is something that remains illusive at ABT - well, rare is probably a better way of putting it. Osipova performing less often w/ ABT certainly won't directly translate into a soloist getting promoted to principal. It might help. But, ABT can also go out and get yet another female principal guest artist (or permanently hire one) from another company to fill in for roles Osipova would normally perform, thus removing opportunities for a soloist (and one who needs that opportunity in order to get promoted).

Evgenia Obraztsova would be a terrific replacement if Natalia O. decides to leave ABT for good.

I'm currently very high on Lorna Feijoo, shown here. No trace of noble blood, but absolute noble soul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDFO5P1I_DE

Oh...divine Lorna. My last favorite ballerina.

Who is the current Cuban Giselle ?

Martine Van Hamel, a great Myrtha,danced Giselle with C Tippett in the seventies(?) . Although she looked too healthy in the 1st act,I thought she did very well in the 2nd act.

Yes, I remember that season, but unfortunately, I never saw van Hamel in that role. It was during a strange four-week ABT season at City Center -- two weeks of Coppelia and two of Giselle. My friends' reaction was very much like yours, bingham. We all hoped she'd be given more opportunities to work on her Giselle.

Cynthia Gregory also did Giselle in that era, partnered by Ross Stretton:

http://www.nytimes.c...in-giselle.html

Yes, Gregory was in ABT's regular rotation of Giselles. If they were presenting it and she was with the company, she'd be dancing it through the '70s and '80s. I found her unconvincing as both the naive teen and the forgiving spirit, and her attempts at Romantic style were pretty exaggerated for my taste.

Martine Van Hamel, a great Myrtha,danced Giselle with C Tippett in the seventies(?) .Although she looked too healthy in the 1st act,I thought she did very well in the 2nd act.

Such a waste of talent for him not to be with a company!

He has tried several since his defection from Alonso's, BB, but with no luck. We had him at MCB for a while and he didn't look as if he was enjoying himself with the repertoire. He's meant for the warhorses roles, and Balanchine was just not suited for his dancing style.

Seems like an exellent way to give ABT dancers a chance to be guest artists themselves. So often it seems they have to to step back at ABT so that guest artists can headline, it is nice to see them getting a somewhat similar chance overseas. Nice development!

It would even be better if they send promising Corps de ballet dancers to the Kirov, Bolshoi or POB.

Seems to me these attitudes are a holdover of the old Party days, when artists who played by the rules were awarded all sorts of prizes, lavish apartments, cars, chauffeurs, touring rights, travel permits, and whatever else they might have desired. The people who didn't play by the rules were harassed by the KGB, sent to regional companies, denied travel or touring permits, and generally treated miserably.

I just hope this will not happen to Daria.

Bingham, she HAS been dancing quite a lot at home of late...but 'harem pants' roles as inScheherazade and Fountains...not Odette-Odile and other classical roles that should be hers, now that she is absolutely fit and slender, even more slender than her pre-pregnancy days. And her interpretive (dramatic) powers are stronger than ever. So she is being thrown a few carrots and, miraculously, was allowed to perform Cinderella twice in DC, although some would argue that giving her 3rd Cast and the Saturday matinee was an insult of sorts, compared to novice Shirinkina getting opening night (reviews) + Saturday night + closing performance (and being asked to substitute the injured Osmolkina on Friday night)...the newbee danced 4 performances vs. 2 for Pavlenko, and those 2 Pavlenko performances were in the less-desirable spots.

She deserves O/O, Nikiya,Diamonds and her other famous roles.

This open letter and the Theatre's and Maestro Gergiev's replies confirm everything that's been going on. I've been waiting for something like this to happen. I'm ecstatic that the dancers finally went public: It's about time!

I hope this does not affects Daria's return to more principal roles in the company.