bingham

Gomes is now replacing Saviliev in this chain of replacements. Looks like whatever happened to him as the Purple Pimp was serious enough. I'm a little surprised at Seo being given Lilac Fairy...doesn't seem like her type of role at all. Did anyone see H Seo 's LIlac Fairy?

Osipova/Vaseliev and Lane/Cornejo in La fille.. Vishneva,Hallberg in A Month in the country

I'm not sure how you can say no new star dancers have been cultivated from within ABT in recent years. Gomes, Hallberg and Murphy each came up through the ABT ranks in recent years. Although Herman Cornejo came in as a soloist, I regard him as having been primarily cultivated at ABT. Each of the above listed dancers is a star, in my opinion. There are also several promising soloists. This has occurred under McKenzie's tenure. Herman joined ABT in 1999 as a member of the corps de ballet. Paloma Herrera and Michele Wiles started as members of the Corps de Ballet .

The NYT review of Sleeping Beauty is out. Surprise,surprise!! AM almost gives it a favorable review.

E But like I said I wouldn't be surprised if Mason and the RB are avidly trying to poach him. Then Kevin Mc should fly to London as soon as the season is over to sign him...

If i'm not mistaken Vadim graduated from the Royal Ballet School. It was a big surprise that Royal Ballet did not hire him.

Vadim Muntagirov? He is tall and had received very good reviews from the British critics and bloggers.

I agree that MRR has made an impressive debut in reporting in BA,very knowledgeable and thorough.Welcome to BA and we hope to read more of your reports.Too bad the ABT season is almost over. Veronika is in a tough situation.Since Marcelo is the favored partner of Diana,Julie and Paloma( and if Polina joins the company...) she would have to fall in line to be his partner.I'm not sure David would be good for her either.Kevin must get Roberto to commit for more performances in the future.

La Fille...was a critical success and was loved by the people who saw it but somehow it was not a box office hit. Maybe, with well-known"stars" and better marketing it will attract more people. I think that's reason why it has not been revived lately.

Did Stella have a back injury? I was only aware of her really serious leg injury that kept her out for almost 2 years (both of those Giselle debuts) as for the lack of up and coming stars in the company in their 20s, i think most of the dancers how would have had the potential have moved on when the realized how crowded it was at the top, but now many dancers who are with the company are either older and ok with their position in the company or too young to promote this soon. Kevin's reluctance to promote (with the exception of Stearns...which I'm still trying to figure out why - at least as quickly as he did) makes me wonder if that's the reason he's lost many good dancers in the past 2 years...specifically C Lopez this year... also, b/c I'm a huge fan of Danny Tidwell, why did he have to leave??? He made it into the corps at the same time as hallberg. Danny was on his way up when he decided to leave ABT. i understood from his interviews that he was not too happy with classical ballet and wanted to try other things. He is presently with the Norwegian Ballet in Oslo.

There is only one word why ABT should continue to invite guest stars..............POLINA!!! i hope permanently.

Years ago, when Fernando Bujones did one of his early Swan Lakes, he covered his legs with what looked like a blanket/cape while sitting w/ the Queen.It looked like Lucia Chase was giving him a disapproving look.

Debuts are almost always a problem. One must consider nervousness and, probably, lack of enough preparation and rehearsals. The debutants in Russian companies are always prepared by their ballet masters and coaches way ahead of the initial performances . Hammoudi will do well with more coaching(from the Marcelo,if possible ) and performances.

That's a shocker!! But then, she had very few performances scheduled this season and she has not been cast in any of the new big productions(except Dumbarton). Good luck with whatever her future plans would be.

Discounted Sleeping Beauty performances(July 5 and July 6,matinee) are available at the TDF website.

Diana confirmed, in the contact section of her website, that she will dance "Tatiana" in Onegin with ABT next year. She is also hoping for Marcelo. Now, if ABT will revive La Fille... next season,it will make me (and probably AM-NYT) very ,very happy

ABT did it often in the late 60's-mid seventies. I recall Fracci, Kirkland and Makarova as The Sylph, though I'm sure I also saw others. And they revived it just a couple of years ago. Martine Van Hamel also did the role.I did not see her but it was much admired

La Fille.... With Vasiliev and Osipova orCornejo/Simkin and Lane/Boylston. That's something to look forward to.

Is this for real or just a wish list?

I think that may have happened under Baryshnikov (Susan Jaffee?) but never under Kevin. IMO his slowness to promote dancers to principal (especially women) is terrible & may prompt some worthy dancers to leave ABT. What's the point of being promoted to principal when you're past your prime? At NYCB principals are generally around 20 yrs.old. At ABT it's more like 30 yrs old. The quick promotion of Boylston is a step in the right direction. Hope Simkin named principal soon! I don't recall of anyone who was promoted to principal from the corps de ballet at ABT.Susan J. was a soloist for a season or two before being promoted to principal dancer.

ABT is taking the production to Los Angeles in July right after the MET season.

I guess ,Mr. Puppytreats will be returning to the Met especially if the gorgeous Ms. Underwood is dancing.

Jose Manuel is leaving at the end of the ABT 2010-11 season.

I do hope that Hee Seo will be well enough to dance in early June. This" Giselle with David H. slot" seemed unlucky for debutants.Sarah should be ready ,just in case.