bingham

So glad that we agreed, Jack. By the way, the Pas d' Eventails in Act III was one of the brand-new additions to the ballet when this revival premiered in July 2007 in Moscow. The choreography is totally Ratmansky to Drigo's music for the one-act ballet Enchanted Garden. However, Ratmansky crafted it very much in the Petipa manner, Ratmansky being so in tune with the esthetic. In particular, the entree waltz for female corps and a lilting pas de quatre galop for some of the choryphees could fool the wisest Petipa specialist into believing that it is 'genuine Petipa.' Ratmansky was almost the balletic equivalent of a master forger of Rembrandt paintings! Hence, I am extremely saddened by the excision. And, as you say, there is a mime-only rushed feeling to the present Act III..."Let's race towards the big boat-sinking scene!" So much academic dancing in Acts I and II and, suddenly, practically no dancing in what's left of Act III.

I believe that the Pas d'Eventails is a victim to today's economic hardships. The Kennedy Center would have had to pay overtime to all of the unions if the show went past a certain time, as per union contracts. With unionized backstage crews, dressers, prop men, orchestra, etc....well, you do the math. I absolutely do not buy the argument by some that the 2007 shows contained "too much dancing." One idiotic comment by Clement Crisp should not have ruined the party for the rest of us. In London 2007, I heard nothing but praise for that Pas d'Eventails from theatergoers who sat around me at performances.

Would the Pas stand as a one-act ballet?Maybe, Ratmansky can expand it for ABT.

fyi.

the following has come in an email from the ABT press offices:

On Friday, June 19, VERONIKA PART and CORY STEARNS replace Hee Seo and David Hallberg;

On Saturday matinee, June 20, HEE SEO* and DAVID HALLBERG replace Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo.

Although i'm disappointed of not seeing Hee Seo's debut on Friday night, the change in the schedule makes sense. David can't possibly dance 2 succesive nights of dancing James.

What would be the difference bet the Marynsky-Vikharev reconstruction and the Gorsky-Petipa version?

Can someone tell me about how long "Airs" is? Trying to plan my transportation back to Philly

You didn't say which night you were attending, so I wrote down the timings tonight:

Airs: 7:35 - 8:02

Sylphide Act I: 8:24 - 8:58

Sylphide Acr II: 9:18 - 9:49

Timings include applause.

ABT has been very good about keeping intermissions to about twenty minutes.

But how was the ballet and the dancers ?

Herman Cornejo is no longer listed as Natalia Osipova's partner on Wednesday night; the schedule has "tba". David Hallberg is still listed to perform on Tuesday and Thursday with Nina Ananiashvili and with Hee Seo on Friday. No press release has yet been made.

will abt surprise us with Vasiliev, now that he is prob in dc ?

just a thought

I do not think that Ivan V. has danced this role before.Angel C. seems the most likely replacement unless ABT will surprise us w/ one of thier upcoming male dancer( Hammoudi? Tamm?)

According to ABT site, David H. will replace Maxim B. in LS w/ Nona A. and Herman C. will do the 2 La Sylphide of Natalia O.

Like most others, I was absolutely thrilled by Osipova. What an incredible dancer. Please Please bring her back next season.

Kevin is probably negotiating with her now,offering her everything. She would be wonderful in La Fille... and of course, Don Q

Zulme, or the second wili soloist, the one w/ the renverse-turns was L. Underwood.

All the principal dancers were terrific last night but we must not forget the corp de ballet.They must have been inspired of what was happening on stage. They were terrific esp L Underwood.

I have never seen such a reception for a new guest star at ABT . Natalia, welcome to America. We hope to see you every year.

Thanks to the link of winners...WOW for China, continuing its amazing climb to balletic stratosphere (as are Koreans in other competitions, such as NYIBC).

Chinese laureates in this recent Helsinki competitions include the top-top winner:

The Gloria Grand Prix, 12 000 euros, was awarded to 21 year old Xiaoyu He, who was competing in senior division. He has graduated from the Beijing Dance Academy and is currently a Member of corps de ballet of the National Ballet of China.

and...

The Chinese Dancers won the two first Placements of Senior Ladies Category. The First Prize was awarded to Haijing Jao and the second Prize went to Hong Yu Guo.

No Russians? Well, they must all be at the Moscow IBC, which is happening at the same time.

I hope you are going to give us reports on the Moscow IBC.

Many thanks for the link, robinmc!

Meaghan Hinkis, the 3rd Prize winner, is a member of ABT2.Congratulations to her and other American winners Jeffrey Cirio, Brooklyn Mack and Lonnie Weeks. :clapping:

BRB have been posting rehearsal video footage on their website. The most recent is Nao Sakuma and Robert Parker rehearsing Two Pigeons.

On another thread, I had mentioned a most memorable performance of Two Pigeons with Nao and Robert. I was even choking up watching this rehearsal!

Do look at the video clips. Here is the URL for the company's website:

http://brb.org.uk/

Thank you,Janet. That was lovely. I have always wondered why this ballet has never been staged here in the USA by any of our major ballet companies. It would certainly be nice if ABT(attn KMc) or Joffrey Ballet acquire it. Except for a Sarasota Ballet staging, i do not know of other stagings. Anybody knows why this omission?

I only attend a half dozen ABT performances a year (half of them at City Center), so I'm not as familiar with the dancers as I am with NYCB's (which I go to 2 or 3 times a week). That said, I was besotted by Hee Seo's performance in "Desir" last night (although I was not a fan of the ballet

itself). She is simply gorgeous -- a star in the making for sure. I was also very impressed with Eric Tamm in "On the Dnieper."

You're absolutely right, she was gorgeous . Her PDD with M Gomes was a highlight in last night's performance. Can't wait to see her La Sylphide and Juliet.

I was very excited to see Alex Wong on SYTYCD (OK, coming clean...I love watching this show). Last night it was revealed that Villella refused to let Alex out of his contract so he could participate on the main portion of the show. This being "reality" TV I question if that is so or the show worried about having a professional currently in a top ballet company on the show (Tidwell had left ABT and it was rarely mentioned that he even was in the company). Although I respect Wong's desire to explore other dance forms, I regret that the judges continued the stereotype of ballet being "confining." Looks like an interesting top 20, including a female ballet dancer.

I am very cynical on these so-called reality shows. Surely, Alex would have asked "permission" from the company even before auditioning. Otherwise , how could he participate in the competition for several weeks without being absent from the company.It would have been exciting if he "allowed " to join.

I have this couple of clips saved in my favorites, as they are one of the first videos of Alejandro Virelles, a star in the making of the Cuban National Ballet. Here he was still in the school. He dances the drummer boy in the Cuban production of Lichine's "Graduation Ball"-(another ballet I miss a lot from my Havana days... )

Enjoy!

He is impressive.Is he one of the principal dancers of CNB now ?

I have not seen Desir but i vaguely remember Anna Kissellgoff giving it positive reviews and raving about the partnering.This was several years ago(NY premiere?) and i always wanted(desired) to see it.Everybody seems to hate it.Is it too oldfashioned or the choreographic taste is different now? Any comments?

I've opened up this topic for potential discussion about this, the most prestigious of this year's IBC competitions. Jury includes Vladimir Vasiliev, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, and the perennial Chairman, Yuri Grigorovich.

http://www.russianballet.ru/competition/index.htm

Five Mariinsky Ballet dancers are among the competitors in the senior division:

Vladimir Schklyarov (certainly a huge favorite for gold), Ekaterina Ivannikova, Anastasia Nikitina, Alexei Timofeev and Maxim Zuizin

Also competing will be former Mariinsky dancer Artyom Yachmenikov, currently with the Dutch National Ballet, I believe.

Many, many Bolshoi dancers and Bolshoi Academy recent grads will compete in both the senior and junior divisions.

Are there any American dancers participating?

Thanks, Dale, but still no info on how to get tkts.

Editing to add: NYIBC.org has a link to buy tickets (although apparently only for June 24) through Jazz at Lincoln Center. Presumably you can save handling fees by purchasing in person at JALC's box office in the Time-Warner Center.

There are discounted tickets available in the TDF website(one must be a member to obtain tickets)

Well, the casting shuffle has again resulted in changes. I just checked the ABT website. Steifel is out of Prodigal for the entire week. Herman Cornejo will dance with M. Wiles tonight and for the rest of the week in Prodigal. Dvorovenko will dance prodigal with Simkin!! (The Corella/Boone Prodigals have not changed, except for the fact that they are not performing tonight, June 1).Steifel is still listed for next week's Giselle with Osipova.

They have also changed the program order: Prodigal/ Desir/ Dneiper

Since I'm planning to see the first two performances on Monday and Tuesday, I guess I should be glad it's now two different couples. I just wonder whether Cornejo and Wiles have had enough rehearsal time together. And, of course, wishing E.S. the speediest recovery possible.

Will D Simkin have enough time to prepare for the difficult role? Maybe, he has been preparing even before the changes were made?He did mention in his website that he is going to do something new in the Prokofief program.

Thanks so much for posting this. I don't always watch SYTUCD but now that I know that Alex Wong is on I will watch or tape it for sure. I remember him from the ABT studio company and have seen him a couple of times since he joined MCB - he's so talented!

So, it was him. I saw the end of his audition dance and i was thinking that he resenbled A Wong. Now,i will be watching too.

Isabella Boylston was the 3rd Odalisque

I understand that there are legal constraints against televising those ballets in full, and that's so much the sadder for everyone involved.

Carbro, Can you elaborate on these legal constraint? Is it the Balanchine Trust that is against televising those ballets?

Like a high school "Kiss Me Kate" production.

Wednesday matinee, an announcement was madejust before the curtain rose on Theme & Variations that Cory Stearns would be replacing Herman Cornejo. As became evident after the performance, this was a very, very late substitution. Cornejo was spotted on crutches on West 65th St. on his way to an MRI, as I was told.

In the ABT website, Maxim B. has also been replaced by B Hoven in all of his Mozartianas. It seems, injuries are causing changes in the casting so early in the season.

Thanks for the update, Dale!

Any idea how early should we arrive to the theater?

Also, does anyone know what the policy is for standing room sales?

The standing room policy is mentioned in detail at the ticket sales section of ABT in the Met website.

Q: why is Part still listed -- with a photograph -- under "Soloists" on the ABT website?

Volcanohunter answered that a few posts back. It is frustrating to see that though, isn't it? She's been languishing there long enough...and if they could bother with changing her photo, why not just go ahead and put it under Principals?

Veronika's picture and bio is,finally, listed in the Principal dancers section of the ABT website.