bingham

Sorry, missed that part of her continuing to dance with her company and as a guest artist.Maybe, we can still see her as a "guest artist" with ABT.

I think "retiring from the Company" means just that, as with Julio Bocca continuing to dance with his ballet company in Argentina (as well as the Tango group) after he retired from ABT. Otherwise, why bother making the announcement?

Ooops, that's true.

Sorry, missed that part of her continuing to dance with her company and as a guest artist.Maybe, we can still see her as a "guest artist" with ABT.

ABT just announced Nina's retirement scheduled on the 2009 Met season

Michele and David were the sunniest,least-Spanish-looking Kitri and Basilio i have seen but they were certainly among the most elegant pair.Michelle , with her height and blonde-looks ,seems out of place in the 1st act but made it up in the last 2 acts. Her variation and esp her foeuttes were spectacular .It brought the loudest applause of the evening.David was his usual elegant self . He did not do the one-arm lifts of the other Basilios but was esp good in his partnering of Michelle. I really enjoyed watching him anticipate the balances of Michele in thePDD letting her alone when she held the balance.

The rest of the supporting cast was as good as can be esp K Boone and R Pavam.S Messmer was impressive in her 3rd act variation.Marcelo and Veronica? They are just so good together that i am already sorry to miss their La Bayadere

Maybe, with the sucess of Herman in DQ, ABT will be encourage to revive it.He was very good as Alain in the last ABT production but i think he will be a terrific Colas( but then there is that one-hand-overhead-lift in act one that he has to work at...)

Joseph seems to be generating a lot of interest in his first season at ABT.I'm not sure if this is allowed here(Moderators,pleases delete if not allowed) but there is a video of Joseph dancing the complete Star and Stripes PDD w/ Ashley Bouder( what a Kitri she would make) in Brightcove.tv.He did hold his own beside her.

Sasha Radetsky

According to the printed handout in the lobby, the July 9 Giselle is now slated to be Irina Dvorovenko with David Hallberg. I feel sorry for Stella, who must have had her heart set on this potentially breakthrough opportunity.

Very disappointing but there is always "next season"(and she'll have more time to prepare for the role).

At yesterdays performance of ABT's Don Quixote (Reyes/Cornejo/Boone/Radetsky) it was a Corps dancer Melissa Thomas who opened my eyes wide with her dancing of the Queen of the Dryads in the 2nd Act. The beauty of her line and the crystal quality of her technique notwithstanding, it was her expressiveness that raised her performance to such an enjoyable height. She easily managed to steal the scene from the Ballerina; I went to the performance to see Cornejo but came away with a new discovery.

I'm glad she is ,finally, getting recognition for her talent.i know it's the wrong forum but how did Herman do?

Did anyone see Herman's DQ New York debut?

SanderO Viktoria Part? You are probably thinking 0f Veronica Part.

My wife and i saw her debut in Coppelia( with Patrick Armand) for the ENB(or LFB) at the Colisseum. She was marvelous and was well received by the audience. I don't remember the year. I was hoping that she would eventually dance with one of the US companies.

The last time I saw it was with ABT and it's one of the best things I"ve ever seen them do. You would have thought the ballet was set on them, about a week ago. (Alexander Grant staged it.) The cast was Ashley Tuttle and Ethan Stiefel, with Kirk Peterson as the Widow Simone. They had the tone right, the mime right, the dancing was musical, the audience howled, the critics wrote and wrote and WROTE about it -- and I don't think they've done it since.

La Fille... have always been a favorite of mine and i enjoyed the ABT staging a few years ago. Apparently,it was not a big crowd-drawer and it has not been repeated. I wished ABT would do it next season. Herman and Sarah would be wonderful in this ballet, i think.

So interesting! Do I not recognize bombast when I see it? A sobering thought... I guess I'm just very new to ballet... at least, new relative to a board moderator. Tuesday night was the first time I've seen this ballet, and tonight, the 2nd time. I found the technical display rather exciting!

I missed Cory Stearns' debut in Corsaire, but from what I hear on BT he looked like, well, a corps member making a debut in a principal role. Tonight he didn't look like that at all to me. Looked confident, poised, principal-like! Where does ABT find such a plethora of male talent?

I liked R&R more tonight than I did the first time. Relentless yes, and busy, absolutely, too much so! But it's growing on me.

Someone commented on Murphy on opening night. I found her delightful. She's not a dancer with emotional depth, but I really enjoy her in playful roles like this.

Wish I had seen last night, when the two demi-soloists were Misty Copeland and... can anyone fill me in on the other?

Sarah Lane.

I'm also wondering about the Marisa Lopez-casting.Surely, they could have given K Boone a chance to dance Gamzatti.The rest of the new soloist seems to have a lot of new roles(although i think Yuriko would fit the role of Nikiya better than gamzatti,)

No, i have not seen Hee Seo either and she is not cast as Florine this season(Which she got very good reviews last year.)

Carolina, Is there a list of the dancers of the Corella ballet? Thanks

Here's a direct quote from ABT to Ballet Talk:

"Veronika Part will be dancing with ABT next season."

Now, we definitely know that someone at ABT reads Ballet talk.

Haglund's, Thank you for always(almost) mentioning the supporting casts in your reviews.I'm sure the ABT soloists and corp members appreciate your mentioning them.

Haglund's, who were the P de Trois dancers.Thanks.

SanderO, I understand your qualms. It's certainly in the company's best financial interest to not announce these changes well before hand. I would also add that it's odd the company, on its website at least (it seems to be available at the Met), has not posted the casting of Myrta, Gamzatti, or Lilac Fairy yet.

In the casting flyer available at the Met,the cast of Giselle(including Myrta) is listed but not Gamzatti or LF.It also lists the entire cast for the new Tharp and Etudes(which is annoyingly listed in the website as "company").Maybe, due to finacial restraints,they don't have a webmaster who can update the site.

I'm glad Renata finally had a soloist role and did well.She is one of the "neglected" women in the corp who deserves more soloist roles.

Almost everybody agrees what a disaster the designs Tony walton and Willa Kim did for ABT's Sleeping beauty last year.Is there any active American designer at present who can design for the ballet?Except for Zack Brown and Santo Loquasto,i could not think of anyone.Any ideas?

I guess it would be too expensive to get European designers.

Can you elaborate on the other dancers who performed? Thanks

bingham, my friend, I'm sorry to be so late in replying. I have misplaced my notes and was hoping to post more completely. But at least for the time being, I'll give the program as it was on the handout, except that Irina Dvorovenko replaced the scheduled Michele Wiles. If the announcement of the substitution was made, I missed it. I don't know whether Michele performed the previous night.

Excerpts from

Swan Lake

Act I Pas de trois: Yuriko Kajiya, Maria Riccetto, Blaine Hoven

Act II Mime, Swan Queen and Prince: Irina Dvorovenko, David Hallberg

Excerpt from

The Merry Widow

Act II Pas de Deux: Xiomara Reyes & Gennadi Saveliev

Excerpt from

Don Quixote

Act I Pas de Trois: Yuriko Kajiya, Maria Riccetto, David Hallberg

Excerpt from

Giselle

Act I Mime Scene -- Giselle, Hilarion, Albrecht: Xiomara Reyes, Gennadi Saveliev, Herman Cornejo

Excerpt from

Le Corsaire

Act II Bedroom Pas de Deux: Irina Dvorovenko and Corey Stearns

I might be mistaken but isn't Georgina Pazcoguin of NYCB is of Filipino-parentage?

Unfortunately for New York, Erica joined her husband Jose Molina, and they are both principal dancers at Boston Ballet. Amy Reusch reviewed their Swan Lake of this past weekend here.

Herman is still with ABT, but his wife, Carmen Corella, has left ABT to join her brother, Angel's company, in Madrid. I expect as Ballet de Espana gets going, Herman will be dividing his time between the two companies.

Do you need a diagram to understand the relationships?

Yes, Herman has extraordinary elevation, but to me that his among his lesser assets. He has an amazing ability to see exactly how a phrase should look and reproduce it with his body. When he dances, you can almost see the mental work he's put into his dancing -- not to imply that you can see him thinking on stage. And his musicality is unsurpassed.

to

Was it Macaulay who recently called him the greatest male dancer of his generation? I'd probably add an earlier generation or two. In my opinion, even Baryshnikov was not his equal.

Both Cornejos are still relatively young. I expect we'll be hearing a lot more of them for a good, long time.

Oh, and while I'm here, let me add this:

Last week I attended ABT's Works & Process evening at the Guggenheim Museum. Basically, it was a lecture/demonstration/preview of the upcoming Met season. Partnering Xiomara Reyes and in practice clothes, Herman did the daisy scene from Giselle. It was the highlight of the whole program (which included some terrific dancing from various ABT principals and soloists). I had never seen that moment as particularly erotic, but his earnestness and tenderness were powerfully seductive. He hasn't yet danced Albrecht, but when he debuts in July, I expect he will be a very sexy Albrecht. I can't wait!

Can you elaborate on the other dancers who performed?Thanks