bingham

A little bit off the topic. It seems, Irina and Max are top-notched coaches with terrific results. So, why hasn't ABT grabbed them as ballet masters/coaches. Irina K. can't do everything. Just a thought.

It would be great if Gisele Bethea returns. She had recently danced SPF in a local Nutcracker. Just a thought.

With many talented ladies in the soloist and Corp , I wish they would revive the Grand Pas of Paquita.

6 hours ago, FauxPas said:

No I misremembered it. 

But the big problem is that McKenzie would nominate just one dancer or maybe two dancers to be the next big star - Hee Seo, Cory Stearns, Isabella Boylston etc.  When you have a whole generation of principal dancers who are all about the same age you can't just have one new dancer being groomed.  And when a generation retires suddenly you have dancers who have been waiting around for a decade like Misty Copeland, Deven Teuscher and Christine Schevchenko learning all the principal roles all at once in their thirties.  Everywhere else dancers are given "Swan Lake" or "Don Quixote" debuts in their twenties.

Now it seems from the Fall casting that Ahn and Bell are on the fast track being groomed to do principal roles.  Calvin Royal definitely could do more - I like the idea of Apollo.  Give Gorak some more chances?  It wouldn't hurt to give something to someone else besides Ahn and Bell - Gonzalez, maybe Patrick Frenette, Marshall Whiteley, Cameron McCune or Luigi Crispino?  Ratmansky uses Tyler Maloney, Jonathan Klein, Gabe Stone Shayer and others - he always utilizes young talent from the corps and ABT has benefited from it.  And there are dancers like Scout Forsythe who I haven't even seen in anything because they have never been given a solo - from what I have heard Forsythe is extremely qualified.

Scout Forsythe is definitely one who should be seen more . I think, she was injured last year but has returned this spring. Hoping she'll get some prominent roles this coming season.

42 minutes ago, Fleurfairy said:

When will casting go up? Does anyone remember from last year? 

I imagine that casting will not be announced until they start rehearsing in early September especially for new ballets.

5 hours ago, nanushka said:

He’d hardly tower over, say, Whiteside. (Stearns would be more I’d a problem, though less due to size — he’d just seem so much less dynamic than Forster.) And I don’t know that Forster is all that much taller than Hoven. I think the choreography would suit him quite well. I completely understand that there are other intangibles and matters of taste though.

And as a separate note, to clarify my earlier comments: Forster is just my personal favorite. Setting him aside, my views on the current state of the male roster would remain the same.

i read somewhere that Tom is 6'2 or 6'3.

14 minutes ago, abatt said:

Yes, that's why I'm getting a bad feeling that Stella may become a forced retirement in a year or two, just like Part.

Stella seems to be preparing for her eventual retirement with teaching at Kaatsbaan?and at ABT. Would love for her to join ABT staff.

The season is ending and there are still no promotions?😾👎🏽🙏

How were the fairies in the prologue?

Any reports on the Boynston-Simkin SL?

On 6/26/2019 at 8:20 AM, ABT Fan said:

Yeah, it's too bad that Royal had such a hard time with it. I was sitting far on the right side, so he was partially cut off from my view (note to self, never sit so far on the side again for SL!). Just speaking from a dancer's experience, the arabesque balance is more difficult than it looks. It is supposed to be done slowly obviously, so to start from two feet, then have to shift your weight while raising your arabesque all while not letting your upper body and/or lower body lean back or sideways towards the standing leg, which your body is going to want to do to compensate, or coming off of your demi pointe. And, of course, maintaining your arm positions, etc. To do this slowly (and do it well) takes a lot of control and it's not a common step for male dancers, so they don't get much practice doing this in other ballets (not in ABT anyway). To say you need a very strong core (back, obliques, etc) to do this well is an understatement.

Yes, unfortunately, you've just been unlucky with your tickets because he has been cast a lot: Pierrot in Harlequinade (which I didn't like), the lead in Songs of Bukovina (he was fabulous), The Seasons, Prince Coffee, leads in all of the Tharp Trio pieces, Lescaut, and some other supporting roles. I'd also like to see him as Siegfried, though I think some of the choreography (esp in Act III) might give him trouble.

 

>>>>Is anyone attending this afternoon's matinee? I really want to hear about Bell's debut.

The POB male dancers do this a lot more with more success than failure. Nureyev's staging of Don Q and Nutcracker features this . I'm not sure if it is done in their Swan Lake. It is also done by Kitri in the DQ PDD adagio.

Still no promotions? 

14 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

Lane has done T&V (with Cornejo) since she was in the corps. I believe it was her first principal role.

Shevchenko would be terrific. I'm sure Boylston will be cast as she's done it before. And, Murphy if she's returned and naturally Teuscher.

Hurlin in T&V.

On 6/19/2019 at 8:59 PM, AB'sMom said:

ABT hasn’t yet posted anything about where the Studio Company dancers are going, but according to the Ballet West website Grace Anne Pierce is joining the corps de ballet. 

All of this year’s apprentices were promoted to the Corp de Ballet according to the ABT website. Maybe, the promotions, if any, will follow soon. This week?

They probably will as they won't revive a production just for a single performance. If they do, they will most likely cast T Forster as the future groom. Just an opinion.

14 minutes ago, its the mom said:

Wow, debut?  That's hard to believe.

I may be mistaken but i thought that he danced Manon with Osipova @ The Royal Ballet

Maria Shrinkina , a soloist at the Mariinski, I think.

1 hour ago, ABT Fan said:

Funny, I was just looking that up myself.

It's usually at the end of the Met season. Last year it was the end of June.

I expect Bell to be promoted. Would be shocked if he's not. I wonder if Shayer will finally get it, although coming off of a major injury he hasn't been cast in a large number of roles this season (which may or may not affect that).

I would love to see Forster move up, but since he wasn't given a lead in a full-length I don't think management deems him worthy. (Discounting Jane Eyre. He'd need to be given a Siegfried, Prince Desire, etc). Would love to be wrong.

I don't foresee any women being promoted to principal.

I think it'll be a very short list this year.

Added: I think when the promotions are announced, there will be at least one man joining as a principal (Mack?). With Bolle leaving, and it's super safe to say Lendorf is too, (and we all know the deal with the rest of the guys) they desperately need another leading man.

Too bad if Lendorf leaves. He had too many recent injuries though. Vladimir Shklyarov would be a good principal addition but then they would probably have to hire his wife too.

When did ABT announce last years promotions? There are a lot deserving a promotion especially T Forster. 

3 hours ago, DPell said:

He said he hurt his shoulder. He's still dancing, just not partnering.

Carlos did the role of Wedding Vicar in Thursday performance. There was no real dancing involved but he did it well.

12 minutes ago, aurora said:

I agree he was excellent!

I'd never seen him do much before except Neapolitan in SL.

FYI his name is Jonathan Klein.

Oppsss...of course, it’s Jonathan. Sorry. Still it was an outstanding debut. Alexei must had a hand in giving him this role. He sure has an eye for new talent.

20 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

I've been thinking about that too, and, I agree that there's a huge bottleneck. I'm sure they can't afford to swell the soloist ranks with many more. The only soloist who might have principal potential (maybe) is Royal. My personal opinion is that Forster does, but he's not being given the right opportunities that would demonstrate management thinks so too (no leads in the classics). So, how are they going to get around this bottleneck? Just wait for the current ones to retire, which will take years? Or, are they going to not renew a contract, or two, to get a few out of the way?

Separately, I'd be shocked if Bell isn't promoted this year. I wonder what will happen to Shayer.

Raymond Klein had an amazing debut as the Boy in Whipped Cream the other night, He is definitely,IMO, a potential soloist.

3 hours ago, Jane Simpson said:

It was the production, entirely - Schaufuss had made a cut-down version to tour in small theatres round the country and he brought it to the Coliseum, one of London's largest theatres -  I think he had about 12 dancers in all so he'd cut the mandolin dance completely and some nights he didn't have anyone to play the nurse's page and so on.... I though it was a travesty of a lovely ballet.  The good bits were that it showed Alban Lendorf (as Mercutio) in London for the first time and Osipova's Juliet came good in the second half and was really touching. But there must be hundreds of people who saw it and think that's what Ashton's like.

I should think it might look really good on the Sarasota company - though I do wish they could use Prokofiev's lighter version of the score - the one Mark Morris used: it would suit this version very well, I think.

It does need looking after, though - when Schaufuss acquired it for English National Ballet in the 1980s the first cast, coached by Ashton himself, was lovely but later casts quickly lost much of the detail and at a revival a few years later I actually left after the first act as I couldn't bear to watch what they had let it  become.

 

 

 

If i'm not mistaken, i think, Katherine Healy was one of the Juliets that Ashton coached( the other was Trinidad Sevilano ?).

11 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

The Grigorovich Romeo and Juliet has not been scheduled all season, so I suspect the "co-existence" of the two productions is a sham. The Grigorovich version is basically no longer in the repertoire. (I don't like either version.)

There were two versions of Giselle, Grigorovich's on the main stage, and Vasiliev's more eccentric staging on the new stage, running concurrently. After Vaziev took over, the Vasiliev version was soon dropped.

Since Ratmansky's version will be performed on the main stage, I suspect it is replacing the current Grigorovich production.

Is the Ratmansky Giselle a reconstruction or just a new staging?

56 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

I'm relieved that Abrera has been "restored". Am hopeful that Shayer will get some (most) of the male TBA's.

So, Is Smirnova still coming as a guest? Just curious.