Helene

Had they made this announcement, I think most of the audience would have been rooting for and appreciating Shipulina 110%. With all of the casting changes, I didn't even realize she was about to do her third performance in 2.5 days. At least she got the call the night before and not at lunch on Sunday...

I wouldn't judge Vassiliev solely by Saturday's performance. His Golden Idol a few weeks ago was fantastic and very technically assured. He might not have looked injured, but there may have been something bothering him on Saturday that showed up in the difficulties he's been described as having.

Someone on your way in past the ticket check will ask you to open the backpack and give the contents a look-over (usually cursory), but you should be fine with a small bag or backpack.

When you think of where he was coming from, it was a company that had a resident and, while he was a student, living god, one who was not particularly kind to most dancers who went out of the temple for outside classes and coaching, and didn't welcome back dancers who left to dance the classics, as Ruthanna Boris described. Suzanne Farrell said something to the effect that Balanchine told her that he could teach her everything she needed to know, and she accepted that and never looked elsewhere. After Balanchine's death, there was a renewed religiosity in the company regarding his work, and from that environment, Boal left for Europe to do something that appealed to him, much as the contemporary rep he's brought to PNB seems to do. (I was surprised when he returned to NYCB; I thought he would stay in Europe for the rest of his career.) If Boal received an education in Ashton at NYCB, it was that Balanchine didn't think those ballets worth preserving in his company, or the Company would have programmed them. I think this is it in nutshell: he's managing where his interests lie, while retaining the big full-lengths that bring in the money and that his long-term audience counts on (the Stowell "Swan Lake" and "Nutcracker", the Hynd "Sleeping Beauty"). I actually see it as combination of having NYCB and putting in the roots quite early by giving ballets to a number of companies worldwide and by hiring ballet masters like Francia Russell to do the stagings. That happened for decades before Balanchine's death and the Trust was formed. In many ways, the Trust sounded like business-as-usual, while Ashton had been pushed out and neglected by the time he died, which I think is why the Ashton Trust has been so weak. One of the things leonid points out is the power struggle at Royal Ballet between the Ashtonians and Macmillan, and I think that one of things that was key in NYCB's success was Jerome Robbins, two things in particular: Robbins did not want to take over for Balanchine, and he was, essentially, running a company-within-a-company at NYCB. He got to encourage and promote "his" dancers, especially in Balanchine's last decade, he had ballet masters dedicated to his rep, Balanchine gave him first pick of dancers during festivals, Robbins' ballets were programmed regularly, and I've never read that when he wanted to create a ballet there, he was blocked. There was no need to overthrow Balanchine. I can't say whether he was being diplomatic in this case, but I don't think he says everything he thinks out loud, and I've guessed a number of times that he was being diplomatic in his answers. That doesn't make me trust him less, because while I'd like to know a lot of the "real" answers, he doesn't owe me an explanation, and in many cases, no matter what he were to answer, he would be causing the company unneeded grief. Have long-time Royal Ballet watchers seen the ABT version? If so, how does it compare to the original performances, and will what we're seeing maintain a lifeline? I saw "Sylvia" in London a few years ago, and loved the ballet, but I didn't have a clear sense of how it had changed, and wondered whether I was like something that was quite different from what the ballet was supposed to be. I didn't get to see the Royal Ballet in the 50's or 60's or even the early 70's, and I only saw late Dowell in the 80's from that legacy. Grant may be right, but he is also a controversial figure in Macaulay's article, and I would love to hear long-time Royal Ballet watchers weigh in on this.

Dancers can have many reasons for moving, including personal ones, with families and partners in another city, having dreams/ambitions to be in one company vs. another, living in another environment -- a lot of people from all walks of life have wanted to live in NYC -- and the regional companies, however strong, aren't rolling in money. When I moved to Seattle, there was a Seattle Times weekend magazine article on "What People Make", and I was to see how little a principal at PNB made at that time, even taking into consideration lower cost of living and no state income tax. From what I had seen published of NYCB corps salaries at that time, I believe NYCB corps members made more than PNB principals. Of course the money was for far more performances -- a PNB season just about fit into one of NYCB's seasons, with "Nutcrackers" being about even. ABT has a lot more performances than Miami City Ballet, even with its three venues, which translates into salary and opportunity, even within a larger company.

It's not unusual for dancers to take a one-rank step down to join a bigger or more well-paying or more prestigious company, or one whose rep expands their opportunities or is better suited to them. For example, Alexandra Ansanelli joined Royal Ballet as a soloist after having been made principal at NYCB early in her career. I don't know what their prior rank was when joining PNB, but many of the top dancers who came from other companies in the last decade of the Russell/Stowell years to join PNB started as soloists, and were promoted to principal within a year or two: Louise Nadeau, Jeffrey Stanton, Kaori Nakamura, Olivier Wevers, Paul Gibson, and I believe Christopher Maraval. Batkhurel Bold started in the PNB corps, and Lisa Apple may have as well. Since Peter Boal has been AD, he hired Carla Korbes, who was made NYCB soloist just before she came to PNB, as a soloist and Seth Orza to corps. Both were promoted quickly to the next rank.

This was not Garcia's first full performance. He was danced Oberon on Fri night as well. Ah, so he subbed for De Luz on Friday. Did anyone see his debut? He may have been a bit tired for Saturday.

To add fuel to your gloom, Anton Pankevitch, who had danced with the Royal Ballet before coming to PNB, did a Q&A that I saw, in which in describing his career moves, said that he didn't like dancing Ashton, finding it "old-fashioned", but loved to dance Macmillan, whom he thought was a dance genius. By "not knowing" Ashton's work, I assume Boal meant that he wasn't familiar enough with it to consider it, not that he had never seen any Ashton ballets, although from the tours they did in 80's, I know I saw a lot of Macmillan.

Hindsight being what it is, with Osipova and Vassiliev out of Sunday's matinee of "Le Corsaire" at the Kennedy Center, I wish I had stayed in NYC to see this performance.

There could be another factor at work, too: Ashton takes a lot of work that doesn't jive with dancers current expectations of expression or hierarchy. A number of works that have been added to the rep at PNB lately, for example, are "dancers' dances", ones that spark their imagination and in which any given corps member is not the fourth in the third row, some of which are more interesting to do, given the dancers' comments, than to watch, at least for me. Ashton's works take discipline, modesty, and a certain amount of self-abnegation, as well as a commitment to a style of movement that is Volkova's legacy.

It sounded like a number of people in my section had seen other Shipulina performances and commented that weren't happy to see a repeat of most of the same performers (and could have done XYZ instead). The women behind me left as soon as the announcement was made, but they at least gave their tickets to some other people for Acts II and III.

I think it depends on the ballet and whether or not there are filmed versions of great exponents of the roles and solid ensemble work. For example, I think ABT's "La Sylphide", while it didn't fill the Met, is a ballet to which parents will take little girls in dresses with wings, regardless of what it looks like. (Those same kids wore the same dresses to NYCB's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".) More abstract or difficult or currently obscure works, not so much. There has to be something in the performance that makes people understand the underlying greatness, or the work will fall by the wayside and be lost. The surviving originators of roles created in the 60's and 70's are getting on in years, and in the Ashton rep, there aren't enough companies that are producing his work and which can mine their knowledge. The Ashton "DNA" is getting lost. Someone asked Peter Boal in a Q&A about whether Ashton would be added to an upcoming PNB season -- there are several ballets that would have been quite wonderful for Louise Nadeau, for example -- and he replied that he didn't know Ashton's work. He's the AD of one of the top companies in the US, and Ashton's work hadn't come across his radar. Ashton's work should be like Petipa's: even if the "home" company doesn't perform it, it should be part of every classical dancer's dance education, even if the dancers have to seek it out themselves. In the Balanchine and to an extent the Robbins rep, luckily, many of the originators coach and train dancers who coach and train the next generation, and former dancers like Francia Russell, who retired in her early twenties, were chosen presciently by Balanchine to stage as early as the 60's. All of the first generation can pass on what Balanchine taught them directly. That happened somewhat in the Ashton rep -- I saw a fine "La Fille Mal Gardee" done by the Australian Ballet about 15 years ago -- but not to the extent that when the Mother Ship was failing to maintain the rep, there are dozens of companies that could keep the DNA alive and well enough to be revived. It's a ray of hope that a company like SFB will perform "Symphonic Variations" instead of seeking out the next NEW! high-impact aerobics routine.

Is anyone teaching Ashton style? If the dancers don't know the style, it's hard to imagine how to keep the repertory going. If, for example, ABT performs Ashton ballets with as much regard as they just performed "La Sylphide", the steps might be there, but the ballets will be a shadow of themselves.

The big news today, much to the chagrin of almost everyone I spoke to before the performance, was that Osipova and Vasiliev did not dance today. Shipulina and Skvortsov, who are at least listed in the printed program for last night's performance, too, danced Medora and Conrad. Nina Kaptsova replaced Ekaterina Krysanova as Gulnare, and Anastasia Goryacheva, who was replaced by Anastasia Stashkevich on Opening Night, danced "Pas d'esclaves" in place of Kaptsova with Denis Medvedev. I was hoping for a pair of up-and-comers in the lead, but it was not to be. George Jackson's description of our Conrad, "Ruslan Skvortsov looked plausible as Conrad, the pirate hero, and danced smoothly but tended to fade from view when not active" is entirely on the money: I forgot Skvortsov existed unless he was making an entrance or dancing a variation, although he was more engaged in the escape scene in the third act. Shipulina has long, long legs, and when she uses them smoothly, they can be mesmerizing, but her upper and lower bodies seem detached, and her upper body does not have the same impact as her lower. I also didn't see much unity in her character; it was like a montage of characters from a gala of greatest hits, depending on the scene. Although her dance en travestie was wonderfully spirited, I wouldn't have followed Shipulina; earlier in the week I would have followed Alexandrova anywhere. Nina Kaptsova did steal "Jardin Anime" from her. I finally did get to see the Odalisques from a really great seat in the first tier. I thought that Anna Leonova's third Odalisque was a bit harsh. Olga Stebletsova's First was finely danced, but it was Anna Tikhomirova's Second that was a standout of musicality and expansiveness. She spun the variation, despite a quick slip in the opening diagonal. (At least according to the program it was: another Ballet Talker at the performance questioned whether it was she who danced.) I was glad to have seen Goryacheva's "Pas d'eclaves"; she gave a joyful interpretation, and it was a privilege to see Denis Medvedev again, with his soft, catlike jumps out of deep plie, and the way he almost seem to go into slow motion on the corkscrew turning jumps, which seemed to nudge higher after the initial leaps. Andrey Merkuriev and Anna Antropova lit up the house in "Danse des forbans", beautifully supported by Anna Nakhapetova, Ksenia Sorokina, Evgeny Golovin, and Alexander Vodopetov. to Gennady Yanin, Alexei Loparevich, and Alexander Petukhov for the beautiful characterizations and mime as Lanquedem, Pasha, and Eunuch. Today's audience tried to prove you wrong, by giving quite loud ovations to all of the pirate dancing and the "Danse des forbans", enough so that the orchestra started to play before the clapping ended. The first scene of the first act flew by. Even the character actors seemed to be appreciated, with all of their mime. The kids around me loved the Pasha and the head eunuch, in blue, who I don't remember getting a bow, and the young twenty-somethings to my right seemed mesmerized and clapped enthusiastically. The distinction you made about weeknight audiences may be key to this.

Krysanova must have danced at least one Gulnare. -- George Jackson reviewed her in danceviewtimes, in a cast with Shipulina and Skvortsov. He also mentioned an exodus, particularly after Act II. Some audience members must have thought that they were in for another one-hour act. Little did they know they'd be up almost as soon as they hit their chairs, Act III felt so short. Lopatin was a wonderful Golden Idol in Berkeley. Thank you for your review of him. Staskevitch is getting a lot of substitutions on the US tour and a lot of good exposure. I look forward to seeing her this afternoon and on the next tour.

Okay people, there have been enough empty seats at the Met, and enough people at the Koch Theater, that I can only conclude that I am not the only Ballet Talker who has seen A Midsummer Night's Dream in a run that started Tuesday (and I don't even live here ) Teresa Reichlen's Titania was imperial, her long limbs smooth and reaching, her chest and shoulders open and expressive, and her head high on her neck, but loose and graceful. She was particularly lovely in the Pas de Deux with the Cavalier, each time she reached with her head back, her back flexed, and her focus to the rafters. Gonzalo Garcia, who I'd seen in a number of roles with San Francisco Ballet, was Reichlen's Oberon, his first full performance after saving the day earlier in the week. While on the one hand, I've been blessed to have seen wonderful Oberons in the last 35 years, the downside is that I've been spoiled. I had always appreciated how difficult each individual section of the "Scherzo" is, and how hard it is to do so many difficult passes in a row, but what I didn't really understand was how hard it was to do all of those different types of dancing equally, or close to equally well. There was a heaviness to Garcia's dancing in this role -- and I'm a fan of juicy dancers -- and it was also uneven: he excelled in the sections with beats, performing them clearly and with wonderful ballon, but his jumping passes were a bit stolid. His presence and characterization as Oberon the king, though, were equal to anyone I've seen. All of the lovers were new to me. Ask La Cour was a rough and tumble Demetrius, but he was not afraid to be the butt of the joke, which, for me, is key in the role. Robert Fairchild was a full-blooded Lysander; there was nothing wussy about his portrayal of a man in love. Dena Abergel's Helena was disappointing in the first Act: except for the opening phrases of her solo, she was so relentlessly on the beat that for me her performance was like connecting the dots. She looked more comfortable in a tutu in the second Act during the wedding scene. Sterling Hyltin's Hermia nearly stole the show. Although a very different dancer from the role's originator, Patricia McBride, Hyltin made me see the underlying qualities that inspired Balanchine's choreography, while putting her own stamp on it. Her characterization was as powerful and clear as her dancing. The dancer who did steal the show was Troy Schumacher as Puck, an announced replacement for Sean Suozzi. His dancing was juicy, full-bodied, and clear, but the genius of it was that in his characterization, he avoided every obvious, cheap, guffaw-creating, slapstick moment in the ballet to which even the best Pucks I've seen have succumbed. One comic moment after another, he pulled back and created a moment of stillness, from which a quieter gesture hit the comic dead spot with complete clarity. It was masterful. Kudos to him In their own ways, the lovers and Bottom's retinue embodied a disciplined approach to the mime, which often gets smushed together and is difficult to decipher. They slowed it down for a split second pause, and in that room created a dramatic moment without an over-the-top gesture, which made it that more dramatically appealing, because there are already so many over-the-top gestures built in, like the scene where each lover dismisses the one who is pursuing him or her. In the scene where Bottom's troupe sets up for the show, it was not the undifferentiated clowning I've often seen, but a precise scene in which each actor is given direction. Bottom was an endearing Henry Seth, who in the beginning of the Pas de Deux made some wonderfully actorish gestures, Bottom being, after all, an actor. Savannah Lowery was all big jumps and smooth, wind-stirring fouettes as Hippolyta, well in the line of tall, muscular dancers I've seen in this role. Jason Fowler had a lot of presence as Theseus, especially in the Wedding Scene. This was my first time seeing Janie Taylor and Tyler Angle; they danced the Act II Divertissement. I can't imagine that Taylor will ever be my kind of dancer. Despite some lovely legato phrasing, she just has physical characteristics that I dislike: broken wrists, foot wrap on pirouettes, and a head that is not loose on her shoulders; when she bent it back to to the side, she looked compressed. Angle, by contrast, danced tall and strong, with smooth pirouettes, and the presence of a cavalier, but especially with ease. The Divertissement couples were very strong. Among the women, there was a shorter, dark-haired dancer I thought was especially fine; carbro, who saw the ABT program this afternoon, thought from the cast list and from my description it would have been Georgina Pazcoguin, if the program was correct. The singers, Erin Morley and Alison Tupay, were wonderful, and the woman's chorus was strong and vibrant.

How would you define this influence, particularly when neither's "home" company survived or produces much of his work? What choreographers absorbed or continue to absorb their influence primarily? What choreography that they influenced either survived from the times following theirs or is done today that reflects their aesthetic and/or technique? What is your metric for determining the size of their influence? There are many posts on this board that rue that their influence is not more extensive, and feel that ballet would be in a much better place today if it were.

It was such a pleasure to see her. Small light soubrettes have a built-in airy and in some cases air-headed quality, but to see a tall, full dancer show delight from her fingertips to her toes was a visceral thrill. Mary Cargill, in her review for danceviewtimes, writes about a number of issues I had with the production: To be fair, I don't think I've ever seen a production in which James and Gurn don't hog the two Act I solos. The bottom line for me was that in this production, the Company as a whole, despite some wonderful efforts by the cast I saw last night, did not make great theater. "Le Corsaire" by the Bolshoi in DC, despite the amount of action and ridiculous plot, was much more coherent theatrically, because everyone knew his or her role in creating that world.

I thought the Met quashed an effort for NYCO to be in a new theater in the Lincoln Center area through the LC governing body. Am I remembering this wrong? For the life of me I don't understand how they thought that Mortier would ever show up and live within NYCO's budget, especially given the programming he was planning to bring. San Francisco Opera couldn't afford Pamela Rosenberg's plans, and Mortier's were like Pamela Rosenberg's five-year plan rolled into one. To me, it sounded delusional from the first rumor of it. The Met won't even take a chance to broadcast the new Chereau "House of the Dead", Chereau's debut at the house, in HD next year, one of two productions next season that go into Mortier turf, and that has Esa-Pekka Salonen conducting and Peter Mattei in the cast. And that's Janacek, for Pete's sake, not really cutting edge.

If in tonight's performance of "La Sylphide" the ensembles neither created a sense of community and place nor sisterhood, the Sylph, Veronika Part, and the three human protagonists, Marian Butler's Effie, Cory Stearns' James, and Jared Matthews' Gurn, certainly created a drama that captured my attention and imagination from end to end. In particular, Part's mime was crystal clear, and Stearns' was close, and his characterization had a sense of dramatic arc, with a combination of confusion and desire. While he was not Hallberg's equal in style or technique, especially in the Act I variation, he had some wonderful moments in the Act II solos, and the phrasing in the last one was varied and fit the music beautifully. It was a well-rounded attempt at an iconic role. Butler's Effie was emotionally live, and I got the impression that in choosing to marry Gurn, it was less a practical decision than a realization that she had narrowly escaped a disaster. (Still, Mom isn't convinced, even at the end when Madge gestures for her to accept it, and after she is alone on stage, Madge gestures about the fools she has to put up with.) Jared Matthews' Gurn was genuinely kind to Madge in Act I, and while there are built in comic elements, like missing the chair where he expected to disclose the Sylph and falling to the floor, and needing to be pushed, twice, by Madge to ask Effie to marry him, he was not a silly figure, and he reminded me of Royal Danish Ballet's Mads Blangstrup in the straightforwardness and bit of urgency in his Act I variation. This is the first time I've seen Veronika Part live; add me to the list of Part lovers. Her Sylph flitted with delight and anticipation at capturing the heart of this creature (for to her, he was the creature) with lightness yet resonance, grace, and that beautiful mime. She portrayed a happy Sylph, single-minded and single-hearted, oblivious to the pain she would cause. Her Act II solos built to a thrilling climax. I generally don't sympathize with this amoral creature, but watching her joyfully equate the scarf with James' love and wholeheartedly bowing to him to get it was like watching an unavoidable catastrophe. Martine van Hamel's Madge was remarkably contained and quiet, in some ways almost stealth, like a spider waiting for its prey to entrap itself, and then rejoicing. Despite the sometimes shadowy lighting, "Airs" which opened the program, was danced in sunshine and cool breezes by the cast of Boone, Copeland, Curry, Milewski, Hoven, Scott, and Stappas. The ensemble danced seamlessly. I was impressed particularly by how Misty Copeland looked so idiomatic in the all of the poses on the floor. Ambonnay -- welcome to Ballet Talk, and thank you for posting your impressions!

I agree, bart. In the interests of disclosure, it should have been mentioned that Wilson promised NYCO $50 million dollars towards moving to another location. The gift was if and only if they moved. When this didn't pan out, he took his toys and departed for the Met. I'm getting a feeling of "I told you so" from Mr. Wilson, however unseemly the action of commenting is. Chnage of venue, especially to a smaller one, would have changed the focus of the company fundamentally, and Mr. Wilson isn't the only one who felt that such a change ws fundamental to the company's survival. Many business people apply business principles when promising major gifts, and if he felt that donating under conditions he felt were unviable, it would have been like throwing good money after bad. Ironically, a smaller, more flexible, more experimental NYCO would have been closer to Mr. Steel's experience. I'm sure onlookers in Dallas are not crying over Mr. Steel's woes.

Links are definitely allowed, as long as the title isn't "Pirated version of XYZ"

I saw last night's performance, and I was sadly disappointed with the production, especially having seen the invigorated performances of the Hubbe stagings at Royal Danish Ballet and Ballet Arizona. It looked to me like the company, with the exception of the leads, was switching from its stock "Giselle" costumes to its stock "La Sylphide" costumes, without much of a sense of what makes the ballets different. And as pretty as the girls' dresses were, Effie looked like she should be playing Amy in "Little Women", not a sensible farm girl in Scotland. In Bournonville, I want to see the legs from the knees down in the reel, one of my favorite scenes in all of ballet. I don't think I've ever seen Gurn played as a slapstick doofus before, however endearing or appropriate for a different ballet. Like many others have noted here, Nancy Raffa was fierce as Madge, in a bloodcurdling portrayal. Ananiashvili danced an individual performance, more acting than mime-based, and her elevation isn't there, but I thought it was a deeply felt, fully realized characterization of a female creature who continuously invents ways to ensnare her male target. For the first time I saw that without the scarf, the physical gestures of submission would have been the Sylph's doom, if not immediately, since attaining the object long-term isn't the real point. Hallberg, whom my friend aptly described as "a giant among Lilliputians", was the dancer from Bournonville's world, the world of ballon, clarity, and especially reversability. To watch him leap with those long limbs and continue in the opposite direction imperceptibly after he landed was a wonder. His feet are particularly beautiful, but beyond that, the strong way he placed them, but then shifted his weight as if he had never planted was magical.

When I saw "La Sylphide" in Denmark a few years ago, it was before "Etudes".

It might have been originally, but bart was writing about the NYCB production choreographed by Balanchine, one of several versions he made, that was the first hit for the company. There have been many choreographers that have been inspired by the score.