Helene

I wasn't sure that all of the timing was going to work out for me to see last night's performance, but it did, albeit in a seat that was as much of a tease as the abbreviated Act III, which was like going to dinner and being sent home after the soup course. I've learned my Kennedy Center lesson, which is to call if they don't allow individual seat selection on the website, and now I know what to avoid. The head of the man in front of me took out about one-third of the stage, and I gave up on seeing anything close to the full stage picture or the Odalisques. (I noticed that the extras who played slave women who sat on the floor next to Pasha, had the same issues ) Nonetheless, it was well worth the stop on my way to see the ABT "Sylphide"s. I thought Maria Alexandrova was spectacular, so majestic and strong, like the steel cables in suspension bridges: flexible but with a core of strength. I love, love, love her energy and presence, which was front and center in the scene en travestie and the Act III solo with the pistol and dagger, but was behind her character from her first entrance in a short, tightly curled red wig. It was almost a surprise when she dropped the pistol and didn't shoot the Pasha. Her solos were strong and vibrantly danced. Although some of the Jardin Anime scene was obscured from my seat, in the context of the geometry of the work, the flip side of her squarish upper body, her extraordinary upright posture, was as effective as a more perfumed approach. Nina Kaptsova's smaller, more delicate Gulnare, worked for me as a contrast of type with Alexandrova, and her dancing was the distillation of her character, too. Alexandrova was no wimpy girl: if there was ever a female version of Spartacus, she is it. Not because there is anything masculine about her, but there is something fearless and heroic. She could lead the pirates, and I suspect that without the shipwreck, she would have had to, because Conrad is not the brightest bulb in the chandelier: a band of horny pirates in their cave is going to be just thrilled with their leader when he sends all of the girls away, but keeps one for himself. (Right.) Nikolay Tsiskaridze acted Conrad with an endearing, goofball quality, and scruffy, dark good looks. His dancing was smooth as silk, and I could not believe the ease with which he lifted Alexandrova and walked across the stage: from the fourth row, there wasn't the slightest evidence of strain. I recognized Denis Medvedev from the Pas d'esclaves from the drum dance in Berkeley, and he was terrific here as well, partnering the lovely Anastasia Staskevitch (an announced change); Staskevitch and Chinara Alizade were superb as a feature duo in Jardin Anime. Unfortunately, I could see little of the Odalisques, which was very disappointing, since Krysanova is scheduled for Gulnare on Sunday, and I won't get a second chance to see her Odalisque from a seat with good sightlines. Was it Anna Antropova who danced with Birbanto in the blue and white vertical striped costume? (I don't remember her being blond.) After Alexandrova's, hers was my favorite performance, full of brio and character, with her upper body and arms proud and still during those tricky small steps on the diagonal. Andrey Merkuriev's dancing was smooth yet crystal clear as Birbanto, a fair foil for Tsikaridze's Conrad, and he danced with great spirit. In a profession of beautiful people, Merkuriev stands out for being one of the most drop-dead gorgeous men on stage or screen, a bit like Liepa's Crassus to Vasiliev's Spartacus. (If I were decades younger, I'd be besotted.) Merkuriev stalked and plotted and sulked, but the "How many ways can I pout and wheedle" award goes to Irina Zibrova, the Zulmea. She did not stop working it for a second. Alexey Loparevich, such an excellent rajah in "La Bayadere", showed his range as a character actor as the butt of the joke as Pasha, and Gennady Yanin was note perfect as Lanquedem. The corps was splendid, even in the cramped confines of the Kennedy Center stage. The women had an underlying energy that linked the beautiful patterns they were making on stage, and the men were a convincing set of pirates. How can the Bolshoi identify that a boy of 8 or 10 is going to grow so tall? The Bolshoi has a seemingly limitless supply of tall men. In a recent Q&A, Peter Boal said that the average height for a woman in the PNB corps is 5'8", and that the average height for a man in the PNB corps is 5'8". We need a little bit of whatever is in the water in Moscow in the Pacific Northwest. The costumes and sets were fantastic. I'd never seen the full-length before, and didn't know where any of the set pieces fit into the story, and I was shocked when the famous music came on for the Medora/Conrad Pas de Deux, because Conrad was fully clothed. I loved these costumes, designed by Yelena Zaitseva after the 1899 Ponomarev sketches, and I much prefer them to the half naked versions. The designs were catnip for the eye. I can't wait to see this a second time.

Zakharova and Gracheva danced Nikiya in Berkeley two weeks ago, before Chapel Hill.

He's not resting on his laurels, either -- he and Cardea are on exchange with Royal Danish Ballet all summer. I thought he was terrific as a Jet in "Cool" at Louise Nadeau's retirement performance, too. He can more than hold his own at PNB, and we are lucky to have him.

It's funny -- when I went to NYCB all the time in the years there were Saturday and Sunday matinees, at the end of the season, there would be weekends when a dancer would do two roles in each of four programs, after dancing two on Friday night. Didn't Megan Fairchild dance four "Coppelia"'s in a row in Saratoga Springs?

Many thanks, zerbinetta! This gives me a much better sense of when I should tell my friends to expect me back on the couch.

Many thanks for your detailed and descriptive review JMcN. My fortune cookie said that I will travel on business soon, and hopefully, that will bring me to England when the Company is performing. They are on my "To See" list.

Angel Corella was born in 1975, according to his company's website. He's had his hands full trying to create his own company; it wouldn't surprise me to see that his focus is a bit spread, since he's at an age where he should be around his peak.

Admin note: For a discussion of Macaulay and his criticism, please see this thread.

Here are links to interviews with three PNB choreographers from the "Seattle Dances" site: Stanko Milov Kiyon Gaines Olivier Wevers

Tonight was the annual Choreographers' Workshop, danced by the Professional Division and graduating non-PD students. There were seven works: "Dimensions", choreography: Stanko Milov, music: Peter Gabriel and Stanko Milov "where ART thou?, choreography: Sonia Dawkins, music: Shostakovich and JS Bach "Pariah", choreography: Barry Kerollis, music: Thomas Newman ("American Beauty" soundtrack selections) "Loving You", choreography: Stacy Lowenberg, music: performed by Vitamin String Quartet --intermission-- "That one dance about that one thing #2, choreography: Olivier Wevers, music: Philip Glass "Courte et Deuce"*, choregraphy: Jonathan Porretta, music: Gunnar Madsen "[NO HOLDS] barre'd, choreography: Kiyon Gaines, music: Nico Muhly, Michael Gordon, Joan Janrenaud, Gabriel Prokofiev *In the Q&A, Porretta said that this was a typo and not the intended title The Choreographers' Workshop is at once one of the most thrilling nights of the year, where (mostly) Company dancers do their best to make the students look stupendous, and at the same time the most frustrating, because PNB can't absorb so much talent into the Company. The roster was full of names that danced beautifully in "Symphony in C" in the last rep. The pieces by Wevers, Lowenberg, and Gaines were high octane, and I thought the shorter dancers looked best in the non-stop choreography: the first woman's solo and the pas de trois for new PNB apprentice Ezra Thomson, Alice Cao, and Lola Cooper in the Wevers, the third soloist in the Lowenberg, and Nicole Ciapponi, also with Thomson, in Gaines' work. Dawkins' was in that vein but had quieter stretches; I was crushed to read in the graduation program that standout Rie Ueda is a Level VIII student heading to a local community college, she reminded me so much of the great Paul Taylor dancer, Mary Cochran. (I wanted her to break out into "Esplanade".) Milov's work required a lot of dramatic energy, and I know it had six dancers, but I couldn't keep my eye off of Ezra Thomson: he looked like a star in "Dimensions". He didn't have partnering in this piece, but I'm not sure how he managed all three, with a ton of dancing and partnering in the Wevers and Gaines. Barry Kerollis, who in the Q&A recounted how he knew who he wanted to be his lead from the beginning, Erin Crall, did the most sensitive choreography for taller dancers. Partnering Crall, Ryan Cardea caught my eye, but it was in Jonathan Porretta's classical ballet, "Courte et Deuce" [sic] that he really shone. PNB doesn't do very much lyrical Balanchine, apart from "A Midsummer Night's Dream", and the gentle cavalier roles are sparse. Cardea got the style and tone perfectly as Lola Cooper's partner. In the Q&A afterwards, Peter Boal thanked Workshop sponsor Glenn Kawasaki, and announced that Ezra Thomson would join PNB next season as an apprentice. All seven choreographer's spoke, and the PNB dancers emphasized how much their peers, as well as choreographers whose works they danced influenced them.

Peter Boal announced in this evening post-Choreographer's Workshop Q&A that Ezra Thomson will join the Company as an apprentice, which got a great response from the crowd. Thomson was featured in three works, by Stanko Milov, Olivier Wevers, and Kiyon Gaines. He first caught my eye as a Jet in "Cool" at Louise Nadeau's retirement performance last weekend. Congratulations to him

Thank you for the code! I just ordered a ticket, but through CenterCharge instead of the website, because the website doesn't have an option to pick up the ticket at the Box Office for US addresses, and I'm going to be leaving for the East Coast before it would get here by mail. Not to mention that the seat I got through CenterCharge is a lot better than what the website offered as its best...

In the recent Saturday matinee of "La Bayadere" at Berkeley, Bolshoi Ballet's Ekaterina Shipulina's Act II Gamzatti tutu started out in what looked like fine condition, but somewhere in the middle of the supported partnering, something happened to give it an odd, asymmetrical shape that was definitely NOT aerodynamic. When she did a series of very fast chaines, it flattened itself out a bit, luckily in time for the fouettes.

Maybe they read the lamentations here when Osipova was pulled from the performance on the 19th

Is Avetik Karapetyan (tied with Brooklyn Mack for second in Senior Men) related to Davit Karapetyan from San Francisco Ballet?

Watch the Joffrey version, which is in several parts on YouTube. It is one of the best performances of anything I've ever seen. The version that the Mariinsky did recently -- a live video version was screened a month or two ago, and there should be a DVD -- was tepid.

Many thanks for the link, robinmc!

[ADMIN BEANIE ON] Please remember that we need an official source for stating the reason for casting changes. [ADMIN BEANIE OFF]

According to the ABT website, Reyes' only performance of "La Sylphide" is the Saturday matinee.

American Ballet Theatre can. It's listed on their website: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/sea...n.aspx?id=10247 Monday, June 15, 2009, 7:30 pm Company, Osipova, Cornejo

There was a beautiful streamed Bolshoi "Raymonda" from Russia a few years ago, and Maria Allash was gorgeous in it. I wouldn't care if the video quality was the visual equivalent of cylinder recordings if it were released as a DVD.

Thank you for the report, aurora, and I hope you do write later to add more details. I love to hear about the soloists and corps, especially when they shine in the rare opportunities they get.

It's been a while since there's been a war involving Americans where soldiers returning to their home towns have a broader and more complicated view of the world and sense of political purpose missing from those who had once been their peers.

I LOVED this line from Mary Cargill's review in danceviewtimes. That comparison is so dead on!

According to the website, ballet highlights are In "New Voices", Tuesday, 18 August, Joffrey Ballet will perform Edwaard Liang's "Age of Innocence" (a short clip can be found here), Richmond Ballet performs "To Familiar Spaces in Dream" (Jessica Lang), and Oregon Ballet Theatre (fingers crossed) will perform Trey McIntyre's "Just". In "Modern Masters", Thursday, 20 August, NYCB guests will perform Wheeldon's "After the Rain Pas de Deux", Joffrey Ballet "In the Night", and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet in William Forsythe's "Slingerland". In "A Celebration of American Dance", Saturday, 22 August, Houston Ballet presents Forsythe's "The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude", ABT guest artists will perform "Le Corsaire Pas de Deux", and Les Ballets Grandiva will dance " Star Spangled Ballerina".