nysusan

It's clear Walker is inconsistent in classical roles but to me, it's more than that. I think his lanky physique is part of the problem - even when he executes the steps properly he just doesn't look right in some of these roles. He doesn't have the line, the plastique or the plush plie that makes these roles look "classical". Woetzel had a similar body type issue but he had monster technique and was able to make his quirks work for him. I don't see that in Walker. I was very, very tired yesterday but I came out anyway to see Nadon's Mozartiana. Maybe it was me, but I did not completely love her in this. It was a great debut - her technique was crystal clear, her dancing light and sparkling but I missed the mystery and spirituality that I feel are such important aspects of the role. I guess it's too much to expect a fully formed interpretation the first time out - even from Mira Nadon - so hopefully she will find these dimensions in the future.

Bell and Camargo are the two I try to see while avoiding all other male principals (except Cornejo, I still like to see him maybe once a season). No complaints about casting Curley but I do not understand why they aren't cast as well in Shades, Etudes or Ballet Imperial.

I love Duo, and my thinking is very much like BalanchineFan's. I've always thought that it exists on many levels. To me, it explores the relationships between the 2 musicians, between the musicians and the dancers, the connection between music and dance and, of course, the relationship between the dancers themselves. I see that relationship simultaneously representing a couple - two lovers - as well as an artist and his muse (could be Balanchine and any one of his muses or any other artist & their muse). I first saw this as a young teenager at the 1972 Stravinsky festival and I feel that this also resonates as Balanchine's tribute to Stravinsky, perhaps his personal epitaph with the disappearance of the muse representing Balanchine's and the world's loss of Stravinsky, both the man and his genius. In my recollection, in the early days and up until a few years ago that spotlight ending was different. When the man went back to look for the lover/muse the last time the spotlight was empty. Now you don't see her face but you still see her hand. I may be misremembering but that's what I recall and I thought the old ending was more poignant and certainly more fatalistic. While I agree that Fairchild and especially Huxley were beautiful in their execution of the piece they left me cold all 3 times I saw them in Duo this year. I thought Woodward & Stanley were much more evocative. Mazzo & Martins are still the gold standard and there is video of them in this on Youtube. There have been other great performances over the years, the last really great performance I remember was the one by Hyltin & R Fairchild that so touched Mary Mellowdew. Even though I wasn't a fan of Yvonne Borree I thought she and Peter Boal were very moving in it.

And Robbins! I mostly agree with deanofdance about TPC2 last night - it was thrilling! Tiler was amazing and Chan was a great partner for her. All of the dancers brought great energy to the piece, they were so on top of the music. I actually liked O MacKinnon - sure she could have danced with stronger attack, but I guess that's not her take on the role. I thought she was more than fine technically and brought great charm to it. The corps looked super in TCP2 and also in Glass Pieces. Again, they just blasted in, especially in the last movement. I enjoyed all of the 1st movement soloists, esp Afanasenkov who has become one of my new favorites. I continue to be underwhelmed by Phelan. She was fine but didn't really convey anything below the surface. Unfortunately, for me the music was the only outstanding part of Duo Concertant. How lucky we've been to hear Delmoni and Nikkanen on violin all of these years at NYCB. And I agree that Chelton was wonderful on piano. However lately I've been finding Fairchild and Huxley very meek and wan in their roles. I also saw them do this at the BAAND festival and they left me cold there, too. I remember so many riveting past performances of this ballet (like Hyltin & R Fairchild) and just find them boring. I much prefer Woodward & Stanley these days.

I love Laracey and would love to have seen her cast in Mozartiana however she has never been a management favorite (both old & current management) and they have cast her very sparingly, especially in principal roles. So I don't think we could have expected to see a debut here for her I am super excited for Nadon in Mozartiana, I think she'll be wonderful in it. I am also very glad to see that Phelan is no longer cast in everything. Though I haven't loved many of her performances I think she is a talented dancer and I hope that without the pressure of constantly learning new roles she starts to settles into her current roles.

I also went last night and pretty much agree with matilda and abatt. The Manon pdd was definitely the highlight for me, what incredible dancers! I enjoyed the Duncan Lyle piece Night Pieces. It didn't blow me away but I enjoyed it and it was nice seeing the ABT corps dancers in featured roles. I have always had issues with Royal as a dancer. To my eye his arms & legs were floppy, he didn't always stretch his extensions or point his feet - and when he did point them they were often sickled. I still see some of that in his dancing but not nearly as much so at this point, for me, his lyricism & expressiveness outweigh his weaknesses. His Apollo pdd was lovely. He wasn't a technical marvel in Tschai Pas but he was solid and I really loved Misseldine in this. She was lyrical but also very fast and actually jumped into the fish dives. I also really liked the ballerina from LINES ballet - Adii Cissoko. She was tall with gorgeous lines & extensions. The rest of the program was ok with the lowlights for me being Cornejo's solo and Whiteside's piece

I just received an email from ABT saying Frenette, Fleytoux and Fanqi Lee are promoted to soloist effective 9/1 lol. I guess we all posted at the same time!

I just got an email from ABT with some casting changes for LWFC. Murphy debuts as Mama Elena on today's matinee (7/17) and repeats the role on Sat eve. Most interesting for me is that Roxander debuts the role of Lead Revolutionary on Thurs 7/18. I recall this role having the most ballet dancing of any of the male roles & being pretty explosive. I would definitely go to this but I don't have more than 1 LWFC in me and I want to go to Cornejo's 25th anniversary performance. Grandlund debuts as Gertrudis on 7/20 Sat Mat Fanqi Li debuts as Rosaura tonight, 7/17

I agree with all the accolades for Missildine - she was wonderful. With strong technique, exquisite lines and that indescribable "something extra" hers was the first ABT O/O I've loved since Part. I thought she was very dramatic and impactful in all the right places. I loved the Makarova tempo white swan pdd and I thought her 1st lakeside solos were great, both beautifully danced and expressive. I can't remember the last time that passe/ releve solo was so arresting - you could feel that she had made her decision and was tying her fate to Siegfried's. She and Bell were wonderful together and I hope ABT keeps them together, at least in Swan Lake. He is the complete package and so graciously took a back seat in the bows, it was Chloe's night. Jaffe's onstage announcement of her promotion was thrilling but I agree with the posters here who thought it was premature. She does have a few things to work on like her flow and phrasing but I wouldn't expect a flawless performance from any O/O the first few times out. It's such a complicated role it really requires time and experience to grow into. I think Chloe would have benefited from another season or 2 as a soloist to grow her repertoire without the undue pressure that will come from her meteoric rise to principal. And ABT already has too many female principals. They don't have enough performances for the principals they already have, and now they have another. I hope Jaffe knows something we don't about upcoming principal departures. Markey took me by surprise, he was the best Purple VR I've seen in a long time. Very clean impressive dancing with those long legs and what charisma, He really commanded the stage and I'd love to see him again. I've seen Sebastian twice this season and he was unbelievably underwhelming. I was also at the evening performance and agree 100% with ABT fan With the exception of the Roxander pdt and the Miyake/Magbitang Neopolitan this was the most boring Swan Lake I've ever see, and I've seen a lot of them!

I was just taking a look at ticket availability for tonight. There are 14 seats available in the orchestra, 4 in the Parterre boxes and thats it. The rest of the house is completely sold out. Availability looks pretty similar for tomorrow night. I now Swan Lake sells but that is crazy! Good for ABT!

I rarely change my mind completely about a ballet but I started out hating Becomings and after seeing WW three times now, I really love it. I think where I was sitting that first time had a big impact on my perspective. I was on the side (house left I think - the odd numbered side) and the action looked very scrambled and disjointed. The next 2 times I saw it from the opposite side and it looked much more cohesive. The slicked back hair and makeup still made it hard for me to identify individual dancers (especially the men) but it didn't matter. I loved the dance and the synthesis of dance, lighting and music. And ALL of the dancers were fantastic in this. I am a big Missildine fan and she did great - so long & lean and doing justice both to the crazy acrobatic stuff and to the more adagio portions. But Hurlin was on another planet - it was like she was shot out of a canon - her energy was so high and she danced with such complete abandon. In the first act I was sorry to have only seen the Camargo/Roxander duo once. I like Frenette a lot but thought C/R were so much better as Septimus and Evans - their dancing was much more expressive. I also felt that in the Hee Seo cast there was not enough differentiation between Young Clarissa and Older Clarissa. When Ferri danced the role it was very clear that sometimes she was almost out of body watching her younger self and her dancing - her way of moving, was very different from Young Clarissa. Ferri's use of her pliancy and control of her movement created an inwardness, a calm and grave, almost ghostly effect that seemed to echo through time. Her dancing was more contained and contemplative. While Seo's movement quality was beautiful to me her dancing was too vigorous, too corporeal for the role. When not looking thru binoculars the only way I could tell the difference between Seo and Li was because I knew what their costumes looked like, there was nothing in their dancing that made it clear while with Ferri and Fleytoux it was crystal clear. So I go from my first impression being mixed to negative to my final impression being mixed to positive. I still do not love the piece as a whole, but I loved parts of it.

The ballet started with a recording of Woolf and the 3rd act began (if I recall correctly) with a recording of Gillian Anderson reading Woolf's suicide note. The Anderson voice over is noted in the program, Woolf's recorded essay "On Craftmanship" is mentioned in the act 1 synopsis.

Times review is in and it's negative https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/26/arts/dance/review-woolf-works-mcgregor-american-ballet-theater.html

I didn't love it and I didn't hate it. Parts of it were beautiful - Ferri, of course and throughout the piece, the Camargo/Roxander 1st acct pdd and the 1st act dances for the 3 women, young and old Clarissa and Sally. Sounds like I liked a lot in the first act but I liked most of it, didn't love much of it. I agree that the 3rd act was very moving and that the second act was inscrutable. I don't typically dislike the kind of dancing McGregor gave us in the 2nd act but it was very hard to make anything out (except the fabulous Hurlin) and I got bored quickly. I am going to see it again so my opinion may change. Roxander was wonderful. So far this season he is showing himself to be quite an artist.

I mostly agree with abatt & California. Roxander & Coker were definitely the stars of the evening. I had only seen him in showy virtuoso roles before so I was happy to see that he is able to tone down the fireworks and dance a serious role without having to pull out every trick in his book. His form, jumps & elevation were still great but not the focus of his performance. Coker's dancing was lovely and she was very bright and engaging. And I agree that they had great chemistry. Not so much Shevchenko and Stearns. Agree that Shevy & Stearns were strong technically but the way they related to each other seemed nothing more than dutiful until the 3rd act. The drama definitely picked up there but they had lost me by then, the first 2 acts were so dull. I remember enjoying Onegin back in the days of Vishneva/Gomes and Ferri/Bolle. I am going to see Misseldine/Forster/Bell/Hurlin but in future seasons I think I will skip it unless ABT ups its principal dancer quality in a very big way. Shevy & Stearns were technically strong but no more than competent in any other aspect and that is nowhere near enough.