nysusan

Lets not forget that we're talking about the Martins Swan Lake here. There's no way I'd go to see it for the production itself - the production is horrid. Yet I'm going to see it 5 times. Why? For the ballerinas! Also - for the person who was debating switching Bouder for Reichlin - Reichlin is a great dancer but I don't love her O/O. She has the perfect body for it but my recollection of her last time around was that she was rather cold and although the instrument is amazing she didn't really stretch and hold those positions and I don't recall very deep or pliable backbends. If you haven't seen it yet and you're only going to one I'd go for Mearns.

They actually sent an email with casting for the full Swan Lake run. This is the browser version - casting

The scenery is horribly garish. It always takes me the better part of the first act/scene to get over it, but it does get better from there. Two things in its favor - the music is played beautifully, with much more depth and urgency than at ABT. And the ending is devastating - truly tragic. I'd try to go see Mearns, she's magnificent. Not a standard O/O if she was dancing this with a traditional company, but the most traditional of the NYCB O/Os (so far), and yet with her own idiosyncratic take on the role, and thrilling dancing. I'm sure we'll see her on opening night. .

I'd love to see ABT do The River again. I see it every time Ailey programs it and while its enjoyable, its not the same without the point work. I am also going to WAY fewer performances than usual this season, partly because of casting but mostly because of the rep. Anyone else notice that ABT has a real aversion to BALANCE? Its either guest artists everywhere you look, or no guest artists at all. One soloist gets all the opportunities while the others stagnate - until this past spring season they have never spread it around. And now, all current contemporary work and nothing from their great historical repertoire. Would it have killed them to include 1 by Tudor, or Fokine or Massine or DeMille along with the Wheeldon, Scarlett, Millepied and Ratmansky? It doesn't have to be a choice between "nurturing working choreographers" or performing great works that were made on them in the past. As great as he is, we really don't need 3 by Ratmansky in a 13 performance season. Symphonic Variations is the only piece I really want to see, and I'm pretty conflicted about that. I fell in love with it the first time I saw ABT do it back in 2003 with Ashley Tuttle & Maxim Beloserkovsky, but when they did it last year, I thought it looked stiff and rather unmusical. I'm not sure if it was the casting or the fact that since we lost Georgina Parkinson ABT really hasn't had a coach familiar enough with the Ashton rep. I was also let down by their recent performances of Sylvia.

Lopatin/Marchenkova were WAY better than Ovcharenko/ Grebenshchinkova. It still looked like the Bolshoi was dancing in a foreign language, but Lopatin got the vernacular whereas Ovchareno just looked lost - like Siegfried wandered into the wrong ballet. Marchenkova's approach to the Tall Girl role was a little too sexy/sultry for me but she certainly had presence & was assertive. I'll try to write more tomorrow

Three quick things about the Friday night performance: 1 - I LOVED Dorothee Gilbert (and Baulac/Louvet did the staccato movement) 2- The Bolshoi doesn't have a clue about how to perform Rubies. As magnificent as their Diamonds was - that's how bad their Rubies was. Corps, tall girl, lead couple - none of them got it 3- Watching NYCB's Diamonds right after the Bolshoi's made me realize how far afield the Bolshoi has taken it. Yet the Bolshoi's is a magical alternate version. NYCB gave us the energy and attack that characterizes Mr B's choreography. PS - There was no announcement but I thought I saw Ashley Hod as one of the Diamond soloists - perhaps replacing Laine Habony? They did announce a change in one of the Bolshoi's "four men" but I didn't catch the names

My thoughts are pretty much in line with most other posters. NYCB did a great job with Rubies, but we expect that so it wasn't surprising. Reichlen proved once again that she is the best Rubies Tall Girl in the world (Big Red is a close second, but still second). Fairchild was fine and I kept wondering how DeLuz could be so fabulous in the famously aerobically challenging Villela role. Isn't he around 40? Amazing. I had the same problems with POB as everyone else. You don't come to the House of Balanchine and change the steps. Even though they performed the footwork, stripping it of its iconic (and original) staccato execution is unforgivable. And I agree that the costumes were lacking in contrast to the originals, which are so beautifully bejeweled. Still, I thought that their dancing was beautiful, though somewhat cold. Weird that their arms and epaulment were gorgeous but I still found them cold. The Bolshoi's Diamonds was the HUGE success of the evening and totally worth the extravagant price of admission. I'd seen Smirnova and Chudin perform the pas de deux at a gala, and I've seen the recordings but seeing the whole company in this was just mind blowing. The corps and soloists were just perfection. As much as I love NYCB, I don't ever think I was ever so enthralled from start to finish. The corps were so perfectly synchronized, yet not robotic at all. I could not take my eyes off of the 4 female soloists whenever they were onstage. Except when Smirnova & Chudin were on stage. She is simply magical. Her technique is so strong, her epaulment and presentation so beautiful. Chudin surprised me. I'd never really taken note of him except as a strong partner with beautiful line. But last night in his solos he completely won me over. Soft, plush plies, tours ending effortlessly in perfect, tight 5th positions, pirouettes that ended EXACTLY on the music with perfect control - he didn't fudge a thing. This is the kind of male dancing we used to see regularly at ABT 5-10 years ago. I didn't realize how much I've missed it.

WOW. Maybe I'll spend my ABT spring season money to travel to London in March!

Casting is up on the KC website:http://www.kennedy-center.org/calendar/event/BSBSG PRINCIPAL CASTING (subject to change)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tues., Oct. 17 at 7:30 p.m.Nikiya: Viktoria TereshkinaSolor: Kimin KimGamzatty: Anastasia MatvienkoWed., Oct. 18 at 7:30 p.m.Nikiya: Oxana SkorikSolor: Andrei YermakovGamzatty: Anastasia KolegovaThu., Oct. 19 at 7:30 p.m.Nikiya: Ekaterina KondaurovaSolor: Timur AskerovGamzatty: Nadezhda BatoevaFri., Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m.Nikiya: Viktoria TereshkinaSolor: Kimin KimGamzatty: Anastasia MatvienkoSat., Oct. 21 at 1:30 p.m.Nikiya: Oxana SkorikSolor: Andrei YermakovGamzatty: Anastasia KolegovaSat., Oct 21 at 7:30 p.m.Nikiya: Ekaterina KondaurovaSolor: Timur AskerovGamzatty: Nadezhda BatoevaSun., Oct 22 at 1:30 p.m.Nikiya: Viktoria TereshkinaSolor: Kimin KimGamzatty: Anastasia Matvienko

I get emails from ABT reminding me when I have tickets. My email for tonight's program says it runs from 7:30 PM to 9:40 PM. I'd expect it to run a little longer with bows, intermissions etc

I've never seen Beliakov but I LOVE Ermakov, didn't realize he was that tall. I think the real problem is that ABT no longer seems inclined to look for a suitable partner for Part. They seem to think that Stearns, Hoven, Whiteside et al will do fine. I'll reserve judgement on Hoven, but Stearns isn't a great partner for her and while she looked very comfortable with Whiteside in SL he certainly couldn't handle her in the Onegin & Manon type of lifts.

Nanushka, you beat me to it! I know I sound like a broken record, but they really ought to get Fabrice Calmels to partner Veronika. Not that I'd object to them bringing in one of the big Russian guys, but Calmels is perfect for her, they've danced together before and he'd make a great Onegin!

Wow, wish I had seen that! They really need to start giving him leading roles.

I had a different take on Veronika's Swan Lake. From her first appearance, I thought she looked tentative. One of the glories of her dancing is her arabesque, the way it grows. After the initial extension the leg continues to stretch outward to infinity, while her back engages and her arms and shoulders continue the line. That didn't happen yesterday, she hit her arabesques and only held them very briefly, which I attribute to her dancing through the ankle injury. I'm not saying that she wasn't beautiful - she was - and I certainly enjoyed the performance but it wasn't the plush, breathtaking Odette that I've come to expect from her. Other than that, I pretty much agree with what everybody else said. Whiteside's solos were fine- but the important part was that he partnered Veronika well and she seemed very secure and confident in his hands. Hammoudi was much better as Von R than as Siegfried, and at least he looked good in those boots! I was so proud of Veronika, completing those fouettés despite the lingering injury - she really showed them how it's done!

Fabrice Calmels!!!!! Not American, but a dancer with an American company. He and Part have guested together, I'd love to see them together at ABT

True, but 1 out of 4 principals would not be enough to get me there (except for Part!), especially when I actively dislike 2 of them. Medora has a couple of solos in the first act so I'll probably go to see Teuscher and then decide if I want to stay or just make it an early evening.

Darn, I wish I was seeing Shevchenko! I was going tonight just for Part, the rest of the cast is not exactly thrilling. Sub Seo for Part and I wish I could get my money back but I guess its too late for that. Fingers crossed that she's recovered for her SL.

Oh, how I wish I could be there for Lane's second Giselle but unfortunately I'm heading out on business tomorrow. Guess I'll just be happy that I saw the first one and keep my fingers crossed for a Swan Lake debut later in the season!

Interesting to hear about Boylston's injury. I enjoyed her very much in the first act. Found her light, airy, lovely style just right for Giselle and she managed to keep her arms & upper body pretty much in check.She did some blazingly fast chaine turns, her hops on pointe were well done (though she looked down, rather than at Albrecht most of the time) and as Nana said, her acting was very naturalistic. Paris was replaced by Brandt in the PPD, she and Gorak turned in a wonderful performance. The 2nd act started well with a monumental Myrtha from Veronika Part. She really owns this role at ABT. Wonderful as Abrera was the other night even she can't come close to Parts ccombination of commanding authority with just a twinge of regret in her opening variation. The way she uses her back and arms is phenomenal. Katherine Williams and Zhong-Jing Fang were her lieutenants and they were gorgeous - the best pair I've seen so far. Boylston came out well in her 2nd act entrance however, as the act went on I just wasn't engaged with her performance. I didn't notice any technical deficiencies, I just felt that she was not truly dancing in the romantic style most of the time (there were a few instances of those wild arms, jumps were too emphatic) and I wasn't pulled into the drama, which is really, really rare. Now that I know she was injured, that may provide an explanation. Perhaps she was more focused on getting through the performance than anything else. I hope she recovers quickly.

Please correct me if I'm wrong but I'm assuming that Alyona Kovalyova and Alena Kovaleva are the same dancer. Alena Kovaleva is dancing the Diamonds ballerina at the Saturday 7/22 matinee POB/NYCB/Bolshoi performance of Jewels (Smirnova dances the other 2 performances). They list her as Prima Ballerina though it sounds here like she is a corphee, or soloist at most. I hate matinees but I think I will have to go to this one! http://www.lincolncenter.org/lc-festival/show/jewels-2

I believe Dieck was injured on Friday night. He was scheduled for Sat evening & Sunday matinee but did not dance. I also went to all 4 performances of this program and found it wonderful and exhilarating all 4 times. There are no words to describe how wonderful Peck was in AB - so I have nothing to add to the comments that have already been posted. I basically agree with most of the comments - Finlay, and LeCrone were not great, but they were not awful either and didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of this program. I really loved Maria in the adagio movement of the Bizet. Her lines, balances and just the magic she injects into this pas make it totally mesmerizing. I agree that she was losing steam in the coda, but its not like she couldn't execute the steps, they just weren't as zippy as they should have been. I'll gladly put up with a slightly under-powered coda for her sublime adagio!

So psyched to see Maria in this again.

I think the Joffrey holds a special place in the hearts of most NY ballet fans who were around when they were a NY based company. Perhaps that why it took so long for anyone to post about this engagement - despite the fact that I saw several BT'ers at the opening night performance. For my part, I was reluctant to post because my affection for this company prompted thinking along the lines of "If you can't say anything nice..." I saw the first cast with Christine Rocas, and Rory Hoenstein ( as well as Yoshihisa Arai as Mercutio, Fabrice Calmels as Capulet, April Daly as Lady Capulet and Temur Suluashvili as Tybalt). In the performance I saw Juliet was definitely on pointe. I think many of the other female roles were also danced on point but I'm not sure because the choreography was so un-classical and banal that the pointwork was hardly noticeable, and certainly not memorable. All of the dancers were good but unfortunately none of them were able to overcome the material with the possible exceptions of Arai, Calmels and Daly. When the highlights are Mercutio and Lord & Lady Capulet you know your R&J is in trouble. Not only did I not like the choreography, this production left me completely unmoved, which is really hard to accomplish - while I don't like the Morris or Martins versions at least they were engaging and I certainly shed a tear or two. But not with this one.

Went to the box office this afternoon to exchange my subscription tickets and buy a few extras. Imagine my surprise when the guy told me that ABT is not allowing subscribers to buy tickets during exchange week. This is exactly what they did last year until they started getting angry emails from subscribers. Last year I believe we emailed jtimm@abt.org, I'm going to email him tomorrow

Josette & ksk, thank you both for posting your impressions. Sounds like its worth seeing at least once and since my subscription ticket is for the Simkin/Abrera/Gomes/Lane cast I guess I will keep it,