nysusan

I went in expecting to hate it, but I actually liked it a lot. Anyone who goes expecting classical ballet will be disapointed, but then anyone who goes to see anything by Lubovitch expecting classical ballet really needs to re-adjust their expectations. This was a mixture of different dance styles used to tell a story - a tragedy - and I thought it was effective and compelling. Although not on the same level as Graham's Cave of the Heart or Taylor's Last Look, I found myself experiencing it in the same way, horrified by the ugly side of human nature but unable to look away. I had mixed feelings about the music - at times it seemed very bombastic and overbearing but parts of it were beautiful. The only character who really got much classical dancing was Cassius, and last night Jared Mathhews both danced & acted the role beautifully. He is certainly a young dancer to keep your eye on. Iago had the least classical dancing - his role was made up almost entirely of mime and very brusk, contorted "modern dance" steps resulting in a rather one dimensional and very unsympathetic character. Emelia also was a cipher, guilt ridden but completely under Iago's thumb. Carlos Lopez and Maria Ricetto did what they could with the roles - Ricetto danced wonderfully but they were pretty one dimensional roles. Sarawanee Tanatanit was a real standout in the small role of Bianca, dancing with deep passion and abandon. I decided to go to this performance because I wanted to see Rasta Thomas, and I'm glad I went. He's not a big man, and his Othello wasn't a brute - he was a very complex character who was anguished and really somewhat sympathetic. The title role employed a mixture of ballet, modern and everything in between, and I though Thomas integrated it all seamlessly. He and Reyes were very good together - she was a very innocent Desdemonda, naive and totally unsuspecting. I know ABT already has more great male dancers than any one company deserves - but I hope they bring Thomas in more often. He's a great dancer in his own right, and he and Reyes really compliment each other.

Well, I don't think I can pass up the chance to see anything resembling an actual traditional Swan Lake - so I'm going on Friday. I will plan to take the SEPTA shuttle but if anyone else is making the trip and wants to pool resources or even just meet at the shuttle - let me know! Susan

From everything I've read about Rojo I would also choose to see her Swan Lake if I could, unfortunately this is a Tuesday - Friday engagement which really discourages anyone thinking about traveling in from out of town... I'm thinking about trying to catch the Friday night performance with Nunez and Soares but I'm not sure. From what I hear the Mann is in a bad neighborhood and not easily accessible by public transportation. That makes things a little dicey since I don't drive. They supposedly have a shuttle bus that runs from downtown Philly to the Mann and then back after the performance but I don't know how reliable that is and I'm not sure I'm ready to count on it as my only option to get back to my hotel after the show...

I have no idea what he is referring to as "her grand mannerisms", but then I have no idea what he's talking about for most of the review. I was at the same perfomance and came away with the opposite impression. I thought Vishneva was the most passionate, most emotionaly involved Nikiya I've ever seen, I thought Stiefel danced (and acted) beautifully, and that they had great chemistry together. Go figure.

I didn’t see that in the finale, but I could swear I saw Sylve catch Pauline’s shoulder with her leg when Ask brought her over for the first touch down between the demi couple in the second movement. The second one was fine. It also looked to me like he was having some trouble partnering her at one point - not sure if it was in the second movement or in the finale but it was noticeable and I assumed that’s why they both looked so out of sorts in the finale. Come to think of it, I guess it was in the finale because I remember thinking at that point that she looked like she was thinking - Damn, it’s a good thing I can do all this without a partner and he’s not really NECESSARY... (Not saying any of it was Ask’s fault - just that she looked annoyed). I thought Peck & Woetzel were wonderful in Carousel. I’d seen it once before with the other cast and even though I’ve really enjoyed reading Alistair McCauley’s reviews, I thought he was a little daft when he said the pas de deux brought tears to his eyes. Now seeing it with Woetzel & Peck I had the same reaction. What a difference a little chemistry (and artistry) can make. And yes, I will remember this Square Dance not only for Megan Fairchild’s wonderfull peformance but also as the first time I was really wowed by Andrew Veyette. I agree that Agon was given a great performance this afternoon, but so was Apollo - Hubbe has such mastery of the role at this point, and this is one of the best performances I’ve seen from Borree. I thought she'd be totally overshadowed by Fairchild and Bouder - and they were great - but she held her own. She had a couple brief moments of shakiness in the pdd, but mostly she danced with great ease & joy.

I agree with everyone else that last night's performance was outstanding in every way - from corps to soloists to principals. Ethan's dancing was beautiful, his acting has come a long way, and he was a perfect partner for Vishneva. She always astounds me with her dramatic focus and ability to switch effortlessly between expressiveness and classicism. It's very rare to find a ballerina with such a facility for allegro dancing who also possesses expressive plastique, lyricism and cool classicism in equal measure. As Faux Pas pointed out, this served her very well in portraying a complex, multi dimensional Nikiya.

Agreed, Swan Lake is not about 32 fouettes and SB is not all Rose Adagio, but each of these variations is critical to the respective ballet and I would argue that the Rose Agagio is more critical to SB than the Black Swan is to SL. In Swan Lake, at least Odette's character is established and while I think it's important for Odile to do her 32 fouettes I don't think it ruins the ballet if she doesn't do them perfectly - as long as she is able to do them decently and do everything else necessary in the 3rd act the ballet works. In Sleeping Beauty, the Rose Adagio is our introduction to Aurora and everything about that variation is meant to reflect the perfection, symmetry and harmony of this young princess whose personality and character are the culmination of the gifts all the fairies bestowed on her. Blow that and as far as I'm concerned you've compromised the underlying basis of the story. Everyone knows how much I love Veronika Part but her Rose Adagio last night was a complete disaster, and it was inexcusable. This was nothing like a simple fall off pointe. When Bouder fell off pointe early in her Rose Adagio she smiled and then proceeded to nail all the rest of her balances, completely in character and bursting with joy. When Ms.Part fell out of her second balance it was only the beginning of the problem. After that every time she had to balance she gripped each prince's hand as if her life depended on it. In her second series of balances I swear she didn't hold a single one unsupported, it felt as if she let go of one hand and grabbed the next with no balance in between. Of course, everything else about her performance was gorgeous - her line, epaulment, extension and musicality but this is not an Olympic sport where you take a tenth of a point off for missing the balances and still wind up with a 9.9 - this is art and her inability to balance ruined the effect of the Rose Adagio. If you can't balance you can't dance Aurora, period. If there was some reason for this sub par performance then fine, but unless she is positive that she can nail this next time she should withdraw from the role and bless us with her Lilac Fairy. I also found the wobbles by the corps in the shades scene of Bayadere disconcerting - uniformity is critical to the effect. Why can't America's national company find 24 corps girls who can hold an arabesque? Or at least put the ones who can't in the back. I love this company but right about now it looks to me like they need some tough love! The highlights for me all came in the second act - Gomes and Ferri were fantastic in Othello, they made me very glad I decided to get tickets to see them. Nina came back and claimed this stage as her own, it's so good to have her back. Cornejo was stunningly beautiful in his solo dancing in the R&J pdd but for me there wasn't enough abandon in the partnering sequences. I guess this is unavoidable with him and didn't ruin it for me - Reyes was lovely and they were very good together it just wasn't as good as the best I've seen. I also really enjoyed Kent & Carreno in Manon and my only quibble with the Bayadere excepts that closed the show was that Hallberg didn't get to do much except partner a very lovely Paloma.

Wow, I wish this discussion had been held a month ago! I just got back from a trip to France and my husband and I spent a morning at Pere Lachaise. I had no idea that Marie Taglioni was buried there, if I had I certainly would have sought out her grave and paid my respects. Pere Lachaise is a very beautiful cemetery, but it can be difficult to locate specific graves, even with a map. It's well worth a visit but I recommend that you go early in the morning to avoid the midday sun. It also gets more and more crowded as it gets later in the day. And wear comfortable shoes - that's really important!!

Regarding the slap – I saw it twice from the right side of the house and it really did look like Soto struck the ballerina, but I also saw it once from the extreme left side arm and from that vantage point it was clear that what he actually did was hold his other hand in front of her face and slap his own hand. In any case it was a very effective gesture! I was on vacation when NYCB opened their season so I missed the early performances of R+J but now that I’ve seen it a few times I have to say that I like the production WAY more than I thought I would. I see and agree with most of the complaints voiced here and in the papers – Martins sure lets some dramatic possibilities pass and this production doesn’t always flow logically. It doesn’t have the dramatic impact that MacMillan’s version has, either – but I think it succeeds in what Martins was trying to accomplish. It certainly succeeded in filling the house and bringing in a new audience – and that’s quite an accomplishment. The house was 90-95% full for all of the performances I went to, and there were lots and lots of teenagers and people in their 20's and 30's. Not your typical grey haired ballet audience. I didn’t like the costumes but I only hated a few of them, and I actually liked the scenery and sets. In fact I thought that modular set piece worked wonderfully. Maybe it helps that I’m less invested in Romeo & Juliet as a ballet than I am in Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty, but I was able to accept the modern adaptation that Martins put forth without any problem. Even his choice to use very young dancers made more sense in light of the production – his conception of Juliet seemed very childish to me and his staging really doesn’t demand that the main characters grow up and take control of their destiny the way other productions do, here it seems more a case of circumstances spinning way out of control. Of course that made it less of a tragedy than it should be, but I still found it very entertaining and an interesting, modern adaptation. I saw 3 casts – Hyltin/Fairchild, Morgan/Orza and Periera/Peiffer. I loved Hyltin and Fairchild, in many ways I think theirs was the most complete performance. Fairchild was a romantic dreamer, and Sterling was just brimming with life and spontaneity. Her technique seems so secure and yet her dancing has a very off balance unstudied quality that worked well in this. I liked Orza ’s Romeo but I didn’t like Morgan and I didn’t think they worked well together at all. She is a beautiful dancer and I look forward to watching her work her way through the Balanchine rep but as far as I’m concerned she’s the poster child for why you don’t cast inexperienced kids in major roles in story ballets. I didn’t think she was able to integrate acting into her performance, and while that’s not a problem with plotless ballets it is a major problem in story ballets. Her acting seemed very melodramatic and very blocked, it felt to me like she did things because she was coached to do them a certain way and not due to any dramatic impetus. I also thought she and Orza had zero chemistry. I didn’t like her approach to Juliet either. A recent review in the paper referred to her Juliet as self absorbed, and that’s exactly what I saw – a pretty girl who was totally self absorbed and barely aware of anything except as it related to her. At times, during some of the scenes with her girlfriends she almost seemed like a valley girl at the mall and at the end her desperation seemed way out of proportion to what we had seen develop and was totally unbelievable. The flip side was the Pereira/Peiffer cast – WOW. I have to second everything drb, sz and BW said about them – and thank you for your posts – they’re what made me decide that I had to get a ticket to today’s performance. I don’t know Ms. Pereira, in fact if I’d ever seen her or Peiffer before I took no notice of them. That will never be possible again. They gave an incredibly moving, riveting performance. Pereira’s dancing especially was so smooth and lyrical that it made Martins choreographic choices look inevitable, and her acting was every bit as good as her dancing. Peiffer was also a revelation – where did he come from? As wonderful as they each were, the amazing thing was what an incredible, natural partnership they have. That has become so rare these days; I hope Martins nurtures it, because they are very, very special together. I’m one of the people who think Martins promotes young dancers too soon, but in this case I think I might have to petition him to promote Pereira straight from apprentice to soloist. Now!

I'm sure all the Auroras will be wonderful but Cojocaru is sublime. Definitely try to see her in this if you can.

Like drb, I l saw Graf often with Ailey last season and loved her. I hadn't seen her at all before this, so I can't really tell how her technique or style would hold up to the rigor of a full length classical ballet but considering her height she'd have to be the second coming of Ulanova to get a spot with ABT right now. They are struggling to find partners for the 2 tall ballerinas they already have (my observation, no inside info). If Gomes & Hallberg go down they really don't have anyone else big enough to partner them on a regular basis so adding another tall ballerina at this point wouldn't make any sense. I have to say that while I found the Times story interesting I found the Virginia Johnson comment that Old Fashioned quoted perplexing: I have no doubt - none whatsoever - that racism exists in ballet as it does everywhere else but I think she is just plain wrong here. First of all, I don't think ABT's subscriber base would freak out at the sight of a black Giselle or Odette or whatever. As to "being a ballet company the way you thought ballet was" - I have no idea what she means. ABT does some modern work but they're primarily a classical company and if that's what she's questioning then she's right - I doubt that they or their subscribers want to see that change, but what does that have to do with whether or not they chose to hire Alicia Graf? Secondly, with the aging of the ballet audience I think ABT would LOVE to capitalize on the new audience a black ballerina would bring in. One only had to be at City Center a couple of seasons ago when Misty Copeland danced the lead in a Kirk Peterson piece. I guess it was a matinee cause there were lots of teenagers around me and they went wild for her (as did I). Barring injuries I think you'll be seeing her move up the ladder at ABT in the coming years. Whether she'll go all the way is another question, but I think management is pulling for her (again, just my opinion as an outside observer).

Ditto!!!

Tickets for Nina's New Haven Giselles went on sale this morning & they are a bargain - from a high of $45 to a low of $7 for the last 3 rows of the balcony. They add a convenience fee of $3.50 - $5.50 plus a small restoration fee but they're still a great deal. I'm going on Saturday.

Absent on a much needed but ill timed vacation - I'm missing the whole first week of Balanchine black & whites. Back for a first look at R&J on the 8th, though if I'm not exhausted and the reports here are great I might show up for the Pereira matinee on the 6th.

Chiapuris, thanks so much for the reports. Reading them has been wonderful, almost as good as being there! I saw Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev in DQ with the Bolshoi recently and they were both superb, glad to hear that she was just as good with Sarafanov.

Actually, I'm a registered user and I didn't receive one. Maybe it only went to registered users who are also subscribers? (I dropped my sub last year and only buy 4th ring society seats now)

I'm ecstatic!!!

What I remember most about Nagy's Siegfried is the elegance of his line and the uncontrived nature of his portrayal. I recall a simple, straightforward reading of the role on his part without one ounce of insincerity or condescension. You believed that he believed completely in what he was doing. Gomes has a unique combination of qualities that make him my favorite current Siegfreid. He isn't the quite the greatest jumper or turner around - not in the Acosta/Cornejo/Corella league - IMO he's just a notch below their level in terms of "WOW" factor, but still very impressive. He also has beautiful line and what I think would be referred to as ballon. I know that ballon usually refers to the way a dancer 'hangs' in the air at the top of a jump but the quality I see in Gomes is the way he lands from jumps - with a big, soft deep plie that kind of steals time at the end of a jump or phrase. That gives his dancing a very plush, romantic look. He also presents the ballerina like no dancer I've ever seen - I really think it is impossible for a ballerina to look bad when he's partnering her. Finally, his acting is very compelling, and he always interacts on a very deep level with his partner. I've seen him twice with Part and the passion they bring to SL is incredible. He's also scheduled to dance it with Vishneva at ABT this season, so I have my fingers crossed hoping that his knees hold out! I think it is very unusual for a dancer to be so acclaimed as both Siegfried and von Rothbart - but then I don't know of any other production that gives von Rothbart the opportunity to steal the show like McKenzie's does. I don't want to give the impression that I didn't like Nureyev's Siegfried - I just don't really remember him live and I don't like him in the taped version I've seen - the Berlin Staatsopera tape circa 1968. I saw him twice with Fonteyn in the RB production in the late sixties or early seventies and I remember liking him very much but I don't remember any details or what it was that I liked about him. All I remember from those performances is Fonteyn, and the huge impact the two of them made together. I still remember small details of Fonteyn's Odette, but I remember nothing of Nureyev's Siegfried from those live performances.

I don't know what I was thinking when I wrote that! Of course, aside from the dancer I was initially thinking of, Jennifer Ringer would make a wonderful Juliet, Rachel Rutherford and Sterling Hyltin would interesting and I'd stand in line to see Janie Taylor's take on Juliet. Unless Peter Martins really has a radical reconception up his sleeve I think he's missed the boat here. And I don't think his little casting trick is driving ticket sales - we may be all abuzz about it but I don't think it plays big with the general public. I think they're more influenced by all the posters around town and Sloan's video diary - now that was a great idea, as is the free dress rehearsal.

This is a fascinating thread – I think that the role of Siegfried is often performed with little thought except to get through the steps and the partnering, but it can also be a really meaty role. As with so much else about Swan Lake it is just layered with metaphor & symbolism and thereby presents endless interpretive possibilities. There have been some great points made in this thread, I would just like to add a couple of my own thoughts as they relate to some of Helene’s points. Let’s not forget that from the minute Siegfried falls for Odette he is betraying his duty to his kingdom – he’s not just risking his own life he’s also risking the future of his people. After all, a feudal kingdom without a king is ripe for invasion and as the only heir his people have been waiting for him to grow up and take the throne Also – no matter how blatant his Odile it’s hard to blame Siegfried completely for mistaking her for Odette. In addition to the confusion and pressure that Helene describes even the most evil Odile LOOKS EXACTLY LIKE ODETTE. I mean, come on – it’s the same dancer. She may behave differently, but she's literally exactly the same person. They’re identical – who wouldn’t be confused. I loved the young Nureyev but he’s never been my favorite Siegfried, for me that was Ivan Nagy and more recently the magnificent Marcello Gomes.

Martins says that he will use students and I believe him. He has a track record for using really young dancers as did Balanchine, but lets not forget that Le Clerq, Farrell, Kirkland and other very young dancers that Balanchine thrust into the spotlight in their teens were chosen for their roles because they were identified early on as extraordinary artists. Meaning no disrespect to the SAB students I don’t believe for a nanosecond that Martins decided to cast students as Juliet because he felt that he had dancers of that caliber just waiting to burst out of the classroom and onto the stage. He’s doing it as a publicity stunt pure and simple. Although it has also occurred to me that while he has some great female principals only 1 of them really seems like a born Juliet to me, and she’s my least favorite NYCB dancer, so perhaps there is also an element of pragmatism at work here. But he’s doing 2 weeks of R&J and frankly I’d have no argument with him if he planned to use student Juliets in 2 or 3 casts and actual professionals in the rest, but that doesn’t sound like what he has in mind. Natalia Makarova discussed her views on the role of Juliet in an interview that was played during an intermission on the infamous Makarova/McKenzie “sweat pants” telecast of MacMillan’s R&J. This thread has prompted me to pull out the tape and listen to the interview again. Paraphrasing here – she said that the first time she danced the role of Juliet she had just graduated into the Kirov and was young and silly and full of emotion as a Juliet should be, but that it wasn’t organized emotion. She said that she didn’t feel that being young and emotional was enough to portray youth. She said that she knew how youth behaves and that as she matured she was able to put that into art and transform and project it more convincingly than when she was actually young and daring as a Juliet should be. She went on to say that at that point she felt freer and more simple – that you remove the rubbish and what isn’t important and that your portrayal goes directly to the audience without any “nonsense” – which she said was a most very difficult thing to achieve. We’ll all have to wait and see what Martins really does but for my money I’ll take Ferri or Vishneva as Juliet over any student, any day. Of course I'll also pay my $10 to see how Martin's R&J turns out - perhaps he really does have some brillliant conception here. We'll all see soon enough!

I went to see Red Giselle last night and I really loved it. That was a pleasant surprise after Who’s Who (eh?) and Musegate (ugh!). As I expected it was completely angst ridden and over the top but it was also very well done on every level (concept, plot development, staging, scenery, costumes & of course the dancing) and I found it to be very entertaining. I went with a friend who is a fairly regular ballet goer and an avid skating fan and we both agreed that it came about as close to ice dancing as actual dancing can get, but that’s part of Eifman’s theatricality and in this case it worked for me. I thought all of the dancers were incredible but especially the lead ballerina in the Spessivtseva role – Nina Zmievets. Looks like she is cast as the prima ballerina Arkadina for all of Abashova’s performances as the young ballerina in the Seagull, so those should be something!

On an old thread, one of our very brilliant posters said something like: A ballerina must have the ability to create a universe of her own design, of which she is the center and must have the ability to bring the audience into it with her I think the poster was referring to Suzanne Farrell (Farrell fan, was it you? or was it Carbro?) Anyway, I think it’s a perfect description of the quality that distinguishes a great dancer from a very good one. For me the ability to make one suspend disbelief and the ability to communicate directly to the audience are both key requirements. Canbelto’s description of a dancer whose star quality is immediately apparent to an entire audience is also very apt. But I think technique is also part of the equation. IMO even though you will rarely notice technique in a great performance it has to be there. It doesn’t necessarily have to be “the best”, but no matter how great an artist is they have to be able to do the steps otherwise they are just good actors. With regard to Andre’s philosophical question about whether a ballerina is great if she touches greatness once - I would say no, but usually if a ballerina is great in a particular role she will give many great performances of it. And I think there's a difference between a dancer who is great in a certain role and one who is a great dancer. I think to be great a dancer has to be great in many roles. Some dancers can make you believe in their Giselle but not their Aurora or their Odette. Or Odette but not Odile. The truly great dancers find the key to many, if not all the classic roles. For me, those ballerinas have been Fonteyn, Makarova, and Farrell (within her chosen repertory). Buddy, I agree with you that Pavlenko has a unique ability to touch an audience, but I don’t differentiate between her moments of greatness and her moments of simple humanity. I think her ability to communicate humanity, to touch the audience directly is a big part of her greatness. She is the only ballerina of the current generation that I would consider putting in the same category with the greats of the past. My hesitation with Pavlenko is only because I haven’t been able to see much of her. I’ve only seen her perform a handfull of times in a limited rep, but what I’ve seen of her has been amazing. Even though I’ve seen her stumble I don’t perceive that as a lack of technique. Anyone can stumble, or dance carefully at a given performance for any number of reasons - a slick floor, an illness or injury, a lack of confidence in her partner - and I’ve seen everyone mess up at one point or another - even great technicians like Lopatkina, Vishneva, Murphy, Bouder etc.

I'm surprised that nobody here thinks of Ashton as a master choreographer. I do. I haven't seen the bulk of his work but I consider a lot of what I have seen to be on a par with the great masters of our time. His choreography speaks with it's own voice and distictive style, a blend of lyrisicm, humanism and gentle humor. Of what I've seen I think that works like his Fille, Monotones and Symphonic Variations will live on, and I would hope that his Sylvia will, too. I'm not a fan of Enigma Variations but I know some people would add that to the list. As to current choreographers - I think Wheeldon is on his way, but not quite there yet. In the world of modern dance Paul Taylor is at that level but in ballet no one else comes to mind.

Yes, thanks drb - the photos are great! I called the New Haven Festival to get some info on the 2 performances of Giselle that are scheduled for 6/15 & 16 and was told that they will be at the Shubert Theater and tickets will go on sale on May 7th. I can't wait, that's such a short trip from NY that I can't resist it!