nysusan

Andre, Art - glad to hear that both of you thought so highly of Vishneva's White Swan. I did find her very dramatic and while I prefer Pavlenko in this I've had a nagging feeling that I caught Vishneva on a bad night this last time (in her most recent appearance with ABT), and that ABT's staging puts her at a big disadvantage to begin with. I find their production totally without heart or soul and that's a huge obstacle for any ballerina. I was hoping to see her in the Sergeyev staging but I couldn't get enough time off to catch her performance while I'm in Chicago. I bought a ticket for her Sunday matinee in Boston but it turns out she's dancing on Friday night instead. Barring any last minute cast changes it looks like I won't get to see her in her home company's Swan Lake at all. I guess I'll just hope that Lopatkina & Pavlenko don't cancel and I get to see both of them in Chicago as planned...

Having seen both the Wiles/Part/Gomes cast and the Herrera/Kent/Saveliev cast let me expand on Faux Pas's clarification to say that neither cast made any obvious mistakes or looked uncomfortable or tentative in this during the regular rep (I didn't go to the gala). I thought the ballet looked beautiful and am looking forward to seeing it with Murphy & Dvorovenko later in the season. Of course I'm disappointed that Veronika won't be dancing tonight (or for the rest of the engagement) but I'm still looking forward to seeing the ballet again tonight even without her. I agree that she is not a dazzling technician but I fall into the camp that is so enchanted by her musicality, line and fluidity that I don't need to see technical fireworks from her. I do, however, understand Vipa 's point about not being able to relax when watching her. After reading that post I realized that I sometimes feel that way too, especially when overhead lifts are involved. I guess I can see both sides of the argument here.

I would like to bring up a couple more points about Veronika's supposed technical deficiency and then I'll move on to happier topics. I don't recall anyone posting about the fact that Kent didn't even ATTEMPT the pirouette-developee-pirouette combination or question her status as a principal due to her technical deficiencies. And looking at this from another point of view - despite their technical prowess can you even imagine Wiles, Murphy or Herrera dancing the Viola role? I can't. IMO ABT's biggest deficiency, their Achilles heel is their lack of ballerinas who combine the highest level of technique with musicality/fluidity/imagination (not counting absent guest artists!). If they perform it at the Met this spring we can keep our fingers crossed for a Vishneva/Annanishvilli cast but otherwise there is no hope these days of anything approaching the level of Gregory /van Hamel.

Ok, enough about ABT's flaws & on to their strengths. I was very unenthusiastic about their first program on 10/19. I've been to several since and enjoyed all of them immensely. Loved Lane & Cornejo in Sinatra Suite. It still wasn't perfect but I thought it was much more passionate & alive this time. Also loved both casts I saw in Drink To Me...I have not been a fan of Mark Morris in the past but I really like this piece. It's quirky & off center but charming and balletic, very enjoyable.

I always groan when I see Rodeo and Fancy Free on the schedule and wonder how I'm going to make it through 2-3 viewings so I can get my fill of everything else. Yet the minute the music started playing & Reyes hitched up her pants I was charmed once again. I seem to recall a similar phenomenon with Fancy Free...

On second viewing I still don't like Glow-Stop, but this time I just focused on the dancers which made it tolerable for me. I thought last night was the best program yet. Drink was great & really benefited from Corella's first performance of the season. It was my first time seeing Meadow and I loved it. Julie Kent was so perfect in the lead female role that I can't envision anyone else in it. Her beauty was indescribable - celestial, otherworldly, androgenous yet also very feminine. Gomes, of course partnered her perfectly. The program ended with In the Upper Room, which never loses it's magic effect for me. The minute it ends I want to see it again, and I will soon!

I had heard that the Ottawa performances were completely sold out very early on and I'm thrilled to hear that they've added an evening performance on Sunday so that more people can go. I love this production of Swan Lake - although it's not without its flaws it's a wonderful staging and IMO the Kirov -Mariinsky performs it like no other - it really is their birthright.

I was in Ottawa a couple of years ago for Winterfest - it's a lovely city. I hope you all have a great time and report back about all the different casts.

Cygnet, thank you for that wonderful description of Lopatkina's O/O - I could almost see it! I just can't wait to see her in Chicago. I fell in love with Pavlenko's O/O last time and I'm so excited at the thought of seeing both of them in a couple of weeks.

I just took a quick look at the casting on ABT's calendar and it looks like Carreno has replaced Stiefel in Faun.

This is such sad news. Romeo & Juliet is not one of my favorite ballets but each year I go to see Ferri in it at least once, each time thinking that it could be my last chance to see her in the role. It's very sad to think that this year really will be the last time.

I don't blame her too much for bringing her own partner for her farewell. I saw her with Corella a couple of years ago and really liked them together. Last year I saw her with Carreno and didn't think she had a great rapport with him. I bet she'd be great with Stiefel or Gomes but who knows what it would take for her to work on this with a new partner, or even whether either of them would be available. I have no knowledge of the inner workings of a ballet company but I imagine that coordinating schedules & rehersal time can be a monumental undertaking. All things considered I think it makes sense for her to dance this last performance with a partner she knows well rather than trying to work with someone less familiar.

Klavier, NYSusan,

Thanks for posting. I'll be seeing Elo's on Saturday night, so I was curious to hear how the premiere went. Sounds interesting.... I just can't imagine ABT dancing anything like Slice to Sharp... but we'll see how they manage.... The girls wore pointe shoes, right??!!

Yes, they were in pointe shoes. To me it seemed a lot slower than Slice to Sharp. I'll also be there Saturday night so maybe I'll like it better the 2nd time around :

Klavier - you did a wonderful job of describing last night's program. I'm so glad to hear that you're going to see Erica in Don Q. I wish I could but I'm already very overextended these days. Can't wait to hear what you think of it. I've been busy lately, and haven't had time to post much about what I've been seeing but I'll post a few words since I had a very different take on most of it. I'm a big ABT fan who's been counting the days till their season - I skipped the Gala so last night was opening night for me and I was very disappointed in the program.

I didn't like the Elo at all. I was glad to see some of my favorite corps members in featured roles, but I found it boring and undistinguished - a real waste of some very talented dancers. I thought Sinatra Suite was flat - unbelievably flat. Carreno was elegant, but nothing more. Luciana Paris seemed kind of stiff and from where I was sitting it looked like she had a rapturous smile pasted on her face throughout. There was no character development , no change in the relationship, no change from the first song to the last - nothing like what I remember.

I'm not always Dvorovenko's biggest fan - but I was so glad to see her & Max last night. It was an enormous relief when they took the stage in Known by Heart - finally 2 dancers with some energy and interesting material to use it on!

The Green Table was well done & as powerful as ever. Hallberg continues to grow in the role - he really is an overwhelming force in this, eerie & inescapable.

This evening's program also includes tomorrow evening's (Thursday) cast. Jose Manuel Carreno's partner in Sinatra Suite will be Luciana Paris. The new Elo piece, GLOW - STOP, consists of (top line) Kent, Murphy, Copeland; (2nd line) Pavam, Boone, Tanatanit; (3rd line) Radetsky, Gomes, Cornejo; (4th line) Matthews, Hoven, Salstein.

Thank you Haglund's - can't wait!

I have seen Pavlenko’s Swan Lake & it is the most moving I’ve seen since Makarova’s. Her interpretation is very traditional. She is small, with classical proportions and a very fluid quality of movement. If you like the sad, hopeless variety of Odette you will love her. I’m a little nervous about seeing her partnered by Sarafanov, but her performance with Zelensky is not open to the public. If for some reason you are able to get tickets to that one - GO.

Interesting observations, but is 1,70 m small?

It's a bit less than 5 and a half feet. Relatively speaking, how "small" is that?

Funny, she's always looked small to me. Perhaps it's more a mater of perception, body type and size relative to others. Vishneva may not be much taller than Pavlenko but to me Vishneva reads tall onstage, and Pavlenko reads small. Also, I find Pavlenko's proportions more symmetrical than many of the Mariinsky's current ballerinas - Lopatkina, Vishneva and Somova all have long legs relative to their torsos which I think makes them look taller. I guess you also have to think about who they are onstage with - the first time I saw Pavlenko was in Swan Lake with Zelensky, then in "In the Middle" with Kondurova where she looked really tiny, and then with Kolb in Giselle. I'm sure she'll look big next to Sarafanov :-)

What sad news, it's upsetting to hear that the situation in Russia has become so ugly. I hope it doesn't deteriorate further

I share everyone's frustration at the lack of casting information. Not only for Sinatra Suite but also for ballets that are listed as "company" - there certainly are featured roles in works like In The Upper Room and there's no excuse for omitting the casting.

Yet, although we are a dedicated few it seems that the masses have spoken. I went to buy a ticket for the 10/29 matinee this past weekend and there was nothing left except a few partial view seats and gallery seating. The woman at the box office said ABT tickets are selling exceptionally well this season

Susan

I agree that Part and Hallberg looked beautiful together, and also that he seemed to be working very hard to partner her. I was absolutely stunned when he took her up in the overhead lifts - even Gomes didn’t try those with her and, well, he has a few pounds on Hallberg!

I loved them together in Apollo last season, and I think that what we saw in the SL pas de deux is the beginning of a partnership that has great potential - but isn't quite there yet. Hallberg is incredibly talented and it's easy to forget how young and inexperienced he is. Although he is tall he's lithe rather than “big” and needs to develop his partnering skills. Under those circumstances I don’t blame him for being careful...this looked to me like a good first try and hopefully it’s a harbinger of great things to come for them.

I thought that performing the 2 pas de deux from SL at this festival was a poor choice. The white swan pas especially is difficult out of context and it made ABT look kind of old fashioned - with their vast repertoire I think they could have chosen something that would have been more interesting to this young crowd.

Wouldn’t it have been funny if they chose to do something by Balanchine, since NYCB chose to perform Robbins?

Unfortunately I was out of town last weekend and missed the program with the PA and Dutch National Ballets, which I really wanted to see.

I agree 100% - Lopatkina & Pavlenko. If you could go to 3 I would add Vishneva, but in this company she would not be in my top 2. I haven’t seen Lopatkina in Swan Lake but I’ve seen her in other things and she is a wonderful and unique ballerina. With her steely technique, long lines, exotic face and classical purity I can understand why people speak of her as the Odette of her generation.

I have seen Pavlenko’s Swan Lake & it is the most moving I’ve seen since Makarova’s. Her interpretation is very traditional. She is small, with classical proportions and a very fluid quality of movement. If you like the sad, hopeless variety of Odette you will love her. I’m a little nervous about seeing her partnered by Sarafanov, but her performance with Zelensky is not open to the public. If for some reason you are able to get tickets to that one - GO. Sarafanov is a great soloist, but not the world’s best partner. Zelensky is not that young anymore, but he is still wonderful.

Vishneva is an extraordinary dancer, I would go see her in anything. She is always fascinating but Swan Lake is not her best role so if you have to choose 2 I’d go with Lopatkina & Pavlenko. Since I am only going to Chicago for the weekend I didn't have the option of seeing Vishneva on opening night. I got tickets for Fri night , Sat night & Sunday mat before the casting was announced. If it holds I’m going catch Somova’s performance in addition to Lopatkina & Pavlenko. I’ve only seen Somova once, and tend to agree with the consensus that she’s too green and too obsessed with hyperextentions. Still, I’m kind of curious to see if she tames it down for Swan Lake or spends the whole night scratching her ear with her foot

Ardani Artists has updated the casting here:

http://www.ardani.com/mariinskybtouring.htm

Vishneva's website had listed her for the 11/12 matinee in Boston but it has been changed and now agrees with the Ardani site which lists Pavlenko for that performance and Vishneva for the 11/10 Friday night performance.

According to the Mariinsky website Tereshkina & Fadeyev just opened the season in St. Petersburg last night in Swan Lake. She is also scheduled to dance on their North American Tour next month so, thankfully, it appears that she has not left the Kirov.

Any reports of last night's performance?

In the 1965 Soviet movie with Alla Sizova as Aurora, the fiftyish but still agile Natalia Dudinskaya dances on pointe new choreography by her husband Sergeyev with leaping rats. She still has razor sharp pique turns.

...

I have always had a yen to see Carabosse done as a kind of Odile, a ballerina fairy in a black and silver tutu like the Lilac Fairy et al. but evil. Kind of linking her to the others in type and not so different as to be a totally different type of dancer or not a dancer or not a woman.

I love that tape, Sizova is so delicate and Dudinskaya is devilishly evil! And what a great idea Faux Pas brings up to have Carabosse on point in a tutu. After all, there is a power struggle going on between her and Lilac so the parallel costuming would make sense. Also I don't think she should be so different from the other faries - she should be just like Lilac, only evil.

I really dislike it when men are cast as Carabosse, it's too campy. I agree with Richard regarding the Royal's production, loved their glam approach & also loved Merrill Ashley's Carabosse with NYCB. Looks like it will be a Sleeping Beauty fest in NY this year and I am certainly looking forward to it but isn’t it strange how sometimes you don’t see a work for a long time & then it seems everyone’s doing it?

I’m with Zerbinetta on this. To me, the strong suits of MacMillan’s ballets are that they give the dancers some meaty emotional roles and some stunning pas de deux. Unfortunately one has to sit through interminable evenings waiting for the highlights. I’ve often wished ABT would reduce his R&J to a Romeo & Juliet suite. Those harlots do get awfully tiresome....

And when it comes to Manon the bedroom pas de deux and the final pas de deux are quite enough for me. If ABT didn’t have 2 wonderful MacMillan ballerinas in Ferri & Vishneva I would have skipped them all and saved a lot of money last season.

Bouder was wonderful - her dancing was so fast and authoritative yet flavored with exoticism and sensuality. But for me the star of the show was Tom Gold - was this really his first try at choreography? He hit one out of the park. To me, Masada was what Friandises wanted to be. Thrillingly fast & challenging but with it’s own quirky flavor. The orientalism in the piece took me by surprise, and may have gone a little too far but it seemed like such a perfect expression of the music. His use of the soloists to frame the principals was seamless, he certainly knows how to move dancers and create patterns. Not perfect, perhaps -but a great hit!

I also loved both of Liang’s pas de deux, but I would call them more Wheeldon-like than Forsythe-like, especialy the one for Whelan & Hall. I agree with Carbro that the music was weak and Whelan’s costume wasn’t optimal but can anyone be more pliant and evocative than Wendy Whelan? And it was great to see Craig Hall, one of my favorites (in fact most of my NYCB favorites were on stage tonight & they all looked great). After Masada, Liang’s piece for Kowroski and Evans was my favorite. He made stunning use of Kowroski ‘s long legs and huge extensions, and Evans partnering skills. Obviously he’s mastered the art of the pas de deux and now I’d love to see him create something on a larger scale.

The Reeder piece gave us a look at some of ABT studio company’s new members including the talented Joseph Gorak, but choreographically I thought it was the weakest piece in the program.

I think drb has covered the NY ballet highlights very well, I am looking forward to everything he's mentioned! That Miller Theatre performance is only 2 days away and I'm so excited I can hardly wait. I'll add that I'm also really looking forward to ABT's City Center season, especially the chance to see In The Upper Room again after last season and Symphony Concertante after many years. Hoping to see Ethan Stiefel healthy & dancing again and hoping to see V. Part in more than just the 2 performances she's cast for.

At NYCB there are many things I'm looking forward to from veterans and up and comers(see drb's post) but I'm particularly hoping to see Craig Hall, Rebecca Krohn & Ana Sophia Scheller cast in some new roles this season.

Over the past 3 years the Fall for Dance Festival has introduced me to some companies that I've really enjoyed (as well as a few I could live without!), but for $10 who cares about the snoozers? I'm dissapointed that I'll be out of town for the Pennsylvania Ballet, but looking forward to seeing PNB as well as the local companies and hoping to "discover" some new favorites.

I already have my tickets to see the Ailey company in The Golden Section as well as Pas de Duke, The River (one of my guilty pleasures) and my annual dose of Revelations. Also my annual Esplanade and Promethian Fire from the Paul Taylor Company. I have mixed feelings about the Guillem/ Push show but I decided to go to 1 performance. Also not always crazy about Eifman but Red Giselle sounds intruiging so that will wrap my City Center season.

I can't be in Moscow to see Osipova/Vasiliev or Vishneva's fabulous Giselle but I am going to Chicago to see the Mariinsky and if the casting holds I will finally get to see Lopatkina's Swan Lake.

This is the year I decided to give Opera another try (after 30 years or so) so I'll be up in the cheap seats at the Met for Butterfly & a few others, and down in the cheap seats at NYCO for a couple of productions.

The season is almost here but it just can't get here quick enough for me!

Kirkland's return to the NY ballet scene is welcome news, I'm sure ABT's ballerinas will blossom under her tutelage. However I HOPE she also has substantial input into the staging, I shudder in anticipation of McKenzie's dumbing down of yet another classical ballet. Perhaps he deserves the benefit of the doubt but after Swan Lake & Raymonda it seems that he's developed a formula designed to make it pretty, soulless and get the audience out by 10:30. The NY ballet audience deserves better and besides - we already have a modern, streamlined Beauty across the plaza. We don't need another "new and improved" version.

Ardani Artists has listed provisional casting for the entire North American tour on their website. There is a discrepancy between one of the dates Vishneva has listed on her website (her website says she's dancing in Boston on 11/12, Ardani & Pavlenko's website both give that performance to Pavlenko and list Vishneva for 11/10). Here's the link:

http://www.ardani.com/mariinskybtouring.htm

I loved Emeralds – for pretty much the same reasons as everyone else who loved Emeralds. I loved the costumes and despite the open mouth smiles and overly effusive moments I loved the port de bras and thought the dancers added a charming French “perfume”and warmth very appropriate to this homage to French romanticism.

I really, really disliked Rubies. I thought the level of technique was high in this (and throughout the entire production, really) but IMO the interpretation was completely misguided in terms of phrasing, syncopation, attack and style. Having seen many casts at NYCB from McBride/Villella/von Aroldingen through Weese/Woetzel/Reichlin as well as Vishneva/Sarafanov I really think the POB dancers just ignored Balanchine’s intent here, which is a far cry from just a difference in interpretation. I completely agree with Carbro’s reference to their legs looking “soft”. It has less to do with their musculature than with the way that they used their legs. Rubies is supposed to reflect the American attitude – more specifically it was designed to evoke the jazzy, manic energy of NYC. There was none of that feeling in this version. The aggressive, sassy, circusy NY competitiveness was replaced with a very smooth, sophisticated Parisian hauteur. Dupont & Gillot danced this like a seduction, which completely misses the point.

I have mixed feelings about Diamonds. I really love it and am so gratefull to have a recording of the whole thing but the principals here are simply not in the same league as Farrell/ Martins. In fact, in terms of their interpretation I don’t even think they’re even in the same league as Kowroski/Neal. I didn’t like the costumes and thought Lestau was too deliberate, too square and too romantic but, still, the performance was enjoyable and while not perfect I thought it was close enough to the intended style and intent.

I am very glad to have a recording of Jewels and as I said, I think the level of the dancing is very high throughout however I definitely consider this to be an alternate version. I agree with the posters who hope that other versions are released because this really shouldn’t be viewed as the “standard”, it is very far from the Jewels I know. I wish the NYCB would produce their own version, they have some great dancers right now. I’m also eagerly anticipating a Kirov DVD. Ayupova in Emeralds, Vishneva/Sarafanov Rubies and Lopatkina in Diamonds, that should provide an interesting contrast to the POB version!

A Bolshoi Jewels, what an intriguing idea. I would love to see Gracheva in Diamonds, in fact I would love to see

Emeralds -Lunkina/ Filin, Antonicheva/ Klevtsov

Rubies - Osipova, Arifulin, Shipulina

Diamonds -Gracheva, Tsiskaridze

I voted (awhile ago!) for Emeralds – for pretty much the same reasons as everyone else. I loved the costumes and despite the open mouth smiles and overly effusive moments I loved the port de bras and thought the dancers added a charming French “perfume”and warmth very appropriate to this homage to French romanticism.

I really, really disliked Rubies, and had mixed feelings about Diamonds. I’ll post more on the original POB Jewels thread.