nysusan

I only saw Makarova's pre-maternity Giselle, but I did love her in both acts! The ABT video of her with Baryshnikov is my absolute favorite recording of Giselle. Makarova, Baryshnikov & van Hamel all take my breath away each time I watch it, even now. On the other hand, I think I know what Carbro means about her first act looking like "a ballerina trying to be a village maiden". I'd already seen Makarova's Giselle several times before the first time I saw Kirkland/Barysh. Kirkland's first act Giselle was so vulnerable & touching that Makarova's seemed contrived in comparison. Kirkland's Giselle was dewy eyed, and hopelessly in love with Baryshnikov's Albrecht. She may have been naive but she was also innocent & delicate and wore her heart completely on her sleeve. I remember during their 1st act pas de deux, when she did a penchee arabesque - it seemed like she actually stepped into it on point & went down into penchee (180 degrees!) while still on point & then held it there before coming down off point- all the while gazing adoringly over her shoulder at Albrecht! I know that it must have been an illusion but it was so amazing that the whole audience gasped, and yet the way she did it was completely in line with her characterization. AND she tossed it off as if it was nothing & had been totally spontaneous. Her 2nd act was very moving, very spiritual Later that same year (or soon after) I saw a very young Ludmilla Semenyaka with the Bolshoi in Giselle. I thought she was equally good in both acts & I remember thinking that her portrayal seemed like a combination of Makarova & Kirkland's best attributes. I also think Carla Fracci was very good in both acts.

Chauffeur, you are very lucky - ABT is bringing a wonderful program to Columbus. Despite La Sylve's conquest of New York (in the T&V segment of Tchai Suite #3 with NYCB), Murphy is still my favorite in the ballerina role. It suits her perfectly, and I think she is perfectly suited to Balanchine' s choreography. Corella's style may be a little too showy for Balanchine but his technique is fierce & I'm sure he will be great with Murphy. Sinfonetta is not deep but it's great fun. There are many wonderful moments in it & Kilian presses all the right buttons here. There is one segment where 2 male dancers circle the stage (in tours jetes?) and with the right dancers the imagery is amazing. The Forsythe piece is very dense & abstract, I really liked it but there was way too much going on for me to take it all in during one viewing. Fortunately I was able to go back & see it several times. If you are interested in reading about it there is thread that discusses it on page 4 of the ABT forum. It's titled "New Forsythe?" & dated 11/12/03. Sorry, but I don't know how to post links. Enjoy!

I was just checking ABT’s calendar and noticed some interesting casting.... In Cleveland Kent & Carreno have the opening night SL (Thurs night) but then Part & Gomes dance Friday night with Murphy/Stiefel doing the Sat matinee! In NY, in addition to the performances already mentioned Part is cast with Acosta in Polovtsian dances (6/17 & 6/20). I don’t care how silly this staging is, that will be something to see! Looks like they’re finally starting to give her some high profile scheduling this year. It’s about time!

Zerbinetta, couldn't agree more with your second & third comments , especially with regard to Alina - KEVIN MCKENZIE ARE YOU LURKING? Listen up !!! Maybe we could start a letter writing campaign to get her here more often but then, I'm sure her number was the first one McKenzie dialed when he got the news about Nina. Cojocaru is phenomenal, I cannot get enough of her About the Petit, I have to disagree & second Canbelto's opinion on this one. Maybe it's because I rarely see his works, but I really enjoyed the 2 that Lacarra & Pierre performed. And Lacarra, what a revelation! I, like most of the audience (apparently) had never heard of her before but I will surely look out for her now. She was a consummate artist. The disappointments for me were Lunkina & Ansanelli. When I decided to get tickets to this event they were 2 big selling points for me (besides Cojocaru & Vishneva who I knew I would love). I have to say that I was not impressed by Lunkina. There was nothing wrong with her performance, she was a lovely, flirtatious Sylphide but I found nothing really memorable or unique about her. Two weeks from now I probably won't remember a thing about her performance, whereas I still have vivid memories of the different interpretations I saw from Bojesen & Schandorff over a year ago. I love Ansanelli in her NYCB rep and I was really curious to see her with Corella in Corsaire. I actually thought it was a gutsy move for her to try something so different from what she usually performs. I think she has a long way to go if she wants to add the classics to her repetoire , although I wonder if injury or illness may have been a factor. She looked fine, but she had been scratched from almost the last 2 weeks at NYCB, so you never know. I found her circle of fouettes disorienting, I don't think they came off well & they certainly didn't end well. Her port de bras did not impress, but really, her whole demeanor didn't quite fit. I don't want to make this sound worse than it was - it was an interesting performance & she certainly didn't embarrass herself but she didn't quite cut it as a classical ballerina. Is Vishneva tall? I thought she was on the shorter side. I loved her & Fadeev. They were wonderful, so jazzy in Rubies and so touching in R&J. I liked how both Vishneva/Fadeev & Cojocaru/Kobborg each presented 2 pieces that revealed different sides of their temperaments & abilities. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing Vishneva with ABT this summer, now we have to work on getting Cojocaru back here. Soon & often!

Any idea where I could pick it up in Manhattan? I've never seen it at a newsstand in my neighborhood

You're not missing anything, there's nothing there. They keep sending me renewel notices & I keep sending them back marked CANCEL - call me when you start regular ballet coverage again. I doubt if it does any good but it makes me feel beter!

Dance 10 looks 3, is he nuts? The timing of his article is pretty funny for me. With my return to watching NYCB after a long absence (pretty much since the 70's) I was sitting in the State Theater just this past weekend watching the company and thinking about a) how much better I liked looking at the corps with the current variety of body types rather than a forest of Balanchine ballerinas and b) how absolutely beautiful just about all the women in the company look. In fact, there was one women in the corps who's face was not perfect and I thought she stuck out in contrast to the rest. And most of them project such a sophisticated "New York model" attitude. I have noticed a general decline in individuality and big "star"" personalities, perhaps a lack of imagination among today's crop of ballerinas. This has been discussed before and merits continued discussion, but it's been evident across most companies, not specifically at NYCB (and less so with NYCB than with other companies). But for Rockwell to pine about a lack of physical beauty & glamour among today's NYCB ballerinas - aside from being unbearably sexist & adding to the casual objectification of women in general (from the NY Times, no less) is baffling to me. Even if such unique and mesmarizing artists as Whelan or Sylve or Bouder don't qualify as great beauties in his eyes, has the man never seen Maria Kowroski? Janie Taylor? And his talk about NYCB discouraging individuality in it's young dancers doesn't track with the likes of Carla Korbes or Ellen Bar, just to name two. I guess there's no accounting for taste but as far as I'm concerned the current roster of NYCB is chock full of beautiful women with star quality, from principals to corps.

Ah, Michael - I've been debating about whether to go see Whelan or Nichols in Mozartiana for a week now, and finally just got tickets for Whelan tonight. I know she will be wonderful but your glowing description of Nichols is making me question my decision...I've only seen Nichols a couple of times, but really loved her so the decision was a tough one! Agree with your description of the audience response, it has been very subdued recently. Except at a Sylve T&V there was a whole gaggle of French teenagers in the back of the 3rd ring. They were cheering & squealing & generally voicing their approval in a very demonstrative way. I think you are correct in noting that Sylve has a more presentational attitude than most NYCB dancers. It may seem out of place at the State Theatre, but since I'm kind of visiting from the other side of the plaza I'll note that ABT isn't the only company where the dancers take curtain calls, I think it is pretty customary at most companies to take a bow when the audience response warrants it. Yes, Sylve definitely milks it but she is a ballerina who comes from a different tradition and I think it goes hand in hand with the aggressive attitude that she brings to her performances. Then again, perhaps it is a troubling indication of NYCB becoming less like the company of old & more like everyone else. At any rate, it's something to think about!

I just got back from buying tickets at the box office & noticed that Whelan is now scheduled to dance in place of Borree in the Sun mat Apollo

I have a feeling some parts of Giselle may be a bit of a stretch for Ferri at this point in her career, but I would still choose her and Corella - they are both such wonderfull artists and their Romeo & Juliet last summer was just unbelievable. Nina & Max would also be wonderful but I agree with the posters who said it might be risky since she’s been on medical leave. My plan is the same as Richard53dog - I’m buying in advance for Ferri & McKerrow and will get tickets for Nina when I’m sure that she’s back.... By the way, I saw McKerrow a couple of years ago and she was wonderfull, sweet in the 1st act and very ethereal in the 2nd

By Michael: As for the pace of the Adagio -- That adagio has always flowed fast at City Ballet, NYCB does it much faster than ABT, it's one of the big differences between the two versions as they've evolved (Hugo Fiorato usually saw to that pace when he conducted Theme). Particularly if you were used to the ABT version, this would appear much too fast. One more thought about Quinn -- She conducts Stravinsky very well and handles the mixed counts and interlaced tempi there better than anyone else at the moment. And that's quite important for the NYCB repertory. ----------------------------------------------- Michael -Good point about being used to the ABT version. I am used to the ABT version but I’ve also worn out my tape of Kistler & Zelensky in the excerpt from the Balanchine Celebration. Quinn was really off to the races on Wed night. Even though I thought she barreled through the adagio there was so much I liked about Sylve that I decided to go again when someone else was conducting. Kaplow was conducting tonight - I just got back and I have to say that it was like day & night. It was as if I was watching (and listening to) a completely different piece. All the headlong passion was there, but so was all the shading and nuance. Sylve was superb in the adagio as well as everywhere else. The corps and the soloists in T&V didn’t look like they were tripping over themselves to keep up with the music. What a difference a conductor can make. I agree that Quinn does a good job with Stravinsky, but I was very disappointed in her treatment of Tchaikovsky Susan

I know I'm forgetting a lot of things but here goes... For me the absolute highlight of the year came early, it was Pavlenko & Zelensky in the Kirov's Swan lake in DC Honorable mentions : Ananishvili & Gomes in Ballet imperial Murphy in Theme & Variations Ferri/Corella in Romeo & Juliet Cojocaru in Cinders, esp her entrance to the ballroom The Lincoln Center Ashton celebration in general, esp the Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Two Pigeons. What a wonderful company, I'd love to see more of them & the Joffrey here in NY Monotones The Fonteyn exhibit Rediscovering Apollo & Serenade Wendy Whelan in everything I saw her dance...also Kowroski, Boal, Hubbe & Woetzel

Alexandra, I'll add my voice to the chorus. As I first started to rediscover ballet this site was invaluable to me, and it still is. It is a unique community, and I am so grateful to you for creating and nurturing it. It's clear from all the comments here how much we all value this site, and your contribution to it. Thanks so much for your vision, and all your hard work. Susan

Quinn has conducted at such a fast pace sometimes that it has really ruined some performances for me. Most recent example - Sylve in T&V on Wed. Sylve was wonderful in so many ways but her agadio seemed so rushed that I felt it really lacked lyricism & a sense of mystery. It seemed overly athletic, glossing over the artistic elements. In the back of my mind I was wondering how much was due to her sensibilities & how much due to the conducting. That shouldn't be. When a dancer doesn't hold a pose or finish a phrase I want to know that it's due to their interpretation, not because they're being rushed by the conductor. Of course you want to respect the intent of the composer, but the orchestra also has to respect the choreography & the dancers. I'll be glad to see Quinn go!

I find it incomprehensible that they are not doing Concerto Barocco or Serenade this year. When neither was in the winter rep I figured, ok, they'll do them in the spring. As someone who has not followed the company for many years and just started watching them again recently, I have to ask - is this typical? Do they ration the Balanchine masterpieces, his signature ballets? Also of note in the brochure it was mentioned that this is the last chance to see certain ballets before they are put away for a "rest". Jewels & Double Feature were in this category, and I think Musegate was too

I decided to go last night and got a ticket at the last minute. 4T’s still looked like a masterpiece on my 2nd viewing, though a little less cohesive than the first cast I saw. I still loved Faye Arthur, but this time I thought all 3 couples in the theme were exceptional. Suozzi’s Melancholic didn’t have the same feeling of overwhelming sadness & weight that Boal’s did, I really liked the way Boal seemed unable to escape gravity,drawn irresistibly down to the earth. Suozzi wasn’t as earthbound, and he found some sharper edges in the choreography. He & la Cour provided interesting interpretations of Melancholic & Phlegmatic, but not yet at the level of Boal or Evans. I think these were debuts for them, and if so, comparing them to dancers who’ve had years to hone their interpretations is unrealistic & unfair. I just can’t help it because these are the only 2 performances I’ve seen of the 4Ts. Sylve was wonderful in the Sanguinic variation, her technique is so solid, so sure and her dancing here had a fearlessness and a fierceness to it - almost a feral quality. When she was onstage in front of the soloists she looked like a woman among little girls (no slight meant to the soloists in that remark, I thought they looked very good last night!). I thought she was miscast in Cortege the other night, but that was because of my expectations. I had been looking for the qualities I’ve always loved in the music and the personality of Petipa’s Raymonda. I’m sure these considerations had no relation whatsoever to Balanchine’s intentions with Cortege (by the way thanks to Hockeyfan228 for proving the background information). Todo Buenos Aires - in a word, boring. I love Bocca, but I’m used to seeing him in classical roles at ABT. I know that he is also well known for Boccatango, but he just didn’t look right to me in the tango “street clothes” costuming, with his hair hanging in his face. Even so, he is a great artist and it was interesting for me to see this side of him. His can still leap & turn with the best of them & Martins took full advantage of this. When he and and Whelan were on stage you couldn’t take your eyes of them. The other dancers were all fine, but they weren’t able to make much of the weak material. When your eyes weren’t riveted by Bocca & Whelan you realized that there really wasn’t much to the piece. By the time it was halfway over I was waiting for it to end. I saw Old Fashioned for the first time last year from the 4th ring. I worship Astaire, and also love ballroom dancing & Kern’s music. I thought it was lovely, I really enjoyed the way Robbins dissected and reassembled the original dance. Perhaps it’s not the one ballet I’d take with me to a desert island (ok,definitely not), but it was enjoyable. Though I think much of NYCB’s repertoire is seen to advantage from high up, I remember thinking on first viewing that this work would look better from up close. It did. I can see how it wouldn’t be on a Balanchine devotee’s list of favorites, but it’s brought a smile to my face both times I’ve seen it now. That’s enough for me. When the performance ended I cued up the Astaire playlist on my iPod and went home humming happy tunes.

Oberon: Was it Taylor who danced the 2nd variation in Divertimento #15 on Tuesday night?

Wonderful to see that Danny Tidwell is cast for a performance of Spectre, and that McKerrow is getting some roles, but I'm concerned that Nina is not cast in Giselle. The press release that announced her withdrawl from ABT's City Center season said she'd be back for the Kennedy Center engagement. Hope she's ok

Loved the 4Ts. This is the kind of choreography & music that absolutely grips me from beginning to end. Thought Peter Boal, Albert Evans and Tess Reichlin were all fabulous, I also really liked the girl who did the very first variation, maybe Faye Arthurs? I think I'm going to go see it again on Saturday night. I found Divertimento #15 very entertining. It had a wonderful sense of fun & good humor which the dancers conveyed well. I don't know a lot of the dancers well enough to identify them, but I really liked the girl who danced the 2nd variation, I think it might have been Janie Taylor. I had been thinking of Cortege Hongrois as the "safe" piece, the one I knew I would enjoy. I love Glazunov's music and thought I rememebered liking Cortege from way back when. Wrong. I knew I was in trouble the moment the orchestra started playing. I often have problems with the NYCB orchestra's tempos,and this was a perfect example. I found their orchestration & pace really stripped the music of it's lovely, lilting qualities & when the corps came out in the beginning they seemed so stiff & rushed it looked like they were off to the races. To me, Balanchine's czardas looked more like crazed gypsies than the stately, aristocratic Petipa czardas that I love so much. This was the best performance I've seen from Askegard ( but I've only seen a couple). I was impressed with Sylve, I look forward to seeing her in other roles but she hit the wrong note for me here. The word that comes to mind is formidable - her dancing was wonderful but it was so sharp, hard edged & brilliant that it really didn't evoke Raymonda for me. I realize that this is Balanchine's ballet to music from Raymonda, not the Petipa ballet itself but I guess I was expecting something like the T&V/Sleeping Beauty relationship where he encapsulated the spirit of an older masterpiece through his own vocabulary. This felt more like the opposite of Raymonda to me.

It was an unusual & wonderful experience to see this great work now, for the first time and without the memory of great performances effecting my perspective. Loved it. Absolutely loved it so much I think I'm going to buy a ticket for Saturday night so I can see it again. Unfortunately when I wrote that I remembered loving Cortege Hongrais, well, I must have been thinking about Raymonda Variations. Not my cup of tea. I'll try to write a little more in the 1st week thread Susan

As I have not been a regular NYCB goer over the years I am looking forward to my first live performance of 4Ts tonight, esp glad to see Ringer, Ansenalli & Boal in the cast. I can't believe I've managed to miss that one for so long, even with only the occasional visit. Also looking forward to Sylve in Cortege Hongrois ( I LOVE the music and remember really liking this one back in the 70's). I am very reluctant to criticize a dancer when I haven't seen a lot of their work, but I'm afraid I have to agree with the critisisms of Borree. Last year I went to 7-8 performances of the NYCB after not having seen the company in 25 years, and found her to be consistently & noticably sub par compared to the rest of the current company. She does remind me very much of Kay Mazzo (who I loved) and I remember thinking that she'd probably be fun to watch in Duo Concertant. The best performances I've seen from her were in Serenade (Russian) and her Sugar Plum, however she was almost unwatchable in Concerto Barocco.

Natalia, any thoughts on why Pavlenko isn't cast in either Cinderella or the gala?

If you're still thinking about Swan Lake vs Giselle at ABT - I'd go with Giselle. I'm sure you'd enjoy either one but ABT's Giselle is more "traditional" than their Swan Lake and they have some extraordinary dancers scheduled for Giselle in the spring. Go for either the Ferri/Bocca cast, the Ananiashvilli/Carreno or Vishneva/Malakhov cast. You can't go wrong with any of them!

The Cinderella casting hasn't been posted yet. I missed Rubies the last time they were here and Vishneva & Sarafanov sound perfect for those roles so I'm looking forward to it. I was really impressed with him in SL at the Kennedy Center last season. Vishneva is supposed to guest with ABT this summer at the Met and is scheduled to dance in Ballet Imperial with Malakhov. I will definitely catch them in NY!!! :3dnod:

The Kennedy Center now has casting up on their website for the "Spectacular". The bad news: no Pavlenko The good news: Lopatkina in La Valse AND Dying Swan for all 3 performances. Vishneva & Sarafanov in Rubies for the first 2 performances and Golub & Korsakov on the 22nd. There are several other wonderful dancers scheduled to perform including Natalya Sologub & Sofia Gumerova as well as many others that I have not seen before. I've copied the full casting here(including Opera casting): CASTING THE KIROV SPECTACULAR TSAR’S BRIDE: Gryaznoi: Evgeny Nikitin (1/19 & 20), Victor Chernomortsev (1/22); Marfa: Olga Trifonova; Lyubasha: Olga Savova; Sobakin: Sergei Alexashkin; Domna: Nadezhda Vasilieva; Dunyasha: Liubov Sokolova; Maliuta: Alexei Tanovitsky. QUEEN OF SPADES: Eletsky: Vasily Gerello; Lisa: TBD. SADKO: Sadko: Alexei Steblianko (1/19 & 20), Oleg Balashov (1/22); Volkhova: Irma Gigolashvili; Viking Merchant: Sergei Alexashkin; Venetian Merchant: Vladimir Moroz (1/19), Alexander Gergalo (1/20 & 22); Indian Merchant: Dmitry Voropaev; Liubava: Olga Savova; Nezhata: Liubov Sokolova; Duda: Vadim Kravets; Sopel: Viktor Vikhrov; 1st Elder: Vladimir Zhivopistsev; 2nd Elder: Alexei Tannovitsky. LA VALSE : Soloists: Uliana Lopatkina, Shishov Vladimir; Death: Soslan Kulaev; Three dancers: Alexandra Iosifidi, Ekaterina Kondaurova, Daria Suhokurova; First Pas de Deux: Natalya Sologub, Andrey Merkuriev; Second Pas de Deux: Yulia Kasenkova, Vasily Scherbakov; Third Pas de Deux: Sofya Gumerova, Maksim Zuzin. LE CORSAIRE PAS DE DEUX: Alina Somova, Leonid Sarafanov. RUBIES: Soloists: Diana Vishneva (1/18 & 19), Leonid Sarafanov (1/18 & 19), Sofya Gumerova, Irina Golub (1/22), Anton Korsakov (1/22); Four Dancers: Maksim Khrebtov, Vasily Scherbakov, Anton Lukovkin, Alexey Negviga. THE DYING SWAN: Uliana Lopatkina. BORIS GODUNOV Boris: Vladimir Vaneev (1/21), Evgeny Nikitin (1/22), Vladimir Vaneev (1/23); Shuisky: Alexei Steblianko (1/21), Nikolai Gassiev (1/22 & 23); Pimen: Mikhail Kit (1/21 & 23), Gennady Bezzubenkov (1/22); Dmitry the Pretender: Oleg Balashov (1/21 & 23), Alexei Steblianko (1/22); Shelkalov: Vasily Gerello (1/21 & 23), Vladimir Moroz (1/22); The Fool: Leonid Zakhozhaev; Fedor: Mikhail Gavrilov; Xenia: Tatiana Borodina; Nanya: Nadezhda Vasilieva; Varlaam: Gennady Bezzubenkov (1/21 & 23), Alexei Tannovitsky (1/22); Misail: Viktor Vikhrov; Hostess of the Inn: Olga Savova (1/21 & 23), Liubov Sokolova (1/22); Nikitich/Constable: Alexei Tannovitsky (1/21 & 23), Vadim Kravets (1/22); Boyar: Yuri Laptev; Mityukha: Edem Umerov; Men: Viktor Vikhrov, Vladimir Zhivopistsev