nysusan

Certainly, there is room for more than one point of view in the ballet world, but IMO the last think ABT should consider in deciding which Balanchine ballets to dance is whether or where NYCB performs them. Their only considerations should be which Balanchine ballets they think their audiences want to see, what they think will suit their dancers and what the Balanchine foundation will allow them to perform. I agree that it would be nice if ABT were to present more of the jewels of it’s heritage on a regular basis - the Tudor, deMille, Robbins, Fokine, Ashton and Balanchine that they already have in their repertory. But I think it’s important to emphasize that Balanchine is as much a part of ABT’s heritage as any of the other choreopgraphers whose works are included in their repertory (after all, he did create T&V on Ballet Theatre). ABT has just as much right to pick and choose their Balanchine, and present their versions of his ballets as the Paris Opera Ballet, the Kirov, MCB or any other company. Just because they perform in the same city as NYCB doesn’t mean that ABT should defer to their artistic vision, or choose their productions to fill in the blanks in NYCB’s rep. One of the hallmarks of masterpieces is that they stand up to many different visions, and that different interpretations reveal different aspects of the work. I think it's amazing that in the past few months, in the same city, I was able to see performances of both Tchaikovsky Concerto # 2 and Ballet Imperial. I really appreciate having the opportunity to see and contrast different interpretations of great works. I only wish that my schedule had allowed me to see more of what both of these wonderful companies had to offer.

I loved Cojocaru's Nikiya when she did it with ABT last year. Such gorgeous line & purity of spirit. I saw Makarova watching from the orchestra, and remember wondering what she thought of the performance!

I enjoyed the McKerrow/ Stiefel R&J, but agree that it was in no way comparable to Ferri/Corella. Stiefel's Romeo was very poetic, and totally desperate at the end. In the crypt pas de deux he made it look like McKerrow weighed a thousand pounds - if you can imagine that. His dancing was clean & elegant as always. I thought McKerrow portrayed Juliet as very childlike & naive, she seemed trapped in a free fall that she had no idea how to deal with, but it seemed as much about her fear and panic as it was about her love for Romeo. I think it's a valid interpretation, but one that really didn't allow for the kind of heat that Ferri & Corella generated the night before. I didn't realize that Gomes was dancing Romeo with Hererra - he must have been wonderful

Ferri continues to amaze me with her Juliet. I typically like to sit fairly close to the stage, but not close enough to see them sweat. Last night they were right in my face, and it may have been the most remarkable performance I've seen. It can't hurt that Ferri & Corella are both not only great dancers & great actors, but also very attractive people. Last night's R&J was captivating - it lost nothing from close scrutiny. It was wonderful to see the seamless integration of great dancing, great acting & great storytelling through movement. (Interesting aside - Christopher Wheeldon was there, sitting first row center so I guess my aversion to close seats is not universally shared). When I get the season brochure & think about what I want to see, I usually cringe at the thought of another R&J. Yes, Ferri is wonderful, the costumes & scenery are wonderful but my recollection is always that there's lots of pageantry & so little dancing. Last night I felt differently. It really struck me that there may only be isolated instances of bravura dancing, but every movement and all of those crowd scenes create character and advance the plot through the choreography. The big surprise of the evening for me was how much I loved Corella's Romeo. I've always admired his technical abilities, but he's never been a favorite of mine. His style of dancing was so well suited to this role. Romeo's youthful passion, the blush of first love was really embodied in the abandon of his multiple pirouettes & turns in his solos (tour jete's? I can't believe after watching dance for this long I still don't know what the steps are called!). His acting was excellent & very natural and he and Ferri had great chemistry together. I may never love those harlots, but last night at least Erica Corrnejo, Abrera & Boone made them interesting! It was a wonderful evening, perfect in every detail thanks not only to Ferri & Bocca but also to Franklin's priest, Parkinson's Lady Capulet, Susan Jone's nurse, the rest of the cast and the orchestra. During the curtain calls I saw something I don't recall having seen prevoiusly. Instead of bolting as soon as the curtain came down, 5 or 6 orchestra members stayed & applauded Ferri & Corella right through the last curtain call. McKerrow & Stiefel have a hard act to follow tonight!

I love Ferri's Juliet. I expected to be out of town on business for both of her performances this year, so I got tickets for McKerrows R&J on Wed. Then I was able to re-arrange my schedule and return a day early, so I'm going tonight and Wed night. Tonight may be a little strange cause my last minute tickets are very close to the stage (those harlots are sure to be interesting up close), but I can't wait!

I can only imagine what wonders Balanchine would have created with Whelan and Kowroski as inspiration. Too bad we'll never know.

From the past - Michael Denard Among today's dancers there is no contest for me: I think Marcello Gomes may well be the sexiest man on the planet. And what a wonderful dancer!

I also saw Nina on Friday night, she and Bocca were so good they almost made McKenzie’s staging work for me. I’ve only seen Nina’s Swan Lake once before (10 years ago) and at the time I thought her interpretation was way over the top. This time I thought she was wonderful. It could be that she’s reigned it in a bit as ATM711 suggests, or my tastes have changed, or it’s just that I find this staging so cold and soulless that I really need an extremely emotive Odette to make it come alive. In any case, I found her to be very exciting technically (I loved that 3rd act balance, and those dizzyingly fast uncountable supported pirouettes), and a very emotional, passionate Odette. Sad, certainly, but not a wimp. Do the other ABT ballerinas do the 2nd act mime? She did it so clearly and with such conviction, it seems like years since I’ve seen it. I don’t remember the mime at all from the performances I saw last year. Ditto the crossed arms saying “I will die” in the last act. It was a beautiful, heart rending performance from both Nina & Bocca. Usually I find myself being overly analytical when watching this staging, but they really drew me in, and had me close to tears by the end. I've noticed that Misty Copeland has had some rather prominant demi soloist type of roles this season, and she’s looked fine to me. She looks like she’s gaining a lot of confidence.

I absolutely love Dudinskaya and Sergeyev in the 1948 taped excerpt, I watch it often. Live - van Hamel in ABT's Nureyev staging

I went to the Thursday & Friday night performances of the Balanchine program. I find myself in agreement with most posters regarding the individual performances, except that I thought Tuttle was greatly improved in T&V compared to last season. I’m not singing her praises - IMO neither Tuttle nor Hererra are great in this role but at least Tuttle started strong and seemed more comfortable in the role than in previous performances. I love Tchai pdd. Both couples I saw did a good job with it but it didn’t seem that either Reyes/Bocca or Tuttle/Steifel really went for the fish dives - I remember Max & Irina really going for them when I saw this at City Center. Reyes did exhibit a very lovely flow and lyricism, and great joy in her performance. She seems to be progressing quite nicely. Both casts I saw in Ballet Imperial were wonderful, and so different! Murphy & Wiles were the perfect “All American” cast - all long legs, speed & attack, with Molina a gracious cavalier. Ananishvilli & Meunier were regal & imperial, both so lush and gracious and grand, dancing with great clarity and musicality. I have never seen Nina or Gomes give a better performance, they had me spellbound. There were times (maybe during their adagio?) when they seemed to be a czar and czarina, first in the midst of own private conversation, then addressing their court. I was sitting very close to the stage at this performance and at certain points they had expressions of absolute rapture on their faces. Both were very impressive technically, Gomes even more so than last season, but their ability to create their own world and take the audiance into it with them was something quite unexpected. I would love to see them paired together more often.

Carla Korbes subbed for Korowski in "I'm Old Fashioned" on Saturday night. She was lovely, but I don't go to see NYCB that often & was really looking forward to seeing Korowski. I,too, hope she's ok. Re: Miranda Weese in Who Cares. I've seen her a few times this year & though I liked her, I was never overly impressed with her. Then I saw her in Shambards & loved the intensity & abandon in her performance. In Who Cares on Sat night she was wonderful - poignant in "The man I love", carefree & charming in Fascinating Rhythm. And that’s high praise considering that after 30 years I still remember Patty McBride in that role!

I found it. It is a 24 page (including covers) black & white booklet with photos of the gala performance taken by Louis Peres & Dina Makarova. It is identified on the inside front cover by International Standard Book Number 0-87127-061-7 and Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 75-9154. Also on the inside front cover is a copy of the poster for Ballet Theatre’s first season in 1940. On the opposite page is a copy of the cover for the 35th Anniversary Gala. In addition to photos from the gala, it also includes transcripts of the evening’s intermission remarks by Agnes de Mille, Lucia Chase and Angier Biddle Duke (representing the Mayor’s office). This was a very memorable celebration because in addition to the company’s star performers in gala excerpts, many of their illustrious alumni also made appearances. For instance - Fernando Bujones, Buddy Balough & Terry Orr performed an excerpt from Fancy Free, and were joined by Jerome Robbins, John Kriza & Harold Lang (in tuxedos) reprising a bit of their old roles. Same with Ms. de Mille in 3 Devils & a Virgin. Sono Osato and Hugh Laing did a scene from the prologue of Tudor’s Romeo & Juliet, and Ms. Chase, Nora Kaye, Laing & Tudor gave us a glimpse of Pillar of Fire. All that and, oh yea- Cynthia Gregory, Baryshnikov, Bujones, Kirkland, Makarova & Co, too! The booklet brought back a lot of memories!

I'm pretty sure I have that booklet. I'm in Vancouver on a business trip at the moment, but I'll be back in NY in a couple of days and I'll take a look.

I've only seen the RDB once, when they were in Washington DC in January. Based on those performances I would never suspect that the women had ever been weaker than the men. The women looked very strong to me. Silja Schandorff and Gudrun Bojeson would make their mark in any ballet company in the world.

What wonderful news, I'm thrilled to hear that she is being given this opportunity, but I'm also really upset that I have to be out of town that week & will miss both the Wiles/Hallberg and Part/Gomes Swan Lakes. Hopefully there will be lots of posts...

Wow. That may be the best description I gan give of Zakharova’s Nikya - except to say that anyone who is in NY and wasn’t at the Met tonight should run out and get tickets to her second performance on Wednesday. I’d never seen her dance before, but from descriptions I’d read I was expecting every developee to be 180 degrees, and her arabesques to all have that elongated neo classical quality. There was none of that evident in the first act. Her dancing was clear, beautiful and technically very strong. Since my knowledge of specific ballet steps is very limited, I will leave it to others to give a detailed description of her technique. What struck me most was the way her technique was used in service of artistry. Her phrasing never seemd rushed, she always had so much time within the music and every step seemed to convey Nikiya’s state of mind. Her dancing was just gorgeous. Her steps and shapes were so clear and precise, yet she danced with utter fluidity. Several times I almost forgot that she was dancing, her technique was so completely in focus with the character. Then she would hold some amazingly beautiful shape and I would remember, oh yeah, every move she makes is extrordinary. In the first act, each time she danced she presented a different aspect of Nikiya’s love for Solor. Watching her first solo, before the pas with Solor, was like coming upon a private reverie. She was all hope and yearning. In her pas with Solor she was the embodiment of tender love. When she is summoned to dance at the bethroval, and sees Solor’s betrayal with her own eyes she dances pure anguish. Her second act was exquisite, even though this is where she chose to pull out the hyperextentions. I prefer a traditional classical line in the shades scene but even so, it didn’t distract from the beauty of her performance. Carreno was a soaring Solor, I love the way he controls those turns and finishes them so slowly and precisely. Wiles was great as Gamzatti. She sailed through the technical challenges, but she also showed great stage presence and depth to her characterization. Her Gamzatti was played on a much more human scale than Dvorovenko’s or Murphys, she was very much a woman in love, and only turned into a ruthless princess after Nikiya tried to stab her. Herman Cornejo was a superb Bronze Idol - his leaps and turns are remarkable for their clarity as well as their speed. The 3 shades were Liceica, Cornejo and Maria Ricetto, and tonight I really liked Ricetto.

P.S. - I overheard a snippet of conversation between 2 middle aged ladies exiting the Met after the Wed matinee of the mixed rep program - "Is it the other NY ballet company that does more traditional ballets?"

I was there tonight, too. This was the first time I've seen Union Jack and I really loved it. Unfortunately, I noticed a few people leaving during the Pearly King & Queen variation. I must admit, I also got a little restless at that point - even though I thought Ringer & Martins did a great job. When Whelan, Woetzel et al got going it really took off again, all through to that great finale. This was also my first view of Shambards and I liked it. It was certainly a very dark piece, but I loved the geometry of it, and as long as you accepted Wheldon's intention I thought it suceeded on it's own terms. It definitely wasn't Mary Poppins. I loved Weese, and didn't find her pas de deux with Soto as upsetting as some posters did. There was plenty of implied violence throughout their whole adagio, but the actual "dragging" was brief, and at the end of the pas. The whole thing had a had a very primitive, torturous undertone so that brief moment of overt violence didn't strike me as much worse than what led up to it.

They did fine. Renata Pavam got a huge ovation after her variation, as did Salstein. I particularly liked Erica Cornejo.

I went to see Roberta Marquez in her first guest appearance with ABT in La Bayadare Friday night. Stiefel was her Solor and Dvorovenko was Gamzatti. For starters, I thought the company looked very strong in this ballet. I noticed a couple of really tiny bobbles from the corps in the shades scene, but nothing that distracted from the drama. This is a ballet full of spectacle, and ABT does it really well. Marquez is lovely - and tiny, really tiny. On flat feet she looked about shoulder level with Stiefel. She is very dramatic with a flexible & hyperextended torso, and very expressive arms. I liked her best in the first & third acts. There was nothing wrong with her Shades scene, but she seemed a little cold and I thought her dancing had a hard edge to it. Stiefel was wonderful. His dancing is always so clean and elegant and virtuosic but sometimes I find his acting a little less than convincing. The last couple of times I’ve seen him he seemed to have a new commitment to character, and last night he WAS Solar. He was all passion and ardor with Nikiya, yet he also managed to convey a sense of awe in his first encounter with Gamzatti, which turned into confusion and resignation to duty in the later scenes. He was exceptionally remorseful in the last act. This was the first time I’d seen Dvorovenko’s Gamzatti, and what can I say, it’s hard to believe the role wasn’t made on her. I cannot imagine a more forceful, dominant performance, every inch the royal princess who was the master of all she surveyed. And her dancing sparkled. Nikiya and Solor never had a chance.

I went to the Wed matinee and also found Wile's performance disappointing. I am a big fan of hers, and hope these difficult leading roles she is now being given will help her grow, rather than overwhelm her. On the one hand, her technique was wonderful - she really delineated the shapes of the steps beautifully. I also thought that she was able to convey Hagar's emotional state fairly well in the pas des deux with Hallberg and Torres. Unfortunately, she simply could not hold the stage when she was on her own. It felt kind of like she was intellectualizing the role, I was very much aware of the process of her dancing, rather than caught up in the emotion. It's possible that the large Met stage made the role even more difficult (as opposed to the intimacy of City Center) but IMO she hasn't yet developed the kind of stage presence necessary to carry a ballet like this. Hopefully this will be just a step in the process of her development and she will grow into the role over time. I didn't like Hallberg as the friend when he danced with Murphy last season, and this performance didn't change my mind. I prefer when the friend is portrayed as kind of a solid, dependable, bourgeois choice and he is far too charismatic for me. It just doesn't make sense that the town hottie would fall for Hagar. But that's just my opinion & even so, it's not Hallburg's fault - must be tough being tall, blond & handsome! I did like Marian Butler's younger sister. Borrowing from Big Lee's post about the evening performance, she seemed like someone who simply was born with "a type of social & sexual ease" that Hagar could never understand and, conversely - she could never understand Hagar's unease and awkwardness around men. I like it much better than the spiteful, mean younger sister approach. I've seen the Kylian pieces 3-4 times now. Didn't like them the first time I saw them and I still don't. They are amusing the first time around but they're just fluff. Weird fluff, too. Even so, Sarawanee Tanatanit and Erica Cornejo were a pleasure to watch for their beautiful line and phrasing. What can I say, I still like the Harrison piece... Meunier looked GORGEOUS and Corella & H. Cornejo were outstanding.

Thank you Coda, for clarifying a confusing situation! Susan

My apologies, you are correct. Grant DeLong is indeed listed in the corps. The ABT website went down while I was looking at it and I must have missed his name. Now that only leaves Abigail Simon's whereabouts a mystery...

Friday's "links" has an article from the Moscow Times that says that Irina Kolesnikova won the award for best ballerina. Did they award more than one prize for ballerinas, or did the previous report mention the nominees?

It looks like most of the Studio Company dancers have joined ABT either as apprentices or as corps members. The ABT website lists Lara Bossen, Jennifer Lee, Melanie Hamrick, Blaine Hoven, Arron Scott & Matt Murphy with the corps and Jackie Reyes, Roman Zhurbin, Matt Golding are listed within the corps pages as apprentices. I really liked Abagail Simon at the Joyce, but she seemed to be new with the studio company (she wasn't with them at the Skirball in December). Does anyone know if she and Grant DeLong got contracts somewhere?