oberon

Nilas looks like a kid still...I had a short chat with him earlier this year and I kept thinking: he doesn't just look boyish, he REALLY looks young! On the women's side, we can't expect Darci & Kyra to dance much longer although both gave some very beautiful performances in recent months. Ansanelli seems to be really coming into her own (actually, she's already arrived!) and Janie Taylor strikes me as someone from whom we can expect alot. Both these girls came thru injuries (Alexandra's was especially severe) and now we can hope it will be smooth sailing. Somogyi continues to be absent...she was doing some brilliant stuff prior to her injury. Abi Stafford, so refreshing to watch, has been sidelined and will need to regain the momentum she was building when she was hurt. What has become of Jennifer Tinsley & Pascale van Kipnis? Rutherford, Bouder, Korbes, Carrie Lee Riggins, Reichlin, Ellen Bar, and Rebecca Krohn have been making their mark in featured roles...they each, in different ways, have potential star quality. In the OCPAC thread, people noted that the corps was not up to snuff. It's a pretty new/young group...they are getting their feet wet, so to speak, and being thrown right into things. Big turnover lately. We can look to such lovely senior corps girls as Edge, Golbin, Walker, Hanson and Abergel to (hopefully) stay on and help inspire the newbies. And Glenn Keenan & Sarah Ricard, two of the most impressive up-and-comers, missed several weeks with injuries...so it's been something of a wild time: lots of new people, lots of injuries (more than I can ever recall over the years) and, ironically, a very busy schedule with the Balanchine 100th, the drama of the Saratoga crisis, Japan, California...and some of these people were dancing at Jacob's Pillow or other festivals in between, and some will go with Dances Concertantes to Europe later this month I believe. And then before you know it, it'll be NUTCRACKER time again. No rest for the wicked...these kids must be REALLY bad! :rolleyes:

Oh, Kathleen, that is so funny! But now they will have to find someone else to do MUSAGETE (unless Tewsley is invited back as a guest...) and I am thinking the most likely person would be Hubbe.

art076 mentions seeing Bouder in EMERALDS and STARS & STRIPES at OCPAC...

Yes, I knew he was from Down Under but I think he is with Royal Danish...or was when he guested here.

Now, now carbro...Nilas is no Erik Bruhn butt he does have his assets. In the season just past I think Nilas danced far more often than he would have if everyone had been injury-free. Danes? Cubans? How about Andrew Bowman, the guy who premiered HALLELUJAH JUNCTION? Tall, sexy, a bit wild...

Carmena looks taller offstage than on. Boal is not really very tall. The tall guys like Neal & Askegard will be succeeded by Hanna, and, hopefully, Jared Angle. Millepied's injury set him back somewhat but friends in Japan tell me he was dancing quite excitingly there. I would like to see him bulk up his shoulders & chest a little, as Philip Neal eventually did. Fayette has partnering skills second only to Jock, in my estimation. Marcovici has the mystique that makes you watch him even if his dancing isn't on a spectacular level. Damian seems to be winding down somewhat and there is no clear heir to his roles...he & Benj. are really quite different, Ben being more of a high-flying type while Damian can pirouette endlessly and has a daring style that grips the audience no matter what ballet he's in.

Jock Soto is about to retire, Robert Tewsley's name drops off the roster, now Peter Boal appears to be headed for Seattle in 2005. Yikes! Three of the most accomplished & charismatic dancers in one fell swoop. What dancers are coming along to fill the gaps that will be left by these departures? With the exception of Antonio Carmena, the more virtuostic dancers in the corps are probably a bit short (Ulbricht, Hendrickson)...Joaquin de Luz certainly has the technique but he is also short (funny, after he left ABT they promoted Herman Cornejo who is not much taller than de Luz). Stephen Hanna's star is rising and he could become an impressive danseur noble...he is very interesting to watch. Ed Liang is a beautiful dancer & I've seen him pull off some impressive combinatons...everything seems so nicely placed when he dances. Jared Angle got off to a fine start and then was beset by injuries...hopefully he will return to top form. And he's tall. Possibly NYCB will be looking outside for some new leading men. My secret wish is for David Hallberg to make a leap to NYCB...oops, now it's not a secret any more! Are there any great Danes on the horizon?

Some of us here in NYC view Antonio Carmena as a possible heir to Peter Boal's mantle. In a few years...of course...

Thank you again, Art... I'm sure the dancers are feeling a bit jet-lagged coming over directly from Japan, which is a long haul. You mentioned the youth & inexperience of the corps. The last couple of years have seen quite a turnover, with such lovely stalwarts as McBrearty, Natanya, Ash & Ciccone departing. The newer girls coming over from the School have to find their individual niches while trying to be part of a unified group, learning & dancing ballets in one fell swoop. It will take a season or two for things to settle...though in the meantime there may be another wave of departures. At any rate, I'm glad that your second night gave you the desired lift.

The printed roster in the brochure is usually accurate for the season to come. Since Tewsley is still dancing with the Company in California, he would continue to be listed on the website as a Company member until the current season ends, which would be at the end of the LA tour. I believe City Ballet considers its single repertory performance in November, just prior to NUTCRACKER, as being the beginning of a new season. It's too bad Tewsley's tenure at NYCB has been so plagued by injury. His extraordinary performance with Wendy in Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #2 is high on my list of all-time memorable ballet performances, and his personal success in MUSAGETE evoked the kind of audience reaction that individual dancers at NYCB seldom receive.

art076, Thank you for the detailed review...did Robert Tewsley dance in EMERALDS? I agree Bouder needs to refine her style for the more romantic ballets...her boldness works wonders in showpieces, but to become an overall great ballerina - which she certainly has the potential to be - she will need to develop a feeling for the atmosphere of the works she is cast in. I'm sure that will come in time. Even so, I don't see her as an EMERALDS kind of girl...the lead in RUBIES and, eventually, in DIAMONDS, will show her to far better advantage. Please keep the reviews coming!

Thanks for that quote, Helene...that's the "mystery" of the role...she's a bit like Melisande in Debussy's opera...is she really innocent or is she calculating her effect on the faun/young man? One memorable interpretation in recent seasons was Darci's...in which her beautiful hair created quite a sensation. It was even mentioned in the reviews. I think women of different ages can have a success here, but I think she has to be "womanly" even if she is young. That leaves Fairchild out, as well as Bouder. Korbes or Ellen Bar is more the type...in my estimation. Of the current younger interpreters, Janie Taylor scores high...with her inscrutable "savage beauty" look. I loved it!

This is really sad news...ABT is cutting back on its touring also. But it's not just ballet...friends who went to opening night at the Met last night reported large numbers of empty seats. The performing arts in general are really suffering right now...and in the Met's case, they are pricing themselves out of most people's reach. I just bought 2 balcony seats for WALKURE and paid $150...even NYCB is said to be raising the 4th Ring Society ticket price for the coming season though in all fairness the increase is over-due; and it remains a huge bargain.

Yet another new poster has gone up, this time it's Rachel R in black...

carbro, I love the idea of an all-Sylve JEWELS!!

I don't see Bouder as the Nymph type...she could dance it, but she doesn't have the mystique nor the self-absorbed quality that the role needs. Ansanelli was excellent, and somewhat in a trance, with Sebastian, and Margaret Tracey surprised me with a very fine performance opposite Damian...I suppose at one time Kathleen Tracey would have been pretty interesting in this ballet. And Meunier might have brought a more lush, sensuous quality, but I don't think she ever danced it. Rachel Rutherford would be pretty good, I think... I'd like to see Rebecca Krohn & Amar Ramasar...

...another Tchaik PDD possibility: Riggins & Carmena...

Yes, GBfan, it is a little surprising that Weese hasn't done that role in SERENADE before. Sometimes you just assume a dancer would have done a particular role and it turns out she hasn't. Like Wendy in BUGAKU...when she once mentioned it as a ballet she was anxious to do I was thinking, hasn't she already? But...no... Anyway, Miranda should be perfect in SERENADE and in a few years I hope she will "graduate" to the Kyra/Darci role...Ringer has already put her stamp on THAT role...and I would love to see Wendy do it again, I think I saw her only performance of it. Gitte Lindstrom, when she was guesting, was also memorable in that part. And I recall a rather rare appearance by Merrill Ashley.

There's some great casting here...Weese in SERENADE, Sylve & Hanna in the SYMPH IN C Adagio, Hanna in TCHAIKOVSKY PDD...and Carrie Lee, that is really good; hopefully we'll see them all in these roles in NYC eventually. Still no Neal or Somogyi, and very little of Damian. And where is my beloved Amanda Edge? Meanwhile a Japanese friend of mine has written that some of the Tokyo performances are sold out.

Yes, it looks like Tewsley, Neal & Woetzel are all missing the Japan tour.

Sadly, Philip Neal was among the many dancers who missed much (if not all) of the last season...and I don't see him listed in the casts for Japan either. He has danced with Miranda in the past though his more frequent partners are Kyra Nichols and Wendy.

Sylve & Albert...yeah, that's good!!! Or we could have Janie Taylor & guest artist David Hallberg...the All-Blonde PDD.

OK, to jazz up the Opening Night a bit, who would you want to see in TCHAIKOVSKY PDD? Leave out the "usual suspects" (dancers who've done it alot)... My choice: Ashley Bouder & Eddie Liang!

How did I manage to miss this? Did you attend, Dewdrop? Give us a review, please... Oh, well...I did have compensation: an encounter with Martine van Hamel. What a nice lady!! Yes, the HERMAN SCHMERMAN costumes are kind of funny but the RED ANGELS ones are super. I used to keep a photo of Wendy in this ballet in my 'fridge and one of my friends thought it was Madonna...

I'M OLD FASHIONED makes me snooze...this could be the first time in seven years that I skip Opening Night. Casting will be the deciding factor. Does anyone know if OCTET is THE Martins premiere for the season or is an "opening night special" with another piece to come in the Winter season? Yeah, it IS sort of a light-weight programme but it does represent NYCB's "Big Four" choreographers: Balanchine, Robbins, Martins & Wheeldon. Farrell Fan, your analogy to a Chinese lunch-special gave me a chuckle...do you suppose we get free egg rolls with it?