cinnamonswirl

Thanks for the notice, Natalia.Opening night casting looks great! Anyone have recommendations for a second cast? Is Oxana Skoryk worth seeing?

I was at the DC performance at Lisner, and the dancing was superb. While I liked all of the Ratmansky's and think Charms of Mannerisms and Bizet Variations should get wider exposure (maybe at ABT?), I thought they all suffered from Ratmansky-itis -- nice music, inventive choreography, and yet they all felt a little too long. The costumes for all of the ballets were lovely. Hopefully next time the company can perform at the Kennedy Center or somewhere else where the theatre is as professional as the dancers are. (Not enough programs, wonky stage lighting ...)

Boooooo. Depending on what the new Wheeldon is like, each program may have one good ballet (Who Cares, Russian Seasons), a clunker (Martins) and a blah ballet. I guess NYCB thinks we got enough Balanchine last year.

But far preferable to the blindingly white tutu designed by Holly Hynes for the pas de deux a few years ago, IMO.

^ Absolutely. Presumably most of the dancers at City Ballet are there because they WANT to learn and dance Balanchine ballets. But I do remember an interview Wendy Whelan gave, I think it was in the newsletter sent to Guild members, in which she specifically talked about the importance of new works. She said that at that point in her career (this would have been 3 or 4 years ago), she had learned all of the Balanchine ballets she was ever going to learn, and so she had to have new works created on her to sustain her artistically. Much as I prefer NYCB's to ABT's rep, in many respects I find ABT to be the more exciting company at the moment. City Ballet has lost a lot of its spark. And certainly there is a problem with how NYCB is acquiring new ballets (or rather, what new ballets it is acquiring).

^ I don't think you'll be disappointed. I was very impressed by both. I wonder when Holowchuk will be promoted to principal. She's certainly being cast and dancing like one this season (leads in Serenade, Baiser de la fee, Prithopratka). Also. does anyone know what's going on with Natalia Magnicaballi? She's still listed as a company member on the Kennedy Center website. Did she just have other commitments this week?

Sunday matinee cast is same as opening night: Serenade - Elizabeth Holowchuk, Audra Johnson, Courtney Anderson, Momchil Mladenov, Ted Seymour Barocco - Violeta Angelova, Kara Genevieve Cooper, Kirk Henning Diamonds - Heather Ogden, Michael Cook

I think Kathleen's analysis is pretty spot on. No one has mentioned how important the creation of new works is for the dancers. The importance of new works for City Ballet, and City Ballet's mission is perhaps debatable, but from an artistic perspective, new choreography is important for dancers. This is particularly true for dancers like Wendy Whelan or Maria Kowroski, who have been principals for a long time and already know most of the existing rep. Having a work created on you by a choreographer (or even having the choreographer come set his/her own existing work) is a special, very fulfilling process. Even if the end product is a clunker, for dancers the process itself is usually rewarding. It's possible Sara Mearns felt having this new work would be a more interesting process for her, rather than working on a ballet she is already very familiar with, and will almost certainly dance again in the future. (I'm not saying this is what happened - I have no idea - just that I think it's a possibility.)

Coppélia is being released on Region 2 DVD/Bluray on September 26. I assume a Region 1 release will follow shortly. http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B005LVEFW2/yukiswebpage-21/ref=nosim and http://www.opusarte.com/en/delibes-coppelia-opera-de-paris.html

I'm not sure if it's on DVD, but on VHS there's the 1993 Balanchine Celebration with Margaret Tracey & Damian Woetzel, and a Jacques d'Amboise biography (not sure of the exact name of the video) that has him dancing with Melissa Hayden. I don't think a complete version of the ballet has ever been commercially released.

How was Sara Mearns as Tall Girl in Rubies during Dancer's Choice?

Very promising! The distorted alignment (a la Somova) at 1:34 is disappointing though.

I do agree with Sulcas about the endless pd2s at galas these days. A short pièce d’occasion by Ratmansky would be wonderful -- I would even sit through other gala pd2s for it

Stephanie Saland does Der Rosenkavalier on the Balanchine Celebration tape.

Marcovici danced Apollo on Friday. I thought he was ok. Preferable to Nilas Martins, but certainly not in the league of Peter Boal or Nikolaj Hubbe. Robbie Fairchild did debut on Tuesday, and got very good reviews (in the paper and from friends who saw him). Hopefully he's not injured. The muses for both casts were Hyltin, Peck and Scheller. Hopefully as these ladies will grow into the roles (Hyltin in particular) over the next few years. Overall I thought Apollo was mediocre, an ok performance but not moving or particularly memorable. I much preferred the performance by Suzanne Farrell Ballet (last year? two years ago). Her dancers aren't on the same level, but there was something there, the spark, that was missing from NYCB. I was very impressed by Megan Fairchild in Duo Concertant. There's depth to her dancing now that I didn't see a few years ago. To echo Ray, it was a real treat to see all black and white ballets, especially the all Stravinsky program.

Two debuts last night -- Ashley Bouder in 4Ts and Sara Mearns as the second violin in Barocco. Bouder was fantastic in Choleric last night. She's the first "not tall" dancer I've seen do Choleric (as opposed to someone like Savannah Lowery or Sofiane Sylve), but the energy and drive she had last night was just incredible. I was so happy to see Jennie Somogyi do Sanguinic. She such an intelligent, elegant presence, but she dances so rarely now. I was underwhelmed by Agon. I've always found Andrew Veyette to be a very competent, but he has no personality on stage. Utterly bland. The highlight for me was Tess Reichlen, Craig Hall and Amar Ramasar in the pd3. As for Barocco, Maria Kowrowski was divine as the first violin. As others have noted, she has grown into a truly wonderful adagio dancer. Mearns looked a uncomfortable. Her shoulders were hunched up, she rushed through a lot of the movements, and all those off-kilter arabesques just looked off. I'll be interested to see what her interpretation looks like after she has more performances under her belt, since the 2nd lead in Barocco is not a role I would have imagined her in. My main critique of the evening though, was the order of programming (which went Barocco, Agon, 4Ts). Agon and 4Ts are too similar to be programmed next to each other; I would have ordered them 4T, Barocco then Agon. Although I've always thought of both Barocco and 4Ts as "openers." Now let me backtrack to Wednesday evening. I was very impressed by Taylor Stanley in Square Dance, but Bouder gave a really sparkling performance. I'm surprised this is only her first year dancing it, since it seems like a natural fit for her. Reichlen & Ask la Cour were mesmerizing in the second pd2 of Episodes, and to me Wendy Whelan & Sebastian Marcovici had much more ooomph in their Episodes pas than in the Agon pd2 on Thursday. And Mearns, so lush and generous in the finale. Stravinsky Violin Concerto -- Korowski and Ramasar were magnificent in the first aria. Majestic. Janie Taylor I found a little diminished on stage. I haven't seen her dance in several years, but I remember her having tremendous presence and sweep on stage before her injury. I prefer Sterling Hyltin with Robert Fairchild in the second aria. Overall, I would say the dancing on both evenings was good. Certainly the company's strongest overall run in DC in several years. I'm looking foward to seeing the Fairchilds in Apollo and Duo Concertant tonight. Also, as a side note, I wish Mearns and Taylor would get some help with their makeup. Mearns is certainly pale, but the foundation she used on both nights was practically white and made her look like a kabuki dancer. Taylor, who has such light features, was wearing very thick black flash eyelashes, and it was not flattering at all.

Laura Cappelle in the Financial Times wasn't quite as scathing towards the production, but she did tweet "spot-on" about Macaulay's review. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/abcbc00e-54a6-11e0-b1ed-00144feab49a.html#axzz1HMUGJqPK http://twitter.com/#!/bellafigural/status/53029159177433088 The plot is based on the movie of the same name. It was created by Martinez for POB in 2008 to a commissioned score by Marc-Olivier Dupin. Agnès Letestu did the costumes. Isabelle Ciaravola (Garance), Mathieu Ganio (Baptiste), Alessio Carbone (Lematire), Benjamin Pech (Lacenaire) and Christophe Duquenne (Count) were the opening night cast. Martinez won the 2009 Benois for choreography for Enfants du paradis. If you're asking about casting information for the HD broadcast, it hasn't been announced yet Although now Ciaravola is an etoile, it seems logical she'll get the broadcast. Here are some clips of Ciaravola with Ganio and Duquenne:

Yes, it's universally panned in the French press and among POB-goers. Such a pity POB opted to revive this version of Coppélia rather than Lacotte's, which is charming. I adore Gilbert and Heymann, but I'm going to sit this HD broadcast out and wait for the DVD so I can fast forward through the really awful parts!

For anyone who wants a taste of the ballet before the HD broadcast, here's a clip of Gilbert, Heymann and Yann Saiz being coached by Bart. Gilbert does the Scottish variation starting at 5:28. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P52QJJKqAQ

I believe Carbone is injured. Last week he was taken off the cast lists for Romeo & Juliet in Paris in April (he was scheduled to dance Mercutio).

There's actually a DVD of their Giselle with Nicolas Le Riche and Laetitia Pujol -- from 2006, I think. The production, which is also done by La Scala, is very nice, with a marvelous peasant pas de deux from Thibault and Ould-Braham, but personally I find Le Riche and Pujol an odd paring, with Pujol very weak in the 2nd act. Gillot is fantastic as Myrtha though. I'm kind of disappointed POB is bringing Giselle to Washington, since we just had the Mariinsky's this year.

I noticed it and found it distracting. I also thought the tempo on Saturday night was even slower and more ponderous than it had been earlier in the week, making Lopatkina's ability to really float and sail through the second act even more impressive. And while I adore Kondaurova, in all three performances I saw with her, she also had a tendency to finish slightly behind the music, namely the pique attitudes in her first variation.

^ I'm actually not so bothered by her changing the choreography at the end -- the balance is impressive enough that I give her a pass. What does bother me a lot is the lack of joy and ease through most of the adagio. The only time she really smiles is at the end, when she finishes that balance. The rest of the time she looks nervous, almost scared. You can see in her face that the steps are hard, and she's really working. That's what I find so nice about the recording with Viviana Durante. She smiles the whole time, she's happy and serene and above it all. It all looks so easy.

Thanks for the link! Amazing what they can do with special effects now. And I guess that explains why movie budgets have become so bloated. All that time and effort on a very short scene that only a balletomane is going to (perhaps) notice.

I was there last night (Thursday). T & V was led by Michele Wiles and Cory Stearns. I'd only seen Stearns once before (in Allegro Brilliante) and was not very impressed, but I thought he was very good in T & V. He didn't have quite the same force of personality that others have had in the role, but I'm sure that will come. Wiles, on the other hand ... T & V is wicked hard, and Wiles sure makes it look easy. But I thought she looked very stiff in the arms and lower back, and whenever I see her dance I always wonder ... does she actually think about the music? Not just listen to it, but think about it? About how it relates to the steps? And does anyone know how long she's had black hair? It's very harsh and makes her look washed out. Lilac Garden - I absolutely agree with Natalia, the new costumes look very, very cheap. Kent was wonderful, as expected, as Caroline, but for me Kristi Boone as the Lady with the Feather almost stole the show. Duo Concertant with David Hallberg & Maria Ricetto was the highlight of the evening for me. Such clean, unaffected dancing! Really marvelous. Fancy Free -- it was announced (to groans from the audience) that Ethan Stiefel and Herman Cornejo were injured. They were replaced by Sasha Radetsky and Craig Salstein. Radetsky (2nd solo) really sells the role. Carreño doesn't have quite the same insouciance that I remember Damian Woetzel having the in the same rumba solo. Salstein was fine, but totally overshadowed by the other two. Looking forward to Bright Stream this weekend!!