cinnamonswirl

The jump makes the lift a lot easier on the man, but it also makes the timing more critical. I wonder if the ABT couples just don't get enough time to practice together to make it that smooth.

The last act of Paquita has the children's mazurka.

I'm curious if there's any AD who doesn't get criticized by observers for under-casting certain talented dancers and over-casting other "lesser" ones.

Thank you for posting that. It's electric! I wish they could release the whole thing. The attack evident in that clip was completely missing when the company did the ballet recently (last season?).

The Times had "on point" in the article about Kowroski and it drove me nuts. That means something different! I would use "on pointe" or "en pointe" depending on how Frenchy I wanted to be. French speakers also use the phrase "sur ses pointes," but that's more as "on her toes" (or his toes) and it's always plural.

Fairchild probably is out of shape. He dances in AiP but that schedule is not as taxing in terms of dancing stamina as taking company class and rehearsal 6 or 7 days a week. His sister talks about this in one of her podcasts. She really had to work to maintain her technique and get back into shape when her Broadway run finished. She also had to drop a couple of ballets when she first came back because she was not up to them yet.

No, there were no bios of anyone in the program (which seemed like an odd omission IMO). But when I googled him after he originally appeared on Morgan's instagram a few weeks back, I found this article: http://bleepmag.com/2016/01/27/sean-rollofson-from-ballet-to-broadway-and-back-again/

I attended the second performance. I was disappointed to see that the theatre was only about half-full, but the attendees were very enthusiastic. Lots of young (tween/teenage) dancers in the audience. The program was: 1. Don Q (Morgan & Sean Rollofson) 2. A video about Morgan's childhood 3. Princess Florine variation performed by Emily Hain (a young dancer from I think Cleveland) 4. Except from the musical To Dance (Morgan & Jesse Carrey-Beaver) - Carrey-Beaver sang and Morgan danced. 5. Video of Morgan's Sleeping Beauty wedding Pd2 with Tyler Angle at NYCB from a few years ago 6. Liza & My One and Only from "Who Cares?" (Morgan & Carrey-Beaver). 7. Balcony Scene from MacMillan's Romeo & Juliet (Morgan & Rollofson) 8. Of Melting Snow - original work by Carrey-Beaver for himself & Morgan 9. Video about Morgan's YouTube videos 10. The Red Shoes (10-minute piece created for Morgan last year) I thought DonQ was an odd choice. Morgan has the technical chops for it, but not the personality - she's not spunky enough onstage. Her My One and Only was very good - no changes or substitutions on any of the diagonals - very impressive. It didn't have the sharpness that I would have liked to see, but I also don't think she had anyone from the Trust coaching her, so that's not surprising. Carrey-Beaver was very good in Liza as well. MacMillan's Romeo & Juliet really requires a top flight male partner, otherwise the lifts looks as hard as they are, and Rollofson wasn't quite up to the task. Morgan is also a little heavier in the torso than most of the other ballerinas I've seen as Juliet, which adds to the partnering difficulty. She is a good actress, very expressive and very sensitive. I liked the Red Shoes a lot. I think the voiceover at the start is unnecessary, but it's a nice solo ballerina role. The video segments were too long, but I realize they were inserted to give Morgan a break between works. Overall, I agree with YouOverThere. It was a good performance, but she really needs more stage time. She's lost the ease and natural command of the stage that was evident in the SB video that was shown. I do think she'll get it back once she's regularly performing again. She's a complete dancer - technical ability in spades, natural turner, expressive, beautiful port de bras and use of the head. The really crazy thing is how good she was when she was 15-16 (they showed a lot of home videos and school performances). She would be a good fit for Washington Ballet, especially since they typically do at least 2 full-lengths each season and Morgan seems interested in acting roles. She is still a terrific dancer, and I think she'd be an asset for many different companies. I've been watching her since her first season with NYCB, so it was great to see her live onstage again.

Yes, you need a separate account for BT for Dancers. I'd say the terminology is pretty consistent among US-trained dancers: Soubressaut - no beat, no change of front foot. Ends in fifth position. A ballet hop up and down. What people in this thread seem to be calling sautés, although to me a sauté starts and ends on one foot (the same foot). Changement/entrechat deux - no beat, front foot changes. Ends in fifth. Royale - one beat (in front), front foot changes, ends in fifth. Entrechat trois - one beat in front, front foot changes, ends in coup de pied (on one foot). Can be done over or under. Entrechat quatre - two beats (i.e. front foot goes back/front), so no change of front foot at the end. Ends in fifth. Entrechat cinq - three beats (i.e. front foot goes back/front/back) so front foot changes, ends in coup de pied (on one foot). Can be done over or under. Entrechat six - three beats (i.e. front foot goes back/front/back) so front foot changes. Ends in fifth.

This is an interesting point. I always thought Somogyi was tall and was very surprised to finally see her in person and realize she was of mid-size height. Peck is the opposite - when I see her in person I am always surprised how much taller she is than she appears on stage. Peck also has a naturally sunny quality in her dancing which tends towards soubrette casting. Somogyi was more introspective. (Both ladies are/were capable of great range, just to me that was their "neutral" state.)

Question: how tall is Mearns?

Yes, I agree. (That is what I was inartfully trying to get at by saying apprenticeships are more beneficial for companies than young dancers.) Yes. Studio companies are separate from the main company. There's no guarantee the main company will take a studio company dancer, and no guarantee an apprentice will get a corps contract.

NYCB is different from other companies in so many ways! But even Peter Martins has talked about how difficult the transition from school to company can be. Some dancers, especially male dancers, can greatly benefit from an extra year or two of specialized training that they won't get in a company, while also benefitting from a company-like structure/atmosphere and with many more performance opportunities than they would have at school. Apprenticeship, IMO, has always been more of a trial run for the benefit of the company than for the individual dancer. Does this person have performance potential and can s/he hack being in a company? (Not that the dancer derives no benefit, but I think that the company gets more.) Also, generally, studio company dancers get a salary (small it may be) and a shoe stipend, while apprentices are paid per performance. A lot of American companies have studio companies now. They are a fairly recent phenomenon (last 15 years or so). A lot of now top ABT dancers went through the studio company including Hallberg, Stearns, Cornejo, Boylston, Seo and Copeland.

Yes, Carla Korbes in particular was candid about that. In that respect, Morgan did Martins a favor by voluntarily leaving the company. Also, I imagine any director will want to see that Morgan can not only lose the weight, but keep at a consistent weight rather than yoyo-ing. (She does look thinner in her more recent videos.)

She hasn't posted anything (that I've seen) about getting divorced, but she was previously married to Matthew Dibble (dancer with Twyla Tharp's company). http://dancemagazine.com/news/transitions-8/

Unfortunately ALL of the Kennedy Center evening performances are starting at 7:00 this season. It's a very awkward hour -- those 30 minutes make a big difference in terms of traffic and post-work-pre-performance organization for attendees. Hopefully the KC will return to the 7:30 curtain next season.

The new ones are by Dorothée Gilbert's husband.

I think M. Miller is Miriam Miller http://nycdanceproject.com/miriam-miller/

It's not 1 on-sale date for the whole season. For a performance in February, I would guess in the mid-fall for non-KC members.

I think they look cold and unfriendly. I like the old ones much more, even if people did think they were too yellow.

Next season they are only doing 3 full-lengths (R&J, Bayadere, Giselle) so that doesn't seem to be the aspect of ABT Millepeid wants to emulate

It is odd nothing has been posted yet. I will be incredibly surprised if Maki Onuki isn't cast as O/O.

I am so disappointed by this programming. I will go to see my favorite dancers, but I don't go to POB to see Balanchine or Peck.

I was disappointed by Shapran. This was my first time seeing her live, and to me she was totally forgettable in Spectre. No charm or projection to the audience. For the girl, Spectre can be a kind of throwaway role unless you get a great dancer who can really make something of it and hold her own, and Shapran did not do that for me. I didn't see any aura -- I saw a very young dancer focused on the getting the steps right the entire time, and who sat in the steps rather than bringing movement or energy to them. I guess pose is the best way I can describe it -- she went from beautiful pose to beautiful pose rather than dancing. A lot of not most young dancers are like that, but given all the buzz around her I would have expected her to have grown beyond that by now. I did like her more in Paquita. I'm slightly tempted to go see her do The Swan just to see if she can make something of it, since there are basically no steps there. I loved Marchuk, and I also liked Asaben. The pd3 was also excellent. Pavlenko was amazing in Rite. Such a waste that's all she's doing.

That has turned out to be a great program -- Bouder, and then Kowroski in Chaconne! Hyltin should be good in La Valse. I'm kind of surprised she hasn't done it before.