FauxPas

Melanie is corps de ballet - ABT didn't announce Polina Semionova's pregnancy and she is a prima ballerina. Usually you find that out through social media or public interviews with colleagues - Malakhov broke the news of Polina's bun in the oven. Frankly, I think this will impede Melanie's progress at ABT where I think she had some potential to make soloist. She had some weakness in the footwork/ankles in the past but they were giving her solos nonetheless. She was looking stronger recently. Maybe this pregnancy signals a change of focus in her life and career. BTW: check out this video of Melanie and Thomas Forster in the Act II "Swan Lake" pas de deux. What do you think? I think she has fine technique but no lyricism or musicality - the movements lack legato phrasing.

Wow, just wow... BTW: Melanie Hamrick was scheduled in late June/early July to dance several roles in "The Sleeping Beauty" including the Sapphire Fairy and one of the Act I fairies. She was replaced by Paulina Waski as Sapphire and I forget who in the Act I variation. I had wondered if she was injured...

Well another short male principal, just what ABT needs... Cirio did well as Colas in "Fille Mal Gardée" and Mercutio in "Romeo and Juliet" where he was clearly an audience favorite. Gorak will get his turn, hopefully soon. It is good news that Gorak is returning to Romeo later this summer on tour. Two things that may be holding Gorak back a bit - partnering and acting. Cirio is rather experienced at both - Gorak looks like a work in progress. In the big story ballets you need some stage presence and Gorak can come off as an elegant dancer but recessive, boyish, sexless and tentative actor. He will only get better with experience though. Hoven is good news and overdue. I would have been upset if he wasn't promoted Meanwhile, I promise I will do my run down of the company next week. However, there is a real dichotomy in age and quality between the senior principals - Gomes, Murphy, Cornejo, Abrera, Vishneva, Bolle, Part (and the long absent Hallberg and Semionova) and the younger division. The younger division would include dancers around the age of 30 who should be carrying the company which would include Stearns, Boylston, Simkin, Seo and Copeland. Then there are experienced outside acquisitions like Kochetkova, Whiteside and Lendorf also thirtyish (Lendorf is mid to late twenties born in 1989). Cirio at least is still in his mid-twenties and has years of good service ahead of him. Cirio could take over Herman Cornejo's track but Cirio is not yet as refined a classicist as Cornejo. That could come with time. There is a lack of younger dancers in their early twenties who are being groomed to take over Giselle, Swan Lake and Don Quixote. Cassandra Trenary, Devon Teuscher and Skyler Brandt (and Catherine Hurlin and a few others) are looking promising. But ABT needs to start grooming them now. And not just one dancer - like the Seo or Stearns ascensions - but a whole group of at least four or five dancers need to be given major roles. Meanwhile those principal dancers in their late thirties or early forties will be retiring in the next five years. (I hope Stella dances many more years since she has been held back so long.) I am wondering if Hallberg and Semionova will be coming back at all. That is two more principal spots opening up right there. In five years ABT will be a very different company.

Well the Tatianas still on the roster are Hee Seo and Diana Vishneva (Kent and Dvorovenko are retired). Polina Semionova danced it too but she may not be back from maternity leave. Actually, Gillian could be an interesting choice since she is a fine Juliet. Part would have partnering problems and Kochetkova seems like an overqualified Olga in the Osipova tradition. The best choice for Tatiana: Stella Abrera - perfection. However one former ABT Tatiana has reemerged from retirement - Alessandra Ferri. As for Giselle there is Abrera, Boylston, Seo. I think that Kochetkova definitely will add Giselle as per Abatt and also Misty Copeland. However, that might be the season Gillian Murphy finally gets a Giselle. (Martine Van Hamel danced Giselle at ABT though she was the perfect Myrtha). Also Diana Vishneva I suspect might drop Giselle from her repertory next season. Semionova is also a dicey proposition - she may not even rejoin ABT if she wants to keep her family in Europe in the child's first years.

I was there last night too for Hammoudi/Murphy. What I will say is that though this wasn't a great Romeo, it was better than usual Hammoudi. However, when he danced with Blaine Hoven and Jeffrey Cirio, Hammoudi was just a half beat behind them (he is much taller and longer-limbed). Cirio seemed to be the dancer whose technique and performance energy forced you to watch. As for Hammoudi's partnering, I think in the balcony scene duet there were some places where he had to lift Juliet over his head and he just lifted her to his shoulder. In some lifts Gillian kept one hand on his shoulder just in case. Otherwise, no mishaps. His acting wasn't that terrible - he has gotten some good coaching. Hammoudi was convincing breaking down in tears after Romeo has killed Tybalt. However, Gillian is on a whole other level. I have avoided Gillian as Juliet in the past - I avoid this ballet too. However, she owns the role both in dance and dramatic terms - each moment was fully realized and captured. There was no hardness, no remoteness - every step had an emotional through line. Of course she has strong feet and a high extension but that was used for musical and expressive means, not technical display. There was a sense of emotional abandon and headstrong passion that was blandly responded to by Hammoudi but she made him better and pulled him up to her level. Jeffrey Cirio was the male dancing star of the evening with incredible precision and speed in his turns and beats. However, as an actor he is still a little callow and you really didn't get a good sense of how Mercutio is different from Benvolio until the later scenes. That will come - Herman didn't have it initially either. Blaine Hoven danced with wit and style as Benvolio - his technique is looking sharp these days and he really should be promoted this season. Also nice to see Daniel Mantei out of the corps and dancing Paris - beautiful partnering and elegant presence in the little he had to do. More please. Roman Zhurbin and Devon Teuscher were the Capulet Mr. and Mrs. and Martine Van Hamel the Nurse - all good. Cassandra Trenary, Skyler Brandt and Catherine Hurlin were the Harlots - nothing to say there except that the fright wig-white face hooker drag actually makes Skyler Brandt look exquisitely pretty. I don't know how that works but it does - much prettier than she is on or offstage. Gillian was really carrying the whole performance even in scenes like the Tomb Scene where she has little real dancing. She also made Hammoudi look better in their scenes despite some timorous partnering. There was real passion there and real acting. I would love to see her dance this with Marcelo just once. House full and enthusiastic - maybe ABT needs to move their season until after NYCB leaves for Saratoga. They are currently the only big show at Lincoln Center with the tourist crowd all to themselves. BTW: report (not from me) from the Weds. matinee: Isabella Boylston had a very successful debut as Juliet - lots of passion and very good interpretation with many details. James Whiteside is a fine technical dancer but not a Romeo - poker-faced and cold. He didn't give back what she gave him.

Several corps ballerinas came into their own dancing for Ratmansky - especially in his "Sleeping Beauty" as various fairies. I think we all noticed Paulina Waski, Cassandra Trenary and Skyler Brandt as the Fairies in the prologue. (Nicole Graniero stood out too but she left the company). Skyler Brandt and Christine Schevchenko came in to their own taking over the leads in the Shostakovich Piano Concerto No. 1 from Murphy, Osipova and Vishneva. So the Ratmansky effect has been a boon to the female dancers in ABT as well. Waski, like Hurlin, needs to be developed and moved forward and Lavine as well. Gemma Bond IMO should be a soloist. Melanie Hamrick has gotten stronger and could be given bigger roles. Calvin Royal III is an obvious contender as is Gabe Stone Shayer (both Ratmansky favorites who danced with Schevchenko and Brandt in the Piano Concerto No. 1). Daniel Mantei and Marshall Whiteley would be good choices to take over Sterling Baca's slots.

Another note: the dream team "Born to Be Wild" contingent all joined ABT from other companies circa 1995. Stiefel joined a little later and Bocca was inherited from the earlier Baryshnikov and Hermann regimes. Marcelo Gomes joined ABT corps in 1997, made soloist in 2000 and principal in 2002. Hallberg joined the company in 2001 and made soloist in 2004 and principal in 2006. Cornejo joined the corps at age 18 in 1999, made soloist in 2000 and principal dancer in 2003. However Cornejo kept on dancing pas de trois and peasant pas de deux's for years after making principal. Certain male leads in classical ballets that would seem like naturals for him like Basilio in "Don Quixote" took years for him to be cast in. Stearns joined the corps in 2006, promoted to soloist 2009 and principal 2011. The other male principals are either international stars like Bolle, Simkin and Lendorf who were developed elsewhere or dancers poached from other American companies like Whiteside (and potentially Cirio) from Boston Ballet. Bolle is over 40. Gomes and Cornejo 35 or over, Hallberg is 34 and has been out for two seasons with no indication of a return. Stearns is 30 or 31 years old and Whiteside is about the same age. Daniil Simkin is the only principal in his twenties at age 28 along with the injured and absent new acquisition Alban Lendorf who was born in 1989. Both Simkin and Lendorf were trained in Europe and developed abroad. Alexandre Hammoudi was born in 1983 and will turn 33 in late July. Thomas Forster was born in 1986 and has/will turn 30 this year. Arron Scott was born in 1985 and Craig Salstein is about the same age. Only Joey Gorak (born in 1990, joined ABT in 2009 and was promoted to soloist in 2014) and Jeffrey Cirio (about 24 and joined from Boston Ballet) are still in their 20's. So Gorak, Cirio, Lendorf and Simkin are the only twenty something principal and soloist males. All four are on the medium to short side in height. Cirio got a big push this year with a lot of prominent castings. Gorak seems to be on a plateau right now. I think a lack of acting experience and theatrical presence may be the culprit - the Romeo last year didn't set the world on fire though the Frantz in "Coppelia" was a home run. So where are the guys in the corps under 30 besides Gorak who have been developed by McKenzie over the last five to ten years? Now we have a problem - it has been in the making for at least half a decade. History shows that you need to keep new dancers coming every five years or so. So for every experienced thirty year old principal, there is a freshly promoted twenty five year old debuting in leading roles and a twenty year old in the corps getting solos.

NYCB has the advantage of SAB which funnels excellent dancers into the company. What I noticed about NYCB is that in the last five or six years there has been a big turnover in the principal roster at NYCB. Unlike ABT, everyone loves the new dancers especially the ballerinas Sarah Mearns, Tiler Peck, Tess Reichlen, Lauren Lovette et al. There is also a huge number of young ballerinas like Ashley Isaacs, Ashley Hod, Sara Adams etc. that people are excited about. Thanks to the nature of the repertory with lots of casting opportunities, these young women are getting major breaks. The male roster at NYCB is much weaker with less promising male talent coming up. Chase Finlay's injuries stalled him after a quick progress to the top. When I came to NY circa 1990, NYCB had a stronger male roster than ABT with young prime time Boal, Woetzel, Evans, Adam Luders, Soto et al. The problem with the male roster at ABT is that Kevin kept hanging on to that "Born to Be Wild" contingent for too long. Gomes, Cornejo and Hallberg started to be developed in the early aughts. But since then only Cory has been developed and brought forward from within to replace them. Meanwhile lots of defections over the years. The problem with ABT is that the JKO School hasn't yet delivered the same results that SAB has in recent years. There are talented dancers out there like Catherine Hurlin but thanks to the hierarchical nature of the casting and repertory, they don't get enough chances. Ratmansky always gives corps dancers breaks, also dancers who are being neglected by McKenzie. But there is a lot of stagnation going on and the rash of retirements that occurred over the last few years hasn't brought new dancers the public has taken to their hearts except for Misty Copeland. Copeland's rise is due to her own self-promotion and I don't hate her for it. Not only she benefits but so does the company as a whole. The African-American community's representation in the arts gets a boost as does the whole genre of classical ballet which is getting more visibility. Boylston shows little progress in artistry and style, Seo is bland and technically weak despite all the push she has received. Stella Abrera has shown the qualities of a great ballerina and expressive artist but still isn't being used to her fullest extent and only has about five more years at the most. I've mentioned this before but ABT never really replaced the late Georgina Parkinson and Irina Kolpakova cannot work with everyone and doesn't from what I have heard. Susan Jaffe is no longer in the picture. That leaves the likes of Susan Jones, Nancy Raffa, Clinton Luckett and Keith Roberts - not exactly legendary ballet names like Kolpakova though probably very competent dance professionals. Golden age ABT dancers like Cynthia Gregory and Eleanor D'Antuono are around (D'Antuono has been working with the New Jersey Ballet) but aren't being tapped by McKenzie. The reasons may not lie with Kevin but these former ABT dancers themselves - Gregory lives and works on the west coast. To return to the topic at hand: I didn't see any "Swan Lake" performances this year but Veronika Part is recovering from an injury from last Winter. I was told that it was a back injury according to someone who spoke to Part. So the stiffness in her upper body may be due to this injury - back injuries take a long time to heal and often continue to plague one over time.

I doubt Kevin will get rid of his "Swan Lake" staging and I also think that the "Don Quixote" is his staging as well? He gets residuals every time they stage his productions, am I correct? The MacMillan "Romeo and Juliet" is so iconic and I would prefer a staging of the Cranko over a new Ratmansky version. Also, the current ABT "R&J" is indeed a solid production that is in good shape. "Raymonda" is a good idea and a Ratmansky reconstruction is a great idea, though I love the Vikharev from La Scala. Frankly I don't think you can get enough reconstructions. ABT's "La Bayadere" production is over 35 years old now - they spent a lot of money refurbishing the costumes recently. However, Doug Fullington has discovered that there are major sections that deviate from the 1900 Mariinsky production - the Sergeyev notes show a very different coda to the "KIngdom of the Shades" with Kschessinkaya as Nikiya executing the notorious "four corners" that Merrill Ashley was famous for in "Ballo alla Regina". As for a tall male partner - let me again suggest hiring (as a regular guest or splitting his time if he doesn't want to leave the Joffrey) Fabrice Calmels. Lendorf and Hallberg coming back full time would be an incredible boost to the male roster. Remember that Roberto Bolle is also likely to retire sooner rather than later - he is older than Marcelo though currently he is in great shape. Johann Strauss also wrote a ballet "Aschenbrödel" which I once saw the Ballet Nacional de Cuba perform at City Center. The score is schmaltzy but fun. Maybe not a Ratmansky project - maybe Wheeldon?

Let me jump into this topic. I saw the Thursday night "Golden Cockerel" last week with the opening night cast: Part, Chryst, Brandt (fabulous) and Stearns. Reading the program notes in the ABT program, I learned there were TWO Fokine-Ballets Russes "Le Coq D'Or" ballets. The first 1914 version with Karsavina was an opera-ballet - they performed the two-act opera with the singers on the side and dancers performing the protagonists onstage. The shorter ballet version came much later after Diaghilev: In 1937 Fokine revised the piece as a pure dance ballet: http://www.russianballethistory.com/ballethistories.htm "In 1937, Fokine revised the work for the Ballets Russes company of Colonel W de Basil, creating a single-act ballet in three scenes which premiered at Covent Garden on September 23, 1937. For this straight-dance version, the Rimsky-Korsakov score was adapted and arranged by Nicolas Tcherepnin, and Fokine condensed the original opera libretto, which Vladimir Bielsky had adapted from a Pushkin poem. Artist Natalia Gontcharova based her neo-primitive set and costume designs on those she had made for the 1914 version, recreating the original curtain and modifying other elements to produce a brilliantly colourful tableau. Her costume for the Cockerel, using real gold thread, was introduced in the 1937 production, the 1914 version having used a prop to represent this character." IMHO: I agree totally with those who felt there was a sensational one-act ballet buried in this overstuffed bore. The first act really could only be 15 or at the most 20 minutes of exposition. There is both too little plot and too much plot in the first act since very little that is central to the main story occurs yet it is complex and not easily related in mime. The real story begins when Tsar Dodon meets the Queen of Shemakha. I think that the choice of making Tsar Dodon purely a character mime role also limited the dance opportunities. Imagine if it was given to a demi-caractère male dancer - a character dancer who could actually execute classical choreography and really dance with the Queen rather than just clumsily partner her and mime. Imagine Herman Cornejo or Daniil Simkin as King Dodon or maybe even Marcelo Gomes after his sensational Widow Simone turn. If it is going to be a two act full-evening work then the opera-ballet version is preferable - maybe in collaboration with the Metropolitan Opera or a special festival presentation under the auspices of the Lincoln Center Festival. Mark Morris has done a lot of these dance opera hybrids and oddball or oratorio type operas benefit from that kind of treatment/presentation.

There also was a "Swan Lake" a few years ago that Julie Kent was scheduled to dance. She ended up splitting it with Irina Dvorovenko - but oddly Irina Dvorovenko danced the white acts and Julie Kent danced the Odile black act. Don't know what happened behind the scenes with that one... Marcelo and the girls: https://www.instagram.com/p/BFWKjNBiuRt/?taken-by=marcelua https://www.instagram.com/p/BFVE1NlEUe3/?taken-by=balletrusse The one thing is that in Act I, Sylvia isn't partnered extensively by either Aminta or Orion, the ballerina has mostly solos with corps and pantomime. Both Aminta and Orion have brief tussles with her which are mostly action staging with her but little dancing. So that is why they could switch up the partnering in Act I with dancers from different casts. In Act II scenes 1 and 2 the ballerina is partnered by Orion in the first scene (hence Simkin, Kochetkova's scheduled partner) and in the final tableau Bolle took over to partner Seo. It was indeed a fun evening and having seen the ballet on Tuesday it was fun to check out the other two girls and revisit Seo in her best moments. Boylston was technically very strong with lightning fast chainés, pirouettes and bold attack on phrases. The upper body was less elegant than Seo or other ballerinas I have seen. The martial Amazon Sylvia in Act I brings out her best qualities. Gomes looked in very strong form and danced with passion. Craig Salstein relished both the comedy demi-caractère and classical aspects of Eros. Daniil Simkin's acrobatic showy Russian style and strong personality fit Orion quite well. Kochetkova I liked a lot in the Act II seduction scene. Kochetkova is tiny but she dances big and has quick, precise footwork and turns. She is very much a petite allegro dancer and the solos were fast and precise. Also she has those flowing Russian arms and understands the "oriental odalisque" style with the supple torso and bent back very well. She was a treat and well-matched with Simkin. Hee Seo again seemed a little cramped by the pizzicato solo - too many little steps at too great a speed. A little more speed and strength and amplitude and she would be fully convincing. But Seo was ravishing in the pas de deux - creamy and silky. She was helped and inspired by Roberto Bolle who really is dancing like someone ten years younger - I see no diminution of energy, speed, flexibility or technical control. Everyone seemed to be throwing themselves into it and the show had great energy and élan. Fun night.

So I went last night for Seo/Bolle/Stearns/Cirio and was pleasantly surprised. First of all, the orchestra sounded okay, not like they were sight reading. The horns were in tune and the ensemble was fine so you could enjoy the lovely Delibes score. Also, the ABT corps work in the first act which was always from the premiere season so sloppy in comparison with the stylish and precise Royal Ballet corps in the video, had better formations and ensemble except for an out of sync quartet of nymphs, Bolle was truly beautiful and age defying from start to finish - he looks like some sort of classical deity and the body is so perfectly proportioned. But he had amazing assemblé turns and great speed in his solos and was a perfect partner. Hee Seo was not perfect but she was lovely. Her entrée with the Amazon huntresses had a pirouette that almost got out of control but otherwise I was surprised by her confidence and technical solidity. Her dancing was not exciting but it was musical and her port de bras is creamy and fluent. She also has a lovely, demure stage face. I saw a few impressive jumps and all those pirouettes were mostly solid. Though there was one that was sort of en dedans up to an arabesque finish where oddly she seemed to turning and supporting herself on the side of the foot rather than the pointe. Her second act scene in Orion's grotto was also well-danced but lacked abandon and sensuality. Diana Vishneva better understood the "oriental" odalisque style of dancing here and the dramatic motivation that Sylvia is turning into a kind of bacchante to get Orion drunk and unconscious so she can flee. I also felt that in her solos she was dancing at full strength and she had just enough without having anything extra. The pizzicato solo in the last scene was beautifully phrased but the quick footwork taxed her though she doesn't lose her poise. There was one section that had a series of hops where she would rise on pointe - kind of like the "Happy Shade" solo in "La Bayadère" Kingdom of the Shades pas de trois. Anyway, her foot tired and she just hopped flat footed with no rise to point on the third set. Again she didn't lose her poise and it seemed planned - the audience applauded. But for all the three of four little flaws, there were many, many lovely and polished phrases including a nicely held balance in the final pas de deux with Bolle. With his help there, Seo really looked like a ballerina and was coolly lush and serenely classical. She doesn't dance as big as Gillian Murphy or Semionova but is truly a good, not great ballerina in the right role. I consider this a step forward and though I hadn't really desired to see her in this role, I was glad I did. Cory Stearns is looking very technically strong these days and his dancing was exciting. The beard and makeup gave him more stage face - again he could have made more of Orion's drunkenness and lust for Sylvia in Act II. Jeffrey Cirio as Eros is a small but well-proportioned dancer with strong jumps and classical form - I look forward to seeing him in several roles this season. He looked very ready for prime time. Sarah Lane and Craig Salstein were vivacious and sprightly as the two goats. Zhong-Jing Fang looked lovely as Ceres in the last act grand pas. Daniel Mantei (partnering Devon Teuscher as Apollo) always catches my eye - with Sterling Baca poised to leave how about some solo work for him? I noticed many new faces in the corps - looks like some major turnover there. There was one very handsome tall new dancer that caught my eye - I looked through the website photos and identified him as Marshall Whitely who is new this year. He wasn't listed in the program: http://www.abt.org/dancers/detail.asp?Dancer_ID=360 If ABT is searching for a tall, strong premier danseur they might avoid going shopping around internationally and just develop this guy. He is very tall and has stage presence and from these videos has solid technique that could be developed. NOTE TO ADMINISTRATOR: If you want to start individual threads on each ballet please move this message to that thread. Thanks.

Well I wish Stella had gotten one of Semionova's "Swan Lake" performances or the Juliet. Ratmansky would have had a voice in who replaced Semionova in 9th Symphony - hence the new soloist Devon Teuscher is tapped. Notice that Kochetkova is now dancing the show that Seo was originally scheduled for with Blaine Hoven. I must also mention that Gorak has not only been pulled from Romeo but he is not dancing Colas in "Fille" or Aminta in "Sylvia" - two roles one would think would be naturals for him.

Why was it an impossibility to replace Semionova in "Sylvia" with Veronika Part? She was superb in the one Wednesday matinee she danced three seasons ago. She was scheduled to dance with Cory but his injury reunited her with Marcelo. Is the "Hee Seo to the rescue" ploy really working for ABT?

Hammoudi has partnered Veronika in mixed program ballets - contemporary stuff if I remember. I remember they danced together in one of those opening night gala occasions. "Swan Lake" is a whole other level of course. I think it is a shame that Whiteside isn't dancing with Veronika since I think he handles her well. Also, Boylston's usual partner as Siegfried Daniil Simkin couldn't dance two shows because he would be dancing on Tuesday night and then the Wednesday matinee back to back. I think the best move would have been to revert to last year's casting and schedule Boylston/Simkin and Copeland/Whiteside. Or Boylston/Simkin and let Hammoudi partner Misty as he did in Australia and keep Whiteside with Part. There was a big TimeOut interview with Hammoudi: http://www.timeout.com/newyork/dance/alexandre-hammoudi-talks-about-his-career-at-american-ballet-theatre Two things stand out - one was that he was trained privately in Paris with a POB-trained teacher but never worked at the POB: "I actually never went there. All of my teachers did. Max Bozzoni was a big principal; he did all the [serge] Lifar ballets in the Paris Opera, and he is the teacher who made Patrick Dupond, basically; if we have a mentor, somebody we learn from, I pretty much learned from him. And it wasn’t that much about technique. It was a very old-school way of going about ballet and steps and movement, because I had zero discipline at that age. I was wild and full of energy and he was like, “Dance, dance, dance.”" The other is that reading between the lines you sense a certain lack of drive and discipline. Hammoudi doesn't come off as someone who is pushing himself past pain and exhaustion to polish his technique to dance on the highest classical level. There is a certain lackadaisical attitude to him and a touch of passivity. Neither trait would have gone over well at the POB school. Alex was accepted there but dissuaded from going by his teachers and family - partly because of the commute and having to board, schooling etc. Best leading role I saw Hammoudi dance was the title role in the Lubovitch "Othello" which is contemporary ballet choreography. That I think is his best fit - he had the charisma and the dramatic projection and his level of classical technique was a perfect match for a role designed on Desmond Richardson.

Note: the first week of the season devoted to Ashton's "Sylvia" is discounted on Goldstar: https://www.goldstar.com/events/new-york-ny/american-ballet-theatres-sylvia-tickets?mal=1 Goldstar tacks on a processing fee that is not negligible but it is free to join.

Ratmansky has a great deal of say into who dances Aurora in this ABT production. For example: Veronika Part danced Aurora on the opening night of the McKenzie/Kirkland/Chernov production. Part danced Aurora again in the few revival seasons that production had - she was actually much improved and technically fine the last time I saw her dance it. Since the Ratmansky staging opened, Part has only danced Lilac Fairy (with a simplified variation) in the Ratmansky. Clearly, Ratmansky or Part no longer feel she is appropriate as Aurora. Part is an experienced principal ballerina and a favorite of Ratmansky's. I will not say whether or not Copeland can or cannot dance Aurora, since I have never seen her dance the role. I won't even opine if she should or shouldn't dance the role. In fact I haven't seen enough of Copeland dancing prima ballerina roles in full-length Petipa classics other than Gamzatti that I can confidently predict her success or failure. (I didn't go to her "Swan Lake" matinee) If Copeland is filling the theater and large numbers of new ballet fans see her, "Sleeping Beauty" and excellent ABT dancers like Sarah Lane, Cassandra Trenary or Isabella Boylston then that is a good thing. Win-Win.

I was personally wondering why Julie Kent wasn't tapped as a full-time ballet mistress at ABT to replace Susan Jaffe and the late Georgina Parkinson. Kolpakova is in her eighties and is cutting back though she seems indestructible. The JKO School Summer Intensive seemed kind of small potatoes for her. We don't know if Julie is giving up that position or if Victor Barbee is leaving his position of associate artistic director at ABT. Anyway, congratulations to both of them!

At the first announcement of casting for the 2016 Met season, I was cheered by the fact that McKenzie seemed to be more egalitarian. All the of the ballerina roles were equitably shared by all the principals. (Of course there are always some shattering disappointments - no Stella Abrera "Swan Lake", no Veronika Part "Sylvia", no Kochetkova Lise in "Fille") Now this rearrangement has reverted everything back to the old "Hee Seo Ballet Theater" model. Why give Hee Seo three Auroras when Abrera, Trenary and Murphy (a bigger box office attraction) are only getting one performance each? Why was Sarah Lane being dropped from her one performance of Aurora instead of assigning Gorak or even Simkin as her partner? Why is Seo the only possible replacement for that show even if it means having her dance three performances in four days? WHY??? Update - the current Metropolitan Opera website page for "Sleeping Beauty" shows Lane still dancing Aurora on July 1st with Cornejo. http://www.metopera.org/Season/2016-ABT/The-Sleeping-Beauty/

I will be doing a double header on Saturday the 27th seeing Kolegova at the matinee and Big Red in the evening. Would be happy to meet up between shows.

Clarification: The Holmes/McKenzie production still had Abderakhman as a Saracen - this wasn't "Good Christian Knight vs. Bad Christian Knight". Lots of the character dances were cut in Act II (politically incorrect stuff there) and a great deal of mime. As to political correctness - as I said, only three or four years after 9/11 this was a very fresh wound in America and New York especially. So if it wasn't too politically incorrect then to do the full version, then it isn't now. I saw Dvorovenko, Part, Herrera and Ananiashvili. Veronika Part danced the role of Raymonda's friend (Henriette? Clemence? my memory isn't that good) at the premiere season. Michele Wiles danced the other friend and nearly stole the show. The other Raymondas in that first season were Michele Wiles (from this site's reviews Wiles was not so hot the first year she danced it and much improved in 2005) and Xiomara Reyes (probably technically good but too small scale physically and in type). Murphy I think would have gone in the second year but I can't remember exactly. Julie Kent never danced it sadly and even in 2005 she may have been past her best in it technically. There are stylistic and choreographic similarities to Aurora in the first two acts of "Raymonda". Julie Kent had been a nearly ideal Aurora in the old MacMillan "Sleeping Beauty" circa 1997. Part graduated to the title role of Raymonda in the second year of the production's run in 2005 - a Wednesday matinee and I took off of work to see it. Marcelo Gomes was her Jean de Brienne. There was a problem with a lift in the "Dream Vision Grand Pas" in Act I that was not Marcelo's fault - Veronika couldn't get into position. She was ravishing elsewhere and her musicality, phrasing and port de bras gave a lot of pleasure. She said it was her favorite role but never danced it again - even when Kolpakova staged the "Raymonda" suite at City Center the ballerinas were Herrera, Murphy and first cast Hee Seo. ABT had an older "Raymonda" Act III distillation that I saw in the early nineties - Susan Jaffe and Cynthia Gregory (her last season before she retired) danced it. I think I saw it with Jaffe and Julio Bocca - there were no Hungarian costumes with the hussar jackets and fur trimmed hats.

The BAM site has two different pages for the programs with different information about the Opening Night on the 25th. Per the individual page Vishneva is performing "Carmen Suite" on the 25th, not "Woman in a Room". Program A: Lopatkina in "Dying Swan" and Vishneva in "Carmen Suite" - kinda skimpy... http://www.bam.org/m/dance/2016/a-tribute-to-maya-plisetskaya-program-a Carmen Suite (1967) Performed by Diana Vishneva With members of Mariinsky Ballet Company, St. Petersburg Choreography by Alberto Alonso Music by Rodion Shchedrin after Georges Bizet The Dying Swan (1905) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina Choreography by Michel Fokine Music by Camille Saint-Saëns Boléro (1961) Performed by Maya Plisetskaya (Film 1975) Choreography by Maurice Béjart Music by Maurice Ravel Program B: this is more like it! http://www.bam.org/m/dance/2016/a-tribute-to-maya-plisetskaya-program-b Pavlova and Cecchetti (1971) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina & Roman Belyakov Choreography by John Neumeier Music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky Pas de deux of Colombine and Harlequin from Le Carnaval (1910) Performed by Valeriya Martinuk & Alexei Popov Choreography by Michel Fokine Music by Robert Schumann 7th Waltz from Chopiniana (1908) Performed by Ekaterina Osmolkina and Maxim Zyuzin Choreography by Michel Fokine Music by Frédéric Chopin Le Spectre de la rose (1911) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina and Vladimir Shklyarov Choreography by Michel Fokine Music by Carl Maria von Weber Russian Dance from The Nutcracker (1892) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina Choreography by Marius Petipa Music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky Pas de deux of Princess Florine and the Bluebird from The Sleeping Beauty (1890) Performed by Valeriya Martinuk and Alexei Popov Choreography by Marius Petipa Music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky Pas de deux of the Firebird and Prince Ivan from The Firebird (1910) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina and Andrey Ermakov Choreography by Michel Fokine Music by Igor Stravinsky Pas de deux from Giselle (1841 and 1884) Performed by Ekaterina Osmolkina and Vladimir Shklyarov Choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot (1841), revised by Marius Petipa (1884) Music by Adolphe Charles Adam Pas de deux of Zobeide and the Golden Slave from Scheherazade (1910) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina and Andrey Ermakov Choreography by Michel Fokine Music by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Excerpt from Petrushka (1911) Performed by Ekaterina Osmolkina, Vladimir Shklyarov, and Roman Belyakov Choreography by Michel Fokine Music by Igor Stravinsky The Dying Swan (1905) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina Choreography by Michel Fokine Music by Camille Saint-Saëns Program C: (I am seeing "Raymonda" in DC that day both shows - no lemons for me) http://www.bam.org/m/dance/2016/a-tribute-to-maya-plisetskaya-program-c Woman in a Room (2013) Performed by Diana Vishneva Choreography by Carolyn Carlson Music by Giovanni Sollima and René Aubry Music editor: Nicolas de Zorzi Carmen Suite (1967) Performed by Diana Vishneva with members of Mariinsky Ballet Company, St. Petersburg Choreography by Alberto Alonso Music by Rodion Shchedrin after Georges Bizet Program D: See you there! http://www.bam.org/m/dance/2016/a-tribute-to-maya-plisetskaya-program-d White Adagio from Swan Lake Performed by Uliana Lopatkina and Andrey Ermakov Choreography by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov (1895) Revised choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev (1950) Music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky Maria and Vaslav adagio from The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (1934) Performed by Ekaterina Osmolkina and Maxim Zyuzin Choreography by Rostislav Zakharov Music by Boris Asafyev Melody (1949) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina and Andrey Ermakov Choreography by Asaf Messerer Music by Christoph Willibald Gluck Balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet (1940) Performed by Maria Shirinkina and Vladimir Shklyarov Choreography by Leonid Lavrovsky Music by Sergei Prokofiev Pas de deux from Giselle Performed by Ekaterina Osmolkina, and Maxim Zyuzin Choreography by Jean Coralli and Jules Perrot (1841) Revised choreography by Marius Petipa (1884) Music by Adolphe Charles Adam Excerpt from Act III of The Fountain of Bakhchisarai (1934) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina, Maria Shirinkina and Roman Belyakov Choreography by Rostislav Zakharov Music by Boris Asafyev Excerpt from Carmen Suite (1967) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina, Andrey Ermakov, and Roman Belyakov Choreography by Alberto Alonso Music by Rodion Shchedrin after Georges Bizet Excerpt from Laurencia (1939) Performed by Ekaterina Osmolkina, Maxim Zyuzin, Valeria Martinuk, and Alexei Popov Choreography by Vakhtang Chabukiani Music by Alexander Crain Pas de deux of Mekhmeneh Bahnu and Ferkhad from The Legend of Love (1961) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina and Andrey Ermakov Choreography by Yuri Grigorovich Music by Arif Melikov Pas de deux from Don Quixote Performed by Valeria Martinuk and Vladimir Shklyarov Choreography by Marius Petipa (1869) Revised choreography by Alexander Gorsky (1900) Music by Ludwig Minkus La Rose Malade (Death of the Rose) (1973) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina and Andrey Ermakov Choreography by Roland Petit Music by Gustav Mahler The Dying Swan (Film, 1905) Performed by Maya Plisetskaya Choreography by Michel Fokine Music by Camille Saint-Saëns The Dying Swan (1905) Performed by Uliana Lopatkina Choreography by Michel Fokine Music by Camille Saint-Saëns

The religious aspect was already gone from the Holmes/McKenzie staging - Abderakhman was just costumed as an Arab "exotic" but not really developed dramatically. The Bolshoi staging by Grigorovich gives him more choreography - at ABT he mostly partnered. (Was that staging co-owned by Boston Ballet? Where did it go after ABT dropped it?) There were comments in 2004 that mime was cut and the character dancing minimized. There was an excess of prettiness and very little dramatic tension and development (a problem that has its foundation with the original libretto). The characters are basically pasteboard figures with no depth - the dancing has to fill them out. Lots of sparkle on the scenery and costumes which looked more nineteenth century than medieval (that probably was the case in the original production in 1898). This was the thread in 2004 about the staging: http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/16875-raymondathe-met-2004/ Here are contemporary videos introducing the ballet: http://www.abt.org/performances/abtstudios.asp

I remember a review that lambasted the production as "Barbie's Dream" or "My Little Pony" version of "Raymonda" - kind of like "Barbie's Swan Lake". I remember lots of pink and blue in the designs. The costumes were very pretty. I also remember that Jean de Brienne entered in the first scene and took his leave of Raymonda to join the crusades. In the original scenario by Lidia Pashkova, Raymonda is shown a full-length portrait of Jean de Brienne in Act I and dreams of him in the Dream Vision grand pas. He only appears in the flesh when he saves her from Abderakhman in Act II like he "stepped out of a dream". It was my first "Raymonda" that wasn't on video (and the Bolshoi video I had seen with the divine Semenyaka was dark and grainy except for her and Gediminas Taranda). I had no other references as to productions and thought it was a very workable production that didn't show much invention but the dancing was good. Nina Ananiashvili and Paloma Herrera were very fine Raymondas. I saw the opening night Raymonda, Irina Dvorovenko who should have been perfect and was coached by Kolpakova. Unfortunately, I found Dvorovenko very "steppy" and disjointed in her phrasing. She broke the choreography up into little discrete units and didn't phrase through the music - no idea why that happened. Veronika Part had lovely moments and some uneasy ones - she was still struggling in the company and not dancing many leading roles and wasn't in tip top shape. What she did well was gorgeous and dream-like. I remember going to the stage door to meet Diana Vishneva and I asked her why she never danced Raymonda with ABT as it was the only major classic ballet I hadn't seen her in. She mentioned that she danced the ballet with the Mariinsky but that the ABT production was "not very good". Vishneva only danced one performance of the McKenzie/Kirkland/Chernov "Sleeping Beauty" and then fell ill. She never went near it again until the Ratmansky production last year. I think that Kevin having Irina Kolpakova stage the Act III variations as a stand-alone piece suggests that he has no plans to revive the full ballet. In 2004 this was less than three years after 9/11 and the political implications were even fresher and more raw for New Yorkers. I think the deliberately fairy tale children's picture book approach was designed to suppress such resonances and render the piece anodyne.

I think in one of the Somova threads there were citations of demotions of first soloists to lower ranks in the Mariinsky - two instances where dancers were lowered in rank. One or two got the hint and left the company.