FauxPas

Julie Kent and Roberto Bolle did some beautiful things but looked like they needed one more rehearsal. I would go see them in this ballet - Kent looked in good form and radiated youthful romanticism. Bolle's sex appeal made his dream Onegin powerful and sensual. They just need to dance it a few more times to get it in sync - Cranko has a lot of quick change partnering and changes in direction that didn't come together. As for Ivan Vasiliev, I think we may be dealing with kind of a male Somova. (Men look less offensive doing Somova type tricks) He has got incredible physical ability but goes for too much turning vulgar and unmusical. Now "Flames of Paris" can take this kind of "let me show you my whammies" approach. But he didn't "nearly fell over" - HE FELL OVER. He then in the best Jimmy Cagney/Mickey Rooney style went for the gold throwing in all the trick jumps, 180's and revoltades he could. The audience loved it but the booer was making a point. Vasiliev has zero sense of line, does not connect the steps and is not very musical. In this and in that solo he did for "Kings of Dance" he can get away with this kind of stomp around and then throw your big effects in the audience's face approach. But he is currently more of an acrobat/gymnast than a classical dancer. Hopefully he is not such a "superstar" that he won't take some coaching from Kevin or someone else who will give him some artistry, musicality, phrasing, class and elegance. Part of the problem is Vasiliev's build - he is kind of short and stocky with big thighs. The body is of a demi-caractere dancer. Vasiliev has the cocky manner of a young boxer and is very macho - definitely has the charisma. He is young and can learn. The Simkin solo was also basically another "Let me show you my whammies" special. But Simkin gave it some humor and ironic playfulness as well as knocking out some amazing 180's and triples pirouettes. He also finishes his steps and can be elegant. The JKO male student who stood out was a young Asian dancer who I believe was also praised in the studio performances. In a few years ABT will have a fine Bluebird and Golden Idol. The students looked well trained and several of the girls were good turners. I was impressed by Vadim Muntagirov's bouyant jumps and finished turns. He does have a sense of line and can be the prince. Cojocaru and Corella were wonderful and had great chemistry in the "Manon" pas de deux. They are very well matched physically (several other ABT ballerinas have either been too big and tall for Angel - Gillian or Paloma - or too small - Xiomara) Alina had complementary long lines though she is petite. It made me even sadder that Angel is leaving the company. Marcelo and Diana were unforgettable as always. David Hallberg owned the stage as Solor and Polina Semionova has the right combination of pure classical control combined with Romantic softness for Nikiya in the Shades scene.

What is very strange here is that Angel is only 36 and still in pretty good physical shape unlike some others like Stiefel and Beloserkovsky. I would suspect that Angel will continue to dance with his own Barcelona Ballet (formerly Corella Co.) just as Bocca danced (tango and modern) with his own company. I personally feel that ABT has lost more than it gained by pushing Angel out.

Somehow the flamenco style of the Hallberg piece would have worked better on Marcelo Gomes. The "skirt" started out as culottes and then was unfastened into a flamenco skirt. Nacho Duato was responsible for both choreography and costume and God may forgive him but I never will!! My reaction to all the choreography was that each choreographer was drawing from the same bag of tricks. Everything was an alternation of voguing arm movements, weird hand gestures with a few standard classical virtuoso combinations thrown in, so we know that these are ballet stars and not hip-hop artists. Have them flail around a bit so we think there is some kind of profound artistic angst going on underneath. Actually, the Patrick de Bana piece for Ivan Vasiliev was cut from the same cloth as the rest of the pieces but Vasiliev's go for broke intensity and raw physical and emotional power made it look like a masterpiece. It got a screaming stomping standing ovation and was interrupted with applause and gasps throughout. I am not sure that Vasiliev is going to be a great artist - he is a big personality and technical dynamo but there is a lot of refining to do. The only classical ballet I have seen him in is "Coppelia" at ABT where I noticed that he lacked classical line and elegance. He was better in Ratmansky's "The Bright Stream" and probably is a fine Grigorovich Spartacus. He didn't convince me as a classicist. He would knock you dead with the cabrioles, pirouettes, barrel turns and then lose the line and placement in the intervening steps. Here that "knock out a few whammys" and then slouch around was built into the choreographic style. Ivan Vasiliev also is short with overly muscular legs - basically a demi-caractere dancer. Unlike most of the short thunder thighed virtuosos I have seen he isn't the greatest jumper. His elevation is mediocre. On the other hand every choreographer he danced (De Bana, Bigonzetti and Gomes) threw in a bunch of revoltades, 180's, splits, tours a la seconde and barrel turns to show off his power. Also, he was something of the class clown in the two ensemble pieces - a goofy show-off and the butt of the other dancers jokes. Guillaume Côté, the most understated classical dancer came off worst (Hallberg didn't fare as well has he usually does either) because the style of the choreographies didn't suit him. I actually loved Côté's piano concerto composition (which he played part of live onstage!) which was used for Marcelo Gomes' "KO'ed" the big finale for all the boys. Talk about multitalented and multitasking! I actually sort of liked this last piece best and feel that Gomes may develop into a talented choreographer. Gomes came off as the most authoritative and versatile dancer and the most finished artist - almost the grand old man of the group! God I am getting old!

Susan, I didn't see Nureyev production but there was a scathing Arlene Croce review. She felt that Nureyev took the music and variations away from female characters (I guess Henriette and Clemence) and gave them to Abdelrakhman and Jean de Brienne. The whole focus of the production was beefing up the male roles at the expense of Raymonda. Van Hamel's Raymonda is on Youtube and justifies your remembrance. The "Dancer's Dream - Raymonda" dvd has large sections of Elisabeth Platel as Raymonda and that is my dream POB ballerina for a video recording.

Just a note that a friend received the color brochure for the upcoming Spring/Summer ABT season and noted that on the roster of principals with headshots, Maxim Beloserkovsky's picture was no longer there. Irina yes, Max no. Max is still listed as a principal on the website. Max is dancing one "Apollo" and then is gone for the remainder of the season while his wife tries out several new partners in their usual ballets. I wonder if both Max and Ethan are retiring at the end of the Met 2012 Spring/Summer season?

As many of you are aware, the Bolshoi has been very busy recently filming HD transmissions of its repertoire. The Bolshoi productions of Giselle, Swan Lake and Nutcracker are all revivals/restagings of the Grigorovich versions and all have been recently filmed and broadcast to movie theaters worldwide. The current Bolshoi administration has invited Grigorovich back to stage the productions and coach the dancers. During the intermissions of the HD broadcasts, Grigorovich has been interviewed backstage (looking very energetic and alert) and has been sincerely enthusiastic about the current state of the company - particularly the soloists. So after all this disgrace and drama 15 years ago, Grigorovich is suddenly the adored grand old man of Russian ballet. Very much in line with the wave of "Soviet nostalgia" that Russia has been experiencing in the years of change and confusion after communism fell.

Okay, I didn't see this HD transmission but I will put forth a few observations: 1) The original, not recreated, Messel costumes and sets can be seen for Act III in the "Royal Ballet" movie danced by Fonteyn and David Blair. 2) I love Alina Cojocaru as much as anyone but she already was filmed in this production several years ago (in the pale, generic non-Messel costumes). That filming is even available in Blu-Ray format. Do we need two filmings of Cojocaru in the same role and same basic production? 3) I wish Lauren Cuthbertson the best and generally approve of giving young, emerging dancers major opportunities. That way a company builds towards its future. That is, if the young dancer can do justice to the part. Marianela Nunez would have been a safer choice. 4) "Buy British" - There have been complaints since Antony Dowell took over that the Royal Ballet is less and less "English". The dancers are all Italians, Spaniards, Roumanians, Russians, Americans, Brazilians, Argentines, you name it. You see the English names down in the smaller soloist and corps listings. Darcey Bussell seems to be the last major British ballerina and she has been retired for several years now. Maybe the Royal is trying to change its image. I frankly wonder about their training and school - maybe Dame Ninette needs to be channeled through a medium and start teaching class and coaching again. 5) It is something that I have noticed in opera these days - the technology is better than ever for transmitting live performances and they are being done all the time. But are these the performers and productions we want preserved for posterity? Some of the opera performances in particular are really horrible productions with miscast singers. The ballet casting and productions are better. However, if this technology was available sixty or seventy years ago we could be comparing Margot Fonteyn and Moira Shearer as Ashton's "Cinderella" in HD color and multi-channel surround sound.

Here is another tragic story: teenage virtuosa Valentina Simukova of the Kirov-Mariinsky ballet. Pupil of Dudinskaya and already a ballerina at 16. Was dancing roles like the Dryad Queen in "Don Quixote" while still a student. Died at 17 from measles in 1967 - weren't antibiotics around then to save her? Article here with video: http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2011/dec/09/movetube-nutcracker-valentina-simukova Valentina with Vadim Gulyaev in "The Nutcracker" pas de deux:

I too saw the Ratmansky Triple Bill on Saturday night at Avery Fisher Hall. General note: Avery Fisher has a rather unromantic proscenium with limited lighting options and no scrim. The lighting which I am sure was done quickly sometimes left dancers in the dark. We had to look at the ugly back wall the whole night. I suspect the floor is hard and uncomfortable to dance on. Another problem is that the largely Russian and Georgian audience was snapping away with flash photos even during the dancing. So we had strobe effects the whole night until the last ballet when there was an announcement. Nina Ananiashvili still looked very credible as a prima ballerina but lacked the suppleness and abandon she had in the past. She was solid technically and often evocative in her phrasing and sense of style. Whether it was the choreography or her current performing condition, there was little excitement. Clearly the audience hit was "The Dying Swan" where in the first rendition Ananiashvili did her boneless rippling arms effect to wild applause and flashing camera bulbs. The second time she did less with arms. I noticed that Ananiashvili didn't do any high arabesques but perhaps they were not required by the choreography. As for the other dancers, I liked Vasil Akhmateli and Philippe Solano in "Dreams of Japan" and all the company dancers in "Bizet Variations". Lali Kandelaki looks exciting but nothing really let her cut loose like she might in "Don Quixote" or "Laurencia". As for Ratmansky's choreography it is a mixed bag. "The Charm of Mannerism" was overlong and at times precious - no one looked at their best in it. Nina's sense of fun and elegance scored some points but what was the point, really? A little too much cleverness over substance. The "Bizet Variations" was fluid and elegant but didn't show me anything I hadn't seen before. "Dreams of Japan" didn't sustain or develop choreographic passages in a creative fashion. It was theatrical but I didn't care for most of the mini-dramas all about scorned lovers turning into fire snakes or hermaphrodite demons and going after their betrayers. It was different and Ratmansky isn't afraid of being theatrical or telling human dramas. The music seemed to be canned for the first three ballets then there were live musicians onstage for "Dreams of Japan". An Italian conductor and Georgian orchestra musicians were listed in the program.

This production was recorded on lp and was recently reissued on cd. A young pre-Avengers Patrick McNee plays Demetrius.

I believe that Ciel Ecran and Bel Air Classiques are co-producers in these live transmissions. The Bolshoi "Flames of Paris" HD was edited for dvd and blu-ray release on the Bel Air Classiques label distributed through Naxos.

Yuri Vladimirov was also chosen to film the role in 1976: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076219/ This earlier filming is available on DVD on the Kultur label. http://www.kultur.com/Ivan-The-Terrible-Classic-Motion-Picture-p/d1205.htm BTW: the 1990 film preserves Grigorovich's second revised version of the ballet. I think that the earlier film is abridged and a studio filming. The 1990 film is done onstage and is complete.

I also saw all three "Humpbacked Horse" performances. Certainly Somova was a picture perfect Tsar Maiden with her mischievously sleek pert good looks and long blonde locks (she sprayed her light brown hair gold and wore a blonde braid). Also her personality is well-suited to comedy and her uneven technique is less evident in modern choreography. So this was about the best I have seen her. However, she did stumble a bit in a turn and also did that weird jeté with the legs lifted too high. So instead of the legs making a straight line, it is a vaulting "V" shape. Otherwise she scaled back the 180 degree extensions and was trying to stitch the steps together to create a semblance of line. I think we can credit these positive developments to the hand of Terekhova, her new coach. Batsuchan who I spoke with during intermission has studied ballet for years. She was seeing Somova for the first time. She was horrified. (I invite Batsuchan to correct my quotation and add her own comments) Batsuchan felt that as an actress Somova did too much fake smiling no matter what the dramatic situation. (Didn't bother me). Also, Batsuchan felt that due to Somova's overly flexible limbs she basically throws her legs up into positions without engaging the whole body to give them line and physical definition. No control and the connecting steps are messy. Batsuchan also had problems with Somova's turnout. NYSusan then told her that this was the "good" Somova in a role that really suited her well. Batsuchan didn't even dare to look at the Youtube clips of the old "bad" Somova. In direct comparison with Viktoria Tereshkina who also danced the First Movement in "Symphony in C" as well as the opening night "Humpbacked Horse", Somova definitely came off second best. Tereshkina had stronger more consistent technique throughout. Tereshkina was not only more musical but connected the steps to the music and to each other so that they created exciting patterns. Also Tereshkina has better coordination of the lower body with the upper body. Somova who has a remarkable physical endowment and flexibility, is a dancer of individual effects or even individual steps. I think that Somova has improved as a dancer and technician but will never be a great artist - particularly in the big classical ballets.

Bingham, I was told by a friend that she preferred Boris Eifman's "Anna Karenina" and that, I as I discovered when I checked wikipedia, has a Tchaikovsky score. I always found it unfortunate that Tchaikovsky never did an "Anna Karenina" opera in the manner of his "Pikovaya Dama". Balanchine I think said "There are no mothers-in-law in ballet". There were mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law etc. in this ballet to its detriment. Subtle social customs and class distinctions are easy to put across in a novel, hard in a dumb show ballet. I only paid $22.50 for standing room and I loved, loved, loved Vishneva, so I got my money's worth. Also, Evgenia Obraztsova was love at first sight for this ballet lover, sorry she disappeared after the ball scene and we didn't get her wooing and marriage to Levin. However, more of this ballet is not a good thing and I was glad that the whole thing was just under two hours. Not sure I can take another dose of this ballet. (BTW: the box office decided to sell Dress Circle standing room at 5 p.m. and I went there at lunch time ) However, I wonder if it might make its way to ABT. The role of Anna would suit Julie Kent physically and dramatically at this point, the choreography is within her current scope. I don't think ABT should do this ballet mainly because the score is a drawback for me. Monotonously dark and foreboding and like a film soundtrack in that it seems mood setting background for something more important in the foreground. Ballet music should embody and inspire the dancing that is in the foreground and work with it. However, Valery Gergiev seems to love this score and the Mariinsky Orchestra played it superbly. No Maya Plisetskaya or Schedrin in sight as far as I could see.

By the way, a note to those who are trying to see the Kirov-Mariinsky on the cheap. I tried to get standing room for tonight's performance. The box office was only selling Family Circle by the time I got there. I suppose Orchestra standing room was being sold as well. However, the dress circle and grand tier standing room (which I prefer) were being held for company members. I am very disappointed. Family Circle standing room was $22.50 for those that are interested. I have no idea if the Atrium was selling discounted tickets for the Mariinsky run. The Monday night tickets are sold on Sunday since the Atrium ticket booth is closed on Mondays. I will check later in the week.

Wonderful, wonderful ideas above. Some more suggestions for Cojocaru - I'd like to see her in "Raymonda" whose choreography has a lot of elements of Aurora in "Sleeping Beauty". I'd also like to see her Juliet and possibly "Swan Lake" which is in her Royal Ballet repertory (not sure it is one of her best roles). Cojocaru could also do Lise in "Fille" as well.

The Royal Ballet has a school and so does the New York City Ballet. American Ballet Theater has just started a school but it is too new and the students are too young to create a new generation of stars right now. The other oddity about the Royal Ballet for several decades now is that most of the star dancers are foreigners who trained elsewhere. Acosta (Cuba), Cojocaru (Romania/Kiev), Marianela Nunez (Argentina), Rojo (Spain) and all those Italians, Russians, Brazilians, etc. Former principal dancers Sylvie Guillem (poached from POB) and Alexandra Ansanelli (poached from NYCB). There are very few English dancers perpetuating the Ashton/de Valois English school of ballet who are products of the RB school. To my eyes, Darcey Bussell is the last and she was sort of an atypical English ballerina - more American in her physical attack and boldness. Where is the younger than 35 or 40 year old English ballerina with that kind of star power? Royal Ballet School needs to redress this. However, compare the NYCB roster with ABT's - most of the principals are young, fresh and trained at SAB home-grown product. As for Chase Finlay - he ain't going nowhere, he is in the right place at the right time. As for comparisons with the ABT and NYCB roster - this has changed a lot in 20 years. I actually find that NYCB is crazy strong in superb ballerinas right now (Mearns, Scheller, Reichlen, Bouder, Fairchild, Peck and on and on) but the male contingent is functional but not brilliant. I like Gonzalo Garcia and De Luz. To my eyes neither Jonathan Stafford or either Angle brother can compare with the best dancers circa 1991 when I started attending ballet in NY. When I started going to NYCB in the early 90's they had a better male roster than ABT. ABT had the young phenom Julio Bocca just coming into his own as an artist. The rest were functional (Wes Chapman, Ross Stretton), short-lived (Ricardo Bustamante) or veterans finishing up their dancing careers (Kevin McKenzie, Fernando Bujones, Johan Renvall, Danilo Radojevic). Guest stars were coming in, especially under Jane Herrmann, such as Andris Liepa and Faroukh Ruzimatov (the Soviet bloc was opening up thanks to Perestroika). Guillem guested and so did veteran Russians like Maximova and Vasiliev and the lovely Lyudmila Semenyaka. However, compared with the company 10 years before when young Bujones, Baryshnikov et al. ruled the stage, small potatoes. In comparison, NYCB had the young Peter Boal, Damian Woetzel, Nicolae Hubbe (a few years later), Albert Evans, Jock Soto along with still excellent veterans like Adam Luders and up and comers like Philip Neal. From 1990 to 1995, NYCB had the best male principal roster, much better than ABT. Then Kevin McKenzie went on a spending spree and bought and brought in José Manuel Carreno, Vladimir Malakhov, Maxim Belotserkovsky, Angel Corella, Ethan Stiefel, Joaquin de Luz and added them to the still going strong Julio Bocca. Suddenly there was a killer superstar male contingent there. The female roster was not as quickly refreshed. Veteran prima ballerinas Susan Jaffe and Amanda McKerrow were revitalized and inspired by their partnerships with Carreno and Malakhov respectively. But Gillian Murphy was the big ballerina discovery from the ranks. Herrera was already on the rise and artistically plateaued. Ananiashvili was acquired as an established superstar. But McKenzie never had the eye for ballerinas that he did for male dancers and he has coasted on his "Born to Be Wild" contingent for too many years. Hallberg and Gomes are holding up the company as their successors but where are their successors? That male principal star explosion was 16 years ago and time has taken its toll. Some like Malakhov were pushed out when they had too many outside commitments - Malakhov one season was only offered a matinee "Swan Lake" and that was it. Corella clearly has been receiving the same treatment from ABT management. Most have simply aged out and retired. Or aged out and didn't retire... De Luz moved to NYCB due to personal stresses and repercussions from his divorce from Carmen Corella. Now there seems to be a lack of brilliant new male principals in both companies. Antonio Carmena and Chase Finlay are rising up and comers. Craig Hall is a very fine underutilized dancer. But Martins has a new scintillating crop of young ballerinas who can thrill in the entire repertory. Finding men who match their level of brilliance is difficult. So it looks like superstar quality men are in short supply worldwide and there is more demand than supply. Also, major international companies have always, always lured star dancers from the competition, it has been standard practice for decades. Even the Bolshoi and Kirov-Mariinsky have been known to snatch up good men from Kiev, Perm or wherever when their own conservatory product doesn't live up to expectations or proves inadequate.

There certainly was a kind of crazy energy in the house last night for Semionova's first "Swan Lake" with the company. I liked her Odile very much. The Odette was not really in my top 10 though. Don't get me wrong, Semionova dances very, very well. However, for me she is an allegro dancer and the adagio is an acquired skill and it shows. She had the pliancy in the back and the ability to fully extend and sustain the steps that Julie Kent lacked on Thursday and that Part was slightly deficient in on Friday. Part however grew immeasurably throughout the performance and delivered the best Odile I've seen from her. Semionova danced with accomplishment but I didn't get the deep emotion from her that Part, Kent (even now), Ananiashvili, Asylmuratova had nor does she have the authority that Part and Lopatkina bring to the Act II swan queen. She is very, very fine but I preferred Semionova as Kitri where her wiry muscularity and allegro sparkle were fully exploited. The Odile was wonderfully danced with excellent pirouettes in the solo (though Gillian Murphy and Part both excelled Thursday and Friday - Part was only a fraction less virtuosic as Odile than Murphy!) Her balance in the black swan pas de deux was stunning and got applause and the final fouettés were a series of quads and ended strongly and in pretty much the same spot onstage. Definitely a star dancer. But I don't think her interpretation or her style is greater than many ballerinas I have seen in the part though her technique is supreme. Again, a better production with a better Act IV and more work with her partner would help her a lot. I do hope she is invited back regularly to guest - I think she would be a wonderful Nikiya and Aurora and also has the qualities for Balanchine ballets. Marcelo really deserved the whole bouquet that Polina Semionova gave him at the final bow. Marcelo really looked like he knew everything that she was going to do before she did it and never missed a beat. Given that they probably only had an afternoon to work together, this really is an impressive feat of partnering. Stella Abrera was gorgeous in the Act I pas de trois with Simkin and Riccetto. Again some ensemble problems but individually they were excellent with Simkin landing better than on Monday. Sascha Radetsky no longer seems like a boy in a fake beard playing Mephisto in the high school play as Purple Rothbart. Only Marcelo and Hallberg dance it better than he does. Susan Jaffe's presence as the Queen Mother added to the gala atmosphere. BTW: it was a mad scene at the stage door which got rather frightening. All sorts of young fans, the usual old crazies and some riff-raff were crushing into the stage door and barely letting the dancers pass. Polina Semionova came out briefly and signed but got so intimidated by the crushing and pushing that she went back into the theater and exited through a private door. I was told that Marcelo didn't come out at all but left secretly bypassing the stage door.

Sascha and Stella would be good candidates for promotion but they have been given practically no principal roles to dance. Give Stella a Giselle and Juliet and give Sascha parts like Franz in "Coppelia", Basilio and Albrecht and see how they do. Then promote them. Stella may be holding herself back due to her back injury and its possible recurrence. Let me also add the comment that the majority of the current principal roster is over 35. Corey Stearns is likely the youngest with Wiles, Gomes. Cornejo and Hallberg probably just around 30. Where are the twenty somethings that are the heirs apparent? Other than Simkin and possibly Lane, not much out there.

One thing I must mention is that the principal roster - male and female - is spotty, full of dead wood and needs an overhaul. The last time this happened was when McKenzie took over as director back in 1994. He kept the established stars - Jaffe, Bocca, Ferri, McKerrow, etc. But ageing veterans were eased out and he went into the free market and snapped up Carreno, Malakhov, Stiefel, Dvorovenko, Belotserkovsky and Ananiashvili. Corella was just winning international competitions and came to the company barely out of his teens. Then he promoted some dancers from within like Paloma, Ashley Tuttle and Julie. Later came Cornejo, Murphy, Gomes and Hallberg. Lets run up and down the roster: Maxim Beloserkovsky: Nearly 40 and prone to repeated injuries. The company is pulling roles away from him. He is tied to his wife and partner, Irina Dvorovenko who is still in top form technically. He is not. Major problem and you can't retire or fire him without firing his wife, who they need. Roberto Bolle: Not a kid, around 35 years old. Also belongs to two other major ballet companies and is a guest, touring attraction world-wide. Not a lot of time to give to ABT. Then there was that little incident last year when he canceled with an injury and then danced in Europe for big fees while recovering. Sir Rudolf Bing fired a couple of Italian star singers for pulling the same stunt in the 1950's - notably tenor Giuseppe di Stefano. Still I would rehire him and try to get more performances out of him for a few years. He is tall, a great partner and needed. Jose Manuel Carreno: Retiring this year though he has danced better this season than he has in years. Frankly he looks like he has a year or two left in him of top quality dancing. He will be missed. Angel Corella: Not what he was 10 years ago but the "Coppelia" I saw revealed most of the technique and all the charm intact. Obviously ABT didn't like it when Angel struck out on his own limiting his appearances with the company. Make it up with Angel, ABT - you are losing more than you are gaining. Herman Cornejo: Truly great dancer limited by his height. ABT took too long in promoting him in leading roles. Now prone to injury - he seems to have a major injury every Spring season. Also tours with his brother-in-law Angel Corella's company taking him away from ABT for long periods of time. Irina Dvorovenko: Love her or hate her she is a formidable technician and actress. But she is tied to her husband and he is frequently injured and not what he was. She danced very well this season. He didn't dance at all after the opening gala. Marcelo Gomes: A backbone of the company and a star who gives everything to his ballerina and the audience. David Hallberg: A beautiful artist and with Gomes holding the standard of the male contingent to a high level. Paloma Herrera: Still a good, not a brilliant ballerina but stalled as an artist. Starting out as a teenage prodigy she hasn't developed into a great classical ballerina. Her technical level has been surpassed by Ananiashvili and Murphy during her ABT career. Best in modern repertory with good coaching - i.e. Zina in "Bright Stream" this season. Possibly she should have gone to NYCB. Julie Kent: A lovely refined dramatically gifted eloquent ballerina but she is in her early forties and her dancing shows it. Beloved and will remain on the roster until she chooses to leave. However, she is not going to be carrying a big load in the future and that future is limited. Gillian Murphy: Prima ballerina of the company and greatest technical virtuoso now that Ananiashvili has retired. It is bothersome that she is marrying Stiefel and will follow him for long periods to New Zealand. Major loss to the company which needs her full-time. Veronika Part: A heartbreakingly frustrating and setback strewn long-delayed ascension to principal status. Alexei Ratmansky seems to like to work with her so now she has more support in the artistic administration. Her dancing can still be variable and her height and womanliness limit her roles but she is becoming a mainstay of the company. Xiomara Reyes: I like Xiomara though I realize she is basically a soubrette with some strong acting and technical skills. She looks very young but isn't - she has been dancing for 20 years. She has had her share of injuries but danced a very good season this year and I look forward to her Aurora next Wednesday. I don't see her dancing with the company for more than five years. Corey Stearns: Developing rapidly as a technician and a partner. His stage presence is wooden and bland though he cuts an attractive figure onstage. Lacks the partnering skills and stage presence of Gomes. I am not sure if he is being helped or hindered by all the major roles being thrown at him at once - ABT might have spread the wealth around a bit to Joe Philips, Sascha, Simkin, Hammoudi and others. Ethan Stiefel: How is ABT going to retire Ethan? They are going to have to. He has been teaching recently and not been dancing anywhere else. He is taking over the New Zealand Ballet next year. He comes for the Spring season to dance roles he has danced for a decade with the company and withdraws because he is "unprepared". He knows the parts and productions and ballerinas very well. What is going on here? Not at all the dancer he was when he joined the company, the time is nigh for him to go. I would have retired Ethan this season and kept Jose on. Diana Vishneva: An international superstar but one that ABT seems to have lost interest in. A member of the Mariinsky and guest ballerina all over the world, she doesn't have a lot of time for ABT beyond the Spring Met season. She danced only two roles with the company this season and stayed only a few weeks. Osipova seems to garner more attention and excitement these days. Very few projects have been mounted specifically for her - the "Dame aux Camellias" was brought in mainly to give something for Julie Kent to do at this point in her career. The Tatyana next season is a new role for her (also one of Julie's best roles). Michele Wiles: Really only shone as a soloist and in the modern repertory seasons at City Center. Good in Balanchine and surprisingly strong in parts like Hagar in "Pillar of Fire". She really was stalled in the big classical roles. And that's it folks. So really only Gomes, Part, Hallberg, Murphy, Dvorovenko, Herrera (with her limitations) and Reyes holding the season together. The rest are either immature (Stearns), prone to injury (Beloserkovsky, Cornejo) or ageing out (Stiefel, Kent) or spend most of their time elsewhere (Bolle, Corella and Vishneva). I personally feel that Rolando Sarabia might thrive were he given a regular company to work with, constant chiropractic and podiatric medical attention and if Kevin really worked with him to regain his full technique. Caring attention might give Sarabia a renaissance. Like a fixer-upper house, he could be acquired cheaply and remodeled into a showpiece. Sarabia also was supposedly good in the Tharp repertory in Houston or Miami during his short careers there and that kind of versatility is important for an ABT principal. I like the opportunities being given to Hammoudi but he looks underprepared for some of his roles. More in depth coaching and rehearsal is needed for these corps guys to shine in soloist and principal parts.

I saw the opening night "Swan Lake" last night. BTW: the Met was practically sold out - I was in standing room and had trouble getting that! Lots of sections were sold out. It was a good performance with many wonderful moments. First of all, José Manuel Carreno is still in very good form - stunning assemblé turns and spinning jumps. His expert partnering and focused acting held the evening together. Irina Dvorovenko did better as Odile than Odette in my opinion. She definitely is a very accomplished dancer but her effects are calculated. Her Odette had a certain controlled restraint which was good but also a kind of self-contained objective coldness that turned me off. Every step was clearly and precisely hit with nothing over the top added on for effect. Also, Irina was doing the big swan arms, not overdone and didn't do the "rippling water" effect on her exit. But she barely looked at José during the pas de deux and seemed emotionally disconnected from him. Compare that with Makarova who turns the whole pas de deux into a "look at me...no don't...I need you...no I can't" dialogue of need vs. fear vs. attraction vs. despair vs. falling in love. Dvorovenko had little emotional arc suggesting that she had come to some kind of conclusion at the beginning rather than discovering and developing a relationship onstage. Well-done but a little bit self-absorbed Lopatkina Ice Queen. Dvorovenko's Odile was more extroverted and interactive and sparkled with sensual allure and technical command. Irina and José pulled out the stops in the coda finale with stunning barrel turns, whiplash fouettés and turns a la seconde. The final act was more moving but again the abbreviated choreography with most of the swans just running across the stage to cover a scene change behind the "in one" drop was kinda lame. I really miss the bit where the swans are all huddled in groups of four and Siegfried has to search for Odette among them. How much time did we save and how much quality choreography did we lose? I always like the final pas de deux that McKenzie put into the Act IV though. Put that into the original Ivanov text and I won't mind Swamp Thing and the Purple Pimp. As for the Purple Pimp that was Marcelo the Magnificent. Nuff said. He brought down the house in Act III with his Russian Dance solo. Pas de Trois in Act I was Simkin, Lane and Kajiya. They were fine though Daniil was having a bad night landing from jumps and finishing turns with his feet in position. In Act III he landed badly from a jeté and I kept wondering if he had injured his foot but he finished fine. The rest of his work was excellent. The ladies were lovely. Big swans were Stella Abrera and Hee Seo. Neapolitan Dance was excellently danced by Joseph Philips and Craig Salstein. Full house, lots of applause at the end.

Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky will be profiled on "Artist Toolbox" a Public Television series. The episode (a repeat? I am not sure) will air in the NYC area on Thursday June 30th at 8:30 p.m. It will be repeated on Sunday, July 24th at 3 p.m. More information here: http://www.theartisttoolbox.com/index.php/theartists/Irina+Dvorovenko+and+Maxim+Beloserkovsky

I saw two other "Coppelia" casts. I saw the first Osipova performance on the 17th and then Angel Corella and Paloma Herrera on the Saturday evening. Osipova dances bigger than Reyes with higher extensions, jumps and greater power. Everything she does is on a bigger scale exuding power though she herself is delicate and tiny. However, I felt that on that night Osipova was slightly off her best form - she was a little off toe and had a tendency to go off-center in pirouettes. Of course, Osipova's bad night would be any normal ballerina's great night. At the end of her Act II "Spanish" dance she actually tipped to the side when finishing her solo. Osipova caught herself by putting her hand to the floor as she knelt in her final pose. But it came off like a bit of deliberate comic business because of Osipova's great poise and command onstage. She has a way of seeming wild and yet owning all the space around her. Her Swanilda was something of the village queen bee, not shy or afraid to be a bitch when necessary. She added a lot of spice to a sugary production. Simkin is also a virtuoso but not quite the artist or commanding theatrical figure Osipova is right now. Paloma Herrera also had a lot of authority and danced well on Saturday night. She also ended the Act III pas de deux coda with stunning fouettés with multiples that brought down the house. Paloma had one or two minor flubs in her solo but they can be passed over. Corella exuded charm which this ballet really needs - he had fun playing the feckless but adorable village lothario. He only had a chance to cut loose dance-wise in Act III where he also attempted those barrel turns accented with upward leaps with one leg to the knee that Ivan Vasiliev performed on Thursday. He is a little diminished from his late 1990's/early 2000's peak but still very, very accomplished. I was told that Angel's Albrecht in "Giselle" earlier this season showed a return to form. This confirmed it. Hee Seo was lovely with creamy phrasing in her prayer solo but got a little shaky in sustained arabesques - still some weakness in the back? Simone Messmer was lovely in the Dawn solo. BTW: The Enrique Martinez "Coppelia" production was danced by ABT until the early nineties. I saw it with Susan Jaffe and Fernando Bujones and later with a delightfully spikily mischievous Cynthia Gregory and Jeremy Collins (remember him?). It had rather jerky classical choreography. Swanilda's choreography was full of unsupported pirouettes obviously designed to show off Alonso's strong turning technique and excellent balances. It wasn't bad and it wasn't great. Natalia Makarova danced it at ABT in the 70's as well and she had rather critical words about Martinez's choreography in her "Dance Autobiography". I have never seen a version of Swanilda's entrance waltz solo that does justice to that gorgeous melody. Not Balanchine which is fairly similar to what Franklin does (and Aveline after Saint-Leon in Paris and Vikharev after Petipa in Moscow...). Too much mime and not enough dancing. Too much pointing to the eyes or gesturing to the Coppelia doll when the music cries out for dancing.

I saw the opening night last night with Xiomara Reyes and Ivan Vasiliev replacing Herman as Frantz. A few weeks ago I saw the Bolshoi production by Vikharev reproducing Petipa transmitted in HD with Natalia Osipova. That production, like the Frederic Franklin staging reproduced here, is billed as "after Nicholas Sergeyev". However, the Franklin at ABT is clearly reproducing the modest cut down touring version that the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo did in the 1940's with Franklin and Danilova. The Bolshoi reproduced the full 1895 Petipa staging from the Maryinsky as restaged by Sergei Vikharev from Sergeyev's notation. The second act is the same in each version (and very similar to the Aveline/Lacotte staging preserved by the POB school that comes directly from Saint-Leon 1870). However the first and third acts at the Bolshoi have more dancers, more variations and more set pieces and staging devices such as Act III's Father Time on a big clock and a sensational dance of the hours for 24 ballerinas). The Ballets Russes didn't have the staff or budget to tour such a lavish version so theirs is a cut down version but you can see similarities in solos and variations but the ensembles are cut down to use less dancers. Xiomara Reyes was charming, impish and danced very well as Swanilda. Her face with its big eyes and wide smile speaks clearly in a large auditorium. This role finds her perfectly cast. She actually tripped onstage in the Act II mime scene where Swanilda realizes that Coppelia is actually a doll but laughingly worked it into the scene. Ivan Vasiliev definitely was a hit with the crowd. His body type is definitely tending towards the demi-caractere. Medium height with shortish legs with overdeveloped thighs and calves. He is very nice-looking with an expressive face. I thoroughly enjoyed his mugging and eager physicality - he was a joy to watch. He has a big, Soviet style of performing - large scaled and not afraid to go over the top. However, he has a grounded masculinity that keeps him from ever looking foolish. Vasiliev didn't have much opportunity to cut loose dance-wise in Acts I and II. He was worked into one of the mazurkas and also did a big jeté offstage at the end of Act I. In Act III's variations and coda, Vasiliev showed more classical form than in "Bright Stream" (more classical choreography). In Act III, he cut loose with bravura dancing that brought the house down. Fast tours a la seconde and barrel turns punctuated by individual vertical rotating leaps upward with one leg bent to the knee. Lots of summer intensive students gasped and roared. Xiomara came back in Act III with lots of fast fouettes with multiples and clearly was not about to be danced off the stage. Big applause at the end with standing ovations and screaming. Definitely Act III was on a different level than the earlier acts where mime predominates. Victor Barbee was a fine Dr. Coppelius. Stella Abrera was lush as Dawn and Maria Riccetto refined and romantic with long lines as Prayer. 12 students from the Jacqueline Onassis school danced an ensemble as part of their scene. The sets look a little tired candy box chintzy in Acts I and III but the Act II set is evocative and well-done. David LaMarche conducted well. The audience went home happy. I suspect we will be seeing Mr. Vasiliev again next year in tandem with Osipova.

Just a note that Herman Cornejo's injury seems to be long-lasting. He is out of "Sleeping Beauty" and will be replaced by Corey Stearns on the July 6th Wednesday matinee with Xiomara Reyes. Johann Kobborg will replace him partnering Alina Cojocaru on the 8th.