Waelsung

Just came back from the Met. Osipova's debut for the ABT went very well, I think. Her dancing was absolutely sublime and she did seem to be flying over the stage. To me, her Giselle looked otherworldly from the start, deeply introverted, totally immersed in her inner world. Albrecht for her is somebody from this "other world" too. Thus the tragedy. I agree that she's not playing somebody who has a heart problem. No, when the truth about the lies comes out, the whole universe collapses around her, and she just dies with it. The second act is a continuation and the development of the same line. A true spirit, a ghost, a vision. Yes, a bit monochromatic, but I thought it was dictated by her Giselle's "character's arc", or rather, lack thereof. I really liked Part - she's just perfect for this role, was not impressed by Hallberg (where are the brises?), and thought the corps keeps improving. The Peasant pdd was uneventful. There's no question in my mind that Osipova is on her way of becoming a major international star, but I guess everybody knows that already. Hope ABT signs her up like forever:)

On the other hand, take a look at the seating chart - there are many seats available for June 15 performance all of a sudden. And I do mean prized orchestra seats including K-1 which, if I am not mistaken, is normally reserved for the New York Times critic, especially on a prima night. It looks to me like a lot of people who had their tickets to see Osipova's Sylphide on Wednesday and Reyes on Monday are exchanging for other performances. Thus the sudden avalanche of great seats.

I've just read on the Bolshoi Ballet forum that Osipova would be replacing Reyes on Monday night (June 15). Can anybody please confirm or deny? If true, this would warrant a major change of plans for me. Thanks in advance!

Just back from Tuesday performance. Simkin did surprisingly well in the Peasant pdd. Wiles was a rather bland Myrta. Diana and Angel - just divine. She - so flirtatious in the beginning, almost leading him on; and so otherworldly, so completely transformed in the second act. He - starting out as a Dorian Gray of sorts and ending as a... well, there is no ending in sight for this Albrecht. Technically, Corella may be starting to show his age, but artistically this was an almost perfect experience. Breathtaking.

Sorry, but the Tsarist army uniform that Sergei is wearing clearly indicates that "On the Dnieper" takes place before the Revolution of 1917. "The New Soviet Man" came much later.

Mamma mia, what a difference a day makes. Last night I came back home terribly disappointed by what I saw, especially in Ratmansky's On the Dnieper. Tonight it was a completely different story - literally, with Vishneva lightning up the stage and completely stealing the show from everybody else. Turns out her heroine is the protagonist of this ballet, not the other way around as it looked yesterday. Hammoudi was also so much better than Hallberg, but Diana - what an incredible artist. Without her there was no depth, no emotional involvement, nothing. It would be very interesting to see this with Part/Gomes and Vishneva/Hammoudi. Could be a masterpiece. And to think that I never liked Ratmansky:)

Since I'm planning to see the first two performances on Monday and Tuesday, I guess I should be glad it's now two different couples. I just wonder whether Cornejo and Wiles have had enough rehearsal time together. And, of course, wishing E.S. the speediest recovery possible.

I'm probably in a minoruty here but I definitely prefer full-length productions of classical ballets. Can never get enough of Giselles, Swan Lakes, Bayaderes, Raymondas etc. Provided the cast is first rate, of course. Right now we have a number of outstanding ballerinas whose best roles have not been released commercially or are tragically underrepresented in the market. Suffice to say that there's not a single full-length ballet with Diana Vishneva available on Amazon.com I definitely prefer DVDs and am very unlikely to pay for anything I watch online. Will definitely buy your Giselle when it comes out and would love to see more of the same type of titles.

After much deliberation I decided to indulge myself and bought tickets to the first two performances. The deciding factors were Part and Vishneva, although I really wanted to see The Prodigal Son with Corella and Boone, too.

Sorry, my bad

Just came back from Peter the Great Gala. Overall - waaaay below expectations, but had some very nice moments. Major highlights - Herman Cornejo in Le Corsaire pas de trois; Saveliev's Gopak; Tereshkina and Shklyarov in Don Quixote pdd. My beloved Kandaurova was stuck in Ratmansky's utterly inept choreography that even she could not save. Malakhov and Tsiskaridze - their usual pathetic selves. Tereshkina and Gomes not very impressive in the bordering on softcore Manon pdd (maybe I was just expecting too much). A couple of very funny comic numbers. Stunning In the Middle Somewhat Elevated from Alicia Amatriain. Terribly boring Raymonda pdd with Kochetkova slipping and falling off the pointe. Pestov's appearance at the end was a very nice surprise that helped end the evening on a rather positive note.

Not a big fan of Osipova's, are you now? That's OK. Chacun a son gout, as they say. Hopefully, when the Bolshoi does revive Esmeralda all the deserving ballerinas will be given a chance to perform in it.

I also wonder who the three ballerinas ahead of Osipova might be. Even if we consider the seniority of Zakharova and Alexandrova who is the third one? Not Stepanenko I hope. I am familiar with the Esmeralda part and with all respect firmly believe that N.O. has matured enough to offer at least a credible interpretation of it. Just to see what she was capable of while still a student please take a couple of minute to view her Esmeralda variation performed at the tender age of 17.

Esmeralda being of course a perfect part for Osipova, this is great, great news for all her fans around the world

I have the same impression and don't find any value in subscriptions, either. But isn't the whole point of 'make your own' series to be able to select particular perfs/casts and to avoid being stuck with whatever's just happens to be playing on your subscription's day of the week?

As opposed to us subscribers who will go see any old cast? This is outrageous! I know, I was left speechless. Somehow it felt offending to me too

I let my subscription lapse this year. About a week ago I got a call from ABT. A very well-mannered gentleman said that they wanted to keep me as a customer and offered to get me better seats that what would be available through the box office for 'make your own series'. I eagerly agreed, confirmed that I wanted prime Orchestra seats and he asked me what dates I was looking for. "June 13 evening," I said. "OK, you got it." "June 9," I said. "OK, you got it." "June 17." "OK, he said, I can see where it's going. We sell subscriptions, and you are very particular about what you want to see." After that he refused to help me any longer, said good bye and hung up.

I hope I am not breaking any rules, but I have one ticket for the Washington D.C. Don Q opening night on January 13th that unfortunately I won't be able to use. It's an excellent seat in the center section of the Orchestra (row L) that was purchased at subscribers' price of $86 before the tickets went on sale to the general public. Diana Vishneva is scheduled to perform one of her most famous roles of Kitri. If interested, please contact me here or by email: clockxxi@aol.com. We can do PayPal for your protection and I'll mail the ticket for free anywhere in the world. UPD: Ticket sold.

I was so looking forward to this. Did they just drop the LAF pdd from the season entirely? LAF will be performed on other nights (please refer to the complete schedule at abt.org), but not on Oct. 31 for which I have an excellent seat - terribly disappointing

I wonder what happened to The Leaves Are Fading pdd that was supposed to be performed as part of Oct. 31 Gala. The ABT management didn't think tickets were expensive enough to pamper the audience with such luxury?

Then she must have a body double impersonating her in Le Corsaire

I don't want to rain on anybody's parade here, but I can't seem to share this almost unanimous enthusiasm about Ratmansky. His success at Bolshoi was to a great extent conditioned by the stars he worked with: Zakharova, Alexandrova, Osipova. There are no ballerinas of their caliber at ABT presently. Except for Vishneva, but if you saw what Ratmansky "choreographed" for her in Pierrot Lunnaire, you wouldn't be holding your breath waiting for their next effort. In general, Ratmansky is not about the theatrical, dramatical side of the ballet, but the pure dance (as he understands it). Again, just look at the atrocious Cinderella that he dumped on Mariinsky - for me it's absolutely the worst version of the Prokofiev masterpiece that I have ever seen (and I've seen quite a few). It's possible that he would be able to contribute to the ABT Fall Season, but full-length "drama ballet" are not really his forte. A lot of people in Moscow are really happy to see him go, so I've been wondering why everybody seems to be so upbeat about him on this side of the Atlantic.

I wonder what one has to do to get on the ABT mailing list? I've tried everything and several times but to no avail. In light of all the spam that I receive daily it's not even funny

I wonder how difficult it will be to get decent tickets to these events. Would one have to line up two hours in advance? Ten hours? Two days? Never attended this festival before and would really appreciate any advice from personal experience. Thanks in advance!

She'll probably dance until she's 90 - just like Plisetskaya