aurora

She is the one I saw crash and burn, so she's tried them at least once. It was not successful....

I was there, I didn't see it as a choice per se, in the sense of an artistic decision made ahead of time, but I saw it as a pretty "flawless," if one can use that word, cover for something going "not right." Did she intend to do the fouettés or hope to? I think/assume so. But she had a backup plan if they didn't and executed it well. I have seen people mess up the fouettés and basically crash and burn...falling out of them and then standing there stunned for the rest of the music. I've seen people gut their way through them all, but so poorly that they looked awful and you were chewing your fingernails off wondering if they were going to land on their ass. She did neither. Was it disappointing, well yeah a bit. But it was preferable to other things I've seen and it was just a few minutes of a very nice performance.

Agreed. And I'm sorry, but whether or not one thinks Copeland principal material, the fact that her fouettes traveled on a diagonal in her first ever foray in a role is not a great reason to question whether one is principal material. If so, many of the great principals of history should never have been principals, including Makarova, who at times struggled with her fouettes, if I recall correctly, and Ferri. Nevermind Maria Kowrowski who I saw bail on the fouettees less than halfway through in Martins's Swan Lake (and she was a seasoned principal). [note, obviously my second point is not responding to NYSusan!]

What exactly are you talking about here? where she's lying across his shoulders or where she is upside down almost completely at 5:14? (agree they are the gold standard!)

Ferri also did it no handed with Bocca.

While we are speaking of steps done in a simplified way, was anyone else disappointed with the way Obraztsova altered the skimming runs around Romeo in the Balcony Scene, where the initial leg should be stepping up onto pointe each time? She just did a skimming step, omitting the leaping up onto point. It had a totally different effect and for me that's a rather iconic moment for Juliet in the ballet.

Well as I said, Arron Scott was a bit of a mixed bag. While he started off somewhat disappointingly, he really was excellent in act II, with my favorite death of the Mercutios I saw. I wouldn't be sorry to see him scheduled to do it again, that is for certain!

to what are you responding?

I did! I just got home (had something to do after). There were a few partnering glitches (minor) but more importantly, they didn't let it throw them, and in fact the partnering got stronger (the upside down lift in the balcony pas, which is such a torment to many and is so often not as vertical as it should be was excellent and done without hesitation). His solos were gorgeous. Simply gorgeous. I say promote him immediately. He is already a stronger partner than David was (or Herman, or Daniil) on their promotions and he really is the most beautiful male dancer I've seen since David. His emotions were good, not large scale, but good (not early Cory flat). Misty was also very good. She didn't seem too "large" for him, she looked young, believable as a teenager. The emotions at time were a bit overdone but it was quite satisfying. I went primarily for Gorak, not thinking this was a role particularly suited for her, and she sold me that it should definitely stay in her rep. It was a real pleasure to see Calvin Royal as Benvolio, he was good and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying himself. I had mixed feelings about Arron Scott as Mercutio--His dancing in the ball was meh. Not bad, but pretty low key. I was not impressed and thought him by far the worst of the three Mercutios I've seen (Craig, whose characterization is such a joy, and Daniil, whose dancing is so stunning). But he redeemed himself thoroughly in act II. He did a very very nice Mandolin dance (by the way he too "skipped" the final leapfrog, as has almost every dancer I've ever seen). And his death scene was glorious. The impish personality was there, but it was a death scene of real pathos, not as schizophrenic as it often seems. By far the best of the three. Lastly (for now anyway) Devon Teuscher as Lady Capulet was even worse than on Thursday. On Thursday she just had little emotive power, certainly nothing to compare to Stella Abrera in the role. But then again considering how long Stella has been doing the role it seemed an unfair comparison. I did notice that at several points she seemed to not know how to handle her dress, nearly tripping over it. Well today she did, as she returned to the body of Tybalt after her dramatic gesture up the stairs she stumbled all over it. This is after, when she was doing her "mourning" she kept hiking it up to show her thighs. I know she is distressed at that point, but no one in Renaissance Italy would be practically stripping except the Whores. Someone needs to remind her who she is playing... Oh, maybe the orchestra got a talking to after their horrific showing on Thursday. If not a glorious performance (it is the ABT orchestra after all) there was not a cringe-inducing note the whole afternoon. A dramatic turnaround.

I did. Actually. And no it was not. To be honest, their emotional connection (Hee and Marcelo's ) was much better and much more satisfying. Last night was wonderful, no question, but so was Wednesday. Whoever said she didn't act at all, or express any emotion...well she either was completely different than Wednesday or I don't know what to say.

She was excellent on Wednesday. She didn't screw up or do anything wrong (and if you think I wasn't disappointed Osipova couldn't dance, you are wrong. The difference is, I recognize injuries happen and don't hate on the performers. The comments about how Vishneva should have danced despite being ill? Or should have been able to realize she was going to be ill earlier in order to not inconvenience people? Incredible)

Marcelo looked fine, wonderful in fact. He isn't the virtuoso that some of the men are, but he danced well and did not look tired...

Don't discount tonight's performance. You might be pleasantly surprised. I certainly was on wednesday.

Yeah the orchestra, after sounding better the last year or two I thought, has been really awful this year. It is probably worst for R&J and was in poor form both weds and thurs nights, with last night being the poorer of the two. Truly cringeworthly. The performances, both nights, however, were lovely. Maybe I'll review later, but a lot of what I've wanted to say has been said. I'll briefly add that there were a lot of delights in both performances and I'm very glad I saw each of them.

I feel exactly the opposite. I saw it twice and even though I think the first cast was better on the whole, I enjoyed it more the second time and look forward to seeing it many more times to come. Critics also thought the company looked energized and excellent performing it on the whole... Then again I love Ratmansky's Nutcracker as do many others I know, including dance critics and former dancers. And the fact that it couldn't make a major hit of it for multiple years when up against the institution of NYCBs when that one IS a longstanding institution and is located at Lincoln Center, vs what so many clearly considered the wilds of Brooklyn hardly seems a condemnation of Ratmansky's Nutcracker.

You read every post on ballet alert? Impressive. I just read topics that interest me. Which I think was Plisskin's (good) point.

Agreed. I *do* like this variation normally but was not sold on the new/old version at all with Abrera on Monday. Giangeruso made a very good case for it. In fact she was excellent and I found I liked it after all.

DeCoster, on 11 Jun 2015 - 10:50 AM, said: I agreed with you on pretty much everything so my cutting to this was just to second it emphatically as I don't think I mentioned her in my last post. Fang was lovely. i saw her in both casts and she really shone. She was also fantastic in Giselle as Zulma. I hope she is given more soon. I'm really impressed by what I've been seeing. There is a lovely plushness and serenity to her dancing. Very musical as well (at least in these shortish variations). More please!

I saw both Vishneva's and Boylston's performances. I liked them both in different ways. Having seen it twice now, I'd like to make a few random comments. 1) I really do love the production 2) the one anachronistic technical aspect that irked me on Monday was the chaine turns on demi. I liked it in theory, and really enjoyed the way that the ones on point in the grand pas de deux became a revelation because of them, but they looked on the whole sloppy. Fast but with wide apart feet. Rather ugly. This was not the case with several of the dancers on Weds. and it made a huge difference to how I felt. Both Misty and Isabella (and to a slightly lesser extent) Stella did much cleaner, tighter, turns on demi and it looked a lot better. 3) both Florines I saw were great. Trenary is clearly one to watch! And Stella was truly lovely. Speaking of 4) The Violante fairy is not a good role for Stella. It is the one that has been changed the most of the first five fairy variations, and it looked like she was playing it for major comedy. I didn't like it at all. It was much better last night. 5) the production works best with a truly menacing and enchanting Carabosse. That was Gomes. Raffa really didn't have that much presence. I could talk about both sets of leads but I really enjoyed both sets in different ways. Certainly Monday was the more polished and probably "better" performance but Gorak's solo was superior even if Gomes' partnering was (petite allegro suits Gorak better. His partnering is improving)

true men?

I don't have a lot to add beyond what has been said. It was wonderful! I loved the new production, and the costumes, though the ones that stood out badly to me were the Mazurka group in the wedding, who all look like they are wearing meringues around their waists and then the women seem to have on white fringed mortar board hats... Vishneva and Gomes were wonderful. I often find her a bit mannered and contrived but she was really charming in this and radiated joy throughout. I wanted to second the praise for Cassandra Trenary as Florine. She did have a real slip at the very start of her variation, but she recovered instantaneously and didn't let it get to her at all. To me that's a sign of being a great performer. Not only was it a lovely performance overall, but the ability to keep going and sell what she was doing was truly impressive. I also enjoyed all the last act fairies very much. This is the second time I've been very impressed by Fang this season (the other was in Giselle).

He does with me! I finally saw it tonight and loved it!

Has she danced this before? I know not with ABT but with Royal or La Scala? I'm quite excited to see her in it...

He hates this ballet. He hated it last year, he will hate it next year. He hates Corsaire even more. It isn't much of a surprise really...

It is, and as Helene pointed out, you see it used in decorative arts particularly. Japonisme is another related phenomenon. Orientalism would be another term that you would see used. None are offensive although some of the underlying tendencies behind trends like orientalism may be.