aurora

I wonder if this can be broken off into another topic on the role of the balances in the rose adagio starting with the post quoted below? It seems worth its own topic and while it certainly stemmed from a discussion of this particular performance, a real discussion of the subject would be off topic here...

But their subordination to the whole was in fact what I liked! Each balance was about the same length - not true of other casts. And no-where did you get the sense that the pas was about the balances. Dramatically the entire sequence accompanied the drum roll as it should in intensity; suspense and interest built. But the way she danced that pas was about the overall conception of the ballet and the action and not about balancing per se. She was modest. How refreshing. Certainly she will grow more free as she dances this further - but maybe she won't in fact have that same ingenuous and radiant quality she had last night; who can say? She held the stage that's for sure, held it in the palm of her hand. As I watched I was not thinking about the steps at all. And again how refreshing, what a bloody relief.

This is interesting, because I now begin to think that the balances and the fouettes of Odile are this odd matter of whether they should be subordinate (or whether they really are not quite integrated, and are separated off) to the rest of the pas or be the focus, in fact be quite competitive. It's more subtle to want to see these difficult technical feats subsumed to the drama, but they are definitely there for showing off, and to some degree, not in the most high-minded way. I think it works both ways, and is like pianists doing the Chopin Double-Thirds Etude flawlessly and 'like velvet' but somewhat automaton-like, or those who play it with 'more dynamic colouring and poetry' but miss notes and make slight messes. I'd like to say I find myself in Michael's camp on this one, but I think I'm not. If balanchinette is correct about this:

To me, she didn't even hit the balances -- she barely got her hand above her head before it was back down again, clutching at the next Prince's hand a little desperately. I thought this was a little disappointing, given that she struck some beautiful balances elsewhere in the ballet, and I put it down to nerves.

, then I can sympathize with the nerves, but these balances are literally framed to be a kind of separate 'testing moment', in which everything else seems to stop, and the drum rolls only intensify this almost militaristic demand that is being made. So if I see the hand rushing back down again, I'm always disappointed, since I know that others are able to do them with much more confidence. There really are some pieces of music and dance that are meant to display as a kind of exhibitionism. That's why Nureyev was so good at 'Le Corsaire'. Of course, Corsaire and SB are not comparable works, but maybe these extreme virtuoso parts within SB and SL are really much the same. They have to be poetic and part of the whole, but they're athletic as well, and once you've seen the nonchalance of Sizova and Bouder with these balances, it's hard for some of us to accept less, although I mean only in terms of those, not what else the ballerina may do in the same performance inthe rest of the piece.

I've been thinking a lot about this, not knowing the issues about rights i.e., whether there is a ban on performing it within X miles of the Koch Theatre, a

But Ballanchine is done regularly at City Center (by ABT, and recently The MT ) which is much closer to Lincoln Center than the Joyce.

And ABT did Balanchine at the MET last Spring/Summer

His placement is as refined as any ballerina's -- all the more visible because we get to see his waist naked, it's so quiet and calm, no matter what he's doing. Look at the diagonals of grands jetes, esp those in attitude croisee....... the waist is so calm, so vertical.

And his waist is so calm and so vertical in the huge split tour jetes!

The costume does let you see all that...

But does anyone else have trouble taking anyone seriously who is wearing it? I find it truly ludicrous.

Sir Anthony Dowell expanded the role of Clara/Marie in Act 2 for Alina Cojocaru. This role was one of her first assignments as a new Royal Ballet member. He did the same for Drosselmeyer's nephew, Hans-Peter in Act 2. That's why they participate in each dance in the divertissement, except for the Grand pas de deux and the flower waltz.

I wish he hadn't!

She is lovely of course but I think it ruins Act 2. She just sort of hops up and gets involved in everything and it detracts rather than adding to it in my opinion.

As to favourites, do you mean that he admires certain dancers and not others based on his fairly wide experience of viewing ballet over three decades on two continents?

I am sure that is what it is based on. And I have favorites too (but I am not a professional critic). That doesn't make it objective of course, other people of taste and experience don't think as well of some of his favorites, and actually like some dancers he has taken a dislike to.

The problem I have regarding Macaulay and his favorites is that it is almost to a point where you don't need to read the reviews if a certain dancer is going to be mentioned. If Corey Stearns (I'm ambivalent) or David Hallberg (who I like very much) is dancing, one might as well not bother reading, because the review will be nothing but superlatives. I certainly don't want him to be cutting or cruel to these dancers, I think they are good (in the case of the former) and excellent (in the case of the latter) but Macaulay just gushes.

I also found it interesting that he spent so much time in what was ostensibly a write up of rising stars in this year's Nutcracker to a dancer who was out due to injury. That is lovely for Kathryn Morgan, but he certainly did not do the same for the other promoted dancer out with injury. He gave Morgan perhaps the best review of the piece based on statements like "if I remember correctly," and to me that is odd.

I agree that Sleeping Beauty is absolutely not suitable for children - far too much dance and not enough story. I would put Swan Lake in the same category.

Can we qualify these statements a little?

It certainly depends on the child does it not? I KNOW I was attending Swan Lake and loving it by age 6 at the latest. I knew the story and thought it a fantastic one. As for too much dancing...That is what I wanted to see. We were going to the ballet after all. I had been taking "ballet classes" if you can call them that for 3 years already at that point and thought I wanted to be a dancer.

I know you were speaking generally, but to hear some of the great joys of my childhood deemed "absolutely not suitable"...

As an introduction to ballet I would agree neither is the best for a child, but for a child that shows an interest in the art form, why on earth not?

So do you have some anecdotes about your own first time to the ballet as a little child (I have no such personal experience, having seen my first ballet performance at 17), or about those of your children, relatives, friends, etc. ? Which ballets are best suited for such a experience in your opinion ? And which are definitely not ?

Well I didn't get to go, so it doesn't exactly qualify, but...

My mom tells of the time they went to see ABT and left me at home. They got home from the 3 act ballet, but instead of finding me asleep they walked in the door to find me seated by the elevator, arms crossed and GLARING. I was SO ANGRY that they had gone to the ballet without me I had refused to go to bed and had sat there furious all evening. The poor babysitter had finally given up in despair.

It was the debut of ABT's Sleeping Beauty with Makarova, in 1976 I believe? .

This means I was 2.

Generally they took me from a very young age. They found if they explained the stories well to me beforehand I was very good at sitting quietly and behaving myself. Although I think I (obnoxiously or cutely--Depends on your POV!) danced around during intermissions.

Besides, who wants to come home to a glaring child by the elevator?

The date for the premiere of the Vikharev production of Esmeralda at the Bolshoi is to be the 25th December.

The opening night was yesterday, I hope that someone attended and will post here!

by no means the same thing as a report from a ballet talker, but in the meantime....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In-kOSPw93w

or (as Vipa writes) that "in the ABT world a lot of ticket buyers will always go for the Russian import!"--(neither of which phrases suggests all that much respect by the by).

It is so me to put my foot in my mouth. Again, I meant no disrespect to fans of Osipova. I only meant that there are ticket buyers, who are not regular ballet goers, who assume that the Russian import is superior.

To those who point to exhaustion, fevers etc. I just have to say that for me the performance I see, is the performance I see. In opera I don't want to hear that so-in-so is not in good voice that day.

I just think that if you go out there and do it there are no qualifiers, whether you are a tennis player or a ballet dancer.

I wasn't saying it to say you shouldn't be disappointed, but when you are judging a live performer on a single performance, and saying, based on that, that she isn't suited for that role...well I think it is a legitimate thing to take into consideration. And you saw her in the role. Many of us who purchased tickets to see her in that role did not, because of that illness. It may have been poor judgment on her part to continue and perform, I won't argue that point. But it is unfortunate for her to therefore be judged *in her appropriateness for that role* based on that performance, in my opinion.

I didn't think she was particularly well adapted to the role of Medora in Corsaire when the Bolshoi brought it to DC last June -- though they in general brought such a B Team company with them in the corps and soloists that it would be hard to judge definitively. She would have been more of a natural Gulnare.

I

Michael, I agree with you about her Medora in Washington. I saw it too and was underwhelmed. I was even less impressed with her partner, Ivan Vasiliev, in that performance. However, she had just come from doing a Giselle and 2 Sylphides at ABT within a very short time before she did the D.C. Corsaire. I'm chalking the mediocrity of that performance up to sheer exhaustion, especially since I really loved her Giselle and her Sylphides at ABT.

Also, if I am remembering correctly, which I think I am, the eventual explanation for the cancellation of her final performance of Corsaire in DC is that by the time she did perform the one you saw, she was ill and feverish.

Other observations from the Met casting:

-- As you suggested, V Part seems to paired with Bolle a lot. She partners him in her only two La Bayaderes, in her only Swan Lake. She partners Gomes in Sleeping Beauty, and continues to pair with him as part of the first team cast in her only two performances of On The Dneiper. Her partner for the "Awakening PDD" is tba in both her performances. In the Brahms-Haydn Variations, V Part might be paired with A. Hammoudi, if the partner is listed in order.

I guess part of the reason that V Part pairs with Bolle is that she is the recently minted principal, and he is the recently-resident danseur at the principal level, presumably? But could other factors be that V Part's jump is not that strong and pairing her with Hallberg might highlight that weakness in Part's dancing? (Note I have not seen Bolle perform, so I do not know what his jumps are like.) Also, Hallberg is very busy already without having to partner V Part.

You have an interesting way of wording things. I take it you dislike Part.

Her "only two La Bayaderes"--That is what most people get. If that. You didn't state other performers number of performances in the same way, you simply stated the number of their performances with no judgment implied.

I believe she is partnered with Bolle because they are both tall and statuesque. She has been a difficult dancer to partner because of her height.

Hallberg (who I adore!) is tall but not terribly strong and performs a lot. Bolle looks very well with Part and it makes a lot of sense to partner them.

I don't think that Hallberg highlights a weakness in Part's dancing. In fact I don't see jumping as a weakness in her dancing. Her leaps eat up the stage. Have you seen her as Myrtha? Weak is not the term I would use.

Opinions of course vary on dancers, and Part divides opinions perhaps more than most. I don't mean to imply that you aren't entitled to see her jump as a weakness, of course you are. But you stated it as if it was a fact. I just wanted to point out that at the least, fairly educated opinions differ on this issue.

I happen to like the more subtle approach they both took to their acting even early on -- it seemed less artifical than certain other people's acting, such as X Reyes or V Part.

interesting you cite those two as they are completely dissimilar in type and style both of dancing and acting and happen to be one of my most favorite and one of my least favorite dancers at abt.

You see them as similar?

I don't disagree with richard53dog and bingham that it would have been nice to see Osipova as Kitri again. However, apart from scheduling, here are some potential reasons that each of ABT and Osipova might want to do something else:

1) Osipova received a great deal of acclaim from critics already for her performance of Kitri in NY. Also, she is well-known internationally for that Kitri role. Therefore, if I were Osipova and I wanted to show the Bolshoi team that I have full capabilities beyond Kitri or that I can receive acclaim in other roles, I would want to do a different full-length ballet. Especially one in which Osipova is not known for starring internationally. That way, she can garner more favorable reviews from US critics for other roles and further establish herself within the Bolshoi.

2) ABT might want Osipova to do something other than what she already did at the Met in 2009, to build up the anticipation among audience members for her performance. Also to build up the anticipation by the critics too. For example, who wouldn't want to see how Osipova does in the Rose Adagio -- even if it's in the context of the last McKenzie production of Sleeping Beauty?

If one assumes that, leaving aside tourists, many members of the ballet going population are repeat attendees, having Osipova take on roles that are new for her at the ABT would increase the curiosity factor.

I believe you are a bit confused. She has never done Kitri in NY. She performed Giselle and La Sylphide last year. Yes she is famous for Kitri but she has never performed it in NY. I believe she danced it in DC in 2007. Maybe she has danced it elsewhere in the US but not in the last few years and not in NY ever. Last year was her first time ever performing full length roles in NY and they were only the romantic roles.

That said I am very much looking forward to her Juliet which is a role she has long said she wanted to dance and I imagine would be very good for her personality.

If you read "Dance is a Contact sport' about NYCB in the 70s, they refer to the corps as kids ever then in Balanchine's time. I agree that it is disrespectful but Martins did not invent that phrase.

That may be so, but they also used to refer to women who worked in offices as "girls" and that is no longer considered ok.

Just because it was done in the 70s doesn't mean it is acceptable today. I realize she was wondering who came up with it, so your point is legitimate, but Martins could still take the initiative to stop the practice. I think her complaint about it is a valid one.

I think that Flack will come to learn that every work place is a disfunctional family.

That is a depressing thought.

You may be right, but I do think that dance companies are among the most so, in the fact that they infantilize their employees, and that one's life is much more tied up with one's job than it is in a "normal" work environment given the extremely long hours and intimate quarters...

At the risk of commenting on the discussion, I'd also suggest you are being rather condescending towards her...which given her topic of discussion, borders on the ironic, but hey, you might be right.

In any case I applaud her guts, honesty, and wish her good luck.

Had Veronika originally been scheduled for an evening Sylphide at some point? Or was she always just scheduled to do the matinee? I am glad I will get a chance to see her!

fyi.

the following has come in an email from the ABT press offices:

On Friday, June 19, VERONIKA PART and CORY STEARNS replace Hee Seo and David Hallberg;

On Saturday matinee, June 20, HEE SEO* and DAVID HALLBERG replace Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo.

She (Part) was doing saturday evening--hopefully she still is....

This time he decided to ignore V. Part (I guess since he probably found no reasons to destroy her, ignoring was then option number 2). I so so tired of this guy's aversion for V. Part

I observed Macaulay applauding for Part on Saturday night.

That is nice, but not really the point. She doesn't know this, nor do his readers. What they know is what he writes about her, which is at best lukewarm, and even when he says something positive (paraphrased slightly) "VP danced better than I've ever seen her" he follows it with a jab "but she was still a bore."

To make this not only about Veronika Part, it should be said there are several other dancers he responds similarly to--including Wendy Whelan.

He has very strong and clear opinions about dancers. This is not necessarily a bad thing in a critic. It may in fact be a necessary one, or at least one that is impossible to avoid. But it makes him a bit of a "bore" for me--I can guess what he will say about almost any dancer without bothering to read the review: David Hallberg (who for the record, I too like very much)-- effusive gushing; Cory Sterns--the same; etc etc.

I also find some of his criticisms, like those pointed out by Bart in the opening post in this thread, truly bizarre. Small feet make someone's dance quality "slick rather than handsome"? what is one to make of this? I have been known to have quibbles about body types for various roles, but this just strikes me as criticism for the sake of it...

I'll try and write more later (especially if no one else reports, or if their opinions were significantly different than mine) as I have almost no connection now but WHAT a pleasant surprise today's matinee with Ricetto and Hallberg was! For those who do like a traditional Giselle, Ricetto certainly filled the bill--and this was only her second go at it, I for one look forward to seeing her grow in this, and I would not have counted myself as an enthusiast (I got the ticket back when this was still billed as Hallberg/Abrerra).

In fact with the exception of Lopez in the peasant pas this all corps and soloist cast (excepting David) hit it out of the ballpark.

Also, kudos to Ricetto for extreme graciousness. Forget giving your partner a rose, she gave David the whole bouquet

Some biographical background: Wong joined MCB in 2005-2006 as a first-year corps man and was promoted to soloist in 2007. He's a natural dancer, well-trained and very versatile. He's also a real performer, who makes even the most complicated choreography look as though his body is creating it spontaneously. He obviously loves the stage.

Just to clarify, MCB has a rank between soloist and principal of "Principal Soloist"--it is this rank that Alex current holds, not that of soloist, although the MCB website does not state when Alex was promoted (I believe it was earlier this year if I am remembering correctly from a post on the Winger where Alex is a blogger).

I thought V. Part was outstanding, contrary to what the NYTimes review said.

He's made it very clear he doesn't care for her. I think one has to accept that as a given (as with other dancers at both ABT and NYCB).

I hope to write more about the evening later but I wanted to concur with something abatt said...

Also, Wiles does not exude the predatory sexuality that I associate with other Sirens (think Helene Alexopolous at City Ballet years ago).

I am not as familiar with this ballet as many people on here I am sure, but I too found this a major problem. I am not a Wiles fan, but I can enjoy her in some roles, even if she will never be a favorite of mine.

But a Siren has to have some sort of sexuality to her--some sort of animal magnatism or allure. And Wiles had none.

This is not a criticism of her looks, so I hope no one takes it that way--but there was nothing in her portrayal to give any sense as to why she would be remotely desirable and without that, nothing makes much sense. She just seemed like a bossy, tall, powerful (yes, she had that), bore.

The administration has given every sign that it intends to give support of the parts a lot of prominence, even if some of it may be symbolic.

OT but...

following on the discussion of Michelle Obama's fashion taste, and recent discussion in the nytimes (of all places) of the emphasis her clothes place on her arms, it took me a long time to recognize this for a typo!

Then, we had the Pas de Deux a Trois from Le Corsaire which is always a showstopper, especially when you have Angel Corella as Ali the Slave. His partner was a radiant Irina Dvorovenko and the other male dancer was David Hallberg. Poor Hallberg was kind of outperformed by Corella. Angel went all out and a few time it looked like he was wildly out of control, but he held it together.

The "lead" role in that pas de trois is always a rather thankless one. Poor David though. Not much fun as a role to get for one's birthday!

And on that note. Happy (belated) Birthday David!!!!

(sorry for veering slightly OT, but the gala was indeed Hallberg's birthday night)

There is a beautiful new photo of Veronika at her bio on the ABT website!

it is! But why is it (for me) still showing up in the soloist section?!

..... Jose Coreno in Le Corsaire pas de trois (what a loss he is to ABT) .....

What do you mean?? Have I missed an announcement??

I think he means Herman Cornejo--and as far as i know he is not leaving ABT.

Congrats to the Mariinsky-related (and I truly mean "related"...not actual) recipients of today's Golden Mask Awards in Moscow, for best theatrical performances and work in 2008:

Best New Ballet Production: Vishneva: Beauty in Motion (S. Danilian Productions of the USA...not technically Mariinsky)

Best Ballerina Performance: Diana Vishneva for 'Vishneva: Beauty in Motion' (again - Danilian Productions)...beating Natalia Osipova's much-lauded La Sylphide...hmmmm.....

wow--having seen Beauty in Motion I have to say I am shocked...

What a wonderful piece of news this is!

I can't believe they finally did it!!

Congratulations to a much deserving new ABT principal!