tutu

Saw the first two ballets on Thursday (ducked out before Vienna Waltzes). Great to see the company looking so energetic. Divertimento No. 15 was strong, clean, musical, and the whole cast seemed to have a real sense of camaraderie throughout. Tiler Peck's debut was absolutely fantastic, and her performance of the principal solo was among the best I've ever seen. Episodes is always a treat, and yet another chance to appreciate the depth of talent in the corps right now -- so much presence and charisma from so many of its most junior members! Looking forward to attending many more performances this fall season.

Considering she's still pirouetting away in company class at 9 months pregnant, I could see her getting back in shape in no time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEG-dzzv_yB/?taken-by=ashleybouder

https://www.instagram.com/p/BEgcvCNP_1_/?taken-by=ashleybouder

WOW! Those are some incredible videos.

Also at the matinee yesterday, and wholeheartedly agree with others' comments above, especially re: Everywhere We Go.

Taylor Stanley saved Everywhere We Go for me, though -- he fills out the movement in the most lovely way. Also really loved seeing Kretzschmar in Pictures at an Exhibition and was thinking how much I'd love to see those long limbs and that musical attack deployed in The Cage or Agon. She's just a compelling dancer.

re: claws: they were toned down, at least in this rep. I think it might be a point in the season thing -- when you've got a raft of new apprentices fresh out of SAB, they're more likely than not to have the full claw (and you see it in, say, fourth movement symphony in c, in chaconne corps), but it fades with experience.

On a tangentially related note, really appreciating the raft of talent that was the class of 2012-2013; it's been wonderful to watch Unity Phelan, Indiana Woodward, and others come into their own.

Lovette performed an excerpt from Rubies with Jeffrey Cirio at the Kennedy Center Honors a couple years ago. Lots of recordings of it on YouTube, including this one:

Soloist Joshua Grant was originally hired by Russell and Stowell in 2001. He left PNB in 2004, and Peter Boal hired him back into the company in 2011.

Yep, and I thought Benjamin Griffiths was a Russell and Stowell hire, too? (You'll note that I specified female soloists and corps members above.) There's probably something interesting to say here about how this reflects on differences between men's and women's careers in ballet, but heck if I know what it is.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that means that the last female corps de ballet members or soloists who had been hired by Kent and Francia have no retired -- that is, that the women of the corps de ballet and soloist ranks are all Peter Boal hires.

A recent blog post announces that Kylee Kitchens will be retiring as well:

While I’ll be stepping off of the stage I’ll be stepping into a new adventure with my son Simon and husband Steve. Thank you from the very bottom of my heart to everyone who has supported me and this beloved company of mine.

I'm 80% sure Emergence started with Rachel Foster. The dancer had darker hair than Mullin, Biasucci was in a different section, and Foster was specified in the program for Feb. 26 only.

Seconding seattle_dancer's note: Maggie Mullin was absolutely fantastic in Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude. Also worth a mention: Leah Merchant (I think?) in Emergence. Just incredible.

The only blot on the program: the City Center stage just seemed too small. Get this company to the Koch!

Or if In the Night would return? What a treat.

I'm not hopeful that it'll happen in a non-anniversary year, but I would love to see PNB stage Ballo della Regina sometime in the future -- just imagine Leta Biasucci or Angelica Generosa taking on that fiend!

Glad to hear it! Thanks, Helene.

What's the latest on Noelani Pantastico's return? I remember that word was she'd be back in November -- is that still the case?

Much as I love to see well-done fouettes with lots of flourishes -- Murphy and Osipova come to mind -- it's not hard to find examples of major performers who had a terrible time with these. When Julio Bocca's National Ballet of Uruguay did a live stream of their Swan Lake last year, Maria Riccetto bailed at 24. Makarova notoriously loathed the fouettes and didn't always get through 32. It would be better if they just planned a nice finish, perhaps chaine turns, than struggle to finish. I think it's more important to look at the overall technical quality in a performance than just this one thing. So I'm curious about the rest of the performance people saw at today's matinee.

Amen to that, California. I've seen a number of principals over the years who have struggled or fallen out of fouettés and turning sequences (think corsaire pd3) in performance, including dancers known for their technical prowess and turning abilities.

Looking forward to hearing more about the performance as a whole. Judging by the accounts of those who were in the audience, it sounds like a treat!

Fouettés aside, I'm delighted to hear the (extremely) positive reviews regarding the overall performance--especially if (as reports of school trips up thread would make it sound) there were a number of newcomers to ballet in the audience.

My impression of ABT marketing over the last several years is that it's aimed at potential donors rather than ticket buyers, with no recognition that marketing is not just development.

I mean, really, what IS ABT's marketing strategy? Are they, like the Republican party, relying on an aging audience that's dying off by the day? Because frankly, that's not going to cut it if it wants to continue building an audience or even maintaining one in the long-term.

Re: the dancer websites referenced above. Other than Misty's, those are actually pretty simple websites which were probably built on off-the-shelf Wordpress themes. My guess is that each of them probably cost between $500-$1,000. One of my students could probably knock one of those out in a couple of days. Misty's was probably a custom site or built on a customized theme, but still not terribly complex or expensive.

A new website for ABT would inevitably be more complex and expensive than any of those sites (even Misty's), but yes, website design and development have come a long way and are much cheaper and faster than they were 15 years ago when that dinosaur was built.

Amen to both sentiments. This page in particular looks like something a 15-year-old learning HTML for the first time might dream up. Web graphics are, across the board, atrocious. And the site is more or less unreadable/unusable if you're viewing on tablet or smartphone.

I actually think the length is right -- Adweek is just one of many companies saying three minutes is optimal length for YouTube videos. I've had some experience with video analytics for an organization with viewer demographics very, very similar to ABT's, and the same holds true: viewing drops like a rock at minute three.

My problem here is more basic production issues (the difference in audio levels between Maxim and Irina, for example, is quite noticeable, and would be corrected by most producers), lack of compelling editing, and the overall dated "look" (the drop, even font choices). There's nothing to help viewers align the video they're watching with the company for which one would hope they buy tickets: there isn't a title card or end credits aligning the video with the brand -- and hell, the words "American Ballet Theatre" never even appear within the video -- never mind (gasp) an ABT logo.

I'm going on at length because the low, low quality of this video demonstrates just how bad ABT's marketing is. High-quality video is easy to find these days, so when ABT turns something that's so far below that standard out regularly, it just makes it look cheap. Same thing goes across all marketing efforts: they're not just outdated; they're also of a much lower quality than those of their peers, and the company suffers for it.

[Edited by tutu for clarity and typos]

As others have noted, the abysmal PR and marketing plays none too small a role in the company's woes. The late adoption of video (most of which now feels as if it could be a segment on Charlie Rose) and even of certain social media campaigns, the next-to-nil effort to promote homegrown dancers (here, a comparison with NYCB is especially useful), the unchanging design of season brochures (I'd wager that with dancers' names obscured, you'd be hard-pressed to distinguish between a brochure released yesterday and one released 10 years ago) contribute to a sense for the uninformed that ABT is staid, stodgy, and unchanging, with the only excitement to come from a star from abroad.

I understand if there may be worries about alienating the core audience base, but ABT's output offstage is embarrassing.

R&J is moving when Juliet = young love and innocence, but watching Obratsova, there was this extra dimension of a fully realized person with a history and relationship to her family long before Romeo's arrival. If you've spent some time with the play, suffice it to say that Obratsova's Juliet is Shakespeare's Juliet -- not just MacMillan's.

Gillian nailed her Rose Adagio! And Stella's lilac solo was stellar. Very good first act and prologue.

Seconded! If McKenzie passes her up for promotion again, he's a fool.

Watching this production, I'm more excited about the future of the company than I have been in years.

On the tail end of an absolutely breathtaking second act tonight, Osipova took a nasty, nasty fall. Limped back up and powered through the rest of the performance, but it was clear during curtain calls that she was in pain.

Performance delayed by fire alarm and started half an hour late. Still, a lovely Serenade with a very nice début by Savannah Lowery. She looks almost like a different dancer this season, with a much softer port de bras. A pleasure to watch.

On its Facebook page, PNB has posted a picture of Pointe Magazine's cover, featuring Leta Biasucci.

https://www.facebook.com/PNBallet/photos/a.439537898951.224264.21358443951/10152498424803952/?type=1&theater

But the most exciting part may have been the caption: "Psst... you may want to be sure you're at opening night tomorrow, rumor has it Peter Boal is making an announcement." If that means what I think it means...

Edit: Just seeing the other thread now—apologies for the cross-post!

I've always had good luck with the back of Orchestra Center.

What would fashionistas pay attention to when watching Balanchine's Black and White ballets?

Good-looking, extremely toned young men and women, many of whom could double as models themselves. Seems like a fit to me.

The fashion slant has also gotten the gala more celebrities and more press coverage from a variety of sources. If it takes one night with awful costumes and pièces d'occasion to get the ballet more coverage (and to get new tushes into the seats), I'll take it.