Amour
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Posts posted by Amour
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When I had friends in ABT in the 1980's they brought me to watch performances, not in the wings, but above them, a bit below where the lights are. I'd get my own chair and everything. (There's a wooden platform up there) But, frankly, the view stinks. I'd much rather watch from out front.Mastercard and ABT have some sort of promotional deal where you get to watch a performance from the wings..
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Ok if it's not fair to compare Lane to the very best (Fonteyn), here is another other petite Aurora who also never attained principal status in her home company:
Here is the lovely Olesia Novikova:
Novikova is perfection. I believe the only reason she hasn't been promoted to principal by the Mariinsky is she's constantly pregnant (I think 3 babies in 4 years-she's married to Leonid Sarafanov). She's now pregnant again with her 4th. You can't promote someone constantly on maternity leave:(
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Thank you vagansmom. What a great comment! I'll look for that explanation:))
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The idea of dancing small is an interesting one. Many on stage Thursday night were guilty of it, By that I mean dancing under themselves, barely moving, having no musical concepts, not filling out the musical phrase. For my personal taste Lane did not dance small.
For me, dancing "small" is primarily a problem with projection, lack of stage presence, charisma, etc. Then it also has to do with really stretching your limbs out to the max they will go. This may be something that can be improved on (of course, so is stage presence) but is also hindered by a dancer's technical limitations. Many dancers, for example, probably do not have the extremely flexible back that Diana V has so they can't to the renversées or cambrés like she does. But Kochetkova (who can't be more than 5') is a dancer who dances much bigger than her size. Sarah did not do that, IMO. That's what I meant by dancing "small".
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The promotion refers to "An evening at the ballet: Curated" [ugh] "by Misty Copeland."
What does that even mean? "Curated". I'm confused. I know what a curator does in an art museum, but ballet? I don't get it.
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OMG, you have got to be kidding me. Wow, that PR machine Misty has is working triple overtime!I just saw this in the NY Times.
A HOTEL STAY, WITH BALLET
The ballerina Misty Copeland is an attraction of American Ballet Theaters season at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City this summer, and the Smyth, a Thompson Hotel, in TriBeCa, has a package where guests can see and meet the dancer. Behind the Curtains: Misty Copeland is offered through July 4 and includes a two-night stay in a deluxe room with upgrade upon availability, a signed copy of Ms. Copelands autobiography called Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, two tickets to one of her performances of Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet or Cinderella and a post-show meeting at the stage door with the star. Rates from $599 a night.
P.S. Just looked up the offer on the Smyth website. The offer also includes 2 complimentary drinks. There is a disclaimer that not all performances feature Misty. The offer on the hotel website says nothing about a stage door meeting. Still, what a PR stunt:((
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ABT badly needs a jumping coach for many of the women. Many of them seem to have absolutely no elevation at all. Copeland is unfortunately one of those women (and I say this as someone who doesn't really dislike Misty's dancing). But in the final "flying" diagonal with Bluebird, it's a problem when the Florine has so little elevation that those tiny little hops don't even look like flying.
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Assuming they have a men's class at ABT, I'm sure there's nothing preventing the women from taking it. Men's classes are full of jumping. A common strategy for female dancers to improve their strength and jumps.
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Right, I forgot that last night was supposed to be the Osipova Sarafanov cast. That may very well explain the full house. The Vishneva Gomes show on MOnday sold well too, but not quite as heavily. Maybe that will be ABt's new strategy going forward - advertise superstar Russian guest artists and then switch the cast.
If I could "like" posts here, I'd "like" that one 100x.LOL
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I thought SB tonight, without the benefit of Diana, Veronika, Marcelo, Stella and Daniil, looked like a totally different ballet, and not in a good way. I was all too aware of the changes in the Lilac Fairy variation and the fact that Prince Desiré's role has essentially been reduced to nothing. Frankly, where on Monday I was wowed, tonight I thought the ballet was boring. The Vision Scene didn't come off well at all and really only the 3rd act was fun, with more familiar choreography. And to think we'll have this ballet for years. I just don't know:(
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About Sarah, I love her, but this choreography doesn't really suit her. She is classical but tends to dance small. For example, the renversées Diana did on Monday were really full. Diana put her whole back into it. Sarah kind of just stuck her head and shoulders for a minute to the back. And all the low legs, no flashy fish dives? I mean Sarah did well ienough in the Rose Adagio balances (though she slipped and fell on her butt a few minutes later). Also, her solo variation in the wedding pas was done very well. But, again, these low legs are not flattering to a small dancer. And if you're small, you have to do everything very full out (like those renversēes). Also you need more stage presence and charisma. Not the fake kind, like Misty, but look at Sterling Hyltin or Makarova (she's tiny) or Misha or Nureyev. Even Stella has more stage presence lately. Of I course, if you don't dance enough, it's hard to do this. But whenever she's on stage Sarah needs, IMO, to be able to project more, be more dramatic, even. Then I think we'd see more improvement and maybe more roles.
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As Bluebird, I definitely did not like Gabe Stone Shayer. He can jump but lacks both the quick footwork and the pliancy in the torso to get those beats really front and back. Daniil was much better on Monday. But BOTH of them could take a lesson fron NYCB's Anthony Huxley. Between his James and his Oberon, you can see Anthony really has GREAT batterie. Just goes to show you how much this new SB is like Bournonville.
Misty as Florine, Blech. No she didn't fall off her hops but there are only 3 hops on each leg. Is that so unmanageable? There are more hops in the 1st Shade variation in Bayadère. And my husband, who sometimes defends Misty, saw her variation and gave me the thumbs down. Just not interesting or delicate and she always projects that same fake smile persona, whether it's appropriate to the role or not.
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Canbelto, talk about sloppy, the corps fairies were a mess tonight. When (maybe after the garland scene?) every leg in arabesque on stage right was at a different height. I felt like shouting at them to just peek over at each other and fix that mess. Geez.
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On the other hand, I don't 'get' Skylar Brandt with her flat feet and clunky batterie as Diamond in A3; Boylston 100 times superior at opening night, with her elevation, elan,and gorgeous arched feet...and the presentation of feet is a leitmotif of Diamond.
On Monday I saw Bella as the Diamond Fairy and tonight I saw Skylar and I feel just the reverse. Bella has a bigger jump but her upper body, I think is terrible, especially her arms and those floppy wrists drive me crazy. I thought Skylar is beautifully proportioned and has lovely upper body, especially those expressive arms. Although, with the exception of Herman and Skylar, I thought no one in tonight's cast looked very good, especially compared to Monday.
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Benjamin Millepied and Kevin McKenzie are colleagues and friends, I would assume.
Unlike Misty, who works the PR machine like the pro she is, Sarah was suddenly up against some real heavyweights for.....speaking the truth! She did, in fact, do Natalie Portman's dancing. But telling the truth pitted her against a director who wanted an Academy Award (Aaronofsky) and choreographer Benjamin Millepied. It was certainly not a comfortable situation for her.
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was one of the critics pf Perreira in her first Raymonda and I stand by my criticism because it matches other performances I've seen of her. If she's grown because of it great and I look foreard to seeing the results. As for ABT, we are not talking about teaching someone a role on short notice. KM makes choices. IMO his choices lack imagination and do nothing to satisfy the ticket buyer.
Exactly! Dancers whose slight improvements are as slow and unsteady as Seo's would likely never have made it past the corps in NYCB or, more likely, never made it into the company at all. At least we saw Erica learned Raymonda in 1 day and by her 3rd performance was already much , much better. And she's only a soloist. But that's why NYCB is doing so well and ABT is hanging on for dear life.
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Peter Martins rarely has guests. If someone is injured, he substitutes another company dancer in the role, and that could be a dancer that someone was trying to avoid. He wasn't sounding like a genius after Erika Perrera's first "Raymonda," but the needle took a jump in the other direction after her second.
It sounds like having to dance a lot of very difficult roles in a short period of time has been great for Hee Seo.
Erica improved with 3 performances! I haven't seen an improvement in Hee Seo in 2 years:(
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Wow Peter Martins is suddenly looking like a genus.
Compared to Kevin, I think Peter is a genius. And knows how to develop NYCB, something sorely missing from ABT. I won't give money as a patron/donor until he's replaced.
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Pathetic, just pathetic:( So glad I exchanged my ticket yesterday.
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On the other hand, I don't 'get' Skylar Brandt with her flat feet and clunky batterie as Diamond in A3; Boylston 100 times superior at opening night, with her elevation, elan,and gorgeous arched feet...and the presentation of feet is a leitmotif of Diamond.
Sometimes I think our assessment of dancers depends on who else is dancing in the same performance. On Monday night, Diana V was Aurora, Veronika was the Lilac Fairy and both Sarah and Stella were prologue fairies. Boylston was the Diamond fairy and compared to the refinement and elegance of these other 4 she was well.....very underwhelming and looked inelegant. She has a nice jump but her upper body, especially her arms and hands (those wrists:() are just not up to snuff.. I hate to think what will happen to ABT in a few years when/if Diana, Polina and Gilliian retire.
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Re Amour's comments above, in the Vision Scene, it appears that the ballerina's foot is resting on an inclined pedestal (don't know the formal name of that contraption they place on the floor for her to step on- it's a half shell with an inclined support in the center of the shell where the ballerina rests her foot on pointe). Not to take any credit away from Vishneva and her balances, but that support enables the ballerina to hold the unsupported pose on pointe, not her own strength. Also, in the Wedding Act, in the section with the deep backbend, Marcelo placed his arm around her back to enable Vishneva to bend that deep. The other Aurora's I've seen perform less deep backbends, but it's done without any supporting arm around their back. Their sole support is leaning into their partner's torso.
I have to say when I heard about this stuff, abatt, especially the foot contraption I felt crushed. Actually, crushed and deceived. Ashley Bouder wouldn't need any such contraption to hold her super long balances; we see them all the time. And the unsupported cambree seemed too good to be true. I guess it was. Still there's much to like in this production.
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My understanding is that when you exchange subscription seats you pay the original price at the beginning of the season. Hopefully you can get a credit for the difference. Maybe someone at ABT Subscriptions can help. Surely they don't want to lose a subscriber.
That has ALWAYS been the case before. I did call later and spoke to a manager. Hopefully, she will credit my account:) She said she's been with the Met for 10 years and has never received as many complaints as this year.
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FINALLY! Took them long enough to announce it. I expect Osipova will also be out of all the RB NYC performances as well:( Wishing her well and a speedy recovery. Being injured is so tough mentally and emotionally, not just physically.Sorry to be late with this. Went to lunch!
NATALIA OSIPOVA TO WITHDRAW FROM PERFORMANCE OF
ROMEO AND JULIET, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 17, DUE TO INJURY
Due to injury, Natalia Osipova, a Guest Artist with American Ballet Theatre, will not perform the title role in Romeo and Juliet scheduled for Wednesday evening, June 17 at the Metropolitan Opera House, it was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.
Ms. Osipova sustained an injury during a performance of Giselle this season with American Ballet Theatre.
We are hopeful that Natasha will take the time she needs to fully recover, said Mr. McKenzie. I join the entire Company in sending her our very best wishes.
American Ballet Theatres 2015 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House continues through July 4, 2015.
Very glad I exchanged that seat earlier today, around 3pm. I got a seat to see a second performance of Diana in SB this Saturday:) I was just not willing to wait around to see who Kevin casts in R&J in her place. I fear it will be Seo:(
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I did call the ABT ticket office to complain today. The manager said she's been with the Met for 10 years and has never seen anything like this season. SO many complaints. She was very nice about my problem with exchanging (and everything else I complained about). She promised to get back to me tomorrow and told me the name of the ABT guy who deals with the Met (which, unfortunately I promptly forgot). So if you want to complain, call 212-362-6000 and ask for Alexndria.
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One thing I noticed that I don't like is that when you put the mouse on a seat, it doesn't automatically display the row and seat number.
I really dislike that about this new site. Before, I could go to the box office and ask for a particular seat. Now you can only see the row:(
Spring 2015: The Sleeping Beauty
in American Ballet Theatre
Posted
Well, maybe to aspire to but Olesya is just wonderful, one of my favorite Mariinsky dancers. I like Sarah but she's never going to be anywhere near Olesya (who may be younger than Sarah, I'm not sure). Really, no one at ABT except Diana (who is, of course a Mariinsky dancer) is anywhere near that level of accomplishment. But ok, an aspirational goal. Also, maybe Obraztsova (who is also tiny and, IMO, not as good as Olesya) could be someone more realistic to aspire to. I know Obraztsova is now a Bolshoi principal but that was because Fateyev made it clear she was going to go nowhere at the Mariinsky.