Amour

Well Kim and Gillian are stars but really you need a great Nikiya. And I have to agree that Hee was bland and forgettable. And yes, without 3 comparable star leads, the ballet falls apart.

Wow, Macauley was pretty harsh on this. Luckily, Kim basically got away unscathed. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/03/arts/dance/review-american-ballet-theater-revives-la-bayadere-using-familiar-choreography.html?ref=dance

Yes, such a thrilling dancer. The height of his jumps and the breadth of his grand jetes. He just ate up space and actually made the Met stage look small. And those whizzing, fast chainees. The elongated, elegant line which is very stretched out. It was breathtaking. His acting was also superlative, the gestures very clear. And Kim obviously refused to accommodate his dancing to others in ABT so it made them look like slouches. I think Kim really has that "it" factor the way Vasiliev did a few years ago. Kind of like he was the one professional in a company of students. As a result, though, I didn't think he looked good with Hee or Gillian (except in the wedding scene) because he overpowered them. Last night I wished the ballet was just about Solor.In other roles, Aaron Scott was also a great jumper as the head fakir and Zhong-Jing Fang was appropriately dutiful as Aya, Gamzatti's servant. Sarah Lane also displayed a gorgeously classical line and did perfect pirouettes as one of the Pas d'Action dancers. Can't wait for Saturday afternoon when I get to have another look at Kim:))

Well Hee Seo was pretty dismal, dull and bland as dishwater and not strong technically. In The opening scene when Nikiya enters she should be sensual, and beautiful. We should know why this noble warrior loves this temple dancer. Tonight I had no idea. There was literally no expression on Hee's face. Her arms are long but she does nothing with them. They could be beautiful and expressive but they're flat. And her balance is so shaky. She can't stand on pointe in a closed 5th position without wobbling. Tragic. I am always waiting for some big error or flaw and tonight it came in scene 3, when she dropped the basket of flowers (it literally flew out of her hands) when she was dancing. And I was remembering last year when Viktoria Tereshkina did the backwards développes while staying on pointe the whole time (jaw dropping). This year Hee immediately went to a flat foot to keep her balance. And the partnering. Poor Kim looked like he was lifting a sack of potatoes every time he swung her around. And he's not a small guy. He's at least 6 feet though quite slim. Anyway he had no such partnering problems with Gillian, except for some supported pirouettes, where he was trying to turn her too much. As for Gillian, at first I thought she was having an off night. In Scene 3 her jumps looked underpowered and I thought her Italian fouettes looked strained. I sitting pretty close (row I orchestra) and I could see her neck muscles tensed up.I've also seen her be much more menacing in scene 2 where she confronts Nikiya. I was thinking longingly of Osipova in the role. But Gillian was beautiful in the wedding scene. Her variation was flawless; she even did a quadruple pirouette. Well that's all for tonight. More details tomorrow.

I fell in love with him last August when the Mariinsky was in London. Like an unbelievable fan. He did the Demi roles in Concerto DSCH with Filip Stepin (who I love) and made him look unexciting. Glad everyone finally understands my obsession with him;))

Ballet 422 about Justin Peck making his ballet Paz de la Jolla has finally been released on DVD /BluRay. You can buy it on Amazon.

Was Reyes greeting of Kevin also cold? I believe some people said they heard boos when he appeared?

Good for Erica! She's not a jumper so I'm still baffled why Peter keeps casting her in Bouder's roles but I'm glad to hear she's improving:)

Sarah knows R&J. Kevin should let her dance it. But will he? Doubtful.

Here is Macauley's review. No surprise that he likes it. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/01/arts/dance/review-the-sleeping-beauty-reawakened-by-american-ballet-theater.html?ref=dance

Ooof! Haven't seen the production yet (I will in June) but this sounds really bad:(

I heard about this YT parody last night made by Lydia Wellington. It parodies a Free People dance wear video commercial. I thought it was so funny, I wanted to share it.

Finally getting to finish my post on Friday's Goldberg Variations. The work was led off with great panache by Faye Arthurs and Zach Catazaro in the Theme. Then Part 1. Wow, I don't think I've ever seen it this well performed. Danny Applebaum, Joseph Gordon, Taylor Stanley, Anthony Huxley, Emilie Gerrity and Ashley Laracy performed the variations. Such clarity in the steps and footwork. All the men looked terrific and Ashley Laracy, just WOW! A real Balanchine ballerina (though this was Robbins) from the top of her head to the way she held her hands. Beautiful arabesque line. Goldberg is very long (about 1 hour) and has sometimes seemed like a chore to sit through. But not on Friday. It helped to sit close (row K in the orchestra) and to have the work so beautifully performed. Imagine my surprise when, talking to some of these dancers last night, they were unhappy with their performance. Just goes to show you how hard dancers are on themselves. Part 2 was danced by Tiler Peck, Gonzalo Garcia, Rebecca Krohn, Jared Angle, Maria Kowrowski and Tyler Angle. Tiler was stupendous! Some of the balances she held (in second position on pointe) were amazing. Maria was also gorgeous. Her long limbs showed off her beautiful lines. No signs of any weakness due to pregnancy. Rebecca was also very good. She has improved SO much since being named principal. She, too, is tall and long limbed. Not quite as strong as Maria or Tiler but she's getting there. And I love Tyler Angle. He's probably the best partner at NYCB right now and also a terrific dancer in his own right. His brother Jared is not quite as good and I thought Garcia was the weak link among these 6. Kind of messy tours and pirouettes. Also, after the perfection of Act 1, Act 2 was a bit of a letdown, despite the fact that this is when the principals dance. Not so much the performances but I think the choreography is just not as good as in Act 1. So for me, Friday night at NYCB, especially Goldberg Variations, was a resounding success.

Ok, finally writing about the SAB workshop. The evening cast is apparently the second cast (first cast is the matinee) but they were wonderful. Harlequinade was first. mimsyb has already described it in great detail and I have nothing more to add. The little ones did shine like gems. Next up was the William Tell PDD, coached by Darci Kistler and performed by Larisa Nugent (16 years old) and Kennard Henson (17). I agree with mimsyb that this looks like these guys got some coaching from Nilas and whoever else coached Bournonville at NYCB. Larisa was charming, light on her feet, held balances well and quick footwork. But Kennard. This guy is going to be a STAR!!! I haven't seen as exciting a young dancer since I saw Herman Cornejo do the peasant pas in ABT's Giselle in 1999. Kennard is extremely flexible. When he did a battement to the front, his leg practically touched his head! His cabrioles were huge and his jumps just ate up space. His tours were perfect. And what great charisma and stage presence. Apparently, he still has 1 year left at the school but he is going to be a star-I know it. When he showed up at Rosa Mexicana after the show (where my husband and I and most of NYCB were) he had an entourage with him. Again, this kid will be a star. Next up was The Sleeping Beauty PDD, coached by Yvonne Borree and Jon Stafford, performed by Sasonah Huttenbach (17) and Alec Knight (19). This was very well executed if a little less exciting. Alec is blond and handsome, a very princely type. His grand jetes were outstanding as was his partnering. Sasonah was delicate and feminine. Considering Petipa is really not NYCB's thing I thought they did very well. The fish dives were a little shaky as well as the supported pirouettes. Still, good job. Next Balanchines's Valse Fantasie, coached by Suki Schorer with Leah Christianson (18) and Thomas Davidoff (16) in the leads. It's been about 10 years since I saw this at NYCB so I can't really compare this performance to the company. But Leah! Ok, here we have the next Ashley Bouder:) this girl was SO FAST, I couldn't believe it. She also held balances forever, had a great jump and covered so much ground I couldn't believe it. Thomas also did very well. Tall and long legged, great stamina, nice line. VERY well done. Then the 3rd regiment of Stars and Stripes (all men), coached by Jock Soto. EVERY one if these guys had huge jumps, great tours and pirouettes. And all done in perfect unison. So wonderful to watch. Again, so much talent, especially among the men. Any one of these kids could be dancing professionally now. Finally, Robbins' Fanfare. This was stage by Christine Redpath and Susan Pilarre. Well, who doesn't love Susie. I think she is very beloved by everyone, especially former (and probably present) students. This work gets everyone on stage, as many men as women. My favorite was Christopher D'Ariano (17) who did the double bass. This is all Italian jumps. SO HARD! He did a fantastic job. The harp, which is the main female role) was performed by Christina Clark (17). She is tall, blond and lanky. She reminded me of last year's Clara Miller, who is now a NYCB apprentice. I thought she did very well, maybe needs a little more work controlling those long limbs. For those who have fretted about diversity, there were quite a few African American and Asian students in the workshop. Kennard is black. Sasonah is Asian. There was 1 black ballerina - Alicia Holloway - who performed the oboe in Fanfare. Clearly a talented dancer. So a wonderful workshop and good luck to them all!

I was at the evening performance, which had a different cast, and it was WONDERFUL. Because of other distractions in the evening, (drinks with NYCB dancers which lasted 3 hours until 1am) I haven't gotten to write my review yet. But I did meet the guy, Kennard Henson, who I thought will to be the next Carlos Acosta or Herman Cornejo. He was that wonderful, I even took notes on my playbill. So definitely a more detailed review to come. The chosen few who are going into the company now know in March. So really there are no surprises at least regarding whose getting a job after the Worhsop. For example, Miriam Miller who is technically still a student was given her apprenticeship early so she can dance Titsnia in Midsummer, They're just told not to accept other offers. On the other hand back in 2005, students had to wait 2 days to learn the news.

Just came back from a wonderful night at NYCB. I decided to see this program, which repeated a lot of the highlights of the Fall season. There was some new casting for some of the pieces like Liam Scarlett's Funerailles, Troy Schumacher's Clearing Dawn and This Bitter Earth. I thought the new casts worked quite well in the first 2 pieces (though losing Ashley Bouder in Clearing Dawn is definitely hard). Funerailles, danced by Gretchen Smith and Zach Catazaro did exceptionally well in this over wrought Macmillan type of piece. (It reminds me in parts of Mayerling). The only thing missing is some bodice ripping (I'm joking). Clearing Dawn looked like Troy might have changed it a little bit. Now the dancers walk around a bit before the coats fly up to the ceiling. However, while I didn't especially like the piece in the fall, I really liked it tonight. Very playful with lots of jumping. They seem to be passing an object around or, later, playing something like " tag you're it". I think it helped me that one of the city ballet reality show segments was on Troy and choreographing the piece. Andie Vyette and Harrison Coll really danced their hearts out, so much so that Andie was visibly winded during the curtain calls. Anyway very enjoyable. The next piece was Jean Pierre Frohlich's "Varied Trio (in four)". I don't remember seeing this piece before. It was set to Balinese type of music and the choreography made reference to some types of traditional Indian dance. Dressed only in blue leotards, Sterling and Amar danced this piece beautifully. Their partnering was seamless (he is getting to be a great partner!) and Sterling looked both light and very flexible. I thought the piece was kind of dull but the dancing wonderful. Then This Bitter Earth. It breaks my heart to say this but I HATED it. This is one of those iconic PDD that Wheeldon made on and for Wendy and it is difficult for me to see anyone else in her roles. But Tiler Peck seems like the anti Wendy. She is pretty, dances in a very pleasing, generous way and is well proportioned. Wendy was angular, unique and very individual in the way she danced. Not that this ballet was badly danced; it most certainly wasn't. But it was about as far from how Wendy would have danced it as possible. Maybe Sara Mearns, who has her own type of individuality, would do better. IMO,Peter should really think about recasting Wendy's old roles very carefully. It's too late to write a detailed review of the Goldberg Variations but suffice to say it was exquisitely danced. Perhaps it's because I sat close (row K orchestra) or doing the Bournonville stuff has really improved the technique of so many of the dancers but I loved every minute of it, especially Part 1. No feeling that the ballet is endless or a chore tonight. It was the highlight of my evening. But more details on it tomorrow.

Vishneva danced Bayadere just last spring but she won't dance with Sarafanov. She's refused to dance with him since he left the Mariinsky:(

After his Bolshoi experience I don't think Ratmansky has any interest in being an AD. I think he enjoys traveling the world choreographing. That said, my vote goes to Ethan Stiefel.

The website now shows Kotchekova replacing Osipova in Bayadere:( Sarafanov still dancing.

How about Obraztsova? Does she dance Nikya? Since she's doing an R&J she might be in town (and she's tiny).

My heart and best wishes go out to Osipova tonight who, as I and others have noted, fell and seemed to get injured immediately. I hope I'm wrong. If not, this is the 5th time I've seen a dancer get injured while dancing (Somogyi, Nikitina from the Mariinsky, Vyette, Cornejo when he tore his calf, and now this). It never gets any less sad or terrifying to watch. I truly wish her the best, and that she is only shaken and not badly injured. Injury notwithstanding, these are my thoughts on the ballet. Osipova's is the one I call the "athletic" Giselle. She comes out like gangbusters in Act 1 with those gand jete jumps and only lets up when she dies. And then only for a moment. In Act 2 she comes out like a whirling dervish, "a tornado" I believe abatt said. Does this seem to be the preference of most people now? Judging from all the clapping and bravas she received mid ballet, I'd have to say yes. Is it my personal preference? Not really. I don't really mind Act 1 so much but in Act 2 I just don't find her very "wili" like or ethereal. She's too much the super duper athlete. Anyway, I did love her Act 1. Her jump is phenomenal. She can seemingly hang in the air forever. When she does her skipping, traveling ballones, no one does them higher or travels more. In her grand jetes, she gets very high and seems to hang, suspended in mid-air. She does the hops on pointe, no problem. Not only does she get across the whole stage, she does a whole 360 degree circle while traveling. Unlike Vishneva, she does not clutch her heart early on, but just stops for a moment, with her hand on her heart. Her mad scene is also rather brief and one note. As a result, (as I said to nysusan and abatt at intermission) she looks more like a lunatic than someone with a bad heart. It's a choice, I'm sure, but one I'm not really sure I like. As for Steven McRae I thought, at least in Act 1, he was a pretty good actor but not much of a dancer. He has little ballon and, again, as I said up thread, I've never seen such ugly petit batterie. He came out princely but not too entitled. He made a point of greeting each village girl as they came out. He started his pursuit of Giselle almost immediately after she came out. He was very ardent, grabbing for her hands, trying to kiss her. He never came off as a cad. He almost didn't acknowledge Bathilde (Luciana Voltolini) and even before Giselle died, seemed to be asking for forgiveness. He even kissed her. So for me he came off somewhere between the reserved Shklyarov and the over the top Marcelo (I didn't see Bolle). The peasant pas was nicely danced by Blaine Hoven and Luciana Paris. I liked them both. His cabrioles weren't as high and didn't cover as much space as Craig but his tours were more cleanly landed. I thought she was nice, nothing special but held her balance well in the pirouette to penchee combination. On to Act 2. I believe I am the only complainer about Veronika (Myrtha) here but her failure to do beats bothers me. Also tonight, I noticed how far she had to pitch her upper body forward to just lift her leg in arabesque. Yes, she is authoritative but still, C'mon Veronika! Katherine Williams and Zhong-Jing Fang were Moyna and Zulma respectively. I thought Zhong was gorgeous, as I said up thread. Katherine was also quite good. Next Osipova. She came out with those whirling turns. I don't think I've ever seen her do them faster. And then she does sissones and she gathers up her feet under her when she jumps. She went for both height and speed. The same when she does the entrechats in place; she jumps so high, repeatedly, she looks like a pogo stick. I may be the sole complainer on here (and she got roars of approval from the audience) but I don't find this even remotely ethereal or ephemeral. This is just not my view of a wili. I really prefer Diana's interpretation. Just because you can do all that doesn't mean you should. I did like her développes into second. She got them almost to her head without having to compensate by leaning the opposite way with her body. As for Mc Rae, I liked him better in Act 2. His entrechats (I counted 31) were cleaner, not so strange looking. But I do think he's a better actor than dancer. And he and Osipova have a lovely rapport. After she hurt herself, he really tried to help her, including at the curtain calls. Once, Osipova hit the floor and limped back onstage, I just wanted the ballet to be over so she could lie down. I guess we won't know until later whether she badly injured herself but I keep wondering if it was wise for her to finish. Don't they always have a cover, waiting in the wings? Well, it's very late and those are my thoughts. My foremost one is that Osipova is ok.

I agree with you mimsyb. I thought Rhoman Zhurbin was a terrific Hilarion, overwhelming in his love for Giselle, unafraid to challenge Lloys/Abrecht. The best one I've seen so far. And Zhong-Jing Fang as Zulma. What a gorgeous dancer!! Exquisite upper body with expressive, liquid arms while maintaining a strong lower body. Her tours into a penchee were to die for. Just perfect. Another ABT corps dancer who needs to be promoted NOW.

I thought McRae's acting was good in Act 1 but the dancing? Blech! He hardly had any ballon and his batterie. I've never seen anything as ugly. His scissors almost went to 2nd position and you could really see every single beat. Really unimpressed.

Her fall was really bad. It was when she's doing the entrechats going upstage. She slipped, fell on her butt with her legs splayed in front of her. She just lay there for a bit, then limped out to the center of the stage. I thought she was going to walk off but she finished the rest of the ballet ( not much left) looking like she was marking the steps. After a long while she limped on stage for the curtain calls. She couldn't even get the conductor. Veronika (Myrtha tonight) did that. I hope she's not out for the rest of the season:(

Macauley sits in row M of the orchestra (I'm usually row K or L so I see him) on the right side on the aisle.