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Can't thank you enough for these reports!

I was a Fri. night's show. I had eagerly awaited Tiler Peck's Mozartiana. It was a good, but uneven performance IMO. Some of the variations were an absolute joy of clarity, musicality ad phrasing. There were also beautiful moments in Preghiera. I think the issues I had with the performance, are a result of the lingering effects of her terrible injury. She can't really bend back, or drop her head back. There is a moment in Preghiera with a deep backbend. Peck leaned back and looked upwards. It doesn't have the same effect. Also, and I believe injury related, she seems to be struggling with her arabesque. Tiler Peck is an amazing dancer and artist, and I'm glad I saw her in this ballet, despite what I view as her limitations. I enjoyed Harrison Ball as the male lead, and he had me rooting for him. He did a lot of excellent dancing. The video with Ib Anderson holds up as the gold standard. I didn't really care for Troy Schumacher in Gigue. Loved Rubies. Sterling Hyltin - what a delight - playful, spontaneous, spirited, not a false move on stage. Mira Nadon blew me away in the tall girl role. She is fearless, eats up space, and can move with great speed. In that naked, difficult exit when she does the penche arabesque sequence moving backwards. The first one had a shaky moment. She fixed it. No problem with the rest, in fact huge, beautiful movement. Impressive in a young dancer, to not get spooked by a mistake and go bigger and bigger! She is going to be a big star. Didn't stay for La Valse. Saw it twice in the fall and it was never a favorite! OK - let me just say. I, for one, am sorry intermissions are back.

I don't know about anyone else, but I've never experienced or heard of real coaching about facial expressions. Sometimes something broad like - smile more. Sometimes an overall mood like - look saucy here. For better or worse, I think it's assumed the the over-all right physicality will lead to a suitable facial expression.

I find his conversation interesting. I saw Hyltin in the role pre-pandemic. She had become, by that time, a dancer I much admired and sought out. After seeing her in Mozartiana back then, I actively avoided her in the role this time. That isn't because she was awful, she was in fact lovely in many ways, but I seek a particular depth in that ballet. Perhaps we find that depth in different dancers and it isn't something that's debatable. We find it or we don't.

Love all the reports. I'm really looking forward to seeing T. Peck in Mozartiana next weekend. I don't listen to the City Ballet podcast often but Silas Farley hosted a "hear the dance" on Mozartiana that is fun. He interviewed one of the 4 original minuet women, and 1 of the original children. https://podcast.nycballet.com/episode-51-hear-the-dance-mozartiana/ On another topic, does anyone know the status of Ashley Bouder? I follow her on instagram. Other than one statement many weeks ago, that she'd started serious exercise, there has been nothing about dance.

I believe she is. Terry Mann has a daughter named Shelby who would be around 18 or 19 now.

Thant may be so in some cases but many soloists learn principal roles as possible 4th 5th casts, and never perform them. New principals are not necessarily learning their roles for the first time. I know a past soloist who "learned" a principal role for 3 years and never got to do it.

I agree that Fairchild improved with her age. I actually think her real breakthrough came when she returned from doing a Broadway show. Perhaps practicing a different kind of theatricality informed her performances. She kept growing after that.

It's amazing how many siblings there have been in NYCB. My husband just reminded me about Laura and Elise Flagg. Do other companies have so many siblings!

On the topic of siblings - there are the Angle brothers, both principals. Years ago there were the Borne sisters. I think they were in the corps for quite a while. Bonnie Borne, I believe left to be a soloist in another company and Elyse was eventually promoted to soloist at NYCB. The Kurt and Kyle Froman were the only identical twins who were ever in the company, as far as I know. They were both in the corps.

Also agreeing on Segin. She's been a joy to watch for years. It seem promotion is not in the cards for her.

I recall Claire getting opportunities very quickly when she first joined, a shot at Tarantella for example. Then, for whatever reason, things seemed to stall for her.

Things can be confusing for a ballet student. A teacher can lift your leg, maybe lift it quickly, maybe yank it up with force and almost knock you over. It might seem easy at a distance, but It can be hard to know what crosses the line especially when everyone around you is accepting of it. Add to that the fact that students want attention, and often interpret any kind of attention as the teacher liking them (as a dancer) and wanting them to improve. Sadly a number of ballet teachers grew up the victims of harsh and abusive treatment, and carry it on to the next generation.

Forgive me if it's already been posted here but here is alastair Macaulay's very interesting take on Rojo's Raymonda. https://slippedisc.com/2022/01/alastair-macaulay-tamara-rojo-does-violence-to-this-ballet/

I couldn't open it either, too late. Keep watching cobweb, as many times as you can! I'd love to see NYCB do it, and I too would be there. I understand the issues because singers are needed and also, even though it's a small cast, it requires a lot of rehearsal. That said, the company has a vast rep. so I still question the programing choices.

I agree that the limitations imposed by COVID, such as lack of rehearsal time and programs with no intermissions are challenging. Bless everyone for soldiering on. At the same time I find some programing choices puzzling including the frequency of La Valse and Slaughter. Unfortunately the new regime had little time to settle in before the pandemic hit, so I have no read on what they are about or what direction they are steering the ship, other than a seeming affinity for choreographers outside of the ballet idiom. Meanwhile I'm trying to choose wisely, in terms of programs and cast!

I believe a maternity leave note is unusual

I admit I'm a bit disappointed in the casting for the Balanchine works for the first week. Seniority wins the day. Guess I was hoping for something more fresh and adventurous. Maybe later in the season. This makes sense in terms of tradition and rehearsal hours. On another front, I wonder if/when Bouder will be back. She posted on instagram recently that she'd just started back to serious exercise.

I too would love to see Laracey in Balanchine's SL. Mozartiana? I'm probably in the minority here but I'd love to see Tiler Peck, with her special brand of musicality.

I'm going to miss Gretchen Smith, a very intelligent dancer who knew how to make things work. I heard her say, in a recent interview, that she'd love to stage ballets. I hope that works out for her.

I'm sad they have to delay the start and that we won't be seeing Diamonds. On the other hand I'm OK with not seeing the Martins SL and instead getting a rep night that includes Balanchine's one act version. I mostly feel sorry for the dancers with all of these ups and downs.

So true. Also a rep season allows for more flexibility in many ways. Nutcracker is what it is, with a large cast and back stage crew.

I so agree with the Trenary/Brandt statement. For a time Trenary seemed the favored one, being cast as Aurora and even getting opening night in Paris (if I remember correctly). I wonder about the impact of Brandt's social media postings of her coaching sessions with Irina and Max, and her guest gig doing SL. This is not a criticism. She's a talent and seems to work incredibly hard, I just wonder how much she's managed to steer her own ship (so to speak) by her use of social media. Again not a criticism. I notice that Hee Seo has held on to her rep. I'm afraid she's a dancer I always avoid. I've never understood Kevin M's interest in her.

I'm a bit surprised Tiler Peck is doing Thursday night & Friday Mat. Glad Daniel Ulbricht has been given a couple of cavaliers. Anyone seen Erica Pereira since she's been back. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thing she had a baby.

Just wanted to throw this out there - I saw The Tragedy of Macbeth today at MOMA. Macbeth adapted and directed by Joel Coen. I thought it was wonderful. The performances, visuals, music, overall concept totally riveting. I think it's opening in movies Dec. 24. Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand lead the cast. BTW the MOMA movie theater was packed. Proof of vaccine required. Masks at all times (no eating or drinking in the theater).