vipa

Lack of rehearsal time could explain a lot. Fairchild studied a lot of jazz growing up.

I hope this brings lots of money in to fund the things I want to see!

Personally, sidwich, I don't think your Elvis comparison holds up. He brought something to middle America that was new to them. Americans were not exposed to people like Chuck Berry on the Ed Sullivan show and the other few mainstream venues that existed. As far as Copeland being exceptional - an African-American woman who is a soloist in a major ballet company makes her exceptional in terms of race. I think the discussion has to do with why she is cast in a role that seems beyond her, when others are not afforded that opportunity. Why, at the age of 30, is an AD suddenly casting her in Swan Lake? The answer is ticket sales. Unfortunately, IMO those ticket sales have nothing to do with putting the best possible product on stage, and will not translate into expanding the audience. Others will disagree and say that an African American woman in Swan Lake will create an audience that will come back again and again. That's not the way I see it. I know so many people of different races and ages that fell in love with ballet upon seeing Agon at NYCB, regardless of the cast. Oh and by the way with marriage, re-marriage etc. my family is a silly mix of many races.

That was me, and yes, I have seen Copeland cited as a non-traditional body type in ballet. It was actually on these boards, where I've seen comments ranging from "That bust does not belong on a ballet stage" to "She's ballet's answer to Jessica Rabbit." Wow - I missed those comments. To me her body type is not out of the range of what is typical in ballet. Obviously some people disagree with me. Her feet and legs are amazing and as there have been other "full figured" woman in ballet. NYCB has a few at the moment. Way back in the day ABT had a gorgeous dancer named Naomi Sorkin who was quite busty

I agree canbelto. I don't fault Copeland for her aggressive self-promoting. She is making a name for herself outside of the ballet world. How much that will translate into creating a wider audience for ballet is anybody's guess. I believe the AD gave her a Swan Lake - a matinee in Australia - to see if it was not a disaster. If it isn't he will give her shot at it in NY in order to cash in on her self promotion. If she was a black dancer who was not an ambitious self promoter, it wouldn't have happened. If she was an ambitious, publicity seeking white, hispanic or asian dancer with a marketable, sympathetic backstory story who was an aggressive self promoter, that person would have been given the opportunity. For me the sadness is that it is obvious to so many of us who've watched Copeland dance over the years that Swan Lake isn't in her range. We can't cheer that she was given the opportunity. As an aside, I read someone talk about Copeland as a "different body type in ballet." I don't agree. None other than Ashley Bouder said in a post that she wished she could have Copeland's feet and legs for a while just to see what it felt like (paraphrasing).

In respect to questioning why Abrera hadn't been snapped up by another company, we have no idea if she's gotten offers from or sought out other companies. I wouldn't assume that she's unhappy in ABT.

Except that the other newly appointed soloists won't be soloists till August 1 either yet that site has them listed as soloists for the engagement (Tuescher, Zhurbin, Schevchenko). So leaving off Gorak doesn't make sense unless it's just an error. Since Gorak is cast in things I suspect it's just an error. Boylston is on the list of principals but if you click on her name the bio still says soloist. I there are just errors to be fixed. I have to say It is annoying to me that Copeland is getting a SL when Stella Abrera and Sarah Lane are not. I'm sure the PR will be great.

The casting is up for Australia http://www.abt.org/calendar.aspx?startdate=8/1/2014 Copeland is doing a Swan Lake with Hammoudi. No such luck for Sarah Lane.

I've been a fan of Cynthia Gregory's for years and have had the pleasure of knowing her and being in classes with her. One thing that always struck me was her calm technique onstage. In many classical variations a step is done and then repeated 2 or 3 times. If a step went badly for Cynthia, she calmly did the technical fix so the second rendition was better and the third rendition was the best. This is a rare thing.

It was an interesting interview. I wish K. Morgan the best. I saw her perform a few times and it was clear to me she's a major talent. It interested me that she said she didn't see herself in the leotard, Balanchine ballets and felt she was a tutu/skirt girl. At the same time she wanted to be in NYCB. I guess there are a lot of Tutu/skirt roles in NYCB but no one does those exclusively. Also wanting to go to Europe because those companies do more classical rep is interesting. I'm not sure that's true, but I guess it depends on what company. In any event she is a talented woman and I wish her well.

I just heard the pod cast with Vicky Simon. Great stuff. I remember years ago, when I was in classes taught by Vicky, she mentioned getting into NYCB. If I remember correctly she said that Mr. B came in to watch the advanced class at SAB. They were doing pique turns and a lot of girls started doing doubles and triples. Vicky stayed with singles, making them as beautiful as she could. She was the only one hired. Christian, if you speak to her again you might want to ask her about it.

Interesting, because if we're going back to Martins and Stephanie Saland, Robbins was probably there coaching.

Sorry, if this should go somewhere else. Out of curiosity I checked the Queensland Performing Art Center for ABT casting. There is no specific casting but the company members are listed. I wasn't surprised that Julie Kent's name is missing. I don't think there's anything for her to do there. I was surprised to see Joseph Gorak's name missing (unless I just didn't see it) http://www.qpac.com.au/americanballettheatre/company.html?utm_source=homepageTile&utm_medium=Direct-Visits&utm_campaign=ABT I'm really wondering when the casting for all those Swan Lakes is going up.

I wouldn't count on Part getting a Giselle at ABT. KM seems to have fixed ideas of dancers. Seo Hee and Isabella Boylston can do everything and others in his eyes are more limited. Don't get me wrong, I admire Boylston and Hee in some roles but they are thrown into lots of things that they flounder in, while chances are withheld from others.

I don't even see casting for August with all those Swan Lakes.

Thank you mussel. I just bought tickets for 4th ring row A. I love those seats and am always happy when NYCB opens it up. I am a happy person. I just got my NYCB subscription squared away and tickets to 2 of ABT's fall season purchased.

In all of this discussion we have to remember that Peck is a young man who is still performing. Ratmansky has had a career's worth of dancing plus working as a choreographer with a lot of companies.

Thank you so much Faux Pas for your wonderful and thorough analysis. My only small disagreement is about Hee Seo. I have even less confidence in her than you because I think there are underlying technical flaws along with stamina issues!! Thank you again I really appreciate your contribution to the discussions.

Interesting Plisskin. As a person who bought a Cojocaru/Cornejo ticket I was disappointed when she cancelled but would have been happier if Cornejo had performed with Lane. He was half the reason I wanted to see the ballet and I would have preferred seeing Cojocaru be replaced by someone like Lane instead of Hee Seo. If I had wanted to see Seo I would have bought a ticket for her performance.

I'm very interested in reading these reviews. Thank you all for posting. I didn't by a ticket for this program because I couldn't bring myself to watch Tempest again, and couldn't bring myself to pay to see half a program.

I sometimes wonder who Macaulay is writing for. When he spoke of Symph in 3 movements he said something about Boston Ballet doing it better than the NYCB 7 years ago, but since then the NYCB had recaptured something. What?? Is he writing for the avid ballet goer, the occasional ballet goer or a reader who whats to get a sense of what's going on in the arts? I'm an avid ballet goer and a casual concert goer, and I feel much more enlightened by Tommasini's music reviews than by anything Macaulay writes. Who is his audience?

I know it is a loaded question, but there comes a point in which difficult questions have to be answered. How much union protection is there?

Julie Kent is an interesting case. Her salary is high but there are few roles for her. I'd really hate for ABT to do Merry Widow to give her something to do. Of course I'm not a fan of the big story ballets. Time for her to coach? Is it totally up to her?

Funny, she does get evening performances in D.C., and while that might be attributed to there being less competition because guest stars don't dance with the company there, I recall both a Swan Lake and a Bayadere on Saturday nights - the most coveted spot, I would think. My wish is a year of either no guest artists or no more than 2. Two who are there because they actually increase ticket sales.

Went to Sun. mat with my husband and had a delightful time. This was my first viewing of BB so first off the dancers - beautiful bodies, technically strong, teeming with energy and joy. I liked The Second Detail (Forsythe) but know he isn't everyone's cup of tea. I think he is an excellent craftsman. He can move groups well and have a lot happening on onstage while still directing your eye, so it never feels like random chaos. I really enjoy the combination of attack and fluidity in the work. In the piece I also felt as if the dancers were creating a community onstage, a community of individuals. It was like the ballet was a world of its own. I just want to add the the piece shows the dancers off very well. I didn't like Resonance (Martinez), but the dancers again looked great. I just didn't find the piece very musical or interesting. There were elements that I guess were supposed to be meaningful such as having a wall that was moved, sometime casting large shadows of the dancers, and 2 pianos. One was upstage and one at the lip of the stage. Anyway I lost interest in the piece, took out my opera glasses and started watching individual dancers! Cacti was delightful. I was surprised to read that the choreographer, Alexander Ekman is just 30 years old. The piece is funny, charming, self referential, inventive and well constructed. I smiled and laughed the whole way through. The dancers on squares beating out rhythms, the voice over coming in with pretentious nonsense, the dancers carrying cacti in stage, the couple dancing to the voice over saying their thoughts. I was totally delighted and charmed. There were a lot of children in the audience who obvious loved this. It is a piece that is funny on so many different levels that I can see how it would appeal to a child as well as an experienced theater goer. I look forward to seeing more of these dancers. I have a relative in Boston who I'll be making well timed visits to see.