vipa

It's interesting -- that's exactly what Hee Seo did last night. My guess is that each woman was waiting to feel secure before lifting her leg. I'm not totally surprised because it is a partnering move that takes rehearsal time, which at ABT by all accounts is short. I was so sorry that I couldn't go to the Lane performance, so I really appreciate the reviews. I saw the SB she did 5 years ago and loved it. What a crazy company to make a dancer wait 5 years to do a role that she was good in the first time around.

Drew I so agree about T&V in ABT and that we don't need 2 Balanchine companies. As for Tudor - I'd love it if they kept Lilac Garden in the rep.I too remember those mixed bill days with lesser ballets, but there were so many more rep performances that I didn't mind it so much. I agree with Jayne, I wouldn't mind Tetley's Voluntaries coming back.

My bias is always going to be towards rep. In the playbill interview with Cheryl Yeager she mentioned how many ballets the company did. I don't remember the number, but a lot fewer than now. I remember going to see programs with so many ballets. Feld's best ballets - Intermezzo & At Midnight. Tudor - Romeo & Juliet, Lilac Garden. Ailey - The River. Lot's of others. From the past they've chosen Les Sylphides for the Koch season. That doesn't give me hope. I don't mean to offend anyone, but this is a ballet, it seems to me, mostly of interest to ballet historians. Maybe, since Susan Jones is staging it, it comes cheap. For the Met season I hope they come up with something better.

Jaffe would surely have known from experience that with the limited coaching ABT dancers get, learning to see what to work on with limited or no coaching was critical. Do (dedicated) Russian coaches approach their coachees from a "Teach them to fish" angle? One performance of Aurora after five years? Ugh. Ugh is right - and I saw that performance five years ago - it was lovely, youthful and joyous (btw rose adagio totally secure, one of the better ones I've seen) and something the company should have been interesting in building upon. That she was told to learn Coppelia and Romeo and Juliet, but give no performances is amazing to me. Does the AD specialize in discouraging talent?

Don't know if this is the best place for this, but an interesting interview with Sarah Lane http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-blackmore-Dobbyn/sarah-lane-all-american-b_b_3516831.html My take away is that ABT is indeed something of a mess in terms of coaching and casting.

Thank you, vipa. Is Richard Thomas (Sr) still alive? When you look at the still image of Pas de Dix - Part 2, Sobotka & O'Brien are the third couple to the left - or the second couple to your right - depending upon how you view it. She is wearing glittering earrings. Sobotka also does a solo at the end of Pas de Dix - Part 1; she is the soloist on the right. Richard Thomas Sr. is indeed alive. He is living in Kentucky. That's were he originally was from. Thanks for identifying Sobotka.

The second variation done by a soloist was Barbara Fallis. I studied with her in NYC years ago. She sadly passed away some years ago. Her son is Richard Thomas, the actor. Which couple were Ruth Sobotka & Shaun O'Brien? I'd love to know who the other dancers were.

Pretty disappointing in some ways - Les Sylphides of all things - Why? Tharp's - Bach Partita is fine, but why can't they do the Tharp raging success that ABT had - Push Comes to Shove. No Tudor - that's a disappointment. The only Balanchine is Theme - well I hope Lane/Cornejo are cast. It all seems to be a pretty arbitrary this and that.

Was Cynthia Harvey at that time?

She said a lot of things Irina Dvorovenka in her last interview. ABT has a problem.

Interesting dilemma. The thing to remember about Sleeping Beauty is that it is really all about the ballerina. If it was Cojocaru/Cornejo I'd say go for that, but after seeing Kotchekova in Swan Lake, and having seen Lane in Sleeping Beauty a couple of years ago, I'd go with Lane. The caveat being that Simkin has a history of partnering problems that could throw Lane off her game and make the wedding pas kind of scary. I'm really interested in hearing other thoughts about this.

I attended Friday, and agree with everything abatt said about Cornejo. A wonderful performance - his bearing, the way he held the stage and his brilliant technique which was performed with an ease and eloquence befitting nobility. Maria Kochetkova is a beautiful and accomplished dancer. There were very few glitches (there was the 2nd act diagonal of turns when she traveled so far she was barely on stage to finish), and lots to admire. She and Cornejo are well matched in size and proportions so their pas de deux work had many, many lovely moments. She was not, however, transcendent. I should perhaps admit to where I'm coming from. I've been watching ballet for over 40 years, and at this point am not a fan of most full length story ballets. I usually stay away, but bought a ticket to see Alina Cojocaru do SL. To me she is a dancer of such musicality and imagination that she invariably reveals things to me that I didn't knew were there, or could be there. Kochetkova's performance was good and enjoyable, but there were no revelations. That said I look forward to seeing her doing rep. with the San Francisco Ballet when they come to NY. A few comments about some other dancers. Simone Messner was a delight in the pas de trois. Everything is there - jumps, turns etc. but the nice thing is that it is all done with a naturalness and joy that is a pleasure to behold. So many dancers do these variations with affectations or a "style" that looks grafted on. Gorak danced well and carried the role of Benno quite believably. I imagine he will be promoted soon, and perhaps will be a principal in the future. He appears to not be stuck the way IMO Joseph Phillips unfortunately is. Jared Matthews was terrific as the Purple Rothbart, no he is not Gomes - sometimes even Gomes isn't Gomes, but he danced very well, with no technical issues and made the role his own. I just have to add that in the section with the princesses, I couldn't take my eyes off of Sarah Lane. She looked gorgeous and glamorous - her creamy port de bras so beautiful. She'd be the princess I'd advise any prince to choose! Last thing - music. There are a couple of sections of corps dance when the music suddenly slowed. Why? Is it to make sure the all dance together? If so why can't they dance together to music that isn't distorted. Also in the Pas de Trois - the three dancers stayed together but were behind the music. I'm not talking rubato - just behind the music. They stayed together, so I have to conclude they were coached to do it that way. It wouldn't be fair to say that in this company music isn't a priority, but I can safely say that in this ballet music definitely takes a back seat at ABT.

I'm off to see my only SL tomorrow - anyone know anything about casting besides the lead couple?

I agree with all of the above comments. What is her background and interest in ballet? I often disagree with Macaulay in the NY times, but at least I know he is a long time dance viewer and dance lover.

I too want to see Les Patineurs again. I would love to see multiple nights of rep programs. Wouldn't it be fun for all (dancers included) if there were lots of principal on stage on the same night? Tharp's Push Comes to Shove had my vote. Also Symphonic Variations and Tudor's Lilac Garden. I wouldn't mind seeing Ailey's The River again. That said, I admit I'm not much of a full length "story ballet" fan.

Thank you so much for this. I had the pleasure of - back in the day- being in partnering classes that were taught by Nicky Magallanes (everyone called him NIcky). He was a wonderfully kind person and teacher.

Sorry Canbelto I didn't mean to say that you had, only that Gottlieb seemed to go to that conclusion

My question is - Why assign weight as the problem. When I saw Mearns in the Winter Season there was a performance when she looked like she was holding back, and wasn't herself (I later learned that she was injured), but I didn't attribute it to weight.

Thank you Helene - Imler is one of those dancers who I am so sorry I won't ever get to see perform live. I wish there was more film available. Everything I see of her I love - not only tremendous technique, but she seems to exude joy. I saw Mearns last week in Allegro Brilliante and didn't notice anything different about her size or weight. She looked gorgeous to me. I guess Gottlieb recalls seeing her thinner, but it's strange to me that he felt it worth mentioning. I wonder how he felt about Lynn Seymour. She was a wonderful dancer in dramatic roles in the 1970's Royal Ballet. She was far from thin.

I'm pretty sure Ulbricht is shorter than De Luz. Ulbricht is able to do Tarantella with Fairchild and Bouder because there is no partnering to speak of in that piece. The Bouder/Ulbricht Tarantella really brings the house down.

I'm sure the reason Ulbricht doesn't do EL Capitan is because there is no female dance who is short enough for him to partner, who can do the dancing. Just think of the partnering section where he has to step back as she stays in arabesque and goes under his arm. I too wish I could see Ulbricht in more roles, but at the moment Erica Perreira is the only one short enough for him to partner and she is very limited in what she can do.

There are certain dancers, Megan Fairchild for one who Mr. Macauley doesn't like so he doesn't miss an opportunity to find fault. In the past Daniel Ulbricht has been another (he wasn't mentioned in the article). Writing negative things about the same dancers over and over is hardly illuminating. Mr. Macauley expressed the point of view that no one below the rank of principal was a mature dancer. I beg to differ. Georgina Pazcoguin, Lauren Lovett, Savannah Lowery, Megan LaCrone just to name a few, bring a level of high level of artistry to a wide range of ballets. I also think it too bad that he didn't have a good word to say about Andrew Veyette, who IMO had an outstanding season or De Luz who is a great dancer - both of these men are also terrific partners.

Excellent - now I wish they'd post Blue Bird pas. I am expecting Simkin's Blue Bird. Is it too far-fetched to cast Vasiliev as BB? I've seen some old Bolshoi footages where the BB's thighs & legs were as muscular as Vasiliev's I've seen Simkin's BB - the problem, as usual was partnering!

Excellent - now I wish they'd post Blue Bird pas.

That would have been a real treat!