vipa

I'm hoping for a Lauren King promotion. When you look at the female side the soloists you can see something should happen Rebeccah Krohn - promoted Savannah Lowery Kathryn Morgan - out for medical reasons Erica Pereira Ana Sophia Scheller - promoted That means 2 female soloists who are healthy.

Well deserved and congrats. Now we will see if anyone gets promoted to soloist.

I attended May 18 - Liebeslieder Walzer & Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet. One word about how I got the ticket (Orchestra row D center) if I may. Bidding for Good is an organization that runs online auctions for non profit organizations. The not-for-profit that I work for uses it, as do many schools and arts organizations. I went to biddingforgood.com searched under tickets - ballet/dance - nyc. A school in Washington DC had these tickets in their auction. I bid and was the highest bidder. I got the tickets for less than face value and the money went to a school. I thought maybe some of you might want to check it out. On with the show. Liebeslieder blew me away. One of the few Balanchine ballets that I wasn't familiar with. The inventiveness of the partnering and musicality of the choreography is extraordinary. Loved the cast - Bouder, Kowroski, Janie Taylor, Whelan, Jared Angle, Tyler Angle, Marcovici. Jonathan Stafford. So many magical moments with gestures, facings and relationships. One lift, where Bouder was lifted into a horizontal position is just one that took my breath away. I confess, my eyes teared a few times and at one point my husband starting squeezing my hand! Maybe those of you who have seen the ballet before can point out deficiencies in the cast - this first timer was enchanted. Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet - 1st movement Rebecca Krohn, Chase Finley with the other soloist being Emily Kikta. For me Krohn is a constantly improving dancer. She is growing in technique and her performance quality seems softer and more nuanced. I enjoyer her. Chase Finley has great potential but seems a little scared! The partnering worked out, mostly because Krohn fixed things. He had a slight moment of tripping, but I see the potential and look forward to following him. The great thing about NYC ballet rep is that he can be tossed out there in lots of roles and so he will grow. 2nd movement - Tiler Peck & Justin Peck. Tiler Peck has become one of my favorite dancers. I'm starting to think that there are few roles (if any) that she couldn't be cast in. Enough said. 3rd movement - Ana Sophia Scheller & Gonzalo Garcia. Scheller is a lovely dancer. She has a strong and secure technique, has beautiful line and brought tremendous beauty to the role. I believe she'd be a principal dancer if the roles she is most suited for weren't already covered by Bouder, Megan Fairchild and Tiler Peck. Gonzalo Garcia is a dancer I don't care for and this ballet reinforced that opinion. When he jumps, his positions don't really gel so we don't see the shape in the air. His turns are hit or miss and his partnering isn't very attractive. 4th movement - Reichlin (replacing Mearns) & Ramasar. She's a little big for him, but it didn't matter much. They had the right kind of playfulness for this, and both seemed to have a great time. I just want to thank everyone for their reviews. I love reading them, please keep them coming.

My husband and I agree. We're always delighted to see her name in the program no matter what the role, she brings a radiance to the stage.

I went on Wed. night and sat in the 4th ring. It looked pretty crowded from what I could see. The 4th ring seemed pretty full to about row F. SAB students had a bunch of seats which were probably comps. The box office person told me the company was opening seats in the 4th & 5th rings on an "as needed" basis. On to the show. Serenade - I hadn't seen it in a while so how wonderful to be reminded of the beauty, drama, musicality and inventiveness of the piece - so many heart stopping moments and images. The corps looked wonderful. I loved Ashley Bouder (Russian Girl). Her clarity of movement and dynamic qualities made it seem as if she was truly carried by the music. The other principals were Krohn, Janie Taylor, la Cour and Jonathan Stafford. All were good except, well I guess I just don't get Janie Taylor. To me she just looks kind of weak and gets through things OK. Nevertheless the main thing is that I feel in love with the ballet all over again. Kammermusik No. 2- I saw it years ago, but had little memory of it. I really enjoyed the performance. Mearns &Reichlin started in displaced unity. One a beat behind the other doing fast, precise, often angular movement. They have such different movement qualities that Reichlin repeating the movement Mearns had just done was the same but different, like a musician playing a musical phrase and then bringing out a different nuance in the repeat. The group sections with the corps of 8 men also required speed, sharp precision and tremendous physical awareness. I realized that Balanchine choreographed this in 1978 when he was 74, the same year he did Ballo della Regina. They are very different pieces, but is seems to me he might have been experimenting with pushing speed and precision in ballet technique. Tsch pas de deux with Tiler Peck & Joaquin De Luz. I have seen this many times with many great dancers. IMO this was the best I've ever seen (my husband agreed). The musical phrasing in the pas made the piece new again. De Luz has a way of presenting the ballerina that is both nobel and warm. Peck is a complete ballerina. She combines speed with a very lyrical quality. She is musical, imaginative, dances with abandon and has a virtuoso technique. De Luz gave us huge jumps, beautiful multiple turns, and all of the other "tricks" with a relaxed and even sunny nobility. They have become 2 of my favorite dancers. Firebird - Maria Kowroski is goddess like in her looks and body. For me her performance had no power or magic. I'm going to try to see Bouder do it!

Angel joined ABT as a soloist. He was never in the corps there. Of course - I stand corrected.

Thank you Amy. I agree with much of what you said. I just want to add a couple of thoughts It was in an interesting and enthusiastic audience, much like the Joffrey audiences of old (I remember those $1 days). It didn't seem to be the typical ballet audience. Corella is a world class dancer who has been a star for a number of years, so he is in a league above the rest of the company at the moment. His focus (as in where he is looking), ability to make and hold shapes long enough to have them register (no matter what the tempo) is certainly a matter of technique and experience. He has a bag of trick to draw from that the other dancers don't have - at least not yet. Seeing the talent that was on the stage I believe that those dancers will develop with his help and be fine when he retires from dancing. Part of the reason I enjoyed the performance was because the dancers looked that they loved being there, and also because I felt that I was seeing the beginning of what could develop into a world class company. Seeing Clark Tippet's Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 moved me for a number of reasons. IMO it is a good but flawed work that reminded me that it was a big loss to the dance world when Tippet died at the age of 37. He moved groups well, had beautiful partnering moments, used themes that he developed, was musical. The work gets a little too cluttered in places and you can find this or that flaw, but what a shame this choreographic talent never had a chance to fully develop. By the way - you can see the last movement of this work on youtube with Ashley Tuttle and Ethan Steifel. If you watch closely you can see Angel Corella in the corps.

I know it ran in the New York Times on Feb. 13, 1956.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/21806795/MariaTallchief_cleaned.png

I too love the promote from within model. I believe that the ABT rep make it difficult, unless it's an obvious talent who hired to serve corps/soloist time until promoted. This would be a Bujones or a Simkin. What I mean is that the repertory of primarily big ballets doesn't allow for a lot of stage time development. Doing 8 or 10 peasant pas a year doesn't prepare a dancer for Albricht. The company can't really take a chance on an up and coming dancer because of ticket sales and the fact that it takes away an opportunity for an established principal to do the role. Contrast this with NYCB which can put dancers out there in challenging corps and soloist roles more than once a performance. The exception in ABT (IMO) are when tall men are needed. Patrick Bissell (again IMO) was promoted before he was ready because he was tall. Even Hallberg, obviously an excellent dancer, might not have moved up quite so fast if he wasn't tall. I just don't know how talent can be developed and nurtured unless people can be given lots, and lots of opportunities.

Jack Anderson's obituary for her in The New York Times is entitled, "Barbara Fallis, City Ballet Soloist And a Dance Teacher, Dies at 56; Joined Alonso Ballet in Havana Opened Own Studio". Being the NYT, one of the first things they note is that she was actor/director Richard Thomas' ("The Waltons") mother. The full obituary is under the NYT "paid" scheme. I just want to add that Barbara Fallis and her husband Richard Thomas, took their son Richard Thomas (who would later have Waltons fame) on tour with them when they were in NYCB. Richard & Barbara had wonderful stories about how lovely Mr. B was with their son. One more thing. I mentioned in an earlier post that Barbara Fallis had worked with Massine, Fokine and Balanchine. I forgot to mention that she also worked with Tudor.

Is it OK to post this? "We used to be good"

I was so excited to see Barbara Fallis' name. I studied with Barbara Fallis and her husband Richard Thomas for many years, before her death. They ran the New York School of Ballet which has a New York School of Ballet Alumni page on facebook. Richard and Barbara also danced with NYCB. Barbara was an American but was trained in England. Just think, she had worked with Massine, Fokine and Balanchine along the way. Watching her demonstrate when she taught was amazing. The first time I took her class I remember thinking - she can't really expect everyone to do that! She could also construct a class that would lead you to do things better than you had ever done them. The exercises always built to a purpose and point. I was in some productions that she staged. In Giselle I did corps, one of the friends and Zulma. I also learned Peasant Pas from her. She had so much insight into stage craft, technique and musicality. I could go on and on! I had no idea she was the first Cuban Myrtha

Thank you for your reviews everyone. I saw this afternoon's performance. Allegro Brilliante - Sara Mearns fine debut. She was lush and danced with a wonderful abandon. I do prefer Tiler Peck, who I saw earlier in the season in the role. I think Peck's allegro abilities are more suited to the role, but in any event is was like hearing a piece of music on two different instruments. A cello won't sound like a violin but can bring something to a piece that's special even if the piece written for a violin. Jared Angle's partnering was wonderful. A woman can't dance with risk taking and abandon without a great partner. Jared Angle also has a nice masculine appeal on stage. Zakouski - I know a lot of people don't like this piece, but I enjoyed it. It is a nice vehicle for a couple, and I'd rather watch it than a lot of war horse pas de deux that some companies do as vehicles for dancers. Megan Fairchild and Joaquine De Luz (one of my favorite male dancers around today) were charming. Fancy Free - What a great work. So many wonderful details go into the characterizations. Of the men Suozzi, doing the Rumba section, was the best. R. Fairchild was OK in the dreamy guy variation. This IMO is the most difficult to pull off because the choreography is subtle. I have a great memory of seeing Daniel Levins in it years ago. Adam Hendrickson wasn't very good in the flashy variation. It's a shame he has to share some roles with Ulbricht and De Luz Tchai #3 - Reichlen was lovely, Krohn and Jared Angle fine (I noticed that the guy does a lot of running around in that movement). For me, in the Scherzo, it was all Daniel Ulbricht. He was the only one I watched. For the T&V section. Bouder is amazing. She did some phrasing that took my breath away. Veyette was excellent, but I saw De Luz do it earlier this season, and I preferred him. One problem with Veyette is that he always appears somewhat underpowered to me. I'm not sure why this is. Maybe it's just his body type (being long waisted and on the thin side). I'm not sure how to explain this because his dancing doesn't reflect a lack of power or stamina, it's just an appearance. Anyway Veyette partnered Bouder wonderfully. The polonaise section which can looked rushed partnering wise was beautiful and they looked like they had all the time in the world. And I give Veyette a lot of credit, there was a point when one of his variations started to look like it might fall apart, and he fixed and ended well. Last thoughts. 1. What a great company. 2. When corps member Lauren King is on stage, my eye goes to here. Promote the woman please.

I believe this is a segment from the wonderful film "Balanchine in Paris" made by Dominique Delouche. The film also has some wonderful scenes of Violette Verdy coaching. EvilNinjaX, I don't have an answer to your question, but I hope someone has. I'd also like to know.

I just came from the Sat. evening performance. I'll start with a complaint - the "See the Music" lecture/demo at the start of the program with asst. Music Director, Andrews Sill lecturing us about the Morton Gould score for Interplay and having the audience participate in a clapping exercise. I feel this was done because the program was a short ballet (Interplay) intermission, short ballet (Agon) intermission and Tchai 3, and they wanted to add time. In any event I want Robbins to reveal the music with the ballet, I don't want a musician "explaining" it to me. On to the ballet. I saw Interplay earlier this season. Lauren Lovette was even better in the pas de deux this time. Ulbricht is still a warm and wonderful performer. He was not as on as he was the other night for the four consecutive tours, but no matter he did them and finished with finesse. Agon - can't see this too many times. Maria Kowroski and Amar Ramasar were terrific in the pas. They had the right air of mystery. The beauty of her body and the shape of her legs makes for beautiful shapes and lines. Megan LeCrone danced with great clarity in Bransle Gay. Sean Suozzi is starting to grow on me. I used to think of him as a dancer lacking in substance and weight, but I really liked him tonight. Tch 3 - I prefer to jump to Theme and Variations, but that would have made for an even shorter program and we might have gotten another music lecture. The only thing I have to say about the first 3 movements is about the Scherzo - Ana Sophia Scheller was outstanding - beautiful to look at, outstanding technique. Antonio Carmena was well terrible. He looked like he was just jumping around Theme and Variations - Overall, I haven't seen as satisfying a performance in years. De Luz is wonderful in his partnering, stage presence and noble presentation of the ballerina. His variation with the pirouette, double tours was the best I've seen since seeing Peter Martins did it years ago. De Luz pulled off alternating single turn, double tour and double turn double tour for the whole sequence (I think 8) finishing the double tour to the knee, and he made it look easy. The partnering section in the polonaise movement was outstanding. This section can look very rushed, but not this time. Throw lifts worked like I haven't seen them work in a long time. With Megan Fairchild, I would have wanted more expansiveness in the pas de deux, but all the way through she met all of the technical demands and her phrasing was delightful, I mean really delightful. She played with the music, held balances and moved with and eagerness and quickness that made for very exciting moments. One last funny thing. My husband and I are both former dancers. During intermission before Tch 3 my husband said - OK listen for the following sound - thud, wait, wait, wait, thud, wait, wait, wait, thud, wait, wait, wait etc. I thought he was crazy and then I heard exactly that! My husband said that's De Luz practicing double tour (land thud) followed pirouette (no noise as in wait, wait, wait) etc. Well if that was it, it worked!

Totally agree with Carbro and Kathleen about. She was amazing in Who Cares earlier this season and last night Allegro Brilliante was a revelation. Her the fullness of her musical phrasing is just beautiful. Her technique is totally secure but she never looks like she is doing tricks, everything is in service of and reveals the choreography. She delivers the whole package! Once again, Lauren King was a standout in the corps. I had never seen Russian Seasons before. I like a lot of the imagery and the dancers looked good, particularly Tyler Angle. I did think it a bit long Good performance of Fancy Free. I hadn't seen it in a while, and it was nice to be reminded of how good the choreography is. Every moment give us character & story. What a pleasure. I particularly enjoyed De Luz in the 1st variation. He made it look easy. I love his dancing in everything I see him in. I'm going to try to see his Theme & Variations.

Well vipa here's a small chance to see her--courtesy of "El Periodico" and a kind Corella Ballet poster: http://www.elperiodi...portman-1402002 Sorry, I didn't know how to do a link to a translated version of the article. Hope the video works ok; the footage is good, and her interview great (esp. when asked about "Black Swan"). Wish I could have been there to see it. (FYI: Corella Ballet--now called "Barcelona Ballet" after their move there--will be performing SL in Detroit in late April 2012.) Thank you so much. She doesn't dance like a short person. This is a very nice video. I'd love to see her get more opportunities in ABT. I think she is just not the "type" that the AD favors. Thank you som

I'd love to see her do it. Unfortunately Kevin M. won't afford us that opportunity because of her height (IMO)

Interesting postings. When I started this topic I was thinking of performances that were great ones in the past that could be put on the stage today. I believe that the Shaufuss that I posted and the Baryshnikov, Kirkland & Guillium posted by Amy fit that. Amy thank you for posting Soloviev and Vladimiroff, I hadn't seen those before. I agree totally with your comments about them. The other way to think of it is qualities of past performances that we still appreciate today. I see that in the Alonso, Makova, Maximo performances, but despite their good qualities, those performances would never make it to the stage today. I have one more to post for now. Speed, musicality, performance quality. Helgi Tommason 1969 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91e7mgJxkqs

I was looking at some youtube videos of Peter Schaufuss and thought that this guy would be considered a great performer by today's standards - what is it 30 years later? He out dances some of today's virtuoso dancers. Here are some links. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh1Ar-0PpGY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOLBHJJuRs8 A surprising number of dance fans have never heard of Peter Schaufuss. I'm curious about other dancers whose performances hold up as technical standards change.

I saw the Wednesday night performance. The 1st thing is that I think the company looks terrific. Interplay - the Lovette/Stanley pas was so nice. Lovely lines from her and just the right tone. Ulbricht is just terrific. It's not just the technique and jumps (4 consecutive double tours ending in a glorious plie) it's the musicality, the characterization, the focus. He is always a pleasure to see on stage. IMO he is one of the greatest American male dancers around today. I thought all of the dancers looked great in this piece. Tarentella - Bouder/De Luz - Had me grinning the whole way through. They came out of the gate almost too excited. Bouder at her best. In Memory Of - I had not seen before, but at some point in the ballet I became annoyed that it wasn't over. DGV - Really like it. The music, set, lighting, choreography really worked for me. I'd like to see it again. I must repeat the company looks great. The principal women - Mearns, Fairchild, Whelan & Peck all looked amazing in the costumes. They all blazed through the movement. Among the guys Andrew Veyette was a stand out for his abandon and super big movement. What a great company!

ABT is not like NYCB. NY City Ballet is a company that has a treasure chest of Balanchine and Robbins ballets that rotate in and out of the rep. ABT has a treasure chest of great ballets and failures but also a history of selling tickets by presenting full length "story ballets" with international stars. The rep programs are not the meat and potatoes of the company. I'm with Helene in mourning the loss of some great ballets. The rep programs that ABT does often consists of lesser works while great works are not revived (perhaps because of costs).

I was also there on opening. I agree with much of what has already been said by canbelto. Tchai pas was wonderful even with Bouder's fall . The funny thing for me was that as the music started for her variation i thought "seems fast" and as she started to move I said to myself "boy she is going for it" the thought was barely finished in my head when down she went! But a terrific performance anyway (flying fish were amazing), I love Bouder's tweet & facebook comment “Well, I guess it wouldn’t be a NYCB season without a Bouder fall. Let the season begin!” As others have said R. Fairchild and Tiler Peck were the highlights of Who Cares. I prefer a more stacatto dancer than Mearns for her role. Reichlen looked to me like she was still working out some of the kinks. Never-the-less I enjoyed both performances. Also Amanda Hankes was outstanding through-out, particularly in S'Wonderful A word about tickets. I went to the Atrium that evening and bought a 4th ring seat for $30, center of row C. It was listed as a 50% discount. When I got there rows A & B were mostly filled and row C was filled in the center, The sides of row C and everything above row C was empty. If you go to the NYCB website 4th ring is "unavailable" and it appears that if it was available a ticket would be $55. I'm not complaining but it seems odd. I live and work about 20 blocks from the atrium so I guess I'll be trying my luck again soon.

Thank you all - I've enjoyed reading all your posts and agree with so many. For me best: Cojocaru/Kobborg Sleeping Beauty Cojocaru/Hallberg Gisele Jewels - esp. Mearns & T. Peck in Emeralds & Reichlin in Rubies Ashley Bouder in Square Dance worst: Ocean's Kingdom (didn't see 7 Deadly Sins) NYCB eliminating seats and crazy pricing ABT - City Center season rep. I understand the economics, but a company with ABT's history can do better. I look forward to everyone's opinions and reviews in 2012. Thank you!