vipa

I don't remember that ever happening. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. The females from within the ranks promoted to principal in recent memory from soloist to principal are - Murphy (who has flourished), Wiles (who has not flourished) and Part (don't know). Murphy and Wiles had outstanding technique which made them usable in principal roles, Part had a certain presence. ABT has always been an importer of talent unlike NYCB. A topic which Mr. A. M. broached in the Times. Perhaps that would be a useful topic.

This production sounds great. Thank you all for your reviews. I hope some day to see this production, and/or that other companies are influenced by it. This portrayal of Bathilde makes so much sense to me.

Theoretically, there is a solution to this in the fall City Center seasons. Some seasons ABT has put on up to three weeks of very varied mixed programs. For myself, I find I enjoy these quite a lot but it all goes back to what you first started with. When I started going to ballet in the late 60s, the companies I saw a lot of Royal Ballet, NYCB, and ABT all put on a lot of mixed programs. When Bolshoi made their occasional visits around this time, they also put on mixed evenings. So I hold out hope for ABT to continue their City Center seasons. The problem is that they have been very hit or miss the last few seasons and clearly the BAM Nutcracker seasons are going to mean much shorter City Center seasons, if they occur at all. But what can you do? When even NYCB starts to dramatically increase the number of full length evenings, the handwriting is on the wall. The full length programs sell tickets. True but NYCB did very well with sales in its Black & White series, the nights I was there looked very full. Of course if you don't have a Balanchine it is easier to drum up excitement with "story ballets" especially with stars. I still think that ABT could put together rep programs that could be marketed well. Perhaps they are too expensive to mount but imagine an "Americana" program with Billy the Kid, Rodeo and (Pillar of Fire, 2 Virgins and a Devil, or Lilac Garden etc.) with a flashy pas deux shoved in there choreographed by whoever - the assignment being that it be flashy, and to accessible music (I'd say Stars & Stripes pas, but ABT can't have that). The rep program presented by ABT this season was dismal. Maybe it is to expensive for them to draw upon their past, but they have done a lot of crowd pleasing ballets in the past. Also, what ever happened to the early Eliot Feld pieces. Are they available? If memory serves Intermezzo, At Midnight were very good pieces. Harbinger less so, but good. These were a lot better than those being brought to us by Millepied. Going very off topic. Moderators please do whatever. Thank you.

I don't know, and I don't think anyone can really answer your question but Mr. Macaulay. I know that when my husband emailed A. Macaulay with a question, he got a lovely response. Perhaps you could go to the source (and report back of course!) I thought it interesting that so much space was given to G. Kirkland in the review. I am old enough to remember Kirkland's performances, but what is the younger audience member supposed to make of it. Telling us the Cojocaru was more flawed than Kirkland but warmer etc. is useless for most people (I'd quibble with that assessment, but that is not my point). Reviewing dance is difficult - putting any art form that speaks for itself into words is very hard. Hat's off to anyone who does it well at least some of the time!

Thank you both for your interesting scenarios - poor Hilarion, no happy ending for him no matter what,

If anyone saw Dvorovenko and Koberg I'd be curious about it. There was one brief post. Anyone have anything to add?

I guess the basic question is about the value of art in terms of spirituality and humanity. The question of spirituality I think has to do with an art form taking you to another place; giving voice to the idea that there is something beyond our everyday existance. If we are talking about ballet specifically, my recent viewing of Alina Cojocaru in Giselle did it or me. Other performances of dance and music have done that for me in the past. The second idea has to do with humanity. Will a quest for a spiritual realm change your outlook/behavior towards humanity. This is a tough one. I'm sure there were Nazis who actively participated in the holocost who teared up upon listening to Bach. Will making a pillgramage to a religious site make you view humanity differently or just reinforce your own prejudices? I believe ballet can be as spiritual an experience as other art forms or pillgramages, but what the out come is can be elusive.

I so agree with this. I didn't know quite how to express this, so thank you Raylene. I think Cojocaru's musicality is wonderful. It's as if she is shaping longer phrases of music than many dancers do. I know what you mean by risky - there was a moment in the 1st act when in the back of my mind I wondered how a particular series of steps could possibly work out in a musical way - well it did, so after that I relaxed and allowed her to show the music to me.

Funny, I thought Alina and Johann were already married!

-goro- I don't blame Sarah for speaking her mind, hopefully she's learned that it's not personal but just how Hollywood works. It's pretty obvious they downplayed the fact that Sarah did all of the dance scenes in wide shot with actual dancing on pointe -- with Natalie's face tracked in via computer. This is obvious in the features on the DVD, but no effort is made to fully explain this or focus on it in any great detail, so its easy for average audience members to be misled as to how much actual dancing Natalie does. I don't think Sarah spoke out because she wants to be a star, or she wants publicity, but just that she expected to be more fully credited for her dancing, which was one of the better things about the film, let's face it. Yep, black turkey, indeed! I agree with you about the movie. I think the other reason Lane spoke out was that she felt that the pre-oscar PR heavily implied that Portman through weight loss, and hard work became the equivalent of a professional ballet dance in a year and a half. I think that Lane felt that this was an insult to dancers and mislead the public in terms of what a real dancer looked like.

If you read my comments about last Friday's performance of Giselle you know I thought it was amazing. I am still feeling, recalling it and taking about it to those who were with me. We are all still in its thrall. Someone told me that the day after the performance Hallberg twittered the follow - "Alina took me on ride last night & then we flew to a new sphere." It would seem to me that Hallberg probably gained/learned a lot from Cojocaru - I'm not suggesting that it was totally one sided, I'm sure she got something new from working with Hallberg, it's just that she as been doing & thinking about the role for a while, and is a very established ballerina. Hallberg is soon partnering Hee Seo in her first Giselle. I can't help but wonder if Cojocaru's impact on Hallberg will have an impact on Seo. It's interesting to think about how this all works. If anyone has seen other performance of Giselle please post comments. Thank you all.

I saw Cojocaru/Hallberg/Abrera. When I bought the ticket it was Cojocaru/Steifel, Murphy! Act l - Cojocaru was young, sweet, joyful (you believed she loved to dance) and open to life. Technically there was one oddity (noted by Canbelto). In the Act l variation there are hops on pointe that usually travel on diagonal. Cojocaru did hops in place and opened to a balance before moving on to pique turns. If you know the ballet you'd notice. The people I was with who never saw the ballet before thought the way she open her leg and balanced was beautiful, they didn't mention the hops. Her dancing was beautiful and full in every way - balances, turns, extensions, jumps, the way she covered space, her port de bras, also her wonderful musicality in the length of her musical phrasing - all in service to the ballet. At one point she sustained a pique arabesque directed at Albrecht and opened her arms and chest as if to say - I'm opening my heart to you. As an audience member you loved her and didn't want anything bad to happen to her! This made the mad scene all the more devastating. The mad scene was totally in keeping with the character. She didn't run around ranting but instead crumbled into madness Act ll - Myrta initiated her and jerked her about, but Giselle's sweetness of spirit always shined through. Pique arabesques across stage, head thrown back, fluid arms - this was a spirit rising. (I have to say that I was a little surprised at how good her beats were when she did an entrachat six, a lot of women don't really beat). There was moment in a lift when Hallberg held her extended leg and she just lifted her other leg from the floor, making her look totally weightless (sorry, I know that's a bad description), So many moments from both acts come back to me. Too many to set down. Cojocaru brings every detail, moment and step to life. I had not seen Hallberg in much before, and haven't been a big fan. I have new found respect and admiration for him based on both the strength of his dancing and his characterization. This interpretation of the ballet is Giselle at its most uplifting. The sweetness and purity of Giselle's spirit, and love for Albrecht couldn't be destroyed by betrayal, madness or death and Albrecht, taking the flower that Giselle leaves for him at the end, has learned about love. The other roles - I agree with Canbelto that Abrera seems more suited to Giselle than Myrta. I hope she gets a chance. The lieutenant Willis, Riccetto and Seo were perhaps a little underpowered, but fine. Peasant Pas - Lane/Simkin were very enjoyable in their solos. He still has some partnering problems. In fact she seemed better off turning without him than with him! I feel privileged to have seen Cojocaru in this role.

Giselle with Alina Cojocaru - I've been going to the ballet for more than 40 years. This was one of the greatest performances I've ever seen. I don't even know where to begin. I'll write more tomorrow -maybe.

The David Rubenstein Atrium, across from Lincoln Center has "same day" tickets to performances at Lincoln Center. I haven't checked there for ABT tickets, so I don't know if they've had any. I have gotten 50% off NYCB tickets. http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/index.php/atrium Sorry - this is off topic.

Just one thing to add about the Millepied piece. I was talking to a musician friend of mine who saw it and his comment was "it could have been done to the Andrew Sisters." I found this so true. I don't expect every ballet to be great, but a connection to the specifics of tbe music is essential.

In terms of a mixed bill selling I think that there is PR and there is also choice of ballets. ABT presented 3 of the most active choreographers around, but your casual ballet goer doesn't know that (B. Millipied might be know because of the movie, but I bet most people don't make the connection and/or don't care). You add to that a Tudor ballet that is far from his best and not very well know, and it doesn't translate to a hot ticket. Ballet Theater has had many ballet over the years that did and could sell well as on a rep program - Billy the Kid (a number of ABT guys would be great in it), Rodeo, 3 Virgins and a Devil, Push Comes to Shove -- could they get a guest like Cojocaru, Osipova or whoever to do Taglioni in Pas De Quatre. Obviously, I'm not putting together a program, just trying to make the point that a program could be put together what would sell with the right hook and a little PR push.

I agree with you about this FauxPas and thank you for your descriptions of the performance. I have a few of my impressions to add. I found both the Ratmansky & Millepied pieces disappointing. For me, Ratmansky had too many steps, too much vocabulary piled on too little structure. My husband saw it as multiple themes and not much development. The one good thing for me was that the piece gave me my first appreciation of V. Part. I had only seen her in a few things before and was always disturbed by what I perceived as flashes of uncertainty. She was relaxed in this piece and her beauty and qualities shined through, my eye kept going to her. Millepied's piece seemed very shallow to me. 3 guys come on pleasantly enough. The smallest gets lifted and moved repeatedly, all three do some nice turns and jumps - that's it. It was as if Millepied chose some movements from Bach cello suites and just filled them with steps until he was done. He could have chosen to add or remove a movement, it wouldn't have mattered. The cello playing was excellent. Shadowplay is not the best of Tudor, but is of course a very well put together piece. I enjoyed the journey! Salstein and Reyes were good - her legs looked gorgeous! Of the new pieces I enjoyed Wheeldon's the most. The pas de deux are beautiful and inventive, he moved groups around well, and in a way that directs your eye. I really liked his use of the corps in relationship to the soloists. The corps sometimes led, sometimes mirrored, sometimes enhanced what the soloists were doing. I also like the lighting effects. This is the only one of the 3 new ones I'd like to see again. On to Giselle with Cojocaru/Hallberg/Murphy!

I saw the 4 ballet program tonight. If anyone else has, I'd appreciate your thoughts. I'm still trying to sort it out. I thought the Times review written by AM was much too positive. [Admin note: Posts discussing the details of Macaulay's review, rather than a general comment, have been moved here: The company forums are for members' reviews.]

I'm so glad to see Kammermusik back. One thing that I think we'll never see again is Bournonville Divertissement (bad spelling I'm sure). I loved it back in the day. The dancers were suited to it, yet IMO grew from it. It also showed the great connection between Balanchine and Bournonville. I'd love to see it back at NYCB but no chance.

Martins may be killing Finlay with kindness by casting him in so many new leading roles. Finlay is debuting in yet another role this week - Tony in West Side Story Suite (per casting on line). Millepied - NYCB's phantom employee -was originally listed for that role this week, but Finlay is replacing him. Wow - just as I was being amazed that Millepied was making an appearance he's gone. How long will he remain on the roster one only knows

Thank you, no hard feelings. I too learn a lot, and will keep reading. I just feel my comments and reviews would be more useful in other topics. I love this forum as do you.

Apologies I will withdraw from this discussion.

Thank you - you and abatt make interesting points. I have no idea what goes on behind the scenes, but Kevin M doesn't seem that interested in developing female talent. Lane got Sleeping Beauty a couple of years ago (I thought it was quite good) but not since then. Riccetto gets Giselle last year, this year no Giselle but 1 performance of Coppelia. There doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason. Please report on tonight's performance!

While Vaganova solidified her teaching in the 1930's we really don't know how "purely" it was handed down. I sometimes wonder about that. In teaching ballet the teacher emphasizes certain values more that other. One example is NYCB. Balanchine hired teachers who were Russian trained, as was he. He however wanted emphasis on speed, musicality, crossed positions etc. At the same time the Russian training was not abandoned in terms of how to hold the hands, the epaulement and in other ways. You can see this when children from SAB perform in the kids roles in NYCB. This was a purposeful evolution of the Vaganova training. Now it sees to me that at some point in the Soviet Union the training emphasized showing beautiful ending positions (I mean at the end of a musical phrase, not only at the end of a variation), high extensions and big jumps. In between steps, speed and musical phrasing was not emphasized as much. This was reflected in the choreography done by those companies before they were exposed to Balanchine and others from the West. We don't know what the balance of values really was when Vaganova was around, she did study with Cecchetti and her teaching was a blend of the ballet teachings of the day, yet the training that has evolved in Russia is very far from Cecchetti.

I guess this was inevitable but the NYCO board voted today to leave Lincoln Center. The situation seems very bleak but I'm hoping the company can be salvaged. Here's an AP report on today's decision: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110521/ap_en_ot/us_music_nyc_opera This is very sad news. We can only hope they can rebuild. The other questions is what happens to those weeks at State Theater. What other organization can share with NYCB.