vipa

I didn't want to put this in "weeks 1 and 2" and didn't see another place. Please move if I'm doing something inappropriate. Just saw Sunday, May 23 mat. It was a pretty empty house. Agon is a great, great ballet (I know, a groundbreaking opinion). The rhythms, shapes, musical phrases and architecture still seem fresh and inventive. I thought it performed well. Teresa Reichlin is always outstanding in this ballet in the Bransle pas de trois. She is so unmannered and musical that she is a real joy to watch. Wendy Whelan still delivers in that intense pas de deux. She wasn't partnered by Evans, I think it was Sean Souzzi (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Morgan (the new Martins ballet) didn't really hold my attention. The women, Kistler, Hyltin, Ringer appeared in that order in 3 pas de deux each with a different partner in each time- Jared Angle, Askegard, Nilas Martins (yes he made an appearance folks). At first the ballet seemed interesting enough, but it seemed to go nowhere. There were a lot of climactic throw lifts of Hyltin that didn't have any emotional/musical reason to be. There was some interesting partnering here and there and nice moments but the whole thing didn't really work. For me it was as if each section was created in a vacuum. It didn't help that, as lovely as the songs were, there wasn't much variety in the feeling of the music. Maybe understanding the words would have helped. Watching Jennifer Ringer, I was struck by her beauty and intelligence. I'm sorry she never got to do Tudor works. I think she would have been a wonderful Caroline in Jardin. Chaconne is a wonderful role for Maria Kowroski. She brought a wonderful lightness and wit to the role. Unfortunately some idiot behind me thought it was OK to be noisy during the first pas de deux. I did my best to just focus on the dancing and not allow some jerk to steal it from me. Kowroski was a delight throughout. Marcovici partnered very well, but struggled with his solos. Pereira and Hendrickson had some minor partnering difficulties, but were good overall in the fast pas. This is the first time I sort of got why Pereira is a soloist. She showed a much more solid technique and command of the stage that I've seen from her before. I look forward to seeing her more. There haven't been a lot of NYCB reviews on the board recently - hope to see more.

Someone just gave me "Infinite Jest" David Foster Wallace. Daunting in length. Is it worth it?

That could just mean no principal roles. As many of us have noted before, ABT is really bad about posting the casting of secondary/soloist roles - Bluebird in SB, the fairies in SB, the 3 shades in Bayadere etc. Birthday Offering only lists the principal couple and Company B says "company." Copeland could be appearing in any of those roles, but we would have no way of knowing. Again, I wish for more detailed casting from ABT, but as others have noted it is a star focused company.

Thank you -- maybe even before the 1970s

I was there tonight Saturday. I had a fine evening. I'll post a few thought, but am curious about other opinions. 4 T's I thought was performed well (not great). I more and more appreciate Abi Stafford. I love her phrasing and use of port de bras to stretch out a moment in space. I'm old enough to still miss Bart Cook's amazing back bend walking off. I enjoyed Outlier and would see it again (unlike the new Ratmansky piece). It was my first experience with McGregor. I loved the way the lighting was an intense part of the choreography. The dancers looked wonderful. I have to say that no one moves like Bouder. Her ability to etch movement without being hurried is truly amazing. Cortege - Not Balanchine's finest but a great reminder of how he took the old and made it new again. Lauren King was a stand out in the Pas de Quatre. Ana Sophia Sheller always delivers. Sara Mearns was a glowing, expansive joy to behold with technique to spare. Her chainee turns getting faster and faster were so satisfying to watch. Jonathan Stafford seemed under powered to me. I've only been twice so far this season, but I think the company looks great.

Surely, the ABT-Met management would be interested in filling those seats w/ persons who would like to see ,not only the "stars", but also their favorite soloist/corp member. I'd love to know detailed casting but ABT has always been a "star focused" operation.

Thank you - yes. I'm disappointed that Sarah Lane wasn't given another shot at Gamzatti. I saw her debut last year and it was very impressive, I thought.

Congrats abatt on your train ride with Madame Darvash. My husband studied with her years ago, she is quite a character and a story teller. As far the performance I agree with most of the posts. I could see Divertimento again & again. Bouder's ability to move fast while having time for phrasing, and to kind of leave space around the steps (I'm not sure how to say what I mean) is amazing. It just made me smile. I wouldn't be as hard on Borree as some others, but aside from her variation everyone else was stellar. I've seen the ballet before but still find the variations to be very inventive. Ratmansky - I didn't hate it, but will avoid sitting through it again. Although I enjoyed some of the performances, it was way too long and most of it was not very interesting choreographically. The quality of the performances is what made it enjoyable, so I'd rather see those dancers in better works. I read that Ratmansky wanted to "use the cliches of very romantic and classical ballets of the past .... and put them in a different context, make them more abstract." It wasn't abstract, so much as a vague story, so I'm not sure what he meant by that. I've enjoyed the other works he has done for NYCB, but this on didn't do it for me.

You are a better clicker than I. I couldn't find the location. Where is it?

Great book - Einstein's God by Krista Tippett

Agreed. She did quite a bit of summer stock as a young performer so probably was a singer who moved/danced for some time.

Saw this afternoon's performance. Nothing memorable, for me, about much of the choreography. I think the last piece, Inner Voices, was maybe the weakest. It had the most people on stage at once and there wasn't much clarity as far a moving groups around goes. Abi Stafford looked great in both of the pieces that I saw her in. She really knows how to do a lot with a little. I rather enjoyed the Savannah Lowery/Christian Tworzyansi duet. The sort of love/hate duo. It had moments of wit and the dancers played it to the hilt, which worked for me. (Little Stories Part 3) I also thought Jennifer Goodman to be a standout. She is new to me. She was a stand out in the first piece (No Matter What) for her clean movement and port de bras. She was fine in the cutesy duet (Little Stories Part 1). A comment about Little Stories. Ballets done to lyrics are problematic for me usually. Either the choreography acts out the lyrics (as in this case) which usually doesn't work. Or the choreography departs from the lyrics which usually doesn't work. Never the less, as I said before I thought the Lowery duet fun. Utopia - the Bouder/Gomes duet was cliched and silly. Lots of emotion coming out of no where. Two wonderful dancers though. Gomez movement quality is so silky. I was thinking that he could have a long career, when he is finished with the prince roles, jumps and tricks. His movement quality would serve any choreographer well (Morris, Lubvavitch, Tharp etc.). Bouder's ability to etch shapes, lines and pictures clearly no matter how fast or slow she is moving is amazing. Veronika Part showed me, once again that she is a beautiful woman who cannot make a bad line. For me that is all there is to her, so I'll never be a fan. Again, no memorable choreography but $22 well spent. It was a pleasure to see great dancers, dancing well, up close in a small house. All in all quite entertaining.

Off topic, I heard a well known British actress interviewed on NPR. She spoke about the origins of "break a leg." I can't remember who the actress was. She said it was from the old days when, if your monolog, song or solo got a lot of applause you would step forward and repeat it. After repeating it you would take a little curtsey-like bow with the back leg bent or "broken." So wishing "break a leg" is wishing that the person get that kind of applause. I've always wondered if this is true. It doesn't make much sense for the men. In any event that's what the actress said (I'll post if I remember who she is).

It is - I got my ticket for Cojocaru. I'll have to read reports of the evening performance. There are also some home team people I'm interested in seeing in various roles, but I haven't bought tickets yet. I'm counting on the Met is hard to sell out factor.

I understand what you mean. At the same time if a dancer twitters (or tweets - I don't know the verbiage), I'm rehearsing with so&so and having a blast, maybe someone on the feed will buy a ticket and bring a friend. If it's a good performance, maybe that friend will buy a ticket to another dance performance. You know what I mean. These these can have a branching impact.

Joan Acocella in New Yorker gave it a very negative review. One quote "Never, apart from maybe the Sufi whirling dervishes, have I seen a show of such sameness."

The David Rubenstein Atrium - 61 W 62 St. http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/index.php/atrium

I only bought tickets for Cojocaru Sleeping Beauty so far. Do you all think everything is selling well? The Met is hard to sell out, so I'm thinking rep performances might be easier to get. Am I wrong? Also does anyone think there is a prayer that any same day tickets will show up at the discount atrium?

It just took me one full hour to buy single tickets on-line. I kept getting messages about very heavy volume on the website. (It's now 1:00 pm EDT, an hour after sales opened for single tickets.) I've seen other sites use the system of assigning you a seat and putting it in your shopping cart. But it's not really a problem. Go back and pick again and it will add a second seat to your cart. You can then choose which to remove. Or you can pick another section and see what shows up. You need to print out their seating charts first to see what you're getting. And you only have 15 minutes to complete the purchase or it releases the seats in your cart. I was worried about getting good seats for the two Osipova Don Q's (June 1 and 3), but I got great ones. Having seen her at OCPAC last month, let me urge everybody who hasn't seen her to grab seats for her performances. It took me almost an hour too. But I finally got my tickets for Cojocaru's Sleeping Beauty. Some sections were already sold out.

I want the shoes and the hat.

In case it hasn't been mentioned - individual tickets go on sale March 28.

Does Aurora's entrance in Sleeping Beauty count? The music builds so perfectly to that.

Glad you enjoyed it. I too would love to see this company live. To the best of my recollection there was no discussion of Nureyev. The first 20 minutes were views indoors and out of the Opera House and rehearsals.

Sorry that Sarah Lane isn't getting a shot at it. Last year her California performance was well reviewed and I loved her NY performance. I do understand that there are really too few performances to go around and even principals have limited opportunities. It would be great if each could have many more chances in a role to really develop.

It looked like Allegra Kent to me too. These photos are wonderful that you for sharing them.