Chocomel

Never claimed to be an expert. Just thought I'd post my impressions. Sorry to offend. Quietly and humbly backing out of the room now.

Could you expound upon this for me please? I enjoy that the dancers look different and are various heights and body types. They are all in sync, but I find different qualities in the different dancers in the corps and I relish exploring and identifying those qualities. Of course, maybe it's because I'm the mother of a lovely, young, talented, aspiring Asian dancer, and I loathe the thought that her dreams might be dashed because she doesn't fit the right type.

Excellent news!

I'll start with my usual disclaimer that I don't know much about dance, and therefore these are all just my uneducated impressions. I enjoyed Kaori Nakamura and James Moore on Friday night, but I wasn't moved as I was when I saw Noelani Pantastico and Lucien Postlewaite dance it last year. Kaori did become Juliet for me, except her boyish haircut was a distraction and kept me from really seeing her as a desirable young maiden. Sometimes she seemed like an adolescent tomboy, and sometimes she seemed like a 30 year old woman. James Moore never became Romeo for me. He was just James Moore dancing a role. My husband raved about Chalnessa Eames as the nurse, but my memory of Jody Thomas was better in that role. I enjoyed Carrie Imler in the role of Lady Capulet, and I can't even remember who I saw perform it last year. She became her mother to me, or as I imagine her mother would behave. Then I brought my daughter on Saturday night. Carla Korbes and Lucien Postlewaite were transcendent. Again I was moved to tears. Carla was Juliet and Lucien was Romeo. Just WOW! This ballet belongs to Carla. After seeing it 3 times, the impression I have is that it is a ballet of arms. So much of it is acted with the arms, and I have never seen a dancer with better arms than Carla. I hang on every movement of her arms -- they express so much emotion. I hate to compare Kaori and Carla because I felt they were two very different Juliets, but I would want to see Carla do the role over and over again. Even if Kaori danced it with Lucien, I don't think I would want to go a second time. Although I enjoyed her energy and intensity, her short hair was too distracting to me. Ariana Lallone danced Lady Capulet, and although her dancing was dramatic, I didn't feel the mother connection like I did with Carrie Imler. Saturday night had Carrie Imler as the nurse. I loved her in that role, too! The magic difference was that I believed she loved Juliet. She wasn't just a funny character, she was Juliet's nurse. The character made sense to me for the first time. I thought Chalnessa's nurse just seemed grossed out that she was next to a dead body. Another delightful surprise was Karel Cruz! His long, tall lines made the Friar a larger than life character. My daughter said she preferred Olivier's, but I thought Karel Cruz's grief and dread were palpable. This performance demonstrated why he deserved this promotion. There is always so much to watch, and I think I caught something interesting. Maybe someone can confirm this for me . . . Friday night when Mercutio kissed Lindsi Dec's character which leads to the fateful fight, it looked to me like she acted angry and egged on the fight. Saturday night when he kissed her, it looked like she enjoyed it, which made Tybalt angry and led to the fight. I thought it was interesting that two different reactions could lead to the same result. Did I really see it, or did I make it up in my mind?

I was blessed to be able to see both Friday night and Sat night performances. I loved being able to compare them. Such a treat!

Thank you so much for sharing this. I really wanted to be there. I shed tears just reading your description.

I went to the Sat. night performance. At the Q&A afterward, Peter Boal said that due to illnesses and injuries, 19 PD's had danced that night. Yet what was amazing is that the unison was fantastic! I would have never known. What a great group of PD's they have this year! And what a great program! How fun to see so many principals and soloists all in the same program! Dances at a Gathering: The 14 year old ballet student I brought with me who had never seen a PNB performance was most impressed with Jodie Thomas who stepped into Apricot girl for Chalnessa Eames, and Lucien Postlewaite who danced brown. I thought Miranda Weese brought a great personality to green girl. I'm sure everyone has known that type of pestering flirt. Mara Vinson showed more personality in mauve girl than I've ever remembered seeing in her other roles, and I loved the way her legs just seemed to get longer and longer during each développé and arabesque. But my eyes were most drawn to Sarah Ricard Orza, blue girl. She had a young, innocent quality with such fluid, delicate movements. For the men, I expected Jonathan Poretta (brick) to be the one I would watch, but it was Seth Orza (purple) for me. He was powerful, but tender. Karel Cruz (green) seemed happy, like he was having so much fun. To be honest, I didn't even notice Jordan Pacitti (blue) was in it until the very end, which surprised me because he has been so amazing in the last couple of programs I've seen. Kaori Nakamura danced pink girl with a fun energy. I loved how the choreography had the girls exiting in some odd positions -- upside down, diving offstage, etc. It was fun. After the Rain PDD: We had Rachel Foster and James Moore. This was the favorite dance of all 3 teens that were with me. Although I thought it was amazing, I'm afraid that I still wondered what it would have been like if Carla Korbes hadn't been injured. Rachel is so muscular, but Carla has a more womanly and feminine quality that I think would have been nice in that piece. I hope that doesn't sound like I'm taking anything away from Rachel Foster, because she was excellent. Symphony in C: I can't even begin to tell all of the substitutions, but for the lead roles 1st Movement stayed Carrie Imler/Stanko Milov, 2nd movement stayed Louise Nadeau/Olivier Wevers, 3rd Movement became Kaori Nakamura/Benjamin Griffiths, 4th Movement stayed Mara Vinson/Seth Orza, I think. My favorite part of this was all of the corps work. Wow! They were so well synchronized! It was a thing of beauty! Once again, my eyes were drawn to Sarah Ricard Orza, who danced one of the pairs on the side. At one point they did penchée arabesques, and Sarah Ricard Orza's was so long and straight and pointing straight up. It was gorgeous. And how fun to have all of those principals on stage dancing together side-by-side surrounded by a whole corps. Spectacular! I would love to see this piece several times. There is just so much to see!

The tallness thing would be interesting here. So far the Romeos they've fielded have been medium sized. I'm thinking that Mara Vinson might get a turn at this. Karel Cruz with Lindsi Dec? Should be good chemistry there. And Kaori has been so strong lately.

My wish list (hey! a person can dream, right?): Carla Korbes (I'd say probable barring unforeseen circumstances) Maria Chapman Rachel Foster Lindsi Dec Sarah Orza Liora Reshef

I personally think you need to reconsider and come for the Romeo & Juliette. It was honestly the best version of Romeo and Juliet I've ever seen in any form. So moving!

I'm not 100% sure, but I don't think the choreography expects them to be in unison. Each of the "Guests" in Act 1 is expected to have a sort of "fugal" start of a phrase rather than strict unison. Maybe someone else has the definitive answer to this. Thank you for responding. I hate the feeling that I'm talking to myself. Yes, I know that dance is a fugal feeling, but there are unison parts that I thought weren't in sync. Still the dancing was gorgeous. I'm going to the Oregon ballet this Saturday night for my first time ever, and I'm looking forward to familiarizing myself with that company.

I hope you'll give us all the details!

We attended last night and saw Nadeau/Cruz. I admit to going in with low expectations because a friend had attended opening night and told me it was long and boring. We had seen it twice 2 years ago and had loved Carla Korbes in one and Le Yin in the other and I wondered if anything could match those. My daughter had seen Louise Nadeau in a dress rehearsal two years ago and told me she hadn't been impressed. Well, let me tell you that after her performance last night, my daughter now understands the difference between a dress rehearsal and the real thing! Louise Nadeau was ethereal. What I noticed most about her dancing was that it was precise and crisp. I guess I expected a bit muddier from someone who is about to retire. Please forgive me! My daughter said she only did 28 fouettes rather than 32, but they were gorgeous. Her acting was excellent, too. I loved her sassy Odile. What a tease! But an even bigger surprise to me was Karel Cruz. He is a star! I completely believed him as the regal prince. His dancing was beautiful and easy. So relaxed and yet powerful. We had no fear of him falling out of any turns. He nailed it all. And what a presence onstage with that height and those long legs. Wow! I'm looking for him to be a principal. (Maybe in the fall?) I loved watching him! But the highlight of Swan Lake for me is always the Swans. That choreography intoxicates me! I want to watch each dancer and yet I want to view the whole corps at once to see the intricate patterns and movements. I could watch it for hours without getting bored. I also look forward to that swan pas de quatre, but last night it was a bit disappointing. They seemed to fight and pull against each other. I hadn't seen that happen two years ago. Also in Act 1, I thought the unison parts weren't in sync for the 6 ladies dance. That was disappointing, too. Some other highlights were Jonathan Poretta, who should give clinics on how to exude personality onstage and command all attention; the princesses in ivory were lovely; Rachel Foster and Benjamin Griffiths in Neapolitan; and Maria Chapman as Persian. Throughout the performance the people I kept noticing were Benjamin Griffiths, Liora Reshef, Jordan Pacitti, and Maria Chapman. I also loved the curtain call when Louise Nadeau didn't notice the rose for Karel Cruz and it dropped on the ground. She saw it and picked it up and gave him a kiss as the curtain fell. Really sweet moment. My daughter left bubbling with excitement in the car on the way home, wishing she didn't have to wait until Monday for her next ballet class. I wish we could attend more performances, but our schedule won't accommodate. On a side note, they did announce asking for people to silence their cell phones, which seemed to work since not one went off that I could hear. However, the people behind me felt that any music prior to the curtain rising meant they could still talk. Ugh. I love the music. Please don't talk over it.

I thought I'd just point out that the 4/11 matinee appears to have changed from Imler/Bold to Vinson/Orza.

If they're going for a younger demographic, maybe they need High School Musical -18 (or whatever number they're on now)- The Ballet. Or maybe they need to pull in boys and they could do "Halo- The Ballet."