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fondoffouettes

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  • Connection to/interest in ballet** (Please describe. Examples: fan, teacher, dancer, writer, avid balletgoer)
    avid balletgoer
  • City**
    Jersey City
  • State (US only)**, Country (Outside US only)**
    NJ

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  1. I believe they are no longer together. In the most recent season of Whiteside's podcast (season 6, episode 2), he asks Forster if he's dating anyone, and Forster says he's single. But yes, I'm glad she works for the JKO School. I think she has held the post for a while, as I remember her presenting some adorable programming for kids during the pandemic. I wish they'd find a way to present a new version of Raymonda, but I'm afraid full-lengths without title recognition among the general public are not a priority. Do you think we'll ever see Sylvia again? The thought of never seeing it live again makes me very sad.
  2. It's particularly bad on Thursday evening: https://ibb.co/0mspP0t And the Saturday matinee: https://ibb.co/zFCgQtc
  3. This week's Bond/Abraham/Etudes performances have sold extremely poorly. For a couple of the performances, it looks like less than 1/3 of the house has sold, and the fourth ring is closed. Yikes. Some of the Crime and Punishment performances are also very poorly sold, but I'm sure they are hoping for an uptick in sales closer to the performance dates. The more typical ABT fare is doing much better (no surprise there).
  4. This is very distressing to read. I've been impressed by the high standard Mearns has maintained in the past few years (her stellar Walpurgisnacht Ballet comes to mind), and I feel like she's always had a lot of integrity as an artist -- giving 110% and taking risks. It sounds like something is going on beyond the expected diminishment of technique of a dancer in her late 30s. @cobweb, I completely agree with you about Huxley. He's perfectly suited to Mozartiana, and he gave a performance that was lighter than air. He's a dancer who seems at once very introverted and yet pulls off bravura dancing that demands attention. He has an utterly compelling stage presence without demanding any attention. I think of him as a very poetic dancer, for lack of a better descriptor. I can say I've enjoyed his dancing literally every time I've seen him. I've been on the fence about getting a ticket for Nadon in Mozartiana, and while I'm sure she'll be transcendent, I think I can wait until she has a more suitable partner. Walker has always seemed like an overgrown teenager who doesn't have full control of his limbs, though he's gotten better in the past couple seasons.
  5. I agree with @deanofdance on their assessment of last night's Mozartiana. I was surprised to learn that Peck had been coached by Farrell, as I didn't see any significant improvement in Peck's interpretation since her debut in the role. The Preghiera felt rather soulless, though Peck was better in the variations. She certainly showed off her prodigious turning technique. Her lack of flexibility remains very apparent in this ballet. She has to sort of flick her leg up into an arabesque, and her leg doesn't get to 90 degrees in most instances. She's also still very careful with her neck, it seems. She compensates by doing a lot with her arms and hands. Huxley was excellent and breathed life into an otherwise bland performance. I really hope management considers pulling this role from Peck's rep. Even the audience's reaction to Peck was quite subdued. Nadon was outstanding in Monumentum and Movements and made these ballets feel like must-see viewing. I couldn't help but feel engaged in her every movement. She and Danchig-Waring looked great together, and I hope they are paired more often. Concerto DSCH was a thrill, but Nadon in M/M was the highlight of the evening for me.
  6. Mearns and Bergasse divorced last April, per court records that are publicly available here: https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/DocumentList?docketId=cl98FwlKG0cOZy1NV_PLUS_1EwQ==&display=all
  7. They are much more lax about seating latecomers in the rings than in the orchestra section. I had to swear off sitting in the rings after numerous horrendous experiences of many latecomers being seated and in some cases being allowed to stand and mill about in the back of a ring section. I remember complaining to house management about this at intermission, and they didn't offer any real explanation.
  8. @vipa, Phelan didn't appear onstage again after the curtain went down at the ballet's conclusion. When it rose, Mearns was standing in her place next to Angle. Phelan didn't appear for any bows. All the swaps took place within the third movement of the ballet: Mearns started the movement. Phelan first made her entrance for the section leading up to and including the fouettés (it's the entrance at 28:46 in this video). Mearns then reappeared for the following entrance (at around 30:53 in the video linked above). I believe it was also Mearns who made the next entrance, carried by Angle (at 31:40). It's possible it was back to Phelan by this point. Phelan came in for final entrance (at 33:09) and danced the ballet through to the end. Mearns materialized in Phelan's place when the curtain went up after the ballet. It's possible I have some of this slightly off, but basically Phelan came in for the fouetté section, Mearns came back onstage after that, and then Phelan came back out again for the finale. I think it would have been nice for Phelan to be acknowledged in some way. It was kind of uncanny to have the curtain go down on one ballerina and then have another ballerina magically be in her place when it rose, like nothing had happened. @cobweb, I assumed the same thing. I figured Mearns had planned to power through the show but it became apparent to her at some point during the performance that this wouldn't be possible. Edited to add: Phelan just posted an Instagram story in response to Mearns', with this note:
  9. Duo Concertante is one of my least favorite Balanchine ballets that's in regular rotation, but I just wanted to add to the praise of Woodward and Stanley in this piece. They were both great, and I found myself constantly admiring Woodward's fluid and expressive upper body. In some of the worst interpretations I've seen, I feel the first portion of the ballet can take on a self-conscious cutesiness, so I really appreciated Woodward and Stanley's unaffected, natural demeanors. I struggle with the second part of the ballet. There's something about the combination of the spotlights, hand-kissing, and melodramatic music that can make the whole thing feel overwrought and a bit cringe to me. That said, I found Woodward and Stanley quite effective. Yesterday was my first time seeing Glass Pieces, and I could take it or leave it. The piece has a few striking effects, but overall, I found Robbins' choreography rather banal (and I realize banal movements are intentionally baked into the piece). The middle section for me was a total snooze-fest, as lovely as Sanz and Hod were.
  10. Yes!! It was truly seamless. Hopefully this was a great way of knocking any potential debut jitters out of her system.
  11. Some truly crazy ballerina swapping in the third movement of PC2 this afternoon. Unity came out in place of Sara for the section right before the fouettés and danced that section and the fouettés (beautifully, esp on short notice). Then Sara came out for the next section. Then Unity came out for the entire finale. The curtain went down and when it came back up, Unity had morphed into Sara and was standing by Angle’s side. I don’t think Unity had a full face of stage makeup, so I think this may have been somewhat last minute. Sara didn’t seem to be particularly struggling beyond a few minor bobbles in the demi-pointe turns in the first movement. Unity and Angle were great together in the finale. Sara did give a look that seemed to say “well, that was something” during her final curtain call. Unity wasn’t onstage for the bows.
  12. No, a cause of death has still not been released.
  13. I checked the Internet Archive, and DePrince was listed on Boston Ballet's website as recently as May 28, which is the most recent version of the webpage available on the Internet Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20240528050646/https://www.bostonballet.org/home/the-company/full-company/ Michaela's mother, Elaine DePrince, also died this week, on Wednesday, as reported on the public-facing content of her Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/elainedeprince1/ Like others, I was surprised and saddened to learn of Michaela's death. She was so captivating in First Position that even non-dance people in my life would talk to me about her and her story.
  14. Nadon has confirmed in her Instagram stories that she'll be debuting Mozartiana this season. Screenshot linked here: https://ibb.co/yhbpyVD. I really hope I get to see her in this. I was surprised to see Peck cast again in the ballet, as it was a rather odd fit for her.
  15. Yes, I think she last performed in the December 2019 run of The Nutcracker. This press release from the Segerstrom includes her name in the casting. She wasn't cast in Of Love and Rage, which followed in early March 2020, and then of course she has appeared in nothing since the pandemic. She'll be turning 42 in a few days. While a full-fledged comeback might be extremely unlikely at this point, it's still hard for me to imagine Misty retiring quietly; it just doesn't seem like a fitting ending to the career narrative she has crafted. I wonder if they are still leaving the door open for her to come back in a reduced capacity and have an official farewell of some sort. In the meantime, it's probably mutually beneficial for ABT and Copeland for her to remain on the roster, and presumably it costs ABT nothing in terms of salary.
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