fondoffouettes

I think it remains to be seen whether a pattern emerges under Jaffe's leadership. While McKenzie mostly promoted dancers in conjunction with the Met season, some promotions were occasionally announced in the fall or winter (I believe those tended to be singular promotions, rather than whole groups of dancers). Me neither! He added much-needed excitement to a season that felt dreary far too often.

I have to admit I've had the same thought -- she didn't make a strong impression in the character roles I saw her in this season. With Shayer and Gorak's departures, they now have just two male soloists (one of whom is Hoven, who now rarely dances). I really hope this means we may see two or three men promoted to soloist in the near future.

Not surprising, but I'm glad the messy situation with Shayer didn't get dragged out any longer. I remember several months ago on Instagram, Holloway stated that they were taking a leave from ABT to explore new things. They used to masterfully manage ABT's Instagram, and I've missed their posts.

I found Cornejo and Trenary to be rather underwhelming tonight (I admittedly went into the performance with very high expectations), and I ended up leaving after the first act. For me, this ballet can feel like such a slog when the leads don't deliver extremely compelling performances. I wouldn't be at all surprised, though, if others report that things pick up dramatically with Trenary and Cornejo in the subsequent acts. Overall, I thought Cornejo seemed quite subdued and lacked his usual magnetism onstage (and I love Cornejo). I wonder if maybe he had to focus on pulling off the technical elements to the detriment of his acting. He struggled a bit in the section with Benvolio and Mercutio before the ball, and through he went for broke in his solo in the balcony scene, there was a sense of strain and evident lack of flexibility. Trenary's performance was surprisingly one-note. She has infatuation down pat, but I would have liked to see more shadings in her Juliet. She just seemed like a happy-go-lucky teenager who was going to fall in love with any guy they stuck in front of her. There wasn't much of a sense of fated lovers The balcony pas de deux lacked sweep and passion. I think this may be a pas de deux where it'd be helpful to have a taller Romeo to pull of all the swoony elements; there was nothing technically wrong with the partnering, but there just wasn't much abandon. But, as I said, these impressions are based only on the first act. I'm curious to hear how the rest of the performance goes.

In her interview on Whiteside's podcast, she said she was aiming to return for this winter's Nutcracker.

I'm excited to see Ballet Imperial with tutus! Especially now that NYCB's costumes are so dreadful. I found this photo online of Susan Jaffe in the ABT premiere of the ballet, which shows the Rouben Ter-Arutunian costumes. https://tessa2.lapl.org/digital/collection/photos/id/26439

I adore Stella, but I'm doubtful there will be a big to-do for her onstage. One of her instagram stories indicates that she's filling in for injured dancers, and she wishes them speedy recoveries. So, it seems like it was not originally planned for her to perform Lady Capulet this season. The interviews she's given and her social media posts in the past have indicated that she's been able to find some sense of closure with regard to her stage career and move on. If something is done for her on Thursday, I imagine it'll be on the subtle side -- a solo curtain call, a bouquet, or applause from her colleagues on stage. In any case, I'm sure her fans will make sure she feels the love no matter what.

I'm afraid I feel the same way. Between the shortened season, limited repertoire, and lack of must-see casting, this is the most blah I've ever felt about an ABT season. I'm not sure how many more times I can sit through a so-so performance of that McKenzie Swan Lake. If they bring back Sleeping Beauty next year, that would definitely give me something to be excited about.

Stella Abrera will be performing Lady Capulet, per Carlos Gonzalez's Instagram:

Thanks for pointing them out here. They have a much lighter, easier quality here than in last night's performance. I'm realizing now that they just might not be to my taste in this particular pas de deux. I did think they were fun in Corsaire, though.

Last's night's SL didn't come together as a fully satisfying performance for me, though, as @California states, Shevchenko was often brilliant technically. Royal has a charming stage presence, but I think he's made zero improvement technically on his Siegfried since last year. It's frustrating to see just how sloppy he is. His partnering was pretty solid throughout, though. His Siegfried is a sweet wide-eyed teenager, but doesn't evolve much throughout the ballet. I think Royal is about 34 years old, so I think the train may have left the station when it comes to him getting his technique together. Shevchenko had impressive technique, as usual. I thought her Odette started off quite compelling but was maybe a bit too icy/aloof for my taste throughout the rest of the act. However, there were some lovely moments, including quite beautiful swan arms in her exit. I don't think she and Royal have much chemistry; I'd be curious to see Shevchenko with a different partner. Shevchenko came alive dramatically as Odile, but her performance was marred by continually trying to go for extra revolutions and other tricks and not quite pulling them off (e.g., having to finesse ending with her back to the audience). Also, she and/or Royal had the idea to extend the supported pirouettes with extra, fast revolutions. I saw this done to stunning effect when Brandt and Cornejo performed their first Corsaire together. However, here it looked like Royal was turning an egg beater. It looked effortful and like Shevchenko was just dead weight being rotated. Her fouettes were very good. She added doubles and I think one triple to the first section of the music, then continued with singles. Overall, I wish Shevchenko had focused on delivering a clean performance rather than adding difficult elements that didn't quite work out, though I understand the desire to take some risks. Sung Woo Han delivered another very good performance in the pas de trois, and Sierra Armstrong (whom I wasn't familiar with at all) was lovely -- light and airy. Paulina Waski was only slightly less of a train wreck than she was last year, when it was conjectured that she was exhausted from her time with the Boston Ballet. The turning section of her variation went almost exactly how it did last year -- flubs throughout, and she had to complete the last couple turns completely off pointe. At the end of pas de trois, she seemed to have no energy left and began marking the jumps while Han and Armstrong actually executed them. I remember her as a promising corps member before the pandemic, but I'm not sure what's happened.

Yes! It was bizarre. It looked like he didn't want to be there.

This evening’s performance was really a mixed bag. I had very high expectations, perhaps too high, for Hurlin, but I found her O/O still very much a work in progress (perhaps only to be expected given her age). She had many beautiful moments — some gorgeous arabesques in the second act, overall strong turns — but I felt she lacked style and depth of interpretation. Her upper body was also a big distraction for me. Her arm movements were very unrefined, and she seemed to compensate for the lack of good port de bras by rolling her head around a lot. Her arms as she exited Act II were particularly egregious; she flapped emphatically and in quite ugly a manner. There was little sense of tragedy in her Odette. I think she’s perhaps a more natural Odile, but again, her interpretation seemed very surface level. Her Odile hardly contrasted enough with her Odette. There were some bobbles in the first set of turns in her variation, but she had gorgeous back bends later on. I love that she went for super fast singles in the fouettés. They were exciting, even if she traveled forward a lot and ended a smidge early. I get the feeling she could use a lot of coaching to take her O/O to the next level. Whiteside was as strong as ever in his partnering, but I’ve never seen his dancing look so tentative and cautious (perhaps due to his horrible injury). His jumps lacked height and he didn’t really get enough of an arc in the air to land in a way that looked quite right (and one landing in particular in Act I was super awkward). There were several places where he made slight modifications to the steps, and there were some bobbles throughout. I’m used to his dancing being quite clean, so it was rather jarring. Jose Sebastian seemed out of his depth as von Rothbart and projected zero charisma and sexiness. He struggled throughout his solo. He seemed to make little impression on the audience. Excellent pas de trois from Misseldine, Park, and Han. I haven’t seen much of Park previously and was thoroughly impressed.

Gillian says she had to pull out of SL because her "back is out of whack." The way she describes the injury doesn't make it sound dire; maybe she will be back for R&J. https://www.instagram.com/p/CumRL3fAL6s/?img_index=1

From what I remember of his writings in the NYT, I believe he is in favor of going back to an Odile more like the one in Ratmansky's reconstruction, who is not a black swan. He's written about how all the black swan-isms were added at some point in the 20th century; I don't remember the details.

I think Isabella Boylston might agree with you! (I enjoyed this video she made a while back.) https://www.instagram.com/p/Co8Bie1AZIe/?hl=en

If I remember correctly, she fell off pointe in the Rose Adagio excerpt that ABT included in its spring gala in 2007, the year the Kirkland production premiered. She then went on to perform in the premiere of the full production later that season, I believe without incident (I was there, but alas, I mostly remember the gaudy production). I believe I saw her dance Aurora every time they revived the Kirkland production; her rose adagios could be tense affairs, but she never fell off pointe again. She and Gomes danced the final performance of that production in 2013, before it was retired, and she was glorious. She then began dancing only Lilac Fairy when Ratmansky created his reconstruction.

I just wanted to chime in and add to the praise of Trenary's dramatic abilities. I've rarely seen a ballerina imbue so much life and individuality into Giselle in Act I. I recall past comments about her interpretation being unconventional. I hadn't seen her in the role previously, but her performance yesterday seemed completely within the realm of a "traditional" Giselle; maybe she's adjusted her approach. There were so many little details that brought her character to life, without any of it seeming overdone. Aside from the hops, I'd say her technique was fine (not great); it didn't detract from my enjoyment of her engrossing performance. Fleytoux was excellent in the peasant pas de deux; I look forward to seeing more of her. Maloney seemed a bit underpowered and was sloppy in the majority of his landings. Misseldine wasn't perfect, but she has the makings of a great Myrtha (and is already pretty wonderful). Her very expressive upper body really reminds me of both Abrera and Part.

If Gorak and Hoven aren't cast as Benno in Swan Lake, then I think the writing is on the wall...

I was enthusiastic about Brandt's fall 2021 Giselle, but tonight kind of fell flat for me dramatically, especially Act I. I felt she and Cornejo lacked chemistry, and overall Brandt was simply wide-eyed and doll-like for much of Act I. She clearly has her technique sorted out, though at times I felt like I was just watching a series of calculated effects she was aiming to convey to the audience. Now that she's worked with Irina and Maxim to hammer out all the technical elements, I feel like it's time for her to work with someone to figure out her unique take on Giselle. Her Giselle needs a soul. (I wonder what guidance someone like Ferri could provide to her.) There were lots of beautiful moments in Act II. The way she and Cornejo execute the press lifts remains my all-time favorite approach to them. I love the way he lifts her and the elevates her slowly; it looks like she'll float away. I echo everyone's praise of Roxander. I can't remember seeing the role danced so well in recent seasons. I love Cornejo, but I had the feeling this will be (or perhaps should be) his last run of Giselle. It was difficult seeing him kill that time in the dance-to-death sequence (and frankly made it seem like he wasn't dancing to his death).

I've been thinking the same thing. I wasn't sure what to expect when she was appointed dance critic, as I mostly associated her with chummy Q&As and the like. But I've enjoyed her reviews and found her assessments to be pretty spot-on.

Meanwhile, San Francisco Opera's El último sueño de Frida y Diego, whose run concludes next week, is a near sell-out. (Its creative team is also largely Latino.) There are Latin American stories that can have popular appeal, but I find the choice of Like Water for Chocolate a head-scratcher. When I hear that title, it evokes a 1990s suburban book club whose members enjoy engaging with an "exotic" culture and who find the novel's inclusion of recipes quaint and endearing.

Even opening night is selling quite poorly, though not as bad as some of the other evenings.

This post on the recently formed Dogs of NYCB Instagram account suggests that she's injured: https://www.instagram.com/p/CsXRk4TJkGF/ I hope it's OK to link to this account, as I assume it must be dancer-run and therefore "official" news? It's so sweet to see the dancers with their dogs as they get PT! Highly recommend this account to any dog lovers out there.

It looks like Petite Mort is also being programmed.