fondoffouettes

Misprint in the program. The pause before Aurora's Wedding is actually an intermission. Many confused audience members. Watching Murphy and Whiteside's Tchai Pas made Monday's look like a student recital by comparison. Seo utterly ravishingly in Nutcracker and Magificent Marcelo was...magnificent.

They did two intermissions -- one after Mozartiana and the other after Tchai Pas. By the second intermission, it was around 9:00 (I didn't stay for the last piece). I think they'll definitely follow a similar pattern tonight -- one after Mozartiana and one ofter the middle two pas de deux. If you want an exact run time, you could always call the box office. I'm pretty sure I used to do that before they posted run times and intermissions on the website, and they always seemed to have the info readily available.

The only fellow company member that seems to have acknowledged Part's departure online seems to be Scout Forsythe, who included a screenshot of the NYT article about Part's farewell in an Instagram story. Obviously it's an awkward situation, but the rest of the dancers who post frequently are staying mum on this issue.

I pretty much agree with this assessment. I don't mind when dancers opt for the "easier" fouettes, with the step down between turns (it goes better with the light, twinkly music), but Boylston just looked so tentative and awkward. It almost seemed like she hesitated too long when putting her foot down between turns. Also, I believe she ended early, making it even more anticlimactic, earning a smattering of tepid applause. I'm sure this video has been shared to death on these forums, but if you're going to opt for the step-down fouettes, they'd hopefully look something like this. Gorak didn't bring the bravura dancing one would hope for in this ballet, and he opted for the simplest steps in most places. (Does the Balanchine trust give dancers a variety of options for how they perform each solo in a ballet like this, where dancers usually take some liberties?) Partnering was OK, though it looked like he could barely get Boylston off the stage in that overhead lift that ends the ballet. And ditto what abatt said about the fish dives. Boylston was exciting in the backward hops en arabesque that she does on a diagonal toward the back of the stage. She did a ton of them, and very quickly, though they sort of bore no relation to the music after at a certain point. (Is razzle dazzle worth it when it's unmusical?) It was a very high-energy performance from Boylston, though she's not the most musical dancer and the upper body is pretty unattractive. She doesn't seem to be maturing much as an artist, so I think I'm going to take a few years off from seeing her in any full-lengths. Despite the shortcomings of the Tchai PDD, I still enjoyed it much more than the one I saw this past season at NYCB with Gonzalo Garcia and a dancer from the corps. That was a total snooze-fest. Nanushka sums up much of what I felt about last night's Mozartiana, so I won't really a lot more. However, there's been a lot of talk on here about which Balanchine ballets are appropriate for ABT. I think this is certainly one of them (provided they don't fire the rest of their regal ballerinas). The small cast makes it easy for ABT to find at least four strong soloist women who can dance crisply and in synch. And it provides a lovely opportunity for four girls from the JKO school. (They were great last night, by the way!) And ABT is never without a short bravura man who can round out the cast. The Ratmansky was fine but probably one of the less distinct works I've seen from him. There weren't really a lot of memorable moments I could recall, though the dancing was superb all around. The first movement was filled with a lot of purposely opaque moments of romantic intrigue (hands offered and not taken; whispering; making eyes at one another.) This added nothing to the ballet for me, and it just seemed gimmicky. And there were some definite modern ballet cliches here and there; the sliding across the floor en poinet schtick, for example. I wish the costumes had been more distinct from other Ratmansky ballets, as well. Color-washed velvet dresses for the women; velvet tights and textured pleather sleeveless T-shirts for the men. Velvet (especially for tights) just looks so dated and unattractive to me in most ballets. Or is Ratmansky evoking Soviet aesthetics of yesteryear yet again?

I have to agree, cubanmiamiboy. It was one of those "time stands still" performances. A completely different role, but the Preghiera this evening immediately made me think of her Prelude in Chopaniana. She excels in those still, introspective moments.

Part was radiant in Mozartiana and exceeded my expectations in a ballet I wasn't sure was a great fit for her (with the exception of the Preghiera, which I assumed would fit her strength in adagio). Some strain evident in her injured leg/ankle. But really a beautiful and incredibly emotional experience. Blaine was fantastic in solos and partnering. More to come later. One would never expect Part were a ballerina on her way out. Lots of individual flowers thrown from front orchestra. Part was visibly moved.

The petition has almost reached 200 signatures. I think it's really more about the symbolism at his point, rather than hoping for action on the part of ABT, but the response has still been heartening.

It looks like it was slapped together by a summer intern (no offense to interns). I think I'd consider booing McKenzie, too, as long as it doesn't disrupt too much from the good cheer directed toward Veronika.

Ah ok -- hopefully it's just a quirk of how they wrote this release, and they actually mean she's dancing the whole thing.

Wow -- they couldn't have put less effort into this. Just the facts of her farewell, and then they paste in her bio. No words of appreciation. Also, why does it say she'll dance the Preghiera from Mozartiana? Doesn't Preghiera just refer to the first section of the piece, or does it also refer to the role itself? Is she not dancing the whole thing?

Oh, wow, and they've added a link to the petition in the NYT article, as well. That definitely wasn't there before!

Josh Barone's Twitter feed implies that the article was edited after initial publication: https://twitter.com/joshbarone?lang=en He provides info on those who oppose her forced retirement, as well as clarification that her contract wasn't renewed. They might as well also fix the part about her dancing Aurora in Ratmantsky's Sleeping Beauty. I'm pretty positive that her last outing as Aurora was in the Kirkland production.

I think it was edited after I first read it. The original headline said something like "Veronika Part Announces Her Retirement from American Ballet Theater." And I could have sworn the bit about her contract not being renewed was not in the original version. Or maybe I'm just losing it...

Hmm...well the NYT doesn't make it clear that it was forced, and the headline even makes Part seem like the she's the one who's actively announcing her departure. Many casual ballet fans may not realize it's a forced retirement. It does seem somewhat unprecedented (at least in my 13 years of going to ABT). Herrera, Reyes and Corella all got official statements about their retirements and real farewells, even if all three were "encouraged" to retire. And then there have been those like Wiles, who seems to have left of her own volition, simply because her assignments were dwindling. I didn't get the sense that the fiscal year was coming to an end and they were told, "Sorry, no contract renewal for you." Part's forced retirement seems to have come as a mid-season surprise. We don't know the whole story, but the last-minute switching of the program order on Saturday seems to imply that this farewell was a surprise at least to the artist. If Kevin had talked about it with her in advance, I'm sure she would have asked to go out with Swan Lake. But they simply don't seem to care about what Part wants.

I know we're all tired of this guessing game by now, but since the NYT just posted about Part's retirement, I expect that it's likely that promotions will be announced by ABT on Wednesday. There's no press release about Part on ABT's website, so it seems they are going to make no official statement about her and will just move on the promotions announcement. I hope Veronika gets a heads up so she can skip class that morning. The way ABT has handled this whole situation is so disrespectful.

ABT couldn't even muster a nice official statement praising Part's time at the company, nor have they posted a press release on their website. They are just trying to brush this acrimonious split under the rug. I hope there is a Gia Kourlas interview with Part at some point, though now that ABT's season is coming to a close, the NYT may see no need to focus coverage on a retiring dancer.

A petition to continue Part's tenure at ABT: https://www.change.org/p/abt-american-ballet-theater-let-abt-know-that-we-want-veronika-part-to-continue-dancing-with-the-company?recruiter=194536246&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=share_for_starters_page I have mixed feelings about this, but I'd like others to be aware that it exists.

Reading sentiments like these is helping me cope with this situation! It's also been good to hear from those who aren't particularly Part fans, but still feel for her. I've been a Part devotee since around 2005 and have seen all of her Swan Lakes at the Met since then (in addition to all other roles she took on). I knew saying farewell would be hard, but these circumstances are making it much, much harder.

The "Veronika Part: Divided Opinions" thread in the Dancers section of this forum shows some public (Facebook) statements from Part indicating that she's leaving against her own wishes. She also mentions sponsorship (presumably for her position) being turned down by ABT. Just because a donor offers sponsorship doesn't mean ABT has to accept it and continue the dancer's contract, but it would take the "financial burden" issue out of the equation. However, perhaps ABT hopes to redirect that donor's money to another purpose. This situation is awful. However they choose to handle Part's farewell, I just hope they do it in a way that preserves her dignity. Ideally, bouquets from Kopalkova and Gomes (who will be performing earlier in the program), with McKenzie's presence downplayed. If I had to guess, I'd say they would do slightly more than they did for Wiles, but nowhere near as much as the whole theatrical bouquet after bouquet with confetti, etc. I can't believe McKenzie essentially fired her.

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This is abominable. What a way to reward years of devoted artistry. I don't think I can bear to attend her forced farewell. I hope she speaks publicly about how she's been treated by the management at ABT. And I hope she tells Kevin to take his bouquet and shove it.

If their press person has any say in it (which I'm guessing must be the case), I'd guess they would wait until Wednesday the 5th instead of dropping this news in the middle of a long holiday weekend, which would reduce the likelihood of it being picked up by news outlets. That said, maybe they wouldn't really care since it's not the type of story that gains a lot of traction anyway, besides the usual mention in the NYT. (The exception, of course, is Copeland's promotion, which was a story of national interest. And Stella's promotion, too, gained some news attention outside of the NYT.) Hmm...and I'm wondering if they will try to fold Veronika's almost-certain retirement into the release. Looking back at the ABT press release archives, it's interesting to see how many of the current principal dancers were not promoted at the "standard" spring promotion time. But maybe their promotions coincided with the periodic board of directors' meetings, like abatt has said.

Tonight was also my first time seeing Whipped Cream and I echo a lot of the sentiments expressed by ABT Fan. It's hard not to smile through much of this production, though it had some moments where my interest waned. Overall, though, I was impressed with the choreography. From what I'd read, I had expected the ballet to be all spectacle with little dance, but most moments were quite filled with substantial dance. Okay, first the disappointments. The biggest one for me was actually the Whipped Cream waltz that closes the first act. It started out super cute, with all the corp ladies sliding down the slide, but the choreography that followed just felt a bit bland to me. It all just seemed a bit generic, and the dancers didn't make particularly interesting patterns on stage. I was hoping for something that would more clearly evoke the swirling of cream being whipped. It kind of needed to be a showstopper -- like Ratmansky's Waltz of the Snowflakes -- to close out the act, and it just fell short for me. Also, I thought much of the nurses' choreography to be pretty mundane. In terms of overall structure, I found it a bit of letdown to go from Princess Praline's procession to all the schtick with the three liquor bottles (as funny as they were). It's just that the Princess Praline procession is a hard act to follow, and it kind of suffered from comparison. And the liquor bottles dragged a big long; I was kind of relieved when they finally got the doctor and nurses drunk and we could move on. Now the good -- and there was much that was good! I thought Abrera was absolutely adorable as Princess Tea Flower and I almost can't imagine anyone else being so good in that role. She and Marcelo were just beautiful in all their dancing together. Yeah, the Strauss isn't what I'd imagine for typical ballet music, but I was pretty impressed by what Ratmansky was able to do with the score. Simkin's dancing was brilliant throughout and I loved him and Sarah together. Overall, I thought his partnering was quite strong. I was particularly impressed in the last act when he and Sarah danced together in a way that mirrored Gomes and Abrera dancing the same choreography at the same time. Despite the big differences in the two couples physically, all four dancers were beautifully in synch. Looking forward to seeing this again tomorrow and having a chance to absorb some of the more dense choreography, especially that between Gomes and Abrera. It was so thrilling to see the huge response from the audience, in a Met that looked packed. The enthusiasm was infectious.

Just noticed on the ABT calendar that Cornejo is out and Simkin is in for tomorrow evening's performance. Even as of earlier today I think it still listed Cornejo. The rest of the cast remains the same.

Sarah was absolutely delightful in tonight's Whipped Cream; equal part adorable and radiant and technically secure. I'm pretty disheartened to read about Part's almost certain retirement, but it does confirm that a slot is opening up (not that the company really has a set number of principal women.) Plus, there's Vishneva's departure, though it's never been clear to me if a dancer like that has the same sort of principal contract as someone who dances with company more regularly. And I kind of having a feeling that Kochetkova will be going the way of Semionova, though this is based on no information I've found. This is all to say that I wonder if there will be more than one female promotion to principal. I'd maybe guess Teuscher in addition to Lane, but who knows? As abatt has mentioned, today would be the end of their fiscal year, so that can explain why Part's departure has essentially been firmed up. Promotions would seem to be imminent at this point.