fondoffouettes

I agree. Despite a lot of things I don't want to see, there's so much I do want to see, with all the debuts, Abrera's last season, and the sparing use of guest stars. I'm going to really need to pick and choose, as there are more casts I want to see than I'll be able to see. I haven't had that problem in several years, so I can relate, @canbelto.

Herrera, Part and Dvorovenko were all given dwindling opportunities until they were phased out, all at age 39. Reyes at least made it to 42, but also left because her casting dried up. It seems ballerinas at ABT have 50-50 odds of retiring on their own terms. I'm hoping Lane's season may be rounded out, at least a bit, by T&V, The Seasons (presumably she could dance the Rose role again, since it won't be on the same program as T&V), and perhaps the new Ratmansky full-length. She was also a superb Princess Florine, and I'd love to see her in that role again, along with Aurora, of course.

I agree; he was superb last season. I was wondering if perhaps he'd get the TBA with Lane and/or Brandt. Perhaps they are waiting to see how he's doing physically closer to the season, as he's had injury-prone Met seasons the past few years? I guess it would be likelier they'd fill those TBAs with a more junior dancer making his debut, but one can always hope... Regarding economics, they've also supersized the run of Romeo and Juliet. I'd like to see Osipova, but I'm just not sure I can stomach The Hallberg and Osipova Show.

The calendar is showing both Forster and Royal dancing Albrecht in the 6/10 matinee of Giselle, opposite Shevchenko. Presumably one of them should have been assigned to the evening performance, with Murphy, which currently lacks an Albrecht. I guess that will be Forster, since he's dancing it with her when they are on the road.

My feelings exactly. Maybe one will turn into a Lane SL; fingers crossed. I also just noticed that Simkin is only slated for one performance the entire season, opposite Lane in Giselle. Wow. I'd expected him to be fully engaged for the Met season, but I guess now he's like a Hallberg. And Bell is dancing every major male lead -- Solor, Albrecht, Romeo, Prince Desire, Siegfried. Wow.

One other takeaway as I'm absorbing this...Brandt gets just one performance of a principal role, her debut as Aurora, whereas Trenary gets Gamzatti, Juliet and two Auroras. I wonder if management is thinking of Trenary as being slightly ahead of Brandt on the promotion track. Stella's departure will presumably open up a spot.

YES! I think this could really be Forster's year if all goes well. 😃 And I just noticed his Albrecht is opposite Shevchenko (in her role debut, I believe), and both of his SL's are opposite her, as well (could be the makings of a great partnership).

You can at least view the casting on their master calendar. The things that jump out at me: -Sarah Lane gets just one performance each of Romeo and Juliet (but finally she gets one, though opposite Gorak), Sleeping Beauty and Giselle. I would have liked to see her get another shot at Bayadere, but they aren't doing many performacnes -Copeland is again dancing two Swan Lakes, so she doesn't seem to be giving up the role anytime soon. -Hurlin gets an Aurora. Yay! -Forster gets Romeo, Albrecht and TWO Siegfrieds!!!! Wowza! I'm so, so happy for him. I'm still absorbing everything. The grid would make it easier, but you can go to the calendar for casting, too: https://www.abt.org/performances/master-calendar/ Edited to add: Oops, @abatt, it seems I was posting the same info about Forster just as you were.

I'm thrilled for Forster, and yes, I think it's possible he could be promoted. ABT has shown that it's willing to promote dancers to principals at relatively late stages of their careers. I think it's pretty clear by now that Hammoudi, Gorak, Scott and Zhurbin will almost certainly remain in the soloist rank for the remainder of their ABT careers. I'm afraid the same may be true of Hoven, based on how he's been cast in recent years, despite his often excellent dancing. Royal remains a "maybe" when it comes to principal potential, but I haven't been particularly impressed by him lately. That leaves Ahn, Bell and Forster as the ones with the most principal potential, at least to my mind. Didn't he injure himself at the end of the previous Met season? I remember him being replaced in something. Not sure if that may be related or not. It's certainly true, as well, that he went from being given what seemed like endless chances to prove himself, to being barely cast at all.

I've been curious: in performances of T&V (at ABT and NYCB), do they always insert the repeat of the music for the double-tours, which isn't in the Tchaikovsky score? Or have some men decided to do four tours (without the musical repeat) and others have decided to do seven or eight (with the repeat), as Baryshnikov does in the video below. That's unfortunate about the final lift. I've definitely seen performances in which the man looks like he barely has any steam left to do the lift; a Hallberg/Wiles T&V from years ago, in which Hallberg looked as if he was going to pass out by the time he had to lift Wiles onto his shoulder, comes to mind.

I think it was largely related to Cornejo's height. It took him just four years to go from corps to soloist to principal at ABT, so clearly they recognized his talent. But I think it took the AD a lot longer to start envisioning him for the leading-man prince roles. I started going to ABT in 2003, the year Cornejo was promoted to principal, and back then, he danced a lot of Bennos (it was ultimate luxury casting -- he danced the most dazzling Act I pas de trois I've ever seen), as well as roles like Mercutio in R&J (again, he was fabulous). The company also had no shortage of lead male dancers back then. Just a reminiscence...but Cornejo's Puck is indelibly etched in my mind, when I think back on his career at ABT. Has anyone ever danced it so brilliantly?

I don’t disagree; it’s rude and self-indulgent. Also, he’s referring to his last name IN PRINT, so pronunciation is truly irrelevant. I wonder if Macaulay feels freer to make these sorts of comments now that he’s a freelancer. What’s odd is that I remember multiple instances of Macaulay indicating phonetic spellings of artists’ names in his social media posts to inform his readers of their pronunciation. And I could be misremembering, but hasn’t he commented on the way ballet titles like Serenade and Allegro Brillante are pronounced?

This old thread from his promotion to soloist seems to suggest that Clay is his middle name and what he uses in place of a last name on social media:

To be fair, we truly don't know what Macaulay meant by "Double-Barrelled" and Danchig-Waring himself says he's not sure if it's intended as a comment about his physique. It could be a compliment, an insult or just plain dumb. But it obviously triggered what I think is a perfectly valid response. I do find Danchig-Waring to have one of the most strikingly beautiful and distinctive physiques at NYCB. After hearing for years that Balanchine established the aesthetic for thin, willowy dancers, I was amazed when I first started watching old videos of NYCB and saw such a diversity of body types represented, and far fewer women who were stick thin than we might see today.

I had no idea it was a debut, and would have never guessed it. She seemed really at ease in the (not easy) role, and yes, I think "expansiveness" is an appropriate descriptor for her dancing. It's just a pity she wears the nearly the same (or is it exactly the same?) costume as the demi-soloist girls. She deserves to stand out visually.

Yeah, I think they're the same ones as a before. Here are some pics of previous casts. They may look better after they are fitted and get a good steam. The (silver?) embellishments along the top sides of the bodice make no sense to me, though. In theory, I don't mind the idea of pleated tunics for the muses.

Also new this summer were Fire Shut Up in My Bones, based on Charles Blow's memoir (at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis), and The Central Park Five (at Long Beach Opera). The Met is planning to stage Fire Shut Up in My Bones in a future season, which is big news: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/19/arts/music/metropolitan-opera-black-composers-terence-blanchard.html

I think there have been more casting shifts (I'm not sure; correct me if I'm wrong): https://www.nycballet.com/NYCB/media/NYCBMediaLibrary/PDFs/Press/Casting/NYCB-Casting_October-8-13-2019_lobby-20191010_2.pdf Bouder is dancing in place of Mearns tonight in Piano Concerto No. 2, with Janzen. Pereira is back on for Russian Girl in the Saturday matinee (hadn't Bouder previously been listed as replacing her?). And Joseph Gordon says he may be thrown into Piano Concerto Saturday night. (I'm surprised he says so; whether it's a formal policy or not, dancers at NYCB and ABT never seem to announce that they may be subbing for someone until it's a done deal.)

I think part of what makes the pipeline particularly constricted for people of color, when it comes to ballet, is that your talent can't be discovered in the same way as, say, an opera singer. (You might hear a talented child in a school or church chorus, and realize they could have the pipes for opera.) There's a barrier to entry to ballet -- money -- and until you get a kid in ballet class, you don't really know if they might have what it takes to be a ballet dancer. I think cases in which dancers find free classes -- as I believe Misty Copeland did at the Boys and Girls Club -- are exceptions rather than the rule.

I read through the article, and I don't get any sense that she's definitively leaving classical roles behind. I interpreted it more as that she's broadening her horizons, and perhaps taking on more outside projects that aren't classical ballet (a la Sara Mearns).

Right, and the costumes just don't pop enough against the blue cyclorama; this is especially problematic with the men's dark blue tights.

Maybe, but hasn't it been several years since Hallberg has appeared with ABT in anything but the Met season? I'd be surprised to see him appearing on the road with them these days, though perhaps it would be one of his last opportunities to dance this role with Murphy, and they do have a special rapport. At least the Royal Ballet has the good sense to call Hallberg a principal guest artist.

When you click on the "more" button beneath the first two lines of headshots, it displays Ahn and Forster. It's certainly possible one or both of them is cast as Rothbart, but I do hope Forster gets a Siegfried! Very surprised to see Copeland isn't cast at all.

Is Union Jack the longest plotless work by Balanchine in the repertoire? It certainly felt long. I agree that Mearns and Reichlen were sensational, but for me, there were just too many sections that weren't very interesting, with the Costermonger PDD being the most notable example. Has that section ever actually been funny? It certainly wasn't funny yesterday, and it didn't even elicit very many polite, obligatory chuckles. I admire Balanchine's ingenuity in working with so many dancers, but much of the choreography didn't even feel close to his best work. To me, the ballet felt bloated and dated (and I'm very hesitant to apply the word "dated" to any Balanchine ballet, as they generally hold up so well).

Harrison Ball will be out for the fall season due to injury caused by a bicycling accident: