cubanmiamiboy

4 hours ago, Natalia said:

Why did Osiel change his name from Gounod to Gouneo after 2013? Did he want a more Spanish-sounding name? Yet, he did so after leaving Cuba for Europe.

I don't know.  It seems very strange. At some point I even thought that there were two different bailarines...one Osiel Gounod and one Osiel Gouneo.  This picture goes online as Osiel Gounod. 

And this one goes as Osiel Gouneo, back when he was with the Norwegian Ballet.

I'm sure they are the same person.  Am I wrong..? 

In any case...if it is indeed the same dancer, there are several articles produced by the official Cuban press praising him as Gounod and still placing him as a member of Alonso's troupe. As Gouneo there are CERO references from Cuba.  I truly suspect a radical departure, one rather less than amicable with Alonso...almost as if he wanted to re invent himself, not even wanting to be linked to his former last name.

As a side note...I went to check the Cuban roster to see if by any chance he might still be there...and wow...it is looking quite thin on the male department.  There is only one Principal guy listed right now, Dani Hernandez.

On 6/1/2017 at 1:45 PM, ABT Fan said:

Hammoudi gets principal roles, but he delivers lackluster performances.

I wouldn't doubt seeing Hammoudi being promoted, given that ABT's technical standards for Principal spots consideration have diminished. But yeah...he's no Principal material. Royal is.

A product of the Cuban ballet, and quite spectacular for his young age...Osiel Gouneo has already danced already the big Princes names-(Giselle, SL, Cinderella, Bayadere, Coppelia)- in between the three companies where he has danced: Cuban National Ballet, Norwegian Ballet and right not at Beyerische Staatsoper, Munich. I can picture him at ABT or RB. He is that kind of material. 

13 minutes ago, Drew said:

 

I thought it was just the Odile you thought went poorly--On the Swan Lake thread you posted at intermission that you liked Copeland's  Odette. 

At intermezzo I stated I had enjoyed her first act. After her ballroom act disaster-( in which I realized how deficient she is, technically speaking)- the overall impression was, as I said, rather sad.

2 hours ago, vipa said:

Expressing an interest in black ballerinas is a tough one for me in that I'm not looking for race or ethnic background when a dancer draws my interest. 

It is tough for me since I haven't encounter too many of them in any company I follow-(ABT...MCB...NYCB...BOLSHOI...MARIINSKY...POB). On the contrary...I do remember following Jose Manuel Carreno and Carlos Acosta since the very early stages of their career, and up until they left Cuba. They were both AMAZING...and being black had nothing to do with it. I hadn't seen Copeland dance a full evening ballet until I saw her SL...and dear...it was just a sad spectacle...whatever race she might be.

15 hours ago, fondoffouettes said:

Ratmansky wasn't dogmatic in adhering to the dance notation; he allowed for the fish dives in Act III

 

The fish dives were inserted in the London production for Spessivtzeva, as per Danilova's autobio. 

Vikharev had already created his full fledged luxurious reconstruction of the iconic XIX century production. I remember reading that Ratmansky then chose to revive the also iconic London XX century one. What I am not sure about if is two different set of notations exist for this two productions. I must confess I had no idea that the London production had been notated. I thought that ballet notations had stopped after 1917. I believed that Ratmansky's had been a mere recreation using choreographic passages from Vikharev's recon.

16 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

 

This reminds me of the film The Turning Point when the aging ballerina Emma (Anne Bancroft) says regarding her upcoming performance in Anna Karenina: (I'm paraphrasing here) I'll be wearing a long dress covered head-to-toe emoting my a$$ off while the younger dancers will actually be dancing [in other ballets]....

 

...or something like that!

I just happen to believe in that dancing is tightly intertwined with rhythm, and all this ballets usually employ typical arrythmic scores that usually make for long and lethargic performances.

16 minutes ago, its the mom said:

I have to agree with you there.

And I think Petipa and Blanchine both agreed too. They were very particular about their "music dansante".

On 6/18/2017 at 8:27 PM, canbelto said:

This ballet doesn't have that much actual dancing in it. You're best off grabbing one of the few Vishneva/Gomes tickets left, or Ferri/Bolle.

I have never been a fan of all this complex period pieces from literature being translated into dancing form. It looks to me that Oneguin, just as Anna Karenina or Manon, they all tend to be a long series of sequences focused on the ballerina running around dramatically in floating dark dresses and endless adagio pdd's. I even dislike R&J. I find them very boring.

Who's the blond handsome guy who danced in the Medora pas..??? He was WONDERFUL!!

19 hours ago, Natalia said:

 

My Fouetté-o-Meter is rusting. Time for an oil change, since it won't be needed for Onegin.

I think your numbers are lower, at least per performances-(I don't visualize any different situation for.Copeland or Seo on their second takes). The meter should had started running from DQ on.?

Any word on Copeland's tonight ..?

Any report on Seo's tonight..?

Is anybody going to Seo's tonight....?

Just now, aurora said:

When you say 4 in a row it implies performances, as you said ballerinas in a row.

 

Well, no. I said it because I suddenly realized that I had gone three nights in a row to the MET and no fouettes were produced.  And then there was Lane on the fourth. So I was thinking more of four consecutive evenings.

Wow...she is persistent. Still in Russia. Kuddos to her for her perseverance.

2 minutes ago, nanushka said:

 

So sorry, I just mistyped! I meant to write "Four out of five, not four in a row."

Well...certainly not "four performances in a row", although indeed "four days in a row".?

32 minutes ago, aurora said:

That also didn't happen.

since Devon who was wednesday matinee, did the fouettees.

15 minutes ago, nanushka said:

 

Correct. Four out of five, not five in a row.

 

I'll be curious to hear if Hee Seo has a better time with them tonight, and how Cory Stearns does as a partner. From what I saw in Corsaire last week, he still hasn't made much improvement in terms of the projection of character.

Nanushka...I never said five in a row. In my original post I stated "four in a row". Don't know where the idea of 5 came from...?

Edited: double post.

Out of curiosity. Do any of you remembers a situation like this of having so many ballerinas failed to perform fouettes in a single season, as this one, with four in a row...?

Is there a precedent to this that you remember having happened at the MET ..? (or anyone else...for others than NY'rs..)

32 minutes ago, Natalia said:

 

Cubanmiamiboy, you were at Monday's dress rehearsal. Did Lane try & do the fouettés there? You mentioned earlier that Lane was one of two O/O's present (with Teuscher). This was a public event for ABT donors/fans...so not a secret

Lane only rehearsed the White act. Teuscher had Odile.

I am glad I wasn't there for last night's performance. I don't know too much Lane to the point of cheering her just for being her. For me it would had represented yet another low point in this season's disastrous line up of Odiles. 

I really miss an exciting/capable Odile in her pas. Singles are beautiful...they always were...

And I was cancelled on my shift tonight. I could had stayed for Lane.?

Just now, aurora said:

 

We don't have that ranking system.

We don't have prima ballerina as a ranking.

They are principals.

 

And that IS their rank whether or not one agrees. Not that we can't disagree of course!

Oh...you got me wrong. I am not disagreeing with the ranking system whatsoever. Actually...little the ranking system has to do for a Prima-(your equivalent of Principal...just the name I am used to...same meaning)- being incapable of performing Odile's fouettes. ?