theo

Or maybe somebody did it because they thought they stood to gain something from his departure.   This is what came into my mind the moment I heard the news back in December.  I mean no disrespect to anybody that may have suffered abuse, misconduct or discrimination at the hands of another, but this to me has smelled bad from the start.

This is just my opinion, and no I don’t know all the facts.  There are probably few who do, and I agree that it’s really nobody’s business at this point.  Marcelo is a human being with a magnificent talent.  He is not public property simply because the public pays to see him dance.

 I am very glad to see that he has begun to reemerge.    I wish him all the best.  If he chooses to open up about that facts, or lack of them, I will be listening.

You know angelica, I actually made myself giggle envisioning dancing toast.  Then I snapped out of it when I tried to picture somebody as lovely as EunWon in a toast costume.  OY! 

Perhaps Ratmansky could do a kind of follow up to Whipped Cream; he could call it "PBJ on Toast", or perhaps "Beans on Toast" to appeal to audiences from the UK.  If he wanted to be more elegant about it, he could call it "Toast of the Town"  But I digress...

You know, I was thinking something similar; A Ratmansky ballet featuring toast, among other items.    

2 hours ago, YouOverThere said:

EunWon Lee became my favorite WB dancer the first time that I saw her dance. She is solid at the classical roles (was an excellent Giselle); she just needs to improve in the contemporary dances, and by all accounts she is a very hard worker so I'm sure that she will do it.

Unless I mis-read your post, I'm not the only who thinks that the choreography for Romeo was lacking.

You did not misread my post. (I'm glad it made sense)   I feel like Cranko's version just doesn't provide the opportunity for Romeo's character to build . There's  not enough time for Romeo and Juliet to build a relationship;  there's not enough time for Romeo to be Romeo, or for that matter, for Tybalt to be  Tybalt.

 It's hard to tell if this version fails the Juliet character, because EunWon simply owned it.  I feel like she could dance the part of a piece of toast and still convey something really remarkable.   She is absolutely lovely.   As for Gian Carlo Perez, I found him truly endearing.  I just wished he could have had something meatier.   I agree with maps, I thought the Lee and Perez cast was mesmerizing. 

I attended the Saturday Matinee performance of Romeo and Juliet.  Eunwon Lee danced Juliet and Gian Carlo Perez Danced Romeo. I thought they were magnificent.  The production itself was also beautiful. However,I feel that Cranko's version lacks ks the dramatic "oomf" that the Macmillan version provides.   It's hard not to compare one version to the other.   When I was a young  ballet student, my mother took me to see the Stuttgart Ballet do three performances of Romeo and Juliet at Lincoln Center back in 1972.    Even though that was my first overwhelming encounter with this ballet, it is the Macmillan version that sticks with me.   I will say this though, I'll take the gypsies over the harlots any day!  For my performance yesterday, the gypsies were danced with joy by Esmiana Jani, Francesca Dugarte and Nicole Ganiero.  They were really fun.

I felt the whole company danced with joy. They are such a pleasure to watch. Julie Kent was in the audience and stayed in the theater to speak to anybody who wanted to stop and talk to her. She was lovely, warm and gracious and I got to thank her personally for bringing this production to KC.  It's easy to see how truly connected she is to the company and they to her.  

Stand out performances:

Eunwon Lee - Juliet: She is really beautiful.  She danced with an airy freedom and expressed true joy.  During the standing ovation at the end of the performance, she was crying. She had clearly given her all and everybody appreciated it.

Gian Carlo Perez - Romeo : I liked him a lot. He is strong and he communicates well with his gestures an mime. I thought he was elegant and an excellent partner to Eunwon.  I wished he could have had more opportunity in this production to develop his character,  but that is no complaint against him.  It's simply the choreography.  He did a beautiful job with the role, I thought.

Rolando Sarabia- Tybalt:  Okay, now HE is a menacing and fearsome Tybalt.  I thought he was great!  Again, my only complaint here is that he didn't have more of an opportunity to present his character.   He certainly made an impression though.  

Andile Ndlovu-Mercutio:  Uh...WOW!  He was joyful, buoyant, comical and such fun to watch.  

These were the stand out performers for me, but as I said earlier the whole company danced with joy and in the market scenes you could really see them  say "we are here, we are a company, we are a team!  We are the Washington Ballet!"

I also want to mention the Washington Ballet Orchestra.  This was the first time I've heard them perform.  I thought they were excellent and they played Prokofiev's haunting score to perfection.

All in all, I love this company.  They dance their hearts out and they dance beautifully.  From the dancers, to the volunteer moms selling Washington Ballet items (I bought a sweatshirt and a bag thank you) to Ms. Julie Kent who made herself freely available to the audience on this day. You can see that they are deeply invested in what they are doing. Brava/Bravo, and thank you for poring your hearts into your every movement.  I,  along with the rest of the audience gave you a standing ovation.  It was well deserved.   

This is good news. At lest he's beginning to perform again.   Organizations with  whom he's recently worked,  such as The Washington Ballet and now the Sarasota Ballet are sticking by him.    I hope there is soon more to come so he can continue to dance on!

Begin rant: 

Disgusting and unhealthy hotel accommodations are just one of MANY reasons why union contracts are so important.  No matter what though, it's the dancers that pay; whether it be with their health from staying in fetid accommodations, or with their hard earned dollars that are spent on union dues.   

I know that there is plenty of ABT management bashing on this board, but honestly I feel as if  their management has  been sinking to an all new low.  I feel like it headed for new depths  with their treatment of Veronika, then Marcelo and now all of the dancers that are forced to stay in a place that looks like it should be shutdown by the Health Department, or at least tented for pest removal.  

ABT management and any person involved in setting up this vile hotel,  SHAME on you and how dare you insult the dancers and place their health and well being in jeopardy.  You also insult your patrons by treating your dancers  like crap.  We come to see them, not you.  I have already boycotted your latest Run at the Kennedy Center based on your treatment of Veronika and Marcelo.  This incident only turns me off further.   There is plenty of ballet in this town.  I don't need to give my money to a company that not only does not share it with their dancers, but instead puts it in the pockets of management, and otherwise squanders it while their dancers share their rooms with cockroaches.   I Wonder if Mr. McKenzie would stay in such a place. 

ABT should pay for the dancers to stay in some place suitable and comfortable. Their bodies are their instrument. They  should not be put up in a 'sleazy joint 'that is hazardous to their heath.  Get them the heck out of there. 

End rant. 

The parking garage is very convenient, albeit a little expensive.  It's $23 on the spot, $20 in advance and $18 advanced purchase with a basic membership.  Details are on the Kennedy Center website.  If it's within your budget you may want consider it if it means you get to  see something you really want to.  Consider  how much your time worth. How much time would you spend   searching for a spot, walking in bad weather, and/or  dealing broken meters?  Time is $$, or so 'they' say; whomever 'they' are.

Just a thought.  

I would love to see Royal pick up some rolls too.  I just feel a little bad talking about it in a discussion that's about Marcelo and the very upsetting 'circumstances' surrounding him. Perhaps somebody could start a separate conversation about who picks up the TBAs that are there because of Marcelo's departure.   Sorry, if I seem like a party pooper. 

BACA?  He's not an international star, but he is kind of home grown.  Too much for current soloists, who deserve a shot?  Maybe, and some are ready I think.   I hate to talk about filling Marcelo's  shoes.   Perhaps this is not PC, but I pray for healing for all concerned.  When one door closes another opens.  I hope for all concerned that  doors  open to the light. 

I was at the Saturday Matinee.  I think the best way to sum it up is “good clean fun”.  I have avoided going to the Nutcracker mostly because my fear of naughty children in the audience.    There were plenty of children, but they were not naughty and many of them were so beautifully dressed and excited to be there I couldn’t help but smile.

That’s kind of how I felt about Kansas City Ballet as a group of performers. They were happy to be there; they gave their all and had fun doing it. It did feel however, that in some places there could have been parts in the choreography that may have been simplified for the Kennedy Center  run. It almost seemed in some spots, that where there was supposed to be a lift, it became a turn or something else simpler.  It was something in the preparation that made it seem that way, particularly with Sugar Plum Fairy/Cavalier.  I felt this could have been for the benefit of the dancers who are dancing pretty much non-stop throughout the run.  The roles of the Sugar Plum and Cavalier were alternated between two couples.  For my performance, they were danced by Kaleena Burks and Liang Fu.  According to the playbill, they had also performed Friday evening.   I thought they were lovely.  For my performance the Snow Queen and Kind also did the torch lift.

Overall, I thought the production was lively, appropriate for the times, and my husband and I really enjoyed every minute of it.

I also enjoy all of the reports from everybody else.  I wish I had an opportunity to see the other casts.  Drew's comments about my comments made me laugh just a little.  I should have described what I saw better.  The dancer that I thought looked like she was falling asleep did not look bored at all, she looked pooped! .... and kind of out of it.  She never fumbled though.  It was like she had a micro nap and woke up exactly at the right moment!

I've had  a full day now to think about what I saw and I have to comment about the audience.  I heard lots of Russian being spoken and people dressed for the occasion.  They were enthusiastic and old school.  It was nice to be around.  I miss that kind of vibe. 

Kansas City Nutcracker next! 

I was at the Saturday matinee.  For some reason this production just underwhelmed me.  Skorik was fine in the first two acts.   Her dancing was lovely in  spots and she does have some stage presence. In fact I found something about her almost hypnotic.  She is stunning to look at.  She could stand there like a statue and still be interesting to look at.  Andrei Yermakov as Solor was okay;  The High Brahmin (Soslan Kulaev) was a a character I could sympathize  with and I enjoyed the dancing by Roman Belyakov (the slave) and Vasily Tkachenko (the golden idol).  I have no real thoughts about  Anastasia Kolegova as Gamzatti, except that the role itself in this production didn't do much for her.

 In my opinion it all fell apart in act III.  Not even the entrance of the shades, which is one of my favorite parts, did anything for me.  I was sitting in the 4th row just to the right and something about the screen just killed it for me.  As far as the shades themselves, at one point during some of the act III dancing when the shades spend a lot of time just standing there, I thought that the dancer standing in the front to the left (facing the stage) was going to nod off.   It really looked like she was fighting to stay awake. She was kind of wobbling, It made me think of the scene in The Turning Point when Leslie Brown is dancing in the corps in Giselle and she's drunk and fighting to stand still without teetering.   There were also foibles from both Skorik and Yermakov.   My overall opinion: Meh.        

I agree; I hope Veronika is given other opportunities.  Her star still shines brightly.  

Respectfully, I think it's time to let the new principles and soloists shine.  Ferri  has had her time in the sun. It's  time to let others have their turn.   She  was a beautiful ballerina in her day,  and she has had many opportunities in her career to show this to the world.  She is still a beautiful and gifted artist and is not without opportunities to dance. She is still listed as a Guest Artist at the Royal Ballet.    I felt like  she stole  two performances last year from dancers  at ABT who deserved to have their chance.  Certainly Veronika would have done a beautiful job dancing  Tatiana in Onegin. 

Ferri left gracefully once, and now she should gracefully leave it at that.    

Sorry, just my humble opinion.....

I think we should rename this topic: ABT has a new website and IT STINKS

well, I have been curious about Skorik ever since "A beautiful Tragedy" so it seems I will have my curiosity satisfied during the Sat/Mat, as long as casting doesn't change.   

Beautiful sentiment from a young ballerina coming up through the ranks.  Scout's tribute should set an example for the other young up-and-comers.  Honor those who have come before you and shone you the way.  

Now for Veronika...You have beauty and grace that is truly unique and obviously treasured.  I sense that your times have not been so easy at ABT.   I'm sorry that it took this harsh turn of events for people to come out,  stand up for you and show you how treasured you really are.  This is no small thing.  Know that you are beloved.   As one door closes, another opens.  May the next door open to something truly satisfying for you.

I am better for having seen you grace the stage.

These are good promotions that are well deserved. These are not 'new kids' but dancers who have worked hard and have  put in the time, in particular Sarah.  I share in their joy! Brava, Bravo!!!

So based on the principal dancers listed for the Fall season, do we take this to mean that there will be no promotions to principal dancer for anybody this year, or is it possible for something to happen in November?   A crystal ball would really be helpful about now.  

I am also glad I got to see her Swan Lake this year.  My husband and I saw her at the Kennedy Center and she was beautiful.  A swan for the ages. Thank You Veronika! Brava, Brava! 

I am so excited for Sarah Lane.  I can't wait to read the reports of her O/O. I wish I could be there!

Devon next....Please.    Brava to both!

Sarah, Sarah, Sarah!    Do it Kevin, promote her. It's time, she's earned it!

Sarah, Sarah....

I went to the Saturday Afternoon performance. Venus Villa did not dance.  Ayano Kimura Danced the part of  Giselle  and I must say I enjoyed her performance very much.   I think she came across as being sincere and believably vulnerable.  She was beautiful in both acts. I liked Jonathan Jordan better in act II. I thought he pulled of the 'dance till you drop" pretty well.

He was believable.   Tamas Krizna danced Hilarion and I enjoyed him as well.  Francesca Duarte was a stern and solid Myrta.  

This was my first time seeing the Washington Ballet dance, and I thought the production was very nicely done.   The whole company looked good and danced well.  And yes, there were dogs on the stage!   The sight lines at the Eisenhower theater are  pretty good.  I was in the 4th row  (H) on the aisle to the left facing the stage.  I could see everything including feet. 

All in all a very enjoyable afternoon at the ballet.  I hope Julie Kent is able to do more of the classics with this company and bring them to the Kennedy Center.