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E Johnson

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Everything posted by E Johnson

  1. I attended the May 20 performance -- Agon, Outlier, and I'm Old Fashioned. Agon -- I hadn't seen this ballet in a few years and I almost forgot how wonderful it is. Even though I remember a lot of it, images and some steps, it still always looks fresh and interesting and I always wish I could see it again, right away, to catch things I know I missed. Most of the performances were also very good. Sean Suozzi - who I agree is going from strength to strength these days -- gave a clear but nuanced performance. I was also impressed by Tyler Angle, who I usually think of as a more princely type than a leotard ballet type. He's really growing as a dancer and had fun, appropriately, in this ballet. The only aspect that was less than very good was the pas de deux by Kowroski and Marcovici. There were not a lot of technical problems, but somehow the two did not seem to connect and there was very little emotional content. This pas de deux works best, in my opinion, when it is a relationship -- anyone who saw Whelan and Soto has had that experience. These two dancers seemed to not have made any decisions, or at least not any joint ones, about what was going on in the dance - -strangely for Marcovici, who I consider usually to be stronger on the internal aspects of most of his roles that the steps, at least at first. Outlier -- I'm still not sure what I think about this one, although I would like to see it again. Some parts of it were good - the opening pas de deux to recorded music, and a later one performed by Whelan and Hall (who, incidentally, should be getting cast a lot more and in more varied roles. He's so elegant and balletic; I'd love to see him in some of the more noble parts). Those dancers were able to do the serpentine movements that are all over the ballet and still make them look clearly anchored in ballet technique. Some of the rest of the dance was just hard to follow and frenetic. Also, and I suppose this is a sign of aging, I really wished the lighting hadn't been so murky, or the men's costumes so distracting (why did some dancers get tights, but no shirts, and others tunics, but no pants?). I'm Old Fashioned - ok, this is a sort of silly and light ballet, but it’s also sweet and enjoyable. I enjoyed seeing Philip Neal again, who I’ve seen do this role many times before. Sarah Mearns gets lovelier and lovelier. Tyler Angle turned in another strong performance, very different from Agon and more what I consider his strength.
  2. Nope. And i'm ten blocks from the theater, so its not the USPS. Extremely frustrating; however, i have a strong suspicion that the subscription department is understaffed. I deal with them by phone often and, in crunch times, it appears they are working around the clock, and not getting a lot of help. I agree that an option to download one's tickets would be preferable. After all, they have to already know which seats are taken by subscribers if they can sell single performance tickets.
  3. Same here. Frustrating as the box office is open and I want to swap some of my subscription tickets as soon as they come!
  4. does the scheduling look odd to anyone else? perhaps its because there are so many new ballets which are unknown quantities, but the combinations seem very strange.
  5. I think NYCB is less likely to have principals, at least, retire quietly now that they've figured out the farewell performances are big draws. The ones I’ve been to (alexopolous, boal, soto, hubbe, woetzel, nichols) have all been full and excited houses (maybe not alexopoulos, but it felt pretty close to full). I too will be very sad to see Neal and Evans go. Evans has been underutilized, in my view, his entire career. I hope his farewell includes Red Angels. Neal was easy to almost forget about, especially when boal, soto, and woetzel were dancing, because he's not flashy. But he's a great partner, has impeccable technique, and you never feel that he isn’t giving it his all. A consummate professional and he sure doesn’t look like he's at retirement age! And who will Whelan dance with -- both of these men were good partners for her. Marcovici and Hall, I guess.
  6. I loved alexopolous as well; i don't think NYCB has anyone doing it as well now. Kistler knows how to do it right but she can't do it physically anymore. She's still nice to see for the moments when technique is not so important. Reichlen is too nice and kowroski is too distant.
  7. I was there Thursday and had a lovely time. The company felt happy and it was refreshing to me to see a new and good ballet company, since usually I see NYCB or modern stuff. I also liked the Millipied/Reich work the most (although I was nervous some of the dancers were going to leap right off the corners of the stage a few times!). It had energy and propulsion, admittedly hard not to given the music, and the dancers looked sharp and happy. It had a little bit of a Symphony in Three Movements meets Westside Story vibe, but that’s not bad. Millipied moved groups of dancers around in interesting and varied ways. Tharp I think is not my cup of tea. The dancers seemed relatively undifferentiated; I didn’t get a sense of much of a relationship between any of the couples and since basically everyone got the same steps, eventually, they seemed almost interchangeable. And the Liang piece was pretty, but sort of dull, too. I've seen stuff like this before. None of the choreography struck me as particularly original, but it wasn't bad -- probably the most original was Mopey, but I think I was the only person in the theater last night that liked it. The dancers looked uniformly terrific. I think what this program shows is that there aren’t a lot of great choreographers out there, which we knew, and so an AD, like Boal, who is trying to develop/support new works is not always going to have topflight ballets on offer. Which is OK, and admirable, because you don’t want nothing but warhorses, either. And new works are probably part of the reason these dancers look so pleased and on top of things, which is not to be undervalued. I too hope they get back to NY relatively often because I’d like to see more.
  8. I am probably going to have one or two extra tickets to the Thursday night PNB performance. I would be happy to give it/them to a fellow Ballet Talker. feel free to message me here if you are interested.
  9. "Mopey" was on the program for Peter Boal and Dancers at the Joyce when Boal was still at NYCB in 2004 -- see this thread: http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/index.p...c=16424&hl= So it is sort of NY based as well.
  10. For me, this is a terribly programmed season, especially after last spring when they finally broke out of those silly blocks somewhat. For my family it is good, though; i swapped almost every ticket in my subscription so i can take my 3d grader to Dream and my 5 y.o. to Beauty. So maybe its a good move from the perspective of winning over families/children -- it just seems so much a slap in the face to devoted fans that value what makes NYCB special -- and Beauty and R&J aren't that (putting aside that R&J and the Martins Swan Lake are, in my view, painfully bad ballets).
  11. I hear that. I carefully avoided the first Dream this time in the hope i'd miss her, but no, she's doing the Sunday matinee, too.
  12. I was watching the NYCB Nut video with my kids last night and started wondering about the lovely SAB students that play Marie and the Prince, etc., every year. Other than Peter Boal and Eliot Feld, I couldn't think of any that went on to have ballet/dance careers, but I would not be surprised if I am missing a lot. Of course a small percentage of ballet students go on to be professionals but I would have thought that these kids, who are talented and, one assumes hard workers already, woudl be more likely to do so. Can you think of others?
  13. It's not the kids i blame but the adults. schools (NCLB plays a big part here but its not the only culprit) cut out "extras" with the goal of having children test well on the things that are tested, mainly reading/writing and math. sometimes science, less often social studies, almost never music or art. and parents don't prioritize these things outside of school, often because they never learned much about them themselves.
  14. I've always just folded mine up and stuffed it under my seat. If I recall correctly, there is a charge for the coat check, which not everyone is going to want to pay, lines aside.
  15. this sounds as if more of the ladies' rooms have been renovated as the first circle one was some years back. and if so, yippee; i hated the long lines that all the other ones had. four stalls is not enough.
  16. I doubt promotions would move people out on their own but they might indicate that Martins already knows about retirement plans that are not public.
  17. Reichlen in particular seems overdue for this promotion, but yay, nice news all around. I've been fans of some of these dancers since they started in the corps. (I guess i should feel old, then.)
  18. Oh, yes. as a person who practices criminal law and deals with the press, i am constantly amazed by how ill-informed most reporting on the process is. When you are dealing with a different country's system, its even worse. But many of the American commentators are similarly off base - they ignore the conviction, and they act like polanski is the first person to have a court possibly renege on a plea deal, and the first fugitive that was arrested. The fact is that the US legal system does provide redress when a judge doesn't accept a plea agreement, but you don't get relief if you are a fugitive. (and,i might add, if the judge hasn't actually done anything yet). its not singling out polanski to apply the law to him as it is applied all the time, just usually not to such high profile individuals.
  19. In the US most of the time sex crimes against minors are also taken very seriously these days, to the point that many offenders, even after their release from prison, can barely find a place to live or a job because of parole limitations and sex offender registries. Whether you think those are a good idea or not, it seems odd to me, and out of synch with US public opinion, for prominent Americans to claim that Polanski's suffered enough, or variations on that theme.
  20. The It's-been-32-years argument cuts both ways, though, doesn't it? For 32 years he's been evading punishment for a brutal rape (Salon had the details yesterday) of a 13-year old girl. I don't know if he can be sentenced for evasion or not, but that's 32 years of ethical, if not legal, misconduct. it doesn't appear he's been charged with a bail jump or whatever the CA equivalent is. he just has to be sentenced on the original guilty plea (assuming he's extradited and loses any challenge to the original conviction). A court can consider in determining sentence both the fact that he skipped and the fact that he's led a law-abiding life for thirty years. He's not the first fugitive to be brought back after decades, although most of them try to work out a deal and come back on their own if they have the money and profile that Polanski does.
  21. Polanski was convicted by plea of guilty and fled before sentencing. It is a fugitive warrant, based on his failure to appear when ordered. He may have valid arguments to attack the conviction or to avoid a further sentence, but the rule in the US is you don't get to make those arguments, or any others, while you are a fugitive. And he's been avoiding this case for a long long time, its not like he panicked and then tried to comply shortly thereafter. I don't believe the relevant US laws have changed so that he has a valid ex post facto argument.
  22. It took me some time to warm up to Kyra Nichols, but I am glad I did. The generally loved dancers I don't get: Kistler and Maria Kowroski. Kistler may be a timing issue; by the time I was really paying atention to her, it was late in her career, and she just doesn't have the physical abilities she used to have. But it makes me angry to see her constantly doing a bad job in inappropriate roles. Nichols, in my view, had a much more dignified and enjoyable end of her career because she picked the right roles for the dancer she was. Kowroski just rubs me the wrong way, and i have never seen the "wit" so many others claim she has.
  23. You also need a magnetic stage performer. There don't seem to be many Lenyas around any more. Do you have any suggestions for Anna I (the singer) or Anna II (the dancer)? for the dancer, Janie Taylor.
  24. Dear god in heaven. at least it isn't two weeks of swan lake. I was very pleased by last spring's programming (finally, not all those stupid blocks) and this, to me, is a giant step backward. three weeks straight of Martins full-length story ballets is not NYCB to me (and yes, I do like his sleeping beauty).
  25. I assumed it was Hubbe. isn't it going to be his last season before he returns to copenhagen fulltime?
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