angelica

Thank you, Helene.

Well said, laurel, well said!

OMG, Sarah is going to sweep us out of our seats (to mix metaphors)! Thank goodness we are going to see this at the MET!

Cornejo and Abrera will be stunning, and maybe Copeland will surprise us all. Enjoy, eduardo!

This may not be helpful, but I would do everything in my power to change my work schedule in order to see the Wednesday matinee with Lane, Simkin, and Shevchenko. They are far and away the best cast.

Just a few brief thoughts: Hallberg has proportions that are ideal for ballet, and has always achieved a beautiful ballet "line." Before his injuries, I found him gorgeous to watch. When he jumped, he seemed to "float" in the air. When he was younger, his face seemed rounder, less pointed, and rather handsome. Admittedly, he had difficulty lifting ballerinas, which I was told was related to an earlier shoulder injury. IMHO, the worst mistake he made was going off to Russia and trying to become a Bolshoi dancer. If he had stayed here, built on his strengths and worked on his weaknesses, he might not have the tortured look on his face that he projects nowadays. And yes, the book portrays him as totally self-absorbed.

At the risk of repeating myself, the CASTING for the entire month should be accessible from desktop computers!!! Please, someone at ABT, do something about that!

The new web site is WORSE than the old one! It's important to be able to see all the casting at once in order to decide what tickets to buy. On the plus side, I won't have to close one eye in order to watch Stella in Giselle.

I'm in total agreement with you and nanushka about the matter of casting. Thankfully, I'm able to see Lane in Giselle, Bayadere, Harlequinade, and DQ, as well as Abrera in Giselle and R&J (for the latter two performances I'll be watching with one eye closed.) And I'm hoping to see Osipova and Hallberg in Giselle if that partnership will happen. I'm really not enthusiastic to see anything else. Brandt and Ternary could have had leading role debuts this season if they didn't double up on our least favorite dancers.

It's one thing to go to an acting coach but quite another to go to a ballet coach because the company has few resources to provide enough coaching, even to its principals and upcoming soloists. I would guess that NYCB principals and soloists get their coaching from within the company.

I'll be a charter member, just as I was a charter member in the past of the Veronika Part Fan Club and the Stella Abrera Fan Club. What would these often overlooked dancers have done without us?

But that must have been coaching outside the company. n'est-ce pas? Which she had to pay for herself.

I'm told that after age 40 a dancer can sue for age discrimination. I'm not a lawyer, so check that out. If that's true, there's something to be said for the AD retiring dancers before they reach that age, although I think that's coldhearted. Isn't that what happened to Veronika Part? Last I heard the mandatory retirement age at POB is 42--and after that the dancers get a pension for life.

Do you remember who her partner was?

I'd be willing to have them throw one more dart at the male principal roster, even including the male soloist roster and take that partner. It couldn't be any worse. I think that apart from being able to lift dancers, he has no other attribute that warrants his principal status.

Yes, Giselle too!!! Stella waited so long for those wonderful roles, I'd even spring for a foreign guest artist to be her partner. Perhaps Shklyarov, who partnered her in her very first ABT Giselle, which brought the house down.

ITA. this is the worst Spring Season ever! Worst of all, they have paired my beloved Stella Abrera, in her R&J debut, with a partner whom I can't bear to watch. I don't want to miss Stella, and I'm telling myself that I'll keep one eye closed, but whom am I kidding? It will be impossible for me to believe that for this Juliet it is love at first sight.

Hi Sandik, I'm not part of the grapevine, I'm directly affected by this new policy--I was recently advised that I will no longer get "ABT Alerts" in my email. Admittedly, this is a first world problem, but it speaks to the slow deterioration of the importance of the arts in general, and ballet as a fine art in particular. On the other hand, most of the alerts were addressed on this forum, so I'll still be in the game.

You can call the Met box office today from 12-6, 212-362-6000. Whatever they tell you, call again just to confirm

Vipa, are you talking about the "old" David Hallberg, before his rehab in Australia, or the "new" David Hallberg, who is much more muscular in his upper body, and presumably stronger, than before?

I didn't see Jared this past season, but I did see Tyler, and I would say the same about him.

I hope the Pierrot role requires Forster to do a lot of dancing so that we can see him in action. We really don't know what he's capable of.

Yes, same here.

That's good to hear. It seems she is getting short shrift this season, which is surprising given her last-minute and remarkable performance as Medora last year. I'm hoping the AD will make it up to her next season by giving her a Kitri and a couple of other leading roles.

I see that Thomas Forster is cast in Harlequinade and I really hope he turns in stellar performances because ABT needs more tall principals. And I liked him in his acting roles in Giselle (Hilarion) and Onegin (Prince Gremin).