angelica

Thanks, Kaysta. I won't give it another thought. (But if anyone knows....) : )

I don't get the Hallmark channel so couldn't watch this. It was up on YouTube for maybe half a minute before they took it down. There are websites that you can sign up for a month's free trial that claim to show it, but I don't want to sign up for them. Is there any other way to see the movie? I think Sascha is adorable and probably could stomach the cliches just to see his sweet face.

We took our granddaughter to Swan Lake for her fourth birthday--ABT with Michele Wiles and David Hallberg. Not my favorite Odette, but it was a matinee and we were afraid she'd fall asleep in the evening. My granddaughter had already watched it often on DVD (with Nina Ananashvili dancing with the State Ballet of Perm). She was mesmerized throughout, didn't move a muscle. Everyone around us commented on how much she seemed to love it--which she did. She has been taking ballet lessons ever since.

Met Box Office: Are you listening?

Dancerboy90210, I know it may be asking for the moon, but I "second" every one of your wishes for Abrera. I, too, am a huge and longtime Abrera fan, and want to see her in the leading role of every single major ballet in the spring season.

Wasn't it Arnold Haskell who said something to the effect of: There are three kinds of people in this world: Russian ballet dancers; ballet dancers; and very ordinary people. Sigh. He didn't sigh. The sigh is mine.

The performance of Jewels last night was surely one of the ten best performances I've seen in my life, and I've seen a lot of ballet over the decades. I agree with everything vipa and Olga said above. I will add only that I fell in love with Rebecca Krohn, whose pliant use of her upper body in Emeralds was rapturous. In Rubies, Teresa Reichlen brought the house down as she sliced the air with her gorgeous long legs. And Sara Mearns in Diamonds was a study in classical perfection--placement, turnout, technique, musicality--everything came together to make a performance I will never forget. I should add that this was the first time I'd ever seen Mearns in a classical role, and I've been wondering for a long time what all the fuss was about. I'd seen her in a YouTube clip of Swan Lake where she lost the line in between poses, and it's taken me up to now to see her live in a role like this. She won me over totally last night. I adore her. I don't yet know the individual soloist and corps members, but I grew up in the days when it was fashionable for the NYCB corps never to dance together. Last night I thought they were superb--maybe not Mariinsky mirror images or POB mirror images, but dancing in a way that made me feel they were all in it together doing this joyous thing. What a glorious company NYCB is these days!

Moderators, Is there any way we can have a "like" button? I would really like to "like" this post. Or maybe we already have one and I don't know about it.

On the other hand, there is a film of Gillian Murphy dancing Giselle with the Royal New Zealand Ballet, made a couple of years ago when Ethan Steifel was still there, and she is exquisite. She is every bit as fragile as one might wish. The corps de ballet, however, isn't up to the standard we expect. The film is definitely worth seeing.

"...freshness of texture," Drew! What a beautiful phrase to describe Sarah's dancing (I've never seen Bussell)! I'm going to steal it from you one day!

Nice to see Stella's name up there for two performances, one of them being closing night!

Thanks, vipa, for your thoughts. And you're right, we shouldn't go off on a tangent in this thread.

vipa, do you think this is all about her comments regarding Black Swan? I would love to know the thinking behind what often seem to be bizarre (cleaning up my language here) artistic decisions.

This rehearsal footage shows up close the remarkable artistry of Sarah Lane: her quick, light feet; her fluid upper body; her gorgeous arms; her ability to sustain balances; her musicality; all within strict adherence to the Ratmansky choreography. If she isn't promoted to principal dancer in the next year, I will totally lose my respect for ABT's artistic direction.

Thank you, mussel, I couldn't place the dancers and I very much appreciate your identifying them.

Wish we had all three of them back at ABT!

From mimsyb: "Also, I'm in the minority, but I don't feel Calvin Royal was ready for promotion just yet. Despite his winning way on stage, he has some technical issues to address. And no, it's not an illusion. He doesn't point his feet all the time. He goes in and out a bit for me. Some nights really wonderful, some nights just OK." [sorry, some time I must learn how to put two quotes in one post.] Thank you, cobweb and mimsyb. It's good to know my eyes are not deceiving me.

Yes, please promote Sarah Lane! Now that Stella has been named a principal, we must focus our attention on Sarah. I'm getting on in years and don't want to leave this world without seeing her promoted! I actually like seeing Cirio onstage. He has an interesting face and a good stage presence. We haven't seen him in any leading roles, it's true, but I'd take him over Whiteside any day (but you all know that by now and I know that many of you don't agree.) I wish that Hoven had made it to the top sooner so that a tall male principal would have been there sooner. As for Calvin Royal III, I've had my eye on him for several years and love watching him dance. However, I've noticed that he often doesn't point his feet enough. Has anyone else noticed that or is it my hallucination?

Stuben, it never occurred to me that you were suggesting a lessening of the evening. Stella's triumph trumped everything else. And I felt the same way about the Ogre and Ogress!

With Stella's exquisite dancing and sublime port de bras, and Veronika's mime in Act II, I could forgive everything I'm not crazy about in this production (others have already posted about this earlier and I agree with them). I've been waiting 10 years for Stella to dance leading roles, every since that wretched injury caused her to withdraw from the Wednesday matinee of Giselle back in the oughts, and I'm so glad to have lived to see this day. She was fabulous all season in everything she danced, and I'm already looking forward to next season to see her tackling new roles. I would love to see her as Nikiya and Juliet, at the very least. Her upper body sings.

My point is simply that if a company is thinking long-term and it sees the potential in a dancer like Sterling Baca, the company needs to groom him for the next level and the next. "Cutting the line" is used colloquially. It's not the dancers themselves who are cutting in, but rather the AD making decisions that may be short-sighted for the long-term health of the company. Especially with the absence of Hallberg and the age of some of the male principals, cultivating a new principal from within the company should have been a priority. Sterling Baca would have made a wonderful addition to the principal roster and is an opportunity missed. This is, of course, my personal opinion.

I'm thinking precisely of Boylston's and Seo's leaps from soloist to principal.

On the female side, ABT has had no problem cutting the line, whooshing dancers from the corps de ballet into principal status with a hiccup or two as soloist. No reason they couldn't have done this on the male side with Baca. When someone special comes along--and Baca is special--letting him wait on line no longer holds, especially in a company that has a history of cutting the line. It seems a lack of foresight to me.

Like abatt, above, I too felt that Ferri started off rather tentatively, but became increasingly immersed in the role as the performance progressed. The one thing I missed was the abandon with which she used to fling herself into her partner's arms after running towards him in both the balcony and the bedroom scenes. But I believe that was a decision made in advance between Ferri and Cornejo and they made up for it in other ways, such as the deep backbends she made in his arms and the passion with which they embraced. I think the departure of Sterling Baca is a terrible loss for ABT. They should have seen his potential and developed him for principal status. Even though he didn't "dance" as Paris, his princely manner was evident in his stance and his acting. And much as I admire Craig Salstein, I so much missed Jared Matthews as Mercutio. In his slim build and his perfect classical line, Gorak reminds me of the young Hallberg, despite the difference in height. All in all, a very special evening. I'll be seeing Vishneva and Gomes tomorrow night. Life is good.

If I remember correctly, Lane and Gorak were paired in Ratmansky's Nutcracker at BAM. Their first performance was a bit iffy (I think Gorak was recovering from an injury) but their second was really good. Gorak was just beginning to stand out in the corps at that time.