angelica

19 hours ago, Kaysta said:

I watched it and it was horrible. 

 

Besides the bad cheesy dialogue, the dance scenes with Amy Acker were horrendous.  It's a shame they couldn't have gotten someone who could actually dance.  I don't know if she has any dance training, but her SPF solo in the beginning was painful looking.  Sophia Lucia and Radetsky's dance scenes (though few and far between) were nice though.  But seeing them wasn't worth the rest of the movie.

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.

3 hours ago, Kristen said:

Thanks Dreamer.  Called the box office and they cheerfully exchanged them for $6 each.  If only the Met were as accommodating. 

Met Box Office: Are you listening?

50 minutes ago, Dancerboy90210 said:

I am hoping for Abrera to debut in Odette/Odile (might be wishful thinking, but its now or never), Onegin, Juliet (if it returns), Manon (if its on the calendar, which it might be to give Vishneva something else to dance before she retires), and of course a return of her Giselle. I am crossing my fingers that she gets as good of a partner as Shklyarov last time around. She needs a partner that can match her maturity. With Vishneva leaving, maybe that'll free Gomes up for Abrera. I think she would pair nicely with Hallberg too, if he ever returns.

 

I'm a huge Abrera fan. I hope we get to see as much of her as possible, before she retires. Its such a shame that McKenize took so long to promote her. She is really something special. 

 

 

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!

20 minutes ago, Josette said:

I saw Murphy as Giselle when the Royal New Zealand Ballet performed in L.A., and thought she had a beautiful gentleness.   I was very happy for her to be so outstanding in the role, having also seen her as a superb Myrtha.  Her port de bras was lovely.   I went back to see her second show as Giselle.   

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.

49 minutes ago, Fleurfairy said:

I would love to see Sarah Lane as Giselle. I know if will probably be a cold day in you-know-what before that happens, but hope is all we've got. 

 

I can't imagine Gillian Murphy as Giselle. I don't think her feet are malleable enough- I grew up watching Alessandra Ferri's Giselle on a loop so I'm a bit biased. And I think she's too tall to convey that fragile look essential to the role.

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.

1 hour ago, Drew said:

Taste in dancers varies. Agree about the pleasures of Ratmansky's Beauty--though I have not lost my taste for all other approaches-- but want to mention that I saw Bussell dance an absolutely radiant Aurora. The most memorable part of her performance was probably her beautiful smile. Nor was she any kind of mechanical technician when I saw her in ANY role, but always completely in the moment as a dancer. That is, her technique looked natural and spontaneous (which of course technique can't literally be). I found her radiant, but also extremely touching as Ashton's Cinderella as well. Lynn Seymour she wasn't and she was, say, miscast in A Month in the Country...but I don't think Bussell was ever a crude or graceless dancer. (Actually, though I have never seen Lane's Aurora, I would say that, though she is a very different dancer than Bussell, she has some of the same freshness of texture in her dancing.) 

"...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!

10 hours ago, vipa said:

I have no insider information but personally I doubt it's Black Swan related.  Lane did a lovely Theme and Variations as a new corps member and an outstanding Aurora (IMO) on her first time out in the old production.  These early accomplishments seemed to do nothing to impress management.   On top of this she was often miscast for the sake of giving a short male dancer someone to partner.  I don't want to turn this into a pro/con Lane thread but those are my thoughts.

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.

From Yuriko Kajiya's instagram, here is a photo of David Hallberg reunited with Yuriko and Jared Matthews in Melbourne. (Houston Ballet was on tour in Australia)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BH2I9ALgNZt/

Wish we had all three of them back at ABT!

I haven't noticed the feet in particular but I have often felt that he's not stretched out enough, he doesn't embrace and fully articulate that glorious tallness.

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.

Congrats to both Cirio's and Hoven! Odd that no females were promoted this year. Sarah Lane???

Cirio becomes the first Filippino male Principal, following on Abrera's achievement last year. Pinoy Power!!!

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?

Absolutely angelica! I agree about this, by no means that I had this thought in mind about lessening the evening and as for the mask... glad that Kathleen reminded me these were the Ogre and Ogress I forgot their titles but those are the ones that bothered me and no wonder! :lol: They were supposed to!

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.

It's childish to think that there is a "line" in a ballet company and that people are "cutting in line." This isn't the first grade line to the bathroom. And it's exactly this mentality that makes ABT such an inartistic company. Why bother to improve the corps de ballet, put on different ballets other than the same 5 or 6 warhorses, when all the audience cares about is whether their "favorites" are cast or not? So Alessandra eliminated every jump, modified every lift, and could barely stand on pointe. But she's ALESSANDRA so we'll cheer till midnight. Blech.

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.

Um, who are you thinking of?

It neither of the last 2 female principals have moved up quickly.

Isabella Boylston and Hee Seo are the only principals you could say that of. Isabella joined in 2007, was made soloist in 2011 and principal in 2014.

Hee joined 2006, soloist 2010, principal 2012.

Not slow certainly but not precisely a whoosh either.

Veronika sat as soloist for eons. the others besides Gillian (ages ago now) came in as principals...

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

. But I'm not sure what else ABT could have done differently given the nature of its repertory and all the male dancers who are ahead of Baca in the principal and soloist ranks.

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.

I think NYSusan is correct here, although it makes me a bit sad. As a great admirer of Sarah Lane (also my favorite Aurora last season and my favorite petit-allegro woman currently at ABT), I'm hoping she starts to develop a partnership with Joseph Gorak. They were partnered in Ratmansky's Tempest, and they were dynamite together in that pas de deux. I'm afraid Misty's ascension may have hurt Lane's chances as much as Kochetkova's appearance. If Lane and Gorak were cast together in Romeo and Juliet, I'd be there in a heartbeat.

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.