angelica

I concur with Abatt, Arron Scott is my favorite Mercutio. Looking forward to your thoughts! I thought Arron Scott was wonderful in A Month in the Country. And I agree that Joseph Gorak has principal potential. But we need another tall guy. If it isn't to be Whiteside, and I just don't think it is, then who would it be? That's where I come up with Eric Tamm as a possibility.

And they're all American. Maybe it's time to close the other thread on ABT's men's crisis? You make a good point, Jayne, however I have grave reservations about the hiring of James Whiteside. We need one more tall guy, but someone who is more classical, has more elegance, and is more nuanced as an actor than Whiteside. Is there anyone in the corps who could grow into that person? Eric Tamm, perhaps? Then I'd be happy to stop using the phrase "ABT's male principal problem."

Abatt, I'm glad it wasn't just me. I agree with everything you say about last night's performance. I would add that Hallberg's "line" is the most exquisite I've ever seen in a male dancer over the course of many decades of attending the ballet. His acting, too, was exceptionally nuanced, and much more intense than Semionova's. It was a privilege to see Hallberg, the embodiment of perfection, in this role. Semionova ran quickly, flailed her arms when she was distraught, bourreed backwards with tiny steps, did gorgeous arabesques, but did not convey the same degree of drama that was displayed by Hallberg. I also thought that Jared Matthews was wonderful as Mercutio. What a threesome: Hallberg, Matthews, and Gorak! Could one ask for anything more? Well, yes, a ballerina who could match Hallberg's drama. Perhaps it's a question of maturity. Hallberg is at the top of his game. Let's say that Semionova is still in "adolescence" when it comes to drama, and needs to grow more, so that her acting shows, as someone else on this forum (or somewhere else) mentioned, more of an "inner life."

I think that for ABT the Wednesday matinees are an opportunity either to (1) try out an upcoming soloist in a principal role (when they actually promoted from within) or (2) have a principal dancer perform a role for the first time (e.g., this season, Veronika Part in Don Quixote, Hee Seo in Swan Lake, and Veronika Part in Sylvia).

Arron Scott was excellent in A Month in the Country.

I agree with this. A "campaign" is too risky. You never know what the "unintended consequences" would be.

Exactly, volcanohunter, I have no idea whether my email ever reached its intended destination. Twitter might be a good idea, especially if such a campaign "goes viral," as they say. I don't have a Twitter account and am also a Twitter ignoramus, so if anyone else thinks this might be a good idea, please post instructions on this forum of how to proceed. Thank you. The only thing we don't want is for ABT to consider it spam.

First, thank you, Helene, for making this a new thread. I don't have any good ideas. When the new Director of Membership, Grey Johnson, came on board last year, I spoke to him at a performance of Nutcracker at BAM, asking why Stella Abrera had not been promoted to Principal Dancer. He said he was so new that he didn't know anything about the situation and would ask around and get back to me. When he got back to me he said that the Membership side and the Artistic side of the Company are completely separate, and the only thing he could say was that Kevin McKenzie has the final say on matters such as this. I then sent an email to Kevin McKenzie, expressing my devotion to the Company and asking that Stella be promoted, giving a litany of reasons for my request. I had been told by the Membership Department to send it via them, asking them to please pass it on. I don't know if McKenzie ever got it. Maybe it's possible to email KMcKenzie@abt.org. and perhaps I ought to have tried to do that.

Absolutely, Dale, Jared was wonderful flipping that cape! The cape makes the role. I remember a ballet some years ago in which Jared flashed a whip onstage, maybe even jumping over and under it, and am wondering whether I'm misremembering. Does anyone else remember that? Here I go again, getting off topic. But I promise, this is the only post I'll make about this. Back to Don Q!

I agree, Natalia. We must continue to advocate for Stella. I believe Marie-Agnes Gillot became an etoile in her mid/late thirties also.

You may be right, abatt, but the larger picture (e.g., Aurora) shows that Stella has the stamina to keep up with the demands of principal status. And she has not had any recurrence of her injury since she returned to the stage. On the plus side, we are getting a lot of practice spelling the word "principal."

This is either outdated paternalism on the part of ABT ("it's for her own good") or else they're afraid their workers compensation bill will go up. Many ABT dancers have been injured, some short-term but multiple (Cornejo), some longer-term (Seo, Hallberg), and same at NYCB (Jenny Somogyi comes immediately to mind.) After dancing 10 Auroras in 30 days in Royal Ballet of New Zealand's Sleeping Beauty, it is apparent that Abrera has the ability to sustain herself in full-length ballets. (On a completely different topic, I'll be out of town just long enough to miss ALL the performances of the new Ratmansky ballet(s), so I'm looking to my fellow Alerters to keep me informed. Thanks in advance, everyone.)

Well, that's just crazy. All dancers get injured. It comes with the territory. ABT has seen it's share of injured personal. To deny promotion based on that criteria is nuts. There maybe is some other reason? One has only to look at how she's dancing so far this season to understand she is most definitely of principle caliber. I totally agree, mimsyb. And didn't Veronika Part wait a long time for her promotion to Principal. Does anyone know how old she was when she was given Principal Dancer status?

Off-topic for this thread...but where are you finding these hints of programming for spring 2014? Manon seems a safe guess, as they are doing it in Japan in February (as posted by the Japanese theater). If Giselle, I wonder if they'll let Gillian do it, after her success in New Zealand in their new production (and as it appears they are not bringing it to the US next year). It's just a guess, because for many years they've been presenting Giselle every other year. Isn't it an audience favorite? I've just been taking it for granted.

I don't know how to do this either, Colleen, but I'm hoping that Stella gets to dance the title role when ABT presents Giselle next spring. I've tried asking people in the membership office (the closest I've been able to get to the administrative side) and been told that it's Keviin McKenzie himself who makes all the artistic decisions. Admittedly, Stella was cast as Giselle in a Wednesday matinee performance a few years ago but got injured and had to withdraw. A cruel twist of fate. But she's back at the top of her game now, and her time has come.

You are so right about Stella, Colleen. It seems that many on this board feel the same way. How can we convince the board at ABT? Or the Artistic Director?

I saw Veronika Part's debut as Kitri in this afternoon's Don Q, and I thought she was absolutely wonderful, with her luxurious line, gorgeous legs and feet in high extensions, 180-degree grand jetes, and a long line of double pique turns. It was reassuring to see this eloquent dancer, who is a master in adagio, execute the bravura choreography--not to win applause, but in service to the ballet--a performance well worth waiting for! She put her heart and soul into every movement, a truly committed artist. As for her Basilio, James Whiteside, although he can execute 6 turns in pirouettes and smack double cabrioles in the air, and although everyone else on this board seemed to like him in other ballets, I was troubled that he didn't seem to know that it's his responsibility to keep his partner on her leg in supported pirouettes. Surely he could have spun her around many more times if he'd paid attention to that. From Row A Orchestra it looked as if she managed the turns in spite of him. Moreover, in my view, he doesn't have the carriage of a finely trained dancer. His upper body was very stiff, his shoulders often raised, and his head didn't do much more than sit upon his neck. He seemed to be playing to the crowd, lacking the etiquette of presenting his ballerina, interested only in his own performance and the impression it would make on the audience. Veronika deserves better.

If Veronika Part were dancing, I would say go to Corsaire, but not with the other casts. Osipova and Vasiliev bring audiences to a frenzy of applause, but they are more like an acrobatic act than a classical ballet partnership. When you hear all the screaming and applause for their feats, remember (1) that the circus draws many more viewers than the ballet (no, I don't have any statistics to back that up) and (2) that the reason Vasiliev can jump so high is that he has unballetic extremely muscular legs. Baryshnikov was another fabulous jumper with muscular legs, but he never abandoned the pure classical training that he received. Vasiliev is sloppy and he coasts on his jumps and turns.

Me too.

Thank you, dirac! I just ordered them for my 8-year-old granddaughter, who is a budding prima ballerina.

I'd cast my vote for Vishneva/Gomes in R&J. In fact, I'd cast two votes for that. The dancing will be heartbreakingly beautiful and the music is gorgeous. It would be worth seeing for the music of The Dance of the Capulets alone.

I think it's the 19th century Petipa ballets that show Seo's technical limitations. Petipa is unforgiving when it comes to ballet technique--his choreography demands technical perfection, including strength and stamina. It's in those ballets that Seo is known to founder, for example, in Bayadere as Nikiya, and now in Don Q as Queen of the Dryads. I worry for her in Swan Lake, especially those 32 fouettes. If she was fantastic in Symphony in C, then presumably she can work to "up" her technique for the Petipa ballets. I haven't seen "C" enough to know the choreography, but I believe the second movement is the adagio movement. Seo is good in adagio. But she's simply not ready for the challenges of high-powered Petipa roles and to put her onstage in them is doing her and the audience a disservice.

What's sad is that Hee Seo is luminescent in rapturous ballets, such as Romeo & Juliet, even A Month in the Country, but doesn't have sufficient technique for technically difficult roles. What's disgraceful is that she was promoted to principal dancer ahead of other more deserving soloists who can deliver scintillating, secure technique as well as rapturous performances, those who have it all. I won't start naming names because by now you all know who I mean and I risk repeating myself again and again.

The point being, however, that Tiler Peck and Ashley Bouder would give clean, classical renditions of Kitri that nevertheless deliver bravura dancing.

P.S. I don't have time to quote from it now, but if you read Macaulay's review in today's New York Times, you'll see that he remarks pointedly about their lack of style and their seeming to care less and less about it. Don Q is a ballet with bravura dancing, but it's still in the classical tradition, needing dancers who are committed to the classical style, not dancers who show "signs of caring less rather than more about refinement as time passes."