Ambonnay

Alastair M says, for the full context of his comments on Stiefel's blondness: "Although “Don Quixote” features Spanish characters, Ethan Stiefel appeared with his hair so ultra-blond that he looked as if he were auditioning for the Hitler Youth. His partner, Gillian Murphy, also seems singularly non-Hispanic, but the liquid ease and skill of her dancing, especially in her brilliant legs and feet, certainly makes me want to see her dance several other roles."

Alastair's comment seems misguided by the basic, but flawed, tenet that the leads in Don Quixote have to look Spanish. Yes, the ballet features Spanish characters, but it does not flow from that that Basilio and Kitri should physically look Spanish (including with respect to their hair color). Alastair's flawed point is made again when he notes that Gillian "seems singularly non-Hispanic".

Taking the converse of Alistair's argument to the extreme, to illustrate how silly his argument is, Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella are not Spanish characters. So, would a Latina ballerina be inappropriate, just because of her ethnic origin, to play those leads?

Sadly the result is that I felt underwhelmed by some writing which I think robbed the reports of the status of the event and the dancers.

See:- http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/arts/dan...a.html?ref=arts[/url]

Well, the only way to rectify that is for more people, like yourself if you attend future ABT performances, to post. Otherwise, you will be left with what the particular attendees who did take the time to post felt about the event. And, no, despite the quality of other members' write-ups of performances, we are not professional reviewers and hence do not take it upon ourselves to provide professional-quality reviews (especially in my case, as a relatively recent ballet goer of only the past several years).

The NYT review of last night is out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/19/arts/dan....html?ref=dance

My favorite excerpt from it, not surprisingly:

"Natalia Osipova and David Hallberg danced a suite from Act II of “Giselle.” Her aerial takeoff was even more astonishing than I had remembered it, rightly causing gasps. The way he, when crisscrossing his feet in the air in entrechats, added a sudden, wider opening before the final crossing was a wonderfully subtle grace note. Too bad “Giselle” is not on the schedule this year; I’m impatient to see them dance it again."

Note:

"Veronika Part certainly characterized the Odile of “Swan Lake” as a voluptuous vamp; her acting wasn’t subtle, but it was committed."

I guess I can't fault Part for lack of commitment to her chosen form of portrayal. Whether that form is a desirable one, obviously, is a separate question.

Surprinsinly, Part came with such confidence and energy that she looked like a pretty different ballerina, how wonderful was to see this..she was probably a little bit over the top, but I didnt care because she danced with such grace and power...... Did I mentioned that she looked, once again, gorgeous ! and yes..somebody commented before she looked larger than Marcelo, she is "on pointe" taller than him....

Mainly, I think they were desperately looking for a partner for Cornejo, because within the NBA-roster of females principals at ABT, no one can dance with him.

Classic_Ballet: Thanks for the Cornejo information. May I ask why Cornejo has such problems partnering other ballerinas?

On Part, I thought she was definitely over the top in her facial expressions and her from time to time tossing her head backwards a little bit (a lot more than normal ballerinas do). She kept her mouth, bathed in a bright red lipstick, open most of the performance, showing her pearly whites. Her eyes were glaring at Marcelo alot, and her eyebrows were strong. Sometimes, literally, for certain more dramatic interactions with Marcelo, her mouth and eyes would form into an expression one might associate with viciousness or forcefulness. I thought that her performance was lacking.

As for Part's physicque, the black bustier-type top of the Odile costume made her shoulders look very broad -- to me broader than Marcelo's. At times, I caught myself thinking that I understood why she is now frequently paired with Bolle or Marcelo, and thanking Kevin M she won't be risking anything vis a vis Hallberg. Also, the white tights worn by Odile left the upper thighs of Part looking just on the border of being strong and appropriate, as opposed to bulky and lacking in line.

I'm sad I missed the introduction of the prior dancers. When I arrived at 6:55 pm (25 minutes late), I caught the second part of Birthday Offering.

I didn't like the Reyes/Cornejo SB pdd. Cornejo screwed up one of the fish dives. They both lack grandeur of style.

I thought that Reyes lacked grandeur of style. But then I've always thought that her demeanor, "acting" and physical appearance were not particularly good for any classical ballerina role, except for Kitri. However, Reyes' inappropriate demeanor for this piece made it difficult to appreciate Cornejo's more classical demeanor during it -- which was a bit of a subdued style for Cornejo relative to his range (or at least the range I have seen). Reyes is so slight in figure, and so non-classically proportioned with respect to her short stature, that the crown she was wearing for this excerpt seemed too big on her. I'm not saying that every ballerina has to conform to a given physical "look" or shape, but I think there are ranges of physical characteristics that aid or detract from other aspects of a given ballerina's performance or that augment such aspects. In Reyes' case, the detriment is clear.

Cornejo did alright throughout the piece, except, as abatt noted, for the first of the three "fish dives" in a row. The mistake was noticeable, but neither Cornejo nor Reyes actually failed to complete the major portions of the dive. The entry into the dive was a bit akward and late, as Cornejo kind of fumbled to get himself into position to support Reyes during the dive.

On Koch, I wouldn't say that he got very little applause. He got some, albeit not momentous or particularly sustained clapping as his sustained and large contributions financially to the ABT may to some suggest. Note, however, that it was not very clear what award he was receiving -- at least not clear to me from the Blaine Trump intro. While Caroline Kennedy or Blaine did mention his long tenure on the Board of Trustees, they focused more on the ABT and on the arts community in general, and did not talk about the rest of Lincoln Center (ie the State Theater).

BTW, is this Koch related to the person with the same last name who is suing some of the auction houses for "fake" wine (as described in "The Billionaire's Vinegar), with respect to supposedly T Jefferson bottles of Lafite, etc.?

BTW, I don't think Kevin M's choice as to which principals would be on their own, instead of in a partnered excerpt, was coincidental. Corella is probably not in Kevin's good graces, at least for now, despite his being the final performer in the gala program. And Wiles was the other principal left to fend on her own without a principal danseur as partner, in the Rose Adagio.

LA BAYADERE

Corps women, including Hee Seo, Shevchecko, Underwood

AWAKENING PDD

Herrera & Stearns (alright; I've never liked Herrera and I don't think these two make a good pairing)

SLEEPING BEAUTY Act III PDD & CODA

Reyes & Cornejo (Reyes' not having a classically proportioned body or normal-length legs makes her a less conventional-looking Aurora (or other non-Kitri heroine); her silly habit of smiling all the time did not seem in keeping with the character of Aurora either. Cornejo looked better than I recall -- I think he could be making an effort to look better. I recently saw a much better version of this PDD performed at the V Vasiliev Gala. Although I don't know the history of Reyes' career, I find it surprising that she could have been promoted to principal -- she just doesn't have nice looking lines or any variation in the emotions her face or body conveys. She's too cheerful and bouncy in this PDD and Coda.

LADY OF THE CAMELIAS

Kent & Bolle

DON QUIXOTE

Murphy & Stiefel -- Murphy's performance here shows how much better she is than the other ballerinas at the ABT this season (excluding Vishneva and Osipova). She seemed confident and very technically proficient. Her portrayal of the relevant character is much better than Reyes and Herrera. And her technique is so much better than Part. When Part did her Odile fouettes in her excerpt, there was no difference from one fouette to the next -- it was as though Part just wanted to do what was necessary to complete the fouettes. When Stiefel did his turns after Gilliam did her Kitri fouettes, in the middle of the sequences of turns, he did a dramatic "hop"/jump and continued seamlessly to turn thereafter.

Caught

Corella

This piece seemed out of sync with the rest of the evening. It has very striking (not necessarily good) lighting which is important apparently to the piece. Corella was shirtless, and wore a white pant. The music was loud -- at least to me. And there was strobelight-type very strong lighting that made Corella sometimes appear and sometimes disappear -- a la discos from the 1980s. I thought Corella generally danced well, but this piece was an akward end to the evening, when the overall line-up for the evening was considered.

I set forth the program/cast info:

BIRTHDAY OFFERING

Irina D and Maxim B

Lane, Bolylston, Hee Seo (danced fairly well), Messmer, Riccetto, Shevchenko (she's getting some opportunities, as a Corps member)

Davis, DeLong, Forster, Hoven (dancing in mediocre way), Lopez, Mantei

BALLO PER SE

Hinkis, Silva, Boren, Royal, Degrofft, Waldrep

SLEEPING BEAUTY

Michele W (not more than appropriate, in the key part of the Rose Adagio where each suitor in turn lets go of her hand as she stands on pointed toes)

Radetsky, Salstein, Saveliev, Zhurbin (all so-so)

GISELLE

Osipova & Hallberg

SWAN LAKE

Part, Gomes (she looked very physically "large" next to Gomes in this excerpt; she also kept on smiling with her mouth open too much in a "fake" way and her portrayal lacked subtlety)

THAIS PDD

Vishneva & Matthews (she was fairly good; he was so-so)

BRAHMS-HAYDN VARIATIONS

Abrera & Hammoudi (Abrera was very good)

Reyes & Cornejo (Reyes did not stand out to me, even when the other ballerinas in this excerpt were not principals)

Underwood & Stearns (Mr. Stearns is getting a lot of attention this season. In the final curtain call, he was standing in the second "row" from the audience, where all the principal danseurs, like Hallberg, were standing. He wore a tux, whereas Hallberg wore a beautiful suit with what seemed like a pale purplish shirt and possibly a blush pink tie -- not sure)

Hee Seo & Saveliev (not sure the actual pairings were as described on the program)

Riccetto & Simkin

Kajiya & Salstein

Paris & Zhurbin

Also: Bond, Butler, Bystrova, Hamrick, Milewski, Shevchecko, Teuscher, Williams, Bragado-Young, Davis, Easter, Forster, Golladay, Ogle, Stappas, Stewart

A number of the dancers looked nice in their costumes, in various shades of beige/brown hues. Some of the movements by different couples, to the extent they were intended to be synchronized (?), did not seem to be so when one examined things in detail. Still, a lot of activity on stage, yielded a piece that I am interested in seeing for the first time later in the season in its entirety.

More to come in a separate post.

I didn't see Tamm all evening. Maybe I missed him. He's not on the program. I hope he is not injured.

Wonderful evening overall, but with some (not unexpected) range in the quality of the excerpts and the dancing included in the event.

Highlights:

-- Hallberg and Osipova -- What can I say? Hallberg's face and body are so expressive and his lines so gorgeous. I had seen their Giselle last year, and this excerpt was at the same very high quality of performance. I think Hallberg is connecting more and more as an actor portraying a character, which was, in my mind, his only area of potential improvement when I saw him a few years ago. For example, Hallberg was very expressive as he slumped over from fatigue, lying on the floor in a beautiful position. His facial expressions were wonderful as I viewed them from binoculars. He and Osipova are well matched artistically, and the performance was beautiful. Osipova had lightness in her step as usual -- at one point, she was bouncing up and down on her toes (elegantly) pretty quickly. Of course, my favorite performance of the evening was the one including Hallberg!

BTW, at the end of the entire performance, most of the performers came on stage. Some of the performers with excerpts occurring earlier in the evening had their black tie attire on, in preparation for the gala that was to follow. During this final curtain call, Irina D was in a very beautiful red off-the-shoulder, chiffon-type, flowy gown that was gorgeous. Next to her was Ospova, in a very modern and beautiful copperish/muted gold-type dress that ended significantly above her knees. Osipova looked modern and appealing as she was about to go to the gala.

-- Kent and Bolle -- Kent danced beautifully. This is the first time that I have seen Bolle live, and his movements lacked a certain lyricism and fluidity I find in, say, Hallberg. I appreciate each of those danseurs has their own style, but Bolle's less elegant, perhaps more "strong"-looking and bulky lines, did not particularly appeal to me. While I don't know La Dame aux Camelias, Bolle seemed rushed in some of his movements and his movements did not seem to be always connected one to the next in a natural, seamless manner. The excerpt from Dame had some sexual connotations. I appreciate what the storyline of La Dame is, but, at one point, Bolle removes Kent's black dress, revealing a blush pink camisole-like shorter number on Kent. Then, Kent and Bolle have various "moves" (including steps while one or more of them is laying on the ground, with the other in a close position next to the first) that seemed quite "suggestive" to me. Not suggestive in an inappropriate way -- in fact, these moves were quite tastefully done as far as I could tell.

-- Stella Abrera stood out among the dancers in the Brahms-Haydn Variations. Hee Seo also was good in that piece, and Leann Underwood was decent.

-- Stiefel seems to be in decent physical form now. Murphy's fouettes as Kitri in the Act III Don Quixote Pas de Deux & Coda were good. Like she had started to do in her Swan Lake Odile fouettes (albeit with slight differences in position of the arms), here she moved her arms during the fouettes into different positions. Holding a fan as Kitri, she sometimes waved the fan above her head. Other times, she had her hands on her waist as she turned. Her usual technical capabilities with respect to fouettes were on display.

-- As usual, at least at the Parterre level (probably Orchestra too), there were complimentary canapes passed and complimentary champagne. A part of the ticket price is labeled a charitable donation. Also as usual, people were quite serious about the black tie, and many of the gentlemen in the audience were in tuxes, and the other ladies in long gowns.

-- David Koch was honored for 25 years of service on the ABT board of trustees. He just donated $2.5 million in support of the upcoming Ratmansky Nutcracker, and, in his speech, encouraged others to donate. December 23 will be the company premiere of Nutcracker. Caroline Kennedy and Blaine Trump presented him with an award for his long-time contributions to the ABT. Koch said that he, like the ABT this year, just turned 70. He hopes to remain active for a number of years with the ABT.

ABT Facebook site announces:

"ABT will be tweeting LIVE tonight on the red carpet, during the performance and at the star-studded gala dinner. Don't miss exciting live comments and photos! Dancers Kristi Boone and Isaac Stappas will be also tweeting from the dancer's perspective. Make sure to follow ABT before 5:30pm Eastern Standard Time."

Don't know whether the above will be good, because it seems to be the first time there are "official" "live" tweets.

I read about this in the New York Times -- Baryshnikov is performing! Tickets are all sold out now, but there may be same-day and/or return tickets available for those willing to wait (not sure)

http://www.bacnyc.org/index.php/events/per...-UnrelatedSolos

Too bad the tix are sold out I've never seen Baryshnikov dance live before.

Could members give me some info on how large the role of the second danseur (Des Grieux) is in La Dame aux Camelias? I'm debating whether to attend on an evening when Hallberg is dancing that role, or to skip all of the Dame performances.

I'm scheduled to go, and will report, although I don't know a lot about Petipa and am not confident my report will be insightful.

It should be highlighted, for those members who will not be in DC:

"The performance will be streamed live online and will stay on the Kennedy Center Website forever, so all can see it!"

Avi Scher's newsletter included the following:

"The summer season of Avi Scher & Dancers is underway with a performance at the Kennedy Center on May 31. The program will feature four works from the NYC season as well as a premiere of a new solo work for Sokvannara Sar, the star of the current documentary Dancing Across Borders. The performance will be streamed live online and will stay on the Kennedy Center Website forever, so all can see it! The cast will feature many dancers from the April season as well as some from the Joffrey Ballet and Miami City Ballet."

Mme. Hermine and AG:

Agreed. Plus I doubt the Ratmansky Nutcracker is yet ready for dress rehearsals like what Wiles/Stearns were doing.

I look at the Nutcrackers as a necessary evil, to generate cash flow, especially in today's climate where large donations are presumably more difficult to come by.

That being said, if 1 out of every 1000 children or teenagers who watch a Nutcracker somewhere were to develop an interest in taking ballet lessons or end up interested in attending ballet performances from time to time as an adult, that would be a meaningful long-term benefit.

I take some solace from Ratmansky assisting on the ABT Nutcracker project.

I wonder whether these two youtube excerpts of Stearns/Wiles in a Nutcracker (which one????) are dress rehearsals of the ABT one? I noticed Wles linked to these videos from her Facebook site. Could Stearns/Wiles somehow have collaborated on a Nutcracker for another company as guest artists, or are these January 2010 videos of the upcoming ABT Nutcracker? The Stearns/Wiles pairing is in keeping with how ABT has recently paired the two in full length ballets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFVCgGt4zXA

The opening night gala program has further changes (highlighted in red below).

Changes:

-- Osipova now dancing Giselle Act II pas de deux with Hallberg, instead of Sleeping Beauty PDD -- An interesting choice with respect to marketing, since Giselle is not being performed this season but Romeo and Juliet (which is removed altogether from the opening gala program) is.

--Thais PDD, always involving Vishneva, now has her paired with Matthews instead of Carreno. I wonder why -- is Carreno injured perhaps?

-- Cornejo and Reyes are now paired for the Sleeping Beauty PDD, instead of the Romeo and Juliet PDD (which is no longer being performed on opening night)

Birthday Offering (Opening)

I. Dvorovenko

M. Beloserkovsky

Ballo Per Sei (First Movement)

Abt ii

The Sleeping Beauty (Rose Adagio)

M. Wiles

Giselle Act II pas de deux

N. Osipova

D. Hallberg

Swan Lake Act III pas de deux

V. Part

M. Gomes

Thaïs Pas de Deux

D. Vishneva

J. Matthews

The Brahms-Haydn Variations (closing movement)

S. Abrera

A. Hammoudi

X. Reyes

H. Cornejo

L. Underwood

C. Stearns

H. Seo

G. Saveliev

M. Riccetto

D. Simkin

La Bayadère Act II (Opening Adagio)

Company

Awakening Pas de Deux

P. Herrera

C. Stearns

The Sleeping Beauty Act III pas de deux

X. Reyes

H. Cornejo

Lady of the Camellias Act II pas de deux

J. Kent

R. Bolle

Don Quixote Act III pas de deux

G. Murphy

E. Stiefel

Caught

A. Corella

Separately, while I didn't notice Corella's thighs as being particularly bulky when he performed with his own company, here is a photo from the ABT Facebook page, on the China November 2009 tour. I had noticed slightly thicker thighs during the Swan Lake performance he had with the Met 2009 season. Now the situation has not improved.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4751...;id=15817871857

Compare, Hallberg in the same costume.

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4751...;id=15817871857

I hate to say it, but as much as I appreciate Corella's dancing and his goal of building his own company, he has got to stay in top aesthetic appeal shape.

I wish they would publish casting regarding the Bronze Idol role. It is a significant supporting role, after all.

From Daniil S's facebook page, his casting for the first week at the Met:

Bronze Idol -- May 18 Tuesday; May 22 Saturday, evening performance

He is also dancing: Opening night gala, excerpt from Brahms Hayden Variations (as previously announced on another thread)

Hallberg has a new photo for his bio, which is a bit more artistic and a little bit less masculine-loking. I liked the old one better, though.

http://www.abt.org/dancers/detail.asp?Dancer_ID=66

I found this snippet on youtube on Hallberg's debut at the Kirov:

http://www.youtube.com/user/elga1525#p/a/u/0/CDLUvwT8tRw

Please note the beginning of the video shows some darkness, before a few frames become available.

More snippets on Hallberg's Kirov debut:

http://www.youtube.com/user/elga1525#p/a/u/0/PRebSNobOVg

http://www.youtube.com/user/elga1525#p/a/u/1/PlMrVlYhxJE

Tues. Eve., May 25, 7:30 P.M. LADY OF THE CAMELLIAS (Company Premiere) – Kent, Bolle,

Murphy, Hallberg

Wed. Mat., May 26, 2 P.M. LADY OF THE CAMELLIAS – Vishneva*, Gomes*, Part*,

Tamm*

Wed. Eve., May 26, 7:30 P.M. LADY OF THE CAMELLIAS – Dvorovenko*, Stearns*, Abrera*,

Hoven*

Thurs. Eve., May 27, 7:30 P.M. LADY OF THE CAMELLIAS – Kent, Bolle, Murphy, Hallberg

Note that Hoven and Tamm are given opportunities to play the supporting danseur part in Lady of the Camelias that, on other nights, is being performed by Hallberg. This is a wonderful opportunity for Tamm, and has upside and significant risk for Hoven -- Hoven has got to do really well if he is striving to make soloist.

I received an ABT newsletter with the following link to some photos relating to the upcoming Met season:

http://www.abt.org/gallery/detail.asp?Gallery_ID=62

Kent/Bolle are the featured leads in Lady of the Camelias. They are both missing from the list above, suggesting that they could potentially be the participants in an excerpt from Lady of the Camelias. The list above seems to involve each of the other principals (and of course Mr. Featured, Cory Stearns) appearing in the program. Kent and Bolle probably are intended to participate.

The calendar has details on the opening night program!

Headlines:

-- Osipova is participating, paired by Hallberg again!

-- Corella performs "Caught"

Birthday Offering (Opening)

I. Dvorovenko

M. Beloserkovsky

Ballo Per Sei

Abt II

The Sleeping Beauty (Rose Adagio)

M. Wiles

Romeo and Juliet pas de deux

X. Reyes

H. Cornejo

Swan Lake Act III pas de deux

V. Part

M. Gomes

Thaïs Pas de Deux

D. Vishneva

J. Carreño

The Brahms-Haydn Variations (closing movement)

S. Abrera

A. Hammoudi

X. Reyes

H. Cornejo

L. Underwood

C. Stearns

H. Seo

G. Saveliev

M. Riccetto

D. Simkin

La Bayadère Act II (Opening Adagio)

Company

Awakening Pas de Deux

P. Herrera

C. Stearns

The Sleeping Beauty Act III pas de deux

D. Hallberg

N. Osipova

Don Quixote Act III pas de deux

G. Murphy

E. Stiefel

Caught

A. Corella

Leaving just as intermission starts is sometimes necessary for women, for the reasons stated above regarding lines when using the restroom.

A couple of other considerations that shed light on why women might need to leave shortly after a performance ends for intermission:

-- For women falling within a certain age range, what needs to be accomplished within the restroom facilities may be more than, shall we say, what men would use those facilities for. That adds time. That also means that some women cannot avoid having to have to visit the restrooms during intermissions, even if they deliberately limit their beverage intake before a performance.

-- Women sometimes want to reapply makeup (or at least lipstick) when they are in the restroom. Especially if they are watching the performance with a date or their spouse. If you have to wipe off some of the old makeup before reapplying (eg for concealer), that takes even more time.

Recently, I've had problems with neigbors chewing gum -- their jaw action gives rise sometimes to a very small amount of noise that becomes distracting because it is so close to one of my ears and because it is repetitive. Also, if somebody is making sounds while they have a sweet or cough drop in their mouth, that has bothered me when I am seated immediately next to them.

Then, sometimes I have had to stand up for myself, so as to not be completely pushed around when it comes to seat placement position when I'm seated in a box at the Met. I've on a few occaisons needed to delineate where within a box (within the permissible range for my seat) my chair should be positioned, relative to my neighbor's chair or the chair of the person behind me. When I am sometimes seated in the first "row" of the chairs in a box, but arrive late, the people in the next row behind me will sometimes already be in their chairs and will have left less than ideal room for me. Usually, I don't say anything. But if it's unreasonable, I will speak up. This does not happen when I have my seat that is part of a series, understandably.

This seat placement/moving in and out of chairs in boxes is sometimes related to other women placing their handbags, or men placing their bags (as occurs less frequently), in the space between seats. Given how cramped the box already is, a person should courteously lift their bag up and hold it or otherwise remove it, as the intermission begins.