Ambonnay

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.

Barbara: From Hallberg's tweets: "Bolshoi Giselle went well. Osipov's and I danced to our 'deaths'. Well, me, almost. Now in Sleeping Beauty land at the Mariinsky with Somova " Then on Kirov debut with Somova: "I have no words. The Mariinsky. What an unforgettable experience. What an unforgettable theatre."

Hi, Barbara -- No, unfortunately. I've been searching the web, in English. Wonder if other members know how to search for his name in Russian and could consider reporting?

I found these excerpts from a Wiles/Stearns performance. Cory seems to be sort of expressionless in certain parts of the video excerpt -- almost stoic in his facial expression and with no expressiveness to his body language. Again, I can't evaluate anything meaningfully based on youtube, but that's what it vaguely seems to be like.

I came across a small excerpt from Hallberg & Osipova in Giselle, Hallberg's Bolshoi debut on April 18:

New Cornejo photo for his ABT bio: http://www.abt.org/dancers/detail.asp?Dancer_ID=36 He looks much more handsome than the prior dowdy picture. However, he also looks more handsome than he does in person There are some photo changes for the corps, but this change for Blaine Hoven is not at all good. Hoven looks like some character from a psycho movie in this shot: http://www.abt.org/dancers/detail.asp?Dancer_ID=123 Hoven's weird bleached hair color, which is not natural looking, is well illustrated by the shot. Hoven's got to step it up in the next two years, or risk languishing in the corps perpetually. He's also got to better monitor his physical look, when he's undergoing changes in his body mass/physique.

I just received an ABT e-mail saying the following: "For each full-priced adult ticket purchased for the Memorial Day matinee of Don Quixote on May 31 at 2:00 pm, a child aged 5-17 may attend for FREE!" Offer is valid for telephone purchases (not internet purchases) or in person box office purchases. Child's ID may be required. Offer is not valid for prior purchases.

I thought "Inner Voice" was weak. The lyrics were poor, and the music was too complicated and had too much percussion (various forms). A very weak part of the piece was the poor dancing done by the person who created the lyrics, who also sang for most of this performance. Her voice was worse than her lyrics, and her lyrics were very poor. Separate from the horrible lyrics and singing by the lyrics writer, I thought the "Inner Voice" choreography was a bit hectic and involved too many people moving across the stage at some points. That being said, I tend to not appreciate ballet pieces that involve a large number of dancers in non-full-length productions. The third portion of "Little Stories" -- "Our Love's Defense", danced by Savannah Lowery & Christian Tworzyanski -- was also unappealing to me. The two dancers had bad costumes -- white tank-type shirts, with black shorts and black "gloves" that did not have fingertips on the gloves. How 80s! The dance was intended to convey, I think, a sometimes bickerng couple that end up together again. At one point, the danseur removes his white shirt and dramatically (in a negative way) casts it to the ground. Then, the ballerina removes her white shirt to expose a black sports-bra/sports top type number. Both the danseur and the ballerina each remove one of their black gloves. He removes the elastic band that held her hair in a bun. They end up in a pose that suggests intimacy to me. I thought this portion of the "Little Stories" piece was too sappy and arguably unrefined. I thought Ashley Bouder and Marcelo Gomes' performance in "Utopia" yielded an appropriate performance, but I did not consider Bouder to be the most polished of dancers. Gomes danced well. Bouder's dancing conveyed confidence, but not elegance. Also, being seated close to the stage, I found it very distracting that Bouder seemed to be breathing in a noticeably noisy way (almost like "heh-heh-heh" sounds throughout the performance, almost like a panting). That might be the way she normally breathes when dancing, but it was not helpful to the audience. Bouder's body did not seem that flexible, and her hands were not expressive. Gomes danced well, but I don't think Bouder and Gomes resulted in a good pairing in this premiere. I don't fault Bouder for this -- as noted by other members above, Bouder was a last minute replacement for S Mearns. The second replacement for S Mearns was Nancy Richer in "Mystery in the Wind".

Avi Scher & Dancers Debut New York Season Saturday performance (first of three) All pieces below choreographed and produced by A Scher. No Matter What (2009) Music by Aphex Twin and Adam Lewis Kelsey Coventry, Jennifer Goodman, Nancy Richer, Robert Colby Damon, Ralph Ippolito, Victoria North, Ja'Malik Mystery in the Wind (Extended version premiere) Music by Rachel Portman Based off of an earlier version premiered at Harvard University, April 24, 2009 * Veronika Part & * Marcelo Gomes Nancy Richer, Abi Stafford, Elizabeth Claire Walker Little Stories (2009) Music by Jason Mraz I -- Feeling Lucky -- Goodman & Damon II -- Stories Untold -- Coventry & Shaner Ohmer III -- Our Love's Defense -- Savannah Lowery & Christian Tworzyanski Touch (2009) Music by Alles Wie Gross and Alarm Will Sound After Aphex Twin Veronika Part and * Arron Scott Ippolito, Lowery, * Eric Tamm Utopia (Premiere) Music by Rachmaninov Pianist: Melody Fader Ashley Bouder and Marcelo Gomes Inner Voice (Premiere) Music and lyrics by Genevieve Labean Vocals: Labean Guitar: Wes Hutchinson Piano: Chris LoPresto Percussion: James Williams Richer, Stafford, Tamm, Tworzyanski Genevieve Labean Emily Cardea, Victoria North, Walker, Malik, Ohmer, Scott Overall, I thought Avi Scher is a fairly promising choreographer. The pieces were generally well thought out, although the execution of the pieces by the respective dancers varied in quality (all were fine, but the ABT daners were noticeably better). For the ticket price of $22 for general seating, this was an evening that offered a high quality to price ratio. For the sake of clarity, it would have been a fairly nice evening of ballet regardless of price level. I sat on the front row of the Ailey theater space, and it gave an unusual immediacy to the performances to have the dancers so close by. The "Mystery in the Winds" piece involving Gomes was generally appealing, including because of Veronika Part's fairly nice performance. This is the second time I have seen Veronika Part in a week (the last time being the V Vasiliev YAGP Gala), and I came away, like I had recently, with a slightly better assessment of her than had been the case previously. (There was probably no way to go but up, given my past criticisms of her.) Gomes danced well, as he usually does. Eric Tamm danced well also. Both Tamm and Gomes were in costumes that had no tops in one of their respective performances. Tamm's body seemed quite pale. Tamm looked more boyish than he normally does in ABT performances. His hair seemed to have an orangish tint to the brown I normally see from afar at ABT performances. As I've previously observed, Tamm has quite elegant lines and nice "softer" movements to his arms when he dances. Tamm might need to work on the sureness he conveys in his partnering, but that is not a criticism. More to come separately.

On April 18, Hallberg performs with Osipova Giselle again, this time the V Vasiliev version: http://www.bolshoi.ru/en/season/ballet/rep...ynid26=2193#dyn Giselle, peasant girl Natalia Osipova Count Albrecht David Hallberg Hilarion, the gamekeeper Denis Savin

The concept of seven deadly sins as a ballet sounds interesting -- especially how gluttony will be portrayed. I looked on the Lincoln Center website, and did not see this performance on the NYC Ballet calendar. Can somebody help me figure out when individual tickets to the seven deadly sins performance would become available, and why the performance does not seem to be on the spring NYC Ballet calendar?

abatt -- I agree. The other consideration may have been that Cojocaru was added as a guest performer after the first set of schedules with principal dancers named had been released to the public on the ABT calendar. If ABT were to move another ballerina from a weekday evening performance to a matinee (even a Saturday matinee), I don't know if that displaced ballerina would have been too happy about that.

A not particularly insightful professional review: http://www.nj.com/entertainment/arts/index..._soviet-er.html "In Béjart’s “Romeo and Juliet,” Semionova found herself well matched with David Hallberg, and took naturally to an ingénue role."

One problem I had was City Center seating people during the short breaks between individual performances. The breaks were not long enough for this to happen, and there was disturbance of people around the people being seated. I understand this practice is not uncommon at City Center.

I agree with that. The problem was not only the choreography in that piece, but also the "costume" that Picone chose to wear with it, which made the piece even campier than it already was. Picone only wore a pair of trousers that were essentially a thin white material that was somewhat see-through. There were vertical thin stripes of less see-through material embedded in the material, but the white trousers were essentially see-through. Underneath, Picone wore a white thong. That costume did not really help make Picone's piece seem substantive. I don't generally have an issue with danseurs wearing less. But if a danseur wears less, he should try to select something more tasteful, like David Hallberg's white traditional male leotard bottom in the Dance of the Blessed Spirits.

On how things are selling, you can get a sense by going into the Lincoln Center website to select the applicable ABT performance. Then, you may get to a screen where you can select your own tickets. Individual seats will be shown as occupied or available for purchase, giving you a better sense of what ticket availability is for any given performance. I would think, if you would like to see one of the Osipova performances, that you should not wait very long. But that's just my take on it.

The NY Times' review by Roslyn Sulcas had a similar thought to MakarovaFan's observation about Vasiliev thinking about the passing of his wife in this piece: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/arts/dan...liev&st=cse "Other high points came from American Ballet Theater’s David Hallberg, who imbued Frederick Ashton’s rarely seen “Dance of the Blessed Spirits” with fluid grace, and, with the striking Polina Semionova (a principal at the Berlin State Opera Ballet), who offered an affecting account of Maurice Béjart’s “Romeo and Juliet” pas de deux." "Mr. Vasiliev’s own choreography, full of big Bolshoi lifts and dramatic moments, doesn’t add up to much, but was performed with conviction, notably by the New York City Ballet principal Ashley Bouder in “Tarantella,” and by Mr. Vasiliev and Ms. Khokhlova in the evening’s pièce d’occasion set to a Chopin “Ballad No. 1 in G Minor” (played onstage by Max Barros). Mr. Vasiliev, a portrait of grief as Ms. Khokhlova floated delicately around him, might well have been paying homage to his wife, the ballerina Ekaterina Maximova, who died almost a year ago. Afterward, the dancers laid their bouquets at his feet, in an unscripted, touching homage of their own." The photos show Vasiliev introducing Ana Sophia Scheller and Joseph Phillips at the end of the gala, and Polina Semionova being lifted by David Hallberg.

On Part, I think Gray Davis was not a good partner for her for Macbeth. Part of it was wardrobe -- the muted orangish/yellowish cloak that Davis wore was a bit on the large/long side for him, and Davis looked a bit sloppy as a result. He did not have much stage presence, and seemed to lack a bit of polish in his depiction of Macbeth. His facial expressions were not good. I thought the worst part of last evening was "Gaucho", Dance of the Argentinian Cowboys, performed by 3 members of the Mosieyev Dance Company. Their performance was too long, and seemed out of place in the program.

The February 2010 of Dance Europe magazine contains an article on Ratmansky: "Of course there was a lot of pressure on me, because it was the first piece of mine as ABT's Resident Choreographer. It was a tough and difficult process, with not enough time. Even though I didn't feel that I succeeded 100%, I am very proud of [On the Dnieper]. It was great to just learn about the dancers of ABT and to learn how talented they are..... I am glad that they are reviving it for the spring season at the Met so we can keep working on it." The article says that Ratmansky counts Nina A, Gomes, Hallberg, Vishneva and W Wheelan as being some of his most exciting muses. Ratmansky is working on a new ABT piece that represents a revival of his Anna Karenina for the Mariinsky.

At one point, Vasiliev pushes the chair off the stage. Shortly afterwards, he pulls the chair back and sitting on the chair is Khokhlova. Her role in this piece is one embodying innocence and youth. She wears a simple white outfit, and has her hair in a bun. She looks almost child-like. I think Vasiliev chose her from among the Bolshoi ranks because her thin frame and actual youth allow her to convey these sentiments. Some movements on the part of Vaseliev I recall from the piece, not necessarily in order: -- A repeated movement is one where he tries to grab her, and does, but then she sort of eludes him, by moving around a bit. He is, at this stage, a step or two away from grasping her again. To me, this seemed to convey his trying to capture his younger times and/or the sense of promise and possibility that younger people can have. Then, Khokhlova would dance around a bit on her own, including around the back of the piano. -- He pulls the chair with her posing on it. -- He lifts her with his two arms, when her body is in a horizontal position. -- He holds the back of the chair when she is not in it, signaling to me possibly some internal conflict or the need to support himself after a traumatic development. -- Vasiliev dashes across the stage (not quite a run, but a somewhat rapid movement) at times. He conveys urgency during those steps or a state of being disturbed. -- The end of the piece involves Khoklova collapsing onto the floor. I don't recall what Vasiliev does for the minute or so left in the routine after that. I appreciated the choreography of the piece, but don't generally like the use of props like chairs. That being said, Vasiliev moved better than I thought he would for a danseur in his age range. The piece did not involve any technical ballet moves on his part, and involved more the portrayal of a character or portrayal of feelings more than pure technical ballet on his part. That was to be expected. The more important aspect of the piece was that Vasiliev participated as extensively as he did in its creation. It capped off nicely an evening in honor of Vasiliev.

Vladimir Vasiliev & Daria Khokhlova (Bolshoi) Piece d'Occasion -- World Premiere Choreo: Vladimir Vasiliev Music: Frederic Chopin, performed live by Max Barros A grand piano sits towards the back portion of the stage, but it is prominent, being towards the middle of that area. A gentleman begins playing, while Vasiliev is found sitting on the right hand side of the stage (from the audience's perspective) in a dark colored (maybe black) office swivel chair that has a built-in rolling feature to its legs. This chair figures prominently within the piece. We find Vasiliev seated initially with his head bowed, his face not really visible. He wears throughout the duration of the piece a dark colored suit with a black shirt underneath. While the feelings intended to be evoked by this opening scene are open to interpretation, I found the sentiment conveyed to be that of loneliness tinged with a slight hint of despair. The Vasiliev character seems personal -- he may be portraying himself in some respects? Vasiliev stays motionless for more than a minute. Then, he leans forward a bit and runs his stretched hands along his leg slowly (I think upwards, but don't quite recall). This motion conveys to me fatigue, age. Then, Vasiliev stands up and moves around the stage for a while, gripping his head at times and conveying an agitated, arguably slightly deranged/disturbed state. He seems to be mentally struggling with something. The way his upper body bends, the way he holds his arms and the slight contortions in his arms and upper body, along with the hands holing his head in different positions, make it seem like he is struggling with something. I interpret it to be his struggling with the effects of his own aging, but other audience members could readily seem something else. At times, Vasiliev moves around the piano, so there is some movement along the different portions of the stage.

I enjoyed the Vasiliev gala tonight. Two Vasiliev film excerpts were shown during the evening -- one before each of the two acts. The second film excerpt contained old film on Vasiliev from a number of different performances, including Don Quixote, pieces amusingly playing on tennis and European football, respectively, and of course Spartacus. Wow, the excerpt from Spartacus was something else. At the end of the evening, Vasiliev received a very extended standing ovation from most of the audience, and very lengthy clapping. He was clearly the object of people's adoration, and had plenty of time alone in front of the curtains to bask in the crowd's admiration and appreciation of his accomplishments. Then, he was like a silent master of ceremonies in using his arms to wave in each set of performers until they were all on stage. When everybody was on stage, they were also clapping to honor him. At one point, all of the dancers, led by David Hallberg and a few others, placed the flower bouquets that they had received just a bit earlier in front of Vasiliev, to show how much they admired him too. Vasiliev seemed touched by that gesture. The continuous clapping from the audience was amazing -- it could have easily lasted 10-15 minutes. Hallberg's Dance of the Blessed Spirits -- this is the second time I have seen this performance, the first being the NY performance of Kings of Dance earlier this year. Hallberg does have beautiful lines, but, on further consideration, this piece does not do much to showcase his technical abilities and the beauty of his dancing. I'm not sure this piece has that as its objective, but its emphasis on the visual appeal of Hallberg's physique and lines incurs an opportunity cost when one has such a great dancer who is underutilised in this piece. Hallberg danced well in the Romeo & Julia pas de deux. He wore a white/slightly off-white unitard which highlighted how his body shape has a shorter torso (no negative connotation at all) and long legs. He did a lot of lifting and generally did well in the piece to showcase the ballerina. Veronika Part was quite effective as Lady Macbeth. For once, her large frame and broad shoulders were put to good use, to convey the physical intensity of Lady Macbeth and her power of persuasion over Macbeth. She wore a very dramatic red dress, which probably would have been better without a similarly-colored red ribbon across Part's forehead. The excerpt from Macbeth involved Part moving her legs a lot around Macbeth's body, and being lifted on his back or having her legs in the air or in various dramatic positions. She performed those positions fairly well. Sergei Poulunin looked quite dashing as Sarah L's Prince Charming in the Sleeping Beauty pas de deux that marked the end of Act I. Thoughts on Vasiliev's piece of the performance at the end of the evening will be separately posted when available.

Pointe magazine has some previews, according to an e-mail sent by Avi Scher company: "Utopia" with Gomes and Mearns- http://dancemedia.com/v/3550 "Inner Voice" with Abi Stafford and Christian Tworzyanski- http://dancemedia.com/v/3551

The April/May 2010 edition of Pointe has a small section on Lady of the Camelias: John Neumeier (originally from Milwaukee, but now directing The Hamburg Ballet) is working with ABT, but doesn't think the piece is a period piece, despite being based on A Dumas' 1848 novel: "Neumeier has adapted Camelias in small ways for ABT ... I believe that dance must be alive, which means it's constantly changing. The changes to Camelias are probably too small for most people to notice, but they bring the ballet into the present tense." Kent, dressed in a bugundy/grey flowing ensemble, is practicing with Cory Stearns. In the background, Gomes is practicing with another dancer. In another small piece in Pointe, it is noted that the upcoming film "Black Swan" has two ABT ballerinas as "dance doubles". Sarah Lane doubles for Natalie Portman, and Maria Riccetto doubles for Mila Kunis. Seprately, April Giangeruso, ABT apprentice, gets a one-page article. An ad for dance flooring contains a nice (and new to me) picture of Murphy and Stiefel, from the same set of photos that they are featured in in the on-line ABT brochure for the Swan Lake page. Murphy has her arms raised above her, in a swan-type position. She and Stiefel are both half immersed in water.

Looking at tonight's YAGP program, which also lists tomorrow's performances, there are some slight differences from the above-noted items for tomorrow's (Saturday's) program (leaving aside where within the program individual performances are). Don't know which version is more updated, but tonight's program said this about tomorrow: -- Sarah Lamb and Sergei Polunin will perform the Sleeping Beauty Pas de Deux, instead of Don Quixote Pas de Deux. -- The L'effleure world premiere already happened tonight (Friday). Instead, Rubinald Pronk is stated to be performing with Shirley Esseboom of the Nederlands Dans Theatre "Bella Figura", choreography Jiri Kylian, Music: Giovanni Battista Pergoles/Antonio Vivaldi/Giuseppe Torelli. -- Apart from performing with Vasiliev at the end of the program before Fracci's closing remarks, Daria Khokhlova of the Bolshoi is now indicated to be performing the first after Fracci's opening remarks. She will be performing "Mazurka", Choreography V VASILIEV! Music Alexander Scriabin. -- Ivan Putrov (Royal Ballet) performing "Narcissus" has been added. Choreo Kasyan Goleizovsky, music Ivan Techerepnin.