abatt

Yep. That's why I have never attended any SL performance of "you know who", and probably never will in the future. Thanks for the reference to Devil Wears Prada. Love that movie. Can't believe Lane is finally getting a SL. I'll be there too. I hope she is brilliant.

I certainly agree that Boylston is capable of doing the fouettes, but did not do them last night because she is injured. I also completely understand that nobody ever wants to give up a performance to someone else, whether it be for personal reasons (I get one shot at this a year, and I'm going out there to perform) or to help others (If I don't do my show, poor Hee will have to do all performances this week). However, don't we have to balance these factors with the idea that an audience member may see one Swan Lake a year, or a decade, or ever, and should see all of the standard choreography performed? This is ABT, America's National Ballet Company, not a little regional company.

In this production Siegfried is offstage when Odile does her solo variation, and last night, Lendorf was offstage while Boylston did her variation, so she was not encircling anyone. But nice idea!

Aurora (and others), here is a little excerpt from Natalia Makarova explaining why the fouettes in SL matter: . “Take ‘Swan Lake,’ the Black Swan pas de deux. Now, my goodness, they’re turning not just 32 fouettes — ” the cyclone of spins cranked out by the scheming temptress Odile — “but double or triple pirouettes. And what is fouetter in French? It means ‘to whip.’ That is characteristic of Odile, cruelty and attack. It is artistic point. “And if you change it for just pirouettes, you change the meaning, to no meaning.” Excerpted from an Article titled "Ballerina Natalia Makarova: ‘Being spontaneous, it’s what saved me", which appeared in the Washington Post in 2012. I was not able to copy the link.

Right. I expect to encounter changes in standard choreography when I go to a performance by a 40+ year old dancer who is on the verge of retirement. I wasn't expecting it, however, when I went to see a 30 year old. That's why I eventually stopped going to Julie Kent's performances, except for her farewell. She was making up her own versions of the choreography to suit her current level of ability. I'm sure that Boylston's modification was due to her injury, and that we will see her return to full form soon enough. But I do wonder to what extent there is a trend at ABT in the direction of making modifications in light of either injury or lack of ability.

I was also at last night's SL. I was very surprised that Boylston dumbed down her variation, because up until that point she never appeared to be suffering from any injury. I know that she is capable of doing the fouettes, because I saw her do them last season in SL. I want to cut her slack- she is clearly trying to prevent further injury. However, it seems like dumbing down choreography has become the "new normal" at ABT. If McKenzie cannot find ballerinas who can perform the standard choreography, or at least a close approximation of it, maybe he should stop presenting the ballet. Up until that point, I thought Boylston's performance was strong. However, as noted above, she is not a fluid dancer in terms of her upper body and arm movements. I thought Lendorf did a terrific job. He is a beautiful and refined dancer. Query: We all know that Sarah Lane did the dress rehearsal Monday. Was there a reason that McKenzie had to have her stick around to do the peasant pas in the evening performance? Was there nobody else who could fill in, considering that Sarah had already done a lot of dancing on Monday? Failing to update the casting until the last minute is standard operating procedure at ABT. It happened with regard to Semionova, Cojocaru and many many other instances. When is McKenzie going to come forward with lead casting changes for this week? PS: Edited to add that on the way out of the theater I overheard others also commenting on Boylston's omission of the fouettes. This audience is highly aware of changes to standard choreogrpahy. It's not like McKenzie is pulling the wool over people's eyes- at least not at last night's show.

Eifman is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. The movement vocabulary is limited. Eifman is more acrobatics and hyper extensions than classical ballet. This is certainly not classical ballet at its finest. You should look at some clips on youtube, or some reviews to get a sense of what this company does.

The Arts coverage at the Times has gone way downhill, so I'm glad that A. Macaulay at least posts some thoughts on his social media. The Times now regularly (daily) recaps what the late night comedy shows (Colbert, Trevor Noah and the like) said about Trump. They also regularly recap what happened on TV shows. Why? If I want to see Colbert's monologue or the last episode of Better Call Saul, the material is completely self explanatory and readily available on the internet. I don't need the Times to break it down for me. Do they think that they will attract more advertisers by filling the paper with this junk?

Actually, there is no subscriber discount for ABT tickets. None. Single ticket buyers and subscribers pay exactly the same price, provided that the single tixs are purchased before the date that they institute dynamic pricing increases.

Just looked at A. Macaulay's instagram, and he is also giving a rave to Brandt and Cornejo.

I don't think Rachael Moore was necessarily the architect of the guest artist policy. After their own roster of star dancers (Corella, Carreno, Nina A., for example) retired, they needed to fill the roster with people who would fill the vast Met auditorium. Though people like Kajiya, Jared Matthews and Simone Messmer were talented, and should have been given more lead roles, they were not bankable stars. Now that ABT has Misty Copeland to virtually sell out the auditorium in anything she appears in, they again have a bankable star. We can argue about the merits of her performances, but I think it's clear that she sells seats- lots and lots of seats. They now appear to be experimenting with the idea of whether Copeland's ticket sales alone are enough of a financial juggernaut to offeset other nights where the Met is half empty. As discussed in a prior thread, do not underestimate the Copeland Effect as an influence on ABT's decision to stop inviting guest artists. The demoralization of ABT's own dancers, as well as the diva-like behavior of certain invited guests, also contributed as secondary reasons to ABT's decision to stop inviting guests.

I also enjoyed Skylar's performance last night, as well as the rest of the cast. I hope her performances as Medora lead to additional future lead roles for her. As noted above, her technique is very strong.

I think numerous guest artists would be happy to appear at ABT a few times, as they did every year before ABT stopped inviting them. I think ABT has just stopped making the invitations to appear, with the exception of Ferri. ABT probably considers Ferri a "reliable" guest artist, because she has no other home company making demands on her time and appearances. She is her own boss.

The guest artists tend to participate in the ballets that are standard fare throughout the world, such as Giselle or the Makarova staging of Bayadere. I don't think that their lack of participation in the quirky Ratmansky oddities are a reflection or indication that these dancers don't like Ratmanksy. It's just the practicality that if a guest artist flies in and out for one appearance, it has to be in a ballet that he or she already is extensively familiar with from his own home company.

I think ABT lost all sense of balance. Previously, their roster was overwhelmed with guest artists, which created many problems and didn't allow for the growth of their own artists. Now they have one guest artist , Ferri. I think having one or two guest artists per season is not a terrible thing. However, I think I've had enough of Ferri's Comeback Tour, and I wish ABT would invite a different guest artist next season. Someone above commented that Seo is taking Murphy's SL. Gulp. Now I have to figure out what dates I have available to exchange out of that SL. I would have welcomed just about any other O/O except Hee Seo.

NY Times pays for all of its tickets to all performances, including but not limited to ballet.

I think she may use Teusch on her instagram account. Given the fact that he said glowing things about her, Devon may not care much that Macauley used a shortened version of her name. I found Macauley's explanation of why he dislikes Corsaire very persuasive. There is also a not-so-subtle jab at Macauley's Times colleague regarding the recent dust up about whether the Ratmansky ballet Odessa depicts rape. Macauley correctly points out that Corsaire overtly references the subjugation and rape of women.

Yes, of course it is McKenzie who chooses all of the casting.

I'm counting on it! I suspect Teuscher and Hee Seo might get additional SL assignments next week.Wondering if they will debut a new O/O. Fingers and toes crossed for a Lane or Abrera debut.

Happy for Shevchenko. I'd much rather see her than have a return to the days of Hee Seo Ballet Theater.

The casting for Taming of the Shrew has been posted on the LCF website Wednesday, July 26 at 7:30 pm; Friday, July 28 at 7:30 pm; Saturday, July 29 at 7:30 pm; Sunday, July 30 at 2:30 pm: Katharina Ekaterina Krysanova Petruchio Vladislav Lantratov Bianca Olga Smirnova Lucentio Semyon Chudin Hortensio Igor Tsvirko Gremio Vyacheslav Lopatin Widow Yulia Grebenshchikova Baptista Artemy Belyakov Housekeeper Yanina Parienko Grumio Georgy Gusev Thursday, July 27 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, July 29 at 2:30 pm: Katharina Kristina Kretova Petruchio Denis Savin Bianca Anastasia Stashkevich Lucentio Artem Ovcharenko Hortensio Alexander Smoliyaninov Gremio Denis Medvedev Widow Anna Balukova Baptista Karim Abdullin Housekeeper Victoria Litvinova Grumio Evgeny Truposkiad

Yesss. Happy for Skylar. Looking forward to see how she manages Medora.

Kaysta, the costumes and scenic designs are very impressive. However, there is very little classical dancing. Just my two cents.

Trenary was replaced tonight in GC by Brandt. Loads and loads of empty seats tonight.

Although I don't like Kochetkova very much, I don't see any possibility of her leaving the company. She generally dances a fair number of shows each year, and she has also appeared w. the company at the Koch for the fall season. Additionally, ABT now has a large number of shortish principal men (Cornejo, Simkin, Cirio), and they continue to need short tiny women like Kochetkova.