abatt

I hope Hammoudi can deliver a killer Swan Lake w. Teuscher. He has had so many lead role opportunities over the years, but just cannot seem to convert them into star making performances.

I think Gabe Stone Shayer deserves a promotion to soloist. I also think Lane should be promoted to principal. Shevchenko and Teuscher still have not been tested enough in lead roles. Sadly, there is not one male soloist who is ready to be principal.

I don't think it's so much that McKenzie got the message that his own people needed opportunities. Who can forget his assertion a few years back in an interview when he essentially said that there was nothing wrong with being a premier soloist, or words to that effect. Rather, I think that scheduling difficulties and diva/divo behavior by certain invited guests started to create problems. I'll point to Cojocaru's cancellations as an example of the issues created. As a result, inviting so many guests started creating more problems than it solved. Now we have only one guest, Ferri. Additionally, the "Misty factor" plays a large role here. No matter what you think of her dancing, she sells tickets - at least for now. McKenzie no longer needs to bring in famous guest artists to sell tickets as long as Misty remains popular and creates buzz that translates into ticket sales. The cutback on guest artists caused, in part, by Misty's popularity has created opportunities for other dancers in the company.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/01/arts/dance/devon-teuscher-abt-ballet-swan-lake.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront Fluff piece about Devon.

Agreed. Last night was a spectacular night for Lane. It was a heartbreaking Giselle. Exquisite. I saw McKenzie speaking with a colleague (maybe a coach?) as I was leaving the theater. He seemed to be gushing about exquisite arm movements, so I presume he was talking about Sarah. I wanted to run up to him and scream, "So when the ?#") are you going to promote Lane!". Of course, I didn't. Not my style. I agree w. the posts above that mentioned that Herman seemed to be holding back in his Act II solo to prevent further injury. I've never thought that before in any performances of Herman's that I've seen in the past. I liked Sarah w. Simkin better than w. Cornejo.

I wouldn't go quite that far. Simkin's level of technique in his solos is quite remarkable. HOwever, his partnering, although much improved, still needs work. Also, Simkin is only now starting to explore a higher level of artistry. Up until this point, it was only about what tricks he could do. He is finally realizing that in order to be given the serious roles, he must also find a way to improve his characterization and nobility. I'm glad that he now seems to be expanding on all facets of his dancing. For me, Cornejo is a much more complete and involving artist than Simkin. I was thrilled that Simkin had made such a fine breakthrough as Albrecht and I hope he continues the fine work.

I have to admit that although I'm a fan of Abrera, her performance of Giselle last night was not on par with her performance of the role two years ago in her NYC debut. Act II was definitely much better than Act I last night. Apart from the problem w. the hops on pointe in Act I, there were other issues. In particular, when she has to stay on pointe unsupported, she cannot hold the position for any length of time. As a result, the many instances where she needs to role down off pointe while raising the other leg look a little off. However, she is still a very lyrical and nicely buoyant dancer. I was very pleased with her Act II overall. Gomes is ABT's most warm and genuine dancer. His charisma brims in everything he does, and it makes all of his performances special. He is not a technical wonder like Simkin, but his characterization more than makes up for any limitations in his technique due to age. The 23 entrechat jumps he did were thrilling because they were higher and higher as he continued. The enormous leap he took in Myrta's direction was also totally winning and unexpected. He literally pleaded at her feet. Most Albrecht's look mechanical here. Gomes, however, knew how to make it look believable instead of phony. Also his partnering was peerless. It was a very special performance. To my surprise, it was not even close to a sell out.

My what a turn of events. So happy for Sarah. Kochetkova had a lot of problems at Don Q during week one, so I'm not surprised to hear that she is withdrawing from Giselle. Not to wish anything bad on Kochetkova, but it's time to start praying for a Sarah Lane debut in Swan Lake in June. Best wishes to Murphy for a speedy recovery.

Well if that was dancing with an injury I can't wait to see what Boylston's full throttle Giselle looks like. Although I was never really moved by the performance, it was extremely strong with regard to her technique.

I never saw Gregory. However I used to love seeing Nina's Giselle because of the high level of detail, the great dancing, and terrific acting. Even though Nina was not waif like, she overcame that through the brilliance of her performance. On other hand, Paloma, who was also no waif, never was a believable or transporting Giselle in my opinion.

So sorry you missed the performance, KarenAG. Hopefully McKenzie will now give Lane the roles she has deserved for so many years, including more Giselle performances. Based on her performances over the years, including her Giselle last night, she deserves to be promoted. I'm not holding my breath, though.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/28/arts/dance/misty-copelands-down-to-earth-debuts-in-don-quixote-and-giselle.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront&_r=0 I thought this review was a pretty accurate account of Misty's performance in Giselle. I guess the Times doesn't regard the other debuts in Giselle that occurred on Saturday as worthy of review.

KarenAG, did you make it to Giselle? How utterly frustrating to have a transportation disaster! I saw both performances yesterday. Lane brought tears to my eyes. She was that good. I agree with everyone above who thought she was perfectly suited to Giselle. Also, she and Simkin worked so beautifully together. He also gave a brilliant performance. Please pair these two up again next year in everything! Is it too much to hope for a Lane Simkin R&J next season? Unfortunately I was not moved by the evening performance. Murphy seemed more like Kitri dancing Giselle. She is a technical powerhouse, but she doesn't convey fragility or vulnerability. I didn't mind the fast turns around the stage in Act I- it's supposed to convey her joy of dancing. But why did she elect not to do the choreography in Act I where she rolls down off pointe on one foot while raising the other leg in arabesque? I enjoyed seeing Hallberg again. He looked magnificent. However, unlike Osipova who tended to bring out the best in David, I'm not sure that the partnership w. Murphy is a winner. Stella was gorgeous as Myrta. Perhaps at this stage Murphy is just too womanly and mature looking to be successful as a young, innocent waif named Giselle.

Scheller is cast in the upcoming Kennedy Center engagement of NYCB. in June 2017. She is doing the pdd in the 4Ts.

POB is also touring to Chicago. There was info about the tour under the POB thread regarding the 2017-18 season. (It was in a post by volcanohunter in Jan of this year.)

I was at the Copeland-Lendorf-Teuscher Giselle on Friday as well. In my opinion, one of the primary problems w. casting Misty as Giselle lies in the fact that at this point in her career her jumps are frequently low to the ground. Since the primary motif of Giselle is floating buoyancy, this limitation becomes a significant impediment. As mussel said, in Act I her hops en pointe barely advanced forward at all. In fact, she didn't even fill out the entirety of the music for that section - she ended the hops early and started swirling her skirt and making goo goo eyes at Lendorf to fill out the rest of that music. Also disappointing was her failure to hold her arabesque in Act I, in the section where she rolls down off pointe on one foot while raising the other leg to arabesque. The whirling circuit of turns around the stage in Act I were also a bit slow, because the music was played a bit too slow. Her spinning arabesques upon her entrance in Act II were well done and fast. Also nicely done were the entrechat quatre, where she criss crosses her feet. Her rapid, backward bourees as she exited the stage after dropping the flowers in Lendorf's vicinity in Act II were impressive. Lendorf's partnering was so strong that he was able to make it seem like she was floating. However, her vertical soubresauts were not high. She also had problems with the section where she has to rotate 360 degrees in Act II on one foot with the other leg held in arabesque. It looked rough. All in all, it was a respectable debut, but not a performance to savor. The main reason I went to this show was to see Lendorf. He is much more suited to Albrecht than to Basilio. His classical style and placement were spot on. He was also a very strong and reliable partner. As noted above Teuscher did beautiful, impressive work. Perhaps more comments later.... PS- It looked to be a sold out show.

The problem with both Golden Cockerel and Whipped Cream is that even though they are short in total time, their elaborate scenic designs and flooring are not amenable to a quick change to perform another ballet after an intermission.

Any info on the cinema presentations for next season?

I hope this controversy does not cause Martins to refrain from presenting Odessa in future seasons. It is scheduled to return next season.

Unfortunate news to report. Herman was apparently injured during the final act of tonight's ballet. Blain Hoven came out in his Espada costume and performed Herman's final variation in the coda w. Maria. I hope Herman is okay. Herman was doing such a great job all night. High jumps, fast spins and completely into the character. Maria K. can still do amazing fouettes and hops on pointe. For lack of a better way to describe it, in the wedding act she did the four cornered fouettes, which are very hard and are not often performed. However, I think her technique has declined in other areas. Her act I was underpowered. She appears to have limited range of motion for both forward kicks and Plisetskaya kicks. Blaine showed tonight that his a real pro. On a moment's notice he filled in for Herman.

That time period conflicts with the NYCB season, so I doubt she will be doing it in Washington.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/19/arts/dance/city-center-new-season-the-red-shoes-and-brigadoon.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront She's alternating with the original lead, Ashley Shaw.

I must give credit where it is due. Hee Seo successfully completed all of her Italian fouettes tonight. Lendorf was better tonight than on Wed afternoon. Shevchenko showed no signs of fatigue. In fact, she was even more relaxed and into the performance than at her debut.

I didn't think Boylston traveled "a ton". She traveled a pretty straight line forward for some of the fouettes, but stopped traveling forward at around fouette 25, after which she remained in place. I don't have a problem with someone traveling a straight line forward. What is disconcerting is when people start zig zagging toward the wings and look like they might fall into the orchestra pit. Boylston was in control. I also was relieved and happy that she did all fast singles. In the past she was greedy in trying to do triples, and then ended up coming off pointe. She has learned it is better to do all neat,, fast singles than to lose control. I thought her jumps were breathtakingly high and covered a huge amount of real estate. Her Plisetskaya kicks in Act I were very impressive. She has always had the issues with upper body/arm placement. It's a little better than before, but she still has a ways to go with that. And yes, she sometimes does break character. All in all, though, I was pleased with her performance and the progress she has made.

I hope Gillian is okay. I'm counting down the days until her Giselle w. Hallberg. By the way, they usually update the ABT performance calendar after 4PM. Thanks for the heads up, SZ.