abatt

I also notice Jock Soto and Damian Woetzel were on stage for the final bow. Susan Jaffe was in the audience.

All of the orchestra members were wearing black t-shirts with the words New York City Ballet Orchestra on the front, and maybe the name of the union. The backs of the t-shirts said: See The Music Hear The Dance Pay the Orchestra. The news truck outside, I believe, was channel 7 news, the local ABC affiliate. All around a pretty wonderful evening. Janzen and Mearns were great in Diamonds. Janzen finally went gray after coloring his hair for years. Good for him. He is so elegant. A shame to see him leave so young. The other standout of the evening was Nadon. That casting of Apollo in the third week with Chan and the All Tall Girl muses should be great. Surprised that Taylor Stanley is not doing Apollo. And do they really need to put Unity in as the lead in two consecutive ballets in one night (Terpsichore followed by Sleepwalker).

At City Ballet’s 75th Birthday Bash, a Mingling of Old and New - The New York Times (nytimes.com) There was a private party at the Koch on Monday night of current and former NYCB dancers. Great article. Lots of great photos. Jenny Ringer and Sofiane Sylve were almost unrecognizable.

The Fall Gala will feature a one-time-ONLY program of beloved classic and contemporary excerpts showcasing ABT's roster of Principal Dancers. The evening will also highlight talented young dancers from ABT Studio Company and the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. ABT's Principal Dancers will perform a special mixed repertory program of excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, Swan Lake, The Leaves Are Fading, Concerto, Don Quixote, Études, and the World Premiere of Danzón No. 2, a new work choreographed by ABT Principal Dancer James Whiteside. ABT apprentices, ABT Studio Company dancers, and over 130 students from the ABT JKO School, including over 60 students from the Children's Division and 75 students in the Pre-Professional Division will perform a pièce d'occasion set to excerpts from Camille Saint-Saëns's Carnival of the Animals, choreographed by Lauren Lovette and Rubén Martín. ABT is proud to honor The Shubert Foundation, the nation’s largest funder of unrestricted grants to not-for-profit dance and theatre companies, at the 2023 Fall Gala. The Foundation’s unstinting commitment and magnanimous philanthropy have sustained and advanced live performing arts in the United States, including ABT, for nearly 50 years. ABT is grateful to have this occasion to celebrate The Shubert Foundation’s exceptional grantmaking as a singular champion of dance and theatre. Alongside peer organizations, also supported by The Shubert Foundation, ABT extends its heartfelt gratitude. ABT would additionally like to thank our 2023 Fall Gala Leadership Committee - Honorary Chairs Amy Astley and Blaine Trump, alongside Chairs Sarah Arison, Avery and Andy Barth, Emily Blavatnik, Melanie Hamrick and Mick Jagger, Stewart R. Smith and Robin A. Ferracone, Sutton Stracke, and Chai Vasarhelyi. Get your tickets to ABT's one-time-only showcase of extraordinary talent!

Since both Justin is a frequent choreographer at the company, why wouldn't they continue to use his first initial. In fact, both Tiler and Justin are choreographing this season at the company, so it would be very confusing not to include first initials.

She used to do Tarantella, but not in quite a few years.

Tiler Peck performed at the opening gala this week for the new Performing Arts Center downtown. According to the article she did the moonwalk on pointe. An Arts Center Opens at Ground Zero With Stars, Onstage and Off - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

I don't think they can have their rally on Lincoln Center property. I recall that when the musicians of the Met Opera were protesting, they had to do it across the street (Dante Park). On a separate note, no casting yet for week 2. Seems a bit late.

https://cnnpressroom.blogs.cnn.com/2023/09/11/the-whole-story-with-anderson-cooper-profiles-ukrainian-ballet-in-ukraine-dancing-in-defiance-with-cnns-christiane-amanpour/ This Sunday at 8PM.

3 New York City Ballet Dancers Who Were There From the Start - The New York Times (nytimes.com) Great article about the only three living dancers who danced at the opening night at City Center.

Also missing from the Jewels lineup are Veyette and Pereira, both of whom previously have done Rubies.

The information just made the local television news in New York City today.

Musicians at the New York City Ballet, whose home is at Lincoln Center, voted 54-2 this past weekend to walk out on the job if they can’t come to an agreement on a new contract, according to a person familiar with the vote who was not authorized to discuss it publicly. The most recent contract expired last week, and negotiations over a new one have stalled.

Very excited to see Nadon and Davide R. debut in Emeralds. In fact, there are so many exciting debuts. Can't wait!

Christopher Wheeldon found his star for MJ The Musical, Myles Frost, on Youtube. Frost went on to win the Tony Award.

It's also a question of allocating resources. As an example, since Paz has left, I think they need a new person to take over the role of the Cocquette in Sonnambula. This is a long skirt, easy role that might suit Bouder. But how many more years would Bouder realistically be around to perform a new role? This season and maybe one more revival in two years? It's a better investment to teach the role to a soloist who might be around to take on the role for several revival cycles going forward. Looking at the Fall schedule, I would be unpleasantly surprised to see Bouder returning to various old roles like Stars and Stripes, Tsch Piano Concerto No 2 or even the Russian Girl in Serenade. They are all very difficult roles. Western is where she got injured a few years ago, so I don't think she would want to return to that role. By the way, Bouder alternated with Lovette in Western. Lovette could not do any of the Italian fouettes, whereas Bouder did them flawlessly. I hope she can one day return to that level, but it seems unlikely.

For me, Tiler Peck is another ballerina who is sensational but does not have traditional ballerina proportions.

This is a total misrepresentation of what cobweb said. Bouder is a person and deserves compassion, but she should not be on stage unless she is fully recovered. Part of that recovery is being stage ready. She was clearly not stage ready last fall. If you would like to see many different body types in a dance company, you should check out Mark Morris Dance Group. New York City Ballet is not the Mark Morris Dance Group.

Agreed. Tyler Angle's casting has become a real problem due to weight issues.

Cobweb's point is well taken. J. Stafford was a contemporary of Bouder's and frequently partnered her while he was still dancing. Also, he knows that Bouder is the type that will try to get her complaints aired in any media outlet available. I hope these factors do not influence his decision making on casting Bouder, but I suspect they do. I hope Bouder returns in decent shape, unlike last fall. I also think that her days in tutu ballets and ballets that involve leotards are over for now. Longer skirt ballets only.

I thought it was interesting last Fall when the company cast Bouder in various roles for regular rep performances, but then removed her from the fall gala performance of the first movement of Symphony in C. Bouder then went to Inside Edition to complain. So management felt that it was perfectly fine to put Bouder on stage for the "regular" audience, but she was deemed unworthy of appearing before the gala audience of donors and supporters. I interpret this to mean that it is okay to let someone who is totally out of shape appear before the ordinary audience, but this was not the image they were willing to present to people who write the big checks.

Brandt is more reliable technically than Trenary, in my opinion. Trenary gets the "dramatic" leads, like in R&J and LWFC, where Brandt tends to get the technically challenging roles like Kitri and Odette-Odile. Having said that I think Brandt would be interesting as Juliet.

They have provided a lot of major debuts over the last two seasons. Hurlin, Trenary, Royal, Ahn, Forster to name a few.

The Apollo program also has Tscha Piano Concerto 2. This role was previously done by Bouder and Reichlin, so we will be getting two female lead debuts. I'm guessing that LaFreniere will get the lead. Not sure who else. Maybe Phelan, just because she's in everything everywhere all at once.

The limited casting of Stearns and Seo is very interesting. I tend to like Seo more than some others on this board in certain roles, but we have now left the era of Hee Seo Ballet Theater.