abatt

This problem ties into issues that were raised in other forums regarding Hee Seo Ballet Theater- I mean ABT. McKenzie is now working with a skeleton staff of regular ABT principal dancers. When something goes wrong, as it has this season, there are not enough people who are trained at ABT to do these lead roles over an 8 week season. So his choices are to find emergent guest artists, or reassign the role to a very select and limited number of principals on the ABT regular roster who know the role. This strategy is backfiring in a big way this season. This situation cannot continue.

Hee Seo may be lucky to get all these chances to sharpen her skills, but I think the events that have occurred this season will lead to far fewer advance ticket purchases. You cannot have one person occupy so many lead roles on short notice without repercussions for future box office receipts. I

Believe me, there were a lot of angry people there on Wednesday who didn't realize Osipova was out, but at least large numbers of people had already gotten wind of that problem and made their exchanges accordingly. Yes, tonight will see the levels of outrage that occurred last season when Cojocaru cancelled her SL last minute.

Marcelo is a pro and the best partner at ABT. He could make it work with anyone on short notice. Alternatively, Why not just give Marcelo the night off and cast Murphy with Whiteside.

It's too late to exchange. They don't allow same day exchanges. Only option is to sell outside, which I'm sure plenty of people will be attempting to do. Fire sale. Prices slashed.

WhAAAAT. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was hoping that Victura was making a bad joke, but it does indeed say Hee for tonight. Can't believe this. Why is Hee the replacement in every ballet all season. Murphy only had one Juliet. I could have lived with her as the replacemnt for tonght because I have not seen her Juliet in a few years.

Just wanted to agree that Obratsova's bourees were amazing. I have not seen bourrees that fast and impressive in a long time..

Both Obratsova and Cornejo danced brilliantly, although I was not as convinced that there was any chemistry there as some others Herman is now dancing at his peak. I believe this is the first season in some time that he has not been plagued by injury. Obratsova is a beautiful, fluid dancer. I would be happy to see more of her in the future. It is a shame that the Bolshoi did not include her in its tour to the US last summer. Nor did they include her in their Giselle performances in DC last spring. Yes, it was definitely luxury casting to have Gorak and Simkin in the two supporting roles, but as noted they were not in sync. Simkin pulled off some wonderful bravura dancing, but he made his part look like a competition performance. I did not like his characterization. Salstein is a lesser dancer, but a much better actor. Just a note about the Seo Gomes performance on Wednesday. Seo was a lovely Juliet. She and Gomes made an excellent partnership. This is Hee's best role. . Gomes looked like he was saving himself for Friday's show in his dancing of his solos. Gomes danced conservatively, and the toll of performing additional performances for absentees may be starting to show. Recall that Wednesday was originally supposed to be Osipova and Hallberg, but Gomes ended up getting the assignment once Hallberg pulled out of the season. (There were plenty of people outside the opera house hoping to sell their tickets since Osipova was not performing.) Tonight should be marvelous. Thanks to ABT for bringing Obratsova to NYC for this performance.

Stuben, the info about the ABt business plan relates to an unexpected candid interview given by William Taylor at Babson College regarding ABT's guest star strategy. The interview was quickly removed from youtube once ABT fans started talking about it on various ABT fan sites and chat rooms like this one. You can find the discussion about Mr. Taylor's comments starting on post 429 in a different Ballet Alert thread, which I've linked. http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/39382-abt-2015-met-season/page-29#entry352539

I hope the next director can put this company back together again, because it's badly broken at this point. Under McKenzie's reign during the late 90s and through about 2008 or so, ABT was the envy of the ballet world. Their artists were incredible, and they were not guest artists. They were members of a unified company, and they performed throughout the year with ABT, not just dropping by for a show or two. Carreno, Corella, Bocca, Steifel, Malhakov, Jaffe, McKerrow, Ananiashvilli, Ferri, Vishneva were all major league bold face names. Who are the bold face names now? The de facto guest artists who show up for four shows during an 8 week season? The guest artists who fly in for one show? Somehow, the company has been driven into the ground over these last few years. I suspect part of that has to do with Moore's managment, and ABt's recently developed business model, which was discussed on a youtube video and then obliterated from existence after people got wind of it. To the extent that Moore has played a role in the artistic demise of ABT, I'm happy to see her go.

Here is the NY Times review fo Hee Seo and Cory Stearns. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/18/arts/dance/review-romeo-and-juliet-brings-a-precise-pairing-to-the-met.html?ref=arts

I don't go to the ballet for enlightenment or intellectual stimulation. I go for entertainment and escape, and to see amazingly skilled and brilliant dancers. Does she really think most of the audience is at the ballet for any reason other than pure entertainment?

$6 million.

Jealous of Londoners. Wish I could see that Bolshoi engagement at Covent Garden next summer.

Paul Taylor Dance Company just performed Company B as part of its season at the Koch in March 2015. I'm almost certain I saw it at the Koch in March . ABT did it only a few years ago. There is an oversaturation with this work. If ABT was planning on doing it in 2015 in New York, then Taylor shouldn't have done it the same year in NYC. Also, I don't necessarily agree that ABT performs it better. Cornejo is an exquisite classical dancer, but the Taylor dancers have expertise in the very specific modern dance idiom and characterization nuances that Taylor employs. I definitely don't need to see ABT do this work again anytime soon. As an example of the differences, the Rum & Coca Cola is supposed to be a very sarcastic and biting interpretation of how Americans treat other cultures. When an ABT ballerina dances the lead, that doesn't come through.

LOL, Natalia. Yes, the Green Table is an "IMPORTANT" ballet that all seriouis balletomanes should see at least once, but having seen it in the past I don't feel any need to rush out and see it again.

I'm able to relate to what Amour is saying about the partnering, but have no comment about the acting as I was not there. If your partner is running toward you for a lift, it is much easier to accomplish the lift if the person does not come to a dead stop right before reaching you. Once the person comes to a dead stop, they become more like dead weight when they are lifted, and the lift automatically looks labored. If the woman is still in motion when the lift begins, some of that momentum helps the man to do the lift.

No. Please not Company B again.

I got that feeling from Gomes when he was with Vishneva, but not as much when he danced with Murphy.

I also think that one's perception of how much jumping was involved in the production was somewhat dependent on who you saw in each role. I ended up seeing all of the casts, and there were notable differences. For example, Boylston had the most soaring jumps of any of the Aurora's, while Vishneva's jumps as Aurora were generally low and not impressive. Herman Cornejo had the most soaring jumps of all the Desire's, so if you missed him the variations for Desire might not have looked quite as impressive. As Bluebird, certain performers soared, while others (notably Gorak) did not.

Fullington forgot to mention that in addition to it being a risk, reconstruction is quite expensive. Without the deep pockets of David Koch, this reconstruction would never have gotten done.

Ratmansky's Flames of Paris.

The info about Hera queen of the gods= goddess of white arms makes complete sense. Thank you for the clarification. I believe that when the little boys come out with gifts on the pillows as to each fairy, the gift relating to that fairy is a tiara, right? I also noticed Part's hunched shoulders that canbelto referred to. That problem existed each time I saw Part do the Lilac fairy. Uncharacteristic of her, and very unattractive position. Loved Trenary and Simkin. I wish Simkin would walk to his position at the corner of the stage a bit faster, though, after the initial portion of the pdd. He walks so slowly to his spot. Is this for effect or to catch his breath.

Vishneva & Gomes = Perfection. Great performance. Today's backbend in the wedding scene was unsupported. Amazingly deep. Gomes didn't put his arm around her until the last possible second. What an incredible vision scene they did together. Breathtaking. Fish dives were again flawless. Gomes gave a more energized account of his solo than in his prior performances. Vishneva is the brightest star in the ABT firmament. A great way to end the SB run.

I'm very curious about the implications of this ad. High roller type hotels regularly have concierge services that can get tickets to Broadway shows or sporting events or concerts at a premium. However, they never come as a package deal with meeting the artist or signed copies of books. Does this mean that Misty's PR team has bought up some blocks of tickets and made a deal with the Smyth Hotel re a Misty Package? There are plenty of people who regularly talk with all the dancers at the stage door at no cost whatsoever, so I'm confused as to why anyone would pay for that benefit. Also, I'm not aware that Misty will star in Cinderella. She may have a supporting role, but she doesn't have the lead as far as I know. I must hand it to Team Misty. They are out there pushing Misty's name in every way possible.