abatt

This isn't the first wardrobe mishap. (Part tripped on her Lilac Fairy gown going back into her boat the other day.) So much fabric, so many accidents waiting to happen.

Perhaps your computer is automatically blocking the seating chart as a pop up?

Yes, I'm sure that sort of thing happens almost every night at the Met, NinaFan. It's unfortunate. The few, who pay "bupkis" to enter the doors, disturb the many who bought expensive seats and sitting in their correct seats. A few years ago someone from the family circle decided to plop herself into an empty balcony seat next to me for an Osipova performance. The usher demanded that she go back to her family circle seat and shined the flashlight on her, this while the show already started. She would not budge. At intermission the security guard escorted her out of the opera house.

Not disputing the that ticket sales have been excellent for certain shows this week. Just noting that people regularly buy up the standing room spots even if there are seats available, particularly the standing room orchestra and dress circle. It's the cheapest way into the the theater without being relegated to the family circle. Then once they are in the auditorium they try to hunt down good open seats.

Right, I forgot that last night was supposed to be the Osipova Sarafanov cast. That may very well explain the full house. The Vishneva Gomes show on MOnday sold well too, but not quite as heavily. Maybe that will be ABt's new strategy going forward - advertise superstar Russian guest artists and then switch the cast.

Hi DeCoster. If you recall, Lane and Cornejo did not do fish dives. They did simplified, alternative choreography instead of fish dives that was much easier than the fish dives. Also, no Boylston should not have had her eyes looking downward when she stepped on the pedestal in the Vishion Scene. She should have been looking out at the audience. She spent too long looking down at the pedestal, as though she feared she might slip off it. Yes, sales have been brisk this week for SB.

It's really difficult to uproot your life in search of a better ballet position. Presumably Lane could go into a smaller company as a principal, but as noted above, for all of its awful policies, ABT still provides a steady reliable income and benefits. Plus, considerations involing the job of her husband also come into play. Sometimes practically must win out over other considerations. Also, I recall Sarah saying a number of years ago that she wanted to start a family, so probably staying at ABT is her best option if that's a goal.

Boylston was very assured technically, and her jumps were high, fast and precise. She was also completely in control in the Rose Adagio. She never came off the pointe, and she raised her arm over her head after each suitor. I enjoyed her performance, but I wish she had more fluidity in her upper body. This was a very different performance from Vishneva's both in the level of technique and in the manner of presentation. I wished that Boylston could have taken on a more elegant manner of presentation in the wedding scene,so that you could see a progression of her character from the young Aurora to the mature Aurora. However, the performance was all at one level and on one note - big and bouncy. As noteed above, one of the fish dives looked like Boylston literally tumbled into position. I blame it on Gorak's partnering. He used both arms to get her into fishdive position (unlike Magnificent Marcelo, who uses only one arm for these fish dives). I thought Gorak placed his arm around Boylston's back a little too early when she was doing her backbend. She was perfectly secure just leaning into him, but I guess he feared she might lose balance. Gorak's solo started well, but the energy seemed to fade out a bit toward the end. (The best dancing I've seen of the Prince's variation came from Cornejo.)

I don't think the treatment of Lane at ABT stems from the Black Swan issues. I think she is just one of many excellent soloists who are left to rot at ABT. That's why so many talented people have left (Messmer, Kajiya, Jared Mathhews, to name a few). The business policy that went into effect several years ago at ABT is at odds with the development of talent from within. (I'm talkng about that candid interview that was quickly erased from youtube). I do feel sorry for Lane, and agree with Canbelto that it would have not taken anything away from Misty or any of the other Juliet's to allow Sarah to take one Juliet.

Sorry to destroy the illusion. I feel like Toto in the Wizard of Oz when he pulls back the curtain to expose the Wizard as a fraud. I didn't get the role of the foot contraption the first time I saw SB, but it occurred to me later after focusing on what exactly that half shell was.

The Met Opera runs the site, and ABT has to go along with whatever the Met decides to do. The administrators of the opera couldn't care less if ABT ticket buyers get frustrated. Their only concern is that the system works for Met Opera ticket buyers by August.

Kind of sad that one of the top ballet companies in the world can't sell tickets to a warhorse ballet iafter an absence from the US for so many years.

One thing that I find interesting is that Vishneva is considered a Principal at ABT, but will have done only 4 shows over 8 weeks. In what universe is that fair to the other real principals at ABT who are busting their *+@#? to fill in for the injured. Unlike Kent, who understandably cannot dance many performances due to age, Vishneva is healthy and uninjured.

It seems like a lot of work for Lamb to do two Don Q's in such a short period of time for the Chicago portion of the tour. Curious. Does Kochetkova do the MacMIllan R&J. She seems to be the new go-to person for ABT.

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Roberta Maquez seems to be free, but maybe they will use her to replace Osipova in Chicago?

I'm also contemplating that McKenzie is trying to get someone from the RB. However, given the fact that the RB already has lost one principal on its tour roster, I'm wondering if the RB would consent to allowing another one of its ballerinas to appear at ABT during the tour, and risk more chaos in the RB tour casting. Since Osipova is a major draw for the RB on tour in America, I'm sure that the RB's artistic director was none too pleased when Osipova got injured while guesting at ABT.

http://alinacojocaru.com/page3.htm Based on Alina's website, she already has a number of engagments this month in Japan and Germany. I doubt we will be seeing her as the replacement Juliet, but I can dream. I suppose it is possible, but doesn't seem likely.

If they were going to use somebody who was already on the roster for Juliet, like Seo, Murphy, Obratsova, or Copeland or Vishneva, I think they would have just inserted one of their names. The issue would be resolved by now, because Osipova's injury has been known for a period of time. So I'm guessing it will either be someone at ABT who has never done the role or it will be an outsider with whom contract details are being negotiated. That's my best guess. I hope it's somebody good or, like so many others, I have very few options left for exchanges.

For me, the barometer of when Hallberg came to general attention of the public (as opposed to balletomanes who had followed him for years) was when he joined the Bolshoi. There was extensive media coverage regarding that in the mainstream press. My brother, who would never be caught dead at a ballet performance and couldn't care less about the arts in general, asked me if I had heard of Hallberg or seen Hallberg perform after he saw something in the press or a TV news snippet about Hallberg and the Bolshoi.

There were two intermissions at SB last night.

I agree with this. The NYCB rep is much more conducive to a variety of types of dancers with varying degrees of talent in differnt types of roles. The ABT rep of full length warhorses require stars, and ABT's top ranks are so thin that every principal dancer is now required to do almost every type of role - modern, romantic, Petipa classical . That is why the weaknesses of some of ABT's principals become so immediately apparent and exposed. It's also why audience members become angry when dancer X replaces dancer Y on short notice. It is unbearable to watch a dancer you cannot stand for an entire evening of a warhorse ballet. There are many principals at NYCB who would never make it to principal at ABT. And there are some principals at ABT who make you wonder how and why they attained that rank.

The pedestal in the ballet is much more attractive and ornate than what's shown in the photo, but the basic concept and construction is the same. In the ballet it is a decorative half shell with that inclined, vertical pedestal in the center, and the ballerina rests her foot in the center on the pedestal. You might notice that each of the Aurora's has been very careful in the intial placement of her foot into that contraption. If you didn't realize that there was an inclined foot support in there, it looks like a great effect of strength and balance. Not trying to dimish the accomplishment, but to elucidate what's going on in that segment of the ballet. Anyone have a different take on that contraption?

Re Amour's comments above, in the Vision Scene, it appears that the ballerina's foot is resting on an inclined pedestal (don't know the formal name of that contraption they place on the floor for her to step on- it's a half shell with an inclined support in the center of the shell where the ballerina rests her foot on pointe). Not to take any credit away from Vishneva and her balances, but that support enables the ballerina to hold the unsupported pose on pointe, not her own strength. Also, in the Wedding Act, in the section with the deep backbend, Marcelo placed his arm around her back to enable Vishneva to bend that deep. The other Aurora's I've seen perform less deep backbends, but it's done without any supporting arm around their back. Their sole support is leaning into their partner's torso. The fish dives were flawless and brilliant. Maybe it's my imagination, but Marcelo always looks like the happiest guy alive when he's on stage with Vishneva. They have great chemistry together. Vishenva's unsupported balances in the Rose Adagio were held long and beautifully. My complaint about Vishneva is that her jumps barely left the ground in comparison to what I've seen from the other casts, especially in Act I. I did not care for the dumbed-down version of Lilac's variation given to Part because she apparently has difficulty with the pirouettes that all the other Lilacs are performing. Trenary and Simkin were terrific as Bluebird and Florine, except for a minor slip of the foot when Trenary started. Boylston was terrific as Diamond, but I don't recall so much fussiness and distraction in the hand positions as what I saw from her last night. The house was well sold.

SPOILER SPOILER ALERT re Fun HOme Although's it's dealt with in a humorous fashion, this musical deals, in part, with a broken marriage due to Alison's closeted homosexual father, and the suicide of her father. I think a lot of people would find this subject matter a downer.