abatt

Aren't the ABT employees currently on vacation.  This must be a clip of her from many years ago.

On 8/11/2023 at 10:59 PM, Marta said:

One of the hallmarks of the McKenzie era was the casting of great ballerinas with mediocre partners, e.g.. Veronika Part and Cory Stearns. I hardly ever was happy with both leading dancers in a Petipa ballet.  Calvin Royal is 35 and Stearns is 37.  Stearns has frequent injuries and personally, I don't find Royal's technique what it should be.  New blood needed!

There were many great male dancers under McKenzie's tenure - Corella, Carreno, Gomes, Hallberg and Bolle just to name a few.  Many felt that Part was too big to partner and they didn't want to get injured.   That's how Stearns, who was young, strong and not necessarily in a position to dictate who his partner would be, often got paired up with Part.  Gomes was always partnered with Vishneva because she had the authority and power to impose her demands on McKenzie.  Part never had that kind of power over McKenzie.

I don't know how old Stearns is, but he seems to be injury prone at this stage of his career.  

They are waiting for people to cave and buy the high priced available seating in Orchestra through Second Ring.  That's why they are not selling 3rd and 4th rings. 

21 hours ago, nanushka said:

Great, thanks for the info! I'm a donor but not a subscriber, so I'll try to call for a refund as well.

I'm a subscriber. I emailed NYCB Customer Service yesterday with the order numbers of the orders where I was improperly charged the handling fee.  I received an email today stating that the handling fees will be refunded to my credit card. 

I'm pretty sure I saw Miami City Ballet do this ballet a long time ago - either at Jacob's Pillow or when they visited NJPAC many years ago. 

I just got a Save the Date email from ABT re the Fall Gala. It states "American Ballet Theatre is thrilled to invite you to save the date for our Fall Gala featuring a one time only program of beloved classic and contemporary pas de deux performed by ABT's star Principal Dancers."  

Based on this it is likely that Other Dances will be on the gala program.  

Thanks for the report.  Sounds great.  

No.  Subscribers and patrons do not get advance notice of the on-sale date for Arts Series performances.  In fact, that would defeat the purpose, which is to attract new audiences.  

1 hour ago, California said:

Does anyone know why Friday, Feb 23 is not for sale? It's the New  Ratmansky (a week after the premiere), Opus 19 and  Symphony in 3 Movements.

(Apologies if this has been discussed somewhere already.)

It's probably an  Arts Series event, as they usually do those in the Winter Season.

It seems like a bad idea to schedule a week of ballet around the possibility that a particular dancer might retire, especially when that ballet has been done for two consecutive years previously.

I don't recall that Misty did Manon.  I thought she had a secondary role, but my memory could be faulty.

Correction - I see on her bio that she was Manon. 

44 minutes ago, matilda said:

Interesting theory... although why not just announce now?

The program has Agon and Slaughter -- two big Tyler Angle roles. 

Interesting thought.

Glad you got what you wanted, California, even if the process was torture. 

Not surprised at all.  It's inhumane to expect the dancers to perform in this weather.  I suspect all remaining outdoor shows are going to be cancelled on Friday too.  Not sure what the forecast is for Saturday.

I went back in later in the day for online tickets for regular rep shows - not galas or special events.  I had the same experience as cobweb, where a selected seat disappeared out of my cart because the seat was selected by another user  even though I still had time on the countdown clock as I shopped for additional dates.  After that I just bought tixs one at a time.  

I plan to email the box office to request a refund on any handling fees that were charged but should not have been.  

I got hit with the $8 per tix handling fee, but I  paid up anyway.  I thought subscribers were not charged the handling fee.  Ordered opening night Jewels and the 75th Anniversary gala.

Anyone know why Sept 30 at 8PM is not on offer to purchase  at all?

It's going to be brutally hot and humid during the next few days.  I feel sorry for the dancers who are expected to perform in extreme heat and humidity. 

I hope Curley gets promoted.  He deserves it. 

I thought Luciana Paris and/or Blaine Hoven might also depart.  Paris only does character roles now, and she's not particularly impressive in them either.  

No surprise about Shayer, after that NY Times hit job he wrote.

I recall a Theme & Variations performance of Gorak's at the Koch in which he partnered Lane.  Gorak had trouble lifting Lane to a seated position on to his shoulders, and she was precariously dangling.  Apart from that he could not do the double tours required for his solo.  I think that was the last time I ever saw him in a lead role.

Roxander rocked the house

The thing is that the ballet leaves out the ending of the play, in which the Capulets and Montagues agree to end their feud.   The chaperone of the kids said the play is about two selfish and dumb teenagers, but that completely misses the point of the themes in the play - a gross oversimplification.  

I sat near a large group of teenage girls.  I think they were probably not yet high school aged.  They thought the ballet was derived from a Taylor Swift song which apparently references R&J.  It was clear as they were speaking to their adult chaperones that they never heard of Shakespeare.  I guess Shakespeare isn't taught until high school, but I found the whole thing both amusing and disturbing all at the same time.   They were completely unfamiliar with the story and when Tybalt killed Mercutio the girl next to me let out an audible gasp, followed by the words Oh my god!

The girls were pleased that Aran Bell was dancing.  One said - He's awesome.  He's like a celebrity!

22 minutes ago, bingham said:

And how was Mr Bell?

Bell was excellent.  Fabulous technique.  And I felt his partnering of Hee Seo, who is a waif, was  more daring and looked more spontaneous than his partnering Teuscher.  Teuscher is so much taller and bigger than Hee, and therefore more difficult to partner.