abatt

I saw the Kent/Bolle cast last night. Bolle hardly performs with ABT, so it was a rare treat to see this wonderful dancer. He is, in my opinion, every bit as good as Marcelo in this ballet in terms of acting and technical achievement. I enjoyed Kent's performance, although when compared to Semionova and Vishneva you can easily see her technical limitations these days, especially in the diminished flexibility of her back. Simkin and Stella were both terrific. However, I think it was a bad idea to cast Simkin as Kent's brother. That was not the familial relationship that one thought of when seeing them together. ABT should have used someone like Whiteside in this cast, who is at least a bit older looking. Once again, the Met was largely empty. Ticket sales for this ballet have been dismal, except for the Vishneva cast.

I hadn't revisited this topic for a few days, and I see that it has morphed into a topic about the benefits of new choreography. While I agree with the idea that new choreography is important to the company, sometimes it turns into pandering to new audiences (see Ocean's Kingdom, Bal de Couture) with works that are trash just to have a celebrity name attached to the pursuit (Valentino, Paul McCartney, Stella McCartney). Also, I think the Diamond Project put too much focus on churning out massive numbers of new works without keeping an eye on quality ("Call Me Ben").

I would wait and see if anything opens up for Monday Vishneva and grab it. Keep checking the website daily, a few times a day. You would be amazaed at the seats that become available the day of or day before the performance.

I was at last night's Manon too. (Sorry I missed you Batsuchan!) I went in with low expectations. It was a good performance, but not a great one. First, although Stearns has been injured, he seemed fully recovered and didn't have any problem with executing the choreography. Semionova was goregous, and her extensions of her super long limbs in this choreography was a pleasure. There was not much chemistry between the leads, so this performance did not have the excitement or passion of the Vishneva-Gomes pairing. Cory did a fine job with all the tricky lifts, and Polina is certainly a difficult assignment because of her size. Whiteside was a much better bad guy than Cornejo, and he danced magnificently. Part was miscast, I thought, or maybe just having an off night. Tuesday night was well sold, but last night the house was a ghost town. Very poor ticket sales.

I was surprised and worried for him by the fact that he was using his own personal funds to help buoy up this venture. I hope he can make back the money he lost from his own personal funds. I sat next to him and Christopher Wheeldon at the State Theater once years ago when they were a couple. They were both extremely nice and friendly.

Menstruation leave? Do any American companies provide that?

Maybe they will do a DVD for their 75th Anniversary next season? Hopefully maybe a PBS Great Performances in honor of the anniversary?

I'd be happy if the released a DVD now and then. It hasn't happened in years.

There is more casting up on the ABT website now regarding the Dream and The Tempest. Happily, Herman has been relieved of his silly role in the Tempest, and will return to one of his greatest roles, as Puck, in the Dream. Simkin and Salstein each get one Puck. Herman gets two Pucks as part of the Murphy/Hallberg cast.

I'm sorry this pursuit did not work out for him. He sacrificed a lot to pursue his goal. I hope he returns to the US to perform, although clearly it will not be with ABT.

There is a dancer whose first name is Lyrica? Sounds ready made for a life in the arts.

The truly great choreography is in the few sections for the two lead performers. Most of the choreography for the corps and the secondary leads is not terribly difficult or impressive. Reyes has done the role before w. ABT, but from what I recall she did not get good reviews. I would LOVE to see Part in this as the lead (and also as Juliet in R&J), but she may be too tall for all those difficult lifts. Manon is probably Kent's best role at her present age. I'll see her on Thursday.

I watch very little televison, but I've seen numerous ads for ABT on TV here in NY City in recent weeks. I think they are still going "old school" with their approach to advertising, relying on print and TV ads instead of more updated approaches like videos on their website. After all, people who are visiting their website are already fans and are probably buying tickets already. They would not be reaching new customers that way.

Yes, spectacurlar dancing from Gomes and Vishneva in what, in my opinion, is a pretty awful ballet. Without great leads, this ballet becomes dull very fast. Herman was also pretty amazing. Expecting even more high wattage electricity at the Saturday matinee for Vishneva's 10th anniversary celebration. The house looked well sold compared to the earlier weeks of the season.

Messmer decided not to return to SFB next season. You missed a lengthy discussion about it under a different thread.

Sara Mearns is far from stick thin but she is one of NYCB's most lauded ballerinas.

There were posts on Coppelia under the 2014 Met season thread.

A few have broken through the ranks through years of toil from corps to principal- Murphy, Gomes, Stearns, Seo, Herrera, Kent, Hallberg, Wiles, H. Cornejo - to principal. It is nearly impossible, though. The promotion standards at NYCB are much more relaxed and liberal across the plaza. There are principals at NYCB who, in my opinion, would never have been promoted to principal at ABT.

Oh yes. I'm expecting that the prices for the Whelan farewell will be very high.

Principal Amar Ramasar looks nothing like any New England prep school students I'm aware of. He is of Pakistani origin, I believe - South Asia rather than East Asia.

The main difference I became aware of in observing Lane's performance in contrast to Murphy's is that Murphy owns the stage when she is on. She dominates the action. Lane has little stage presence and tends to fade and blend into the corps members on stage. I think this is due to the fact that Lane has so few lead roles, and therefore has not learned to develop stage charisma, projection and presence. There almost seems to be a lack of confidence in her presentation of herself sometimes.

This is not what I've heard. I've heard that subscribers will receive invitations this summer for the Whelan farewell. I've never heard that Saturday evening subscribers in particular are getting tickets ahead of other subscribers. As noted above, the Whelan farewell is not availabel on any subscription. Can anyone with a current Sat evening subscription confirm this - did your renewal contain a Whelan farewell ticket offer?

Yuriko also performed prayer at the Saturday matinee. She was engrossing. In contrast, Luciana Paris on Sat evening didn't seem to have a clue. I was happy that Sarah Lane performed so well at the Sat matinee,. The only apparent issue was at the end of her fouette sequence in the final act she came off pointe. Lack of concentration, perhaps. Simkin did an excellent job partnering her and of course pulled out all the stops in his solos. As good as the afternoon performance was, the evening performance was even better. Murphy has sparkling technique and her acting was much more natural than Sarah's. (Lane's acting looked studied in comparison.) Jared Matthews was very impressive, and his solos were beautfiully danced. It's a shame he and Yuriko are leaving.

I saw Friday evening's performance. As stellar as Tiler Peck and R. Fairchild have been in the past in Who Cares, Friday's performance was even more electric. Perhaps because these two are getting married shortly, there is a level of intense romance now in their performance that surpasses their past triumphs in these roles. (Stellar technique too, as always!) They were also brilliant in the solos. Forget all these faux romances in ballet. This is the real deal, and it shows.

There were some excellent casts presented for these Bayaderes. Despite that fact, ticket sales were not stellar for any of the performances I attended The best sold was probably the Sat evening show w. Cojocaru. The opening night Vishneva/Gomes sold, but definitely not a sell out either.