abatt

Nina used to sometimes drop one of her roses into the orchestra pit as a sign of gratitude to the orchestra. Classy. California, yes, we are talking about the choreography shown in the youtube clip you posted beginning at 1:42. Last night she held the pointe while in arabesque for much longer than in the youtube clip.

Does Tereshkina do this regularly at the Mariinsky Bayadere's? Do all the Mariinsky ballerinas do this? Astounding.

JUst a word about Tereshkina's performance last night. In the final scene of the first act, Nikiya stands on point, and then lifts one leg into arabesque while the foot of the working leg rolls down off the pointe. Tereshkina did something I have NEVER seen anyone do. Her working leg remained on pointe the entire time as she lifted the free leg into arabesque and held the position. She did this twice. Never a bobble or a hesitation. The foot on pointe remained rock solid,steady and fully in control. It was amazing - superhuman. I always enjoy seeing Stella, but it was disheartening to see her as the third shade. The other two shades were corps members

Eifman is returning to NY City Center with "Tender is the Night" on May 22-24, 2015. Tickets are already on sale. Going head to head with ABT and NYCB is a bad idea.

This Ardani production is coming to NY City Center March 7-8, 2015. Tickets are on sale already. Program is 1. Excertps from Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s Mea Culpa, 2. Passo by Ohad Naharin 3. Facda by Arthur Pita Is this the same program they are bringing to California in July?

I agree with most of what Faux Pas said above, with a couple of caveats. I thought Murphy was disappointing. She lacked fluidity and lyricism. She is a much better Gamzatti. Regarding Nedak, he was very engaging. Good actor. Tall, strong presence. Good technique, but not a flashy trickster. A very elegant dancer. I also must mention the Bronze Idol on Tues. evening, Z. Zhang. He is one to watch. Though he can definitely use some additional polishing, he was the best of the Idol's I've seen this season, and he seems to have very strong technique. I thought Semionova's Nikiya on Monday evening was her best performance with ABT. She is often bland, but this role suited her well. Her gorgeous line and extension were marvelous.

Since Tereshkina and Shkylarov are regularly paired together at the Mariinsky, lack of familiarity will not be an issue for them.

Holy cow. Major casting change. Didn't even notice that Gorak got Cinderellas w. Reyes. Stearns is out of Cinderella and Whiteside moves into the slot as Hee Seo's partner. Interesting developments. So is Cory going to make it his Manon assignments next week. He's still listed as of today.

Gorak seems too short. This role requires someone tall and imposing.

I was there last night too. I thought Smirnova's dancing was lovely and technically assured, but her portrayal was dramatically somewhat inert. I can't really blame her for lack of chmeistry for Muntigirov. When you have two dancers who barely know one another and have never danced together, how can you expect the kind of relationship that sizzles, like a Vishneva/Gomes pairing? Muntigirov was much, much better than the last time I saw him at ABT two years ago. This was not a Bayadere for the ages, but it was certainly at least very good. Considering that Smirnova is only 22 years old, I would say she has immense talent and promise. I would happily see her again at the Met or elsewhere.

For those who have not picked up the lobby casting sheets at the MET, the most recent casting sheet lists the casting for the Rothbart role in SL: Jared Matthews: 6/23, 6/25 matinee Hammoudi - 6/24, 6/25 evening Whiteside: 6/26, 6/28 evening Radetsky 6/27 Stearns 6/28 matinee I guess Gomes has given up the role. Sad, since he was so terrific in the role.

LA Dance Project is coming to Brooklyn Academy of Music in October 2014. Program info is: Choreography by Benjamin Millepied, Justin Peck, and William Forsythe Featuring a special appearance by eighth blackbird BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave) Oct 16—18 at 7:30pm Reflections (NY Premiere) Choreography by Benjamin Millepied in collaboration with the company Music by David Lang Visual concept by Barbara Kruger Murder Ballades (NY Premiere) Choreography by Justin Peck Music by Bryce Dessner Visual concept by Sterling Ruby Quintett Choreography by William Forsythe Music by Gavin Bryars

They were casting Ramasar and Hyltin as the "alternate" cast for Who Cares last season. They were fine, but nothing like Peck and Fairchild. I can't imagine Megan Fairchild and Ask LaCour as the leads in this ballet. Sorry to have missed Peck in Other Dances.

Myrta is from Giselle. Hee Seo is dancing Gamzatti in Bayadere tonight. That was cubanmiamiboy's point.

This is not the first time in my experience. They omitted it once last season when Sara Mearns was injured but wanted to dance her scheduled Diamonds performance. The omissions are definitely planned in advance. I wish they would inform the audience of the omission in advance, too.

I think the scherzo was cut on Sunday because J. Stafford had already danced in Emeralds, and he probably requested that the scherzo be cut because it would be too much for him. I can tell you that the full scherzo was performed by Mearns w. LaCour at the Sat matinee.

Here's some more info on "Little Dancer", the Susan Stroman project which will star NYCB's Tiler Peck. Apparently musical theater actor Jason Danieley will co-star. http://www.playbill.com/news/article/191512-Broadways-Best-Gather-to-Honor-Susan-Stroman-Plus-a-Surprise-Preview-of-Little-Dancer?tsrc=nx I hope this comes to NYC eventually.

I checked Murphy's twitter page. She says that she's ready for a throwdown for her man Marcelo Gomes tonight. Bring it on girl!

I attended on Tues and Wed evenings. Don't have much time to report. Svetlana still has gorgeous extension and line. However, her jumping ability seems to have diminished since the last time I saw her live about ten years ago. Her jumps are very low to the ground now. In addition, contrary to what the NY Times wrote, I feel she is probably too regal and queenly to play a peasant girl. Hallberg is in fine form, but I've seen him do better work as Albrecht at ABt over the years. I thought Nikulina (Wed night) was a much more believable Giselle because she is petite and young. In addition, her jumps were very high and fast, and elicitied spontanous applause. On the whole, I didn't regret going, but I wasn't blown away either by either of these performances. I left with a new and deeper appreciation of the great performances I have seen in the past at ABt from Ananiashvilli, Ferri, Osipova and Vishneva..

Given the large numbers of empty seats I saw at each of the 3 Don Q's I attended, I would say New York has definitely reached its Don Q saturation point. With the Bolshoi and the Mik both bringing Don Q this year, ABT ended up with diminished ticket sales, I believe. I hope they do not bring it back next season, as they have been doing it every year for several years.

I thought Russell Janzen was terrific in Davidsbundlertanze. It was a wonderful role debut in the central role. Reichlin was indeed completely different from Mearns in the Clara role, but not in a good way. In order to express "drama" Reichlin tends to give us the furrowed brow expression, which is the same thing she does as Odette. The drama is in the choreography, but her execution/phrasing could not convey the meaning. She tended to clip the end of a phrase as she moved to the next phrase, thereby diminishing the overall impact of her choreography. Tiler Peck and Tyler Angle were striking, with Peck especially daring in her abandon and attack. Laracey was lovely, but I felt there was no romantic chemistry with Suozzi. Remember when Alexpolous and Hubbe danced together in this? They sizzled with romance. I never got that impression from either Hyltin/Finlay or Laracey/Suozzi. Forgot to add that Catzaro makes a very wonderful romantic lead and partner for Krohn. He is much better in these types of roles than in ones that completely expose his technical weaknesses, as in the first movement of Symphony in C. I didn't stay for Union Jack. Wendy Whelan was absorbing and compelling in Glass Pieces today. She is a marvel.

On Friday w. Herrera, Vasiliev lifted her one one arm and did a low arabesque, but he did not go up on releve, based on what I recall.

Ballet performances will include “The Legend of Love,” choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich, and the world premiere in March 2015 of a new staging of “Hamlet,” with choreography by Radu Poklitaru. Also, the world premiere of a ballet based on Mikhail Lermontov’s “A Hero of Our Time,” is scheduled for June 2015, choreographed by Yuri Possokhov. 2015 tours to Hong Kong and São Paulo, Brazil. http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/16/bolshoi-theater-plans-tchaikovsky-celebrations/?ref=arts

Yes, very uncomfortable to look up to the stage. I once sat in Row B. My neck hurt the entire time.

I attended half the May 14 performance (skipped Union Jack). Sara Mearns was compelling and heartbreaking in the lead role. In particular, the way she used her flexible back in deep backbends added to her portrait of grief. It was never overdone, just right. Unfortunately, Ask LaCour was not her equal, and whenever they were onstage together in an intimate pdd, his presence became almost an afterthought. The rest of the cast was terrific. In particular, Robert Fairchild blazed with passion and excitement, and brought the best out in Abi Stafford (who I normally find to be efficiently dull). To my surprise, Chase Finlay did perform. He has been replaced in every other performance this season. Hopefully this means he's recovered. Sadly, this dramatic masterpiece apparently doesn't sell. There were abundant emply seats, and the third ring looked about 30 percent full. Agree that the Times photo is gorgeous, any only hints at the brilliance of the performance.