abatt

I didn't read it to mean that the students would perform in the Kylian work or Gaite.

I wish the RB were bringing Winter's Tale to the US next year instead of the over-performed Don Q.

Alistair M. has posted his review on the NY Times website, and it is very positive. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/12/arts/dance/a-new-winters-tale-for-royal-ballet.html?ref=arts#

Unfortunately, and without explanation, Alicia Graf did not perform. Linda Sims from Ailey danced with Simkin. She is even shorter than Simkin, I can never complain about seeing Sims because she is excellent, but I was disappointed. Simkin handled all the virtuoso tricks much better than the Ailey men, but he lacks any skill in jazz-based movement (which he admitted in a little film clip that preceeded the performance). The new Gemma Bond work was, in my opinion, a total dud. The gimmick was that dancers were joined together by long pieces of fabric wrapped around them. Couldn't wait for it to end. As noted by rg on another forum, Stearns was replaced. For me, the highlight of the evening was Smirnova and McKie in a searing performance of the final pdd from Onegin. It was riveting. I definitely would like to see more of both of these incredible dancers. Forgot to add that during the first half of the performance, Tyler Angle and Sara Mearns danced the pdd from In G Major. It was lovely, but not the best account of the pdd I've seen. It didn't help that the pianist seemed to hurry the dancers in parts.

Gomes got the Don Q, but I like him more as Espada than Basilio. .

Just looked at the ABT casting page. Stearns is replaced in Sylphide and Don Q. Anyone know what happened? Ah well, more work for Gorak and Gomes.

I'm not sure about Georgina. She hasn't been given leading roles in the essential Balanchine ballets. Her most memorable role to date has been as Anita in West Side Story. I'd like to see her in lead roles in Robbins ballets, like Opus 19 the Dreamer, In The Night and I'm Old Fashioned.

Given the number of remaining principals on the roster, I wouldn't be surprised if there were no additional promotions to principal for some time. The only person who seems fairly close to being ready is Lovette. By the way, any info on Jenny Somogyi. Will we see her during the Spring season?

Lauren Lovette without question. Anthony Huxley, but there are two issues with that. One is that he was out for a while due to injury, so he hasn't really been tested in enough lead roles yet. More of a problem is his height. NYCB already has two short principal men, and I'm not sure if they would be willing to add another in the near future.

It's very, very difficult to create an "international star." Most people are steady eddys, and that's nothing to be ashamed of. It's true that some of the places that ABT tours are starved for ballet, so they will buy tickets to see the steady eddy casts, whereas in NYC the steady eddys might not sell quite as well because there are so mamy cultural events to choose from. Greatness is a rare treasure. It is unreasonable to expect every performance over an 8 week MET season to be a memorable treasure. It's not realistic . The only "home grown" international star from the present roster at ABT is David Hallberg, and he was partially trained at POB. Perhaps I would add Gomes to the list, but I'm not sure.Maybe in her youth, Kent was an international star, but now not so much. While I like Gillian Murphy very much, guesting with the RNZB does not constitute international star status. Edit to add: There are many performances that we, as very passionate fans, would regard as mediocre, but the general public would regard as wonderful. There have been a number of times when I went with a friend who attends once a year to ABT or NYCB based on her schedule (not on casting), and my friend was thrilled with a performance that I regarded as so-so.

Brooklyn Academy of Music brought back this same production in 2012 or 2013. I saw it at BAM at that time and it was wonderful. One of the best things I've seen at BAM.

That is true, but in this particular case Gergiev has a strong and direct relationship with Putin. Even though Gergiev and Netrebko are not world wide superstars of pop culture like Madonna, they are in a position to be heard by Putin because he has favored them.

When the members of a certain Russian punk band whose name I will not repeat on this forum were imprisoned, Amnesty Intl and media all over the world covered the the story. Various performing artists (like Madonna and other rock bands) spoke out publicly to call attention to Russian oppression of the members of the group. Ultimately, international pressure, includng pressure from performing artists, led to the Russian government releasing the members of the band from prison. Shining a bright light on injustice, whether it is through the media or by performing artists, or a combination, does have an impact.

There are several "home grown" principals, not just Kent and Murphy. Hallberg, Gomes, Stearns, Seo, Herrera. Not sure if Herman Cornejo came in as a corps member or a soloist. Don't we want 7 different lead casts for 7 performances of Bayadere? Since nearly the entire audience of ABT is repeat customers who come back year after year, doesn't it make sense that in order to sell tickets to the old warhorse ballets, they must have new casts to generate interest and ticket purchases? All aspects of life today are global, and that includes ballet. I can bet you that the male dancers at the Bolshoi were not pleased when Hallberg joined and took away their old roles.

I agree that Stella has been treated badly at ABT and she deserved better. However,Radetsky is another matter entirely. He is not a strong partner. I've seen many instances of that problem over the years. I'm not talking about physical strength. I'm talking about his level of skill. In addition, sometimes he can be be exciting in terms of his jumping ability, but he often lands with a big thud. In addition, he lacks a beautiful classical line. He is more suited to modern works like Tharp. I don't think there was ever much realistic hope that Radetsky would have have been promoted to principal at ABT. I cannot buy into the above comparison between Radetsky and Steifel. They are like apples and oranges. McKenzie's job isn't to be a cheerleader or morale booster. His job is to keep the money coming in from donors and from ticket purchases. If inviting guest artists to sell out the 3,000 seat Met auditorium is part of keeping the company in the black instead of in the red, so be it.

Funny you mention Claire Von Enck. Whenever she is on stage my eyes are drawn to her in the corps. She is a wonderful dancer and has the face of an angel.

I actually attended the Friday evening Butterfly performance at the Met. It was first time hearing Opolais. I thought she sounded shrill at the beginning, but as she warmed up she sounded much better. I would see her again. Did not like the voice of James Valenti, who sang Pinkerton.

The knucle cracking comment made me laugh out loud. Thanks for the humor. I agree Catazo was much better than Finlay in Soiree. Catazaro has been missing in action for a while. Maybe he's injured? I hope not. He is a star in the making. In fairness though, Finlay is returning to the stage after a long period of injury, so he may not yet be at his best.

Yes, that's exactly what I was getting at. Often you see in the Petipa ballets that the choreography is by Artisitic Director X "after Petipa", and many elements are identical to the traditional Petipa choregraphy with Artistic Director X making a few of his own tweaks to gain credit and an additional royaltychoreographer paycheck.

Did you like the design elements? I thought they were almost as interesting and full of meaning as the choreography. That's rare.

This article appeared in today's NY Times. It focuses on whether prominent international artists have a duty to speak out against injustices in their countries. The primary focus is Dudamel and Gergiev, although other prominent figures are also mentioned. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/arts/music/gustavo-dudamel-and-valery-gergiev-face-national-issues.html?ref=arts# With respect to ballet, does David Hallberg's historic status as the first American invited to be a principal dancer at the Bolshoi come with any broader responsibilities than simply dancing?

The way the quote reads it makes it seem like Tomasson created these three ballets from scratch. Haven't seen his "versions" of R&J, Don Q and Giselle, but I assume they are substantially similar to the standard versions.

No reports on last night's performance?

You can get seat boosters for kids in the basement of the Met. It's free, I think, but you're required to leave your ID.

This sounds like what NYCB did a few years ago. They drastically increased the prices in many seating areas, so the only option for those unwilling to pay the new prices were to either move to a different (worse) seating area or stop going all together. I think they lost a lot of subscribers who were not willing to put up with the new pricing system.