abatt

I didn't see Trenary's Koch debut in Giselle, but I recall that people who did noted that she blew the hops on pointe.  And we know from the NYTimes article that she did the same thing on tour this year.  So yesterday's incident was at least the third time it happened.  Nobody is perfect.  People make mistakes.  But you cannot keep making the same mistake over and over without taking action before thousands of paying customers.  

I too am  surprised because she did well in Ratmansky's SB and in the tricky choreography in Whipped Cream.  She was also quite wonderful with Tharp's company at City Center. 

I had forgotten how  Part was excoriated for coming off pointe in the Rose Adagio. After that, I think she may have gotten one more performance as Aurora, but in all future performances   she was Lilac Fairy.  

For me, the dancing must be in service of the drama.  The drama can never be the most important or impressive aspect of a ballet.   

I don't go to most Copeland performances anymore because I found her execution, or lack of execution, of difficulty choreography a huge problem.  Yesterday watching Trenary I had similar feelings.  

Trenarys technique is weaker than any of the other GIselles at abt this week. Even the much maligned hee seo was far better. 

Having seen ternary in Giselle today , I now see why MCKenzie did not cast her in swan lake.

I think self delusion may be part of the DNA of certain types of performers.  I felt that Bouder's complaints in print and on television that she was perfectly in shape and was being treated unfairly at NYCB because she gained a few pounds was also delusional.  It was clear that she was very out of shape when she came back from a year of injury.  It appears that some dancers simply need to believe so strongly in themselves that they are unable to separate fact from fiction.  This is part of what happened in Gabe's case. 

Re Gomes, he  resigned.  He was not terminated from ABT.  He was outraged that ABT would conduct an investigation of him.  But at that time the MeToo Movement was all the rage, and an employer was required to investigate any allegation that involved even an iota of sexual misconduct.  It is a shame we lost Gomes.

The NY Times frequently publishes response letters.  I hope someone on here submits a rebuttal to Mr. Shayer's letter. 

This week I have been thinking back to Sarah Lane's heartbreaking Giselle, and what a shame that she is no longer in the company.

There are mediocre people of all backgrounds at ABT who are principals - Asian, African American and Caucasian. 

Shevchenko should have been with Bell, as the last time ABT performed this.  But Bell is the only guy apparently who is tall and big enough to partner Teuscher as Giselle.  This is the partner shuffle problem at ABT.  

Shayer also fails to mention that Calvin was promoted at the same time as many other people, including Trenary, Brandt  and Forster, I believe.  It's not like Royal was singled out for promotion as a response to Black Lives Matter.

Shayer danced the role of slave owner, Lankadem.  He forgot to mention that in the article.

I thought I heard Calvin screamed out.  I did not hear it as Shevy.

He is still listed on the ABT roster.  This sounds like a set up for a lawsuit if/when they do not renew. his contract. 

The most disturbing thing in this article was that he decided to throw Calvin under the bus to suggest that he was promoted due to his skin color. 

It is also completely lost on him that he is praising Russia for colorblindness, but Russia is the only country that still uses blackface in its productions.  Is that not offensive to him?  Russia is brutal in its treatment of ethnic minorities.  Russia also criminalizes  being gay.  Does he really want to praise Russia?  Think it through Gabe.  Think it through.

I notice that this article does not have an option for people to comment.  Too bad.  I agree that Shayer was not a great dancer.  He was mediocre at best.  I'm sorry to say this because I have met his mother, and she is so sweet.   

Additionally, Shayer is short and short men are generally not used in danseur roles.  The company has limited space for short men in the lead roles, and Herman is and was the go-to short guy.  For a while Cirio, who is immensely talented, also filled the short guy lead roles. It took Herman, one of the greatest dancers of his generation, years and years to be assigned the danseur roles.  He was stuck at soloist level doing peasant pas  for an extended period of time because of his stature.  Shayer is not a fraction of the dancer that Herman was in his heyday. 

Nobody will ever fully know why DeLuz left, but he was another short guy who was never going to get his due at ABT, especially after they promoted Herman to principal and left DeLuz at the soloist level.  Shayer never even mentions height as a potential issue. 

Harlequin is a lead role.  Why is Shayer denigrating it?

He also implies in this article that Calvin was promoted  to principal because he is black.  Not cool.

I will agree with him that Lifted was a  dumb idea. 

Feeling sorry for Susan Jaffe, because she was not in charge of the company during the time period that Shayer is complaining  about, but she has to deal with the fallout from this article. 

I think Schevchenko has made enormous progress due to her performances with the Ukranians of the role, and I did like her chemistry with Royal.  I had not previously seen Royal as Albrecht.  The thing that disappointed me was that Royal did only about 20 entrechat sixes, and then tried to kill time to wait out the rest of the music.  Definitely not a dance to the death, just a dance till I'm a bit tired.   I expect that for older dancers, but Calvin in still relatively young.

As noted above, the peasant pas went much better last night for Gonzalez and Granlund.

I would not favorably compare any of the performances so far this season with Vishneva- Gomes, Osipova-Hallberg or other truly greats from the past.  (Ferri, Ananiashvilli  and Bocca!!)

One thing that must be noted is that apart from whether a dancer has skill on his own merit, it takes a period of working together to establish chemistry.  The above greats regularly worked together over a period of years or decades.  However, in the current company there is a regular shuffling of partners, which hinders the development of a meaningful partnership. 

Did anyone else notice that in the two lifts that Cornejo did in which he lifted Brandt overhead (the so called table top lifts), he did each lift in two stages.  First she was lifted relatively low above him.  Then he paused  and fully extended his arms to lift her higher above his head.  That's how you lift a barbell, not your beloved Giselle.  It took me out of the ballet.  None of the other Albrechts I have seen have paused mid-lift in this manner. 

I thought I read somewhere that Misty intends to return in 2024.  it does not seem like she would participate in the fall 2023 season. 

Who knows if Kevin did any coaching.  I think he may have been there to see Hurlin, who has been a part of ABT since childhood, make her debut in this major role. 

Given how much better Misseldeine was on Wed night compared to the prior  nights, I would say somebody definitely gave her some additional coaching before her Wed evening show. 

I don't think principals at ABT retire in the Fall season.  They get the full blown goodbye at the Met Opera House.

Would love to see Roxander as Benno and also as Benvolio.  I would also like to see Curley and Gonzalez in these roles.   

What to make of the fac t that the usual suspects for peasant pas seem to be missing in action.  No Gorak, no Blaine Hoven, no Luciana Paris.  Mind you, I'm not complaining.  Just trying to read the tea leaves.

I felt that the Cornejo Brandt performance was pretty similar to what they did in the Fall of 2021, except that Cornejo clearly has declined since Fall of 2021.  He did the brises and killed time to wait out the remainder of the music where is is being danced to death.  He also cut back elsewhere in Act Ii.  So for example, in a sequence where some men do three jetes, he would do two. i would rather remember him as he used to be in his prime.  

Hurlin's debut was very good, and Carmago is certainly a great asset to ABT.  

Roxander was great. Give him and  curley more to do.misseldine was great. She corrected many of the issues mentioned in my prior posts. 

Osipova's hop variation is much more difficult than what Teuscher did.  Osipova rotates a full 360 degrees on point before resuming the hops across the diagonal of the stage. Teuscher only rotated a few degrees (maybe 30 degrees)  to her left  so that she could face Bell, who was seated on the bench.  Then she rotated back to doing the hops across the diagonal.  Teuscher never rotated anything close to 360 degrees.

I think there may be some Osipova haters on this site, but I agree with California.  Those were glory days.  An incredible era.

25 minutes ago, California said:

He's become my favorite to watch, especially after his Don Q last season.  Interesting that he is the only male principal with two SLs this summer. If hints of Etudes this fall are true, he's one of the few men at ABT with the technique to handle the lead. 

Yes, Bell and Carmago are now my favorite ABT dancers.  Bell is more classically refined than Carmago. Has Carmago done Giselle elsewhere?  Very curious to see what he and Hurricane Hurlin do tomorrow afternoon.  I'm taking a vacation day from work to see the performance. 

34 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

Where you say Misseldine "is too slow at her entrance" I assume you're referring to her bourres in the entrance? I thought the speed was fine, but yes could be a bit quicker. But, I had more of an issue with her noisy pointe shoes.

Happy to hear Teuscher's debut went well, though I cannot picture her as Giselle at all. I'm looking to seeing Bell in SL.

Yes, I was referring to the bourres. That entrance can cause an audience to erupt into applause if done with speed.  When it's done slowly the effect of Myrta as a spirit floating across the stage is lost.  And Yes, Misseldine did have loud  landings. 

Teuscher was very good today in her debut as Giselle.  Aran Bell was breathtaking.  He is the perfect romantic lead.  His dancing was flawless.  The guy has it all - dramatic presence, fabulous technique and good partnering skills.  He had no trouble with the overhead lifts of Devon, who is  quite tall.  He did at least 32 - may have been 33 - entrechat sixes.   

I expected that given her strong technique Teuscher might take more risks, but for the most part she played it safe.  in act I during the hops of pointe she periodically rotated the hops a bit to point her foot toward Aran Bell.  I've seen others in the past do this as well.  It added an additional dimension of difficulty.  She whirled around pretty quickly at the opening  of Act II when she is first summoned by Myrta.  Lovely use of her arms and upper body.  

Messeldine improved, but still is too slow at her entrance in my opinion.  She also needs to arch her back more.  Hey, maybe now that McKenzie is gone they could bring in Veronika Part, a flawless and memorable Myrta, to teach!

Park and Sebastian did the peasant pas.  Park had complete mastery of the chorography. She is likely a future candidate to dance Giselle.

I know someone else who was at the Giselle dress rehearsal who thought Teuscher was wonderful.