abatt

I 'm plenty nervous about whether Stearns can execute the extremely difficult choreography in T&V.

Glad you had a good time. Thanks for your reports.

I thought for sure they would give Lane a T&V since she's done the role before. Whiteside is picking up an impressive array of roles. I recall Fang being lovely in Sylphides, but evidently she is not cast in that ballet. Thanks for the casting info Dale.

Cojocaru was never listed as a principal - only a guest artist. I suspect she would continue to guest w. ABT. If Osipova is no longer performing w. ABT, that will be a real loss of $$$$ for ABT. Osipova, I believe, was someone who definitely boosted ticket sales..Maybe she will be a guest artist, and come in for 1 or 2 shows. I get the feeling that we'll be seeing more of Kochetkova.

Actually, if memory serves the Bolshoi did not bring SL to New York during their last visit. They brought Don Q. Bright Stream, Spartacus and the Pharaoh's Daughter.

I thought it was an interesting documentary, with many thoughtful interviews. I might have reduced the amount of time spent on the trials and tribulations of Rasta Thomas in preparing his show, as that became boring relatively quickly. I especially enjoyed comments from Mark Morris, Judith Jamison, Merce Cunningham, and Freddie Franklin.

Korbes is not American. I believe that's why the Times didn't list her in the article .

Reminder: This program will be on PBS tomorrow evening in NY City. It repeats on Sunday afternoon, July 28.

Didn't O/V both resign from the Mik? Thrilled at the prospect of seeing Sarafanov.

Thanks

I saw a blurb in the NY Times today announcing the upcoming season of the Alvin Ailey company. They will perform Chroma during the 2013-14 season. Does Chroma contain pointe work for the women? I'm asking because Ailey is modern, and they don't do pointe work in any of their rep.(Some of their dancers do have ballet training.)

The idea of doing a Broadway revival of American in Paris has been kicking around for years. In fact, I think that the Wheeldon production of An American in Paris that he did for NYCB started out as Wheeldon's potential draft of the choreography for the show.I'm not sure what kind of shape Damian Woetzel is in at this stage of his life, but he would seem like a strong candidate for the Gene Kelly role.

Agree w. you Waelsung. When Ratmansky gets his hands on a classic that he tries to revamp to make his own unique stamp, things go off the rails. I could not stand his Nutcracker or his Firebird. He is at his best when he is creating something from scratch, rather than making a new version of a well known classic.

Abrera was wonderful as Florine. Radetsky did not partner her well. Agree with the praise of Lendorf. He was excellent, and I'm glad I had a chance to see him.

Part gave a master class tonight on how to dance the Vision scene. She and Gomes were fantastic. Part was very confident and commanding throughout. Those balances no longer plague her. By the way, Boylston was a much better cat tonight than on Friday night. Time for bed. Hopefully will post more tomorrow.

It was good to see you Christian. I hope you enjoyed your trip!

I thought Murphy & Whiteside performed beautifully last night. Murphy was not as secure in the Birthday scene as in prior outings. She did fine, but no daredevil balances in the Rose Adagio. She sparkled throughout the rest of the performance, though. Whiteside had strong technique and very good partnering skills. His acting is weak, but I can accept that. Given the number of lead roles he has taken on this season (SB on about a week's notice, after Corey was injured), I would have to say that McKenzie hit a home run in hiring this guy. If all goes well the next few months, I expect that he will be the next male principal at ABT. Hee Seo was lovely as Lilac, although a bit more happiness in her facial expression would have been appreciated. Lane was a lovely Florine. Gorak replaced Simkin as Bluebird. It looked like he and Lane had little or no rehearsal time together. It was some of the worst partnering I've seen at ABT. Boylston was the cat, and she wore a glum expression throughout. The bubble over her head would read: "I should be dancing Aurora or at least Florine. What the #$%! am I doing being cast as the Cat? SB sells. The Big House has been packed all week.

Casting changes due to Stearns' injury. Forster is replacing Stearns in Symphony in C. Due to a lack of a tall partner (apparently), they have removed Part from the Corsaire casting. Herrera and Vasileiv move into the July 13 evening and Reyes Cornejo move into the July 14 cast as Medora and Conrad. Joe Phillips replaces Cornejo as Ali. It's interesting that ABT went out of its way to find a short partner for Cornejo for his SL and SB performances, but instead of finding a tall partner for Part in Corsaire, they dropped her from Corsaire and gave her performance to someone else.

I don't think it's unconscionable to expect a principal dancer to debut in SB and SL during the same season. After all, Hee Seo does not perform lead roles in a number of the ballets that ABT presented this season, such as DonQ , Sylvia and Corsaire. She already knew her roles in Eugene Onegin and R&J from prior seasons, so it does not seem like an unduly excessive burden. The NY Post review of her SB was much kinder to her SB debut than a lot of the comments I've read here.

If Zakharova dropped out because she was angry she didn't get first cast, then she is clearly a very petty individual.

Let me add my voice to the chorus of praise for Sarah Lane. She was gorgeous. I'm so happy for her. Simkin was especially wonderful in his solos. There were some partnering issues,but no disasters. Stella was luminous. McKenzie should be hanging his head in shame for failing to recognzie the talents of Lane and Abrera. I saw Kochetkov/Cornejo in the evenng. Her Rose Adagio was competent and professional, but not breathtaking on any level. I thought she did better in the later acts. However, if her presence gave our wonderful Herman a chance to perform Desire, I guess I cannot object too much. Herman was extraordinary. Kajiya is miscast as Lilac (much too short). I also saw Monday night's performance. Aurora is one of Paloma's best roles. She was lovely, and Marcelo was magnificent (of course).

I also find Manon to be dreary with generally uninteresting choreography. However, I would see Vishneva in it is revived at ABT.

There have been a number of clunkers that never returned. Parson's The Pied Piper, the Snow Maiden, HereAfter (or AfterHere, depending on which night you saw it), Anastasia. I hated Taming and would not see it again if they brought it back.

You and at least half the patrons in the audience.

Do the Cranko stagers really have so much power that they can dictate who dances on which night? Seems like unwelcome micromanagement.