abatt

MM doesn't choreograph at NYCB for similar reasons. I recall reading a few years ago that Peter Martins has invited him to choreograph at NYCB, but MM declined the invite.

There will be a one-night only lecture tomorrow night, (Oct 8) at St. Luke's Theater in Manhattan sponsored by Dancers Over 40 titled "Balanchine and Beyond". The lineup of speakers looks very enticing. See link below for info and tickets. If this has been posted elsewhere, sorry for the duplication.

http://www.telecharge.com/BehindTheCurtain.aspx?prodid=9252

Thanks, Marga.

There was no mention of Herman Cornejo. Was he cast at all at the Bard engagment?

I saw the new Peck ballet on Friday night. It wasn't my cup of tea. Frequently, there seemed to be no relationship between the music and the choreography. The music was often just background music. DeLuz and Bouder were employed for their jumping and spinning abilities, respectively, but nothing they did was memorable in the context of the ballet. The heart of the ballet was a lovely little pdd for Taylor and Hall. The corps spend a lot of time laying down on the floor, or sliding on the floor. One particularly pretentious and annyoying thing was when the corps exited once he had them all make the "SHHH" noise. How juvenile. It was not a disaster (I've seen much worse), but it's not something I would recommend to a friend either.

I wanted to take this opportunity to praise Reichlin's tall girl earlier this week. I know it's been said before, but she was incredible. Her jumps were huge, and she had the right combo of sex appeal and technique. She completely eclipsed everyone on stage.

When the Mariinsky came to New York two summers ago, they could not sell out the Metropolitan Opera House either, even with the large Russian population in the New York City area. IN fact, ticket sales were pretty poor for certain nights. Of course, they were performing Ratmansky ballets, not Swan Lake. I think part of the issue was that the Mariinsky ticket prices were sky high. If memory serves, they were chargining $90 for Balcony seats (the balcony is pretty far away from the stage). I guess the thinking is that they should charge sky high at first, and then dump the remaining seats on discount if necessary. By contrast, this summer the Paris Opera Ballet at the Koch Theater in NY was a virtual sell out at every performance, and the ticket prices were, IMHO, reasonable. (I know the Koch has about 1,000 fewer seats than the Met.)

There hasn't been much discussion about it, but this weekend the Bolshoi's La Sylphide will be broadcast in New York. starring Krysanova and Lopatin. For those who have seen this production, how were their performances, and is this a good production?

Bat/bird removal is probably some other union's job at the theater.

Thanks. I was thinking about the full length ballets at the Met. The Bolle/Part SL of a few years ago was among the best I've seen, but then they were never re-united in subsequent years. I will be seeing them at the Oct 20 performance at City Center.

Thanks for posting the above link, kbarber. Bolle posted some photos on his twitter page of his recent performace w. Veronika Part at the opening night at the LA Philharmonic. They look so good together. It's a shame that ABT has not cast them as partners for so many years.

Hi Vipa. I was there last night, too. Fairchild has improved tremendously in Rubies since her debut a few years ago, but Bouder is still my favorite in this role. DeLuz was fantastic. I agree with you about Tiler Peck in Andantino.

I thought the most significant debut last night was Reichlin in the second movement of Symphony in C. I think this is still a work in progress for her. She is, in my opinion, a more natural choice in neoclassical ballets than tutu and tiara roles. (I would love to see Reichlin move up to the lead in Agon.) Last night sometimes Reichlin was tentative and/or not with the music. The bigger issue, though, was lack of interpretive nuance or connection w. J. Stafford. I thought her performance fell short overall, but I'm sure it will improve over time. This is an iconic and difficult role to master.

Scheller was marvelous in the first movement in her debut. Such speed and precision.

I think Pereira (third movement) is at a disadvantage because she still looks like a teenager, especially in a sophisticated tutu ballet like Symphony in C. I thought Lauren King (fourth movement) did well, but her performance, I'm sure, will look more polished in future outings. Carmena and Adrain D-W were very impressive in the thrid and fourth movements.

The documentary on Jock Soto was called Water Flowing Together. That name is a reference to the name of Soto's Navajo clan.

The Apollo pdd or the Diamond pdd would seem logical, but getting permission from the Balanchine Police might be problematic. I'm not sure that I've ever seen the main pdd from Apollo performed independently from the ballet in its entirety. For that reason, I suspect we might get something with fewer copyright hurdles. We'll see.

I wonder what she will be performing at the Stars of the 21st Century gala in NYC on Oct 18. Does anyone know?

I thought Finlay's Apollo was marvelous at the Saturday evening performancem except for that one major stumble near the end of his second solo. He was brimming with excitement and energy. I also have to mention how wonderful Tiler Peck was in Baiser- so wonderfully musical and lyrical.

Some might be interested in this article, titled "Going Hollywood", in the Times regarding the Fall Gala, and how arts institutions are trying to incrrease their profile and their bank accounts by attracting celebrities to their galas.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/30/fashion/going-hollywood-in-new-york-the-ballet-and-opera-are-stuffy-no-more.html?ref=style

No, the costumes for Rubies were not by Valentino. The Rubies costumes are the same ones that they use every season. It was obvious that most of the audience had never seen Rubies before, because there was a collective gasp and spontaneous applause when the curtain was first raised for this ballet.

I'm just back from the Gala tonight. The stars were out in full force. In attendance were Anne Hathaway, Sarah Jessica Parker, Iman, Angelica Houston (wow, too much plastic surgery is dangerous), Misha, Karolina Kurkova, Barbara Walters, David and Julia Koch, Roberto Bolle and of course Valentino. In my opinion, the costumes upstaged the weak choreography of Peter Martins. Sophisticated Lady was minor ballet in which Chuck Askegard waltzed Maria K around the stage for a few minutes. Maria's dress was stunning, but the there was no sophistication in the choregraphy. Not My Girl, w. Tiler Peck and R. Fairchild, was a very brief duo in which Fairchild showed off his tap dancing, and Tiler flirted with him in her colorful Valentino tutu. The choreography, again by Martins,was more at the level of student workshop than NYCB. Thankfully, it was brief.

Things picked up considerably with This Bitter Earth, an excerpt of a new ballet by C. Wheeldon titled Five Movements, Three Repeats. I thought this ballet was sensational, and I hope that this one becomes part of the rep of NYCB. Whelan and Tyler Angle danced a tender and moving pdd of great depth. The costumes were much more neutral in this ballet than the other costumes that Valentino created for this evening. Wendy's dress had a sheer skirt that allowed you to see her line. Chris Wheeldon again strikes gold in creating a role on his muse, Wendy.

Rubies brought a number of significant debuts, and was cast primarily with corps and soloist members. Ashly Isaacs and Danny Ulbricht did the third section of the ballet, and they were brilliant. Their super charged technique and extroverted stage manner were spot on. Kikta initially looked tentative as the tall girl, but she improved as the ballet proceeded. It was good to see Anthony Huxley back on stage again after a long absence. He did the pdd with Lauren Lovette. I thought they were wonderful together, and that Lovette did an excellent job in bringing out the angularity of her role. This girl is going places. Pereira, Carmena and Lowery danced the initial section of the ballet..Why hasn't Ulbricht been cast in this ballet before? He is perfect for it, and he is, in my opinion, underutilized at NYCB.

The final ballet of the evening was Bal de Couture, to the music from Eugene Onegin. Again, I thought the costumes upstaged the choreography of Martins. Six of the women wear gorgeous dresses designed in various permutations of black and white. The dresses are so elaborate and have so many layers that there is no possibility of inserting any complex lifts into the choreography. The dresses, in my opinion, hamper any possiblity of demanding choreography for those who are wearing them. The main role of these beautifully dressed ladies is to waltz around the stage with their dapper partners during the polonaise from Eugene Onegin. In addition, there are three women wearing tutus (M. Fairchild, Bouder and Peck). Personally, I thought the six dresses were gorgeous, but the tutus were unflattering. They made these three women look short waisted and broad shouldered, in my opinion. (The women all have their hair done up in elaborate up-dos.) I thought the choreography for the ensemble was very pedestrian. The central leads of the ballet are Janie Taylor, Robbie Fairchild and Sebastian Marcovici. (Janie's dress is a lovely lilac color with billowing arms and a sequin butterfly in the center of the back. This dress is sheer and light, and is much more suitable for ballet dancing.) It is a romantic trio ballet which vaguely references the Onegin plot- Janie loves and is committed to Marcovici, but Fairchild is the man from her past for whom she still yearns. I was hoping that this would be developed more in the ballet, but it seemed to go nowhere. The choreography for the trio was pleasurable but uninspired.

All in all, a fun evening of costume and people watching.

By the way, the updated casting has Bouder replaced in her assignments for this week and next, but she danced tonight. Not sure what's up with that.

I'm not a big fan of Orpheus, but Taylor and Marcovici were compelling in this ballet earlier this week.

Although Sara Mearns did not dance, she looked sensational in her red Valentino gown on the red carpet.

Here's a fluff piece from today's NY Times re tonight's gala. If nothing else, the costumes at least should be fabulous.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/20/fashion/valentino-sarah-jessica-parker-and-new-york-city-ballet.html?ref=fashion

I was wondering when Renee Robinson would retire. I didn't see much (or any?) of her last season. I had thought that she might have been a candidate to take over the Ailey company after Jamison retired, but obviously that did not occur.

I too miss Kisselgoff's reviews.

Yes, there is definitely a big question mark as to when Kent will retire. She still seems to be going full steam ahead, and has given very strong performances in well-selected vehicles like Onegin.

I thought Muntagirov danced very well at ABT in Swan Lake, but his lack of chemistry w. Dvorovenko was evident. It is difficult for a dancer to drop in for one or two shows with minimal rehearsal time and no prior relationship with a particular partner.

I'm going to chime in and agree with the posts that praised Vasiliev's acting as Solor in Bayadere this season. (I also saw his Spartacus a few years ago at the Kennedy Center, and he was riveting.) He is not a one-trick-pony. He can act and convey characterization, as proven by that performance. Maybe he is not ready or suitable for the full roster of princely roles, but it is not fair, either, to say that he should automatically be excluded from those roles. Obviously, to each his own. I would much rather go to Vasiliev performance than a Cory Stearns performance even though Stearns has the coveted princely body type.

How do we think this new development will impact the other short virtuoso men at ABT? Cornejo is clearly a very important star at ABT, so I doubt that Vasiliev will cut into Herman's territory. However, I'm not sure whether this will hurt Daniil's chances for a promotion. Personally, I'm thrilled about Vasiliev's more permanent relationship with ABT.

I know that the Lar Lubovitch version is completely different from the Limon version, but I would have expected to see Abrera as Emilia and Radetsky as Iago. I believe those are roles that they had in the Lubovitch version, and I thought Radetsky, in particular, was well cast as the villain.

I'm also happy to see that Lane got Stars & Stripes. I hope she does a great job with it. I assumed that they would have given it to Kajiya.

If nothing else, this new film should be a visual feast of costumes and scenery.

Simkin posted some "tentative" casting regarding his roles on his website. He listed opening night (though he did not identify which ballet he would perform in) and the Friday matinee of Leaves are Fading. I have not been able to find any other info on casting,

http://www.daniilsimkin.com/