abatt

More festive party pictures:

http://www.newyorkso...om/node/1908259

Nancy Kissinger looks better in old age than she ever did in middle age.

LOL re Mrs. Kissinger. Plastic surgery can do wonders.

One of the pictures is of Helene Alexopolous. I thought I saw her in the theater, but it has been so many years since she retired that I just was not sure. She still looks great.

Kajiya and Simkin had their debut in DonQ at ABT together during the last run of DonQs at the Met. I saw their performance. Simkin did an excellent job. I thought Kajiya was was in over her head at times, especially in terms of technique. (I think Simkin has done DonQ numerous times at other companies. In fact, I think there may be a DVD out there of him as Basilio.)

I don't think Gomes has previously done the role of Basilio in its entirety at the Met. He danced one act at the Alonso gala, but has he previously danced the entire role? He was a great Espada. I guess he won't be doing that role anymore.

City Center will be open for business on July 23. During that entire week (through July 28) City Center is presenting Uncle Vanya as part of Lincoln Center Festival. The fact that the box office will in fact be open, but they will not sell ABT tickets, is maddening. It's a ploy by City Center to make money from telephone and internet handling fees from people who want to buy tickets before Sept. 4.

Cornejo has not performed with Barcelona Ballet for some time (since his split with Carmen?). Corella wouldn't have any non compete clause to enforce, because I doubt he has any recent/current contracts with any ABT dancers. Non compete clauses always have very specific limitations on the time period during which they are to be in effect; otherwise they are unenforceable. Even if Corella had such a clause in a prior contract w. Cornejo from years ago, it would not be enforceable now.

I do feel sorry for the fact that Barcelona Ballet has competition in its home base from ABT, but that's life ...

I just noticed on the ABT calendar that the company will perform in Barcelona in late October. They are doing Don Q. Here is the link to the calendar.

http://www.abt.org/c...tdate=10/1/2012

Notably, Boylston is debuting as Kitri. The lady is well on her way. I think she would be very good in that role.

True to her word (and her contract) Semionova will appear on the Barcelona tour.

Also, the lucky Spaniards will see Osipova and Vasiliev together in this ballet. Please, please let us see them together at the Met next season in this.

_{I saw tons of empty seats at Bright Stream. Also, the attendance varied greatly depending on the cast. The attendance at the Herrera/Gomes Romeo & Juliet was poor, but the Vishneva/Gomes R&J was packed.}

I'm not sure how to interpret the statement that it was their best box office year. They raised prices, and dynamic ticket pricing was applicable to a lot of performances. Based on these factors, they were making more money per ticket sold than in any prior year, but was attendance up too? I'm happy they are making money,and I enjoy seeing all these guest artists. I'm just trying to understand the mathematics, facts and figures on this.

I've also seen the Irina and Max do the Junk pdd (at the last Stars fo the 21st Centruy gala several years ago, I think.) It looked NOTHING like the way Ethan Steifel and Susan Jaffe did it. They were fantastic. I've also seen Gomes do this role, and he was fantastic. Max was all wrong for the Junk pdd.

Puppytreats, if you are taliking about Roberto Bolle, no I don't think he would be allowed to participate in this gala. He is under contract for the (simultaneous) ABT City Center season.

Yes, Natalia, I thought the EXACT same thing about Simkin! However, I don't think any of the ABT dancers under contract for the ABT City Center engagement during Oct 16-20 will be permitted to perform at the gala. So I think we are at least safe from seeing Les Bourgeois. However, nothing would prevent Dvorovenko/Max B. from showing up and doing Splendid Isolation for the millionth time, as they are not appearing at City Center. These galas are a big, easy pay day for the dancers.

The roster of "stars" looks a little slim. I can tell you from past experience that the price certainly will not be slim. They have not done one of these galas in some years. (In fact, the YAGP galas seem to have the greatest array of stars in recent years.) It's your typical gala fare of pdd and some solos. Let's hope that we don't get Radio and Juliet again from Matvienko. They use recorded music only at the gala.

Fourth ring aficianados, please explain the appeal. I want to see faces!

The fourth ring is not a problem if you have good binoculars. Closure of the fourth ring is a little game designed by NYCB to force people to buy more expensive seats once the relatively small number of inexpensive seats in the lower levels are sold out. It's a way of keeping the supply of tickets artificially low in order to coax people into buying more expensive seats. POB adopted the NYCB structure. I went to the box office to buy a POB ticket a few weeks ago and was told that the fourth ring was still closed off from sale. I wanted to buy a seat at the cheapest price pont, but there were none available. I ended up buying a more expensive seat in the back of the seond ring. The POB engagement is a rare engagement, so I bought the more expensive seat. However, if this had been a NYCB performance, I would have walked without hesitation.

Today's NY Times offers a very insightful review of Dupont's Giselle, and the differences between the way the Parisians perform Giselle and the way others perform it. Of the 3 Giselles I saw over the weekend, Dupont's was the most aloof. The other two Giselles were more dramatically adept. I thought all of the men were very, very good. LeRiche was the most touching of the three men. M.A. Gillot was an excellent Myrta. I much prefer the renditions performed by ABT and the Mariinsky. None of these POB performances have come close to some of the wonderful performances I have seen at ABT and the Mariinsky (in DC). Here is the link to the article

http://www.nytimes.c...r.html?ref=arts

I have to agree w. canbelto about Friday evening's performance. The revelation was Ganio. He was terrific. I also enjoyed the peasant pas. Definitiely more dancing than in the ABT version. I liked Dupont's acting and she was beautifully lyrical, but I too wished she had more elevation. Hers was a very graceful performance, but it lacked intense drama. Is the glacial pace of the bourees of Myrta a POB method, or is Cozette just woefully slow? She blended into the scenery. I didn't like her Myrtha at all. The corps was excellent. The production looked very cramped on that stage.

Certain details I really enjoyed were two separate moments in Act I when Dupont feels the presence/onset of the Wilis approaching. (One such moment is when her mother is telling the story of the Willis, and she is on the opposite end of the stage and cups her hand to her ear. Then she rubs her arms, as though she feels a sudden chill.) I also liked how this production makes very clear why Albrecht's sword is such an important detail in revealing his true identity. That is mostly lost in the ABT version.

I don't think it would have been a good idea for them to perform Robbins and Balanchine during their NY visit. New Yorkers see that rep all the time. They wanted to bring something different that was quintessentially French. Though these works were not masterpieces, they are rarely seen in NY.

I agree that Bolero looked a lot less impressive last night than with LeRiche. In part, I think it may be simply because it is a more interesting ballet (to me) with an all male cast. It wasn't only that LeRiche has more charisma. With an all male cast, it looked like some sort of cult or initiation meeting. With a woman in the lead, it didn't seem that way at all. It just looked like a sexual tease, as she flung her long, sweaty hair around. All she needed was a pole to slither on. Since this kind of thing has become common place in TV and movies, it really isn't so shocking or interesting anymore.

I checked a handy pamphlet from the US Copyright office. It states in part

or performances that have not been written or recorded)

See link below for details

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/12/fall-for-dance-announces-2012-lineup/?ref=arts

The link for specific programs is below, from the City Center website

http://www.nycitycenter.org/tickets/productionNew.aspx?performanceNumber=6650

Ticket prices will be $15 (up from $10 the past few years).

Last night I attended the opening night performance of POB at the Koch Theater. I had never seen any of the works on the program before. Suite en Blanc is a lovely classical ballet that held me in rapt attention. (Bullon was replaced, but I couldn't hear the name of the dancer who replaced him.) In particular, Gillot was captivating in La Cigarette. Dupont and Pech were ethereal in the Adagio and Gilbert was fantastic in the Flute section. There were some coordination issues in the performances of the men in the pas de Cinq, but I enjoyed seeing Renavand. I was very impressed by the unison and accuracy of the female corps.

L'Arlesienne had quite a few dull patches in the choregraphy, but J. Belingard did a great job. I had not read any synopsis in advance, so a lot of what was going on dramatically didn't make sense until the final moments.

Nicholas LeRiche performed the lead in Bolero. At the outset, I was a little bored, but as the performance proceeded I was transfixed by the entire cast, and whatever odd ritual they were enacting. LeRich has the magnetism and sex appeal to hold your attention. (Afterwards, I made a little wish list of other men I would love to see in the role. They included Marcelo Gomes and Roberto Bolle.) I'm not sure how I will like this ballet with a female lead.

The house seemed sold to the rafters. I even saw people up in the fifth ring.

Yes, originally (two seasons ago, I think) it was just Cojocaru, and Kobborg was a last minute sub in Giselle as Irina's partner. (This was one of the numerous times that Max cancelled at the last minute.) However, this season it developed into a regular gig for him, not a last minute invite to substitute. (Cojocaru had done a Bayadere with ABT a long time ago (maybe ten years ago) and I think Angel was her partner then.)

As a practical matter, I think ABT is not looking to hire someone who is 39 years old, even if it is for only one ballet. McKenzie seems interested in trying out new talent at ABT where there is a potential for a long term relationship with the company if things work out. I understand that he took on Kobborg, who is no youngster, but that seems to have been part of a package deal to get Cojocaru.Is it customary for a dancer to contact an artistic director to arange a one time guest appearance? That seems like a very bold (crass) move on her part.

I read somewhere (probably on Ballet Alert!) that Murphy will dance her first Giselle w. the Royal New Zealand Ballet this fall.

Although I enjoyed Yuriko's Gulnare very much, I've seen her in other ballets where she has not been terribly impressive. In particular, I saw her Don Q last season w. Simkin. The challenges of handling the technical demands of the full length role were beyond her. I think she is better in a supporting lead role, where she does not have to carry the entire evening. Also, I saw her in Ballo della Regina a few years ago, and she was not very good. I haven't seen anything that would lead me to conclude that she deserves a promotion to principal.

I always had regrets that I didn't see the POB Bayadere when they came to New York in the 1990s. I was not a sophisticated balletomane back then. I assumed that it would be substantially similar to the one I had seen at ABT. As Homer Simpson would say, Doh!

Most people have fantasy baseball. We have fantasy ballet casting.