abatt

Since ABT has hired every other Ardani artist, why haven't we had Sarafanov? I would go see him in a heartbeat. I don't think Kourlas meant it as a slight of Cornejo. I think she meant that his versatility is limited because he cannot partner most of ABT's ladies.

I saw Vadim Muntagirov's performance on Sat afternoon w. Dvorovenko. I was very impressed with him. His jumps seems to float on air. Beautiful lines. He lands his jumps in perfect position. I thought he was excellent as far as his solo work went. He performed the lifts well, but sometimes when he had to spin Dvorovenko there some minor errors. Also, he did not seem to have much chemistry w. Dvorovenko, and he is not the most convincing actor. I'd be happy to see him again at ABT.

Flames of Paris has my vote. I have never seen Ondine or Mayerling. Maybe one day....

A note about the audiences this week. There have been huge groups of students/kids in the balcony and family circle this week. I think they are fueling the massive applause at less than ideal points in the ballet. However, I'm glad ABT is selling out every night, and that new audiences are coming to see the company.

Hallberg and Semionova were excellent tonight. All the little details that were missing in their performance earlier this week were present tonight, resulting in a spectacular performance. The romance, drama, and emotional connections were all there tonight. I thought that on Tuesday her phrasing was a little choppy, but tonight was much smoother, as one phrase flowed gorgeously into the next. Hallberg seemed to let loose and was much more comfortable in the portrayal of his relationship with Semionova. The only thing that stil need some work is Semionova's mime skills. It was a very memorable performance. The audience was packed on this oppressively muggy evening in New York City.

I expected more people from the past to show up at Angel's farewell. Why wasn't Susan Jaffe there? We know she's in town because she played the Queen Mother on Wed evening. No Ferri. No Nina. No Vishneva.

Have a wonderful time. Safe travels.

I'm not sure how well it will sell, although I'm generally happy with the rep. A lot of their stars do not appear at the City Center season, and they have performed In the Upper Room often during the last few City Center seasons. It makes sense for them to invest in a Ratmansky ballet for the Fall. They have repeatedly turned to mediocre (or worse) choreographers to create new works for the fall season, and not one of those new works has been good enough to see the light of day in subsequent seasons. That has been a total waste of resources, in my opinion.

Casting is not posted until a few weeks before the performances. The tickets go on sale well before the casting is announced.

It's the end of an era. Corella and Herrera performed with great emotional depth tonight. Neither dancer has the same level of technique as when they first burst on to the ABT scene, but they certainly gave it their all. The audience gave Corella a memorable, roaring send off. In return, he tossed off one of his trademark superfast spins. He will be missed.

Am I to assume that Polina is the most technically competent ballerina at ABT right now...? Should I jump on a plane to go see her...?

Cubanmiamiboy, have you looked at any you tube clips of Semionova to get a better idea of what you think. Semionova is now part of the ABT "home team", so you will be able to see her next season.

ABT has been having Wed matinees at City Center, so it will probably be a seven performance run. As noted they usually give a discount if you buy multiple performances, but they charge you a processing fee, so the discount evaporates pretty quickly. The only way you can avoid all the fees is to buy at the box office, which opens many weeks later than the online and phone sales.

OnxMyxToes, I completely agree with you about the Gomes/Muphy performance. It was electrifying. I had no emotional investment whatsoever in the Hallberg-Semionova performance. It was academically beautiful but emotionally empty. In contrast, last night was thrilling in every way. Murphy's mime was completely clear. The pliancy of her spine was gorgeous. She was completely adept at conveying the story, and at delivering the technical goods with ease. This was the best SL I've seen from her. Oh, and did I mention that not only did she do triples in the Black Swan section, but she added flapping swan arm embellishments while she was spinning. Gomes is always phenomenal. Personally, I couldn't care less that his line isn't as beautiful as Hallberg's. He brings so much to every performance. The details were just amazing, and the end was heartbreaking. His Olympic dive off the cliff capped an unbelievably brilliant performance.

Sascha was Purple Rothbart. Like most of the guys who do this role, he has trouble balancing on demi pointe and shakes. (Marcelo did this perfectly on Monday night). Also, Sascha looked like he could barely lift the tiny princesses. If you can't lift Fang with ease, who can you lift?

The audience started to applaud spontanteously during the 4 Little Cygnet variation. I've never seen that happen.

I left last night's performance completely elated. It had everthing that seemed to be lacking during Monday and Tuesday nights.

I'm happy to read about the success of Simkin and Boylston. Natalia mentions that Sarah Lane would be a great partner for Simkin in SL. Sarah has actually danced the lead with Angel Corella at Barcelona Ballet in Spani. Unlikely that McKenzie will ever give her this role, so we may all have to take a group trip to Spain.

Here's an article on Corella's farewell. I laughed out loud when I read his plans for the day after his farewell. Anyone who has been to Levain Bakery knows that 2 of their cookies have some SERIOUS (but delicious) calories. Sooo sad he is leaving ABT, but hopefully we will see him w. Barcelona Ballet soon again in New York.

http://www.nypost.co...jUkbdryVeg5HeBM

I thought Semionova's technique was excellent, but I was somehow not very moved by her Odette until the final act. She has the perfect body for this ballet - long limbs, a long neck. She is a beautiful and well proportioned dancer, and it is a pleasure to watch a dancer with so much technical security and skill. However, I wasn't feeling the tragedy of her story until the very end, when she seemed to take the acting up a notch or two. Hallberg was quite wonderful. Gorgeous line. Also, unlike Stearns, Hallberg knows how use his time on stage to convey bits of acting that tell us his conflicts. Semionova was totally "on" in the Black Swan section - triples, check. Tease- check. However, for a lot of the Black Swan act she had a plastered on smile that was the same plastered on smile I saw at Apollo. I have to agree w. Batsuchen that her performance of SL last year w. Gomes was more engaging than her performance w. Hallberg. Gomes is always so passionate that he elevates his partners to new heights - literally and figuratively. Is it any wonder that every lady in the company wants to be his partner?

Hamoudi started out well, but he really does not have the charisma for the role. Also, in the portion where he must balance on demi pointe he was shaky. I thought Stella looked a bit tired in the peasant pas de trois. She also came off pointe in Act I, but that may have been due to inept partnering by her husband.

The house was again packed. This ballet regularly sells out the house no matter who is performing. No wonder ABT keeps bringing it back every season.

Bolle has not done any SL's at ABT since the 2009 one with Part. I guess he is not interested in doing it, and he can pick and choose what he wants to do. Bolle is, in my opinion, the only partner at ABT who is age appropriate for Kent at this stage.

I wasn't sure if the Swamp Thing was the cause of the outburst, SL should have a ratings system like the movies, like not appropriate for children under age--------.

^{I thought Veronika was radiant last night, although it did not match her epic performance in 2009 w. Roberto Bolle. She certainly deserves a better partner than Stearns, but she is learning to make do with the cards she is dealt at ABT. Cory is improving a bit each year. However, I felt he was mostly blank last night. The pas de trois dancers were Lane, Kajiya and Simkin. They were wonderful. The two big swans were Abrera and Seo. Marcelo nearly stole the show as Purple Rothbart. He was magnetic and he generated such excitement from the audience. Sadly, I'm not looking forward to seeing any of the other Rothbarts this season.}

^{It was very well sold, and I think every youngster in the tri state area must have been seated in the balcony/family circle. Disaster struck in the final moments of the ballet, when a youngster decided to scream at the top of his lungs during the most hushed moments of the final act, disturbing 3,800 people. I believe the screamer and his parents were escorted out, but the incident already ruined the magic. Oh well.}

I hope I am not straying too far afield in mentioning that fans of diversity in ballet have a lot to be excited about at NYCB - the already amazing Taylor Stanley and Sam Greenberg and two new apprentices, Silas Farley and Olivia Boisson. These hugely gifted dancers, in my humble opinion, have the potential to become soloists or principals at NYCB.

http://www.sab.org/n...wien_awards.php

Mira

In addition, Craig Hall is a soloist. They also have Lara Tong in the corps.

I have to agree with Misty that a variety of stylistic backrgrounds for the principals is a positive, sandik. It would be a negative for the corps and soloist parts, where unison are important. However, for the principal roles it is fascinating to see people from various backgrounds perform in somewhat different styles. These full length ballets that are ABT's bread and butter allow for these diverse approaches. However, in a company like NYCB, I don't think a diversity of training styles always works. As an example, a few years ago Peter Martins invited two stars of the POB to perform Rubies. It looked nothing like the Rubies we usually see because the dancers were not proficient in the neoclassical style.

ksk04, thanks for that fine detective work about the Leaves are Fading. This is looking like an excellent fall season.

Thanks Simon. This means they will hire an orchestra this year for the City Center engagement.

What search online? Are there any stats on what percentage of the grads of JKO School now have contracts w. ABT?

I didn't think there was more involvement with the apples. I thought the Firebird had more to do than when this was first presented, although I can't say specifically what the changes were. I thought Herman was a much better Ivan than Gomes as far as the solo work was concerned. Herman has a more pliant back, and he gave shapes to his solos that I never realized were there when Gomes performed it. However, Gomes was a much better partner for Osipova than Cornejo. I still found most of Firebird interminable and unmusical on subsequent viewings this weekend.

Murphy and Hallberg were terrific on Sat. afternoon in the Dream. Salstein was clearly not at the same level of ability as Simkin or Cornejo as Puck.

How many of the kids at the JKO school will actually make it into the company, and of those how many will make it out of the corps? It seems to me that there are many prestigious ballet schools in the US (SAB being the most important), but the JKO School doesn't necessarily rank very highly among the most coveted programs that the highly talented students will flock to. Am I wrong?