abatt

Mearns will be in Canada dancing R&J with the Natl Ballet of Canada during the KC engagement.  That's why she is not listed for the KC.   In one sense, her absence has created opportunities for new people to shine.  It was Mearns' withdrawal that led to Nadon getting SVC in the Winter, and Nadon was great.  Another Nadon opportunity is created by Mearns' absence from the Kennedy Center.   Hoping for reports on her debut in Concerto B.

The dance companies that have galas prefer the Koch because there is space on the Promenade for the party, so they don't have to go to the expense of renting a party venue and transporting people to the party venue.  That's why ABT and Paul Taylor no longer perform at City Center.  

1 hour ago, California said:

Time for a new topic on ABT Fall 2023! Here's what we "know" so far:

Other Dances (from Gillian Murphy's Instagram story)

Piano Concerto No. 1 (from Skylar Brandt's Instagram story)

Etudes, Petit Morte, The Dream (from photo shoots)

Anything else?

Since we just had the Dream last season, I would not be very anxious to see it again this season.  But the rest of it is of great interest. One thing is for certain- they need another Oberon.  Camargo did all performances.  Cory seems to be injured often.  Give Aran Bell a shot at Oberon.

14 hours ago, matilda said:

Myrta, Von Rothbart, and Mercutio casting has been posted. https://www.abt.org/performances/summer-season/

Katherine Williams appears to be out this season (replaced in LWFC by Claire Davison, no Myrtas)

Fanqui Li gets a Myrta debut. 

Jarod Curley and Corey Stearns are both listed as Dr. John Brown for the same LWFC shows (3rd cast), must be an error. 

The Met website is listing J Curley for John Brown; Cory's name does not appear on the Met website anymore for Dr. John Brown.  Is this a minor role?  The chance to see Curley might motivate me to see this cast.

The bigger question is whether Stearns will make his other scheduled appearances during the Met season.

Erica is the right size for Huxley, even though she is wrong for the role in Square Dance.

Sara Mearns was spectacular on Friday night in Swan Lake.  Glad I had the opportunity to see it.  Phelan was not in the same league  in the role.

Another season completed.

For me the All Stars were Nadon, Fairchild, Gordon & Chan.

On to the 75th Anniversary season ....

Reports of the runs in Saratoga and the KC are appreciated. 

23 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

The last full run of Corsaire in 2019 also saw the debut of POB étoile Matthias Heymann as Conrad as guest artist.  The days of the "Dream Team" are long gone.  Kimin Kim would be a wonderful guest artist in "Corsaire" and has guested in "Bayadere" as has Vladimir Shklyarov.  Now that the iron curtain is back up around Russia and Russian artists, guest artists from the Mariinsky and Bolshoi are verboten.  Olga Smirnova could come back any time and I hope will though.

I don't recall that Smirnova actually appeared with ABT.  She was scheduled, but I recall that she may have been injured.  In fact, since she was injured, Chudin did not appear as scheduled at ABT because they were a "package deal".

Kimin Kim is still dancing with the Mariinsky, I believe.  He is one of the few non-Russian artists who continues to perform  with the company.  Is that correct

1 hour ago, angelica said:

Since Shevchenko's promotion to Principal, I have thought of her as a world-class ballerina, but unless she dances more in major roles, I'm afraid she's going to be left behind. Both Bayadere and Corsaire have the kind of roles that keep a dancer in performance shape. As someone said above, she was kept too long in soloist purgatory. Please, do whatever it takes to keep those ballets in the repertory and give Shevchenko two performances of each. The more she dances, the better she'll get.

With her Giselle performances for National Ballet of Ukraine, and personal training from Ratmansky, she now has substantial experience in Giselle. Good for her.

I saw Bell & Teuscher last season in R&J.  I thought she was definitely miscast as Juliet. 

3 hours ago, California said:

 

The absence of  the Russian companies for the indefinite future is going to be felt for many of these dance series - Kennedy Center, Segerstrom. 

I think the touring to the US of the Mariinsky and the Bolshoi was in part funded by oligarch money. 

We have not seen the Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet or the major German companies here because, in part, there is no funding available for it.  

2 hours ago, California said:

I guess we can look forward to Ballet Imperial at the Met in 2024. Interesting they use that name instead of the current Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2. 

The absence of  the Russian companies for the indefinite future is going to be felt for many of these dance series - Kennedy Center, Segerstrom. 

Actually, I think there are some differences in the choreography between BI and Tsch Piano Concerto 2.  Certainly, the decor and costumes are entirely different.  Maybe some people on the board know  more about the distinction.  Looking forward to Ballet Imperial coming back to ABT.

So it looks like ABT has jumped on the Kyle Abraham bandwagon.  If NYCB has hired him twice, we need to hire him too is the apparent thinking at ABT.

Also, since the film Black Swan, I think most people who are casual ballet goers expect that there is going to be an act or  a portion of the ballet where the Black Swan dances to seduces the prince.  Not  so in the Balanchine version. 

Back in the day when City Ballet had all rings open and there were very cheap seats available, parents would regularly bring infants and toddlers to the show because buying a ticket was much cheaper than hiring a sitter for a few hours.  I've also seen this by ticket holders in the family circle. at ABT.  Less often at the opera.

I understand Drew's point, but the switch to a projection of  the Ukranian flag in the backdrop occurred during the last few seconds of the ballet, so overall it did not diminish the ballet or the design elements of the ballet.  I don't think a program note would have been read by most of the audience.  This put the issue front and center before the audience for a fleeting moment that was much more effective.  

I was there tonight, and it was apparent that a large portion of the audience was not regular ballet goers.  

I was  very impressed with certain new cast members of Pictures at an Exhibition, most especially Nadon and Alexa Maxwell.  The whole cast was very good.  This was a ballet where I could savor the brilliance of Tyler Angle without being distracted by his weight and his baldness.  And the projection at the very end of the ballet has been changed to a Ukranian flag.

Gordon was polished and quite excellent in Swan Lake.  Unity gave a typical Unity-type performance- blandly efficient.  Some of her arm positions were very sloppy.  Not the Swan Lake of my dreams, for sure.  

Was it my imagination or did Emma VE miss her entrance during the section when, I believe, the two big Swans are supposed to be on stage together.  

I had forgotten how utterly gorgeous the costumes are for the swans.  I also very much enjoy the choreography for the corps.  

The house was sold to the rafters.  The company advertised this program to the max, and it seemed to have worked. Or maybe SL just sells itself, whatever its iteration. 

I consider ABT more like a very good regional company now, not an internationally renowned company as it once was.  There are a few exceptions, but not many.

The loss of Ratmansky to NYCB only reinforced the idea that ABT is no longer an "A" list ballet company.

Herrera, Reyes and Part were, if their interviews are to be believed, forced to leave before they wanted to or expected to retire.   So forcing people (principals)  out is not unheard of.

Does Jaffe want to start out like Corella, dropping people who are not impressive to "remake" the company as soon as their contracts are up?   I guess we shall see.

If they stick with the policy of only hiring out of their own school pipeline, I don't have much hope.  They need an infusion of talent at the principal level.  There are now many people at the principal level who, in my opinion, should not be there.  Until there is some movement at the top through retirements or otherwise, there is not much hope.  Hiring Carmago was a great addition, but they need a lot more to get back on track.  I doubt they have the funds to hire major international artists and still continue paying all of their current roster principals too.  Also Jaffe may be drinking the same Kool Aid as McKenzie in believing that moving from all international artists to none is the proper approach.  I know that the ABT dancers are now quite happy that hiring from outside the company has been reduced to almost nothing (except for Camargo),  but to what degree will this ultimately backfire in terms of revenue.

Personally, I used to have a ridiculous number of subscriptions during the late 90s forward.  I now have one subscription.  I suspect their subscriber numbers have plummeted.  Maybe when/if Misty returns the numbers will increase. 

There is no $8 per ticket online handling fee if you are a subscriber. 

13 minutes ago, stuben said:

 As far as I am concerned this isn't the "world-class" ballet company it used to be, especially with so many companies nationally and internationally doing such wonderful work. 

Yes.  That's why I doubt they will ever resume an 8 week season at the Met. They don't have an impressive roster anymore.  

15 minutes ago, MoMo said:

I saw LWFC on April 1st, with Tuescher and Ahn. I  am very excited for Carlos and Skylar. Carlos was excellent as the “Revolutionary “ in the production I saw. Good for Susan Jaffe for casting them. 

How were Tuescher and Ahn?

For some reason, the Met Opera website is listing Brandt and Gonzalez as Tita and Pedro for Monday June 26, but the ABT website lists Teucher and Ahn.  Any thoughts on which source is correct?  

I would check out Brandt as Tita, but passing on Teuscher/Ahn.

Rough season for the men.  Furlan out for the Spring.  Chan out most of the Spring. 

So as of right now, they are having Phelan perform the lead in Agon and Brandenburg on the same program.  While not impossible if they change the program order, I'm hoping for a new lead in Agon (Nadon PLEASE!). 

Alternate wish - Mearns in Agon.  I see she has been replaced in all performances of Pictures ....  I wonder if this is because she is reducing her overall workload, or for some other reason.

31 minutes ago, bellawood said:

Also, I notice that Miriam Miller is now out for the rest of this week in updated casting -- though she looked in good form Monday night! Hope its a speedy recovery. Chan is still out. 

I hope Miller is okay and returns for Agon.  If not, NYCB please try out Nadon for the lead in Agon.  She was so electrifying in SVC in the Winter.