abatt

I saw the program on Tues evening from the balcony and on Wed evening from the orchestra. (I exchanged my tickets for the second cast tonight, as I could not fathom seeing this program again). I'll start with the positive. I immensely enjoyed the new Wheeldon ballet and I would see it again in a heartbeat. The choreography was inventive and musical. The performances were excellent, particularly the Murphy-Hallberg pdd. I hope they bring this back very soon. A winner in every way.

Other than the Wheeldon ballet, I felt that the program was a dud. I can't understand how Millepied has become a sought after choreographer. Though the dancers he utilized were stellar,the choreography is not sophisticated or musical. I agree with the post above that it looked like a student workshop ballet. IN fact, I bet a lot of workshop ballets are better than this.

Hard to believe that Shadowplay is a Tudor ballet. I love the Leaves Are Fading and Lilac Garden. I was bored silly with the choreography in Shadowplay.

The Ratmansky ballet looked a lot better close up in the orchestra than from the balcony. An intimate setting would help this ballet. On the Met stage, it was swallowed up and looked insignificant. However, even in a more intimate setting I think the choreography is a bit bland. Ratmansky's best rep ballets have been at NYCB (Concerto DSCH, Namouna), not ABT.

Onwards to Giselle!

I saw Millepied strolling w. Ms. Portman this evening in front of the Met Opera House. Millepied's new ballet premiered tonight at ABT (well, it's a New York premiere).

I spoke to a very helpful man at the box office today. It appears that NYCB has changed seat pricing. My seats, that I've had for about 30 years, just went up approximately 35%. I love NYCB but I may have to give up my subscription for good. They are offering better seats at the same price but it's still a lot of money for 6 performances - over $1K!

Yes, they seem to have increased prices drastically. I think they will end up losing customers. Enough is enough.

As for the flower girls, Boylston certainly stole the show from Lane, in my opinion. Perhaps she held some of the balances a little too long when she should've been trying to stay in synch with Lane, but she projected to the audience and grabbed my attention every time. Her grand jetes and some of her extensions were very impressive too. I really wanted to like Lane, but she just didn't have the same "look at me" quality for me.

For me, Boylston's "look at me" routine was inappropriate. Her objective should have been to be in sync w. Lane and the music. Instead, she chose to hold her balance for as long as possible at the expense of the choreography (The bubble over her head would read, "Hey Kevin. I'm good at balancing. How about a promotion?"). She left Lane, who kept time with the music, in an awkward position. Sometimes you have to be a team player in a ballet company.

Chase Finlay, I hate to say, looked wiped out, and I don’t blame him, he’s had an amazing season and is still so young. He didn’t do a bad job, just a tired one.

Martins may be killing Finlay with kindness by casting him in so many new leading roles. Finlay is debuting in yet another role this week - Tony in West Side Story Suite (per casting on line). Millepied - NYCB's phantom employee -was originally listed for that role this week, but Finlay is replacing him.

I'm happy to report that Cojocaru was considerably better on Monday evening than her prior performance on Friday. She sailed through all of the technical challenges with sparkling technique and a much more relaxed demeanor. Brava Alina! Ricetto had an awful night as Dryad Queen. She fell off pointe twice during the Italian fouettes section.

I have never seen any casting info available for any Joyce perforamnce in the 10+ years I've been going.

Hi Aurora. I wasn't counting Part, because she didn't rise through the ABT corps. YOu are certainly right that she paid her dues at ABT before they finally promoted her.

Thanks for posting. What announcement was there about Ostrom? By the way, I got a cryptic letter in the mail from NYCB regarding changes in the seating plan. Any idea what they are talking about? The letter didn't give any useful info. Are ticket prices rising? Martins is really milking Swan Lake for all it's worth. Maybe it will be back every year, like at ABT.

I guess this will sound harsh, but since ABT has been presenting intl. guest artists on the MET stage for decades, anyone in the corps or soloist level who is surprised or annoyed by that policy of using guest artists certainly chose the wrong company. The last woman McKenzie promosted from within to principal was Wiles, and she's not exactly filling those seats with paying customers at the 3,800 seat MET. The only way McKenzie can hope to sell out the MET and make some money is to present artists that large numbers of people will come to see - Vishneva, Cojocaru, Osipova (and before that Ferri, Ananiashvilli and so on. The soloists and corpos get plenty of opportunities during Nutcracker season and during other non-MET engagements (City Center, out of town visits). For whatever reason (MONEY!?) these guest artists rarely if ever perform with ABT at any time other than the MET engagewments. (I have no doubt that Abrera and Lane would both be principals at virtually any other company.)

The first cast of Fearful - Mearns, Reichlin et al - was much more incisive and dynamic than the second cast on Sunday afternoon. Taylor was great in Opus. Janie reminded me of how Wendy used to look in this role when she first took it on more than a decade ago. Wendy was wonderful as the Sleepwalker, but the rest of the cast nearly put me to sleep. Marcovici is not very good as the Poet. Ticket sales for Sunday afternoon were POOR. Tons of empty seats.

I'm with Batsuchen in jumping on the Seminiova bandwagon. She danced beautifully. She's not an amazing jumper, like Osipova. However, her beautiful lines and phrasing were a delight. I, too, think, she will be stellar in Swan Lake. Can't wait to see her and Hallberg in SL. This was the first time I had seen Hallberg as the lead in DonQ. Until the final act, he seemed a bit disengaged. He's not a natural fit as Basilio. I also saw the evening performance. Gillian was a little more subdued than usual as Kitri, but still wonderful. I think her caution might have resulted from being partnered w. Stearns. Stearns is improving every season, although he still has a ways to go to be on the same level as ABT's finest male principals. Simkin drove the audience to a frenzy as the Gypsy leader. Kristi Boone was a lovely Mercedes/Dryad Queen. Nicole Graniero was very good as Amour (not sure if that was a debut for her). Gennadi looked much better as Espada last night than earlier in the week. The flower girls were Hee Seo and Melanie Hamrick. Hee Seo looked a little underpowered. She's been away w. injuries for a long time. I'm debating whether to see her Giselle on the Wed matinee.

I too saw Vishneva and Gomes rehearsing Giselle on stage after the performance on the TV monitor. Can't wait!

Hopefully the Theater formerly known as the State will see some major visiting ballet companies, too. I would be surprised if ABT did its full length ballets at the State, since the State has about 1,000 fewer seats than the MET.

Cojocaru and Carreno was definitely a mixed bag and,in my opinion, somewhat disappointing. Cojocaru was not on top of her game, and there were a number of small mistakes in addition to the near wipe out moment in Act I (discussed above). Carreno and Cojocaru were often not in sync. Carreno did a great job considering his age, but he is a shadow of the Carreno I used to marvel at back in the day. Alina is a lovely graceful dancer, but I'm guessing Kitri is probably not her best role. She did do the longest unsupported balance I have ever seen in Act III, though. I thought Ricetto's phrasing was often choppy as Dryad/Mercedes.

According to the casting sheet in the lobby, Corella is replacing Cornejo as Reyes' partner in Giselle on June 1. I certainly wish Cornejo a speedy recovery, but I am THRILLED.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/arts/music/nyc-opera-budgeters-seek-to-save-next-season.html?ref=arts

More troubles at NYCO.

Sarabia was very impressive. He has excellent stage presence and can spin like a top. He was also a very fine partner. As noted above by Batsuchen, Sarabia was able to support Reyes' spins with one hand - something that Bocca used to do with Nina. Sarabia was a real pleasure. Reyes danced well, but she will never be my favorite Kitri. She doesn't have the flexibility that she did when she was younger. She decided to pull out all the stops was in the coda of the final act, where she did triple (or quadruple) turns while changing her arm positions with the fan. Simkin was the lead gypsy dancer, and he threatened to upstage Sarabia with ultra flexible and high jumps and super speedy spins. Yuriko was a delight as Amour. Abrera and Mathhews were Mercedes/Dryad Queen and Espada. (Will we be seeing a Gomes Espada this season? I hope so.) The flower girls were Ricetto and Copeland. They danced well. (Has Ricetto lightened her hair, or was it the stage lighting?) Counting down the hours now for the Cojocaru-Carreno Don Q tonight. It's going to be a full out Don Q weekend for me, as I'm seeing both shows on Saturday too.

Sara Mearns again shined in her solo. At this point I'd pay good money to see her dance the electric slide.

I think one of the things that distinguishes Mearns is that she often dances with abandon (but not recklessness). I would love to see what she could do with roles like Giselle and other full length dramatic ballets. (Her Swan Lake is sublime.)

Yes, the ABT corps looked very scrappy yesterday afternoon. The torreadors, especially, were badly out of unison.

and now I'm encountering elsewhere a whole female principal cadre that is so beautiful and fresh... TR, MK, SM, SH, AB, TP, and the young ASS, who I feel I could never tire of...

It took a few minutes for me to figure out who "the young ASS" was. You might want to use her name rather than her initials. LOL.

Thanks, Jane.

I've been getting an error message when I try to open the press release. Is Gundrun B. coming to New York? If so, what are performance dates? Thanks.

I attended on Tuesday evening and Wed. evening. Bouder was incredible in Divertimento 15. She can make the rapid fire footwork look like child's play. Amazing. So when is Lauren King going to be promoted? She was lovely in Divertimento. I was impressed by Ashley Isaacs, a dancer in the corps, in Fearful Symmetries. I had never noticed her before, but I will now be on the lookoout for her on the casting sheet. She has incredible technique. All of the other leads in Fearful- Reichlin, Ramasar, Mearns, Stafford and Huxley -were excellent. Fearful is one of my favorite Martins ballets. At tonight's performance, the three tall girl muses - Kowrowski, Mearns, Reichlin -were fantastic. Kowrowski's dancing as the lead muse was lyrical and expansive. Chase is looking better and better as Apollo in each performance. He had a minor slip (he did not fall), but he recovered quickly. His partnering of Maria was not quite as smooth as with Hyltin. Taylor and Hall were riveting in Afternoon of a Faun. Antique Epigraphs is a minor ballet, but I enjoy seeing it. Mearns, in particular, was outstanding.

I attended the Wed. matinee of Don Q. Simkin was thrilling. Yes, I guess he is a bit of a show off, but if you've got it, flaunt it. His jumps were high and his spins were fast and precise. Any place he could throw in an extra little jump or spin, he did so. He also partnered Yuriko well, except for one overhead lift in the final act that was a bit sloppy. I wasn't expecting much from Yuriko, as I think she is often miscast in bravura roles. She did a respectable job, but there were few fireworks. Her spins are slow and careful. Her best work, in my opinion, was in the second act with the Queen of the Dryads, where her lyricism could shine. She also held one of her balances for a very long time in the final act. Gemma Bond was Amour. She was leaden. Stella did Mercedes and Dryad Queen. Sbe was excellent. It's great to see her back in top form. Jared Matthews danced Espada, replacing Radetsky. The flower girls were Messmer and Pavam.

Thanks for links (and again for photos): I very much hope to see this ballet -- and would certainly love to see it with the Bolshoi--though as Natalia suggests, Mckenzie must have his eye on it for ABT.

Given Ratmansky's tenure w. ABT until 2013 - an astounding period of time - I have no doubt that ABT will eventually perform every one of the full length ballets that Ratmansky is creating around the globe. The Bright Stream is just the beginning of this process.