abatt

I thought it was strange that they never mentioned the company that Sarah dances with (ABT of course), but they repeatedly used footage of ABT classes and rehearsals.

Ray, I thought Robbie Fairchild was scheduled to dance all of the Apollo performances in D.C. From what you said, Marcovici performed the role when you saw it. Who were the 3 Muses when Marcovici danced? Was it Hyltin, Peck and Scheller? I think Marcovici danced Apollo on the NYCB tour in Europe last year.

I thought the idea of having Odette and Odile danced by siblings is interesting. I spoke to two people from my office about the DWTS segment who have never attended the ballet. They were very impressed by the beauty and elegance of the dancers. They were also in disbelief that Carreno is in his mid forties and will be retiring in a few weeks. This segment on DWTS could certainly help foster an interest in ballet by people who have never been. By the way, which company were the corps dancers from?

Millepied's "Without" was created for performance by his pick-up group in 2008. It played at the Joyce Theater in Manhattan. Here is a link to the review of the 2008 performance:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/arts/dance/11mill.html

Ms. Lane was paid $4000 / day for her double work, for a 6 week period, during her break from the ABT season.

And that's considered a "low budget" film! I can't imagine what a "high budget" film would pay. I like Sarah Lane and think she should be receiving more opportunities at ABT. Let's hope she can channel some of this energy into convincing Kevin to give her a lead role, instead of the usual Amour, peasant pas and Bluebirds that she has been doing for years.

I recall Portman specifically stating in interviews when the movie first came out that she did not do the difficult footwork passages, and that a double did the footwork passages. Portman never mentioned Lane by name, though. I don't think Portman has ever claimed that she performed the footwork sections. I also don't think there is any dishonesty in her statements during interviews regarding the work she did to prepare for the role, such as losing weight and physical training. I don't think that anyone with any sense believes that Portman is a ballet dancer or could be one if she so desired, just as I don't believe anyone with any sense believes that Mickey Rourke, Sylvester Stallone, Mark Wahlberg or Hillary Swank are, or could be, boxers even though they have played boxers to acclaim in films and had to train physically for their roles. I think Sarah Lane is being a bit disingenuous in purporting to stand up for all ballet dancers everywhere. If she were so concerned about the image of dancers, she would not have signed on to this ludicrous film in the first place. She took the money for the film appearance and signed the contract to be credited as Portman's double. It's too late to go back now and complain about those choices.

In view of the fact that there will not be a fall season from NYCO, I hope the Koch Theater can be rented. Personally, I would much prefer to see an ABT mini fall season at the Koch than at City Center.

There is an obit of Bigelow in today's NY Times.

Apart from being inarticulate, I think Portman's response was appropriate. Why should she engage in a war of words with Sarah Lane? That would not benefit Portman in any way. If Lane wanted more accurate or extensive credit in the film, shouldn't she (or her agent) have negotiated for that in her contract when she agreed to do the film?

There are reviews posted at Danceview Times and the Washington Post, in case you're interested.

By the way, Ashley Bouder states on her twitter page that she will debut in the 4Ts tonight in Choleric. The casting notice (posted on Mar 25) on the NYCB website lists Lowery for that role.

Gillian Murphy is ABT's current best T&V ballerina lead. Paloma used to do the role, and was very good. However, she hasn't done it in years.

I find that people in the higher priced seats tend to be better dressed for performances than people in the mid to lower priced seats. Interestingly, a lot of people who sit in the cheapest seats (Family Cirle at the MET) get dressed up because it is a very special event for them. Some of them rarely go to the opera house (or perhaps have never been there), and they make an effort to look good. In particular, during the ABT season I often see large groups of teenagers (mostly young ladies, but a few teenage boys too) who are very meticulously dressed in the Family Circle. My husband and I always have a laugh at the fact that the teenage girls are dressed to the hilt, and the boys tend to wear sneakers and jeans.

Based on the brief clip, the choreography of the new Millipied work looks strikingly similar to the work he recently did for NYCB called Plainspoken.

How have the reviews been for Troika? Anyone out there who can give us a translation of some of the reviews?

I offered to buy a friend a single ticket to the Carreno farewell during the advance subscriber priority period. At the box office window, I was told that the best available single tix in the orchestra was Row Y against the wall. Sounds like the Carreno farewell is a virtual sellout.

Also, regarding the press release, did anyone else find it curious that the release mentions that Bolle is going to be Kent's partner at her 25th anniversary performance, but the release doesn't mention that Paloma's partner is scheduled to be Angel Corella at her 20th anniversary performance. I wonder if Corella will perform. I hope so.

Regarding casting, an ad in the NY Times about 2 weeks ago indicates that Reyes' partner for SB on July 6 is Cornejo. The ABT website was not updated to reflect that info.

Casting is up for City ballet's tour at the Kennedy Center in April.

http://www.nycballet.com/nycb/content/casting.aspx?id=13926

Interesting that Joaquin de Luz is not dancing at all. I think he is great! Robbie Fairchild as Apollo....hmmmmm.

Hyltin as Terpsichore? hmmmm. I would love to see Fairchild as Apollo. Interesting that Garcia, who knows the role of Apollo from his days at San Fran. Ballet, is not Apollo. Also, I'm surprised that Mearns is the second violin, and not the lead, for Concerto Bar.

Counting down to the May 3 start up of the New YOrk season. Can't wait.

I have to agree that this year's "Stars of Today" were pretty disappointing. As noted above, Vengsay Valdes and Ivan Vasiliev were thrilling. Yuan Yuan Tan and her partner (don't have my program) from San Fran. were also lovely. Danny Ulbricht from City Ballet did a fun, short little solo that showed off his jumping and spinning skills. I thought Tiler Peck and Tyler Angle were pretty wonderful in the pdd from Wheeldon's Mercurial Maneuvers.

The biggest disappointment were the two dancers from Paris Opera Ballet. I would have expected them to thrill. I didn't like any of the new works. The first piece, with the dancer from La Scala, was a boring waste of time. The pdd for Forster and Pronk was well danced, but the choregoraphy looked amateurish. I thought the pdd for Carreno and Hamrick was also pretty dull and simple.

At nearly 3 hours running time, I would say that there were very few thrilling moments in the overly long evening. I'm glad I stayed to see the amazing Valdes - Vasiliev pdd from Don Q.

The Bolshoi turmoil is finally being reported on here (from NY Times)

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/17/bolshoi-ballet-facing-turmoil/?ref=arts

Also the Cubans (early June at BAM).

Right. I forgot that.

Count me and my hubby in too for a meeting at any time during the run, including but not limited to the Wed. matinee. I also splurged on multiple performances. Looking forward to seeing other Ballet Talkers.

I can't wait until the New York spring ballet season starts up on May 3 with NYCB. We have an embarrassment of riches this season, with 6 weeks of NYCB, 8 weeks of ABT, one week of Royal Danish and one week of Kirov.

This is an interesting article from the NY Times on the topic at issue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/09/business/09facebook.html

I think Alberda is right to question the Chinese stereotyped character in MF. In fact, there are a lot of politically incorrect and offensive portrayals in ballet (and opera too). The Tea and Coffee sections of Nutcracker are particularly noteworthy for being offensive, in my opinion. I suspect that political incorrectness might also explain the absence of Raymonda from ABT's rep for many, many years. Why would NYCB want to censor Alberda's comments? Moreover, I don't think it would be legal for NYCB to censor Twitter comments, including the negative comments about Peter Martins. Seems like NYCB wants to be on the cutting edge by using social media, but doesn't want to accept the bad with the good. Alberda must have figured out by now that making negative comments about his employer on a publicly available Twitter account is not going to help his career.

I read the Wall Street Journal column and learned that there is a Fake Peter Martins twitter account, as well as a Fake Kevin McKenzie account. Some people have a lot of extra time on their hands, apparently.

Peter Martins brought in two dancers from POB a few years ago to perform the Rubies pdd at an NYCB gala. I can't remember who the dancers were. (I'm sure someone on the board here might recall their names.) I was there, and I thought they were miscast. They looked like they were performing a classical pdd. They were lacking in energy and verve, and didn't seem to have a clue regarding the neoclassical style of the ballet.

On Friday I got to see Alagna as Radames for myself when he appeared in the role at Covent Garden and it is difficult to understand why he was received so harshly in Milan if his singing was on a par with what I heard.

In the last 2 years, Alagna has improved a great deal. I was pleasantly surprised at how good he sounded during this season at performances in New York. In a review in the New YOrk Times a few months ago, the reviewer made note at Alagna's recent improved vocal abilities. Maybe being separated from Angela G. is helping him focus on his voice.

The costume expenses for these three "waltz" ballets must be staggering.