abatt

I agree with you that he is not at the same level as the other principals, but at the same time it would arguably be unfair to him to continue assigning him so many lead roles every season without a promotion. Also, ABT's principal ranks among the males is getting old, as we have discussed on this board. Indeed, many of their principals only show up for the MET season. It is probably easier to sell tickets to out of town engagements when you are presenting principals in principal roles, instead of soloists and corps members. I'm hoping that Cory continues to develop and improve. Frankly, I was not a big Hallberg fan when he was a soloist, but he has worked his butt off to improve and become the incredible dancer that he is today. However, I think Hallberg's weaknesses were more amenable to improvement than Cory's. Hallberg's primary weakness when he was a soloist was his partnering skills. I think partnering improves with experience and age. In my opinion, Cory's weaknesses are technical - jumps and spins that are adequate, but not what we have come to expect of ABT males. I'm not sure that those technical issues can be addressed easily at this stage.

The Associated Press is reporting that Peter Martins was charged with DWI at 2 AM on New Year's Day at a checkpoint in Yonkers, New York. The AP also reports that Martins issued a statement through a spokesperson stating that he will not discuss the matter.

Hi abatt, Nunez is a technical monster, a real standout dancer and slowly becoming the RB's go-to girl, she's always worth the price of admission. At the start she was often cast as the soubrette, or secondary non dramatic principal. She's without doubt one of the top technicians in the world. She came to prominence at the same time as Cojocaru, and fell under her shadow after Cojocaru's starmaking rise to fame after the two Giselles in 2001. Cojocaru got the meaty roles, Nunez got the show off demi caractere roles which was a pity as Nunez is a very credible, striking dramatic dancer too, she's been coming into her own of late and getting those big meaty principal parts, she definitely worth seeing. Pennefather is pretty dreggy. A political promotion to Principal to counter the non-British principals at the RB complaints. Very bland, technically patchy, but tall and good looking but so what? He's paired with Nunez a lot he's the Hardy to her Laurel, the Marge to her Homer, the Scully to her Mulder, the Kate Jackson to her Farrah Fawcett, the Tonto to her Lone Ranger and the Richie to her Fonzie. But Nunez is worth the price of admission alone. Thanks Simon.

I'm not familiar with Nunez & Pennefeather. For those in the know, will they give a great performance?

In the Dec. 31 edition of the NY Times, each of the cultural critics was asked to write about the event in 2011 he is most looking forward to. Macaulay wrote that he is looking forward to seeing Ms. Mearns take on new roles. He calls her the great American ballerina of our era. No argument from me on that one. What new roles are we looking forward to seeing her in? If I were in charge of casting, my choices would be the girl in pink in Dances at a Gathering, Mozartiana, the lead in Apollo, and the final section of the Vienna Waltzes. I missed her last year in Cortege Hongrois, so I hope I can see her in the role this season. Any thoughts? Is Sara the great American ballerina of our era?

I missed the Sunday evening performance due to the blizzard. Since my tickets were in the orchestra, this was a considerable loss. Despite the massive snow storm and the 40 mph winds on Sunday evening, ABT has taken the Draconian position that there are no exchanges of any type. I have been a subscriber at BAM for a long time, and after a huge snowstorm they allowed all ticketholders to exchange their tickets into another performance. (BAM's website clearly indicates that the no exchange policy is ABT's policy, not BAM's policy.) At the MET Opera approximately 6 years ago, they allowed ticketholders to exchange into certain unpopular, undersold operas if they had to miss a performance because of a huge snowstorm that year. After a huge snowstorm in February 2010, the New York City ballet allowed ticketholders to mail in their tickets with a list of three dates for spring 2010 rep performances, and they permitted an exchange into one of the dates if available. In sum, ABT is the only organization which has acted, in my opinion, in a completely unreasonable manner on this issue. I think they will find that their customer service (or lack thereof) will hurt them in the long run. It's shortsighted. They could have easily permitted people who could not attend because of the blizzard to send in their tickets to ABT and provide a list of 3 dates for an exchange into a spring performance at the MET. Additionally, given the huge number of unsold seats at the Nutcracker, they could have allowed a standby line for ticketholders on other performance dates. Instead, they chose the most inflexible route. Of course, I know they have no obligation to provide assistance.

As someone who was recently priced out of Fort Greene, it isn't like the area is exactly the ghetto. I guess from what you say it isn't attracting wealthy people from Manhattan or the suburbs, although other factors such as the need to build an audience for something new, the fact that a good portion of the run is happening after Christmas (which I do think harms a ballet that people associate so strongly with the holiday) might also be at play here. But you have brownstones going for over 2 million a few blocks from BAM (and it was an area with no real price drop during the recession) and fantastic restaurants like No. 7 greene, so let's not extend the impression, if indeed it exists, that the area is poor. I have no problem with Fort Greene. I've been going to BAM for 15 years. However, I think there are many people who still have preconceived negative notions about the neighborhood which may no longer be applicable. Seemingly all of Brooklyn has undergone "gentrification". Also, if you're a family looking for a day of fun, the logistics of going from BAM to Manhattan to view the X-Mas tree, the Macy's windows, FAO toy store or other Manhattan attractions may not be terribly appealing.

The Ratmansky Nutcracker is filled with High Concept Ideas. However, the choreograpny is frequently at odds with the music. I have to agree about the Snowflake misfire. It wasn't so much that making them scary was a problem. For me, the real problem is that the music they are dancing to cries out for a whirlwind of expanisve dancing. Instead, the ladies are doing small jumps in place, and they are frequently stretched out on the floor. Judging by the large numbers of empty seats in the orchestra and mez that I have seen in the online select your own tickets system, and have also observed at the theater, it would appear that ABT has grossly miscalculated its pricing structure. Wealthy suburban families are not flocking to Fort Greene. ABT must have spent a fortune on advertising, but it did not seem to matter.

I saw Paloma and Cory last night. They were not nearly as thrilling as Murphy and Hallberg. Their first act pdd looked very careful and labored. They both looked better in the grand pas in the second act. However, Cory's jumps are relatively low to the ground, and he doesn't have the beautiful line of David Hallberg. The first lift in the grand pas was shaky. The other lifts were smoother. I liked Paloma in this role, but she was not as thrilling as Murphy. There were acres of empty seats in the orchestra.

Millipied hardly ever dances with the company anymore. He missed the Fall 2010 and Nutcracker 2010 seasons entirely. He was cast in two ballets during the Spring 2010 season, and the NY Times correctly noted that he lacked stamina in one of those performances. Will we see him during the Winter 2011 season on stage? Who knows.

I saw the film this weekend. I thought it was absurd. If this is one of the best films of the year, then it must have been a really awful year for films. The worst part is that people who don't go to the ballet might get the incorrect impression that this film is actually representative of what they would see on stage. Mostly a lot of flapping arms and menacing facial expressions. Is Millipied returning to NYCB in the foreseeable future?

It's been kicked-up a notch to Yahoo News: http://movies.yahoo.com/news/movies.ap.org/natalie-portman-wed-black-swan-choreographer-ap Will the wedding be before or after the Oscars, I wonder? Congrats to the beautiful couple - and they truly are that. I was wondering if the wedding will be before or after the baby is born.

I attended tonight's premiere. Kevin McKenzie gave a curtain speech thanking all the donors, but particularly David Koch. McKenzie announced that the company was giving Koch a gift of a Nutcracker drawing. He proceeded to introduce Koch. Koch stated, "Thank you, Peter" Gasps and groans were heard throughout the audience. It took Koch a moment to realize his error. Koch then stated that he would put the drawing next to a drawing he has of Peter and the Wolf. (I think this may have been a cover to convey to the audience that he was thinking of Peter and the Wolf, not Peter Martins, when he mis-spoke.) When Koch was introduced, there was very modest clapping, and at least one hiss. On to the ballet. I thought the costumes and sets were marvelous, except that the X-Mas tree was disappointing. Gillian and David were breathtaking, and the choreography for their variations was first rate.Gillian was so light on her feet. David was a wonderful partner and handled the allegro steps in his solo with ease and precision. I loved the opening scene in the kitchen. Tonights kid leads were Catherine Hurlin and Tyler Maloney. Both were very good. I have to agree with the posts above about the child tantrum scenes in the first act. I see this behavior every morning on the subway. I would have preferred to have been transported to a world where social grace and cordial behavior among youngsters was the governing behavior. Oh well. I also thought the variations for Chinese (Lane, Simkin) was very clever and well done. However, overall I felt that much of the choreography was disappointing. I think this may have been in part due to the relatively small stage space. For example, in the snow scene, the snowflake corps of dancers should float through the air. However, possibly due to the stage constraints, most of their choreography was very contained and simplistic. I also thought that the choreography for the flowers and bees suffered from the same problem. Too many people on stage, but not much room to move around. The Spanish dance was pretty standard stuff. Sascha was the Arabian Dancer tonight. I thought the music called out for more sensual, sinuous choreography. I was very disapponted with the Russian dance (Ilyan, Salstein, Scott). It was comical in a Three Stooges sense, but it was a wasted opportunity for some great choreography. I didn't care for the costumes of the Nutcracker's Sisters (Boylton, Hamrick, Kajiya, Messmer, Underwood). More importantly, once again I felt like their choreography was too simplistic and a bit dull. Every dance critic was present. I saw Mark Morris in the audience. All of the major donors were there, as well as numerous company members. (I saw Stella, Ethan, Kent with her adorable little boy, Max, and Irina in the audience). Irina, once again, wins for best dressed. She was wearing a gorgeous burgundy form fitting silk dress which went to the knee, with puffy short sleeves and matching burgundy heels. Her closet must be a treasure. In sum, I had a good time, but I found that overall I was frequently bored because I felt that the choreograpny was often too simplistic and contained for this caliber of a company. I'm sure Peter -- I mean Kevin -- doesn't mind being called by an incorrect name as long as Koch keeps writing big checks to ABT.

I'm curious as to how well the tickets sold. Was the theater full?

At what point do you think McKenzie realized he was wearing sweats? Clearly, when he goes for the vial of poison he is aware.

Thanks for that video of McKenzie in his sweat pants. I laughed out loud. I recall two fun bloopers. One was Stella Abrera at ABT. There was a scene where she has to pull a handkerchief from her cleavage. ( I guess this must have been Othello.). Well, I guess the darn thing must have slipped down her dress because she was endlessly searching her cleavage for it, but it was nowhere to be found. The other fun blooper, also ABT, involved Carmen Corella as Myrta. There is a scene where she has to pull a branch from what looks to be a tree. The branch would not move. She pulled on with all her force, without success. My all time favorite blooper was not at the ballet, but at the opera Aida at the Met. The triumphal march in this staging has a white horse. The horse decided to, um, do its business on stage during the performance. The performance proceeded as the singers studiously avoided the pile and tried not to laugh. Suddenly, a cleanup crew dressed as slave servants in the production comes out with a bucket and other tools to clean the mess up in a jiffy. Ah, those Franco Zeferelli productions with live animals.

Thanks rg. I forgot to set my DVR. It certainly looks like a lovely production.

I saw it on Friday. It was fantastic in every way. The singing was stellar, the orchestra sounded incredible under Rattle's baton. I think there are only 5 performances, since this opera does not sell terribly well.

In today's NY Times, Macaulay singles Mearns out as one of the highlights of 2010. He particularly noted her outstanding Swan Lake, as well as her wonderful performaces in various other ballets during 2010. He did not mention any other NYCB dancers among his highlights.

I don't consider the Today Show a "woman's" show. It's not Oprah or The View. By the way, the clips that have been posted do not show what happened earlier in the broadcast. At approximately 7:30 AM, the show's host, Matt Lauer, was introducing the various guests who would be coming up on the show. He noted that Ms. Ringer would be a guest in a few minutes discussing the controversy regarding the NY Times article concerning her weight. He then turned to his co-host and he stated that he can't understand why she would be considered heavy. He then stated that Ms. Ringer had a lovely, slim figure. You're right that the Times would have looked very bad if Macauley had shown up to defend his position. The last thing the Times needs right now is to lose readership. Thus, my guess is that there was no "policy" that prevented an appearance. Nor was it an issue of logistics. It was simply an attempt by the Times to save face after one of Macaulay's more obnoxious statements. As someone noted on the blog on the Times website, let's not forget that this is the same critic who equated Ethan Steifel to a Hitler Youth because of his hair color only a few months ago.

I don't know what the official policy is of the NYTimes. However, I do know that the Times' lead movie critic, A.O. Scott, used to host a TV show called "At The Movies", where he and another critic provided their opinions on films. The show went off the air recently due to poor ratings. If there was no policy preventing A.O. Scott from providing his opinion (for compensation) regarding films on a TV show every week, I can't imagine why the Times would prevent a dance critic from appearing on TV once to discuss dance (without compensation). (The Today Show does not pay guests for interviews.)I also believe that I have seen reporters from the NY Times on television shows like Meet the Press and other news shows discussing politics, economics, military issues and business.

In this day and age, they can hook up a satellite connection. The guests do not have to be in the New York City studios in order to appear on the show. These TV programs regularly interview people in their living rooms, hotel rooms and elsewhere.

Jenny Ringer was on the Today show. I have not seen it yet, but I taped it. Edit to add: You can watch Ringer's appearance on Today on the Today show's official website. Ringer was very well spoken and mentioned that shw was touched by the outpouring of public support. It was also mentioned that the NY Times was invited to participate but declined. (Translation: Macauley is a wimp.)

Alagna has been battling a throat illness. I saw this opera at the Met on Tues evening of this week, and Alagna was fading fast. Before the final intermission ended, a Met representative came out before the curtain to announce that Alagna was ill, but he would continue and complete the performance. I hope he sounded better in the HD broadcast than he did last week. By the way, I also saw this production earlier in the run (Thanksgiving weekend) and Alagna sounded great. I was most impressed by the improvements that Marina P. has made. I was so impressed with her, I decided the buy tickets to the new, eurotrash Traviata in January 2011. A great opera and a great cast. I hope they bring this one back soon to the MET.

The casting is up now on the NYCB website through Dec. 26. As in the past, lots of newbies are getting the lead roles toward the end of the run. New Sugarplums are Brittany Pollack and Rebecca Krohn. New Cavs. are Catazarro, Finlay and Christian Tworyzanski. New Dewdrop - Lauren King. Carmena is debuting as Cav. tonight.