abatt

When I saw Brandenburg last night I mostly recalled that pas that Nadon and Sanz performed.  It was the highlight of the ballet.  Did Maria K. perform this?  Anyway, it was haunting, eloquent and dark.  The rest was enjoyable and spirited, led by Huxley and Woodward.

Loved Taylor Stanley in Agon.  Magnificent.  

Casting is out for next week, and Emma V E takes over Woodward's role in Brandenburg for two performances. 

22 minutes ago, Fleurfairy said:

ABT suffers HUGELY from the lack of top level coaching. 90 year old Irina can't be expected to coach every principal and soloist the way they need to be coached. That should be Jaffe's #1 priority, getting excellent, knowledgeable coaches on the payroll.

That may be true, but I think at least part of their current issues  relate to their decision that the vast majority of their company will  now come from their own school only. They do not have a school of stellar reputation (like SAB), so their pool of potential dancers is not as strong as it needs to be.

54 minutes ago, California said:

He was a guest in Don Q in spring of 2022 at Kennedy Center and the Met. As I remember he was brought in to replace Whitehead after the latter's serious injury in December 2021 in Nutcracker at Segerstrom. But Simkin isn't currently listed in any capacity on the ABT web site: https://www.abt.org/the-company/dancers/

He also did two performances of the Ratmansky ballet at the Koch in the fall of 2022. I forgot the name of it.  The one that takes place in a sweet shop.

Cornejo is quite old by ballet standards/years.   They need a shorter virtuoso like Simkin. He could partner Trenary, Brandt and Boylston.

ABT, please offer Simkin an opportunity to return to the Company.  He is needed.

Peck & Gordon were exquisite on Friday night in Raymonda.  Perfection.

How was Emma V. E. in La Source tonight?

I see that Alexa Maxwell is doing the role created on Mearns in the Wheeldon ballet next week for one show.  Nothing against Maxwell, but Mearns is the entire reason to see this ballet.  She is clearly the center of its most compelling moments. 

Funny, I had the opposite reaction of Faux Pas.  I felt the Wheeldon work was a much better crafted work than the Pires work.  To each his own.

Since Times are Racing is a "sneaker ballet", I guess it would not aggravate her  injury. 

I was at the gala tonight.  Sara Mearns was mesmerizing in the Wheeldon ballet.  Her over the top dramatic style worked perfectly in this ballet. I also liked the pas for Walker and Sanz (replacing Chan). And the design backdrops and scrim were gorgeous.   I thought the weakest parts of the ballet involved the choreography for the corps.  

The next ballet, Standard Deviation, was a bore.  Most of the choreography was uninteresting.  The score was a newly commissioned jazz piece, which was sometimes overly loud and bombastic.   

Hate to say it, but Pollack doesn't dance big or bold enough to take over the lead role in Times are Racing.   Peter Walker should have taken this role.  Instead, he was cast in the smaller role originated by Justin Peck. Tiler and  Roman did a great job on the pas de deux.  

There were curtain speeches - way too many.  Four in total - including the architect of the closure of the 3rd and 4th rings, Kathryn Brown.  There was a lot of speechifying about how the company needs to diversify and attract new audiences.  They were very excited to announce that a study indicated that 46 percent of their audience was under the age of 50.    Maybe if they are  really interested in attracting new audiences, they should open up more seating so that people of moderate income can purchase  reasonably priced seats. 

53 minutes ago, matilda said:

Interesting that Isabella LaFreniere is featured in the article's lead photo but not listed in casting for that ballet. 

 

Maybe she trained as the second cast, in case Mearns was not able to return in time.

Just curious, did Paz get outsize applause because she is leaving.  I suspect that most people have no clue that she is retiring.  

Chris Wheeldon’s ‘Dangerous and Exciting’ Adventure at City Ballet - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Article on Wheeldon's new ballet.

Which one was Bouder?

26 minutes ago, MarzipanShepherdess said:

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Harrison came out and performed the male solo that comes fairly late in the ballet. That solo has never lived large in my memory of Square Dance, but it will now. As Harrison danced it, it felt like he was doing a male waltz girl (from Serenade) with these deep deep surrendering backbends. He's such an emotive dancer. Gorgeous. (As was Anthony, Erica for me falls a bit flat in this). I love that Harrison was given the opportunity to dance the part of this that he could, even though unfortunately given his injuries the full ballet is beyond his current capability.

 

Sorry to have missed this.  If the company posts any footage of this please post.

Who came out at the end?  Was Zac Posen there?

13 hours ago, bellawood said:

Namouna reminds me of why I am so excited to see what Ratmansky does with this ballet company — Alexei Ratmansky and Mira Nadon in the same room?!? — it will be a blast. I love this ballet. Débuts for both Roman and KJ, and they had a dance-off. So much fun. Sara looked incredible. Ashley was extremely commendable in the Wendy role, though Ashley/Roman is not the most natural pairing. Mira is just a phenomenon; we are lucky to watch her trajectory. The whole company energized. 

Yes, Sara did a great job in her role.  The entire cast was wonderful, but the pairing of Mejia and Laracey was very odd. Also, I thought Takahashi was running low on energy towards the end of the ballet.  Mejia is a much stronger technical dancer than Taylor Stanley.

Another terrific performance by Gordon and Woodward in La Source.

I used to attend those 4th ring talks regularly.  Most speakers were not impressive, but Joan Quatrano was wonderful.  The depth and  scope of her insight was impressive.  I think she was the head of volunteer services in the 90s. 

12 hours ago, vipa said:

Such good points. Does anyone understand why See The Music is scheduled when it is? I can't believe it sells tickets. On Thursday, when I was there, the 3rd rind wasn't open. 

Most people don't know that it is a See the Music program when they buy  tickets.

I think they should do See The Music during the intermission.  Those who are interested can stay seated.  Those who are not interested can leave.  It's not that the talk are not interesting.  It's that people live far away and have big commutes. They have trains to catch.  Why not do these talks on the matinees on weekends instead of weekday evenings.  The whole point of starting at 7:30 on weeknights was to attract working people who have to get up for work early the next day or have big commutes home.  By adding an additional 15 minutes to these programs you are defeating the purpose of early curtains.  

8 minutes ago, matilda said:

Pereira does better with frothy classical ballet in tulle or satin. She was good as the Walpurgisnacht soloist in winter, and I really like her Princess Florine in Sleeping Beauty. I'm sure she'll be better in La Source than Square Dance. How much better is TBD. 

I'm not sure.  The roles mentioned above are not leads.  They are more like secondary parts. 

I think they don't have time to do quick training of someone new in a lead role, so Erica has been the beneficiary of Megan's absence.  

37 minutes ago, matilda said:

Harrison Ball on why he's leaving City Ballet: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/28/arts/dance/harrison-ball-retiring-new-york-city-ballet.html

He talks about the debilitating foot injuries and addiction problems that have kept him off stage over the years. Tragic end to a beautiful career. I'll miss him a lot. At least I got to experience, simply by luck of casting, some of his career highlights such as Tchaikovsky pas de deux, Stars and Stripes, Puck in Midsummer Night's Dream, Mozartiana, and La Sonnambula. 

Fascinating article.  Wishing him the best and continued sobriety.  I recall seeing him on a profile on PBS of SAB while he was still a student.  He said something to the effect of all I want is to become a principal at NYCB.  It was a rocky road, but he got there.  And he made quite a remarkable impression despite his short tenure.  Some are there for decades and make no impression whatsoever.

I was also very moved by the fact that he turned to Peter Martins, and that Martins offered support instead of admonishment.   Fascinating how some in the company see Martins as the devil incarnate. 

Agree with the above post.  La Source was beautifully performed by Gordon & Woodward.  Namouna was fantastic except that Gerrity was tentative and, in my opinion, had difficulty with the technical demands of this role.  Nadon was great.  She is a superstar.

Can't wait for cast 2 featuring Mearns and Mejia!

16 minutes ago, Papagena said:

Too many principal dancers, too few shows. Seo is the only repeat for SL (which baffles me, frankly) so I suppose Trenary could have taken one of hers, but R&J is crowded to the point where there are no repeats. 

Short season with 8 principal women (9 if you count Copeland, who is on leave) doesn't leave much room for debuts in the full length classics. This of course could have been alleviated a bit if they sliced out some LWFC performances. 

I imagine Murphy is retiring next year, and we'll be seeing a couple new O/Os as a result 

Yes, now that the season  length has been reduced, there are obviously far fewer opportunities for these dancers.   If/when Copeland returns, there will be even fewer opportunities for the current roster of principal women.  Seo is really wonderful in the adagio portions of SL, and I thought her work with Aran Bell was sublime and very moving. 

1 hour ago, Royal Blue said:

Additionally, in response to a comment earlier in the thread, I must observe that Unity Phelan looked as marvelous as she always has, both in Concerto Barocco (a debut), and in Afternoon of a Faun, and should not lose an ounce of weight if she can help it. 

Unity is already stick thin.  I can't imagine why she would want to lose weight.  

About last night...  LaFreniere, Mearns and Janzen were absolutely fantastic in Concerto Barocco.  LaFreniere was brilliant in this.  I found this much more satisfying and electrifying as compared to the other cast earlier this week.  LaFreniere was fearless in the breadth of her movement.

A note about Tyler Angle.  He has become a distraction.  I know he is a good partner, but in Concerto earlier this week he stuck out like a sore thumb for all the wrong reasons.  He is completely out of shape.  Janzen was pure elegance and refinement.  He was wonderful.

The quartet in Kammermusik was also wonderful.  Miller had a nasty fall but got right back up.  Kikta was particularly exciting to watch.

I don't like Tiler Peck as much as Megan Fairchild in Raymonda, but she performed very well.  And Gordon was perfection.  This is the kind of work he excels in  - pure classical ballet.  

It seems that none of the current dancers can do hops on pointe that actually advance across the stage in the first Raymonda Variation. 

Huxley and Fairchild brilliantly led Donizetti Variations tonight.  Great work from both leads.  Megan danced with attack and ate up space in her huge jumps.  Exquisite.

The rest of the performance was fine, but not remarkable.  Not a big fan of Haiff.  It was well performed.

I usually like Square Dance, but tonight it was a bit underpowered.

Gordon is, in my opinion, miscast in Afternoon of a Faun.  And Unity is lovely but too bland.  We need someone like Janie Taylor in that role.

Third ring was closed.  

Huxley has become quite the show-off in demonstrating his control in difficult spinning variations (Raymonda and Donizetti).  If you've got it, flaunt it.  Huxley's definitely got it.

In addition to Slaughter I would get rid of the Concert.  It's just not that funny.  I also think we have seen enough Orpheus for the time being.

Would love to see the 3 ballets mentioned above (Mozartiana, Divert. 15, Chaconne).  Will they ever program Davidbundertanze again?  Also, Cortege Hongrois has been out of rep for some time.