abatt

FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA ANNOUNCES WHITE HOUSE DANCE SERIES BEGINNING WITH TRIBUTE TO JUDITH JAMISON I just read a press release stating that the First Lady will host a dance event on September 7th at the White House to celebrate the career of Alvin Ailey's long time artistic director, Judith Jamison. The event will feature performers from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Billy Elliot the Musical, The Washington Ballet, Super Cr3w, and New York City Ballet. It will be directed by Damian Woetzel, who is a member of the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. Looks like Damian is hanging out with some influential people these days. Good for him. I wonder who from NYCB will be performing at this event. Hopefully some footage of this event will be available on the internet.

This is very exciting. Miami City Ballet's performance of Square Dance (at City Center in New York) was the best account of that ballet I have ever seen. I had seen it dozens of times at NYCB, but it was never performed at the level of MCB's performance. I'm pretty sure one of the Delgado sisters was the lead dancer when I saw it.

It's an ugly reality of arts fundraising that the people who are donating large sums of money are strange bedfellows. Let's not forget that Alberto Vilar was a major contributor to Met Opera, the Royal Opera and the Kirov. It later turned out that his wealth was gained, at least in part, through securities fraud. He is now in federal prison. Similarly, I seem to remember that Countrywide Financial - a notorious player in the subprime lending game- was a big ABT contributor before the bubble burst. Unfortunately, you take your rich donors as you find them, warts and all. What I find more troubling is that ABT uses a system of "sponsors" where each principal dancer (and quite a few soloists) are "sponsored" by a rich donor. I often think that these donors have undue influence over some casting decisions at ABT.

What about Stella, Misty Copeland and Simone Messmer. I think all of these dancers will end up in signficant supporting roles.

Hi FauxPas. I would agree that Ratmansky gives younger people who are not principals a chance based on their talent, rather than their rank. However, I think this casting is also due to the fact that many of ABT's principal dancers only appear with the company at the MET (Vishneva, Corella, Steifel, Max, Irina, Osipova). It also seems that several dancers are too old to be suitable for Nutcracker roles (Carreno, Kent). This vacuum has allowed dancers in the soloist and corps ranks to shine (or, sometimes, to flounder) in leading roles during non-MET engagements. I also think that most families going to the Nutcracker don't really care about the casting. For us ballet talkers, casting is important.

No Dewdrop casting? That's a major role.

There is an article in today's New York Times regarding Nacho Duato and this company. The article mentions that the company will come to New York (the Koch Theater) in June 2012.

I finally got the ABT Nutcracker card. Slow mail service.

His new book (Freedom) has gotten rave reviews here in the U.S.

I originally saw this production when it first opened (in 2008?), and I saw it again live this week in the theater. (Also recorded the PBS program, but have not watched it yet.) I thought Paulo Szot in particular had made vast improvements in the role since 2008. His characterization is much more nuanced now, and he is in excellent voice. The only negative about my return visit is that I did not like the Lt. Cable who that is currently cast. He seems wooden. The original (Matt Morrison of TV's Glee) gave a superior performance. Anyway, it is now time to say goodbye to this excellent production. I hope Kelll and Paulo return to the stage soon.

The ad on the ABT website contains photos of Gomes and Murphy (photos taken by Fabrizio Ferri). It's reasonable to assume that they will be cast.

Have any subscribers to ABT's MET season received this card? I'm not an ABT "member", but I have several ABT subscriptions. I have not received this card. I probably will not make a purchase until casting becomes available.

My husband and I saw this twice the year that it opened, and we loved it. We are going back this week. I couldn't resist once I heard that Kelli O'Hara was returning. Absolutely try and catch this on TV.

I was also struck by the new photography in the brochures this year. It looks great. I thought the photography in the brochures the last few years was disappointing. I especially disliked a poster from either last year or the year before that had a very harsh, unbecoming photo of R. Krohn on the cover. In contrast, these photos from the current brochure were vibrant and exciting.

I wanted to just add, in relation to Sandik's post, that Savion Glover's broadway show, Bring In Da Noise, Bring In Da Funk (during the 1990s) was about how tap in the African American community began during slavery. Also, re Bart's comment on the clapping in flamenco, this is referred to as "palmas" and is an integral part of the percussive elements of flamenco. This has been an interesting discussion.

Is the Stars of the 21st Century Gala coming to New York City this season?

I saw Savion's recent show at the Joyce in New York. He regards tap as the use of percusive instruments (his feet), and he wants the audience to focus in on the sounds and rhythms he creates through tap. Visual elements, such as his dreadlocks, his costume, are a distraction. To his mind, visual elements distract from the core component of tap, which is based on hearing the sounds made by the feet. This is similar to flamenco dancing, in which the sounds made by the feet are an essential component of the performance, although flamenco also incorporates many visual elements (like spinal flexibility and use of the arms, especially of the women dancers.) Savion's views regarding tap are the opposite perspective from ballet, which is completely dependent on the visual components of the performance. (Don't we all complain when the pointe shoes of the corps make loud, distracting sounds on stage. Didn't Balanchine say he would rather have a dancer fall than to hear squeaks from dancer's shoes.)

Most of the stories upon which operas are based are just as silly as those in ballet. The stories, for the most part, are merely vehicles to hear great singing. Similarly, I tolerate most of the ridiculous stories in ballet in order to see great dancing. Personally, I prefer the "plotless" ballets. As Balanchine pointed out, a dramatic story is created merely by putting a man and a woman on stage together in a pas de deux. (Or 2 men, or 2 women, or whatever combo). (Yes, I know that is not the exact quote.) I agree that Kirkland and her husband should steer clear of staging any more story ballets, if the ABT SB is an example of the quality of their work.

I'm not surprised about Reyes. She looked like she gained a significant amount of weight this season.

I don't think the blonde is Janie Taylor. That looks like T. Reichlin next to Maria.

I never would have thought as Marcovici as a candidate for Apollo. Interesting. We have had the privilege of seeing two remarkable Apollo's during the past decade (Boal and Hubbe). Whoever is cast will have a tough act to follow.

Given that most of the press regarding his performances in recent years has been mixed to negative, I'm guessing that a formal farewell gala performance would have merely provided yet another opportunity for the press to bash him.

I just looked at a photo (on the website of the New York Post in the Entertainment section) of Natalie Portman in her tutu and makeup for Swan Lake. Her posture in the photo looks nothing like the posture of a ballet dancer, in my opinion.

I think Gonzalo Garcia may have performed the role of Apollo at SFB. I'm guessing he will be cast. Also, I think Kowrowski would be a good choice for the lead. I suspect Mearns will be in the mix too. She is conquering every important role in the rep. I could see Veyette as Apollo.

It's official now. Nilas is gone from NYCB. There is a brief mention of it in the NY Times, which states that Nilas decided to leave because he was accepted into an arts management program run by the Kennedy Center. Alas, we will now be deprived of his scintillating performances.