abatt

I attended the Sat matinee, specifically to see Gordon and Woodward in Donizetti. Both were fantastic. They are both so impressive. Today is Balanchine's birthday. Happy Birthday and thanks for giving the public so many rich and rewarding ballets.

Agree!

I thought SVC was quite bland last night. I also noticed that the quartet of men dancing behind Janzen were jumping much higher and with cleaner footwork than Janzen . It was overall a disappointing SVC. A 180 from Tuesday evening's fantastic performance by other dancers. Valse Fantasie was like sparkling champagne. A joyous performance. I always go in with low expectations for Veyette these days. He exceeded my low expectations, but there were issues as noted above. Clark is a beautiful dancer, but Haieff is no lost masterpiece.

Lupe Serrano, Ballerina of Power and Fire, Is Dead at 92 - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

Completely agree! Nadon was electrifying. It was a thrilling debut. KJ Takahashi was awarded the Janice Levin award. He gave a moving speech. He dedicated it to his brother, who suffers from cerebral palsy and epilepsy. He also mentioned that he has known Roman Mejia since he was 9 yrs old, and he attended the dance school run by Mejia's parents. He credited the Mejia family with his success. A class act in addition to being a fabulous dancer.

Since the 75th anniversary of the company is coming up I hope they revive certain ballets that have been MIA for quite some time, including Union Jack, In the Night and Davidsbundertanze.

This ballet was last performed in 2008 at NYCB. Mearns performed S. Farrell's role, I think. . correction - last performed in 2014.

I'm impressed by the maturity and self awareness of Mearns in reaching this decision. She realized that she was not ready to return and that she could not dance at her best at this juncture. Contrast that with the behavior of her colleague Bouder.

Mearns did retire Lilac, and during the last run she did Carabosse.

Davidsbundertanze sadly has become a neglected masterpiece. NYCB hasn't done it for at least a decade. i also have to wonder whether they will ever revive Bournonville Divert. I wish they would give some other ballets a rest.

I think everyone has noticed that new audiences do come out for certain things, like the program in the fall that featured Solange Knowles' music. But I have to wonder whether they will return. The same thing happened many years ago when Peter Martins used a score by Paul McCartney. My sense is that generally these are one time excursions to the ballet. It is not a general interest in ballet, but an interest in a specific composer.

Perhaps the change in program for the winter season which replaced West Side Story Suite with Firebird was because Jared needed a vehicle for retirement.

Yes, Mearns is great in this role, so it will be disappointing if she is replaced. I'm pretty sure I saw Unity in the role, and that she was unremarkable in comparison to Mearns (and Kyra Nichols, going back in time!(. The lead role has to be danced with abandon, which is why Mearns is so good in it. I've never seen Phelan dance with abandon.

I thought of Kikta too, but I think she might be too tall for Tyler Angle.

I hope Mearns is okay. She missed the entire run of Nuts. I will certainly check out Nadon in SVC. Who will replace Mearns in WALPURGISNACHT BALLET?

Thanks. So it's likely that our Auroras will be Peck, Fairchild, Woodward, Phelan (based on rehearsal reports) and LaFreniere (based on rehearsal reports). Did I leave out anyone? Have not heard anything about Emma V.E. She would have seemed a natural as Aurora.

Oh no. Sorry this placed closed up. Mr. Abatt and I were fans of this restaurant. Thanks for the head up. Just curious. Was LaFreniere rehearsing Lilac or Aurora. She seems way too tall for Aurora.

Rodeo was one of Peck's best works. It's not common for a choreographer to revisit the same music with different choreography. I assume he will not repeat his choreography from Rodeo, since that was a stand-alone work.

Laughing out loud. Thanks. I attended an All Peck program at NYCB a few years ago because a friend wanted to see it. It was way too much Peck for me, and that program had the standard two intermissions. Goldberg Variations is considered a masterpiece, but even that ballet fails to attract an audience. This is a big risk considering the number of times NYCB has programmed the new Peck work for Winter and Spring .

There are very few choreographers who could sustain interest continuously for 80 minutes. This should be interesting.

I think he may be more convincing in modern works like Tharp, and less so in the classical prince roles.

Exactly. A teaser should show you the most thrilling one minute of the new work. Did they go out of their way to show the dullest one minute, or is the entire ballet like this?

I just received an email from NYCB with a trailer for the new Peck work. Copland Dance Episodes | New York City Ballet (nycballet.com) It didn't make me want to see the work at all. There was a lot of emoting and crouching and hand holding. How about a clip with actual dancing? Who are the two dancers featured in this clip.

It appears to me that NYCB is trying to purge as much Martins work as possible. I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually pick up Ratmansky's SL. When Stafford took over he indicated an intention to keep certain Martins works, like Fearful Symmetries and Barber Violin Concerto. These works are superior to a lot of the new works which have been commissioned, in my opinion. However, I doubt NYCB will dance those works again.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/06/arts/dance/alexei-ratmansky-city-ballet.html Terrific article about Ratmansky and NyCB.