abatt

Yes, Dutton O'Hara is lovely.  I think she has a lot of potential.

Even though LaFreniere was the least successful of the Aurora casts, I still enjoyed the performance.  She did poorly with the balances, particularly the first set.  Perhaps the most irritating thing for me was that she had the plastered on smile throughout.  No mystery or spirituality in the Vision scene.  (None of the NYCB ballerinas excel at this.  ABT's dancers are much better at conveying this distinction, particularly Part and Hee Seo).  I thought Freniere did nicely in the wedding scene.  

The fish dives did look strange, but that was not Freniere's fault.  Walker waits until she has completely stopped  turning to begin the process of using his left arm to begin executing the fish dive to position his ballerina.  As Tiler Peck explained in a video that was linked somewhere in this thread, the best results come when the man starts putting his ballerina into fish dive position while she is still spinning.  I thought Walker haf some wonderful moments, but he also fudged some of the steps and finishes in the wedding scene.  Since he was a short notice replacement for Desire, I'm happy to cut the guy some slack.

I thought Kikta was very secure in the  Lilac footwork, although she could certainly benefit from more refinement in her arms.

And I really like Takahashi, but he need improvement in partnering skills.  

Now that I have seen each cast, I believe Joe Gordon was the best of the Desires.  

Megan Fairchild is like a fine wine that has improved with age.  She was a wonderful Aurora.  

Gerrity was a stunning Lilac.  I also thought Laracey was terrific, with the most beautiful upper body/arm movements, but she doesn't have technical brilliance in the footwork.

This run has sold like gangbusters. I hope they revive it again soon, and hope that Emma V.E. gets a shot at Aurora.

3 hours ago, California said:

I thought it was interesting that Murphy and Cornejo are scheduled for the last two days of the Met season - Murphy on the 21st and Cornejo on the 22nd. If anybody is about to retire, that's the time and place to do it. Cornejo has been looking so strong lately, I wonder if he'll hang on for another year. Murphy seems most likely to retire, to me. 

Yes, I noticed this too.  I'm wondering if either one will retire this season.

6 minutes ago, matilda said:

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I'm confused about the "Gold" variation. Last week, Harrison Coll did the difficult turns à la seconde / pirouette sequence (it didn't go so well). Tonight, Davide Riccardo did a sequence of jumps instead. Is it normal for dancers to do different choreography here? Did Walker and Mejia do the turns in their solos at other performances? Anyway, Riccardo looked great in a classical danseur noble way with gorgeous leaps and soft landings. I did not care for Megan LeCrone as Diamond. 

KJ Takahashi had a nice debut as Bluebird, with souring jumps and sharp brisés. He seemed less confident with partnering but there were no big mishaps. Florine is a great vehicle for Pereira. 

 

yes, I noticed this too.  The variation that Davide Riccardo did was easier than what the other men did in Gold.  He was beautiful, but it was clearly a "dumbed down' version of the usual choreography.

Misty's partner of choice is usually Cornejo, although I think she was scheduled to dance R&J with Royal before the pandemic. How much longer do we think Cornejo can hang on as a principal?

I can't even imagine how Misty could dance Giselle in 2024 after having been off the stage for this many years.

Martins used to promote people en masse during the latter portion of a two week run of SB or SL.  I hope the current leadership follows that pattern, although time is running out. 

Gerrity does all principal work, and does it well.  This has been the case for a substantial period of time. It's time to give her the promotion she has earned.

58 minutes ago, cobweb said:

Further thoughts on last night. Baily Jones and Cainan Weber were Princess Florine and the Bluebird. Weber can perhaps get more comfortable with partnering, but otherwise he looks very promising. Baily Jones gets a lot of big opportunities, and she is reliable, solid technique, charming, but I don't see her as bringing anything particularly special. It will be interesting to see if she gets promoted. 

 

I think Baily Jones is well liked by management.   She gets a lot of opportunities. I'm guessing she will be promoted.

I think India Bradley was also a contender for promotion, but her injury may put a potential promotion on hold. 

A lot of current soloists will likely shortly be promoted, and others appear to be on track to (forced) retirement.

27 minutes ago, matilda said:

My sense from listening to a recent interview with Jaffe (I forget who it was with, but the link was posted here by someone) is that she loves story ballets and contemporary work. I think she said they already had a one-act Cathy Marston "ballet" programmed for fall 2023, although that would have been McKenzie's programming choice, not hers. Hopefully there will still be a full length. 

 

The Marston one act is Summer and Smoke, which will premiere at Houston Ballet next month.  

26 minutes ago, matilda said:

Peter Walker is now dancing with LaFreniere on Thursday and Sunday: https://res.cloudinary.com/new-york-city-ballet/image/upload/v1676885499/Documents/Casting/2023 Winter/NYCB_Casting_February_21-26_2023_lobby_20230217.pdf

Wow.  Interesting.  Thanks.

Gordon's fish dives with Fairchild were flawless on Wednesday.

I like the Jewels section  and hope they keep it going forward.   It gives more dancers the opportunity to shine.

I saw yesterday's matinee.  The weakest link was definitely Veyette, not Phelan. 

Veyette made numerous errors in his solo work in the wedding scene.  This classical choreography seemed to be completely beyond his current level of ability.

Phelan  was shaking a lot during both sets of balances in the Rose Adagio.  She had to immediately grab the next guy's hand to stay upright.  She never came off pointe, but the  balance sections were very precarious. The rest of her work was wonderful throughout the performance.  The only other issue she had was during the wedding scene, when she has to do some spins across the diagonal of the stage.  Spinning is her kryptonite. On the final spin she lost control and stumbled a bit. 

There was a major mishap on the first fish dive.  I thought Phelan might end up being dropped, but somehow Veyette managed to reposition her body to fix the problem.

Mejia was fantastic in his Gold debut.  So was Nadon as Diamond, but she was clearly too tall for Mejuia.    The Jewels section was well performed by everyone.  So far my favorite Diamond has been Kikta.  Looking forward to her Lilac.

Miller got through her Lilac variations in the Christening, but the effort was visible.  In her final steps in her wedding solo, she lost control and made obvious mistakes.   In my opinion, she has the weakest technique of all the ladies who are realistically in the mix for promotion at the moment. 

I thought of the three casts I've seen Woodward was the most robust  Aurora of the Rose Adagio.  However, she lacks grandeur.  It's a difficult  role because not too many ballerinas can successfully navigate the entire role.  I also notice that something was amiss in the placement of the fish dives that Huxley and Woodward performed, but I can't figure out exactly why.  Certainly no disasters, though.  I thought Huxley did pretty well with the technical demands, except toward the end of the wedding pas he started to have problems in his solo.  More problematic was that he is completely wooden actor.  

Woodward had a hilarious blooper in which her leg somehow became entangled in Janzen's cape in the Rose Adagio.

I liked Tiler Peck on Thursday.  Her musicality was quite wonderful.  Kudos to Chan, who is both technically terrific and a wonderful partner.  

I enjoyed Gerrity's performance, but so far my favorite Lilac is Laracey.  The way Laracey used her upper body, arms and hands  were exquisite.  Laracey exudes goodness and benevolence, and has the perfect temperament for the role.  In contrast, all of the things that make Nadon great at Tall Girl in Rubies and in SVC make her an imperfect interpreter of Lilac.  She has an urbane sophistication which does not work for this role.  Of the three Lilacs, as far as I could tell Gerrity was the only one who danced the steps flawlessly.  

I liked LeCrone as Carabosse.  She reminded me of the wicked witch in the Wizard of Oz.  

Harrison Coll was out of his depth in Gold.  It reminded me of the bad old days when Chase Finlay tried to fake his way through the Gold variation.  So it appears that the only tall  person available who can actually dance Gold right now is Peter Walker.  Roman takes on the role this afternoon, and I'm sure he will be wonderful.  However, they need more tall men to take on important roles, ASAP. What a shame to see Ball and Janzen wander around the stage as suitors in the Rose Adagio section  but unable to dance the difficult, important roles in this ballet. 

Laine Habony looks out of shape.

Added - Loved Emma and Roman in Bluebird.   I thought Emma's footwork was much more clearly articulated than Adams' as Florine.

3 hours ago, Balletwannabe said:

Megan Fairchild is a 39 year old mother of 3 and pulled off playing an innocent sweet 16 year old.  I loved every minute of her stage.  

Highlight for me were Emma Von Enck & Harrison Cole in the cat pas.  I wanted it to last so much longer.  Their technique & chemistry was off the charts.  

I was not enthralled by the "Jewels" in the Wedding, except fot Megan LeCrone playing Diamond.  I just really enjoyed it, can't put my finger on why.

I hate Peter Martin's choreography for the fairy's.  Dance after dance I wondered why I wasn't enjoying these dancers- and then I realized it's the choreography.  

However - Mira Nadon's role being much larger as the Lilac Fairy, thoroughly enjoyed.  I know she's tall, but I think she could pull off Aurora.  She has beautiful, expressive stage presence.

Joseph Gordon's technique was excellent, thoroughly enjoyed his solos.  

The jesters need to work on timing & spacing .  Had the same issue with the men's sections in Copeland Episodes.  If timing is off it ruins the energy of the group.  

I could tell Maria K. Was thoroughly enjoying her evil role.  Loved it.  

Overall an enjoyable performance, looking forward to comparing with Woodward.

 

Very much agree with this post about the quality of the dancing last night.  Fairchild is ageless.  A wonderful performance.  And this is exactly the type of pure classical role in which Gordon excels.  I find him less convincing in neo classical works like SVC, but in this he was superb.  Fish dives - NO PROBLEM.  Every one was perfect.

I liked Nadon's dancing, but she needs to lighten up and be more joyful.  Maybe she was nervous, but she seemed a bit too cold for this role.

Erica and Danny were terrific in Bluebird.  A joyful evening.   The place was packed.

And Maria K was a delicious Carabosse. 

37 minutes ago, cobweb said:

If anyone was there tonight I am interested to hear who were the young men attending Lilac’s fairies. I was at the Dress last night and they were not listed in the casting, but several of them looked stellar. I recognized Riccardo, Melnikov, Nelson, Abreu, possibly Klesa(?) and…? Can anyone help me out here from the program?

You know your dancers!.  They were Abreu, David Gabriel, Melnikov. Lars Nelson, Davide Riccardo and an apprentice - Owen Flacker.

4 hours ago, Helene said:

Balanchine only appeared in SAB classes a few times a year -- dancers have written about how they would wear their best clothes, do their make-up carefully, choose the right earrings, wear perfume, etc. when they heard he was coming -- and, he too, made quick decisions.  If Martins disagreed with Kay Mazzo about her suggestions, he'd observed enough to form that opinion, for better or worse.

My apologies for not knowing the SAB terminology for the way levels are described at SAB.

So that means SAB students are no longer in The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Coppelia, The Sleeping Beauty, and Harliquenade?   (I don't know the new works, and those are the ones I remember with young dancers.)  Where do they get the children/teens from if not from the school?

They are certainly SAB students in Sleeping Beauty, which I saw this evening.  My program actually lists by name the SAB students who appeared in the Garland Dance.

Darci Kistler, Peter's wife, worked as an instructor at SAB.  I suspect she may have also informed Peter about student performance abilities in addition to Kay Mazzo and other instructors.  Even if Peter wasn't teaching SAB classes, I have no doubt he was getting reports from numerous instructors about particular students at SAB.

I haven't seen the current casts for Fancy Free.  I skipped that program.  But for me it will be pretty hard to surpass the performances of Tiler Peck and Damian Woetzel in the romantic pas in the bar.    Woetzel was a great in the rhumba solo. 

I also have such vivid memories of ABT's performances, in which the three sailors were Carreno (perfection as rhumba guy), Steifel and Corella.  (I never liked any of the women at ABT who performed in Fancy.)

He should be fired, not just suspended. He should also be charged with any applicable misdemeanors might apply.  

30 minutes ago, matilda said:

I can't imagine he personally casted all of the dancers in secondary roles, given he has never worked with this new generation of young corps members who are in many of the fairy parts. But my understanding is that he has heavy influence and control over casting, including veto power. (Someone with more knowledge can confirm)

Most of these young dancers may have been selected by Martins to attend SAB.  I forget the timeline of when he resigned. I think he is well aware of many people in the corps from SAB.

23 hours ago, YouOverThere said:

I tested positive for covid this evening (Sunday), so I don't know if I will get to this show. Especially since the most likely place that I caught it was at the Kennedy Center (watching Alvin Ailey). Given my situation, with an advanced cancer patient at home, it was probably irresponsible for me go to concerts and shows now that few people wear masks.

Sorry to hear this.  Feel better, and I hope the members of your household are okay too.

43 minutes ago, BalanchineFan said:

Not that I disagree with the assessment, but how could one possibly know what is going on in Jonathan Stafford's head?

It's about the casting.  He has given her major roles - Chaconne, Firebird, Raymonda to name a few.  She learned Diamonds with Catazoro (which she has yet to perform).  When they progressively give you more and more of the big Balanchine roles, they are considering you for principal.  

They need a tall danseur.  Not sure why Peter Walker is not doing Desire.   Coll used to get major roles under Martins (Romeo for example), but  then he was out with injury for a long time.  His career has stalled.

Davide Riccardo seems to be a major talent .

What happened to Aaron Sanz.  They were testing him out in bigger roles, but he has fallen off the radar.

I think that Emma is still learning and hasn't got much experience in lead roles.  Aurora has to hold your interest for the entire ballet, and it is a huge role.  Emma has been cast mostly in soloist, secondary roles.  I guess they feel she needs more seasoning. Still, it pains me to see her cast as White Cat.  At least she's getting Florine, which has real substance.  

In contrast, LaFreniere has done lead roles in various one-act ballets, and has done well.  She has been in the company for longer than Emma, so I guess there is a sense that LaFreniere should be given this opportunity at this time.  I suspect this will be the last SB run for Megan Fairchild and Tiler Peck, so I guess Emma will have to wait it out a few more years. 

LaFreniere has been on Stafford's radar for years as someone who was going to get to principal eventually, so if she does well in this role I think the promotion is inevitable.  

30 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

Martins' Carabosse has always been danced by one of the company's ballerina's, no? (And usually one of the senior principals, although there have been exceptions like Marika Anderson, who was terrific.) I think it's important to the spirit of the production that Carabosse be as glamorous as she is scary. (Not that a man in drag can't be glamorous, I hasten to add, but in ballet men are usually cast as women to drain as much glamour out of the role as possible.) One of the big surprises of the production's premiere was just how fabulous Merrill Ashley's Carabosse turned out to be. And as much as I love Janzen, I'm not sure he's got the "I just LOVE being a villain" dramatic chops to pull it off. 

Now Gilbert Bolden might be another matter ... 😉

ETA: Why would you want to see Carabosse performed by a man? For contrast with the Lilac Fairy?

For a different perspective.  Some companies cast a man.

I would have preferred to see Carabosse performed by a man, like Russell Janzen.  I get the feeling they wanted to throw an extra little paycheck Maria's way.

There was no way they would deprive Phelan of Aurora.  She is cast in everything.