abatt

2 hours ago, YouOverThere said:

I attended the Thursday performance, For a number of reasons, including getting a seat in the last row of the upper balcony due to arriving late, I wasn't in the best position to objectively assess the performance. That being said, I wasn't impressed by the changes to the first act. I felt that they made the story less compelling. Having the men act like they were obnoxiously drunk while the women were dancing during the Harvest Festival was distracting. I didn't feel that the choreography for the corps in the first act was any sort of upgrade.

I probably won't see this a second time, as the Sunday performance is already listed as a sell-out and there are only a handful of tickets left for Saturday evening.

Reviews of performing arts presentations have grown increasingly infrequent in the Washington Post, so I'm not shocked that this presentation didn't get a mention. February is a very crowded month at the Kennedy Center, with Alvin Ailey, ABT, and the Washington Ballet performing the next 3 weeks, plus a full classical music schedule that includes recitals by Lang Lang and Joshua Bell.

For me the interpretation of having the men seem drunk makes sense, because they are celebrating the wine harvest.

I also noticed in the first act when she picks the flower and starts pulling off the petals for the He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not countdown, this production does not have the Albrecht character secretly pull off a petal to fool Giselle into thinking that she counted wrong.  He merely shows her that she did in fact count incorrectly.  Many wonderful nuances and changes throughout. 

I love the fact that the nobility is not  portrayed as  a bunch of snooty people who look down on the peasants.  

My main criticism is with the company, not with the Ratmansky staging.  Having seen Giselle over the years by top level companies, the lesser technical abilities of these dancers became apparent.   The men in the company are not impressive technicians, in my opinion.  I saw opening night (Wed) and Thursday night.  Shevchenko was in a different level technically than the Company's own dancers.  As an example, Shevy's  hops across the stage were marvelous, and she continued until she essentially ran out of hopping space.  In contrast, the Giselle on Thursday quit the hops about halfway through.  Shevy also has a much bigger and higher jump than Thursday's Giselle. 

Ratmansky was BEAMING with pride when he took the stage at the end of the show on Wednesday with the company. 

Nice to run into California at the show and at the hotel.  PS - The Residence Inn  Foggy Bottom is undergoing extensive renovation.  Our room smelled like paint, and we could hear some drilling on another floor at around 9AM on Thursday morning.  Also, the heat was  not adequate.  I can't even imagine what that room must feel like in today's deep freeze.  I'll stop ranting now.

I can't say I'm surprised by this info.  At his age, how could he expect to continue as a principal given his inability to take on most of the rep. due to injuries.  I recall a profile on SAB from a few years ago in which Ball, still a student, said that his dream was to make it to principal.  At least he had his dream fulfilled, albeit for a short duration.

Based on casting throughout the season, it seems like certain people may be on the way out.  LeCrone is stripped of her role as Lilac, and has not appeared in any significant roles.  Georgina Pazcoguin's only role for the Winter is in Ratmansky's Voices.  

I saw Indiana during the last run.  She was terrific.   Great technical ability and sparkling presence.  I'm pretty sure Huxley was her partner during the last run too.

I'm most skeptical about Phelan, but we'll see.

I'm a little surprised to see Veyette's name as Desire.  

I guess Furlan and LaFreniere are saved for week 2.  

Also, Kikta is only listed right now for Diamond.

Peter Walker did Desire during the last run, but so far he is only doing Gold. 

As expected, Harrison Ball is not reprising  Desire or any role.

My friend once referred to the 4th ring as the best vantage point to view "Balanchine geometry", which is a very apt description.  

21 minutes ago, Kathleen O'Connell said:

This. I can't help but regret the opportunities that were squandered during the Martins regime. 

Woodward and Gordon were absolutely on fire in yesterday's matinee performance of Donizetti Variations, by the way. I got winded just from watching them. But they weren't just fast: the steps were as clear as spring water and as bubbly as champagne. 

Agreed. I saw them in their debut last weekend.  They were wonderful.  Gordon, in particular, is such a beautiful classical dancer.   

ttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/arts/dance/kyra-nichols-coaching-new-york-city-ballet.html

Kyra Nichols coached several ballet this season, including Rondo.  (Adam Luders has also been coaching, but the ballets he coached are not identified.  

For me, this has been the greatest contribution of the management that took over  after Martins.  The willingness to have former great dancers return to coach.

Nichols' work is described in the attached NY  Times article. 

6 hours ago, cobweb said:

 Also I noticed it said "Enjoy Before 1/31" on the label. Really? It was going stale already, I can't imagine selling it three days from now. Also, needless to say, quite expensive (like $11). Not recommended. 

If you are willing to pay that much for a sandwich, try to get to the new Rossetta bakery which opened up a few months ago directly across the street from Lincoln Center.  Nothing there is cheap, but the quality is good.  I have purchased a few different types of sandwiches from Rossetta and they have all been very good. 

16 hours ago, uptowner said:

https://www.wnyc.org/story/seeking-relevance-and-new-audiences-nyc-ballet-companies-embrace-diversity
Here is a link for a 6-minute radio piece from WNYC that I heard this morning-- about diversity in ballet, focused around audience interest in the Solange Knowles composition. 
"According to a New York City Ballet spokesperson, first-time attendees accounted for 73% of single-ticket sales for the performances that featured “Play Time.”" 

(I am not confident this belongs here in this thread, but it is about programming in the 22/23 season and NYCB, as an example of a broader issue/discussion) 

I think if they hired Taylor Swift to create a new work the ballet, first time attendance would also be off the charts.  Tickets sold because the composer of the music has a huge following.  It is unrelated to race.

15 minutes ago, Susu_nyc said:

For those who saw Copland Dances last night, what is the purpose of the "hazmat suit" type covering the dancers put on?  I saw some snaps of this on NYCB's instagram feed.

Your guess is as good as mine.  It seemed like Peck decided to borrow the types of covering worn by the Novice in the Cage.  Any other guesses?  A pretentious choice.

Review: Justin Peck Runs Out of Steam in ‘Copland Dance Episodes’ - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

NY Times review.  Spot on.

By the way, the choreography for Rodeo was largely the same as Peck's creation a few years ago, but the portion where a dancer goes to the edge of the stage and pulls a cord from the floor of the stage has been deleted.

Mejia now dances the role that was made on Ulbricht.

The costumes and scenic designs are completely different from Peck's prior incarnation of Rodeo. 

For me, once was probably enough for Copland Dances.  It felt overly long and the choreography felt  too repetitive.  It did not hold my interest for the 80 minute duration.   As noted above, he is much better at choreographing for groups than for duets and trios.  There are a lot of duets and trios. After a while it all started to look the same.  He tried to interconnect the sections of the ballet by having Nadon and Stanley show up periodically throughout the ballet.  It did succeed in creating a feeling of community - a community of dancers or of people living a certain place and time.

I'll compare this (unfavorably) with Ratmansky's Trilogy years ago, in which he used the music of one composer, but each of the three sections had a different choreographic idea.   That  approach by Ratmansky held my interest, and I left understanding more about Shastakovich.   The Peck ballet just felt like relentless sameness. 

Very fascinating life and career.  Based on interviews I've read, she was bitter about the fact that Rita Moreno got the role of Anita in the film of West Side Story, even though Chita originated the role on Broadway.

During the pandemic NYCB put on shows with no intermissions, so it is puzzling that they inserted an intermission after a 10 minute ballet. Clearly the only necessary intermission was before Firebird. 

I went to yesterday's matinee.  Remember when there was a Vodka toast to Mr. B on his birthday.  Not anymore.  Remember when the company scheduled special demonstrations and lectures for his birthday?  Not anymore.  Now we are down to a note in the program.

Fortunately, the program was filled with terrific performances except for one.  First, Mejia is doing principal work, and has been for some time.  He deserves to be promoted.  LaFreniere has improved a lot in Firebird since her debut last year.  I thought Gerrity did pretty well with the Faust ballet.  She is perhaps a touch conservative in the diagonal spins, but it was a very good performance.  Liturgy suits Phelan well.  Long lines, no spins whatsover.

And now we turn to Tyler Angle. NYCB has entirely abdicated its duty to regulate who is allowed to appear on stage.  At this point, his appearance is embarrassing.  He is  very overweight - way worse than Bouder looked in the fall.  At least Bouder had a legit reason for weight gain - out with injury for an extended period.   Quit applying a double standard to women and men.  I don't care how good he is as a partner.  Either train someone else in the role or don't perform the ballet if you don't have anyone suitable.  I'm sure that for an ordinary person of his age his weight is fine, but he is not in the job of an ordinary person.   He should succeed into the character roles of Jared at this point.

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. 

14 hours ago, naomikage said:

Israel Galvin is absolutely fantastic and is a phenomenal artist, a dancer like no other. I recommend seeing his performance too. 

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)

57 minutes ago, MarzipanShepherdess said:

Mira absolutely KILLED IT in her Stravinsky Violin Concerto debut. Élan is the word that comes to mind. So much passion, verve, intensity. Really thrilling. Big audience reaction, which was lovely to see. Everyone kept applauding after she and Adrian went into the wings after their big pas de deux, so much so that they came back out for mid-performance bows. 

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.  

2 hours ago, Marta said:

bro

I looked up when I had seen Davidsbundlertanze and was shocked to find it was in 2003.  Maybe there has been  another performance since then.  The dancers were Kistler, Somogyi, Kyra Nichols, Miranda Weese, Askegard, Nilas Martins, Nikolai Hubbe and Jock Soto.  I made a note next to Nichols, Weese and Hubbe: "fantastic!".  I agree  that this ballet is a neglected masterpiece and should come back!  It is flawed and melodramatic but unique in Balanchine.  I can't think of any other "Balanchine short story" [Prodigal] or "Balanchine Gothic" [La Sonnambula, La Valse] that it resembles. Nadon in the Farrell role would be fascinating; Gordon and Furlan also sound great.  

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.