abatt

Except for the scene where Xander stood too close to Batoeva to support her in a spin or turn and her leg smacked right into him and caused her to stop mid-spin. Mr. Abatt turned to me and noted that we've been attending ballet for about 25 years and have never seen that error. It was egregious. All in all, however, it was a wonderful weekend of ballet from the Mariinsky.

At the Kennedy bust. See you Friday.

FYI, Copeland is also appearing as a guest artist at the Gala for Paul Taylor Dance Company at Lincoln Center in early November.

McKenzie would let Copeland make up any variation she could muster to keep her continuing performing in SL. As long as they keep doing the McKenzie version, Copeland will continue in the role. Unlike the exacting demands of Ratmansky, who does not allow alterations of the choreography, anytihng goes if it makes money as far as McKenzie is concerned. I'm not sure every principal is required to go on every tour.

Lauren King is cast as the demi soloist in Tchai PC, in the cast that has Mearns and Janzen. It is LeCrone who is not dancing the part this year, presumably because LeCrone is cast in Serenade on the same program.

I think the point of these fall galas is not the choreography. The entire point is the hope that patrons will pay for the gala dinner to rub elbows with famous fashion designers. The significance or quality of the choreography is almost an irrelevant afterthought. These are gimmick galas, concocted by SJ Parker and utilizing her connections in the fashion world. The most successful was when they had Sir Paul and his fashion designer daughter collaborate with Martins. That gala made a lot of money. The Valentino gala also made a ton of money. Notice that serious ballet choreographers like Ratmansky never participate in the fall fashion gala.

I think the disturbances from the ushers are worse than from the audience members. The ushers are there to enforce rules, not to create disturbances themselves.

I've had the usher walkie talkie issue in the third ring several times. YOu would think that ushers would have a little common sense. Any insights into why they did not give Gordon Diamonds this season? I thought he was sensational in his debut last season. However, he does look odd when paired with Mearns in this ballet. They need to find more appropriate partners for Gordon - ie, people who are closer in age to him. PS: Emily Kikta gets my vote for a chance at Choleric in the 4T's when it is next revived, based on her outstanding Tall Girl.

I was disappointed that they took Bouder out of Rubies this week (Saturday evening). That is a role that suits her well.

Fairchild and Veyette are paired together in the middle section of Union Jack. I guess when duty calls, you have to put the bad blood behind you.

I hope so too, but since Albrecht is one of the few roles Hallberg is still willing to perform at ABT, I'm concerned that Forster might not get his chance at the Met.

I agree. Maria was captivating in Diamonds in the Spring. She is not to be missed. Given Maria's age and history of recent injuries, you can never be sure whether she will continue to dance the role going forward. The Farrell coaching only improved and built upon what Maria had already accomplished in the role through years of performing it. The allegro portions of the role are becoming more difficult for Maria as time marches on. I hope that whenever she decides to retire, the Diamonds pas will be part of her final performance program. Along with Agon , I regard the Diamond pas as one of her signature roles with the company.

Neither Garcia nor Veyette are up to the challenges of the male lead in Rubies at this stage of their careers. Time for some new blood. Ulbricht? Mejia?

Murphy has only danced Giselle at ABT once or twice. Even Stella got to perform the role before Murphy at ABT. Just as it is rather appalling that Lane only got one shot at SL at ABT and has never been assigned the role again, it would be equally unfair to take the role away from Murphy just because she's older/is coming back from maternity. It is wrong to make assumptions about her level of ability. Although she is older, she has always been far more secure technically than certain other ladies at ABT who are younger. I was not moved by Murphy's Giselle and feel that she is much better as Myrta. However, I'm certainly open to seeing her again in the role.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/29/arts/dance/dancers-summer.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=7&pgtype=sectionfront Here is a link which includes a discussion with Calvin Royal regarding his debut in Apollo this summer with Unity Phelan in Vail. I hope Calvin's line improves by the time the fall season arrives.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/26/style/isabel-toledo-dead.html Although it is not mentioned in the obit, Toledo designed the costumes for at least one of Wheeldon's ballets while he was operating Morphoses.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/opinion/sunday/david-koch-climate-change.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage Interesting op ed on Koch and his greatest legacy being global warming. I admire how the public in Britain have demanded that certain arts organizations stop taking dark money. The same fervor has not taken hold here in the U.S. Instead, we have the head of ABT mourning the loss of Koch.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/23/us/david-koch-dead.html?action=click&module=Top Stories&pgtype=Homepage One wonders what this might mean for ABT going forward. I believe Koch was a substantial contributor to ABT and to the funding of new works by Ratmansky at ABT.

Skylar in the past (maybe a year ago) posted video of her practicing Kitri, but so far she has not been cast in that role. I would be happy if she were cast in either Giselle or Don Q, but I would not assume that the video means that McKenzie plans to cast her as Giselle in Washington.

It's highly unusual for a publicity representative to issue a statement regarding a dancer's withdrawal from an engagement due to injury. I'm assuming that Copeland and her team have taken note of the negative comments by her fans when she cancels, which has occurred with frequency in recent times. ("Scheduling conflict", flu...) I'm anticipating that she is now letting Ms. Squires do the talking and she will not address this cancellation directly on her social media.

In view of the news on another thread that Copeland has withdrawn from her appearances this month in Argentina in La Sylphide with Cornejo, I'm keeping my eye on the casting for the fall season. So far there is no info on the nature of her injury as far as I can tell. I agree that Copeland will stick with SL until her retirement, especially since McKenzie allows her to modfiy the choreography. I think she will also stick with Juliet until the end of her career.

Not the first and only example, but this was certainly an issue when she was first promoted and the ensuing two years or so, as McKenzie sought to cash in on Copeland's popularity at its peak. As Copeland has aged, this double casting has diminished quite a bit.

Part of the problem is also that McKenzie is often giving two performances of a role in one week to certain dancers, instead of spreading the roles out to additional dancers. For example, Copeland I believe has gotten two Juliets in a week during the past revivals of the last few years. McKenzie also often gives two performances of roles to Hee Seo. This policy has diminished the opportunities for other dancers to take on new lead roles. In part, that explains why Lane has not gotten a shot at Juliet. I think going forward that there are many roles that Copeland may cut back on or give up entirely, based on her reduced schedule this past spring season. She can keep the entire week of Jane Eyre as far as I'm concerned. However, it's time for others to step up into the classics like Don Q and Juliet.

That's my recollection too. I think the fact that he is not listed for any roles in the fall may be related to that issue. On a separate note, I'm glad to see that Giselle remains in Stella Abrera's rep, but I have my doubts about the level of her performance going forward in this role. The Giselle she did with Gomes at his 20th Anniversary was shaky. I thought she might return to the role of Myrtha at this point.

Domingo is still a tremendous draw at the Met Opera. He is one of the very few artists whose name recognition still sells huge numbers of tickets.