abatt

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.

ABT changed the program for Chicago. It is now only a portion of Bayadere (Act II Shades?), Lilac Garden and New Tharp. So it's likely ABT will do Lilac in NYC either at the Met or next fall. The Whiteside ballet looks somewhat interesting. There was no way I was seeing that program with the Dorrance piece, which I thought was a complete misfire for ABT. Based on the clip, fingers crossed that Aran Bell and Hurlin might debut in the leads of Don Q next time it is revived.

Thanks for the discount info.

The lawsuit between Levine and the Met Opera has been settled. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/06/arts/music/james-levine-metropolitan-opera.html

Messmer has performed Serenade with Miami City, so I suspect she will dance in that ballet.

Copeland did that one section of Tschai Pas for the Kennedy Center Honors. It was an excerpt; she did not perform the entire work.

Since there are no subscriptions sold for the Koch theater engagement, I don't think that people who subscribed to the Met season would be permitted to free exchanges of any tickets purchased for the fall Koch season.