abatt
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Posts posted by abatt
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22 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:
I saw her Queen of the Dryads last year, a debut, and she was beautiful. She needed more authority, but technically and otherwise artistically she was gorgeous.
I thought Trenary's debut last night was strong, except that in her series of diagonal spins in the first act she had some difficulty. Her performance in the third act was more secure. I agree that she seems to lack authority, but perhaps that will improve over time.
Shevchenko, however, seems to get stronger and dances with more authority with every additional performance. She was excellent as Medora.
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I never really focused on Bell before in a solo role. I missed his debut last season as Romeo. He was very impressive as Lankendem in his debut last night. The difference between Bell's performance and Hoven's performance on Tuesday in the same role was stark. I thought Hoven on Tuesday gave an adequate, able performance. Bell, however, had some soaring jumps, landed the signature Lankadem jumps with deeply bent knees, and did a very fine job partnering. My only criticism was that his spins seemed a little slow. Clearly he has great potential as a lead dancer.
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Oh no. So disappointed. He always gives his audience everything he has in his arsenal, and he is one of the few bright lights at ABT among the male principal dancers. Apart from potentially having to reassign his secondary role in Manon, what happens to his SL with Boylston. The ONLY reason I was willing to make a return visit to Boylston's SL was to see Simkin.
By the way I agree with everyone above who said his Ali on Tuesday was magnificent.
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42 minutes ago, nanushka said:
Short answer: she sells tickets!
Actually, I think SL is a ballet that sells very well regardless of who is cast. They need Copeland to sell the lesser titles, like Harlequinade and Jane Eyre.
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4 minutes ago, CTballetfan said:
I can’t find information on the ABT website on the time length of Manon. It starts at 7:30 pm, but when is the performance over? Can anyone help? I have to plan my transportation for the June 18 evening performance. Thank you!
https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-abt/manon/
approximately 2hrs, 30 minutes, per the Met Opera website.
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if ABT does Lilac Garden in the Fall, I will be thrilled.
I've seen my fill of Sinatra Suite, but I think they would revive it for Herman Cornejo.
I don't recall that Damian Woetzel ever did Apollo at NYCB. I always wished for it, but it never happened. That was the era when the role always went to Boal, Hubbe and Nilas Martins only. The only other member of NYCB during that era who did the role was Philip Neal, but he did it with the Suzanne Farrell Company, not at NYCB.
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Since Manon is a new ballet for Cornejo, I have to wonder whether he even had enough (or any?) rehearsal time for this ballet given his injury. Even if he is now recovered (which I don't know) how does he make up for the lost rehearsal time?
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I saw this ballet again last night with Copeland and Stearns. I thought Copeland's movement was much more fluid than Boylston's performance last Wednesday. In fairness, though, I saw Boylston's first performance, whereas this was Misty's third performance. This choreography suits Misty's strengths, so I am surprised that she got the role of Jane by default only after Murphy withdrew for maternity leave. I found Forster to be a more moving Rochester than Stearns. On this second viewing, I still came away feeling that this work has far too little ballet. Even though I was seated much closer to the stage last night (Row K orchestra) than last week (balcony with binoculars), I still felt that the use of scrims and the dark lighting were problematic.
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10 minutes ago, Roberta said:
Le Corsaire ushers in four consecutive weeks of true ballet. It can't come quickly enough.
Well said.
It is strange that they loaded the more recognizable ballets like Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty into the final weeks of the season. They may get their biggest audiences after the school year is finished, so maybe they believe that the best way to capitalize on that market is to offer the well known classics during the late June-early July time period.
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I think that if you go into this expecting to see ballet because, you know, it's called American Ballet Theatre, you will be disappointed. If you are willing to accept the "modern dance" aspects of this choreography (push me, pull me, roll on the floor) you are more likely to enjoy the performance. I'm wondering what the expectations are when people go to see Northern Ballet of England, as opposed to their expectations when they go see ABT.
For me, trying to dismiss the poor choreography by calling it a psychological ballet or "expressionistic" is not a valid pass. As pointed out in the NYTimes, there are many psychological ballets that are great (A Month in The Country, Lilac Garden). They use the classical idiom as their mode of expression.
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22 minutes ago, Josette said:
Out of curiosity, I just read four reviews from 2016 by British press of the Northern Ballet's production of Marston's Jane Eyre, which reviews are on the whole positive.
Danceviewtimes also liked the performance, particularly Devon Teuscher.
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Here is an article about a number of important dancers who are retiring from the Taylor company. I can't imagine what the company will be like without some of these beloved, wonderful dancers.
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14 minutes ago, NinaFan said:
Ditto, thanks for everyone's reports. And like ABT Fan, I'm not looking forward to seeing it this weekend either, especially since I could have spent the money on a better ballet.
I'm running to the box office to exchange out of my Eyre tickets for this weekend. Can't you exchange your tickets?
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Actually, they performed the Tempest both during the Fall season at the Koch where it premiered, and during the Spring season at the Met. So they did cycle it through the rep enough times to perhaps break even.
Given the money they spent to train all these dancers for Eyre, I'm guessing we will see it scheduled again next season.
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38 minutes ago, Longtimelurker said:
I am happy I didn't see any of those performances as Jane Eyre was the worst thing I have seen at ABT and am surprised that Mackenzie chose to stage this. I agree on most of the criticisms that have already been posted, but I also found the choice to have 2 different dancers play Jane to be confusing and unnecessary. After watching the glory of NYCB's Midsummer last week, this was an extreme letdown.
That's true. This might have been more tolerable as a one act ballet with the scenes of young Jane deleted. But it got stretched out into an unsatisfactory full length ballet.
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Worst: David Parsons Pied Piper
MacMillan's Anastasia
HereAfter or was it renamed After Here
Those are what immediately come to my mind.
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While Jane Eyre was definitely not the worst thing ABT has ever put on stage, it certainly wasn't very good. I've seen "long skirt" ballets like Lady of the Camellias that I thought were weak, but at least had a few engrossing pas de deux for the lead dancers. Jane Eyre, however, does not. There are just too many bizarre and uninteresting choreographic choices. As an example, in the final pas at the end of the ballet, Jane repeatedly taps the back of Rochester's calf with her foot. If this is supposed to convey intimacy, it didn't work. It took me right out of the ballet. When she did it three consecutive times, I just became frustrated. The vocabulary of this choreographer is much too limited.
I asked myself whether Vishneva Gomes could have saved this ballet? I don't think so.
At least they are getting full use of the smoke machine they had to rent for In the Upper Room.
I'm beginning to think that reducing the season to 5 weeks at the Met going forward will be a good thing.
Someone above referenced Ratmansky and not always enjoying his work. Marston and Ratmansky are about as different as night and day. Whatever you feel about Ratmansky, he is all about the steps. Loads and loads of steps using the full ballet lexicon. Marston has barely any ballet steps, and needs a new ballet dictionary.
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I've always felt that Manon was much weaker than R&J. However, compared to Jane Eyre, Manon is a masterpiece. One thing that is concerning is that its success is highly dependent on the casting. I'm spoiled by having seen some really great Manon casts in the past, like Ferri/Bolle, Kent/Bolle, Vishneva/Gomes. Will any of the current casts at ABT measure up? We'll see. At the recent YAGP gala, Seo and Stearns did the bedroom pas from Manon. I hope they've been practicing a lot since then, because based on what I saw both of them needed vast improvement. They were the dullest couple in the bedroom pas I had ever seen.
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Great story in the NY Times about what the three Billy Elliots are doing now. David Alvarez is going to be Bernardo in the upcoming Spielberg film of West Side Story.
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I think Misty put a warning somewhere on her social media that Manon may not be appropriate for kids to attend. That is an admirable warning.
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Taylor Stanley was replaced this afternoon by Harrison Ball in the role of Puck.
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Getting back to the Tharp program, Brahms Haydn was very well done last night. However, I think my favorite Twyla classical ballet is Bach Partita. As always, In the Upper Room is an astonishing display of non stop energy.
Last night was my first viewing of Deuce Coupe. I found it frequently boring and don't need to see it again. Even though it was only about 30 minutes long, it felt a lot longer.
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Yes, the three ladies you mention are all talented, good dancers. However, it remains to be seen whether any of them will turn into important artists of the caliber that used to contract with ABT.
ABT 2019 Manon
in American Ballet Theatre
Posted · Edited by abatt
Hallberg never adds performances at ABT these days. He only subtracts.