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Posts posted by abatt
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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.
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Fracci, Makarov, Kirkland also must have been a great era, but before my time.
Since ABT has now gone to a new model, whereby it is relying on its own school instead of contracting with artists of international stature, how many stellar artists do we really expect to come out of ABT's school? It is not an internationally important school. Even within the US it is not considered a top tier school. Certainly there are some good dancers, but is anyone really expecting the next Nina Ananiashvilli or Julio Bocca to emerge from ABT's school pipeline?
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34 minutes ago, nanushka said:
There are a lot of talented dancers worthy of top soloist-level status (some of them are, indeed, soloists; some are still in the corps; some have made it above soloist level). There aren't, in my opinion, a lot of dancers worthy of top principal-level status.
Indeed, some who have attained top principal level status at ABT are not worthy of that status.
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43 minutes ago, FauxPas said:
It worked really well as an ensemble piece but the original ABT cast in 2000 had Carreno, Dvorovenko and Beloserkovsky (who were in attendance), Corella, Gomes, Cornejo, Julie Kent, Paloma Herrera, Ashley Tuttle and Sandra Brown. Two corps dancers were up there partnering principals in soloist roles: Joo Won Ahn and Gary Pogossian.
The Glory Days of ABT are long gone. They had an amazing roster back in 2000. I'm happy I was able to see the company so often during the height of its artistry. I doubt we'll be seeing that level of artistic triumph again in this company anytime soon.
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It's odd that they are having Huxley do three consecutive performances of Oberon.
I was surprised to see Garcia cast as Oberon this season. Given his age and history of injuries, I doubt we will be seeing him as Oberon next season. Veyette smartly decided to retire this role (or he was told by management that he was retired from the role).
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A number of years ago Gorak partnered Xiomara Reyes. She is a very small woman, but Gorak still had difficulty. Hopefully he has improved since then, but I suspect that his partnering problems have been a major factor in why his career at ABT has not advanced.
ABT 2019 Manon
in American Ballet Theatre
Posted
https://www.metopera.org/season/2019-abt/manon/
approximately 2hrs, 30 minutes, per the Met Opera website.