abatt

Does anyone think that McKenzie is considering hiring Brooklyn Mack on a permanent basis? 

If Sterling Baca had stuck around, I bet he would be a leading contender for ABT principal.

At a presentation/rehearsal for donors a few weeks ago, I'm told that McKenzie bragged that he gives people in the corps chances at lead roles.  While that's true, it's only because the company  has so few men in the middle and upper ranks who are entrusted with lead roles on a regular basis.   Mismanagement is nothing to brag about.

The soloist men at ABT don't really get the type of lead roles that one would associate with a test for promotion to principal.  Aran Bell, however,  seems to be the one to watch, as he is doing the lead in SL and SB this season.  He seems to be due for a promotion to soloist ASAP.   

This might be old news that I missed, but Copeland is no longer listed for any performances of Corsaire.  

Watching Act II of Midsummer this season will not be the same without Tiler Peck.  This is one of her signature roles, and in my opinion others in the company who are cast don't approach her level in this pas.  In fact, despite the very high level of talent overall in the company, she was very much missed in many roles this season.

Laracey and Kretchmar were both terrific in Stravinsky Violin Concerto on Sat evening.  I haven't seen this much depth in that pas in SVC since Alexandra Ansanelli did the role.  Laracey and LaCour were magical together.  I have not been a huge fan of Kretchmar in the past, and I feel that she is often miscast.  However, this angular, spikey role in SVC fit her like a glove.  

Ashley Laracey was  gorgeous tonight in Scotch.  The fluidity of her upper body was remarkable.  She brought out small details I had not noticed before in the way she used her hands and arms.  Of the three ladies who performed Scotch this season, she was my favorite.  Why is she so underutilized? 

51 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

I think the best work overall is the Shostakovitch Trilogy  but I don't know if ABT has the dancers currently to do it justice.  

 

Me too.  The Trilogy is a masterpiece. 

9 hours ago, balanchinette said:

 On a final note, mira Nadon seems destined for greatness. 

Agreed.  After reading about her incredible performance of Scotch Symphony at the SAB workshop, I had hoped that Stafford might give her a shot at the role this season.  No such luck.  If Peter Martins were still in charge, I'm guessing that third cast would have been Nadon instead of Laracey.

Faux Pas is right that there is a lot of speculation and projecting regarding the Misty cancellation.  However, I think that since the schedule conflict explanation defies credulity, it automatically leads to speculation.

Joseph Gordon was outstanding tonight in his debut  in T&V.  The killer variation did not present any problem for him.  He sailed through without any difficulty. The partnering was excellent.  It was thrilling.  He is NYCB's MVP of the season.  I can't wait to see his Oberon next week.  He and Huxley are conquering the most important roles in the rep at NYCB.

Unity Phelan may have had the absolute worst performance of her career tonight.  The fast pace of the third movement of Tschai Suite 3 caused her to fall once and stumble at least twice.  Happy to report that Roman Mejia was brilliant in his debut in that same section.   

5 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

 As noted above, Princess Praline's choreography (like much of Ratmansky) is very difficult. Is it any wonder why she isn't appearing in any of his works this season, including his premiere? 

Bingo.  You hit the nail on the head.  Ratmansky is powerful, and he does not permit his choreography  to be altered.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/14/arts/music/met-opera-contract-sunday.html

The five week schedule begins in Spring 2021.

1 minute ago, rkoretzky said:

 

Tonight NYCB. May is glory month for NY ballet fans. What happens next year with ABT changed schedule? 

I think the changed schedule is for 2021.

Yes, Brandt replaced Misty in Whipped Cream last season, I believe.  (I ran to the box office to buy a ticket when I saw that Brandt would appear instead of Copeland.)  Yes, Paris replaced Copeland on the tour.  Copeland also skipped the Kennedy Center Whipped Cream engagement.  So it was pretty clear to us balletomanes that Copeland would not dance Whipped Cream at the Met this season.  Nevertheless, if you look up thread, as late as May 7 McKenzie was sending out a casting press release which still listed Copeland for Whipped Cream.  He was hoping to dupe as many of her fans for as long as possible before he changed the casting. 

I agree with everyone  who has concluded that "schedule conflict" is code for Misty is not capable of dancing the role.  What does it say about ABT that Paris, who I believe is the same age or older than Copeland, is able to do the work?    What does it say about ABT that they pull this stunt on a regular basis?  What does it say about Copeland and her management team that they go along with the sham to help ABT sell tickets?

30 minutes ago, Barbara said:

Quite a number of very unhappy parents traveling from away to bring their children to see Misty in Whipped Cream have commented on her post.

Unfortunately, this seems to have become a regular occurrence with Misty.  It's called bait and switch.  She is not injured, so she should be dancing as scheduled.  Her fans have every right to be angry. 

29 minutes ago, Balletwannabe said:

Does anyone else feel like this was a marketing ploy just to sell tickets...never heard of a dancer not showing up for work unless they were deathly ill or injured.  

Yes, that's exactly what it is. A little game to sell extra tickets even though ABT knows very well that Copeland will not appear.

18 minutes ago, cobweb said:

Whoa. I wish Kowroski very, very well, but I am thrilled to get to see supernova (quoting someone up-thread) Mearns again in Brahms Schoenberg. 

Mearns is doing the double header on Thursday - gyspy finale in the Brahms, then the Elegie in Tschai Suite 3. 

10 minutes ago, Roberta said:

I'll second (or "third") the above opinions about Ratmansky's The Seasons. I saw the first two presentations, with different casts, Monday's gala viewing led by - dancing the main pdd in the Autumn segment -  Isabella Boylston (Spirit of Corn) and James Whiteside (Zephyr), while last night's second cast was headed by Stella Abrera and Thomas Forster in the same roles.

 

Let me dispense with my one negative right off the bat:  The designs were too simplistic for a grand Imperial-era ballet, even though I understand that Ratmansky created the steps, as there are no notes for The Seasons in the Harvard Sergeev collection. Yet, I was not alone among my fellow balletomanes in anticipating somewhat grander, more solid costumes from the same designer - Perdziola - who gave us the magnificent outfits for Harlequinade. We have one lovely Imperial-style tutu and a tiara for the leading ballerina, the Spirit of Corn, while the rest are variants of free-flowing nice Karinska ca-1960 dresses for NYCB. Very pretty, for sure, but not what I had been imagining. I'm sure that the budget impacted on the luxuriousness of the costumes, minimal props, no wigs, etc. The red dresses for the Poppies, danced by girl students, were bright and effective. Some of the men's outfits - such as the Satyrs and so-called "Water Men" were garish. The biggest disappointment was in the sparse emptiness of the setting, as there was no setting or even lighting effects; we got just the bare cyclorama with a different solid color for each season, then some weak twinkling lights against black for the finally of "The Cosmos."

 

OK - I got my little rant about the designs our of the way...

 

What mattered the most - the steps and the dancing - are brilliant, ultra-classical, yet inventive. My personal highlights, upon two viewings:

 

* Winter: Not-so-Old Man Winter (Aran Bell - so strong yet light! - or precise Joo Won Ahn) and his four Weather Ladies (my term!), each with a bright little solo, to familiar music used by Ashton in his Birthday Offering: 

• Frost - Katherine Williams or Zhong-Jing Fang;
• Ice - Hee Seo or  Devon Teuscher;
• Hail - Magnificent Catherine Hurlin...my ABT discovery of the two nights!...or Courtney Lavine; and
• Snow - Luciana Paris or Betsy McBride.

* Spring: A delightful Pas de Trois for Rose (incredible Sarah Lane or Cassandra Trenary), Swallow (Skylar Brandt or rising beauty Breanne Granlund) and Zephyr (Whiteside or Forster), However, this segment looked particularly sparse with a smallish corps in simple pink knee-length gowns and no setting. The stage looked almost bare from halfway up (Row A center, Dress Circle)...almost like a little ballet for a secondary stage...Dolly Dinkle Ballet recital feeling, for such a great work. Oops, there I go again about the designs...sorry!

* Summer: The Barcarolle ensemble for 18 - 6 each of adult female corps, adult male "water men" corps and 6 little girls as Poppies - was exquisite, including intricate, ever-changing lifts and holds, in time to the swaying music. I wanted to sway along with all of them! And, of course, Summer ushers in our prima ballerina - the Spririt of Corn, with a number of magnificent solo turns...this was Matilde Kchessinskaya's role at the 1900 premiere, after all.

* Fall: the Bacchanale, led by either Cassandra Trenary and Calvin Royal III in 1st cast or my discovery Catherine Hurlin - also with Royal - at 2nd cast. Here, unlike in Spring, the ensemble truly gobbles up the stage, in the celebration or life and love that the choreographer promised us. Sorry to fixate on Hurlin yet again but her solo in this segment, with multiple pirouettes separated by hops, is spellbinding.

* Within "Fall," all of the season's "characters" return for a little final show-off, including Springtime's Rose, performing an amazingly long balance-in-attitude, partnered in turn by the six Water Men, echoing the Rose Adagio of Petipa's SB. Both Trenary and Lane did well but - oh my - Sarah Lane totally amazed. This was my #1 moment of the night, with the exception of the grand adagio pdd for Corn & Zephyr...

* The PDD for Corn & Zephyr - THE highlight of the ballet for many. I cannot honestly prefer one pairing over the other. Boylston/Whiteside were most precise, with Abrera/Forster were most poetic, to me. And both couples performed the most amazing tabletop lift imaginable, with minimal preparation.

* Final Tableau "The Cosmos" - a grand celebration, with seemingly 100 dancers on stage for the final freeze pose, as Glazunov's grand fortissimo notes ring down the golden curtain!

 

Do-Not-Miss-This, if you can get to it.

 

I agree 100 percent.  The Seasons is Bliss.

I presume it will return in the fall season at the Koch.  By the way, Tommy Forster is looking really terrific this season. 

Casting for this week is updated.  Maria is replaced in everything this week except Slaughter (no pointe work).

I guess they are waiting to see if Maria will be able to dance Titania, because next week's casting has not yet changed.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/21/arts/dance/ratmansky-the-seasons-american-ballet-theater-review.html

Here is the Times review. 

Yes, Herman is one of the few men at ABT that I go out of my way to see.  However, he rarely makes it through a Met Season without injury.  Now he is injured before he even started his Met Season.

The Seasons was an excellent work, full of inventive, difficult choreography.  I can't wait to see it again.

The bad news:  A sign in front of the house announced that Herman Cornejo is injured. He was replaced by Tyler Maloney in Serenade after Plato.  I see  he is removed from his  remaining assignments this week.  Stay tuned.

Siebert in his "review"  makes an incorrect assumption that Mearns  or whoever agrees to dance with Ramasar approves of or forgives Ramasar because she is dancing with him.  The only person who was legally entitled to pass judgment was the arbitrator, and the arbitrator's decision is the law of  the case.  It is not up to individual dancers, Stafford or Siebert to decide whether Ramasar should be "let off the hook" because there is only one person who was judge and jury, and he has rendered his decision. Mearns and other ballerinas who dance with Ramasar are doing their jobs, and abiding by the decision of the arbitrator.  Being his partner should not be equated with any implicit or tacit approval of Ramasar's conduct. Given how little space the Times gives to ballet reviews these days (two weeks of Sleeping Beauty shows, zero reviews), it is unfortunate that the paper decided to use the space allotment to pass judgment rather than to review  performances.

The public will vote with their dollars as to whether to accept Ramasar with open arms.  However, his employer and colleagues must abide by the law.

2 hours ago, StephinNYC said:

Anyone know the runtime for Judah? I want to see DAAG tomorrow night, but can’t make the 8pm start time. 

I can make the 8 PM start time, but plan to intentionally arrive late in order miss Judah.  

Mearns was indeed electrifying in both of her roles last night.  She was blazing in the finale of Brahms.  High jumps, very deep backbends and a complete sense of abandonment.  It was thrilling.  Also,. the first section of the Tsch. Suite 3, which is so romantic, was a sublime match of an artist to the material.  The heightened romance of this section and her passionate execution of the choreography were perfection.    

Garcia's performance in the T&V finale was less sloppy than last week.  I agree that Megan LeCrone was rarely in sync with the other demi soloists, and it was distracting.  Also, there were coordination issues in the corps as well.

Despite some flaws, this was a fantastic program.  I hope Maria K. is okay.

Added:  I thought Bouder was miscast in the Brahms first movement.