8 hours ago, Fleurfairy said:

She is getting to the age where ballerinas are retiring roles. It nice to see her acknowledge that younger dancers deserve their place in these roles. 

I suspect that this season will be Bouder's final run of Aurora.  

I was trying to figure out why Janzen was standing around at the side of the stage during the vision scene.  Is that part of the choreography?  At the end of Aurora's solo variation, Desire runs across the stage to run after her upon her exit.  Did Janzen arrive too early for his cue?  It was truly bizarre and distracting to have him stand around at the side of the stage. I don't recall that happening when I've seen this production in prior years, but I could be wrong. 

It was not Hyltin's best performance.  Most of  her performance was well done, but she was obviously struggling with some of the choreography.  There were too many uncharacteristic little stumbles. A friend/co worker of mine who rarely attends ballet performances but took ballet classes during her youth asked me if there was something wrong with Hyltin's foot.  This was a very astute observation.

Janzen definitely needs improvement, but he did manage to do the fish dives well.  His partnering was strong, and I thought he did a fine job in supporting Hyltin.  There was one fish dive where she appeared to tilt off center and he immediately was able to bring her into the correct position to execute the fish dive.  In the hands of a lesser partner, that would have turned into a disaster.    

Maria was vivid in her acting as Carabose, although I wish that someone at NYCB could give this character some dignity.

I thought Reichlin was a bore as Lilac Fairy. She executed the steps well enough, but I rarely felt that she radiated warmth or dominated the action when she was on stage.

The precious metal and jewel dances were marvelous, especially Huxley.   Ulbricht's Bluebird was also a highlight.

There are a lot of prominent Broadway performers who also do gigs on cruises.  Seems like a win win situation if ABT makes some money, more people are exposed to high quality ballet, and the dancers get a free vacation cruise.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/14/theater/michael-jackson-chicago-musical-cancelled.html

The "pre-Broadway" run that was scheduled in Chicago has been cancelled. 

2 hours ago, BLalo said:

 

Perhaps most problematic for me was Taylor Stanley appearing as a character called “Africa” in Act I. Not the “African Prince” but “Africa”. The suitors are all pretty nondescript anyway, but why on earth are they each representing an entire continent (Europe, America, Asia, Africa)? It comes across instead as representing a race. They could easily just be “Four Suitors”.

 

This makes the point that Aurora is being courted by the regal heads of state from around the world.   Referring to them as four suitors does not convey their high statures.

Thanks for the report on the dress rehearsal. 

1 hour ago, fondoffouettes said:

Ashley Laracey’s thoughts on not being cast for the first four weeks of the winter season. Unless she’s been dealing with an injury,

 

By using words like left out and invisible, I get the impression that her absence was not due to injury.  I agree with others that Laracey is much more interesting to me than some of the other soloists like LeCrone. 

I have to wonder if Ashly Isaacs's absence was due to injury or because Stafford isn't casting her.

I think Ratmansky's wife may handle a great deal of the work of staging his ballets on other companies after the works have already premiered.  

I like the Huxley, Woodward pairing, but I can't imagine LeCrone as Lilac. 

NYCB has not updated the casting page, but if you click on tonight's performance you can see that  Janzen is replaced tonight in In Vento.  Peter Walker will be dancing in place of Janzen. 

I also got a chuckle out of the advertisement, but at the same time I felt it was indicative of  how NYCB lacks  credible character actors in full length ballets. 

2 hours ago, Leah said:

 

Unfortunately Naomi Corti had a bad fall in the beginning, and it seemed to rattle her. She is obviously a beautiful and talented dancer, though, and I look forward to seeing more of her in the future. She looked shocked at the large amount of applause she got.

 

She is only an apprentice, so she was probably nervous.  This was her first featured role, I believe.  (I'm not even sure I've seen her in any roles in the corps.) The casting sheet indicates that Sterling Hyltin was originally scheduled to do the role, but Hyltin was moved into the second cast  next week. 

Very thrilled that Woodward and Huxley will debut together in Sleeping Beauty.

Isabella LaFreniere (spelling?) has returned from injury.  She danced last night.  Does anyone know what happened to Alston Macgill?  Still injured?

Added: Macgill's instagram indicates she is returning for the winter season.  Good for her!

For me the highlight of last night was the smokin' hot pas in Agon.  Maria and Tyler Angle were electrifying.  

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/23/theater/michael-jackson-musical-chicago.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=4&pgtype=sectionfront

The new musical being directed and choreographed by Wheeldon about Michael Jackson will premiere in Chicago in the fall. 

Whelan was at NYCB last night.  For years after her retirement she did not come to NYCB because, as she put it, she was not ready to see others dance her old roles.  I guess she's gotten over that, because over the past year she is at the Koch regularly.

72 Hour Discount offer for Harlequinade at the KC

They discontinued the Dancers Choice because although the dancers were donating their time for free, the orchestra and other staff (stage hands, lighting and so on) were being paid.  It became an expense they no longer wanted to undertake.

I found it interesting that Craig Hall, who danced the role of Apollo only once, is coaching Stanley.  How much detailed knowledge could Hall possibly have regarding the role if he only performed it once?  Why didn't they call in someone with vast knowledge of the role to do the coaching?

IN preparation for next week's Apollo, this  article is a wonderful background piece.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/15/arts/dance/balanchine-apollo-new-york-city-ballet.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront

Miriam Miller also did Lilac, I think.

Per her instagram photos, Bouder has indicated that she will dance Aurora in SB, and her Desire will be Garcia.

If memory serves, wasn't Garcia partnered with Lovette during the last run of SB? 

I hope they give Huxley a shot at Desire this time around.

I guess Adrian D-W is still injured.  I enjoyed his Apollo very much. 

Garcia apparently did Apollo back when he was at SFB.  I guess it's a stroke of luck for him that the male ranks are now so depleted at NYCB that in the twilight of his career he is again cast as Apollo.

Rachelishvili will be singing Delilah in Samson & Delilah at the Met.  I think her performances are in March.  

I thought Seo's vision scene was lovely, but she had problems in the Rose Adagio when I saw her at the Met a few years ago.