abatt
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Posts posted by abatt
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14 hours ago, nanushka said:
I just can't believe that after offering it for an entire week of the Met season as half of a double bill they're bringing it back already for the immediately following fall season. It'd be different if it were the following spring, or if it were a major Copeland vehicle, or if there were any other real justification (i.e. selling point) for bringing it back so soon, but there isn't. Bringing it back now just seems lazy and uninspired—like they couldn't come up with enough fresh material for a full fall season.
They are bringing it back because it requires little or no additional rehearsal time. The dancers already learned the roles for this past Met season, so they don't need to spend any additional money or time to rehearse it. I have enjoyed some other McGregor works, like Chroma. However, I would not sit through AfterRite again, ever.
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I don't think it's the dark subject matter that is turning people off. I love Tudor's Dark Elegies and Jooss' The Green Table. They are modern masterpieces that deal with very dark subjects. I would go in a heartbeat to see those works if they were revived at ABT.
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There are a significant number of debuts for many dancers on the Shanghai tour.
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The current technology that allows us consumers to see the seating map does not do ABT any favors. I'll bet that a large percentage of the best orchestra seats that are showing as sold are actually house seats reserved for the company or for the press. Unlike at the Met, where every ABT show is part of a subscription, the ABT fall season at the Koch is completely non-subscription. Therefore, they can't even rely on the casual ballet goer who shows up on their subscription date regardless of the program. Ultimately, I'm sure they will "paper" the orchestra. .
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It took Rebecca Krohn a very long time to move up to principal. I think it may have been around 13 years, but I can't recall.
I missed Laracey's Concerto Barocco performances last spring. I was surprised they didn't give her a single performance of that ballet during the fall season. Note that she is debuting on the tour this week in Shanghai in Stravinsky Violin Concerto.
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16 minutes ago, NinaFan said:
To say NYCB dancers can’t switch between styles is really selling the dancers short. It’s the other way round in that dancers from other companies often have difficulty dancing Balanchine properly.
Balanchine and Robbins are not one homogeneous style. They are totally different styles, which NYCB dancers perform exquisitely…. it’s in their DNA. So to say they can’t dance other styles when they’ve been doing it all along is absurd. And this does not even take into account all of the other choreographers who have choreographed for them since their inception.
Thank you Helene.
I think certain NYCB dancers who are cast in full length Petipa ballets and other full length dramatic ballets don't have enough experience in mastering the styles needed for their roles. For example, I've seen problems arise in phrasing, upper body carriage, and arm placement and movement. These issues have been noticeable to me in certain performances of Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty and Romeo & Juliet, to name a few. However, some company members excel in mastering other styles and content, such as Sterling Hyltin's wonderful La Sylphide recently.
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Some performances have already popped up on TDF, so certain seats showing as sold were actually heavily discounted.
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The problem with NYCB is that they commission so many new works each season, but very few deserve a permanent spot in the rep. Nevertheless, NYCB seems to feel that a new work must be shown at least 8 times for them to break even on its cost. The result is that they continue to rotate the new works, whether good or bad, through the rep until the magic number of performances to break even is reached. There have been many wonderful new works created at NYCB, but most are unworthy and do not merit repeated viewings. Given the ever increasing price of tickets, people are less inclined to buy expensive tickets for a program that includes a weak ballet.
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Did anyone see Herman Cornejo and Alina Cojocaru at FFD last night? Reports?
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55 minutes ago, Royal Blue said:
Mary Thomas MacKinnon, a new member of the female corps, showed tremendous stage presence.
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Is she related to corps member Olivia MacKinnon?
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Most offensive to me is one of the spring programs titled something like Balanchine meets Peck. It shows an arrogance that Peck is somehow worthy of meeting Balanchine. They should stick with the simplicity of Balanchine & Peck.
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I've also had enough Whipped Cream over the last two years. I would only go as a last resort if I needed something to exchange into and didn't have any other option.
I guess I should not prejudge, but Jane Eyre looks like a vehicle similar to Onegin and Lady of the Camellias. Not a great deal of technique required.
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22 minutes ago, On Pointe said:
It is amazing, considering our litigious culture, that none of the people abused by Levine have sued him or the Met, where, unlike NYCB, Levine's sexual misconduct was known and gossiped about for years, and where, unlike Ramasar and Catazaro, he had direct control over the careers of his subordinates.
The statute of limitations may have expired on some of the potential claims against Levine.
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6 minutes ago, On Pointe said:
The singers and players at the Met have made no group statement about Levine, the musicians at the Philharmonic have made no statement regarding the firing of two principal musicians.
Good point, On Pointe.
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The statement was carefully worded to avoid a direct reference to the firings, resignation and the Waterbury lawsuit. However, I don't think there's any doubt that the statement was the direct result of the firings, resignation and Waterbury lawsuit, and was an implicit reference to these events.
I have not seen any info to suggest that there was a vote on the Reichlin statement. We know that it ws written by Reichlin and Adrian D W. Since individuals are not normally given a platform to give speeches from the stage at a special event on topics of their own choosing, I'm comfortable with the assumption that the speech was prompted by, and approved by, management.
Added: It's also no coincidence that the text of the speech was distributed to the media for reporting purposes, in order to promulgate favorable news coverage pertaining to the speech. This was done through the NYCB publicity/public relations department.
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11 hours ago, Pique Arabesque said:
The union is just doing its job in appealing the firings, but the dancers are certainly entitled to their feelings, especially as the union's job is also to ensure a safe workplace for those still employed by NYCB. I
NYCB's own conduct raises serious questions regarding the legitimacy of the firings. The fact that they initially only suspended them for four months, and a week later fired them, suggests that NYCB itself initially concluded that there was no grounds to fire them. What facts came to light during that one week period that moved them from the relatively minor punishment into the opposite extreme of firing? Was it the feelings of a few dancers? Was it bad publicity from the Waterbury media blitz? Under the circumstances that transpired, the legitimacy of the firings needs to be evaluated by an impartial person like a mutually acceptable arbitrator. The union isn't just going through the motions of doing its job - there are significant issues at stake here.
I'm probably in the minority here, but I thought the stunt of having Reichlin read a prepared statement with all the dancers surrounding her on stage was inappropriate. The dancers were being used as pawns by the company (management) to give the company some much needed positive publicity. But that's not their job. Their job is to dance. To the extent that individual dancers feel strongly about what's happening, they can express their feelings on their own social media platforms. Requiring them to be herded on stage in a show of unified support was not appropriate in my opinion.
Added: We now know that there is no unified position among the dancers regarding the firings. Some support the terminations; others do not.
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Peter Martins must be relieved that he retired and doesn't have deal with all this. The timing worked out well for him.
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59 minutes ago, DC Export said:
I was all behind actions being taken to ensure that the facts are had (i.e. suspending Catazaro and Ramasar) before making judgement. But the firings seemed incredibly premature to me, and I am deeply concerned about the larger implications of "guilty until proven innocent."
If NYCB is to believed, the firings were purportedly prompted by the fact that certain female members of the company informed management that they would no longer be comfortable dancing with Catazaro or Ramasar. So there is is a divide within the company, and NYCB decided to fire them instead of leaving the suspension in place pending further investigation. I found it astonishing in the above article that some dancers were upset that their union was challenging the firings. That's the core function of the union - to make sure management deals fairly with employees.
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Yes, I believe his warning not to rush to judgment relates to the fact that he was wrongly accused of sexual misconduct. At least in his case, he was able to clear his name and continue to have a major career. I think the damage is already done for the three dancers at issue. Two have already been fired, and the media circus surrounding Waterbury's lawsuit, and orchestrated skillfully by her attorney, has made it look like all defendants, the institutions and the individual defendants, are guilty. Even if Catazaro and Ramasar are cleared, their careers in ballet are probably finished.
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I 've seen Boylston's SL twice - once with Gomes, and once with Lendorf. The one with Gomes was more dramatically incisive than the one with Lendorf. No surprise there. Gomes could always improve the performance of his partner by his presence and charisma. As the NY Times wrote about Boylston's SL with Lendorf, it lacked tragic dimension. Boylston's problems with sloppy upper body , neck and arm positions have not really improved much over the years. Since upper body beauty are an integral part of the Odette role, Boylston will never be a great interpreter of this role until she can address these problems. She is more suitable for whiz bang roles with lots of spinning and jumping, like Kitri.
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Why does he feel he needs to congratulated for a remark about a dancer? Weird.
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I was holding out hope that if they revived Manon, maybe Osipova would come and do one guest performance with Hallberg. But based on Hallberg's statement, I guess we will not be seeing Osipova at ABT this spring.
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7 minutes ago, NinaFan said:
Arghhhhhhhhhhh! I have tickets for Oct 6, and Concerto DSCH was definitely the draw for me on that program. I have never seen so many program changes. Yes, it does happen once in a long while, but not on this scale.
Perhaps you can exchange the ticket?
ABT 2018 Fall season
in American Ballet Theatre
Posted · Edited by abatt
Maybe I'm late to the party, but I just noticed, to my great disappointment, that a number of important casting changes have been made since this casting info was published. I specifically bought Oct 26 to See Murphy & Abrera in Symphonie Concertante. Guess what I just discovered on the ABT website- they switched Stella & Gillian into the Oct 21 matinee. Also, Lane & Cornejo's Other Dances performance is on Oct 26 now, not Oct 28. Since I didn't buy my tickets until sometime in late September, these changes must be pretty recent. No refunds or exchanges on these tickets, right. GRRRRRR.