abatt

Thanks Angelica, and thanks to all who posted their reviews.

Who performed at the dress rehearsal?

Additionally, she has previously performed Myrta numerous times, and I believe she has also performed Lead Maiden in Firebird previously. So it's not like these were new roles that she just didn't have time to learn. Very curious. I'm still watching that casting like a hawk.

It seems to me the only good scheduling option is to put Copeland in there. If Abrera can't perform, I would be thrilled to see Lane, or alternatively, a new Giselle like Trenary or Brandt. I saw Copeland last season in Giselle, and once was enough.

There hasn't been any confirmation of Stella's cancellation, but the tea leaves seem to be clear.

I was there on Sat afternoon, and I agree that the pastiche of the Robbins Broadway catalogue didn't really work. The costumes were terrific, though. Sat afternoon also had a lot of new casts. I liked Ulbricht in Suite of Dances, but I thought his delivery sometimes was over the top cutesy. I don't remember that problem when Woetzel performed the role. (I did not see DeLuz.) I thought Spring was a very fine role debut for Lovette and Huxley. She had a lightness to her dancing, which is exactly appropriate. (By contrast Mearns's tornado approach to Spring is all wrong, in my opinion.) Huxley was also marvelous, although there were some partnering rough spots. Gerrity sizzled in Summer, and I loved her languid style. I thought she and Ask made a wonderful pairing. Hmm. Now to Fall. Mejia was amazing In his elevation and speed. I can't wait to see him develop at NYCB. Veyette was taxed to the limit by this choreography. I know he used to be thought of a virtuoso type, but those days are long gone. For the most part, I thought Phelan did a good job. However she is not a gifted turner. She started losing control at the end of one variation where she spins several times as she moves toward the wing of the stage. Moreover, when she spins she lacks the confidence (or ability?) to continuously spin. As a result she hesitates before placing her foot down to being the next spin in a series. She did this sever times. This makes the phrasing look very choppy and lacking in flow and speed. She also came off pointe once during her fouettes.

I really wish they would just announce who her replacement is. It seems very likely that she will not dance her Giselle, so why play games with us and keep her name up there on the casting calendar.

Harrison Ball is another soloist with enormous potential. However, he seems to be injured frequently. About H. Coll, if there is any single person in the company who most deserves to get out of the corps immediately, it's Coll.

The section you are placed in is not revealed in the ticket offer. YOu only find out what section and where when you pick up your ticket at the box office or get it in the mail. However, I don't think these tickets would be in the family circle, because the tdf price is higher than the cost of regular full priced family circle ABT tickets. TDF does not jack up ticket prices above the price you would pay at the box office. It is a discount program. I ordered an ABT ticket on TDF a few years ago for the Dream, and it was a great seat in the side orchestra, a few seats off the center aisle. Ironically, I would have happily bought a ticket for that performance in the balcony, but ABT had instituted dynamic pricing and had raised the price in the balcony. That made me angry since I could see the house was not selling well. So I waited and, sure enough, there it was on TDF.

Right, I forgot about the Mother's Day sale.

Regarding the poor ticket sales mentioned in a prior post, I noticed that Giselle performances for Monday, Wed matinee, Wed evening, Thursday and Sat matinee were available on TDF this morning. I believe that the very same dates were also selling on TDF a few weeks ago and that allotment sold out, so this is the second ticket dump on TDF for Giselle.

Uh oh. This is a bad development. If Abrera is out, I have a lot of exchanges to make. Is this going to be a situation where they announce Abrera's absence from the lead role the day before the show, or the day of the show? Gulp.

Yes, McKenzie doesn't have many original ideas. He has glommed on to Woetzel's ideas regarding the Vail Festival. The big difference is that the Vail Festival is a great place to try new experiments. A major opera house seating thousands - not so much. When NYCB was attempting to hire Ratmansky as the resident choreographer at NYCB, McKenzie glommed on to the concept and offered RAtmansky a resident choreographer position at ABT.

Personally, I feel that McKenzie's focus on women choreographers is a gimmick. I'm more interested in the quality of the choreography than the gender of the person who created it. Michelle Dorrance is a brilliant tap dancer. Why is she creating a work for a major ballet company, to be shown in a 3,000 seat auditorium. I could understand if it was a work for the studio company to be shown at their annual presentation,.

The NY Times wants "clicks" on their website, and using Copeland's name presumably results in more clicks than captioning the photo in some more general way. This is the first time that I'm aware that any other principal at ABT has openly complained about the disproportionate attention given to Copeland by the media. Bravo, James!

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/09/arts/ballet-theater-announces-female-choreographer-initiative.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=2&pgtype=sectionfront There will be a revival of Tharp's In the Upper Room.

Regarding the new exhibition at the Met which this gala related to, I can't wait to see it. https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2018/heavenly-bodies I thought this year's theme of fashion and the Catholic Church generated the most interesting fashion statements compared to prior years. The variety and creativity of the couture was astonishing. People were not going for "normal". The intent was to unleash interpretations of "your Sunday best" insofar as interpreting garments associated with the Catholic church, and that's exactly what happened for the most part. Yes, there were some misfires, but for the most part the couture was outrageously fun in riffs on garments and headwear that incorporated themes of Catholicism.

My recollection is that Martins gave Wellington a lead role in Concerto Barroco a long time ago, not long after she joined the corps. I don't recall anything about the performance, but after that she was never again given a lead role. Martins was someone who enjoyed throwing young people into lead roles to see if they sink or swim. I guess he concluded that she sank. She has been in the corps for quite some time. In fact, if Martins were still around, I would wonder how many more years her contract would have been renewed.

The company seems to be giving more opportunities to its long time soloists. For example, the radiant Laracey finally made her debut in Concerto Barocco. (I thought she was luminous and terrific.) Pereira also got the lead in Fairy's Kiss during its last run, so it wouldn't surprise me if she got Swanilda. Although she is not my favorite dancer, Pereira has definitely paid her dues. So will we be getting a new Franz?

True. I couldn't find the video being discussed.

It would be an incrdible insult to give soloist Pereira the non dance role of the doll, especially since she has previously done the secondary lead in the ballet Coppelia many, many times. I think Bouder was just being a bit imprecise, and we can expect to see Pereira as Swanilda.

The Met Opera also makes all of its own costumes in house..

Casting is up for week 4.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/02/arts/dance/jerome-robbins-in-124-costumes-and-30-minutes.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront Article about all the costumes for the new ballet Something to Dance About. Given all the money they have invested in these costumes, it seems that this ballet will be coming back over numerous seasons.

Yes, but for a ticketmaster event, most people attend one show. Ballet seasons run for many weeks, and depend on repeat customers all season for their business. Thus, the facility fees start to really add up if you attend numerous ballets/numerous casts of a single ballet.