abatt

Just a slight correction of the above, I think Mearns danced with Tyler Angle, and Peck danced with Joe Gordon.  While the costumes in Ballet Imperial  convey grandeur and a regal nobility, there was nothing in the performance that conveyed that.  So  ABT's costumes, in my opinion, were incongruous with the performance.  Boylston and  Whiteside gave the impression  of siblings .  She grinned broadly at him during the pas. As a result, the entire section where Whiteside is  searching for his Czarina comes off as  phony.  He was just looking for his little sister Bella.

Devon would have been a more sensible choice for this role.  Everything about her is regal, and she did a wonderful T&V previously. 

Roxander  was once again incredible as Puck.

The person who did Bottom last night was very very good.  Don't have my program handy so I cannot identify him.  He had no trouble with the pointe work and was quite endearing.

Trenary was wonderful as Titania.

Boylston was improved over last week's debut, but I still  prefer NYCB in Ballet Imperial.  

I never see Julia Koch at these events anymore.  I guess David Koch drove the donations to ABT, and she has ceased such donations after his death.

David Koch was a driving force behind Ratmansky's work with ABT, including the costly reconstructions that were presented during Ratmansky's tenure with ABT.  I have to wonder if the death of Koch, and the loss of funding from Koch, played a role in Ratmansky's decision to cross the plaza to NYCB.   As the saying goes, follow the money.

Inside American Ballet Theatre’s Star Studded Fall Gala | Observer

Attached are photos of various attendees at the gala.  Melanie Hamrick decided to carry a bag that references her book, First Position.  Crass.   

4 hours ago, miliosr said:

Courtesy of publicly available information on Guide Star . . . 

ABT's most recently filed Form 990 was for calendar year 2021. For that year, the nine highest paid employees were all on the management side of the ledger. (Highest was Kevin McKenzie at $463,576 and lowest was Cynthia Harvey [then-JKO School head] at $169,698.) Even dancers like Gillian Murphy and Herman Cornejo - both of whom have had very long tenures in the organization - don't appear on ABT's list of highest paid employees.

For comparison, the situation at the New York City Ballet is no better. Of the 11 highest paid individuals listed on its most recent form 990, none are dancers. (However, Justin Peck does appear on the list.)

 

The dancers work, including rehearsal weeks and performance weeks, for only a fraction of the year.  Being a ballet dancer at ABT is not a 52 week per year job, and salaries reflect that reality.  That's why many of them appear during off time at other gigs.   I think overall, NYCB dancers have more weeks of work than ABT dancers.  

I don't know. who that was.  He was indeed very impressive. 

Only  a few words to add to what California posted above.  Completely agree that the SB excerpt was painfully slow, and the two handed cheat on the fish dives were disappointing.  Mr. Abatt and I were astonished at how much difficulty Royal had in lifting Trenary.  If you can't seamlessly lift teeny tiny Trenary, who can you lift?  In parts of the variation, Calvin's dancing was very slow and unimpressive.   While I love Leaves,  Ahn and Brandt had no chemistry.  He was also late in partnering her early in the excerpt, causing her to come down off pointe.  

Frankly, Concerto was such a bright spot because the performances were so strong, and the connection between Stearns and Seo was more genuine.  Most everything else at the gala came off as a bit stale. 

Nice to see Bell for the first and last time of the Fall season,  but Danzon is a very minor trifle. 

Hurlin is adding difficulty to her fouettes, by changing her arm position during every other fouette.  Carmago was impressive.  

Regarding the med emergency, I was shocked at how disorganized and long the response was.  A similar thing happened earlier this year at Carnegie Hall.  In the Carnegie incident, someone yelled for a doctor, the person received medical treatment within a very short time, and was removed by EMS within minutes.   Last night, precious time was lost needlessly. 

During the nearly half hour interruption of the performance from the med emergency, people obviously walked in and out of the theater to use the bathroom.  As a result, the overpowering smell of the dinner that was being prepared for the gala permeated the auditorium.  It smelled like onion for the entire show. 

2 hours ago, tutu said:

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Highlight of the evening for me was Hee Seo in Concerto.  Just exquisite.

yes, i completely agree with that.  

52 minutes ago, California said:

Murphy definitely wears Gaynor Mindens. But (judging from some Instagram stories today), Brandt wears Capezio, Boylston Blochs. I think Shevchenko also wears Blochs. 

I thought Freed was the leader in pointe shoes.

Thanks for the reports about today's show.

Perceptive note above that Jaffe is planning these fall programs  like in the heyday of the early 2000s. I won't start listing all those great dancers from that era -  otherwise I might start crying at my computer as I type.  But what we are seeing is that they don't have the personnel to justify scheduling the major ballets that they used to do.  Ahn, Han - both serviceable in Etudes but not spectacular in any way.  Ballet Imperial - not so wonderful.  All the other Balanchine killer ballets are now a big stretch for them given the roster they have now.  They would not have the personnel to do justice to a ballet like Symphony in C now.  It requires 8 highly competent and wonderful dancers, and you would need two casts.  

I didn't see today's show, but I cannot understand why they would have 44 year old Murphy do Titania twice in less than 24 hours.  It's nuts.   Is anyone surprised that she had trouble pulling this off today?  She needs lots of recovery time.   Not to mention that the inexplicable casting switcheroo putting Murphy in rather than the originally announced Trenary  pissed off lots of people.   Is Blaine doing all of the Bottom's.  Please, get a guy who can do the pointe work, or don't do the ballet.  This is embarrassing.  

Except for a few bright spots, this company is a shadow of what it once was.

12 minutes ago, laurel said:

That's exactly what I saw last night.  Very surprised to see Boylston, at this point in her career, looking so nervous.  Her back was stiff, her fingers splayed like the digits on a tree frog, grasping a leaf.  She appeared to be gritting her teeth as well.  She didn't relax into the performance until the start of the 3rd movement, when her back visibly eased, and both she and Whiteside began to smile.  It was about time.  Neither looked regal or imperial, but rather like workhorses, just trying to get through the choreography.

 

Boylston has had this issue with her hands and fingers for her whole career.  It's never going to change.  Perhaps she was so nervous because she was in the audience about two weeks ago at NYCB with Whiteside, and saw Mearns and Angle perform this ballet with brilliance. 

Maybe ABT shouldn't do Balanchine if they can't do it well and/or don't have the dancers to  perform the roles well.  

5 minutes ago, MRR said:

Odd, I recall James doing them.  What did he do instead?  He would have landed on his right knee, and his left was the one injured.  

Tour to knee is compulsory for a male dancer (obviously harder in BI where they happen between partnering a ballerina) that it shouldn't be omitted if a dancer is healthy to perform.

He stood after doing  each double tour, whereas the NYCB lead dropped to the knee, 

Forgot to add that ABT dancers are too much prone so standing and posing, often with a broad smile,  after completing a variation in Ballet Imperial.  

Didn't mind the elaborate costumes, but the curtains and the backdrop made the ballet seem musty. 

The tempo of Ballet Imperial was often so slow it robbed the ballet of its propulsive momentum.  Where was the breakneck speed and attack that makes this ballet such a thrilling vehicle for the lead ballerina?  Completely Missing In Action at ABT. 

Mearns is gold standard in this ballet, with Tiler Peck a close second.  ABT needs to go back to the drawing board for this one. 

In order to save his failing knees, Whiteside omitted dropping to his knee after his double tours in the pas with Boylston.   This Cavalier does not go to bended knee.

Roxander was great as Puck.  He overshadowed everyone else on stage.  This was a better vehicle for Murphy than Etudes, in my opinion. 

I thought Carmago did well as Oberon, but he is not an ideal interpreter.   Sometimes the intricacy of the choreography is lost as Carmago just tries to get the job done.   This role requires someone with very long legs and beautiful feet.  

Blaine Hoven had some trouble with Bottom and the pointe work required for the role.  

I noticed people sitting in the 4th ring on Friday night. 

Yes, that video captures precisely what Hurlin did with the fouettes.  Thanks for posting.

Does anyone know whether Jake Roxander trained at all within the ABT schooling system- ie JKO School- or is he solely a product of the training of his parents.  I recall reading that he spent some time in training in Philadelphia Ballet, but I may be confused with his brother Ashton. 

Where ever he came from, I for one am GRATEFUL that he is with ABT.  One of the few glimmers of hope for ABT's male roster. 

I couldn't decide initially whether Hurlin was making errors in the fouettes or adding difficulty by inserting small jumps.  As this continued it became apparent that this was entirely intentional, and that she was adding small jumps into the fouette sequence.  I don't recall every seeing anyone do this.  Pretty amazing.  

And Roxander.  Whew.  Brilliant.  More please. 

I have to believe that given all the training that went into Etudes it will make an appearance again at ABT sooner rather than later.  

Can't decide if I liked Han better than Ahn.  Han's spins seemed more controlled and centered than Ahn's.   Han is not a virtuoso, but a solid classical dancer. 

I thought the opening night cast was almost uniformly better in every ballet.  The surprise for me was how well Forster performed in the Ratmansky work.  

Curley doesn't have the same level of virtuosity as either Vasiliev or Roxander.  As a result, the role he danced looked diminished in comparison to other interpretations. 

Yes, Whiteside was terrific in PM.

I thought both Murphy and Cornejo were showing their age in Etudes.  Cornejo, in particular, no longer has the spectacular qualities  of speed, elevation and precision that made him a superlative dancer.

Yes, I did make a mistake.  Hoven was not cast.  Thanks.

By  using Petite Mort as a filler ballet, it gives people who are not virtuosos an opportunity to have featured parts.  For example, Blaine Hoven was cast last night, and I think Luciana Paris (who should retire already)  has a part tonight.  

.Review: Ballet Theater Revisits Its Past With a Hit and Two Misses - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

In agreement that Roxander was the star of the evening.  He was brilliant in both ballets in which he was cast, except for that one partnering moment with Devon referenced above.  He made Ahn look like an amateur in Etudes.  Ahn, as noted above, is a very mediocre dancer.  His role is supposed to be a show stopper, but he is not up to the level required.   So disappointed that Ahn is doing almost all of the Etudes and Carmago was removed.  Devon was also terrific in Etudes.

For me, Petit Mort is big on gimmicks but low on impressive choreography.  It was well danced, but really there isn't that much dancing.

The Ratmansky work was well done, but the standouts were Roxander and Brandt.  Put these two together in a Don Q!  Hopefully Roxander will get out of the corps ASAP.

Yes, I was just going to say that Jones has potential to rise to soloist. 

28 minutes ago, matilda said:

 

What happened to Preston Chamblee? He's barely done a single soloist role since being promoted to soloist. Serenade, Episodes, and After the Rain pas are the only ones I can think of, and those are essentially partnering-only. 

I would be in favor of Bouder retiring. I'm fine with Veyette as long as he's doing roles in which he's genuinely still good, and there are a few. 

 

Based on his appearances this season, it looks like Chamblee has added quite a bit of weight, and I suspect that has played a role in why he is not cast anymore in soloist roles.  

27 minutes ago, nanushka said:

Schumacher did dance in 4th movement Symphony in C. Not sure if he was injured at any other point in the season.

Yes, but that was the first time he danced in many, many years. 

Another person who was listed as a soloist long after he stopped performing was Arch Higgins.