abatt

As noted above, I attached a NY Times article from October 2017 re the nature of Mearns' dancing. The issues we are speaking of were going on well before the Peter Martins debacle, so I don't think it has anything to do with the leadership transition at NYCB. Mearns once said in an itnerview that she never wants her audience to walk out of her show saying "that was nice". This is part of her MO- she must tackle every role to the extreme or else she fears that her performance will be regarded as bland or "nice", to use her word. In another thread, we discussed a NY Times article in which a dancer alleged that Martins sexually harassed her because she asked Martins what she needed to do in order to get promoted. His reply was that she had to make him notice her. The dancer took that as a sexual proposition. I bring it up here because Mearns' approach is exactly the type of approach that Martins always rewarded. You notice Mearns, even if you don't always agree with what she's doing. Risk taking and giving 1000 percent every second, although sometimes overkill, is exactly what Martins referred to when he urges a dancer to make him notice her.

The recent critiques of Mearns' approach to her roles is not only amongst us here on ballet alert. It has been noted in the NY Times. "She’s dancing with a torrential force that — despite her color, vehemence and precision — is in danger of overpowering her roles." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/08/arts/dance/new-york-city-ballet-rebecca-krohn-cortege-hongrois.html

Canbelto, I know the moment you are talking about in Chaconne w. Mearns. It was during the dance of the blessed spirits section in the beginning. I don't know what happened, but there was apparently some sort of partnering error, and she just walked away from Adrian. I didn't think it was a growl, but maybe a stomp on the floor. There was definitely a strange noise when this happened. Loved Divertimento. Such a sunny and joyous ballet. All of the ladies performed exceedingly well. Laracey was radiant. I thought the two soloist men were both preferable to Veyette. Veyette is very sloppy in his solo work. This wasn't just an off night. It has become a regular thing with him. 4Ts' was stunningly performed by all. It was bracing in all the best ways. On the first night, Chase did a good job with Apollo. He's improved quite a bit. However, he seems to be out of breath a lot of the time. The only other time I've noticed a similar problem on stage is when I've seen Ivan Vasiliev, except that Ivan was exerting himself to a much higher degree. The 3 muses were good. Sterling has made great improvements in her interpretation of Terp. I'm so grateful to have Maria K back on stage. She was luminous in the prayer section, and did great work in the other sections of the ballet. Tyler Angle seems to be out of shape. His partnering is still wonderful, but he is struggling a bit with his solos and his landing. Janzen seems to have cleaned up his act. He has had a tendency to be a bit sloppy in the past when called upon to perform a difficult solo variation. However, he looked magnificent in the difficult solo variation in Cortege. Mearns is brilliant in this ballet. I miss the fire and spice of Georgina Paz in the folk section. Lowery was boring in comparison. Very full houses on both Tuesday and Wednesday.

Cornejo was always a bit too old to be playing the young boy. Probably best to leave that role behind. Simkin was perfection, and his "boyish" qualities perfectly suited the role.

Thanks. I do follow figure skating very closely, and they are a magnificent couple. I think their routine is better than Virtue and Moir this season, and I hope that Papadakis Cizeron can take home the gold. Disturbed that Stepanova and Bukin are banned from the ice dance competition, although they were not in contention for the medals.

Clearly Cirio worked with Papadakis and Cizeron on their free dance. However, he is not officially given any credit. The choreography is credited to Marie France Dubreuil. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriella_Papadakis

It took Cornejo and Simkin years to be given important lead roles, even after they got promoted to principal. I'm not surprised that Cirio is suffering the same fate. McKenzie is very resistant to casting short men in roles like Albrecht, Solor and Siegfried. Since Cornejo has trouble making it through an entire season without an injury or illness, we may see more of Cirio than anticipated. I actually don't agree that Hoven is ready for a full length lead role. Maybe they should give him a secondary lead, such as a replacement for Hallberg in Whipped Cream. However, Forster seems to destined for those slots. He has improved, but taking on a full length lead role is a major undertaking that requires a lot of skill and stamina. Hoven needs to prove himself in more difficult featured roles before they move him up to the leading man in a full length ballet. Yes, Gorak has fallen into oblivion.

Was Stolbova previously banned for a period of time for doping? I had not previously heard of any ban on Bukin. A shame that their partners on the ice must also suffer the consequences of the ban.

David Hallberg signed a contract for the Met season with ABT. He is not a guest artist at ABT. It's not a matter of being indebted. It's a matter of honoring the contract that you signed. If he withdrew from these shows because he felt they were no longer within his technical grasp, that' is certainly an outcome which nobody could hold against him. However, if it turns out that he withdrew because he is jetting off for a different gig, that's not acceptable. ABT has been advertising his appearnaces for the upcoming season for months, and once you put your ticket order in you cannot get a refund.

Yes, my initial thought was that Hallberg is becoming the Jonas Kaufmann of the ballet world. I'm holding out hope that ABT is going to hire a special guest artist for those Bayadere slots. I think they owe it us to hire Kimin Kim, Shkylarov or Sarafanov, to fill those dates.

He's also indebted to ABT, but that factor doesn't seem to matter. I can understand why he might retire the role of Solor, but Whipped Cream? It's an easyish, short role. The only explanation seems to be another gig.

Since Hallberg is now out of Bayadere, unless there is some utterly stellar replacement, that time period is now slotted for a trip to DC for Natl Ballet of Cuba. I can't imagine sitting through Hee Seo's Nikiya without a brilliant Solor.

When Gomes was listed as Murphy's partner for both Giselle and R&J, I was willing to go even though I feel those are not strong roles for her. With Stearns as the replacement, there is no way I'm going to those shows.

I'm not surprised at all. I assumed they would just reassign everything to Whiteside and Stearns. What is going on with David Hallberg. If he can't handle a full schedule, he should just retire. What a dismal season. Added: Is Hallberg still scheduled for all of hir Royal Ballet engagements, or does he only cancel his ABT engagements? I've answered my own question. David is indeed listed for his two spring Manons and his two spring Giselles at RB. He must have gotten a better offer that conflicts with the ABT season. Really disappointing that he thinks so little of his fan base in NYC.

The way ABT presents the MacMillan version, there is a brief implication of an affair between Tybalt and Lady Capulet. They steal a moment of intimacy before a crowd enters for the next scene.

I also liked that moment between Juliet and her mother. I thought of it in broader terms, not just an important moment between a mother and her daughter. To me, it was a commentary on the plight of women who are subjugated to the will of societal norms in a world run by men.

Isabella Boylston is Jennifer Lawrence's dance double in the movie.

I liked the psychological vignettes where the thoughts of Juliet and Romeo are acted out. There were definitely a lot more difficult steps for the leads in this version as compared to the MacMillan and Cranko versions. Some aspects of the play were completely lost. In the Mercutio death scene, the change of the music is related to the idea of a plague on both your houses. This is completely lost in the Ratmansky version.

I don't think it's a new development. There have been a lot of shorter Dewdrops. That role looks good on both tall and short dancers.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/19/arts/dance/american-ballet-theater-labor-unrest.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

I thought Tiler Peck was miscast as Terp. She is too short for that role. Terp. looks much better on someone with long limbs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/17/arts/dance/like-a-prayer.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront Here is a video of Maria K. practicing Mozartiana's opening prayer. I found her comments about her mom particularly poignant.

https://www.nycballet.com/NYCB/media/NYCBMediaLibrary/PDFs/Press/Casting/NYCB-Casting_January-30-February-4,-2018_lobby.pdf Week 2 casting is up. So many exciting debuts. I can't wait for the season to begin.

Yes, Teuscher was originally paired with Lendorf. He seems to be injury prone.

NYCB has always taken pride in the fact that the vast majority of the rep was created for NYCB. They generally do not incorporate rep that was created elsewhere for another company. The only recent exception I can think of is Wheeldon's DGV, which was created on the Royal Ballet.