abatt

I'm considering going to see the Natl Ballet of Cuba at the Kennedy Center, which conflicts w. ABT's Bayadere week. I have no interest in seeing Hee Seo or Boylston as Nikiya, especially after having seen the ethereal Nikiya performances of the Mariinsky's Tereshkina and Kondaurova at the Kennedy Center a few weeks ago.

The Met and Gelb have tried for a number of years to negotiate w. the unions to open on Sundays and close during a weekday. The negotiations have always failed. The HD broadcasts are cannibalizing in house attendance at the Met opera.

Cirio is a principal in search of principal roles. His only lead is in Don Q. If I were him I would be very frustrated.

Boylston as Nikiya? Is this a role debut for her? I don't see her as Nikiya, at all. She was a good Gamzatti, and should have stayed with that role. Speaking of Bayadere, I guess we'll have to watch Hee Seo stumble around the stage if we want to see Hallberg's Solor and Murphy's Gamzatti.

Review of "I Feel the Earth Move." Glad I stayed away from this one. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/arts/dance/american-ballet-theater-millepied-i-feel-the-earth-move.html

Osipova guesting with ABT in Giselle. MARK YOUR CALENDAR! https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/26/arts/dance/american-ballet-theater-spring-season-wayne-mcgregor-alexei-ratmansky.html

Perhaps it's because after the birth of her child she did not want to spend multiple weeks or months away from her child and husband.

It seems clear that they are not planning on assigning SL to Abrera at this late stage of her career. So now we know to expect a Shevchenko SL when the spring season is announced. I think Lane will certainly be cast in SL during the NY run, given that there are 8 SL's to be cast. Misty probably gets two, and hopefully Shevchenko, Lane, Murphy, Boylston, Seo, and Teuscher each get one show in NY.

I was privileged to go to the KC for a long weekend, and I agree that Tereshkina and Kim were breathtaking. There are complaints that Kim can't act, but I didn't care. His technique is so marvelous. It reminded me of better times at ABT, when there was male dancing at that high level every night. I thought both Tereshkina and Kondaurova were absolutely wonderful. They both have steely technique, and were soulful Nikiyas. They also both had such beautiful arm movements and flexible backs. My favorite Gamzatti was Batoeva. Can't wait to see move of her in the future. These KC appearances are invaluable to balletomanes.

Salstein is going to be in Carousel on Broadway. Carousel starts in the spring. I think he is the dance captain, and he appears in the ensemble of dancers. I don't think he has a speaking role.

Perverse is McKenzie's middle name, so nothing he does would shock me at this point.

I thought both Hyltin and Fairchild were transcendent on Sunday in Duo. However, I thought Robbie's enthusiasm was because he was determined to make his final dance memorable, not because he couldn't wait to leave NYCB.

yes, I believe you are correct. No surprise there.

Which role is Lane going to do in Bayadere- Nikiya or Gamzatti?

It's now official. The announcement of Catazaro's promotion is now on the NYCB homepage. Congrats!

Me too. First time ever that I'm not buying any tickets for the fall season. It didn't help that the first week coincides with the Mariinsky's Bayadere shows in DC. There was absolutely no way I was going to save any time for ABT that week. I would like to see Symphonic Dances again, but not with the cast they are putting out for week 2. If the new Ratmansky gets a stellar review, I might consider going to one performance. I'm more excited about the Red Shoes than about ABT's offerings. See ya in the Spring at the Met.

R. Fairchild posted a lovely note on his Instagram account about R. Krohn. He is in town, because he was in the audience on Friday to see his sister dance Square Dance. As to the reasons he did not make a personal appearance at Krohn's farewell, draw your own conclusions.

NYCB's spring season will include a new ballet forty minutes in duration which features reconstructions of the choreography of 8 Broadway musicals "closely associated with Jerome Robbins (that Jerome Robbins directed or choreographed). It's part of the Robbins centennial celebration. Sounds exciting. Some dancers of NYCB will take on singing roles too. It would have been a perfect project for R. Fairchild. Too bad he's leaving. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/04/arts/city-ballet-to-celebrate-the-broadway-side-of-jerome-robbins.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Farts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=7&pgtype=sectionfront

While I thought Phelan and Catazarro had improved immensely in Polyphonia since their debuts last season, I didn't think they were in the same league at all as the originators of their roles - Whelan and Soto. Wendy is a very hard act to follow, especially in the ballets that were created on her. That was also reinforced last night in Liturgy, when Maria K. took on Wendy's old role. Now Liturgy looks like an exercise in acrobatics, and has none of the mystery or intensity that Wendy brought to the ballet. What happened to all of the principals that used to be cast in Polyphonia, as recently as last season? Time to pass the ball to the next generation, I guess. I thought Odessa was interesting and well constructed, but not necessarily one of Ratmansky's best ballets. The "slap" of DeLuz by Hyltin has been so toned down that it now is somewhat comical and adds no dramatic weight. Last season I saw Times are Racing twice - both with R. Fairchild in the role now performed by Ashly Isaacs. I didn't like it those two times, in part because of the loud volume of the "music". Last night the sound level didn't bother me as much. I think your experience regarding the volume is very much determined by where you are sitting in relation to the speakers. I thought the work suffered artistically by the absence of R. Fairchild. His sections with Justin Peck were the highlight of the ballet. Isaacs does not have the charismatic showmanship to pull off the role, and so I thought the work looked significantly diminished compared to when R Fairchild performed it.

The name of Millepied's new ABT ballet set to P. Glass music is "I Feel The Earth Move". I guess he didn't realize that's the title of an extremely famous Carole King song. I Feel The Earth Move is apparently a section or portion of the Glass opera, Einstein at the Beach.

Correction: sorry, the article doesn't mention a reprint. My bad.

The cookbook will be reprinted to celebrate its 50th anniversary. In addition, Jacques d’Amboise, Allegra Kent, Jared Angle and Adrian Danchig-Waring will participate in a conversation with Meryl Rosofsky, a food scholar, at a presentation at the Guggenheim on Nov. 5 and 6. Moreover, the restaurant at the Guggenheim will be serving dishes from the cookbook. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/dining/ballet-cook-book-tanaquil-le-clercq-guggenheim.html?ref=dining

Gala review: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/arts/dance/new-york-city-ballet-fashion-gala-justin-peck-lovette-gianna-reisen-schumacher.html

LOL, but I think Marcelo might actually be able to pull it off. He's that good.

Of course NYCB dancers are not going to look like Vaganova trained Mariinsky dancers. Similarly, Mariinsky dancers generally do not perform Balanchine very well in comparison to NYCB dancers. If you're expecting Vaganova style, why would you even consider going to an NYCB performance, much less a performance of Swan Lake at NYCB?