abatt

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?

NY Times review is up https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/28/arts/dance/swan-lake-city-ballet.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fdance&action=click&contentCollection=dance&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

Tiler Peck was exquisite this evening. What a sensational debut. Too exhausted to write any more thoughts right now.

I thought Faichild and Garcia were mostly terrific in their debuts last night. This was the only pairing I've seen this season at NYCB where there was any chemistry between the two leads. They work beautifully together, and they should be paired up more often. Garcia's partnering and acting were excellent. He has never been a daredevil virtuoso, but he did well enough to get through his solos. The biggest surprise was how wonderful Megan Fairchild performed. I've always thought of her more as a soubrette, but last night she proved that she can also dance dramatic tragedies. She does not overact or attempt to overemote. Everything was in balance and in good taste. No vamping or evil smirking during Act III. Her technique was pretty near perfect throughout the entire ballet, but that is not surprising because she has always been a strong technician I got worried for a second when she started the fouettes, because she was doing doubles but losing control. She quickly switched over to neat and perfectly controlled singles, and she filled out all the music for that section. (I didn't count the fouettes.) Everything she did was done with textbook precision and clarity. She seduced Siegfried with her powerful dancing and presence. There is room for improvement; at times I wished that she had stretched her line more, or bent her back more. Possibly that will improve in the future.

Actually, I was relieved that Reichlin no longer has the "furrowed brow" approach to this role. A few years ago she tried to act the role by making all kinds of sad, tortured facial expressions, so I was happy she stopped doing it for this run. The tragedy had to be displayed through the use of her limbs, her spine, her neck and so forth. Making sad faces at the audience is not a substitute.

Strangely, there are no dancers listed for Troy's upcoming NYCB premiere this Wednesday. Casting for all of the other new ballets on the program was announced two weeks ago.

I think Kochetkova may be generally better in the modern rep works than in the dramatic classics that are the heart of ABT's rep. Also, I agree that she does fall short (no pun intended) when compared to other guest artists invited by ABT in the recent past, such as Cojocaru, Osipova, Nunez, Tereshkina and so on.

Some of the problems on Sat evening were partnering issues caused, in part or entirely , by Janzen. However, a lot of Reichlin's problems also came into play during her solo variations, particularly in Act III. As nysusan mentioned, she's got the perfect physique for the role, but does not yet know how to employ those super long limbs to communicate the drama of her role. She hasn't learned how to use her spine and stretch out her positions. The tempo was moderate, so the conductor wasn't the problem.

Yes, the ENB's Giselle is on my wish list for a visit to New York. Also on my wish list is Mayerling, which I have never seen.

It seemed like Reichlin had a meltdown during the third act, because it wasn't only the fouettes that were a problem. She was having difficulty with just about everything in the third act. So many "rookie" mistakes were made on Sat evening. In one place, Reichlin went to raise her leg into arabesque, but Janzen's leg was in the way. She lowered her leg and started again after Janzen moved his leg out of the way. That's what I expect from students, not professinals. In another spot, I think in the third act, she has to raise her right leg while holding Janzen's raised right hand. She must have felt insecure, because she started, stopped, put her right leg down and started over. There is a moment in the third act where Siegfried has to rotate Odile, and end the rotation on a particular note of the music so that Odile is directly facing Siegfried - eye to eye. Reichlin was underrotated, so that she was facing the audience and Janzen was looking at the side of her face. WRONG. All these seemingly minor glitches were distracting when piled one on top of the next, and took you right out of the story and wondering if they rehearsed at all? Wanted to add another point that does not specifically relate to the Saturday evening show. Whoever is coaching the mime sequences involving the Queen needs to be replaced. For the most part, the Queen role has been portrayed in a cartoonish manner, particularly by Marika Anderson. I

I thought Bouder's performance on Sunday was much improved compared to prior seasons. Previously, I found her phrasing choppy. This time there was more flow from one phrase to the next. Her "white acts" were much softer compared to prior years. She got a little greedy in the third act (black swan act) and bit off more than she could handle in terms of the fouettes (as described by others above). However, overall it was a very fine performance. My one bit of advice would be for her to quit smirking through the entirety of Act III. It's OVERKILL. Reichlin, on the other hand, gave one of the worst performances I've ever seen from her. Her portrayal was lacking in any dramatic depth. I could have lived with that if her technique was stronger. However, she made numerous errors during the difficult third act. Moreover, there were numerous obvious partnering errors from Janzen. I thought Catazaro made a strong impression on Friday evening during his debut as Siegfried. Hyltin was lovely, although I found no connection between her and Catazaro on a dramatic level. Onwards to the new casts this week.