abatt

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.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/arts/dance/megan-fairchild-swan-lake.html&rref=collectionFsectioncollection%2Arts&action=click&contentCollection=arts&region?stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=8&pgtype=sectionfront Linked above is a NY Times article re Megan Fairchild's upcoming debut in SL.

I think it makes a lot of sense that Kochetkova's photo was removed now. They are presently in the midst of finalizing plans and casts for the Met season. If she decided not to sign on for the 2018 Met season, the deadline for that decision was probably during September.

The synopsis in the playbill tells the entire story. No need for supertitles. More informative would be some instruction on the meaning of certain gestures used in mime. Certain gestures are clear enough even for the first timer, but many mime gestures do require explanation to be understood by the casual ballet fan. I learned more about mime gestures a number of years ago at a pre performance lecture at ABT.

https://www.nycballet.com/Ballets/R/The-Red-Violin.aspx Dale, I think you may be looking at the original cast of Red Angels, not Red Violin.

Based on the way the casting is listed, it seems that Unity Phelan is doing the lead role in Red Violin - the role created for Jennie Somogyi.

Casting is up for Week 3. Lots of debuts in Polyphonia. Of course, Red Violin has been out of rep for so long, the entire cast is new. It's been so long I can't recall what I thought of Red Violin. Maria K is debuting in In Memory Of. Not surprised - they frequently use "older ballerinas" in this one. Most interesting, no Robbie Fairchild in The Times Are Racing - a signature role for him, created on him, that does not require a ballet body. Ashley Isaacs is doing R. Fairchild's role. Tiler Peck is cast in her usual role in this ballet. Draw your own conclusions. Added: I looked at Mearns' instagram, and she says there are many things she needs to work on for her upcoming SL performances. She knows last night's show was not her finest as O/O.

The problems relating to Litton's brisk pace are that positions could not be fully stretched or held, and feet were sometimes not pointed. The dancers were rushing around madly trying to keep up. I'm using these as examples, but I'm sure others could expand on it. I'm not advocating the funereal tempo we sometimes encounter at ABT, but I think all of the performances would have been better with a slower tempo. This is NOT Allegro Brillante. I looked at the schedule, and it appears the Mearns/Angle cast is getting Litton as conductor for every one their three Swan Lake shows. Added: The one place where the tempo worked best was the pas de quatre in Act III. Since that choreography is pure Martins NYCB, the fast tempo looked great and everyone kept up well. The briskness did not work well elsewhere.

NYCB had posted on its facebook page during August the following: "Congratulations to all the Company's newlyweds -- including Sarah Villwock & Giovanni Villalobos, Silas Farley (and wife Cassia Farley), Lydia Wellington (and husband Antoine Gobin), and Erica Pereira (and husband Craig Hall). Best wishes to all! " There are photos of each of the couples on facebook, but I could not copy the photos. By the way, the Craig Hall who married Erica is not NYCB's Craig Hall. Congrats to all.

I thought the conducting was much too brisk, and resulted in diminished performances from a number of dancers who were just battling to keep up with the music. I thought this was also an issue with Mearns' performance, especially during the second act. The last act was brilliant and left me emotionally spent. I counted 25 or 26 fouettes in Act III, although I don't recall doubles. Mearns was traveling forward a great deal, in a more or less straight line. I think Mearns' performances with Jared Angle were more intimate; she and Tyler seems to be still working out some of the details. I suspect that her next two SL shows with Tyler will be even better. Kudos to Ulbricht, Gordon, Pollack, Isaacs, King, Huxley and Woodward. Almost all the secondary cast was utterly stellar.

Here is an Op Ed from yesterday's NYTimes which discusses the subject biopic, but more broadly talks about cultural repression under Putin. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/14/opinion/artist-putin-russia-serebrennikov.html

I think national affinity, ethnic affinity, and racial affinity all contribute to the decision of some ticket buyers to purchase one performance versus another, or to attend at all. That's true not only of ballet, but of theater and other art forms too.

Kochetkova was brought in to partner with the short male dancers at ABT- Cornejo and Simkin. With Simkin joining the Berlin company, and Cornejo approaching retirement, Kochetkova's usefulness may be scrutinized more closely in the next season or two. Moreover, they now have Lane as a principal, with Trenary and Brandt having the potential to also move up the ladder. These factors make Kochetkova less essential as the "go to" partner for the short guys. Kochetkova is Bolshoi trained, and that may be a factor in her favor if the Russian audience turn out for her performances. She is quite popular at SFB. What ABT really needs is another tall male principal.

I'm expecting both Boylston and Abrera to continue as Gamzatti. Teuscher is very well suited to do Nikiya, and I hope she gets the role. I think they might deem Abrera as too old to debut as Juliet. I hope they allow Lane or Trenary to debut as Juliet.

For me, R. Fairchild's most stunning and memorable performance was in Who Cares with Tiler Peck. Many people could do the steps, but when those two danced to "The Man I Love", there was enough electricity to power all of New York City. So sad that we will never see that again. Other Robbie Fairchild roles that suited him perfectly were Slaughter and Thou Swell. Although I did not like The Times are Racing, his tapping pdd with Justin Peck was a highlight. I'm glad it's preserved on video (the video that was shot in the subway). Duo Concertant would indeed be a very fine closing ballet for his departure. This is a big loss to NYCB. Robbie had a large fan base from his appearance in American in Paris, and I think he brought new audiences into NYCB.

SL is also a very difficult and technically challenging role. The difference is that in SL, McKenzie allows Copeland (and others) to make whatever adjustments /changes/modifications they want in order to get through the role. I'm not sure how much adjustment Ratmansky would permit in his reconstruction of SB. In any event, Copeland's audience shows up even if she is cast as Florine, rather than Aurora.