abatt

I think the choreography in Onegin is much easier than in many other ballets. That's why Hallberg agreed to do 2 Onegin's in one week.

Every one of the students and apprentices have parents, grandparents and siblings to sell tickets to. The Lang premiere may be artistically rather insignificant, but it will help fill the auditorium the night of the gala. I was not particularly impressed last year with ABT's performances of Symphonic Variations. I've seen video of better performances by the Royal Ballet. Maybe ABT's performances this fall will be better than last year. I wonder what roles they are planning for Hallberg.

A word to anyone hoping to attend. Last night was the first night of Midsummer Night' Swing. The event is held at Damrosch Park, to the left of the opera house. I was milling around the area, hoping to buy dinner before my ABT performance last night. (They have an area set up for food sales, with rotating culinary offerings.) The Park is completely blocked off from public access except for one security check point line. The security check line for bag inspection was very, very long, so I didn't even bother attempting to enter the Park. Plan ahead, and expect a wait to get in.

I'm assuming that the Harris Theater engagement will also feature the debut of ABT Principal Dancer Stella Abrera, and probably some other principals who have never appeared at Harris. The fact that ABT has chosen to ignore their other principals and exclusively tout Misty is insulting to the other dancers. Really, ABT, get a clue.

Mariinsky at the Kennedy Center, here we come. Skip ABT's fall season and spend your hard earned dollars in Washington DC in October to see La Bayadere.

Now that Millepied has a lot of free time, since he is no longer director of POB, it appears he is back on the market as a choreographer. Gulp.

No, I don't agree. They would never publish a document or brochure listing someone as a principal whose tenure as a principal had not yet gone into effect. There are all sorts of potential legal problems in doing that. It leaves open a potential for a claim by a dancer that he or she was entitled to compensation or benefits as a principal before the effective date of the promotion. I suppose they could put an asterisk with an explanation, but that would look silly and distracting. Even if someone is named as a principal tomorrow, their name would never go in as a principal into any material or booklet distributed to the press or the public prior to the date the new status became effective.

They don't give exclusive first rights for publication of the season info. In fact, Dale posted the official info on Ballet Alert shortly after the NY Times. The press release goes out by email to all press contacts at the same time. If you look at the last two years, the promotions were announced on June 30 and July 1. This is, I believe, directly keyed into when the Board meets at the end of the second business quarter. Of course, it is possible that there may not be any promotions to announce. Even if there are new principals, principal status is rarely immediate. It usually becomes effective a few weeks later. So it makes no difference whether they announced the fall season principal lineup today or next week. Either way, they would not be listing any additional principal names for the engagement.

No Kochetkova, either. But we are getting David Hallberg!

NYCB is doing Other Dances in the spring of 2018, on an All Robbins program.

Daphnis required a big cast, and it cost a lot of money to train all those dancers. I'm not surprised they are bringing Daphnis back. Personally, I liked Abrera in it with Stearns ( I think). However, I did not like Boylston at all in the second cast. I'm not sure McKenzie's 25 year tenure is deserving of celebration.

Maybe that's why Ferri never performed Swan Lake, and instead made her career based on the "long skirt" roles with less exacting technique.

Yes, but Ferri is 54 years old. Ferri's technique is very weak. She looks great when someone is partnering her, but she clearly can't do the solo footwork anymore. Ferri was performing in a ballet where dramatic skill counts for almost everything, and the footwork technique for her role was, in my opinion, not terribly important. Ferri is choosing her ballets carefully because she is aware of her increasing limitations. If you're going to take on the major roles, you ought to be able to perform the choreography.

McKenzie seems to be interested in seniority and diversity. Although Hammoudi is not anyone's idea of a great dancer, he may just get the promotion. Hallberg, Gomes and Bolle are simply not able to carry a big workload anymore. There is a chronic lack of tall men available at the principal level. Stearns and Whiteside can't do it by themselves. Lane should be promoted too. Stone Shayer and Royal need to get out of the corps, ASAP. I

I think the promotions are decided and affirmed at the board of directors meeting. Those meetings usually take place at the end of a business quarter, which would be around June 30. Thus, I think any decisions will already have been made before Shevchenko performs Mozartiana.

I don't read Part's comment as saying that she will no longer do the role. Her comment says "Last Swan Lake Met 2017". That doesn't mean that she won't perform the role again during the Met 2018 season.

It's not just that she says other dancers took away her opportunities. That's the experience of every ABT dancer, because of the guest artist policy. She specifically uses the words "white dancers", and so she automatically turns it into a racial discrimination issue.

Just to be clear, Copeland didn't just promote herself on social media. She used and continues to use the media to accuse her superiors of denying her opportunities because she is black. Here is an excerpt from a NY Times interview from Apr 22, 2017: "For years and years, I watched as white dancers came in — when I knew I was more talented or brought more depth to a role — but had to sit back and watch it happen. But I didn’t stop working." https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/22/style/misty-copeland-sally-field.html

Thanks for the video. Who were the two men on the far right in the video?

A friend a few years ago asked Part why she was not doing Onegin, and she quipped that maybe she is not Russian enough. They have denied Part certain roles, presumably because finding a partner willing to lift her would be problematic. All of the Tatiana's in this and prior runs are waif-like, and Part simply is not. That may explain why she has also never done Giselle, R&J or Manon, to name a few. The lifts in Onegin are killers.

Yes. Misty definitely danced Lise in Fille. I think it was with Cirio, and I'm pretty sure I saw it. I recall that she did good work in the role.

Usually they do these novelty ballets two consecutive years, because they have already invested the time and money in teaching the roles. I anticipate that Onegin may return again next season, and then put into storage again for a few years.

Everyone performed better on Thursday evening than on Tuesday evening (same cast entirely). Only issue was Ferri's difficulty in her solo in Act II, right before Onegin slams his fists down on the card table. Bolle had fallen out of some of his turns on Tuesday, but they were much better last night. The final scene of Act III was devastating and brilliant. For an Onegin opera performance, I recommend Hvorostovsky and Fleming at the Met Opera from a number of years ago. The singing and acting were so good it brought tears to my eyes at the opera house. Available on DVD. Can I conjure my mirror so that Roberto Bolle emerges from it ?

I don't think this only relates to Vishneva and Ferri. Gomes, Hallberg, Bolle and Abrera are older and/or fragile dancers. This isn't meant as an insult. Gomes and Hallberg have clearly dropped a lot of roles, and it remains to be seen whether Hallberg will feel sufficiently recovered to take on the big classical roles again like SL, DonQ and the like. The fluff ballets help them add appearances during the season. Going forward, after Vishneva's departure, I believe that we will see Misty cast more in these fluff ballets too, because she can appear twice in one week and give the box office a big bump.

It's these types of ballets that allow the "older dancers" to extend their careers. They also provide vehicles for less classically adept younger dancers to potentially excel in lead roles. Frankly, if ABT had to present 8 consecutive weeks of heavy duty classical ballet, they couldn't do it. They would need many additional principal dancers.