abatt

That's true, but my expectations for an ABT SL are quite different from my expectations for a NYCB SL. Full length productions are the bread and butter of ABT, and I hold them to a higher standard in full length productions. Similarly, I hold NYCB to a higher standard than ABT in Balanchine rep.

I actually feel the opposite. Sarah may have done more and better quality fouettes than Hee, but Hee never looked defeated or dejected after the fouette section. She remained entirely in character. In contrast, Sarah was visibly upset and distraught, which took the audience entirely out of the character and story. I thought Sarah's reaction compounded the problem.

It just seemed like there was a lot of fouette music left when she stopped. Perhaps time just stood still as I contemplated the potential impact of what had just happened.

The fouettes turned into a disaster for Lane. She started strong, with alternating two singles and a double, two singles and another double. Then she did some singles. However, she kept traveling forward and she was running out of space to move forward. She then seemed to try and move sideways and lost her concentration, falling out of the fouettes. There was no apparent plan B. I didn't count how many she did before this happened,- maybe 16 or 20? Her Odette was lovely. Simkin's solo work was impeccable. Lendorf nearly stole the show as Purple Rothbart.

I think the bad blood that Irina and Max may feel is only towards ABT, not towards any particular dancer such as Sarah. Also, they may have been giving her advice and help as a side project based on their friendship, rather than in an official capacity.

You are not obtuse. I'm not following it either, but I'm too busy at work for further involvement in the discussion.

All of the Swan Lakes have been packed, no matter who is dancing.

I think the international tours definitely have to be supported by financial backers from the host country.

The guest artist thing is part of it. However, I also think that financial issues also play a role sometimes in who gets promoted. Copeland is bringing in new audiences, and perhaps new subscribers and new donors too. Is it a mere coincidence that Hee Seo was promoted in 2012, the same year that ABT toured to South Korea? America likes to abide by the myth of meritocracy, but many factors other than merit often play a role in who wins and who loses.

I'm a little late to the party. Teuscher's NYC debut was extremely impressive. There were some errors (small ones). She clearly has all of the tools she needs in her technique tool box. I bet her next go at the role will iron out some of the little details. I will definitely be returning again and again in future seasons to see her in SL. While I do not think highly of Hamoudi, he wasn't as bad as I expected. I also went last night to see Seo and Gomes. Really, I was there for Gomes. Even at his "advanced" age, he is still the best dancer, actor and partner in the company. His performance alone was worth the price of admission. As Christian said above, Hee's white acts were lovely. Here and there there were small bobbles in Act II, but it was very, very well done. Marcelo brings out the best in all of his partners, including Hee. As anticipated, disaster struck in Act III for her. She always has difficulty with turning. Christian makes an interesting point about whether ABT should be embarrassed by the ballerinas it is putting out there who cannot perform the choreography. I'm going to leave Boylston out of the conversation, because her performance was an abberation, and I know she can and does normally do all the fouettes. The issue is that McKenzie requires every ballerina to do every role, regardless of whether she is suited to its demands. So while Copeland was charming as Lise and Copelia, she is not up to the demands of SL. Similarly, while Hee was beautiful in A Month in the Country and as Juliet, she too comes up short in meeting the demands of SL. In this regard, I agree with a friend who recently commented that sometimes ABT is looking like a second rate regional company. Onwards to Sarah Lane tonight. I believe that tonight will be a turning point for her. If she does a good job tonight, hopefully Kevin will promote her. However, if for some reason she falters, I think the possibility of promotion may be gone, permanently. Merde Merde Merde to Sarah.

But is should matter to ABT.

Yep. That's why I have never attended any SL performance of "you know who", and probably never will in the future. Thanks for the reference to Devil Wears Prada. Love that movie. Can't believe Lane is finally getting a SL. I'll be there too. I hope she is brilliant.

I certainly agree that Boylston is capable of doing the fouettes, but did not do them last night because she is injured. I also completely understand that nobody ever wants to give up a performance to someone else, whether it be for personal reasons (I get one shot at this a year, and I'm going out there to perform) or to help others (If I don't do my show, poor Hee will have to do all performances this week). However, don't we have to balance these factors with the idea that an audience member may see one Swan Lake a year, or a decade, or ever, and should see all of the standard choreography performed? This is ABT, America's National Ballet Company, not a little regional company.

In this production Siegfried is offstage when Odile does her solo variation, and last night, Lendorf was offstage while Boylston did her variation, so she was not encircling anyone. But nice idea!

Aurora (and others), here is a little excerpt from Natalia Makarova explaining why the fouettes in SL matter: . “Take ‘Swan Lake,’ the Black Swan pas de deux. Now, my goodness, they’re turning not just 32 fouettes — ” the cyclone of spins cranked out by the scheming temptress Odile — “but double or triple pirouettes. And what is fouetter in French? It means ‘to whip.’ That is characteristic of Odile, cruelty and attack. It is artistic point. “And if you change it for just pirouettes, you change the meaning, to no meaning.” Excerpted from an Article titled "Ballerina Natalia Makarova: ‘Being spontaneous, it’s what saved me", which appeared in the Washington Post in 2012. I was not able to copy the link.

Right. I expect to encounter changes in standard choreography when I go to a performance by a 40+ year old dancer who is on the verge of retirement. I wasn't expecting it, however, when I went to see a 30 year old. That's why I eventually stopped going to Julie Kent's performances, except for her farewell. She was making up her own versions of the choreography to suit her current level of ability. I'm sure that Boylston's modification was due to her injury, and that we will see her return to full form soon enough. But I do wonder to what extent there is a trend at ABT in the direction of making modifications in light of either injury or lack of ability.

I was also at last night's SL. I was very surprised that Boylston dumbed down her variation, because up until that point she never appeared to be suffering from any injury. I know that she is capable of doing the fouettes, because I saw her do them last season in SL. I want to cut her slack- she is clearly trying to prevent further injury. However, it seems like dumbing down choreography has become the "new normal" at ABT. If McKenzie cannot find ballerinas who can perform the standard choreography, or at least a close approximation of it, maybe he should stop presenting the ballet. Up until that point, I thought Boylston's performance was strong. However, as noted above, she is not a fluid dancer in terms of her upper body and arm movements. I thought Lendorf did a terrific job. He is a beautiful and refined dancer. Query: We all know that Sarah Lane did the dress rehearsal Monday. Was there a reason that McKenzie had to have her stick around to do the peasant pas in the evening performance? Was there nobody else who could fill in, considering that Sarah had already done a lot of dancing on Monday? Failing to update the casting until the last minute is standard operating procedure at ABT. It happened with regard to Semionova, Cojocaru and many many other instances. When is McKenzie going to come forward with lead casting changes for this week? PS: Edited to add that on the way out of the theater I overheard others also commenting on Boylston's omission of the fouettes. This audience is highly aware of changes to standard choreogrpahy. It's not like McKenzie is pulling the wool over people's eyes- at least not at last night's show.

Eifman is definitely not everyone's cup of tea. The movement vocabulary is limited. Eifman is more acrobatics and hyper extensions than classical ballet. This is certainly not classical ballet at its finest. You should look at some clips on youtube, or some reviews to get a sense of what this company does.

The Arts coverage at the Times has gone way downhill, so I'm glad that A. Macaulay at least posts some thoughts on his social media. The Times now regularly (daily) recaps what the late night comedy shows (Colbert, Trevor Noah and the like) said about Trump. They also regularly recap what happened on TV shows. Why? If I want to see Colbert's monologue or the last episode of Better Call Saul, the material is completely self explanatory and readily available on the internet. I don't need the Times to break it down for me. Do they think that they will attract more advertisers by filling the paper with this junk?

Actually, there is no subscriber discount for ABT tickets. None. Single ticket buyers and subscribers pay exactly the same price, provided that the single tixs are purchased before the date that they institute dynamic pricing increases.

Just looked at A. Macaulay's instagram, and he is also giving a rave to Brandt and Cornejo.

I don't think Rachael Moore was necessarily the architect of the guest artist policy. After their own roster of star dancers (Corella, Carreno, Nina A., for example) retired, they needed to fill the roster with people who would fill the vast Met auditorium. Though people like Kajiya, Jared Matthews and Simone Messmer were talented, and should have been given more lead roles, they were not bankable stars. Now that ABT has Misty Copeland to virtually sell out the auditorium in anything she appears in, they again have a bankable star. We can argue about the merits of her performances, but I think it's clear that she sells seats- lots and lots of seats. They now appear to be experimenting with the idea of whether Copeland's ticket sales alone are enough of a financial juggernaut to offeset other nights where the Met is half empty. As discussed in a prior thread, do not underestimate the Copeland Effect as an influence on ABT's decision to stop inviting guest artists. The demoralization of ABT's own dancers, as well as the diva-like behavior of certain invited guests, also contributed as secondary reasons to ABT's decision to stop inviting guests.

I also enjoyed Skylar's performance last night, as well as the rest of the cast. I hope her performances as Medora lead to additional future lead roles for her. As noted above, her technique is very strong.

I think numerous guest artists would be happy to appear at ABT a few times, as they did every year before ABT stopped inviting them. I think ABT has just stopped making the invitations to appear, with the exception of Ferri. ABT probably considers Ferri a "reliable" guest artist, because she has no other home company making demands on her time and appearances. She is her own boss.

The guest artists tend to participate in the ballets that are standard fare throughout the world, such as Giselle or the Makarova staging of Bayadere. I don't think that their lack of participation in the quirky Ratmansky oddities are a reflection or indication that these dancers don't like Ratmanksy. It's just the practicality that if a guest artist flies in and out for one appearance, it has to be in a ballet that he or she already is extensively familiar with from his own home company.