abatt

The Semionova SL I remember most clearly was with Stearn in 2014- the last season she ever danced with ABT. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/30/arts/dance/american-ballet-theaters-swan-lake-at-the-met.html It was a wondrous and beautiful performance (by Semionova). .

The festival organizers have assumed that just because it is a Bolshoi appearance, it will sell at high prices.

I saw Stearns paired w. Dvorovenko during the last run of Onegin, and thought it was the weakest and least satisfying of all the casts ABT had during the run.

To Kaysta: Go see Vishneva Gomes. Get someone to cover for you, and give them a big present. YOu should not miss this pairing.

Maybe she can get Mick to donate some money to ABT. That might help her career prospects.

You may know this already, but the Onegin ballet does not use the music from the Onegin opera.

He thinks she "conquered" SL. Any thoughts from anyone who was there?

Ms. Part showed the youngsters how it's done today. Nobody's mime was clearer. The fouettes were neat singles, musical and controlled. She had liquid movement and excellent characterization of the duality of the roles. She kept switching feet because of her injury, I presume. She's not as flexible as she was back in her youth. And oh what a pleasure to see a tall, long limbed couple perform the ballet. SL screams out for long limbs. Something is definitely lost in the aesthetic presentation of the choreography when the leads are short dancers. Whiteside partnered Veronika well, although sometimes when he was turning her she was tilted. A most pleasurable afternoon. This was my favorite SL of the week, and Devon was my second favorite. SL is Part's calling card. As an aside, this week made me miss Polina Semionova. Polina always had such long, gorgeous lines and lovely extensions in SL; she also never had trouble with the technical demands.

People miss entire seasons all the time due to injury. That usually doesn't form the basis for a termination.

I want to focus on Simkin. His solo variations were astounding. He was like a rocket in his double tours. I think he is now at the peak of his powers. He is much more refined than he used to be. He needs work on partnering and characterization, though. Utmost praise for Lendorf. He started out the season in Don Q a bit lackluster, but since then he has proven time and again that he is a brilliant dancer. What a smart and welcome addition to the ABT roster.

Just to clarify, I don't feel that either Lane or Boylston are whiners - not at all.

I do feel like you. She deserves the promotion based on her overall body of work. However, I feel like last night she gave McKenzie the excuse he needed to deny her the promotion. As noted above, double standards seem to abound at ABT: one set of standards for some; an entirely different set of standards for others.

Unfortunately, judgment of quality is based on what you actually do on the stage at the performance. The fact that a dancer can perform every step to perfection in the studio is not relevant. Other factors regarding your health, well being and the like are not relevant as excuses. This is where social media provides "too much information", insofar as performers trying to explain or justify themselves to the general public. Performances and sports are analogous, in that it doesn't matter what you do in the practice sessions; you must bring it to the game on game day. Just as an opera singer will be judged by whether he cracked on the high note on stage, a ballet dancer will be judged by whether he executed the steps at the performance.

Lane definitely had a lot riding on last night. I agree with you that Lane isn't the first person at ABT to commit a major flub, and she won't be the last. However, McKenzie does not seem to apply the same standards equally across the board to all ballerinas in judging who should be promoted or given new roles. If Hee and Misty can be principals, Sarah should be a principal too. SL was not Sarah's strongest role, but her performances in Giselle and other roles make her just as worthy (more worthy( of promotion as Seo and Copeland.

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.