ksk04

Napoli was certainly a better experience than the Nordic choreographers mixed bill...but again I felt it was sort of a mixed bag. The sets for Napoli are lovely, and the digitally projected backdrops are pretty neat and work especially well in the grotto sequence in Act II, where Teresina descends through the various oceanic levels. The costuming is also gorgeous...the 50s style outfits of Act 1 are beautiful and the Naiads in Act II are even more impressive with their shimmering sea colors.

Act I was extremely underwhelming; no one even makes a move to dance for what seems like the first 10 minutes and then the sailor boys arrive with one grand jete and then it's back to more mime. The problem with this mime is that there is no direction to it. It's 40 minutes of everyone going "What" or "NO!" which doesn't make a story or help to tell one. I would wager there are maybe 7-9 total minutes of dancing in Act I, and none of it is choreographically interesting, leaving the leads with little to work with. Teresina's drowning happens so fast it's almost incomprehensible that it occurs until her mother is throwing dirt at Gennaro. There was another incomprehensible episode with a cross-dressing man who mimes singing to a horn solo (Thomas Lund? program notes do not say anything at all about this interlude) that takes 5 minutes longer than it needed to.

Amy Watson is a lovely dancer (she has beautiful legs and feet) but I felt nothing for her Teresina. Her Gennaro, Alexander Staeger, is so diminutive that you wonder if he will be able to lift her when the going gets tough in any pas de deux (lucky for him, it doesn't). They were a generally pleasing couple, but there is no tension built into the ballet so anything they (mostly Watson, Staeger was in strict business-only mode) try to do doesn't add up to much.

Act II is pretty...with a corps of well-trained women you expect some good dancing to occur; again it's often fluff but at least everyone is moving and no one is walking around with a cigarette wrenched in their mouth for 5 minutes straight (hint: you gotta exhale at some point, character dancers). I just saw Neumeier's Little Mermaid so it's almost impossible to not compare the underwater transformations that take place. In Napoli we are supposed to see Golfo (Jean-Lucien Massot) as a threatening sea demon who steals Teresina away...well, he came off as a fairly decent dude, if you ask me. Teresina seemed a bit worried about becoming a Naiad, but that quickly passes and when Gennaro comes to rescue her, there is a small test of wills to see whether Gennaro will overpower Golfo but Golfo just kind of shrinks off into the corner and wilts. No tension involved, no worry things will ever end badly for our leads. Neumeier's Sea Witch is terrifying, on the other hand, a truly powerful destructive force who ruthlessly commands the sea creatures-Staeger's Gennaro wouldn't have stood a chance against him.

Act III is where the dancing gets down to business. It is all variations, all the time. We haven't lost the Italian townspeople, but they've been thoughtfully given tambourines and complex clapping routines to keep their hands busy in the background in lieu of mime-yelling at each other (Morton Eggert, as Peppo, one of Teresina's suitors from the first act is particularly amusing--one gets the feeling he is charged with keeping the background livened up and gets up to much mischief). The choreography here is rich and after so much non-dancing it's exciting to see dancers charging forward with choreography. Jodie Thomas (small, very blonde-hopefully id'ing her correctly) was a standout in the Napoli pas de six--she was so light on her feet and fluid. Her variation was all small jumps that ended on a balanced accent of some sort, she never hit the accent the same way drawing your attention perhaps to her foot or her fingertips.

Needless to say, I was very happy to see the production--I just wish there was more dancing to it, or mime with a purpose. The theater was pretty empty--I was in the mid orchestra and it was basically empty behind me. It's a shame, but probably had a lot to do with Memorial Day.

Thanks for the confirmation, Eva. His hair threw me off as it looks quite different in the headshot (and in youtube watching) from how it was onstage, but I went through all the photos and thought it couldn't be anyone else.

I am certain the jetlag was a large factor in the muted dancing...it's a long trip and the company doesn't do huge trans Atlantic tours like some other companies, where they are used to often being on the long road.

Neumeier appeals to me! As far as other mixed bill non-Balanchine pieces, I would have liked to see Etudes or The Lesson, as I have seen them both by others and would like to see them done by the masters, so to speak. But they probably wanted to present a "new rep" rather than things they assume we have seen. I understand the scheduling headache and fear of playing it too safe, but when a company hasn't been to visit in a very long time it's the bread and butter pieces you want to see and that's not a bad thing!

Radetsky did indeed dance Albrecht with DNB, and from the clips I've seen, he was GREAT. However, Sascha's injured right now too (he was pulled from all his week one performances and he only did Troika this week...) so he wasn't really an option. Although, I'd like to believe that had Radetsky NOT been injured, he would have gotten the chance to perform in Saturday's matinee.

I had assumed he was okay since he performed in Troika, but doing Troika is shades away from a full length ballet if there are still some lingering issues.

I don't have anything against guest artists used appropriately and judiciously...I am a huge fan of the Vishneva/Gomes partnership and I thought it was wonderful to invite Sarabia to do DQ, especially since Carreno is retiring and it felt like a continuation of ABT's Cuban roots (also I wish someone would hire Sarabia full-time). But the fact remains that the company is losing a lot of talent (Carreno, Corella's odd situation) and the talent they do have is aging (Maxim, Kent) plus you have the potential impending issues with Murphy and Stiefel and the NZ Ballet. There will be no ABT if they do not curate several new in-house male and female principals. They can clearly fit in debuts and the promotion of individuals when they want to(see the rapid accession of Stearns)--I just personally feel they are missing a lot of opportunities (since there seems to be more injuries than not!) this year to push people forward. What happens if another principal goes down? How many more people can they fly in? It's just not a good situation, and I can't imagine how it works out financially--guest artists don't necessarily come cheap.

I have to agree I was a little disappointed when I went on Tuesday. First, I didn't quite understand the male-centric focus of the evening. I know Hubbe programmed male/female triples a few seasons ago, but putting only the men (basically) up for display was weird as a touring program. I know he wanted an evening of Nordic choreographers, so maybe the better question is: are Nordic choreographers primarily interested in men? I don't know, but that's the impression so far.

Bournonville Variations was nice, but the men seemed tired (understandably, it's a long flight and they just got here) and like they were marking a lot of it, with some exceptions (the first group of men in the leather skirts with the very intense petit allegro were wonderful--no idea who they were though).

Jormo Elo's choreography is so boring and samey to me, I had no enthusiasm for this piece.

Kobborg's ballet was nice in that you could actually SEE the dancers (what terrible dark lighting in the first two!). I would have liked it more if there was some differentiation in the costuming for the women as I couldn't keep track of them in their little interludes (aside from the very short girl). So the effect of all the partner swapping was a bit lost until the end when they were all on stage at once for an extended period. Les Lutins was okay...it seems like it probably worked better as the gala bon mot it was intended to be rather than as a "serious" piece of dancing. I think it probably played on the originator's known personalities-Cojocaru's sweetness, McRae's cockiness, and Polunin as his rival, young, up and comer in the Royal-so again the effect was a little lost on me.

Earth was...uh interesting. One dancer stood out and I believe it was Thomas Lund (unsurprisingly) though he didn't look how I thought he would look onstage so hopefully I am not misidentifying him (the dancer I am thinking of has short cropped dark hair, and has a broad, muscley torso--much more defined than any of the other men and he was the only one with solo moments--perhaps someone more familiar with the piece can confirm). His movement was beautiful, the flexibility, his command of the stage--if you watched him, the piece went by much faster. I would hate to be the stagehands who have to sweep up all that nasty red dirt on the stage afterwards! Poor things. I kept waiting for a chunk to fly in someone's mouth or eye. Yuck!

Overall not the best showcase. I will see Napoli on Sunday and I hope it shows off the company much better!

This is just ridiculous-- no offense to Kobborg, who I happen to love.

Ridiculous as in ABT's unable or unwilling to find an in-house replacement?

I don't know why ABT can't find an in-house sub, I know Hallberg and Gomes have their plates full, but there are still plenty of other male principals can fill in. I don't think Kobborg's box office draw is a consideration as the 5/28 matinee is almost sold-out.

There are signs that ABT's top male ranks are running thin but I marvel ABT's clout to draw stars, especially in such short notice.

Yes, the unwillingness. There are plenty of male soloists who could fill in too...Sascha Radetsky performed Albrecht with the DNB when he was a principal, and I'm sure there are others who know the role already (it's not like Albrecht is some obscure part), aside from the male principals. IMO, Kobborg and Dvorovenko don't even make sense as a pairing when you look at their dancing styles/acting styles.

I wouldn't marvel so much at their clout...both Kobborg and Vasiliev were probably already in town or planning to be in town see Cojocaru and Osipova.

I understand using guest artists to liven the season and to showcase some talent usually not seen in New York, but when the season becomes entirely about the guest artists, there is a problem.

This is just ridiculous-- no offense to Kobborg, who I happen to love.

The Culture Blog at the LA Times reports that Martin's new venture, NYCB Moves, will be in Northridge, CA in October 2011.

The newly formed touring group of the New York City Ballet will make a stop at the Valley Performing Arts Center this fall. The group, called New York City Ballet Moves, is scheduled to perform in Northridge on Oct. 22.

In January, the New York City Ballet announced the launch of the group, which will consist of a small set of artists from the full company that will perform at smaller venues, such as university auditoriums. The company said it may send multiple groups on the road at the same time.

Shortly after the announcement of the new traveling group, the union representing New York City Ballet dancers filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, stating that they had not been consulted about the creation of the new group.

The dispute was resolved earlier this month as part of the company's larger contract negotiations with its dancers.

New York City Ballet Moves is scheduled to give its first performances on July 31 and Aug. 1 as part of the Vail International Dance Festival in Colorado. The ballets programmed by the group will come mostly from the company's existing repertory.

The Valley Performing Arts Center features 1,700 seats in its main hall, and is the largest space of its kind in the San Fernando Valley. The center, located on the campus of Cal State Northridge, officially opened in January.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/05/new-york-city-ballet-valley-performing-arts-center.html

Hopefully since it's only one night they will have engagements at other SoCal venues (thinking similar venues like the Karen Carpenter Center in Long Beach or the Irvine Barclay, Cypress Performing Arts Center, UCLA Royce Hall??--though all already announced their 2011-12 seasons, but presumably before the contract negotiations were settled). Here's to hoping...has anyone seen any other dates through the country?

Thanks for posting, California.

The Scottish Ballet bringing Song of the Earth is interesting. I'm also interested in seeing Preljocaj's Snow White. I've enjoyed a lot of video excerpts from it.

I'm confused by the Bolshoi bringing Swan Lake. Are the Bolshoi known for Swan Lake? No. I can see having them bring Swan Lake in addition to something else, but the Bolshoi with just Swan Lake alone is a weird tour. Hopefully Alexandrova comes along, I guess.

Indeed! I was very confused for awhile when I first read the pdf as it lists Johan Kobborg as a guest principal. I spent awhile trying to figure out where he was dancing, but I guess they are just putting him in the line-up for prestige since his choreography is being shown?

It seems the cast for the mixed bill is the same both night. I will hopefully be able to attend one night of that and the Amy Watson cast of Napoli (merely going off of Anne's recommendation above since I know little about the current principals!)

Poor Cornejo.

How nice for Craig, though, to be able to do Shadowplay, and it was great thinking on ABTs part to extend Cornejo's DQ spot to Sarabia. It seems like quite the Cuban fest at the Met this spring!

I haven't had a chance to comment before now, but I was able to see the Van Patten/Molat/Vilanoba/Zahorian cast on Friday evening.

I had not seen this ballet before, nor had I seen any of the principal cast before so I was a fairly happy camper all evening with the new sights. I'm glad I was able to see Van Patten (thought I should see her with the Tan cast coming to PBS anyway)--what a stunning characterization. The amount of brutality inflicted on her body over the course of 2 1/2 hours must be incredibly extreme, she never played it easy or took the easy way out of any of the rough movements. My immediate dislikes were the Poet. Though obviously the Poet forms the basis of the plot in this story, I could really do without so much of him. It seemed that every scene he was in was an eternity and just treaded water. I don't think this was Molat's fault, so I guess I'll see if that holds for the other cast when it airs. I loved the costuming, and contrary to what some reviews have said I really enjoyed the movements of the dancers under the sea rather than above it. I think Neumeier really captured the almost alien-like movement of sea inhabitants very, very well. In contrast, the corps scenes on the boat didn't have the same spark for me.

Whoever those three Mermaid haulers were in the first act deserve a standing ovation for their seamless partnering and extended, really difficult lifts. It can be easy to press someone over the head because you can lock your arms, but most of the lifts required them to hold Van Patten right at chest level which makes my arms burn just thinking about it (credit also goes to the sheer amount of fluid male-male partnering/lifts with the Sea Witch).

I liked many more things about the production than disliked, so I am very glad I was able to attend. My friend who was with me is not an avid dance watcher and she really loved it. I do have to say I feel it's an odd choice for Dance in America, but I guess someone over there wants to take risks and this should be applauded!

I'm not sure how long this has been up on ABT's site, but here we go:

Jul 14 7:30 PM

P. Herrera

M. Gomes

G. Murphy

D. Hallberg

Jul 15 7:30 PM

J. Kent

J. Carreño

I. Boylston

D. Simkin

Jul 16 2:00 PM

P. Herrera

M. Gomes

G. Murphy

D. Hallberg

Jul 16 7:30 PM

V. Part

A. Hammoudi

S. Abrera

C. Stearns

Jul 17 2:00 PM

X. Reyes

H. Cornejo

I. Boylston

D. Simkin

I have tickets to the Herrera/Murphy/Gomes/Hallberg cast and will probably see another. Probably Part/Abrera/Hammoudi or Reyes/Boylston/Cornejo, but am not sure which yet.

Well, what did everyone think?

Honestly, though it was a blow to the Center, the loss of Osipova and Vasiliev didn't affect the overall show. In fact if they were there, their presence would have dominated everything and instead we got to enjoy an evening with a focus on many dancers rather than just those two (my opinion, of course, based on how other things with Osipova and Vasiliev seem to go at the Center).

Thoughts:

Peck/de Luz: This was my first look at Peck and she was a delight, but I think she was outshined by de Luz. I haven't seen him since his ABT days and he was just as wonderful and as clean of a dancer as I remembered. Peck was a blisteringly fast the whole night and de Luz looked like he was having a great time with her.

Vishneva/Gomes: The Camillas pas de deux was wonderful (and had the only live music), and I imagine even better in the context of the whole ballet. Please tour with this ABT!! The Bigonzetti in the first act was drudge, the only interesting thing about it was that it was being dance by Vishneva and Gomes.

Cote/Ogden: Cote is a beautiful dancer, I would love to see him in more. They were really fabulous in the final pas from Onegin which was really well acted out, especially in the context of a gala. I didn't really care about the Cinderella pas, but it was nicely danced.

De Bana/other guy: Boring. And the piece in the second act had the WORST music. I saw someone near me put in earplugs.

Markowskaja/Gelber: In the Middle... was well done, though lacked the attack that one associates with Guillem in the piece, though you can say the same about most dancers (even the most acclaimed ones) who make an attempt at it.

The Matvienkos: What troopers. After doing three hardcore pas de deux, Anastasia looked a little worn out but Denis was still wonderful, whipping out really lovely pirouette combinations that stopped on a dime. I think the quickness of the footwork in the Balanchine Sylvia pas eluded both of them (her legs are too long and hyperextended to go as fast as required), but it was nice to see all the same. A lady near me said "They've been good the whole night" and they really were--it's not easy to have the weight on you to open and close the first Act and close the show when people were expecting someone else.

Eifman excerpts: Actually really fun. Though I'm not a huge Eifman fan, I'd love to see the whole Who's Who (based on Some Like It Hot). Though it was less "ballet," and more in a jazzy-Broadway style it was fun and a great way to break up the monotony of pas-de-deux after pas-de-deux.

What happened to the Proust excerpts? I assume they got cut due to Denis picking up the extra pas, but I was really looking forward to seeing this! Disappointing!

The Mariinsky was having a special Swan Lake in honor of Natalia Makarova's birthday...Lopatkina danced the performance, and so Makarova had a special coaching lesson with her before the performance. That's why at the end Makarova says something like "Sing this for me tonight."

Thank you so much for the tip, LoveMyJob! Glad to avoid the rush line tomorrow. They are even letting you choose your seats with that priority rush offer--I went with their first offer of middle orchestra, center. Not too shabby.

Wow, what a nice coup for ABT. Hopefully this now gives him enough time to take on fixing all of ABT's clunker classics () while working on new works.

One of our lovely Russian youtube friends posted some excerpts of the 2nd cast featuring Lunkina and Shipulina. The fouette bit on the table in the second video seems a little scary!

On another note: the Bolshoi's costume department is so consistently excellent...everything that comes out of there is so sumptuous and expensive looking.

However, the duo was needed to remain in Moscow through this week for additional performances after other principal dancers were unable to perform as scheduled.

This is the amongst the dumbest things I've read: there are 4 different principal casts for the premiere and 6 performances. Unless a major amount of Bolshoi soloists have taken a dive there are clearly plenty of casts to cover.

To be fair, my irritation is directed less at Osipova/Vasiliev and more of the culture that persists in having dancers over-schedule themselves to the point of craziness. It's one thing to be busy and to be in demand, but to plan to be in a premiere ballet in Moscow and also dance in a gala in Orange County within the span of 4 days is ridiculous, and something that seems to be happening more and more frequently amongst the most sought after dancers.

It's quite considerate that the Matvienko's have stepped in and filled in for them; they are not my favorite dancers, but they are always consistently good. Thank you for posting the changes, California. I agree it's ridiculous that a venue with an orchestra available would not use it especially when tickets are exorbitantly priced.

It's a huge blow, especially considering how many seats they have left. They sent around a 25% off code last week, but I didn't bite nor did it appear a lot of others.

This looks to be a fiscal disaster for them. As of Tuesday midday, it appears that fewer than half the seats have been sold. They do have some kind of same-day last-minute sales - I always see a line of people waiting for half-price tickets before performances - but I don't know who is eligible. I suppose they might fill seats that way so it won't look so awful.

Sales for tonight's opening of Eifmann Ballet's Don Q also look terrible.

That is the rush line for students and seniors...it's usually $10 in the tiers and $20 for orchestra, which is why it's so long! I wasn't expecting a rush to be available for this (it wasn't for the first Tour de Force I don't think) but what is a loss for the Center is a gain for me, as I would definitely attend at rush prices (if they offer).

I don't have sympathy for Ardani either--I hope to highest hopes that the Center reconsiders and lessens their partnership with them which, so far, has shut out big touring classical ballet companies in favor of programs like Beauty in Motion and Reflections, both of which were, to put it delicately, giant turds.

Edit: For what it's worth, the Center's Facebook page has confirmed $20 rush tickets for Tour de Force.

Well Osipova and Vasiliev were cast in Ratmansky's new ballet that premiered this week, I'm guessing that has something to do with it (they are cast 4/24/ and 4/26 according to the Bolshoi site). Not as if this hasn't been on the calendar for several months or anything though

It's a huge blow, especially considering how many seats they have left. They sent around a 25% off code last week, but I didn't bite nor did it appear a lot of others.

This is a little disconcerting "Organizers are also working on finding replacements for the "Don Quixote" pas de deux that was also supposed to feature Osipova and Vasiliev." I think the late announcement came from Osipova/Vasiliev's camp not SCFTA--if the Center put off the announcement they would have had replacements to list in the press release, I would think, as a way to assuage the blow.

Yes,indeed Amy - I had the same recollection about Bolle's early departure last year. I'm sorry to say it left me with a bad impression of him and wondering about his commitment to ABT. After all Gomes and Hallberg can't be expected to cover all of these kinds of absences without risking injury to themselves.

Yes, I think this is the part that bugs me. Gomes and Hallberg end up doing the heavy lifting in these situations because it's hard to replace someone with the "starpower" of Stiefel with say...Hammoudi or Radetsky or any other number of the guys who should be getting chances at stuff like this with the exit of many of ABT's men (especially when Stiefel was due to partner some of the flashy guests this season--I doubt Cojocaru is popping over to partner a corps dancer in his debut). Gomes and Hallberg are the safe choices...they are tall, popular, excellent, dance the whole rep and partner a number of the women well, but it puts an unfair burden on them when these hasty, weird exits occur.

What abatt noted about Corella seems absolutely true in this case, unfortunately. (Also the part about poor Stella, it's just cruel)

Am I the only one who thinks this is a little ridiculous? He didn't see this coming at all? What happens when he starts up with his commitments in New Zealand? I have liked Stiefel quite a bit but between this and his recurring knee issues, it would seem enough is enough. Give up the principal spot for one of the boys chomping at the bit for a chance, rather than making everyone repeatedly scramble at the last minute for casting subs.

Thanks for the links!

That was about as weird as to be expected, but good that everyone was on TV. I wonder, if given an extra 30 seconds, how many more partnered grand jetes they could have fit in!

Oh, on their website they have a "rush" policy listed (I believe I fit the bill as a poor grad student!) and that's what I was inquiring about.

Student, Senior, and Military Rush

During the Repertory Season, full-time college and university students can often purchase tickets for the same day’s performance for as little as $10-20. Also, during the Repertory Season, military personnel and seniors 65 and older can often purchase tickets for the same day’s performance for only $30.

A current college or university I.D. showing proof of full-time student enrollment, age, or military status is required at the time of purchase and pick up of tickets and is valid for two tickets. All rush tickets are subject to availability; please keep in mind that some performances sell out in advance. Seating selection is at the discretion of the Box Office.

http://www.sfballet.org/performancestickets/waystosave.asp

It seems like a nice policy, I was just wondering if availability is terrible or they run out very quickly or where the seats are.

The standing room thing may be a good option if this doesn't pan out, thank you for the response!

I will be in SF over the weekend of some of the Little Mermaid performances (finally! I usually miss the SFB season or end up there on weekends where there are no shows). I am wondering about the rush policy...are these tickets often available on weekends? Good experiences/bad experiences? Tips?

Thanks!