"The Ones That Got Away"

[Quiggin]

Yes, Leigh, it was Death in Venice, and I thought Jeffrey Edwards was too pretty and pliant for Tadzio. It'd be interesting to see a D in V that casts a little against type, with rougher edges. (Ib Andersen in the ballet or Jean-Pierre Leaud in the movie, with Godard directing!) Do you at all remember the out-of-character-for-Balanchine work that they revived during the 1995 Celebration for Maria Calegari and JE?

I always liked seeing Roma Sosenko and Tracy Bennett (on tape). Their movements were good humored--they sort of laughed with their bodies.

[Ari]

The last thing I saw them in was a strangely overwrought Balanchine version of The Cage about the time of the Balanchine Celebration.

Do you at all remember the out-of-character-for-Balanchine work that they revived during the 1995 Celebration for Maria Calegari and JE?.

Are you talking about Variations for a Door and a Sigh (Variations pour une porte et un soupir)?

[oberon]

The Tadzio in the Met premiere of DEATH IN VENICE was another NYCB boy, Bryan Pitts.

[AmandaNYC]

Riolama Lorenzo, Emily Coates, Kristina Fernandez, Christopher Wheeldon, Aubrey Morgan, Edwaard Liang. I only started watching the company in 1990, so my list is obviously just from the recent decade+.

I tend to like the small girls better than the taller girls, but Lorenzo just captivated me. Since she is still dancing, I can still hope to see her Der Rosenkavalier (sp?) in Vienna Waltzes someday... Not that's it's likely.

-amanda

[Anna NYC]

Elise Ingals, a friend, is married, living in Connecticut and very much into golf!

Edited April 10, 2004 by Anna NYC

[Anna NYC]

Anyone have comments on Santhe Tsetsilas' dancing at NYCB?

[Bridget]

Isn't Ed Liang back as a soloist?

[Farrell Fan]

Yes, Liang is back and was quite wonderful dancing with Jenifer Ringer in the Spring section of The Four Seasons on Friday night. But either he's acquired an extra letter in his first name or the same typo was made both on the company roster listing and in the cast listing -- EDWAARD LIANG.

[Mel Johnson]

Oh, he's been Edwaard for a long time. Even before he left the company. I have no idea why; perhaps numerology or something.

[harpergroup]

According to a friend of his, there already was an "Edward Liang" in the dancers' union, so he had to choose another name. "Edwaard" was as close to his own name as he could get.

[Mel Johnson]

I dunno! He was "Edward" for a couple/three or some years before he changed it. AGMA would know that kind of thing upfront.

[AmandaNYC]

Liang changed the spelling of his name when he left NYCB to join Fosse, at which time he would have joined Actors Equity. I believe it was joining that union that led to the spelling change.

-amanda

[Mel Johnson]

That sounds more like the chronology I remember. So Ed is camped out on TWO names at AGMA! Well, he's such a nice dancer he deserves the extra room!

[Patricia]

Carlo Merlo, Lauren Hauser, Emily Coates, Jeffrey Edwards, Riolama Lorenzo, and that Ethan guy grinning:

My first Sugarplum fairy was Murial Aasen. I remember her being featured in PEOPLE (yes, the magazine once covered culture) but she vanished not long after the Ravel festival. Does anyone know if she danced elsewhere?

[Annemd]

Aesha Ash for me! and Margaret Tracey! and Eva Natanya!

[Farrell Fan]

I go way back, so the dancers I miss span several decades. Other than my obvious love and other principal dancers, they include Delia Peters, Teresa Reyes, Wilhelmina Frankfurt, Debra Austin, Robert Maiorano, and Paul Mejia.

[oberon]

In the last year or so there have been an endless number of injuries. The only good thing about it is when they COME BACK from injury, like recently Kristen Sloan...honestly, I never expected to see her again onstage, and what a lovely dancer she is. It's funny because I didn't realize she was back and actually saw her onstage before I had checked the roster...I thought I was hallucinating!

This season I am missing (big time) Abi, Somogyi, Borree, Pascale, Hankes, Laracey, Knapp, Labean & Marcovici. On the other hand, Korbes, Krohn and Philip Neal are back on the boards and that is good.

So many dancers that have left are really missed, especially (to my mind) Samantha Allen, the Tracey sisters, Natanya, McBrearty, Ash, & Lindy Mandradjieff. And I really liked Robert Tewsley.

The happiest return, for me, was Edwaard Liang's...

[Annemd]

I miss watching Somogyi, Abi Stafford, Pascale, Genevieve Labean, Olivia Lavery, Amanda Hankes. COME BACK GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Miss Samantha Allen as well. I also missed Edwaard Liang and am happy he is back.

I am not looking forward to the retirements of Jock Soto & Peter Boal. Their presence onstage will be missed terribly and I hope all the men, especially younger, are watching their every move now, because they are the last Balanchine men left currently dancing in this company. I have been watching both for over 18 years and will never forget Jock's Stravinsky Violin Concerto and Peter Boal's amazing Apollo. Thank you both for all the glorious years!

And yes I am happy for the return of Rebecca Krohn and the luminous Carla Korbes.

Edited February 18, 2005 by Annemd

[hbl]

What is all of the talk of Edward Liang getting away? Or is there an Edward Liang different from the Edwaard Liang now dancing with the company? He is back. He even spoke at the Ballet Insights on 2/10.

[BalletNut]

Edwaard Liang left NYCB for a while, and then came back.

[Marga]

I go way back, so the dancers I miss span several decades. Other than my obvious love and other principal dancers, they include Delia Peters, Teresa Reyes, Wilhelmina Frankfurt, Debra Austin, Robert Maiorano, and Paul Mejia.

I miss Delia Peters and Paul Mejia, too. Delia was one I always singled out to watch from my front-row subscription seat in the mid-60s. That was the best vantage point for observing technique, expressiveness, energy and dynamics, even physical highlights such as protruding veins (the first time I saw Edward Villella's sinewed arms and neck I was astonished), muscle contours, facial expressions, perspiration, as well as week-to-week changes in such varied and uniquely wonderful dancers as Suki Shorer, Patricia Neary, Gloria Govrin, Mimi Paul, Marnee Morris, Sara Leland, Susan Hendl, Anthony Blum, Conrad Ludlow, Deni Lamont, later Jean-Pierre Bonnefous, Helgi Tomasson, John Clifford.... I never got enough of them, and miss seeing each and every one very much! (I am not mentioning any of the obvious beloved dancers, either, all of whom I expected would dance forever!)