Jewels

[Paquita]

Casting is up!

Jewels casting

For so few performances there are a LOT of casts... Heather Ogden and Xiao Nan Yu are both dancing in all 3 sections.

[Noreen Arnold]

I only have one question - where is Sonia Rodriguez this season? She only has one performance scheduled in the entire Winter season - "Diamonds" on Feb. 25th. She wasn't cast in the Fall Swan Lake, did not go on the recent US tour and was not cast in the Feb. Swan Lakes. She only had one performance scheduled for La Sylphide although she got Xian Nan Yu's dates when she was injured - including the opening night. Her reviews on that performance were excellent and she was one of the best Sylphs I've seen. I notice that Yu also didn't get a Swan Lake performance. It all seems a little strange.

[mom2]

hmm...very good points, Noreen!!

[Helene]

I've never seen casting like this, with dancers advanced-cast in several leads in the same run:

Rebecca Rimsay: Emeralds (Verdy role), Emeralds (Paul role), Rubies (McBride role)

Heather Ogden: Emeralds (Verdy role), Rubies (McBride role)

Jennifer Fournier: Emeralds (Verdy role), Rubies (Neary role), Diamonds (Farrell role) -- practically a trifecta

Xiao Nan Yu: Emeralds (Paul role), Rubies (Neary role), Diamonds (Farrell role)

Greta Hodgkinson: Rubies (McBride role), Diamonds (Farrell role)

Patrick Lavoie: Emeralds (both male leads)

Alexander Antonejvic and Guillaume Cote: Rubies (Villella role) and Diamonds (d'Amboise role)

Piotr Stanzyck: Emeralds (Ludlow role) and Rubies (Villella role)

Edited February 10, 2006 by Helene

[Leigh Witchel]

Wow, I don't think the company can field that many casts - in all honesty they'd be lucky to double cast this ballet well, much less put out five casts.

[mom2]

I was at the final performance today; did anyone else attend Jewels?

Rubies was a treat, and I enjoyed Diamonds a bit more than I had expected to...that said, some of my favourites weren't seen in today's casting.

Emeralds is not my favourite, and today Fournier had an unfortunate and distracting mishap with her pointe shoe ribbons...or maybe next year I should just get seats further back?

There were some very nice performance today from younger corps members, always nice to see!

m2

[Paquita]

I went yesterday night. Highlights for me were Rebekah Rimsay in Emeralds (Paul role) and Xiao Nan Yu in Rubies (Neary role). Wow! Rimsay's perfect placement and lyrical port de bras were lovely in her solo. Nan was playful and confident. Her penchees going off the stage were to die for! As expected, Heather Ogden and Guillaume Cote were brilliant together in the Rubies pdd.

Diamonds went smoothly, with Sonia Rodriguez and Aleksandar Antonijevic. Tanya Evidente's tutu got caught on her sleeve for a while but she fixed it when she went off stage.

[bart]

The reviews of the Balanchine performances have been impressive, and I pick up a sense that something new -- or at least renewed -- is happening. Helene and Leigh have already referred to new approaches to casting.

The Globe and Mail review of the second (mixed Balanchine) program was glowing, and I noticed that it praises specific casting decisions by Karen Kain, the new Artistic Director.

QUOTE:

"Kain seems to be trying new partnerings among her principal dancers, and they are working."

I wonder if those who follow the company feel that important changes are indeed in the process of being made under Kain's direction, as compared with the previous leadership. Or is too early to tell?

[Helene]

QUOTE:

"Kain seems to be trying new partnerings among her principal dancers, and they are working."

That's an interesting note. Peter Boal, in post performance Q&A's, said that he put people together based on his own sense of who would match with whom, which has been quite different than the way Russell and Stowell tended to match partnerships. However, Boal was fully busy at NYCB and with his own company during the Russell/Stowell years, unlike Kain, who was involved with the company when Kudelka was Artistic Director and knows the dancers and their performances during that time.

Since Kudelka cast his own and others' ballets, it's interesting to see Kain cast the mixed bills, and particularly the non-Kudelka ballets, with a different eye.