ABT Met 2010 Info

[Ambonnay]

The April/May 2010 edition of Pointe has a small section on Lady of the Camelias:

John Neumeier (originally from Milwaukee, but now directing The Hamburg Ballet) is working with ABT, but doesn't think the piece is a period piece, despite being based on A Dumas' 1848 novel: "Neumeier has adapted Camelias in small ways for ABT ... I believe that dance must be alive, which means it's constantly changing. The changes to Camelias are probably too small for most people to notice, but they bring the ballet into the present tense."

Kent, dressed in a bugundy/grey flowing ensemble, is practicing with Cory Stearns. In the background, Gomes is practicing with another dancer.

In another small piece in Pointe, it is noted that the upcoming film "Black Swan" has two ABT ballerinas as "dance doubles". Sarah Lane doubles for Natalie Portman, and Maria Riccetto doubles for Mila Kunis. Seprately, April Giangeruso, ABT apprentice, gets a one-page article. An ad for dance flooring contains a nice (and new to me) picture of Murphy and Stiefel, from the same set of photos that they are featured in in the on-line ABT brochure for the Swan Lake page. Murphy has her arms raised above her, in a swan-type position. She and Stiefel are both half immersed in water.

[audreydoll]

For the single ticket purchases, you used to be able to see all available seats for a performance and choose the exact ones you wanted to purchase. For today's sales, I'm only able to choose the section and then it picks the tickets for me.

Does anyone know of a way to get the old display or does ABT inactivate this feature when volume is heavy?

[richard53dog]

For the single ticket purchases, you used to be able to see all available seats for a performance and choose the exact ones you wanted to purchase. For today's sales, I'm only able to choose the section and then it picks the tickets for me.

Does anyone know of a way to get the old display or does ABT inactivate this feature when volume is heavy?

Maybe it wasn't working earlier, but I see the "click on a section to select your own seats" choice available now. Just make the selection of which level you want and go from there

[California]

For the single ticket purchases, you used to be able to see all available seats for a performance and choose the exact ones you wanted to purchase. For today's sales, I'm only able to choose the section and then it picks the tickets for me.

Does anyone know of a way to get the old display or does ABT inactivate this feature when volume is heavy?

It just took me one full hour to buy single tickets on-line. I kept getting messages about very heavy volume on the website. (It's now 1:00 pm EDT, an hour after sales opened for single tickets.)

I've seen other sites use the system of assigning you a seat and putting it in your shopping cart. But it's not really a problem. Go back and pick again and it will add a second seat to your cart. You can then choose which to remove. Or you can pick another section and see what shows up. You need to print out their seating charts first to see what you're getting. And you only have 15 minutes to complete the purchase or it releases the seats in your cart.

I was worried about getting good seats for the two Osipova Don Q's (June 1 and 3), but I got great ones. Having seen her at OCPAC last month, let me urge everybody who hasn't seen her to grab seats for her performances.

[vipa]

For the single ticket purchases, you used to be able to see all available seats for a performance and choose the exact ones you wanted to purchase. For today's sales, I'm only able to choose the section and then it picks the tickets for me.

Does anyone know of a way to get the old display or does ABT inactivate this feature when volume is heavy?

It just took me one full hour to buy single tickets on-line. I kept getting messages about very heavy volume on the website. (It's now 1:00 pm EDT, an hour after sales opened for single tickets.)

I've seen other sites use the system of assigning you a seat and putting it in your shopping cart. But it's not really a problem. Go back and pick again and it will add a second seat to your cart. You can then choose which to remove. Or you can pick another section and see what shows up. You need to print out their seating charts first to see what you're getting. And you only have 15 minutes to complete the purchase or it releases the seats in your cart.

I was worried about getting good seats for the two Osipova Don Q's (June 1 and 3), but I got great ones. Having seen her at OCPAC last month, let me urge everybody who hasn't seen her to grab seats for her performances.

It took me almost an hour too. But I finally got my tickets for Cojocaru's Sleeping Beauty. Some sections were already sold out.

[audreydoll]

For the single ticket purchases, you used to be able to see all available seats for a performance and choose the exact ones you wanted to purchase. For today's sales, I'm only able to choose the section and then it picks the tickets for me.

Does anyone know of a way to get the old display or does ABT inactivate this feature when volume is heavy?

Maybe it wasn't working earlier, but I see the "click on a section to select your own seats" choice available now. Just make the selection of which level you want and go from there

Thanks for the post. The "select your own" feature wasn't working earlier but it is now. Unfortunately, the good seats are all gone for all three of the performances I wanted to see. Oh well, I just saved myself $600.

[Ambonnay]

The February 2010 of Dance Europe magazine contains an article on Ratmansky:

"Of course there was a lot of pressure on me, because it was the first piece of mine as ABT's Resident Choreographer. It was a tough and difficult process, with not enough time. Even though I didn't feel that I succeeded 100%, I am very proud of [On the Dnieper]. It was great to just learn about the dancers of ABT and to learn how talented they are..... I am glad that they are reviving it for the spring season at the Met so we can keep working on it."

The article says that Ratmansky counts Nina A, Gomes, Hallberg, Vishneva and W Wheelan as being some of his most exciting muses. Ratmansky is working on a new ABT piece that represents a revival of his Anna Karenina for the Mariinsky.

[Waelsung]

It took me over an hour both online and on the phone, but eventually I got everything I wanted.

For many month, ever since the Spring season had been announced, I swore to myself I was going to be frugal this year, but completely lost it at the last moment. I blame last night Vasilyev Gala for it - it was so emotional and I realized that I miss ballet so much. Couldn't resist the temptation

[vipa]

It took me over an hour both online and on the phone, but eventually I got everything I wanted.

For many month, ever since the Spring season had been announced, I swore to myself I was going to be frugal this year, but completely lost it at the last moment. I blame last night Vasilyev Gala for it - it was so emotional and I realized that I miss ballet so much. Couldn't resist the temptation

I only bought tickets for Cojocaru Sleeping Beauty so far. Do you all think everything is selling well? The Met is hard to sell out, so I'm thinking rep performances might be easier to get. Am I wrong? Also does anyone think there is a prayer that any same day tickets will show up at the discount atrium?

[bingham]

It took me over an hour both online and on the phone, but eventually I got everything I wanted.

For many month, ever since the Spring season had been announced, I swore to myself I was going to be frugal this year, but completely lost it at the last moment. I blame last night Vasilyev Gala for it - it was so emotional and I realized that I miss ballet so much. Couldn't resist the temptation

I only bought tickets for Cojocaru Sleeping Beauty so far. Do you all think everything is selling well? The Met is hard to sell out, so I'm thinking rep performances might be easier to get. Am I wrong? Also does anyone think there is a prayer that any same day tickets will show up at the discount atrium?

This is a bit OTP . There has been several mentions of Same-Day-Discounted-Dance-Tickets in BT . Where is the discount atrium located and is it like the TKTS for Broadway shows? Thanks.

[Ambonnay]

On how things are selling, you can get a sense by going into the Lincoln Center website to select the applicable ABT performance. Then, you may get to a screen where you can select your own tickets. Individual seats will be shown as occupied or available for purchase, giving you a better sense of what ticket availability is for any given performance.

I would think, if you would like to see one of the Osipova performances, that you should not wait very long. But that's just my take on it.

[vipa]

This is a bit OTP . There has been several mentions of Same-Day-Discounted-Dance-Tickets in BT . Where is the discount atrium located and is it like the TKTS for Broadway shows? Thanks.

The David Rubenstein Atrium - 61 W 62 St.

http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/index.php/atrium

[California]

. . . I would think, if you would like to see one of the Osipova performances, that you should not wait very long. . . .

I agree. One striking thing about the Osipova Saturday matinee at OCPAC last month was the presence of so many Russian-speaking audience members anywhere you walked in the lobbies and their enthusiastic unison clapping during the performance. They were missing at the evening performance with the fourth-string leads. Word seemed to be out among the Russian immigrant community in LA (which is huge) that Osipova was the one to see. Nobody should be surprised to see the same phenomenon in New York.

I see this morning on the ABT/Met site that tickets for the Osipova performances are still available, although they're not particularly good ones.

[canbelto]

well I promised I wouldn't splurge either but just picked up performances for two Bayaderes (Vishneva and Part), the Osipova DQ, and the Cojocaru SB.

[kitcat]

. . . I would think, if you would like to see one of the Osipova performances, that you should not wait very long. . . .

I agree. One striking thing about the Osipova Saturday matinee at OCPAC last month was the presence of so many Russian-speaking audience members anywhere you walked in the lobbies and their enthusiastic unison clapping during the performance. They were missing at the evening performance with the fourth-string leads. Word seemed to be out among the Russian immigrant community in LA (which is huge) that Osipova was the one to see. Nobody should be surprised to see the same phenomenon in New York.

Yes, the Russian community has really grown here in So Cal!

Over the years I have realized that opening night is usually always the performance you want to see at OCPAC. As far as I can tell, they always place the most desirable dancers on opening night.

[Helene]

One striking thing about the Osipova Saturday matinee at OCPAC last month was the presence of so many Russian-speaking audience members anywhere you walked in the lobbies and their enthusiastic unison clapping during the performance. They were missing at the evening performance with the fourth-string leads. Word seemed to be out among the Russian immigrant community in LA (which is huge) that Osipova was the one to see. Nobody should be surprised to see the same phenomenon in New York.

While I understand why people want to see Osipova, I'm confused by the characterization of Ryzhkina and Lobukhin as "fourth-string", as they got a number of positive comments in the Osipova at OCPAC in Feb thread in the Bolshoi Ballet forum.

[California]

While I understand why people want to see Osipova, I'm confused by the characterization of Ryzhkina and Lobukhin as "fourth-string", as they got a number of positive comments in the Osipova at OCPAC in Feb thread in the Bolshoi Ballet forum.

I used "fourth-string" because Ryshkina was cast only after the cancellations of Alexandrova and Zakharova, leaving only Osipova of the originally announced Kitri's.

Yes, there were positive comments about Ryshkina and some preferred her more restrained approach. Dazzling pyrotechnics were missing in the Saturday evening performance I saw. It was great fun to see Osipova push the envelope on the technical possibilities, but not everyone shares that view.

[abatt]

Some of the TBA info has been filled in on the ABT website. Vishneva/Carreno will perform Thais pdd on June 8 and June 12. Also, Part's partner for Awakening pdd is Hallberg.

[Ambonnay]

New Cornejo photo for his ABT bio:

http://www.abt.org/dancers/detail.asp?Dancer_ID=36

He looks much more handsome than the prior dowdy picture. However, he also looks more handsome than he does in person

There are some photo changes for the corps, but this change for Blaine Hoven is not at all good. Hoven looks like some character from a psycho movie in this shot:

http://www.abt.org/dancers/detail.asp?Dancer_ID=123

Hoven's weird bleached hair color, which is not natural looking, is well illustrated by the shot. Hoven's got to step it up in the next two years, or risk languishing in the corps perpetually. He's also got to better monitor his physical look, when he's undergoing changes in his body mass/physique.

[carbro]

New Cornejo photo for his ABT bio: ... He looks much more handsome than the prior dowdy picture.

Actually, I don't think "handsome" is the word. Prettier. I prefer the previous, more masculine shot.

There are some photo changes for the corps, but this change for Blaine Hoven is not at all good. Hoven looks like some character from a psycho movie in this shot: ...

I don't know about the "psycho" part, but unlike in real life, the photo makes Blaine look like Michael Caine, which is not at all a bad thing. Blaine Caine?

[bart]

New Cornejo photo for his ABT bio: ... He looks much more handsome than the prior dowdy picture.

Actually, I don't think "handsome" is the word. Prettier. I prefer the previous, more masculine shot.

There are some photo changes for the corps, but this change for Blaine Hoven is not at all good. Hoven looks like some character from a psycho movie in this shot: ...

I don't know about the "psycho" part, but unlike in real life, the photo makes Blaine look like Michael Caine, which is not at all a bad thing. Blaine Caine?

How about a compromise? -- Christopher Lee, the British star of horror movies. He's older in this shot, but has the same SEEERiouis and slightly ominous look.

Hoven: http://www.abt.org/dancers/detail.asp?Dancer_ID=123

Lee: http://thebsreport.files.wordpress.com/200...topher_lee2.jpg

[britomart]

I'd vote for Barry Foster (the serial killer in Hitchcock's "Frenzy"). Sorry Blaine.

[4mrdncr]

Speaking of new ABT headshots...

FYI: There are new 'headshots' at Corella Ballet as well for nearly all of the dancers, but including Angel, Carmen, and Herman.

[Ambonnay]

I came across a small excerpt from Hallberg & Osipova in Giselle, Hallberg's Bolshoi debut on April 18:

[tutu]

Was I the only one to completely miss the fact that Puanani Brown, a former apprentice with City Ballet, joined ABT? She's listed as a member of the corps here.