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ABT 2015 Met season

Dale

By Dale
in American Ballet Theatre

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Plisskin

Plisskin

Posted
Posted

The TBA should go to one of ABT's many gifted male dancer's languishing in the corp. Forster would be an awesome choice. But since ABT is now primarily about the MET and foreign guest stars they'll probably bring in a Russian. I wouldn't be surprised if it is indeed Polunin.

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miliosr

miliosr

Posted
Posted

Please . . . no more imports from the New York City Ballet. Bringing in Veyette last year when they had weeks to teach someone (i.e. Jared Matthews) Theme and Variations had to have been a body blow for the morale of the male soloists and corps members.

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bingham

bingham

Posted
Posted

Please . . . no more imports from the New York City Ballet. Bringing in Veyette last year when they had weeks to teach someone (i.e. Jared Matthews) Theme and Variations had to have been a body blow for the morale of the male soloists and corps members.

They definitely have enough time for Tom Forster or Gray Davis to learn Giselle or Swan Lake. I just dread that more talented dancers would leave at the end of the season.

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Amour

Amour

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I would have thought Polunin a casting headache ABT doesn't need right now. (As in...unreliable.)

I agree but the artistic choices made by ABT are such a mystery that who knows?

I've never seen Polunin live so I'd be interested in seeing him. But I agree with Drew. Polunin is so erratic; he's not only quit gigs but companies (the Royal and the Stanislavsky) on a moment's notice. Kevin certainly doesn't seem like a risk taker so this would be a big risk. Also, given Polunin's brief attempt to quit dancing and be an actor I'm not sure what kind of shape he's in. I'll be interested to see what reviews his performance at La Scala gets.

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onxmyxtoes

onxmyxtoes

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I can't figure it out. But if anyone can teach me, I will upload it.

Anyway letter says that this is Herrera's express wishes to withdraw from the show and instead make her last show Giselle. The letter, unsurprisingly, uses some really clumsy language. Also offers May 27 Giselle as an exchange for all ticket holders of June 9. Casting for June 9 is to be announced in a few days.

ABT has just sent out a "courtesy notice" regarding the major cast change.

I am figuring out how to post the image (letter is in form of an image) to the site. Please hold...

SUBJECT: Courtesy Notice: Paloma Herrera changes ABT Farewell performance date

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nysusan

nysusan

Posted
Posted

They definitely have enough time for Tom Forster or Gray Davis to learn Giselle or Swan Lake. I just dread that more talented dancers would leave at the end of the season.

It will not go to Gray Davis - he hasn't danced any leading roles at ABT - I don't think I've even seen him in a peasant pdd or SL pdd - and ABT doesn't take chances on completely unested dancers.

Forster at least has danced leading roles in Les Sylphides and Lilac Garden and a few soloist roles. He's due for the lead in a full length ballet and I hope he gets one of the TBAs, though my personal preference woiuld be to see his Romeo.

If it doesn't go in house my wish list for an import would be Friedmann Vogel - he is SUCH a beautiful dancer and is rarely seen in NY. Bringing in NYCB dancers is a very very bad idea and I hope they don't do it again.

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bingham

bingham

Posted
Posted

It will not go to Gray Davis - he hasn't danced any leading roles at ABT - I don't think I've even seen him in a peasant pdd or SL pdd - and ABT doesn't take chances on completely unested dancers.

Maybe, not the lead in SL or Giselle but Gray is one of the talented corp dancers that are being wasted. He has the talent and height to partner all those tall ballerinas. Unfortunately, he has been out for a while due to injury but given a chance, he might surprise everyone.

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naomikage

naomikage

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Importing more guest dancers here is a very very bad idea and I wouldn't like to see another inferior import as mentioned above.

At least there is Joseph Gorak and Alexandre Hammoudi who have been dancing principal roles, they should consider grooming them, they have potential and it would be good to motivate in-house talent. It seems Hammoudi was quite good in the Costa Mesa Sleeping Beauty so why not let him dance the role at the MET?

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mimsyb

mimsyb

Posted
Posted

I agree about Gray Davis. Totally under used at ABT. He should follow the lead of others (Bo Busby, Roddie Doble, Jos. Philips, Luis Ribagorda, etc. ) and go elsewhere. Also Daniel Mantei needs either to be used more often or think about moving on. ABT isn't the end of the line, unless it is.

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miliosr

miliosr

Posted
Posted

Here is my tally of the distributions for the men (from ABT's Web site):

Stearns (15)

Gomes (14)

Whiteside (14)

Cornejo (10)

Gorak (8)

Hammoudi (8)

TBA (7)

Bolle (4)

Salstein (4)

Forster (3)

Sarafanov (3)

Simkin (3)

Kim (2)

Zhurbin (2)

Baca (1)

Chudin (1)

Nedyk (1)

Shklyarov (1)

As usual, the workhorses are Stearns, Gomes, Whiteside and (to a slightly lesser extent) Cornejo. Hallberg is absent again due to injury, Bolle is really more of a guest artist than a principal and Simkin's distribution speaks for itself. (My feelings about that promotion are well know at this point.)

I look at this and I draw the conclusion that ABT is not back on steady footing after the Carreno-Corrella-Steifel retirements. Despite bringing in Whiteside as a soloist and then promoting him to principal, ABT is still in need of at least three steady principals (and probably four.) Hammoudi was on track to principal status but injuries and inconsistent performances arrested his rise and he is only now back to a heavy workload. Gorak looks like he is on the fast track to principal status (and to pick up the slack from Simkin.) It's tempting to think that Jared Matthews would have grabbed the top prize if he had hung on a little longer but who knows?

The guest artist situation isn't that bad compared to recent seasons. Most of the guesting is confined to La Bayadere. Of course, that begs the question of why ABT programs it if they don't think they have enough male dancers in-house to cast it.

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sandik

sandik

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Posted

Too, while we in the audience may have received more pleasure from seeing her in a gruelling role like Aurora, it wouldn't be surprising if Herrera (after last week's SB) decided that she actually wanted to savor her last performance, rather than exit the stage feeling dead.

As opposed to Giselle, where she's just acting dead!

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miliosr

miliosr

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I have to wonder if Cornejo is going to be ready for the ABT spring season.

This is the quandary ABT finds itself in at the moment. If even one of its workhorses is out for any reason, they are in a world of hurt. It happened last spring season when Stearns was out for a month and we had the spectacle of ABT bringing in a City Ballet principal to cover one of the gaps.

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nysusan

nysusan

Posted
Posted

Yes, last year you could exchange tickets 24 hours in advance for the same seating area without dynamic pricing taking effect. Let's hope that is true this year..

Just took out my subscription letter and it says mailed exchange requests must be received at least 1 week prior to the performance date but exchanges at the box office can be made up to 24 yrs before the performance.

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