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Spring 2015: The Sleeping Beauty


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It looked like Boylston's Sleeping Beauty sold very well, and the crowd cheered her loudly.

Remember that yesterday's performance was originally to have featured Natalia Osipova. A man sitting next to me complained loudly to his companion about Osipova's absence--and that the Prince was a soloist, not a principal, and that the Bluebird was a member of the corps... At the conclusion of the Rose Adage he declared that "the other one," meaning Osipova, would have done better. I resisted the temptation to ask how he could possibly be certain of that.

Fang was lovely. i saw her in both casts and she really shone.

Oh, I hate to say this, but after seeing her performances in the ballet, I decided I'd try to steer clear of her in the future. Funny how different reactions can be.

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Right, I forgot that last night was supposed to be the Osipova Sarafanov cast. That may very well explain the full house. The Vishneva Gomes show on MOnday sold well too, but not quite as heavily. Maybe that will be ABt's new strategy going forward - advertise superstar Russian guest artists and then switch the cast.

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Yes, I do recall. I guess I should have said I preferred the alternate choreography, as executed by Lane and Cornejo, (which I believe may be the original choreography) to the messy, wobbly fish dives. The alternate choreography is definitely easier for the male dancer. (I think this more an issue with Cornejo's partnering than anything.) I liked it though. A very similar sequence of steps is actually performed somewhere else in the ballet (I can't remember exactly where), although only once. I'm interested to read reviews from tonight.

Thanks for the clarification on what was going on in the vision scene. It didn't look right at all.

Hi DeCoster. If you recall, Lane and Cornejo did not do fish dives. They did simplified, alternative choreography instead of fish dives that was much easier than the fish dives.

Also, no Boylston should not have had her eyes looking downward when she stepped on the pedestal in the Vishion Scene. She should have been looking out at the audience. She spent too long looking down at the pedestal, as though she feared she might slip off it.

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Among the newest corps members, I've really admired seeing beautiful Paulina Waski in her solo/demi solo moments (Fairy Candide yesterday matinee & Sapphire on May 29). Also, Catherine Hurlin has impressed me for her grace and fluidity within classical corps pieces, especially as one of Aurora's eight friends in yesterday's matinee.

The more I see this production, the more I love it...except for that daffy Fairy Violente...and the goofy modern 'rap style' moves that Ratmansky seems to have created for Carabosse's rats. So I love about 99% of this SB. And the sets look lovelier than ever from Orchestra/Stalls.

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To be fair to the hometown dancers (and to the good press that this production has been getting), a lot of tickets sold after the switch was announced. I bought my orchestra seat after Osipova/Sarafanov withdrew, and there were a lot more available when I purchased than there were empty seats last night. There were big blocks of orchestra seats along the sides that sold in recent weeks -- and those are seats that, for many performances, don't sell at all.

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The Vishneva Gomes show on MOnday sold well too, but not quite as heavily. Maybe that will be ABt's new strategy going forward - advertise superstar Russian guest artists and then switch the cast.

Vishneva Gomes on Monday was a sold out except last 2-3 rows of Family Circle. There are always no-shows.

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To be fair to the hometown dancers (and to the good press that this production has been getting), a lot of tickets sold after the switch was announced. I bought my orchestra seat after Osipova/Sarafanov withdrew, and there were a lot more available when I purchased than there were empty seats last night. There were big blocks of orchestra seats along the sides that sold in recent weeks -- and those are seats that, for many performances, don't sell at all.

True. I'm pretty sure standing room sold out too. And those tickets aren't sold until the day of.

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Not disputing the that ticket sales have been excellent for certain shows this week. Just noting that people regularly buy up the standing room spots even if there are seats available, particularly the standing room orchestra and dress circle. It's the cheapest way into the the theater without being relegated to the family circle. Then once they are in the auditorium they try to hunt down good open seats.

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I would just like to add to the Jewels discussions, that I had the opportunity to see a young dancer, Paulina Waski, perform sapphire the week before La Bayadère. I thought her movements were precise and very clean, especially her entrechat six. I then saw her again in the last evening show, before LB, as the Candide fairy and felt her overall presentation for both were quite the standout. I look forward to seeing more of her.

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I would just like to add to the Jewels discussions, that I had the opportunity to see a young dancer, Paulina Waski, perform sapphire the week before La Bayadère. I thought her movements were precise and very clean, especially her entrechat six. I then saw her again in the last evening show, before LB, as the Candide fairy and felt her overall presentation for both were quite the standout. I look forward to seeing more of her.

As I mentioned above...Waski impressed me the most among the younger set. And Cassandra Trenary, who is only a year or two older than Waski. I hope that ABT continues to cultivate and encourage both young dancers.

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Among the newest corps members, I've really admired seeing beautiful Paulina Waski in her solo/demi solo moments (Fairy Candide yesterday matinee & Sapphire on May 29). Also, Catherine Hurlin has impressed me for her grace and fluidity within classical corps pieces, especially as one of Aurora's eight friends in yesterday's matinee.

The more I see this production, the more I love it...except for that daffy Fairy Violente...and the goofy modern 'rap style' moves that Ratmansky seems to have created for Carabosse's rats. So I love about 99% of this SB. And the sets look lovelier than ever from Orchestra/Stalls.

It is good to know JKO school is producing very promising graduates after all. S Brandt and S Baca had most of their training at JKO too.

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Waski was a featured soloist, along with Michaela De Prince, at one of the JKO year-end concerts that I attended...May 2012, I think, dancing the reconstructed SOIRÉE MUSICALE of Tudor. But she (Waski) was one of several...not 'the' star. Now she has become a potential future star, IMO.

I keep thinking about last night's magical performance, which will stay in my heart for a long time. My new secret wishes are that;

1. This magical production be filmed, in full, for DVD commercial release some day (unlike the Mariinsky's 1890 SB, now lying in mothballs) and

2. That said DVD will star Isabella Boylston and Joseph Gorak in the leads. Dear ballet gods, please....

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I am very confused as to why people do not see the brilliance in the Fairy Violente's variation and costuming. This is the way it was originally choreographed, notated, and meant to be danced, especially by April Giangeruso. A true standout, who despite being a taller ballerina, moves at the speed of light and adds just the right amount of personality and stage presence.

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Just noting that people regularly buy up the standing room spots even if there are seats available, particularly the standing room orchestra and dress circle. It's the cheapest way into the the theater without being relegated to the family circle. Then once they are in the auditorium they try to hunt down good open seats.

You’re right, and this practice caused some disruption in the Orchestra section on Monday night when some people sat in what probably looked like vacant seats. A couple of people arrived after the start of the performance, and the usher tried to seat them in the dark (after the first pause, but when the orchestra was already playing.) The usher was using a flashlight and had a heck of a time getting the people out of the seats so that the rightful ticket holders could take their seats. I was all the way at the other end of the row, and I found it disruptive even from where I was sitting.

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Yes, I'm sure that sort of thing happens almost every night at the Met, NinaFan. It's unfortunate. The few, who pay "bupkis" to enter the doors, disturb the many who bought expensive seats and sitting in their correct seats. A few years ago someone from the family circle decided to plop herself into an empty balcony seat next to me for an Osipova performance. The usher demanded that she go back to her family circle seat and shined the flashlight on her, this while the show already started. She would not budge. At intermission the security guard escorted her out of the opera house.

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During the intermission of Reyes' farewell performance, two people tried to steal Kent and Barbee's seat. I don't think they knew it was their seat but I found it quite funny.

Also, there was one lady who kept taking photos in the middle of the performance. Everyone around her were telling her to stop but she continued. During the intermission she was escorted outside by the security guard. It was an eventful evening.

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I guess this kind of thing happens a lot! Two young ladies sat down in the company box by the stage on the Grand Tier level at the Monday night SB. A company manager escorted them out so the Brazilian TV crew could move in. They seemed pretty upset and waved their tickets at him, but I could see that they were for orchestra seats (probably awful ones). The manager said: "we never sell the seats in this box. It's for the company and its own uses." And out they went.

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It happens all over. I was at a concert version of an opera in Ghent, and a woman, after realizing that I didn't speak Flemish, asked me in English if the seat next to me had been taken for the first act. She then told me what was wrong with her original seat, and we had a nice chat. She was ready to get up if the person who had the ticket showed up during intermission.

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The Met ushers can be overzealous in tossing people out, though. Several years ago when I still lived in NYC, I bought an orchestra ticket to the POB at the Met quite spur-of-the-moment after a day of walking around the Upper West Side. After sitting down a few minutes before the curtain was to go up, the usher came over to me and demanded that I "go back" to standing room.

He was quite miffed when I showed him the ticket.

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The Met ushers can be overzealous in tossing people out, though. Several years ago when I still lived in NYC, I bought an orchestra ticket to the POB at the Met quite spur-of-the-moment after a day of walking around the Upper West Side. After sitting down a few minutes before the curtain was to go up, the usher came over to me and demanded that I "go back" to standing room.

He was quite miffed when I showed him the ticket.

The ushers have their hands full trying to stop people from moving around and the taking of photography; however that does not excuse such bad behavior. They have a right to request to see a ticket, but just assuming that someone is guilty is quite atrocious conduct on the usher's part. I would have been very upset had it been me.

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My first memory of a Met usher dealing with a seat poacher was for a Royal Ballet Swan Lake with Nureyev and either Merle Park or Antoinette Sibley. We were in the Orchestra on the aisle few rows ahead of the standing room section. A couple had slipped into the aisle seats right in front of the standing room area. The usher explained in a very stern tone that these were Mr. Hurok's seats and had to remain empty.

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I am very confused as to why people do not see the brilliance in the Fairy Violente's variation and costuming. This is the way it was originally choreographed, notated, and meant to be danced, especially by April Giangeruso. A true standout, who despite being a taller ballerina, moves at the speed of light and adds just the right amount of personality and stage presence.

Oh yes to every word! Giangeruso was fantastic and really made the case for this version (more than Abrera who did not pull it off in the same way). So full of life--and I have never particularly liked this variation - it never even really made sense to me - here you could see the gift of 'temperament'!' Confident, playful, distinctive. And fast. Without any fudging or loss of subtlety. She is just the most fabulous girl in the room. (Two non-ballet going acquaintances there with family both told me their interest in the prologue really perked up when Giangeruso started dancing.)

On a different thread people have been debating tempos in Petipa - what you lose and what you gain with slowing things down etc. What is appropriate, what not etc. I think this whole production makes the case for the faster tempos WITHIN a classical style (as opposed to the speed of NYCB's Sleeping Beauty which looks like NYCB putting their own stamp on the ballet, not molding themselves to it). But the dancers don't always altogether pull it off. Giangeruso did!

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Giangeruso *is* good in the Violente variation. I don't care for Ratmansky's rethinking of the port-de-bras to make it as goofy and silly as iit now is. It breaks the general classical tone of the fairies suite, IMO. Canari, as quick as she is, still fits into the majesty of the proceedings. Not this new goofy Violente, IMO. But that doesn't kill the overall wonder of the staging.

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Oh yes to every word! Giangeruso was fantastic and really made the case for this version (more than Abrera who did not pull it off in the same way). So full of life--and I have never particularly liked this variation - it never even really made sense to me - here you could see the gift of 'temperament'!' Confident, playful, distinctive. And fast. Without any fudging or loss of subtlety. She is just the most fabulous girl in the room. (Two non-ballet going acquaintances there with family both told me their interest in the prologue really perked up when Giangeruso started dancing.)

Agreed. I *do* like this variation normally but was not sold on the new/old version at all with Abrera on Monday.

Giangeruso made a very good case for it. In fact she was excellent and I found I liked it after all.

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