Sarah Lane

[nanushka]

7 minutes ago, California said:

I'm sorry I can't find the social media posting where I saw this -- I vaguely remember that Sarah's husband Luis Riborgado took a leave of absence to sell real estate and then returned to ABT, all while she was in the company. Can anybody confirm? More importantly, there are other companies in the west where he might have found work. He was never a high-priced principal.

Yes, that's correct. It's well-documented in the archives of their Instagram feeds. I'm pretty sure the offer from SFB would have come while he was away from ABT — as he was for a good number of years until he returned not terribly long ago.

That said, we can't possibly know Lane's reasons for not having accepted the offer. It could have been about not wanting to leave the NYC area, but it could have been about innumerable other things.

Edited March 13, 2023 by nanushka

[abatt]

1 hour ago, California said:

I'm sorry I can't find the social media posting where I saw this -- I vaguely remember that Sarah's husband Luis Riborgado took a leave of absence to sell real estate and then returned to ABT, all while she was in the company. Can anybody confirm? More importantly, there are other companies in the west where he might have found work. He was never a high-priced principal.

Yes, both Ribagorda and Eric Tamm left to sell real estate in the NYC area.

[nysusan]

I remember hearing that Sarah would be guesting with Houston Ballet in Swan Lake both on their Japan tour and at home in Houston in June.

I would love to go see her in Houston but can't find any casting info. Anyone know when she's dancing?

[balletlover08]

On 3/20/2023 at 4:09 PM, nysusan said:

I remember hearing that Sarah would be guesting with Houston Ballet in Swan Lake both on their Japan tour and at home in Houston in June.

I would love to go see her in Houston but can't find any casting info. Anyone know when she's dancing?

She posted on her instagram that she's performing in Houston on June 18th with Ryo Kato. 

Edited May 22, 2023 by balletlover08

[nysusan]

Thanks for this. Unfortunately I think its too late for me. Not many good tickets left and the only Sunday return flights I see now are overnights.

[nysusan]

Well I took another look and found acceptable tickets and a return flight that gets me in at 12:30 AM on Sun night/Mon morning. Decided to do it so I'll be seeing Beckanne Sisk and Chase O'Connell on Saturday night and Sarah Lane and Ryo Kato at the Sunday matinee

[volcanohunter]

Yay! I hope you have a great trip!

[ABT Fan]

5 hours ago, nysusan said:

Well I took another look and found acceptable tickets and a return flight that gets me in at 12:30 AM on Sun night/Mon morning. Decided to do it so I'll be seeing Beckanne Sisk and Chase O'Connell on Saturday night and Sarah Lane and Ryo Kato at the Sunday matinee

Please let us know your thoughts on both performances!

[nysusan]

On 5/26/2023 at 8:59 PM, ABT Fan said:

Please let us know your thoughts on both performances!

Of course!

[Barbara]

So jealous, Susan! Look forward to your reports. I harbor fantasies of Sarah returning to ABT one day. I miss her exquisite dancing. 

[MRR]

Sarah has withdrawn from her performance of Swan Lake with Houston Ballet.  In the comments she states that she is not injured, but she mentions "prioritizing health" and that "circumstances have shouted loud enough for me to hear and I will not perform."  Soo Youn Cho replaces her.  

https://www.instagram.com/p/CtmMmdYOepi/?hl=en

 

Edited June 17, 2023 by MRR

[abatt]

Oh no.  NY Susan went to Houston to see Lane.   Did these "circumstances" exist before her abrupt withdrawal from the performance.  This is no way to treat your fans.

[angelica]

16 minutes ago, abatt said:

Did these "circumstances" exist before her abrupt withdrawal from the performance.  This is no way to treat your fans.

Sarah may not be injured, but from her post on Instagram, I have no doubt that she is ill.

[nysusan]

Yup, it was a real bummer to see that substitution sheet. The guy sitting behind me also came out from NY to see her - he spoke to the house manager who said they didn't know she'd be out till the morning of the performance.

Thankfully, Beckanne Sisk gave a great performance Sat night otherwise the weekend would have been a total bust as I hated the staging.
 

[Fleurfairy]

This I don't care for. It's not like she was in the middle of a company season with a ton of performances on her plate to get through. It was a one-off performance that people had undoubtedly made plans for because her name was on the casting sheet. I guess I'm of the old-fashioned mind that she should have bucked-up and gone out there. Be sick tomorrow. 

[volcanohunter]

I would think that Lane was loath to withdraw, because her performances are few and far between now, and she made it less likely that she would receive a repeat invitation from Houston Ballet in the future. But a high fever is a high fever, nausea is nausea, a migraine is a migraine. Whatever ails her, I'm guessing it couldn't be helped.

As someone who has logged tens of thousands of ballet-going miles, I do feel for those who flew to Houston especially. 

[laurel]

I find the negativity directed toward Sarah Lane rather presumptuous.  I traveled to Houston to see Sarah’s performance and arrived on Saturday afternoon to be greeted by a local temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  I saw Sarah’s posting after I arrived.  Sarah later texted me after I’d expressed my concern for her ill health to let me know she was okay, but also to explain that after years of fighting her way through illness in order to perform, she was unable to do it this time.  At this point in her life, her health has become a priority.  If she was unwell, pushing herself onstage during a blazing heat wave probably would have made it worse.  And she apologized to me – apologized! – for traveling out there to see her only to have her cancel.  As if it were her fault she fell sick!  Would anyone rather have had her give a second rate performance, or perhaps collapse on stage and need to be replaced?  I wouldn’t.  It was her call to make, and no one ought blame her for being ill.  We’ve all seen sold out houses packed for celebrated performers, only to have them call out sick at the last minute.  At ABT, it often ended up as a great opportunity for the talented dancers shoved aside by McKenzie, dancers like Lane, Abrera, Yuriko Kajiya, Jared Matthews, and even Skylar Brandt, all of whom rose to the occasion and brought down the house.  Everyone’s health is their own personal prerogative and Sarah did what was right for her.  Yes, I was disappointed to miss Sarah’s performance, but I’d never been to Texas before, much less Houston, and I saw this as a chance to enjoy something new from a ballet company I’d never seen.

And another thing – Houston Ballet’s production of Swan Lake is a knockout!  It makes ABT’s old McKenzie production look utterly stodgy and ponderous in comparison (which it is), and NYC Ballet's speed dial production a wasted opportunity (which it isn't).  Every company has a different take on the classical material.  They cut, paste, and weave their own production using whatever plot points, choreography and music they feel is best for them.  In Houston, Stanton Welch has pulled together a 3-hour crowd pleaser which moves like lightning but essentially leaves out nothing.  The emphasis is on the deep emotional tie which grows between Odette and Siegfried.  Everything is built around this core.  For example, in Act I, the music of the peasant pas is used not for the trio, but for a duet by Siegfried’s younger sisters, and introductory dances by the foreign princesses, all of whom Siegfried rejects.  This makes his upcoming meeting with Odette (in her human form) all the more striking.  Costume changes are utilized to delineate Odette and the swan maids both in human form and as swans.  In both Acts I and II, a body double is used to cover for Odette and Odile’s quick costume changes.  You may consider this a "cheat," but it's a big help to audiences unfamiliar with the plot line.  Rothbart is called an “evil knight,” rather than a sorcerer, and wears black armor and a helm sporting a scarlet plume.  His cape is constructed with poles or wires along the arms, a la Loie Fuller, which allows him to raise his arms and reveal his bat wings at dramatic moments.  He is followed by similarly dressed minions and four black swans, one of whom transforms to Odile in Act II.  I was impressed by the way Welch was able to move dancers around the stage in varied and interesting ways, using music and sometimes silence to set up transitions between scenes.  He covers the entirety of the stage, upstage, downstage and centerstage, with the entire company, fluidly and with great skill.

This is a dynamic, full bodied production in which lyrical dancing and facial expression are paramount.  I can see why Sarah Lane would have been invited to perform in this production.  It is an excellent fit for her performance style, complex lyrical dancing with strong emotional characterization.  Wooden faced dancers like Cory Stearns and Aran Bell would not be welcome in this production.  On Saturday night, Beckann Sisk gave a great performance in the leading role.  She has a vibrant athletic quality coupled with a lyricism which allowed her to whirl through 36 (by my count) of Odile’s Act II fouettes without faltering, double-double-singles all the way through.  Unfortunately, her Siegfried, Chase O’Connell, had run out of steam by Act II, achieving no height in his leaps and landing turns with loud thuds.  It wasn’t a great performance, and Sisk kind of blew him away.  On Sunday, Sarah Lane was replaced by Houston principal Soo Youn Cho, a fine lyrical dancer much loved by the audience.  I was seated close enough to the stage to notice her strange habit/performance style (?) of soundlessly mouthing words to herself throughout her performance as Odette.  At one point in Act I, she clearly mouthed “I love you” to her Siegfried, soloist Ryo Kato, but the rest of it was undiscernible.  It became somewhat distracting, and pushed her performance for me into something rather like an overwrought and emotional Bette Davis, which might have been okay if her dancing had held up in Act II.  As Odile, she struggled to hold her balance during the unsupported arabesque, staying upright only by lowering her leg far below a 90-degree angle.  She fell off point at least once during her fouettes, but did make it through all the way.  I felt Ryo Kato gave a much better performance as Siegfried than O’Connell the night before; he was far more responsive emotionally to Odette and absolutely soared through Siegfried’s leaps and turns in Act II.

For this, my first glimpse of the Houston Ballet, I was very impressed.  This is a first-rate company with top notch dancers at every level.  Their entire run of Swan Lake was sold out and they appear to have very strong community support for their performances, which is a great deal more than ABT could hope for these days.  If another opportunity to see them arises, I wouldn’t hesitate to go.

[California]

Alas, in the ballet world, we all have our share of memories of painful last-minute cancellations. I saw Baryshnikov and McBride do Coppelia at the Kennedy Center on October 6, 1979. But I went back on Tuesday, October 9 expecting to see him in Dances at a Gathering. In those pre-internet days, we dreaded the pre-curtain announcement as they too often announced last-minute cancellations and Baryshnikov did cancel that night. Reports at the time were tendonitis. A few days later, the news came out that he was resigning from the company, although he did do a few more performances with them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/10/16/baryshnikov-bows-out-early/e15c5798-f297-4ba5-8a57-29f8be39e0c4/

Those of us old enough to remember Gelsey Kirkland in her prime lived through many agonizing cancellation announcements, especially after she was fired by Baryshnikov. Many of us drove up to Baltimore to see her do some pas de deux from Giselle with Patrick Bissell, only to learn she had cancelled at the last minute. He danced. Kirkland was the worst, by far, in that generation, but last-minute cancellations due to illness/injury are a sad fact of life with this artform. More recently, I can remember cancellations due to injury by Simkin, Cornejo, Hallberg, so many, alas. 

And there are a few bright spots: Stella Abrera's long-awaited debut in Giselle at the Met came after a cancellation just a few weeks (days?) earlier. 

[Drew]

4 hours ago, California said:

Alas, in the ballet world, we all have our share of memories of painful last-minute cancellations. I saw Baryshnikov and McBride do Coppelia at the Kennedy Center on October 6, 1979. But I went back on Tuesday, October 9 expecting to see him in Dances at a Gathering. In those pre-internet days, we dreaded the pre-curtain announcement as they too often announced last-minute cancellations and Baryshnikov did cancel that night. Reports at the time were tendonitis. A few days later, the news came out that he was resigning from the company, although he did do a few more performances with them.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1979/10/16/baryshnikov-bows-out-early/e15c5798-f297-4ba5-8a57-29f8be39e0c4/

Those of us old enough to remember Gelsey Kirkland in her prime lived through many agonizing cancellation announcements, especially after she was fired by Baryshnikov. Many of us drove up to Baltimore to see her do some pas de deux from Giselle with Patrick Bissell, only to learn she had cancelled at the last minute. He danced. Kirkland was the worst, by far, in that generation, but last-minute cancellations due to illness/injury are a sad fact of life with this artform. More recently, I can remember cancellations due to injury by Simkin, Cornejo, Hallberg, so many, alas. 

And there are a few bright spots: Stella Abrera's long-awaited debut in Giselle at the Met came after a cancellation just a few weeks (days?) earlier. 

Just the mention of Kirkland and cancellations brings on my balletomane PTSD.  She is still my favorite ballerina of all time.

I hope Lane is feeling much better and gets some other opportunities to practice and develop her art as she would like.

Huge sympathy to everyone who went to Houston to see her.  I know I would have been crushed.

 

[California]

9 hours ago, Drew said:

Just the mention of Kirkland and cancellations brings on my balletomane PTSD.  She is still my favorite ballerina of all time.

Ha! Compared to Kirkland, all the other cancellations pale in comparison! I too consider her my all-time favorite ballerina. I wish we had more recordings of her in her prime. 

[nysusan]

Well, having flown to Houston specifically to see Lane I was very disappointed when she canceled. However I knew when I booked that this can happen and I certainly don't blame her. I finally had time to gather my thoughts about the production and since it no longer has anything to do with Lane I am posting them in the Houston Ballet forum

[MRR]

Also posted my review of HB's Swan Lake with Sisk/O'Connell.  I had planned to see Lane, but had a conflict so was able to sell my ticket before she cancelled.  

[ABT Fan]

Lane just posted that she’s the new school director of Ballet RI, starting in September.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu2BHxdMB2z/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

[Marta]

Interesting and unexpected!  Kathleen Breen Combes and Yuri Yanowsky were two of Boston Ballet's finest dancers, and also personal favorites.  Still, I wish she had more opportunities to dance as a guest at various companies.

[Balletwannabe]

I live in Rhode Island so I'm looking forward to seeing how she develops the school there.