NYCB fan

[Koralle]

Hello everyone,

I am a neuroscientist from Tel Aviv of St. Petersburg origin. Have been living and working in NYC since 2020 and have been following the city ballet companies since their return post-Covid. I am a balletomane since the age of 3 thanks to my mother and our enormous collection of ballet books at home.  I was raised on the heritage of the Kirov/Mariinsky ballet, and was a soloist in a good ballet school (not the Vaganova). Ballet is my sanctuary, there hasn't been a day in my life that I didn't read or watch something ballet-related. I've been reading a few ballet forums for decades but never felt an urge to join the discussions (up until now).  Given my admiration of the Mariinsky ballerinas and repertoire, I was somewhat sceptic about the NYCB and ABT. And little I knew! I admire, adore the NYCB! I've learned so much about myself and about ballet from this fantastic company. Being a Mezentzeva-Lopatkinasque ballerinas fan all my life, my new ballet Queens are Tyler Peck, Megan Fairchild and Sara Mearns. I usually watch the opening nights of all of the programs and then decide whether I want to see more casts and who is of special interest for me. Quite often I watch the same program 2-3 nights in a row (hello fellow ballet fans from the first ring left wing). As for ABT - that's quite a different story. I left a few performances in the middle - and not because of the dancers but the horrendous choreography by Mckenzie (SL) or when Petipa is staged by Mckenzie (DQ). In contrast to NYCB, I don't like the ABT costumes and decorations for their original productions (the imported ballets like RJ I can watch every night without getting tired of it). As for the soloists - on one hand I wish I could see all of the greatest Russian guest-ballerinas, on the other hand - that switch from guest stars to home-raised soloists has proved itself - ABT would be in a very difficult situation if their 2022-2023 seasons was built on Russians dancers. Among the dancers - I follow closely Aran Bell, Hurlin, Brandt (in Giselle, still hoping to see her in RJ), Teuscher and Misseldine. 

[Helene]

Welcome to Ballet Alert!, Koralle.  We hope you'll post about what you see.