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ABT Fall 2023

California

By California
in American Ballet Theatre

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ABT Fan

ABT Fan

Posted
Posted

I had more of an issue with the floor. Pointe shoes sounded like horseshoes clobbering the floor! But you can’t blame the women because the men jumping hit with loud thuds, even light-footed and tiny Magbitang. What did they do to the floor? It was never that loud before.

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matilda

matilda

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I noticed the floor noise Wednesday night too. It sounded like Roxander was hitting the ground really hard in Piano Concerto, even though his jumps looked weightless. The NYT review of the evening brought it up as a minor criticism of his dancing but I don't think it was his fault. 

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fondoffouettes

fondoffouettes

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Excuse my ignorance on the topic, but what exactly would ABT be bringing to the venue in terms of flooring? Are they responsible for bringing in vinyl or whatever material it is that covers the stage floor? Are some types less sound-absorbant than others?

When the theater was renovated, its acoustics were improved for opera, but I've never noticed that causing issues for NYCB in terms of noise from the stage. ABT can be on the noisier side at the Met, but I'm not sure if that's acoustics, flooring, or a mix of both. I sometimes dread the thuds when Giselle and Albrecht simultaneously leap from side to side in their first pas de deux...

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pirouette

pirouette

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The mat/floor that is used for dance is called vinyl marley. I've heard dancers mention that when NYCB goes on tour, they'll roll it up and bring it with them. For Copland Dance Episodes, they switched out the regular gray marley with white. I did some searching on the Internet and a company called Harlequin Floors claims to be "the floor of choice" for NYCB, ABT, and The Royal Ballet: https://us.harlequinfloors.com/en/spaces/home-studio-spaces/. If this is true, I'm not sure why there is such a big difference between the NYCB and ABT floors (as in, how loud they are). 

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ABT Fan

ABT Fan

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Posted (edited)

A clip of Roxander rehearsing Puck is below, flying high. You can also see Robare in the background, clearly marking Oberon. I assume he’s the understudy and we’ve seen him actually rehearse with Trenary. I’m a broken record, but why couldn’t they have given him just one show, instead of Camargo for all 4? The corps dancers with potential need opportunities!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CywEQFtgKCl/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Edited by ABT Fan
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LIslandArts

LIslandArts

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, ABT Fan said:

A clip of Roxander rehearsing Puck is below, flying high. You can also see Robare in the background, clearly marking Oberon. I assume he’s the understudy and we’ve seen him actually rehearse with Trenary. I’m a broken record, but why couldn’t they have given him just one show, instead of Camargo for all 4? The corps dancers with potential need opportunities!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CywEQFtgKCl/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

IMO Robare is too young and too green. His time may come, but better Camargo performs all the shows. I for one would much prefer Curley whose already proven himself principal quality. 
 

I attended the shows Saturday night and Sunday. Whiteside post surgery found his stride and danced quite strong opposite Boylston in Ballet Imperial. I felt her trying to out-Balanchine NYCB at times! 
 

In contrast, Royal III and Shevchenko seemed miscast in this one. Royal is far  too weak a technician (I believe this was mentioned before) for the leading male role, and Shevchenko is too structured. The ebb and flows of the Tchaikovsky score requires a tad more fluidity. Still, she delivered a solid show albeit a reserved one. Even still, I kept hoping Frenette or Han would jump in to replace Royal as the two most capable men onstage in this ballet. 
 

Needless to say Misseldine marveled me as much as everyone who said so as well. We have a new Semionova on our hands and I can only dream in anticipation of her approaches for the great ballets; Swan Lake, Giselle, Manon…what’s next? 

The Dream did not do it for me this time around. I enjoyed it more the previous fall, but I found these performances lacking a certain otherworldly element. It is a fantasy, something only Roxander could properly portray.  On top of his exemplary virtuoso technique, he’s a storyteller.  Still, I miss the days of withessing Ethan Stiefel commanding each leap and turn with prominence.  
 

I’d say the Sunday show belongs to Misseldine, Frenette, and Han for delivering a solid trio Balanchine would be proud of. I still remember John Gardner dancing this opposite Cheryl Yeager (gosh I hope I’m not showing my age too much!) 

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AB'sMom

AB'sMom

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Just a quick note on the flooring…it isn’t just vinyl marley, there is also a structure underneath of some kind of sprung flooring. So while ABT and NYCB both use flooring from Harlequin Floors, they may not use the same subfloor. (I learned way too much about this while fashioning a home studio for my kid during Covid lock-downs).

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vagansmom

vagansmom

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If the floors were built for opera, they are not sprung floors. Harlequin floors are terrific. My husband is an Irish step dance teacher and we use Harlequin floors. There is a Harlequin floor that is meant for traveling; it is thinner, therefore lighter. I wonder how many dancers are wearing Gaynor Minden pointe shoes. They are a lot noisier than the others. 

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cobweb

cobweb

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6 minutes ago, vagansmom said:

. I wonder how many dancers are wearing Gaynor Minden pointe shoes. They are a lot noisier than the others. 

It wasn’t just the women, the men were also making A LOT of noise in their landings. The noise level is very noticeably different from NYCB and I conclude there is something different about the stage floor. 

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Helene

Helene

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The floors were built for Balanchine: it was his design for a sprung floor.  They may have taken them up for the opera to avoid having holes drilled into them.  I'm not sure if the theater has traps.

I don't know what the scenery was like, but some sets reverb a lot of sound, whereas other deaden it.

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stuben

stuben

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Posted (edited)

 

13 hours ago, cobweb said:

It wasn’t just the women, the men were also making A LOT of noise in their landings. The noise level is very noticeably different from NYCB and I conclude there is something different about the stage floor. 

 

11 hours ago, Helene said:

The floors were built for Balanchine: it was his design for a sprung floor.  They may have taken them up for the opera to avoid having holes drilled into them.  I'm not sure if the theater has traps.

I don't know what the scenery was like, but some sets reverb a lot of sound, whereas other deaden it.

Sorry for my ignorance but is the opera performed at the State (Koch) theatre? The issue with squeaky wheels and loud shoes for me is this Fall season, so I’m not sure if we’re addressing the same venue or just in general.

Edited by stuben
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Helene

Helene

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Posted
4 minutes ago, stuben said:

Sorry for my ignorance but is the opera performed at the State (Koch) theatre? T

Not anymore, with the demise of New York City Opera.  But when the theater opened, both companies moved from City Center, and they alternated seasons, with NYCO opening in early Fall — or maybe in very late August — and then returning between NYCB’s Winter and Spring seasons.  

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stuben

stuben

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Posted (edited)
1 hour ago, Helene said:

Not anymore, with the demise of New York City Opera.  But when the theater opened, both companies moved from City Center, and they alternated seasons, with NYCO opening in early Fall — or maybe in very late August — and then returning between NYCB’s Winter and Spring seasons.  

Thank you Helene, so the issue with noisy shoes and squeaky wheels, especially in Petite Mort at the State theatre shouldn’t have been a flooring.

Edited by stuben
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California

California

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Posted
18 hours ago, vagansmom said:

I wonder how many dancers are wearing Gaynor Minden pointe shoes. They are a lot noisier than the others. 

Murphy definitely wears Gaynor Mindens. But (judging from some Instagram stories today), Brandt wears Capezio, Boylston Blochs. I think Shevchenko also wears Blochs. 

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abatt

abatt

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52 minutes ago, California said:

Murphy definitely wears Gaynor Mindens. But (judging from some Instagram stories today), Brandt wears Capezio, Boylston Blochs. I think Shevchenko also wears Blochs. 

I thought Freed was the leader in pointe shoes.

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tutu

tutu

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38 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

Oh my! Hope that person is ok.

Me too.  The dancers, consummate professionals that they are, carried in with a wonderful performance.  

Highlight of the evening for me was Hee Seo in Concerto.  Just exquisite.

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tutu

tutu

Posted
Posted
6 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

Aran Bell danced tonight, right? How was he?

Indeed he did, in a fun new trifle of a new James Whiteside duet, partnering Isabella Boylston.  It was much more of a showpiece for Boylston, who looked about as great as I’ve ever seen her look — all long legs and quick petit allegro — but Bell was a good partner and manipulated Boylston well through a number of rather acrobatic lifts.  

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