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ABT Fall 2023

California

By California
in American Ballet Theatre

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fondoffouettes

fondoffouettes

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, balletlover08 said:

The tempo seems fast too! I know people complain about ABT dancing Balanchine slower but this seems right? 

Yes, I'm cautiously optimistic about ABT's Ballet Imperial based on the rehearsal footage I've seen online. I don't expect any company to dance Balanchine works with the speed of NYCB, but ABT did slow T&V way down in the past. ABT's corps has been looking quite good over the past season or so, so that also gives me hope for their Ballet Imperial. It'll be a fun compare-and-contrast after seeing NYCB's performances so recently. 

I love that light pink tutu that Misseldine is wearing! 

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California

California

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Posted
5 minutes ago, matilda said:

Jarod Curley is now dancing in place of Bell in Piano Concerto second cast, according to website calendar 

Bell has been missing from social media for a long time. Something's up. He's now scheduled for just two performances - the gala and one Dnipro. What a disappointment. 

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ABT Fan

ABT Fan

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, matilda said:

Jarod Curley is now dancing in place of Bell in Piano Concerto second cast, according to website calendar 

I’m very sorry to hear Bell is out, but I’m thrilled that Curley is the replacement. I hope Bell can make the China tour.

Bell only has the gala and Dnipro left. Forster will probably replace him in the later. 

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FauxPas

FauxPas

Posted
Posted

ABT used to depend a lot on James Whiteside and Cory Stearns to be MVP's carrying a huge load all season.  Before that Marcelo Gomes and David Hallberg were workhorses - especially Marcelo.

Those days are over.  Time flies.

The decision to cast Jarod Curley in Piano Concerto No. 1 may have come from Alexei Ratmansky who has an eye for up and coming new talent and isn't afraid to tap deserving corps and underutilized soloists in major assignments.

Good for him!

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ABT Fan

ABT Fan

Posted
Posted (edited)
10 minutes ago, FauxPas said:

The decision to cast Jarod Curley in Piano Concerto No. 1 may have come from Alexei Ratmansky who has an eye for up and coming new talent and isn't afraid to tap deserving corps and underutilized soloists in major assignments.

Good for him!

Agree completely! 
 

Added: After Stearns/Whiteside, came Bell and then Camargo as season workhorses. Hopefully under Jaffe that over-reliance on one/two male principals will cease. It will take time as new blood is needed first, either from within or hired. 

Edited by ABT Fan
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FauxPas

FauxPas

Posted
Posted

"Added: After Stearns/Whiteside, came Bell and then Camargo as season workhorses. Hopefully under Jaffe that over-reliance on one/two male principals will cease. It will take time as new blood is needed first, either from within or hired."

There was a period in the 90's when ABT had the "Dream Team" of Corella, Stiefel, Malakhov, Carreno, Bocca (often injured) with Joaquin de Luz and Herman Cornejo as a talented soloists.  There were others during that period like Giuseppe Picone and Guillaume Graffin who were also good but retired or left.

Frankly, Camargo joined ABT as a guest (recommended by Ratmansky) in the Met 2022 season and is still a fairly recent hire as a full-time company principal.  He has become a workhorse but not at the level Whiteside and Stearns were. 

Bell  was pulled out of roles in the Met 2022 season and the Met 2023 season - he was pulled from "Don Quixote" in 2022 but put back in for one show when Stearns dropped out.  Bell is a potential workhorse but has been unable to perform that function.

I agree however, that more men need to be groomed for leads - either by training the likes of Curley, Frenette, et al. to dance more principal leading roles or go on a hiring spree.  We are all agreed on that point.

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choriamb

choriamb

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Posted

While I absolutely read Met season casting as a sign of whose promotion is imminent, I don't really read Fall casting the same way.

Beyond marquee works (like The Dream, Ballet Imperial, and the Ratmansky pieces), I think that ABT casts the Fall season short works more as low-stakes tests in preparation for the higher-stakes full-lengths at the Met.

Very younger dancers tend to get a first exposed role (like Magbitang in The Dream last year). Technicians tend to get stretched in dramatic roles (like Ahn in Depuis le Jour or many people cast in Some Assembly Required). Older adage dancers tend to get pressure-tested in a technical workout (like Seo in Piano Concerto No. 1 or Part in Symphonie Concertante in years past).

So, I actually don't expect up-and-coming dancers who have been successfully featured in a full-length principal role (like Brandt and Trenary a few years ago or Curley and Ischuk now) to get much face time during the Fall. They've already been tested and have "graduated" to the Met season, in a way. (They'll be cast enough to maintain/build their stamina and otherwise be first understudy.)

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California

California

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3 hours ago, ABT Fan said:

Curley has now replaced Bell in Piano Concerto on the China tour. That doesn't bode well for his Albrecht with Teuscher, and I suspect we'll see the rest of his fall shows (the gala and Dnipro) be substituted as well. I hope he'll be ok.

On Instagram stories yesterday, a flurry of ABT members posted the same notice about union negotiations. One was posted by Bell, so we know he's alive -- wish he would let us know if he's also well! He was extremely busy in August -- galas in Japan and Australia and, in between, performances at the Hamptons dance festival. Plenty of news on social media. Since then, nothing. Disappointing. 

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lacdescygnes

lacdescygnes

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Posted
2 hours ago, California said:

On Instagram stories yesterday, a flurry of ABT members posted the same notice about union negotiations. One was posted by Bell, so we know he's alive -- wish he would let us know if he's also well! He was extremely busy in August -- galas in Japan and Australia and, in between, performances at the Hamptons dance festival. Plenty of news on social media. Since then, nothing. Disappointing. 

 

2 hours ago, nanushka said:

I imagine Bell must have a good reason for not sharing. While it might be ideal for fans and followers of a particular dancer or company to get updates, I do think it's up to the individual dancer, as we don't know their personal circumstances.

Not everyone wishes to share personal issues or injuries (if that is indeed what is going on) on a public facing social media. James Whiteside's public sharing of his knee injury and subsequent rehab when it wasn't clear that he would be able to return was the exception rather than the norm - and took a great deal of guts to do. Over at NYCB, Joe Gordon just let it slip today he was injured earlier and worried about his season. He didn't share earlier - and there are no requirements for him to do so! Of course he danced marvelously as he always does 🥰

The point is - we are not owed updates by individual dancers.

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ABT Fan

ABT Fan

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Posted
22 minutes ago, lacdescygnes said:The point is - we are not owed updates by individual dancers.

No, we aren’t. I’m sure we all wish Bell well, whatever the reason for him withdrawing. It’s still a disappointment to not see him dance in the Fall season, and that is an indication of how much many of us admire his dancing.

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