ABT Giselle: Met 2023

[ABT Fan]

Thought we could start a separate thread for the next ballet, Giselle, which opens tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing some debuts this week.

[ABT Fan]

FYI: the promo code ABTPRIDE is still valid on select performances and in certain sections. I just got a ticket for Brandt/Cornejo's show in the orchestra and paid $87.50 for a $125 ticket.

[DPell]

ABT posted a rehearsal video with Stearns and Seo on Instagram yesterday. 

[FauxPas]

Per Carlos Gonzalez's Instagram page, he and Breanne Granlund are dancing the Peasant PDD tonight and Thursday night.

Rehearsal footage here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CuP49UUNmuC/?hl=en

I think Mr. Gonzalez will get a promotion before the summer is over.

[ABT Fan]

Beautiful performance tonight overall.

The wilis corps were gorgeous and so together; possibly the best I’ve seen them. 

Peasant pas with Granlund and Gonzalez was ok. Granlund had an off night falling off pointe in her turns multiple times. Gonzalez had some beautiful jumps but I always want more from him: more expansiveness, confidence, authority. They had some partnering issues, especially in the supporting turns with stiffness and some unsteadiness.

Misseldine is an extraordinary new Myrta. She reminded me of Shevchenko at times. Steely technique, impressive control, expansive upper body, fierce, strong, unwielding. She could soften just a tad in places. Only real issue were her incredibly hard/noisy pointe shoes. 

Added: Park as Moyna and Lensi as Zulma (last minute replacement for Fang) were terrific, especially Park. She is a rare talent and I look forward to seeing her in even bigger roles very soon.

Seo and Stearns have been dancing together for a very long time and the incredible trust they have with each other can result in some absolutely gorgeous moments. Their Act II pas was breathtaking. High, secure overhead lifts. Chemistry, moments that just melted beautifully together. Seo was truly lovely in her solos. Her mad scene was a bit too pretty and reserved, which surprised me given her heartbreaking Juliet. She has a higher ballon than I remembered, her entrechats hovered! Stearns is a very, very good partner but most of us know him to be rather bland. Walking onstage in Act II, supposedly full of overwhelming grief, he looked like he was walking to his car in the parking lot. He did the brises which were better than I was expecting. They had a few moments which truly caught my breath. 

Edited July 4, 2023 by ABT Fan
Typo and added one other thought

[WLH]

The Wilis corps really were sublime weren’t they, majestic. Not to be overly harsh, but the Peasant pas read quite.. amateurish to me tonight. Maybe as it’s a highlight of the first act it’s more jarring when it’s not so good. Seo has the most beautiful arms, this role really seems to suit her. I agree that her mad scene wasn’t hugely moving, but otherwise I was much more impressed than I expected to be. Beautiful. It does seem odd that Stearns doesn’t have more of a sense of drama considering the length of his career.. Still, it’s my favourite ballet. Looking forward to Brandt and Cornejo.

[abatt]

Seo was truly beautiful.  Gorgeous arms and effective use of her back and neck.  She lacks technical brilliance sometimes, but her adagio work was sublime.  I had no problem with her mad scene.  I can't stand it when people overact in that scene.  For me less is more in the mad scene.  She dies of a broken heart, and we don't need scenery chewing to portray that emotion. She seemed to float in Act ii.  Cory is a great partner, but otherwise I felt underwhelmed with his performance.  He lacks blaze, and his technique is acceptable but unremarkable.  

Have to agree that the peasant pas sometimes looked like a student performance.  Both performers need improvement.  They  lacked polish.  Gonzalez tried to impress wtih big jumps, but he often lands with a thud.

I thought Messeldine's performance was a work in progress.  Her initial entrance was slow and plodding.  Not good.  She also looked stiff in the early parts of her solo.  The phrasing of her initial solo needed more  backbends and floaty arms.  She improved in her second big solo after Zulma and Moyna have performed.  Messeldine definitely has a big jump.  I will give her that.

Nice to see classical ballet after the LWFC. Onwards. 

 i had not intended to book this particular performance, but I couldn't stand the thought of returning to LWFC, so I exchanged into this Giselle.  Hee Seo was certainly worth the trip.   Although I think other Giselles will have more breathtaking technical moments this week at ABT, Seo's adagio work was  top tier. 

 

[WLH]

I love to read all of your thoughts, and see how we view some things similarly and others differently, thank you for always taking the time everyone!

If anyone sees Teuscher’s debut, even if it is July 4th.. please do share your comments.

[aurora]

27 minutes ago, WLH said:

If anyone sees Teuscher’s debut, even if it is July 4th.. please do share your comments.

I saw her first act in the dress rehearsal yesterday.

I don't want to write a full review as it was just that, a rehearsal, but I was very pleased.

Teuscher is not a dancer I could easily imagine as Giselle, but I really enjoyed her performance.

She had a good connection with Bell, and I found her mad scene somewhat understated but quite moving! She made some interesting (and for me, very successful) choices.

I'd definitely go to see her in Giselle in the future based on what I saw.

[abatt]

Forgot to mention how wonderful Park was in the second act as Moyna.  A very strong technical dancer.  I hope we also see her in the peasant pas sometime this week.  

[abatt]

I know someone else who was at the Giselle dress rehearsal who thought Teuscher was wonderful.   

[aurora]

1 hour ago, abatt said:

I know someone else who was at the Giselle dress rehearsal who thought Teuscher was wonderful.   

Roxander in the peasant pas was also 🔥🔥🔥!

[ABT Fan]

12 minutes ago, aurora said:

Roxander in the peasant pas was also 🔥🔥🔥!

He has on his IG that he'll be doing PP with Coker on Wed and Friday evening. I can't wait to see them. I think he's going to rise up pretty fast and he's barely been in the company for a year.

[aurora]

4 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

He has on his IG that he'll be doing PP with Coker on Wed and Friday evening. I can't wait to see them. I think he's going to rise up pretty fast and he's barely been in the company for a year.

Agreed--I saw him a little over a year ago with Studio company, and was blown away then.

 

Coker also looked very good in the rehearsal (none of the amaturishness complained of above) but she wasn't-- I don't know--selling it as much as I expected. I think perhaps because it was rehearsal, not a performance. In any case I'm a huge fan of hers and would love to see her do it in a performance! (I'm out of town for the rest of this week)

 

[abatt]

Teuscher was very good today in her debut as Giselle.  Aran Bell was breathtaking.  He is the perfect romantic lead.  His dancing was flawless.  The guy has it all - dramatic presence, fabulous technique and good partnering skills.  He had no trouble with the overhead lifts of Devon, who is  quite tall.  He did at least 32 - may have been 33 - entrechat sixes.   

I expected that given her strong technique Teuscher might take more risks, but for the most part she played it safe.  in act I during the hops of pointe she periodically rotated the hops a bit to point her foot toward Aran Bell.  I've seen others in the past do this as well.  It added an additional dimension of difficulty.  She whirled around pretty quickly at the opening  of Act II when she is first summoned by Myrta.  Lovely use of her arms and upper body.  

Messeldine improved, but still is too slow at her entrance in my opinion.  She also needs to arch her back more.  Hey, maybe now that McKenzie is gone they could bring in Veronika Part, a flawless and memorable Myrta, to teach!

Park and Sebastian did the peasant pas.  Park had complete mastery of the chorography. She is likely a future candidate to dance Giselle.

Edited July 5, 2023 by abatt

[ABT Fan]

37 minutes ago, abatt said:

Teuscher was very good today in her debut as Giselle.  Aran Bell was breathtaking.  He is the perfect romantic lead.  His dancing was flawless.  The guy has it all - dramatic presence, fabulous technique and good partnering skills.  He had no trouble with the overhead lifts of Devon, who is  quite tall.  He did at least 32 - may have been 33 - entrechat sixes.   

I expected that given her strong technique Teuscher might take more risks, but for the most part she played it safe.  in act I during the hops of pointe she periodically rotated the hops a bit to point her foot toward Aran Bell.  I've seen others in the past do this as well.  It added an additional dimension of difficulty.  She whirled around pretty quickly at the opening  of Act II when she is first summoned by Myrta.  Lovely use of her arms and upper body.  

Messeldine improved, but still is too slow at her entrance in my opinion.  She also needs to arch her back more.  Hey, maybe now that McKenzie is gone they could bring in Veronika Part, a flawless and memorable Myrta, to teach!

Park and Sebastian did the peasant pas.  Park had complete mastery of the chorography. She is likely a future candidate to dance Giselle.

Where you say Misseldine "is too slow at her entrance" I assume you're referring to her bourres in the entrance? I thought the speed was fine, but yes could be a bit quicker. But, I had more of an issue with her noisy pointe shoes.

Happy to hear Teuscher's debut went well, though I cannot picture her as Giselle at all. I'm looking to seeing Bell in SL.

[California]

47 minutes ago, abatt said:

Aran Bell was breathtaking.  He is the perfect romantic lead.  His dancing was flawless.  The guy has it all - dramatic presence, fabulous technique and good partnering skills.  He had no trouble with the overhead lifts of Devon, who is  quite tall.  He did at least 32 - may have been 33 - entrechat sixes.   

Wish I could have seen Bell today. He's become my favorite to watch, especially after his Don Q last season.  Interesting that he is the only male principal with two SLs this summer. If hints of Etudes this fall are true, he's one of the few men at ABT with the technique to handle the lead. 

[abatt]

34 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

Where you say Misseldine "is too slow at her entrance" I assume you're referring to her bourres in the entrance? I thought the speed was fine, but yes could be a bit quicker. But, I had more of an issue with her noisy pointe shoes.

Happy to hear Teuscher's debut went well, though I cannot picture her as Giselle at all. I'm looking to seeing Bell in SL.

Yes, I was referring to the bourres. That entrance can cause an audience to erupt into applause if done with speed.  When it's done slowly the effect of Myrta as a spirit floating across the stage is lost.  And Yes, Misseldine did have loud  landings. 

[abatt]

25 minutes ago, California said:

He's become my favorite to watch, especially after his Don Q last season.  Interesting that he is the only male principal with two SLs this summer. If hints of Etudes this fall are true, he's one of the few men at ABT with the technique to handle the lead. 

Yes, Bell and Carmago are now my favorite ABT dancers.  Bell is more classically refined than Carmago. Has Carmago done Giselle elsewhere?  Very curious to see what he and Hurricane Hurlin do tomorrow afternoon.  I'm taking a vacation day from work to see the performance. 

[Drew]

6 minutes ago, abatt said:

Yes, Bell and Carmago are now my favorite ABT dancers.  Bell is more classically refined than Carmago. Has Carmago done Giselle elsewhere?  Very curious to see what he and Hurricane Hurlin do tomorrow afternoon.  I'm taking a vacation day from work to see the performance. 

Camargo was Osipova’s Albrecht when she guested last year at Teatro Colón. 

I wish I could see the Hurlin-Camargo performance and look forward to reading about it.

[California]

13 minutes ago, Drew said:

Camargo was Osipova’s Albrecht when she guested last year at Teatro Colón. 

Thanks for the tip!  Some clips from the Camargo-Osipova Giselle. (Do check out her hops on point at 2:13 -- a full circle. Is that what Teuscher did?

PS. Remember when we actually got to see Osipova at the Met with ABT? Another era, for sure!

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by California

[MRR]

Also saw the matinee.  I last saw ABT's Giselle in 2008 with Nina Ananiashvilli and Jose Carreno, back as an SAB student watching from the dress circle.  How times have changed...

Devon Teuscher has an interesting physicality for the role:  tall without a long line; lean with a strong, steely technique.  If you want a ballerina with delicacy, beautiful feet, or endless adage for Act II, look elsewhere. This is a Giselle in the Dorothee Gilbert mold, effective enough on its merits, without being a revelatory or "new" interpretation of the role.  The entrance was bouyant and pleasant; she had a warm, sympathetic engagement to Bell and seemed timid, distraught, and heartbroken in Mad Scene, even hesitating to wield the sword. It wasn't an especially theatrical Act I---rather understated and clear---and Isabelle Gueren's coaching appears to have guided this.  One interesting detail is she hesitated to believe Albrecht right when Hilarion presents the sword, not waiting until Albrecht fights him.  

She had a couple of minor difficulties in Act I Spessivtseva: the first pique en dedans/en dehors went awry with an improvised chasse exit, and the hops, sturdy and dutiful, were not consistently on the music nor sustained at the end.  Technically she took full advantage of the many jumps in Act II: beautiful entrechat quatre in the variation and a rare, creditable six in the adagio.  The initiation turns were fast if not blinding, and her diagonal of jete en tournant went clear to the wings.  Needless to say the adagio was her weakness: Giselle shouldn't be a pretzel, but a stiff back in arabesque is never ideal, nor is a hinged, barely realized penchee with leg not extending much beyond 90.  Dramatically she wasn't especially ghost or spirit like, but empathetic and human; her presence enduring to save Albrecht.  

Aran Bell is an excellent dancer, though, for me, has a fair ways to go before becoming the "perfect" romantic lead or danseur noble.  Inevitably expectations are high given his following since childhood and more so his obvious gifts for ballet.  At 6'3" with supposed disadvantages of gravity he has no trouble with cabrioles, tours, or pirouettes, and the 32 entrechat six could rival anyone at Paris Opera.  But this performance, thrilling at best, took on a similar trajectory as his Siegfried last year, dramatically and romantically inert at the start without much chemistry to Teuscher, developing gradually to an anguished, remorseful, and often poignant Act II.  There wasn't much sense of who his Albrecht was at the beginning or what motivates him to pursue Giselle, but fortunately for him, and thankfully for us, his character arc showed resolution at the end.  If not a complete performance, his Act II variation and coda couldn't be argued, by any standard, in what were by far the biggest moments to deliver.  His multiple pirouettes to attitude and dramatic pirouette-tour to the floor were anguished bravura at its best.

Chloe Misseldine at 21 has authority and presence beyond her years:  she seems straight out of an Elizabethan court.  The power of her stance, eyes, and simple outstretch of an arm give her a mystical elegance.  Her interpretation isn't especially detailed, yet, but already she shows just the tiniest sense of vulnerability in an otherwise cold, imperious aura, making you wonder of the Myrtha before her betrayal.  I had no problem with her bourrees; however, she suffered somewhat jittery penchees and jagged transitions of her epaulement, perhaps due to the fast tempo.  Her solo with the grand jetes was largely excellent with clean entrechat six and less clean six de voile.  The manege of saut de basque were like a gust of wind bursting around the stage.  Much as I was concerned for the age/experience gap of Teuscher and Misseldine, I had no reason to, and Misseldine had no problem commanding her wilis.  Already convinced she would have a major career based on her pas de trois last year, I found today's performance just as auspicious.

Jarod Curley as Hilarion made the most of his brief stage time with great projection for the MET and apparent strong technique.  SunMi Park had a slightly rocky start to the peasant pas (bobble on the opening diagonal of turns) but brushed it off completely for an otherwise serene performance.  Jose Sebastian was more invisible by comparison, but checked off two variations of good pirouettes, tours, and beats, if not the best line of arabesque or turn-out.  Remy Young and Ingrid Thomas were fine if perfunctory as Moyna and Zulma.  The corps, better coached than many past ABT ensembles, had minor issues of low arabesques and not matching arms in fifth (occasional crossing of wrists when not supposed to...) in an overall committed, disciplined effort.  For the unfortunate truncating of the MET season, it seems to have produced better coached performances of dancers top to bottom, evident today.

 

Edited July 5, 2023 by MRR

[abatt]

Osipova's hop variation is much more difficult than what Teuscher did.  Osipova rotates a full 360 degrees on point before resuming the hops across the diagonal of the stage. Teuscher only rotated a few degrees (maybe 30 degrees)  to her left  so that she could face Bell, who was seated on the bench.  Then she rotated back to doing the hops across the diagonal.  Teuscher never rotated anything close to 360 degrees.

I think there may be some Osipova haters on this site, but I agree with California.  Those were glory days.  An incredible era.

 

[Drew]

Osipova is the only ballerina I have ever seen do the 360 degree turn hopping on pointe in Giselle. I have seen a few ballerinas deftly turn towards Albrecht at moments as they hop across the stage and the best of them made it a loving gesture. (I remember McKerrow’s eyes meeting with Malakhov’s in particular.)

Osipova’s turn  while hopping—towards the end of the diagonal the two times I saw her add this— though obviously showier was also performed as an expression of Giselle’s sheer love of dancing. So it worked with her characterization and didn’t seem like a mere trick, though it is hard to describe without making it sound like one.

 

[MoMo]

25 minutes ago, Drew said:

Osipova is the only ballerina I have ever seen do the 360 degree turn hopping on pointe in Giselle. I have seen a few ballerinas deftly turn towards Albrecht at moments as they hop across the stage and the best of them made it a loving gesture. (I remember McKerrow’s eyes meeting with Malakhov’s in particular.)

Osipova’s turn  while hopping—towards the end of the diagonal the two times I saw her add this— though obviously showier was also performed as an expression of Giselle’s sheer love of dancing. So it worked with her characterization and didn’t seem like a mere trick, though it is hard to describe without making it sound like one.

 

I don’t think it is fair to compare someone’s performance to someone else , no matter how good that performance was.I have seen many performances in 40 years of supporting ABT. I never compare today’s dancers with what I have seen before.