ABT Fall 2024 Season

[ABT Fan]

Cornejo is auctioning off costumes, shoes, Fall season tickets, props, etc to fund his latest project. If you have deep pockets, check it out. His Spectre costume is at 10k!
 

https://www.instagram.com/animaanimalofficial?igsh=ZnZvaGtsdGN3YXU1

[matilda]

Sales for the weekend shows with Shades and In the Upper Room are comparable to a similar mixed-rep program at NYCB these days. Not so bad. Although I remember the fourth ring definitely being open the last time Upper Room came around, in 2018 or so. That program included two subpar premieres and people still showed up. Not sure where ABT's audiences have gone. It was nice that the company programmed three weeks this fall instead of two, but that may not happen again. 

[volcanohunter]

50 minutes ago, matilda said:

Although I remember the fourth ring definitely being open the last time Upper Room came around, in 2018 or so. That program included two subpar premieres and people still showed up. Not sure where ABT's audiences have gone.

The Covid-19 shutdown happened in between, and perhaps ABT has been unable to recover all of its pre-pandemic audience. When the National Endowment for the Arts released its survey of audience participation for 2021-22, it showed that some art forms had lost half or more of their audience. My experience in the audience suggests that things have picked up since then, but perhaps not for everyone. (Or maybe my impressions have been colored by the practice of not opening upper sections of theaters until the ones below are filled.)

 

Edited October 22 by volcanohunter

[angelica]

1 hour ago, volcanohunter said:

 

 

 

Sorry, please help get rid of the above, which was inadvertently copied by angelica.

"Not sure where ABT's audiences have gone."

I can tell you where this once-very-active audience member has gone: I live in Westchester and have to take a train and two subways to ge to Lincoln Center. I am now, after attending many many ballet performances in my life, 80 years old, with back pain that has caused me to be housebound for the last few years. Two surgeries did nothing to help. I just got a new procedure, and if that works the first place I will go is to an ABT performance. But right now it is difficult for me to go from one room to another in my house. I read on this board almost daily, and remember with joy and now envy, the amazing dancers in ABT. In the 70s, when I lived in Indiana for a decade, I used to gather all the children (mostly girls, but my own two boys as well) on my block and we would sit around my TV and watch Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts. Maybe there are more like me out there.  Sigh.

[Barbara]

Angelica, I have a similar story as to where this audience member has gone. Pre-pandemic I was a much more active attendee at both ABT and NYCB. We downsized and moved farther upstate to northern Dutchess County. I probably take the same train and two subways that you do. It takes me 2.5 hrs one way and of course I’m 4 yrs older, now 77, and that trip can be exhausting. So I find myself only attending performances I know I will absolutely love and skipping new offerings that in the past I might have tried just because they sounded interesting. Also matinees are much easier for me now so I can no longer pick performances by cast.  So I too read all of the Ballet Alert comments with envy. 

[abatt]

I think at ABT attendance has dropped because the quality of the dancers is generally much lower than during prior periods in its history.  Just my two cents, but I see regular sell outs at Carnegie Hall and the NY Phil when they have artists/conductors/ soloists that people are excited to see.   People came out to see Carreno, Corella, Vishneva and so on.  Nobody is rushing out to see Boylston, Whiteside and Forster, to name a few. 

 

 

[matilda]

I'm not sure if a classical music comparison is fair. Concerts in general are more popular than other performing arts, and anyone anywhere can get exposed to a big star like Yuja Wang via an iTunes or Spotify account. Plus, stars like her often play only one standalone performance at Carnegie Hall. Ballet dancers don't have the same public reach despite their best efforts on social media. 

ABT's roster might have been more exciting in the '70s through the aughts, but the careers of Corella etc. also coincided with an era of more mainstream ballet popularity. NYCB frequently gets lavish praise on this forum for their abundance of talent, including big names like Tiler Peck, but you don't see full houses every night there either.

I do admire Jaffe's efforts to turn things around, even if I've questioned some of her choices. I just hope New York will be able to sustain two major ballet companies in the long run. 

[nysusan]

29 minutes ago, abatt said:

People came out to see Carreno, Corella, Vishneva and so on.  Nobody is rushing out to see Boylston, Whiteside and Forster, to name a few.

 

Nobody is rushing out to see Ahn, Stearns, Shevchenko or Teuscher either. They may all be competent, even good dancers but none are great. They're not exciting, I haven't seen even one revelatory performance from any of them. Back in the day I wouldn't even consider scheduling a vacation until ABT's spring casting came out because a Vishneva/Gomes Giselle was unmissable, as was a Part/Gomes Swan Lake. The current rep has put me off, too.

 

To their credit ABT has recently started developing and hiring some exciting dancers - Bell, Camargo, Roxander, Miyake, Misseldine and Hurlin. Curley has also been impressive. Time will tell how they develop but the rest of their principals are just mediocre. I have seen one great performance from Brandt, the rest have been just good. Trenary is great in contemporary works but I want to see Petipa from ABT.

 

I used to see 18-20 performances during each Met season, now I'm down to 8 and I may go down to 4 soon. I've similarly cut back on the fall season, though I'm going to more this season because of Shades, BI and Etudes. But generally speaking, my ABT attendance is way down. Instead I'm going to see NYCB way more than I used to and traveling to see companies like MCB and Philadelphia bellet.

[ABT Fan]

53 minutes ago, abatt said:

I think at ABT attendance has dropped because the quality of the dancers is generally much lower than during prior periods in its history.  Just my two cents, but I see regular sell outs at Carnegie Hall and the NY Phil when they have artists/conductors/ soloists that people are excited to see.   People came out to see Carreno, Corella, Vishneva and so on.  Nobody is rushing out to see Boylston, Whiteside and Forster, to name a few. 

 

 

 

17 minutes ago, nysusan said:

 

Nobody is rushing out to see Ahn, Stearns, Shevchenko or Teuscher either. They may all be competent, even good dancers but none are great. They're not exciting, I haven't seen even one revelatory performance from any of them. Back in the day I wouldn't even consider scheduling a vacation until ABT's spring casting came out because a Vishneva/Gomes Giselle was unmissable, as was a Part/Gomes Swan Lake. The current rep has put me off, too.

 

To their credit ABT has recently started developing and hiring some exciting dancers - Bell, Camargo, Roxander, Miyake, Misseldine and Hurlin. Curley has also been impressive. Time will tell how they develop but the rest of their principals are just mediocre. I have seen one great performance from Brandt, the rest have been just good. Trenary is great in contemporary works but I want to see Petipa from ABT.

 

I used to see 18-20 performances during each Met season, now I'm down to 8 and I may go down to 4 soon. I've similarly cut back on the fall season, though I'm going to more this season because of Shades, BI and Etudes. But generally speaking, my ABT attendance is way down. Instead I'm going to see NYCB way more than I used to and traveling to see companies like MCB and Philadelphia bellet.

I agree with you both. I would plan my time off around who was dancing what - I even took a vacation day or two when Lane got the Wednesday afternoon Giselle’s. Her shows were a non-negotiable could not miss. 

We (me) have discussed this ad nauseam, but McKenzie is to blame for much of this. We will never know, but I’ve wondered if someone like Forster, whom I very much like and who has the physique and dramatic ability, was given opps way sooner than he was if he could have developed into a bigger draw. I thought of this last week: if McKenzie was still in charge, we would NOT be seeing Curley, Robare, Miyake, Fleytoux, and possibly not even Park, Roxander or Misseldine get these plum opportunities. If he even programmed Etudes (most likely not) we would have seen the same principals we lament muddle through. Change takes time and I applaud Jaffe for pushing the current young crop of dancers and improving the repertoire. I don’t agree with everything she’s doing (not giving Bell a Solor is a huge mistake, imo) but I think we’re on the right track. I really hope the youngin’s we’re seeing continue to develop and surprise us, and I also hope that Jaffe makes some hard and uncomfortable decisions to let some of those aging principals go by the end of this season.

[abatt]

Since McKenzie was the architect of hiring people like Corella, Carreno and Vishneva, I think we have to point out that he was responsible for great hires during his tenure.  These were dancers of international caliber who were regular full time dancers at ABT for many years.  They were not guest artists, even though they also had employment elsewhere.  McKenzie recruited these incredible dancers, and ABT was the envy of the ballet world.  So how do we find ourselves in our current situation?  McKenzie was harshly criticized that he was ignoring his house dancers, and so instead of continuing to recruit from an international star roster, he started to feature the ABT house dancers, many of whom came up through the ABT schooling system.  This is when things started going downhill, and the audiences started to abandon the ABT sinking ship. Maybe he thought that the Copeland effect could be sustained, but that was not the case.

I will further note that Carmago, who is widely praised, was an international hire who happened to come to ABT only because there was a season where Stearns and others were injured, so McKenzie needed to find a ready made star who could do leading danseur roles on short notice.

As for Forster, if he had significant talent he would have risen up just like Hallberg and Gomes within the company.  Even the much younger Bell, a rare wonderful find by McKenzie who did work his way up through the ABT schooling system, eclipsed Forster in getting lead roles.

On his way out the door, McKenzie did a mass promotion of many people, and now Jaffe is faced with the conundrum of how to proceed.  She is not like Corella, in terms of doing mass firings once it became legally possible to get rid of people when their contracts expired.  So she is doing the best she can with the pool of people who are there.  She has done a great job in creating excitement about Misseldine, and time will tell whether that pays dividends.  But Misseldine, Bell, Carmago and Hernandez cannot carry the burden of getting people into seats.

 

 

[angelica]

15 hours ago, Barbara said:

Angelica, I have a similar story as to where this audience member has gone. Pre-pandemic I was a much more active attendee at both ABT and NYCB. We downsized and moved farther upstate to northern Dutchess County. I probably take the same train and two subways that you do. It takes me 2.5 hrs one way and of course I’m 4 yrs older, now 77, and that trip can be exhausting. So I find myself only attending performances I know I will absolutely love and skipping new offerings that in the past I might have tried just because they sounded interesting. Also matinees are much easier for me now so I can no longer pick performances by cast.  So I too read all of the Ballet Alert comments with envy. 

We need a "like" button on this platform.

[ABT Fan]

39 minutes ago, abatt said:

Since McKenzie was the architect of hiring people like Corella, Carreno and Vishneva, I think we have to point out that he was responsible for great hires during his tenure.  These were dancers of international caliber who were regular full time dancers at ABT for many years.  They were not guest artists, even though they also had employment elsewhere.  McKenzie recruited these incredible dancers, and ABT was the envy of the ballet world.  So how do we find ourselves in our current situation?  McKenzie was harshly criticized that he was ignoring his house dancers, and so instead of continuing to recruit from an international star roster, he started to feature the ABT house dancers, many of whom came up through the ABT schooling system.  This is when things started going downhill, and the audiences started to abandon the ABT sinking ship. Maybe he thought that the Copeland effect could be sustained, but that was not the case.

I will further note that Carmago, who is widely praised, was an international hire who happened to come to ABT only because there was a season where Stearns and others were injured, so McKenzie needed to find a ready made star who could do leading danseur roles on short notice.

As for Forster, if he had significant talent he would have risen up just like Hallberg and Gomes within the company.  Even the much younger Bell, a rare wonderful find by McKenzie who did work his way up through the ABT schooling system, eclipsed Forster in getting lead roles.

On his way out the door, McKenzie did a mass promotion of many people, and now Jaffe is faced with the conundrum of how to proceed.  She is not like Corella, in terms of doing mass firings once it became legally possible to get rid of people when their contracts expired.  So she is doing the best she can with the pool of people who are there.  She has done a great job in creating excitement about Misseldine, and time will tell whether that pays dividends.  But Misseldine, Bell, Carmago and Hernandez cannot carry the burden of getting people into seats.

 

 

Yes, McKenzie hired some great guest artists but few of them were full time dancers besides the Met season. A few of them regularly cancelled (Osipova) and/or were injured frequently (Hallberg). As for his most recent hirings, Simkin was probably his best in terms of talent and Simkin’s ability/willingness to perform outside of the Met season. Cirio was another great hire, but was relegated to second-class even after his promotion to principal, infamously being cast in SL’s peasant pas de trois with Lane, another recently promoted principal. No wonder Cirio left after I believe only 3 years. Gomes was probably his most recent moves through the ranks principal, which ended abruptly as we all know, circumstances not fully released, but still under McKenzie. We don’t need to rehash the poor treatment/ignoring he did of Abrera  and Lane.

A few dancers he did acknowledge/develop (Bell, Hallberg…) but he still brought in wonderful, yet one and done guest artists like Zakharova. I think she technically joined as a company member, but did maybe 3 shows at the Met and left. Too many others were ignored. I disagree about Forster - I don’t know if he could have risen further with his talents now, but he along with others were perpetually relegated to the equivalent of peasant pas for many years. McKenzie only made room for one or two home grown players. When Forster was finally acknowledged, after his successful debut as the the lead in Jane Eyre (I was there), he was literally thrown into all the leads for SL, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, and I forget what else. That’s not developing talent by waiting till the guest artists have aged out, or left on their own and THEN throwing everything at a dancer who is now middle aged. 

McKenzie’s mass promotion pool before he left gave us some of the principals that a lot of us are referring to. He also promoted Stearns years ago, and it’s rare that anyone here has any praise for him. 

It’s true that McKenzie did give us some wonderful dancers, who are long gone, but he also left us with a principal rank that he created, many of whom were promoted way too late or who should never been promoted at all.

Edited October 23 by ABT Fan

[abatt]

Young New Yorkers line up for ballet tickets as discounts for people under 30 spark Big Apple craze

Just as an FYI, New York City ballet is filling empty seats by giving steep discounts to younger people in the hope of developing new audiences.  I assume ABT is doing the same.  The question is whether any of these young people will buy regular priced tickets once they age out of the discount program. 

Edited October 23 by abatt

[abatt]

Many of ABT's artists were not guests.  Bocca, Corella, Ferri, Ananiashvilli, Vishneva, Carreno, Malakhov to name a few were regulars who danced with the company for  many years and danced every week during the 8 week Met season.  Most of them also appeared on tour with the company as well.   

[FauxPas]

Those changes and the sudden pushing forward of Miyake, Robare and Curley are much needed.  The male principal roster is aging out and the newer men are underwhelming except for Aran Bell who has been injured a lot.

Jaffe needs to do some desperately needed house cleaning and also needs to start pushing some out and other people forward - Robare and Miyake were a great start.  Let's see Elisabeth Beyer now in some solos - any others you recommend?

Also, Robare, Miyake and especially Curley need to be given big opportunities in the Met season as well - Siegfried and maybe Albrecht for Curley, Miyake and Robare for Mercutio and other roles including the pas de trois and peasant pas de deux assignments.

Also, I remember last year attending a Fall Season program with Ballet Imperial and The Dream - the place was packed and they opened up the Fourth Ring.  Can't explain the drop off this year.

Also, McKenzie brought in some new people who didn't stay - Jeffrey Cirio as mentioned but also Polina Semionova who was getting popular but returned to Europe,  Also Alban Lendorf who was sort of permanently injured and canceling constantly.  Alina Cojocaru was guesting a lot but was recovering from a lot of injuries and was dropped.  She is much more reliable now but is over 40 and ABT isn't interested even for a guesting spot.  She looked wonderful with Angel Corella and would have been a great hire had she not been so fragile.  There were others.  

 

Edited October 23 by FauxPas

[MarzipanShepherdess]

1 hour ago, abatt said:

Young New Yorkers line up for ballet tickets as discounts for people under 30 spark Big Apple craze

Just as an FYI, New York City ballet is filling empty seats by giving steep discounts to younger people in the hope of developing new audiences.  I assume ABT is doing the same.  The question is whether any of these young people will buy regular priced tickets once they age out of the discount program. 

This (no longer so young!) person did. I started attending ABT and city ballet via their respective under 30 discount programs, having had no prior exposure to ballet and just being curious. The discounts enabled me to see a lot of performances and really fall in love with both companies. Almost twenty years later I still attend regularly at rack rate and have become a donor. 
 

 the discounts also encourage young people to invite friends. Not every friend I went to the ballet with discount tickets with still goes but some do, regularly. 

[Olga]

I was not able to post a link, but there is a May 2024 AP article discussing the factors contributing to City Ballet’s younger audience. It is titled

“At 75, NYC Ballet is getting older. Its audience is skewing younger, and that’s the plan.”

You should be able to google it. It has some interesting statistics and other points.

 

 

[bingham]

1 hour ago, MarzipanShepherdess said:

This (no longer so young!) person did. I started attending ABT and city ballet via their respective under 30 discount programs, having had no prior exposure to ballet and just being curious. The discounts enabled me to see a lot of performances and really fall in love with both companies. Almost twenty years later I still attend regularly at rack rate and have become a donor. 
 

 the discounts also encourage young people to invite friends. Not every friend I went to the ballet with discount tickets with still goes but some do, regularly. 

Ji

 

1 hour ago, FauxPas said:

Those changes and the sudden pushing forward of Miyake, Robare and Curley are much needed.  The male principal roster is aging out and the newer men are underwhelming except for Aran Bell who has been injured a lot.

Jaffe needs to do some desperately needed house cleaning and also needs to start pushing some out and other people forward - Robare and Miyake were a great start.  Let's see Elisabeth Beyer now in some solos - any others you recommend?

Also, Robare, Miyake and especially Curley need to be given big opportunities in the Met season as well - Siegfried and maybe Albrecht for Curley, Miyake and Robare for Mercutio and other roles including the pas de trois and peasant pas de deux assignments.

Also, I remember last year attending a Fall Season program with Ballet Imperial and The Dream - the place was packed and they opened up the Fourth Ring.  Can't explain the drop off this year.

Also, McKenzie brought in some new people who didn't stay - Jeffrey Cirio as mentioned but also Polina Semionova who was getting popular but returned to Europe,  Also Alban Lendorf who was sort of permanently injured and canceling constantly.  Alina Cojocaru was guesting a lot but was recovering from a lot of injuries and was dropped.  She is much more reliable now but is over 40 and ABT isn't interested even for a guesting spot.  She looked wonderful with Angel Corella and would have been a great hire had she not been so fragile.  There were others.  

 

Actually, there are no more must-see ballet superstars anymore . Even in Europe  there is no one that would be like Diana etc. Maybe, Osipova is still a sure-sell in the Royal  Ballet but is often injured.  Can anyone think of someone who could be considered a superstar?

[nysusan]

25 minutes ago, bingham said:

Ji

 

Actually, there are no more must-see ballet superstars anymore . Even in Europe  there is no one that would be like Diana etc. Maybe, Osipova is still a sure-sell in the Royal  Ballet but is often injured.  Can anyone think of someone who could be considered a superstar?

Osipova, Smirnova and Nunez for sure. Cojocaru is still dancing and still getting great reviews. I wish Simkin would come back and I'd love to see Friedmann Vogel - but not sure if he'd be a big draw for the main ballet going public.There are several Mariinsky & Bolshoi dancers but we're not going to see them here anytime soon.

[choriamb]

ABT has had a $30 under 30 program for a few years (but I don't feel that they've promoted it successfully on social media recently).

I thought McKenzie made the best of the bad hand that ABT was dealt when an unexpectedly large group of stars stopped being available in short order (Corella, Ferri, Ananiashvilli, Hallberg) and then the mid-career stars (Osipova, Vasiliev, Semionova, Lendorf, etc.) hired to replace them all left equally unexpectedly. He focused on laying the groundwork for the dancers 6-10 years out.

Personally, I don't think anyone at the company expected Abrera, Copeland, Lane, Teuscher, Shevchenko, or Forster to become legends like Murphy or Gomes:  all began dancing principal roles regularly well past the age when they'd be realistically be able to artistically refine and perform the great roles long enough to become legendary. In my view, they were all at least partly promoted to play a utility position...to provide stabilizing stage experience and to help partner and reboot the company's homegrown dancer pipeline. That some of those dancers have at times been able to transcend that role is just icing. (Shevchenko, in particular, has managed some major artistic statements.)

I think that high expectations start with Brandt, Trenary, Bell, Hurlin, and everyone younger:  the ones who started dancing principal roles and guesting internationally regularly in their 20s. And I'm satisfied with how those expectations are being met.

To my mind, every season since COVID has gotten better.  Homegrown dancers being groomed into principal roles at progressively younger ages and they're increasingly exciting because they're dancing major roles while they still have firepower and have a longer runway to develop artistically.

Edited October 23 by choriamb

[choriamb]

On 10/21/2024 at 9:32 AM, ABT Fan said:

Yes they update the casting on their site, but not if the change is made last minute, like what happened with Hurlin and Whiteside this weekend. As of right now, they’re both still listed for this week’s shows. 

Thanks for this:  they just updated the cast lists. Hurlin's been replaced by Boylston in the Gala Don Q but is still cast in Neo on both Friday/Saturday. Shevchenko/Royal are now leading Ballet Imperial on Friday. (Whiteside's still shown for the contemporary piece in the gala, but presumably BI was more intensive.)

[ABT Fan]

1 hour ago, choriamb said:

Thanks for this:  they just updated the cast lists. Hurlin's been replaced by Boylston in the Gala Don Q but is still cast in Neo on both Friday/Saturday. Shevchenko/Royal are now leading Ballet Imperial on Friday. (Whiteside's still shown for the contemporary piece in the gala, but presumably BI was more intensive.)

Oh boy. I guess Children’s songs isn’t that taxing. 

Someone up thread wrote that Curley should start getting Siegfried- couldn’t agree more. And, Roxander is also ready for a lead. Basilio would be my choice. I’m hoping for a Don Q return next summer.

[balletlover08]

6 hours ago, abatt said:

Young New Yorkers line up for ballet tickets as discounts for people under 30 spark Big Apple craze

Just as an FYI, New York City ballet is filling empty seats by giving steep discounts to younger people in the hope of developing new audiences.  I assume ABT is doing the same.  The question is whether any of these young people will buy regular priced tickets once they age out of the discount program. 

As a young person (though not in NYC) who just turned 30 I feel like there is a desire for young people to go to ballet. It is certainly easier for me to convince my friends to come with me to a ballet than to a classical music concert. Every time I have mentioned ballet in passing to a friend almost everyone says they would love to go but what's the plot of swan lake? What company is it? Would they ever go to the ballet on their own? Probably not, but I certainly did drag several friends with me to see Swan Lake on tour. I'm trying to get a few that would want to come to NYC with me to watch ABT or NYCB. Since these people know nothing, any show is probably a good starting point from them. I usually recommend the Nutcracker during the holiday season or Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty or Romeo and Juliet to watch in person. I think if tickets are kept under $100 for the balconies, young people will come especially if it's seen as a special and unique night getting dressed up in "ballet aesthetic" or whatever. 

And I'll be honest, I started following ballet from the YAGP - Prix de Lausanne - Vaganova videos - all ballet through YouTube pipeline. I follow several ballet dancers on TikTok and they are definitely getting views and young people are expressing a desire to go to the ballet after watching the videos. I feel like a lot of people especially in the US are not educated on ballet so you gotta get them in the door if you want them to come. I think you just have to market to them differently than you would do the older generation who know and love ballet. 

Edited October 23 by balletlover08

[AB'sMom]

Dutch National Ballet does something interesting called FlirtXL. For some ballets and operas they do a full dress rehearsal the night before opening night and sell tickets for €10, but only to people between the ages of 16 and 30 (meaning us older folks can’t come at any price). So the entire place is filled with young people having a night out together. It always sells out.

Edited October 23 by AB'sMom
Clarity

[ABT Fan]

50 minutes ago, AB'sMom said:

Dutch National Ballet does something interesting called FlirtXL. For some ballets and operas they do a full dress rehearsal the night before opening night and sell tickets for €10, but only to people between the ages of 16 and 30 (meaning us older folks can’t come at any price). So the entire place is filled with young people having a night out together. It always sells out.

That's a brilliant idea.