cobweb Posted June 7 Share Posted June 7 Looking forward to attending the matinee tomorrow and hearing others' reports! Link to comment
cobweb Posted June 9 Author Share Posted June 9 There were some outstanding performances at the SAB Workshop this afternoon. Beautiful performance of Serenade, danced with a clarity that showed me things I've never noticed before. Also loved the rousing 3rd movement of Tchaikovsky PC #2 -- can't wait to see the entire thing in the Fall! I don't love Scenes de Ballet as much, but it's great to show off students of different ages, and everyone looked wonderful. I thought all of the featured soloists looked ready to join NYCB or another professional company. I can't wait to hear who the new apprentices will be. One thing I noticed, not in a good way, was the acoustics at the Peter Jay Sharp Theatre -- there was quite a racket from pointe shoes, and the music sounded somewhat tinny. But all in all, after missing last year's workshop because of a family graduation that conflicted, I enjoyed returning to this fun, festive event. Link to comment
BalanchineFan Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 I was there Saturday evening and I heartily agree with everything you said @cobweb ! According to the program, Becket Jones, Alexander Perone and Kylie Williams will begin apprenticeships at NYCB this summer. Becket danced a lead in Serenade, I think the role is Dark Angel. Alexander danced the ppd in Scenes but not the evening I was there. You may have seen him, @cobweb (a SAB employee sat behind me that evening and said one page of the program had the afternoon's cast listed). They were all Mae L Wein awardees and so had bios in the program. I’ve heard there may be more dancers who have NYCB apprenticeships but nothing in official, forward facing media. Other students were invited into Carolina Ballet and Ballet West 2. Others are going to Columbia University, Fordham and other colleges. It was a fun, celebratory evening with beautiful ballets amd LOADS of young talent. Link to comment
cobweb Posted June 9 Author Share Posted June 9 At the matinee Becket Jones did the soloist role in TPC2 and looked wonderful. The Dark Angel I saw was (I think) Kylie Vernia, who I liked a lot. But she is not in the capstone class, so maybe she has another year and could be an apprentice then. Alexander Perone was in both Serenade and Scenes de Ballet and looked good in both. I don't believe I saw Kylie Williams at all at the matinee. There is a lot of talent there. I was also impressed with how good the Children's Division dancers were. It must be tough making the decisions as to who gets to progress into the advanced division! Link to comment
BalanchineFan Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 (edited) I was at the rehearsal for Workshop on Friday and I think Kylie Vernia danced Dark Angel then, too. She's tall, long limbed and has auburn hair parted in the middle - does that describe the dancer you saw? Becket Jones danced the soloist in TPC2 then, which makes me think it was the same cast you saw. Becket is easy to identify with her pale blonde hair. Very strong technically. She does a nice series of fouettés in Serenade. The dancers are so good. I still have my programs from other workshops and a lot of talent, even dancers NYCB hires for apprenticeships, is in the corps de ballet of these programs. Kylie Williams looks to be of Asian descent, perhaps Chinese. She may have danced Russian Girl at the rehearsal, but there was no program. That dancer was excellent. Great jump, quite musical. Edit: I now believe it was Jaiya Chandra. Serenade seems particularly well chosen for them. So many women's parts, so many small solo and duet moments. It was originally choreographed on students in a similar stage of life. Edited June 11 by BalanchineFan corrections Link to comment
abatt Posted June 9 Share Posted June 9 Watch a Sisterhood of Budding Ballerinas - The New York Times (nytimes.com) This is from the NYTimes Speaking in Dance. Is Kylie Williams that woman in the center of 5 dancers depicted in this video? Link to comment
cobweb Posted June 10 Author Share Posted June 10 Piecing together what I can, it seems that at the matinee performance of Serenade, Russian Girl was Jaya Chandra, Waltz Girl was Maya Milic, and Dark Angel was Kylie Vernia (if someone has better info, please correct me!). In the clip from Speaking in Dance, the woman in the center could be Chandra, who was petite and dark-haired. I would add, she also looked wonderfully crisp and fresh. I was looking over our BA comments from past years' workshops and noting who the apprentices were. Surprised to realize how many of those who get apprenticeships, don't necessarily move on to the corps (or if they do, don't stay long). There's also the surprise that some of those who make a big splash at the workshop don't always progress quickly, or even at all, once in the company. (Of course, some do blaze their way as predicted.) Obviously, there are many factors at play that make predictions hard. Link to comment
piquearabesque Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 (edited) @abatt The dancer in the middle in the NYTimes piece is Jaiya Chandra, not Kylie Williams. Chandra was Russian Girl in the Saturday matinee cast. I believe Kylie Williams will be performing the Russian Girl role at the benefit performance on Tuesday. Edited June 10 by piquearabesque Link to comment
nanushka Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 (edited) Marina Harss has a nice write-up on her Substack. It sounds like all four pieces were well-executed by some very promising dancers. Edited June 13 by nanushka Link to comment
BalanchineFan Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 This may be helpful for those trying to identify particular dancers. It's an SAB story highlighting the Capstone (graduating) class of 2024. https://www.instagram.com/stories/sab_nyc/3389582070919511128/ Link to comment
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