ABt Onegin Met 2024

[matilda]

I only noticed one awkward partnering moment in Chloe's Titania debut: the pose early in the bedroom pas where she lays belly-down on Onegin's back. They struggled to hit the position but then fixed it pretty fast. 

Regarding her height, maybe she grew two inches since telling other media outlets she was 5'7 a few years ago. 

Nice to see her get an NYT profile after Mira Nadon's glowing article in May. I see them as having almost parallel trajectories at their respective companies. They also have a similar look. 

Edited July 2 by matilda

[stuben]

31 minutes ago, abatt said:

At American Ballet Theater, a New Swan Takes Flight - The New York Times (nytimes.com)   According to this article, Chloe is actually 5 ft 9 inches.  Chloe mentions the partnering difficulties of Onegin, which to me seems like an indirect critique of her partner Forster.  Maybe that was not her  intent.  The problem is that Jaffe decided to cast a Tatiana who was way too tall.  I  feel similarly about Devon, and have to wonder how Carmago could have handled such a tall partner in this ballet.

Interesting article and thank you for sharing. Feels like a PR article for Susan and her protégé, and interesting to know her background and connection with the company through her mother and wondering here if others who have just as much "talent" past, and present would have been afforded such notice and training without the connection?! Having followed many dancers throughout their careers, I have seen them come and go without any such "coaching". Plus, I too wonder if some of the comments are "excuses" such as the indirect critique of her own partner! I recall when Devon started she had to move through the ranks with years of dancing Myrtha before she was even given the chance of Giselle! Believe me when I say that I do understand "talent" and to be used immediately, however, many of those who has "talent" were never given the opportunities as I see Misseldine has. 

[abatt]

5 minutes ago, stuben said:

Interesting article and thank you for sharing. Feels like a PR article for Susan and her protégé, and interesting to know her background and connection with the company through her mother and wondering here if others who have just as much "talent" past, and present would have been afforded such notice and training without the connection?! Having followed many dancers throughout their careers, I have seen them come and go without any such "coaching". Plus, I too wonder if some of the comments are "excuses" such as the indirect critique of her own partner! I recall when Devon started she had to move through the ranks with years of dancing Myrtha before she was even given the chance of Giselle! Believe me when I say that I do understand "talent" and to be used immediately, however, many of those who has "talent" were never given the opportunities as I see Misseldine has. 

Have to agree.  Jury is still very much out on Misseldine's level of talent.  I think tomorrow's SL will be very telling.  Chloe is ballet's version of a "Nepo Baby".  This seemed more like a fluff piece than an assessment of her  talents.  How does the author know her KC debut in SL was a triumph?  Did she see the performance?  Seems like an overblown proclamation. We shall see what takes place tomorrow afternoon.   I hope she is triumphant, since ABT really needs an injection of hope for the future.

[stuben]

15 minutes ago, abatt said:

Have to agree.  Jury is still very much out on Misseldine's level of talent.  I think tomorrow's SL will be very telling.  Chloe is ballet's version of a "Nepo Baby".  This seemed more like a fluff piece than an assessment of her  talents.  How does the author know her KC debut in SL was a triumph?  Did she see the performance?  Seems like an overblown proclamation. We shall see what takes place tomorrow afternoon.   I hope she is triumphant, since ABT really needs an injection of hope for the future.

Nepo Baby 😄 Never thought of that but agree, seems like a case of such, and definitely see a fluff storyline too!

[nanushka]

15 minutes ago, stuben said:

Nepo Baby 😄 Never thought of that but agree, seems like a case of such, and definitely see a fluff storyline too!

Not arguing, but was her mother that significant or prominent/successful  of an ABT dancer or personality to really justify the term? (I don't think I'd heard of her before Chloe came on the scene — but I wasn't following the company anytime before the 00s.)

if it were more about great genes and strong coaching/motivation from mom (with lots of hard work by Chloe herself), I wouldn’t think of that as a “nepo baby” case.

Edited July 2 by nanushka

[abatt]

Her mother only rose to soloist, but now works for both the ABT Studio Company and the JKO School.  Her mother was in the company at the same time as Jaffe, from what I recall. 

I don't mind that she gets extra coaching from mom.   Brandt also got extra private coaching from Irina, and that was part of how she ended up getting lead roles. 

So far the best thing I've seen Chloe in is Love & War.  I did not think her Myrta was especially wonderful.  Actually, the best Myrta at ABT in my personal memory is Murphy.  Nor did I think her Tatiana was memorable.  How to explain her ascendence to the jewel of the classical crown - Swan Lake - at this juncture.  Again, tomorrow will be very telling. Wishing her a great success.

 

[ABT Fan]

Yan Chen (whom I adored) was a soloist for many years and she did some principal roles like Cinderella. To me, the term nepo baby means someone given an opportunity only because of who they’re related to. They don’t have the talent, or have very little, don’t put in the work, etc. That’s not what I see here. Misseldine is incredibly talented. She has a lot to learn and develop, like any young dancer, but her raw talent is there both in terms of technique and an artistic awareness far more mature than her years. Does she have what it takes to become a star for all the right reasons? I think so but we need to see a lot more. I’m also looking forward to seeing her O/O tomorrow. It will tell us a lot but not everything. Time will tell. And, I hope she’s not promoted to principal soon. We need to see more.

Also, if having a parent who was a former dancer in the company is all it takes to get big opportunities, then Hannah Marshall, who’s been in the corps since 2013, should be a principal by now. Her mother is Cheryl Yeager, former principal who was in the company when both McKenzie and Jaffe were still dancing themselves. The most Marshall has been given under both AD’s is 4 little swans; not even a demi soloist role.

[nanushka]

Just now, ABT Fan said:

That’s not what I see here. Misseldine is incredibly talented. She has a lot to learn and develop, like any young dancer, but her raw talent is there both in terms of technique and an artistic awareness far more mature than her years.

Yes, she comes across as very grounded, mature and self-knowing in that article. Her upbringing seems to have definitely helped her grow into her skills and temperament.

[abatt]

Park is very talented, and I wish she was given a chance at more roles.  She seems stuck, unfairly, in peasant pas land.

[Helene]

Ballet is, and always has been, full of dancer families.  It is a given in the major European and Russian companies.  Knowing the industry from the inside gives the children the opportunity to be more realistic.

Also having a parent who wasn’t a star, but who knows how to teach and coach is a major advantage, because they know how to focus, work, and communicate.  Sally Streets wasn’t a great dancer by usual measures of success.  Her daughter Kyra Nichols was, and her mother was responsible for giving her an exceptional foundational technique.  While not blood family, Fernando Bujones had a life-long coach who was part of his and his mother’s chosen family.  There were so many times in his career where she and his mother stopped him from making bad mistakes, which he describes in his memoir.

[abatt]

Jake Roxander and Roman Mejia are both from ballet families, but their success is based on stellar performances.  They have been breathtaking almost from the start.   I have yet to see that level of ability from Chloe.

[Drew]

I would consider it dereliction of duty if Jaffe were NOT striving hard both to develop Misseldine and to promote her in the public eye.

Nepo seems very unfair to me in this case but my main points have now been made by others. So I will just say regarding Teuscher (mentioned above) that she received opportunities early. I remember her dancing solos her first season in the company or very soon after.  But when she was emerging it was a different company under different leadership at a different time. Regarding her having to wait for Giselle: Cynthia Gregory and Martine Van Hamel were Willi queens, and widely admired principal ballerinas, who also had to wait for Giselle. As did Murphy.

I suspect many here can think of dancers they would like to see given some bigger chances at ABT today. I, too, would love to see Park given another meaty opportunity, but Jaffe’s interest in Misseldine (and earlier, Ratmansky’s) is no mystery. 

Is it risky to push her this hard this early? I guess we will find out—but it is not an unheard of way to develop talented dancers. And when the New York Times gives space to featuring rising young ballerinas at both NYCB and ABT and the articles are not just short pieces about their favorite smoothie or the last movie they saw, that’s very good news.

Edited July 2 by Drew

[MarzipanShepherdess]

 I agree with @Drew that Jaffe should be trying to promote Misseldine in the press: as things stand she seems to have the strongest case to be a rising star at ABT and ABT desperately needs to build interest in its next generation of dancers, with Copeland de facto retired and other popular favorites like Boylston and Whiteside in the autumn of their careers.   I don't think there's really a female equivalent at ABT to Roxander (or to Nadon or Mejia across the plaza a few years ago): young dancers who are inarguably stars while still in the corps. I think Zimmi Coker, Fanqi Li, Lea Fleytoux, and SunMi Park all seem very promising, alongside Chloe, but none seem to be undeniably destined for greatness at this point (which doesn't mean they all won't get there!)  Jaffe is working with what she's got.

Edited July 2 by MarzipanShepherdess
Adding Coker to my list of promising dancers

[matilda]

Park has gotten lead roles in Like Water for Chocolate and Nutcracker in the past year. I suspect she may be in the running for Giselle, Kitri, or Aurora when those ballets come back. 

[RUKen]

3 hours ago, abatt said:

 Chloe mentions the partnering difficulties of Onegin, which to me seems like an indirect critique of her partner Forster.  Maybe that was not her  intent.  

The article does not quote Chloe; it states:  There were props that distracted her; it was a matinee, and she felt rushed. There were partnering mishaps.

We don't know what was said; she may have accepted the blame for the partnering mishaps herself.  I saw the dress rehearsal.  After struggling a bit with the one lift in Act 1, Chloe and Thomas worked on it some more after the conclusion of that act, and again after finishing Act 2.  It's easy to imagine that anticipation of the lift could have remained a distraction that Thursday, and if it didn't go well, that it would have somewhat over-shadowed praise for her performance.

[ABT Fan]

2 hours ago, abatt said:

Park is very talented, and I wish she was given a chance at more roles.  She seems stuck, unfairly, in peasant pas land.

 

1 hour ago, matilda said:

Park has gotten lead roles in Like Water for Chocolate and Nutcracker in the past year. I suspect she may be in the running for Giselle, Kitri, or Aurora when those ballets come back. 

I disagree that Park is stuck in peasant pas land, as Matilda states she has gotten some lead opportunities. She also got Natalia in On the Dnipro last Fall. No debuts this Met season, but I think options were limited. I thought she would have been given an Olga, but in hindsight I agree with the casting. Brandt, Hurlin, and Trenary are principals in their prime who need roles to dance. And, Coker, a corps dancer for far too long, deserved that one Olga that she got (she was originally supposed to have two before the re-casting drama). 

I think the one thing that we all agree on is the lack of performing opportunities with this company. If the Met season was still 8 weeks, then giving Brandt/Hurlin/Trenary only one Olga, and letting Park, and say Fleytoux and another dancer debut that role as well, would have been more "fair" and logical since we'd have 3 more weeks of principal and soloist roles to go around with plenty of debuts in those roles. Remember when they did SL for I think 12 or 14 performances a few years ago? I'm not suggesting they do that again, but that gave dancers more than one shot and some others much needed debuts.

The fall season will be announced in a few short weeks and I'm hopeful it'll be another great season like last year with opportunities for some rising dancers. 

[ABT Fan]

Another thought - didn't (does?) NYCB have a dancer's performance or two where they'd somehow choose their own leads in certain ballets? I'd love that to happen at ABT.

I sincerely hope that Jaffe and the new ED are vigorously working on getting more performances on the books. At least one more week at the Met would make a difference. The fall season should be a month long. They need to tour more. And, a late winter/early spring season (maybe 2 weeks) would be great. I know there's been a lot of discussion around NY venues, so of course that's a big issue.

I'm still thinking of what could have happened if we had another week or so this year and could have added a few more SL's and/or a mixed bill. Even 3 more SL's: Trenary could get her O/O debut (I know many of us are on the fence about that, but I think she deserves a shot) with perhaps Curley, who deserves a Rothbart at this point. Roxander and Park could also pair up. Miyake could debut Benno (I'm hopeful he'll get one this week) with Beyer/Fleytoux in the peasant pas. 

I can dream.

[MarzipanShepherdess]

34 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

I think the one thing that we all agree on is the lack of performing opportunities with this company. “

100%. Despite my mixed feelings about Woolf Works and LWFC, one reason I’m glad to see them enter the rep is that they do offer some good roles for young dancers. Though she’s constrained by shorter seasons, I do think Jaffe is savvier than McKenzie about creating opportunities for the younger dancers to develop via the ballets she chooses to present. 

[abatt]

Interestingly, Paul Taylor dance company is appearing at the Koch for three weeks in the fall  instead of the usual two weeks.  This is per an email I received.  So why is it possible for Paul Taylor to add a week, whereas ABT is subtracting weeks from its past appearances.  Also, most weeks at the Met they are not even appearing on Mondays.  

Edited July 2 by abatt

[ABT Fan]

8 minutes ago, abatt said:

Interestingly, Paul Taylor dance company is appearing at the Koch for three weeks in the fall  instead of the usual two weeks.  This is per an email I received.  So why is it possible for Paul Taylor to add a week, whereas ABT is subtracting weeks from its past appearances.  Also, most weeks at the Met they are not even appearing on Mondays.  

Agree. If they performed on all of the Mondays, that extra R&J could have given Brandt/Roxander a debut.

[matilda]

I'm surprised about Taylor, since their Koch shows typically only have the orchestra and first ring open, and they offer incredible discounts on tickets. They must have a generous donor pool judging from the added performance week and the new space they're building. 

[volcanohunter]

8 hours ago, abatt said:

The problem is that Jaffe decided to cast a Tatiana who was way too tall.  I  feel similarly about Devon, and have to wonder how Carmago could have handled such a tall partner in this ballet.

Off the top of my head, the only other 5'9" Tatiana I can think of is Polina Semionova. Even 5'7" Tatianas I've seen were forced to modify the partnering: turning the lifts where Onegin holds Tatiana horizontally and level with his shoulders into more vertical chest-high lifts instead (which is what I think they were originally), and not lying down before the big jump off the floor in Act 3, but kneeling on one knee.

But it's not exclusively a question of size, it's also a matter of strength. When Roberto Bolle partnered 54-year-old Alessandra Ferri in 2017, she wasn’t jumping anymore, and it appeared that he was doing 90% of the partnering work.

"5 feet 9 inches — and over 6 feet on pointe..."

That has to be one of the most hackneyed phrases a dance writer is forced to write. Has no one come up with a different way of putting it?

Edited July 2 by volcanohunter
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