ABT Swan Lake Met 2024

[Fraildove]

Wow! Congratulations to her!

[jackie987]

16 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

The pas de trois, however, was not so wonderful. Frenette did have an energetic, clean manage of jetes but all of his landings following the tours were sloppy. Overall, his was a low key performance. Waski - what was that? None of her jumps left the ground, she completely fell out of her diagonal turns, fell off pointe repeatedly, lacked any energy. It was disastrous. Armstrong, was beautiful - give her more opportunities. Spritely, lovely facial expressions, strong and crisp technique.

The afternoon obviously belonged to Misseldine. She seemed truly overwhelmed during bows. I look forward to watching her bloom.

Agree that I am completely baffled by the pas de trois - I almost wonder if Waski got injured at some point and wasn't physically able to dance full out? But Armstrong more than made up for her partners and I agree that we need to see more of her.

Can't say enough about Misseldine - she emitted such grace and maturity for someone her age and I can't wait to see her in other principal roles.

[balletlover08]

1 minute ago, jackie987 said:

Agree that I am completely baffled by the pas de trois - I almost wonder if Waski got injured at some point and wasn't physically able to dance full out? But Armstrong more than made up for her partners and I agree that we need to see more of her.

Can't say enough about Misseldine - she emitted such grace and maturity for someone her age and I can't wait to see her in other principal roles.

I saw Paulina, Sierra and I believe Kento at Kennedy Center in February and I said almost word for word the same exact thing. So maybe a longer term injury that's plaguing her? She just doesn't have any energy when dancing. Even if the jumps are not getting off the floor energy can make up for a lot of that. Sierra Armstrong really carried the PDT when I saw it also. 

And yay, so so happy for Chloe! I've been a long time fan of hers (since her Prix days) and I love that they are doing on stage promotions to principal again. It really brings a certain level of excitement that you don't get with studio promotions. 

[ABT Fan]

Also, did anyone else see Allegra Kent in the front of the orchestra talking to Max B? Or did my eyes deceive me?

Added: if Waski is injured, then don’t put her onstage. It was embarrassing. Plenty of other options: Beyer, Fletoux, etc.

Edited July 3 by ABT Fan

[matilda]

What a performance! I felt the same way about Misseldine's Swan Lake today as I did with Skylar Brandt's Giselle debut. She was born to dance this. Not much to add to the above, but I loved the flourishes she added: like the way her knee lingered just a little bit in passé in Odette's diagonal turns, and adding extra rotations in Odile's variation and in the black swan pas. She pulled off the fouettés with aplomb until that tiny stumble at the end, which I hope she's not too upset about. 

I remember seeing Bell's debut in this opposite Teuscher around 2019 and my has he grown into an attentive partner and convincing actor in addition to a confident solo dancer! Such clean landings and finishes, and his dive into the lake looked about 20 feet high. 

Markey was great as Purple Von Rothbart with obvious dramatic skill and a command of the stage. Would love to see him take on more.

Waski wasn't just having an off-performance. She was similar as a Don Quixote flower girl two whole years ago. Reports of her PdT last year were similar, if I remember correctly. It baffles me that she continues to get such big roles. Why not give an underused corps dancer this part? Or give SunMi Park an extra performance? It couldn't have been much worse. Armstrong looked great though. Kento Sumitani was originally supposed to dance Benno but Frenette replaced him and was pretty good other than a couple faulty landings. 

I always find the nationality dances completely forgettable in this production. Gonzalez and Melovi were ok in the Neopolitan but this wasn't really the crowd-pleasing moment it tends to be.  

Edited July 3 by matilda

[fondoffouettes]

Misseldine was extraordinary this afternoon. I went in with very high expectations, and she exceeded them. I've been wanting for so long for an ABT ballerina to really make me feel something again in the role of O/O (ever since Part's departure), and today that finally happened. My heart was in my throat when Misseldine danced Act II, and the adrenaline was racing through me during the Act III pas de deux, the adagio of which may be one of the finest I've ever seen. Her dramatic choices and use of her arms and hands throughout were extraordinary. Based on my taste in what I like to see in an O/O, Misseldine was the most compelling dancer I've seen in the role since Part and Ananiashvili. I should add that I was also struck by Misseldine's ability to make so much of moments that were quiet or still, or nearly still. Nothing was overdone, but every detail was so well-considered.

Bell was every inch a prince, and I loved how he added some personal twists to his various variations. I love just looking at his arabesque. His leap off the cliff at the end was SO beautiful. He was like a crescent moon soaring across the sky. WOW. 

Markey is the best Purple Rothbart I've seen since they've started casting the role seemingly exclusively with soloists and corps members. He commanded the stage and had flair to spare. I'd love to see more of him.

Waski was a train wreck in the pas de trois back in 2022 when she'd just returned to ABT from Boston Ballet. Back then, she similarly fell out of turns and had zero ballon. Some on this forum attributed it to possible exhaustion from her marathon run of performances at Boston Ballet and then ABT. Then she was terrible again in 2023. Today's performance was much the same, perhaps even worse. The final supported pirouette was awful, with her falling off point and being awkwardly manipulated by Frenette. In that little section toward the beginning of Act III, she fell off pointe in every pirouette she attempted (there are at least three). It baffles me that she's cast in this role.

@ABT Fan, I've never seen an onstage promotion at ABT! I unfortunately had to leave before the page bows. Can you describe more how it happened? Did Jaffe come out with a microphone?

Edited July 3 by fondoffouettes

[aurora]

6 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

 

@ABT Fan, I've never seen an onstage promotion at ABT! I unfortunately had to leave before the page bows. Can you describe more how it happened? Did Jaffe come out with a microphone?

She did indeed!

[Frmrdncr614]

47 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

Still in shock over Misseldine’s promotion. Doing it onstage was certainly exciting and Bell was so gracious during the page bows - he left so she could soak up the deserved applause!

For the performance, I thought it was a stupendous debut. Misseldine was more the frightened and timid swan at the beginning than most dancers and it was beautiful. She made lovely use of her head, neck, and shoulders to convey fear and sadness. Absolutely beautiful port de bras, lines, and arabesques though she needs to not drop her head so low on the supported penches. She did struggle on one arabesque to maintain her balance but she saved it. Her transition to Odile was exquisite- here she was seductive, sly, and flirtatious. Fouettés started off strong with some doubles but she lost speed and the ending was fumbled. But the rest of her Odile finished strong.

Bell was his usual gorgeous , princely self. There aren’t enough adjectives to heap onto him. So much emotion. Exemplary control during his solos, clean landings, strong and secure partnering. A true prince.

Markey gave a very powerful interpretation of PVR in his debut. Clean, controlled technique. More of him please. 

The pas de trois, however, was not so wonderful. Frenette did have an energetic, clean manage of jetes but all of his landings following the tours were sloppy. Overall, his was a low key performance. Waski - what was that? None of her jumps left the ground, she completely fell out of her diagonal turns, fell off pointe repeatedly, lacked any energy. It was disastrous. Armstrong, was beautiful - give her more opportunities. Spritely, lovely facial expressions, strong and crisp technique.

The afternoon obviously belonged to Misseldine. She seemed truly overwhelmed during bows. I look forward to watching her bloom.

You took the words out of my mouth.  So happy for Chloe!!!!!!!!!!!!   Well deserved!!!
 

On an unfortunate note - someone please shed some light about Waski.  It was uncomfortably awful.   The ABT I knew as a child, would never have allowed that to go as far as it did.  How was she allowed to go back on stage later in the ballet?  Embarrassing. 

[vipa]

This afternoon was my first time seeing Misseldine in a principal role. She has a beautiful body, gorgeous lines and a strong technique. She got through the ballet without even a small flub, yet I found the performance undistinguished. I almost felt as if I was watching the result of coaching, instead of an individual dancer's performance. I saw nothing in her musical phrasing, approach or presentation that will make this performance stand out in my mind. Technically, the third act seemed more in her comfort zone that the second. The 2nd act pas was incredibly slow, as if the slower and more weight given to each and every movement, the stronger the emotional impact would be. To me, it just dragged, and had no highlights. The instrumentation started to sound odd.

I don't mean to sound like a grump (as my husband would put it). This is a highly talented dancer who deserves her promotion to principal. At the same time, this performance was for me, nicely delivered and highly forgettable.

On the whole I'd say much of the dancing through-out was vaguely a-musical. The pas de trois, as others have said, was substandard for a world class (or even second tier) company. 

Aaron Bell's exceptional, secure and refined technique is a pleasure. 

Edited July 4 by vipa

[ABT Fan]

9 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

Misseldine was extraordinary this afternoon. I went in with very high expectations, and she exceeded them. I've been wanting for so long for an ABT ballerina to really make me feel something again in the role of O/O (ever since Part's departure), and today that finally happened. My heart was in my throat when Misseldine danced Act II, and the adrenaline was racing through me during the Act III pas de deux, the adagio of which may be one of the finest I've ever seen. Her dramatic choices and use of her arms and hands throughout were extraordinary. Based on my taste in what I like to see in an O/O, Misseldine was the most compelling dancer I've seen in the role since Part and Ananiashvili. I should add that I was also struck by Misseldine's ability to make so much of moments that were quiet or still, or nearly still. Nothing was overdone, but every detail was so beautiful and well-considered.

Bell was every inch a prince, and I loved how he added some personal twists to his various variations. I love just looking at his beautiful arabesque. His leap off the cliff at the end was SO beautiful. He was like a crescent moon soaring across the sky. WOW. 

Markey is the best Purple Rothbart I've seen since they've started casting the role seemingly exclusively with soloists and corps members. He commanded the stage and had flair to spare. I'd love to see more of him.

Waski was a train wreck in the pas de trois back in 2022 when she'd just returned to ABT from Boston Ballet. Back then, she similarly fell out of turns and had zero ballon. Some on this forum attributed it to possible exhaustion from her marathon run of performances at Boston Ballet and then ABT. Then she was terrible again in 2023. Today's performance was much the same, perhaps even worse. The final supported pirouette was awful, with her falling off point and being awkwardly manipulated by Frenette. In that little section toward the beginning of Act III, she fell off pointe in every pirouette she attempted (there are at least three). It baffles me that she's cast in this role.

@ABT Fan, I've never seen an onstage promotion at ABT! I unfortunately had to leave before the page bows. Can you describe more how it happened? Did Jaffe come out with a microphone?

After the initial bows, maybe two sets, Jaffe walked out with a microphone and I immediately gasped “oh, it’s happening!”. I mean why else would the AD come out? Jaffe quieted the crowd and said “Chloe doesn’t even know this but as of this moment she is now a principal dancer!” Jaffe quickly exited, graciously allowing Misseldine to soak it up. The house erupted. I don’t believe ABT has ever done an onstage promotion, but I am in favor. It was truly unexpected and so exciting. 

[nanushka]

I think this was one of the overall strongest and most emotionally satisfiying Swan Lake live performances I have ever seen (in over ~25 years — I couldn't even guess how many). This was my first time getting to see Aran Bell in a full-length lead. His slow adagio solo toward the end of Act I (to the oboe music, just before he runs offstage) was one of the most secure I can recall. All the lifts of Chloe were strong and secure. While I don't love a death leap that brings on applause, his was stunning — not in an over-the-top way, but because the arch of his back was truly beautiful, an image of his love and grief.

Chloe's white swan PDD looked, to me, virtually flawless. I love how long and lithe her arms are, perfectly complementing the length of her legs.

Patrick Frenette stepped in as Benno, and his PDT was much more secure than the one I saw him do two years ago (when he'd seemed a little overwhelmed by all the moving around and double-partnering). He leapt out for the coda like a firecracker.

Act III was very exciting. Joseph Markey can dramatically hold the stage — and the full attention of everyone on it and of the entire audience — like none of the other less-seasoned PVRs we've seen in recent years. His performance was quite musical as well.

The black swan PDD was also stellar. Chloe came across as both seductive and loving — not a vamp, but with enough of both qualities to enhance the drama. There was a wealth of fast, seemingly endless supported pirouettes. Wow. Chloe's black swan variation was perhaps as cleanly performed as I've seen it, and also quite musical. (I've always found this bit of KMcK's choreography to be particularly unpropitious — sometimes looking awkward or uncohesive, lacking in fluidity. I wonder if he'd have made something better with the alternate music (the more seductive, serpentine oboe piece).

Congratulations to Chloe for her promotion! What a triumphant performance! I'm so happy I got to see this. I rarely get to see the final sun tableau, but at the end of this performance I did and was in tears. What a satisfying performance!

Edited July 3 by nanushka

[fondoffouettes]

6 minutes ago, ABT Fan said:

After the initial bows, maybe two sets, Jaffe walked out with a microphone and I immediately gasped “oh, it’s happening!”. I mean why else would the AD come out? Jaffe quieted the crowd and said “Chloe doesn’t even know this but as of this moment she is now a principal dancer!” Jaffe quickly exited, graciously allowing Misseldine to soak it up. The house erupted. I don’t believe ABT has ever done an onstage promotion, but I am in favor. It was truly unexpected and so exciting. 

Thanks, @ABT Fan! I see ABT has already posted some lovely photos of the moment:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C8-e0SRS3AP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Emma Zordan in their marketing department has been capturing beautiful, professional-quality photos from the wings since last season. Kudos to her!

Edited July 3 by fondoffouettes

[balletlover08]

2 minutes ago, fondoffouettes said:

Thanks, @ABT Fan! I see ABT has already posted some lovely photos of the moment:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C8-e0SRS3AP/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Emma Zordan in their marketing department has been capturing this beautiful and professional-quality photos from the wings since last season. Kudos to her!

Also, if you go on instagram and look at the tagged photos of Chloe Misseldine on her profile. Someone in the audience videoed the whole promotion and the bows following so you can see it. I'm also sure that when she gets around to reposting everyone's stories you can watch the promotion at least 10 times haha. 

Glad you enjoyed it though! 

Edited July 3 by balletlover08

[nanushka]

3 minutes ago, balletlover08 said:

Also, if you go on instagram and look at the tagged photos of Chloe Misseldine on her profile. Someone in the audience videoed the whole promotion and the bows following so you can see it. I'm also sure that when she gets around to reposting everyone's stories you can watch the promotion at least 10 times haha.

Thank you so much for the info. How thrilling!

[angelica]

1 hour ago, ABT Fan said:

Also, did anyone else see Allegra Kent in the front of the orchestra talking to Max B? Or did my eyes deceive me?

Allegra Kent was definitely where you saw her this afternoon, talking with Max. I think she knew this was not a performance to be missed.

[abatt]

1 hour ago, vipa said:

This afternoon was my first time seeing Misseldine in a principal role. She has a beautiful body, gorgeous lines and a strong technique. She got through the ballet without even a small flub, yet I found the performance undistinguished. I almost felt as if I was watching the result of coaching, instead of an individual dancer's performance. I saw nothing in her musical phrasing, approach or presentation that will make this performance stand out in my mind. Technically, the third act seemed more in her comfort zone that the second. The 2nd act pas was incredibly slow, as if the slower and more weight given to each and every movement, the stronger the emotional impact would be. To me, it just dragged, and had no highlights. The instrumentation started to sound odd.

I don't mean to sound like a grump (as my husband would put it). This is a highly talented dancer who deserves her promotion to principal. At the same time, this performance was for me, nicely delivered and highly forgettable.

On the whole I'd say much of the dancing through-out was vaguely a-musical. The pas de trois, as others have said, was substandard for a world class (or even second tier) company. 

Aaron Bell's exceptional, secure and refined technique are a pleasure. 

I agree with you.  Also I am shocked at the promotion. I feel it was too soon.  Aran was fabulous.  

Waski was awful.

Kudos to Markey 

[WLH]

Some of the best atmosphere I’ve experienced in the theatre for ABT in quite some time.
Markey’s command of the stage was quite surprising especially considering it was his debut. I saw Ahn in this role last summer and Markey had tons more charisma in my opinion. 
Pas de tois Gate was embarrassing as others have explained.. especially during a performance like this, extra awkward. Jaffe in the audience on top of it.
I could look at Chloe’s arms all day. She’s so elegant. We desperately need new blood/excitement/risk at ABT. I look forward to seeing her develop more dramatic insight.

Aran Bell is beautiful. CLASSICAL. All that control, but never robotic. He’s very moving. One of the best things to happen to ABT in recent times. His leap into the lake is worth seeing yearly. Poetry.

Fun and invigorating afternoon. 

[abatt]

Roxander was great as benno tonight. Soaring elevation. Landings in perfect fifth position 

[stuben]

I will most likely be in the minority here with my take on today's performance, and probably get some push back but again this is just my personal take as many here are doing too 🙂 I agree both leads are technically wonderful in their own right, however, I felt both don't seem to have a connection enough to translate the emotions and connections with each other. The story part is lost for me when I see a dancer standing there and not acting as they should, for example during the first part when the prince was supposed to welcome his guests and maidens, Aran Bell just stood there as if he didn't know what to do! I recall Corella, Stiefel and how they engaged with their party, and I miss that! Bell's jumps although nice they feel quite "heavy" not the lightness I see in Danill or even with past leads. I thought actually Frenette did a better job with his jumps since he looked lighter, but again this is just IMO.

Then there is the YAGP factor that I saw in both, Chloe is technically good and solid, however, again I felt she was over exaggerating her every move perhaps to compensate for her lack of emotions. I am bothered by her every move to looking at the audience/camera vs engaging with her partner, every so often as they were together her head was turned towards the audience as if to gain recognition.

As for their partnering it felt over coached, the tempo in the white swan pas was slower than I recall, to the point that if it was any slower I think I would have fallen asleep! Not their fault however, each move they made together looked more like a pose for a photograph. I also noticed Chloe went off point a bit and did travel quite a lot in her fouettés but otherwise was nicely done. I would agree with Vipa that this was a forgettable performance, other than the stage promotion, which I personally expected after reading that NYTimes fluff article. I too feel her promotion is a bit premature but I wish her and the company all the best.

As for the corps, I thought most were really good except for a few missed steps here and there; the two big swans were OK again except for one step behind the other. As for the PDT I thought they did well, and I know I will get a lot of disagreement here but we each have our own opinion. IMHO Waski has projection and is an expressive dancer, she may not be the YAGP type of dancer who can do all the tricks but she engages with the audience and fellow dancers in her acting. The tempo also felt slower than usual especially for the part that Waski did, I recall it was faster for other shows I have seen, so I am unsure if that was a factor. I was at last evening's show and she was a lovely princess and I do believe she danced most of the corps roles, so again, I am not a fan making excuses for a dancer but I am also not going to be harsh on any of these corps dancers for any under-performing. I do believe the corps of companies do far more than leads since many are in all shows vs leads only rehearsing and dancing what is given to them.

[cobweb]

I am sorry to be out of town and missed this important debut. Thanks to everyone for your honest reports, mostly pro but also some con. I appreciate the nuanced commentary. I'm wondering how people feel about on-stage promotions. I don't think this has been done at ABT before, or have I missed it? It seems gimmicky to me. Presumably this is planned in advance, not just some spontaneous decision on the part of the AD. But what if the dancer doesn't give a performance as good as expected... does the promotion get scrubbed? 

[ABT Fan]

Agree that Roxander was a marvelous Benno tonight. His jumps and charisma have no competition. I believe tonight was his debut (or did he do this in KC?), but he’s outgrown it already. Give this young man a lead role. Coker was splendid and Kimura was lovely but nervous and tentative in her debut.

Seo had a very odd night - something was definitely wrong. From the start she looked to be phoning it in. There was no emotion, no drama, and she and Stearns looked more like they were in rehearsal, not going full out. Her Odile was the same - except she quickly lost all stamina. She started her fouettés late, I think intentionally stalling, and did all singles rather poorly finishing early . Dramatically, there was no difference between Odette or Odile. Stearns was predictably solid yet unremarkable, but he also had some technical issues here and there. I was actually bored most of the evening.

Sebastian made no impact as PVR. Miyake and Magbitang were excellent Neopolitans. Miyake has enormous potential.

[balletlover08]

16 minutes ago, cobweb said:

I am sorry to be out of town and missed this important debut. Thanks to everyone for your honest reports, mostly pro but also some con. I appreciate the nuanced commentary. I'm wondering how people feel about on-stage promotions. I don't think this has been done at ABT before, or have I missed it? It seems gimmicky to me. Presumably this is planned in advance, not just some spontaneous decision on the part of the AD. But what if the dancer doesn't give a performance as good as expected... does the promotion get scrubbed? 

So who knows what the plan officially was but according to the news release sent to subscribers today Jaffe had all the plans to promote Chloe to principal at the end of the Met season but after the flawless performance today decided to do it on stage. But ABT also updated the website remarkably fast (within hours) of the promotion so either they already had a version prepped for the end of the Met season or the marketing interns were working hard. I have no idea if Jaffe would want to keep promoting principals on stage like POB does or if this was just a one off. 

Here's the link in case you missed it and want to read straight from the source. https://www.abt.org/chloe-misseldine-promoted-to-principal-dancer-at-abt/

Edited July 4 by balletlover08
added link

[California]

4 minutes ago, balletlover08 said:

So who knows what the plan officially was but according to the news release sent to subscribers today Jaffe had all the plans to promote Chloe to principal at the end of the Met season but after the flawless performance today decided to do it on stage. But ABT also updated the website remarkably fast (within hours) of the promotion so either they already had a version prepped for the end of the Met season or the marketing interns were working hard. I have no idea if Jaffe would want to keep promoting principals on stage like POB does or if this was just a one off. 

Here's the link in case you missed it and want to read straight from the source. https://www.abt.org/chloe-misseldine-promoted-to-principal-dancer-at-abt/

It seems Jaffe is looking for ways to inject some "buzz" around the company and an on-stage promotion was a good bet. Swan Lake sells, but are there concerns about later programs? And the need to rejuvenate their donations from Friends, etc.? Those odd after-performance "toasts" seemed to be another attempt to add some excitement. (Does anybody actually go to those things?) Philadelphia also has done recent after performance promotions. I think it's a nice touch, both for fans and for other dancers.

[angelica]

I believe it is standard practice to announce individual promotions after performances at Paris Opera Ballet.

[vipa]

8 minutes ago, California said:

It seems Jaffe is looking for ways to inject some "buzz" around the company and an on-stage promotion was a good bet. Swan Lake sells, but are there concerns about later programs? And the need to rejuvenate their donations from Friends, etc.? Those odd after-performance "toasts" seemed to be another attempt to add some excitement. (Does anybody actually go to those things?) Philadelphia also has done recent after performance promotions. I think it's a nice touch, both for fans and for other dancers.

I agree that Jaffe is after "buzz" which is a good thing. An onstage promotion is a way of letting the audience feel part of what's happening in the company, and identify with a performer by sharing in their moment. I'm not a fan of the practice but don't have strong feelings.