ABT Swan Lake Met 2024

[Becki Lee]

On the official ABT Instagram story they said it was the three retirees who got the special bows….Lauren Post, Alexis Basmagy, and Kiely Groen.

Makes me hopeful Erica is continuing to dance somewhere!

[SaraBW]

On 7/2/2024 at 6:58 AM, matilda said:

Boylston has a massive following on social media so I suspect that helped fill the house to capacity (on a Monday night!) and encourage the wild crowd reaction. I like her, but there are other dancers I'd rather see in Swan Lake. 

Count my sister and me among her social media fans. We're coming to NYC this week just to see her in R&J. 

[ABT Fan]

One single seat is left for tonight's performance with Brandt/Cornejo and it's a good one - orchestra E1, on the aisle. Deep pockets only - $237.50.

Please post reviews for this afternoon and evening.

[ABT Fan]

Did anyone attend this afternoon/evening?

[California]

Last day of Swan Lake week:

• Cornejo/Brandt are the gold standard for the week. The complete package -- technique/artistry/drama/emotional connection
• Roxander as Benno Sat evening was spectacular--again! The height on his jumps, the elegance of his positions and landings are just extraordinary. Really hope we get to see him in more challenging roles next season. Very sorry I won't see his Mercutio next week.
• Ahn/Teuscher were acceptable. She had a few nice touches in the black swan.  He seems to be working on his expressiveness. 

I seriously doubt I will want to see this production again in the future, but comparing eight casts has been fun. Unfortunately, I have an impossible schedule conflict with R&J next week and will miss several interesting casts (anything with Bell or Roxander). I have no interest in seeing LWFC, so that's it for the season for me. I'll look forward to everybody's reports. Hopefully we'll learn the fall schedule soon.

[MarzipanShepherdess]

Saw last night's Cornejo/Brandt Swan Lake. I enjoyed it, more so any of the SLs I've seen since the glory days of Part/Ananiashvili/Vishneva. 

Brandt is a very assured, very good O/O. Of the current roster, I prefer Hee Seo's Odette for its melting emotion, but Seo's Odile is so flat that Brandt gives the more compelling overall performance.  At times Brandt's performance felt studied to me: accomplished and effective, but I missed the sense of abandon that made Part and Vishneva so thrilling in this role. There are also some moments in the choreography that unfortunately expose Brandt's relatively limited flexibility in her back and arms. Still, all the evident hard work Brandt has put into honing this role has paid off. Her technique is gorgeous. She had some stunning balances, I wanted Wilkins to give her more time with them! Exciting double fouettes, too. And she gives lots of color and expression to her performance all throughout, she's really ON in every moment. 

Incredible that Cornejo, close to thirty years into his ABT career, still has moments of technical bravura that just wow (as with his second solo jumps in Act III). He's a wonderful partner for Brandt, they had great chemistry. It's a pleasure to see a dancer who knows this role like the back of his hand yet can still look utterly besotted/devasted as the moment requires.  He didn't get the height on the final leap that he used to, but the shape he made as he fell was just gorgeous. Still feel lucky to be able to see Cornejo dancing.

Of all the dancers on stage, though, the one who really gave an absolute gold-standard performance was Roman Zhurbin as Swamp Thing VR. I know! But he actually manages to make something of this role, which pretty much no one else I've seen it does. It takes a real master to convey authority, menace, and then anguish from underneath all that ridiculous makeup and costuming, but he pulls it off. Please get this man coaching character roles, ABT!

I've seen Andrii Ischuk do Purple VR before and felt like he came off as flat, but he's definitely adding more color to the role this season. Kudos, Andrii.

I think I actually exclaimed audibly in delight when I saw Roxander was doing the PdT. He delivered! He can really just seem to hang in the air, his jumps are astonishing (and how he lands, such control with those perfect, tight fifth positions). Fleytoux and Kimura looked accomplished, especially Fleytoux who I hope will move up at the end of the season.

Was disappointed to hear that Zimmi Coker was out for the night. Hope it's not her injury acting up again. Fang Qi Li subbed for Zimmi as Polish Princess and looked great: she was the only princess who came off as regal.  She definitely has that something extra. Another corps dancer who stood out, even in the very crowded first act, was Andrew Robare with his beautiful jumps and overall refinement.  Also Joseph Markey who subbed in for Duncan Lyle in Spanish and impressed with his crisp, clean footwork (it was like night and day comparing him with the other male dancer in that divertissement).  And a hat tip to Erica Lall, who danced the court lady who Benno partners off with and brought her characteristic sparkle and grace which I will miss when she departs at the end of this season.

[abatt]

1 hour ago, MarzipanShepherdess said:

 

Incredible that Cornejo, close to thirty years into his ABT career, still has moments of technical bravura that just wow (as with his second solo jumps in Act III). He's a wonderful partner for Brandt, they had great chemistry. It's a pleasure to see a dancer who knows this role like the back of his hand yet can still look utterly besotted/devasted as the moment requires.  He didn't get the height on the final leap that he used to, but the shape he made as he fell was just gorgeous. Still feel lucky to be able to see Cornejo dancing.

Of all the dancers on stage, though, the one who really gave an absolute gold-standard performance was Roman Zhurbin as Swamp Thing VR. I know! But he actually manages to make something of this role, which pretty much no one else I've seen it does. It takes a real master to convey authority, menace, and then anguish from underneath all that ridiculous makeup and costuming, but he pulls it off. Please get this man coaching character roles, ABT!

I'

Cornejo did have moments of technical brilliance in the third act, but in the first act his technique was not reliable.  Several times he stumbled out of his turns, and did not stretch his extensions.  He improved in the third act.  I enjoyed the performance, but kept thinking how much I would love to see Roxander get the lead in this.  

[MarzipanShepherdess]

7 hours ago, abatt said:

Cornejo did have moments of technical brilliance in the third act, but in the first act his technique was not reliable.  Several times he stumbled out of his turns, and did not stretch his extensions.  He improved in the third act.  I enjoyed the performance, but kept thinking how much I would love to see Roxander get the lead in this.  

I’d love to see Roxander get a Siegfried too! And I agree Cornejo had stumbles in the first act. Still, I’d rather see him at 45 as Siegfried than a number of the younger men in the company. 

[Helene]

Courtney Lavine posted short clips of the stage bows featuring the corps, backstage after the curtain, backstage, and a snippet of a rehearsal and posted that ABT dedicated a performance of Swan Lake to the corps:

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9LofjHOQWQ/

 

Quote

Last week, @abtofficial dedicated a show of Swan Lake to honor the corps de ballet. Such a special night. There's truly no place I’d rather be 🤍

#abtofficial #corpsdeballet #ballet #swanlake

 

[Royal Blue]

The answers to all the nay-saying about Swan Lake were provided aplenty during the best moments of the Friday evening and Saturday matinée performances, which I attended. American Ballet Theatre's female corps was spectacular in both. To what degree the conductor or her Siegfried were responsible on Friday for any errors by Christine Shevchenko earlier in the ballet is debatable. However, her expressiveness ensured that the poignancy and drama during the final act of the ballet were as powerful and effective as ever. Some of Devon Teuscher's astonishingly beautiful turns during the first lakeside scene at Saturday's matinée understandably elicited gasps of pleasure and amazement from members of the audience. Actually, the beauty of her performance as Odette was evident throughout the ballet and demonstrated why she is currently the reigning Queen of the Swans at ABT.

Swan Lake is, and probably will always be, the ballet. Despite any perceived deficiencies or absurdities in the work's storyline or grumbling about Tchaikovsky's magnificent music, my view is that Swan Lake is the sole exception to the necessity of resting every ballet periodically. Other ballets, whether short or full-length, narrative or non-narrative, are arguably as beautiful. For better or worse, however, none is as emblematic of the art form.

[choriamb]

A late-breaking, post-vacation plug here for the Corps Celebration on Friday 7/5:  I really loved how they highlighted the retiring dancers and gave them their closing bow. As a long-time corps de ballet watcher, I hope that ABT continues to do this.

While I don't love the Blake-inspired bits (the marbled floor, the lake sets, and Swamp Thing VR), McKenzie's SL really is great for it. Between the pas de trois, aristocrats, princesses, national dances, and Big/Little swans, you get a small taste of what almost everyone on stage can do.

I thought it was lovely that they gave Post the combo of the unbilled "uninvited guest" in the birthday scene and a princess for her last performance:  it was so good to see her natural stagecraft and creamy port de bras one more time.

And I'm grateful that I got to see Luciana Paris in Spanish on Monday:  she's been a committed, steady presence for as long as I've watched the company and I will miss her a lot. A true stage animal and absolutely no one could burn the floor better in a pair of character shoes.

I'm glad Lall is continuing to dance:  NBoC is lucky and I'll miss her sparkle. And I'm sorry that I didn't get to see Williams one more time.

Otherwise...

It's a joy to see Shevchenko reach her artistic peak: no one speaks through movement like her in this role and she always operates on a higher level with Royal (who has become consistently great at enabling good performances from his partners).

And it continues to be a good season for the corps/senior soloists. In the PDT, Gonzalez, Park, and Li on Monday had more risk-taking verve and authority, but Frenette/Young/Armstrong (especially the last) looked as smooth as silk on Friday. Frenette has always been dramatically engaged, but his dancing has been small-scaled at times:  it looked bigger and confident here. Granlund's port-de-bras always shines through the rest of the swan line-up.

I'd found Sebastian's PVR a bit stolid and technically brittle last year, but I was impressed on Monday. He's found a way to make the role work for him:  while Markey made good strides toward Gomes' so-lush-its-camp take on Friday, Sebastian's learned how to play his impassive face straight for comic effect. (He doesn't need to seductively gaze at the princesses, he just arrogantly flicks his wrist and they come.)
 
Roxander was expectedly great in Neapolitan--his stagecraft was especially good on Friday--and Miyake matched him technically both days. Menegussi looked great opposite both Frenette and Gonzalez in Spanish.  It's good to see Ribagorda in even the smallest role:  he dances everything like it's the most important thing he's ever done. And Ingrid Thoms continues to brighten up every character and demisoloist role that I've seen her in.