Tag: ABT

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DAY OF SLEEPING BEAUTIES: ALINA COJOCARU AND NATALIA OSIPOVA

 

Alina Cojocaru and Jose Carreno in Sleeping Beauty, photo by Gene Schiavone. (My favorite pose in all of life – no hands fish dive 🙂 )

 

And Natalia Osipova and David Hallberg as Aurora and Prince Desire, photo by Rosalie O’Connor.

So, I spent another Saturday at Lincoln Center, watching back-to-back Sleeping Beauties. This is probably my least favorite ballet — neither the story nor the choreography really speaks to me – but I was curious to see Alina Cojocaru in the role (it’s supposed to be her best and she’s was guesting for only one day from the Royal Ballet in London), and now that I’m an official Natalia Osipova fanatic, I must see her in everything she’s in.

So, matinee was Cojocaru. I thought overall she was really lovely and did as much as she could with what to me is a bland role. She was fresh, girlish and inquisitive in the first part when she’s meeting all the cavaliers and before she pricks her finger, then is more beatific and ethereal in the vision scene (where Prince Desire, out hunting, envisions her and then is led by the Lilac Fairy to her bed where he’ll kiss and awaken her – I don’t know how many people know the ballet), and then is full of grown-up, sophisticated charm in the third part when she marries the prince. A lot of ballerinas don’t really distinguish between the various stages of the ballet – their Auroras are the same throughout, so I liked that Cojocaru did this.

I just have to say, I’m sorry but for the first part of the Rose Adagio (where four cavaliers present her with roses, at the beginning) I couldn’t stop focusing on her feet.

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ALL DAY AT ABT: ALL AMERICAN AND ALL ASHTON PROGRAMS

Last Saturday I had my first crazy ABT day where I spent the whole day at Lincoln Center, seeing both matinee and evening performances. I’ll do the same tomorrow with two Sleeping Beauties – can’t miss Alina Cojocaru (who I’ve never seen before) guesting from the Royal Ballet in the lead, and then in the evening the spectacular Natalia Osipova.

Anyway, last Saturday the matinee was their All-American program; the evening was the All-Ashton. The All-American opened with Twyla Tharp’s Brahms-Hayden Variations, which I’m sorry to say is the first Tharp that’s bored me. I just couldn’t connect to it. It had none of her trademark thrilling throws and lifts and clever partnering or dramatic, actable parts, and none of her enlightening contrasts between ballet and other forms of dance. Not that I saw anyway. I think the excerpt the company performed during the opening night gala was the only part I liked. There were good dancers – Marcelo Gomes, Stella Abrera, Herman Cornejo – but they didn’t seem to have that much to work with. It was just kind of lyrical gaiety. Like Mark Morris.

 

Then was Paul Taylor’s Company B, which is always fun – especially when Craig Salstein dances the hotly dorky guy in “Oh Johnny Oh” and Herman Cornejo the flashy “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” but somehow it lost some of its magic on the large Met stage. I don’t know – I think it plays better at City Center – you somehow miss the silhouettes in the back at the Met, or you don’t connect them to what’s happening center stage as well.

 

And last was my favorite of the day, Robbins’ Fancy Free, this time starring Sascha Radetsky (image above, from here) as the cocky, sexy Latin sailor, Carlos Lopez as the dreamier one, and Daniil Simkin as the little acrobatic one. The two main women were Maria Riccetto as the girl in yellow whom the guys originally approach, and then Isabella Boylston as the girl in pink who momentarily gets interested in hot cocky Latin guy. Well, Sascha Radetsky completely took my breath away here. Before he had his momentary hiatus in with Netherlands Ballet, I’d always thought he was cute and a very solid, precise dancer, but he couldn’t act. I think he must have taken acting lessons in the Netherlands because he’s just so much better now. I really believe him in each role I’ve seen him in. And he really inhabited this sailor. He was really so compelling to watch; I couldn’t even focus on Daniil and his crazy sky-high jumps with Radetsky on the same stage.

Hehe, but one thing that really stood out for me was Isabella Boylston’s back-leading! All throughout ballroom training we were yelled at ad nauseam  — not just me but all the women — for constantly back-leading. And that’s because grown women generally pick up dance steps a lot faster than grown men (not necessarily true for girls versus boys but definitely true for men vs women for some reason). Anyway, it’s only now I really know why. It looks horrible. I know this is ballet with choreographed steps and not ballroom, but their characters are doing social dance so it really had to look like he was leading her in the steps, not like she was anticipating what he’d so and then turn herself or make the move before he led her to do it. It ended up looking like she was in control, and he’s supposed to be seducing her here. I’m sure they’ll get it with more practice, it just looked obviously wrong and out of character. But maybe that’s just my ballroom training talking because they definitely got the most applause.

 

The Ashton program opened with Birthday Offering (image above from Dance View Times), which ended up being my favorite piece of the night. Absolutely gorgeous costumes (by Andre Levasseur) and what lovely variations with fast, fancy, very original footwork for the women. Stella Abrera, Simone Messmer, and Gemma Bond in particular stood out to me. Hee Seo (my favorite Juliet) danced as well – not in love with the choreography for her variation as much but she has the most beautiful Alessandra Ferri feet. She and Veronika Part both!

Then came the Thais Pas de Deux, which was performed by Jared Matthews and Diana Vishneva. I can’t wait to see Hee Seo and Sascha Radetsky perform this at the end of the month. I saw them in rehearsal and they really took my breath away. They’re so sweet together, and they really bring out the beauty of the choreography in a way that Diana and Jared as a partnership just didn’t, in my mind. Diana and her melodramatic curtain calls really crack me up. At first they annoyed me but I’m beginning to accept that they’re part of the performance for her and they’re just her. Who knows, maybe someday I’ll find it endearing.

But as far as her dancing, she’s hit or miss with me. I haven’t gotten around to writing about it yet, but I absolutely loved her in Lady of the Camellias. She brought so much more to the role than Julie Kent had the day before and she really brought me into the drama of it all – she and Veronika Part both (who danced the Manon role). And her dancing was gorgeous. She and Marcelo were excellent in that. A performance to see again and again (if ABT would only make a DVD of it…)

Then was The Awakening Pas de Deux from Ashton’s Sleeping Beauty, danced by Veronika Part and David Hallberg. It’s funny but choreography can look so completely different on different bodies and it looked like a wholly different piece than when Paloma Herrera and Cory Stearns danced it on opening night.

Finally, was The Dream, Ashton’s version of Midsummer Night’s Dream. Honestly, I was getting really tired by this point and I’ll have to see it again. I did really like Cory Stearns as Oberon. He is another dancer who’s a hit or miss with me but I found his Oberon was endearing while still being rather demanding with Titania up front. He did a good job, and he dancing was beautiful. Alexei Agoudine was a lot of fun as Bottom (who’s on pointe here, unlike in the Balanchine version and has a lot more to do), and Daniil Simkin was Puck. I enjoyed his Puck but found myself unable to get Daniel Ulbrich’s Puck out of my mind. I’ve been told I have to see Herman Cornejo in this role. And so I hope to before the season ends.

In between performances I had ice cream in the park behind Lincoln Center cinemas, where I saw Blaine Hoven and Marcelo, and then I went and had a glass of wine in the outside patio area of the newish Alice Tully Hall cafe. It’s nice out there when it’s warm, which it was for part of the time. So far we seem to be having another chilly summer. Tomorrow I have two friends who, happily, are as crazy as I am, so I will have people to hang with instead of just my book 🙂

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NATALIA OSIPOVA MUGGED

 

I really hesitate to post this in case my mom still reads my blog. She’s an avid Law and Order watcher and she’s always thinking if I go for 24 hours without calling or emailing her it must be because something’s happened to me like what happens to everyone on Law and Order, and because L&A is on every day and I live in the same city, every day, every hour in New York City people must be getting attacked and going missing and what not…

Anyway, according to the New York Times, none other than Natalia Osipova, the Bolshoi dancer guest starring with ABT this season, whom everyone and their dog – including me – is going on and on and on about being the greatest dancer extant, was mugged yesterday after watching a performance of Sleeping Beauty at ABT. The Times isn’t specific about exactly where she was attacked, but apparently it happened near the Met, as she was crossing Amsterdam Avenue, in the early morning. Two men came up behind her, hit her in the face and ran off with her bag, which contained pointe shoes and a small hammer she uses to shape them. Thankfully, she seems to be okay and will still dance Sleeping Beauty this weekend and Romeo and Juliet in two weeks.

It’s just crazy though. This is what New York used to be like in the Dinkins era, pre-Guiliani, like over 15 years ago, when I first moved here. Now we’re reverting. I guess the effects of the recession have finally hit.

Thank you to reader Roksolana for sending me the link.

Photo by Gene Schiavone.

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WEEKEND VIEWING: NATALIA OSIPOVA IN DON Q

So, if you missed THE performance of the season last week at ABT (that’s Natalia Osipova’s American debut as Kitri in Don Quixote, with legendary Jose Carreno as her partner), here are some vids I found of her dancing the role at the Bolshoi.

There are actually a couple of videos posted on YouTube that are of the exact performance I’m talking about at ABT, but I know ABT didn’t approve them so I feel weird embedding them here. Click on this link (but fast forward to around the 2:57 mark, when it really starts) and this one to view them – and hurry up before someone orders them taken down! I really hope ABT makes a film of this ballet sometime – with this same cast, but with Marcelo Gomes as Espada and Veronika Part as Mercedes. Although, I have to say … Jared Matthews (who I didn’t like in the role when I saw him live) looks pretty good in those videos. I think I just got spoiled by seeing Marcelo first.

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OH NO ROBERTO!!!

For those who haven’t heard, Roberto Bolle is injured and will be out the rest of the ABT summer season. That means there will be no stalking expedition guided tour of the bowels of the Met at the end of Romeo this year.

Oh well. We may have to organize a field trip to Europe next year. Maybe he’ll be dancing Mats Ek’s Giselle again?

In the meantime, here is this bottled water commercial. I think I posted it last year because it looks familiar but blog reader and Facebook friend Jonathan has sent it to me (and it is very good!) so I am posting it again. If I remember correctly, I think last year Haglund and I were trying to figure out where to buy the water in the U.S. I wonder if Haglund ever found it?…

And I will have to be satisfied with my IPPY man… Hehe, seriously, IPPY winners who attended the award ceremony two weeks ago were just sent their photos. They had an attractive female and male presenter to pose for your award photo with you — if you’re a female winner, they gave you the guy; if you’re male, they gave you the girl. I didn’t notice it at the time but doesn’t this guy kind of look like Roberto! Okay, I can dream!

Anyway, SLSG favorite Marcelo Gomes will be replacing him in Swan Lake — Odette / Odile is Veronika Part, so that will be a must-not-miss. And his Romeo replacements are Marcelo (whose Juliet will be Paloma Herrera) and Cory Stearns (dancing with Irina Dvorovenko). Check schedule here.

Get well soon Roberto.

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ALICIA ALONSO 90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AT ABT

 

Last night was a very special night at ABT; the company put on a special show in honor of Alicia Alonso, the former ABT ballerina from Cuba who’s credited with bringing ballet to Latin America and bringing Latin American stars to the world, who turned 90 years old this year.

 

 

The evening began with a short film including interviews with Alonso reflecting on her career and clips of her dancing. The most amazing such clip was at the end of her dancing, I think La Sylphide, and she was doing tiny but incredibly, insanely fast-footed passees back and forth and back and forth; she was going so fast she looked like a hummingbird.  The audience went wild.

Then Kevin McKenzie came out, gave a brief intro, and said, “This evening’s for you,” while motioning up to the parterre. Ms. Alonso slowly rose – she was in the center of the parterre, and everyone rose with her, giving her a long standing ovation. She looked really beautiful in a long blue sparkly gown with her signature full, flowing headscarf  (this one blue and sparkling, to match her gown). Amazing how she seemed to acknowledge everyone in the room as she looked all around with a serene smile on her face. Especially since she has supposedly been nearly blind for the past 20 years and likely couldn’t see any of us. Anna Deavere Smith has defined Presence as having the ability to make it seem to each and every audience member like you’re singling him/her out from the crowd, looking right at them, dancing right for them. So clearly Ms. Alonso has that!

Then, the show began. It was Don Quixote, with a different couple playing the lead in each Act, most of them the company’s principal dancers from Latin America. First Act couple was Marcelo Gomes and Paloma Herrera (from Brazil and Argentina respectively), second was Herman Cornejo (Argentina) and Xiomara Reyes (Cuba), and third was Jose Carreno (Cuba) dancing with the beyond wondrous Natalia Osipova (from Russia, the only dancer playing one of the leads who’s not from Latin America).

It was very fitting that Carreno danced the third Act since he’s the only dancer still in the company who Alonso directly trained (though her daughter, Laura, who continues to run the school, which travels all over Latin America, has had a hand in training the rest).

Carreno is 42 now and I’m always so scared every time I see him this season that this is the last performance of whatever I’m seeing that I’ll watch him dance. I hope this isn’t the last Don Quixote because he’s so perfect for Basilio. More on his and Natalia’s full-length Don Quixote (on Tuesday night) to come, but suffice it to say for now, he is the absolute king of turns, the way he holds onto those last few pirouettes in a series of multiple turns. Sometimes he’ll just stand on one leg at the end and hold the balance forever. And she wins the award for most insane dance genius. I can’t even begin to go into everything she does that makes the crowd go nuts (the sky-high jumps that make it seem she must have springs in her shoes!, the fouettes with the bizillions of multiple pirouettes thrown in, the passees – and high passees at that –  that she does at the speed of frigging light), and she’s the perfect playful, flirty Kitri to boot. Before seeing her dance this role I was going to complain that no one has the charisma and ability of Gelsey Kirkland (whom I’ve only seen on video) but I can’t say that anymore.

Herman Cornejo is of course king of jumps, and his jetes in the second act were absolutely breathtaking (people were talking about them all intermission). And Marcelo is the king of drama – I’ve said before and will say again that he could have a career in Hollywood after his dance career ends — he’s always wholly in the character (ditto for Veronika Part, who stole the stage as Mercedes, the street dancer, and was absolutely beautiful as the Queen of the Dryads), and he’s larger than life with flawless technique to boot.

Other non-main-character standouts were Daniil Simkin as the gypsy (he arched so far back in his jumps he made himself into a perfect ball, and his ability to do several of those barrel turns with one and half rotations all in a row always draws the “OOOOOOOOOHHHH”s from the crowd), and Misty Copeland was full of athletic prowess, as usual. She also cracked me up when she and Marcelo were onstage together at the beginning flirting naughtily right in front of Kitri. She is another very actorly type. I also thought Luciana Paris did well as the female part of the gypsy couple. Even in light of Daniil’s audience wowing theatrics, she held her own with some beautiful full back arches and lovely styling with her arms and hands.

The evening came to a perfect end as, at the end of the last Natalia / Jose curtain call, the curtains closed, then opened to reveal the whole stage, and Jose walking Alicia Alonso out from the wings. Judging by the number of heads turning around to the parterre, where she’d been sitting, I think the audience was hopeful that she’d come out onstage but worried she might not, so everyone stayed waiting, and was very happy when she did. Ovation lasted for quite a while; I don’t think anyone wanted to leave, but the company was having a party for her afterward (which I didn’t go to but a friend did – I’m waiting for the report) so had to kind of limit the length of curtain calls. Very very special evening!

Top image from Voice of Dance; two middle images from Cuba Absolutely.

Here’s a video of Jose dancing DQ with Gillian Murphy  – the ones of him dancing with Paloma have disabled embedding, and horribly, the video from Born to Be Wild with Alicia talking about him has been taken off of YouTube 🙁

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GET WELL SOON, ROBERTO!

 

There’s been a casting change for ABT’s La Bayadere tomorrow (Saturday) night. Roberto Bolle (above, with Julie Kent) is injured and is being replaced by Cory Stearns (below). This will be Cory’s debut as Solor. Veronika Part is still dancing Nikiya. I hope the injury’s nothing serious; speedy recovery Mr. Bolle!

All images from ABT‘s website.

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ABT OPENING NIGHT GALA MET SEASON 2010

 

Photo from inside the gala tent last night at American Ballet Theater’s opening night gala taken from NY Social Diary, who, sadly, don’t seem to have any pics up of Irina Dvorovenko in her beautiful red gown. It was one of the most beautiful dresses I’ve ever seen — long and many-layered but each layer seemed to be made of a light, sheer piece of fabric, so the whole thing looked light and diaphanous, though it wasn’t really see-through, just looked that way. Anyway, if anyone finds a picture of her, please let me know! Roberto Cavalli probably designed it…

Anyway, so the opening night gala was last night. It was loooong — one of the longest I’ve seen. We didn’t get out until 9:30, and it began at 6:30. It opened with an excerpt from Frederick Ashton’s Birthday Offering, of seven couples waltzing at what seemed to be a party (I haven’t seen this ballet), with Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky the main couple.

Following that was a series of introductions and thank yous by Kevin McKenzie (Art. Dir.), Blaine Trump and Caroline Kennedy (the two women were honorary chairs of the evening, along with Michelle Obama, who wasn’t there), and then David Koch who has funded the upcoming production of the company’s Nutcracker this winter.

Then, a group of ABT II dancers performed an excerpt of Edwaard Liang’s Ballo Per Sei, which was a contemporary lyrical piece, set to Vivaldi. I recognized a SLSG favorite — Irlan Silva — right away.

Then came the “Rose Adagio” from Sleeping Beauty, performed by Michele Wiles, with Sascha Radetsky, Craig Salstein, Gennadi Saveliev, and Roman Zhurbin as suitors. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this performed so well. Michele really held those balances, and she was so vivacious! Both she and Paloma Herrera, who danced a later excerpt from SB later in the evening, really embodied a young Princess Aurora very well. Michele got loads of applause – the most thus far of the evening.

Then came David Hallberg and Natalia Osipova’s Olympic version of Giselle — this an excerpt from Act II. People laughed and shook heads in amazement at Osipova’s sky-high ballons and sprightly jumps and leaps. She is really incredible. And then at the end when she jeted off and he followed her, it was really beautiful. But athletically astounding as it was, it was still moving; nearly brought tears to my eyes. I mean, how do you manage to do athletic feats like that and make it seem like you’re a light, other-worldly spirit instead of nearly exhausting yourself to death? I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to see anyone else dance Giselle again besides Osipova now. I saw a couple of etoiles from the Paris Opera Ballet perform it at the Guggenheim a few months ago and all I could think was, “wait, where’s the ear-high develope?” and “that arabesque penchee is nowhere near 6:00!” Natalia Osipova has spoiled me.

Then came Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes doing my favorite gala fare, the Black Swan pas de deux. They were magnificent. Veronika kept doing these equally astounding crazy penchees, and she was so tantalizing with all of her faux White Swan poses! She was really a bad tease! And perfect fouette sequence for her, and his jetes and all — they got loads of applause too (oh, and so did David and Natalia).

Then was the beautiful Thais Pas de Deux by Ashton, danced by Diana Vishneva and Jared Matthews. I recently saw this rehearsed at a studio visit by Hee Seo and Sascha Radetsky, and it looks so different onstage far away and with costumes and all. It looked a lot more like MacMillan than I remembered. I loved it; Diana and Jared did very well but I still can’t wait to see Hee and Sascha. For her gala gown, Diana was wearing a very interesting-looking Japanese-styled dress.

Ending the first half of the evening was the finale of Tharp’s Brahms-Hayden Variations, danced by a group of seven couples, replete with trademark Tharpian flash and crazy lifts and high energy. Can’t wait to see this now either. I have in my notes, “who is dancing with Hammoudi?!” When I looked at my program, I saw it was Stella Abrera. She is really back and really on!

First dance after the intermission was the “Kingdom of the Shades” scene from La Bayadere.  Beautiful as always though it seemed some of the dancers were not completely in unison.

Then came Paloma Herrera and Cory Stearns dancing the Awakening Pas de Deux from Sleeping Beauty, which was followed by the wedding pas de deux from that ballet danced by Herman Cornejo and Xiomara Reyes. I particularly loved Paloma. As I said before, she and Michele Wiles really embodied the sweet, youthful spirit of Aurora. Paloma and Cory danced very well together. They seemed like a real couple.

Then was my second favorite excerpt of the night — the Act III Pas de Deux from Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias, danced by a very passionate Roberto Bolle (who received a load of applause when the curtain initially opened on him) and a very dramatic Julie Kent. Every excerpt of this ballet makes me want to see the whole. Not much longer now — it begins next week, and I can’t wait. I think they received the greatest applause of the night. Audience really went wild, and it’s partly because he’s so internationally famous, but also I think because they just did so well with it. This seems to be a ballet that requires both good acting and excellent partnering ability because some of those lifts… The pianist, Soheil Nasseri, came onstage too for a bow at the end. He was very good.

Next to last was the Act III Pas de Deux from Don Quixote, danced by ABT audience faves Ethan Stiefel and Gillian Murphy. There was a slight mishap with the lift where he throws her up, she does a crazy twist in the air and then he catches her and the fish dive wasn’t hands free, but they each danced spectacularly on their own. It looked at one point like she was doing quadruple pirouettes between some of her fouettes, and he nearly kicked his leg to his forehead during some of his jumps and then did a flashy little jump during his fouette sequence that had the audience screaming.

The evening ended on a modern note  with David Parsons’s Caught, danced by Angel Corella, who, expectedly did an exquisite job. The audience, many of whom hadn’t seen that dance before, seemed so spellbound they almost forgot to clap right away. Angel’s so cute 😀

And finally, everyone who danced came out onstage at the end and took a little bow while the orchestra continued to play. Dancers still in costume — Daniil Simkin, Craig Salstein, Gennadi Saveliev come to mind — did a flashy trick, the “Shades” did a little dance in unison, and then dancers who danced in the first half came out in party gown (which is how I fell in love with Irina’s dress).

Fun evening. During intermission I checked my cell-phone and found a text from a friend who saw me sitting in orchestra from the side par terre, where he was sitting. So I texted him to meet me afterward, and we went for martinis, clam chowder and crab cake sandwiches at Ed’s Chowder House across from the Plaza, my favorite post-ballet place to go since it replaced Center Cut mid-NYCB fall season. They have a TV in the bar, and I was happy that the Yankees were still on. So I saw A-Rod hit his game-tying home-run… But how my friend ever saw me in that enormous Met crowd I’ll never know. Though many arrived late, house ended up being packed.

Oh, and I almost forgot: at the beginning of his speech, Kevin McKenzie introduced several dancers – each representing an era of ABT (this being the company’s 70th anniversary)- who all came out and took a bow. Included were Lupe Serrano, Baryshnikov, Nina Ananiashvili (who got a lot of applause), Alessandra Ferri, Natalia Makarova, and cutie Frederick Franklin, who gave a little speech as well. Isabella Rosellini was in the audience, a few rows down from me. I didn’t recognize anyone else in the audience.

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ABT AT 70 AT THE GUGGENHEIM

Last night American Ballet Theatre put on a little celebration of its 70th anniversary and gave a little preview of its upcoming Met season (which begins next Monday, May 17th) at the Guggenheim, as part of the museum’s Works and Process events. Dancers from each decade of ABT’s existence — Susan Jaffe, Susan Jones, Donald Saddler, Lupe Serrano, and Rachel Moore – spoke briefly about what the company was like back in the day, and then there was (happily) a great deal of dancing.

Stella Abrera, Marian Butler, Jared Matthews and Sascha Radetsky performed the Lovers’ Quarrel from Ashton’s The Dream (based on Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream), followed by Xiomara Reyes and Alexei Agoudine dancing the Titania / Bottom pas de deux from that ballet. I’ve never seen Ashton’s version of this ballet — only Balanchine’s — and the choreography looks so rich, richer to me, in a way, than Balanchine’s (though I know a lot of NYCB fans will balk at that). So, I’ll be looking forward to that. Audience cracked up, of course.

Then, Abrera, Isabella Boylston, and Yuriko Kajiya performed the Shades Trio from La Bayadere. Stella in particular took my breath away. Veronika Part and Eric Tamm then did a gorgeous pas de deux from John Neumeier’s Lady of the Camellias (which I’ve never seen before and now can’t wait to; it appears to be his version of Manon). Though everyone from ABT looks near perfect, everyone just pales in comparison to Veronika. I just can’t ever take my eyes off her. After last night I’m really really looking forward to her in Lady.

Then came the pas de deux between romantic sailor guy and the girl in pink from Robbins’ Fancy Free, which was danced well by Sascha Radetsky and Isabella Boylston (who has probably developed a fan base among Natalie Portman haters). Judging by the applause and a few words I overheard, the audience really took to them. Part and Abrera then performed the La Bayadere fight scene between Nikiya and Gamzatti (Abrera is an excellent Gamzatti by the way), and the program ended with the final Don Quixote pas de deux danced sweetly by Yuriko Kajiya and Jared Matthews.

As far as the discussion, interesting points to me were when Jaffe said of all the characters she’s danced, she felt closest to Tatiana in Eugene Onegin (I wasn’t a regular ABT-goer when Jaffe danced and didn’t know they’d ever done that ballet — made me desperately want them to bring it back), Lupe Serrano mentioned that there used to be only one cast per ballet (which we’ve talked about before on this blog as being perhaps preferable to the current system of rotating dancers since it’d be more likely to, like opera, create stars), and Saddler (who began with the company in 1939 and performed in its inaugural season) talked a bit about founder Lucia Chase, who wanted a “star system” for the company, and what it was like to dance ballet at a time when there really wasn’t any here. He said Fokine was the greatest influence on him, as, like Tudor (later a great influence on him as well), each step was reflective of character.

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CASTING FOR OPENING NIGHT NEW YORK CITY BALLET

 

Ballet season is almost here in NYC! New York City Ballet opens April 29th with a program that includes two premieres — one by Benjamin Millepied and one by Alexei Ratmansky (now ABT’s resident choreographer). The Millepied ballet, set to music by Thierry Escaich, will star several SLSG favorites: Janie Taylor, Sara Mearns, Sean Suozzi and Amar Ramasar.

The Ratmansky, set to a score by Eduoard Lalo, will be danced by Wendy Whelan, Jenifer Ringer, Sara Mearns, Robert Fairchild, Megan Fairchild, Abi Stafford, and Daniel Ulbricht.

The two world premieres will launch this season’s Architecture of Dance – New Choreography and Music Festival, devoted to new work. Acclaimed architect Santiago Calatrava has created scenic designs for five of the season’s premieres, including opening night’s Millepied piece.

Go here for tickets and details.

Above drawing by Santiago Calatrava.

ABT, currently on tour in Chicago, opens its classical season at the Met, in honor of its 70th anniversary this year, later, in May.

ABT, NYCB, Yankees — CLEARLY the best time of the year 😀

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AVI SCHER & DANCERS' FIRST FULL SEASON A SMASHING SUCCESS

Here are some photos of Avi Scher’s first full season at Alvin Ailey theater, sent to me by the amazing ABT dancer-turned-photographer Matt Murphy. Visit Matt’s blog, and his photographer website.

Savannah Lowery (from NYCB) who, for the first time, completely blew me away, flying over Ralph Ippolito (also from NYCB) and Eric Tamm (from ABT), in Touch.

Ashley Bouder (NYCB principal), who replaced Sara Mearns, who had a minor foot injury. Marcelo Gomes (ABT principal, of course!) in the background. This was my second favorite piece of the evening, Utopia. It was interesting because as much as I love Sara Mearns and was disappointed I wouldn’t be seeing her, I couldn’t imagine this role being formed on anyone other than Ashley. There was so much quick-footed, high-spirited allegro dancing and Ashley is the queen of allegro. She and Marcelo were perfect together. She replaced Sara last minute and I can’t believe how quickly she learned that dance because the choreography was, like all of Avi’s choreography, rather complex and original.

Marcelo in Mystery in the Wind, my favorite ballet of the evening. It was a neoclassical piece (Avi’s style ranges between neoclassical — like Balanchine — and contemporary), that reminded me a bit of Apollo, a bit of La Bayadere, with a main love story between Marcelo and Veronika Part, and three female dancers doing solo parts, and kind of acting as muses. In addition to Marcelo and Veronika I really loved watching Abi Stafford in this (I linked to her NYCB profile since I don’t have a picture of her for Saturday night). She had several solos, some of which were kind of sweetly folksy / flirtatiously tango-y, combined with these crazy fast balletic chaine spins across and around the perimeter of the stage. She did really well and she looked really beautiful. I brought my friend Alyssa with me, who doesn’t know much about ballet, and she said she could tell right away who all the big principals were (and she was correct in her guesses)– and Abi immediately caught her eye.

Marcelo again.

Veronika Part in that same piece. She was beautiful, it goes without saying. Every single part of her body makes such a perfect shape, my friend said, and she was so wholly into the character and the music (which is completely typical of Veronika!).

Marcelo and Veronika in Mystery again. I loved the central pas de deux – so sexy and passionate!

Another of my favorites: the “Our Love’s Defense” duet from Little Stories, with NYCB’s Christian Tworzyanski and, again, the kick-ass Savannah Lowery. Savannah has a very athletic body, she’s very muscular and toned, and she looked so good in these athletic costumes and in some of Avi’s more heavy-hitter choreography. (In this piece she and Christian have this fun, sexy wrestling match/ lovers’ quarrel.) I think more of the modern choreographers when they do work for NYCB should use her – Benjamin Millepied and Jorma Elo, etc. I think modern ballet suits her body and dance strengths more than Balanchine — I really felt like she came alive to me as an artist in Avi’s work like never before. And she’s a very good actor as well!

Veronika in Touch.

And with ABT’s Arron Scott in the same.

NYCB’s Ralph Ippolito in No Matter What. Ippolito is a corps member of NYCB and I’d never noticed him before, but he really stood out to me here. He’s very intent in everything he does, and he’s very good at using his body, his limbs, to express, to make meaningful, evocative shapes.

Ja’Malik and Victoria North in No Matter What.

The theater was completely packed on Saturday night, opening night, and I’m told it was the same at yesterday’s matinee, despite it being Easter. There’s one last performance of this short season tonight, at 8p.m. that I heard is pretty sold out as well. How excellent for this young choreographer!

Here are some of the many other reviews: Oberon’s Grove, the NY Times, Dance View Times.