Tag: Roberto Bolle

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THE DUELING JULIETS: NATALIA OSIPOVA VERSUS DIANA VISHNEVA

 

So Saturday was another double feature for me, as for many ABT fans. And it was a fun double-header with the Russian women – the Bolshoi versus the Kirov, if you will – kind of going at each other 🙂  Natalia Osipova (top photo) made her debut as Juliet, opposite David Hallberg’s Romeo during the matinee, and in the evening, Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes took the leads.

I can’t say I liked one over the other, though they were very very different. It was Osipova’s debut and Vishneva has performed it many times so the evening Juliet was a bit more sophisticated. But Osipova will grow into it and eventually make it her own. I think Osipova’s Juliet was much more girlish, cuter, particularly at the beginning, than I’ve seen her danced before. She practically ran from Paris when her parents first introduced them. Vishneva was girlish too but not as much; she knew it was time for her to be married and she was trying to be mature and ready herself.

Osipova tried hard to act the part well though, and I love that about her. She always does that. It’s not just about the dancing; she’s an actress too. And one huge thing I love about her is how well she works with David Hallberg.

Continue reading “THE DUELING JULIETS: NATALIA OSIPOVA VERSUS DIANA VISHNEVA”

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SWAN LAKE: VERONIKA PART AND CORY STEARNS

Here are some fabulous curtain call pics from last night’s Swan Lake at ABT. They’re taken by the wonderful Kokyat, and were sent to me by Oberon.

Thanks so much, you guys!

Veronika was divine in the role, as always. She and NYCB’s Sara Mearns are most definitely my favorite Odettes. Cory replaced Marcelo Gomes as Prince Siegfried, who was out due to injury (I don’t think serious; he is still listed for upcoming performances this season). So it was kind of a double replacement since Roberto Bolle was originally supposed to dance the role but he is also out with injury.

This is my first time seeing Cory in the role and I thought he did a fine job. He acted the part very well. I really believed he was a prince. He was very regal yet personable and boyish at the beginning. He conducted himself like royalty but also like a friend to his buddy Benno and to the villagers as they danced for him. He visibly became more angsty as his mother, the queen, told him he must choose a bride, and then he was clearly smitten with Veronika’s swan when he ventured upon her at the lakeside. I believed he was falling in love with her. The way he’d lay his head on her shoulder was so endearing. At one point it even looked like he kissed her neck! And then in the second half I believed he was seduced by her Odile and was devastated when he found out it was all an evil trick. He really acted it perfectly, in my opinion. He was charming, sweet, innocent, taken advantage of, in love, seduced – all of that, and he showed everything clearly.

I think he still has a ways to go as a dancer though. He didn’t have the power of Marcelo or the beautiful shaping of David Hallberg. He does have the potential to make beautiful lines though. I was talking about that with several other balletomanes afterward. But I think he gets nervous and tired. In the first scene his dancing was brilliant. His jumps had great height and were majestic and really emanated “prince.” But as the ballet went on he seemed to wear out a bit, and I can’t be sure since I’ve never had a reason to memorize the male choreography, but it seemed like at points (especially during the Black Swan Pas de Deux in the second half) that he took out some jumps and simplified some of the steps. Which was smart if he was concerned about being too tired to do some of those difficult lifts and assisted turns.

But as a commenter (and new Veronika fan!) just remarked in a comment on one of my previous posts (scroll down to bottom of comments), it’s a women’s ballet anyway. It’s more important that Odette / Odile be compelling. And Veronika never fails with that! She seemed a bit more confident on opening night dancing the Black Swan with Marcelo, but she still seemed pretty trusting here and they partnered well together.

Overall, very good performance!

Oh, also, Jared Matthews replaced Daniil Simkin as Benno. Not sure why. Hopefully Daniil is not injured because I’d really like to see him dance this part. Swan Lake continues through this Saturday. I’ll probably go once more. Maybe more 🙂

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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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ABT’S LADY OF THE CAMELLIAS NOT VULGAR!

 

Photo by Gene Schiavone, of Roberto Bolle and Julie Kent in Lady of the Camellias, taken from ABT website.

I was so busy last week carting pounds and pounds of books back and forth from the Javits Center – and killing my back and shoulders in the process, that I haven’t had time yet to figure out how to reinstall my Disqus system, which means you still can’t comment here, unfortunately. Sorry! I was going to wait to write about ABT’s Lady of the Camellias (and their other ballets I’ve seen) until I had the comments system up again, and until I’ve seen the second Lady cast, but I just have a few things to say now, mainly prompted by the critics, as usual.

This ballet, by John Neumeier, the artistic director of the Hamburg Ballet, is based on – and closely follows – the 1848 novel by Alexandre Dumas, Fils, which in turn is based on the tragic true story of a beautiful and rather famous Parisian courtesan, Marguerite Gautier, who falls in love with a young rich Frenchman, Armand Duval. The story is told in flashback and through various viewpoints and utilizes a play within a play to create theme (or a ballet within a ballet — in this case Manon, which tells the same doomed story of a prostitute and her lover), but this complicated structure doesn’t seem to confuse since the basic story is pretty clear. Though she initially rejects him when they meet at a performance of Manon, Marguerite eventually falls for Armand, and is torn between her role in society and her love for him. Armand is by turns angry, jealous, smitten, in love, and finally devastated when Marguerite terminates her relationship with him, due to pressures from the powerful Duke and Armand’s upright father, then dies of tuberculosis. Neumeier, an American who, like William Forsythe, has for most of his career worked in Germany, made the ballet in 1978, but this is the first time ABT has performed it. The novel has previous incarnations in the opera La Traviata and the Greta Garbo movie Camille.

I saw not Tuesday’s opening night but Thursday’s performance, by the same cast as opening night: Roberto Bolle as Armand, Julie Kent as Marguerite, and Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg as the “ballet within the ballet” dancers from Manon, Manon and Des Grieux. My first thoughts are: I loved Neumeier’s Death in Venice (based on the Mann novel) and I loved this as well. He really knows how to make a theatrical ballet, how to grab you and make you feel like you’re in these characters’ story. The settings are extravagant and specific, evocative of the 19th Century, the costumes are plush, and good use is made of the front edges of the stage, where the dancers come to reflect on the onstage action or to carry on with their own drama outside of the main action. The music is all Chopin, both orchestral and piano, and often the pianist is onstage; at times he actually becomes a character in the drama, interacting with the others, making music while they dance, and whom the characters may tease, or stop from playing to create a commotion. There were so many things to watch — the characters on the front side of the stage, the ensemble dancing in the middle, the pianist. It created a world. And the ballet within the ballet was done very well too: a red curtain masking the back half of the stage parted to reveal David and Gillian in heavy makeup and 18th Century garb, and they danced a Manon pas de deux as the others reacted — Armand falling for the beautiful Marguerite as Marguerite began to identify with Gillian’s Manon.

And then the beautiful partnering between Marguerite and Armand becomes front and center whenever it happens. Many critics are finding the choreography vulgar and crass but I didn’t. I thought the many sweeping lifts were beautiful and evocative of that world – this isn’t Romeo and Juliet, it’s the story of a courtesan and her very passionate lover, so it makes sense for Armand to lift Marguerite high above his head in adulation one moment then bring her down and place her on the floor the next. At times it reminded me of Kenneth MacMillan (both his versions of Romeo and Juliet and Manon) without copying him; the lifts were original. At one point, Armand holds his arms out in a T shape and Marguerite wraps her arms around his from behind. It looks like she’s on a cross. Or at times he’ll pick her up by holding onto her lower arms, which she’ll hold down. It looks like she’s a prisoner and can’t move – which she is in a way. And then there are lifts where she’s lying on her side, like he’s glorifying her.

Also, some of the choreography reminded me of Tudor, such as when Marguerite is begging for acceptance from Armand’s father and she circles around him repeatedly on pointe, or where a character will show hesitation and conflicted feelings with the almost Swan Lake-like rapid fluttering of a foot or by going in one direction, then with intentionally awkward rapidity, stopping and going in the opposite.

And I loved some of the floor choreography. At one point, Marguerite and Armand are sitting opposite each other, back to back, legs extended out, and they lean back and lovingly wrap their necks around each other’s side to side. So sweet.

I don’t know, look at some of these NYTimes slides and see if you think “vulgar” or original, evocative. Critics are also saying the choreography is severely lacking in musicality. To be honest, I didn’t pay much attention to that. I thought Chopin was evocative of that era, that world, as was the choreography, but I didn’t pay attention to the ways that the movement complemented the music. In general I don’t think a certain movement has to hit a certain beat; sometimes movement can play with a rhythm, question it, or work against it for effect. I don’t even think movement needs music. But I’ll pay attention to the music and movement when I see the ballet again next week.

I’ll also write more about the dancers’ interpretations after I’ve seen the second cast.

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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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DEVIN ALBERDA IS HILARIOUS!

 

Headshot by Paul Kolnik, from NYCB website.

One of my Twitter followers, a law blogger go figure, sent me a link to this article, by Gia Kourlas in the NYTimes about how several ballet dancers, mostly from NYCB (apart from Maria Kochetkova and Daniil Simkin) are now actively tweeting. I found Alberda’s posts to be absolutely hilarious. Follow him!

Kourlas didn’t mention them, but David Hallberg, Marcelo Gomes, Drew Jacoby and Roberto Bolle are all on Twitter too. Roberto and Marcelo, unfortunately, don’t tweet much. Marcelo in particular cracks me up though. He started the account to tweet about ABT’s recent Culinary Pas de Deux. He had several tweets leading up to it: can’t wait for the culinary pas de deux, follow us as we tweet throughout, etc., then the two tweets the night of the event were something like: almost time for the culinary pas de deux!, then, wow that was a great culinary pas de deux! But no tweets throughout 🙂

It’s hard because dancers are so used to expressing themselves with their bodies, not their words and I know they’re encouraged to do this — blog and tweet — to reach out and try to gain new fans. My advice though: they have to make sure they remember they’re talking to a general audience, not an audience of already converted ballet fans, lest their posts be largely lost on most. They have to try to bring new people into their world, not exclude them with terminology that wouldn’t make any sense to an outsider. That’s why I think David Hallberg made the Winger so popular for the time that he was actively blogging there. He wasn’t just its biggest star; he had a way of communicating with people who don’t know everything there is to know about ballet, and of making them want to know more. I’ll bet he doesn’t have any dancers in his family and basically had to grow up doing that. His tweets are mostly about his travels guest starring all over the world.  His friend, Evan McKie, from the Stuttgart Ballet, who also used to blog on the Winger, is also on Twitter and it’s fun to keep up with him as well.

And those are only the ones I know of; there are probably many more. I don’t have time to search for people’s Twitter accounts, but just do as Kourlas suggests if you want to find them (or any other dancers): Google their name + Twitter and you should find them if they’re on there.

By the way, speaking of ABT’s Culinary Pas (see some photos of that here), my friend happened to go (she was invited by someone else, a patron, and didn’t even know it involved ABT until she got there!) She had a blast, said Marcelo and Craig Salstein (the organizers) were very nice, Craig in particular was very well spoken, which I’ve noticed before, that Marcelo and Gillian Murphy danced some duets from Dirty Dancing, including the mambo scene (said ballet dancers can’t move their hips properly for Latin dance 😀 ), and that Blaine Hoven was cutting up a rug on the dance floor along with Sascha Radetsky. I hate going to parties like this but love hearing about them afterward.

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WAS THAT THE MOST BORING DANCING WITH THE STARS QUARTERFINAL OR WHAT?

Sorry I’ve been so out of it again with blogging, you guys — I can’t believe how many little errors there are in my book to correct… So stressful!

Anyway, I managed to watch DWTS last night. Thing is, I’m really so not into it; even if I wasn’t busy with my book, I’m so not into blogging about the show this season. I think Mya is overall the best contestant on the show right now, and so she probably deserves to win. But she just doesn’t do that much for me. I liked both her Quickstep and 70s Samba last night — I thought her Quickstep was actually pretty basic and technique-focused so I’m not sure why Len didn’t like it, and the Samba was fun — a lot of people dance Samba to disco music since it’s so hard to find good authentic Samba music around here.

I think overall I like Aaron the most though, even though he’s not as good as Mya. Still, he’s getting less and less fun, for some reason, as the season goes on. His over-the-top-ness is not enough to compel me to watch the show anymore. I liked but didn’t love his 90s Latin routine last night — wait, was it  Jive? I don’t even remember? But I was annoyed with Karina that she didn’t let him do his fun boy-band moves. Why did she cut him off like that — I think it would have been hilarious. And what is with everyone getting sick? (Both Karina and Aaron had the flu at various points this week apparently…)

I thought all the Standard routines were pretty bland last night. I thought Donny’s Viennese Waltz was the best, mainly because Kym was so beautifully fluid. But during the Latin round, his 80s Paso wasn’t all that interesting. The costumes and music (I used to love Spin Me ‘Round) were far more fun and flashy than the actual dancing.

And I feel the same way about Kelly as I do Aaron. I liked watching her learn and grow early on but now it seems she’s stagnating and it’s not that interesting anymore. I thought her 60s Jive was cute and I love that Louis, unlike Karina, let her put her own Monkees-esque moves in.

I feel like Joanna really dances like a paper doll. She has no grounding, no weight, no strength or firmness in her body. You need that for ballroom, even for the Standard dances. You need that for any kind of dance. You need that to do fouettes and pirouettes in ballet. Not that I don’t dance exactly like that — that was always my problem: I looked emaciated and completely substanceless. I used to think it was just about being thin, but it’s not. There are very thin dancers who are very rooted and have a great deal of strength in their bodies. She’s a really really pretty paper doll, but a paper doll nonetheless and I can’t for the life of me understand why the judges fawn over her so.

 

 

I know, as Katrina had commented earlier, that seasons may collide, but I still so want Yankees to be on the show.  Come on, A-Rod can dance with Smirnoff and Derek with … Lacey maybe. The World Series was the most exciting thing to happen since Roberto Bolle (look look, new pic from Weber book!) came to town. I’ve been a bit bored and depressed since it ended… 🙁

One more thing about the Yankees: they had a little dance segment at the City Hall celebration — did anyone watch it? The dancers were teenaged schoolgirls, apparently, from Staten Island, called the LA Dancers — something like that. They were okay, but you know… Why don’t they have a real dancer, like Ashley Bouder? I think she’d be perfect — she’s cute and extremely athletic and would be very attractive to the average baseball fan. And she’s a NYCBallet dancer… Come on! Next year…

 

Photo of Bouder by Gene Schiavone, taken from Bailarinas; photos of A-Rod and Jeter taken from here and here respectively.

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MARCELO GOMES, THE FAVORITE, ON YOUTUBE

I have been called a “bad Marcelo fan” for continuously chatting about Roberto Bolle, as I did, for ex., in the last post (I don’t think any current dancer promotes himself quite as much as Roberto, and he promotes ballet with himself, so you can’t help but love him for that reason alone).

Anyway, when I first started blogging there were practically no YouTubes of any of my favorite dancers, but that’s thankfully now changed. So, here are several of Marcelo, still SLSG’s favorite ballerino!, dancing with some of SLSG’s favorite ballerinas.

Here, with Alessandra Ferri in Lar Lubovitch’s gripping Othello pas de deux:

Here with Veronika Part in Swan Lake (video quality is not the best, but oooh, the music!)

Here, his Albrecht variation from Giselle, which is timely since ABT is currently in Ocean County, CA, performing that ballet:

Here, as the wickedly sexy Von Rothbart in Swan Lake:

Here, with Gillian Murphy at the beginning of SL (again as Von Rothbart):

The guy who’s dancing the swamp-creature persona of Von Roth, above, is Isaac Stappas, whose new headshot, coincidentally, I was just sent by the amazing Jade Young, who is practically becoming ABT’s portraitist in residence!

 

I’ve posted it previously, but here is Marcelo’s which he did a while back:

 

And one more, with Gillian Murphy again in Coppelia:

I know, the videos are nothing compared the live versions, but the first, of Othello, comes kind of close, no? And the last you can see pretty well, especially around the 4 minute mark when the great one begins his solo.