Tag: Veronika Part

Posted on

Excited for ABT’s Nutcracker at Segerstrom!

 

I was so excited when it was announced a while back that my favorite ballet company, American Ballet Theater, will be performing its Nutcracker season at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts, in Orange County. I’ve so missed ABT since moving out of NY, and now I’ll get them for a whole two weeks! Alexei Ratmansky’s version of the classic is one of the best. And of course ABT has the greatest dancers around, in my admittedly very biased opinion 🙂

My faves, Marcelo Gomes and Veronika Part, will be opening the season. I’m also excited to see Misty Copeland in the lead, and Hee Seo.

If you’re in O.C., I hope to see you there!

Below is the just-announced casting:

Thursday, December 10, 7:30 p.m.
Veronika Part
Marcelo Gomes

Friday, December 11, 7:30 p.m.
Gillian Murphy
James Whiteside

Saturday, December 12, 2 p.m.
Isabella Boylston
Alban Lendorf

Saturday, December 12, 7:30 p.m.
Veronika Part
Marcelo Gomes

Sunday, December 13, 1 p.m.
Stella Abrera
Alexandre Hammoudi

Sunday, December 13, 6:30 p.m.
Gillian Murphy
James Whiteside

Tuesday, December 15, 7:30 p.m.
Hee Seo
Cory Stearns

Wednesday, December 16, 7:30 p.m.
Misty Copeland
Herman Cornejo

Thursday, December 17, 7:30 p.m.
Isabella Boylston
Alban Lendorf

Friday, December 18, 7:30 p.m.
Sarah Lane
Joseph Gorak

Saturday, December 19, 2 p.m.
Stella Abrera
Alexandre Hammoudi

Saturday, December 19, 7:30 p.m.
Misty Copeland
Herman Cornejo

Sunday, December 20, 1 p.m.
Hee Seo
Cory Stearns

Sunday, December 20, 6:30 p.m.
Sarah Lane
Joseph Gorak

Photo of Hee Seo and Cory Stearns by Gene Schiavone, courtesy of Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

Posted on

Jose Manuel Carreno’s ABT Farewell

 

Thursday night at the Met, Jose Manuel Carreno, a longtime favorite of mine, gave his farewell performance with American Ballet Theater. (He will dance a few more performances with the company as they tour Los Angeles and Japan later this month, and he ended up filling in unexpectedly for an injured dancer in Saturday’s matinee, but Thursday was the night ABT celebrated his illustrious career).

He danced Swan Lake with Julie Kent as Odette and Gillian Murphy as Odile. Of course Odette and Odile are danced by the same ballerina but this was a special performance and so he chose to have not one but two ballerinas he’s often partnered throughout his career as alternating white and black swans.

Above photo is of the white swan pas de deux with Julie Kent. Below is of the black swan pdd with Gillian Murphy. All photos are by Rosalie O’Connor.

 

And below, of his curtain calls.

 

 

The performance was spectacular but not flawless. Jose danced wonderfully. I’ve personally been more moved by his performances in Romeo and Juliet and Manon, but then I’m more a fan of modern ballet choreographers like MacMillan, than classical ballet. I wish he would have danced one of those as his farewell but I totally understand why he chose Swan Lake – it’s only the quintessential ballet after all 🙂

The best part was Act III, with Gillian as the black swan. It was just amazing feat after amazing feat. I swear I’m pretty sure I saw Gillian put a quintuple pirouette in between her fouettes; there were definitely quadruples in there. I wonder sometimes if Natalia Osipova has not substantially raised the bar for this kind of thing. I feel like everyone’s trying so hard to do as many athletically stunning things as they can. I honestly almost screamed when she threw in the quintuple. Can you imagine someone actually screaming in the audience in the middle of the performance? Glad I managed to hold it in 🙂 Suffice it to say Gillian was definitely a thrill, and Odile is her forte. She did have a tiny stumble toward the end, coming out of the fouette sequence, but I’m not one to care about things like that. I personally care more that a dancer takes chances than plays it so safe she fails to move or wow the audience (as I think I’ve said a few hundred times by now on this blog). Then Jose followed her crazy fouettes with a turn sequence of his own, with more multiple pirouettes thrown in. It also seemed that some of their assisted pirouettes went on for, like, five minutes! At the end of the pdd, the applause went on for quite some time.

I should say, every time Jose did any kind of solo, no matter how small – a few turns, a few jumps, anything – the audience went crazy with applause. As they did when his Siegfried first entered the stage. I thought for a minute the orchestra was going to have to stop the story for him to take a bow, but he kept on going with the action, in character.

So, Julie Kent’s white swan: well, I think she is an absolutely beautiful dancer, and she does things that Sara Mearns and Veronika Part and other ballerinas I love as Odette either can’t or don’t do – like the fast tiny fluttering of the feet that really make her look swan-like, or the super quick changes of the feet between her traveling passees that make it look like she is really a swan about to take off in flight. Her legs and feet are super strong and she can attain really surprising speed and precision at certain points. And I was sitting in the back of the orchestra and I could still see that incredible footwork. And yet somehow I’m not nearly as moved by her as by Sara and Veronika. She doesn’t make me feel her pain or take me into her world the way they do. Maybe she’s just not as powerful an actress, although I thought she was very good in Lady of the Camellias. I thought Jose generally partnered Gillian better, which is interesting because she’s a larger ballerina. He lifted Julie high above his head just beautifully, but then there were some moments that the assisted pirouettes that went on forever and a day with Gillian were more problematic with Julie. At one point, Julie veered sharply to one side and I worried she’d fall. But she didn’t.

Still, it was a beautiful performance all in all.

This was my first time seeing David Hallberg as von Rothbart. (You can see him in one of the curtain call photos above, in the purple). He’s a beautiful, beautiful dancer. Seriously, I don’t think any man can dance as beautifully as David Hallberg, and I’ll go to any ballet with him in (with good choreography for him of course), just to see that. But. I like Marcelo Gomes better. I know that’s controversial, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how I’m not really a fan of classical ballet partly because of this (judging by the difference of opinion between myself and my classical ballet-fan friends), but I just don’t like black and white. I prefer sexy, charmingly dangerous von Rothbarts, not pure evil von Rothbarts. And David was evil. The way he masterfully whipped around that purple cape, the way he worked his facial muscles into a hard hard look, the way he approached the queen and each woman at the ball with intention, the way he pointed straight at poor Siegfried when he first arrived with Gillian. He scared the hell out of me. And I guess if you think von Rothbart is pure evil and should be portrayed as such, then there’s no one more perfect than David to dance him. The evil is tempered a bit by David’s beautiful dancing, which made him the second best von Rothbart in my opinion, just because it added a nuance that otherwise wouldn’t have been there. But Marcelo’s v.R.’s sexiness, his irresistible charm, his deviousness, make him so much more deliciously dangerous.

I was a slight bit disappointed in the curtain calls. I think I was spoiled by Julio Bocca’s farewell being my first at ABT. That man was such a prima, his curtain calls went on forever, ending with him in underwear (well, tights), taking his time drinking a beer, then dousing himself with it. Or was it champagne he poured all over himself? (Will have to look back at my old blog post.) Anyway, it was all as if to say, I’ve had a blast here, I’ve worked my arse off, and now I’m so so ready to let loose. This all would have been inappropriate for Jose though, especially since his two daughters came out onstage with him at the end, sharing his bows. So sweet. But yeah, no getting plastered and prancing around in underwear for him. Marcelo, David, and Cory did hoist Jose over their heads, as David and Marcelo did Julio.

A couple ballerinas from the past – Alessandra Ferri, Susan Jaffe – presented him with bouquets. And Julio himself was there as well. He walked out onstage toward Jose doing a hip-shaking little rumba. Almost all the principals were onstage at the end – Paloma Herrera in particular was dressed to the nines, which was sweet since she was one of his main partners. I didn’t see Diana Vishneva or Natalia Osipova or Michele Wiles. I was hoping Carlos Acosta might show, but no such luck.

Jose’s daughters are really beautiful. Afterward some friends and I went to Ed’s Chowder House for drinks and snacks and we were debating whether the older one was his stepdaughter with Lourdes Novoa or biological daughter. Does he have one stepdaughter and two biological daughters or one of each? Anyway, the littlest daughter looks to be a teenager now. She’s really beautiful. But she was just a baby not so long ago. I guess time does go by when you’re not paying attention. The audience didn’t seem to want to say goodbye. Finally, the curtains went down and the lights went on, management making clear it’s over, folks, go home. But people kept standing there kind of dumbfounded.

Well, I’m really going to miss him. I’m going to miss him as Basilio in Don Quixote, I’m going to miss him as both the harem owner and Ali the slave in Le Corsaire (like Marcelo, he’s endearing in every single role he has – how can one be an endearing  harem-owner? I have no idea, but just watch him), I’m going to miss him as Des Grieux in Manon, I’m going to miss him as Albrecht in Giselle (I think he was the only one who still did the Baryshnikovian brisees in his near dance to death scene instead of the entrechats), I’m going to miss his sexy cocky Latin sailor in Robbins’ Fancy Free, I’m going to miss his sexy cocky leading man in Tharp’s Sinatra Suites, and most of all I’m going to miss his Romeo. In most recent years, he’s been the oldest dancer in that role, and somehow the most boyish, the most innocent, the one who’s made me cry the most times at the end in that crypt with his Juliet draped lifelessly over his arms.

Well, I still have memories. And YouTube videos 🙂

Posted on

THE BRIGHT STREAM at ABT

 

David Hallberg in Ratmansky’s The Bright Stream, Rosalie O’Connor photo.

I’m not exactly sure yet what to think of this ballet, which made its premiere at American Ballet Theater last week. There are a couple more performances left this week and I think I may see it one or two more times. Right now I kind of feel like the history of the production (as told by Marina Harss in ABT’s Playbill) is more interesting than what I actually saw.

According to Harss, the production was originally choreographed by Fyodor Lopukhov and premiered in Leningrad in 1935. But Stalin hated it so, he banned it, and eventually even sent the man who helped write the libretto to the Gulag. It was the last ballet Dmitri Shostakovich ever composed. Alexei Ratmansky (artistic director of the Bolshoi from 2004-2009) restaged it during his reign there, and the Russians loved it.

With a history like that, you have to wonder what it was that angered Stalin so. I can’t see it.  I just see it as a rather silly ballet – kind of reminiscent of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night Dream but not quite there – that takes place on a collective farm during one harvest season. According to the newspaper Pravda, Harss writes, the producers’ crime was “balletic falsehood,” meaning, she says, it wasn’t a realistic portrayal of what people are like who live on a collective farm. In other words, there was too much silliness, and farmers are serious workers, not goofs. But Ratmansky explains that, in reviving the ballet, he was attracted both to the “lovely, danceable” music and the lightly humorous vaudevillian aspect of the tale, as well as to an underlying darkness, an edge, he found in Shostakovich. “There is always something hidden in Shostakovich,” he says.

To me, that’s fascinating, and is the reason I’m going to need to see it again … and the reason I’m going to need to listen to more Shostakovich.

I think, though, the problem to me may have been more that the Russians have a keener sense of how to put on something like this, where basically every role has bravura parts. I plan to go see the Osipova / Vasiliev / Simkin cast this week to see if I feel differently about it. I saw the third cast – Veronika Part as the main character, Zina (and Part was beautiful, and the one perfect thing I felt about this cast – she was the heart and soul of the ballet), Alexandre Hammoudi as her straying husband, and Cory Stearns and Stella Abrera as the main ballet dancers in the theatrical troupe that comes to town and shakes things up. I liked Cory too. He had the cross-dressing role that David Hallberg is pictured in above and he was very good. He’s a good actor, good with both comedy and romance and has a charming, very stand-0ut stage presence.

Anyway, the plot is rather complicated, and when I expressed that to my friend she laughed and said she’d given up on the synopsis and decided just to enjoy the beautiful music and the humorous dancing. She liked it much better than I did, probably because she decided to stop trying to figure things out and just enjoy… The plot: Zina works as a local amusements organizer. Her husband, Pyotr, has a wandering eye. When a traveling theatrical troupe comes to town to stage a ballet, Zina recognizes the main ballerina – they once took classes together. They dance together, and reminisce — it’s really Zina reminiscing about her dancing past (and Part did this just beautifully) – while Pyotr becomes enchanted with the ballerina. There are also a couple of older, long-married dacha dwellers, who are rather goofy and humorous (danced by past ABT greats Victor Barbee and Martine Van Hamel). The male dacha dweller falls for the ballerina, and the female becomes enamored of the male ballet dancer. When it becomes clear how attracted to the ballerina Pyotr has become, Zina begins to cry. The ballerina calms her, promises her she has no intentions of returning his affections, and suggests they all play a trick on the married dacha dwellers and on Pyotr whereby she will dress as the male ballet dancer and the male ballet dancer will dress as her. So, that’s why the whole cross-dressing thing happens. There are many subplots as well, one involving a milk maid and her companion, a handsome tractor driver (who decides to dress as a dog), but this theme of married man falling for someone who is not his wife, then realizing how much he does value her, is the main theme of the ballet.

It was pretty funny to see Cory Stearns try to dance on pointe, but funnier to watch his character get carried away with the spread-legged, very masculine-looking jumps in that white sylph dress. He and the ballerina are, after all, ultimate hams in need of audience applause, so it makes sense that he forgets himself for a time and starts really acting like a man. I really wonder how David Hallberg does that part – and that makes me want to see his cast as well. Stella Abrera was fine as the ballerina, and mildly funny when she becomes a boy, but she’s not as spectacular of a dancer as, for example, Natalia Osipova, and I’d think that role should go to an allegro dancer like her. I imagine Osipova must be absolutely perfect in that role (since she can do mind-blowingly crazy high jetes better than many men).

Alexandre Hammoudi did well as Pyotr, though there didn’t seem to be a whole lot to that role, which makes me curious to see Marcelo Gomes and Ivan Vasiliev in the part.

I feel like, because the story-line is so slight, and because, as I said earlier, practically every role has some bravura parts, that this is a ballet that needs really spectacular dancing, that needs people cast in every part who are the kind of dancers who are constantly saying, “Hey, look at me, I can jete to the ceiling!” or “I can develope over my head!” or whatnot. And ABT dancers just aren’t trained to be that way – at least most of them aren’t.

One other gripe is the costumes, particularly for the men. The blasted pants. The mens’ lines were clumsy and unfinished and I think it was because the pants were too restrictive. It’s unusual that every single man would be unable to do a proper straight-legged jete or lift his leg more than a couple inches off the ground in arabesque – especially Gennadi Savliev, who always comes through on the stunning athletics. It had to be the pants. I understand why Ratmansky wanted to set the period with the costumes, but as with classical ballets, can’t the tops be the period-setters and the bottoms just be regular tights? Ballet is all about form!

Did anyone see the other casts yet?

Posted on

Alina Cojocaru and Polina Semionova Guest Star in ABT’s DON QUIXOTE

Over the weekend, two European star ballerinas – Alina Cojocaru from the Royal Ballet in London, and Polina Semionova from the Berlin State Opera Ballet – guest starred in American Ballet Theater’s Don Quixote as Kitri.  Cojocaru danced with Jose Carreno, and Semionova with David Hallberg. I saw both performances. Overall, I thought both are beautiful dancers, have an innate sweetness that shines through, are absolute balance queens who can hold balances on one leg on pointe for many many seconds unassisted, and can dance the role nearly perfectly. But I thought that both of them lacked fire; they both played it too safe. Maybe it’s just that Natalia Osipova has ruined me and I just can’t see anyone else in this role now.

One thing I loved about the Cojocaru / Carreno performance were that the two seemed to have a real rapport, a genuine affection for each other. Did they ever dance together at the Royal, does anyone know? Or was Jose there too early for her? Cojocaru never threw herself into his arms with the wild abandon that Osipova did last year, and I missed that. But I don’t think Jose did 🙂 Seriously, he didn’t seem to appreciate Osipova’s theatrics that much. Cojocaru seemed to tone it down and they worked very well together. Also, as I complained about on Twitter ad nauseam, during those insane one-handed overhead lifts, Jose did not go on releve and hold one leg up in arabesque the way Ivan Vasiliev did with Osipova in the Bolshoi’s live-streamed performance. It’s okay; I still love Jose 🙂 But seriously, Vasiliev and Osipova have ruined me! Cojocaru has absolutely gorgeous developpes. She can lift her leg up so high – really stunning. And I mentioned the balances earlier. She held those for so long; crowd went wild. And sweetest thing: Jose kept demanding she return for an encore bow after each of her solos. Made me really love Jose.

Cojocaru was a little shaky during the first act, and she had a little stumble. But it wasn’t memorable. Far more memorable was her strong performance in the third act, her best. That’s when she did the crazy balances.

In the third act fan variation, Cojocaru did a completely different series of steps than I’d ever seen before, which makes me think there are a bazillion ways to do that variation. Or at least three – the American, the Russian, and the British. The Ballet Bag ladies sent me a You Tube link via twitter, of Cojocaru dancing with Johan Kobborg. Around the 7 minute point is where she does this different variation.

 

Jose is such a great Basilio. He’s a natural flirt, a natural macho Latin guy, and a natural actor who can be a macho and a flirt and still be totally endearing. And it really kind of made me melt when he kept insisting she take more bows.

I really enjoyed Sarah Lane and Isabella Boylston as “the flower girls.” They often weren’t in sync because Boylston danced with more expressiveness, arching her back, taking her time and drawing out the turns, playing with the musicality. Lane was more sharp and precise, hitting poses right on the beat. But I could have cared less that they weren’t perfectly in sync. I loved that each had her own personality, as people do in real life.

I missed Sascha Radetsky as Espada the matador. I’ve never seen him in that role and I think he’d make a good one. He was replaced by Gennadi Saveliev. He was replaced on opening night too, which worries me that he’s injured.

I thought Polina Semionova was really beautiful, and, where Cojocaru had a few wobbles, Semionova had none. She was very very near perfect. Like Cojocaru, the third act was the one that most brought her to life. She kind of veered all over stage on her third act series of fouettes but she threw several multiple pirouettes in, and her balances were even more stunning than Cojocaru’s, as, during her final balance, she took her leg out of arabesque and straightened it out in front of her, without ever holding Hallberg’s hand to steady herself. Audience went absolutely crazy with applause. They really loved her, and called her and David out for several curtain calls.

In the third act, she did “the American” fan variation. She’s Russian and dances in Berlin, so I really think each ballerina just chooses whichever version looks better on her body and feels most comfortable to her. I thought the little hopping “horse steps” on pointe were really sweet on her.

She and David seemed to like each other as well. The partnering was a little off at points, though, and he almost dropped her in a fish dive. She played it very safe with the second act swan dives into his arms as well, and he didn’t try any Vasilievs on the one-handed lift.

David is a beautiful dancer on his own though, and, as a critic said to me during intermission, it’s sometimes hard to focus on anyone else when he’s onstage. His movements were absolutely perfect, both the more balletic and those kind of side to side matador-looking movements. His jetes are beautiful – he’s just the most beautiful male dancer and you can completely lose yourself in the story of the ballet just watching him.

Acting-wise, I think David is wonderful in the romantic scenes. He’s definitely a romantic. But the rest of the time I think he should just be himself, make Basilio his own, and not try to be so cocky and macho. In him, I find it comes across as anger, an an intimation of violence even, like he’s really going to go off and whack someone. He’s not a natural cocky flirty Latin shit like Jose and Marcelo Gomes 🙂 And so it loses its charm with him. My thoughts anyway.

It probably won’t come to a surprise to anyone who’s read my blog for some time that Veronika Part (here as Mercedes, the “street dancer”) stood out to me. In the first two acts, I found her even more captivating than Semionova. One thing I love about her is her attempt to make the styling as authentic as possible. Part really looked like a Spanish dancer to me. And in the second act’s dream scene, I found her jetes across the stage really breathtaking – just as much as Semionova’s.

Sarah Lane danced the part of Amour in the white scene. I always want to call that character Cupid. Anyway, before the performance began, I overheard one teenage girl behind me say to another, “Sarah Lane! She was the one in Black Swan!”

All in all, really lovely performances, but I do think Cojocaru makes a better Sleeping Beauty and Giselle than Kitri. She’ll be dancing Giselle this Saturday night. She’ll also be dancing Don Quixote again with Jose tomorrow night (Monday, the 23rd). I’m excited to see Semionova in Swan Lake later in the season.

Posted on

American Ballet Theater Spring 2011 Opening Night Gala

Last night was ABT’s Spring 2011 opening night gala. Dreary, rainy night … but what else is new for New York these days?

Once inside, I really enjoyed the show though. (I’m hoping to receive photos soon, which I’ll post). The program began with a short preview of Ratmansky’s The Bright Stream, which I’m excited to see next week. Seems to have a lot of humor, some bravura dancing, a cute storyline.

 

(Photo: The Bolshoi’s production of Bright Stream; Natalia Osipova is jete-ing).

Then, there were introductions by Rachel Moore, executive director of ABT, wearing a beautiful green dress, and Kevin McKenzie (AD), followed by Caroline Kennedy, who introduced the students of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of American Ballet as they danced a world premiere, Karelia March, by Raymond Lukens. The program says the students are Level 7, which must be the highest level, because some of those dancers looked like ABT principals. I’m not kidding, I swear. They really amazed me. That school is doing incredible things!

Next was Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, danced by David Hallberg and Gillian Murphy. Everytime I see David dance I think he must be the most perfect male dancer in the world. Gillian was stunning too.

Then came the Grand Pas de Deux from Ratmansky’s new Nutcracker, danced by Marcelo Gomes and Veronika Part. (No, they’re not performing that ballet during the Met season, but there seemed to be a few excerpts in the program from ballets they’re not performing). I missed seeing this couple – overall still my favorite – when the company premiered Ratmansky’s version in December. They were so sweet. Veronika danced with such wonderment in her eyes, such joy. And Marcelo was her perfect, adoring cavalier, all eyes on her. I don’t have kids, but I’d think they’re the perfect wedding couple to wow very young audiences.

Then came Majisimo, a classical ballet piece with Spanish flourishes created by Georges Garcia for the Ballet Nacional de Cuba in 1965 and set to Jules Massenet’s Le Cid. This piece was mainly meant to highlight Jose Manuel Carreno, who of course retires from ABT later this season. But it was really a dance for eight couples, and he danced only the male part of one of them – there were very few solos. He danced with Paloma Herrera. Xiomara Reyes was paired with Reyneris Reyes, guesting from Miami City Ballet. The other couples were comprised of Cuban dancers guesting from other companies as well: Lorena Feijoo and Joan Boada from San Francisco Ballet, and Lorna Feijoo and Nelson Madrigal from Boston Ballet. The dancers were spectacular, but I didn’t think that much of the choreography, which reminded me of a more bland version of an ensemble scene from Don Quixote. Jose had a series of turning jumps, and a really beautiful multiple pirouette that wowed the audience – drawing those turns out are what he’s most known for. And Xiomara really took my breath away with this crazy fast series of traveling turns in a diagonal down the stage. I’ve never seen her dance like that!

 

(Photo: Jose Carreno dancing with Polina Semionova in Diana e Acteon)

After intermission came two pas de deux from Swan Lake. A Twitter follower asked me why they needed to perform two scenes from the same ballet. I think that ABT, same as everyone else, is just trying to benefit from the Black Swan craze. They should have had Sarah Lane dance one of the pdd though! 😀 Anyway, first pas de deux – White Swan- was Paloma Herrera and Alexandre Hammoudi, which was good. But the second – the Black Swan – I found surprisingly magnificent! It was danced by Michele Wiles and Cory Stearns. There have been so many guest stars from Europe lately gracing ABT’s stage, I’d forgotten how perfect an Odile Michele Wiles is. And Cory really impressed me as well. Whatever he may lack in dance ability (I can’t imagine he’ll ever be a David Hallberg or Marcelo Gomes), he more than makes up for in acting and stage presence. He’s really good at bringing you into the world of the ballet and creating a character you can sympathize with.

Sandwiched in between the two SLs was Jessica Lang’s Splendid Isolation III, danced by Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky. I joked on Twitter that Max earned the hot guy of the night award for that, but seriously – he did! Irina was really beautiful as well. And her party dress, which she came out in for the final stage bow, was, as usual, gorgeous. She has such impeccable fashion taste, imo.

 

Following that was the highlight of the night, for me – Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes in the Act I pdd from Manon. Such a perfectly choreographed pas de deux – beautifully romantic and full of love / lust but with so many breathtaking but capriciously executed, dangerous-looking lifts you sense something out of control. As beautiful as it is, this story isn’t going to have a happy ending. I am liking Diana Vishneva more and more. I’ve always thought she was a great dancer but she always seemed to play too much to the audience for the story ballets. She didn’t take me into the world of the character as much as I want an actor to. But the last two seasons she’s been doing just that: really developing the character and dancing to her partner – Marcelo here and in Lady of the Camellias last season, which is the first time she really blew me away – instead of the audience. This – the Manon pdd – was the audience favorite last night as well. The two got a storm of whoots and bravos at their curtain call, and practically had a standing ovation the audience was so loud in their applause. “So beautiful,” exclaimed the woman beside me. “Okay, we can go home now,” she joked.

 

(Couldn’t find a photo of Diana and Marcelo, but here is Diana dancing Manon with Manuel Legris. With all photos I post now, I’m linking to the original site via a click on the photo.)

Here are Marcelo and Diana in Lady of the Camellias:

 

Then, Alina Cojocaru, one of the European guest artists this season, danced the Rose Adagio from Sleeping Beauty. I’m not a huge fan of this ballet in general, but she was lovely. Patrick Ogle replaced Sascha Radetsky as one of the cavaliers.

Second to last was the Act II pdd from Lady of the Camellias danced by Julie Kent and Cory Stearns. Again, Cory did a very good acting job – and physically he fits the character perfectly, as Julie does hers, but I think some of those lifts are so difficult-looking… I just worry about the dancers. Isn’t that how Roberto Bolle got hurt last season – performing this role?

And the evening ended with another ensemble excerpt from Ratmansky’s Bright Stream. People who stood out most to me were Daniil Simkin and, again, Xiomara Reyes. I really am excited to see this ballet.

Tonight Don Quixote begins and runs through the beginning of next week. I’m excited to see Alina Cojocaru dance with Jose Carreno on Friday night, and Russian ballerina Polina Semionova guesting in the Saturday matinee with David Hallberg.

Posted on

Sara Mearns Was Gorgeous in Swan Lake, But Overall Production Was Lacking

 

Last week was Sara Mearns week for me (well, for many New York ballet fans, I suspect). On Tuesday night, she made her debut as the Siren in NYCB’s Prodigal Son. (I’m still awaiting photos and will post as soon as I receive them!) Sean Suozzi danced the lead role. He did very well, but she just always stands out to me whatever she is in – particularly the story ballets. She was the best, most tantalizing, sinister, seductive, all around captivating Siren I’ve ever seen. The way she whipped that cape in between her legs, wrapping it around each one, the way she’d bend her knees slowly into a second-position plie while on point, basically squatting over the son’s head in a suggestive but also sinister manner, the way she’d raise her hand behind her head with the wrist bent and the fingers splayed to indicate her triumph over the son’s will, even just the way she’d walk out onstage on pointe, tiptoeing all around him – everything, every movement was in service of the character and was an integral part of the character’s story. I often feel like I’m seeing steps with other dancers. Just steps. The pas de deux between the son and the siren contains some of Balanchine’s oddest-looking choreography- especially those lifts – ‘here, stand on my knees, wrap your legs around my neck and let me carry you around like that,’ etc. I imagine it would feel very odd and foreign doing some of that, which of course was the point. It’s supposed to look warped and off-kilter. Everyone has mastered those steps, but to me, Mearns makes it the most deliciously warped. I love her.

Then, on Friday night, the company premiered their Swan Lake (Peter Martins version), and she danced the lead. (Photo above by Paul Kolnik, from Playbill Arts.)

In sum, I loved her; I wasn’t in love with the production. I went with several friends, two of whom don’t regularly go to the ballet, and that seemed to be the consensus. Everyone was excited to see Mearns dance again, but not to see that production. She was wonderful for all the same reasons I’ve written about before – she’s like a Veronika Part to me; she does such a full job of developing character, she brings you so fully into her world, you feel all of her pain with her. But of course she’s also an excellent dancer. She has a way of arching her back so, of working her arms and hands so, of extending her leg so high in arabesque, of extending her line so beautifully and making such full shapes – it’s a cliche, but her adagio / White Swan is just breathtaking. It almost makes you want to cry, and one of my friends did!

But she excels in the Black Swan / allegro role as well – not so much because she can do athletic feats like Gillian Murphy or Natalia Osipova (there were “just” a bizillion fouettes during the pas de deux, not a bizillion fouettes divided by multiple pirouettes and wild swan-like port de bras thrown into it all) but because she can do that all perfectly fine while still making it all about the character. When she does a series of lifts with Jared Angle where she spreads her legs into a straddle split in the air above his head, it’s just so wicked! And even at the beginning of the Black Swan, when she makes her entrance and presents her hand to the queen – it’s clear she’s up to no good. But she also doesn’t overdo it. She’s conniving and sinister but with a sweet face.

But the rest of the production: Jared’s an excellent partner, that’s clear. Mearns was way off her center of gravity in much of the White Swan partnering, and he securely held her balance, freeing her up to make those gorgeous shapes, and to act it all out the way she so brilliantly does. But in his own dancing, he just, like practically all dancers these days, goes for the cliche. It all looks so fake. I don’t believe he’s in love with her, or that he’s ever longing for what he doesn’t have, and that he’s devastated when she leaves him in the end. It’s all her sorrow and longing alone. So the performance was so unbalanced. I wish so much I could see her dance this with Marcelo Gomes, who really brings Prince Siegfried’s internal conflicts to life like no one else.

The other major issue I have with this production is the costumes – the costumes and the sets. I always forget about them until I see the ballet again, and, especially when I go with friends. My friends Friday night really found it hard to look beyond those costumes. For some reason, I kept thinking of the Flinstones, my friend, Marie, called them Jackson Pollack on speed or something to that effect (I haven’t read her review yet but will after I finish this post), and the others we went with just couldn’t stop talking about the brash colors. I remember my friend in the fashion industry saying of the Romeo and Juliet costumes (Per Kirkeby designed sets and costumes for both Martins productions) that the colors needed to be muted; these brash, bright, almost neon colors made the characters look like cartoons. Same with the Swan Lake costumes. Cartoonish is NOT what you want to go for in serious ballets like this.

Also, the RACISM. This is another thing I hate to admit I often forget about until I see the ballet again with a friend, and the friend is horrified at the fact that a black man is playing the evil character. Must von Rothbart always be danced by Albert Evans or Henry Seth? Are we not living in the year 2011? I mean, this is a huge reason why young people are so turned off from the ballet. And none of the very educated critics ever seem to be calling Martins on this. What’s up with that? Seriously? I think once you go to the ballet a lot you begin to forget about these things, you become immune to them. Which is horrible. But really, asking your audience to associate black men with evil is a horrible insult to that – probably very educated – audience.

Another problem here: Faycal Karoui (the conductor) was seriously on speed. He was flying through the first half. The poor dancers couldn’t even express the story. They really had to rush falling in love. If I’d never have seen this ballet before (and there were probably some such people there due to the Natalie Portman film), I don’t know if I would have gotten much out of the White Swan pas de deux. And that’s kind of an important part of this ballet…

All other dancers did well – I particularly liked Ana Sophia Scheller and Anthony Huxley (filling in for Sean Suozzi as Benno) in the first act Pas de Trois, and, in the second act, Abi Stafford and Joaquin DeLuz in the Divertissement Pas de Quatre, and Antonio Carmena in the Neapolitan Dance – but everyone did very well (those were just the ones who stood out to me). Oh and I loved Daniel Ulbricht throughout as the Jester. With his immense skill at jumps and turns – and combo jumping turns – and his comical sensibilities, he is perfect for such a role, as he is for Puck in Midsummer Night’s Dream – my favorite roles for him.

But I have to say, I was floored when none of the other dancers came out and took bows at the end of the production. Why? Whose idea was that? Only Mearns and Angle and Evans took bows. I realize the dancers are all very hard-working and probably needed to get home to get sleep for the next day’s matinee. But this severely cut Mearns’s bow and curtain calls short. It reduced the celebratory aspect of a production well done. Worse, it also really makes it look like none of the other dancers cared about Mearns, and about the production. It made it look like the company is not really a company of dancers who all work together and support each other. I’ve honestly never seen such a thing before. I’ve seen it where dancers who only dance during the first act will take their bows and curtain calls after the first act and not at the end of the whole, but the dancers who danced in the last act always come out for their bows at the end. Anyway, it really stood out to me. What did other people think?

Here is my friend Marie’s write-up.

Posted on

American Ballet Theater’s Original New Nutcracker

 

More photos coming soon. This one (of Gillian Murphy and Catherine Hurlin as the two versions of Clara) is taken from culture.wnyc.org.

Last night was the official opening of ABT’s much awaited new Ratmansky-choreographed Nutcracker at BAM. I loved almost every single second of it. I’ve only seen about six different versions of this ballet, but this one to me seems most original. It’s very entertaining, very humorous at points, and can somehow maintain the attentions of small children while being clever and witty – and beautiful – for adults. It’s very theatrical and it’s not as “dancy” as the one I just saw from the Bolshoi (Grigorovich’s version)- there’s more non-balletic jumping and playing around in Act I at the party, but there’s plenty of beautifully choreographed classical ballet during the grown Clara and Nutcracker Prince pas de deux and the ensemble snow scene and waltz of the flowers.

It opens with the cooks and maids in the kitchen preparing Christmas dinner. They’re going about their merry preparations when suddenly their space is invaded by mice. The mice completely take over, chase out the cooks, jump up on the tables and grab for the hanging meats. Adorable and hilarious. There’s one very cutely mischievous little mouse who appears throughout.

Then the party scene happens and Drosselmeyer (a non-dance role here) presents the children with two sets of life-sized dolls. The dancing was very good, but there were no sharp, stunted staccato movements as in the Bolshoi’s, so the dancers didn’t look like real dolls to me. I loved the costumes for Harlequin and Columbine though. They looked the most commedia dell’arte that I’ve seen. All costumes were brilliant – one of the most excellent things about ABT’s production. They, and the equally brilliant sets, were made by Richard Hudson, of Lion King fame.

When the dolls are ordered to return to their boxes, the children do a group dance that looks more like fitful stomping than anything balletic. But it’s still musical and evocative and cute, and it got a lot of laughs. The nutcracker that Drosselmeyer then gives Clara (danced brilliantly by Catherine Hurlin) is half-doll, half-human. He’s danced by a boy (Tyler Maloney) but he has a full nutcracker head, so he can’t do as much as the Bolshoi’s human nutcracker doll – his movements are much more limited. Once Clara’s dream begins, the boy removes his doll head before escorting her off to the Kingdom of the Sweets. I have to say, I really liked the boy who danced Clara’s bratty brother, Fritz – Kai Monroe. He was very entertaining, did a good job with both the acting and the dancing (high jumps!), and I think he will be one to watch for.

The Battle scene between the mice and the nutcracker and his soldiers was good, and, again, the costume for the mouse king (Thomas Forster) was fantabulous. I couldn’t even count the heads he had there were so many. I think of all battle scenes, I like Balanchine’s the best. I love how a mouse will scurry ominously across the floor right in time with a flute chord. Then the mice begin to gather and organize right in time with the flute ensemble so that it seems like the mice are talking. And Balanchine’s battle scene seems the most theatrical. Balanchine’s growing tree is also magnificent. Here, the tree only grows a bit, but soon they multiply and trees begin to eat up the wings, which was also spectacular.

The snow scene was really beautiful and this is where we first meet the grown-up Clara and her nutcracker prince (last night they were Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg, but there are many casts – see James Wolcott’s review of a preview starring Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes here). Their first pas de deux is a beautiful waltz, and it’s made very clear that this is Clara’s grown-up vision of herself and her prince. The child Clara and Nutcracker boy waltz alongside Gillian and David until the classical ballet steps takes over, and the children stop dancing and gaze longingly at their grown-up selves as they finish the pas de deux. There’s a really beautiful Viennese waltz-type of lift where he spins around with her perched on his shoulders.

The Kingdom of the Sweets is really different from other versions. The “Sugar Plum Fairy” or “Nanny” as she is alternately called here, is not a dance role, but more of an escort through this kind of tour of It’s a Small World. She dons an absolutely gorgeous ancient Indian costume, as does her male companion. The dancer representatives from various countries are not dolls; they are real, but most of the dances are very different. The Arabians, for example, are danced by one man (last night, Sascha Radetsky) and four women, and the women are all cutely chasing the one very wickedly flirtatious man. It reminded me a bit of Kevin McKenzie’s von Rothbart deviously flirting with all the court women at the beginning of the Black Swan pas de deux. At the end of this dance, though, the tables are turned and the women come into their own and no longer need him. Now of course, he’s not very happy about that. It’s great fun and I loved this dance the best.

The Russians (Mikhail Ilyin, Craig Salstein and Arron Scott) were more folksy than bravura ballet, which was fine, because they later did a circle of barrel turns as their part of the final ensemble dance.

And we see Mother Ginger again (or who, as a child, I called The Fat Lady with the big skirt). I haven’t seen her since Balanchine! And there’s an added element of hilarity here involving the mischievous little mouse from the kitchen!

The only dance I didn’t really care for was the Chinese. As I’d expected, these roles were danced by Daniil Simkin and Sarah Lane. But Ratmansky didn’t really use them for what they are known for and the dance is very tame compared to this dance in the other Nut versions. I really wanted to see Daniil go flying around the stage in those crazy million times-overrotated turning leaps that he’s known for. There weren’t even any high jumps. It’s just that I look to the Russian and Chinese dances for the bravura parts and it’s okay if they’re lacking in one dance, but not both! The Chinese weren’t as goofily portrayed though as in other versions, so I appreciated that.

And I loved the waltz of the flowers. Included here are some very charming bees, but they’re not used in a slapstick way at all, which I thought they would be when I initially saw them. They dance is very classical and there’s a beautiful part where the four male bees toss the red and pink-clad ballerinas into each others’ arms in a circular rotation. That received a lot of audience applause.

And then is the ending pas de deux again between Gillian and David. I’d written before, when I saw an excerpt at the Guggenheim, that it looked more modern lyrical than classical, but last night it looked very classical to me. Ratmansky used my favorite lift from the Grigorovich Bolshoi version where the prince lifts and holds Clara up by one lower leg and carries her all around stage like that. The solo variations were nice. David didn’t seem to have the height he normally does on his jetes (I was told later at dinner though, by a dancer – not from ABT – that that choreography was crazy hard) but he made up for it in a series of spins. I know in ballet they’re called turns, but he was going so fast they looked more like ice-skating spins to me!

The only thing I found bothersome was the acoustics in the BAM opera house. Maybe I’ve just never heard live music played there but it just seemed like the orchestra was playing so softly. The sounds of the toe shoe-clad feet and the sounds of children coughing dominated.

Oh, one final thing: when David Koch, who financed a good part of the production, gave his opening speech, he accidentally called Kevin McKenzie “Peter.” Got a lot of ooooohs from the audience. I couldn’t hear through the ooooohs what he said after that – I assume it was an apology – but whatever it was it elicited even more ooooooohs. Funny.

Overall it’s a brilliant new ballet, a very original new production. Definitely get out to BAM if you can! Go here for the rest of the schedule.

Posted on

The Bolshoi’s Nutcracker

So of course I went yesterday to see the Bolshoi’s Nutcracker, live-streamed into movie theaters all over the world, though, judging by the opening remarks made by announcers and intermission interviews, I think most of the audience was in France. Anyway, there was a pretty good turn-out at the Big Cinema in Manhattan – bigger than turn-outs for the two recorded Emerging Pictures ballet films I saw earlier (the Royal Ballet’s Nutcracker and the Bolshoi’s Flames of Paris). Still, the theater wasn’t packed, as it should have been.

Anyway, this was the best Nutcracker I’ve seen so far. I really loved it. I don’t think anyone puts on a show, makes ballet into theater, quite like the Bolshoi. And their dancers have got to be among the most talented in the world. The things they can do… I think every single woman had a point like Veronika Part and every man like David Hallberg.

This production, by Yuri Grigorovich, had no Sugar Plum Fairy, but instead the grand pas de deux was danced by Marie (so-called here instead of Clara), and her nutcracker, turned into a prince in her dream. I like it so much better this way than having a Sugar Plum Fairy. It just makes more sense in the story to have the young girl imagining herself as a grown-up princess. It makes that final pas de deux so much sweeter. And here, they actually get married, Marie and her prince.

 

The same ballerina – the exquisite Nina Kaptsova (who I remembered immediately from her role in Flames of Paris as the delicate and sympathetic Marquis’s daughter; photo above from dance.net) – danced both the young and grown-up princess versions of Marie and she was surprisingly believable as both. You’d have to have a small dancer with a very youthful physique to be able to dance both parts. (San Francisco Ballet has grown-up Clara dancing the final pdd too, but two different dancers dance the young and older Clara). Kaptsova’s prince was Artem Ovcharenko, who was also very good though he didn’t stand out quite as much as she. For ABT fans, he reminded me a lot of Maxim Beloserkovsky.

What I really, really loved about this Grigorovich production, though, was all of the dancing. It begins with the guests en route to the party, and they dance across the stage. There are really no non-dance moments as there are in most Nutcrackers I’ve seen, where you have the party with children scurrying about and the grown-ups chasing after them and chatting with each other, and Clara and her brother fighting over the little nutcracker, who is actually a doll. Here, the children aren’t really children but dancers in the company (one reason why there’s so much more dancing), and, magnificently, the “toys” are all dancers as well! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a real dancer play the little nutcracker doll. And s/he (not sure which gender, as unfortunately the name isn’t listed in the program) was brilliant  – one of the best parts of the first Act. A shame there’s no name – unless it’s Anna Proskurnina, who’s listed as Marie’s brother? I’ll have to look it up.

The other two toys in the first Act – Harlequin and Columbine – were danced brilliantly as well, by Vyacheslav Lopatin and Anna Tikhomirova. Those dancers were the most doll-like dolls – with their stunted, sharp staccato movements – that I’ve ever seen.

After the snow scene, Marie and her Nutcracker (now, in his human version, danced by Ovcharenko) didn’t really go to a Land of Sweets but more like a land of toys, as male / female pairs of dolls from various parts of the world entertain them. I went to the performance with my a Chinese friend and of course I was really embarrassed by the Chinese dolls. He thought they were funny though, and we both agreed they were danced very well, by Svetlana Pavlova and Denis Medvedev. I can really see Daniil Simkin dancing this role in ABT’s production, if Ratmansky does it the same way. ( I know Simkin will also have a turn as the Nutcracker Prince / Cavalier at ABT). I also hope Ratmansky doesn’t resort to stereotypes in creating these roles, as virtually every other choreographer has.

As the Indian dolls, Victoria Osipova (relation to Natalia?) and Andrei Bolotin had a bit of a slip and she fell, but I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. She got up immediately and there was no sign of injury. This is usually the dance most of us in the US know as “coffee” or the Arabian part, but here the costumes are very different – more classical, no bare midriff and tiny top – and the dancing more conservative.

I loved the grand pas de deux. It was both sweet and innocent (like you’d expect of a young girl’s dream of her older self being swept off her feet by a handsome prince), and stunning in its athleticism. Some of those lifts are the most breathtaking I’ve ever seen. At one point, he held her up by her calf and she’s upright, and he carried her all over the stage that way. There are many overhead lifts where he’s holding only her waist, with her legs in the air, feet delicately crossed, and she looks down at him, crossing her hands beatifically. And at the end of the wedding, he carries her off in a cradle lift. So sweet. The solo variations for each were equally breathtaking. Kaptsova had a series of super-fast chaine turns but with all kinds of additional footwork thrown in. Watching her dance, at points I couldn’t believe my eyes.

Oh and also Drosselmeyer was much more of a dance part than most other Drosselmeyers I’ve seen. He was danced very well by Denis Savin.

Overall brilliant production. I feel spoiled now, like I’m never going to be able to see another Nutcracker again. But I will this Thursday – when Ratmansky’s opens at BAM!

Posted on

Veronika Part in the January 2011 Marie Claire

Sorry, I couldn’t get this magazine photo to scan very well, but, suffice it to say, SLSG favorite Veronika Part is in the January 2011 issue of Marie Claire! She’s not talking about weight or Black Swan; she’s featured simply because she’s a muse for young designer Christian Cota. He says, “When I watch Veronika dance, I’m truly captivated by the way her body moves. It pushes me to explore my designs in a way that I haven’t before.”

Cota is Mexican born and studied painting in Paris and fashion at New York’s Parsons School of Design. He launched his eponymous label in 2007. The magazine piece defines his style as: “Light and airy feminine silhouettes in digitally enhanced fine-art prints.”

Sure is an exciting time for ballerinas right now!

Posted on

Paperback Dolls and Nutrackers

I have a guest post up today at the Paperback Dolls blog! They’re currently featuring New York authors and bloggers as part of their “Passport to New York” series. So, since I’m both, I talked about both my novel and the blog.

Regarding the blog, I gave their readers some recommendations on what to see in New York for the next couple of months dance-wise. I then realized I haven’t done that for my own readers yet, because I’ve been so blasted busy. But of course everyone who regularly reads my blog knows what I’ll recommend: Alvin Ailey, upcoming at City Center for the month of December (it’s Judith Jamison’s last season as artistic director so there will be lots of tributes to her); New York City Ballet’s Balanchinian Nutcracker which has already begun and continues on through the beginning of the year; and ABT’s new Nutcracker, which begins December 22nd and will be at Brooklyn Academy of Music.

I didn’t have a chance to write about it but I saw a small sneak preview of ABT’s new Nut at the Guggenheim’s Works & Process event a couple weeks ago, at which choreographer Alexei Ratmansky and conductor Ormsby Wilkins spoke. Several excerpts were performed including Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes dancing part of the final Clara and the Prince pas de deux, the Russian dance, and some of the snow scenes. Ratmansky and ABT representatives had said earlier during a press conference that it would be pretty much traditional, but from what I saw it looks very modern. The costumes and sets – which are gorgeous and are made by Richard Hudson, the Tony award-winning set designer of the Lion King – are period, but the movement looked very modern to me, not at all classical. The pas de deux looked like lyrical and more romantic (without a capital “r”) and less fairy tale-like than I’ve normally seen, and the Russian dance looked folksy and even a bit slapsticky rather than the classical bravura dancing we’re used to with “Trepak.” Anyway, Ratmansky had noted that the original choreography for this ballet is no longer extant so that’s why there are so many different versions. The only two versions I’m really that familiar with, I guess, are Balanchine’s and the San Francisco Ballet’s two-year-old version, the DVD of which I reviewed a while back.

Anyway, I think the new Ratmansky Nutcracker is going to be a departure from the ordinary, and it will be interesting to see the whole and see how audiences react!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Posted on

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 🙂

Posted on

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 🙂