Tag: Veronika Part

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OH NO ROBERTO!!!

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

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

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

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

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

Get well soon Roberto.

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ALICIA ALONSO 90TH BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AT ABT

 

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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GET WELL SOON, ROBERTO!

 

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

All images from ABT‘s website.

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ABT OPENING NIGHT GALA MET SEASON 2010

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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ABT AT 70 AT THE GUGGENHEIM

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

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

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

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

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

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AVI SCHER & DANCERS' FIRST FULL SEASON A SMASHING SUCCESS

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

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

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

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

Marcelo again.

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

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

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

Veronika in Touch.

And with ABT’s Arron Scott in the same.

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

Ja’Malik and Victoria North in No Matter What.

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

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

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AVI SCHER, VERONIKA PART, SARA MEARNS AND MARCELO THIS WEEKEND AT ALVIN AILEY THEATER!

Isn’t this a gorgeous rehearsal photo of Marcelo Gomes and Sara Mearns, taken by the excellent Matthew Murphy! They are rehearsing for an upcoming performance of Avi Scher & Dancers, which you must go see if you’re in NY. I don’t know how ticket availability now stands, but this is an excellent opportunity to see some of the world’s greatest dancers up close in the small, intimate Citicorp theater in the Alvin Ailey studios. The show will star these two above as well as Veronika Part (below), and, amongst many others, Abi Stafford, Christian Tworzyanski and Savannah Lowery from NYCB, and Eric Tamm and Arron Scott of ABT. Readers of this blog already know how very much I love Marcelo and Veronika, and how I’ve been going on and on and on about Sara Mearns since last NYCB season. I have long been wanting to see Mearns partner with an ABT dancer — and no one more perfect than Marcelo! So, obviously, I can’t recommend this show enough. It’s this weekend, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

(Veronika Part, by Matthew Murphy)

Here are the rest of Matt Murphy’s gorgeous rehearsal photos. And see Oberon’s Grove for photos by Kokyat of Veronika rehearsing with Arron Scott.

Visit the Avi Scher Facebook page for more photos and videos, and for more info on the show. For tickets, go here.

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MORE BEAUTIES

 

So, toward the end of last week I saw two more casts of Sleeping Beauty in New York City Ballet’s production. Above are the beautiful Kathryn Morgan as Aurora and Tyler Angle as her Prince Desire (Paul Kolnik is the photographer). Below are some photos of the other couple I saw, Tiler Peck (both she and Kathryn were making their Aurora debuts), with Gonzalo Garcia, albeit not from this ballet.

 

(in Four Bagatelles, photo by Paul Kolnik)

 

(and in the Christopher Wheeldon / Martha Wainwright collaboration over the summer, photo from NYTimes by Andrea Mohin; I like this photo because I think it shows each of their personalities well).

And then last week, I saw Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette.

I’ve been thinking about who I thought was best in what role but it’s actually really hard to do that. I honestly ended up liking everyone, though there were definite differences.

I do have a lot to say about Gonzalo Garcia though. I LOVED him as Prince Desire — he really melted me, he really completely stole the show that night and I feel like I’m not ever going to like anyone quite as well in that role now. I mean, you just have to see him in a classical ballet, as the romantic lead, and you realize why San Francisco audiences were so upset when he left SFB for NYCB a couple years ago. Some of those SFBallet fans were really devastated when he left. And I think it’s been such a puzzle to those fans that New Yorkers haven’t really fallen for him the same way. And I think it’s because he hasn’t had the chance to shine because NYCB is so Balanchine-heavy. He needs roles where he can act and become a character. He’s such the quintessential romantic prince.

You can really tell how differently he’s trained than the other NYCB dancers, who’ve nearly all come from SAB and been trained on Balanchine’s non-actable abstract ballets. I felt like with Gonzalo I was seeing someone from ABT — mainly Angel Corella (in terms of the body type, dramatic style and boyishly handsome face). The way he’d hold onto the music, draw it out while it crescendos, by for example in the vision scene holding out a finger to the princess and then leaning back, then looking out to the audience — not AT the audience but in the audience’s direction — to show how enthralled he is, how much he wants to catch her, all before then turning and running toward her. The other two — Tyler and Andrew — they didn’t do all that. They just kind of looked toward her standing more and more toward the tips of the toes, ready to run toward her when the music told them to. Gonzalo’s way was so much more Petipa and Tchaikovsky and Bolshoi and Romantic Russian and all that, and it might all seem overly melodramatic to audiences who aren’t used to that. But that’s what I’m used to with ABT — and that kind of stuff makes me swoon!– so that’s why I think I loved him so much. But I’m wondering what others who saw this cast thought?

And Gonzalo just knows what’s expected of him, as the prince. Later, when he went to do that crazy series of jetes, he was rested up and ready and he nailed them like I’ve never seen him nail anything. I’ve never seen his legs straighter, in perfect splits, and the whole way around the perimeter of the stage, without tiring. And it’s like he knew that was a very important part, and he had to do them perfectly because that’s just what the romantic hero does — that’s the way he shows his love for the princess, and that he’s worthy of her. The other two obviously took them seriously (because they’re crazy hard, you have to take them seriously), but it just was more of a difficult feat, instead of having the same meaning. You know what I mean? Like he looked out all across the stage wistfully, and then he just took off flying around it. It gave it a different meaning than just flying around.

It makes me wonder though if contemporary audiences understand that, or appreciate it. Or whether they prefer for the emotion to look more “natural”? I’m not saying Gonzalo was better than the other two, just different.

I wonder what Joaquin De Luz was like, since he’s not SAB trained either. Did anyone see him?

As far as partnerships, Kathryn and Tyler were my favorites. Tyler had a few flubs on some of his solo variations (but I still love him!), but he was always the perfect partner, he was always solid when supporting her. And the series of fish dives in the wedding pas de deux were some of the most breathtaking I’ve ever seen. Her legs were pointing completely up toward the ceiling! Magnificent! And the final hands-free fish dive was picture perfect.

I liked all of the Aurora interpretations, but they were different too. Kathryn was the most princess-like, the most regal, though that may just be the way she looks. She just kind of looks like royalty! Ashley and Tiler seemed more “real girlish”  – all smiles and sweetness and awe at the world and their cute suitors.

The rose adagios were all near perfect. (ABT’s Sarah Lane is still the queen of the balances to me — it seems like she could hold them for hours.) Kathryn had the most absolutely gorgeous extensions. Do I have to giggle every time Robert Fairchild comes out leading the cavalcade of suitors? I loved Craig Hall as the “African prince,” – I don’t know what exactly stood out about him but something did. And even though it wasn’t a dancing role, I loved Henry Seth as the King; he acted it really well. Chase Finlay was lovely as Gold in the wedding scene – -he’s a really beautiful dancer with exquisite lines. Everyone’s talking about him being the next romantic lead. I loved tiny Erica Pereira as the fairy of eloquence and Ana Sophia Scheller as the fairy of courage, thought Faye Arthurs and Adrian Danchig-Waring were brilliant as The White Cat and Puss in Boots, and Daniel Ulbricht is the quintessential gymnastic court jester.

And there’s NEVER been a better Carabosse than Georgina Pazcoguin! Nor has there ever been (or, perhaps, could there be) a better Lilac Fairy than Sara Mearns. I love how she arches her back so luxuriously and opens up her chest. And the rich, full-out port de bras. Such beautiful expansiveness, that, with her beatific face, makes her perfect for this angelic role. She reminds me of Veronika Part.

Okay, that’s all I can think of, for now!

This week begins the Swan Lakes. I’ve never seen Peter Martins’ version, so I’m really excited. In particular, I’ve heard wonderful things about Maria Kowroski as Odette and I’m psyched for Stephen Hanna’s debut as Prince Siegfried!

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VERONIKA PART AND MATTHEW RENKO IN AVI SCHER’S TOUCH

Here are some photos Jade Young and Avi Scher sent me of Monday afternoon’s performance at City Center’s studio 4.

 

 

 

 

 

All photos by the fabulous Jade Young, who I was able to finally meet (along with Marcelo and Veronika’s agent — and former ABT dancer — Scott Schlexer)! It was a great afternoon — SO many people were there: James Wolcott from Vanity Fair, Mark Kirshner from TenduTV, Reese Thompson from Ballet.co, and practically all the bloggers I know of — like Philip and Taylor — and many many blog readers. It was a small room but it was so overcrowded I know there are several people there that I missed (which was probably a good thing since my laryngitis was so bad I really sounded like a frog). Apart from Veronika’s fame, I think Avi is just such a nice and talented guy that people turn up to support him and check out what he’s doing, even if the program is really short. Which this was … it was a couple of  excerpts he showed (for APAP) from his larger work, Touch, which will premiere at the Alvin Ailey theater later this spring. I will definitely post when I have more details!

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VERONIKA PART & AVI SCHER

If you’re in New York (and you won’t be at work next Monday afternoon, Jan. 11th), absolutely do not miss SLSG favorite assoluta Veronika Part up close as she performs a duet choreographed for her and Matthew Renko by another SLSG favorite, choreographer Avi Scher. The free performance will be in City Center‘s studio 4 (upstairs). It starts at 3:30 and should last an hour or two.

Top image of Part taken from here (this was when she arrived for her stint on the David Letterman show). Second photo by Kokyat, taken from the event’s Facebook listing. Visit Oberon’s Grove to see some more excellent photos by Kokyat of the duo rehearsing.

Also, the Ballet Bag has honored James Wolcott and SLSG by including our coverage of the fabulous Ms. Part as among their favorite blog posts of the year.  Thank you Bag Ladies!

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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.