Ivy Lin

This is THE version for me:

A few thoughts: 1) Alexa Maxwell and Anthony Huxley were OUTSTANDING in Opus 19/Dreamer. I often think that there's two ways to dance the female part -- some ballerinas are very earthy (Tiler Peck), others very ethereal (Sterling Hyltin). Alexa Maxwell is definitely more ethereal and remote. Anthony Huxley is such a beautiful technician. 2) Solitude's second cast was maybe not as strong as the first cast. Mira Nadon and Sara Mearns are simply more impactful dancers than Unity Phelan and Isabella LaFreniere. But I thought Adrian Danchig-Waring was just as moving as Joseph Gordon in the big solo. I love Solitude overall. So much to absorb, one viewing is not enough. 3) Super disappointed with Ashley Laracey in Symphony in Three Movements. She has very little speed and attack, and she also didn't really articulate some of the stranger arm and hand positions of the ballet. When she started flapping her arms like Odette I was like STOP. 4) Emma von Enck and David Gabriel were delightful in Ballo. Emma is not quite as fast as Tiler, but she was sparkling and charming. David Gabriel has gorgeous soft landings. 5) Alexa Maxwell was very charming and funny in The Concert, although (to me) nothing will ever match the zany energy Sterling Hyltin brought to the role.

I'd recommend people give Love Letters a chance on that Sadlers' Wells program. I absolutely adored it. Taylor Stanley is very special in that role.

I was at the premiere of Solitude as well. I really liked it. Very much enjoyed how Ratmansky brought out the folk dance accents of Mahler's funeral march, and how the whole ballet seems to be a dream of the grieving father. Also sensed that the various dancers in different outfits represented how in war, people are often displaced with only the clothes on their backs. The Adagietto solo was so different from Joseph Gordon's usually sunny allegro dancing. As for Ratmansky's work and Ukraine, he just premiered a very sunny version of Coppelia at La Scala. Highly recommend that people see that.

I saw the cinemacast and wanted to say that despite Yasmine Naghdi's sterling technique, I thought she exuded too much of a queenly regal quality for Aurora. She never seemed very girlish.

From what I understand Guillem did not like being filmed and often requested for her performances to be removed from the DVD or official cinema release. I remember she danced at Nicholas LeRiche's farewell but her portion of the evening was removed from the cinemacast.

Does anyone know which cast will be the cinemacast?

IIRC, the last time NYCB visited London, didn't it get somewhat chilly reviews?

It's very similar but in general I liked the Bolshoi and Ukrainian Ballet's mime better. I didn't think the PNB's mime looked quite as natural.

I'll add that I found Rausch a bit lacking as Giselle. She was fine with the allegro steps, but didn't seem to sustain the adagio poses very well, and would quickly move to the next pose.

Saw the stream today. One difference in choreography: PNB does the tabletop lift between Giselle and Albrecht, while Ratmansky does the more old-fashioned straight up and down lift. In the series of carried arabesques in the grand pas de deux, PNB does the version where Giselle is carried backwards slightly before her arabesque, while Ratmansky does the pure arabesque. Ratmansky does not include the "dance to the death" entrechats, while PNB does.

Is it very different from the Ratmansky version? I recently went to DC to see two performances of that version. The United Ukrainian Ballet dancers were wonderful!

I was thinking that Gogidze might be a good pickup for a number of ballet companies. She seems to be a strong technician. I hope all of these dancers find a place somewhere if they can't return home.

They toured this in Washington DC and I caught two performances: https://bachtrack.com/review-giselle-ratmansky-united-ukrainian-ballet-washington-february-2023

The Seasons will be in rotation. It's always been a big audience hit. Performances of it were sold out in the fall.