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? 

19 hours ago, Sebastian said:

Thanks for your reports Jeannette and Ivy Lin. I still haven’t yet managed to catch up with this recording so wondered if you had any comments in regard to what I asked earlier…

 

 

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.

On 18/02/2023 at 03:58, Jeannette said:

The Giselle digital program notes/booklet can be accessed for free here (no need to purchase access to do that):

https://www.pnb.org/season/giselle/

 

@Sebastian, Doug Fullington and Marian Smith informed AD/choreographer Peter Boal, based on known notes (Justement, Stepanov, and one other). 
 

Having watched & “made notes” of both the PNB and Bolshoi- Ratmansky productions, the main differences are what I pointed out above, in A2:
 

Only PNB includes the “drunken villagers” scene right after Giselle joins the Wilis.

 

Only Ratmansky includes the Wilis’ Fugue in between the death of Hilarion and the main Albrecht-Giselle pdd.

 

Both PNB and Ratmansky-Bolshoi include the “old guys” scene at the beginning of A2, before Myrtha first appears.

 

Both PNB and Ratmansky-Bolshoi included the “Giselle forgives” end with Bathilde coming onto the scene before the curtain goes down.

 

 

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!

11 hours ago, Emeralds said:

Glad you liked their performances Ivy- great review! By the way, the third photo from the top with Myrtha and the wilis jumping and landing in arabesque has the wrong name. That’s Vladyslava Kovalenko dancing Myrtha, not Elizaveta Gogidze. It might be an error from the marketing materials as another newspaper had the same photo and same error. I saw them both quite close up in different casts in London (Gogidze also danced Giselle at the matinee, and Kovalenko one of Giselle’s friends on the first night, so I’m certain who’s who). It is definitely Gogidze as Myrtha in the second photo from the top though.

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.

I wrote up a review of Jennifer Homans' new bio Mr. B:

https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2022/11/tomorrow-nycb-starts-its-annual.html

I always find Prodigal Son very creepy.

I purchased the Royal Ballet stream with Yasmine Naghdi and Matthew Ball and have to say I was a bit disappointed with Naghdi. She danced beautifully, but I don't think she's a "natural" Giselle the way, say, Alina Cojocaru was. There's something very strong and almost queenly about her. I also didn't like that her hair was down the entire first act. 

I once walked out of a performance of Wheeldon's Cinderella. Think it was San Francisco Ballet. The performance was just so middling and low-energy I was falling asleep. 

I had to leave in between Millenium Approaches and Perestroika because I had a horrible flu and knew that sitting in a crowded theater with a fever was not going to work. I did go see Perestroika a few weeks later after I recovered.

Sylvie spoke about not liking being filmed. It's a shame she has such a small video legacy but it was her choice.

I think the private coaching is the most insidious part of "pay to play." There is no overt pressure to "pay" as theoretically a company should be providing the coaching for dancers. However, at least at ABT it's well-known that most dancers pay private coaches to rehearse them for roles. The coaching is very expensive. 

Also an intimidation factor as some principals post videos of their coaching sessions, to maybe send a message to other dancers.

9 hours ago, Tango Dancer said:

 

Yes.  I don't think anyone looks particularly good in those wigs from Nutcracker.  Case in point Vadim looks like a Ken doll in it and it does nothing for him at all.  He's so much better looking with his natural hair.  I'm not wild about the sleeping beauty ones either although I love the way they dress and style Carabosse. 

I think he looks like Prince Joffrey.

I guess I disagree about the Nutcracker wigs because they seem irrelevant. Like in Sleeping Beauty I get that the powdered wigs are supposed to evoke the French nobility. But Nutcracker's second act is a fantasy and there's nothing dictating that the SPF and Cavalier have to wear frosted blond wigs. Moving to a more natural look seems like a small tweak that reflects the diversity of today's company. 

11 hours ago, fromthebalcony said:

Yes, it is most obvious at ABT and does not happen quite as much elsewhere (as far as I can tell.) And, for the most part, dancers are on their own without family help once they get hired into a company. So those who are receiving financial help from their families - well, that certainly is an advantage.

I think it's a huge issue at ABT. In other companies I'm not sure, but at ABT (which is a major company), dancers talk openly about how they'll pay for private coaching for a role before it's even cast, so they can say "I was already coached and know the role." It really is awful how it ends up being people essentially paying to learn roles. 

I'll add that many European dancers also do not look good in those wigs. Some white people have very dark hair and eyebrows and don't look good with a blond wig.