Ivy Lin

You can only forgive forgivable offenses. Slurs against the LGBT community, "fat people," his continued support of a tyrant, his misogyny and his lack of professionalism to me cross the line into unforgivable.

Johan and Alina are not married. They are a long-term couple and have a daughter together.

https://www.1843magazine.com/content/arts/dancers-demons

I wonder if any of that has to do with the fact that it was widely reported in the press that Polunin left the Royal Ballet due to friction with Kobborg's life partner Alina Cojocaru. Kobborg might feel guilty that Polunin quitting the Royal Ballet started this years-long train wreck.

I don;t want to take this too OT but I strongly believe that if you didn't see David Hallberg pre-injury, you didn't see him. Pre-injury he embodied a danseur noble. He was not the most expressive actor nor was he the most fearless partner. But the magnitude of his dancing was astonishing -- his soaring jump, his gorgeous arabesque, his surprising skill in allegro work. Unfortunately video excerpts of Hallberg and Osipova in their prime are rare -- there are these clips of Giselle. I also love this clip of Hallberg in Marco Spada: But the 2014 injury sidelined him for over three years and when he came back he was/is a different dancer. Not just less technically secure, but also more emotionally reserved. When he is onstage it seems he is holding himself back both physically and emotionally. Those who have read Hallberg's book know how emotionally difficult and isolating his recovery process was. But when he came back it seemed as if he was still isolated. I'm not going to psychoanalyze him but maybe the excruciating pain of the injury and the long lay off understandably made him lose some passion for the art form?

By the way this is what I wrote about them in Giselle: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2018/05/robbins-festival-ends-supergiselle-at.html

I have seen Osipova and Hallberg danced R&J where the chemistry was so off the charts that the audience screamed for nearly an hour with curtain calls. But this was at ABT years ago when neither career had sustained the injuries. I saw them last year in Giselle and thought that both were very muted, especially Hallberg. His once astonishing jump is a shadow of his former self and he has picked up a bunch of mannerisms that I think are to compensate for the lack of amplitude in his dancing.

Amar Ramasar makes his return to NYCB: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/05/spring-diaries-nycb-brings-back-brahms.html

I don;t think Juliet playing with a doll is inconsistent. I think children who are often forced at an early age to become adults, so to speak, often exhibit these behaviors. I worked with a group of teen mothers and many of them while they were nursing their children often sucked their own thumbs. I was shocked to see that behavior when I first encountered it. I also think the way Juliet plays with the doll is important. I agree that it works well as a stage prop to show off Juliet's exuberant nature. It works less well when a ballerina plays Juliet as very shy and reserved. I saw Alessandra Ferri's Juliet a number of times and she's an amazing Juliet but she played a very shy, reserved Juliet in the first scene and the doll never worked for me because of that reason.

I reviewed more for bachtrack: A triple bill at NYCB: https://bachtrack.com/review-classic-nycb-judah-dances-gathering-stars-stripes-new-york-may-2019 ABT's Harlequinade: https://bachtrack.com/review-ratmansky-harlequinade-american-ballet-theatre-may-2019

Some thoughts on the spring season at NYCB: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/05/nycb-spring-diaries-new-era.html

I saw this at the Met on Friday and highly recommend people catch the HD next Saturday. What a powerful shattering opera that is not performed nearly enough. https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/05/dialogues-of-carmelites.html

Hi I'm now reviewing more for bachtrack. This was my review of the Spring Gala at NYCB: https://bachtrack.com/review-spring-gala-new-york-city-ballet-may-2019

Mendelssohn's Midsummer's Night Dream? Both Ashton's The Dream and Balanchine's Midsummer's Night Dream did wonders with this score.

I know this had a long run in London to great acclaim, and I finally saw it on B'way and ... I wasn't all that taken with it. https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-ferryman-style-over-substance-merce.html

I went to a celebration at the Joyce Theater and wrote about it on bachtrack: https://bachtrack.com/review-merce-cunningham-centennial-joyce-theater-new-york-april-2019

Jan Parry mentions that Cuthbertson isn't the "headstrong" Juliet of MacMillan's ballet. I'm curious about this comment because I've seen a number of Juliets and it seems that there's always been the "moonlit" Juliet type and then the more headstrong rebellious Juliet. Both can be equally effective. "Moonlit" Juliets - Margot Fonteyn (on film), Alessandra Ferri, Alina Cojocaru, Evgenia Obraztsova "Rebellious" Juliets - Natalia Osipova, Tamara Rojo, Diana Vishneva I would imagine Lynn Seymour was a rebellious Juliet and Antoinette Sibley a moonlit one? (I never saw either and practically no film exists of them.)

Hope the UK'ers enjoy the HD today!

Right now I don't have tickets for Siegfried and Gotterdamerung but I am actively looking for them iwthout having to pay an arm and a leg for said tickets.

Die Walküre's Brünnhilde doesn't have many forays into the upper register. Siegfried and Gotterdamerung are another story.

REALLY try to see this on March 30 in HD. The cast is incredible. https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/03/die-walkure-casts-its-magical-fire-spell.html

Thanks for all these reports! I cannot wait to see the cinema relay on April 2.

I;ve got a new bachtrack article! https://bachtrack.com/review-all-balanchine-new-york-city-ballet-lincoln-center-february-2019 I also did a wrapup of the Winter Season which had sme backstage drama and finally the appointment of permanent leaders at NYCB: https://humbledandoverwhelmed.blogspot.com/2019/03/a-review-of-nycb-at-bachtrack-winter.html

No but I am thinking of going to Philly to review PABallet's new Giselle production.

I think it also makes it easier to change a pair of tights if one rips during practice.