NYC Ballet Fans, part 2

Rob

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There will be a gala performance in honor of Frederic Franklin, May30- June 30, at the Schimmel Center (Pace University)
Looks pretty interesting! Info here:

http://horsesmouth.org/?page_id=786
The first ballet I was ever in was his staging of Nutcracker. He was such a nice man. When I was 10, he taught our class one day - he liked to pop in like that. I can't open the link - who is dancing?
 

Marge_Simpson

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For the gala on Friday, appearances by Jacques D'Amboise, Arthur Mitchell, Charles Askegard, Martine van Hamel and Xiomara Reyes. I suspect only Askegard and Reyes would do any actual dancing!
And The Dancers from The Horses's Mouth. Whoever they are.
 
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emason

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I went to ABT tonight, Don Quixote. Gillian Murphy is injured (and fairly recently as her name was still in the program), so Xiomara Reyes danced and Alban Lendorf was the guest artist for Basilio. It was a pleasant evening, but nothing super tremendous about it; I thought Reyes and Lendorf did as well as they could with what I assume was limited rehearsal time together. The dancer with stage presence and charisma to spare was Jared Matthews, who sold the flashy role of Escamillo for all it was worth. Corps boy Arron Scott, who did a nice Mercutio 2 seasons ago, was very good as the leader of the gypsies in Act II. Maybe I have been reading the Haglund's Heel blog too often, but I just kept thinking "Was it really necessary to bring Lendorf in for this?". Matthews should have done Basilio, Scott could have been Escamillo, and some other corps boy could have had a chance to break through leading the gypsies. It's no wonder Matthews is leaving (along with several others) at the end of this season. It's Houston's gain and NY's loss.

Tomorrow night I have NYCB, the Davidsbundlertanze (sp?) and the Union Jack. I will report on the donkey situation and I know you are all dying to know if the donkey shows up.

OT to Marge-Simpson: I picked up tickets for both Friday nights of Alvin Ailey and also for the Friday night of Alice in Wonderland. You will now have more ballet company than you know what to do with.
 

kwanfan1818

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It didn't register before that Davisbundlertanze and Union Jack were on the same program. Together, that's about 70 dancers, two kids, and a donkey, at minimum.
 

Spun Silver

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For the gala on Friday, appearances by Jacques D'Amboise, Arthur Mitchell, Charles Askegard, Martine van Hamel and Xiomara Reyes. I suspect only Askegard and Reyes would do any actual dancing!
And The Dancers from The Horses's Mouth. Whoever they are.
I have never peeked in this thread before, but once upon a time I went to NYCB about 75x/year. And yet it is Martine van Hamel who is on my short list as one of the greatest dancers I ever saw. (Just below Suzanne Farrell.)
 

danceronice

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It didn't register before that Davisbundlertanze and Union Jack were on the same program. Together, that's about 70 dancers, two kids, and a donkey, at minimum.

Told my brother, who's going tomorrow night (er, well, given the time, later today), "There's a donkey. Have fun. Get me a souvenir. So you can rub it in more."
 

Marge_Simpson

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Whee, emason! If you've never seen "Revelations" before, you are in for a treat. I must have seen it at least 20 times, but I always get chills when the music starts. We've also got "Minus 16" on one of the evenings. I've also seen this piece many times (not by choice, it seems to turn up at galas fairly often) and I think it's just plain weird.
We MUST eat at Alice's Tea Cup before we see "Alice" :)

I'm seeing "Don Q" on Saturday, with Semnionova and Gomes. Plus Matthews and Seo.
It's the only ABT performance I'm planning to see this season, unless Hammoudi recovers in time for "Giselle". He's currently on the injured list, along with Murphy and Stearns.
I read Haglund's, too, and agree with nearly everything he says about ABT. KM needs a good swift kick. ABT is losing FOUR soloists at the end of this season.

danceronice, NYCB doesn't have any decent souveniers, just smelly old shoes. At least ABT has fridge magnets for sale now and then. I've never understood the point of collecting used shoes, ugh! Imagine what fungi might be growing in there.
 
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emason

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Marge-Simpson, I have seen Revelations before, just not recently. For whatever reason I have gotten out of the habit of going to Alvin Ailey, and it has been my loss. I'm looking forward to everything.

Back to ABT: they just don't have a clue these days. I absolutely love Ashton's The Dream; it's one of my all-time favorites, and I never miss a chance to see it. I'm making an exception this season, because they've paired it with that godawful turkey The Tempest. No power on earth would get me to spend another $ of my hard earned money on The Tempest.

I'm going to one Bayadere and one Giselle - that's it. I keep seeing ticket offers from Goldstar and the like. Box Office sales are not doing well it seems. There certainly were empty seats last night.
 

emason

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Donkey news: it has morphed into a very small, I guess I would say miniature, horse, with a handler who stood his ground and kept horsey under control.
 

Anita18

It depends!
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Marge_Simpson was very kind to have dinner with me and walk me to NYCB tonight. Intermission now but I just hopped in to say I am in no teknik but Joaquin De Luz was soooo HOOOOOT during Todo Buenos Aires. All the other guys were kinda awkward doing tango but he brought the Latin heat! God damn. :swoon:

More later. :lol:
 

Anita18

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Joaquin is indeed a beautiful dancer and quite handsome as well. You have an excellent eye and you'll be "in teknik" in no time.
Topless Joaquin! :swoon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EABceoTRJn4&index=2&list=PLeGI9p2PEVd6A7llA0UscBfUitdPjugfp
All the panties for Joaquin! ;) :lol:

I also enjoyed Sara Mearns (at least, the white dancer in Schumann that kwanfan1818 mentioned a page back). All the others got mixed up in my head, but they were all beautiful! The tango seemed to be the differentiator for the guys.
 

danceronice

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Donkey news: it has morphed into a very small, I guess I would say miniature, horse, with a handler who stood his ground and kept horsey under control.

My brother referred to it as a pony (could be a mini, dunno.) Also, we may have a Balanchine convert--he enjoyed both ballets very much, LOVED Union Jack. And he bought me a DVD. :) I was only teasing when I asked for a souvenir, but I'll take it.
 

Jubak

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Joaquin is a very lovely, and super-charming man, besides being a wonderful dancer. I've never met another with as much machismo as he has! For a very small man, he is also very strong - cannot say ballet dancers are not athletes in their own right! Yep, he can charm the panties right off the women!
 

emason

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My brother referred to it as a pony (could be a mini, dunno.) Also, we may have a Balanchine convert--he enjoyed both ballets very much, LOVED Union Jack. And he bought me a DVD. :) I was only teasing when I asked for a souvenir, but I'll take it.

It probably was a pony; I couldn't really tell, as I don't know the difference between a pony and a really small horse. For sure, though, it was no donkey.

For the Joaquin de Luz fans (and count me in), he looked mighty fine in his kilt and his sailor suit the other night.
 

Anita18

It depends!
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Joaquin is a very lovely, and super-charming man, besides being a wonderful dancer. I've never met another with as much machismo as he has! For a very small man, he is also very strong - cannot say ballet dancers are not athletes in their own right! Yep, he can charm the panties right off the women!
I cannot describe the crazy-fast series of turns and split leaps he did the other night other than a sheer feat of (beautiful) athleticism!
 

Jubak

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I am so disappointed that I cannot get tickets to see David w/the Bolshoi, even with my connections. I spoke with someone close with him (in passing, not angling for comps or anything) and was told he can't get tickets for himself! Here in NY, they are totally sold out. The Russian community really comes out for their dancers, even at ABT, so they must have gone nuts for the Bolshoi appearing her. Alas, I will have to wait until the end of June to see him. So interested to see his development under the Bolshoi. Rob, lucky you!
 

Rob

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I have season's tickets down here, but I bought tickets for the Tuesday night just after casting was announced. It was sold out here too, but not overnight like in NY -- it took several months to sell out. KenCen is a bargain - orchestra is like $93 for a weeknight for individual tickets sales -- but only $69 if you buy series tickets. Orchestra at the Met is far more expensive.

I am already coming up twice this summer or I would look on Stub Hub or eBay for tickets - Zakharova must be insane in Swan Lake.
 

emason

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Ballet snark ahead: La Bayadere last night - 24 Shades coming down a ramp, all of whom had been to different rehearsals, none with each other it would seem. You can imagine the mismatched result.

Anti-snark: I got to meet Rob and her friend who were also attending.
 

Rob

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Nice meeting emason at La Bayadere. Alina Cojocaru is wonderful and absolutely charming, but again the corps really was lacking in the Kingdom of the Shades scene. I will say that no-one had to put her working leg down out of arabesque to keep from falling over like the last time I saw ABT do this ballet -- but there was so much wobbling that it ruined the effect. The girl who came down second could not seem to do a single arabesque without wobbling -- ALL the way down the ramp and back and forth again and again and all the way through the rest of the scene, right in the front row. At the end of the scene, when Nikiya does the extremely fast soutenu series across the stage, the corps was still moving into their lines (late I think) -- I think Cojocaru had to enter farther downstage because the corps wasn't in place. Then a corps girl scooted into line right where Cojocaru was entering and bang - Cojocaru ran right into her. Shame. Ballerina always gets the right of way.
 

Rob

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Anyone going to Giselle with Vishneva/Gomes on Monday 6/16? It'll be my 3rd Giselle in a month!
 

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