Haglund's Heel

ABT – Learning the "art" of being a Koch subsidiary

It is astonishing to see the new poster at Lincoln Center for the Youth American Grand Prix which identifies Ivan Vasiliev as an actual member of American Ballet Theatre.  ABT is being tight-lipped on the matter of whether it has imported yet another inferior Eastern European outsider to its permanent principal ranks instead of granting internal promotions to its own deserving dancers.

Is ABT trying to avoid further angering its core audience by simply failing to disclose publicly one more instance of foolishly poaching other artistic managements' dancers instead of developing its own talent and giving its own dancers the career-building opportunities which they DESERVE? 

On a separate note, the Ardani website continues to offer detailed casting information about ABT's Met season that ABT itself will not disclose.  Ardani says that Semionova is going to be in the cast of Apollo for the Wednesday matinee in which Marcelo Gomes dances the title role.  Doesn't ABT have enough spectacular dancers to field four freakin' performances of Apollo?  Who is losing the opportunity to dance in Apollo this year?   Messmer?  Underwood?  Abrera?  Riccetto?  Shevchenko?  Hamrick?  Schulte?  Part?  Dvorovenko?    Really – ABT doesn't have enough talented dancers to field four freakin' performances of Apollo?  What is this artistic management doing with its time besides perusing the Ardani Take Out Menu? 

ABT is acting more and more like a Koch subsidiary everyday in its failure to communicate openly and honestly with the public, its ticketbuyers, and its donors.  It really is past time to kick this management to the curb.

Sergei saga continues

Sergei Polunin is coming to town.  The 9th Avenue drug dealers are smiling.  Yes indeed, the folks at YAGP wasted no time in seizing the opportunity to take advantage of the very public and personal meltdown of the former Royal Ballet principal these past two weeks to announce that they have secured him as a main star for their upcoming shows.  After Polunin walked out on the RB, Britain revoked his permit to work in the country.  His future teeters precariously on the line like a high flying Wallenda's, so to speak.

Freshly installed in the Koch Theater lobby at Lincoln Center are advertising cards which announce that Polunin and Tamara Rojo will lead the YAGP program "Stars of Today Meet the Stars of Tomorrow" on April 27th.  That's only a couple of weeks before the start of ABT's Met Season - perfect timing to insert yet another guest artist who comes with his own special following and no doubt will draw his own special kind of new audience around the back doors at Lincoln Center.  Just what we need.  And Polunin is, after all, exactly the kind of behavioral role model that the YAGP should be presenting to its young contestants, right?

The YAGP website identifies Ivan Vasiliev as an actual member of both American Ballet Theatre and the Mikhailovsky.  He will be performing at YAGP's April 28th Legends In Dance performance.  Funny how ABT hasn't gotten around to telling us that they have permanently imported yet another inferior Eastern European dancer instead of promoting a deserving artist from within the ranks. 

So, how many Eastern European guest artists does it take to replace an ABT principal lightbulb?  How about - one to hold the bulb and six to screw ABT's soloists out of career-building opportunities.

What does the rest of the ballet world think about Kevin McKenzie dangling David Koch's dirty money in front of foreign dancers and inciting them to walk out on employment agreements so that they can come dance for him whenever they want?  Osipova, Vasiliev, Polunin – and probably the lure of the American dollar even played a pivotal role in the sudden exits of Matvienko and Obraztsova from the Mariinsky.  Perhaps those two forgot about the 800 pound gorilla in the room who really rules things at the ballet, i.e., Maestro Gergiev, who once put his big foot down on Vishneva when it appeared that the Mariinsky might not be enough of a priority for her. 

The professional ethics in the ballet world are on a slippery slope.  Dangling money and opportunities in front of artists who you know cannot accept them without jeopardizing their employment or causing undue difficulty for their employers is reckless and unethical.  Looking the other way when those artists walk out on employment agreements and jeopardize the performances of their former companies because they're frustrated about not being able to accept what you are dangling is irresponsible. 

Program reminders

PBS presents Miami City Ballet tonight at 9:00 p.m.

Tickets for the YAGP documentary "First Position" at the NYU Kimmel Center on November 5 are available at this link.

PBS presents NYCB Nutcracker on Live from Lincoln Center on Wednesday December 14th.

 

 

YAGP Documentary First Position to premiere at Toronto Film Festival

Just reported by BroadwayWorld.com – The new documentary which follows five dancers as they prepare and compete in the Youth America Grand Prix will have its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival on Sunday, September 11th.  "First Position"  is being produced by Bess Kargman of First Position Films.  The film company's website already has a lot of enticing footage and photos, and has promised a trailer soon.  The FB page has additional photos and info.

Following Toronto, the film will make a tour of film festivals:  Boston - 3rd week of September; Vancouver - 4th week of September; Washington DC and NYC - 1st weekend in November; and other cities.

This whole effort looks fabulous!

 

YAGP Gala Tribute to Vladimir Vasiliev

Mr. Vasiliev, we’re planning this wonderful gala tribute in your honor.  There’s this little catch:  it’s actually a “working” gala tribute in your honor – you know, like a “working” vacation?  If you wouldn’t mind rehearsing Ms. Bouder in the Tarantella from Anyuda and Ms. Obraztsova in Sentimental Walse?  Appreciate it.  Then, if you wouldn’t mind rehearsing Ms. Part and Mr. Davis in Macbeth?  Then, if you wouldn’t mind rehearsing Ms. Lane and Mr. Ribagorda in the Pas de Deux from Anyuda?  Then, if you wouldn’t mind spot-checking some of the other variations and directing the coda?  And lastly, if you wouldn’t mind choreographing the gala program closer and, of course, performing in it.  Well, you know, Mr. Vasiliev, 70 is the new 35.  Now, about the sound and lights ....

MANY, many thanks to the folks at YAGP for presenting one terrific gala celebrating the legendary Vladimir Vasiliev last evening.  It was fitting that the greatest dancing on view was by the honoree (via film clips) and that the most glamour of the evening was provided by the host and a former partner of Vasiliev‘s, the also-legendary Carla Fracci.   When Ms. Fracci entered the stage in a Renaissance-styled white, flowing gown with black hair parted down the middle, Haglund half-expected ABT's David Hallberg to leap from the wings and begin the Giselle PdD with her.  Ms. Fracci’s opening remarks set the tone for appreciating the artists of an earlier generation who made possible everything that the current generation now does.  The film tributes to Vasiliev’s accomplishments pounded her point home.

Lasting from 7:00 pm until about 10:30 pm, this gala was a smorgasbord of artists and choreography.   The Moiseyev Dance Company performed as Argentine Cowboys and Two Boys in a Fight (which was really just one boy, but it’s too hard to explain – ya hadda be there.)  Yevgenia Obraztsova (Mariinsky) and Emmanuel Thibault (POB) performed the PdD from La Sylphide beautifully.  Hallberg performed Ashton’s The Dance of the Blessed Spirits, which – but for some changes in speed and direction – didn’t really look all that Ashtony.  But it was nice to see a master’s rarely performed work performed by a master.  The Sleeping Beauty PdD by The Royal Ballet’s Sarah Lamb and Sergei Polunin was stunning in its effortlessness and grace.  Ms. Lamb has an aura of serenity about her that is very appealing and perfect for Princess Aurora.

Mr. Vasiliev’s choreography made up much of the second half of the evening. 

Ms. Obraztsova performed Sentimental Walse with perfect delicacy, the kind that made the audience sigh at the end. 

Sarah Lane and Luis Ribagorda (ABT) had the most challenging choreography of the evening with the “farewell” PdD from Vasiliev’s Anyuta.  What a treasure!  Longing, passion, and sadness all wrapped up in choreography of swoops, turns and lifts that fully embrace the gorgeous music by Valery Gavrilin.  Haglund would love to see this PdD performed more frequently.  Here’s a YouTube link to a performance of it by Vasiliev’s late wife, Ekaterina Maximova.. 

Ashley Bouder (NYCB) performed a spirited Tarantella – also from Anyuta.   

In an excerpt from Macbeth, Gray Davis (ABT) was the tortured Macbeth who was consumed with guilt from killing King Duncan.  Veronika Part’s Lady Macbeth, who was wrapped in a flowing, blood-red dress, approached him from behind and began manipulating his grief  as she locked her long legs and seductively arched feet around his body.  Chilling.

The evening’s offerings included other more contemporary choreography that relied upon arbitrary hyperextensions and angst-driven arm movements, as is the current, sad trend.

One highlight of the gala was Daniil Simkin (ABT) in Les Bourgeois by Ben van Cauwenbergh.  If it looks spectacular on YouTube, it’s even more so in the theater.  His comic routine fueled by an astonishing display of aerial ballet moves, Simkin crazied the crowd with his double tour assembles en l‘air followed by huge aerial cartwheels.  It would be such a pleasure to see this piece as part of ABT’s spring gala.

Polina Semionova (Berlin State Opera Ballet) and David Hallberg beautifully performed a PdD from Bejart’s Romeo and Juliet.  While Bejart’s ballet is based on the idea of Romeo and Juliet, it hardly tells the story.  Where Kenneth MacMillan took human movement and human moments and turned them into compelling choreography, Bejart, in this instance, seemingly found his steps first and then attempted to manipulate them around a story.  It’s what many current choreographers do, and it’s why their work product is not dramatically convincing.  It lacks humanity though it’s full of movement.

Ana Sophia Scheller (NYCB) and Joseph Phillips (ABT) performed Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux.  Ms. Scheller has smoothed out many of the rough edges since the last time Haglund saw her perform this.  Mr. Phillips gave the piece the energy it truly deserves and excited the crowd with his coupe jetes and pirouettes.  Haglund appreciates Mr. Phillips’ maximum effort whether it always results in five pirouette revolutions or not.

The final choreography of the evening was the premiere of Mr. Vasiliev’s Piece D’Occasion for himself and the very lovely (and very young) Daria Khokhlova of the Bolshoi Ballet.  Seeing Mr. Vasiliev slouched over in a chair with his head in his hands, his human moment clearly exposed and instantly recognizable, most of the audience understood and felt his grief.  The Chopin piano made it gut-wrenching.  As he chased the memory of the love of his life, one could feel the collective chest of the audience tighten.  It was a sad note on which to end a happy evening, but it would have been impossible to have it any other way.

The audience stood and roared its appreciation for Vladimir Vasiliev.  The dancers piled bouquets at his feet.  One wondered whether he truly understands the magnitude of his influence on the art form.

We celebrated a legend who has given us much to treasure over more than a half century, and it would be selfish to ask him to continue contributing to the art form.  But we just can’t help it.  How nice it would be to have Mr. Vasiliev working in our midst on a more regular basis.  After all, 70 is the new 35.

Once again this year, the Haglund's Heel Medal of Honor goes to the YAGP Gala:

 

On Haglund's Calendar – YAGP Tribute to Vasiliev

It looks like the folks at YAGP have put together another extraordinary evening tribute to a great one!  Anyone within a light-year of Manhattan on Saturday, March 27th, who misses this will be sorry.  So, get to the NY City Center website or box office pronto!  Yeah, the tickets are a bit pricey, but that's why we always save the discount insert from the Fall for Dance Playbill – right?  20% off makes a big difference.

The 1976 photo below by A. Klushkina of Vasiliev and Maximova taken from the YAGP and City Center websites epitomizes where love of ballet and love for one another meet.  What an elegant, passionate, vibrant image.

According to the program currently published on the YAGP website, we are going to be treated to a stupendous program that will include opening comments by the legendary Carla Fracci, Mariinsky Ballet's Yevgenia Obraztsova in Vasiliev's Sentimental Walse, ABT's Veronika Part and Gray Davis in Vasiliev's Macbeth, dancers from Moiseyev, Ashton's Cinderella PdD by the Royal Ballet's Sarah Lamb and Sergei Polunin, Ashton's Dance of the Blessed Spirits by ABT's David Hallberg, and Polina Semionova, Daniil Simkin, Sarah Lane, Luis Ribagorda, Ashley Bouder, and then The Great One, himself, Vladimir Vasiliev, will perform a Piece d'Occasion with Daria Khokhlova.

We've come to expect last minute program changes at these galas, but the YAGP folks have never disappointed us.  We've also come to expect less than orderly audiences at these events, so Haglund will be practicing his shushing and Sit! all week long in preparation.

Don't miss this event!

YAGP Peter the Great 4/23

The YAGP Peter the Great celebration gets high marks from Haglund - even if it did seem at times to be in the midst of the wild wild west - of Russia.  Better behaved crowds have been seen at the old Yankee Stadium during a losing streak.

Since this was a celebration of Peter Pestov, the legendary teacher, Haglund paid close attention to the men who had been his students.  Different bodies, very different personalities, different strengths and weaknesses were on display.  The initial performance by Pestov's graduating class demonstrated the torturous adagio elements regimented into nearly every Russian syllabus and are designed to build strength and stamina.  Haglund's hips and back began to hurt as he watched the students successfully struggle with the slow grand ronde jambs and the slow big jumps.  No weaklings ever made it through Pestov's class, that's for sure.

Highlights

Oh, it was good to see Sascha Radetsky back in New York.  His excerpt from Hans Van Manen's 5 Tangos showed that he has picked up considerable confidence in the past year and now projects with a larger theatrical sense - leaving behind the acting for a small screen that was a problem at times during his first stint with ABT.  There was a new grounded intensity in his movement that involved his whole body. 

As opined previously, we need Radetsky back on the home team.  The guy can skate and shoot and block and check and when he doesn't have a clear shot at the net, he passes the puck to someone who does.  We need this guy back on our team whether he delivers glamorous hat tricks or not.

Gennadi Saveliev's Gopak reminded us again that Saveliev is one of the most under-appreciated dancers at ABT.  Yeah, this piece was all flash, but pretty good flash.  Haglund will now buy a couple of more tickets to see his Lankendem in May.

Maria Kochetkova and Gonzalo Garcia performed Yuri Possokhov's Ramonda PdD.  She was lovely and elegant and has a little Osipova smile that was quite charming.  Garcia was fine as a partner, but he does not offer much in the way of a classical line in his legs and feet.

Viktoria Tereshkina and Vladimir Shyklyarov closed the program with the Don Quixote PdD.  Haglund liked Tereshkina in this much more than in the Manon PdD with Marcelo Gomes.  Although she was strong and clear and extensive in line in the Don Q., she offered nothing to differentiate herself from the multitude of other great Don Q.ers that we've seen on New York stages.  She played it safe, but was impressive in doing so.

The Manon PdD proved to be a disappointment.  Haglund cringed when Tereshkina broke character and gleamed her teeth at the audience in the vein/vain of Somova during some of the most passionate choreography.  She did not dance with the sense of abandon that the role of Manon requires, and she just may be too big to be thrown around in the manner that we've come to expect.  Gomes delivered with the expected passion. We have to find him a partner of the same intensity soon.

Haglund loved Nikolai Tsiskaridze in Petit's Carmen.  This was a see-it-once-but-not-again piece that held surprise after surpise and, given the dancer's reputation, was a delight in trying to figure out when and whether he was being serious or not.  Yeah, he can dance, but oh, he can take you for a ride, too.  Some members of the audience upstairs booed him at the end but were quickly drowned out with applause.  Haglund has never heard booing at the ballet before, so, he got very excited and was anticipating some kind of a rumble - which never occurred.

After so looking forward to once again seeing Big Red Kondaurova, Haglund was disappointed in the choreography that he had to endure in order to see her.  Ratmansky's Middle Duet was pure pretzelmania that went on way too long and offered nothing of interest with regard to movement.  However, Big Red's partner, Islom Baimurodov, was very pleasant to look at.  Very pleasant indeed.

The Le Corsaire PdT with Almeida, Gatti and Cornejo (representing the Corella Ballet) showed that Herman, who Haglund loves dearly, needs some time to develop his Ali.  His variation had neither the speed and intensity of Corella's nor the heat of Carreno's.  His movement was big and correct - too much so.  Time will take care of this and we will all be patient.

The final element of the program was to try to get Peter Pestov to take the appropriate bows and accept the cheering that he so deserves.  No small task.  Thank you Mr. Pestov.  May you continue educating dancers the world over for many years to come.

 

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