It's a relief to hear that David Hallberg will shortly return to The Australian Ballet for rehearsals and two performances of Sleeping Beauty which TAB opens in Brisbane on February 24th. A few too many consecutive weeks of McKenzie's nonsense at ABT while home could unravel a lot of the good accomplished over the past year in Australia.
As we have pointed out here previously, McKenzie is pushing out the company's most extraordinary classical ballerina, Veronika Part, the way he pushed out Irina Dvorovenko and Angel Corella by simply refusing to give her enough performances to maintain stage conditioning and a career. We are becoming increasingly upset and agitated by rumors of Veronika's possible pending departure. Hopefully these rumors will turn out to be false, but as we watch Petipa role after role turned over to the company's clumsy dumpsters Copeland and Boylston, we have to wonder why Veronika puts up with the humiliation at ABT. What next - a Mercedes assignment in Copeland's Don Q? We gag at the thought of it.
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What a shame that we in NYC are not getting more generous access to the Royal Ballet's live cinema transmissions this year. The company will film its performance of Balanchine's Jewels in April with the cast of Beatriz Stix-Brunell, Laura Morera, Valeri Hristov, Ryoichi Hirano in Emeralds; Melissa Hamilton, Sarah Lamb, Steven McRae in Rubies; and Marianela Nunez and Thiago Soares in Diamonds. A couple of years ago, Haglund spent many mornings staring at Marianela and Thiago in Diamonds while waiting at the bus stop in Hell's Kitchen all the while wishing that he could see their performance.
That's going to be a fab April week in London because in addition to Jewels, the London Coffee Festival will be in full shakin' swing at the Old Truman Brewery with its famous barista tournament and a brand new live exhibition of latte art. Get your tickets here. The Coffee Festival will be back in NYC at the 69th Regiment Armory (Lex & 25th St.) September 29th through October 1st.
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We're so glad to see a full return of Maria Kowroski during the very first week of NYCB's Winter Season. Prodigal Son opposite Joaquin De Luz should be riveting. The Sunday Stravinsky Violin Concerto with Hyltin, Fairchild, Kowroski, and Ramasar is one that no one should miss unless you are too pooped from marching in Washington D.C. the day before. Then, that's okay to miss it. We're also excited to see that Aaron Sanz is getting a couple of new opportunities during the first week. He should be an awesome father figure in Prodigal Son and handsome opposite Megan LeCrone in the Theme section of Four Ts.
McKenzie is the Mr. Magoo of ballet. That doozy of a Giselle photo in the subscription booklet was not alluring. What was wrong with Abrera's photos? There are plenty of her alone not with the guest star.
Part would knock Giselle out of the park. I'm still curious to know why the company won't pair her with Forster. She is still in her prime dancing years (looks very strong to me) and he is ready acting wise. I don't understand.
The TBA's that Hallberg could take are mostly duds. I suppose the reluctance is due to not wanting to carry a certain weak dancer with little stamina around the stage.
Posted by: melponeme_k | January 06, 2017 at 11:38 AM
The Royal Ballet Jewels will be screened in May at a couple of cinemas on Long Island and in Westchester. Perhaps a venue in NYC itself will be added if we lobby for it.
Posted by: florizel | January 06, 2017 at 04:43 PM
Let's hope so, florizel. Since there are many independent cinemas in NYC that cater to the arty crowd, you'd think that they'd be dying for the opportunity to show the RB transmissions. I wonder if the ROH is possibly making it too expensive for anyone in Manhattan to show them.
Posted by: Haglund | January 06, 2017 at 04:52 PM
Is there any possibility that the Royal Ballet will release a DVD of their "Jewels" transmission? I would love to see that cast! (And the photo is wonderful, too!)
Posted by: rosa | January 06, 2017 at 06:55 PM
I wonder if that is a possibility, Rosa, because the RB is filming all three performances by this particular cast on April 1st, 6th, and 11th.
Posted by: Haglund | January 06, 2017 at 07:12 PM
Sarah Lamb is, in my opinion, the greatest ballerina in the world. I wish I was there to see this performance!
Posted by: Sue | January 06, 2017 at 09:27 PM
Hi, Sue. I dearly love Sarah Lamb's dancing, too, but I'm not sure if Rubies would be one of my favorite ballets for her. I hope I have the chance to find out, though.
Posted by: Haglund | January 06, 2017 at 10:18 PM
Haglund, will you be making it to DC for any of ABT's Swan Lake performances? As a recent DC transplant, I'm looking forward to seeing both Veronika Part and Devon Teuscher (though unfortunately I wasn't able to get a ticket to Gillian Murphy's performance!)
Posted by: CM | January 07, 2017 at 10:30 PM
Also, I initially purchased a ticket for the Friday night performance (with a certain "clumsy dumpster") before the casting was announced, and let's say that the box office was shocked that I wanted to exchange my ticket for another performance!
Posted by: CM | January 07, 2017 at 10:33 PM
Hi, CM. It seems that you moved to DC at the right time. I hope you've also looked at the Washington Ballet schedule coming up and also the Philly schedule. And Neumeier's Hamburg Ballet is bringing The Little Mermaid to KC! I would skip the Mariinsky's Little Humpbacked Horse unless you can get a really cheap ticket. If you spend a lot of money on one, you will probably be disappointed. NYCB's KC week in June includes 4Ts and Square Dance.
I'm looking forward to Devon's debut at the Sunday matinee. I think that the clumsy dumpsters will soon be face to face with the truth that they need to try a lot harder.
Posted by: Haglund | January 08, 2017 at 08:08 AM
Hi Haglund,
New reader, and a new ballet fan here! I wish I had found your blog when I first started attending the ballet last year. I unknowingly bought into the hype of a certain "star" ballerina at ABT, and came away sorely disappointed FOUR OUT OF FOUR TIMES that I saw her. NEVER AGAIN. I thought I either did not understand what made her so great or I was going crazy. I also ended up seeing a handful of performances with Hee Seo because they cast Bolle opposite here. ABT knows how to trap the ignorant, I tell you.
Onto a more positive note, I found this broadcast of one of NYCB's performances in Paris last summer. According to the New York Times, this will also be broadcast on PBS as part of the Great Performances program. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAtXIZIHslY
I've been watching it to help get me through the next few days before NYCB starts its Winter Season.
Posted by: yukionna | January 10, 2017 at 08:38 PM
Hi, Yukionna. Thanks for the reminder of NYCB's upcoming appearances on Great Performances. Those will be on February 17th and 24th at 9PM -- but as usual, everyone should check their local PBS schedule to confirm the date.
http://www.thirteen.org/13pressroom/press-release/great-performances-new-york-city-ballet-paris/
Posted by: Haglund | January 10, 2017 at 08:44 PM
You have probably already seen this by now, Haglund, but it looks like the NYC audience WILL be getting Jewels! https://www.landmarktheatres.com/new-york-city/sunshine-cinema/film-info/royal-opera-house-jewels
Posted by: CMM | February 22, 2017 at 11:23 AM
Good news, CMM!
Posted by: Haglund | February 22, 2017 at 12:50 PM