March Madness

March is not going to be the "pause and catch our breath" month that it typically is between the end of NYCB's winter season and the busy spring season at Lincoln Center.

Pennsylvania Ballet will premiere its new Le Corsaire in Philly, Giselle will open at Washington Ballet, the Joffrey will stop by Lincoln Center, Paul Taylor Dance Company will be in season for three weeks at L.C., and ABT's Whipped Cream will premiere in Costa Mesa. Thanks to CMM for alerting us that the Met casting of the gala performance of the new ballet has been posted. It will be Simkin, Abrera, Hallberg, and Lane, who will also dance the premiere in Costa Mesa. We'll make it to most of these, but possibly not all.

Of course Haglund will be reporting on and reviewing the Segerstrom performances, and is fairly excited about seeing Hallberg back in the lineup. As we must continue to point out, Whipped is not going to be the Giselle that we need and deserve to see Hallberg and Abrera dance. Hopefully some sense will be knocked into McKenzie that will enable him to muster up enough respect for the ballet to avoid casting the fakerina twice in every ballet she isn't capable of dancing even once. It seems absurd to hand her three Giselle performances on a golden platter (Oman and two at the Met) all of which she is incapable of dancing at other than an amateurish level, while at the same time only allowing the company's ultimate Giselle, Abrera, one performance.

Haglund was thinking about this while at tonight's Westminster Kennel Dog Show at Madison Square Garden. Lots of the folks in the stands didn't know whether a pooch's frame was too bulky or whether its hind quarters were too big or its legs too short or whether its gait wasn't proper. They just looked at the cute hairy face on the MSG jumbotron and squealed. Those in the audience who spent a lifetime following the competition, love dogs more than most, and care deeply about the quality of each breed couldn't have cared less about what was on the jumbotron. For this dog show, the winner got the blue ribbon based on technical merit, not based on what the dog looked like on an oversized screen or how many people squealed for it. It seems that ABT's criteria for awarding Giselle performances (the blue ribbon ballet of all time) should at least have the integrity of a dog show. Wouldn't you think?

Rumor, the German Shepherd, won the big prize tonight. Haglund's fave, Adrian the Irish Setter, was runner up. They should get married and have little German-Irish Shetters, but we know it won't happen.

 

Comments

[melponeme_k]

People who buy tickets for the celebrated name don't know the art and most likely won't return more than once or twice for a performance. It looks as if the company has geared itself to take advantage of those one time buyers.

Meanwhile everything else falls apart, right off the cliff. The company didn't stop their "GUEST STAR" modus operandi. They just found a guest star in their own ranks.

[Haglund]

I think it's more that the one within its ranks had a marvelous strategy for purchasing celebrity using her fake claims of victimization along with her libidinous-centric photo campaign, and knew that the artistic director would value it more than any dancing skills and would be willing to reward her even if it meant disrespecting and harming the honest talents in the company.

[Angelica Smith]

Thankfully, Abrera is dancing the premiere of Whipped Cream in Costa Mesa as well as the opening at the Gala in New York.

[Catherine]

Any word on the 'TBA' for Gillian's Saturday night Giselle? Hallberg?!?! Fingers crossed...

[Haglund]

Not yet. Here's hoping that they install Hallberg on opening night of Giselle as well as on Saturday night. People (people who have money, that is) will be taking off for Memorial Day Weekend and will miss that Saturday night performance.

[Bryan]

Hello Haglund, PA Ballet Corsaire casting has been posted: http://paballet.org/sites/default/files/general/Le%20Corsaire%20Casting.pdf

[Angelica Smith]

I'll stick around for sure if Hallberg is dancing Albrecht. It will also be Gillian's ABT debut in the title role. Although IMHO Gillian isn't a natural Giselle, her performance in the film with the Royal Ballet of New Zealand is exquisite. I hope she can replicate it here in New York.

[deanna]

Really? Murphy has never performed Giselle with ABT? Wow, I did not realize that. I guess it had been monopolized by sub-par guest artists over recent years.

[Daisy]

I'm more distrubed by her two Swan Lakes, than her two Giselles, as she has not been able to dance this role sucessfully yet, by all accounts. Veronika Part and Gillian Murphy will only dance O/O once, and Misty Copeland twice? Absurd.
I am hoping she is more suited to Giselle and Don Q (where she also gets 2 performances), but I won't be attending either. I am particularly shocked that Part is not cast in Golden Cockerel this season, as her portrayal of the queen was in another league compared to Copeland's (I didn't see Abrera in this role. I will this year.)
I don't despise Ms. Copeland. In fact I quite liked her Coppelia, enjoyed her Juliet, and thought she was especially well-suited to La Fille and the milkmaid part in Ratmasky's Bright Stream. She just can't carry off serious ballerina regality, even in a piece like Golden Cockerel with less challenging choreography.
My only guess is that considering her injuries KM reckons he only has a few years to cash in on her celebrity so he is casting her more than any ballerina in the company. It's unfortunate. I can think of a few soloists who might excel in Don Q. (At least Lane and Teuscher are getting a chance in Giselle and SL respectively.)
Looking at this season's casting I'm struck with the feeling that Xiomara Reyes retired too soon.