Haglund's Heel

Nutcracker road rage

Of course it was the Nutcracker who ballooned out of control during the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade today. His handlers had their hands full--more than full. Nutzo wanted to go into Central Park and he almost made it. When it came time for one handler to run and do the famous leap-to-the-shoulder-sit from the ballet, the 45 foot tall, 18 foot wide Nutcracker slammed her to the pavement in a moment of sheer rebellion and insubordination. No one can recall for sure what the Nutcracker uttered under his breath, but it probably wasn't pretty. His decisive smackdown of the handler seemed to release a lot of his tension and there were no further incidents – at least none worth mentioning.

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone.

 

observations 11/24

Like, not much has been going on – in terms of ballet, that is. A couple of cinema screenings are on the horizon:

The Royal Ballet's Nutcracker featuring Lauren Cuthbertson, Federico Bonelli, Francesca Hayward, Alexander Campbell, Gary Avis hits Landmark Cinema screens this coming Tuesday, November 26th. Here in NYC on West 57th Street, it will begin at 7PM.

The Bolshoi Ballet's new staging of Giselle by Alexei Ratmansky will be live-streamed on a delayed basis on January 26, 2020. Locations and tickets here.

Bolshoi in Cinema is promising a fresh cast for the Swan Lake transmission on February 23, 2020. Tickets here. Wouldn't it be nice if Alyona Kovalyova was cast as our Odette/Odile?

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NYCB's Nutcracker season opens this Friday. We'll catch up with the season during Week 2 when Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle reprise their roles of Sugarplum Fairy and Her Cavalier.

We've gotten so tired of hearing some of the other veteran ballerinas in both of New York's companies publicly grumble about how they dread the season and how tired they get during this time of year. Instead of complaining, why don't they just step aside and let some of the deserving lower rank ballerinas have the opportunity? It seems that within all of the illustrious ballet technique they possess, one step is missing: the side step. The ability to step aside is an important aspect of ballet. How well or how poorly a ballerina executes her side steps will color our memory of her forever.