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November 28, 2020

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NYCB will stream a performance of The Nutcracker on Marquee TV, so you have to pay. It's gonna be the Kowroski and T. Angle cast. I think you had an unfavorable review of one of their performance last year, so I hope the one they stream is a better performance.

I can't recall if Maria and Tyler danced more than one Nut together last year. If so, perhaps NYCB spliced the performances together. Hope so.

I wish they'd give us a recording of Sara's Sugarplum with Tiler's Dew...!

Thanks for the heads up, Haglund. I’m wondering when the series was filmed... perhaps the 2018/19 period? LaJeromeny (“LJ”) Brown graduated in June 2019 and he’s in the footage.

I think that's correct, Jeannette, since there wouldn't have been any Nutcracker business filmed in 2020 after the shut down at the end of February.

Apologies. I know that the subject of this post is the SAB documentary....but I wasn't sure where to place this little nugget....ABT has cancelled their Spring 2021 season at the MET...Reason given (per the NY Times today), they believe they cannot properly prepare the large slate of full length classics given the constraints of regulations and time needed to rehearse, etc....paraphrasing here. They are hoping to set up "...performances outside" at various locations across the USA....Not sure if I'm disappointed or if I honestly don't care....sigh.....

I saw that, Beth. Too bad. Also, all of the Kennedy Center/DC’s spring/summer 2021 Ballet&Dance season offerings were canceled last week. So no ABT Don Q or NYCB Midsummer Dream. Sigh.

Beth C. I am sad about ABT, particularly for those artists that are now having their debuts in the classics pushed by another year (or for artists like Bell and Brandt who made important debuts but are losing two years of experience and refinement), and also for artists like Gillian Murphy whose years are presumably numbered. I think it also makes it increasingly unlikely we see a Hallberg/Osipova reunion on the Met Stage, which I was looking forward to. I'm generally sad that it will have been more than 18 months by the time I'm back in a seat at Lincoln Center!

Sorry to digress once again but...Am I alone in not loving these little filmed “ballet creations” that some companies are streaming and touting as “new ballets”? Not just ABT and NYCB but also ENB and others. How about just pointing a camera at dancers in costume, dancing known classical works, to recorded music? Surely that would be cheaper to produce than commissioning Tanowitz and the rest to create pretentious artsy-fartsy stuff. I understand that unions and choreographer-foundations must be paid-off before archival performances can be aired but, if new content must be filmed, why not go back to 19th and early-20th-C classics that are in the public domain? Or is the great-great-great nephew of Petipa expecting his cut? Somebody please explain why we’re getting all of these artsy films instead of pure classical ballet.

Jeannette-Re: "....little filmed "ballet creations" ". I would probably watch them if I thought they amounted to something beyond what I have already seen in the dance convention/competition division of my teaching life. So much of it just looks...derivative. For what it's worth, those dancers involved seem to be working hard to at least deliver some quality based work from the technical side of the equation.... As for the cancellations of "Don Q" and "Midsummer" when it rains, it pours....

Rachel-Re: "....artists like Bell and Brandt..." Yes, it's sad but I'm encouraged that both (especially Brandt), seem to be continuing their coaching sessions, concentrating on the classics like "Don Q", "Swan Lake" and "The Nutcracker".... It's also good to see some others following their lead, including Christine Shevchenko and Gabe Stone Shayer...

I honestly could care less about ABT. They’ve treated so many wonderful dancers so poorly and promoted so many inept dancers that I kind of feel like this is karma for them.

Agree totally Beth CP - Brandt showed us she barely needs one (let alone four) suitors for the Rose Adagio. In addition to the others you note, Cate Hurlin is another one that seems to be actively working with coaches/in the studio.

Well said,former dancers. Ill wait to see quality, Brandt, Bell,in classics, rather than this artsy garbage and mediocre dancers being thrown at us. ABT is lost,thanks thanks to McKenzie

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