night with the All-Ashton Program. The evening opened with Birthday Offering
where EVERYONE is a principal, all the women are strong, the men are
good-looking, and the dancing is above average – wait – woe – WAY above
average. No doubt, Alastair will find some woe to wite about. He sat a couple
of wows forward of his normal post – in Clive Barnes' seat or just behind it –
probably trying to channel Clive to share his thrill about an entire evening of
Ashton's works: "But Clive, Birthday Offering wasn't as good as it used to
be because all the girls aren't really principals." Stuff a
powdermilk biscuit in it – because last night all the ladies reined supreme.
Each of the seven ballerinas danced with a stage presence that suggested she was
the only one who was wearing a tiara. Everyone superbly managed the tricky
changes of direction for which Sir Fred was known and admired – pirouettes
stopping and reversing, landing with the foot front, landing with it back,
landing in arabesque, extended front, side, stopped just in time to start again
in a different direction. It was all very challenging stuff which each lady
peformed expertly.
Standout performances from Simone Messmer (Variation 4) and
Stella Abrera (Variation 5) have to be mentioned only because they, well, stood
out for their phenomenal control and glamor. Stella will dance the lead
in this ballet with Eric Tamm on Saturday night. Irina Dvorovenko and Max
Beloserkovsky danced the PdD last evening, smoothly manuevering through the
complicated balances and supported turns. The seven gentlemen gallantly watched
over the ladies' variations from the back of the stage and then
contributed their own handsome chorus of batterie. A terrific performance from
everyone including Sarah Lane (Var.1), Isabella Boylston (Var. 2), Veronika Part
(Var. 3), Leann Underwood (Var. 6), Salstein, Simkin, Saveliev, Radetsky, DeLong
and Hammoudi.
(Diana Vishneva and Jared Matthews) and The Awakening Pas de Deux (Paloma
Herrera and Cory Stearns). These pieces were presented at the Opening Night
Gala with the same casts with essentially the same results. Diana, fewer than
24 hours after tearing the heart out of the audience in the exhausting role of
Marguerite in Lady of the Camellias, gave a very dramatic reading of this love
duet with Jared who continues to astonish us with his progress and sincerity in
performance. When Jared slowly ran his hand down the side of Diana's arabesque,
it was totally believable as being in the moment. At bows, Diana looked spent – and
so she should be. Hope someone gave her a lift home last night.
Awakening came
off a bit better for Paloma who seemed more comfortable with the choreography
and managed to accentuate her lovely feet and legs. Cory again illustrated his
marginal arabesque, droopy attitude position, and new last night – a lack of
understanding that doing a prescribed small leap is not the same as "marking" a
large leap.
with Herman Cornejo as Puck, Julio Bragado-Young as Bottom, Gillian Murphy as
Titiana, David Hallberg as Oberon, Stella Abrera and Jared Matthews as Hermia
and Demetrius, and Maria Riccetto and Sascha Radetsky as Helena and Lysander.
Right at the start, though, Haglund has to complain about the horn playing in
the orchestra. Some of it was pretty darn awful – sharp, flat and plain old
sour. However, The Young People's Chorus of New York City which was tucked
underneath the stage overhang sounded beautiful. Bravo to them!
performance, Haglund had to come home and have another dose of Dream on the DVD
before going to bed. Herman flying around the stage sprinkling his magic dust
on all the wrong people is a sight to behold. The elevation, acute speed, and
expansiveness that characterize Herman's Puck have always been on the verge of
unbelievable but it is his comedic timing and commitment that make it all so
wonderful. Absolutely brilliant. Julio's Bottom was a cute ass that every
woman would fall in love with and it was oh, so good to see Julio back on his
hoof-pointes again! Gillian and David delivered beautiful PdDs and danced
stunning variations as well, but, as Haglund said, it's all about Puck. Abrera,
Matthews, Riccetto, and Radetsky were all fantastic as the mixed-up lovers who
Puck finally straightened out just in time for the familiar strains of Mendelssohn's tune commonly known as Here Comes the Bride.
noticeably loud as the fairies are bourreeing to the very quiet violins.
Wish there was a way to fix that, but don't think there is since the Met was
designed to pick up small sounds on the stage and carry them out into the
house.
Haglund is so happy to see The Dream back in repertory and
bestows these lovely Pump Bump Award slippers in honor of the return of Puck and
Bottom:
12 responses to “ABT – All Ashton Evening – 6/8”
Can’t agree with you more on the horn. The violin solo too. Often painfully distractive in Swan Lake second act. ABT has world class dancers, and they disserve a couple of decent musicians who can play solo music mistake-free at the minimum. I wonder why nobody ever complains about it. You should write more about it and somehow get our beloved dancers some better musicians.
Can’t agree with you more on the horn. The violin solo too. Often painfully distractive in Swan Lake second act. ABT has world class dancers, and they disserve a couple of decent musicians who can play solo music mistake-free at the minimum. I wonder why nobody ever complains about it. You should write more about it and somehow get our beloved dancers some better musicians.
Hi yjtsui! Thanks for reading Haglund’s Heel.
Thanks for pointing out how the mediocre horns often are a problem in Swan Lake. They are indeed!
I’ve often thought that ABT could recruit Juilliard students (or faculty) who could play better horns.
– Haglund
Hi yjtsui! Thanks for reading Haglund’s Heel.
Thanks for pointing out how the mediocre horns often are a problem in Swan Lake. They are indeed!
I’ve often thought that ABT could recruit Juilliard students (or faculty) who could play better horns.
– Haglund
Agreed, a fantastic evening of dance and Simone Messmer’s 4th variation was the standout in Birthday Offering. She danced with wonderful clarity, count me as a new fan of hers!
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the 5th variation (in purple costume) was Yuriko Kajiya not Stella Abrera.
I loved the choreography and I hadn’t expected so many of the variations to be so technically challenging, especially compared to the steps for the two leads – Irina made her pas de deux look like a walk in the park. Sarah Lane had some struggles in the first variation, having difficulty holding strong positions during the quick directional changes and her ankle giving way on her first sequence of hops on point in arabesque. All the other women were near-flawless and the ensemble work was marvelous.
Agreed completely with you about Jared Matthews and Cory Stearns; Jared partnered handsomely and Cory shows potential but isn’t fully realized yet, especially in his jumps. And Dream was all-around wonderful! Though I noticed the fairies’ clatter too. Vishneva’s shoes were completely noiseless in Thais even in all her bourees, I’m assuming she isn’t sharing her toeshoe prep secrets? Or is it just her incredible technique that makes her so silent?
Agreed, a fantastic evening of dance and Simone Messmer’s 4th variation was the standout in Birthday Offering. She danced with wonderful clarity, count me as a new fan of hers!
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe the 5th variation (in purple costume) was Yuriko Kajiya not Stella Abrera.
I loved the choreography and I hadn’t expected so many of the variations to be so technically challenging, especially compared to the steps for the two leads – Irina made her pas de deux look like a walk in the park. Sarah Lane had some struggles in the first variation, having difficulty holding strong positions during the quick directional changes and her ankle giving way on her first sequence of hops on point in arabesque. All the other women were near-flawless and the ensemble work was marvelous.
Agreed completely with you about Jared Matthews and Cory Stearns; Jared partnered handsomely and Cory shows potential but isn’t fully realized yet, especially in his jumps. And Dream was all-around wonderful! Though I noticed the fairies’ clatter too. Vishneva’s shoes were completely noiseless in Thais even in all her bourees, I’m assuming she isn’t sharing her toeshoe prep secrets? Or is it just her incredible technique that makes her so silent?
Hi Griffie. Thanks for finding your way to Haglund’s Heel.
Just curious – were you able to hear the sour horn notes from the orchestra during The Dream? I’m wondering if they sounded bad through every part of the house.
The 5th variation was definitely Stella. In fact, Simone substituted for Yuriko in the 4th variation. Yuriko danced beautifully as Mustardseed in The Dream.
Just noticed that Jared Matthews is replacing Carreno in the Thais PdD with Maria Riccetto Thursday night. Jared is doing so well and that’s great to see. I just got back from the matinee and Carreno was fantastic in Fancy Free!
– Haglund
Hi Griffie. Thanks for finding your way to Haglund’s Heel.
Just curious – were you able to hear the sour horn notes from the orchestra during The Dream? I’m wondering if they sounded bad through every part of the house.
The 5th variation was definitely Stella. In fact, Simone substituted for Yuriko in the 4th variation. Yuriko danced beautifully as Mustardseed in The Dream.
Just noticed that Jared Matthews is replacing Carreno in the Thais PdD with Maria Riccetto Thursday night. Jared is doing so well and that’s great to see. I just got back from the matinee and Carreno was fantastic in Fancy Free!
– Haglund
Hi Haglund.
The program insert I got read only that Variation 4 would be danced by Simone Messmer. Yuriko was listed in the playbill for Var. #4. and I was in dress circle partial view very close to the stage where I could see faces quite clearly and it really looked like Yuriko was dancing Var. #5, not Stella. Both Stella and Yuriko danced in Dream so I assume neither is injured. Guess I’m wrong, though I’m surprised that I would confuse them from that distance.
I was wondering if the horns might sound different in different parts of the house, because I’m not bad with pitch and I had thought the horns sounded off last year when I sat in more central seats. But last night, practically overhead the horns, they sounded fine to me. It’s possible that rather than having second-rate musicians in the orchestra, ballet stage acoustics at the Met affect the sound of the horns in the house and no one thinks to accommodate the playing. Or I could have lost my ear over the years. Anyone else care to chime in on this?
Hi Haglund.
The program insert I got read only that Variation 4 would be danced by Simone Messmer. Yuriko was listed in the playbill for Var. #4. and I was in dress circle partial view very close to the stage where I could see faces quite clearly and it really looked like Yuriko was dancing Var. #5, not Stella. Both Stella and Yuriko danced in Dream so I assume neither is injured. Guess I’m wrong, though I’m surprised that I would confuse them from that distance.
I was wondering if the horns might sound different in different parts of the house, because I’m not bad with pitch and I had thought the horns sounded off last year when I sat in more central seats. But last night, practically overhead the horns, they sounded fine to me. It’s possible that rather than having second-rate musicians in the orchestra, ballet stage acoustics at the Met affect the sound of the horns in the house and no one thinks to accommodate the playing. Or I could have lost my ear over the years. Anyone else care to chime in on this?
Adding a note that the NY times photo essay clearly showed the dancer in the purple costume in Birthday Offering to be Stella Abrera, not Yuriko Kajiya. I stand corrected!
Adding a note that the NY times photo essay clearly showed the dancer in the purple costume in Birthday Offering to be Stella Abrera, not Yuriko Kajiya. I stand corrected!