The NYT has posted an online correction to it's review of The Washington Ballet's Swan Lake:
The review also referred imprecisely to the casting of two African-Americans in the lead roles. Dance Theater of Harlem used such casting in presenting one act of the ballet in 1980. Thus, while the Washington Ballet says that its casting for a full-length “Swan Lake” is a first for American Ballet, this production was not the first time two African-Americans were in the lead roles in an American production.
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Interesting cast changes to ABT's Met Season today. Stella Abrera and Isabella Boylston have been switched in Les Sylphides. Stella will now dance in the cast that features Veronika Part, Joe Gorak, and Sarah Lane. This suggests that she will dance the central PdD with Gorak. Although we know how beautiful Veronika is in the PdD, we can't see Gorak as a realistic partner for her. But, hey, McKenzie has done much odder things. Stella and Joe previously danced Les Sylphides together in Washington DC in 2014.
Also, the ladies have been added to Fancy Free: Kent and Paris for the first cast and Murphy and Abrera for the second cast.
Since everyone in the world already knew that Olga Smirnova is still injured and unable to dance, ABT finally scratched her from the La Bayadere schedule along with Semyon Chudin. Ticket sales were terrible anyway – doubly terrible considering it was a Friday night slot. Hopefully, no guest artists or other imports will be re-inserted. We think that Stella Abrera and Tom Forster should be Nikiya and Solor. ABT should also dump one of the flagging Giselles (Boylston, Kent, Seo, Semionova, Osipova) and finally give the audience the chance to see Abrera's acclaimed Giselle. Why do we have to put up with such muck while the best dancers are kept in the garage under a tarp?
4 responses to “observations 4/14”
Haglund, what you say about Giselle is so obvious, one would have to be blindfolded not to see it. Whereas in the past I’ve been known to go to four performances of Giselle in a week, this season I’m not going to any! I would be rapturous if Stella were to dance it in New York.
Have you read any reviews of Stella’s Giselle with Australian Ballet? It seems cruel to make us go halfway around the world to see her dance that role.
Haglund, what you say about Giselle is so obvious, one would have to be blindfolded not to see it. Whereas in the past I’ve been known to go to four performances of Giselle in a week, this season I’m not going to any! I would be rapturous if Stella were to dance it in New York.
Have you read any reviews of Stella’s Giselle with Australian Ballet? It seems cruel to make us go halfway around the world to see her dance that role.
Angelica, I haven’t read any reviews of Stella’s Giselle – only viewer comments which have been uniformly euphoric. Aussie Ballet is well into its impressive string of Giselles (close to 40 this season in various venues) and I think a number of reviews have already been published. Also, I recall reading that one of the official reviewers would be here in New York during Stella’s performances down under to cover Aussie Ballet’s performance during the YAGP week at Lincoln Center.
We’ve been waiting far too long to see Stella’s Giselle. Far too long. It is such a shame that fools are running ABT and won’t permit the best, most beautiful dancers to dance. Just in the past few years, we have lost enough extraordinary dancers to make up a full company just because ABT’s fools don’t know how to field the company’s talent. What a waste. What a tragedy.
Angelica, I haven’t read any reviews of Stella’s Giselle – only viewer comments which have been uniformly euphoric. Aussie Ballet is well into its impressive string of Giselles (close to 40 this season in various venues) and I think a number of reviews have already been published. Also, I recall reading that one of the official reviewers would be here in New York during Stella’s performances down under to cover Aussie Ballet’s performance during the YAGP week at Lincoln Center.
We’ve been waiting far too long to see Stella’s Giselle. Far too long. It is such a shame that fools are running ABT and won’t permit the best, most beautiful dancers to dance. Just in the past few years, we have lost enough extraordinary dancers to make up a full company just because ABT’s fools don’t know how to field the company’s talent. What a waste. What a tragedy.