American Ballet Theatre Metropolitan Opera House May 25, 2011 Reviewed by Gus Solomons jr Sascha Radetsky, Alexandre Hammoudi and Daniil Simkin in Benjamin Millepied’s Troika. Photo by Mikhail Logvinov. Courtesy ABT.  It’s a shame the general public has no idea how difficult the dancing is that American Ballet Theatre does with such authority, grace, […]
Since 1960, the International Ballet Festival of Havana has attracted top names in ballet: Carla Fracci, Mats Ek, Sylvie Guillem, Julio Bocca. But because of the U.S.-imposed embargo, few Americans have appeared—among them, Cynthia Gregory, Virginia Johnson, Damian Woetzel, and Judith Jamison (!). The only major American company was The Washington Ballet in 2000 (artistic […]
The second time around I felt more used to how Ratmansky handles big music. My two favorite pieces of his have been to little music. I mean the eerie, repetitive score by Yuri Khanon that he used for Middle Duet, and the lilting Scarlatti he choreographed to in Seven Sonatas. Both these works are full […]
ABT was not an instant hit in Cuba. But after two performances, a master class given by Kevin McKenzie, and two shots of David Hallberg and Paloma Herrera doing Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, the Cubans were hooked. And even better, there was a real exchange. The first performance fell kind of flat, maybe because […]
The very haughty Lady Capulet was performed Wednesday night by a dancer still in her prime: the gorgeous Stella Abrera. In MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, Lady Capulet is a very proper woman. She cares more about pleasing her husband and society than tuning in to her […]
American Ballet Theatre Lady of the Camellias Metropolitan Opera House, NYC May 25–June 7, 2010 Reviewed by Rose Anne Thom Julie Kent and Roberto Bolle as Marguerite and Armand. Photo by Gene Schiavone, courtesy ABT. What a perfect subject for a ballet is Marguerite Gautier, the tragic heroine of Alexandre Dumas, fils’, La […]
Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky brings a love of the old and a passion for the new to exploring ballet’s possibilities. With commissions streaming in, Alexei Ratmansky often juggles projects with several ballet companies at once. His combination of movement invention, rich emotional tone, and whimsical humor has attracted artistic directors all over the world. He’s made […]
After Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes’ balcony scene from Macmillan’s Romeo and Juliet, I wanted to go home. Enough beauty for one night. I wanted to savor what I had seen: the illusion of a true love, where two bodies surrender to each other. Vishneva, who usually sucks all the attention into her, yielded to […]
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