Tonya Plank's Blog, page 15

Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg Guest Star in ABT's SLEEPING BEAUTY

Curtain calls photos taken by my new balletomane friend, Andrea.

I have to confess, Sleeping Beauty is probably my least favorite ballet. I like the Aurora / Prince Desire wedding pas de deux, with all the gorgeous fish dives, in the last act but I could do without the rest. I just don't have a big appreciation for sustained balances on pointe and all of the fairy variations and all that.

BUT, I have to say, Alina Cojocaru and Johan Kobborg, guest starring from the Royal Ballet in American Ballet Theater's Met production showed me this ballet in a new light. As I said on Twitter, I feel like I now know how Sleeping Beauty is really supposed to look!

I did see Cojocaru last year (without Kobborg), but I think because I was sitting in orchestra and because it was my first time seeing her and was just getting used to her, I couldn't stop focusing on piddly things like her feet / shoes.  Now that I'm used to them, and because I was farther up, in dress circle (my friend, Marie, gave me her tix because she had to fly last minute to Japan and couldn't use them – thank you Marie!) I just focused on her brilliant dancing. She's somehow so precise and does such stunning things and makes such stunning lines while making it not about doing these stunning things but about the character and about bringing her sweet story to life. That's a crazy run-on sentence but you know what I mean? In the "Rose Adagio," while circling around in those repeated turns while being passed from cavalier to cavalier, she'd just flick her leg up so high and so fast whenever a cavalier took her hand. I was so awed. And she has the most stunning arabesque in attitude while she's being promenaded about by those cavaliers. To me, those fast, high, perfectly done lifts of the leg and her gorgeous arabesque were more magical than the sustained balances on pointe (which is what most hardcore ballet fans seem to adore in this ballet).

And during the wedding pas de deux, when Kobborg dipped and dropped her into a fish dive, her legs went up so high in the back. And they were perfectly crossed. And the dip was so fast. It was stunning! Sorry I keep using that word; it's just the word that best expresses how I felt the whole night. The other dancers – the American trained ones – don't do those fish dives that way. They take their time raising the ballerina and then fluidly taking her down into the dive. I think that's the influence of Balanchine, where every movement's supposed to seamlessly melt into the next and nothing is supposed to look "posey." But I like it so much better the way Kobborg and Cojocaru did it. So much more … stunning! Okay, I'll stop…

But my friend Natalie and I weren't the only ones wowed. This is what I love about sitting up higher. I feel like the orchestra is filled with people who fall asleep and with critics. Higher up is where the real fans sit, and Natalie and I were sandwiched in between these giggly twenty-something girls who nearly blasted out of their seats every time a lightning speed develope or fish dive happened, and this tattooed construction-worker looking guy who was there on his own and who followed Cojocaru's every movement with his binoculars and nearly burst my left eardrum with his applause at the end. I so love these people

Kobborg totally reminded me of NYCB's Gonzalo Garcia, who, everyone who reads this blog regularly knows is one of my favorites. His expressiveness, his devotion to his partner, his immense charm and the way his personality really shines through from far away – I really loved his Prince Desire. On the way out one of my friends said he loved Cojocaru but found Kobborg to be not as stellar as some of the ABT men like Marcelo Gomes. That's totally true, but what I loved about Kobborg was how he let her have her night, how everything he did was to showcase her. I love Marcelo and David Hallberg and all the ABT men of course (of course!) but sometimes it's nice when the guy doesn't steal the show and just lets the ballerina shine. But it wasn't like he wasn't as good as she was, just that he was letting it be all about her. Of course they're now engaged so a little romantic sentiment could be at play

Anyway, a few more pictures:

Martine Van Hamel was perfect as the wicked fairy Carabosse. And, I think I'm the only one who feels this way, but damn do I love that costume! It's very Helena Bonham-Carter / Tim Burton… Actually it's very Helena Bonham-Carter at the Oscars…

The whole cast. Thank you again to Andrea for the first-row pics!

The rest of the cast was very good as well. In particular I loved Yuriko Kajiya as the Lilac Fairy (she was a last-minute replacement for Maria Riccetto). She stood out to me more than she ever has before; for once I realized that she has a real stage presence. Maybe it was being up higher?… All the fairies were very good – Misty Copeland, Simone Messmer, Luciana Paris, Renata Pavam, and Hee Seo (who should be promoted to principal soon!), and Daniil Simkin and Sarah Lane were, as expected, a lot of fun as Bluebird and Princess Florine. I think they tried to give Kobborg and Cojocaru the best supporting cast possible.

Anyway, that's it for New York. ABT season is now over. The company is on to L.A. and Japan. And here in N.Y., we're on the Mariinsky next week at the Lincoln Center Festival. And then ballet season is over for the summer.

Jose Manuel Carreno's ABT Farewell

Thursday night at the Met, Jose Manuel Carreno, a longtime favorite of mine, gave his farewell performance with American Ballet Theater. (He will dance a few more performances with the company as they tour Los Angeles and Japan later this month, and he ended up filling in unexpectedly for an injured dancer in Saturday's matinee, but Thursday was the night ABT celebrated his illustrious career).

He danced Swan Lake with Julie Kent as Odette and Gillian Murphy as Odile. Of course Odette and Odile are danced by the same ballerina but this was a special performance and so he chose to have not one but two ballerinas he's often partnered throughout his career as alternating white and black swans.

Above photo is of the white swan pas de deux with Julie Kent. Below is of the black swan pdd with Gillian Murphy. All photos are by Rosalie O'Connor.

And below, of his curtain calls.

The performance was spectacular but not flawless. Jose danced wonderfully. I've personally been more moved by his performances in Romeo and Juliet and Manon, but then I'm more a fan of modern ballet choreographers like MacMillan, than classical ballet. I wish he would have danced one of those as his farewell but I totally understand why he chose Swan Lake – it's only the quintessential ballet after all

The best part was Act III, with Gillian as the black swan. It was just amazing feat after amazing feat. I swear I'm pretty sure I saw Gillian put a quintuple pirouette in between her fouettes; there were definitely quadruples in there. I wonder sometimes if Natalia Osipova has not substantially raised the bar for this kind of thing. I feel like everyone's trying so hard to do as many athletically stunning things as they can. I honestly almost screamed when she threw in the quintuple. Can you imagine someone actually screaming in the audience in the middle of the performance? Glad I managed to hold it in Suffice it to say Gillian was definitely a thrill, and Odile is her forte. She did have a tiny stumble toward the end, coming out of the fouette sequence, but I'm not one to care about things like that. I personally care more that a dancer takes chances than plays it so safe she fails to move or wow the audience (as I think I've said a few hundred times by now on this blog). Then Jose followed her crazy fouettes with a turn sequence of his own, with more multiple pirouettes thrown in. It also seemed that some of their assisted pirouettes went on for, like, five minutes! At the end of the pdd, the applause went on for quite some time.

I should say, every time Jose did any kind of solo, no matter how small – a few turns, a few jumps, anything – the audience went crazy with applause. As they did when his Siegfried first entered the stage. I thought for a minute the orchestra was going to have to stop the story for him to take a bow, but he kept on going with the action, in character.

So, Julie Kent's white swan: well, I think she is an absolutely beautiful dancer, and she does things that Sara Mearns and Veronika Part and other ballerinas I love as Odette either can't or don't do – like the fast tiny fluttering of the feet that really make her look swan-like, or the super quick changes of the feet between her traveling passees that make it look like she is really a swan about to take off in flight. Her legs and feet are super strong and she can attain really surprising speed and precision at certain points. And I was sitting in the back of the orchestra and I could still see that incredible footwork. And yet somehow I'm not nearly as moved by her as by Sara and Veronika. She doesn't make me feel her pain or take me into her world the way they do. Maybe she's just not as powerful an actress, although I thought she was very good in Lady of the Camellias. I thought Jose generally partnered Gillian better, which is interesting because she's a larger ballerina. He lifted Julie high above his head just beautifully, but then there were some moments that the assisted pirouettes that went on forever and a day with Gillian were more problematic with Julie. At one point, Julie veered sharply to one side and I worried she'd fall. But she didn't.

Still, it was a beautiful performance all in all.

This was my first time seeing David Hallberg as von Rothbart. (You can see him in one of the curtain call photos above, in the purple). He's a beautiful, beautiful dancer. Seriously, I don't think any man can dance as beautifully as David Hallberg, and I'll go to any ballet with him in (with good choreography for him of course), just to see that. But. I like Marcelo Gomes better. I know that's controversial, and I've been thinking a lot about how I'm not really a fan of classical ballet partly because of this (judging by the difference of opinion between myself and my classical ballet-fan friends), but I just don't like black and white. I prefer sexy, charmingly dangerous von Rothbarts, not pure evil von Rothbarts. And David was evil. The way he masterfully whipped around that purple cape, the way he worked his facial muscles into a hard hard look, the way he approached the queen and each woman at the ball with intention, the way he pointed straight at poor Siegfried when he first arrived with Gillian. He scared the hell out of me. And I guess if you think von Rothbart is pure evil and should be portrayed as such, then there's no one more perfect than David to dance him. The evil is tempered a bit by David's beautiful dancing, which made him the second best von Rothbart in my opinion, just because it added a nuance that otherwise wouldn't have been there. But Marcelo's v.R.'s sexiness, his irresistible charm, his deviousness, make him so much more deliciously dangerous.

I was a slight bit disappointed in the curtain calls. I think I was spoiled by Julio Bocca's farewell being my first at ABT. That man was such a prima, his curtain calls went on forever, ending with him in underwear (well, tights), taking his time drinking a beer, then dousing himself with it. Or was it champagne he poured all over himself? (Will have to look back at my old blog post.) Anyway, it was all as if to say, I've had a blast here, I've worked my arse off, and now I'm so so ready to let loose. This all would have been inappropriate for Jose though, especially since his two daughters came out onstage with him at the end, sharing his bows. So sweet. But yeah, no getting plastered and prancing around in underwear for him. Marcelo, David, and Cory did hoist Jose over their heads, as David and Marcelo did Julio.

A couple ballerinas from the past – Alessandra Ferri, Susan Jaffe – presented him with bouquets. And Julio himself was there as well. He walked out onstage toward Jose doing a hip-shaking little rumba. Almost all the principals were onstage at the end – Paloma Herrera in particular was dressed to the nines, which was sweet since she was one of his main partners. I didn't see Diana Vishneva or Natalia Osipova or Michele Wiles. I was hoping Carlos Acosta might show, but no such luck.

Jose's daughters are really beautiful. Afterward some friends and I went to Ed's Chowder House for drinks and snacks and we were debating whether the older one was his stepdaughter with Lourdes Novoa or biological daughter. Does he have one stepdaughter and two biological daughters or one of each? Anyway, the littlest daughter looks to be a teenager now. She's really beautiful. But she was just a baby not so long ago. I guess time does go by when you're not paying attention. The audience didn't seem to want to say goodbye. Finally, the curtains went down and the lights went on, management making clear it's over, folks, go home. But people kept standing there kind of dumbfounded.

Well, I'm really going to miss him. I'm going to miss him as Basilio in Don Quixote, I'm going to miss him as both the harem owner and Ali the slave in Le Corsaire (like Marcelo, he's endearing in every single role he has – how can one be an endearing  harem-owner? I have no idea, but just watch him), I'm going to miss him as Des Grieux in Manon, I'm going to miss him as Albrecht in Giselle (I think he was the only one who still did the Baryshnikovian brisees in his near dance to death scene instead of the entrechats), I'm going to miss his sexy cocky Latin sailor in Robbins' Fancy Free, I'm going to miss his sexy cocky leading man in Tharp's Sinatra Suites, and most of all I'm going to miss his Romeo. In most recent years, he's been the oldest dancer in that role, and somehow the most boyish, the most innocent, the one who's made me cry the most times at the end in that crypt with his Juliet draped lifelessly over his arms.

Well, I still have memories. And YouTube videos

Natalia Osipova in ABT's Coppelia

Photo by Rosalie O'Connor of Osipova in Coppelia, which I wrote about in my last post.

Paloma Herrera Celebrates 20 Years with ABT

Photo by Rosalie O'Connor.

On Saturday night, Paloma Herrera celebrated twenty years with ABT. Her celebratory performance was Coppelia, which she danced with Angel Corella, in one of the only performances he'll be seen in at ABT this season, sadly. I realized how much I missed him Saturday night. He's got to be one of the most endearing, charming, downright lovable dancers ABT has ever had. I hope he dances more often next year. And he can still deliver, particularly on the turns – the fouettes, and particularly on partnering. He polished off a one-handed lift with Paloma no problem. And he's not a big guy. "That's pure technique," said the critic sitting next to me.

Paloma danced really beautifully too, and I realized Saturday night what a remarkable dancer she is. She did some beautiful balances, seemingly without shaking one iota. And she did an amazing sequence of fouettes where she didn't bring her non-standing leg all the way around but kept it barely bent and at her side, making those whipping turns so much harder. She got loads of applause. She's particularly suited to a role like this, and like Kitri in Don Quixote. The pair could easily have danced that one too since they're pretty much known for DQ. They used to be THE couple at ABT years ago, and now she's celebrating 20 years with the company and he's off in Spain starting his own. And all the young ones have taken over

And the night before I saw two of those young ones: Natalia Osipova and Daniil Simkin (pictures hopefully coming soon!) My friend (who'd seen the Bolshoi's Nutcracker via Emerging Pictures with me) and I agreed that the Russians can just do those extremely sharp, staccato doll-like movements better than anyone. Of course they just seem to know how to put on a show in general better than anyone. Ballet to them isn't just about technique and perfect dancing, it's above all a show.

Anyway, Natalia is superhuman. She really is. No one can jete like her, and I think I'm going to have to include men here. Daniil was absolutely superb in his solos, and he's known for being a jumper, but I swear when she jumped and he followed her with a jump, hers were higher. I almost fell out of my seat. And her "doll-come-to-life" in the second act – I've never seen anyone genuinely look so toy-like. Even the children in the audience were enthralled; you could hear a few actually laughing themselves silly throughout the entire second act. When do small children maintain interest throughout an entire act of a ballet? Maybe the parents were Russians and knew Osipova would pull it off

Osipova's definitely not perfect and she was going so fast in a series of spins across stage she had a little stumble on one. But who cares? I'd so much rather someone put everything they have into a performance than play it so safe it just fades away. Seeing Herrera in the role after Osipova made me realize that Osipova's just always going to do things more stunningly than others (at least for the most part). Not necessarily with better technique or more beautifully but more stunningly. That's the kind of dancer she is. But that definitely doesn't mean that no one else has anything to offer.

Anyway, back to Paloma. So, during the bows, each of the principals came up on stage and gave her a bouquet, which was followed by a confetti shower. She and Angel got several curtain calls, not surprisingly. I think all serious, longtime ABT fans miss Angel and their performance together was a bittersweet reminder of this kind of "changing of the guard" that's going on at ABT. Afterward, I went with a group of friends to Fiorello's, across from Lincoln Center, for drinks and dessert, and she came in with two people who I assume were her parents and sat down at the booth next to us. Our ballet gossip promptly ended but what a special end to a fabulous evening for us.

Bolshoi's SWAN LAKE Upcoming in Cinemas Nationwide

The Bolshoi's version of Swan Lake is about to hit movie houses nationwide as part of Emerging Pictures' Ballet in Cinema series. This broadcast stars Mariya Aleksandrova and Ruslan Skvortsov. Haven't ever seen either dancer so I'm excited. Plus, the versions all have their subtle differences, particularly in the various endings, so I find them all interesting to watch. This is a high definition broadcast but it's recorded (performance was September 2010), not live. So the showtimes and dates vary. In Manhattan, the showing is taking place this Sunday, the 19th, at the Manhattan Big Cinemas. Visit the Emerging Pictures website to find a location near you.

Pasha Will Be a Pro Dancer on Britain's STRICTLY COME DANCING

Pasha Kovalev is going to be a pro dancer on this season's Strictly Come Dancing, the British version of our Dancing With the Stars. Apparently, he's replacing an American dancer, Jared Murillo (whom I've never heard of), because Murillo, at 5'9″ is too short to partner most of this season's taller ladies. Pasha's only 5'10″ but that seems to make all the difference. Go Pasha! Hmmm, wish I had access to British television…

(Photo above taken by me, when he and Anya first appeared in Burn the Floor on Broadway).

THE BRIGHT STREAM at ABT

David Hallberg in Ratmansky's The Bright Stream, Rosalie O'Connor photo.

I'm not exactly sure yet what to think of this ballet, which made its premiere at American Ballet Theater last week. There are a couple more performances left this week and I think I may see it one or two more times. Right now I kind of feel like the history of the production (as told by Marina Harss in ABT's Playbill) is more interesting than what I actually saw.

According to Harss, the production was originally choreographed by Fyodor Lopukhov and premiered in Leningrad in 1935. But Stalin hated it so, he banned it, and eventually even sent the man who helped write the libretto to the Gulag. It was the last ballet Dmitri Shostakovich ever composed. Alexei Ratmansky (artistic director of the Bolshoi from 2004-2009) restaged it during his reign there, and the Russians loved it.

With a history like that, you have to wonder what it was that angered Stalin so. I can't see it.  I just see it as a rather silly ballet – kind of reminiscent of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night Dream but not quite there – that takes place on a collective farm during one harvest season. According to the newspaper Pravda, Harss writes, the producers' crime was "balletic falsehood," meaning, she says, it wasn't a realistic portrayal of what people are like who live on a collective farm. In other words, there was too much silliness, and farmers are serious workers, not goofs. But Ratmansky explains that, in reviving the ballet, he was attracted both to the "lovely, danceable" music and the lightly humorous vaudevillian aspect of the tale, as well as to an underlying darkness, an edge, he found in Shostakovich. "There is always something hidden in Shostakovich," he says.

To me, that's fascinating, and is the reason I'm going to need to see it again … and the reason I'm going to need to listen to more Shostakovich.

I think, though, the problem to me may have been more that the Russians have a keener sense of how to put on something like this, where basically every role has bravura parts. I plan to go see the Osipova / Vasiliev / Simkin cast this week to see if I feel differently about it. I saw the third cast – Veronika Part as the main character, Zina (and Part was beautiful, and the one perfect thing I felt about this cast – she was the heart and soul of the ballet), Alexandre Hammoudi as her straying husband, and Cory Stearns and Stella Abrera as the main ballet dancers in the theatrical troupe that comes to town and shakes things up. I liked Cory too. He had the cross-dressing role that David Hallberg is pictured in above and he was very good. He's a good actor, good with both comedy and romance and has a charming, very stand-0ut stage presence.

Anyway, the plot is rather complicated, and when I expressed that to my friend she laughed and said she'd given up on the synopsis and decided just to enjoy the beautiful music and the humorous dancing. She liked it much better than I did, probably because she decided to stop trying to figure things out and just enjoy… The plot: Zina works as a local amusements organizer. Her husband, Pyotr, has a wandering eye. When a traveling theatrical troupe comes to town to stage a ballet, Zina recognizes the main ballerina – they once took classes together. They dance together, and reminisce — it's really Zina reminiscing about her dancing past (and Part did this just beautifully) – while Pyotr becomes enchanted with the ballerina. There are also a couple of older, long-married dacha dwellers, who are rather goofy and humorous (danced by past ABT greats Victor Barbee and Martine Van Hamel). The male dacha dweller falls for the ballerina, and the female becomes enamored of the male ballet dancer. When it becomes clear how attracted to the ballerina Pyotr has become, Zina begins to cry. The ballerina calms her, promises her she has no intentions of returning his affections, and suggests they all play a trick on the married dacha dwellers and on Pyotr whereby she will dress as the male ballet dancer and the male ballet dancer will dress as her. So, that's why the whole cross-dressing thing happens. There are many subplots as well, one involving a milk maid and her companion, a handsome tractor driver (who decides to dress as a dog), but this theme of married man falling for someone who is not his wife, then realizing how much he does value her, is the main theme of the ballet.

It was pretty funny to see Cory Stearns try to dance on pointe, but funnier to watch his character get carried away with the spread-legged, very masculine-looking jumps in that white sylph dress. He and the ballerina are, after all, ultimate hams in need of audience applause, so it makes sense that he forgets himself for a time and starts really acting like a man. I really wonder how David Hallberg does that part – and that makes me want to see his cast as well. Stella Abrera was fine as the ballerina, and mildly funny when she becomes a boy, but she's not as spectacular of a dancer as, for example, Natalia Osipova, and I'd think that role should go to an allegro dancer like her. I imagine Osipova must be absolutely perfect in that role (since she can do mind-blowingly crazy high jetes better than many men).

Alexandre Hammoudi did well as Pyotr, though there didn't seem to be a whole lot to that role, which makes me curious to see Marcelo Gomes and Ivan Vasiliev in the part.

I feel like, because the story-line is so slight, and because, as I said earlier, practically every role has some bravura parts, that this is a ballet that needs really spectacular dancing, that needs people cast in every part who are the kind of dancers who are constantly saying, "Hey, look at me, I can jete to the ceiling!" or "I can develope over my head!" or whatnot. And ABT dancers just aren't trained to be that way – at least most of them aren't.

One other gripe is the costumes, particularly for the men. The blasted pants. The mens' lines were clumsy and unfinished and I think it was because the pants were too restrictive. It's unusual that every single man would be unable to do a proper straight-legged jete or lift his leg more than a couple inches off the ground in arabesque – especially Gennadi Savliev, who always comes through on the stunning athletics. It had to be the pants. I understand why Ratmansky wanted to set the period with the costumes, but as with classical ballets, can't the tops be the period-setters and the bottoms just be regular tights? Ballet is all about form!

Did anyone see the other casts yet?

The Sheepdogs of GISELLE

Don't have time to write a review right now, but last week I saw basically three Giselles (two inside the auditorium, and one on the screen in the lobby ). I saw Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes (my favorites), Hee Seo and David Hallberg (it was Seo's debut as Giselle), and on the lobby screen, I saw Alina Cojocaru (guesting from the Royal) and, again, Hallberg. Anyway, I snapped this picture of the Afghan sheepdogs ABT uses in the first act, outside, during intermission, getting ready to leave with their trainer. So cute – and I thought they deserved attention: they do hard work in that ballet under those harsh lights, trying hard to stifle barks, walking, then sitting when told – behaving so well!

ABT's LADY OF THE CAMELLIAS

(Photo of Cory Stearns and Irina Dvorovenko in John Neumeier's Lady of the Camellias, taken from ABT website – click on photo for link).

I so love this ballet. It's my favorite ABT is putting on this season (since there's no Manon or Romeo and Juliet). I went to see Lady of the Camellias Saturday night – out of curiosity, went to see the new cast – Cory Stearns and Irina Dvorovenko – and just came away from the Met feeling like I had the fullest, richest, most rewarding night at the ballet this season. I just feel like something about the minimal, but completely realistic sets, the authentic and beautiful period costumes (both costumes and sets are by Jurgen Rose), the depth of emotion conveyed by the story, the heartbreaking story itself, the book it's based on, the gorgeous partnering, all just really drew me in and made me feel like I was inside of the narrative.

First, I love how there are no curtains – you just walk in to the auditorium and there's the open stage;  you walk in on the set. And then the first dancer comes out on stage before the chandeliers have risen to dim the auditorium's lights … so it's not like a performance at all; it's like you're eavesdropping on the characters and their story.

And I love how at points the dancers use the front side of the stage.  You feel like they're right above you. And you can watch both side stories – taking place there – and the center story, taking place center stage – at once.

I should say, this is the story of a younger man, in love with an older woman – a famous Parisian courtesan (the text is based on the 1849 novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils) who is dying of consumption. It's a tragedy, as, through the meddlings of others who don't want them to be together for various reasons – they are torn apart.

Cory Stearns was perfect as the younger man, Armand Duval. He danced very well – executed all of those seemingly impossible but beautiful lifts , and he really brought his character to life. He is a natural actor. Either that or he has acting training, because he's one of the best in the company at that, in my opinion. I love Diana Vishneva in the main role – Marguerite Gautier (and my friend and I passed Diana, holding flowers and still made up, as we were walking from the Italian restaurant where we had dinner to the Met), but I thought Dvorovenko did very well too, danced beautifully, had strong chemistry with Stearns, and overall fit her role as well.

I also loved the supporting cast. Gennadi Saveliev doesn't often impress me, but wow, he did Saturday night in the role of the party attendant who's having big fun with that horse whip, holding it next to his pelvis and making suggestive movements, and all that. He was a lot of fun, and he danced the bravura parts spectacularly. Luciana Paris shone as his partner, the sultry, hip swaying, Mlle. Duvernoy, and Melanie Hamrick was also radiant as Olympia, Armand's would-be mistress, had he not been so in love with Marguerite. Vitali Krauchenka and Grand DeLong were totally believable as, respectively, Armand's father, and the regal, all-powerful angry Duke who wants Marguerite for himself. And finally, Stella Abrera danced beautifully as Marguerite's reflection of herself (or Manon Lescaut in the ballet-within-the-ballet, however you want to see it). Blaine Hoven was a good partner for her, as Des Grieux. His ballet technique is near perfect – even someone without a huge amount of ballet training can tell that – and I think he is acting and emoting much better than before, though I still think he has a ways to go before he might be considered principal material.

The pianists (music is Chopin) – Koji Attwood, Nimrod Pfeffer, and Emily Wong – were brilliant. They deserved their substantial applause at the end, during curtain calls.

Everything just came together to make a really memorable ballet. And these weren't even the "star" dancers – these were the "up and comings"! The choreographer, John Neumeier, originally created the ballet for the Stuttgart Ballet. He currently runs the Hamburg Ballet (both companies being in Germany, of course, though I think Neumeier is American). So many of my European friends think ballet is so much more alive in Europe than in America, and they enjoy going there so much more than here. I can see why. More Neumeier and MacMillan, Kevin McKenzie!

I Am Reading at POETRY UNLEASHED

I know it's short notice, but tonight (Friday, June 3rd), I'll be reading at Art for Change's Poetry Unleashed, a spoken word event focused on literature about the displaced or economically disadvantaged, accompanying the gallery's current Voices of the Economy exhibit. Although it's mainly poets who will be reading, I'll be reading a short excerpt from Swallow. The gallery's in East Harlem – Lexington at 103rd. Visit the AFC website for more info about the ongoing exhibit and tonight's event.