Over this week I attended a mishmash of performances. They ranged from good to mixed to awful.
Let's start with the good: a fun, entertaining performance of Le Corsaire from ABT. This season at ABT the principal women have been falling like flies due to injury (currently, Isabella Boylston, Veronika Part, Gillian Murphy and Maria Kochetkova are on the DL list). What this has meant is lots of opportunities for soloists, and the 6/8 performance showcased the talents both of veteran soloist Sarah Lane (Gulnare) and the newer Skylar Brandt (Medora). These two talented ladies managed to grab attention away from the men, whose pirate's chest full of ballet tricks usually dominate the ballet.
Skylar Brandt is a winning combination of technique, charm, and beauty. She has a natural stage face -- her large eyes capture the light. Her technique is formidable -- in act one her solo had attitude turns followed by triple pirouettes. You can see how strong her core is during the lifts -- …show more content…
Didn't think I'd ever see the day when Herman could do a Soviet-style upside down lift without any apparent effort, but I saw it tonight. His characterization of the pirate Conrad was full of his usual machismo and his cabrioles remain one of the 7 wonders of the ballet world. Jeffrey Cirio as Ali also has an impressive array of tricks, including a deliberately decelerating triple pirouette that ends with him sitting on the floor. But he doesn't really have the feline, exotic grace often associated with this role. Daniil Simkin as Lankendem has maybe the most impressive war chest and that's ironically his biggest limitation -- it's like he never developed out of that gala circuit mentality. But his Lankendem was funny and of course he ended with the obligatory 540. Craig Salstein (Birbanto) continues to be ABT's best character dancer followed closely by Roman Zhurbin
Let's start with the good: a fun, entertaining performance of Le Corsaire from ABT. This season at ABT the principal women have been falling like flies due to injury (currently, Isabella Boylston, Veronika Part, Gillian Murphy and Maria Kochetkova are on the DL list). What this has meant is lots of opportunities for soloists, and the 6/8 performance showcased the talents both of veteran soloist Sarah Lane (Gulnare) and the newer Skylar Brandt (Medora). These two talented ladies managed to grab attention away from the men, whose pirate's chest full of ballet tricks usually dominate the ballet.
Skylar Brandt is a winning combination of technique, charm, and beauty. She has a natural stage face -- her large eyes capture the light. Her technique is formidable -- in act one her solo had attitude turns followed by triple pirouettes. You can see how strong her core is during the lifts -- …show more content…
Didn't think I'd ever see the day when Herman could do a Soviet-style upside down lift without any apparent effort, but I saw it tonight. His characterization of the pirate Conrad was full of his usual machismo and his cabrioles remain one of the 7 wonders of the ballet world. Jeffrey Cirio as Ali also has an impressive array of tricks, including a deliberately decelerating triple pirouette that ends with him sitting on the floor. But he doesn't really have the feline, exotic grace often associated with this role. Daniil Simkin as Lankendem has maybe the most impressive war chest and that's ironically his biggest limitation -- it's like he never developed out of that gala circuit mentality. But his Lankendem was funny and of course he ended with the obligatory 540. Craig Salstein (Birbanto) continues to be ABT's best character dancer followed closely by Roman Zhurbin