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Pieces
of last night's performance at City Center marking the opening
night of
American Ballet Theatre's Fall Season. Photos: JH.
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A brisk
and breezy night Wednesday night in New York. The American Ballet Theatre opened its autumn season (three
weeks) at City Center
with a fund raising gala that raised more than a half million dollars
for the company. I’m not a balletomane but I’m getting
there. I love watching the kids from the ABT although onstage they
look far more mature than their years and they dance with a vitality
that in many cases is nothing short of a “Wow!”
For you real balletomanes out there, the program included Les
Sylphides (choreography by Michel Fokine with principal dancers Julie
Kent, Erica Cornejo, Maria Riccetto and Maxim
Berloserkovsky. Les Sylphides,
music by Chopin, was first presented ninety-six years ago (with
choreography by Mr. Fokine) and brought to Paris by Diaghilev.
It was first presented as part of the ABT repertory in New York
at this very same theatre as tonight’s. Also presented was
another Fokine work, Le Spectre de la Rose, music by Carl
Maria von Weber and danced by Xiomara Reyes and Herman
Cornejo. This
ballet was first presented by Diaghilev at the Opera House in Monte
Carlo in 1911 and danced by Karsavina and Nijinsky.
Then there was The Dying Swan, also choreographed by Fokine, music
by Saint-Saens and danced by the beautiful Irina
Dvorovenko. This
was preceded by Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake (Act II Pas
de Deux and Coda) danced by Paloma Herrera and Marcelo
Gomes and the ensemble.
This was followed by Le Corsaire with music by Adolphe
Adam and
danced by Gillian Murphy and Jose Manuel
Carreno.
After an intermission “Other Dances” by Jerome
Robbins, music by Chopin was
performed by Alessandra
Ferri and Angel Corella.
This dance was created in 1976 for Baryshnikov and Makarova and
commissioned by Eugenia Doll, one of the greatest
dance philanthropists in the history of New York. Tonight’s
performance was dedicated to Mrs. Doll “to her memory with
gratitude for the devoted tender loving care she extended to so
many people and companies
in the field of dance."
Angel Corella, who comes from Madrid, has
been a principal dancer with ABT since 1996. He epitomizes terpsichorean
joy and even for the most unsophisticated eye in the audience,
it is easy to see that he is a star.
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Outside
of City Center. 6:50 PM.
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Last
night’s program concluded with Sinfonietta with
music by Janacek and choreography by Jiri
Kylian, performed in five movements, danced by most
of the company’s principals and the ensemble.
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Blaine
Trump
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It was a non-black
tie evening – always a relief in these quarters. Dress was “festive,” a
popular new term which means women can dress up and men don’t
have to, although suits and ties are in order. The performance
was scheduled for seven p.m. We were out of the theatre by ten
after nine and on over to the Plaza Hotel where tables were set
out in the ballroom. Many of the ballet company join the guests
for dinner.
Among the crowd: Sam and Judy Peabody, Diahn and Tom McGrath, Bob and
Barbara Taylor Bradford, Ellen and Ian Graham, Paul Beirne, Tim Metz and Geraldine
Fabrikant, Aaron and Susan Fales-Hill, Alex Hitz, Sharon Hoge, Muffie and Dr.
Sherrell Aston (co-chairs), Nan Kempner, Blaine and Robert Trump,
Anne Washburne, Zita Davisson, Barbara de Portago, Mildred Brinn, Mr. and Mrs.
Richard Cashin, Amy Fine Collins, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Ekstract, Nancy Ellison
and Bill Rollnick, Somers and Jonathan Farkas, Gill Fuller, Dan Hirsch and Marian
Dar, Pauline Pitt, Grace and Chris Meigher (co-chairs), Jeanine
Pirro, Alexandra Penney and Dennis Ashbaugh, Anka Palitz and Michel Collin, Joe
and Nazee Moinian, Ketty Maisonrouge, Peter Lyden, Cynthia and Dan Lufkin (co-chairs),
John and Tara Milne, Joan Rivers, Vicki Reiss and Jacques d’Amboise, Mr.
and Mrs. Fred Seegal, Isabella Rossellini, Nina Rosenwald, Alvin Valley, Mr.
and Mrs. Bernard Schwartz, Will and Laura Zeckendorf, Paul Wilmot, Rob Wiesenthal,
Catherine Saxton, Mr. and Mrs. Fred Shuman and Anne Bass. |
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Muffie
Potter Aston and Dr. Sherrell Aston
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Alex
Hitz
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Bill
Rollnick and Nancy Ellison
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L.
to r.: Tara and John Milne: Rob Wiesenthal;
William Ivey Long, Lee Radziwill, and Doug
Cramer.
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L.
to r.: Robert Trump and Karl Wellner with Star
Jones and Al Reynolds; Anne Washburn.
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Angel
Corella
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Maxim
Beloserkovsky and Irina Dvorovenko
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Paloma
Herrera
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David
Hallberg
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Jose
Manuel Gomes
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Lorinda
Ash Ezersky
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Paul
Beirne
and Geraldine Fabrikant
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Nazee
Moinian
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Cynthia
Lufkin and Somers Farkas
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