Monday June 23, 2014 – I had a wonderful time at the dress rehearsal of ABT’s SWAN LAKE this afternoon, as the guest of my friend Monica Wellington. We had a very nice view of both the stage and the orchestra from a Grand Tier box.
I’ve been to many opera dress rehearsals at The Met over the years, but this was my first time for a ballet. The dancers did not always dance full-out – just as the singers in an opera sometimes mark at a dress rehearsal. Partial costuming, lack of full stage make-up, headwear worn or not…all this made for a very ‘personal’ experience (one girl in the corps wore her eyeglasses throughout).
James Whiteside was an excellent Prince Siegfried in Act I, and then we had a different pair of principals in each of the following acts: the exquisite Hee Seo dancing with Roberto Bolle in the first lakeside scene, then the lush and imperial Veronika Part with Cory Stearns in the Black Swan act, and finally Paloma Herrera (my lovely Giselle from last week) with Mr. Whiteside in the final act. Misty Copeland, Isabella Boylston, and Luis Ribagorda danced the pas de trois, and the soon-to-depart Jared Matthews danced Rothbart’s set-piece in the Black Swan act.
At the end of the ballet, it was decided to rehearse part of the Maypole dance from Act I again, so we had the delightful experience of watching the girls, costumed as white swans, folk-dancing.
The orchestra brought a special glow to the score, playing at performance-level all afternoon. I was especially impressed – and moved – by the woodwinds in the final act: the two oboists were ideally matched in phrasing, harmony and incredible breath-control, as were the bassoonists. Later the melody passes to clarinet, then flute, then piccolo. I very much enjoyed watching the musicians – all dressed in summer casuals – and I quietly applauded their artistry throughout the ballet.
At the end, we stayed on as all the dancers – many of them now in street clothes – returned to the stage for notes. Cory Stearns practiced some very elegant multiple pirouettes stage left.
Oberon's Glade 