The best and worst of ABT at City Center (October 2012)

So I was absolutely intending to blog about all seven performances of ABT at City Center last week, but I've worked 80+ hours this week and haven't yet had the time to organize all the many thoughts into prose.  So, I thought I'd share some "awards" (most of which were run by and agreed to by my friend and comrade-in-madness for my ballet marathon week).  So here goes (after the jump):

Wheeldon’s Thirteen Diversions, Two Missed Opportunities and One Deep Bench

Well, I have mixed thoughts about last night’s mixed bill at American Ballet Theatre.  On one hand, there were a lot of things wrong with the program: uninspiring and even mundane choreography (ahem, Mr. Millepied?), a costume choice that may have been trying too hard (again, Mr. Millepied?), unfortunate miscasting or unnecessary use of two or three principal dancers......but really not much of what was wrong with the performance can be attributed to the dancers.  Not really.  On the other hand, there was Wheeldon’s “Thirteen Diversions,” which was well danced, lit, costumed and choreographed.  And, there were a few very strong performances by members of the corps de ballet and soloists in Ratmansky’s Dumbarton that, if you were really seeing, reminded me what I love about ABT, and gave me back more than a glimmer of hope for the company’s future.