With all the offstage excitement, has anyone attended SPAC? Or seen the performances by the group at Lake Placid?

Let's hear about the dancing, please. Please!

Charles Askegard is one of the older members of the company. He has been a principle for years. He came from ABT years ago. He is married to Candance Bushnell ("Sex and the City")

Askegard has been a principal since 1998; Nilas Martins since 1993; Albert Evans since 1995.

We were in Saratoga to see NYCB for their first week. Nikolaj Hübbe was not performing with them so he was not available to dance Apollo. We saw Charles dance it in two performances so I looked at his bio with City Ballet. Apollo is not listed as one of his roles and he has been with NYCB for 10 years so I believe this is the first time he danced it with them as well as the first time he has danced it in many years.
- Linda

ikresque, how do you think Askegard did (considering the circumstances)?

All things considered (and not comparing him to City Ballet's best known Apollos) , I thought he did a pretty credible job. He did not look unprepared and I didn't realize prior to the first performance how long it had been since he had danced Apollo. I would say that for the second performance he looked quite a bit more comfortable. As someone else mentioned, he is one of the older male dancers and I missed the classic "Greek God" look but on the other hand, he managed to bring a different feel, an innocence or freshness that I enjoyed. Once I realized the circumstances of his performance, I was actually quite impressed!

I'm not sure he ever danced Apollo before. He was a soloist when he left ABT.