I was just wondering what everyone's opinion was on her?
I find her to be one of the most incredible and well-rounded performers in the company. She seems to be having a great season. Her Desir this week was incredible, not to mention her performance in Dnieper which blew me away.
So what says everyone else?
Full Version: Simone Messmer
QUOTE (glowstop @ Jun 7 2009, 05:07 PM) 
I was just wondering what everyone's opinion was on her?
I find her to be one of the most incredible and well-rounded performers in the company. She seems to be having a great season. Her Desir this week was incredible, not to mention her performance in Dnieper which blew me away.
So what says everyone else?
I find her to be one of the most incredible and well-rounded performers in the company. She seems to be having a great season. Her Desir this week was incredible, not to mention her performance in Dnieper which blew me away.
So what says everyone else?
Because ABT dances so little in DC these days, I can't remember having seen much of her in the past. However, I simply couldn't take my eyes off her in the peasant pas de trois this year. She was stunning. There might as well have been no one else on stage. She is a dancer I will very much be watching for in the future. I'm delighted to see that someone else feels the same way.
QUOTE (Ginny Kanter @ Jun 13 2009, 08:20 PM)
Because ABT dances so little in DC these days, I can't remember having seen much of her in the past.
She was a very amused and amusing whore in Romeo and Juliet at the Kennedy Center a few years back.
QUOTE (glowstop @ Jun 7 2009, 01:07 PM)
I was just wondering what everyone's opinion was on her?
I find her to be one of the most incredible and well-rounded performers in the company. She seems to be having a great season. Her Desir this week was incredible, not to mention her performance in Dnieper which blew me away.
So what says everyone else?
I find her to be one of the most incredible and well-rounded performers in the company. She seems to be having a great season. Her Desir this week was incredible, not to mention her performance in Dnieper which blew me away.
So what says everyone else?
Agreed. She was one of the few good things in "Desir". All passion and extraordinary sweep to her dancing. And for me she was the best of the 'Olgas' in "On the Dneiper". One could see leaving home for her! She dances big and with great assurance. Her Myrta was a bit unsteady, but that was probably nerves. She will only get better. I'm always drawn to her whenever she's on stage.
mimsyb
She is a true artist!! Her years of hard work is paying off 
In today's Links was a review by Robert Gottlieb, and at the end of it he praised Messmer with glowing words:
http://www.observer.com/2009/theater/meet-...natalia-osipova
(This may have been the most un-snarky review I've ever read by him...)
QUOTE
Among the talented young who made themselves felt this season were Alexandre Hammoudi, Arron Scott, Blaine Hoven and two highly talented (and highly dissimilar) girls: the lyrical, enchanting Hee Seo and the provocative and fascinating Simone Messmer. Not only was Messmer the only one in the cast of Taylor’s Airs who really looked at home, but also—in a New York debut—she was a remarkably strong, self-assured and authoritative Queen of the Wilis. Now there’s a one-two punch.
http://www.observer.com/2009/theater/meet-...natalia-osipova
(This may have been the most un-snarky review I've ever read by him...)
I agree. I hadn't really noticed her much, but she was stunning in Company B last fall, and wonderful in Airs. I loved her Myrtha, she was really casting a spell. She also did a big swan that was so musical. She is very special.
QUOTE (Helene @ Jul 11 2009, 12:32 AM)
In today's Links was a review by Robert Gottlieb, and at the end of it he praised Messmer with glowing words:
QUOTE
.............and two highly talented (and highly dissimilar) girls: the lyrical, enchanting Hee Seo and the provocative and fascinating Simone Messmer......
Oh dear, is ballet the last profession in the 21st century where it is still acceptable to refer to highly skilled professional adults as boys and girls?
she is very special- great breadth and passion and essence. When will she be made a soloist, already?
I don't think she will be made a soloist until at least a year or two after the next female soloist is made, who is Hee Seo. And I think Simone's current repertoire suggests it could be a longer period than that.
i'd just like to remind you. Hee Seo is not a soloist. She maybe on her way. But there's no telling what could happen. There are some very talented girls there.
Timeout NY has an article on Simone M:
http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/dance/...rink-of-stardom
I am just quoting from the article. I don't agree it's "remarkable" she hasn't yet been promoted.
"Remarkably, Messmer, who joined the company in 2003, is still a member of the corps de ballet...
Q: I don’t want to put you on the spot, but I can’t believe you haven’t been promoted yet. What is that like for you?
A: It’s difficult. Totally. I don’t think I was ready, say, two years ago. Mentally I was not in a place where I should have been promoted. I think I probably would have done fine, but I don’t think that I would be where I am now as a dancer. Whether I’m promoted or not, I feel I’m ready and that’s all that I can do. But, yeah, I want to be promoted. Absolutely. And I’ve made that no secret. I don’t make the decisions and that is not something that I can control. I don’t run the company and I’m not behind the desk. I can only hope that they value my commitment, and I guess time will tell."
http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/dance/...rink-of-stardom
I am just quoting from the article. I don't agree it's "remarkable" she hasn't yet been promoted.
"Remarkably, Messmer, who joined the company in 2003, is still a member of the corps de ballet...
Q: I don’t want to put you on the spot, but I can’t believe you haven’t been promoted yet. What is that like for you?
A: It’s difficult. Totally. I don’t think I was ready, say, two years ago. Mentally I was not in a place where I should have been promoted. I think I probably would have done fine, but I don’t think that I would be where I am now as a dancer. Whether I’m promoted or not, I feel I’m ready and that’s all that I can do. But, yeah, I want to be promoted. Absolutely. And I’ve made that no secret. I don’t make the decisions and that is not something that I can control. I don’t run the company and I’m not behind the desk. I can only hope that they value my commitment, and I guess time will tell."
Thank you for the link.
I thought her answer about class was a thoughtful one. She's another Willy Burmann fan:
QUOTE
Why is Burmann such a good teacher?
It works for my body, it’s something that I understand, it makes my legs look longer and it’s the way that he works—the barre that he gives—and it just clicks for me. And when he gives corrections, the metaphors work for me. I understand what he means. I mean, doing it is a whole other story. But I understand what he means and it’s always working toward a goal. And it’s nice to see in those classes, Wendy Whelan—dancers who have made a choice in their career not to be comfortable. They made a choice not to be okay with where they are even if they’re a principal or a star or whatever. They’re still in class busting their ass because that’s what needs to be done and that is really nice to see and is a constant reminder that you have to. If you want to be the best that you can you be it’s not good enough giving yourself class or skipping a class a week. You have to have someone else there to call you out and these are rules I’ve made for myself because they’re the only way you can stay sane. There’s a level of integrity that every person has to make for themselves, like the moral code they live by. Everyone, as an adult, has a different one. Depending on your life experience, it fluctuates and you make these choices and with ballet I have not made a compromise on how I work. And that is a nice feeling that as a professional and as someone in a big company, I don’t feel I’ve made compromises about how I work. That’s one of the few things that you can control in a big company and so you do what you can. You can never look back and say, “Well, if I…” There are no regrets—you’ve done everything you could do.
It works for my body, it’s something that I understand, it makes my legs look longer and it’s the way that he works—the barre that he gives—and it just clicks for me. And when he gives corrections, the metaphors work for me. I understand what he means. I mean, doing it is a whole other story. But I understand what he means and it’s always working toward a goal. And it’s nice to see in those classes, Wendy Whelan—dancers who have made a choice in their career not to be comfortable. They made a choice not to be okay with where they are even if they’re a principal or a star or whatever. They’re still in class busting their ass because that’s what needs to be done and that is really nice to see and is a constant reminder that you have to. If you want to be the best that you can you be it’s not good enough giving yourself class or skipping a class a week. You have to have someone else there to call you out and these are rules I’ve made for myself because they’re the only way you can stay sane. There’s a level of integrity that every person has to make for themselves, like the moral code they live by. Everyone, as an adult, has a different one. Depending on your life experience, it fluctuates and you make these choices and with ballet I have not made a compromise on how I work. And that is a nice feeling that as a professional and as someone in a big company, I don’t feel I’ve made compromises about how I work. That’s one of the few things that you can control in a big company and so you do what you can. You can never look back and say, “Well, if I…” There are no regrets—you’ve done everything you could do.
I was looking over the ABT bios for who gets what at the Met 2010, and saw that Messmer has a much more flattering photo up on her bio. Not sure it helps the audience identify her in a performance as well as the prior photo (which I only vaguely recall), though.
http://www.abt.org/dancers/detail.asp?Dancer_ID=71
http://www.abt.org/dancers/detail.asp?Dancer_ID=71
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