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"Actually, I rather enjoyed Herrera in Act I, I thought she had bounce, enthusiasm, athleticism and verve as the Amazon maiden.  I thought that the role of Sylvia let Herrera combine her technical bravura with Ashton's musicality and elegance making a perfect mix.  Her mime when she got struck with Cupid's dart and haltingly returned to Aminta was rather touching.  In Act II, she got to be voluptuous and sinuous and she did a good job but I think she would have done even better with Marcelo Gomes as her Orion, Jesus Pastor is a focused actor but not tall enough to make the lifts exciting.  Sometimes Paloma seemed to be too much for him to handle.  Act III I felt showed Paloma's weaknesses.  Her pizzicato solo didn't sparkle and her movements seemed studied where they should be light and delicate and spontaneous.  All those little flicks of the wrist and sudden arm movements looked jerky.  She didn't show much musicality and the steps seemed fussy and off the beat.  Another audience member thought Paloma almost fell at one point.  By the end I understood what Beck_Hen was telling me about her lower half and her upper half being disjointed.  Paloma was the company's resident virtuosa ballerina in the nineties (outside of Ananiashvili) but today Murphy and Dvorovenko actually are all-around better technicians.  Gillian Murphy is still growing as an artist and I am curious to know how she had improved this season as Sylvia as I didn't go on Monday.   \nAngel brought deep romantic yearning and vulnerability to Aminta though the choreography doesn't exploit all his technical abilities and power.  He was working hard to be smooth and work with the music which made him more Ashtonian in style.  His joyfulness in the last act lit up the stage and engaged the audience in the story.  Craig Salstein did have some wit and mischief as Eros and seemed to enjoy his various transformations.  His dancing was light and bouyant.   \nSarah Lane was delicious as the Goat-Girl but seeing her and Veronika together doing little bits after having leading roles in the City Center season was a little depressing.  I wish that ABT would put together a gorgeous new Desmond Heeley production of \"The Sleeping Beauty\" so that Veronika could have a go at Lilac Fairy and Florine and Sarah Lane could be Canari qui Chante, the White Cat and Florine as well.  Kristi Boone, Liceica, Fang, Bystrova, Misti Copeland and all these little girls we have been seeing in the background could go front and center in all the solo opportunities that \"Beauty\" gives soloists and principals.  It is time we saw Gillian and Irina as Aurora.  The parallels between \"Sylvia\" and \"Sleeping Beauty\" made me connect the two in my mind.   There are inspirations from \"Beauty\" that Ashton has taken and transformed for \"Sylvia\" - clearly this was intended as Ashton's \"Beauty\" for Fonteyn.  Kevin spends a lot of money and energy finding vehicles to keep his superstar men happy, he needs to start paying equal time and attention to his junior women.  Also, I think Veronika might make a stronger Sylvia than Julie Kent who was wobbly in it last season.   \nAs for the corps, they improved after a messy nymphs and satyrs dance at the top of Act I.  Oddly the sets seem to impinge on the dancer's space though this is the Metropolitan Opera stage which is football field in size.  Maybe they need to move the sets a little further upstage to give a bit more space in front?  I hope we get to see this ballet again soon but I think this production has to go back to the Royal (are the sets copies that ABT owns or are the RB's sets?). "
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