Alys Shee - the next Karen Kain?

Just saw video of Alys Shee. Lots of tricks, but I am not all that impressed. Time will tell. You should have seen Daniil Simkin at 13. Now that is what I call a child prodigy! At 21 now, he is a soloist with ABT, doing lead roles with the company. He has guest stared at the Bolshoi and Kirov (Mariinsky) ballets and the critics can't say enough great things about him. Wednesday, he will be dancing the part of Basil in Don Q. in Tokyo.

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by Pecks bad boy on July 27th, 2009

True, true. Actually, I haven't heard of Daniil Simkin before, but he sounds like he's worth learning about. I really don't know too much about particular dancers and their history, but I would like to learn more. I was just considering Alys Shee because I have an email subscription to her dance school's website (lol, right?) and I'd seen a small article that spoke about Alys Shee winning Silver in the International Moscow competition recently - the first time that a Canadian's won a major award in a junior category. She also placed second with Evgeni Dokoukine in the Pas De Deux finals of Youth America Grand Prix. But I thought the same thing when I saw some of her videos - I saw a lot of technique, but not enough performance. Then again, I was like that, but once I actually realized it, I remedied it quickly. Like you said, we'll know in time.

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by balletomaniac on July 28th, 2009

Daniil has only won gold and we are not talking youth division here. In all of the international ballet competitions he has ever entered. You should google him. Yes, there are two "i's" in his name. Daniil Simkin. I think he will be the next Baryshnikov. Maybe even better technique wise as he gains more age.

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by Pecks bad boy on July 28th, 2009

Alys Shee is a young student dancer whose mother's ambitions for her far outstrip her actual abilities. Much of what you find on the Internet and in various publications has been orchestrated by this woman, Melanie Simpson, a recently bankrupted Toronto restaurateur. "Mel" has alienated many good people in the ballet community and it is an absolute insult that she now appears to be attempting to link her daughter's reputation with someone like Karen Kain. Her daughter has behaved very poorly at various summer programs and competitions, even going so far as to sabotage another student's costume right before she went on stage. These people are bad news. Please do not fall for their chicanery. She's already beginning to fall apart with injuries, so it's only a matter of time before they move onto some other intrigue, but in the meantime, don't fall for the PR.

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by Anonymous on October 27th, 2009

Wow, I really was unaware. Thanks so much, I'll think twice about what I see! To tell you the truth I don't even know much about her...and now that I think about it; it really was all linked with the media. I suppose I was a bit ignorant...thanks for the culture shock!

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by balletomaniac on October 27th, 2009

I have seen Alys Shee dance and there is no possible way anyone can deny this childs talent. I have no idea what or where her family came from or why such a thing would have any bearing on the talent of this child, but watching her dance is heart warming. As a Canadian I have great hopes for her future and hope even more that she remains in Canada. I was at the Canadian Ballet Theaters recent nutcracker 2010 performance (my husband works in the theater) and to my eye this child outshone the Russian girl who came as a guest. She was not injured in any obvious way. The "corps" or balance of the dancers are mainly recreational ballet students who look either very young or inexperienced or both. Reading the above post just makes me think that there are some very jealous people out in the world and I can only feel sorry for them. I personally am watching her carefully and hope she has the opportunity to join our company!

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by anonymous5678 on February 18th, 2010

A 15 year old Canadian dancer named Alys Shee was just hired by ABT2. It has to be the same child. 15 is almost unheard of now and incredible that she has caught the eye of a company such as ABT. The poster above sounds like a very upset parent and who has had to watch her own child sit in the shadow of someone as talented as this Alys. The bitterness is in every word of that post which is sad. I think her talent speaks for itself! Congrats Alys we are excited for you!!

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by lifedance on April 24th, 2010

15 for ABT2 is young but not that young. It is not the main company. I have a number of friends in ABT2 as well as ABT. That is no guarantee she will be in the company. It is a good indication that instead of doing all the tricks I saw in the video I watched (now almost a year ago when I answered this) she has replaced them with more dancing and less nonsense., As I said before...time will tell.

* from ABT2 some, not all are asked to eventually apprentice with the main company and then maybe to join. She has a long road ahead of her but she is on the right track and in a great place.


@anonymous- she would not be the first. There is a real bitch of a girl in NYCB that no one likes because of what she has done to other dancers and because of her behavior. It is not the first time that acting like that has proved to work for the benefit of a dancer. Just remember , if that wasn't you or your costume, some people are jealous and do make up stories so I would not necessarily believe something unless you know first hand.

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by Pecks bad boy on April 25th, 2010

There are great dancers in that group. I do classes at Steps and first heard about this girl in Tressors class. She blew most of us away. She has all the tricks but the dancing is beautiful as well. I have just started my research on her but I did pick her as one to watch. I like to pick out favorites and see where they end up.I know from personal experience not to believe much of what people write anonymously. My suggestion would be to watch her at some point yourself. If you like Daniil, who is the very definition of ballet, you will probably like Alys as well. They are different but both are unique.

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by lifedance on April 25th, 2010

Daniil is amazing. He is also a friend of mine. We actually went to the Joyce to see ABT2 yesterday. He was supposed to go to Germany to visit his parents, but the volcano stopped all that and he stayed in NYC instead. I am back in NYC for a very short time and am off to Europe to dance later this week. I've done Tressor's class too, but not in a long time. I usually do David Howard's class when I am in town if he is teaching or Burmann or Bielski at Steps.

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by Pecks bad boy on April 25th, 2010

What a wonderful friend to have. He is a beautiful dancer. I also would enjoy those morning Howard/Burmann classes but my commute does not allow it. Send my congratulations to Daniil and best wishes. He does make seeing ABT more interesting now then it has been for the past few years. I wonder if these two talented dancers know each other yet. Probably not yet.

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by lifedance on April 26th, 2010

...
Note the topic - they're both ballerinas. Alys Shee is a teenage prodigy, and Karen Kain, was, well, amazing.

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by balletomaniac on July 27th, 2009

i think k-fed would beat them both out in a dance off.

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by Capital J on July 27th, 2009