The widely beloved ballerina from the Republic of Georgia gave her farewell performance, of Swan Lake, with ABT to a completely packed house on Saturday night.  Angel Corella danced Siegfried and Marcelo Gomes von Rothbart.

Of course it was a wonderful performance, one her bizillions of adoring fans will never forget. It was my first time seeing her in this role and she was gorgeous. One thing that really struck me was how she’d wave her hands while in the guise of a swan. Not only her arms, like the other ballerinas do, but actually her hands. They looked like feathers they were so light and delicate and fluttering. I’d never seen anyone do that. She also did the rapidly fluttering foot during the White Swan pas de deux better than any ballerina I’ve seen. She is splendid at small details like that that make all the difference in a performance.

Unlike the others, she faced the audience, instead of the back of the stage, as she bourreed offstage after the end of the White Swan pas. I’m not sure if she always does that or if it was only this time since it was her last and she wanted to see the audience. Her face was full of sorrow but there was also this kind of “that’s life, that’s that, this is my fate” subtext behind her eyes — a thought Odette might have as well as a retiring ballerina. At the end, during bows, she bourreed offstage again, this time with her back to the audience, her face toward her pile of bouquets and the many dancers and former partners lined up onstage who’d come out to issue her her farewell. (Shown in pic below)

Of course Angel was his usual passionate Siegfried self, and Marcelo was a mouth-wateringly sexy von Rothbart. I liked the way he picked one court lady up (I think it was Misty Copeland) and tossed her aside, so he could flirt with another. Marcelo’s ultimately too sweet though and his sweetness shines through — I don’t see how anyone’s actually ever completely believed his performances as the quintessential bad guy I also like how he jumped up to the throne, taking Siegfried’s princely place next to his mother, in one flying leap. It was acrobatic and eye-catching, and very presumptuous, as von Rothbart is. Actually, watching Marcelo made me like David Hallberg better — David was much like him. They both did the part very well. There were a few more giggles during David’s turn as von Roth, but that could have been because he’s usually “the nice guy.”

And of course Marcelo and Angel, both of them full of theatrics, had to pull the stunt of the season: at the end of the Black Swan pas de deux, Marcelo picked up Nina and tossed her high, right into Angel’s arms, and he caugh her in a fish dive. Very dramatic, and of course the audience went completely nuts with applause. They performed said stunt again during the curtain calls. I didn’t get a picture of it, but someone caught in on YouTube!!! Oh how I love illegally enthusiastic fans! Thanks to Haglund for finding it!

Here are a few more of my favorite pics:

What every girl wants — a hug from Marcelo! Even if he is dressed as evil von Rothbart.

Her little girl was brought out onstage and took a bow with her mother

Receiving a hug from Isaac Stappas, who danced von Rothbart in swamp creature form.

Getting a kiss from handsome Angel.

Giving a dancerly nod to conductor Ormsby Wilkins.

I love the arm in the air!

In front of the curtain with those two stuntsmen, either right before or right after aforementioned three-way-fish-dive.

Those are some of my favorites. See the full album here.

A couple of other hightlights: Blaine Hoven danced one of the Neapolitan high-jumper guys in the court scene. When he did this series of kick jumps, he sent his kicking leg nearly all the way up to his head. Maybe I should begin calling him Blaine Osipova…

And Simone Messmer danced as one of the girls in the Benno pas de trois. Recently I’ve begun to find her very captivating but am not sure why. One of the reasons, I’m now thinking, is that she is so amazingly athletic. She did this series of entrechats (high jumps where the feet change back and forth in front of and behind one another, like a braid) like a man! Seriously — those were damn David Hallberg entrechats! I don’t mean that in a bad way at all — my favorite ballerinas (aside from Janie Taylor ) are the most athletic ones.

Trying to think of other things that happened during curtain call. David Hallberg was cute — he bowed down to her several times repeatedly as if to say “I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy.” Audience went wild. Gillian Murphy and Ethan Stiefel came out together. Roberto Bolle came out, all dapper, in a shiny black tux. I remember Paloma Herrera, Diana Vishneva, Maxim Beloserkovsky, Kevin McKenzie (who looked like he may cry). I didn’t see Jose Manuel Carreno (unless I missed him. What’s up with him though — he doesn’t seem to be dancing any more this season??) I didn’t spot Julie Kent, although she just had her baby so that’s understandable. Curtain calls lasted for maybe twenty minutes, although I’m not entirely sure since I had to leave to go to a housewarming party. Anyway, wonderful night. It goes without saying Nina has a huge amount of fans and will be badly missed.

Photo of Bolle taken from here, where there are many many more!

It’s kind of hard for me to be my usual enthusiastic self after hearing about the death of Pina Bausch earlier today, but I’m getting too far behind on blog posts to take the rest of the day off, so I’ll try.

Of course, I should have written about this performance earlier, but I was too busy at the stage door that evening, and then I’ve had a ballet every night since then. Anyway, hope I can make sense of my notes!

Overall impression was that they both — Veronika and Roberto — gave a beautiful, stunning performance, that he did very well when dancing on his own, that she did very well both on her own and when being partnered by him, and that she out-acted him. By a long shot. I have been told that (despite posing for photos like this) he is actually rather shy, though, and it did kind of seem like that at the stage door, so I think maybe he needs to get used to a ballerina for a while, and will do much better the more comfortable he gets. The reason I say that is because I loved him so much in Romeo and Juliet two years ago, and he danced wonderfully and completely comfortably with Alessandra Ferri. I think it’s just a matter of getting used to our ballerinas and perhaps American audiences.

Whenever he was on his own, his dancing and acting were solid. I really felt like I saw Odette flying away after Siegfried’s encounter with her, as Bolle’s sad eyes traced her imaginary path along the ceiling. And his early solo, when Siegfried is at the party, pre-Odette, and he’s feeling alone and ill at ease with his mother’s demands that he choose a wife, Bolle really conveyed that mixed emotion, confusion, loneliness. Later, his jumps were stellar. It just seemed that whenever he partnered Veronika, he was concentrating so hard, he had no time for emotion. So, Angel, Ethan, and Marcelo (when I last saw him as Siegfried, a year ago, anyway), were more passionate. But others think differently. Read Haglund (an excellent newish ballet blog by the way!) for a different take on Bolle’s performance.

Photo of Veronika Part by Marc Haegeman, from here.

Veronika was just gorgeous, and so passionate. She did her usual thing of taking me on her character’s journey with her, of making me feel Odette’s plight and pain, and Odile’s desires as well. She has such sweep and breadth, when he’d take her down into an arabesque penchee on pointe, her arms brushed the floor. And her extensions are always so breathtaking, and the overhead lifts — they are both so tall they were just spectacular, she just touched the sky. In the Black Swan Pas de Deux, she did the straight fouettes, as did Nina Ananiashvili the following night (review coming soon!) She has such height she moves a bit slower than other ballerinas and she didn’t really make the 32 fouettes, but who cares. She really devoured the stage with those fouettes, and when she did her turns around its perimeter. What’s important in that scene is how you eat up all the space around you and command the attention of the audience and poor Siegfried, and you can do that in a variety of ways — a ridiculous number of turns is only one. She had a really wicked smile all throughout that scene! I really love her!

Hehe, one other thing: poor Roberto. No one told him that, thanks to a certain David Hallberg, New York audiences are accustomed to an all-out Olympic gold medal-level Swan Dive off the cliff and into the lake at the end Or perhaps he didn’t want to out swan dive his lady, because Veronika just kind of tossed herself off the cliff. Either way, Roberto followed her with a slight jump, not even really a jump — almost like he was falling into the water as well. Of course I’m partly joking about the need for an extravagant suicide jump, but I do have to say, in my quest to see casts other than my regulars this season, I did so miss that Hallberg dive!

A couple of other things: I have a bunch of stars next to Craig Salstein’s name in my Playbill so he must have done something I liked… Oh yes, he was one of the two Neapolitan high-bouncing jumping jack guys in the court scene. I also have written “violins ***” which reminds me that I thought the violinist was very good during von Rothbart’s seduction of the court ladies scene. I always forget about the hard-working orchestra!

Oh my gosh you guys, I just heard about this on PinballPeople. I’m so shocked. I didn’t even know she was sick (apparently she was only diagnosed with cancer days ago). I’m so upset. We’re never going to have any new work from her again. I didn’t see enough of her. I’m sorry, this is so much more shocking to me than the deaths last week… She was just at BAM a few months ago and she seemed fine.

Here is a good piece on Bausch by Guardian’s Judith Mackrell. Here is the Bausch archive on YouTube.

I was just reading a group of tributes to David Foster Wallace in the Sonora Review last night and now I’m thinking this loss is on that level. This is one of those artists we will all suffer without, whether you’re aware of it or not. This is huge.

Thanks to a comment from the executive producer on my prior post, I remembered to watch the series premiere last night of the newest TV dance show (Oxygen network).

It was sweet. All of the contestants are “real people,” some with dance background, most with none, and all of whom are overweight, some severely and life-threateningly so. They each work with a professional dance partner, a nutritionist, a doctor, and a fitness coach to learn to eat right, maintain physical fitness, and of course dance. For many of these contestants, success on the show is a matter of life and death — no exaggeration. That’s what morbidly obese means — it’s not just a loose term that means “gross” or something; it means the obesity could have morbid results. The doctor was very interesting. He talked about how for many of the contestants, fat had leaked into their liver, their pancreas, and their diaphragm, making it harder for those organs to function, harder for the contestants to breathe. I knew it could cause diabetes but I didn’t know fat could do that – could spread to other organs, like cancer, and overtake them.

Anyway, it’s a competition of course, like almost all reality TV these days, so a person is eliminated each week. The dancing is all fast-paced and aerobic, which makes sense. The dances last night were chosen by the contestant — hip hop, disco, swing or jive. Next week everyone is supposed to compete in disco.

There are three judges and each contestant receives a score, based on the quality of their dancing. They then weigh themselves, and the percentage of their total body weight that they lost that week is added onto their dance score for a total score. The person with the lowest score leaves. There seems to be no audience vote.

Which is fine, because it’s completely impossible to root for one person at the expense of the rest. Of course you want them all to do well. And it’s kind of sad that it has to be a competition anyway, given the goal of the show (which is of course to lose weight but there’s also an incentive in the form of a $100,000 prize). But competitions are what audiences seem to want these days. As it was, the first person to leave last night was the person who probably had the least to lose: she’s an attractive young woman, a former model, and had only recently begun to put on the pounds. But she wasn’t anywhere near as heavy as the rest. Hopefully, she had enough time on the show (meaning, the weeks — I assume it was weeks — spent preparing), to change her lifestyle.

I think the show is a very good idea, but I do hope its important message is able to rub off on the general public and it doesn’t just become a spectacle like so much reality TV. The reason many thin people are thin is that they have happy, fulfilling, active lifestyles. They appreciate the taste of food and so seek well-made, quality food (ie: eat canned asparagus with dinner and you’re probably going to have to get rid of the horrendous aftertaste with a monster bag of Oreos or whatnot; eat asparagus vinegarette with a nice glass of wine and no need for dessert), in moderation and without gorging (you can’t appreciate the taste if you’re only going to gobble it right down) and without ever depriving themselves of their favorites. (ie: eat chocolate and be happy, but buy a quality bar and you’ll be much more fulfilled than if you eat crap from a vending machine, in which case you’re probably going to have to eat a few bars to be likewise sated).

I know it sounds funny for a blogger with the words “skinny white girl” in her tag line to be lecturing on weight loss, but honestly my mother is the same size as many of the contestants on the show — actually bigger; she’s really too big to dance — and she has a whole host of health problems and I worry about her daily. The only difference between us is lifestyle (city versus small town) and our approach to food.

Of course another reason thin people are thin is that they don’t have time to eat so much because they’re out being active, and being active is fun, not a chore. You don’t have to go to the gym, you don’t have to run laps. You can lose weight and become fit by learning to dance, so long as you’re learning proper technique and learning to use proper muscle groups. And then you’re not just losing weight but getting sculpted as well

I think this show is a great idea. It’s on every Monday night from 10-11:30 EST, 9 pm Central. Visit their website to learn some of the dance moves on the show, watch episodes, and submit your own videos. You can also join their Facebook page to discuss. For weight loss, I recommend your local dance studio — preferably ballet (I’m not kidding; just because barre work is slow doesn’t mean you’re not getting an intense workout, avec the body sculpting I was talking about!) If you’re in NY, the Harkness Center at the 92 Street Y is a very good dance studio with a very non-intimidating atmosphere. If you’re braver, try Steps on the west side (be warned, famous dancers take class there). If you want to work at home, I highly highly HIGHLY recommend this.

Here’s a photo, by Rosalie O’Conner, to go along with my two earlier posts. This was the couple I was going on about so in James Kudelka’s Desir; a photo wasn’t available earlier. I found it in Tobi Tobias’s just-posted blog entry, summing up ABT’s eventful season, which is definitely read-worthy. She talks about the two above (like me, she loved Boylston); Alexei Ratmansky’s On the Dneiper; Natalia Osipova guesting (she felt just about the same as I about the Bolshoi ballerina); and Nina Ananiashvili’s farewell performance. I am working on my review of that; in the meantime, see my album. And do read Tobias!

Photo of Michele Wiles in Sylvia, by Fabrizio Ferri, from ABT.

My main recommendations for the week are American Ballet Theater’s Sylvia at the Met Opera House, beginning tonight and running through Saturday afternoon; and the Manhattan Dancesport Championships at the Marriott in Brooklyn Heights. MDC begins tomorrow night and runs through Sunday.

Sylvia is choreographed by Englishman Frederick Ashton. I haven’t yet seen it, but have heard it’s a wonderful ballet, and have heard Michele Wiles basically owns the lead. She is dancing Wednesday night with none other than that Italian superstar Roberto Bolle! The amazing Daniil Simkin and my new favorite Cory Stearns are also in that cast.

Again, though, I’m sure all casts are good. Gillian Murphy dances the lead tonight and Thursday, Diana Vishneva dances with Ethan Stiefel Wednesday matinee and Friday night, and Paloma Herrera and Marcelo Gomes are on Tuesday night and the Saturday matinee. (No performance Saturday night because of the holiday). Read more about the ballet here.

And if you’re a fan of ballroom — or even if you’re not, it’s ridiculous fun — the MDC, the most prestigious comp in the mid-Atlantic region, begins Tuesday and runs through Sunday at the Marriott Hotel at the Brooklyn Bridge. The best nights to go are Friday and Saturday night. Friday night are Professional Latin and American Smooth, and Saturday night is Professional Standard and American Rhythm. Also on Saturday night are the Professional Exhibitions. The other nights are fun too — the consist of all the pro/amateur comps, the seniors and the juniors, etc. (and are cheaper than the Pro comps) but if you really want to see great ballroom by the country’s top pros, Friday and Saturday nights are the sessions to attend. Tickets for those two nights are $55 (and between $25 and $45 for other sessions). Night sessions will last from 7pm until about 1 or 2 in the morning. Go here for the schedule and more info.

(photo above is of back of Yulia Zagoruychenko, dancing with Riccardo Cocchi, at last year’s Championship).

Photos of Hedwig Dances’ Night Blooming Jasmine, by Eileen Ryan.

Reviewed by Christopher Atamian

Jan Bartoszek’s Hedwig Dances arrived in New York this week via Chicago, where the company is based, and Havana, where four of the six dancers apparently hail from.  We’re happy they did.  Friday night at the Joyce Soho Hedwig presented three relatively short, lovely dances from three different choreographers: Bartoszek, Andrea Miller and Marianela Boan.  If you know nothing about contemporary dance, this trio-and the dancers performing them-provides a good sampler mixing styles and rhythms while demonstrating a deep seriousness of purpose, a hieratic, almost devotional aura and an evident passion for their work throughout.

In Bartoszek’s Night Blooming Jasmine, the six Hedwig dancers (Victor Alexander, Alitra Cartman, Justin Deschamps, Maray Gutierrez, Jessie Gutierrez and Michel Rodriguez) perform in summery cotton pants and shirts, moving around the stage with a lovely lightness of being reminiscent at times of Buddhist monks praying, at others of Christ-like crucifixions, as they recreate the movements and activities of the night (nb:the jasmine releases its scent after dusk…) One wouldn’t necessarily know that this is what the dance represents and it doesn’t matter: the movement vocabulary is original, varied and simply elegant.

Andrea Miller’s Dust, dedicated to her departed stepfather Jack, is ostensibly about mortality, loss and perhaps even trust.  Michel “Chino” Rodriguez and Deschamps run in a circle, push and pull off and onto each other, sometimes covering each others’ eyes as they bound forward, for the better part of eleven minutes. It’s an abstract piece, reminiscent of early modern improvisational work. Set to Arvo Pärt’s lovely and sad Fratres it hits just the right note. I have been watching Miller’s work since her student days at Juilliard and at her own company Gallim Dance, and this is perhaps my favorite piece of hers to date: simple, unpretentious, and level-in a word, mature.

Marianela Boan who choreographed the final piece, Stampede, with original score by Christian Cherry also works with improvisation, letting her dancers innovate as they go.  They negotiate space in and around yellow and black slashed crowd control ropes, moving them around the stage and changing their geometric configurations. The piece begins with Maray Gutierrez slipping in and out, under and over the ropes that are arranged in a boxing ring formation, until the robust and very macho Victor Alexander picks her up and literally sweeps her off her feet.  Some of the rope work is reminiscent of (rhythmic) gymnastics.  As the dancers negotiate each other, the ropes and imaginary crowd members, the dance becomes a metaphor for negotiating and overcoming life’s abstract obstacles as well. It’s a lovely piece and a lovely dance company.

Bartoszek held a Q & A after the Friday performance with her dancers. Both choreographer and performers displayed an infectious charm and good humor which counts for something, as well. We hope to see them at the Joyce again soon, next time in Chelsea…

Nota bene: Night Blooming Jasmine received its New York Premiere on Friday, Stampede and Dust their World Premieres. Victor Alexander technically hails from Pinar del Rio, not La Havana.  Marianela Boan is also Cubana!

Photo of Larry Keigwin’s Bolero / NYC by Andrea Mohin, from NYTimes.

Photo of Keigwin’s Triptych by Matthew Murphy, taken from idanz.

During ballet season my time is so limited and I just can’t attend everything I want to. And so, regrettably, I had to miss Keigwin + Company at the Joyce last week. But my friend, writer Christopher Atamian, agreed to attend for me and write a review here. I’m a big fan of Larry Keigwin, but unfortunately my friend didn’t like the performance very much! Oh well, such is life… Anyway, I’m very thankful and flattered that professional writers want to write for my blog. I do want to make clear, though, the views expressed herein are Mr. Atamian’s and not my own. I’ve seen all of the pieces reviewed here except Triptych, which is new, and I’ve really liked all of them. I also think diversity of opinion and the dialog it can engender is very important to the arts. Here is Mr. Atamian’s review.

Continue reading ‘THE POPULARITY OF KEIGWIN + COMPANY’

Review of the performance coming soon, but in the meantime, here are some photos I took at the Opera House stage door last night. First time I’ve ever been there and I mainly wanted to go to see the hysteria I’ve been told happens there whenever Roberto Bolle performs

Here with Ariel.

Love these girls’ expressions So many really beautiful people — mainly Italians — there!

Was told to take a picture of his jeans label. Can’t completely see it though — it’s the brand he models for, right? I love his turned-out feet

He was mobbed by both men and women. He seemed a bit shy but maybe he just didn’t speak English that well. I was told he was shy though, interestingly.

And a couple of Veronika Part. She was really sweet, and very outgoing!

These people were so cute. I think they come every single night, whether they actually attend the performance or not. They set up a veritable candy stand atop a garbage can at the end of the hall so dancers can have a candy on the way out. “Gemma, Simone (fill in dancer name), will you be enticed tonight?”  they call out all night. Simone Messmer has the most athletic female body I’ve ever seen, by the way.

Conductor Ormsby Wilkins showing off his conducting skills to some fans. Just kidding – -he’s just a very demonstrative talker

That was fun! Made for a loooong evening though. We didn’t get out of there till well after midnight.

Oh and a young ballet dancer and her mother approached me and told me they read my blog! They know Irina Dvorovenko and Max Beloserkovsky, so Ariel and I were treated to some cute stories about the couple and their little girl, Emma! They also went to the Rizzoli book signing that Roberto gave last week. Said they knew about it from my blog I wasn’t able to go since I was giving my own reading, but they filled me in. Said there were lots of people there, expectedly — but lots of older people, not a lot of young women, weirdly. We surmised not enough people knew about it. They showed me some pictures of him – - he was very dapper, dressed in a black suit! He said he liked to dress up.

Fun evening! Review coming soon.

Ethan Stiefel, Rosalie O’Connor photo, from TONY.

Too much fun at American Ballet Theater’s Swan Lake last night. I was so happy Ethan performed. He was injured early in the season and has been replaced in about everything he’s been scheduled for, so I was half expecting there to be an announcement someone else would be filling in, but happily not!

Designbyhumans graphic, taken from here.

First, I just have to relate the most obnoxious thing I think I’ve ever seen an audience member do, which happened last night. After the fast, fun bravura-heavy Black Swan pas de deux, this man from, it sounded like a box at the top, shouted, and I mean SHOUTED, obviously for everyone to hear, that we should all be quiet and hold our applause until the dancers are done. Most people were astounded, some gave a bemused little laugh, some started clapping but I wasn’t sure whether they were applauding his suggestion or mocking him. Wow, that poor hyper-sensitive person should definitely not go to Russia or Cuba or places where people show their enthusiasm for dance more overtly. In any event, I’m pretty sure there are no formal rules of conduct on audience applause here. NOR FRIGGING SHOULD THERE BE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! I remember ABT used to have a little page at the beginning of the Playbill asking audience members to please be aware of their neighbors: if they have kids to make sure the kids aren’t kicking the seats in front of them or screaming or what not; no eating in the auditorium; silence all cell phones; etc. — things like that. I haven’t seen that page this season but I don’t remember any rules about when an audience is supposed to applaud.

The other day, the same thing happened, but on a less obnoxious level. I think it was during Sylphide and people clapped before Daniil Simkin had finished his variation and this guy next to me loudly and angrily whispered to all people within earshot of him to wait until Simkin finished.

I think people really need to calm down and let others be and not be so blasted controlling. I know some serious New York City Ballet fans are angry about all the “new audience” conduct and I am as well when that conduct includes checking cell phone messages and texts right during the performance (as a worrying number of young people do these days), freely talking to their neighbors throughout, bringing their own little picnic dinner to the Koch Theater and munching all through the performance, or worst of all taking flash pictures during the performance. They should be reprimanded by the ushers for doing such things, in my opinion. But when someone has an emergency coughing problem (like I sometimes do thanks to season-long allergies that come and go) and they need to take out a lozenge or take a sip of water, and they’re trying to be as quiet as possible while doing so, you just can’t get mad at that. And there was a discussion last year on The Winger where some commenters were outraged at what people were wearing to the ballet — pants, jeans, t-shirts, etc.

I think we all need to be considerate of one another, but I think we must be tolerant of one another as well and let everyone be human. Ballet companies are trying to grow their audiences — I don’t think they want to set rules on what people can wear and when they can applaud and warn them not to have an emergency allergy or else. If they do, then let them put the ground rules up front. They might want to seriously consider saying something about message checking though because a good number of people seem to think that’s okay — I don’t think they realize how brightly that little screen lights up and what a distraction it is to those around them. But in the meantime, until the dance companies figure out how to let audiences know what’s okay and what’s not, let’s just all respect each other.

I mean, absolutely no one has any place making up rules himself and then screaming them out at the whole audience during the performance. That was beyond ridiculous.

Okay diatribe finished!

Ethan with girlfriend Gillian Murphy, as Siegfried, she as Odette. I think the photo’s by Fabrizio Ferri. In any event, it’s taken from here.

So Ethan seemed pretty much, though maybe not completely, back in his usual excellent form. Maybe it was just me but I was a bit worried every time he jumped, especially when he landed on one leg, because I know he’s had the continuing problem with his knees. He seemed perfectly fine though. And his turns were excellent — he used them to show confusion and anguish up front when his Siegfried wasn’t so enamored with the ladies he was being presented with or his mother’s insistence he choose a bride now. He acted the part well. One thing I really love about him is how, after he became enamored of Paloma’s Odette, he’d run after her as fast as he possibly could, a speed demon, like if he didn’t catch her his life would crumble. I think Ethan’s the fastest Swan-chaser of a Siegfried I’ve seen

Photo of Paloma Herrera from ABT website.

I really liked Paloma Herrera as Odette/Odile. She was one of the most dramatic Odettes I’ve seen and she used mime to excellent effect — her gestures really related what had happened to her and were very accessible, even to someone not schooled in ballet mime. I think she told Odette’s story to Siegfried better than any other ballerina I’ve seen. She was also very athletic — during the Black Swan pas she was just a blur when she did those turns around the perimeter of the stage. And during the fouette sequence, she threw in triple pirouettes between practically every fouette. She didn’t do the arms like Gillian Murphy, but her multiple pirouettes were stunning.

David Hallberg as von Rothbart stole every scene he was in. At the very beginning, when Paloma first came out onstage, waltzing about girlishly, naively, he was so wickedly devious as he lured her into his arms, then picked her up romantically, and then, as he dramatically tightened his fists around her his evil intentions became clear. I wish he would have done the Black Swan pas the same way. He’s such a miraculous dancer that you can’t take your eyes off him throughout that whole scene, and many in the audience were giggling as the court ladies bowed down to him, almost melting into the floor at the sight of him. He was all wicked sexy seductor. But what makes von Rothbart so villainous is that he’s a trickster. He draws the ladies like Odette into his web by being all romantic and charming, though virilely so, and then when they’re least suspecting, he bites. He’s a classic predator. I think David was a little too evil from the get-go, but only in that scene. And someone, I think Demicontremps, said every time he wants to show an emotion, he widens his eyes. I agree. I’ve seen him do that a lot and I think subtlety can work a lot better. I’ll see Marcelo in this role tomorrow night though (my first time seeing him as von Rothbart!) and I’ll probably have better-formed opinions after that. I haven’t seen a lot of really mesmerizing dancers do this role before, so I really haven’t paid it much attention. Watching David was the first time I thought how powerful — and how entertaining — that role can really be.

Photo of D. Hallberg from NY Social Diary.

To wrap up, I also liked Blaine Hoven, Hee Seo and Melanie Hamrick in the Benno and ladies pas de trois. Blaine is really developing into an artist — he not only executed all of those hard jumps with great precision and articulation, but he also played with the musicality a bit, slowing things down here and holding a line there — it made for more captivating, intriguing dancing. I think he might have picked it up from Ethan because I saw Ethan doing the same. Hee Seo is so beautifully light on her feet. The woman behind me went “Ahhhhh,” when she did those hops on pointe and everytime she began a variation. I also liked Arron Scott and Mikhail Ilyin in the “Neapolitan” ballroom section, as the two high-jumping court jester-types.

Well, that was a nice tribute to Michael Jackson that Nigel gave at the top of the show. His contribution to the dance world really cannot be overestimated and it was very fitting. It really brought the point home, to me at least, that he actually died. Did you guys see all that on Twitter today? @BreakingNews tweeted about it, a bunch of people linked, then a lot of weird things started happening. Misinformation was being fed, sites were being linked to that looked like real news sites, reporting things like the cardiac arrest was caused by a “drug overdose”, by his taking 24 sleeping pills, “an apparent suicide,” police “found him dead in his apartment,” etc. And then @BreakingNews started reporting that those other websites were invalid and warned people to pay no attention to them. Then some sites, like TMZ reported he’d died, others like CNN said he’d been resuscitated and was in critical condition, then reports were he was in a coma, etc. People were tweeting like nuts: “No, he’s only in hospital;” “No, he passed”; “No, CNN specifically said he’s alive,” etc. I left for the ballet at 7:00 p.m. honestly not knowing whether the whole thing was real or not.

I started thinking of him again, for some strange reason during the dance of the four cygnets (it was Swan Lake at ABT). I have no idea why I started thinking of him at that point. That part was danced excellently tonight (I could tell by the wild applause and by my few glimpses up at the ballerinas onstage) but my mind was elsewhere throughout the whole thing. I didn’t really watch it at all.

So it IS for real. But no less unbelievable.

I’m glad they showed part of Thriller on SYTYCD. I wish they would have shown the whole thing, but of course, there wasn’t enough time. I’m sure we’re all going to be remembering his best work over the next several weeks; well, for longer than that, for a while.

Anyway, the eliminations: I thought Jason’s solo tonight was really good. I’m surprised the judges didn’t. I didn’t think he was shaky and falling all over himself, like Nigel said; I thought he danced with passion and with great articulation, in the mid-body especially, and I thought his little solo had a structure. Ditto for Karla’s. The rest I thought were full of tricks, although, again, I can’t blame the dancers for throwing every gymnastic tumbling pass, grand jete, split, grand battement, and whipping fouette they can possibly pull off — both because they think the judges want that and because this could be their last dance and the audience goes for the pyrotechnics. They want to show what they are athletically capable of doing.

I’m not surprised Asuka left — I didn’t really think she was that great of a Latin dancer to begin with I’m sorry to say. Even tonight’s solo — some of the moves may have been sexy and all, but they were a bit sloppy. The bachachatas (tiny backsteps), for example, were not precise at all. And Jonathan — well, I’m sorry to see him go because I really liked him. I thought he had a great dance personality and he’s done very well in prior weeks (like last week). But seeing as how it was either him or Vitolio or Jason, I’m not surprised. So I guess the new couple next week will be Vitolio and Karla. I think they should make a pretty good partnership. We’ll see.

Wow, there’s a fight outside my apartment window — lots of cursing. Gotta go!

Just skimming this week’s New York Magazine and saw this — look at top right corner! It’s the exact pose from Robbins’ In G Major that I was going on about in my Dancers’ Choice post! I loved that piece and loved Danchig-Waring and Krohn in it. I thought no one else would really like it since it was a bit slower-paced and less flashy than some of the other pieces performed that night, but someone else apparently did!

Since I’m not at ABT tonight (unbelievable, I know! — heartbroken to be missing Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes though…), I can live blog the show.

Guest judge this week is Tony Basil. She says she is winning a hip hop award and is very happy that hip hop, popping and locking, street dance in general is being taken so seriously now, on stages / programs like this.

Jonathan and Karla’s hip hop: I thought that was really good! He had a great tumbling pass, wow. They both really had great rhythm and I just really liked it. Really in sync. What is Nigel talking about — it was boring and there was no chemistry? I don’t know what he’s talking about. Jonathan is so cute — he can do anything: hip hop, Latin, contemporary. Nigel says that wasn’t gangster at all. I thought it was enough — I mean, Jonathan doesn’t really have that look, you know. He did well with it, I thought. Tony says you gotta have the funk and the hard hit to do hip hop. I really thought it had both!

Asuka and Vitolio’s Jazz (choreographed by Mandy Moore):

Aw, they’re in Phoenix (my hometown) at the convention center this weekend for auditions!

Okay, back to Asuka and Vitolio: Wow, after that crying during practice, I thought they really brought it! Those two opening lifts — with her in the straddle splits and then the end overheard, wow — she has really gorgeous lines! And she had a great battement in there. He had a gorgeous jump. Hers weren’t all there (jumps that is), but Latin dancers aren’t really used to doing jetes, so it’s understandable she doesn’t yet have that kind of strength. He had kind of a Latin-y flavor to his dancing; his hips looked very Rumba-esque. I loved it.

Melissa and Ade’s Rhumba: Oh yay, a Rhumba with Tony Meredith!: Ooh, how passionate I love watching ballet dancers dance rhumba. I thought she was really beautiful. Beautiful arabesques, the penchee (where she bent down to the floor and lifted back leg high, high). Gorgeous lines for her. It was hard to concentrate on him, but he really had the moves down too — the hip action, the slow walks. I mean, still, they weren’t a completely polished Latin couple, but so so good for people who don’t have ballroom training. I love how she turned her head toward his after the promenade and their lips nearly touched — or did touch. Sweet moment! Mary’s going nuts Tony Basil talks about how hot Tony Meredith and Melanie LaPatin were in their day (full disclosure of course: they are friends of mine).

Janette and Brandon’s hip hop (choreographed by Dave Scott): Whoa, Brandon! Wow, now I see what Mary and Nigel were so going on about during auditions! That man can MOVE! I really didn’t think the choreography was so great though — it didn’t have much to it. It was really a lot of rocking out, head-banging motions. I mean, if they did that a little bit, then fine, but it stayed the same throughout the whole thing. This may be unfair to Janette but I didn’t think she did anything with that choreography other than the actual moves he gave her, which is all I’d do too. But Brandon took every movement to its extreme and really did so much more than what was there. He’s the kind of dancer, I think, that every choreographer dreams of.

Kupono and Kayla (this week’s new couple) are doing a Viennese Waltz choreographed by Jean Marc Genereux.  Aw, really beautiful, very lyrical. I love barefoot Viennese Waltzes! I love the opening lift, where he carried her around while waltzing himself. Beautiful! He moved really well — they both did. His fluid movement in particular really surprised me, especially since last week I thought he should have been kicked off. I think he really stepped it up because of last week. I’m glad the audience stood up and cheered after Nigel said this routine wouldn’t make people stand up and cheer. Yes, people still can like things without pyrotechnics, Nigel. The only thing was that they weren’t close enough to each other in closed handhold, but that’s a teensy tiny thing overall. It was a really goreous routine. And now Mary puts them on the hot tamale train, to go against Nigel. Thank you Mary!

Evan and Randi are doing a Mia Michaels contemporary: Well, I love that Mia Michaels is not afraid to be really out there. Not sure how I feel about that routine, other than that it was starkly original, but I agree with Nigel that it was danced really well. That movement looked hard — all those hunched over jazzy, almost lazy-looking, but still very stylized, walks. Loved his sideways jump. And it wasn’t just for flash — it belonged there, because it was like his character was all excited about making a little breakthrough with the pretty girl. Very good acting too. Very Marilyn Monroe and — I dunno — one of those dorky-ish guys she dated?

Jason and Caitlin’s Paso Doble choreographed by Jean Marc and France Genereux: Wow, that was unlike any Paso I think I’ve ever seen. They dance to Carmina Burana. I love that arabesque penchee standing on top of his knee. And that opening turning lift. It was so intense, so dramatic, and so in character that I didn’t even really pay attention to the technique. But yeah, Nigel is right about them not being grounded enough. Still, they really gave a strong performance, as Mary says, and I love Jason! I like her a lot too. There were some hard-looking tricks in that. That crazy chokehold dip at the end! Big kudos to them.

Jeanine and Phillip’s Tyce DiOrio Broadway routine finishes the night. Wow, how afraid would I be to work with Tyce Diorio? He tells a frightened Phillip he has to jump the length of a couch — “it’s six feet, get over it,” he says. Then when the poor guy does, and does it right, he splits his pants. Pretty funny, but I mean, he could have hurt himself, forget the damn pants. He seemed to end up a little in front of the couch, right? Like he went diagonally to make it a bit easier. Maybe? If he did, I’d do the same! Anyway, so I thought it was really good — very good movement, especially from her. He was holding back a little, but it could have been, probably definitely was, the splitting of the pants during the damn couch hurdle up front. Other than the couch jump, I was focusing on her. She was damn good. I think people will keep voting for them — he has a bizillion fans — they’re not going anywhere this week…

Last night’s Swan Lake at ABT was the best I can ever remember seeing. Honestly. Angel Corella was the most passionate Prince Siegfried full of, by turns, intense longing, boyish amazement, passionate love, sexual excitement, sorrow, tragic pathos, etc. etc. etc. And Gillian was the ideal combination of swan and human being — not too ethereal to have a human connection with him, but also not entirely of this world, representing his ideal.

(Angel with Nina Ananiashvili in the Black Swan pas de deux, photo by MIRA taken from Roberta on the Arts)

Photo of Gillian taken from here.

The White Swan pas de deux, which I am often bored by, was just breathtaking, oozing with passion. You could just seen Angel’s boyish marvel at Odette transform into romantic love. I don’t think anyone arches her back quite like Gillian. And Angel was all over her, resting his head on her chest when she’d end in that arched back pose. And those overhead lifts were heart stopping. They were the same lifts Marcelo Gomes did with Nina Ananiashvili in Le Corsaire – where he lifts her so high and she arches back so far she just looks weightless and you wonder how in the world she’s staying up there like that.

Audience went nuts for them. And at the end of the pdd, Angel harkened Gillian out for another bow. He let her have all the applause, and bowed to her, though the audience was going crazy for them both. So cutely boyishly deferential to his ballerina

And at the end of that pas d’action, when Odette turns back into a swan and floats off the stage, Gillian marked the tranformation from girl to swan with razor sharpness, shooting her arms out almost violently to her sides right as von Rothbart’s wicked theme begins in the music. And then she moved her arms up and down with such expansiveness and fluidity — she definitely had the biggest, most beautiful “wing span” of any ballerina I’ve seen!

And then in the Black Swan pas de deux that gorgeous wing span returned. Between every fouette, Gillian would do multiple pirouettes and raise her arms up and down, up and down. She really looked like she was flying. The audience went completely nuts. And Angel! Those two are the quintessential spinners! His fouettes, well they were just Angel fouettes – -no one, NO ONE turns like that man, with that kind of speed and wildness And he kept leaning his head far to the side when he’d dip Gillian’s Odile. It was interesting because it looked dramatic and original and all but it also looked like he was really falling under her spell, like a foreshadowing of his encroaching ruin.

Photo of Angel Corella as Siegfried during ballroom scene, kissing hand of aristocratic lady. By John Ross, from Ballet.co.

Jared Matthews danced like I’ve never seen him, not only perfectly clean but really nailing with precision and detail all of those jumps in his Benno (Siegfried’s friend) solo. Honestly, I’ve never seen him dance so well. He danced Benno’s pas de trois with Maria Riccetto, and Stella Abrera. It was my first time seeing Stella dance something difficult since her injury and she was perfect. She really lit up the stage and I can’t wait for her to make her full return.

Gennadi Saveliev and Roman Zhurbin danced von Rothbart, Roman in the sorcerer’s swamp creature form. And Roman completely took over every scene he was in, which is typical for that one I don’t know what it is — others like Vitali Krauchenka who dance that part — are taller and larger, but somehow Roman just has a way of eating up space. He kept bending his knee and lunging far to the side for one thing, which gave him a lot of breadth. And he really threw those caped wings about with such flair. Roman, ever the scene stealer!

(Roman Zhurbin, center, in less swamp-creaturely times! At the Guggenheim; photo by Richard Termine)

But Gillian and Angel really made the night. They’re just magic together. Just everything they do — at one point, they were doing a series of assisted pirouettes and it really looked like she was just spinning herself around and around. Of course she wasn’t but that’s how it should look; it shouldn’t really look like the guy’s doing the work.

Ever so fortunately, there’s actually a DVD of this cast (but with Marcelo as von Rothbart!), so everyone can see it. And watch some YouTube clips: here, here, here, and here. The last link is to the Black Swan solos. Gillian doesn’t do the rapidly “flapping” arms there, but the straight fouettes. I wonder if that’s a new invention of hers…

A couple of pictures from Teresa Reichlen’s debut as Titania, which I wrote a little about here:

With one of my favorite City Ballet dancers, Andrew Veyette, who danced Oberon.

And with Justin Peck, who danced Titania’s Cavalier. Both photos by Paul Kolnik, courtesy of New York City Ballet.

(Ethan Stiefel and Gillian Murphy, photo Rosalie O’Connor, from Daily Mail)

Yep, here come the Swans! Tonight begins ABT’s Swan Lake week.

I had another hard time choosing casts. I ended up opting for the ones I haven’t yet seen, but they are really all worth seeing:

Tonight, Monday, beautiful, dramatic Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky open the ballet, with my favorite Marcelo Gomes as the villain von Rothbart;

Tuesday are powerhouse Gillian Murphy dancing with forever enchanting Angel Corella;

Wednesday and Saturday matinees are David Hallberg and Michele Wiles with my new fave Cory Stearns as the villain;

Wednesday evening is critically acclaimed Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes (this time as Prince Siegfried);

Thursday night are Paloma Herrera and Ethan Stiefel (fingers crossed he’s recovered from his injury);

Friday night is my favorite Vernonika Part with Italian star Roberto Bolle and David Hallberg as von Roth;

And the week will end Saturday night with the knockout, perhaps the biggest night of the entire season: widely beloved Georgian ballerina Nina Ananiashvili will give her farewell performance with ABT. She’s dancing with Angel Corella, and Marcelo again as von Roth.

Photo by Nancy Ellison, from ABT website)

Photo of Larry Keigwin by Tom Caravaglia, taken from Bates.

Meanwhile downtown, don’t forget about Keigwin + Company at the Joyce, opening Tuesday night, and alternating nights with Nicholas Leichter Dance.

Photo by Samuel Zakuto, from TONY)

I saw two more Sylphide casts last week at ABT: Cory Stearns and Veronika Part, and David Hallberg and Hee Seo, debuting in the lead role. I think Cory debuted as well?… will have to check. Anyway, the casts were different but each really drew me into the story. Cory Stearns in particular really blew me away with his ability to do that. I almost cried at the end when he killed his beloved sylph, and I’m not a crier. (For the ballet’s story, see my earlier post). He’s a young new soloist and really an excellent actor, as well as dancer. His James was young (almost too young to get married ) and really easily swept away by Veronika’s sweet sylph. He was enchanted but is too much the gentleman and didn’t want to hurt his fiance. But then he couldn’t help himself either; he was just too captivated by her. Veronika was a sweet sylph — not at all tantalizing or tormenting the poor man in his dreams, but really just in love with him.

Here, in Le Corsaire, photo by Marty Sohl, taken from ExploreDance.

It turned to tragedy so fast. The whole way through it was like a love story, and you’re so happy when he’s finally with her in the forest, when they’re finally together. And the way Veronika got so excited about his scarf when he began waving it about; it was just heartbreaking when she died from it. Even though I knew what was coming it was so unexpected. I think these two were a very good pair. They’re both great actors who really bring the story to life, who really make you feel like you’re in the moment going through it with them.

And their dancing was excellent — Veronika’s leaps across the stage drawing him away from his Scottish wedding dance were breathtaking. I’d go after her too. And he was excellent — during his solo variations with the high jumps with the beating of the feet and the twisty turning jumps alternating directions, and during the Scottish-styled dancing. He’s tall and his jumps have such height and majesty. He sometimes gets a bit tired but he was really pumped in this, didn’t tire at all.

I’ve long loved Veronika and her ability to draw you deeply and emotionally into her character’s story, but I haven’t really seen much of Cory and he just really blew me away with his acting. I expected him to do all the jumps right, but I didn’t expect for him to take me away to this other world like he did and almost make me cry in the end. Read Gia Kourlas’s interview with him here — he’s quite chatty

Photo of Hee Seo, photographer unknown, taken from Korea.net.

The other cast was David Hallberg and Hee Seo, who I really enjoyed as well. Hee Seo was a physically much smaller, more delicate sylph and I loved the way she held her hands. She’d hold one arm out before her bent at the elbow and rest her other elbow on that hand, then hold her one hand to her face and her head cocked to the side. It was sweet but very otherworldly. Veronika’s sylph was very human, it was more like a love story than a man being haunted by an ethereal creature. But Hee Seo’s sylph was not of this world. She was a dream.

And finally, David Hallberg. Well, in my opinion he tends to overact just a bit. I think he tends toward Russian-style melodrama. But then I don’t know if it’s just me sitting in orchestra thinking that. He may be projecting well to the back of the house. I always forget how big that opera house is. I want to tell him to just calm down and be himself, be himself in the given situation — that’s what acting is (or at least that’s what I was taught). Especially with a ballet like this where he really is just a guy getting married, and having second thoughts in the form of this mysterious creature who starts playing with his mind.

In any event, overacting or not, it honestly doesn’t really matter to me. I’m so drawn to him somehow. Whenever he is onstage I can’t take my eyes off of him. I don’t know whether it’s because he wrote for The Winger and it was so easy to comment on his posts and kind of “talk to him” that way, making him more “real” and human and personable or what, but my eye is just drawn to him and won’t leave him for the entire time he’s onstage. And of course his movement is itself otherworldly. Those feet are ethereal, just like his sylph

Anyway, it will be wonderful to watch Hee Seo and Cory Stearns pair in Romeo and Juliet later this season. For now, onto the Swans!

(Photo by Paul Kolnik, of Gonzalo Garcia, Darci Kistler and cast, taken from Oberon’s Grove)

Last week, I saw two Midsummer Night’s Dreams at New York City Ballet. This was my first time ever seeing Balanchine’s version of the ballet and it was really sweet. It follows the Shakespeare pretty closely: Theseus, Duke of Athens is to be wed to Amazonian queen Hippolyta and Hermia is to be wed to Demetrius. But Hermia doesn’t love Demetrius, she loves Lysander, but her father insists she obey him and marry Demetrius. She and Lysander elope and wander the forest. But first, Hermia informs her friend Helena of her plans. But Helena is in love with Demetrius, a love he doesn’t return. He is in fact quite rude to her. So she decides to try to win his favor by telling him of Hermia and Lysander’s plan of escape.

Meanwhile in the land of the fairies, King Oberon and Queen Titania are fighting because Titania refuses to give Oberon her boy servant, which Oberon badly wants. So Oberon arranges for his friend, the devious Puck, to apply a magical potion to Titania’s eyes while she’s asleep that will make her fall in love with the first person she sees on awaking. After turning a man from the wedding entertainment troupe into an ass, Puck applies the potion to Titania and arranges for her to fall in love with the man/donkey when she awakes, which she does.

(photo of Maria Kowroski and Joaquin De Luz as Titania and Oberon, by Paul Kolnik, taken from ArtsJournal)

Angry about Demetrius treating Helena badly, Oberon also instructs Puck to put the potion on Demetrius’s eyes so that he will fall in love with Helena. But Puck mixes up Demetrius with Lysander and Lysander falls in love with Helena, to Hermia’s obviously great dismay. The two women fight, and the two men fight over Helena. Puck eventually realizes his mistake, rights his wrong, and Demetrius ends up with Helena, Lysander with Hermia. Eventually, he changes the entertainer back into a human and Titania and Oberon make up, she giving him the servant.

The story’s told entirely in the first act, the second consists only of a celebratory divertissement of a three-way wedding between Theseus and Hippolyta, Lysander and Hermia, and Demetrius and Helena.

On my first night seeing this, Faye Arthurs and Abi Stafford most stood out to me as Helena and Hermia respectively. Abi in particular danced with more emotion that I’ve ever seen before from her. I really felt sorry for her when Lysander ran off with Helena and she ran through the forest, searching desperately for her lost love, and scared like a child. Sometimes she disappears to me in the story-less Balanchine or Robbins ballets, which makes me think maybe she needs more roles like this, where she can really delve into a character, because she really blew me away. I haven’t seen much of Faye Arthurs, but she was really hair-pullingly tormented by Demetrius. I really felt for her too. Give these two wonderful women more acting roles, Mr. Martins!

My first Oberon was Antonio Carmena, who danced the role very very well.

Photo by Paul Kolnik, from Oberon’s Grove.

There’s a very difficult Scherzo (a humorous section of music with a typically very fast tempo) with lots of high jumps with the fluttering bird-like beats of the feet and multiple turns, and he pulled it off very well. He was a rather nice Oberon, seeming to ask Maria Kowroski’s spectacular Titania nicely for the boy-servant and for Puck to commit his mischief (rather than to demand those things of them).

Andrew Veyette was my Oberon the second night I saw the ballet and I loved his interpretation. Andrew’s a more virile dancer and he made all the demands Antonio’s Oberon did not. Overall, Veyette was probably my favorite dancer in the whole two nights.

Photo by John Ross, of Veyette dancing another ballet, taken from Ballet Co)

Andrew’s Oberon was a deliciously pissed off fairy god, a real match for Teresa Reichlen’s stunning Titania and Daniel Ulbricht’s over-the-top Puck, directing the two of them all around this way and that. Daniel Ulbricht as Puck was of course an excellent jumper, as always — and he did these moves where it looked like he was running in the air. Others do more of a cute scampering hop, but he’s able to really run in the air because he attains such height on those jumps. He’s a true gymnast, you can tell from his body when he’s not in tights! But critics have noted that he tends to take over, make Puck the central figure of this ballet when he dances it. Not here. At least not in my mind. Andrew’s Oberon was most definitely the main character. He has too much virility and command to ever let anyone else take over, whatever he’s dancing.

One other thing about Ulbricht: audiences really seem to love him. I’m not a sucker for the high jumps and the pyrotechnics unless they’re necessary to character (though, looking back, I admit I was more of a sucker for that kind of thing when I first started watching ballet). I think audiences go completely wild for that though and I think they expect him to be cast as Puck and when he’s not, they feel cheated. When it was announced he’d be subbing for an injured Sean Suozzi the audience went wild with applause, making me feel sorry for Suozzi. If I was Peter Martins, I’d try to cast Ulbricht as Puck for every single performance, if possible, so as not to upset audiences. Seriously.

Robert Fairchild, making his Lysander debut Thursday night, was cute in the role, as always, as was Sterling Hyltin as Hermia. And Henry Seth was a cutely funny Bottom. He had the slurred-footed “donkey” moves a little more down pat than Adrian Danchig-Waring on the previous night, and you could practically see through his donkey head his hilarious inner conflict over whether to go for that grass or the beautiful Titania.

Savannah Lowery really stood out to me Thursday night as the huntress Amazonian queen Hippolyta. She did her multiple whipping fouette turns like no one’s business. She’s a very strong dancer. An excellent performance.

And Jared Angle did really well as the leading man in the divertissement adagio, which he danced Thursday night with Jenifer Ringer. He strikes me as a very good, very caring partner who will really take care of his lady. And he’s well cast in these noble roles, like his brother Tyler. I think Sebastien Marcovici is likewise a very good partner and he always makes sure he saves his woman before worrying about himself. He worked very hard Wednesday night in that divertissement adagio and big huge kudos to him. The ballerina he was partnering was having a real struggle with her nerves out there — it was visible, and I felt very sorry and nervous for her. It made me wonder whether there’s anything dancers can take for their nerves, to calm them down without making them so relaxed their dancing suffers? I don’t know, is there? Anyway, there are lots of very good, strong male partners in New York City Ballet.

Ariel and I thought we spotted actor Jeff Goldblum in the audience on Wednesday night.

(Photo by Michael Popkin from DanceViewTimes, of Maria Kowroski as Titania, with Bottom, in NYCB’s Midsummer Night’s Dream)

Yesterday was stressful. Had to make a hard hard choice: whether to spend the matinee at New York City Ballet watching three of my favorite dancers — Gonzalo Garcia, Tyler Angle, and Janie Taylor — make their debuts in Midsummer Night’s Dream, or at American Ballet Theater seeing Hee Seo debut as the title character in La Sylphide, with one of my favorite ABT dancers, David Hallberg opposite her. (Review coming very soon, along with earlier Sylphide cast, and two Midsummer casts — yes, I’m behind behind behind!)

I’d actually contemplated running back and forth across the Plaza, like I know some have done in times past, but the running times for the first acts were totally different and there was no way I was going to be able to see Gonzalo’s Oberon in Midsummer and then make it to the Met in time for David and Hee in the first act of Sylphide. So, I chose my David, and the lovely debuting Hee. Ever so thankfully I talked my friend, author Michael Northrop, into covering the goings on across the Plaza.

Afterwards, over drinks and food at the Alice Tully Hall Cafe (they have half-priced specialty drinks from 3-6 pm! And not watered-down at all! I nearly passed out after two sips of that mojito in front of me ), he told me that Gonzalo did just fine with that crazy high-flying scherzo for Oberon in the first act (I knew he would!), and that he really liked Teresa Reichlin as Titania and Janie and Tyler in the second act divertissement, which received a lot of applause, which I can just imagine! He also agreed to write a little review, which I’ll post in a minute. (If you don’t know the story of Midsummer, read about it here — Balanchine pretty closely follows the Shakespeare).

But first, it being Michael’s last day at NYCB this season, he browsed the gift shop, and ended up with a pair of Kathryn Morgan toe shoes. He told me (and, apparently the amused gift shop attendant) he figured she wasn’t going to be $5 for much longer I guess their shoes cost a certain amount according to their status: principal ballerina shoes are $30, soloists are $15 and corps members $5. I didn’t know all this. I’ve never wandered over to the toe shoes section. I initially wondered why, then realized, oh, my favorite dancers don’t usually wear toe shoes. Sorry to be lewd, honestly, but I then couldn’t help but wonder — just because of that crazy strong mojito that nearly put me on the floor — why they don’t sell other kinds of used dancewear that my favorites *do* wear, alongside the toe shoes. Sorry! But can you imagine? Total alternate universe.

Anyway, here is Michael’s review:

At Dunkin’ Donuts, they sell munchkins 25 at a time. That’s about how many you get at New York City Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well. The squadron of young dancers from SAB added a nice dose of fun and energy to a matinee that already had plenty of both on Saturday.

Daniel Ulbricht didn’t dance the role of Puck, so instead of gravity-defying antics, we just got antics. Corps member Troy Schumacher was announced as a late sub for soloist Sean Suozzi in the role, and there were some disappointed Ohhs around me. The thought: We’re getting the third string. Schumacher did an excellent job, though. He moved with an appropriately sprightly energy and showed a nice touch with the comedic moments. When he realized his magical matchmaking mistake, you could almost hear the “D’oh!”

Teresa Reichlen was fantastic as Titania, displaying just the right balance of regal, playful, and otherworldly for a fairy queen. And Robert Fairchild, a very busy man this season, excelled in yet another role (albeit in a ridiculous Prince Valiant costume) as Lysander. His put-upon love interest was once again Sterling Hyltin. The leads from NYCB’s Romeo + Juliet both showed they can handle Shakespeare’s comedy as well as his tragedy. Hyltin, for example, dialed up a slightly manic quality to great effect.

And Balanchine’s choreography tells the entire story in Act I, leaving Act II free for the divertissement. A quick wedding march and then Janie Taylor and Tyler Angle were center stage. They brought down the house.

Angle is a strong presence, but he defers so gracefully and lifts so effortlessly that he never soaks up more than his share of the spotlight. I noticed that when he partnered Tiler Peck in Mercurial Manoeuvres, and again on Saturday. Janie Taylor was both a delicate vision and a physical wonder, sometimes in turns, sometimes simultaneously. It’s a complete oxymoron in print, but she pulled it off onstage. Amazing.

The final scene was especially poignant for me, because I knew this was the last performance I’d see this season. Fireflies flickered around Puck against the dark backdrop of, yes, a midsummer night. It was the kind of night you don’t want to end, and the kind of season.

And here is Oberon’s (I mean Philip’s) review of the same cast.

And this just in! Another review (I’m interested in what he says of Gonzalo Garcia) — the one (by a pro critic who doesn’t say things are good when they’re not, and with great detail and specificity) that I’ve been waiting for I knew Gonzalo’d nail it! I knew he’d be brilliant! I knew it!

Photo by Paul Kolnik, from NYCB website.

Okay, fabulous as the new Dance Your Ass Off sounds (like a Dancing With the Stars, but with “real” people, and hosted by the always entertaining Marissa Jaret Winokur), there’s simply no way I can finish ballet season and cover So You Think You Can Dance and cover the new Oxygen Network show as well. So, I’m referring you all to wonderful writer Marie at the Ballroom Dance Channel for DYAO recaps. Enjoy!

Argh, just as Max shows us what he’s made of, he gets axed. I’m shocked. I thought he so delivered in his Jive solo. I know before (when he and Kayla did a Cha Cha I think) I said I didn’t see that he was a great Latin dancer, but tonight I really really saw it. That’s was a world-class Jive. I love that he set it to Footloose. I love how planned it was — he really thought that out, and his choreography — all of those excellently done jive kicks, and that perfect multi-pirouette — was more than enough to show us how great a Latin ballroom dancer he is. I’m sad to see him go.

I really thought it was going to be Kupono, whose solo, as Nigel said “was underwhelming.” I think that’s a complete understatement. I have liked him on the show before, and I agree with the judges that he’s still interesting. So, I understand why they’re keeping him. But solo-wise alone, he probably should have gone.

And of course I love Jason and don’t even know how he got up there tonight. I think if he was booted I’d seriously not want to watch the rest of the show.

And the woman to go was Ashley. I guess understandably. I liked her contemporary jazzy solo, and I agree with the judges she was a real Hollywood diva in it — it reminded me a bit of Chicago — but I also agree that it lacked a bit of substance. And Caitlin and Kayla really brought it with their solos. Kayla’s was proof of how much she wants to stay on, even if it was filled with tricks. I hate how Nigel blames them for putting too many jumps and high leg extensions in — they want to wow the judges as much as they possibly can in those, what, two seconds. Of course dancing for your life means putting every athletic feat you have into it. I loved her routine. And I loved Caitlin’s and I’m glad the judges saw how excellent it was, because it wasn’t filled with a lot of tricks, and I was scared they were going to tell her she wasn’t “dancing for her life” enough. That arabesque penchee at the beginning was really remarkable – -better than I’ve seen a lot of pro ballet dancers do.

So we’ll have a new partnership next week: Kayla and Kupono.

(Natalia Osipova, photo by Marc Haegeman, taken from ABT’s website)

Monday night, I saw the Bolshoi’s Natalia Osipova guest-star with ABT in their production of La Sylphide. I wrote a little about her and more about Herman Cornejo, at the bottom of my prior post. Just to reiterate, if you ever want to see pure excellence, do see Herman Cornejo in something — anything. He is just pure, unmitigated, supreme, excellence!

(Herman Cornejo above, in Le Spectre de la Rose, photo by Marty Sohl, also from ABT site)

August Bournonville’s La Sylphide is the story of a Scotsman, James (Cornejo), who is engaged to be married to a woman named Effie, but is seduced by a sylph (Osipova), who no one but he can see. Gurn, a young man in love with Effie, sees James talking and dancing to the air, and tries to warn everyone that he thinks James has gone mad. But people ignore him. An old witch-like lady, Madge (think MacBeth) prophesies that Gurn will marry Effie. Later, when the wedding party guests perform a fun Scottish folk dance, James continues to be taunted / haunted by the sylph who flies through the air. James chases her but she flies out the window. Later, James is on the verge of marrying Effie, even holding up to her the wedding ring, when the sylph plucks it right from his hand and flies out the window. He chases after her into the forest, her lair. Effie collapses into tears and Gurn leads the groomsmen in search of the missing groom.

The second Act takes place in the forest. The sylph seduces James with food, drink, and dance, but every time he tries to touch her she flies away. James wanders the forest, upset about the sylph’s elusiveness. He happens upon Madge and her mates who are concocting a poisonous brew in which they are soaking a scarf. He tells Madge of his troubles and she tells him the scarf is magic; if he wraps it around the sylph’s wings, he can have her. James takes it. When he next sees the sylph, he seduces her with the scarf’s beauty. She flies toward it, delighted and excited, as he waves it around. But once he wraps it around her wings, she slowly dies.

James, brokenhearted, falls into unconsciousness, as the wedding procession of Gurn and Effie is heard in the distance and the sister sylphs carry the sylphide to heaven.

Neither the story nor choreography are as grand and memorable as Giselle, and I’d written before that I was stunned by Osipova’s athletic prowess but not really moved by her Giselle. Here, I thought that, though I didn’t like the choreography as much, her playful, sky-high jumps made much more sense in this story. Here, she’s not human, she’s not of this world. She’s both a faery and a figure in a man’s dream. So, her unearthly high springing jumps went along with that; they were believable within the story. She is a really beautiful dancer and can certainly jump like no one’s business, but I wished she would have been a bit more tantalizing and playfully vexing, the way Janie Taylor was in Robbins’ The Dreamer. Not like a vixen or an evil spirit; I just mean more forcefully refusing to leave him alone, making him realize what a dull life he’s leading; how he longs for something more. Just like in Giselle, she seemed to be dancing on her own, not really working opposite a partner. It’s probably really hard, though, when there are language barriers, and I think both times either she or her partner (David Hallberg, and Herman) filled in for someone else last minute.

I thought Herman did an excellent job of showing how tormented he was by her, and how confused he was about what to do, how frustrated he was about his life. And his super-charged solo variation expressed that. No one jumps like him. No one. No one turns like Angel Corella and no one jumps like Herman Cornejo. He opened that variation with the best tour jete I’ve ever seen, and I knew — the whole audience knew judging by the gasps — we were in for something huge. Then onto all the high jumps with the fluttering beats of the feet. Everything he does is marked by sheer perfection — perfect sharpness, perfect precision, perfect control, perfect line, perfect clarity, perfect enunciation, beyond perfect height, beyond human height. He’s a god!

My problem with this choreography is that there’s not enough for him to do. And I got really frustrated. I didn’t want that variation to end. Nor did I want Daniil Simkin’s (as Gurn) solo variation to end. There wasn’t enough for him to shine in his either. He had a few kicking jumps, but I need for him to do so much more; Daniil’s too great of a dancer as well! Daniil was hilarious, though, when he imitated to the guests James’s bizarre actions, his weird dancing to the air. In addition to being a superb bravura dancer, he’s a very lively actor too.

On before La Sylphide was Paul Taylor’s light, lyrical Airs. I’m going to write about this more after I’ve seen it a couple more times this weekend, but I love watching ABT dancers do Paul Taylor! I hope no one takes offense and I love Paul Taylor’s dancers, but ABT just brings so much more to “modern dance” than a modern dance company. They bring poetry. Paul Taylor is American modern, and when his dancers dance him it looks celebratory, celebratory of humankind and of the dancing spirit, like something you’d like to get up on stage and do with them. It’s participatory, inviting. Of course you know if you’ve ever tried how hard, how impossible it actually is to dance like them without loads of training. But when you see ABT dancers dance that’s obvious from the get-go. It’s not celebratory and participatory, it’s elevated, awe-inducing dance, dance as an art. You know what I mean? All of the dancers were excellent — particularly Kristi Boone and Misty Copeland, but I loved Arron Scott the most because he so exemplified what I said above: outwardly he looked just like a Paul Taylor dancer, but he starts to move and he’s just so much more!

Photo by Paul B. Goode, of Paul Taylor Dance Company performing Airs, taken from DanceViewTimes)

Wow, hip hopper Phillip got a lot of applause during the opening solos. Did you guys notice that too?

Guest judge tonight is hip hop choreographer Lil C.

We get to know the dancers more. Evan says his partner Randi has a dog who she treats as a human, talking to him on the phone, etc. Brandi says Evan is an amateur mechanic who built his own car. They’re doing Jive this week, Louis van Amstel choreographing. So, wait, is this a “fun” routine you guys?! How many times did they say that word! It WAS fun. That leap frog he did over her! Those continuous pivot turns (those are hard, they’re hard to do without looking stiff and awkward since you’re so close to your partner but are trying to look free), the jive kicks, that fun lift at the end. They were really having fun out there. And she has a great Latin body. They didn’t really look like a polished pro Latin couple, but, they still did damn good, especially considering they are a Broadway and contemporary dancer. Nigel and Mary are disappointed; I disagree with them.

Ade says Melissa has a sister who’s married to her brother’s something or rather — complicated, slightly incestuous-sounding family situation; Melissa tries to pronounce Ade’s full African name — four words long, the first about 12 letters. He pronounces it in full, then says, see, that’s why I go by Ade. They’re dancing a contemporary routine by Sonya. Well, that was interesting choreographically — it was kind of sexually aggressive, a bit robotic, impish as Cat Deeley said. It had a lot of intricate lifts, a lot of angular movement. What I actually liked about it was how differently they did on some of the side by side moves. There was one point where they both did a simultaneous jump, unconnected, and another where they lay down on their backs and lifted their legs in the air, making interesting shapes, and on both his feet were flexed and hers pointed. I just thought that was so interesting — his movements were more African-looking and hers ballet. It was really a beautiful distinction, I thought.

Caitlin says Jason has an obsession with Michael Jackson, and we see videos of him as a child doing Moonwalks — adorable! Jason says Caitlin does baby voices and has a scream like nails on a chalkboard. They have a hip hop routine

Continue reading ‘SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, SEASON 5, WEEK 2′

Last night I read from my new novel (which is still VERY much a work in progress) with the Writers Room at the Cornelia Street Cafe, and it actually went okay! Better than I expected! Several of my wonderful friends showed up to give me much-needed encouragement and support (maybe someday I’ll be confident enough actually to post here ahead of time when I’ll be reading…) and they all seemed genuinely to like the piece I read. And several people I didn’t know came up to me afterward — including a filmmaker who gave me her card! — to tell me how much they liked it. One woman said she wanted to read it as soon as it was out! Though she told me the way she didn’t want it to end. I assured her it didn’t So, I just have to write the rest of the book now…

But I was so worried because the subject matter is kind of controversial and the character whose piece I read from is a young black man with a certain kind of voice that my face and body certainly don’t in any way fit, so I worried I just wouldn’t be able to pull it off. And I am a horribly sucky reader and always will be — I’m just shy and I’m not an actress and that’s just that. But people still got what I was trying to convey through the actual words, so I am extremely happy about that. That’s all I can ever ask for!

Anyway, funny thing is that there was this guy sitting up front who looked just like Christopher Wheeldon. Seriously, just like him except about 10 years younger. And it really freaked me out because then I started thinking of this. And then I started thinking what if someone reacts to me like that! I mean, you can’t please everyone of course, and there are always going to be people who don’t like you, but, well, all I can say is that the more I write (and the closer my first novel gets to publication), I am feeling a lot less critical, at least of new works

Anyway, now that this all-too stressful event is over, I’ll blog about the Natalia Osipova / Herman Cornejo La Sylphide at American Ballet Theater Monday night. She was good, he was insanely excellent. It’s like with Kathryn Morgan the other night in NYCBallet Dancers’ Choice — I don’t know if there are words to describe him. If you want to see sheer perfection, go see him in something — anything. I can’t imagine anyone better in all the world. I mean, every great dancer brings something to the stage, and he simply brings perfection, in the Webster Dictionary definition of the word: “an exemplification of supreme excellence.” One of my Twitter friends (who’s a very established ballet dancer) told me he’s a “dancer’s dancer,” which I can totally see. He’s a non-dancer’s dancer too

Anyway, more tomorrow, I mean later today. I have to sleep now.

(Design by Janie Taylor, NYCBallet)

I love these Dancers’ Choice programs at NYCBallet! Established to raise money for the Dancers’ Emergency Fund, it’s the one night of the year where the dancers plan everything — the ballets to be performed, which excerpts, and who dances them. One dancer plays artistic director for the night (tonight’s was  principal ballerina Jenifer Ringer), another designs the program graphic (tonight, Janie Taylor, above), and another choreographs a ballet to be premiered (tonight, Ashley Bouder, with costumes by Janie Taylor) Dancers who are visual artists donate their artwork for a silent auction during intermission. And that’s my one and only complaint with the evening — the intermissions are always too flipping short. There’s no way people have time to browse through the special items for sale and make their purchases in 15 minutes. Why don’t they double or even triple the intermission? People can buy sparkling wine and browse and buy, not to mention people-watch (practically everyone shows up for these things — all the dancers past and present at NYCB and even ABTers from across the plaza). And it wouldn’t be more expensive to do that, right — if you’re selling alcohol and art, what’s the added expense? What do people need to get home for by 10:00 anyway

Okay, that’s my little rant.

The program was excellent. They chose the best parts of some great ballets, and some ballets I’ve never seen before — and ended up loving — and of course Bouder’s new ballet!

I’m not going to go in order, but just write what comes to mind first, which is the new Bouder,

Continue reading ‘“BRAVO, MR. B.”: DANCERS’ CHOICE PROGRAM, NEW YORK CITY BALLET’

Top photo from here; bottom photo by Mark Haegeman, taken from here.

The Bolshoi! Russian ballerinas! Insane extensions, insane jumps, insane speed!

Last night Bolshoi ballerina Natalia Osipova guest-performed with American Ballet Theater as Giselle. David Hallberg was her Albrecht, Jared Matthews Hilarion, and Veronika Part was Myrta. (Go here for a synopsis of that ballet).

It was all-around some of the best dancing I’ve ever seen, but I have to say, on a scale of 1-10, in terms of chemistry between Osipova and Hallberg, I’d give it a 1.5, and in terms of all-around acting (excluding Kristi Boone’s captivating turn as Bathilde and a rather amusing Vitali Krauchenka as her father), a 2. Regarding the chemistry, to be fair, Osipova was originally supposed to dance with Ethan Stiefel, but because of an injury, David danced in Ethan’s place. A Twitter friend DM’d me asking why she didn’t dance with Angel Corella and I think it’s a good question. He would have been a better fit size-wise and stylistically for her.

But as I said, the dancing was tremendous. During the second act, Osipova did a develope to her ear, she did those hops with her arms in the air as if she had springs in her toe shoes or had a trampoline beneath her, and she did that flat-footed jumping turn at the speed of damn light. Seriously, when she made her entrance during the Wilis act, I put my opera glasses to my face, watched her walk out, and suddenly she was gone from my frame of view. I searched around and around for her with the damn glasses attached to my face wondering where in the world she went. When everyone around me suddenly started screaming BRAAAVAAAA BRAAVAAA BRAAAVAAA, I nearly dropped the glasses. When I took them away, I saw her mid-jumping turn going around and around, in a blur.

Audience (largely Russian, at least in the back orchestra) went stark raving nuts for her. I nearly had my left eardrum blown out over the ear-high develope. And those hopping jumps — seriously, she was half-way to the ceiling. I mean, when Paloma did them (I really did like her Giselle the more I think about it) she raised her head, like those jumps were a prayer to return to life. But here Natalia was going boing boing boing, up to the sky, head straight forward probably so as not to take away from her springing height. I mean, I don’t know. I love to be moved by the image a step creates, as Paloma did, but I can’t deny the thrill of those insanely high jumps and that lightening-fast turn and that insanely high develope.

The high bravura jumps in the first, peasant act, though, worked with her characterization. Her Giselle was all frolicking gaity, a girl in love with dance, in love with life. Her mad scene was over-the-top histrionics. The critic next to me described it as traditional.

And then David. Well, at the beginning he did his Albrecht as a romantic not a carefree playboy. But his was a romantic who was pretty madly infatuated with her. I think David is trying hard to get rid of his nice guy image. He rapped on her door like her mother’d better let her out or else. And when his squire didn’t full-out approve of his peasant costume, I thought he was going to kill him. And after the mad scene, he had kind of a mad scene of his own: I thought he was going to throw poor Jared’s Hilarion straight into the orchestra pit.

But ditto for David on the virtuosic dancing. I think by the time the second act came around, he was following Natalia’s bravura lead, doing sky-high jetes. He only did a Marcelo throw back of the head on the first jump in the diagonal, and then did the ten bizillion entrechats, same as Roberto Bolle. But David’s Nureyev feet!  His feet are so heavenly — I think he has the best of any dancer around today, at least any dancer I’ve ever seen. Those entrechats were from God.

As Myrta, Veronika Part jeted around the stage like I’ve never seen her leap before. She really takes up the stage when she leaps and she appeared to just be flying. I don’t even think I noticed all those jumps before! Her Myrta was icy cold and remained so throughout. Of course it was hard to concentrate on her face with all the theatrics going on behind her, but I didn’t see her peeking over her shoulder like Michele Wiles did. After she directed Hilarion’s death, she turned from him, toward us, and gave a wickedly simple little “and that’s that” nod right to the beat of the music, right as he fell, a smug smirk crossing her lips. Splendidly frightful!

I loved Kristi Boone as Bathilde, Albrecht’s betrothed princess. This is a pure character role, no dancing, and she was radiant in that gorgeous red dress, initially all supremely bitchy and regal, then softening when Giselle started pressing her skirttails to her face, allowing the poor girl to have one thing in common with nobility — a love of clothing. Then, when she realized Albrecht’s betrayal, instead of stomping all over Giselle’s pride and insisting Albrecht kiss her gloved hand, she looked more wounded and discomfited.

Vitali Krauchenka was rather amusing as Bathilde’s father, the prince, probably unwittingly so. He seemed to have his eyes half-closed the whole time and the way he looked at her, following her all around as she decided where to sit, whom to talk to, etc., it looked like he was saying “yes, yes, miss priss, whatever you want.” It cracked me up. I think he might have been better opposite Maria Bystrova’s Bathilde though. Hers was more of an unrelenting snobby witch.

Hee Seo and Blaine Hoven were very good in the peasant pas de deux. It was one of the most entertaining peasant pdd’s I’ve seen, which I guess went along with the virtuosity of the whole night.

Only the Russians I’ll be excited to see more of Osipova next week. She’s dancing La Sylphide with Herman Cornejo on Monday night and again with David Hallberg on Wednesday evening. Go here for the full schedule.

With the insanity of ballet season (see this Macaulay article — at the beginning he very accurately describes what it’s like to be a balletomane in NY right now!), I unfortunately was not able to make it out to Brooklyn to see Alvin Ailey’s week-long wrap-up of its year-and-a-half-long 50th Anniversary celebration. I was very sorry to have missed it. So, in lieu of my own write-up, I’m linking to Gia Kourlas’s NYTimes review of opening night. She lauds two of my favorite dancers, Linda Celeste Sims (above, in photo by Andrea Mohin of the NYT) and Amos J. Machanic, and one of my favorite dances of all time Revelations. So very sorry I had to miss it all. Until December…

If you’re in New York, Keigwin + Company will be performing at the Joyce June 23-27 . I’ve always really enjoyed this small modern company and I highly recommend them. Larry Keigwin’s choreography is witty, funny, accessible, athletic, occasionally disturbing, and always engaging. They’re performing a combination of new works and company classics, including the fabulous Bolero/NYC. Here’s a preview.

They’re alternating dates that week (it’s not this upcoming week, but the next) with Nicholas Leichter Dance. I’ve seen that company once and found Mr. Leichter’s work thought-provoking. I hope to make it to both, and, since one of the two main ballet companies here will have ended its season, I might actually be able to. Go here for tix and more info.

Top to bottom: Ashley Bouder and Robert Fairchild in Lifecasting, Tiler Peck in Mercurial Manoeuvres, and Maria Kowroski and Philip Neal in Slaughter on 10th. All photos by Paul Kolnik, courtesy of NYCB.

My friend Michael (whose novel is reviewed in the New York Times Book Review this Sunday, woo hoo!!!) and I saw this program Wednesday night. It was one of my favorites at NYCB and I think his as well. (Well, he loves Ashley and I love Mr. F. so it was a given we’d be melted into our seats by the end of Lifecasting).

But we were also both blown away for the first time by Wheeldon’s Mercurial Manoeuvres, I think because Tyler Angle plus Tiler Peck equals serious magic… Oh my gosh, Tiler Peck really made that ballet. I can’t wait to see her again tonight. She was just everything and more. Unfortunately Tyler won’t be partnering her (he’s my favorite male partner, along with Marcelo Gomes at ABT); she’ll be partnered instead by Adrian Danchig-Waring, a dancer who I am not all that familiar with but am excited to see. Also, heinously, my love Gonzalo Garcia (who owns the lead in this) is not dancing tonight; instead it’s Joaquin De Luz, who, yes yes, I’m sure will be spectacular as well It will be interesting to compare, as I so love to do…

Casts are the same for Lifecasting with the aforesaid mesmerizing Robert Fairchild and Ashley Bouder, and Slaughter on 10th, starring Maria Kowroski and her legs, Philip Neal and his tap shoes, and Vincent Paradiso and his gangster persona! I’ll write more about this program after I see it again tonight.

Well, I guess it’s not literally his ABT debut since he danced Romeo and Juliet with Alessandra Ferri for her farewell performance (during which I totally fell for him). But it’s his first performance as a member of the company.

(image of Bolle dancing Albrecht in Giselle, by Damir Yusupov, taken from Bolshoi website)

(photo by Annie Liebovitz for Vogue, taken from his fan club photo stream.)

Tonight (or last night, rather, seeing as how it’s now after midnight), he danced Count Albrecht in Giselle (description of that ballet here, if you’re unfamiliar with it).

Well, as much as I loved him as Romeo, I wasn’t quite as in love with his Albrecht, especially after seeing Marcelo in this role on Monday night. Maybe I’m just not used to his style. During intermission, a friend told me he thought it was very operatic, very Italian opera, which I took to mean, very melodramatic with lots of overdone mime and emotion and all. The acting just seemed so overwrought, like he was being a danseur onstage and not a real man in love with this girl. And the weeping at her grave, the running to her body and crying over her after her collapse — it all seemed unreal. But like I said maybe that’s just another style and I’m not used to it. It is rather interesting to have people from all over the world dancing on the Met stage bringing their different aesthetics.

The man does have gorgeously long thin legs, though, and some of his jumps were downright spellbinding. And he’s also a wonderfully strong partner, lifting Paloma Herrera’s Giselle way up over his head, while she lifted her leg up in the air seemingly with the greatest of ease. They were really beautiful together, dance-wise.

When he did the jumps during the would-be -dance-to-death scene, I noticed (now that I’m completely fixated on this!) that he didn’t throw his head back like Marcelo (and from what commenter Marie says, Angel too). Rather, he lunged his upper body a bit toward the side, and very slowly, like I’ve seen the Russian men do, very Romantic-looking. And then he’d fall to the ground, but he didn’t throw himself down like Marcelo — it was just like a stumble ending in a fall. So, it was more Romantic than tragic if that makes sense. His movement was lighter and more flowing, like a wave, emotional but not so evocative of near death and inner torment and prayer for salvation.

Oh, my favorite moment for him though was when he did these continuous jumps with many many entrechats (rapid braiding of the feet). I know they’re in the choreography but he did them and did them and did them, he just didn’t stop. I really didn’t know when he’d stop. He almost didn’t. The audience went nuts. He really didn’t stop until he, as a dancer — I think, couldn’t go on anymore. So, he literally tired himself out; his Albrecht literally danced until he almost collapsed.

I liked Paloma in the lead but she wasn’t dancing with the same aesthetic; she was more human, which is perhaps why they didn’t seem a proper match (which I overheard said during intermission). I liked her mad scene — it wasn’t over the top. And she did these hops during the Wilis scene like no one else. She looked up to the sky and she jumped and jumped, and it was like a longing to return to life. It was so sad.

The only thing I didn’t like about her Giselle was that she kept clutching her heart. We all know she has a weak heart, but if you had a heart condition you wouldn’t necessarily grab at your chest all the time; you’d grab a hold of a bench or another person, etc. to keep from fainting, you’d pat your sweat-covered head, etc. There are other, more authentic signs of a problem heart.

I really liked Isaac Stappas as Hilarion. His Hilarion was still strong and angry (understandably) about Albrecht’s betrayal, but he was also vulnerable and hurt. He took Giselle’s rejection of him nobly. And his dance to death scene was heartbreaking. He kept doing those slow-motion, galloping leaps toward Michele Wiles’s fabulous Myrta with his hands raised toward her, sometimes together as if in prayer. He was really begging her to let him live.

There was only one very small thing I didn’t like about his performance: at one point, he sees Albrecht’s sword, and realizes it belongs to him. So, he turns his back to the audience and points to the castle. Too much. We know the sword belongs to Albrecht and Albrecht lives in the castle. He only needs to look at the castle, if even that.

Michele Wiles’s interpretation of Myrta is more complicated than Gillian Murphy’s I think. Michele’s Myrta initially seemed colder and more unforgiving but then I realized that was really only on the surface. When Giselle covers Albrecht in protection, Michele’s Myrta turns her back, her way of saying “go ahead, dance together, but just for a while.” And then she keeps turning around to peek at them, and, seeing them continuing to dance, rapidly turns back again, as if the only way she can let him live is if she pretends not to see that he’s there. But then she knows he’s there, so pretending to look the other way is a conscious decision to let him continue living. I like Michele’s Myrta.

Misty Copeland and Craig Salstein were excellent as the peasants — I don’t really like this pas de deux, it’s honestly a bit boring to me, but they brought everything they could to it. Kristi Boone and Simone Messmer captured my attention in the Wilis scene as Myrta’s two right-hand Wilis, Zulma and Moyna. Kristi’s so strong and her body always carries such graceful power and control, and Simone — from what I’ve seen of her at least — has this rather bewitching presence (for lack of a better term). There’s just something about her that captivates your attention.

Audience went completely mad during curtain call. There were lots of Italians in that audience, at least where I was sitting. Practically the whole orchestra rose in standing ovation while the curtain was still going down on the final act. When Roberto came out for his solo bow it was pandemonium people were cheering so loudly!