This past week, New York City Ballet began its two-week run of Sleeping Beauties. I saw the opening night performance, with Ashley Bouder (above with Damian Woetzel, in Paul Kolnik photo) in the lead. She danced opposite Andrew Veyette, as Prince Desire. Both did really, a near-perfect job (just because nothing’s ever completely perfect!). Really, I don’t know what more you could ask for, although I’m waiting to write my full review on the production until later this week, after I’ve seen two more casts: Kathryn Morgan as Aurora and Tyler Angle as PD (with Janie Taylor as the Lilac Fairy!), and then Tiler Peck and Gonzalo Garcia as the leads.

I love NYCB’s production — a lot more than ABT’s — and I can’t really figure out why. In NYCB’s there’s really never a dull moment — there’s no boring court dancing, just all the wondrous ballet, the very intricate and complicately awe-inducing variations for the various faeries (Sara Mearns was gorgeous as Lilac Fairy — in photo below by Paul Kolnik, as were Amanda Hankes, Lauren King, Rebecca Krohn, Erica Pereira, and especially Ana Sophia Scheller as Fairies of Tenderness, Vivacity, Generosity, Eloquence, and Courage respectively), the fun “wedding scene” with all the cute virtuosity-driven duets for the fairy tale characters (once again, loved Sean Suozzi last week — here as Puss in Boots, and Stephanie Zungre as his partner the White Cat; loved Tiler Peck and Daniel Ulbricht as Bluebird and Princess Florine, loved Henry Seth as the Wolf but not sure why they had a little girl dance Little Red Riding Hood…), the “jewels” starring Stephen Hanna , and of course the beatific Grand Wedding Pas De Deux between Bouder and Veyette.

I don’t know, there’s just never a dull moment: you go from the Rose Adagio with all the virtuosic balances for Aurora (and the handsome cavaliers), to the richly choreographed fairy variations (that seemed to me more Balanchine than Petipa), to the drama of Carabosse’s arrival with her creepy minions and the frightening spell she casts, to the sweet Vision scene, to the quick Awakening (nothing in this production is long and drawn out; each scene gets right to the point), to the Wedding with the entertaining guests, and ending with the beautiful pas de deux between Beauty and the Prince.

I can’t figure out what exactly is different between this version and the others I’ve seen before, but honestly, this hasn’t been one of my favorite story ballets. So I was just really floored by how captivating NYCB’s production was. I can’t wait to see a few more this week. NYCB is good at story ballets! If you’re in NY and you can make it sometime this week, do go!

Photo by Bela Szabo, of Gyor National Ballet’s Rite of Spring, from here.

Reviewed by Christopher Atamian.

Györ National Ballet (at The Joyce January 26-31)

From the land of Bartók and Kodály, strudel and palascinka, comes Hungary’s Györ National Ballet, a vibrant dance company that everyone should have the pleasure of seeing at least once during their next New York appearance.  It takes considerable originality and artistic vision to re-interpret Petrushka and Rite of Spring with the verve and sometimes breathtaking visual appeal that Györ brought to the Joyce on January 26.  The company was founded in 1979 by two graduates of the National Ballet Institute.  Led by Janós Kiss since 1991, it has since won accolades worldwide: all twelve members that performed here are talented, vibrant and passionate dancers with evident balletic training behind them.

The presentation at the Joyce, titled “A Stravinsky Evening” was dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain.  The original Petrushka ballet was of course choreographed by Mikhail Fokin but this version, credited to Dmitrij Simkin and James Sutherland presents a fresh look at the well-worn story.  Here Petrushka (Bálint Sebestyén) is transformed into a free thinker who resists communist indoctrination, while the sorcerer (Balázs Pátkai) is a party leader in uniform who tracks him down, interrogates and tortures him. Both Sebestyén and Pátkai dance their roles beautifully.  Pátkai is appropriately rigid and authoritarian (but sinuous and sinister as well) while Sebestyén is equally adept at performing different tempos and phrasings—at one point he dances torso nu to a particularly sensitive segment of Stravinsky’s music with rare, almost spellbinding sensuality, as if he were actually in a trance: his body quivers all over as he moves arms and legs into languorous serpentine positions. The other dancers are also attuned to soft almost ethereal body movements; as a whole they executed beautifully but their strength was surely the seemingly effortless synchronicity that they achieved with the Stravinsky score.  The piece ends as it begins with a fast-paced pop-inspired communist scout march—a lovely bookend to the Stravinsky. The dancers again perform as communist scouts, mainly running in place and repeating a few movements in synchronicity—illustrating with deft alacrity that complete oxymoron known as “happy totalitarianism.”

This Petrushka presents the type of work that European companies often still perform best: intelligent, classically-based work updated for contemporary audiences—based in literature or myth, the stories told seem fresh and relevant.  In the program notes, Simkin avers: “I present here, not dolls with human feelings…as in Fokin’s work, but humans who act like puppets in a society controlled by propaganda where misleading the masses and brainwashing controls the whole society.” Simkin and Sutherland introduce current themes and update ballet’s sometimes archaic fairy tale themes, while presenting innovative movement not slavishly hampered by traditional technique and point work.  The scenery and costumes, also by Dmitrij Simkin were arresting: a large shining red star hung over a stage; a large head of Lenin lay in the background. The piece sometimes lacked subtlety—Stravinsky is already domineering enough as it is without being hit over the head with an overt political message; and when the Lenin head was rolled around and literally knocked everyone to the ground, you sort of just sighed at the obviousness of it all. But that is small criticism surely when compared to its overall depth and beauty.

Attila Kun’s Rite of Spring was sheer delight.  Here the set changes to minimalist and ultra-modern: a white rectangle surrounded on the edges by a black border, all of it glinting like marble under the stage lights.  The eleven dancers of both sexes, all equally beautiful physically, wear only white—the men in long pants, bare-chested in cotton frocks, the women in culottes and asymmetrical tops that made them look as if they had just come down an Hervé Leger catwalk.  At one point the dancers sit down facing each other two-by-two to apply ceremonial paint, remaining stoic in light of what is about to take place. The clean lines and unencumbered choreography create the illusion that perhaps we are not about to witness something terrible.  And the lithe Lilla M. Horváth is simply astounding as “The Chosen One,” both as an actress and dancer, even as she futilely fights for her life and gasps her last breath. The other dancers—all assistants and too numerous here to mention—defy time and place, something almost Egyptian or ageless in their presentation as if they had walked off an episode of Stargate, noble in demeanor, sporting long limbs and almost extraterrestrial in bearing! As the piece comes to a close, the dancers have not only presented a pagan sacrifice, but also the idea of renewal and hope, much like modern Hungary emerged from communist rule, proud and independent.

Just FYI, I’ve finally managed to reduce my novel’s Amazon price from $17.99 to $14.99. That’s the print price; the Kindle is $9.99. The endlessly wonderful James Wolcott has given me yet another shout-out — thank you Mr. Wolcott! And how sweet is this, and this!

I haven’t participated in a meme for a long time and so thought I’d take the one posted by Laurel-Rain in her Seasons blog (the last link above). The rules are to find the book nearest you, turn to page 56 and write the 5th sentence (and maybe a sentence or two after that for context, if you like). For me, that book is

Bravura! Lucia Chase and the American Ballet Theatre by Alex C. Ewing (Chase’s son), which I received for review purposes. I’m about a quarter of the way through; so review coming soon. Here’s the passage:

“Lucia would have had to be blind not to see that Mordkin was being pushed out of the picture. Yet she was most decidedly not the author of the early plans for Ballet Theatre, nor was she calling the critical shots. Other than providing the seed money for Pleasant to proceed with his grand design, Lucia had made a strict and unequivocal effort to stay out of management.”

So far, my favorite parts have been more about Lucia’s personal life than the details of setting up the company — such as her relationship with her husband, who died tragically young, when the couple’s two children were still babies. For years after his death, she would write him notes, telling him what she was doing, thinking, about her life. A way of keeping him around, I guess. So heartbreaking. Right now I’m reading about her love / hate relationship with Agnes de Mille — delicious fun!

That’s nonfiction. Here is a novel, Picking Bones From Ash, that was just about the same distance away from me. It’s by my friend, Marie Mutsuki Mockett, and I recently finished it and wrote a review of it on Goodreads. I absolutely loved it; I learned so much — about Japanese culture, European culture, Japan itself, Buddhism, classical music, historical artifacts, how to discern the period in which a piece of art was made — just read it, it’s filled with such beautiful detail and the story is so suspenseful you really won’t be able to put it down after a certain point. Anyway, here is page 56’s fifth sentence:

“We continued to spend time together on the weekends and during the holidays when I was home in Hachinohe. In the middle of my second year of college, however, Masayoshi began to act a little bit strange again. It all started when his father had a small stroke around the same time that I was caught up in preparing for the annual Messiah concert.”

One other book I just received in the mail and am currently reading is this:

Anatolia and Other Stories is a collection of short stories by Anis Shivani, whose work I became familiar with in the literary journal Boulevard. According to a quote by award-winning novelist Laila Halaby on the inside cover, the collection “takes us around the globe in stories that juxtapose old and new, east and west, with characters that do their best to navigate the generational / religious / cultural / socioeconomic tensions inherent in our global economy. Shivani’s observations are dead-on, especially when dealing with themes of loss, family dynamics, and subtleties of power.”

Finally, here’s another book related to dance that I didn’t have time to review, but that is getting good reviews.

The Sugarless Plum, by Zippora Karz, details the New York City Ballet dancer’s struggles coping with the dangerous  and life-altering Type 1 Diabetes, which she was diagnosed with at age 21, while still a corps member in the company. Despite the disease she nevertheless managed to rise through the ranks and enjoy a solid, 16-year ballet career.

If anyone wants to participate in the meme, just link back to this post on your blog, or, if you don’t have a blog, you can write the book’s passage in a comment here.

MSNBC (via People.com) reports that Samantha Harris is leaving her position as Dancing With the Stars co-host in order to focus on her work on The Insider and Entertainment Tonight. She calls DWTS a “dream job” and says she’s sad to leave. Host Tom Bergeron is reportedly hoping to have her on sometime as a contestant (which could be fun). Season 10 begins March 22nd.

Photo: Kelsey McNeil / ABC

I’ve been such a bad blogger (and bad friend) lately! Back in November, my friend Henning Rubsam, who founded, directs and choreographs for SenseDance, premiered his latest dance, Impending Visit, at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Theater in midtown. I’d meant to write about it but lost track of time. So here are some pictures, all by JAN LA SALLE. Dancers are Erin Ginn, Heidi Green, Maria Phegan, Victor Gonzalez, Dartanion Reed, and Ramon Thielen.

It wasn’t the world premiere of the work, but the New York premiere. The world premiere took place in October at a festival — the Fiesta Iberoamericana de las Artes, in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, at which Henning was honored for his longtime commitment to using contemporary music in his ballets. He collaborated on this piece with Puerto Rican composer Rafael Aponte-Ledee.

The music was very abstract, very modern and at times light and mellifluous, at times discordant with an air of mystery, which well suited the dance, a combination of ballet and modern with some Puerto Rican social dance — rumba basics, salsa, and some swing — thrown in. Dancers moved in pairs, trios and in ensemble. The partnering moved from sweet and flirty (the social duets), to more daring (the balletic), with complex lifts and balances. The stage was made up, as you can see above, to resemble an industrial landscape, like the action took place in the interior of some kind of skyscraper perhaps. Lighting was by Philip Trevino. I’m not sure what it all meant, since it was very abstract, but it made me think of the way cultures can initially collide but through mutual exploration can eventually harmonize and breed something new.

Also showing were several other of Henning’s dances – I think there were eleven in all! What I love about going to a SenseDance show is that there is such variety. He gets straight to the point, his dances are never too long, and he presents a variety — ballet, modern, jazzy. My favorites are still Caves and Amaranthine, both danced with his most stand-out dancers (imo): Maria Phegan and Dartonian Reed. Caves in particular reminds me a bit of Balanchine’s Prodigal Son — with the innocent young man and the seductive siren, except here it’s more like human / ethereal creature resembling a spider who veers from companionable and intriguing to potentially ensnaring. Phegan has limbs that just go on and on and her poses are always so striking. And Reed is the perfect foil / partner for her.

(photo from Treehugger).

Here is a video clip of a composite of the performed dances:

Annie Liebovitz’s latest Louis Vuitton ad features the photog herself along with her longtime friend, Mikhail Baryshnikov. I love how his pants legs are rolled up and his well-worked feet are visible — I love how he’s not really making a dancerly pose, yet you can still tell. And I love how young he looks!

Visit the NYTimes blog to see an early video of their working together (a fuller one will apparently be available February 11th).

Nevada Ballet Theater, which recently held its annual gala in Las Vegas, honored former Dancing With The Stars contestant Marie Osmond as its “Woman of the Year.” Osmond credited her DWTS friend Wayne Newton with convincing her to start her own show in Vegas, and joked that though Donny did better than she on DWTS, he’d never be “woman of the year.” Also at the gala was ABT’s regal Cynthia Gregory, who, apparently recently moved there.

Apparently the New York Post’s Page Six people have found out about Benjamin Millepied’s prior relationship with ABT’s Isabella Boylston (and are finding it newsworthy) because they’re now depicting Natalie Portman as a “homewrecker” who tore the two apart. (Doesn’t that term usually apply to someone who splits a family apart?) They’re saying Millepied and Boylston were together for three years, lived together before Portman moved in on him, and were thinking of marriage. Really? Wasn’t he dating Saskia Beskow until pretty recently? And isn’t Boylston rather young — were they really together for that long? And marriage??? Celeb bloggers are picking the story up as well.

Isn’t it so surreal though that Page Six is interested in this at all? I guess I’ve repeatedly bemoaned that we haven’t had a famous dancer since Baryshnikov — and I think Millepied may be the first since him to date a celebrity. I wonder if more people will actually turn up at NYCB when he’s dancing, or at ABT to see Boylston?

Here’s a video of Adam Shankman talking about the upcoming number he’s choreographing for the Academy Awards. According to SYTYCism, Jakob Karr will be performing in that number, and those auditioning included SYTYCD alums Billy Bell, Travis Wall, Katee Shean, Russell Ferguson, Jaimie Goodwin, Legacy Perez, Ellenore Scott, and Kathryn McCormick.

This Saturday evening in the Alvin Ailey studio theater, there will be two dance performances to benefit the earthquake victims in Haiti. My friend, Taylor Gordon, is performing. Go here for more details.

Last night at New York City Ballet was the world premiere of a new ballet by Alexey Miroschnichenko, The Lady with the Little Dog (photo above, of Sterling Hyltin and Andrew Veyette, by Paul Kolnik). The ballet is based on the short story by Anton Chekhov of the same name (which I haven’t read but now wish I had). Miroshnichenko made the ballet in honor of the 150th anniversary of Chekhov’s birth and he dedicated it to Maya Plisetskaya in honor of her 85th birthday.

I really liked the ballet — really enjoyed the whole evening. Though I didn’t know the story, The Lady with the Little Dog was very Chekhovian, very full of angst-ridden characters (danced by Hyltin and Veyette), along to a score by Rodion Shchedrin that went along well with the drama.

It began with Sterling Hyltin dressed in a gorgeous deep purple dress with a plush velvety top and romantic tutu, walking a little dog on its leash across stage. Veyette was in the back, bespectacled, and wearing a white suit, looking like a 19th Century Russian businessman. (The splendid costumes were by Tatiana Noginova). There were also several male dancers dressed in grey bodysuits writhing around onstage. I originally thought they were a kind of chorus that would echo or foretell the action of the “play” but then they had some very dog-like movements – holding their hands up, bent at the wrists, kind of like dog paws, lying on the ground and playfully kicking their feet in the air, rolling over. But the program called them “angels.” It soon became clear that their function was to control the events — get the lady and the gentleman to meet, sleep together, then tear them apart — perhaps one of them died? — then bring them in the end together again as they walked along a path toward heavenly light.

Anyway, back to the beginning: well, as Sterling walked that little dog across the stage (I’m not good with dog breeds, but he was small and fluffy, with straight shaggy hair), he kind of initially stole the show. He kept looking out at the audience, into the darkness, but he looked intrigued, not scared. Then, Sterling would lift her leg and he’d turn and look at her like she was a bit off her nut. Then a grey guy came up and wiggled around and the dog would take a step back, then try to go around him, but the leash preventing him from getting too far. It was too much. Finally, Sterling stopped, frozen in time, and a grey man took the leash and led the dog offstage. Right before he went into the wings, he took another inquisitive look out at the audience. There were several giggles. It was too cute and I was reminded of Melanie LaPatin once saying no performer ever wants to follow an act involving children or animals.

Anyway, fortunately the dog didn’t return (although I secretly kept wanting him to). It took a few seconds for the audience to calm down and re-focus, but eventually we did. They grey people set up what looked like a long rubber mat which separated Sterling and Andrew. Each principal danced separately, then with the grey men, then the grey men eventually brought them toward each other and they danced together. The only odd thing to me was the background set (along with that rubber mat; set designs were by Philipp Dontsov). The back wall looked very abstract, which seemed kind of out of place in a period drama, although maybe it was meant to universalize the emotion. It looked to me like the middle of an airplane, with slanted airplane-like windows lining the back wall. As the action unfolded, the windows got smaller and smaller until they eventually disappeared.

Anyway, in the second movement, Hyltin and Veyette danced this really gorgeous MacMillan-esque pas de deux with lots of beautiful sweeping overhead pashmina-esque lifts — which of course I’m always a sucker for! So that was my favorite part. Then, the grey men returned and helped the two principals out of their clothing, and they danced a rather beautiful sex scene in skin-toned underwear. I have to say, as I was watching I couldn’t help but think of a similar scene from Pascal Rioult’s Views of the Fleeting World, which was so slow and serpentine and tantalizing, yet beatific. This wasn’t the same; it was a little more frantic and angst-ridden, which I guess is more Chekhovian (I will have to the read that story).

Then, the grey people direct them to get back into their clothes, and soon we see Veyette doing a kind of mad dance, eventually running across the stage and disappearing into the wings, Hyltin running after him, but unable to catch him. Then she does a rather sorrowful solo.

Eventually Veyette returns, they dance together again. But this time it’s a more mature love, not as Romeo and Juliet balcony scene as the first. Eventually, they take off their clothes again, the mat is laid vertically across stage, running front the front of the stage to the back, and the two hold hands and walk together down the path, toward the back of the stage, toward a bright, golden light. The end. I wasn’t sure if Veyette died and they were coming together again in the afterlife, or if they just had a fight and this final scene represented them kind of going off into the sunset.

Of course Miroshnichenko came out for a bow during the curtain calls — and unbelievably, though the vast majority of the audience applauded, there were a few audible boos. It’s like some people were getting opera confused with the ballet. I mean, seriously, this wasn’t a new, iconoclastic production of Tosca; it was a brand new ballet…

Anyway, I liked it and would like to see it again.

The other two ballets of the night were Balanchine’s Agon, an abstract black and white leotard ballet set to Stravinsky’s unsettling score. The choreography was really brilliant, very original, and there were lots of pretzel-shapes in the duets (the main one danced by the hyper flexible Wendy Whelan, with Albert Evans), and it made me realize where Christopher Wheeldon gets his inspiration from

The evening ended with Cortege Hongrois, basically Balanchine’s wonderful one-act version of Raymonda, which I’ve been going on about after seeing ABT II perform part of it at the Guggenheim recently. Sean Suozzi danced what I’m now calling the Irlan Silva part — the virile, folksy Hungarian lead — along with Rebecca Krohn. I haven’t noticed Suozzi much before this season, but he is really standing out to me. He danced the lead in this, one of the duets in Agon, and he did a lot of dancing in Who Cares? last week. He is really good! And Maria Kowroski and Jonathan Stafford danced the balletic leads and made me badly want to see “Diamonds” again.

Over the weekend, SLSG favorite Robert Fairchild had his debut in Robbins’ Fancy Free at New York City Ballet. This is one of my favorite short ballets: three sailors on shore-leave try to pick up women in a bar, but, there being only two women, they kind of get into a little competition, dance-off-style of course. Fairchild danced the role of the Latin guy, Tyler Angle the more head-in-the-clouds romantic one, and Daniel Ulbricht, the short Swing-y one with all the toe-to-finger splits jumps off the bar. The first woman was Georgina Pazcoguin and the one in purple who for a moment falls for the romantic one was Tiler Peck.

(photo above by Paul Kolnik, taken from Ballet.co, of, l-r Amanda Hankes, Tiler Peck, Damian Woetzel, Tyler Angle and Daniel Ulbricht)

Ah, Tiler Peck was so lovely! She dances that role so well — she really inhabits it, and when romantic guy cartwheels her over his head it just makes me swoon! I like her even better than the ABT ballerinas who dance this role – Gillian Murphy and Julie Kent. Peck brings the most to it I think — the dreamy girl who allows herself to get swept off her feet, at least until the guys get out of control. Pazcoguin and Kaitlyn Gilliland – who debuted in the ballet as well, as the third girl who comes on at the very end — did well too, although I thought Gilliland looked a slight bit unbalanced in the high heels.

(Robert Fairchild headshot by Paul Kolnik)

Ulbricht was perfect as the high-flying guy with his bag of tricks, and Tyler Angle was fine as the dreamy balletic one — the best role for him in this ballet, although I don’t really think this ballet suits him that well. I would really have preferred to see Robert Fairchild in his role though, rather than as the Latin sailor with bravado galore. I don’t think he has enough of the cocky shithead in him to quite pull it off. Of course I couldn’t stop thinking of Jose Manuel Carreno in the role — how he always cracks me up when he struts around with the lady’s purse after playfully snatching it, how he tries to please the ladies with those rumba basics that he thinks are oh so sexy but are really just silly the way he does them. I’m sorry Robert, I just couldn’t get Jose out of my head!

Also on was Prodigal Son, starring Joaquin De Luz (who I imagine really excels at the Latin sailor) and Maria Kowroski as the Siren. Joaquin is my very favorite Prodigal Son — including the ABT dancers I’ve seen (I never got a chance to see Daniil Simkin when ABT did it last Met season). De Luz’s jumps at the beginning perfectly emanate youthful restless angst without being too much about the acrobatics. And he acts it brilliantly. He really takes you on that journey with him from restless youth anxious to see the world, to seduction at the hands of the ruthless Siren, to beaten and begging his family for forgiveness.

Watch a tape of him performing and talking about the role here.

And last was Firebird starring the inimitable Ashley Bouder (photo above by Paul Kolnik from NYCB site). My favorite Firebird by far. I love the quick-changing shapes she makes during the pas de deux where she’s trying to break free of Prince Ivan’s (Jonathan Stafford) grip — her being caught by but also intrigued by him. And her liquid fluid arms with lush wingspan are so beautiful. And of course no one does the jetes around the perimeter of the stage like she does!

This program repeats a few times this week, alternating with Martins’ Romeo + Juliet and another program — which begins tomorrow night — and includes the world premiere of a ballet by Alexey Miroshnichenko.

Tickets to the New York production of Twyla Tharp’s new dance musical, Come Fly With Me, are now on sale. The story follows four couples as they fall in and out of love. It’s set to Sinatra (music will have recordings of his original voice backed by live accompaniment), so I have high hopes. Here’s a Times review from the show’s Atlanta opening in September. NY previews begin March 1.

Photo taken from the Prix de Lausanne website.

Last weekend I went to another fabulous Guggenheim Works & Process event, this one in celebration of Frederic Franklin, the 95-year-old formerly of Ballets Russes who’s worked with American Ballet Theater for many years now performing non-dance character roles and setting ballets on the company and its studio company, ABT II. I’ve written about him here.

ABT, ABT II, and some of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School students performed some ballets Franklin has staged for them. My favorite was the Hungarian Czardas section from Petipa’s Raymonda, performed by ABT II, with Irlan Silva and Meaghan Hinkis as the lead couple. So much fun — and really made me want to see the whole ballet. I’ve since gotten my hands on a couple videos — more on them later.  But for now I just want to say how wonderful I thought Silva was — how much he stands out, how much strength and discipline and precision he has, along with that ever elusive star necessity, Presence. Even doing basic heel toe steps, he just brings it to another level.

Here are a couple of videos of him at the 2008 Prix de Lausanne, where he danced for his native Brazil and placed very well. The first is of his contemporary solo, a little-seen work by Nijinsky, and the second is his classical variation, from Le Corsaire.

And here is a video I found of that Czardas, danced by others.

Also performed, by others, were the classical Raymonda variations and the Sleeping Beauty Bluebird Pas de Deux. And, ABT dancers were David Hallberg and Xiomara Reyes dancing the Giselle Act II Pas de Deux. Which was far too short! But of course one must never miss the opportunity to see David Hallberg dance up close Among other things, he knows how to make the most of a pose, to take the lines — particularly the leg lines — to their fullest and most sublime.

Photo of Hallberg dancing with Gillian Murphy, taken from here.

I’d never ventured into one of these stores before yesterday (aside from the bookstore in SoHo) but I found they have lots of little treasures.

Here are some photos Jade Young and Avi Scher sent me of Monday afternoon’s performance at City Center’s studio 4.

All photos by the fabulous Jade Young, who I was able to finally meet (along with Marcelo and Veronika’s agent — and former ABT dancer — Scott Schlexer)! It was a great afternoon — SO many people were there: James Wolcott from Vanity Fair, Mark Kirshner from TenduTV, Reese Thompson from Ballet.co, and practically all the bloggers I know of — like Philip and Taylor — and many many blog readers. It was a small room but it was so overcrowded I know there are several people there that I missed (which was probably a good thing since my laryngitis was so bad I really sounded like a frog). Apart from Veronika’s fame, I think Avi is just such a nice and talented guy that people turn up to support him and check out what he’s doing, even if the program is really short. Which this was … it was a couple of  excerpts he showed (for APAP) from his larger work, Touch, which will premiere at the Alvin Ailey theater later this spring. I will definitely post when I have more details!

Another positive review for Swallow from an Amazon top 500 reviewer! (Scroll all the way down until you see the reviews; the newest is at the bottom.)

This is my first novel and I really value people’s thoughts and reactions — what affected people the most and what affected them the least (because it’s definitely not always what I’d think). I’m so grateful to everyone who’s supported me by buying it and reading it and thinking about it, and then commenting or writing on the Amazon page. So grateful!

Here are some photos of the Dancers Responding to AIDS benefit performances, held at Cedar Lake studios on January 11th and 12th. I was unable to go, but heard Danny Tidwell ended up not dancing. But Jamar Roberts (above) of Alvin Ailey, and our Marcelo Gomes of ABT did, and both were reportedly charmingly wonderfully superb — as always!

Marcelo on left, Sarita Allen in middle, and Rubinald Pronk (in excellent jacket) on right.

Go here for the rest of the photos.

Haha! So the gossip papers are reporting that Ben Millepied and Natalie Portman had gone to see Gyor National Ballet of Hungary on January 9th. But that’s wrong! Pacific Northwest Ballet was performing at the Joyce Theater (outside of which the above photos were taken) on that date. Gyor IS coming to the Joyce though — on January 26th, and I can’t wait. I’m very intrigued…

New York City Ballet opened their Winter 2010 season last week with rotating performances of Balanchine’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, and a two-ballet program of his Who Cares?, set to Gershwin music, and Peter Martins’ Naive and Sentimental Music.

I LOVED Who Cares?! (photos above — of Robert Fairchild and Sterling Hyltin, and of the whole cast — by Paul Kolnik.) I’d only ever seen the pas de deux before and didn’t even realize the whole was comprised of a whole slew of Gershwin songs, some danced by the ensemble, some by only the women, others by only the men, with solos and pas de deux mixed in. I particularly loved Tiler Peck’s duet with Robbie Fairchild in The Man I Love. She has such a clean, beautiful line and she’s so expressive and so engaging. She can make a story out of anything. And of course Fairchild is always the perfect romantic male lead Crowd went wild over his and Ana Sophia Scheller’s duet to Embraceable You as well as Scheller’s My One and Only solo. Such a fun ballet — I’m going back for more this week.

Also shown in that program was Martins’s new Naive and Sentimental Music, set to John Adams’ score of the same name. I wrote about that ballet when it premiered here and posted pics of it here. Seeing it again evoked a bit of Balanchine’s Jewels, particularly the lovely lyrical white section (my favorite) and the sexy red.

One little thing I have to say: this ballet was created on and is danced only by principals but Adrian Danchig-Waring danced in last week’s production as well, and he is still a soloist (I think he may have been replacing Amar Ramasar, who must be injured because he was replaced a few times over the week…) Anyway, I realize NYCB is top heavy at the moment, but I think Danchig-Waring definitely needs to be next in line for a promotion!

And earlier in the week I saw the best EVER cast of  Midsummer Night’s Dream. I finally got to see my Gonzalo Garcia as Oberon (photo above by Paul Kolnik, of Garcia as Oberon and Darci Kistler as Titania). I’d missed him in this role at the end of last season. He did very well – -not only with the dancing — particularly that crazy fast scherzo — but also, and less expected for me, with the acting. I thought he’d be a sweet, glowingly endearing Oberon, but, no, he was a pissy, demanding fairy king — just as much as Andrew Veyette last season (cutely pissy and demanding though!) He wanted Titania’s servant boy and he wasn’t letting her say no to him. Only thing regarding the dancing — his legs don’t seem to be as flexible as they once were. It seems like he may have injured an adductor muscle, or else he’s built up so much thigh muscle or something — but his legs when he jumps are not making perfect splits. But his upper body is so fluid and graceful and he exudes such charm that he’s still the perfect lyrical male dancer nonetheless.

Titania was the beautiful Sara Mearns (headshot by Paul Kolnik — a new headshot for her, right?)– and she was the best Titania I’ve personally seen. Oh she’s such a beautiful dancer! She throws herself so fully into every move she makes. If Garcia is the ideal male lyrical dancer she is the ideal female – they were so perfect together.

And I’m so glad Stephen Hanna is back at NYCB (still annoyed with the Billy Elliot directors for not making good enough use of him on Broadway). He was Titania’s cavalier and his pas de deux with Mearns was the best Titania / Cavalier pdd I’ve ever seen. He’s so big and strong — which certainly amps up the romance factor — and his numerous tour jetes just have so much power. Honestly I often get bored during that pdd and just want Oberon to return, but not with Hanna’s cavalier!

And new to the cast of human characters who get their hearts messed with by a mischievous Puck (Troy Schumacher) was Janie Taylor, as Helena. She is another one who excels at story dances, always delving into a character and making clear to the audience what’s going on in her mind. She’s pathetically, endearingly funny from the time she enters the stage all forlorn over Demetrius, to her being completely bewildered by Lysander’s sudden attraction to her, to her searching the forest madly for Demetrius, to her cat-fights with Hermia, etc. She really brought out the humor.

In the section where I was sitting, there were at least three large groups of people you could tell had never seen the ballet before — nor likely the play; they didn’t seem familiar with the story. But they were laughing hysterically throughout the whole thing and were really awed by the dancing, and by some of the tricks (like Puck’s being pulled up to the ceiling via harness at the end). That’s when you can tell with a story ballet that the cast really brought it to life, when the newcomers are enthralled.

Reviewed by Christopher Atamian

The four pieces presented on January 11 by Movement Research at the Judson Church, all possessed a visible seriousness of purpose and integrity, though some moved slower and less successfully than others.

The highlight of the night was undoubtedly Daria Fain and Chun-Chen Chang dancing to Stockhausen’s Stimmung.

Continue reading ‘MOVEMENT RESEARCH AT THE JUDSON CHURCH’

Here are some photos of Burn the Floor’s final New York performance, held January 10th. Derek Hough took over for Maks Chmerkovskiy and danced with Kym Johnson; other participating DWTS / SYTYCD alum included Mary Murphy and Karen Hauer.

Thank you to reader Jonathan for sending me the link!

Wow, a film made by the dancers / choreographers – turned filmmakers, The Ballet Boyz, of the Royal Ballet’s historic visit to Cuba earlier this year, which was shown on UK television, is now available to us all via You Tube. How awesome is that.

Go here to see all eight parts.

Via You Dance Funny So Does Me.

If you missed it on PBS, you can watch Bill T. Jones as he talks about his Fondly Do We Hope … Fervently Do We Pray, celebrating Abraham Lincoln, on the Bill Moyers Journal here. Do watch — it’s fascinating.

I’ve been hearing rumors about this for a while now, but now that the celeb gossip mags are starting to pick it up, I feel authorized to post about it. Millepied is doing the choreography for the upcoming film Black Swan, which Portman is starring in.

Ever since the World Series, I’d been secretly hoping for a Derek Jeter / Ashley Bouder romance (don’t know why; just thought they’d look so cute together — she seems to be his type and he needs an athletic woman to kind of play-rival him and to show him how to really jump — and how fun would it be to see him at Lincoln Center all the time!) but, okay this will certainly do as well…

Photos above from The Hollywood Gossip.

in 2010 includes NYCB’s Robert Fairchild (& SLSG fave, pictured below in Paul Kolnik photo), ABT’s Eric Tamm, and SYTYCD alum William Wingfield (pictured above with Whitney Jensen of Boston Ballet), and Alex Wong (also of Miami City Ballet of course).

And go here for a behind-the-scenes video of the January 2010 cover shoot.

via SYTYCDism.

For the Ballroomers, here’s a nice, rather long interview with Yulia Zagoruychenko and Riccardo Cocchi, current world Latin champs. They talk about dance versus sport (Riccardo was going to be a footballer on the Roma team — who knew?), art versus sport, their personal lives, how they started dancing, the politics of dancesport, what dance means to them, how they found each other after long prior partnerships, why children should learn dance, etc. Good interview.

Tuesday night, the Pacific Northwest Ballet opened its 5-day run at the Joyce. This was my first time seeing this company, and it has a reputation as one of the most prestigious in the U.S. Helmed by Peter Boal, a former dancer with New York City Ballet, the company is already familiar to many NYCB fans, but not yet to me.

I really wish they could have brought the whole company and danced at City Center, a more suitable stage for ballet. The Joyce is small and known for modern dance and so they could only bring a small portion of the company. And, the small stage limited their choice of choreography and prevented the dancers from dancing full-out. So I felt it lacked a certain balletic grandeur, although I still greatly enjoyed the evening.

For one thing, I was thrilled to finally be able to see Brazilian ballerina Carla Korbes dance, after being introduced to her on the Winger. She had a part in just about every ballet and she did not disappoint — she has great charisma and dances with great dramatic intention.

I was also happy to be able to see Seth Orza again (Everyone who’s read this blog for a while knows how downright devastated I was when he left NYCB…) He’s so sharp and precise, and so strong — I think he definitely needs to be promoted to principal (he’s now a soloist, as he was when he left NYCB).

So, there were four pieces on the program: Opus 111 by Twyla Tharp, Fur Alina by Edwaard Liang, Mopey by Marco Goecke (my favorite, and pictured above, James Moore dancing), and 3 Movements by Benjamin Millepied.

I’ll start with my favorite — Mopey, by Goecke, danced very intensely by Moore.

I’d always been curious about this young German choreographer ever since this little exchange (the “Evan M.” being Evan McKie, a principal with Stuttgart Ballet).

Anyway, Mopey is hard to describe — basically just a solo for a man who by turns twists and contorts his body into awkward shapes, bounces up and down, makes muscle-man poses, waves his arms about gracefully, appears to be possessed and struggling to control his limbs — his fingers bent and curved down somewhat grotesquely, almost monster-like. It was short but really engrossing.   Here’s a YouTube clip of a dancer from Stuttgart dancing an excerpt from the piece. Unlike in the clip, which is danced only to one piece of music, Moore danced first to silence, then to Bach, then to pop punk by The Cramps.

I also liked Millepied’s 3 Movements, pictured below (dancers are James Moore and Lucien Postlewaite).

All photos by Angela Sterling, by the way.

It was abstract but I thought I detected a bit of a men versus women showdown (I think this is a recurring theme of his — at least in his recent works). It was set to rather unsettling Steve Reich music and filled with original movement, the way the groups of men and women would go at each other at times, almost like they were from separate clans. But the costumes were contemporary: almost casual work attire for the men and little flirty dresses for the women. Costumes were designed by Millepied’s girlfriend, Isabella Boylston, corps dancer at ABT.

I also liked Fur Alina by Liang. It was a man woman pas de deux danced by Carla Korbes and Karel Cruz and it seemed to be the somber story of two lovers slowly deciding to part. It was set to Arvo Part (who it seems, understandably, is becoming the most used composer for contemporary ballet these days — at least for these despairing pas de deux).

Oddly, the Tharp was my least favorite (below: dancers in front are Korbes and Batkhurel Bold).

I’ve never seen Opus 111 before and this one (set to Brahms) didn’t seem to have any of Tharp’s signature comical character roles or her theme of ballet versus other kind of dance (fill in the blank: American social –  like in Deuce Coupe, Scottish folk, hip hoppy aerobics –  like in Upper Room) or her crazy, almost death-defying lifts. It was pretty and lyrical and the dancers lightly flew around the stage, at times coupling off. But sweet as it was, it just seemed to lack something. Might have been the small stage though and they just couldn’t dance it full-out?… Sir Alastair saw something more in it though.

I hope the company comes to NY again — to City Center.

Philip has graciously sent me some more of Kokyat’s lovely photos of Veronika Part and Matthew Renko rehearsing Avi Scher’s choreography for their upcoming City Center studio 4 performance.

Thank you Harriet Klausner!