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Oltremare

Tonight (or, seeing as how it’s 2:00 a.m., last night rather) was the world premiere of a new ballet by Italian choreographer Mauro Bigonzetti at New York City Ballet. The dancers did a spectacular job with some very difficult-looking choreography. Anyway, first things first: my evening got off to a very excited start, as I sat next to Judith Jamison, legendary Alvin Ailey dancer and now artistic director of that company, my favorite (if it wasn’t clear from all of my December posts.) I know I may sound like a goof sometimes, but sitting beside a giant like her was just such a thrill. Of course I was too shy to say anything to her 🙂

So, Oltremare. The program notes state that the name of the ballet translates to “beyond the sea” and is intended to explore the feelings people have upon leaving their homeland for a new country: sadness, excitement, fear of the unknown. The ballet, very modern and without pointe shoes, began with several dancers, all dressed in early 20th Century clothing reminiscent of “Little House on the Prairie,” and all bearing large, burdensome suitcases. They entered the stage in a line, as if they’d just disembarked a boat. The music at this point was minimal and consisted only of a beating sound. They suddenly dropped the suitcases, collapsed on top of them, exhausted, and made kicking and pushing motions in each direction as if fighting the urge to return to the boat. But they picked themselves up and forged ahead.

 

After their initial trek across stage, the dancers returned, without suitcases, and began performing a series of very dramatic duets full of mixed emotions. Georgina Pazcoguin completely blew me away. She danced with such passion and the intensity of her internal conflict was made clear with every facial expression and every detailed movement she made. She struggled savagely against her first partner, Jason Fowler, he scooping her up as she lashed out, fighting him, punching out at the air around her, then hurling herself at him in anger, forcing him to catch her in mid-air.

Another pas de deux between Tiler Peck and Amar Ramasar ensued, this one slightly more mild, conveying less anger but more sorrow, although many of the lifts and movements were very similar to those in the first duet.

 

Some ensemble dancing and a series of solos followed. And it was here where Andrew Veyette, a new favorite of mine, completely blew me away. He had a crazy hard solo replete with insane leg-switching barrel turns, corkscrew jumps, and multiple fouette turns and pirouettes, and he pulled if off like it was absolutely nothing! So excellent for him! The movement was all very modern, very grounded with a lot of steps emphasizing heel over toe, and flexed hands and feet. He seemed a natural for this kind of vocabulary. (I also saw him dance parts of Jerome Robbins’s Opus Jazz at the Guggenheim on Sunday — which I’ll blog about soon — and thought the same thing; he is a modern mover). Amar Ramasar impressed me in this respect as well.

A few more pas de deux followed, including one between the amazing Georgina and Andrew. I don’t know if it was intentional, but this one looked more fraught with sexual tension. It actually reminded me of the novel “Middlesex,” where characters Lefty and Desdemona have just escaped the burning of Smyrna, their homeland, and caught the boat to New York. They are siblings but they are also in love and, horrified and upset as they are about having to flee their country, they use the anonymity of ship and then the New World to re-define themselves as husband and wife, to Desdemona’s never-ending shame.

In another duet, danced by Tyler Angle and Maria Kowroski, the man seemed grieved at the woman’s despondency. They had some very difficult lifts, where he, lying on the ground, had to hold her up, then roll over her and whip her up and over himself repeatedly. I wasn’t sure if she was supposed to be suicidal and he was trying to shake her out of it or what.

But regardless, my main problem was the choreography. The mood of all the pas de deux seemed too one-note, and, since the story begins and ends with the same duet — that between Georgina and Jason — the narrative as a whole didn’t really seem to progress. Each duet was either full of anger or sorrow or both; and the movement in all of them, except for the Angle / Kowroski, seemed very similar. The mood and choreography of the ensemble parts was varied, but didn’t always make sense to me. At one point, it appears that the dancers are having some kind of happy square-dance-like hoe-down. If this is meant to convey that they are coming to peace with their new home, then fine, but the movement at times was so overly fast and choppy it looked almost cartoonish. So, it seemed like a grotesque, distorted version of a western folk dance. At other points I saw echoes of West Side Story, with the male bravado and the female swooning. American but a bit anachronistic. The music was varied as well, with some parts more fluid, others more intentionally discordant, as if symbolizing difficulty, unrest perhaps, basically that something was just “off” in this new home.

These are my first impressions; I definitely want to see it again. The dancing was simply superb. As is usual for openings, the choreographer was there as was music composer Bruno Moretti, and they took bows with the dancers and signed autographs out on the (freezing) Plaza afterward. Premieres always make for a fun night! This program will repeat several times throughout the winter season; go here for the schedule.

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Me, and Bad Boys :)

First, my review of NYCBallet’s “Traditions” and “Balanchine’s World” programs is up on ExploreDance.com. I talked about the ballets in more depth than I did in my blog post; in particular, ballerina Maria Kowroski. Plus there are better pictures 🙂

Second, Maria (of A Time To Dance, not Maria Kowroski) has some interesting info on Rasta Thomas. Apparently, he is bringing his Bad Boys of Dance, which I wrote about when the just-formed company premiered at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival over the summer, to DC. Also, Rasta has been named Artistic Director of a dance company there called Echo Park Contemporary Ballet. Lucky DCers!

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Heads Up: Blogger / Winger Reader / Dance Fan Get-Together

For people in the New York area who happen to have tickets to the New York City Ballet matinee this Sunday, there will be an informal meet-up of dance bloggers, Winger readers, and dance fans on the promenade (that’s the main floor where the gift shop is) near the statue on the left side of the hall, during the second intermission. That’s right after Daniel Ulbricht will make his debut in Balanchine’s monumental “Prodigal Son.” Philip, who organized the get-together, and others, figured it would be an ideal meeting time since so many people are excited to see Daniel dance this role. It is a very big part for a young dancer 🙂 Jerome Robbins, Baryshnikov, and other ballet greats of yore have all danced it… So, we’ll all be there to discuss Mr. Ulbricht’s performance right afterward. And I’m sure there will be tons of press people there as well… Poor Daniel; the pressure’s on! Hehe, just kidding; this is what dancers live for, I’m sure!

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Splendid Weekend of Balanchine and Ballroom

As I said in my last post, I’m in the midst of another crazy weekend running back and forth between New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center and the Manhattan Amateur Classic in midtown, so this will be kind of short. The last two programs I’ve seen at NYCB made clear to me why Balanchine’s considered such a genius. I’m going to write reviews for ExploreDance.com (which I will definitely link to when they’re up, and which I hope people will read 🙂 ) so I’m not going to write all that much now, except to point out some highlights.

 

Highlight #1: seeing PRODIGAL SON performed live for the first time!  I’ve been dying to see it ever since reading Terry Teachout’s short Balanchine bio, ALL IN THE DANCES. This is a story ballet, mirroring the Biblical tale of the boy who leaves his family to find his way in the world, where he is seduced by a Siren and beaten and robbed by her cohorts, and left naked and to die, only to find his way painstakingly back home, where he is taken in again by his forgiving father (only thing missing from the dance is the obediant son). Damian Woetzel had the lead and he was excellent. He exuded perfect youthful angst, wonder and amazement at the Siren, and complete boyish helplessness as he falls under her spell, then perfect pathos as he crawls along the ground, beaten and having lost everything, trying to find his way back home. What I love about the ballet is that there really doesn’t need to be much “acting”; the story is all in the choreography, from the youth’s energetic, high, lashing-out kick/jumps, to the siren’s seductive leg raises and splitting lifts, to her cohorts’ grotesque crab-like, bent-kneed sideways walks. Woetzel, about to retire, is a dancer at the prime of his artistry; a much younger dancer, Daniel Ulbricht, is scheduled to debut in the role next weekend. He is thus far known for his bravura dancing (high jumps, big leaps, turns upon turns with no end in sight). No doubt he’ll excel in the beginning “angsty young man” parts, but it will be interesting to see whether he can move the audience the way Woetzel did as the story evolves.

The other highlight from Friday night was Andrew Veyette from the first piece on the program, Balanchine’s SQUARE DANCE. This is one of Balanchine’s many plotless ballets that well illustrates his ingenius skill at making uniquely American ballets by combining classical ballet steps with American social dance. Andrew had the principal male part. I hope this isn’t offensive, but I was actually taken with him because I found something about him sweetly relatable. He has a tall, thin body kind of like David Hallberg‘s, and therefore perfect for ballet, and he is really a very good dancer. But I don’t think he knows it yet! I feel like he gets nervous and it shows on his face and his body; when he did a series of sharp staccato jumps at one point, it looked like he was lifting his body by his shoulders instead of his legs. He wasn’t; it only looked that way because nervousness leads to tension which leads to hunching your shoulders up rather than keeping them down and connected to your center. I know because this was one of my big nerve-induced problems… But at one point, in the middle of the ballet, he really let go and you could tell — he did these beautifully high jumps and he was really soft and fluid and at ease, and his face relaxed and his dancing just shined. I think it just took him a while to warm up, and then he got nervous again toward the end. It’s just funny because this is so me; always so tense … Anyway, I think he has the potential to be a really beautiful dancer and it’s just a matter of him relaxing and trusting himself 🙂 Saturday highlights were the beautifully haunting La Sonnambula, and for sure Tarantella! The latter is a fast, fun, sexy, sassy little dance consisting mainly of back and forth “Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better”-style solos between male and female 19th Century peasant types that are each full of so much bravura dancing, it is almost a competition. It was danced by the beyond -compare Ashley Bouder, and Gonzalo Garcia, a recent transplant here from San Francisco Ballet. (Above image by the way, is of different dancers). Gonzalo is a really good dancer, but you don’t walk away from a competition with Ashley still standing! You just don’t! Anything anyone can do, she can do better 🙂 She is fast becoming my favorite allegro ballerina, not just of NYCB but overall. Once she starts, she just never stops; I was getting dizzy watching her… She owns roles like that.

 

And other highlight was La Sonnambula, a story ballet about a poet who finds himself at a masked ball, the object of the grand mistress’s affections until he falls in love with a beautiful sleepwalker, danced by the wonderful Wendy Whelan. The hunky Nikolaj Hubbe danced the poet, and by ‘hunky’ I mean both good- and heavy-looking; because at the end, after he is killed through the jealous mistress’s orders, tiny Wendy picks him up and carries him away. Philip and Ariel think it looks near-impossible. But Wendy is a powerhouse and Nikolaj was holding himself very tightly, so I could see it being real; a man can definitely hold himself up enough for a woman to lift him, especially at waist level. Pasha actually made me do the same to him once, so he could show me how to hold myself. Of course I only lasted about 1/10 of a second before dropping him (but it was okay, because he was prepared the whole time to be dropped!), and with Wendy having about 200-300 times more muscle mass than I (while still managing to be thinner), she could definitely manage him.

Oh, Nikolaj is so good — he was so poetic yet human as he fell for the hauntingly beautiful, ghost-like sleepwalker, holding out his arms in front of her to trip her out of her slumber. Each time he lay his arm out on the floor, she would tiptoe, on pointe, right over it without looking down. So, was she really a woman who was simply sleep-walking or was she some ethereal being meant to save the poet’s soul and get him out of that stiflingly stupid ball??

Anyway, then Saturday night I went to the Manhattan Amateur Classic, the biggest amateur ballroom competition in the New York area. I’ve never followed the amateur comps (only the professional ones; and sometimes pro/ams having done those myself), so I’d never been to this one before. I loved it. As with all ballroom competitions, somehow I’m just transported into another world. Not to sound corny, but seriously, something about sitting there for six or seven hours watching all these dapper, handsome gentlemen dressed in tux ‘n tails whisking their glowing ladies in gorgeous ballgowns around the floor, interspersed with the fun, sensual rhythmic Latin dancing, just takes me away from my problems for a time. And since this one was held not in a hotel like most, but in an actual ballroom with a balcony, it reminded me of Blackpool. I almost wanted to cry at the end of the night when the final Standard trophy was given because it meant my week in England was coming to an end and I now had to return to my quaint little B&B for three hours of sleep and mad packing so I’d be ready to catch the early morning train to Manchester. But then no one sang “God Save The Queen,” and I happily told myself; it’s just a subway ride home… Everyone who’s into ballroom has to go to Blackpool at some point; it’s magic, it’s mandatory!

As I said, I don’t really follow the amateur comps, but here are some highlights:

 

A faorit Standard couple of mine (this is from the open Adult championships). They placed, I think, second. He looks a little like Jose Carreno 🙂

 

The Latin Youth division — meaning ages 16-19. Some real up and comers!

Some of my favorites from Latin Youth. The guy was very tall, which is usually problematic for Latin — you just can’t move as quickly as the smaller dancers. But this guy was amazing; he reminded me of Vaidotas Skimelis, the pro dancer who’s been making it to the finals in recent comps. He doesn’t let his size slow him too much, and really uses it to his advantage by playing up the hyper-masculine charm. Of course I guess the original large Latin uber mensch is Maks Chmerkovskiy… Anyway, this couple placed second, so go me for calling it 🙂

 

Another of the “tall couple.”

 

I retreated to the balcony; things were getting a bit too crowded (and melodramatic) down on the floor… These are the Youth Latin finals; the guy in the middle with his arm out — they were the winners, which I called as well. They were overall my favorites. There are some amazing dancers in the amateur division — especially in the Youth, since they’re likely gonna go on and become pros, but also in the adult (21-35) division too. People think amateur means bad, but in ballroom, it really doesn’t. At least not necessarily. Some amateurs have sponsors (like Freed shoes, Taka Dance costumer, etc.), so they don’t have day jobs, but rather dance full-time. Because of this, they’re sometimes even better than some of the pros, who do work (as ballroom teachers; the definition of a pro in the ballroom world is someone who gets paid to teach ballroom dance). So, you can see some really excellent dancing at these amateur comps.

Long shot of the Latin Youth finals. They have a board at the front of the ballroom floor for announcing heats, which I think is a great idea and one I haven’t seen used a whole lot at competitions.

 

Cuties from the under 16-Latin. This adorable couple made the finals.

 

Back to Adult Standard. The couple in green (lady in green that is) were very striking to me, though they didn’t make the finals. I remember the guy from my studio. He used to train in Latin, and he was a great Latin dancer. Now he’s apparently competing in Standard. It amazed me how well he was able to switch between the two because they’re extremely different, not just technique-wise, but personality-wise as well. Sexy, grounded, hip-swaying Latin guy into soft on his feet, floating-above-the-floor, dapper ballroom gent is not an easy transition to make. To be sure, his ballroom was a little Latiny, which is likely why they didn’t make the finals. He leads her pretty hard and fast, making their Tango absolutely electric, but some of the other dances, like their Quickstep was not light enough. Still, I think his Latin-ness brought a real charm and sexiness (in a smoldering kind of way) to his Standard dancing.

Okay, I have to run off to the Guggenheim, for another Works & Process event. Here is my album of the MAC; I think there are a couple pics I left out!

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Magnolia line around the corner!

Magnolia Bakery line around the corner! Hopefully it’s just because it’s opening day and it won’t always be like this. I talked a bit to the owner and he seems really nice. He apologized to me about a million times because they kept forgetting my coffee 🙂 Right now it’s just a take-out place (you actually grab a cardboard box from a shelf on your way in and pick out your own cupcake(s) from the various trays leading down the line to the cash register — whole thing resembles a high school cafeteria; not sure if the one in the Village is like this too because I never went into it). So, no tables for sitting down and chatting. He told me though that they’re in the process of renovating an adjacent room with plenty of such tables, although that room may sometimes be rented out for private parties. Anyway, Ariel and I had chocolate cupcakes. She liked hers (in fact, here is a picture of it); I found mine a slight bit bland, but that may be how some people like their dessert — without too much sugar. I’m a sweet-aholic so, for me, the more sugar, the better, especially when I’m being horrible and am basically eating a mini chocolate cake for breakfast anyway… Their coffee was absolutely delicious though. Well worth waiting for!

I then spent the entire day running back and forth (again) between New York City Ballet and a ballroom event — this one, the Manhattan Amateur Classic. Most excellent dance weekend — will post about both tomorrow!

Originally uploaded by swan lake samba girl via mobile.


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"Sex and The City" and Ballet Go Together Like…

 

First Candace married Charles, then Baryshnikov graced the TV show with his majestic presence, and now yummy Magnolia Bakery, whose original West Village location was popularized by the same (Sex & the City, that is, not Misha 🙂 ) is opening a new location just a few steps from Lincoln Center. Should make for an ideal after-ballet snacking ‘n chatting ground. Ariel and I, who were in the neighborhood, went to check it out today, since I’d heard it opened its doors yesterday, but unfortunately it’s only been available for private parties for the last two days. Tomorrow is its official public opening, 11 am sharp. Cupcakes for breakfast!

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Beware of Having Oral Sex With More Than Six People!

Ugh. Last night I had another reading at the Cornelia Street Cafe, as part of the Writers Room member reading series. (above photo is from a reading there last year; I felt like such crap last night I wouldn’t let any friends — including Ariel, who wrote about the evening here — take pictures). I almost didn’t give the reading because I was feeling depressed and sick (the two probably contributed to each other; having grown up in warm sunny Phoenix, I am just fundamentally not a cold-weather person and it seems like I often spend an entire winter down with something off and on). Anyway, another person had to back out last minute so I decided to be an adult and refrain from flaking out on something I’d committed to. Plus, Stan Richardson, playwright and curator of the series, is such an amazing person. He made me feel so much better and talked me out of my insecurities with his spectacular sense of humor. He really is a great person; thanks Stan 🙂

For the above reasons, it didn’t go as well as the first…. although I feel like that’s how life often is. Of all of my many court arguments over the years, my very first went by far the best — the presiding judge actually telling me it was well-crafted and well-articulated. Also, with my first reading, I just gave a brief intro to my novel then began reading; here, I was reading from another section further in, so I felt like I stood up there talking about what the manuscript was about and what came before the excerpt more than actually reading it. Anyway, it was brief and I survived.

The guy on after me though was really good. His name is Steve Reynolds, and he read from his memoir, portions of which will be published in Reader’s Digest, on surviving oral cancer. Oh — the theme of the night was “Doctors,” so all of ours dealt with medical conditions. Mine was about my main character’s having to go for a gruelling Barium Swallow exam after sensing a ball the size of a fist in her throat, and the playwright who followed us, Susan Haar’s consisted of two really good monologues from her newest play about a character who is sexually assaulted while in a coma. So, definitely an uplifting night in Cornelia Street Cafe!… Anyway, Reynolds is a great writer, who has attained enough ironic distance from his condition to write about it with both laugh-out-loud humor and sobering poignancy. He’s really able to make you feel what he’s feeling as he goes through the various stages.

At points, his excerpt even created a bit of commotion. A non-smoker, he was obviously befuddled at his diagnosis. He’s further dumbounded to learn (as are we!), that it’s actually caused by the human papilloma virus (HPV, the same one that causes cervical cancer in women), and whose chances you have of contacting rise the more sexual partners you have. According to stats, he tells us, once you have more than six partners, your chances of getting — either oral HPV or cancer; I’ve forgotten now because I was so blown away by the number — increase 420 percent with every new partner. This is over the course of a lifetime. Afterward, when Stan re-took the mike, he repeated, “420 percent??” “Yep,” Steve responded. Murmurs abounded and everyone’s face seemed to bear a rather horrified look of concentration. “I mean, if you’re a single woman in her 30s there’s no way you haven’t had more than that!” said a wildly gesticulating woman in the audience (okay, my friend! — but not poor Ariel — she looked mortified that people actually spoke about such things in public. I remember being new to New York once too, 🙂 )

Anyway, afterward, I dragged my friends to Caffe Vivaldi around the corner, which is just kind of a nostalgic place for me, since I used to go there frequently when I first moved here. Unfortunately it doesn’t look much like I remember it: instead of being a quintessential cafe with every hot cozy drink and soothing fattening thing imaginable and loads of tables suitable for chatting by the fireplace, it’s now become a small dark music-hall, with the chairs and tables all shoved to one end to accommodate a huge piano and band area on the other. And of course once the band begins playing — they have two sets per night so they start early — conversation must end. And gone is their European staff who made the perfect panini and served good wine. Having said all that, I still rather enjoyed the first musician, a singer and pianist named Jess King. Her lovely, soulful voice and dark, melancholy tunes were perfect for my blue funk. She made me cry at one point and sometimes that’s just what you need — a good cry. Anyway, check her out here or here. And, to hear her in person, she plays there every other Tuesday night. I loved her.

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Mark Your Calendars!

 

For America’s Ballroom Challenge 2008! The show will air five Wednesdays in a row from January 30th through February 27th, 8-9 EST on PBS. This year there are two new hosts: replacing Marilu Henner and Tony Meredith are Jasmine Guy (remember her from The Cosby Show?) and many-times champ Ron Montez. If you’ve missed the past two years, each night of this show (filmed live at the Ohio Star Ball held in Columbus in November — probably the largest and most popular ballroom competition in the country) will consist of a different ballroom style danced at the American comps: American Smooth, American Rhythm, International Standard, and International Latin (woo hoo), and the final night will be a “best of the best” competition among the four winners of each style, dancing two unique solos.

To me, highlights this year will be Katusha Demidova in Standard dancing with her new partner, Arunas Bizokas, as well as the newly-crowned U.S. National champs in Smooth (the smashing JT Thomas & Tomasz Mielnicki) and Rhythm (Jose DeCamps & Joanna Zacharewicz; this category is always a huge show-down though thanks to DeCamps & Zacharewicz, and the wild and spectacular Emmanuel Pierre-Antoine & Julia Gortchakova). Unfortunately, we’re not going to get a shot of my favorite Yulia Zagoruychenko in Latin, since she was, at the time of that competition, just beginning a new partnership. Still, watch Latin for longtime champs Andrei Gavriline & Elena Kruychkova and two couples who are solidly on the way up: Delyan Terziev & Boriana Deltcheva, and new favorites of mine: Vaidotas Skimelis & Jurga Pupelyte. I’ll post again closer to January 30th in reminder, but for now, go here for deets. (It doesn’t look the PBS channel is updated yet for this year’s show, but once it is, it should be here).

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Divas With Male Backup Dancers

Okay, everyone who said “Dance War” would get better was right. I think the show is generally more focused on the singing — both from the judges’ and camera operators’ perspectives — which disappoints me, but I’ll still watch it. This week I noticed that many times the camera would focus on the person singing — especially with the girls — excluding the people in the background who, in some cases were doing some of the more difficult dance moves. Just when someone (I think it was Kelsey) went to do a grand battement, the camera right then left her and homed in on the girl singing, so you missed the full extent of the kick. Movement definitely took a back seat. Anyway, that’s probably why I thought everyone was such crap at dance last week.

I thought the guys were overall the better dancers — although I’m still seeing a lot of floor gymnastics; but the choreography they were given was generally faster, more varied, and slightly more challenging than that of the girls, who basically just did sexy stylized walks and a few stationary pelvic rolls (and, happily, at one point, a set of double pirouettes) while belting out lyrics. The three-woman “Lady Marmalade” completely blew me away, and I have to say, that was the first time in the whole show that I think I actually understood what Bruno was saying. I definitely get when he’s excited or let down, but on this show I can’t always make out the English, which is weird since I don’t think I’ve had that problem on DWTS. I think Mariel, the girl Carrie Ann first picked, is going to be the main diva of the show, followed by Allysa, whom I was really surprised to see be one of the last two chosen. I can’t tell with the guys yet who’s going to stand out, but I foresee basically a battle of female voices backed by sexy male dancing peppered with acrobatic theatrics. We shall see…

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David Hallberg Stage-Steals Again, This Time in Fabulous Christian Lacroix at the Guggenheim!

This from the Winger website.  (By the way, in the top pic on the post that I just linked to, Danny Tidwell (trying to be incognito in hat) and the girl who I think is Jamie from SYTYCD are in the forefront.) This picture (that I copied here) is the Cedar Lake Ballet pre-party blogger get-together I have been going on about for some time now. From left to right: Counter Critic Ryan Kelly, Ariel, Philip / Oberon, goofus me, David!!!!! (who doesn’t look that terrified at all to be standing next to me, right?!), Taylor Gordon, Evan, Doug Fox, and of course, the mother of all dance bloggers, Kristin Sloan 😀

Second, last night was another Works & Process event at the Guggenheim. This one was in celebration of Frederic Franklin, a delightfully sweet 93-year-old man who’s enjoyed a wonderously long career in dance. He started out in a tap dance ensemble in Paris in 1931, performing with the likes of Josephine Baker, was quickly snatched up by the Markova-Dolin Ballet in England, and eventually ended up with the famous Ballet Russes. After retiring from dancing, he joined ABT both performing non-dance roles in the big story ballets and helping to re-stage classics. In between an interview with Mr. Franklin by moderator Wes Chapman, they showed film clips of him dancing and speaking about his life (which I figured out afterward, while talking with Barbara, a reader of this blog and the Winger, were likely culled from the great documentary Les Ballet Russes), and excerpts of ballets that Mr. Franklin has staged. Two excerpts were from Coppelia, one performed by very good young dancers from ABT II (ABT’s studio company), the other by students at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School (ABT’s ballet school). The program only listed the students’ names in alphabetical order, but I was blown away by the ballerina who performed the lead in that excerpt. I can’t give her proper credit because I don’t know which name belongs to her; but Barbara and I agreed that she was brilliant.

And two of the other excerpts — a pas de deux from Leonide Massine’s “Gaite Parisienne” and one from Balanchine’s “Mozartiana” — were performed by ABT principals Julie Kent and Mr. Beautiful (center, in pic above, as well). Julie, as always, was lovely and she really is such a beautiful ballerina, so light and feathery, she just floats around the floor. But Marcelo is the consummate partner for her. Marcelo is the consummate partner period. Oh, I haven’t seen Marcelo in months now and I miss him 🙁 … But David just steals every smidgeon of attention whenever he is onstage, wherever he is actually — passing by a damn window… On a stage, he becomes the stage. And it’s not in any way his fault; he doesn’t try to do it at all. He really tries very very hard to highlight the ballerina; he showers all of his attention onto her, whether he’s partnering her or standing off to the side simply watching her, as he did last night in “Mozartiana.” How do I know this? Because the entire time Julie was dancing, I was looking at him. I’m too tired to try to look it up right now, but I just read an article where the writer was saying that Baryshnikov was a great dancer and brought new steps into to the canon and all, but that’s not even the half of what he meant for Ballet; he could stand completely still on a stage and you couldn’t stop looking at him. That’s exactly how I feel about David. It goes without saying he’s a sublime dancer, but that’s not even the half of it; not even ten percent.

In “Mozartiana” Julie and David wore workout clothes — typical for Works & Process, but in the “Gaite Parisienne” pdd, oh my oh my, costumes! Gorgeous, fascinating, jaw-droppingly breathtaking Christian Lacroix costumes. Normally, I’m not that into designer clothes, but Lacroix is on a whole different level; the man is so clearly an artist to me. If only more ballet companies would hire him to re-design all the classics… David’s costume consisted of this bright celebration-red velvet tux, gorgeously loud varicolored striped tights, and black shoes. Julie’s was less colorful — simple beige and black — but stylistically stunning in a sweetly sexy little girl / china doll kind of way, suiting Julie to a tee. And the choreography — I haven’t even checked to see if ABT is doing this during their spring season (a quick internet search reveals they last put it on all the way back in 1988?), but it was the most sweetly sexy waltz-ballet I have ever seen. I really want to see the whole.

Anyway, it was a fun people-watching night. Sir Alastair was there wearing this very interesting red Mexican-y pancho-esque jacket and a gold scarf tossed spiffily around his neck. I saw him talking to Wendy Perron, EIC of Dance Magazine, at one point. And it was nice seeing Barbara again at the cocktail thingy afterward 🙂 Always a fun night at the Guggenheim. The only negative, the museum was apparently remodeling or something and they had half the lobby roped off; very hard to negotiate the large crowd without spilling your wine!