Tag: Megan Fairchild

Posted on

NYCB Spring Gala with SEVEN DEADLY SINS Premiere

Here are some photos, all by Paul Kolnik, of Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s play-ballet, The Seven Deadly Sins, which premiered last night at New York City Ballet’s Spring gala performance. Above is Patti LuPone, who guest-starred with the company (performing the singing role of course!) and Wendy Whelan, who danced the lead. The top photo is from the “Prologue” of the play-ballet (or ballet chante as the program calls it).

This is from the second part: “Pride”: Patti LuPone and cabaret dancer ensemble.

Also from “Pride.” Wendy Whelan is in the middle.

And this is from sixth part, “Lust,” probably my favorite over all. Craig Hall and Wendy Whelan are the dancers in the photo. Craig Hall and Sara Mearns (who danced the role of “Latina Diva” in the “Anger” section, and who I don’t have a picture of unfortunately), most stood out to me, as well as Vincent Paradiso as the Count in the “Greed” section. I think those dancers most stood out – at least Mearns and Paradiso – because they seem to have some kind of acting training. Maybe they don’t, maybe they’re just natural actor-types, but the more actor-ly you are, I think the easier this kind of role would be. Wendy Whelan said in an interview with Roslyn Sulcas in the New York Times that she was used to expressing herself with her body and her lines, that she was used to Balanchine’s dictum “don’t act, don’t think, just dance,” and that she found this kind of role challenging. As much of a NYCB star as she is, and as stunning as she is in Wheeldon and Balanchine’s more modern, angular-lined ballets, I just wonder if she was mis-cast for something like this.

Which isn’t to say that she didn’t dance very well last night. She danced a really beautiful pas de deux with Craig Hall, which is what made “Lust” my favorite section. And LuPone sang in a gorgeously powerful voice. The dancing was all superb. But something just didn’t work to me.

Balanchine choreographed the original Seven Deadly Sins, set to libretto and score by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill, in 1933. The Balanchine version was revived in 1958. According to the Times article linked to above, both the original version and revivals received very good reviews. Since the Balanchine version appears to be largely lost now, and Peter Martins wanted to revive the ballet, he commissioned new choreography from Taylor-Corbett.

Maybe it was that the new choreography didn’t really express the story, which follows Anna, a woman whose various life experiences each represent one of the sins. It wasn’t really a full story, but one composed of scenes, each of which dramatized a sin (and LuPone and Whelan portray different aspects of Anna). But, I didn’t feel the scenes always worked well at doing that. For example, in my favorite section, “Lust,” I thought the Hall/Whelan bedroom scene was really beautiful, very romantic, but nothing said lust, as in sinful lust, to me. I almost felt like Whelan’s Anna had a loveless relationship with her husband, danced by Allen Peiffer, and she was really in love with Hall, and her leaving her husband and running into Hall’s arms was an urgently needed escape.

In my other favorite section, “Anger,” Sara Mearns is a kind of sexy, but rather humorously so, Copacabana dancer. She gets angry at Whelan’s Anna for something – I’m not quite sure what – maybe Anna stole her lover or took over Mearns’ role as head diva, drawing too much attention to herself…  Anyway, Mearns twists her face into a look of utter anger, then points at Whelan, who runs off crying and is then stripped down to her underwear by a group of men. But I thought it was done rather cartoonishly. So it was more funny and cute to me than a dramatic representation of the tragic consequences of anger.

In the “Greed” section, a count and a senator vie for something and end up in a duel, both of them getting killed. But it didn’t have any tragedy or pathos to me. Instead, it felt a bit like Balanchine’s Slaughter on Tenth, which made me want to giggle – probably the fact that it was Paradiso playing the role of the Count.

I don’t know. I guess I was expecting something with more tragedy and pathos and weight, and I felt like I saw a version of Slaughter on Tenth but without a through story-line. Maybe that was the intent. I’m going to see it again over the weekend, and maybe my opinion will change.

Did anyone else see it yet? I’m interested to hear what others think. Has anyone seen the Balanchine version?

After intermission,

— here’s my photo of the promenade – Balanchine’s Vienna Waltzes was performed beautifully.

Photo by Paul Kolnik.

All of the dancers were very good, but I particularly liked Megan Fairchild and Joaquin DeLuz in the fast-footed, playful scene in the forest, “Fruhlingsstimmen,” and Maria Kowroski and Charles Askegard in the last, beautifully ballroom-y section, “Der Rosenkavalier.”

Posted on

NYCB Opens its Spring 2011 Season with “Balanchine: Black & White”

 

Photo from 2004 of Wendy Whelan and Jock Soto in Balanchine’s Agon, by Paul Kolnik.

Last night New York City Ballet opened its Spring season with three Balanchine “leotard” or “black and white” ballets (so-called because of the costumes). I have very little time to write because I’m off for a short trip to Phoenix later today. But I’ll just say, all the dancers looked very refreshed, in tiptop shape, and everyone danced very well and with lots of expression.

First on – and the highlight of the evening to me – was Square Dance, which I haven’t seen a huge number of times but which is really growing on me. The leads were Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley, who is really growing on me as well. He reminds me a bit of Alex Wong, except he’s more lyrical and it’s a little less about the stunning feats with him, though he is a very good dancer and I’m sure can do the stunning feats! His difficult-looking often flexed-footed solo was mesmerizing. He was even mesmerizing when he just stood off-center and watched Fairchild do her solo, the way he’d look at her, at times longingly, at times in awe. Megan danced with a lot of joy as well – all dancers were very emotionally compelling in this. And I’m not the only one who thought so – the audience really went crazy with applause after this dance.

 

Next on was Agon. The main couples were Wendy Whelan and Sebastien Marcovici, Teresa Reichlen and Andrew Veyette, Ashley Laracey and Amar Ramasar, and Amanda Hankes and Craig Hall. Andrew Veyette (above, photo by Paul Kolnik) really stood out to me in this. I think he is well-suited to all the angular lines so pronounced in these leotard ballets. Wendy Whelan and Sebastien Marcovici had a couple very minor flubs. During intermission, the little group of balletomanes I hang out with were reminiscing about how stunning she was when she used to dance this part with Jock Soto (which is why I posted the top picture). I really wish I could have seen that. It looks stunning from the picture.

The evening ended with Stravinsky Violin Concerto; leads were Maria Kowroski and Amar Ramasar, and Sterling Hyltin and Ask LaCour.  I always like this ballet and I always look for my favorite part – where, in the third section, Aria II, the man stands over the woman and turns her around and around, like a barrel. I think I’ve seen Robert Fairchild do it only once, but it was the first time I ever saw the ballet and now, to me, he owns that role and no one can do it like him. I thought of that when my intermission friends were reminiscing about their favorite dancers from the past and how differently they looked doing these black and white ballets – how much more precision there used to be – and it’s funny because Robert Fairchild is obviously not the first dancer to dance my favorite part but he’ll always define it to me. The first dancer, or the first set of dancers, that you see in a role or a dance will definitely leave an indelible impression. But someday I still very much would like to see the original Balanchine dancers in these ballets.

Anyway, this was opening night, but there was no red carpet since NYCB has their gala next week, on Wednesday – when the Patti LuPone collaboration will premiere!

Okay, I’m off to the land of lizards and gila monsters and sun and 99-degree temperatures! Assuming I’m able to finish packing…

Posted on

NYCB Brings Back “The Magic Flute” and Ashley Bouder Astounds in “Serenade”

On Thursday evening, New York City Ballet performed for the first time since 1982 Peter Martins’s The Magic Flute (pictured below – both photos by Paul Kolnik). But first on was Balanchine’s Serenade, with Rebecca Krohn (in the photo at left, the ballerina the farthest left) debuting in the role of the “angel.” Jenifer Ringer (center) was the “lost girl,” and Ashley Bouder (on the right) the dancer who dominates the first section.

Every time I see this ballet I see something new and though she wasn’t debuting in the role, this was my first time seeing Ashley Bouder. She completely blew me away and brought to life a “character” I never really even noticed before. I use quotes because of course Balanchine insisted that this is a story-less ballet and he didn’t create any such characters, but over time viewers have come to create their own story and now, for example, everyone calls the ballerina whose actions seem to bless and save the woman who falls and seems distraught over a man, the “dark angel.” Anyway, I realized for the first time when I saw Ashley dance that her character is supposed to be the A-student, the one who can do all the astounding feats and just flies all over the stage in those jetes. I kept thinking of Natalia Osipova. Wow. That’s always been my least favorite part of the ballet – that “class section” at the beginning; I always long for the final, more poetic part when what can most be read as a story takes place, with the angel and a male figure representing to me blind justice save the tragic woman’s soul.

Anyway, for the first time I really didn’t want the first part to end. Ashley was just so spellbinding. It wasn’t just that her jetes were so stunning though; it was that she created a character who ate up the stage, but not out of competitiveness and need for attention, but simply because she was so good she couldn’t help it. That’s what her dancing conveyed to me anyway, and then I couldn’t take my eyes off her.

Rebecca Krohn did very well in her debut as the angel. Only thing was that she was so much shorter than tall Ask la Cour (in photo above) that when followed him from behind with her hands wrapped around his eyes, she really had to stretch.

Jonathan Stafford also made his debut in this ballet, as the “distraught girl’s boyfriend,” if you want to call him that. I thought he danced very well, but I think I personally prefer Charles Askegard in this role because I see that man as tantalizing her, tormenting her, and responsible for her downfall, and there is just something innately cocky about Askegard. Jonathan Stafford is too sweet 🙂

Okay, so The Magic Flute. NYCB as I said hasn’t performed this in a while and it’s kind of obvious why: it just doesn’t seem to fit at all in their repertoire. It was a short story ballet filled with slapstick and cutesy characters. It was danced very well – and Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette are two of the company’s best actors and they did in my mind as much as could possibly be done it. Everyone did well, actually, and it seems the dancers enjoyed the opportunity to do something they never get a chance to.

The story bears no relation whatsoever to the Mozart opera. It’s the story of a farm girl (Megan) who likes a peasant boy (Andrew) but she is betrothed to this incredibly hilariously dorky older man, the town’s Marquis (played well by Adam Hendrickson).This is where most of the slaptick comes in – in trying to seduce them the Marquis falls all over the village women, goes to kiss Megan’s hand but ends up with Andrew’s, literally falls all over poor Megan, etc. etc. Eventually, a strange hooded character indicates to the peasant boy that everything will be all right, he will get the girl, but he must watch for something to fall from the sky. That something is a flute, which comes bearing a huge sign for all the audience to see: “If you play this flute, people will dance against their will.” Audience cracked up at this of course.

So, Andrew grabbed the flute and tried it out on his friends, realizing it works! I have to say Andrew’s flute playing was very believable. Of course the flutist is in the orchestra pit but damn did it look like Andrew was making that music!

So, now every time the Marquis tried to grab Andrew and toss him off Megan, Andrew would starting playing the flute and the Marquis would start hopping around like a madman. Angry at his lack of control, he pulls his men on peasant boy, eventually tries to get the court involved, and soon everyone is madly hopping about. There’s no choreography for the uncontrollable dancing – everyone just hops about punching the air at random. Eventually everything works itself out and Andrew and Megan end up happily together.

The costumes were cute and the sets were very well done (it was suggested at intermission that ABT might want to hire set designer David Mitchell for their productions), I’m just not sure this ballet really belongs at NYCB. But it’s nice for a change.

The program ended with Balanchine’s patriotic Stars and Stripes set to Sousa. Savannah Lowery had the lead in the second section – the “second campaign” – and she fell during her stage entrance. It looked like just a slip but then she didn’t dance her part full out at all – jetes were very low and she looked very concerned going on pointe. It soon became clear she’d really hurt herself when she didn’t return for her solo seconds later. The company didn’t have time to replace her with another ballerina right then, so the corps members just kind of looked on and sweetly smiled as they stood still during what should have been Lowery’s solo. It was kind of like that experimental Jerome Bel film where the camera focuses solely on the corps members while the Swan Lake music swells.

Anyway, by the end, after the fourth campaign when all campaigns return, she’d been replaced by trooper Gwyneth Muller, who my companion noticed seemed not to have much makeup on. There probably aren’t too many emergencies like this where a dancer who thinks she’s done for the night (she’s played Megan’s mother in The Magic Flute) but hasn’t yet left the building has to get in costume and run back out onstage for a main solo! Anyway, she did well. I hope Savannah’s okay though.

Posted on

AN ERA ENDS: DARCI KISTLER GIVES HER LAST PERFORMANCE WITH NYCB

 

Yesterday afternoon marked the end of an era as Darci Kistler, the last dancer to be hired, trained, and made into a star by George Balanchine, gave her last performance with New York City Ballet, where she’s danced for the past 30 years. Kistler, originally from Riverside, California, began studying at Balanchine’s School of American Ballet in 1976, was hired to dance with the company in 1980, and was made into a principal in 1982, at 17 years of age. She remains the youngest principal ever at NYCB.

It was a huge event, needless to say — practically every critic and blogger was there, longtime donor patrons were greeting each other right and left (and there was a party for them afterward). The house was completely packed, and the plaza was filled with people asking if anyone had a ticket for sale.

The program consisted of Balanchine’s Monumentum Pro Gesualdo and Movements for Piano and Orchestra, the Titania / Bottom pas de deux from his Midsummer Night’s Dream, his Danses Concertantes, and the beautiful final act of Peter Martins’s Swan Lake (which almost made me cry, and I don’t think I’m the only one).

 

Monumentum Pro Gesualdo and Movements for Piano and Orchestra is an abstract leotard ballet in two parts that Balanchine set to Stravinsky. I always prefer the second part, which its flirtatiousness, its angular lines and sharp shapes, to the more lyrical first part. Darci danced that second part with Sebastien Marcovici, and the first part with Charles Askegard. I’d only ever seen Maria Kowroski in the female lead in this ballet and it was interesting seeing another body in the role. Kistler danced it more smoothly lyrical and her edges were more rounded, but she played it up really well, really “acted” it, like she was really responding to Marcovici’s movement and he to hers, as if they were in conversation.

That Titania / Bottom pas de deux is one of my favorite parts of Balanchine’s Midsummer Night and I’m glad she chose it. She was sweetly hilarious as she fell head over heels for Henry Seth’s ‘donkey persona’ after both had spells cast on them by the mischievous Puck.

Danses Concertantes was the only ballet she didn’t dance; it was danced well by Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette.

 

And the program ended with the last act of Martins’s version of Swan Lake. The Martins is one of the only versions of this ballet I know of that doesn’t have some kind of happy ending, and it was really fitting here, this being the most bittersweet of farewells. In Martins’s version, Odette and Prince Siegfried can’t be together because he has been unfaithful to her with Odile. So the ballet ends with her bourreing backward, away from his outstretched arms, into her flock of swans, who envelop her. Jared Angle’s Siegfried continues reaching out toward her, in sorrowful outstretched lunges, but he’s unable to reclaim her. She literally retreats into the wings, and metaphorically returns to her ethereal, otherworldly place. So poetic, and so fitting for a prima ballerina retirement. And so sad…

 

All photos by Paul Kolnik. (Bottom photo I scanned from an earlier program)

Posted on

MAURICE KAPLOW’S FAREWELL PERFORMANCE WITH NYCB

 

Thursday evening longtime New York City Ballet principal conductor Maurice Kaplow gave his final performance with the company. I had never been to a conductor’s farewell before, and, of course, part of what made this extra sensational was that the newishly mobile orchestra pit (photo above) was raised to stage level for part of the program.

There were four pieces in the program: Melissa Barak’s recently premiered Call Me Ben (the only piece Kaplow didn’t conduct), which was followed by Euryanthe, the Barber Violin Concerto, and ending with Western Symphony.

Euryanthe was only an orchestral piece – no dancing, by Carl Maria von Weber. When Kaplow first took the podium, everyone cheered, which grew into a standing ovation as the orchestra pit rose. One thing I didn’t realize (we’ve only seen the pit rise once before, during the first NYCB program following the Koch theater’s renovations last year) was that the conductor can’t stand at the podium while the pit is rising and falling; he must step down into the musicians’ area. When the pit was finally level with the stage and he climbed up to the podium, he looked out toward the applauding audience and took a grateful bow. Euryanthe was really beautiful, with a lovely, almost sentimental (given the occasion) violin section, followed by an exciting drum-heavy climax. It was nice to see the orchestra for once, and to be able to focus on the music.

Peter Martins’s Barber Violin Concerto really blew me away. I’d never seen it before, and I have to say it’s now one of my favorites of his.

 

Pictured from front to back: Megan Fairchild, Sara Mearns, Jared Angle, and Charles Askegard. There are two couples in this piece – one a classical ballet pair, the other a modern dance duo, and at first they dance each with their rightful partner, then the two members of the modern couple break apart and dance with the opposite sex ballet dancer. When I interviewed So You Think You Can Dance’s Billy Bell a while back, he’d laughingly said something to me I found funny, that as a hopeful choreographer he sought to “break” ballet dancers, meaning he wanted to get them to loosen up, not be so rigid and controlled with such straight, upright posture, and get them to really move. This piece reminded me of that. At first Sara Mearns’s classical ballerina in pretty satin pointe shoes wants nothing to do with this crazed barefoot Jared Angle, but eventually she realizes he’s not so bad and they do a quite nice pas de deux together.

Same with Megan Fairchild and Charles Askegard, except choreographically they were more fun, and Megan totally blew me away and made me think she is really a modern dancer. She was the most compelling person onstage and I couldn’t take my eyes off her, despite the fact that one of my big favorites, Sara Mearns, was up there with her. Megan looked like a real Paul Taylor dancer but even more stunning. Her character really taunted Charles Askegard’s classical danseur, jumping on his back, wrapping her flexed feet around his middle, darting in between his legs, really kind of climbing all over him. He looked tormented, then eventually relented and they danced a pas de deux together too. Interestingly, people giggled throughout this part – where Megan’s modern girl is taunting Charles’s classical man –  and the critic next to me who’d seen the ballet many times before said he’s never heard people laugh at that section, that he didn’t think it was supposed to be amusing but more raw. Maybe it was because of their size difference — Charles Askegard is the tallest dancer in the company (I think he’s 6’4) and Megan’s this tiny little thing who looks rather doll-like. I found it cute and flirtatious and now I don’t think I’d like it if I saw it done more raw, though I’d love to see other dancers do it. I’d love to see this ballet again.

Also, as the title of the piece would imply, there’s a really beautiful violin solo (played by Arturo Delmoni), where the violin almost sounds like a human voice.

Last on was Balanchine’s Western Symphony. Andrew Veyette danced the male “Rondo” role and after seeing Robert Fairchild in this role last week I thought I’d never be able to see another dancer do that part. But, whoa, Veyette completely floored me. He was on fire as he kicked his heels up high in the air, sexily do-se-doed toward Teresa Reichlen (who was stunning as well as the female lead in that section), then whipped her off into the wings where he pretend kissed her. She’ taller than he is and at first I thought they weren’t a good match, but they kind of played up their height differences. I loved it.

As usual during the curtain call, the maestro came out onstage and took a bow. But of course this time he didn’t merely motion down toward the orchestra, directing the applause at them, but took the stage alone, and, like the retiring dancers, was greeted by a row of dancers bearing bouquets. Eventually, the entire orchestra came up bearing flowers as well. Peter Martins came out onstage and hugged him. Very sweet. Then, Martins led the orchestra (joined by the audience) in singing “Happy Birthday,” so apparently it was Kaplow’s birthday as well. He’s been with the company for 20 years. I’ll miss seeing him in the house.

Photos by Paul Kolnik.

Posted on

ALBERT EVANS FAREWELL

 

 

Photos by Paul Kolnik (top, of Albert Evans during final curtain call, bottom with Wendy Whelan in Herman Schmerman)

Sunday afternoon longtime beloved principal with NYCBallet, Albert Evans, gave his final performance. He danced two roles he is well-known for – the pas de deux from William Forsythe’s Herman Schmerman, with Wendy Whelan, whom he’s often been partnered with, and Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments (he danced the third variation – “Phlegmatic”). It was perfect – -a humorous, playful pas de deux and a very serious, emotionally moving classic Balanchine ballet. He danced both fabulously. I haven’t seen Herman Schmerman much, and he made me want to see it again. And he danced “Phlegmatic” so well, with such precision and intensity (honestly, better than I remember seeing it danced previously) it made me take notice of a Balanchine ballet I honestly haven’t much liked before.

Also on the program was La Source, a pretty in pink ballet by Balanchine set to Delibes and danced very well by Joaquin de Luz and Megan Fairchild in the pas de deux and Lauren King as leader of the ensemble. I have in my notes “dive!!!” which means Megan must have dove into Joaquin’s arms with brilliant gusto!

And in the middle was The Lady with the Little Dog, a newish ballet by Alexey Miroshnichenko that premiered last season, danced again very well by Sterling Hyltin and Andrew Veyette. I think they re-staged and / or re-thought it a bit because it seemed so much better this time. I remember liking parts of it last time; I really loved it this time. The lifts are stunning and it’s very emotionally moving with lots of climactic build-up. I think it’s more focused on the couple this time and the “angels” are more functional and less involved in the choreography and I think that made a big difference. I always love Sterling’s little dog. This time he (or she?) wanted to be picked up a lot.

Anyway, Albert Evans is quite the character and his curtain call was probably the most celebratory I’ve seen at City Ballet. I said on Twitter that it was of Julio Bocca-esque proportions! Of course everyone – audience and the dancers – loves him, and many of the female dancers came out and did a little dance with him when giving him their bouquet. He did several little goofy dances himself, with lots of Rocky Horror Picture Show-style pelvic thrusts. He picked up one of his bouquets and flung it out to the audience. Then, he took off his shoes. Oh and he had a glass of champagne, brought out by a group of male principals. See, what I mean – Julio Bocca all over again! Crowd went wild, and didn’t want to leave the theater.

Since it was a nice day, after the performance I sat outside on the benches near the stage door with Oberon and we waited for Albert to emerge. He never did! Well, he probably did after several hours – Philip and I imagined he was getting plastered with Wendy Whelan and Maria Kowroski (neither of whom emerged either during the time we sat there) and his other regular female partners. A good hour after we’d been sitting out, a dancer came out and talked with Philip a bit and told him she just saw Albert inside yakking it up with everyone and he was still in his ballet clothes. So we decided we’d be waiting all night and we’d better leave. Did get to meet a lot of dancers though — all very charming and immensely polite and gentlemanly! Amar Ramasar, Robert Fairchild, Troy Schumacher (who made me want to dig back into Proust – have the tomes of his work but have never gotten around to cracking them open), Craig Hall, Tiler Peck, Abi Stafford… those are the ones I can remember. Fun day!

For more on Evans’s career, Oberon has a really good write-up with lots of photos.

Posted on

NEW YORK CITY BALLET OPENING NIGHT GALA: NAMOUNA AND WHY AM I NOT WHERE YOU ARE

 

 

All photos by Paul Kolnik. Top two are of Benjamin Millepied’s new Why am I not where you are, and bottom two are from Alexei Ratmansky’s new Namouna: A Grand Divertissement.

 

 

Sorry I’m late with this post — I had serious internet problems over the weekend and they’d better not continue today or I may kill someone from Time Warner. Anyway, Thursday night was the opening night of New York City Ballet’s Spring / Summer season, and there were two world premieres: first Millepied’s Why am I not where you are, followed by Ratmansky’s Namouna, A Grand Divertissement.  I thought both were good and entertaining, if nothing earth shattering. And maybe it’s just that I’m getting to the point where I’ve seen so much ballet but it seems that everything is a combination of several other things, which isn’t bad. Millepied’s kept me more engrossed, only because Ratmansky’s was just too long.

Millepied’s reminded me by turns of Balanchine’s La Valse (which everyone seems to have thought), Robbins’s West Side Story, and even Balanchine’s version of Swan Lake, particularly where Siegfried frantically tries to find Odette through the swarm of swans who run around her in circles, frighteningly, creating a kind of hurricane.  It seemed there were also parts of the White Swan pas de deux between Sara Mearns (who danced gorgeously, as always), and her “love interest” Amar Ramasar. There even seemed thematically to be elements of Angelin Preljocaj.

The main character is Sean Suozzi who, wearing all white, seems to be a lost in time, or a human searching for other earthlings and who runs into this lot of ethereal creatures all dressed in colorful Romantic tutus. But instead of being beautifully beguilingly ethereal, they are more frightening, like aliens. There’s a very modern set by architect Santiago Calatrava (who collaborated with many of the choreographers who are premiering ballets this season and to whom the season is devoted — he was toasted by Peter Martins at the beginning of the evening), that to me gave the sense that someone — either Suozzi or the others — were from another place. Music, by Thierry Escaich, is unsettling as well. Suozzi falls for Kathryn Morgan, but in their initial pas de deux Morgan can’t see him. She seems to be blind to him. But he tries. The group of men do a kind of intense West Side Story dance, and eventually, Suozzi manages successfully to fit in, to become one of them, as is made clear by Ramasar’s giving him several articles of colorful clothing (a la La Valse) to don. Afterward, he dances again with Morgan but now it is he who cannot see her. Soon, the others swarm around her, violently plucking pieces of her tutu off. Eventually she’s the one wearing nothing but white undergarments, and she’s left devastated, alone and alienated. It was intense and enthralling and I definitely want to see it again, perhaps with Janie Taylor in the female lead (she withdrew due to injury).

Ratmansky’s reminded me of a cross between Branislava Nijinksa’s Les Biches and his own Concerto DSCH with elements of Balanchine’s Midsummer Night’s Dream thrown in. It’s harder to describe than the Millepied because there wasn’t much of a through story, just abstract portions combined with smaller stories that didn’t seem to merge into a larger whole. It’s set to really lovely music by Eduoard Lalo, which in places sounded like Glass’s In the Upper Room. I can’t remember the whole thing but Robert Fairchild is this guy dressed in white sailor garb. At one point, he happens upon some women dressed in 1930s beachy-seeming clothes and wearing hair caps and kind of taunting him with their humorously sexy cigarette smoking. Jenifer Ringer did a fabulous job of playing the main cigarette-bearing “taunter.” She’d puff in his face and he’d look enraptured but confused. Later, a group of people run toward him, carrying a passed-out Ringer and one man bows at Fairchild, as if for forgiveness. The other women haughtily puff on at the front of the stage. Everyone laughed. This cigarette girl part was my favorite. Then, there were some bravura parts for Daniel Ulbricht, dressed in kind of Puck-ish Midsummer Night‘s garb and doing the same high jumping, running through the air leaps as Puck. If I can remember correctly he was accompanied by some cutely impish female elfs, in the form of Abi Stafford and Megan Fairchild. There are sections where a lot of women in long yellow dresses do various port de bras and rather humorous (to me anyway) jumps in place a la Concerto DSCH, and toward the end Wendy Whelan emerges and is this kind of bride for Fairchild. They do a pas de deux filled with lots of classical ballet lifts and then they get married and supposedly live happily ever after.

I liked the Ratmansky and would be happy to see it again if it weren’t so blasted long! It felt like it went on for about an hour and a half! Before seeing it, I recommend taking a walk at intermission to stretch your legs, and go to the bathroom!

Posted on

CASTING FOR OPENING NIGHT NEW YORK CITY BALLET

 

Ballet season is almost here in NYC! New York City Ballet opens April 29th with a program that includes two premieres — one by Benjamin Millepied and one by Alexei Ratmansky (now ABT’s resident choreographer). The Millepied ballet, set to music by Thierry Escaich, will star several SLSG favorites: Janie Taylor, Sara Mearns, Sean Suozzi and Amar Ramasar.

The Ratmansky, set to a score by Eduoard Lalo, will be danced by Wendy Whelan, Jenifer Ringer, Sara Mearns, Robert Fairchild, Megan Fairchild, Abi Stafford, and Daniel Ulbricht.

The two world premieres will launch this season’s Architecture of Dance – New Choreography and Music Festival, devoted to new work. Acclaimed architect Santiago Calatrava has created scenic designs for five of the season’s premieres, including opening night’s Millepied piece.

Go here for tickets and details.

Above drawing by Santiago Calatrava.

ABT, currently on tour in Chicago, opens its classical season at the Met, in honor of its 70th anniversary this year, later, in May.

ABT, NYCB, Yankees — CLEARLY the best time of the year 😀

Posted on

NYCB CLOSES ITS FIRST CLASSICAL SEASON WITH BALANCHINE AND ROBBINS

 

(photo of Liebslieder Walzer by Paul Kolnik, taken from Washington Post review).

New York City Ballet is closing out its Winter season — and first ever Classical season — this week. Tomorrow begins Balanchine’s masterpiece (imo), Jewels (which continues through Sunday); last week were two programs of mixed rep, which included Balanchine’s Liebeslieder Walzer and Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2, and Jerome Robbins’s Dances at a Gathering and West  Side Story Suite.

 

Making his debut in Liebeslieder was corps member Justin Peck (headshot above by Paul Kolnik, from NYCB website); he danced the part that Nilas Martins is dancing in the photo at top, along with Jennie Somogyi (who is also in that photo). I thought they really did well, and they stood out the most to me of the four couples.

This ballet is divided into two sections: it begins with the ballroom section where the women are in ballgowns and dancing in regular heeled ballroom shoes, and the section section where they are in long skirts made of tulle, and toe shoes. The men remain in tuxedos throughout. Balanchine has said that in the first section, it is the couples who dance; in the second it is their souls.

And that sentiment is really beautiful. But I don’t see a real difference, except for the obvious — the women’s costumes and shoes. I still thought each section was lovely though, particularly the opening ballroom section, but that could be because I’m trained in ballroom.

Critics have also said that each couple is supposed to represent a man and woman at a different stage in their romantic lives (one couple was supposed to be young love — which I thought would be Justin and Jennie; another more mature love, etc. — so I thought Darci Kistler and Philip Neal). But I didn’t really see that — I thought at points Justin and Jennie represented young, sprightly love, but then at other points their movement is slower and more deliberate and less scoop-me-off-my-feet — and at one point he picks her up and carries her horizontally, as if she’s collapsed, either from fainting or from sleep or perhaps sickness? It’s a beautiful lift whatever it means. And then at points Darci will run playfully and let Philip chase her. It’s sweet and made me fall in love with them momentarily and become involved in their story. But it didn’t seem then like they were this more mature couple. Not that you can’t run and jump and be excited and playful if you’re not “the young ones” of course, but I mean, the couples didn’t really seem different to me. And the fact that I couldn’t discern any particular story behind any of their actions made me less involved in the ballet than I wanted to be. But I still found the movement and the music (Brahms Opus 52 and 65) relaxing and engaging. Maybe I need to see it a few more times.

Every time I see Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 on the program I think I’ve never seen this Balanchine / Tchiakovsky piece before, and then once it begins, I realize it is the ballet ABT calls Ballet Imperial. I think ABT has a set though, which resembles a palace, which makes it seem more “imperial.” At NYCB the stage is bare. This is the ballet with all the beautiful brises for the main man — the jumping from side to side with many beating together of the feet in the air. Here, that man was Stephen Hanna and he did an excellent job. Teresa Reichlen and Kathryn Morgan were the female leads. Hanna was most memorable to me though. Hanna partnered Reichlen very well, and I’m thinking he and Jared Angle are probably two of the strongest male partners in the company.

The Dances at a Gathering production on Sunday afternoon (Feb. 21) was the best I’ve ever seen of that ballet. SLSG favorite Gonzalo Garcia (!) was the guy in brown, and he did an excellent job. That character really sets the ballet in motion as, at the end of his opening solo, he looks out with a bit of nostalgia at the stage, surveying it, kind of preparing the audience for all of the characters who will appear on it — who seem to be people from his life, his memories. It’s like he’s taking you on a journey with him and Gonzalo set that up perfectly. And then everyone else was just so on! Maria Kowroski was the carefree, independent girl in green cutely shrugging off male onlookers, Jenifer Ringer and Abi Stafford were the younger, frolicking girls; when Jenifer partnered with Jared Angle those two did some of those lifts with the most sweep I’ve ever seen — the audience exclaimed practically in unison.

And Jared Angle was stunning with his tour jetes and his series of corkscrew jumps flowing right into the Russian folk-steps afterward. He is definitely one of the best men overall at NYCB right now — in terms of his technique, his form, his ability to both partner strongly and dance those bravura solos perfectly. You don’t think of him as a bravura dancer, and he’s not really — he’s more of a great partner, which is probably why I’m just now recognizing his brilliance, during this classical season where strong partnering is essential for being a successful romantic lead.

Sara Mearns was brilliant (again) as the dreamy, pensive woman in mauve, and I realized at one point what it is that makes her a favorite of mine. She was dancing alongside two other women — all three were partnered by men and they were all doing supported slides with the women in a dipped position, the men sliding the women across the floor like that. Well, the two other women immediately brought their free arm down at the beginning of the slide and held it in that position, which was pretty and created a nice line. But Sara brought hers down slowly and made a fuller, kind of half-circle motion, nearly brushing the floor with it. She doesn’t seem to strike poses so much as she is always moving and I think that’s what makes her so captivating — she’s always doing something, carrying out the line and extending the shape, and embellishing the music.

As for the other dancers: Antonio Carmena was very on with all of his jumps and turns, as was the fast-moving Megan Fairchild, and Jonathan Stafford and Amar Ramasar stood out in their roles as well. Amar always looks good in those strutting walks and that Russian folk-like movement Robbins uses in many of his ballets.

And that day ended with West Side Story Suite, which the audience went wild over. A woman behind me exclaimed that it was better than what she’d seen on Broadway. This ballet is always a romp, though I think it starts to lose some of its thrill the more times you see it. Still, I always love Andrew Veyette as the leader of the Jets and watching Georgina Pazcoguin do all those gorgeously high kicks and belt out the tune to America. I can’t imagine ever seeing anyone else in that role. And of course she gets loads of applause at curtain call. Benjamin Millepied danced Tony, which I’ve seen him dance before. He did fine, as always, but I wondered what Gonzalo might be like in this part?

Okay, on to Jewels!

Posted on

NYCB’S FIRST NUT OF THE SEASON

 

Photo by Paul Kolnik, copied from NYCB website.

Okay, after blabbering on about the audience Friday night and new post-ballet restaurants, on to the actual performance.

It was magical, as always. Megan Fairchild and Joaquin De Luz were charming as the leads (the Sugarplum Fairy and her cavalier) — above headshots by Paul Kolnik, from NYCB website. I always love watching these two — Megan’s so sweet and she always seems to have this “cat who just swallowed the canary” smile on her face. She’s the ideal ballerina for this role. Maybe it’s just that I haven’t seen City Ballet in a while now, but Joaquin, who was injured at the end of last season, seems to be jumping higher and spinning far faster than ever before. As always, he was the perfect manly cavalier.

Beautiful Sara Mearns danced the other main role — Dewdrop. (Headshot by Paul Kolnik)

 

I wonder if something was done to the stage floor during renovations because Ashley Bouder had slipped on opening night in the new Martins ballet, and Mearns slipped twice on Friday night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Mearns fall and Bouder was just kind of standing when she fell, so it made me wonder if something’s slippery. Anyway, Sara seemed a bit shaken at first, but she soon recovered and danced with her typical beautiful fluidity and lush, expansive lines.

The little girls are so cute — you can hear all the ooohs and aaaahs when Dewdrop and her ladies in pink fill the stage. Below, Megan Fairchild in that role, photo by Paul Kolnik, taken from Explore Dance.

 

Other highlights were the magical-seeming Christmas tree that in little Marie’s dreams rises up from the floor and shoots straight through the ceiling, Sean Suozzi as Candy Cane — the incredible things he did with that hoop! — and, even though the Chinese stereotypes bother me in the Tea section, high jumper Daniel Ulbricht did expectedly well as the lead there, although I thought I remembered that dance being longer? And of course Justin Peck was a lot o fun as Mother Ginger, the role many of us most remember from seeing the ballet during childhood.

Balanchine’s version of the Christmas classic is a little shorter with a more children-heavy cast than most, making it the ideal holiday treat for families. It runs through January 3rd.

Posted on

"BRAVO, MR. B.": DANCERS’ CHOICE PROGRAM, NEW YORK CITY BALLET

 

 

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”

Posted on

NYCB: A DIFFERENT DREAMER, A BRILLIANT HALLELUJAH JUNCTION AND A SWAN LAKE DEBUT

 

I spent all of Saturday at New York City Ballet, watching both matinee and evening performances like the obsessive I am 🙂 Highlight of the daytime performance was Jerome Robbins’s 1979 ballet, Opus 19 / The Dreamer in which Robert Fairchild and Janie Taylor made their NYC debuts in the lead roles. This is only my second time seeing this ballet — the first was a season or two ago when the main parts were danced by Gonzalo Garcia and Wendy Whelan. (Robbins created the ballet on Baryshnikov and Patricia McBride). My research has revealed that critics don’t consider this to be a major Robbins ballet; Arlene Croce seems not to have written a word about it. Audiences seem to adore it though, me included.

Funny but the first time I saw it, I thought the main male character was a “dreamer” in the sense of being an idealist. Wendy seemed to represent Gonzalo’s ideal. And there often seems to be a kind of charmingly airy, carefree, “head in the clouds” quality to Gonzalo’s dance persona.

Robert was more solid and sharp and weighty than Gonzalo. In his beginning solo, he’d slice through the air with his arms and legs, stretch an arm out, hand bent up, as if to be pushing out against something, or stopping something from getting too close to him. What that something is isn’t entirely clear. It seemed more like he was a literal dreamer, someone lost in a dream that was neither entirely pleasant nor unpleasant, something he kind of wanted to escape from but was drawn to as well. And Janie — I love her! — was all tantalizing, bewitching, taunting little mischief-maker haunting his subconscious, not leaving his psyche a moment’s peace. Whenever she was onstage, she completely captivated — both him and us. Even when she’d collapse in his arms, he’d struggle to straighten her up again. He’d lovingly wrap his arms around her; she’d be out of them in a split second. It was very different from the way Wendy danced, if I remember correctly. I wonder how Patricia McBride did it.

I read a review of a dancer who performed the male lead in the 80s. The writer — Jack Anderson — said the dancer — Jeffrey Edwards — looked like a thinker, very introspective. I always love watching Robert — I think he is one of the most fascinating movers around. I’m not sure if what I saw here was introspection or more like inner turmoil. He was definitely lost in himself — he doesn’t even seem to notice all the lavender-clothed dancers flitting about him, didn’t seem to notice anyone until Janie came darting by and commanded his attention. I guess it seemed more like he was lost in his own angst, haunted by his dreams, than lost in his thoughts or his art. But it would be hard, I’d think, to embody introspection.

They don’t seem to be performing this ballet a lot, but I’d love to see Tyler Angle dance the part as well.

Also during the day was Chaconne, which I’m growing to love more and more — particularly the first pas de deux where the man lifts the ballerina and she has her arms out to the sides and does these large, sweeping steps forward, every few beats lightly tickling the floor with one toe shoe, and it looks like she is flying — and Vienna Waltzes, which, probably ridiculously for me since I’m a ballroom dancer, honestly just kind of bores me. The choreography’s not very intricate or compelling (odd for Balanchine) — it’s mostly straight-forward waltzing, which I can only watch for so long. There’s a middle section composed of high-energy allegro ballet which was danced very theatrically by Yvonne Borree and Benjamin Millepied. That section seriously kept me from falling asleep.

Highlights from the evening program were Peter Martins’s Hallelujah Junction, Joaquin De Luz in Donizetti Variations, and Sebastien Marcovici’s debut as Prince Siegfried in Balanchine’s Swan Lake. I hadn’t seen this cast of Hallelujah before — it was Sterling Hyltin, Gonzalo Garcia, and Daniel Ulbricht. This cast wasn’t so dramatic, so romantic, so intent on telling a little story, as other I saw (Marcovici, Taylor, Veyette), but seemed more focused on simply making the music visual — and they did so to fascinating effect. I greatly enjoyed just sitting back and watching all that brilliantly fast-paced, razor-sharp movement — Gonzalo with his sexy impish bouyancy (he’s not really a small man but somehow he seems like he’s always airborne; I think he’d make a great Sleeping Beauty Bluebird), Sterling with her Russian ballerina-high extensions that she does with incredible speed, and Daniel for his intense precision. This is the best I think I’ve ever liked Daniel Ulbrich before. He didn’t just jump inhumanly high; he really nailed very difficult-looking, intricate footwork and he did so with such sharpness and tautness. If he’d only be given more than just jumping guys parts, he can show that he can actually dance extremely well.

Sebastien danced Siegfried with great passion, expectedly. Balanchine really eviscerated the man’s part in his version of the ballet but Sebastien went as far as he possibly could with it. At one point, one of the corps swans in the back row fell and of course the audience had to go “ooooooohhhhhhh,” but he didn’t let it faze him as his Siegfried searched desperately among the swans for his beloved Odette. He had a minor flub on one of the many traveling turn jump thingys but no big deal. It was heartbreaking when Wendy bourreed back away from him and he reached out to her like she was taking his life with him as she went. Also, I love the black and white plastic swans swimming in the little stream at the beginning and end, but the people working them should just make sure the white swan appears at the right time! One time Wendy wasn’t fully into the wings yet when her swan form began sailing across the stage and Charles Askegard’s Prince Sig didn’t know where to run — the swan or Wendy. This time it was a little late and Sebastien kind of had to go searching upstream for her 🙂

Balanchine’s Donizetti Variations was danced brilliantly by Joaquin De Luz and Megan Fairchild. But what I really love about Joaquin isn’t his bravura dancing but his dramatic abilities — how he interacts with the other dancers. Even when dancing a storyless ballet, he’ll look at the others as they do their thing, shoot them a cocky grin — or a genuine smile — and do his thing, his steps a clever or comical response to theirs.

Also on this program was the newish ballet by Melissa Barak, A Simple Symphony – -my second viewing of that. She does borrow from Balanchine, but her choreography also has its own wit, which you notice on multiple viewings. Like Balanchine, the drama is in the actual choreography — every little flex or softening of the wrist meaning something. At one point, the ensemble of ballerinas all turn their hands and flex their wrists, and it looks like they’re cutely shrugging their shoulders. It’s such a pretty ballet with such mellifluous music though, sometimes you don’t want to focus on the choreography; you just want to sit back and enjoy the loveliness of it all.