Tag: New York City Ballet

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SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, SEASON 5, WEEK 1

I was at NYCBallet last night and then absolutely needed to go out to O’Neals afterward with my friend to discuss Tiler Peck’s brilliant performance in Mercurial Manouevres (and yes, Ashley Bouder in Lifecasting, whom my friend has an enormous crush on 🙂  — we got kicked out of O’Neals at 12:15 a.m. – -ridiculous that they close that early; that’s why ballet isn’t attracting young audiences — there are no bars open late in the Lincoln Ctr area…argh!) Anyway, I’m watching the recording this morning. Here’s my recap:

First on, popper Phillip and contemporary dancer Jeanine dancing to a Tabitha and Napolean hip hop routine. The first dance of the season. It was pretty good. I thought she did really well, especially for a contemporary dancer. I think she even kind of outdanced him! It wasn’t tremendously memorable to me, but was good.

Next, Asuka and Vitolio, in a Tyce DiOrio Broadway routine. She has ballet training and he grew up in an orphanage, so interesting combo. Cute. His opening jump didn’t have much height but other than that everything went well — great solo, side-by-side movement, good lifts — she has great lines. And he had a good multiple pirouette in there. I really enjoyed Vitolio — I thought he stood out much more than she. Mary’s nuts. They didn’t just “do their steps, do the right thing.” They gave it a lot of umph. I think the character was totally there. Nigel’s critical too — what are the judges on?

Third, Karla and Jonathan’s Cha Cha choreographed by Tony Meredith. So, Karla has danced on Broadway, toured with Wicked, and Jonathan’s a Salsa dancer who started dancing after seeing this show. (I like how we’re learning a bit about these couples now). Eh. It was okay. But her legs were too bent, she didn’t straighten enough, and it looked like it was lacking in precision and leg lines. He was pretty good. It didn’t look anything like a professional Latin routine though. She looked like a Broadway dancer doing Latin. Judges are all going wild though. Judges sure like sexy.

Fourth is Randi and Evan’s Tyce DiOrio Broadway routine. Randi’s from a small town and big family and not used to flash. Evan’s the Broadway dancer, from Michigan, who most stood out to me during auditions. He kind of reminds me of Craig Salstein — which means, I really really like him! So, she says she’s married and doesn’t like doing sexy, romantic things with Evan — because dance is real of course, it’s not an act. It took them a bit to get into the mood of it, but when they did, Wow! That really blew me away — so passionate. He did a very nice tour jete in the middle, she had very lovely leg lines, beautiful lifts, and some excellent staccato movement (are they called isolations in contemporary?) in the middle, emphasizing every body part, and, as Nigel says, exhibiting excellent control. Really fabulous movement. I’m so glad the judges like them. If they didn’t I was going to be beyond annoyed.

Fifth, Paris, a contemporary dancer, was in a car accident and has no sensation below her knee on one leg. Wow. She’s paired with Tony, a hip hop dancer. He chose dance over sports in high school. Good for him 🙂 They’re dancing to a Tabitha and Napolean hip hop routine. Oh, I remember him from auditions — the comical guy who kept flashing the photos of Nigel during his routines. I liked him, personality-wise, though I didn’t think his dancing was anything to write home about. Well, I thought the choreography here was a little bland, but I do think they did as well as they could. Or, maybe it’s as Adam says, that they didn’t have enough attack. They were fine, but there needs to be more. They were a little too soft and bouncy.

Sixth are contemporary dancers Caitlin and Jason. She has a gymnastic background (I remember liking her in audition; I was really rooting for her, when it seemed her sister’d be the one to make it). They’re doing a Bollywood routine by Nicole (I didn’t get the choreographer’s exact name). Whoa, that was excellent! My favorite dance so far! Everything was so excellent — he is just oozing with charisma, and a really natural dance ability. And she has gorgeous lines. Beautiful lift up front, loved the low-to-the-ground deep knee bounces, excellent plastique — beautiful lines with the wrists and hands and feet. Whoa. He’s my favorite so far. Nice to go with the Slumdog Millionaire song as well.

Janette and Brandon. She’s a Latin dancer from a Cuban family and learned to dance at home. Brandon is that contemporary dancer who during auditions some of the judges wanted to die for and two couldn’t at all understand the fuss. It was something that annoyed me during auditions, because we didn’t get to see a whole lot of him and so couldn’t take a side and participate in the debate. So, now we’ll see. They’re doing a Foxtrot. Wow, that was really pretty, ended up being a nice Foxtrot once they got into it — it did take them a little bit though, but once they loosened up and swayed their upper bodies, it had some real spice. Not at all one of those stiff Standard dances you sometimes see when both partners are too nervous. That ending lift sequence was gorgeous. He did have charisma but I’m still with Mia — he’s okay but I’m still waiting to see what Mary and Nigel were going on so about during auditions.

Ashley and Kupono are doing a Jazz routine by Wade Robson. So they’re crash test dummies. Wade Robson is so weird! I thought it was more rubbery than robotic, but I guess that’s right — right? Crash test dummies are rubber so they can bounce all about. It was good. I thought he outshone her. I like how he made those nervous little flutters ripple throughout his body. That looked hard and he did it well. She was a little too fluid, which normally would be proper for contemporary dance, but here it wasn’t quite right. Mary likes her though.

Melissa, the ballet dancer (“I’m strictly a ballerina, also called a buff ballerina and naughty ballerina”) is partnered with contemporary dancer Ade. They’re doing contemporary with Mandy Moore. Whoa, tied with the Bollywood for my favorite of the night! She was gorgeous — like a bird, she just flew! Adam Shankman is crying! She’s 29, the oldest dancer on the show, and he tells her she’s living proof that we get better with age. He says her power is profound. He’s right! Mary screams! She keeps saying the quality of the movement, the quality of the movement, you can’t deny training, you can’t deny training. Yes, you can see all the ballet training — she lifted herself in those lifts. And did you see how high she danced on releve! Oh, for all the people who aren’t watching because of Alex Wong, she is so worth watching the show for this season! Poor Ade — I didn’t even notice him — though I did notice one jete where he made a perfect split, which was marvelous. And he’s a good, strong partner.

Finally, Kayla and Max are doing a WOO HOO, Louis van Amstel samba! Welcome to SYTYCD, Louis 🙂  Max is Russian, a ballroom dancer. Kayla’s contemporary, from a single-headed household; it was a struggle for her to take dance lessons as a child, but they managed. Aw, Louis’s being so nice — telling her he can’t believe she hasn’t done ballroom before 🙂 But, you know, I was disappointed. The music totally outshone them. He didn’t do much for me, unfortunately. He didn’t have the flash I’ve seen in most male Latin dancers. His hips weren’t that fluid and his movement range wasn’t that wide, and his rhythmic sensibilities just didn’t seem to be all there. Maybe he was nervous. Maybe he’ll get better. She was very good, although she didn’t looke like a proper Latin dancer. But how could she be expected to be at this point — she’s contemporary. That back kick was stunning. The judges are going nuts, though, and Mary did her crazed hot tamale train screams. I don’t know, I didn’t see what they did.

My favorites of the night: the lyrical Mandy Moore routine and the Bollywood number, and dancers Melissa, Jason, Evan, and Kupono. I can’t believe someone is going home already tonight.

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GONZALO GARCIA IS A ROCK STAR AND JANIE TAYLOR A GRACEFUL MURDERER

 

 

Those are my friend, Judy’s terms in the title, by the way! Friday night at New York City Ballet was one of the most exciting in recent memory. The dancers were all excellent, the ballets fun, the audience pumped (okay, a little over-pumped in places!) It was just one of those nights to remember. It was an all-Robbins program, consisting of four of his most diverse, but liveliest dances: Glass Pieces, The Cage, Other Dances, and The Concert.

First, of all, Wendy Whelan appears to be out with a minor injury, so it was announced before curtain rose that Janie Taylor would be dancing the lead in The Cage. If anyone heard some psycho girl shout “Yay!!!” — sorry. Didn’t mean for it to echo like that… 🙂

Glass Pieces is always enjoyable with that rhythmic music, especially in the first and last sections with the intense strings and pulsating drums respectively, the dancers in the first walking across stage as “normal people,” every once in a while a “dancer” appearing and turning and /or jumping ‘dancer-like’ across stage — the most visible of whom is Tyler Angle. I can watch this ballet endless times just to see him in that first section. He’s beautiful in that golden unitard, and always breathtaking no matter what he’s doing.

 

 

The second, adagio section, was danced by Maria Kowroski and Philip Neal. Maria nailed this section like I’ve never seen anyone do before. Her body is of course so long and thin and she’s got such spidery limbs, she can really make wicked lines. I don’t know what the dance means, but every form she made was so pronounced and so full of intent, she was just mesmerizing.

 

Then, Janie’s Cage! Sometimes you just know that no matter who’s done the role in the past — Tanaquil Le Clercq — whoever — this is just the best; no one’s ever going to outdo that and no one no how has done better before. That’s how I felt Friday night watching Janie. It’s like this role was made for her, even though literally it wasn’t. It’s like she’s very mindful of how each shape she’s making is going to look from every vantage point in the house. You can tell how much she worked at this and thought about it. Maybe it comes from being a visual artist as well (she’s a cartoonist and a costume designer).

Anyway, The Cage is the heartwarming (not) story of a colony of female ants – or some kind of insect — who, like black widows, kill their male counterparts, after mating. (Where did Robbins get the idea? Ballet’s from 1951. Hmmm.) Janie was absolute wicked splendid perfection; she just looked like a spidery-limbed little arachnid as her tiny waify body descended on poor big muscly Sebastien, digging her tentacles into his sides, slapping and clawing him all about. And the way she’d flick her wrists and make those insect-like shapes with her hands at such speed and with such perfect definition, it looked like she was metamorphosing into some creaturely other right before your eyes. It was really rather terrifying.

At one point — either she’s on top of him or him on her, I think it’s the former since she’s killing him — their bodies each curve out from the other to make this big hollow O shape, and it looks like one of those human limb-eating plants (what’s the name?…) Crazy beautifully creepy! Of course the drama is that Janie’s the “novice” here and she doesn’t want to eat this man because she kind of falls for him, but she has to for group acceptance. The way she shows that, wanting to reject the rites, by caving in from her center, collapsing into herself, then rolling herself into a ball and letting the male bug hold her — is stunning as well.

Teresa Reichlin is the ideal Madame of the colony, or whatever you want to call her. Her long legs just beat the air on those battemants, like she is the queen and you don’t question her. I can’t find many pictures, but here is Wendy Whelan talking about the ballet, with some clips of it.

 

 

Then was Other Dances, starring (really, a very apt word) Tiler Peck and Gonzalo Garcia. This is a gorgeous ballet, full of sweetness and romance and virtuosic dancing with high leaps and jumps and spins and all, originally made for Baryshnikov and Natalia Makarova. I can’t imagine this one being done better either. Both dancers have such endearing stage presences. Tiler Peck is really growing on me — her obvious love for the music, her playful phrasing, her sweetness and freshness and innocent charm. She was beautiful on those overhead lifts where she lay on her side, her arm behind her head, looking down at him. And Gonzalo’s in love with his audience, and you can tell. He says in this article that he’s naturally shy, but he’s also a natural performer. As I said on Twitter, at the beginning of his second solo, two girls screamed “I love you!” Very very unusual for NYCB! “What is he, a rock star?” Judy asked me. Apparently. Gonzalo is turning NYCB into ABT 🙂 What is it about these Spanish men?…

 

 

Tiler and Gonzalo work very well together. There was some weirdness between him and Ana Sophia Scheller, but these two are a very good partnership. I think they’re friends too — I see them together on the street sometimes. They danced the virtuosic leads in Donizetti Variations two days earlier and were equally stellar. I’m told he had a big fan base in San Francisco, where he came from. Well, he’s won me over. Ariel, who came with me on Donizetti day (and who comes with me to NYCB rather frequently), took one look at the program and said, “Wow, they have Gonzalo dancing a lot these days.” I said, “Yeah, particularly when I happen to have tickets. Funny that.”

And the evening ended with the comical The Concert, which Judy loved, as I knew she would. It’s cute and funny and no one does up the humor like Sterling Hyltin as the sweetly goofy music lover who can’t dance her way out of a paper bag, and Andrew Veyette and Gwyneth Muller as the cutely warring husband and wife. Andrew even took curtain calls with his ‘obnoxious husband’s’ pipe gripped firmly between his teeth.

The other highlight of the week to me was Balanchine’s Stravinsky Violin Concerto, danced spectacularly by Robert Fairchild, who I’m positive I will never ever tire of seeing. He’s got to be one of the hardest working young men in ballet these days and it really shows. He’s becoming a real David Hallberg. His movements are so precise and everything is so well-articulated. He bends from the waist more than anyone else (that I can see) and that gives him so much breadth and expansiveness. And he’s always making some sort of statement, even in abstract ballets, particularly in abstract ballets.

I love this Stravinsky choreography as well. There are so many stand-out moments, you just can’t mention them all. I love the part where the man of the first couple (here, the aforesaid Robert the spectacular) stands over the ballerina and turns her, or rolls her. She bends underneath him so he looks like her shadow. If this is the same ballet, I felt like Robert leaned in closer to her before and held his arms around her waist, held her more closely, and almost put his head on her back, and it looked so romantic, so tender and loving. It just melted me. He didn’t do that either night I saw him dance this this week. He still turned (or rolled her — don’t know what to call it) brilliantly, but I feel like someone told him not to lean in and make it tender like that. But I want him to do that again! Unless it’s another ballet I’m thinking of … is it? Does anyone know what I’m talking about??

I also love the rather acrobatic choreography for the second couple — first night I saw it danced by Maria Kowroski and Sebastien Marcovici, second night by Amar Ramasar and Kaitlyn Gilliland (filling in — and doing very well — for Wendy Whelan and Albert Evans). I love how she does backbends and handstands over and around him and he just looks at her with amazement, and follows.

Finally, I really liked Liebslieder Walzer earlier this week, which I wrote shortly about here. I know some think it’s slow, and it wasn’t very popular when Balanchine first showed it in 1960, but I really prefer the choreography here to that in his more popular Vienna Waltzes, which is mainly straight ballroom. The choreography is more complex here, and revealing of character. One man (the night I saw it, it was Jared Angle –who looked sharper and more gentlemanly than ever to me) circles around his lady and she circles the opposite way on the inside of him. It’s a lovely effect and I think it shows they are going in opposite directions, not meeting mentally. The couple danced by Sebastien and Janie seemed the most romantic, at one point approaching one another while making expansive circles with their arms as they entered into an embrace. I do agree with Sir Alastair, though, that the couples need to work on their differentiation from one another in order to amp up the drama. It’s choreographically beautiful though and I hope they keep doing it in future seasons – -maybe not with the equally slow and somber Les Noces though!

(By the way, that program — Liebeslieder and Noces — program 8 — is showing twice more this week and I found it not really to be a program for newcomers to ballet. I brought my friend, Jonathan (who I haven’t seen since law school, don’t want to say how many years ago now 🙂 ) and if he wasn’t an opera fan who could latch onto the chorals (which feature heavily in both dances on the program), I fear he might have been bored. I think you have to really be into the intricacies of choreography to appreciate it. If you’re new to ballet, or bringing someone new, see Programs 9 and 10 this week — both containing more dramatic, lively dances.)

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HELP!

 

Okay, just one more post before I settle down for the weekend.

Next week is going to be pure insanity. Practically every single Giselle cast at ABT is a must-see. Retiring ballerina Nina Ananiashvili is dancing her last two Giselles Monday (with Marcelo Gomes) and Friday (with Jose Carreno); Tuesday Diana Vishneva dances the lead (whom many critics consider best in the role); Wednesday matinee David Hallberg and Maria Riccetto make their debuts; Wednesday night Veronika Part dances the Queen of the Wilis with Irina Dvorovenko in the lead; Thursday night La Scala superstar Roberto Bolle makes his debut as the newest company principal; Saturday matinee Herman Cornejo dances Albrecht; and Saturday night is visiting Bolshoi ballerina Natalia Osipova in the lead. (By the way, Saturday night casting has recently been changed to David Hallberg as Albrecht, dancing in place of the apparently still-injured Ethan Stiefel.)

Across the plaza at New York City Ballet, the newish ballet Lifecasting by Douglas Lee (which is your only chance to see Ashley Bouder dance this season) shows on Wednesday night, Friday night, and the Sunday matinee along with the critically acclaimed Christopher Wheeldon ballet, Mercurial Manoeuvres (one of my personal favorites of his). And their always fun Dancers’ Choice program is on Sunday night. (Visit Oberon for more deets on that).

I had also wanted to see Jennifer Muller’s The Works 35th Anniversary program at the Joyce in Chelsea but just don’t know if I’m going to be able to pull it off.

 

 

Also, the following week, on Tuesday, June 16 from 5:30-7 pm, Roberto Bolle (photo from here) will be at Rizzoli Bookstore (on 57th Street between 5-6th Avenues) signing copies of his book (of photos of him dancing at La Scala).

Happy weekend, everyone!

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LIEBESLIEDER WALZER

 

I’m pooped! After a week of writing about scent operas, ABT, new ballets, and SYTYCD dramas, I really need to spend the rest of the weekend working on my novel. I’ve spent the latter part of this week at New York City Ballet and promise to write about those performances soon. In the meantime, please enjoy this Paul Kolnik photo of my favorites, Janie Taylor and Sebastien Marcovici in Balanchine’s Liebeslieder Walzer (which I enjoyed much more than Vienna Waltzes although the latter was far more popular in its day and the former was in fact taken out of the NYCB rep for some time! More on that later…)

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DAY OF THE UNEXPECTED: AN OPERA WHOSE CHARACTERS ARE SMELLS & A TUDOR-ESQUE STORY BALLET BY RATMANSKY

 

I had a crazy day. This afternoon I went to the Guggenheim to see this new ScentOpera — an opera told entirely through music and smell (each seat had a little microphone that blew the scents into your face) — which I’ll write about soon. Suffice it to say it was very interesting and I think Nico Muhly has found his niche: composing for smell — because, unlike with dance, his music most definitely did not overpower these whiffs at all, at least not as created by perfumier Christophe Laudamiel. I nearly passed out from “Funky Green Impostor.”

Anyway, more about that soon.

Tonight was the premiere of ABT‘s new resident artist Alexei Ratmansky’s first ballet for the company — a night for which many have been waiting ever so eagerly. For those not up on the ballet-world gossip: Mr. Ratmansky (from the Ukraine, and former artistic director of the Bolshoi) initially was rumored to be contemplating taking the resident choreographer position at NYCB. Then he didn’t and everyone was depressed because Christopher Wheeldon was leaving to start his own company and everyone really liked Ratmansky and wanted to see more of his work stateside. Then, next thing everyone hears is that he’s accepted the same from ABT, making everyone happy but confused — NYCB is known for being more daring and contemporary in its repertoire; ABT sticks more to the traditional classical story ballets. Ratmansky,who was leaving the Bolshoi because he wanted more of a challenge (the Bolshoi’s rep is akin to ABT’s), seemed a better fit for NYCB.

Anyway, I was expecting tonight something along the lines of Concerto DSCH or something he’s done for NYCB (which is all that I’ve seen by him): a contemporary Balanchine-esque ballet without a linear narrative but with a discernible theme and with original, clever, thought-provoking choreography. Instead, On the Dnieper (the Dnieper is a river in the Ukraine), set to Prokofiev’s music of the same name, is a story ballet that I found to be about three parts Tudor, one part Robbins (with some of the fight scenes).

It’s the story of Sergei (danced by Marcelo Gomes), a young soldier who returns home, after war, to his fiance Natalia (Veronika Part), only to realize he no longer loves her but is attracted to Olga (Paloma Herrera), a flighty, flirtatious local girl who is betrothed to another man (David Hallberg). After a brief encounter, Olga falls for Sergei and begins to doubt her love for her fiance. One evening at a party, Olga dances with her fiance and Sergei becomes jealous and challenges the fiance to a fight. Sergei is felled, and Natalia rescues him — picks him up, cleans him off. But soon Olga is back. Natalia, after trying desperately and unsuccessfully to win Sergei back, heartbroken, does what she knows she must for the man she loves — helps him escape with Olga.

It reminded me of Antony Tudor because there’s a lot of drama — albeit without all the heavy psychology — a lot of hurt, wounded tragic characters with broken dreams, unrequited love, painful sadness that just reverberates through the whole auditorium. And the characters each seem to have a way of moving unique to them: Marcelo’s Sergei jumps back and forth a lot with lots of beats of the feet — as if he can’t decide whom to choose, what to do, as if he’s torn.

David Hallberg’s fiance is rather borderline psychopathic, highly impassioned (to make an understatement) but almost frighteningly controlling of Paloma’s Olga. After the way David had described his character on the Winger, I was expecting a reprisal of his “friend” in Tudor’s Pillar of Fire or his R&J Paris – -vulnerable and hurt but proud and trying to bear his pain noblely in a way that made me want Juliet to leave Romeo for him. That’s not what we got at all! Our first viewing of him is slicing madly through the air at Paloma and her friends as if to say, stop everything, I’m here. Besides the jumps and aggressive arms, he has a lot of crazy fast footwork throughout. At one point, when his jealousy is getting the better of him, he starts shuffling his feet so fast, he actually looks down at them, stunned, like he really can’t control them. A way out-of-control Fred Astaire.

Paloma is all about the fickle, flirtatious girlish jumps. And Veronika is more adagio, and she keeps extending her arms both to one side, then laying her head on that shoulder as if an expression of her loyalty and devotion to Sergei. Later, when she realizes he’s drawn to another woman, this movement looks more like a prayer that he’ll return to her. Veronika is heartbreaking and she’s the emotional centerpiece to the ballet. You really want to cry for her at the end.

I think it’s a good ballet — a little slow in places, but generally compelling and with meaningful movement that echos the characters’ desires and actions. It just surprised me that it wasn’t what I’m used to from him. I think after seeing so much NYCB, I’m becoming so enamored of Balanchine and non-narrative contemporary rep of the kind he’s done on that company. I hope that not all of the work he’ll do for ABT will be story ballets. I hope he will do some Concerto  DSCH and Russian Seasons and Dreams of Japan-like ballets for ABT as well. ABT’s dancers are so brilliant; it’s fascinating watching what they can do with those kinds of movement-heavy, dramatically open-ended kinds of dances.

Also on the program — which I’ll write more about after seeing the other casts — were Balanchine’s Prodigal Son (danced tonight by Herman Cornejo, replacing Ethan Stiefel, who’s still out with an injury), and James Kudelka’s Desir. Desir is about several different relationships — mostly couples — about sexual angst, romance, fighting, etc. I liked parts of it but not all (I’ll write more about it after more viewings), but what really floored me was a beautifully romantic pas de deux with sweeping lift after sweeping lift performed by Cory Stearns and Isabella Boylston. I’ve never really seen Isabella before and Cory I have but not much, and he’s definitely never stood out as much as he did tonight. Those lifts looked hard and he didn’t tire one bit. He was the ideal strong male partner, showing her off, making her look beautiful, giving her such gorgeous height, sweeping her up through the air, without being the least bit show-off-y himself. He was all about her and they both shone. They were breathtaking. And I’m definitely not the only one who thought so. The audience went wild with applause when they took their bows. They got even more applause than Gillian Murphy and Blaine Hoven! (who were excellent as the angst-ridden couple who eventually gets it together in the end). I’m glad Kevin McKenzie gives young dancers these kinds of chances to stand out.

More soon on the rest of the ballets, and hopefully some pictures as well.

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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.

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DANNY TIDWELL UPDATE

 

You guys! I missed So You Think You Can Dance again last night! I thought it was on on Thursdays (wasn’t it on Thursday last week?) and was all set to tape tonight when commenter Jonathan sent me an email asking me what I thought of the second week of auditions. Argh. Trying to find somewhere online to watch re-runs…

Can’t they wait till ballet season is over?! Seriously, it wasn’t on this early last year right? I don’t remember it conflicting with Blackpool, ABT, and NYCB like this.

Anyway, in lieu of a post on this week’s show, I thought I’d just link to this Rickey post (which is where I got the pic above from), which commenter Jonathan sent me. Thank you, Jonathan!

Apparently, Danny Tidwell will be in the Broadway cast of Memphis, which is scheduled to open in the Fall, and will be in Fire Island over the summer for the Fire Island Dance Festival.

It’s always interesting to keep up with the SYTYCD dancers and see what becomes of their careers, if and how the show has helped them. So far we have Danny and Neil Haskell on Broadway, Sabra in a very cool NY-based contemporary ballet company, Chelsie Hightower and Dmitry Chaplin on Dancing With the Stars… I wish Danny would come back to ABT but I know that’s not going to happen. But it’s okay — there are plenty of fabulous dancers there to keep me in a pretty constant state of awe 🙂

For others who missed last night’s show, I find Ballroom Dance Channel does a good job of straight-forward reviews.

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NEW YORK CITY BALLET: JANIE’S DSCH, KATHRYN’S SCOTCH AND MORE VIEWINGS OF PREMIERES

 

 

 

I can see how ballet is so addictive, especially to those with dance training who’ve either danced the roles they see onstage or pick up choreography on sight. It’s so interesting to see different dancers perform the same roles, to see what they can each do with something, where they can take it. A ballet can look completely different depending on cast.

Janie Taylor recently debuted as the female lead in Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH and I absolutely loved her. I thought she brought a certain vulnerability, delicateness, and romantic touch (both big and small “r”)to the role and as such created a poignant centerpiece to this ballet that is mainly full of fast, frolicking fun. She was perfect partnered with Tyler Angle, who gives everything an emotional, Romantic quality. There’s one point where the girl bourrees (tip toes) backward from the guy and he steps toward her in a series of lunges, arms outstretched. It was rather heart-grabbing when Janie and Tyler did that. It was like Tyler was reaching for her with all his might, but she just kept falling away from him, telling him no, it couldn’t be.

The original cast for the romantic couple was Wendy Whelan and Benjamin Millepied, and when I saw them perform it again a few days ago, I looked for that part. I almost didn’t see it until Wendy had bourreed practically into the wings. Benjamin, instead of reaching toward her with all his power, bent his knees and performed those walking lunges close to the ground, kind of bouncing up with every step forward. His arms were still outreached but the deep kneed, close to the ground walks gave it overall a more playful feel, or perhaps like he was looking up to Wendy, his supreme ballerina. Wendy’s of course such an icon in the ballet world and she’s stronger and less vulnerable and delicate than Janie and so it just had a kind of man worshiping woman instead of a boy trying desperately to hang on to his love feel.

Ashley Bouder has been out with an injury so Ana Sophia Scheller is filling in for her in the main allegro ballerina part, still dancing alongside Joaquin de Luz and Gonzalo Garcia.

 

 

There seemed to be a slight bit of drama going on between Scheller and Garcia at first — I don’t know what it was — he was his usual sexily mischievous, charismatic self and she seemed nervous and holding back a bit (albeit not with Joaquin), but hey, drama is always fun 🙂 I think that has been all worked out though. The last time I saw them dance this together they were right on. She appears to be a lovely dancer and I’d like to see more of her.

I’ve also seen two very different casts in Scotch Symphony: the first Benjamin with Jenifer Ringer, the second Robert Fairchild and Kathryn Morgan. This is a sweet Balanchine ballet, telling the story of a young kilt-clad Scotsman lost in the Highlands who becomes completely smitten with an ethereal goddess dressed in Romantic tutu. He keeps trying to reach her but is thwarted right and left by a group of Scottish guards. Finally, they meet and dance a lovely pas de deux.

My friend, Alyssa, now has a huge crush on Benjamin. I don’t know how it happened; we were standing in line at the box office to pick up tickets one night and he was talking on the overhead screen, likely about his new ballet (I’m not sure because the sound was off) and Alyssa became mesmerized by his face. “That’s the guy who recently premiered a new ballet,” I said. “Oh, he’s a choreographer? He’s cute!!” Then when we got inside and were looking at the Playbills she screamed, “look, the cute guy is dancing!”

 

 

Afterward at dinner all she could talk about was how other dancers (like Daniel Ulbricht, who we saw in Tarantella that evening) were great jumpers and technically perfect and all, but Benjamin just brought so much more to the dance. “He was just so … so… he was perfect in everything he did, but he wasn’t just perfect, he was… ” she waxed unable to come up with the right word. It was Ethan all over again (whom she fell for after seeing at Martha’s Vineyard merely introducing his Stiefel and Stars and saying he was unable to dance because of the knee operations).

I nodded. He does have a certain beneath-the-surface charm (Benjamin that is), and he is a very good dancer, always coming through with those ever so challenging fast-paced Balanchine roles.

But of course I was dying to see Robert Fairchild in the same role, with Kathryn Morgan as his ethereal love object. They were so beautiful together. She’s just so angelic, and he always dances with such passion and boundless amounts of energy, and of course he’s always got that boyish charm that he’s had since debuting in Romeo two years ago at age 19 but that I don’t think is every going to go away. He’s such a hard-working young guy, you can tell — he puts everything he has into his dancing. He had a tiny fumble coming out of a jump and had to check himself with a couple extra steps to secure his footing (but he didn’t fall), and at one point he was a bit too far from Kathryn during a supported arabesque penchee and she couldn’t get her leg all the way up in the air. But, to me, honestly, when a dancer makes a blunder it only makes him or her all the more endearing, more human.

 

 

(Robert Fairchild, Kathryn Morgan)

I loved Tiler Peck in Tarantella — another role that usually belongs to Ashley Bouder, but Tiler brought a certain freshness and wit to this cutesy extreme high-speed dance. Ashley usually brings a sexy, flirtiness to it; Tiler was more sweet and smart. I like both, and, again, it shows dancers often make the dance.

 

Daniel Ulbricht (photo above by Paul Kolnik), as always, delivered on the technical and difficult athletic aspects of the dance — the high jumps the turns and all. Audiences always go absolutely wild over him. I personally like Joaquin de Luz a bit better (in this and the other roles he dances — he and Daniel usually alternate) because he delivers on the virtuosity as well but he makes it more about the character. At the end, the boy here steals a kiss from the girl. With Daniel, the high jumps and theatrics are the dance, the kiss is just a little reward at the end; with Joaquin the whole thing is about that kiss, the mad leaps and spins and turns with the tamborine are simply leading up to it. But audience do go completely wild over Daniel.

 

(Tiler Peck)

I saw the new ballets once again — Benjamin Millepied’s Quasi Una Fantasia and Jiri Bubenicek’s Toccata, and both grew on me. Funny, but I sat in orchestra this time for both — first time I was looking down from the first ring side, and it’s really interesting how different the ballets look from different vantage points — especially the Millepied. Looking down from above, this ballet really seemed to evoke a flock of birds, at times sinister and foreboding. Looking at it straight on, it was still unsettling — with that haunting Gorecki score — but at times the dancers resembled insects reminiscent of Robbins’s The Cage, and later, just figures — one weak and somewhat broken, the other strong — moving in various groupings. My friend Michael and I both noticed how he’d make various groupings or formations with the dancers — phalanxes, Michael called them. Sir Alastair had noted the same, saying he likely got the ability to work a large ensemble like that from Balanchine. I don’t always notice such things until someone points it out — I’m usually more focused on the theme, what the choreographer is trying to evoke, or make me think and feel.

I wish I had a picture of what the dance looked like from above. Overall, I think I still see Hitchkockian birds 🙂

I still don’t know exactly what Toccata is about but I love how there is a great deal of really intense partnering, sometimes several duets happening at once, the dancers by turns pushing and pulling, sliding, strugging with and embracing each other, and I love how at points the bodies just kind of mesh into one another, just melt into each other. It’s really kind of sexy in its own way. I love Robert Fairchild in these kinds of abstract roles. As I think I’ve said before, he always makes a little character out of a role no matter how abstract, and he dances with such expansiveness. With that and his immense charisma he devours the whole stage.

 

(Robert Fairchild and Georgina Pazcoguin in Toccata, by Paul Kolnik, from Oberon’s Grove)

I’m also liking Maria Kowroski much better. I heard she is taking acting lessons and it shows. Every little step is meaning something, saying something, a little quip perhaps, a little retort, to her partner (who has often been Sebastian Marcovici these days) and to the audience. I particularly liked her in Balanchine’s modernist Movements for Piano and Orchestra and his sweet, more classical Chaconne. Huge kudos to Sebastien in the latter for doing some really intensely fast footwork and really nailing it all. He is a large guy and that’s not easy. A friend told me afterward he thought Sebastien looked a bit “heavy” in the role, and I can definitely see that — a smaller dancer would have looked much lighter and more frolicking and playful — where Sebastien brings more virility and power and intensity — but, again, what makes ballet so addictive is the different bodies, different strengths, different personalities, different interpretations.

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TWO WORLD PREMIERES — QUASI UNA FANTASIA AND TOCCATA — AT NEW YORK CITY BALLET GALA

 

 

 

Last night I went to New York City Ballet’s Spring season gala. I always love galas but they’re especially exciting when they showcase world premiere dances. In this case, there were two such premieres, along with the world premiere of a new piece of music set to one of the ballets.

First things first: I missed most of the red carpet events, unfortunately, since the program began early (so as to make time for the after-show dinner, which I am far too poor to attend). And shame on me for mismanaging time like that — that Waiting For Godot experience from two years ago was too much fun. I did get there just in time to see the paparazzi flashing away at (Sex & the City author) Candace Bushnell and (NYCB principal) Charles Askegard. Sweet Charles soon stepped aside to let his wife bask in the glory all on her own. She looked radiant. I was jealous.

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SEBASTIEN’S FOUR TEMPERAMENTS, ROBERTO’S DIVERTIMENTO, LA STRAVAGANZA ET AL

 

 

 

I have hardly any time to write — I don’t know how I always do this to myself, but I leave in just a few hours for a long train ride down south to visit Mom for Mother’s Day, and I haven’t really begun packing yet… — so I have to make this very short. But quickly, highlights of my NYCB week:

Sebastien Marcovici in Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. This ballet, set to Paul Hindemith music, consists of a theme with four variations, each variation representing one of four physical /psychological types: Melancholic, Sanguinic, Phlegmatic, and Choleric. Sebastien danced that first variation with so much emotion and drama and all-out expression that Melancholy almost became a human character itself. I could have sat there and watched him do that variation over and over again. Also, I have to take back something I said last season, that he’d developed such muscle that his lines are a bit off. His lines were perfect this week, huge leg muscles or not! Funny, my friend even recognized how much larger he was than every other guy out there. But we both agreed his size makes him move a certain way, quite unlike anyone else. He’s a large, dark, exotic-looking guy and when he takes a role emotionally and expressively as far as he can, he is really spellbinding.

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NEW YORK CITY BALLET SPRING SEASON BEGINS! (PROGRAMS 1 AND 2)

 

NYCB’s Spring season began on Tuesday and I spent much of the weekend at the Koch theater. Friday night was my first time seeing Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, (set to Mozart), which Arlene Croce called one of his greatest ballets, and I can see why, particularly with all the complex, richly detailed variations. The ballet begins with an Allegro section danced by the whole ensemble, the women entering the stage first. But I have to say I felt like the dance properly began when the three male leads — Tyler Angle, Amar Ramasar, and Andrew Veyette– came onstage, particularly Angle and Veyette (I prefer Ramasar in the more dramatic roles but he always has a charisma that draws your eye). With the exception of Sterling Hyltin, who is becoming one of my favorite ballerinas, the men just stood out more. At one point, after executing a step perfectly on beat, Andrew looked out at the audience and flashed a knowing, mischievous grin that made me and my friend (and those around us) giggle, and that set the tone of the whole night for me.

Though all of the women seemed to keep time with the fast-tempo and execute all the intricacies of that insanely quick-footed choreography, Sterling’s dancing had the most dash and flair.

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