Tag: Robert Fairchild

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ROBERT FAIRCHILD DEBUTS IN FANCY FREE (BUT TILER PECK GLOWS!)

 

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

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

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

 

(Robert Fairchild headshot by Paul Kolnik)

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

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

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

 

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

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

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NEW YORK CITY BALLET OPENS THEIR WINTER SEASON WITH MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM & GERSHWIN

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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NEW YORK CITY BALLET PROMOTIONS

 

Practically all of SLSG’s NYCB favorites who were not already principal dancers in the company have just been promoted: the always magical Kathryn Morgan (above, with Seth Orza in Martins’ Romeo + Juliet), heartthrobs Robert Fairchild and Amar Ramasar, the always dramatically compelling Tiler Peck and Tyler Angle, and the statuesque Teresa Reichlen.

Here are Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild rehearsing Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun for the Vail International Dance Festival over the summer.

And here are Tiler Peck and Tyler Angle performing the adagio from Christopher Wheeldon’s Mercurial Manoeuvres at said festival:

All promos are from soloist to principal, except young ‘un Morgan who was moved up from corps member to soloist.

All of the new principals will make their debut as such at NYCB’s winter season opening night gala, on November 24th, in Peter Martins’s new ballet set to John Adams’s Naive and Sentimental Music, which will make its world premier that night.

Visit Oberon for more dancer pix and info.

Above photo by Paul Kolnik from Voice of Dance.

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DAVID HALLBERG AND ASHLEY BOUDER AT VAIL

Our David Hallberg (with flying blonde mane and miraculous feet!) rehearses the Black Swan pas de deux with Ashley Bouder, which they’re currently performing at the Vail International Dance Festival. Great Paloma Herrera-esque fouettes, Ms. Bouder (with the multiple pirouettes thrown in; I haven’t really seen the NYCBallet ballerina in a dramatic part yet; she and David look good together!)

Bouder’s also performing Balanchine’s Who Cares with SLSG favorite Robert Fairchild, and David’s dancing Apollo with Pacific Northwest’s Carla Korbes. So wish I could be there…

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PROKOFIEV AND CLASSICAL BALLET ON SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE!

 

 

Well, I am sad and surprised that Nigel Lythgoe did not give any kind of tribute to Pina Bausch last night, the way he did Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon last week. Pina Bausch is a legend in the dance world; how can you have a serious show about dance and not mention something as huge as her passing?

I did of course love that the show had its first ever classical ballet routine– performed by ballerina Melissa and her partner Ade to Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, a version of the famous balcony scene choreographed by Thordal Christensen. It was more Peter Martins than Kenneth MacMillan, but I mean, come on! Am I complaining 🙂 I keep forgetting what Ade’s dance style is, which is perhaps a testament to how well he excels at everything. But I do know it’s not classical ballet! She was beautiful it goes without saying. Those overhead lifts were difficult-looking and perfectly executed, the slide (that NYCB’s Robert Fairchild and Sterling Hyltin admitted they could never get down and so took it out when they performed 😉 ) was likewise perfect, beautiful continuous super-charged chaine turns for her, really gorgeous lines and pointe work. She was really lovely. And Ade did quite well too. I mean, I don’t think he landed the jumps in perfect position and he wasn’t turned out, but come on, he’s not a ballet dancer and I don’t know if he even has any ballet training. He did miraculously well with all of those jetes and twisty turning jumps. And he was the perfect partner with those lifts. As Mia Michaels pronounced, “GORGEOIS!”

I also of course love the newly-established Dizzy Feet Foundation scholarship for dance training for underprivileged kids. Can’t wait to see Katie Holmes dance on July 23rd. Love how Judith Jamison appeared in an interview to talk about the scholarship. Just like her to be involved in something like this!

Okay, the other couples:

Janette and Brandon’s Cha Cha choreographed by Jean Marc and France Genereux was excellent, I thought. Particularly Janette. That one can do anything. Like Mary said, she’s a salsa dancer and, though people may not realize it, salsa technique is far different from cha cha. Salsa’s much more bent-kneed and free-form, less stylized. Cha Cha has to have the straight knees and the super quick leg action, the quick hip shifting. She did so well with it; I really thought she was a competitive ballroom dancer. I actually didn’t like Brandon as well as I liked her or as well as the judges did. He looked a bit robotic, he didn’t have enough hip action. It looked to me more like a hip hop version of cha cha.

Kayla and Kupono’s contemporary Sonya Tayeh routine: so, they said up front she’s supposed to be trying to escape death and he’s trying to draw her to it? Wouldn’t it work better the other way? Like she’s attracted to the dark and he’s trying to help her out? Anyway, I thought it was so so. I thought she had very good lines and very good form. I don’t like Kupono though; I just don’t. I thought his lines in his jumps were clumsy, his form wasn’t good — especially compared to hers. They partnered well though, seemed comfortable together. And good in sync dancing.

I actually really liked Randi and Evan’s Broadway routine, choreographed by Joey Dowling. They danced to Rich Man’s Frug from Sweet Charity, which I love. I thought they did really well getting the character down, both of them. I thought the bent wrists were sufficiently pronounced; I thought the lines were all there; the character, the sexiness, the attitude, the sharpness — it was great fun. I don’t know what the judges were on about. Then again, I don’t see a lot of Broadway. Oh, my favorite part was when he lifted himself out of the chair. How did he do that like that? It looked like he used no leg muscles at all to get up! Like he raised himself straight from his center. Amazing!

I wasn’t into Jason and Caitlin’s Brian Friedman jazz routine. She was supposed to be an alien who’d blown up earth and destroyed all of humanity and was coming back to use him, the last remaining man alive, to impregnate her? Sounds fun! She was sufficiently robotic, great isolations for the both of them. I love when she was smacking him about, and his face reacted to her imaginary slaps of the hand. He had a good jump and she an astounding gymnastic flip. Not sure what the flip was doing there though. Like the judges, I wasn’t so into the choreography — sounded a lot more fun than it was. But the dancing was good.

Phillip and Jeanine’s hip hop routine choreographed by Tabitha and Napoleon. So, they’re supposed to be chained together by the ankles and said chain is to show how on the show you’re locked into a partnership — for better or for worse. I thought they had some great isolations — especially with the shoulders and chests, which I think the judges pointed out. I thought the chain could have been used to better effect, actually. It was so long, they really didn’t seem chained together. I just remember a ballroom routine — I think it was performed by Max Kozhevnikov and Yulia Zagoruychenko way back when and they were connected by their costumes, which wrapped around each other. They could unwrap themselves to an extent, but the fabric was connected, so they could only unwrap so far. It was mesmerizing watching how they worked that fabric, doing lifts even, connected the way they were. This was just not at that level, in terms of the prop.

And Karla and Vitolio’s Quickstep, choreographed by Jean Marc and France. I agree with the judges on this — one of Jean Marc and France’s best pieces on the show ever. Wow! That had everything — a couple of balletic jumps performed side-by-side with the batting of the feet (one of my favorite jumps in ballet), beautiful lifts, traditional Quickstep with all its fast, super-charged footwork with some fun social Charleston thrown in, excellent concept of him being a statue at a museum, she bringing him to life, and he placing her on the pedestal at the end. And of course excellent costume trick with one dress changing into another with the simple pull of a spaghetti strap. I thought they did very well with it too.

Except for the lack of a Pina Bausch tribute, I really enjoyed the show this week.

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MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAMS

 

 

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

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

 

 

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

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

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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MICHAEL TO THE RESCUE!: TERESA REICHLEN, JANIE TAYLOR AND TYLER ANGLE STAND OUT IN FINAL MIDSUMMER CAST

 

 

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

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

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

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

Anyway, here is Michael’s review:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

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"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”

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TONIGHT AT NEW YORK CITY BALLET

 

 

 

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

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

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

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

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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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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.