Here.
Oooh, he says he’s doing a modern version of Giselle (by Mats Ek), in February. Something worth going to Naples for…
VERONIKA PART ON DAVID LETTERMAN — WHO SAW IT?
Did you guys see it? If you missed it, basically, it was short but sweet. IMO they had Daniel Radcliffe on for far too long and her not enough, but … Anyway, he introduced her, called American Ballet Theater one of the most prestigious ballet companies, and remarked that they’d never had a ballet dancer on the show … except for Richard Simmons… — which garnered lots of laughs.
She came out in this gorgeous blue strapless satin-y-looking tea-length dress. She seemed a bit nervous, but who wouldn’t be?! David Letterman was sweet though and I think his silly questions and funny demeanor kind of calmed her, made her laugh. He asked her where she was from in Russia and she said yes, I am from St. Petersburg, in Russia. She has a beautiful thick Russian accent and her understanding of English is probably not perfect but so what — I think she was endearing to his audience because of her Russianness. I think it’s very hard to learn English if you’re Russian and vice versa for us.
He asked her what their schools were like in Russia, she said they were good. He asked if she always knew she wanted to be a ballerina and she said someone had told her family that she had pretty, long legs and so must become a ballet dancer. But then she kind of laughed at herself, shook her head and said no one in her family knows anything about ballet. “Well, except you,” he said, and everyone laughed.
Then he put some pictures of her up to the camera and had her explain what they were. The first was of her doing an arabesque in — I’m not sure which ballet it was. She named the step, and he asked her if it hurt! She laughed (as did the audience). The other picture was of her as Odette at the end of Swan Lake, preparing to commit suicide by jumping off the cliff and into the lake. She called it “the final pose” of the ballet and explained that she jumps onto a mat under the stage. He asked if it hurt and she laughed again and said no. My question of course is — but does David Hallberg’s flamboyant swan dive hurt? He’s got to land on his belly. That mat must be thick!
And that was all of the pictures unfortunately. I really wish they would have shown one like the one up top, of the no hands fish dive.. She could have explained how hard it is (and, in Dave’s lingo, how much it hurts 🙂 ) and of course she could have talked all about her wonderful partner, that Marcelo Gomes 😀
Or this picture too
Anything with a fancy lift, basically.
Then he whipped out some toe shoes and gave them to her. They must have discussed beforehand what she’d do with them because she seemed to grab them and begin putting them on right away. The camera homed in on her feet, so we all watched her tie the ribbons. Then she got up and he led her out to the non-carpeted area and she went on pointe. She took him by the hands and lifted her leg up in back of her, in arabesque, and kind of motioned for him to walk her around like in a promenade. But he didn’t really get it and instead emulated her, lifting his leg up in back too, in a very funky-looking attitude. It was all very cute.
And then it was over, too soon.
Anyway, I was out at ABT tonight being completely floored by Hee Seo’s absolutely stunning, tear-jerking portrayal of Juliet (best I’ve seen since Alessandra Ferri, honestly), and then having a little after-performance bite to eat at Ollie’s with a couple of fun new ballet / writer / publishing friends (the best kind!), who I met in the blogosphere (the best place to meet!) Write-up soon of Seo and Cory Stearns (who was very good too, albeit a bit nervous — but excellent chemistry those two!) But, because I still live in the dark ages home entertainment-system-wise and still use a VCR to record, I could only record one show — and had to choose Veronika over SYTYCD results. If anyone could fill me in on the latter, would be much appreciated!
NINA ANANIASHVILI'S FAREWELL PERFORMANCE WITH AMERICAN BALLET THEATER
The widely beloved ballerina from the Republic of Georgia gave her farewell performance, of Swan Lake, with ABT to a completely packed house on Saturday night. Angel Corella danced Siegfried and Marcelo Gomes von Rothbart.
Of course it was a wonderful performance, one her bizillions of adoring fans will never forget. It was my first time seeing her in this role and she was gorgeous. One thing that really struck me was how she’d wave her hands while in the guise of a swan. Not only her arms, like the other ballerinas do, but actually her hands. They looked like feathers they were so light and delicate and fluttering. I’d never seen anyone do that. She also did the rapidly fluttering foot during the White Swan pas de deux better than any ballerina I’ve seen. She is splendid at small details like that that make all the difference in a performance.
Unlike the others, she faced the audience, instead of the back of the stage, as she bourreed offstage after the end of the White Swan pas. I’m not sure if she always does that or if it was only this time since it was her last and she wanted to see the audience. Her face was full of sorrow but there was also this kind of “that’s life, that’s that, this is my fate” subtext behind her eyes — a thought Odette might have as well as a retiring ballerina. At the end, during bows, she bourreed offstage again, this time with her back to the audience, her face toward her pile of bouquets and the many dancers and former partners lined up onstage who’d come out to issue her her farewell. (Shown in pic below)
Of course Angel was his usual passionate Siegfried self, and Marcelo was a mouth-wateringly sexy von Rothbart. I liked the way he picked one court lady up (I think it was Misty Copeland) and tossed her aside, so he could flirt with another. Marcelo’s ultimately too sweet though and his sweetness shines through — I don’t see how anyone’s actually ever completely believed his performances as the quintessential bad guy 🙂 I also like how he jumped up to the throne, taking Siegfried’s princely place next to his mother, in one flying leap. It was acrobatic and eye-catching, and very presumptuous, as von Rothbart is. Actually, watching Marcelo made me like David Hallberg better — David was much like him. They both did the part very well. There were a few more giggles during David’s turn as von Roth, but that could have been because he’s usually “the nice guy.”
And of course Marcelo and Angel, both of them full of theatrics, had to pull the stunt of the season: at the end of the Black Swan pas de deux, Marcelo picked up Nina and tossed her high, right into Angel’s arms, and he caugh her in a fish dive. Very dramatic, and of course the audience went completely nuts with applause. They performed said stunt again during the curtain calls. I didn’t get a picture of it, but someone caught in on YouTube!!! Oh how I love illegally enthusiastic fans! Thanks to Haglund for finding it!
Here are a few more of my favorite pics:
What every girl wants — a hug from Marcelo! Even if he is dressed as evil von Rothbart.
Her little girl was brought out onstage and took a bow with her mother 🙂
Receiving a hug from Isaac Stappas, who danced von Rothbart in swamp creature form.
Getting a kiss from handsome Angel.
Giving a dancerly nod to conductor Ormsby Wilkins.
I love the arm in the air!
In front of the curtain with those two stuntsmen, either right before or right after aforementioned three-way-fish-dive.
Those are some of my favorites. See the full album here.
A couple of other hightlights: Blaine Hoven danced one of the Neapolitan high-jumper guys in the court scene. When he did this series of kick jumps, he sent his kicking leg nearly all the way up to his head. Maybe I should begin calling him Blaine Osipova…
And Simone Messmer danced as one of the girls in the Benno pas de trois. Recently I’ve begun to find her very captivating but am not sure why. One of the reasons, I’m now thinking, is that she is so amazingly athletic. She did this series of entrechats (high jumps where the feet change back and forth in front of and behind one another, like a braid) like a man! Seriously — those were damn David Hallberg entrechats! I don’t mean that in a bad way at all — my favorite ballerinas (aside from Janie Taylor 🙂 ) are the most athletic ones.
Trying to think of other things that happened during curtain call. David Hallberg was cute — he bowed down to her several times repeatedly as if to say “I’m not worthy, I’m not worthy.” Audience went wild. Gillian Murphy and Ethan Stiefel came out together. Roberto Bolle came out, all dapper, in a shiny black tux. I remember Paloma Herrera, Diana Vishneva, Maxim Beloserkovsky, Kevin McKenzie (who looked like he may cry). I didn’t see Jose Manuel Carreno (unless I missed him. What’s up with him though — he doesn’t seem to be dancing any more this season??) I didn’t spot Julie Kent, although she just had her baby so that’s understandable. Curtain calls lasted for maybe twenty minutes, although I’m not entirely sure since I had to leave to go to a housewarming party. Anyway, wonderful night. It goes without saying Nina has a huge amount of fans and will be badly missed.
ROBERTO BOLLE AND VERONIKA PART IN ABT’S SWAN LAKE
It’s kind of hard for me to be my usual enthusiastic self after hearing about the death of Pina Bausch earlier today, but I’m getting too far behind on blog posts to take the rest of the day off, so I’ll try.
Of course, I should have written about this performance earlier, but I was too busy at the stage door that evening, and then I’ve had a ballet every night since then. Anyway, hope I can make sense of my notes!
Overall impression was that they both — Veronika and Roberto — gave a beautiful, stunning performance, that he did very well when dancing on his own, that she did very well both on her own and when being partnered by him, and that she out-acted him. By a long shot. I have been told that (despite posing for photos like this) he is actually rather shy, though, and it did kind of seem like that at the stage door, so I think maybe he needs to get used to a ballerina for a while, and will do much better the more comfortable he gets. The reason I say that is because I loved him so much in Romeo and Juliet two years ago, and he danced wonderfully and completely comfortably with Alessandra Ferri. I think it’s just a matter of getting used to our ballerinas and perhaps American audiences.
Whenever he was on his own, his dancing and acting were solid. I really felt like I saw Odette flying away after Siegfried’s encounter with her, as Bolle’s sad eyes traced her imaginary path along the ceiling. And his early solo, when Siegfried is at the party, pre-Odette, and he’s feeling alone and ill at ease with his mother’s demands that he choose a wife, Bolle really conveyed that mixed emotion, confusion, loneliness. Later, his jumps were stellar. It just seemed that whenever he partnered Veronika, he was concentrating so hard, he had no time for emotion. So, Angel, Ethan, and Marcelo (when I last saw him as Siegfried, a year ago, anyway), were more passionate. But others think differently. Read Haglund (an excellent newish ballet blog by the way!) for a different take on Bolle’s performance.
Veronika was just gorgeous, and so passionate. She did her usual thing of taking me on her character’s journey with her, of making me feel Odette’s plight and pain, and Odile’s desires as well. She has such sweep and breadth, when he’d take her down into an arabesque penchee on pointe, her arms brushed the floor. And her extensions are always so breathtaking, and the overhead lifts — they are both so tall they were just spectacular, she just touched the sky. In the Black Swan Pas de Deux, she did the straight fouettes, as did Nina Ananiashvili the following night (review coming soon!) She has such height she moves a bit slower than other ballerinas and she didn’t really make the 32 fouettes, but who cares. She really devoured the stage with those fouettes, and when she did her turns around its perimeter. What’s important in that scene is how you eat up all the space around you and command the attention of the audience and poor Siegfried, and you can do that in a variety of ways — a ridiculous number of turns is only one. She had a really wicked smile all throughout that scene! I really love her!
Hehe, one other thing: poor Roberto. No one told him that, thanks to a certain David Hallberg, New York audiences are accustomed to an all-out Olympic gold medal-level Swan Dive off the cliff and into the lake at the end 🙂 Or perhaps he didn’t want to out swan dive his lady, because Veronika just kind of tossed herself off the cliff. Either way, Roberto followed her with a slight jump, not even really a jump — almost like he was falling into the water as well. Of course I’m partly joking about the need for an extravagant suicide jump, but I do have to say, in my quest to see casts other than my regulars this season, I did so miss that Hallberg dive!
A couple of other things: I have a bunch of stars next to Craig Salstein’s name in my Playbill so he must have done something I liked… Oh yes, he was one of the two Neapolitan high-bouncing jumping jack guys in the court scene. I also have written “violins ***” which reminds me that I thought the violinist was very good during von Rothbart’s seduction of the court ladies scene. I always forget about the hard-working orchestra!
ROBERTO BOLLE AND VERONIKA PART AT THE MET STAGE DOOR FOLLOWING SWAN LAKE
Review of the performance coming soon, but in the meantime, here are some photos I took at the Opera House stage door last night. First time I’ve ever been there and I mainly wanted to go to see the hysteria I’ve been told happens there whenever Roberto Bolle performs 🙂
Here with Ariel.
Love these girls’ expressions 🙂 So many really beautiful people — mainly Italians — there!
Was told to take a picture of his jeans label. Can’t completely see it though — it’s the brand he models for, right? I love his turned-out feet 🙂
He was mobbed by both men and women. He seemed a bit shy but maybe he just didn’t speak English that well. I was told he was shy though, interestingly.
And a couple of Veronika Part. She was really sweet, and very outgoing!
These people were so cute. I think they come every single night, whether they actually attend the performance or not. They set up a veritable candy stand atop a garbage can at the end of the hall so dancers can have a candy on the way out. “Gemma, Simone (fill in dancer name), will you be enticed tonight?” they call out all night. Simone Messmer has the most athletic female body I’ve ever seen, by the way.
Conductor Ormsby Wilkins showing off his conducting skills to some fans. Just kidding – -he’s just a very demonstrative talker 🙂
That was fun! Made for a loooong evening though. We didn’t get out of there till well after midnight.
Oh and a young ballet dancer and her mother approached me and told me they read my blog! They know Irina Dvorovenko and Max Beloserkovsky, so Ariel and I were treated to some cute stories about the couple and their little girl, Emma! They also went to the Rizzoli book signing that Roberto gave last week. Said they knew about it from my blog 😀 I wasn’t able to go since I was giving my own reading, but they filled me in. Said there were lots of people there, expectedly — but lots of older people, not a lot of young women, weirdly. We surmised not enough people knew about it. They showed me some pictures of him – – he was very dapper, dressed in a black suit! He said he liked to dress up.
Fun evening! Review coming soon.
BATTLE OF THE BLONDES: ETHAN STIEFEL’S SWAN-CHASING SIEGFRIED AND DAVID HALLBERG’S SEXY SINISTER SORCERER!
Too much fun at American Ballet Theater’s Swan Lake last night. I was so happy Ethan performed. He was injured early in the season and has been replaced in about everything he’s been scheduled for, so I was half expecting there to be an announcement someone else would be filling in, but happily not!
First, I just have to relate the most obnoxious thing I think I’ve ever seen an audience member do, which happened last night. After the fast, fun bravura-heavy Black Swan pas de deux, this man from, it sounded like a box at the top, shouted, and I mean SHOUTED, obviously for everyone to hear, that we should all be quiet and hold our applause until the dancers are done. Most people were astounded, some gave a bemused little laugh, some started clapping but I wasn’t sure whether they were applauding his suggestion or mocking him. Wow, that poor hyper-sensitive person should definitely not go to Russia or Cuba or places where people show their enthusiasm for dance more overtly. In any event, I’m pretty sure there are no formal rules of conduct on audience applause here. NOR FRIGGING SHOULD THERE BE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! I remember ABT used to have a little page at the beginning of the Playbill asking audience members to please be aware of their neighbors: if they have kids to make sure the kids aren’t kicking the seats in front of them or screaming or what not; no eating in the auditorium; silence all cell phones; etc. — things like that. I haven’t seen that page this season but I don’t remember any rules about when an audience is supposed to applaud.
The other day, the same thing happened, but on a less obnoxious level. I think it was during Sylphide and people clapped before Daniil Simkin had finished his variation and this guy next to me loudly and angrily whispered to all people within earshot of him to wait until Simkin finished.
I think people really need to calm down and let others be and not be so blasted controlling. I know some serious New York City Ballet fans are angry about all the “new audience” conduct and I am as well when that conduct includes checking cell phone messages and texts right during the performance (as a worrying number of young people do these days), freely talking to their neighbors throughout, bringing their own little picnic dinner to the Koch Theater and munching all through the performance, or worst of all taking flash pictures during the performance. They should be reprimanded by the ushers for doing such things, in my opinion. But when someone has an emergency coughing problem (like I sometimes do thanks to season-long allergies that come and go) and they need to take out a lozenge or take a sip of water, and they’re trying to be as quiet as possible while doing so, you just can’t get mad at that. And there was a discussion last year on The Winger where some commenters were outraged at what people were wearing to the ballet — pants, jeans, t-shirts, etc.
I think we all need to be considerate of one another, but I think we must be tolerant of one another as well and let everyone be human. Ballet companies are trying to grow their audiences — I don’t think they want to set rules on what people can wear and when they can applaud and warn them not to have an emergency allergy or else. If they do, then let them put the ground rules up front. They might want to seriously consider saying something about message checking though because a good number of people seem to think that’s okay — I don’t think they realize how brightly that little screen lights up and what a distraction it is to those around them. But in the meantime, until the dance companies figure out how to let audiences know what’s okay and what’s not, let’s just all respect each other.
I mean, absolutely no one has any place making up rules himself and then screaming them out at the whole audience during the performance. That was beyond ridiculous.
Okay diatribe finished!
So Ethan seemed pretty much, though maybe not completely, back in his usual excellent form. Maybe it was just me but I was a bit worried every time he jumped, especially when he landed on one leg, because I know he’s had the continuing problem with his knees. He seemed perfectly fine though. And his turns were excellent — he used them to show confusion and anguish up front when his Siegfried wasn’t so enamored with the ladies he was being presented with or his mother’s insistence he choose a bride now. He acted the part well. One thing I really love about him is how, after he became enamored of Paloma’s Odette, he’d run after her as fast as he possibly could, a speed demon, like if he didn’t catch her his life would crumble. I think Ethan’s the fastest Swan-chaser of a Siegfried I’ve seen 🙂
I really liked Paloma Herrera as Odette/Odile. She was one of the most dramatic Odettes I’ve seen and she used mime to excellent effect — her gestures really related what had happened to her and were very accessible, even to someone not schooled in ballet mime. I think she told Odette’s story to Siegfried better than any other ballerina I’ve seen. She was also very athletic — during the Black Swan pas she was just a blur when she did those turns around the perimeter of the stage. And during the fouette sequence, she threw in triple pirouettes between practically every fouette. She didn’t do the arms like Gillian Murphy, but her multiple pirouettes were stunning.
David Hallberg as von Rothbart stole every scene he was in. At the very beginning, when Paloma first came out onstage, waltzing about girlishly, naively, he was so wickedly devious as he lured her into his arms, then picked her up romantically, and then, as he dramatically tightened his fists around her his evil intentions became clear. I wish he would have done the Black Swan pas the same way. He’s such a miraculous dancer that you can’t take your eyes off him throughout that whole scene, and many in the audience were giggling as the court ladies bowed down to him, almost melting into the floor at the sight of him. He was all wicked sexy seductor. But what makes von Rothbart so villainous is that he’s a trickster. He draws the ladies like Odette into his web by being all romantic and charming, though virilely so, and then when they’re least suspecting, he bites. He’s a classic predator. I think David was a little too evil from the get-go, but only in that scene. And someone, I think Demicontremps, said every time he wants to show an emotion, he widens his eyes. I agree. I’ve seen him do that a lot and I think subtlety can work a lot better. I’ll see Marcelo in this role tomorrow night though (my first time seeing him as von Rothbart!) and I’ll probably have better-formed opinions after that. I haven’t seen a lot of really mesmerizing dancers do this role before, so I really haven’t paid it much attention. Watching David was the first time I thought how powerful — and how entertaining — that role can really be.
To wrap up, I also liked Blaine Hoven, Hee Seo and Melanie Hamrick in the Benno and ladies pas de trois. Blaine is really developing into an artist — he not only executed all of those hard jumps with great precision and articulation, but he also played with the musicality a bit, slowing things down here and holding a line there — it made for more captivating, intriguing dancing. I think he might have picked it up from Ethan because I saw Ethan doing the same. Hee Seo is so beautifully light on her feet. The woman behind me went “Ahhhhh,” when she did those hops on pointe and everytime she began a variation. I also liked Arron Scott and Mikhail Ilyin in the “Neapolitan” ballroom section, as the two high-jumping court jester-types.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE WEEK THREE ELIMINATIONS, AND RIP MICHAEL JACKSON
Well, that was a nice tribute to Michael Jackson that Nigel gave at the top of the show. His contribution to the dance world really cannot be overestimated and it was very fitting. It really brought the point home, to me at least, that he actually died. Did you guys see all that on Twitter today? @BreakingNews tweeted about it, a bunch of people linked, then a lot of weird things started happening. Misinformation was being fed, sites were being linked to that looked like real news sites, reporting things like the cardiac arrest was caused by a “drug overdose”, by his taking 24 sleeping pills, “an apparent suicide,” police “found him dead in his apartment,” etc. And then @BreakingNews started reporting that those other websites were invalid and warned people to pay no attention to them. Then some sites, like TMZ reported he’d died, others like CNN said he’d been resuscitated and was in critical condition, then reports were he was in a coma, etc. People were tweeting like nuts: “No, he’s only in hospital;” “No, he passed”; “No, CNN specifically said he’s alive,” etc. I left for the ballet at 7:00 p.m. honestly not knowing whether the whole thing was real or not.
I started thinking of him again, for some strange reason during the dance of the four cygnets (it was Swan Lake at ABT). I have no idea why I started thinking of him at that point. That part was danced excellently tonight (I could tell by the wild applause and by my few glimpses up at the ballerinas onstage) but my mind was elsewhere throughout the whole thing. I didn’t really watch it at all.
So it IS for real. But no less unbelievable.
I’m glad they showed part of Thriller on SYTYCD. I wish they would have shown the whole thing, but of course, there wasn’t enough time. I’m sure we’re all going to be remembering his best work over the next several weeks; well, for longer than that, for a while.
Anyway, the eliminations: I thought Jason’s solo tonight was really good. I’m surprised the judges didn’t. I didn’t think he was shaky and falling all over himself, like Nigel said; I thought he danced with passion and with great articulation, in the mid-body especially, and I thought his little solo had a structure. Ditto for Karla’s. The rest I thought were full of tricks, although, again, I can’t blame the dancers for throwing every gymnastic tumbling pass, grand jete, split, grand battement, and whipping fouette they can possibly pull off — both because they think the judges want that and because this could be their last dance and the audience goes for the pyrotechnics. They want to show what they are athletically capable of doing.
I’m not surprised Asuka left — I didn’t really think she was that great of a Latin dancer to begin with I’m sorry to say. Even tonight’s solo — some of the moves may have been sexy and all, but they were a bit sloppy. The bachachatas (tiny backsteps), for example, were not precise at all. And Jonathan — well, I’m sorry to see him go because I really liked him. I thought he had a great dance personality and he’s done very well in prior weeks (like last week). But seeing as how it was either him or Vitolio or Jason, I’m not surprised. So I guess the new couple next week will be Vitolio and Karla. I think they should make a pretty good partnership. We’ll see.
Wow, there’s a fight outside my apartment window — lots of cursing. Gotta go!
GILLIAN MURPHY AND ANGEL CORELLA’S MOST PASSIONATE SWAN LAKE
Last night’s Swan Lake at ABT was the best I can ever remember seeing. Honestly. Angel Corella was the most passionate Prince Siegfried full of, by turns, intense longing, boyish amazement, passionate love, sexual excitement, sorrow, tragic pathos, etc. etc. etc. And Gillian was the ideal combination of swan and human being — not too ethereal to have a human connection with him, but also not entirely of this world, representing his ideal.
The White Swan pas de deux, which I am often bored by, was just breathtaking, oozing with passion. You could just seen Angel’s boyish marvel at Odette transform into romantic love. I don’t think anyone arches her back quite like Gillian. And Angel was all over her, resting his head on her chest when she’d end in that arched back pose. And those overhead lifts were heart stopping. They were the same lifts Marcelo Gomes did with Nina Ananiashvili in Le Corsaire — where he lifts her so high and she arches back so far she just looks weightless and you wonder how in the world she’s staying up there like that.
Audience went nuts for them. And at the end of the pdd, Angel harkened Gillian out for another bow. He let her have all the applause, and bowed to her, though the audience was going crazy for them both. So cutely boyishly deferential to his ballerina 🙂
And at the end of that pas d’action, when Odette turns back into a swan and floats off the stage, Gillian marked the tranformation from girl to swan with razor sharpness, shooting her arms out almost violently to her sides right as von Rothbart’s wicked theme begins in the music. And then she moved her arms up and down with such expansiveness and fluidity — she definitely had the biggest, most beautiful “wing span” of any ballerina I’ve seen!
And then in the Black Swan pas de deux that gorgeous wing span returned. Between every fouette, Gillian would do multiple pirouettes and raise her arms up and down, up and down. She really looked like she was flying. The audience went completely nuts. And Angel! Those two are the quintessential spinners! His fouettes, well they were just Angel fouettes – -no one, NO ONE turns like that man, with that kind of speed and wildness 🙂 And he kept leaning his head far to the side when he’d dip Gillian’s Odile. It was interesting because it looked dramatic and original and all but it also looked like he was really falling under her spell, like a foreshadowing of his encroaching ruin.
Jared Matthews danced like I’ve never seen him, not only perfectly clean but really nailing with precision and detail all of those jumps in his Benno (Siegfried’s friend) solo. Honestly, I’ve never seen him dance so well. He danced Benno’s pas de trois with Maria Riccetto, and Stella Abrera. It was my first time seeing Stella dance something difficult since her injury and she was perfect. She really lit up the stage and I can’t wait for her to make her full return.
Gennadi Saveliev and Roman Zhurbin danced von Rothbart, Roman in the sorcerer’s swamp creature form. And Roman completely took over every scene he was in, which is typical for that one 🙂 I don’t know what it is — others like Vitali Krauchenka who dance that part — are taller and larger, but somehow Roman just has a way of eating up space. He kept bending his knee and lunging far to the side for one thing, which gave him a lot of breadth. And he really threw those caped wings about with such flair. Roman, ever the scene stealer!
But Gillian and Angel really made the night. They’re just magic together. Just everything they do — at one point, they were doing a series of assisted pirouettes and it really looked like she was just spinning herself around and around. Of course she wasn’t but that’s how it should look; it shouldn’t really look like the guy’s doing the work.
Ever so fortunately, there’s actually a DVD of this cast (but with Marcelo as von Rothbart!), so everyone can see it. And watch some YouTube clips: here, here, here, and here. The last link is to the Black Swan solos. Gillian doesn’t do the rapidly “flapping” arms there, but the straight fouettes. I wonder if that’s a new invention of hers…
THIS WEEK: SWANS, SWANS AND MORE SWANS, AND AN URBAN BOLERO
Yep, here come the Swans! Tonight begins ABT’s Swan Lake week.
I had another hard time choosing casts. I ended up opting for the ones I haven’t yet seen, but they are really all worth seeing:
Tonight, Monday, beautiful, dramatic Irina Dvorovenko and Maxim Beloserkovsky open the ballet, with my favorite Marcelo Gomes as the villain von Rothbart;
Tuesday are powerhouse Gillian Murphy dancing with forever enchanting Angel Corella;
Wednesday and Saturday matinees are David Hallberg and Michele Wiles with my new fave Cory Stearns as the villain;
Wednesday evening is critically acclaimed Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes (this time as Prince Siegfried);
Thursday night are Paloma Herrera and Ethan Stiefel (fingers crossed he’s recovered from his injury);
Friday night is my favorite Vernonika Part with Italian star Roberto Bolle and David Hallberg as von Roth;
And the week will end Saturday night with the knockout, perhaps the biggest night of the entire season: widely beloved Georgian ballerina Nina Ananiashvili will give her farewell performance with ABT. She’s dancing with Angel Corella, and Marcelo again as von Roth.
Meanwhile downtown, don’t forget about Keigwin + Company at the Joyce, opening Tuesday night, and alternating nights with Nicholas Leichter Dance.
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.
AMERICAN BALLET THEATER OPENING NIGHT!
Yay, the season has offically begun! This picture was taken during intermission; that’s why it doesn’t look that crowded. I was sprinting in, nearly late, as usual, so didn’t have time to snap some pics before the performance but fortunately it was still light outside during intermission.
Anyway, Michelle Obama (who served as one of the gala’s honorary chairs) looked smashing in a sleek dark grey sleeveless, knee-length dress with tiny black ruffles lining the bottom. I’m sure there will be beaucoup des pictures seeing as how many blasted camera people there were; I’ll be sure to steal some when they’re posted on all the society websites 🙂 (Oh, look, here it is in the NYTimes already)
It was just about the craziest thing I’ve seen on the Met Opera stage: after Veronika Part’s mouthwatering Mozartiana opened the show, artistic director Kevin McKenzie came out and thanked everyone who needed thanked — all the donors, designer Caroline Herrera who funds the gala, etc., and Senator Chuck Schumer came out and gave a little talk about the importance of funding for the arts, etc. Then, Schumer disappeared behind the curtain and moments went by. Everyone kind of looked around at each other like “what’s going to happen next?!”
Soon, the curtain was pulled back to allow some people to carry out a podium with a banner “American Ballet Theater” draped over its front. The doors to the lobby opened and a flock of people bearing weapon-sized cameras blasted in. Several men dressed in black promptly rose from their aisle seats and followed the flock of weapon-camera-bearers to the front of the aisle, near the stage. Caroline Kennedy was announced. She came out, everyone applauded, and she mentioned that the school of ballet associated with ABT, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, would be performing on the Met Opera stage for the first time ever tonight. Everyone ooohed and aaahed. Then, she announced First Lady Michelle Obama.
The curtain pulled back again and out she came. Of course everyone gave a standing ovation. She smiled radiantly, then, after a moment, directed us to be seated. Then she gave a short speech. It was a little hard to focus on what she was saying with everyone — both professional photographers and audience members with cell phone and digital cameras alike — flashing away as they were, but she talked about the necessity of the Arts for a culture to flourish, the importance of arts education, etc. Then she introduced the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School students.
As soon as she disappeared behind the curtain, the auditorium remained still pending the exit of the flock of pro camera wielders. It’s funny because there were all these non-dance writers in the press section. You could hear the sighs of relief, the sinking down into the chairs, and the putting away of pens and paper — and cell phones, which they’d used to light their writing paper during Mrs. Obama’s speech, which would have been extremely annoying had it not been for all the flashing bulbs anyway. But it made me wonder how they’d ever survive as performing arts critics! I mean, who needs light to see to write!
Anyway, the students were excellent. They performed Le Defile (The Procession) by Raymond Lukens. There were three large groups of them, in three levels — the very little ones, a medium-age / level group, and the older, very advanced ones. The choreography was basically a showcase of classical ballet steps, much like a very advanced ballet class — jumps, jumps with changing feet, jumps with changing feet that went on forever performed by a set of advanced boys (which drove the audience to wild applause), jetes, chaine turns, multiple pirouettes, fouttes, etc., and then a bit of partnering. It gave the students a chance to show what they could do — and the advanced ones could do a great deal! Extremely impressive, and great fun.
Then on were Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo doing an excerpt from August Bournonville’s La Sylphide. This was the most dramatic I think I’ve ever seen Xiomara. I was sitting in the back of the orchestra and she really projected. She was really sweet. And Herman as always amazed with his virtuosity, his jumps, his razer-sharp precision, his astounding clarity of line.
The corps in both this, La Sylphide, and Swan Lake, later in the evening, were absolutely amazing, by the way. Not a head arched back more than the others, not a leg raised higher. They were all so on. When they work together like that, in perfect unity; it’s really visually breathtaking.
Then was Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux danced by Ethan Stiefel and Gillian Murphy. Ethan and his strutting around stage, taking his own good time after their duet and before beginning his solo, making the conductor wait for him! And his high jumps with all miraculously many beats of the feet. I wished my friend Alyssa could have come so she could see he’s not just Mr. Sexy; he’s a superb dancer. And Gillian was radiant, and a perfect foil with her speed-of-light chaine turns. They enjoyed a long, slow kiss during the curtain call. The audience went mad!
Then was the hunt scene from Sylvia danced by Michele Wiles followed by a piece d’occasion (the first of two of the night), by Alexei Ratmansky, for Nina Ananiashvili, called Waltz Masquerade. It was set to the Waltz from Aram Khachaturian’s Masquerade Suite and it was cute and comical. She was dressed in this long, red dramatic, Carmen-like dress with a sexy black lace overlay on the top. There were four tuxedoed men, each bearing a gold candlelabra, one at each corner of the stage. These men turned out to be: Jose Carreno at the front left corner; Marcelo Gomes, at back left; Angel Corella back right; and a blonde on the front right who I initially thought was David Hallberg (I was sitting FAR back from the stage!) until the fun began and he shook his head about like a sassy mop and I realized DH just does not have enough goofball in him to do such a thing, even if he tried. So, I decided it was either Ethan or Maxim Beloserkovky. Anyway, Nina’s character was supposed to be dancing about the stage in a melodramatic solo — but it was purposefully melodramatic, and so comical. Like a silly, cartoon version of an upcoming swan song, really, which, is of course, what’s coming up for her later in the season (and will be much more sobering when it does). At one point, she just passionately crashes to the ground and remains there, in a heap. Nothing happens. The men, obviously her servants, start looking at each other like, what now? They shrug, slowly walk over to her. Then, Marcelo starts imitating her melodramatic dance, but far more cartoonishly, and of course it’s hilarious. The others join in. Max (I think it was Max, not Ethan) does his thrashing hair thing. I couldn’t see facial expressions but I assume they were making fun of their master. Then she wakes up, catches them, and they’re sent back to their posts.
After intermission was the balcony pas de deux from MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, danced by Marcelo and Diana Vishneva. At first, Diana approaches her balcony with all the drama of a ballerina playing Juliet, rather than Juliet herself. I rolled my eyes. This is what I don’t like about her. She’s an excellent dancer but she’s all about the pomp and circumstance and not about the character. Maybe it’s a Russian thing, but I don’t see that in Veronika Part or Irina Dvorovenko. Anyway, she eventually lightened up, thankfully, and I felt like I was watching not a prima ballerina being a prima ballerina but Juliet herself, falling hopelessly in love. When she runs around him one foot solid on the ground, the other on pointe, it’s so girlish, so real yet so poetic. Those are the best — I don’t know what to call them — runs around kneeling Romeo — that I’ve ever seen — not even Alessandra Ferri’s were that sweet. Still, I felt some of the lifts lacked the beauty and magic of those Marcelo and Julie Kent do together when they dance this scene. I don’t feel she dances that well with a partner; she’s more into herself. Marcelo’s leaps around the stage and big high passionate jumps were thrilling. He got some good bravos for those.
Then were Paloma Herrera and Max Beloserkovsky in the Act II pas de deux from Swan Lake. I was hoping it’d be the Black Swan pdd, but no. I guess the program was pretty bravura-heavy already. I don’t see him dance much, but Max is really quite good. He’s really a character and he’s the perfect Prince Siegfried, regal yet vulnerable and tragically in love. And he’s a good partner.
Then was the mad fun of Le Corsaire, with Irina Dvorovenko, David Hallberg as Conrad, and Angel Corella as Ali. Except something happened at the beginning and I hope David’s okay. The tallest guy in the entire opera house had to sit in front of me and I was trying to navigate my way around his enormous head just as a bunch of people up front went “Oooooooh!” When I was finally able to see the stage, Irina was standing in front of David, face toward the audience. She didn’t seem to have any particular expression on her face, but, then, I was light years away from her. Then David did an assisted pirouette with her and everyone applauded, so it must have been a lift that didn’t quite happen or something. Anyway, I hope he’s okay; I know his shoulder sometimes comes out of socket. Anyway, all seemed to be fine after that: all three were brilliant. Of course. Angel astounded, as always, and I started giggling during his first solo and couldn’t stop all the way through the second. I love Irina. She was radiant. She did those continuous turning kicks on pointe like they were nothing. She has the drama and the virtuosity when needed and the always beautiful, graceful lines. And David’s leaps all over the stage were magnificent. I could see this goofy ballet over and over and over again, as long as no one gets hurt 🙂 Angel did not leap out from behind the curtain during curtain call, sadly.
Then there was another piece d’occasion. Herbie Hancock played piano, onstage, while first Jose Carreno, then Stella Abrera, danced to his music. This was cute and comical as well, and kind of reminiscent of Jerome Robbins’s Other Dances or Suite of Dances, where the dancer(s) connect mainly with the musician. At one point, Hancock went nuts with the keys, obviously way too fast to be danceable, and Jose stopped in his tracks, looked over at him, and lifted his hands, like what gives, dude? He sat down near the base of the piano and just rested. The same happened with Stella. She danced, then stopped and gave Hancock a look when he began another little virtuoso section. She finally sat down beside him on the piano bench, and eventually, he ended on a romantic note, she snuggling next to him softly, sweetly.
The evening ended with the finale of Balanchine’s Theme and Variations. The leads were danced by Sarah Lane and Daniil Simkin. It was a nice way to end the program, but with the likes of Simkin, I wondered why they only did that group finale, where he and Sarah are basically leading a processional, instead of some of the earlier bravura parts with all the corkscrew turns for the man. An opening night gala performance is meant at least in part to showcase the dancers doing what they do best, and he is best at the bravura stuff, not leading processionals.
Anyway, the whole night, as usual, was magic. Saw Sigourney Weaver and Kelly Ripa in the audience.
Oh, for my Dancing With the Stars readers, I taped the show, but for lord knows what reason it was somehow muted. I have no idea how on earth I managed to do such a thing, but it was pretty amusing watching the show in pure silence — no words, no music. Needless to say, I’ll have to watch online tomorrow.
But now, dead tired, must sleep. Goodnight.
HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY
My mom knows I like Swan Lake and so sent me this, so I thought it fitting to post today. I remember some of these feats from Superstars of Dance, but I remember the arabesque on the guy’s shoulders, not his head!