It's 6:39 a.m. - wonder how long the standing room line is at The Met Opera House for tonight's opening of Wagner's Das Rheingold. You can still get a seat, however, for the paltry sum of $1400. But if you're a real New Yorker, you'll stand for the whole damn thing - outside, either on the Josie Robertson Plaza or in Times Square. See you there.
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September 2010
September 27, 2010
September 26, 2010
NYCB – Estancia 9/25 matinee
It was a little discouraging to see so many empty seats at the NYCB Saturday matinee. What happened to the bus-loads of bunheads that used to come in from the outskirts of the city for these matinees and squeal from the Fourth Ring? Not that Haglund misses the squealing but he'd put up with it to see a fuller house.
The program opened with Martins'
Grazioso which received a blistering performance from
Ashley Bouder, Gonzalo Garcia, Daniel Ulbricht, and
Andrew Veyette. When you put all of these principals on stage
in competing allegro, you know that each dancer will kill himself trying to do
his best. One of the few noticeable variances in competence came when each man
had to perform turns a la seconde. Garcia and Veyette managed their turns
respectably but then Ulbricht blew through them like a cyclone. He also drew
gasps from the audience when he vaulted up into a split with legs in a la
seconde. However, today his legs appeared to exceed 180 degrees and the torso
slumped a bit. His petite allegro, however, was a marvel to behold – so fast, so
effortless. Ashley Bouder more than held her own against the male allegro
dynamos. She was flirty and competitive and, as usual,
supercharged. (FYI, there's a FB page entitled Dancers against petite allegro. It's under the category Common Interest-Beliefs and Causes.)
This was Haglund's second viewing of Sterling
Hyltin and Jared Angle in Duo
Concertant. The steps were all there clearly and convincingly,
but the chemistry wasn't. Angle looked uncomfortable with the
emotional/theatrical requirements of the piece, especially those that required
stillness around the piano with the occasional glance toward his partner. He
pretty much just stared straight at the violinist.
Haglund finally got his first look at Christopher
Wheeldon's Estancia having passed it up last season,
because he incorrectly assumed it would be more of the same pretzel PdD'ing and
little else. But he's glad to see that Wheeldon has ventured back into the
story ballet and that he appreciates the masters MacMillan and de Mille enough
to model some of his choreography after them. But that's how you learn, right?
Imitate the masters. Some of Alberto Ginastera's musical phrases reminded Haglund of Stravinsky or perhaps
Bernstein's Stravinsky influences. Imitate the masters in practice - just be
careful how far you go with the borrowing in your final product.
The audience would have picked up the gist of
the sufficiently interesting and danceable story (slick city boy meets
country girl, has trouble connecting, finally tangles with a wild horse and wins
her over) without the page and a half of program notes. The detailed notes
created expectations that the ballet didn't deliver. So, slash the notes and
have some confidence in the audience's intelligence and in the choreography's
ability to stand on its own.
Tyler Angle and Tiler Peck fleshed out their characters
with warmth and charm. Their extended PdDs inspired wholesome romance with
interesting little surprises, like when Juliet jumped with a half turn into
Romeo's arms. Haglund really meant to say Country Girl and City Boy there, of
course.
The horsey business was creative, funny, inventive and a
pleasure to watch. The idea of the wild horses carrying their tails in hand
while dancing was a little bit of genius - Picasso-like in its effect. The
leather harness used to tame the wildest one (superbly danced by Andrew
Veyette) was perhaps a bit overdone. Haglund will return to see this piece
again for the wild horses and for some of the exciting corps work that Wheeldon
devised. The choreography of the finale easily matched the energy
and colorfulness of Ginastera's score and really seemed to lift the
audience's spirits. In Estancia, we saw Wheeldon take a small
step toward adapting dance vocabulary to pursue a storyline - something that de
Mille did so brilliantly. It sparked an interest as to what he will do with
Alice in Wonderland for the Royal Ballet next year.
The final piece on the program was Danses Concertantes
lead by Sterling Hyltin and Gonzalo Garcia. These days it's very hard not to
adore Hyltin in anything she dances. But for some funky fingers and excessive
wrist whipping, she's a clear and unaffected voice for most every choreographer,
and she makes every guy she stands in front of look better. But Haglund wishes
that she and some of the other blond ballerinas would retreat from the white
makeup and red lipstick that makes them look deathly. Let us see the wholesome,
individual beauties that Henry Leutwyler discovered in his
photographs.
For Saturday's matinee, Haglund bestows this Christian Louboutin leather bootie Pump Bump Award on the horseys in Estancia:
September 24, 2010
September 23, 2010
NYCB - Interplay, Opus 19/The Dreamer,
Who Cares? 9/23
Wednesday evening's crowd at NYCB was sparse but enthusiastic and vocal. Wednesdays and Tuesdays are
going to grow more popular as the year progresses. NYCB has re-instituted its early
7:30 curtain but with one intermission per evening. That generally gets you
out of the theater before 9:30 and home before bedtime crankiness sets
in.
The program opened with Robbins'
Interplay led by Joaquin De Luz and
Sterling Hyltin. There really aren't any leaders in this
piece, but when De Luz and Hyltin hit the stage dancing with others or
independently, their movement was noticeably more articulate and invested than everyone else. The men, in particular, tended to look mushy when dancing along
side De Luz whose energy, sharpness, and command of technique breathes 21st
century life into the choreography. True, the other men were corps or soloist,
but they should analyze the extra effort that makes De Luz as great as he is -
and then try to match it.
Robbins' Opus 19/The Dreamer,
conceived for Baryshnikov and McBride in 1979,
was given a different sort of interpretation last night by Wendy
Whelan and Gonzalo Garcia - but no complaints here.
These two dancers match each other in physical leanness and defined muscularity
and that in itself made the piece interesting to watch. Ethereal and elusive
qualities were not on display, but amazing coordination was. Lydia
Hong's violin solo was exceptionally beautiful - and aren't we rich to
have this quality of musician playing in the pit night after night.
Balanchine's Who Cares? was
terrific last night. And chalk one up for the "ordinary guy" who gets to dance
with the glamorous women and truly knows how lucky he is. Ask La
Cour debuted in the male lead; the principal women were Sara
Mearns, Jenifer Ringer, and Teresa Reichlen. It's La
Cour's ordinariness that makes Haglund root for him. He's not handsome but not
homely. He's not brilliant but not awkward. His allegro can sort of sparkle
but his pirouettes are always ineffective, because he insists on bringing his
hands into his chest instead of holding them in a strong first position. But he
tries so hard and is so sincere when dancing with his partners that, well, you
just want to root for him to do better.
Jenifer Ringer and Sara Mearns were especially glamorous
in their solos while Teresa Reichlen had a a shy excitement like she was out on
her first date. The corps and soloists were in top form and danced exuberantly,
particularly Rebecca Krohn, who by the way, debuts in
Serenade next Thursday evening.
Been meaning to mention how nice it is to see Albert Evans listed at the top of the
program as one of the Ballet Masters.
Haglund bestows this Oscar de la Renta Pump Bump Award on Joaquin De Luz who always brilliantly manages the style - whatever it is - and truly is an example to be followed by all others:
September 22, 2010
September 20, 2010
September 19, 2010
Sunday rambling
As he was saying, Haglund would have gone to the NYCB
Sunday matinee had it not been for the most awful, upsetting experience at Petco
- where the pets go. The store has been sprucing up over the past couple of
months and this weekend decided to have a little grand opening to celebrate the
makeover. It was like a zoo there, no kidding.
Haglund was politely pushing
his way up the aisle to the cat food when all of a sudden there was this loud
commotion. One of the animals had gotten loose. Yes, loose! Upon
hearing all of the screeching, Haglund turned around and saw this wild animal
racing straight at him. Oh, the horror. He tried to duck into the side
aisle, but the animal came after him, cornering him by the cans of minced turkey
and tuna and then – almost unbelievably – snatched the Newsweek Magazine right
out of Haglund's hand and began reading it! Haglund was
shivering in the boots that he wasn't wearing - he was that scared.
But he wasn't too scared to be thinking clearly enough to know that he had to
get the evidence needed to put this animal away. So he flipped out his cell
phone camera and shot what needed to be shot and turned and ran. This monster must be caught and brought to justice!
NYCB – Balanchine/Stravinsky Evening 9/18
Haglund enjoyed NYCB's full evening of
Stravinsky/Balanchine works Saturday night. There was a good sized crowd on
hand but apparently the word has not gotten around that the theater now opens a
half hour earlier so that patrons can enjoy a drink, sit on the soft comfy
chairs on the promenade and experience Henry
Leutwyler's stunning photography along the walls. The gift boutique is
well-stocked with some gem items including lots of old issues of Ballet Review
for $3 each. When Haglund bought a copy from 2001, the boutique volunteer
mentioned that someone had purchased 30 old issues that very afternoon. Also,
some of the big coffee table books are on sale. Really, People, getting to the
theater an extra half hour early is a great way to wind down from the day and
de-stress a bit before plopping the butt down in the chair for two
hours.
Also have to mention that it appears that some of the
ushers may have gone to charm school over the summer. "Good evening,
Gentlemen. Welcome. It's nice to have you here." Over and over again. Could
this be a trend? Perhaps New Yorkers will begin beating each other over the
head with politeness. Wouldn't that be something.
Monumentum Pro Gesualdo,
beautifully danced by Maria Kowroski with Charles
Askegard, and Movements for Piano and
Orchestra, again danced by Maria with Sebastien
Marcovici, are always paired on programs apparently because they have
always been paired on programs. When premiered in the early 1960s these pieces
were startling and inventive and shook up the concept of American ballet.
Today, they seem a little cliched and close to becoming museum pieces. It's
nobody's fault. It's just that over the past fifty years, we've seen so many
of the steps, combinations and patterns reused in other choreography – both
Balanchine's and others' – where it has been dialed up in intensity and adorned
with others' ideas of creativity. Every time someone has a brilliant, creative
idea which he brings to fruition, there are less brilliant and less
creative artists who can't come up with their own ideas, so they build on
someone else's successful work. Then the art form becomes saturated with
everyone's visions of someone else's original. Nevertheless, Maria is always
mesmerizing and the shapes which she manages with those exquisitely shaped limbs
are always stunning.
Duo Concertant still rings
original and inventive. Danced by Sterling Hyltin and
Jared Angle, it has lots of room for the dancers' personalities
to shine through. Haglund has seen Sterling Hyltin in this ballet twice – the
first time with Robert Fairchild. Have to say that Fairchild
delivered a richer theatrical reading of the ballet than Angle did. There was a
lot more communication and rapport between Fairchild and Hyltin than with Angle
and Hyltin. She was just lovely in every way but Angle needs to find a way to
get into the moment of the ballet. He just wasn't
present as much as he should have been.
Danses Concertantes led
by Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette was colorful and spirited. Balanchine created this piece for
the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in 1944 and then revised it for the 1972
Stravinsky Festival. The original Ballet Russe scenery and costume designs by
Eugene Berman continue to be used. The compact tutu worn by Fairchild is a gorgeous work
of art with its yellow center and dark gray outer edging with the under-layers of
tulle also dark gray. She and Veyette were splendid as they sliced through the
allegro sections. Haglund keeps thinking that Fairchild could be "taller" on
stage in a tutu if she maintained more space between her extensions and her
torso, i.e., legs not so high, and concentrated on pushing the top of that foot
over more.
Stravinsky Violin Concerto
closed the evening with a fantastic performance from Rebecca Krohn, Amar
Ramasar, Janie Taylor and Ask LaCour. Krohn simply
sizzled in her variations and in her PdD with Ramasar. She is looking extremely
strong, capable and confident - a matured artist. After seeing her expressive
interpretation of the Summer section of The Four
Seasons on Opening Night and her fine performance tonight, Haglund
looks forward to seeing how she handles some of the tutu roles this year.
The corps seemed more coordinated in the latter two pieces
than in the opening two. As last year, Lauren King continues
to draw the eye. While her technique is basically on par with the other
dancers, her warmth radiates far into the house and her communication and
rapport with her partners lights them up as well.
Haglund continues to be grateful for this new Fall Season
and bestows the evening's Pump Bump Award on Rebecca Krohn for her fiery feet in last night 's Stravinsky Violin Concerto:
September 17, 2010
September 15, 2010
NYCB – Opening Night of the Fall Season 9/14 What a party!
The audience practically stormed the gates to get into the theater tonight for NYCB's inaugural fall season at Lincoln Center. Exceptional entertainment at prices that were both reasonable and democratic, a snazzy jazz trio playing on the promenade before the performance and free booze at intermission – if only more of New York was this hospitable.
To open its first ever fall season at Lincoln Center,
NYCB priced all of its tickets at either $50 or $25 - that's $50 for orchestra
prime through the third ring while all sections of the fourth ring were $25.
Then at intermission the festive house staff served everyone champagne. Happy
was the audience. And so it should have been.
At the beginning of the evening, Peter Martins came
before the curtain to address the audience and explain that NYCB was making a
tremendous effort to be sure that audience members enjoyed themselves. He
remarked how usually the season's emphasis is on choreography but this year he
wanted to direct attention to the dancers themselves by displaying the gorgeous
photographs of the principals by Henry Leutwyler along the promenade and by
introducing each principal on stage before the evening's dancing began.
Balanchine's choreography would have meant nothing were it not for the living, breathing, thinking artists who have all
these years literally embodied it. It is their very individual live
performances that are of premier importance, not his catalog of steps.
Haglund thinks that every NYCB season should begin with
Balanchine's Serenade. After all, Serenade was the beginning
of the beginning – the first ballet Balanchine created in America – and remains
today among the most appealing choreography he created. The music is, in a
sense, NYCB's anthem. Tschaikovsky's opening bars of Serenade for Strings in C
makes the listener straighten his spine and push down the shoulders, readying
his attention for the important event to come – very similar in its effect to
the glorious opening anthem of Delibes' Sylvia – a piece of music much admired
by Tschaikovsky.
And so the evening began with a stirring performance of
Serenade that marked the New York debut of Janie Taylor. Megan
Fairchild, Sara Mearns, Charles Askegard and Ask La Cour rounded out the strong
principal cast. Have to say that Janie Taylor, after a bit of a bumpy start and
less than confident pirouettes, really pulled some drama out of this
piece. She was exquisite in the Russian section and the final Elegy during
which her ridiculously gorgeous waist length hair and flying blue tulle skirt
had lives of their own on that stage – accenting the music, swirling around
Janie, seemingly leading her to that final iconic moment when she stood atop
the shoulders of one of a group of men who led her upstage as her upper body
combred backward toward the audience.
Megan Fairchild was superb in all respects tonight –
breezy jumps alternating with grounded movements where you could sense her
energy pushing through the floor. The joy that she conveys when dancing is
quickly making her one of Haglund's favorites.
After a brief pause, Ashley Bouder, Gonzalo Garcia,
Daniel Ulbricht and Andrew Veyette performed Peter Martins' Grazioso to music by
Glinka. Haglund had not seen this piece before and was pleasantly surprised at
the high level of creativity, entertainment, substantive technique, musicality
and lack of cliches. It is a virtuosity hamburger, if you will. It's a piece
that shows off what these particular four dancers do best and like to do. We
saw some brilliant sissonnes that changed direction from Ulbricht and pristine
allegro from Bouder. There was some attractive choreography where as Bouder
danced, the men replaced one another as her partner. Haglund liked this piece
and thinks it is one of Martins' more successful efforts.
It took a while to round up everyone from the
intermission and get them back to their seats. Many could be observed walking
around the promenade with a champagne flute in each fist. When there's free
champagne to guzzle, the urgency of returning to the night's purpose becomes
lost. Haglund threw back several flute-fulls - well, they were really only half full
- and he enjoyed each one immensely.
The final half of the evening was Robbins' The Four
Seasons to music by Verdi. Highlights included Jenifer Ringer's airy Spring
variations which tonight were just as pretty as Kyra Nichols' were decades ago.
Jenifer's attentive partner was Jared Angle. Jared's feet were
unstretched and most of his releves never made it past one-quarter let alone to
three-quarter releve. Haglund noticed some of the other principal men hung out
with marginal half releves. Hope this isn't a trend.
Rebecca Krohn and Amar Ramasar led the Summer section
beautifully. Rebecca has lovely, expressive feet and limbs and truly looked
like a principal level dancer this evening.
The highlight of The Four Seasons was Tiler Peck and
Joaquin De Luz leading the Fall section. She towers over him on pointe but he
partners her like a magician. They both employed their megawatt charm and
smiles and led the concluding segment of the ballet with extraordinary energy.
What a terrific start to the first fall season! It's difficult to point to one performance that rose above all of the others because everyone rose to tonight's occasion and delivered inspired performances. So, Haglund will award this exquisite Alexander McQueen Pump Bump Award to all of tonight's performers with thanks for a great evening:
(from his 2010 Fall collection)
September 14, 2010
September 11, 2010
Saturday rambling
Here we are again at Petco – where the pets go on a glistening Saturday morning in Manhattan. The item below seems to be creating a lot more human interest than dog interest. It must not really taste all that good – slow roasted or not.
September 09, 2010
Jose Manuel Carreño – On to the next chapter
It was, of course, inevitable. We knew it would happen someday. Last season at the Met while watching Jose Manuel Carreno take his bows before the roaring audience after performing the Manon Pas de Deux, Haglund thought that J.M. seemed more emotional than usual – his appreciation toward the audience enormous but tinged with just a bit of sadness. At that moment, Haglund was reminded that this magnificent performer was nearing the end of this chapter of his career. Now he's confirmed that he will retire from ABT in July. It's really almost too much to take.
September 08, 2010
September 05, 2010
September 02, 2010
September 01, 2010
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