Haglund's Heel

Congratulations to NYCB's new PRINCIPALS!

  photos by Paul Kolnik

The Unofficial Information Exchange received word that two of Haglund's favorite ballerinas, Rebecca Krohn and Ana Sophia Scheller, have been promoted to Principal Dancers!

This is Rebecca's 13th year with the company and Ana's 8th year with the company.  Both are so deserving, not just because their dancing has risen to an incredible level of artistry and skill, but because of the enormous importance of the contributions to the company over their tenures.  The core audience has recognized these dancers as principals for a long time.  This makes us very, very happy!

Congratulations! 

 

NYCB – Where opportunity knocks – 5/18

. . . regularly.

Tonight in Balanchine's Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet we saw three soloists and a corps member thrown into the deep end of the principal pool, without life jackets, for a swimming test.  Nearly everyone swallowed a little pool water before they rose to the surface, found a steady stroke, and made it safely back to the end of the pool, relieved and victorious.  They swim again next Tuesday, May 22.  Haglund suspects they will be springing off the high board for maximum effect.  If you're not elsewhere at Lincoln Center that night, NYCB is a very good place to park.

The lovely corps member Emily Kitka opened the Allegro movement eagerly, nervously excited, and with her energy just a wee bit out in front of her feet.  Ten seconds into her solo, her leg buckled and she nearly went down.  She caught herself, breathed a sigh of relief, smiled and then proceeded to dance a humongous solo.  The choreography is a gift to anyone who dances it because it is loaded with big, sweeping moves that cover the stage in a conventional way and it is always a crowd pleaser.   Emily is a big dancer – tall, long substantial limbs, a very large face with a huge smile.  When she began sweeping her arms in her solo in front of the corps, it was if a huge eagle had just landed in front of a flock of sparrows.  She was gorgeous, and she was superb in the choreography.  This dancer is a distraction in corps work because of her size.  If NYCB can find men who are big enough to partner her and also bring her feet up to speed, we may have ourselves another R136a1 right in our midst.  What's R136a1, you ask? 

Also in the first section were Rebecca Krohn and Chase Finlay who debuted in the PdD.  Finlay has been out of action for close to a year, it seems.  He looked like he was under a lot of pressure tonight and a little unsettled.  Not only was he back on the big stage, he was in a big part that required big partnering skills which he didn't necessarily have before his absence, and he was partnering a ballerina who, while not tall, was a height challenge for the also not tall Finlay.  There were some frantic moments, some awkward moments, but there were also some very beautiful moments.  Their solos looked finished, but the PdD was shaky.   Finlay's quality of movement recalls that of Peter Martins, though in a much smaller way, and Rebecca in her cooler moments can conjure up memories of Suzanne Farrell.  But putting these dancers together tonight didn't quite bring back the Peter and Suzanne magic.  More rehearsal would be a good place to start.  Haglund wishes he could be at their performance next Tuesday, but he has a previous commitment at an Indian temple across the plaza.

The third debut in this ballet was Ana Sophia Scheller dancing the Andante (third section) opposite Gonzalo Garcia.  She was spectacular in every possible way.  Unbelievable.  What is it in the Argentine water that produces such startling strong dancers who seem born committed to clean classical technique?  Scheller, Herrera, Bocca, Cornejo x2, Núñez.  Ana Sophia has developed into a classical ballerina in the grandest sense.  Haglund must disclose that Ana Sophia's recent efforts in the faux contemporary DGV were less than fully cooked, but in good choreography she is on the verge of being unbeatable.  Isn't there a young Acosta floating around somewhere in the world who is looking for a partner with whom he can catapult to stardom?  Well, she's right here. 

The evening opened with Liebeslieder Walzer, a lovely piece by Balanchine to Johannes Brahms Opus 52 and Opus 65.  Four singers and two pianists shared the stage with the four principal couples.  The ballet is set in mid 19th century Vienna with the dancers in period costumes, pumps instead of pointe shoes.  After the first 18 waltzes, the curtain came down for a long pause, and when it rose again, the dancers returned with the women wearing balletic romantic costumes and pointe shoes.  Where the dancing in the first act was more traditional and intimate, the dancing in the second act was bigger, splashier, and more intense.  According to the program notes, Balanchine viewed the first act as real people who are dancing whereas the second act was their souls.  If Haglund hadn't read that, he would have thought that the second act represented the dancers' memories or dreams of how they had danced on a previous night or perhaps even the embellished descriptions of the evening as relayed to friends. 

The cast consisted of eight principals:  Ashley Bouder with Tyler Angle, Wendy Whelan with Jared Angle, Maria Korowski with Jonathan Stafford, and Janie Taylor with Sebastien Marcovici.  The choreography was mostly sweeping PdDs although there were phrases where the eight principals came together.  It was a mostly low stress affair with the dancers seeming to truly enjoy dancing with one another in a dance about dancing.

The evening's Pump Bump Award, a Louboutin suede and diamond beauty, is bestowed upon Ana Sophia Scheller who seems destined to become one of our most important ballerinas.

 

NYCB – Serenade, Firebird, Symphony in C 5/13

It's been a great weekend to be a New Yorker:

Rangers advanced.

Pettitte returned.

Jared Angle found his pirouettes.

 

Have no fear, Andy only needs one game to get his rhythm back just like Jared only needed one Symphony in C to get his sparkles adjusted.  At the matinee performance today, Jared and Megan Fairchild led the first movement of Symphony in C beautifully, finally bringing this movement up to par with the other three.  Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle were divine in the the second movement's adagio - just divine.  Ashley Bouder & Joaquin De Luz and Tiler Peck & Adrian Danchig-Waring repeated their brilliant performances from earlier in the week.

Teresa Reichlen and Justin Peck were fantastic together in Firebird.  Sometimes it seems that dancers don't appreciate the part of Ivan, but Justin filled the opportunity with theatrical nuance, energy, and spirit.  His PdD with Tess was as coordinated as it could be and he did everything he needed to do to allow her to dance her best.  Tess burned today.  Totally.  Smoked.  Loved her Firebird.  It's so nice how NYCB has such a distinctive trio for this role.  

The program opened with the magical Serenade.  Janie Taylor, Sterling Hyltin, Rebecca Krohn, Jonathan Stafford, Ask la Cour and the exquisite Corps de Ballet made Haglund weep.  Of course, the whole experience was made a little holier because he got to sit in the blessed 4th Ring where the clean, crisp air and the view of the stage are the best in the house.  Even the tall blond fellow from the team across town - you know, the one embroiled in controversy - found refuge in the rafters of the 4th ring today.   

Janie's abandon, Sterling's innocence, and Rebecca's urgency swirled through the notes of the Tchaikovsky - a heady cocktail for the thirsty balletomane.  Rebecca's expansive wingspan, reach of the legs, easy speed, and pristine finishes so often evoke those of this company's legends.  Pure pleasure.

The Pump Bump Award, a blue jeweled leather pump by Jean-Michel Cazabat, is bestowed upon the ladies of Serenade for one more glorious performance.

NYCB's new bling – 5/10

Sometimes a costume is just a costomb - something pretty and interesting that encases something that it's best we not see.  Other times a costume can bring new life and interest to a performance of an iconic work of art.  We had both last night at NYCB's Gala evening where the figurative centerpiece of the evening, Symphony in C, came at the end and was preceded by new works by Peter Martins and Benjamin Millepied.

Peter Martins may have gotten it right last night.  His new works have not always been received warmly - a frequent criticism is that his principal dancers deserve better.  But last night, Martins presented a modest neoclassical work that put four of his talented corps members in the spotlight - literally - and introduced them to the audience most of whom probably would not otherwise be able to pick them out of corps work for their special qualities.  To a contemporary score for violin, cello, and piano by Marc-André Dalbavie, Martins created Mes Oiseaux for Taylor Stanley, Lauren Lovette, Ashly Isaacs, and Claire Kretzschmar. 

In this ballet, Mr. Stanley was at a crossroads of sorts - we knew this because of the crossroads lighting design on the floor, which the dancers sometimes followed and sometimes didn't.  The three ladies, all costumed by Gilles Mendel in attractive short black skirts with a single colorful under layer (Lovette - purple, Isaacs - red,  Kretzschmar - blue), pursued Stanley and momentarily caught him for a unique PdD.  Ms. Lovette's choreography was characterized by the sensual sweep of her lovely, long lines; Ms. Isaacs' was more kinetic and conveyed a more determined individual; Ms. Kretzschmar - whose name actually has six consecutive consonants in it - was the innocent one (having just joined the corps last fall) and perhaps was the one who Stanley would have chosen in the end - had he chosen anyone.  Mr. Stanley is interesting to watch for his intensity and for his use of movement to convey something other than just steps.  Hardly noticeable in corps work, he really blossoms when given soloist opportunities.  He and Kretzschmar, however, share the same distracting habit of sticking out their thumbs at right angles, which makes some core audience members wince.

Benjamin Millepied's Two Hearts was choreographed to a commissioned score by Nico Muhly which could have been entitled Everything but the Kitchen Sink.  Just awful.  It was a pretentious concoction of movie music, a splash of Glass, and somebody else's folk song.  The music meandered even more than Millepied's choreography which continues to mimic the styles of Robbins and Balanchine but is without substance: somebody else's style without substance.  The costumes by Kate Mulleavy and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte were black and white themed with transparent short skirts for the ladies.  The dancers' torsos wore white with wide black horizontal or vertical strips and a few diamond shapes on the side.  They were all pleasing to the eye, and enhanced the corps' movements.  The central couple, Tiler Peck and Tyler Angle, performed the same acrobatic, split-to-show-the-lady's-crotch, wrap her around, freeze and try to be dramatic nonsense that we see all too often.  Note to choreographers and composers:  Every creative act is not art.

Finally, and not a moment too soon, we got to Balanchine's Symphony in C with its brand new costumes by NYCB's very own Marc Happel who used quite a lot of blinding bling in his masterful designs.  The Swarovski crystal elements on the ladies's tutus and tiaras were beautiful but at times created so much reflection from the lights that they were distracting.  Less would have been more.  Overall, however, the costumes were the hit of the night.

In last night's performance, the demi-soloists nearly carried off the ballet.  Megan Le Crone with Zachary Catazaro and Gwyneth Muller with Christian Tworzyanski in the First Movement, and Lauren King with Troy Schumacher and Alina Dronova with Ralph Ippolito in the Fourth Movement were among the highlights for their dazzling technique and smiles.  Yes, Ms. LeCrone has in recent performances shown us a much warmer, more giving ballerina; she seems to have realized that it is time to let go and just dance - as Ms. King and Ms Muller have known for some time now.

The corps was in a get-it-right frame of mind last night.  Great work and downright beautiful to see all those white tutus lined up nearly perfectly.

The principals were a little uneven last night.  Jared Angle didn't bring his pirouettes with him although he supported his partner Megan Fairchild very well.  Sara Mearns may have missed too many rehearsals recently, because she was off, particularly in the finale when all the principal women danced together.  Haglund doesn't think that the Second Movement suits her as well as perhaps the First Movement would.  Her partner, Jonathan Stafford, had his hands full in their PdD.  In the famous penche arabesque when the ballerina's nose comes close to the leg, it might be best for the partner to hold the ballerina with his right hand in such a way so that the new fluffy tutu doesn't completely invert over her body like an umbrella to fully reveal her ass.  It wasn't a pretty moment last night.

The principals in the final two movements were spectacular.  Ashley Bouder with Joaquin De Luz and Tiler Peck with Adrian Danchig-Waring in the Third and Fourth Movements respectively were thrillingly exact at high speed.  De Luz's jumps while swinging the leg to second position in the air had enormous height - even for him! 

Although there was some very fine dancing last evening, the Pump Bump Award, replete with Swarovski elements, goes to costume designer Marc Happel - one of the most important artists at NYCB.

Holy Zeppole

It's that time of year again!  Next weekend (May 19 & 20), the Ninth Avenue International Food Festival convenes in Hell's Kitchen for the 39th year.  Ah, the delicious corn-on-the-cob on top of shark kebobs on top of funnel cakes on top of turkey drum sticks all swirling around in a warm beer in the tummy.  Mmm mmm good.

And as if this wasn't enough to celebrate, NYCB is serving up a new dish or two that weekend.  Friday night, May 18th, Rebecca Krohn (one of Haglund's favorite ballerinas), Chase Finlay, and Emily Kikta all debut in the first movement of Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet.  Come to think of it, both of those women would make tempting Sirens to a Finlay Prodigal Son some day.  Ms. Kikta looked pretty good in the back of the DGV corps the other night.  She reminds Haglund a lot of the very athletic, statuesque Drew Jacoby - which may or may not serve her well where she is.  While at times it seems to be a detriment in corps work, it could turn out to be an advantage in true soloist roles - we'll have to wait and see.  

It will be a welcome sight to see Mr. Finlay back on stage after so long an absence.  He will also be in the new cast of Liebeslieder Waltz the next evening - May 19.

And tonight - Symphony in C returns!

NYCB – Derballet 5/5

Let's listen to the call:

… and they're off! 

Concerto Barocco is out of the gate fast.  A little stumble at the rail, but a nice recovery and is in the lead going into the first turn.  On the outside, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux is making a huge move to the front of the pack - scratched from a few races last year, but now looking strong.  Kammermusik is fading back, just doesn't have it today.  Tschai Pas is being tested by Barocco but is still holding on into the third turn.  And here they come down the stretch!  Firebird is coming up fast on the inside rail!  Now in front by one length!  Two lengths!!  Three lengths!!!  The jockey just peeled back the goggles and dropped the whip!  Firebird is running away with this race! RUNNING AWAY! And Firebird wins the Kentucky Derby! Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux places second, Concerto Barocco third, and Kammermusik eighth. 

Okay, okay, maybe Haglund had a mint julep or two before the ballet tonight.  But it's a big holiday in his part of the country - Derby parties in backyards with double grills smoking, big hats, fake Lew-a-vull accents, pitchers of mint juleps.  And always a few horse stories, like the summer when Kimmy, the 25-year-old retired Tennessee Walker who lived next door, got bothered by bees and busted through his paddock fence.  The men folk climbed on bicycles to chase him down.  When the bike posse finally caught up with old Kimmy, he had found himself a picnic in somebody's corn garden three blocks away.  Kimmy only broke out of a slow walk a couple of times a year and it was always duly recorded in the town paper.  When he died during a hot July at the age of 32, some folks wanted to build a monument, but instead they tore up his paddock and built three houses.  Sad but all true.  Here's a picture of Kimmy in his golden years.  We all should look so good when we get there.

Click on picture for a larger image.



What better way to celebrate a great Derby today – unless you bet on Bodemeister – than an evening of ballet where the dancers cover space like I'll Have Another streaking down the stretch to steal all the roses.

Concerto Barocco was far more than serviceable this evening with a cast of dissimilar dancers who for the most part made the whole ballet work.  The Playbill list of Sara Mearns, Teresa Reichlen, and Justin Peck was changed by curtain announcement to Abi Stafford, Teresa Reichlen, and Ask la Cour.  There was a time or two when watching Abi and Tess dancing together that the scales of their dancing didn't seem compatible due to the dancers' different heights, but Haglund's eyes and mind eventually adjusted and he found the performance enjoyable.  Abi was the more musical and playful of the two while Tess was businesslike in concentrating on the technical demands and meeting the required speed.  The corps was excellent for the most part.  Some of those backward moving pique arabesques were out to the side instead of being directly behind, but nothing too offensive. 

Ana Sophia Scheller and Gonzalo Garcia got the audience's blood moving with a blistering hot Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux.  Watching Ana Sophia develop from a somewhat precocious technical wizard as an eager corps member to a fully-finished, elegant and confident young soloist has been a very satisfying journey for the audience member.  Her remarkably shaped legs and feet hone in on a center plumb line that seems never to fail her.   Her spacious classical port de bras, unaffected classical lines, sparkling personality, natural beauty, and a grandness in her movement all point to someone on the verge of world stardom.   While it is such a joy to watch each of her performances at NYCB, she is the type of dancer who should be carrying full length ballets with a high profile, Bocca-caliber partner.  Her partner tonight, Gonzalo Garcia,  seems to be back in fine shape.  He is a very charismatic dancer who can be intensely exciting but he isn't at the same technical level as Ana Sophia even though he is a principal while she is still a soloist. 

Kammermusik No. 2 was on the bill tonight and was led by some of Haglund's favorite dancers but he still didn't like it at all.  Rebecca Krohn, Abi Stafford, Jonathan Stafford, and Adrian Danchig-Waring led the cast with all the skill of the first cast earlier this week with the same result.  It was a lot of senseless messing around with no point.  Tonight, however, the ladies' pony tails kept sticking to their faces which provided some comic relief.

The evening closed with a superb performance of Firebird by Ashley Bouder, Justin Peck, and Gwyneth Muller.  Among the major appeals of this production are the incredible costumes and scenery designed by Marc Chagall.  It's awfully hard to compete with a Marc Chagall set design.  Perhaps the Pablo Picasso designs for Massine's Parade in 1917 would be honest competition, but few others would be.  Chagall's backdrops and front curtains are awe-inspiring in their colors and drawn characters.  One notices an angel, a musical instrument, and colors that recall the murals that hang in the Metropolitan Opera House while listening to the historic Stravinsky score.  It sometimes boggles the mind to think how rich the performing arts are at Lincoln Center. 

Ashley Bouder was a sensational Firebird, intensely theatrical and emotional.  It was so complete a performance that Haglund forgot that he was watching a dancer.  He was caught up in the magic of it all.  Of course, all of the stellar technical elements were present: wonderful saut de chats, perched balances on pointe that most birds couldn't achieve, speedy turns.  Ashley's final exit on pointe as her torso slowly bent backward was a dramatic high point of the ballet. 

Corps members Justin Peck as Ivan and Gwyneth Muller as the Prince's Bride were fabulous in their principal roles.  Each showed terrific theatrical skills.  And while Ivan's character did not have a lot of technical dancing per se, the Bride certainly did, and Gwyneth nailed it all.

The evening's Pump Bump Award, blanketed with red roses, goes to Ashley Bouder for her riveting Firebird.

NYCB - 5/2 - Tulles of the Trade

Oh, the tulle was flying last night at NYCB's opening performance of its spring season.  Blue tulle, pink tulle, layers and layers of it.  It was an outstanding night of flying tulle, flying feet and glorious music.  But to be truthful - it was really just another night at NYCB.  The stage was filled with an astonishing 15 principals - all organically grown, up-through-the-ranks astonishing principals.  But to be truthful again, NYCB pretty much practices this trick every night of the season.  It's no big deal for them.

Opening with Serenade, the ballet with which Balanchine opened his American choreographic journey in 1935, the cast of Ashley Bouder Rebecca Krohn, Janie Taylor, Ask la Cour and Jonathan Stafford gave a performance characterized by energy and elegance.   When Jonathan lifted and lowered Janie into her plie arabesques, her body exhaled its energy into a plie so plush that she could have been stepping on clouds.  The same was true with Rebecca who finished pirouettes in such deep fourth positions that air got caught beneath the tulle of her skirt which then floated down in a swirl around her.  The deep bends in her back framed by a gorgeous wingspan of port de bras were lovely indeed.  Rebecca's arabesque rotated by Ask la Cour in the Russian section was a perfectly neoclassical form supported on a beautifully classically shaped leg and foot.  Janie was the dancer who was supposed to fall midway through the piece, but she augmented that with a messy plop on the floor in a downstage corner quite a bit earlier than planned.  She seemed fine the remainder of Serenade and danced with full-out joy to its end.  When Janie takes a movement right to the edge of no return, she does it so quickly that your realization of her risk doesn't fully form in your mind until after she's already launched into her next movement. 

Jonathan brought more than a little gallantry and princeliness to his partnering and solo work.  Clean lines, energy without being over-forceful, and elegance marked his movement.  He seems these days to be the most classical of NYCB's principal danseurs.  The chances of a ballerina having a superior performance are always enhanced when Jonathan is standing behind her.

Ashley Bouder was refreshing as she out-jumped and out-turned everyone on stage without turning it into a competitive Olympic event.  Her shapes in the air were lovely.  It might be nice one day to see Ashley in the first ballerina role, the one danced last night by Janie Taylor. 

The last ballet of the evening was Balanchine's Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet which used a piano quartet by Brahms as orchestrated by Schoenberg.  The music was excruciatingly beautiful.   The pink tulle costumes by Karinska enhanced the choreography in a way similar to her designs for Serenade.  The ladies were loving their tulle last night and didn't let an opportunity to brush the skirt layers with their hands pass by.  The opening Allegro PdD by Abi Stafford and Sebastien Marcovici was as dreamy and limpid as it was brisk allegro.  Sterling Hyltin and Robert Fairchild stirred the audience into a tizzy each time she spun and fell deeply into his arms.  Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette perhaps tried to make the Andante bigger than it should have been.  But it was performed expertly and with warmth.  Then Maria Kowroski strode on stage with a band of flowers in her hair, colorful streamers all over her being – and those legs.  Game over, as Warner Wolf would say.  Legz had arrived.  She was accompanied by Tyler Angle – no wishy-washy partner or timid soloist – but Legz is who weez all waz lookin' at.  The final Rondo took on a life of its own with Maria delivering grand battements like a sword-wielding Samurai. 

Sandwiched between Serenade and Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet was Kammermusik No. 2 which had been mothballed for a several years.  In Balanchine's first ballet, the 1935 made Serenade, he presented women in such beautiful, elegant, and sophisticated motifs that it was clear he worshipped them.  In Kammermusik, among his final few ballets created 40+ years later, he presented the women as young girlish types who liked to drop their chins and glare out at the audience under their eyebrows.  You don't put women in high standing, free swinging pony tails unless you are trying to convey immaturity and cuteness, and appeal to those who are attracted to that.  The choreography certainly maximized the bounce of the tails and the friskiness of the two lead female dancers (Sara Mearns and Teresa Reichlen) and it overly-depended on jogging around with sudden dives into abstract, contemporary Balanchine moves.  Jared Angle and Amar Ramasar knew not to take it all too seriously.  There wasn't a step of theirs that was interesting.  The corps of eight men, representing a departure from Balanchine's customary use of women as a corps, was assigned gesturing, poses, and forgettable choreography which they all performed expertly.  Send this one back to the closet.

On this opening night, the company looked in fine shape – even the dancers who usually aren't, were.  Everyone on stage seemed pretty excited to see all of us in the audience, and we were certainly excited to see them.  The ballet mating season is on.  Bring on Barocco and Symphony in C.

The first Pump Bump Award of the spring season, a sparkly Casadei rhinestone and mesh sandal with peep toe, is bestowed upon the cast of Serenade.  This is how every season should start.  It's our national ballet anthem.

NYCB Spring Season opens in 10 days

NYCB opens its spring season on May 1st with a terrific week that includes Firebird, Concerto Barocco, Kammermusik No. 2, Serenade and more.

The first week's casting is up.  Tuesday's opening night will present Janie Taylor, Ashley Bouder, Rebecca Krohn, Jonathan Stafford, and Ask La Cour in Serenade.  Sara Mearns, Teresa Reichlen, Jared Angle, and Adrian Danchig-Waring will make their Serenade debuts on Friday evening.  The first Firebird of the season will be performed on Wednesday by Maria Kowroski; Ashley Bouder burns it up on Saturday night.  Kammermuski No. 2 fields two brand-new-never-before-seen casts during the week.  And look out!  Tiler Peck & Joaquin De Luz and Ana Sophia Scheller & Gonzalo Garcia will be delivering their Tschaikovsky PdDs on Wednesday and Saturday evenings respectively. 

NYCB is truly America's national ballet company.

Check it all out here.

NYCB – Saturday Matinee – 2/25

When you slap a sailor hat on Sean Suozzi, he could almost pass for Jerome Robbins during Robbins' dancing days in Fancy Free.  Today Suozzi made his debut as the Rumba sailor – Robbins' old role in his own masterpiece, Fancy Free – and was a hit.  Because he was good.  Very good.  Zuozzi hit all the comedy points on the bullseyes, added his own charisma, was hilariously flirtatious during his solos, and knocked out the steps like he was born to dance them.  Robert Fairchild and Adam Hendrickson completed the trio of sailors, each contributing superb theatrical and dancing performances.  The Passers-by were Sterling Hyltin, Amanda Hankes, and Stephanie Chrosniak.  At this point in time, it doesn't look like a good fit for Hyltin's current level of theatrical skill, but you never can tell how she might develop in it.

The other big debut of the afternoon was Sara Mearns in Allegro Brillante, partnered by Jared Angle.  This will need to be one of those "grow-into" roles for Sara.  She has no shortage of technique or power, but today she did not possess the musicality, sense of romance, or elegance that the ballet requires.  She pretty much resorted to banging it out like she has done with much of her repertory this past year.  Jared had his hands full in the partnering department and was fully focused on not letting Sara self-destruct.  She owes him a lot of thanks.  Jared's own dancing has looked strong this Winter Season.  It's been rather nice to see him dance at allegro speed now and then instead of just hoisting ballerinas.

Martins' Zakouski received a romantic and charming performance by Megan Fairchild and Joaquin De Luz.  This little Pas de Deux, which utilizes music by Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Tschaikovsky, is almost twenty years old, having been made on Margaret Tracey and Nikolaj Hubbe in 1992, and is getting an excellent revival thanks to the formidable talents of De Luz, Fairchild, and in an earlier cast Tiler Peck, all of whom have added their personal stamps on Martins' creation.  Haglund will say it again:  We need more ballets to Rachmaninoff's music.

The afternoon concluded with Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3, danced by the exact same cast as Friday night when Teresa Reichlen, Rebecca Krohn, and Erica Pereira debuted in Elegie, Valse Melancolique, and Scherzo, respectively.  All of the dancing seemed bigger and more potent this afternoon.  Maybe the music was a touch quicker.  Reichlen's spacious leaps, Krohn's Farrell-like qualities in her bending torso, Pereira's vibrant allegro while looking more mature with her hair down and beautifully costumed in volumes of flowing fabric – all were mesmerizing.  Their partners, Ask la Cour, Jared Angle, and Daniel Ulbricht all delivered romance and superb dancing on a grand scale.

Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette repeated their brilliant performances from a mere 18 hours earlier.  Ashley's complete mastery of the killer technical moments complimented by a lovely sense of modesty and moderation was quite simply one of the biggest pleasures of the Winter Season.  And that Veyette - unbelievable!  Even when his internal gyroscope started to wander a bit during a series of turns, he pulled his force and technique together and got it all right back on track to finish with a smooth flourish.  Haglund is tempted to award him a second consecutive Pump Bump but doesn't want to risk riling up all the ballerinas who danced so magnificently.  So as a compromise, this uncompromisingly stunning Christian Louboutin Galaxy Gold Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette for their brilliant Theme and Variations today:

NYCB – Donizetti, Russian Seasons, TS3 – 2/24

NYCB was the place to be on Friday night. 

The evening opened with Tiler Peck and Gonzalo Garcia in Donizetti Variations.  Boy, it's been a while since NYCB had a ballerina with Tiler's degree of musicality – possibly not since Kyra Nichols.  Last evening she pulled the musical phrases like they were cotton candy.  So beautiful to watch.  Her virtuosity was effortless and un-showy, and was done simply to please us.  Gonzalo was a fine and attentive partner but didn't have his turns with him last night - or a reasonable 3/4 releve.  His stationary beats looked wonderful, however.  Haglund had an uneasy feeling that he was watching a dancer struggling to perform with an injury –  hope that wasn't the case.  The corps dancers, but for some wayward arms, were very tidy.  Devin Alberda was outstanding in both the partnering and ensemble dancing - this man brought his pirouettes with him last night, that's for sure.  They were pretty, pretty, pretty.

Ratmansky's Russian Seasons had the exact same cast as Thursday night when most of them debuted.  These were not dancers "finding their ways" in new roles.  All of the performances were solid and the dancers' ensemble work was terrific.  Abi Stafford and Adrian Danchig-Waring as the soloists wearing green were quite wonderful.  Georgina Pazcoguin, who danced in every ballet of the evening, was once again dramatically outstanding as the soloist in the red dress.  As in last evening's performance, her pirouettes were spot on and generous in the number of revolutions; her jumps darted horizontally with a sense of sharpness; and her energy seemed to explode from her core strength.  Rebecca Krohn and Robert Fairchild in the lead roles repeated their extraordinary performances of the previous evening.

The final offering on the program was Balanchine's Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3.  The first three movements are basically big hair movements:  all about the women running around with their long hair flowing and usually in bare feet.  It has its appeal for some, but Haglund always finds that the hair distracts from the dancing.  As noted in the Playbill, three ladies debuted as the principals in the first three sections.  Teresa Reichlen danced with Ask la Cour in the Elegie movement; Rebecca Krohn danced with Jared Angle in the Valse Melancolique; and Erica Pereira danced with Daniel Ulbricht in the Scherzo movement.  All lovely and there was nothing to complain about – except that we were all sitting in our seats patiently waiting for Theme and Variations (Tema con Variazioni in the Playbill).

Finally that moment arrived and there were Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette standing in fifth position with a glistening corps de ballet behind them - every dancer ready to knock the socks off the audience.  First, let's talk about Veyette who seems to take his dancing to a much higher level every time he dances with Bouder.  His legs and feet looked fantastic in the white tights and shoes.  All of his turning was exceptional last night as if Bouder was in the wings channeling her own center to him.  At the conclusion of his series of double tour, double pirouette, double tour, single pirouette combination, a man behind Haglund said aloud, "A+!"  Yes, indeed, Veyette had a superb performance last night.  And, of course, so did Ashley.  Haglund always loves to see her make child's play out of the allegro, but last night, the adagio was his favorite part.  The exact favorite part came during the PdD when Ashley did successive battement fouettes and calmly held one of them at its very peak.  It was such a pretty picture.  Hag hopes to see that again from her in a little while this afternoon.

The T&V corps and demi soloists were tops.  We just have to see Lauren King and Brittany Pollack dance more in tutus.  Lovely lines, lovely port de bras, lovely smiles.

It was tough deciding who should get the Pump Bump Award for last night's performance, because there were so many fabulous moments by so many of Haglund's favorite dancers.  But the Pump Bump, Gianvito Rossi's gold stiletto, goes to the guy who brought up his game last night big-time and delivered his best dancing of the season: Andrew Veyette.

NYCB 2/23 – Farm-to-table at its best & most sustainable

In the final week of its Winter Season, NYCB is demonstrating the full force of its homegrown, organically developed artists in its strong repertory programs.  Thursday evening Maria Kowroski, Janie Taylor, Amar Ramasar, and Ask la Cour carved through the brilliant neoclassicism of Balanchine's Stravinsky Violin Concerto with high energy, speed, and articulation that one simply cannot witness anywhere else. 

The Playbill noted the dancers who were debuting that evening in Ratmansky's Russian Seasons with a mark next to each name.  What a nice gesture it always is to acknowledge when a dancer is stepping up to the plate in a challenging new role.  It makes the audience pay more attention, and last night had the audience chatting at intermission following a sensational rendering by Rebecca Krohn and Robert Fairchild along with Georgina Pazcoguin, Abi Stafford, Marika Anderson, Amanda Hankes, Lauren Lovette, Adrian Danchig-Waring, David Prottas, Taylor Stanley, Christian Tworzyanski, and Andrew Veyette.  Only Georgina had danced in Russian Seasons previously.  Last night she demonstrated spectacular dynamics and depth as the soloist in the red dress.  Her angst and athleticism did not obliterate her character's humanity as Sara Mearns' did when she danced the role recently.

Rebecca Krohn and Robert Fairchild, both costumed in orange/yellow, were gorgeous together.  Fairchild's intensity and brilliant punctuation of the theatrical moments were riveting.  Rebecca was captivating in much the same way that Maria Kowroski was in the opening ballet:  both are dancers whose legs and feet communicate shapes using strokes of choreo-calligraphy that seem to merge two visual arts. 

This entire debut cast danced superbly in this fairly complicated choreography.  Like some New Yorkers, however, Haglund is beginning to experience Ratmansky-fatigue. 

The evening concluded with Robbins' Fancy Free danced by Joaquin De Luz, Tyler Angle, Amar Ramasar, Tiler Peck, Amanda Hankes, and Stephanie Chrosniak.  All were pleasurable to watch although a couple of the characters could have been taken a little further beyond the steps. 

In the orchestra section last night, a significantly-jeweled lady remarked, "This company is really America's national ballet company."  Ain't it the truth – and not the first time that it's been heard, either.  More and more people are noticing that NYCB is the ballet company that is truly Made in America whereas ABT is just some Pier 1 Imports Ballet Company.  No disrespect intended to Pier 1 Imports but it is what it is: a place to buy tacky, cheaply made ornaments for the Christmas tree. 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a $795 beauty by Walter Stieger, is bestowed upon Maria Kowroski who has been carving dazzling shapes from Stravinsky and the rest of the music in the repertory for the past seventeen years. 

NYCB Winter Season final week

What a weird sight up on The Highline on the West Side of Manhattan yesterday.  Winter holly bushes with bright red berries right next to flowering shrubs that were bursting with pink blossoms.  It's February.  So, really, winter officially ends in February now?

Yes, it does!  Winter officially ends when the pitchers and catchers report to training and with the final week of NYCB's Winter Season which starts tomorrow.  It will be a strong week, People, especially toward the weekend with tons of debuts plus "never miss" performances like Tiler Peck (Fri) and Ashley Bouder (Sat eve) in Donizetti Variations and Maria Kowroski in two performances of Stravinsky Violin Concerto (Thur, Sun mat), and Ashley Bouder (Fri, Sat mat)  and Tiler Peck (Sun mat) taking turns in Theme and Variations. 

See you there.

NYCB – Saturday Matinee – 2/11

NYCB continues to build steam through its winter season with good programing, excellent casting, and wonderful debuts of its talented dancers.  The only thing missing is the audience – much of which has disappeared due to the business management's pricing schemes aimed at its most faithful core audience.  Only a delusional management would think that its schemes have served their purpose.  Clearly attendance is way off when on a Saturday matinee you have 500++ empty seats in the 4th ring.  "It's not the economy, Stupid."

A large part of the appeal of yesterday's program was the casting of three important debuts.  In Concerto Barocco, Rebecca Krohn performed the role associated with the 2nd violin in the Bach score.  Haglund is pretty sure that this was her debut before a regular audience.  You tend to think that Rebecca is absorbed in her own world while dancing until she suddenly looks up directly at you, brings you into her world, melts your heart, and then slips back into the music like a sea nymph slipping beneath a wave.  Watching her long limbs in a series of moving lunges that traversed the stage and split down two rows of corps dancers, one was reminded of the quiet, but fiery elegance of dancers of a bygone era.  Haglund prefers this interpretation to a Baroccozilla who pummels the choreography into submission. 

Abi Stafford and Ask La Cour who completed the cast were a delight to see dancing together.  While there were physical contrasts, their similar demeanors and sense of calm joy about dancing this ballet were refreshing.  Rebecca fit right in with them to make yet another great cast for this classic work.  It's a sign of deep strength when a company can field so many different teams of dancers who possess such different qualities in a historical ballet and make it work well.  The corps women were tidy but spirited yesterday, and it was a pleasant surprise to see Lauren King among the ladies when she was not scheduled to be there. 

Sterling Hyltin debuted in Tarantella, dancing with Adam Hendrickson, and brought a fresh, young, flirty interpretation to her role but came up a little short in the dazzle department - as did Adam.  It's probably unfair to compare them to Bouder, Peck, De Luz, and Ulbricht, because they are such different dancers with different qualities, but Tarantella demands pizzazz which was a little lacking - although from a technical standpoint Sterling was outstanding in many areas including those most recognized plies in second position on pointe.  Yesterday, both dancers could have used more elevation and more speed. 

It's time to stop complaining about The Seven Deadly Sins.  If this program had been billed as "Lincoln Center Festival presents Patti LuPone in The Seven Deadly Sins with the New York City Ballet" at the Beaumont Theater instead of "The New York City Ballet presents The Seven Deadly Sins with Patti LuPone" at the Koch Theater, it would have seen substantial success.  It's not a ballet.  It's a musical theater piece with basic musical theater dancing and singing.  You know, Folks, they serve spaghetti at Le Cirque.  It doesn't really belong on the menu, but it doesn't hurt to have it for people who want to try it.

Haglund thought the whole piece looked and sounded improved over last year.  Patti LuPone's voice was slightly less amplified, but still too much so.  This theater accommodated opera voices for a long time; Ms. LuPone should be able to make it work without all the amplification.  The voices of the Family, Raymond Jarmillo, Eric Michael Gillett, Kevin Early, and Matthew Plenk were less amplified and more than enjoyable.  Mr. Plenk's solo while sitting at the front corner of the stage was nothing short of sensational.  According to his website, he will be singing the role of Jenik  in The Makropulos Case at the Met Opera later in the spring.  Haglund just bought his ticket.

The dancing was not what the NYCB audience is accustomed to seeing, and clearly expectations were not met for many, but it was what it was - musical theater.  The choreography was not ever supposed to be the main attraction but Wendy Whelan made it look good AND serve the context of the whole piece.  Would it have been nicer to see a new ballet instead?  Sure.  The problem is that there aren't many good ballet choreographers around these days and not many trying to learn the art of making new ballets either.  So now and then we get the spaghetti.  But yesterday it was followed with the most delicious, exquisite wine.

Vienna Waltzes was magnificent.  It was transporting.  It was magical.  Teresa Reichlen and Jared Angle were phenomenal.  Such beautiful perfume.  Janie Taylor was brilliant in her debut with Antonio Carmena in the Fruhlingsstimmen section.  This was such a good pairing, and their joy of dancing together seemed so genuine.  Ana Sophia Scheller and Sean Suozzi playfully sparked up the Polka.  Rebecca Krohn and Ask la Cour played out a full story of desire and intrigue in their Gold und Silber Walzer.  Maria Kowroski and Sebastien Marcovici led the Der Rosenkavalier with  dream-like elegance. 

The casting for the final week of the winter season reveals lots to look forward to including a nearly entirely debut* cast for Russian Seasons (Pazcoguin, *Krohn, *A. Stafford, *Lovette, *Hankes, *Anderson, *R. Fairchild, *Prottas, *Stanley, *Tworzyanski, *Danchig-Waring, *Veyette); more debuts in Tchiakovsky Suite No. 3 which will be anchored with Ashley Bouder and Andrew Vyette in Theme and Variations ( ELEGIE: *Reichlen, la Cour; WALTZ: *Krohn, *Marcovici; SCHERZO: *Pereira, Ulbricht; THEME & VARIATIONS: Bouder, Veyette); Sara Mearns will dance her first Allegro Brilliante; and strong casts in Donizetti Variations all week.  NYCB is closing its winter season with strong stuff danced by its very own wonderful dancers.

The Pump Bump Award for yesterday's matinee, an Alexander McQueen black orchid lace pump with teardrop heel,  is to be shared by Rebecca Krohn, Ask la Cour, and tenor Matthew Plenk:

On Haglund's Calendar – NYCB 2/11 matinee

Here's hoping that the Saturday matinee casting for Concerto Barocco sticks.  Beautiful, talented, and captivating Rebecca Krohn, pictured here on the Spring Season brochure, is scheduled to debut.  She is, of course, one of Haglund's favorite ballerinas.  (Click on the picture for a larger version.)

At that same performance, Sterling Hyltin will debut in Tarantella, and Janie Taylor will debut in Vienna Waltzes.

Come one, come all, Folks.

 

NYCB – Brilliante!! – 2/3

Haglund is busting curfew during game week to bring you this exclusive briefing on one fine evening at NYCB.  What a terrific program of strong choreography, danced with energy and spirit by so many of the company's handsome dancers.

NYCB doesn't dance Balanchine's Allegro Brillante enough.  It is a joyous work to glorious Tschaikovsky melodies that race up and down your spine and make you shiver with delight.  Tonight's cast was led by Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette.  There were a couple of hiccups in the partnering, but the overall strength of the dancing was outstanding.  Fairchild reached through to the depths of those beautiful melodies and then shot to their very apexes.  There wasn't a calculated second in her dancing.  It all looked as organic and spontaneous as could be.  The corps was in tiptop shape, and Lauren King and Lydia Wellington were standouts for sharpness and assertiveness, and of course their gorgeous smiles.

The evening continued its ascent with Ratmansky's Russian Seasons - a kind of folksy classical contemporary early-modern mix of incidents among a group of Russian common folk.  Here again, Megan Fairchild had many compelling stage moments as did Sara Mearns who tore through her solos like Martha Graham on acid.  Wendy Whelan, Abi Stafford, Ana Sophia Scheller, and Alina Dronova completed the women's cast.  Jared Angle whipped through a solo at a speed we don't often see from him.  He looks very good moving fast.  Adam Hendrickson and Antonio Carmena got to step out for a turn - reminding us that we don't see either of them enough.  Amar Ramasar, Jonathan Stafford, and Sean Suozzi completed the men's cast.

Zakouski by Peter Martins received a phenomenal reading by Tiler Peck and Joaquin De Luz.  Where has the Peter Martins who made this ballet gone?  Have the tough years of running NYCB beaten this level of creativity out of him?  Zakouski - when given to mature dancers with theatrical skills – is a charming ballet of surprising invention, romance, and sparkle.  It instantly grabs you with the opening PdD to Rachmaninoff's Vocalise and progresses through short pieces of music by Stravinsky, Prokofiev, and Tschaikovsky. 

We don't get enough ballet choreography around here to Rachmaninoff's music.  New York has so many great ballerinas in its two great companies who could kiss Rachmaninoff the way he deserves to be kissed.   Why doesn't some romantically-inclined choreographer make it happen in a big way?

The evening closed with a crisp performance of Balanchine's Stravinsky Violin Concerto.  Haglund was holding his breath waiting for another one of his favorite ballerinas, Rebecca Krohn, to appear on stage.  Rebecca has missed some scheduled appearances recently; so, it was a relief to see that she danced so splendidly tonight along side lovely Janie Taylor.  Ask la Cour, who was matched up with Janie, is having quite a good winter season.  There's extra dramatic weight to his dancing.  Sebastien Marcovici, who was matched up with Rebecca, got the job done tonight but he is not in performance condition yet.  Gwyneth Muller and Lauren King in the ladies' corps were eye catchers because of their extreme comfort in handling the racing technical challenges and their joy in doing so.  The other ladies seemed to be concentrating too hard on technical matters and a few even looked like they would rather have been elsewhere.  The gentlemen of the corps were tack sharp and performed like it meant something to them to be out on stage. 

The evening's Pump Bump Award, the Eternal Diamond Stiletto from the House of Borgezie (yes, $150,000), is bestowed upon Megan Fairchild for her vivid dancing in Allegro Brilliante.