It was a tough and critical crowd at City Center last evening. The Grand Tier was loaded with dancers from Boston Ballet and a sprinkling from NYCB as well. Erica Cornejo was there looking beautiful and happy to see brother, Herman, dishing out the Tharp.
The evening began with the notice of the substitution of Michele Wiles for Gillian Murphy in Ballo de la Regina with David Hallberg. Haglund found this to be a completely enjoyable performance. It would appear that there are some who, because they saw Merrill Ashley originate the role in the ‘70s, now conclude that there is no other acceptable interpretation but doing it exactly like Ashley did it. Phooey. It would be completely wrong for Michele to try to imitate Ashley’s personal style, all of which was not appealing and not memorialized as part of the choreography.
Michele fully invests her joy and personality in her performances, and the audience appreciates it. She maximizes wherever the opportunity presents itself and generates energy in the other performers around her – most notably Hallberg. Haglund thinks that Hallberg dances his best with Wiles even though they may not be the best pairing. This could be because there is just a wee bit of a competitive nature to their relationship and Hallberg knows that he must make a great effort to keep up with Wiles.
The corps and soloists in Ballo were neat and thrifty. Hee Seo looked magnificent dancing Balanchine as the antithesis of the so-called Balanchine dancer.
After seeing the skinny new kid fumbling in Company B the other night, Haglund was eager to see what Daniil Simkin would make of the PdD from Flames of Paris – his classical introduction to NYC. He was phenomenal, and the pairing of Simkin with Sarah Lane gave us a glimpse into the very bright future of ABT. Gone was the overdone makeup. He still looked so very young, but his dancing had the technique and good manners of a well-bred, mature artist. Parents Dimitrij Simkin and Olga Aleksandrova who danced for Heinz Spoerli at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein must be, and should be, very proud.
The middle piece on last night’s program was Kylian’s Overgrown Path. Having seen this several times already this fall, Haglund is now prepared to say that he likes it. He very much enjoyed seeing ABT’s principal dancers and soloists suppress their personas to blend into an ensemble that so skillfully conveyed the solemn grief that Janacek experienced upon the death of his children and with which he so beautifully crafted his piano cycle. Jose Manual Carreno and Hee Seo were particularly touching in the final PdD when the daughter is taken from her father.
Tharp’s Brief Fling brought up the rear of the program. Haglund laughed at the outrageous Isaac Mizrahi costumes and the strange concoction of music. The choreography was vintage Tharp, and no company does Tharp better than this company. Maria Riccetto was outstanding. The leads, Xiomara Reyes and Herman Cornejo, performed with the mock seriousness that always makes Tharp work best.
So who gets awarded the Pump Bumps for last night’s performance?
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.