Haglund's Heel

NYCB – Swan Lake quick & dirty 2/24

Haglund needed it bad. And there it was in front of him. Taunting. Teasing. He threw down his money and took it for everything it was worth. Now, it’s the next morning, and he feels cheap and ashamed. Unclean.

Even the program notes admitted that Balanchine’s 1-act Swan Lake was not born from love for the music or love for the story. Rather, it was born out of a casual deal. Balanchine acquiesced to the wishes of City Center management and made an obligatory Swan Lake so that he would be allowed to make something else more to his liking in the future.

Well, that’s exactly what it felt like watching it last night. A Swan Lake with no soul. Plenty of glitter. Plenty of steps with the requisite Balanchine accent. But no soul. No fantasy that one could believe in.

Odette (there is no Odile in this choreography) flapped her wrists, threw those legs up high, and looked in anguish at the ceiling at every opportunity – at times reminding us of Ima Trockasomova. The corps of black swans clearly did not have their ducks in a row last night. Very messy with some swans not seemingly caring that they were way out of line or clearly off the music.

Haglund is so sorry that he yielded to weakness. After the first act, he could not make himself stay for anymore, even though he wanted to see Robert Fairchild debut in Slaughter On Tenth Avenue. But one slaughter per night was enough.

 

Copyright © 2009

NYCB - A Simple Symphony Premiere 02/17

 

Last evening’s program included the premiere of Melissa Barak’s A Simple Symphony.  It was preceded by Jorma Elo’s Slice to Sharp (same Elo soup, different bowl) and Peter Martin’s Halleluja Junction (halleluja, it’s finally over).  She shamed both of them.  Not a masterpiece by any means, but Simple Symphony offered some structure related to ballet, musicality related to ballet, and within the third section adagio it offered some invention related to ballet as well.  In short, Barak understands that ballet choreography is an art born from years of practicing craft and discipline as opposed to impulsive creative vomiting (S-t-S) or pandering to the past (HJ).   That is not to say that parts of the construction were not formulaic Balanchine.  They were, but they were not, as Halleluja Junkshun was, a collection of worn out cliches and pandering poo. 

The ladies’ costumes (short romantic length tulle in pink and lavendar), though pretty, were not a good design choice for the choreography which probably would have benefited from something more contemporary.  That said, it appeared to Haglund that Barak may have designed all of her costumes around the lovingly crafted adagio mentioned above.  If so, he understands completely and agrees that they were good for the adagio.

If Melissa Barak is a romantic and wants to create choreography in or near that style, Haglund will stick by her side as she hones her craft, because Barak unlike so many others choreographing today, understands that making dances requires skill that requires practice that requires discipline that requires craft.  She probably reads Frost, not Ferlinghetti.

A few nice words:

Robert Fairchild was a joy to watch in Slice to Sharp.  Judging from the faces of the ballerinas as he encountered them on stage, Fairchild is fast becoming one of the more trustworthy and generous partners in the company and a positive influence on those with whom he dances.  As a soloist, he is dancing at a high principal level with killer-pirouettes and exploding elevation.  Haglund now searches the casting for his name when choosing performances.

Mercurial Maneuvers closed the program with an exceptional performance by Abi Stafford.  There is a softness and roundness to her dancing that is a welcome relief from the harsh linear quality delivered by the majority of the company’s dancers.  Her arabesque shape has a curve.  Her port de bras has a curve.  And she always seems to have been swept away by the music.  Very, very lovely to watch last night.

 

 

 

 

Copyright © 2009

 

 

Crazy for Rudolf

While wandering around the Upper West Side in a dark mood, Haglund stopped by Barnes and Noble to browse the music selections. Nothing appealed to him enough to shell out cash he should not spend anyway until he observed on a shelf at eye level, a DVD with a beckoning photo. Irek Mukamedov. Mayerling. Either the Rx for a dark mood or lethal poison - depending on how you take it. Haglund smoothed out the cash for the DVD and then ran with pounding heart three blocks to catch the Express train home.

A glorious theater ballet with depravity and decay, and sex with guns, MacMillan’s Mayerling sucks the breath out of you.

After viewing the DVD, Haglund had two thoughts: 1) a career-defining performance for Mukamedov and 2) the world must not be deprived of seeing portrayals of Crown Prince Rudolf by Marcelo Gomes and David Hallberg.

With all due respect to Lady MacMillan’s view that her late husband’s production is so identified with the Royal Ballet that it would be unfair to allow any other company the rights to perform it, Haglund and others believe that if Sir Kenneth knew of the unique dramatic abilities of Messrs. Gomes and Hallberg, he would want them to dance this work.

We need to make it happen.

NYCB - Stravinsky VC, La Valse, West Side Story Feb 7

 

After the final curtain bows last night at the New York City Ballet, Haglund just sat in his seat for a while - not for the usual reason, that being his arthritic hip had warned him not to try to stand up - but simply to think over the performances of the preceding two hours and enjoy the warmth in his soul.

Yvonne Borre, Robert Fairchild, Wendy Whelan, and Albert Evans led a superb Stravinsky Violin Concerto to open the evening. Mr. Fairchild has the same on-stage social skills and killer-energy that Haglund was reminded of last month when that guy originally from Queens came up from Miami to knock us all out at City Center. Similar smiles, too. And not unimportant, Mr. Fairchild was just what Ms. Borre needed in order to allow her to deliver a confident, high-level performance. Her appreciation of him was evident during their bows - always nice to see.

Janie Taylor and Philip Neal in the death pas de deux in La Valse were the highlight of the evening. The insanity of the building music coupled with the slow, deliberate putting on of the black gloves, necklace, and wrap and the tornadic lifts that ensued was grand theater. The impact was similar to watching Hvorostovsky’s Onegin calmly undressing and redressing after killing his best friend while the Tchaikovsky score swirled around him. Ms. Taylor - was her attitude Chanel or Dior? - was perfect. Mr. Neal as Death was, again, perfect.

Georgina Pazcoguin blew the audience away with her spectacular performance as Anita in West Side Story. Better than Broadway, Ms. Pazcoguin. Better than the movie. Benjamin Millepied as Tony, Andrew Veyette as Riff and Amar Ramasar as Bernardo turned in good dance performances with Ramasar delivering a powerful characterization as well. Sitting in a West Side theater while absorbing Bernstein’s masterpiece is a holy experience in the world of music. The performers seemed to recognize that as well.

 

Copyright © 2009

NYCB - Concerto Barocco, Oltremare, TS #3 - Feb 6

 

At Friday night's performance of the New York City Ballet only about 65% of The Koch Theater seats had butts in them. As the regulars in the economy seats surveyed the sparsely-populated house, strangers came together with comments on the sadness of the situation. When times are difficult, that is when people should turn to the arts for uplifting and general relief. With careful choosing, $20 - $35 can buy an acceptable view of the stage and the orchestra pit where artists, even on their off nights, deliver extraordinary performances that often help us keep our own problems in perspective, calm the soul, and stir the intellect. Though Haglund had other plans for Saturday evening, he will instead go back and throw down a wad at The Koch to see La Valse.

Concerto Barocco featured Wendy Whelan and Rachel Rutherford as the two violins. The differences in these two dancers was at once interesting and uncomfortable. Ms. Rutherford, dancing into the floor with weighted sweeping movements, gave a complete performance from tip of toe to tip of finger. Ms. Whelan, perhaps not in Concerto Barocco performance-shape at the moment, was an odd contrast with her angular port de bras and movements that were not fully realized. Her arabesque was a bit more towards second position and did not have either the snap or stay of Ms. Rutherford’s. Haglund thinks that it could be time for these two violins to switch music. The corps looked well-rehearsed and had moments of brilliance, most notably as it traveled backwards in its pique passe moves.  A very focused performance by the corps last night.

Oltremare by Mauro Bigonzetti with its score by Bruno Moretti was highly interesting - for the first 15 minutes. Haglund was amazed at Ana Sophia Scheller, Tiler Peck, and Georgina Pazcoguin as they flung themselves up, down and around with intensity and confidence, seemingly channeling PTD’s Lisa Viola. The program notes explain that this piece is about people who have left their homeland on a quest for a better life. Huh? Didn’t come through. But nevertheless, it was an interesting few minutes of ballet meets Worldwide Wrestling meets Antony Forsythe. It was also good to see the corps of men execute the challenging choreography which is unlike most anything else they have to do.  Haglund wants to see NYCB tackle more things like this and La Stravaganza.

Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 closed the evening with uneven performances. Elegie was quite lovely. Ask la Cour, approaching performance conditioning, gave a soulful interpretation of the score and choreography. Haglund likes ALC because 1) he’s not handsome, but instead is unique and carries a Bruhn-like expression of seriousness and sadness, 2) he lacks a lot of the NYCB mannerisms and distractions that annoy anyone who loves classical ballet, and 3) one just kind of roots for him to do well, to maybe try a little harder, to maybe take a little bigger risk. Sara Mearns was a lovely partner for him. All perfume.

The middle two sections, Valse and Scherzo, were gross and overdone. Some of the ladies’ hair appeared to need washing. If one washes, then everybody needs to wash - otherwise it detracts from the performance.

The final Theme and Variations was better than an earlier performance with different leads, but it had its problems. The music was unnecessarily fast. Sterling Hyltin was strong and quick. She caught and saved most of the little flubs last night. Her feet were lovely when moving, but her developpe a la seconde was either too high for the amount of flexibility in the top of the foot or else she just had a lazy foot that didn’t want to point and push the box of the shoe over when the leg was extended so high. The end result was that her foot looked unpointed. Benjamin Millepied gave an undistinguished performance. Even though most of the tricks were delivered securely, it was disconcerting to see so many unstretched lines.

ABT – What we're missing . . .

 . . . rubbing coarse salt into our festering, stinging wound, the Dutch National Ballet has just cast its new principal, Sascha Radetsky, in his debut performances as Albrecht in Giselle on February 13,18, 21 and 28 in Amsterdam.   No one deserves the opportunity more.  Too bad we won't get to see it.

 

 

 

 

ABT - Detroit - Romeo and Juliet

Haglund sees on the horizon a potentially spectacular performance of American Ballet Theatre's Romeo and Juliet in Detroit in March.  Marcelo Gomes and Irina Dvorovenko will open the run.  That pairing might well turn into the most dramatic of the most dramatic duos now dancing these roles.  Haglund wishes he could see that one!

March 13, 7:30 PM
Irina Dvorovenko
Marcelo Gomes

March 14, 2:30 PM
Hee Seo
Cory Stearns

March 14 8:00 PM
Gillian Murphy
David Hallberg

March 15, 2:30 PM
Xiomara Reyes
Herman Cornejo