Haglund's Heel

ABT – All Classic Program 6/29

ABT presented the first performance of its All-Classic Program Tuesday evening – a pastiche of works by the 20th century masters MacMillan, Tudor, Ashton and Balanchine.  This is just the kind of program that a small-minded local newspaper critic will use to rank choreographers.  You've heard him before, "I was having a splendid time until ABT had to remind me of MacMillan and his insipid Manon."  - or something along those lines.  But these evenings of dance are never about the choreographers.  They are about the dancers and the life they bring to steps that have no life or meaning without them.  The only thing that will ever give any choreography importance or value is the dancer's performance of it.  And because there is no ultimate authority on choreography, no ultimate textbook on choreography, no Ten Commandments of Choreography, everyone and anyone can hang out a shingle as an expert on choreography – which far too many have done.  The newspaper dance critic's emphasis today on analyzing choreography instead of critiquing performances is a lazy way of getting around learning about the art of dance.  If someone wants to be a choreography critic, he should call himself a choreography critic - not a dance critic.

 

The evening opened with Balanchine's Allegro Brillante.  This is not a piece that Balanchine created for Ballet Theatre, but you wouldn't have known it by last night's performance.  Gillian Murphy and Ethan Stiefel burned up the marley in one of the most exhilarating and musical interpretations that Haglund has seen in a long, long time.  There was a moment of concern when a corps member, the beautiful Hee Seo, went belly splat on the floor downstage.  Shaken but seemingly uninjured, she quickly picked herself up and completed her corps responsibilities as though nothing had happened and then a few short minutes later delivered a beautiful Thais PdD with Sascha Radetsky.

 

It was hard to believe just how beautiful Murphy looked in the Karinska-designed costume.  Her red hair and creamy complexion were stunning against the peach color of the costume's fabric.  But it was how the choreography seemed to emerge from her organically that made Haglund think that perhaps Murphy is the dancer that this ballet has been needing and even waiting for.  Every step of the foot was effortlessly placed in its perfect position easily within the music and without looking rushed – no small accomplishment.  Some of the complex partnering took on new added value –  when Murphy and Stiefel were holding the other one's hands in profile before executing the roll-over-and-under-the-arm rotation where Murphy ends up in penche arabesque, they looked into each other's eyes as if excited to get to this particular challenge and confident that it would be perfect.  It was.  When Stiefel swept Murphy off her feet into a long, romantic fall to the side in his arm, it was heavenly. 

 

The corps of four men and four women was superb and they made all of those first arabesque sautes look like something other than the usual monotony.  Haglund wishes, however, that when Balanchine's works are set on ABT, the stagers would refrain from trying to instill messy hands and funky fingers as part of the choreography.  The messy hands and fingers in Balanchine's works evolved on their own over decades of ballerinas trying to out-exaggerate one another.  Later as dancers aged and their legs and feet declined, their arms and hands became all the more ornate as if to compensate.  The old TV shows of performances by  Maria Tallchief and Melissa Haydn depict beautiful classically formed hands and fingers with little or no funk.   The fingers and hands devolved to their worst in the 1980s and 1990s.  So if ABT is using stagers from that period of time, care should be taken not to adopt the worst affectations that some stagers hold on to so as to identify themselves as Balanchine dancers.

 

Following Allegro Brillante, we were treated to three PdD which took us from restrained beauty (Tudor's Romeo and Juliet) to exotic and mysterious beauty (Ashton's Thais) to unbridled passionate beauty (MacMillan's Manon).  If Haglund hadn't had such a bad headache, he would have loved to have seen the Wedding Night PdD from Mayerling added to this trio for its terrifying, insane beauty.  Watch it here, if you dare.  If we wish for it, it will come.

 

The Tudor PdD is set to Frederick Delius' music which is lighter fare than the Prokofiev score with which we are more familiar.  It is sweet, indeed, but doesn't hold the passion or the foreshadowing of tragedy the way the Prokofiev does.  The PdD, while beautiful in its simplicity and last night touchingly performed by Xiomara Reyes and Gennadi Saveliev, isn't strong enough to stand on its own in a mixed repertory program.  Nor does it persuade Haglund in the least that he would like to see Tudor's Romeo and Juliet production substituted for the MacMillan masterpiece.  Of course, a critic who makes it his life's mission to discredit MacMillan will probably call for just the opposite.

 

The Thais PdD was stunningly performed by Sascha Radetsky and Hee Seo.  It made me look at Radetsky in a new light - not the tough guy, not the comedian, not the over-anxious technician – but someone who clearly has the makings of a romantic lead.  This was one of the most profound and sincere performances Haglund has seen from Radetsky since his role as a grieving father in Tudor's Dark Elegies.  Hee Seo was exceptionally beautiful in form and she conveyed the mystery and allure of her character exquisitely.  An all around fantastic performance from both and the audience conveyed its appreciation very warmly.  Haglund can't wait to see them again tonight!

 

The Manon PdD was performed by Diana Vishneva and Jose Manuel Carreno.  It was okay except for the fact that it wasn't Ferri and Bocca.  Sorry, it's just too soon to get over them.  Haglund has too many powerful memories of their honest passion in Manon.

 

The second half of the evening's program was a top tier performance of Ashton's The Dream with Julie Kent, Marcelo Gomes and Craig Salstein as Puck.  Salstein was magnificent!  It was so good to see him in this major role.  Turns, split leaps, comedic timing, devilish confusion – it was all there in very good form.  But the dominant character in this performance of The Dream was Gomes.  You've not clearly seen the mime of Oberon until you've seen Gomes employ it.  His execution of Ashton's amazing array of combinations was phenomenal.  The big guy was moving at top speed last night.  Can't wait for Friday night's performance.  Julie Kent was a beautiful Titania and her rapport and timing with Gomes were perfect.  The Ashton choreography makes wonderful use of Julie's expressive arms and lovely leg/foot line especially during her final PdD with Gomes' Oberon.

 

The fairies, especially Gemma Bond (Mustardseed), Simone Messmer (Peaseblossom), Isabella Boylston (Cobweb), and Luciana Paris (Moth), were terrific.  Gemma Bond, looking soft and radiant, really took on the persona of the fairy and moved with just a touch more confidence than the others. 

It was a very satisfying evening of ballet, and Haglund bestows this Prada jeweled Pump Bump Award to Radetsky and Seo's Thais Pas de Deux because it was just such an unexpected stunner:

 

 

 

 

ABT – Swan Lake – What a finish!

A Red Velvet Cake Conspiracy has been victimizing Haglund all summer to the point where he has been worried  whether he would continue to fit in his red velvet seat at the Met Opera House.  Unlike with the seats on the subway, you can't spread across two seats in the opera house and just say, "Sorry Bud, go to the next car."  Nor is it well-received when your anatomy spills over into the next person's space - especially when it's hot and muggy.  So, Haglund was not put out at all last night when some of the higher calorie lifts were omitted from the Act II Pas de Deux at Swan Lake.  The lower calorie substitutes were all quite delicious and nutritious.  By Acts III and IV, Haglund's gut was ready for the big old dessert tray once again.  And boy was it loaded last night.

 

Let's stop all this silly food talk and get to the meat of the matter.  Last night's Swan Lake cast had a last minute substitute of Veronika Part and David Hallberg because Irina Dvorovenko suffered an injury and could not perform.  Irina and her husband Max Beloserkovsky have supplied us with some of the classiest and most enjoyable Swan Lake performances throughout the years and so it was just awful to hear of Irina's injury.  Haglund'eelers everywhere wish her a very speedy recovery.

 

With little rehearsal and to Haglund's recollection, not much more than one previous Swan Lake together, Veronika and David closed the week-long run of Swan Lake with a fantastic performance.  They are quite handsome together and if adjustments had to be made during the partnering and a lift truncated, it did not jar the audience out of the fantasy.  Odette had a much more reasonable tempo with which to convey her predicament in Act II than she did on Monday night.  Her final series of supported pirouettes and concluding penche arabesque were the miracle the audience always holds its breath for. 

 

The Act III Black Swan PdD was excellent.  Hallberg is simply unmatched when it comes to beauty of line and those jumps that sail through the air.  The speed with which he gets that back leg into attitude position on his coupe jetes brings the whole shape of the jump into clear view.  Speaking of attitude positions –  last night Haglund observed from both Odile and Siegfried some beautiful, tight, square, 90 degree angle attitudes that were gorgeous.   Haglund loves the perfect square attitudes and wishes they would be used a little more frequently instead of the elongated ones where the knee sticks out past the side of the shoulder and the shape zooms upward.  He would especially love to see perfect square attitudes used in the Rose Adagio.

 

The Act IV PdD was sensational and the lifts were, too.  Siegfried lifted Odette sky-high with seemingly no effort and she arched backwards with stunning beauty.  A fantastic Act IV from these two - just fantastic!  A small however - Odette stepped off the cliff vertically while looking down as if she was unsure where the pond was.  We don't want to see her bounce back up the way Siegfried Carreno sometimes does, but a little more of a horizontal exit would have been nice.

 

Swan Lake is a lot more than just Odette and Siegfried.  Once again last night we were treated to a brilliant PdT from Blaine Hoven, Stella Abrera and Maria Riccetto.  When Blaine positioned himself in the downstage corner to prepare for his diagonal of spectacular, splitting grand jetes entournant, he wore a wonderful, confident expression on his face that said "Watch this, I'm about to make you crazy" – which he did.  Stella belted out entrechat sixes and flying assembles that caused the audience to interrupt with applause.  Maria finished those supported pirouettes with such authority and charm.  Oh, these three are very, very good in this PdT – and they know it – and that makes it all the better.

 

Jared Matthews gave a huge performance as the sexy, dangerous Von Rothbart.  This guy is now attacking every role with a new fearless authority and blistering energy that is making him very exciting to watch.  What a year he is having!

 

The ladies and gentlemen of the corps were superb as well.  There just are not enough thanks for the swans – all of whom were truly beautiful all week long and gave such pleasure to the 30,000 or so people who saw them.  That's a lot of memories made in a short time.

 

And so, we come to the close of another Swan Lake Week.  The fantasy never fails us and it always leaves us aching for more.   Haglund must venture below ground to the secure vault in the saferoom to bring out the Golden First Position Pump Bump Award for this week's grand performances:

Deceit is Beautiful!

Are Haglund's eyes deceiving him?!!

The ABT calendar now shows Veronika Part and David Hallberg in Swan Lake for tonight, Saturday night.

Oh, Lord, Haglund's ticker can't take it - but he's going to risk it all and let the feathers fall where they will.

Swan Lake Bootleg Greats

As we come to the end of another Swan Lake Week – sniff, sniff – let's look at a couple of great ones whose magic comes through even the worst bootleg videos:

21-year-old Julio Bocca with 47-year-old Natalia Makarova in Buenas Aires

And how about –

Uliana Lopatkina from 15 years ago - unbelievable!

In Haglund's opinion, S-L-O-W is the way to go.

NYCB – Peter Martins' Mirage – 6/23

Get on over to the Koch on Saturday afternoon or Saturday evening to see one of the final performances of Peter Martins' new work Mirage set to an original score composed and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen with a set sculpture by Santiago Calatrava, and violin solo by Leila Josefowicz.  Ignore the New York Times' review.  Macaulay either has to complain irrationally about a dance or gush irrationally about a dance, because just saying something is okay or nice or perhaps worth taking a look at doesn't inspire reading the newspaper or buying it.  Okay is not news that's fit to print. 

 

The composite experience of the music, choreography, scenery and the fantastic Jennie Somogyi makes Mirage a pleasant and interesting middle to the evening's program.  The Martins cliches are ever present; however, there is plenty of new and inventive material to ponder.  And if it's not new material, it looks new because of the interpretive powers of Somogyi.

 

Blessed with the absolute lowest center (Haglund knows that's modern dance-speak) of any ballet dancer anywhere, Somogyi's slinking, grounded style deals uncommon strength to her torso and hips.  When her powerful legs extend, one can almost see and feel the path of the energy as it travels through the limbs and out the end of her feet.  When Somogyi's leg flies up in a battement, one sees the energy arc as it is drawn with her pointe.  All of her movement emerges from her lower core, and it is truly beautiful to watch the power, control, and freedom that gives her.

The Calatrava set is stunning.  Industrial art meets the stage.  Here's a picture of it opened up but much of the time its halves, which resemble big combs of steel, are closed together is one form or another:

It slowly turns and twists its shape throughout the music - which is part of the choreography by Martins.  It divides and assembles.  It raises and lowers.  Steel silver for most of the ballet, it takes on colors at the end.  It's fascinating. Haglund thought that it was cool the way the backs of the costumes of Somogyi and her partner Jared Angle had vertical combs that connected the viewer's eye to the sculpture.

The music, clearly "new music," is much more than a violin solo for Josefowicz and doesn't strive to hurt the ears the way some new music does.  It has depth and passion and melody and drama.  But as with most new music, Haglund cannot recall 8 counts of it to hum.

NYCB's whole concept of the season's Architecture of Dance was a really good one, and Haglund hopes the company repeats it utilizing other architects or visual artists and more new musical compositions.  But next time, let there be more actual collaboration among the artists - particularly the composers and choreographers.

Sunday is Darci Kistler's last dance.  It will mark the passing of an era as the last Balanchine-trained dancer leaves the company.  The symbolism of this retirement has been underestimated instead of underscored, but it will be honestly felt come Sunday afternoon. 

Haglund bestows this Calatrava-inspired Pump Bump Award to Jennie Somogyi for her lovely performance in Mirage:

 

ABT – Swan Lake – Vishneva, Hallberg

Haglund needs to put out a health warning for balletomanes who might have weak tickers:  Subjecting oneself to the emotional 1-2 punch delivered by Veronika Part's Odette/Odile on Monday night and Diana Vishneva's on Tuesday night may lead to a state of euphoric incapacitation that may reveal all or some of the following symptoms:  racing heart beat, watery eyes, shortness of breath, disorientation, weak knees, emotional exhaustion.  Take in these two ladies in Swan Lake on consecutive nights at your own risk.  And then, do it again.

 

What a fantastic Tuesday night where everyone shined their brightest - the big stars, the new stars, and the little twinklers who are just getting going.

 

But first, let's talk about Blaine Hoven in the Pas de Trois with the incredible Stella Abrera and Maria Riccetto.  Every jump, every turn, every pose by Blaine was a picture made for the New York Times.  Grand jete entournants that split to perfection right on the music. Click.  Pirouettes perfectly formed that finished with a pow.  Click.  Beats that crossed.  Click.  Arabesques - huge.  Click. Click. Click.  What a night he had! 

 

And Stella - she's making us into crazy people with her miraculous comeback.  What a stunning display of all things beautiful.  Maria - such joy, neatness, and deserved confidence.  This PdT was one heck of a way to start the evening and Haglund must say that he has watched this trio develop the SL PdT for some time now and thinks they are fast approaching the all-time greatest performance ever by Cornejo, Cornejo & Reyes.  Go, Blaine, go!

 

Sascha Radetsky - one blazing, sexy, menacing, sexy, you're-scary-but-I-want-you-anyway  von Rothbart.  Excellent characterization details.  Excellent dancing.  Great elevation.  Click. Click. Click.

 

Isaac Stappas - the ugly von Rothbart gone insane.  Terrific performance.  Frightening. 

 

Diana Vishneva - Haglund has always loved Diana's Odette and this time he noticed that moment in the Act IV PdD when she realized her fate, and her face became numb, blank, expressionless - like death.  But then she snapped out of it and fought and fought and fought von Rothbart to save Siegfried and herself.  And then, oh no, oh yes, she went over the cliff with a little temps de fleche to the back and Siegfried dove after her in a weeping, lay-out of resignation.  So perfect.

 

Diana's Odile wore one evil, smirking smile and inserted turns a la seconde into her fouettes as if to dare Siegfried into his own a la seconde spinning frenzy.  Diana always plays the Black Swan PdD recklessly - because, well, Odile is a reckless bitch of a swan - a switch, if you will - and so she should look wildly out of control - but while doing everything perfectly, of course.

 

David Hallberg was a devoted, somewhat naive but passionate Siegfried who seemed caught up in a situation beyond his control.  So all he could do was dance miraculously with sky-high leaps that traveled endlessly, pirouettes so musical that it hurt to see them end, delicate partnering, pondering so serious and troubled that you just knew that fate would not deal this prince a break.  Another fully thought-out, tremendous performance from Hallberg.  He's not just a pretty face of a handsome prince - but he's a brainy, handsome prince.

 

The ladies and gentlemen of the corps surpassed their fantastic performance of the night before.  The Aristocrats with Sean Stewart, Jeff Golladay, and Gemma Bond stood out for their vibrance -- these are three dancers who you know will never choose to dance anything ungrammatically.   Haglund thinks he's really talking about integrity in their dancing.

 

All of the peasants including Joes Gorak & Phillips and Isadora Loyola were just wonderful.  The swan corps, again, outstanding.

 

Tuesday's Swan Lake was full of ravishing performances, but the Haglund's Heel Pump Bump Award (Leather Belted Bliss) must be bestowed upon Blaine Hoven for his handsome, breakout performance:

 

 

 

ABT – Swan Lake Opening Night 6/21

It had been a long 359 days since Haglund's last Swan Lake - when Nina Ananiashvili bid us farewell and Haglund thought the world might end.  Good thing it didn't – wouldn't want to have missed this year's opening performance with Veronika Part as Odette/Odile and Cory Stearns as Siegfried - a late substitute for Marcelo Gomes who was to have been a substitute for Roberto Bolle.

 

This was Stearns' New York debut.  Junior just got his Siegfried operator's license last April (in Chicago) and tonight he took the company's Odette LX 950 out for a spin.  In six lanes of traffic - at top speed.  He squealed the tires once or twice, stuck close to the road's shoulder, and rarely looked in the rear view mirror choosing instead to focus on the road straight before him.  He was observed trying to smoke while driving.  At other times he seemed to stand at a green light waiting for it to change.  Junior was not exactly sure where he was going with the Odette LX 950, but he didn't have an accident, didn't nick her finish and managed to bring her home safely – to the relief of all.

 

Faced with the responsibility for the opening night performance of Swan Lake and then having two partners wuss out with injuries, Veronika went on to give one of her strongest, most confident performances ever.  She made a clear statement which Haglund will paraphrase as, "I don't need no stinkin' _____ in order to bring down the house with Swan Lake."  And no, she doesn't.

 

Conductor David LaMarche nearly wrecked the first two acts with his cartoonish, fast tempos.  Haglund thought, "Well, maybe this is how ballet companies employ economies of scale to save money - they just dance everything faster."  Not a good idea.  LaMarche has a proclivity for going rogue with tempos and this wasn't the first time his erractic conducting nearly wrecked a performance.

 

But Veronika prevailed, undaunted by the speed, and delivered all the expected details:  luscious lines that were endless in their beauty, mime so full of emotion that Haglund's own eyes got misty, and extensions where the top of the foot curved over giving the line the fluid dynamic of an ocean's wave.   When Odette collected her feet on pointe and began a passe up the front of the leg, there was a whole chapter of her story in the unfolding of that developpe.

 

The PdD of Act II was beautiful.  Stearns made no mistakes, although his emotion did not register.  He will look stronger theatrically when he dances with a smaller, more reserved Odette.  But Haglund will give the kid credit for not freakin' out for having to debut in New York opposite Veronika Part on opening night.  No doubt he will tuck away that rose that she gave him at bows in a safe place and the memories will last for a long time.   His own dancing included pirouettes that were slow and workman-like but he ended them with a strong statement.  The inflexibility in the back made his arabesque look 40 years old.  Same with his jumps which really didn't go anywhere and didn't form strong, clear shapes.  But Stearns stood firmly behind Veronika and was determined not to let her down from a technical standpoint.  He didn't.

 

Veronika's Odile was the best Haglund has ever seen her perform.  She hissed.  She spit.  She seduced.  She not only did 32 fouettes, she pumped 32 releves - with no resting in multiple revolutions.  The tentativeness that used to mark Veronika's Odile is gone.

 

Haglund must comment on some of the other fine performances from last night:

 

The PdT with Sarah Lane, Yuriko Kajiya, and Jared Matthews sparkled.  Sarah, unfortunately for us, is a jewel being kept in the safe and is only brought out for a quick peek now and then.  She should have been our Sleeping Beauty this year and she certainly should be our Juliet.  She is Exhibit A for McKenzie's under-utilization of the company's homegrown and remarkable talent.  Exhibit B is Stella Abrera who looked like another Odette misplaced in the swan corps.  She and Hee Seo  were beautifully coordinated as the two Big Swans.  Exhibit C is Misty Copeland whose Hungarian Princess was  one of the most charming and prettiest solos in Act III.  Exhibit D is Renata Pavam, a small dancer whose fundamental abilities are the widest ranging and strongest in a corps of technical wizards, continues to be overlooked for growth opportunities.

 

Lastly, the ladies of the corps must be congratulated for their superb performance.  They were beautiful beyond words and brought the magic of this story to life.  Haglund knows how much the corps dreads Swan Lake Week and the utter torture and fatigue that it brings each year.  But he hopes there is comfort in knowing that the swans bring a spectacular theatrical production to life each and every night of that special week.  Were there no swan corps, no one would bother to come to see Swan Lake.

And so, with special thanks to the ladies of the corps, Haglund bestows this gold and diamond Christian Louboutin Pump Bump Award entitled "Love Hurts" to all the performers for their incredible opening night of Swan Lake.

VF Spotlight on Herman Cornejo

The July issue of Vanity Fair devotes its Spotlight column to ABT's Herman Cornejo - "Ballet's Little Prince" - with text by Laura Jacobs.

UPDATE:  It's now online and here's the link.

Haglund Hunch-O-Meter Gone Wild

This is just too big to let go of.  Who is going to be the choreographer for the new ballet score by Sir Paul McCartney?

The Haglund Hunch-O-Meter needle is swinging wildly, wildly, and even more WILDLY. 

See that Winter Season premiere by Susan Stroman on the NYCB calendar?  Could it be her?!

OK, Haglund'eelers, let's get to work and sniff this out.  This scoop could win us another year-end Baggie Award over on The Ballet Bag where they are currently highlighting their visit to the Tokyo Ballet with a side trip to the famous Chacott dancewear store.  Look at all that stuff!  

Jennie Somogyi Week

Jennie Somogyi will be dancing FOUR times next week in Peter Martins' new ballet entitled Mirage with music composed and conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen and sets by Santiago Calatrava.  The premiere is Tuesday (June 22nd) with repeat performances on Wednesday, Saturday matinee, and Saturday evening.  Also dancing in Mirage will be Kathryn Morgan, Erica Pereira, Jared Angle, Chase Finlay, and Anthony Huxley.  The guest violinist will be Leila Josefowicz.

Haglund is hopeful about this collaboration because of the high levels of experience of many involved - most notably Somogyi's.  She's probably the company's most able when it comes to inhabiting modern music.

Even though Jennie Somogyi Week coincides with Swan Lake Week, Haglund recommends that everyone get to the Koch to see Jennie stoke this ballet.

And while you're there, start peppering EVERYONE with questions about Sir Paul McCartney's new ballet score.  He slipped off pointe in a BBC interview and Let It Be known that he was writing a score for a ballet company, but did not say for whom.  The needle on the Haglund Hunch-O-Meter immediately swung wildly to the right - as in Right Here in New York.

Can you just imagine what that will be like?  Lincoln Center will rock like never before.

Oh My Sweet Lord, Please Let It Be.