Haglund's Heel

ABT – Giselle – Herrera & Bolle 5/30

Paloma Herrera, Roberto Bolle, and Michele Wiles led the Memorial Day cast of Giselle at the Met.  Gennadi Saveliev substituted for Sascha Radetsky in the role of Hilarion.  Misty Copeland substituted for Hee Seo in the Peasant PdD with Blaine Hoven.  Zhong-Jing Fang substituted for Kristi Boone as Zulma while Stella Abrera danced Moyna as scheduled.  Haglund thinks he may have spotted a little Nutcracker mouse atop the wheeled cart during the Harvest Festival.

There was something missing in tonight's performance.  It's hard to say exactly what, but less than full development of Giselle's character is a good place to start.  Paloma danced the steps beautifully and executed the mime correctly.  Her pointes met the floor like they were magnetized.  Her hops on pointe were the most sustained and controlled on the planet Earth.   Her Act II variations and adagio were accomplished from a technical standpoint.  But from a character development standpoint,  the Act I Giselle could have been Herrera's Kitri and her Act II Giselle could have been her Odette.  It's not that Paloma's characterizations are monochromatic; it's that they're grayscale. 

Giselle is a sufficiently grand role that there is room for a variety of interpretations; but it still requires some interpretation.  One cannot simply come out on stage with the same smile that one uses for every performance and expect it to be sufficient as character development.  In the Saturday matinee, Irina Dvorovenko carved out a most detailed, thoughtful character in Giselle.  It looked like no other role that she dances.  Ditto with Diana Vishneva on Friday night.  Ditto with the much missed Nina Ananiashvili's Giselles.  And Ferri's Giselles.  The good examples are there for the taking and copying.   

Overall, Roberto Bolle danced well and acted well, but it was not among his better performances at the Met.  Rarely does a dancer get through a principal performance without missing a turn or miscalculating a balance or having some little thing go wrong.  Unfortunately tonight, those little errors happened at big points in the ballet, so they were more noticeable. 

Gennadi Saveliev's performance as Hilarion was as strong as on Friday night in the Vishneva/Gomes Giselle - maybe even stronger. 

Michele Wiles' Myrtha can be a little odd.  For most of tonight, it was a strong and calculated performance.  Michele's lack of flexibility in her torso was evident in her variations; her head bent from side to side, but her torso did not.  And what's with the nasty grinning?  Myrtodile doesn't work for Haglund.  The artistic license taken with Myrtha should be revoked immediately.

Misty Copland and Blaine Hoven looked like they were performing the Peasant PdD after a pressure-filled day of rehearsing – other things.  Either Blaine's variation was a little fast or he didn't have his customary leg power.  Misty was nearly perfect throughout but there was a stressfulness present as well.

Zhong-Jing Fang and Stella Abrera were a mismatch as Zulma and Moyna.  Fang's energy sometimes manifests itself in sudden jerks of the head or an extra tense arm whereas Abrera more than ever resembles a Giselle. 

Tonight's performance was like a vehicle on the wrong wheels. 

ABT – Giselle – The Bold & The Beautiful – 5/27

If on Saturday morning anyone wonders why the traffic in the city is so bad, it's because Diana Vishneva, Marcelo Gomes, and Veronika Part collectively held the power to put a lot of people's Memorial Day Weekend plans on hold.  Nobody was about to leave town Friday night when these three were scheduled to open Giselle Week at the Met Opera House.  They also close the Giselle run next Thursday - good luck getting a ticket.

It was quite the overwhelming night at the ballet.  Vishneva and Gomes together are so much more than Vishneva and Gomes dancing with other people.  They seem to embolden each other to take the drama to new levels and to hurl themselves into whatever direction their hearts tell them to go. 

At times, Gomes looked like he was making it up as he went along.  He very nearly had his own "mad scene" when Giselle lost her mind and died of a broken heart at the end of Act 1.  In Act II when he grovelled at Myrtha's feet pleading for mercy after executing a blistering series of entrechat six, it was so hard to see how she could resist him.  You always clearly understood his every "word" of mime.  Gomes had an impressive night from a technical standpoint as well.  Everything he did was huge, and judging from the audience's reaction, he registered in the back rows of the Family Circle.  His overhead lifts of Vishneva to  the horizontal were stunning - the draping curve of her tulle skirt while she was aloft in the first lift was simply perfect.  

Vishneva - whose very beautiful mother, by the way, was mingling around on the Grand Tier at intermission - gave a performance so much richer than the one Haglund saw her give with the Mariinsky in Washington DC a few months ago.  Her dramatic interpretation of the young, simple girl who evolves into the forgiving wili was intense, and her Act I was far more than just sweetness.  All night long, her balances were perfect and executed without being showy.  Her hops on pointe in Act 1 were performed to please Albrecht tonight.  Her feet were quiet and of a nice shape.  During her Act II variation with the diagonals of entrechat quatre that move upstage while her head and eyes focused downward, Haglund wished for a repeat of the snafu a few years ago when the top layer of tulle flew into her face during the first several entrechat quatre making her truly ghost-like. It didn't happen tonight, but maybe someday they'll write it into the part.

Speaking of Part, Veronika's Myrtha may have been mean and spiteful, but she melted the hearts in the theater.  Many of the men in the audience tonight will happily dream about being the object of her retaliation - with or without her long-stemmed switches.  Soaring leaps, perfectly arched feet and tapered pointes, gorgeous epaulment, long arabesques, and dramatic depth marked her performance tonight.  Myrtha was out for revenge but only because she still hurt so much from being jilted by a cad many seasons ago.   As Albrecht lay motionless on the stage totally exhausted from nearly dancing to death, Myrtha circled around behind her prey.  Just as she threw all the force of her arm, hand, and pointed finger to wili him off to his demise, the clock struck Four, and he was saved.  It was very close tonight; she almost got him.

Myrtha had help tonight from her well-drilled band of Wilis.  They each just have to know how much the audience eagerly anticipates their arabesque formations that crisscross the stage.  Truly beautiful tonight. 

Isabella Boylston and Yuriko Kajiya as  Moyna and Zulma were exceptional.

Maria Riccetto and Jared Matthews took charge of the Peasant PdD in such a way that it makes Haglund all the more excited to see their upcoming debuts in Coppelia.  (Get your tickets here.)  Haglund saw Jared as the Act 1 Hilarion at today's dress rehearsal, and he was fantastic!  It's hard to know when he will perform it, however, because ABT doesn't post its secondary casting.  Too bad, it would sell more tickets.  Jared is not as consistent as he will be, because he is always pushing his limits and trying to get to the next level.  But he is very exciting to watch in the same way as Joseph Phillips who Haglund watched perform the Peasant PdD at today's rehearsal with Kajiya.

Gennadi Saveliev as tonight's Hilarion was full of energy and danced very well.  His acting was strong and Haglund thought he made very compelling arguments for Giselle to stay with him instead of running off with Albrecht.

The packed house tonight at the Met made it pretty clear that the ballet ticket buying public wants to see ballet classics danced beautifully - not mediocre modern and muddy choreography that the faux critics of the old gray lady keep trying to bully audiences into watching instead of the classics.  Giselle will always be bigger than all the works of Wheeldon, Millepied, and Ratmansky combined.  It's the story.

So many spectacular performances tonight, but the Polyvore flowered Pump Bump Award goes to Marcelo Gomes because, quite simply, he adds so much value to everything in which he performs.

ABT – From Classic to Premieres – 5/24 & 5/25

Sometimes dancing just for the sake of dancing is like talking just for the sake of talking. 

Last evening ABT opened the first of a sequence of four performances of mixed repertory entitled From Classic to Premieres.  On each program are three new pieces consisting of premieres by Alexei Ratmansky, Benjamin Millepied, and Christopher Wheeldon, and the revival of Antony Tudor's Shadowplay.  Haglund attended the first night and today's matinee performance with the alternate cast.

Dumbarton by Alexei Ratmansky to Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks might have been intended to illuminate the sophisticated music's counterpoint.  Like the music, the groups of dancers frequently moved in dissonant manners until arriving at a harmonious conclusion.  Haglund was perfectly happy with this interpretation until his acquaintance said, "They're all little birds."  What?!  Suddenly Haglund felt a grumbling in his intestines with this thought:  Oh no, please, these are not the little Stravinsky birds migrating toward the big Stravinsky Firebird scheduled for next spring.  We're not going to think about that any more.

The treasure of this piece was in seeing so many dancers who are usually in the background of other ballets and rarely have an opportunity to shine.  Haglund is always on the lookout for Joseph Gorak, Eric Tamm, and Gemma Bond.  In today's matinee, Gemma was the highlight and inhabited the flute notes with her grace and classical perfection.  Every dancer should aspire to extract such beauty from the classical vocabulary by executing it with the purity that Gemma manages.  Last night Gorak and Tamm, two exciting and personable dancers who immediately grab the attention, were featured along with Isabella Boylston, Misty Copeland, Luis Ribagordo, Yuriko Kajiya, Veronika Part, Roddy Doble, Michele Wiles, and Thomas Forster.  There was a lot of smiling on stage as the dancers flocked together, circled, broke off into smaller duos and trios and then gathered back together to focus on a single member.  The dancers beside Gemma this afternoon were Julio Bragado-Young, Luciana Paris, Joseph Phillips, Meaghan Hinkis, Arron Scott, Devon Teuscher, Isaac Stappas, Leann Underwood, and Daniel Mantei.

Costumes by Richard Hudson included casual pants, shirt and tie or suspenders for the men and pedestrian-type casual dresses for the women – kind of along the lines of some of the costumes in Paul Taylor's Company B.  Each lady had her hair down or in a ponytail.

The choreography was very steppy and peppy, which seems to be Ratmansky's preference.  It had a Great Galloping Gottschalk feel to it without the dynamics that Lynne Taylor-Corbett designed in her piece.

The problem with steppy and peppy is that no matter how crafted the dance is, the viewer becomes weary from trying to keep up with all the steps – as happened in On the Dneiper.  As the dancers flew through the steps in Dumbarton, the choreography took on a so-what feel to it.  It was really nice to see all of these terrific dancers out from under the shadows of the less-than-the-best guest artists that ABT is peddling around these days.  But unfortunately, the choreography, while being filled with steps, was short on substance. 

The orchestra sounded great playing Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks.  It's so easy for it to be played badly where the dissonance is so out of whack that it becomes – well, a-hem, – dissonant.

Stravinsky intentionally composed the Dumbarton Oaks Concerto in the tradition of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos.  The next ballet, Troika, by Benjamin Millepied, was set to selections from two of Bach's suites for solo cello. 

Choreographed for three men while the cellist played seated in a downstage corner, Troika was Millepied's typical nonsense where dancers pulled and tugged on one another and casually threw off random tricks.  The first night's cast – Alexandre Hammoudi, Daniil Simkin, and Sascha Radetsky – danced superbly.  The rapport was such that Haglund thought maybe these guys would pull sailor hats out of their back pockets and launch into Robbins' Fancy Free.  Yes, the choreography included that kind of mimicry. 

The cast this afternoon fared a little better.   Thomas Forster, Jared Matthews, and Blaine Hoven could have been guys just fooling around on a basketball court.  Matthews and Hoven are outstanding together.  They have strong Tharp-type instincts, are confident dancers, and know how to accent phrases to maximize the value of the choreography.  Matthews had an outstanding afternoon in this piece and in the final ballet by Christopher Wheeldon.  He's got this James Dean attitude working for him along with spectacular legs and feet and a sense of dynamics.  ABT should throw him a great big bone: an Albrecht or Desiree or Siegfried - he's dynamic enough to carry any of them and within reach technically.

Tudor's Shadowplay received two completely different readings by Craig Salstein (filling in for the injured Herman Cornejo) and Daniil Simkin.  It probably will always be hard following in the footsteps of Anthony Dowell on which Tudor created this ballet about a boy's loss of innocence.  That's probably what Baryshnikov was thinking when Tudor arranged a revival of the piece with him in it in the 1970s.  Dowell's wide-eyed innocence, naivety, and pure classical leanings contributed much to the final artistic product.  Baryshnikov had lost all innocence by the time he got to Shadowplay and he didn't possess Dowell's classical purity.  But Tudor let Baryshnikov search out his own interpretation.   So who would the new interpreters this week aim for?  It's hard for Haglund to tell since he never saw a live performance of Shadowplay by either Dowell or Baryshnikov, but on the surface, it seemed that Salstein strived for the purity of Dowell while Simkin channelled his inner-Baryshnikov as well as his recent character in Prodigal Son.  But Simkin, as the Boy with Matted Hair, had no matted hair.  He had high-end salon hair. 

While Simkin's performance may have had more polish, Salstein's was far more than a last minute put-together to cover for an injured colleague.  It was one of his biggest opportunities to date, and he experienced some nerves.  Xiomara Reyes was the lady celestial in Salstein's performance and Sarah Lane was that character in Simkin's performance.  Both shined, but Sarah's performance was more secure because of the skill of the two male celestials who carried her around and maneuvered her through the air.  Grant DeLong and Isaac Stappas did a great job in that department. 

The final ballet on the bill was Christopher Wheeldon's Thirteen Diversions, set to Benjamin Britten's Diversions for Piano and Orchestra, for four principal couples and eight corps couples.  In this afternoon's performance, several of the couples from the night before were substituted for those scheduled to dance today.  Partially because of the offerings that preceded it, Haglund felt happily relieved and contented to see this new ballet.  Wheeldon seems to have recovered some of the ballet vocabulary he misplaced in recent years and while parts of the ballet appear to have been put together under pressure – most notably the ending – there are some striking passages and curiously, there are some passages that look like Millepied's work – such as the PdD for Isabella Boylston and Marcelo Gomes who conducted similar maneuverings in Everything Doesn't Happen At Once.  Lots of wrap around work with extensions marked the PdD and there was one weird section where Isabella bent over and picked up her legs at the ankles one at a time and moved them forward like plodding steps.  The point of this was – what?  Overall, the PdD was very pretty and the dancers looked stunning in it. 

Isabella's ensemble work had some deficiencies, especially this afternoon.  When she was dancing in unison with three extraordinarily experienced soloists (Stella Abrera, Maria Riccetto, and Simone Messmer), Isabella could not keep up with the speed of the chaines turns which the ladies were doing in a line.  And in a sequence of repeated soutenu turns that required the rounded arms to go all the way down to "fifth low" before raising to fifth position overhead, Isabella continually just went from first position to fifth while the other ladies were in tight unison.  Perhaps she was saving energy for her higher profile PdD with the preeminent principal dancer, I don't know, but it's apparent that some of Isabella's priorities need a course correction.

Today Stella Abrera and Eric Tamm, dancing the roles that Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg danced the night before, were outstanding in every way.  Stella's musicality and her ability to create flowing images with her upper body while slicing through movement with her legs is the best in the company.  She is so beautifully unique and has such technical integrity that in any other ballet company in the world that values talent and skill, she would be on the principal roster and artistic directors would be investing in her for major classical roles - not secondary roles to a first year soloist who the AD has anointed  as the next Marianna.

The corps de ballet in Thirteen Diversions danced handsomely in both performances.  All were costumed in black – long sleeved jacket shaped tops with wide shiny lapels that had deep openings in the front.  The women's black skirts came just below the knees and the inside of the hems were bright yellow.  The principals were similarly costumed but in a lighter gray.  The inside hems of their skirts were pink.  It all made for a nice effect.  In the first performance on Tuesday, the corpsmen were sometimes arranged so that Joseph Gorak and Sean Stewart were dancing next to each other.  That was pretty much pure classical Heaven.  Two guys who never execute an ugly line or step.  Can't imagine a more perfect corps arrangement except if you threw in Gemme Bond with them. 

The stage lighting - a back scrim that changed color and had a band of horizontal light that moved up and down - was really interesting.  Don't know why it was there, though. 

It was kind of a rough two performances to sit through on consecutive days.  As a nearby lady complained, "We can see this kind of stuff at City Ballet for a lot less money."  True.  This programing may be fun and interesting and inspiring for the performers to dance, but it will not bring in any new audiences and will drive away some people.  Why in such economically stressful times, ABT spends money on this kind of programing instead of pulling treasures out of its chest is a question that deserves an answer.  We haven't seen Tippet's Bruch Violin Concerto for quite a while. Ballet Imperial.  Billy the Kid.  Concerto.  Gaite Parisienne.  Graduation Ball.  The Green Table.  Othello.  And on and on and on.  Expensive new works including one that only gives three dancers opportunities?  Expensive less-than-the-best guest stars? 

Haglund really wants to bestow the Pump Bump Award to Stella Abrera, because, well, he always does.  But it wouldn't be fair because all the dancers in both casts of Thirteen Diversions were superb and deserve more than applause.  So everyone in 13-Ds will have to share this amazing Pierre Hardys Pump Bump Award:

 

ABT - More guest artists

What an incredible failure on the part of the entire ABT artistic management team that it chooses to add yet another guest artist to its spring season. 

When is the Board of Directors going to stop accepting McKenzie's excuses and step in and clean house?  When?!

Once "America's National Ballet Company," ABT now just peddles imports under an American brand name while seeking U.S. patron and government handouts.  No "Made in America" signs in its place of business.  It has clearly adopted the Republican-supported corporate business model that is running this country into the ground.  How shameful.  How disappointing. 

 

ABT – Don Q – When sweet is not enough – 5/23

Sweet will take you a long way with the ballet audience at The Met.  The audience will forgive most anything so long as there is sweetness to admire.  Tonight Alina Cojocaru personified sweetness in her performance of Kitri during Jose Manuel Carreno's final Don Quixote performance at The Met.  She brought all the sweetness of an Act I Giselle to Kitri.  She brought all the sweetness of Aurora to Kitri.  What she didn't bring was any Spanish flavor to her dancing or character.  In addition to her sweetness, she offered some fine balances.  But if you strapped those quart sized mason jars that she wears as pointe shoes on David Koch, he could balance on The Met stage in attitude forever, too.  It's terribly unfortunate that Cojocaru's feet have suffered injuries and have become so burdened with bunions that they are nearly unsuitable for pointe work.  Bad bunions are a natural hazard in the art form.  But the fact is that those shoes mar the classical line and are unsettling visually. 

The shape of the foot in ballet matters.  It matters big time.  And if a dancer is wearing mason jars - for whatever reason - it diminishes the artistic aesthetic in classical ballet.  Alina Cojocaru's shoes detract from her artistic aesthetic.  Gillian Murphy's shoes detract from her artistic aesthetic.  Maria Riccetto's shoes detract from her artistic aesthetic.  Kristi Boone's shoes detract from her artistic aesthetic.  What do these four fine artists have in common?  They all wear the same off-brand pointe shoe.  Ballet directors should get control of the pointe shoes that their dancers are wearing in classical productions.  The shape of the foot in ballet matters.  It matters big time.

Cojocaru, besides lacking the Kitri character, compromised on some of the more difficult technical matters.  The traveling pas de cheval were omitted.  The turns in a la seconde that fouette into a penche arabesque were omitted.  Some jumps that we normally see with kicks to the back of the head were omitted.  These omissions were not balanced out with any impressive substitutions.  Based on the performance tonight, it's a good guess that when McKenzie contracted Cojocaru for the Don Q performances, he probably did so without proper vetting.

Since tonight was Carreno's final Don Quixote before the home crowd, we naturally want to express gratitude for all the years of great performances and not dwell on the fact that what was is no longer.  Carreno whipped out a heartfelt, energetic performance with great charm, great turns, and great partnering.  After leaving ABT at the end of this season, he wants to keep on dancing, but he wants to retire the white tights.  So shall he be allowed.  But haven't these past 16 white-tighted years been fine.  Yes, they have.

Maria Riccetto and Gennadi Saveliev were Mercedes and Espada.  It was a little underpowered.  Saveliev tended to look like he was marking the steps except when it came time to deliver one of his signature 540 mega-turns.  Riccetto kind of toned down to match the subdued Saveliev.  Haglund would really like to see Riccetto's Mercedes to an Espada by Blaine Hoven.  Maybe next time.  Her Dryad Queen was danced well, but danced in a rather small way.  Her upper body didn't breathe and extend the movement as grandly as we've seen in the past.

Sarah Lane and Isabella Boylston were the Flower Girls - not without problems.  When dancing in unison, Isabella over-held balances and the extended leg which tended to throw off Sarah.  The tendency was especially evident in the PdT by the Flower Girls and Basilio where Jose and Sarah were together but Isabella was enjoying extending the music.  Haglund observed this tendency during the performance of The Bright Stream in Washington, DC earlier this year when Isabella would continually hold balances longer than Xiomara Reyes when they were supposed to be dancing in unison.  Isabella should at this point in her career concentrate on being a good team player when dancing with soloists and principals instead of trying to out-balance them. 

Joe Phillips and Simone Messmer were a fantastic Gypsy Couple.  Phillips' Gypsy character was so fierce and dangerous that it could have been developed in Bed-Stuy.  He is a very exciting dancer who never plays it safe.  When Messmer's Gypsy launched herself at Basilio, wrapping her legs around him and throwing her back into a deep arch, Carreno smiled broadly at her display of gutsy abandon.

Yuriko Kajiya was terrific as Amour.  Her arabesque simply sings.  It is so delicate and so full of harmony.

Now to the Toreadors.  We almost had spear perfection tonight.  Moments into the Toreadors' dance, Haglund thought for sure we were going to have spear perfection tonight.  Spears into the ground - perfect once.  Yes.  Perfect twice.  Yes.  Perfect thrice.  Yes - but, oh no, one little spear (stage front & center) loosely drooped over and fell flat. Never mind, the Toreadors were dashing in their other maneuvers and well, there's always next year.  Until then, the Toreadors get tonight's Pump Bump Award for "most improved" this week. 

 

 

NYCB – Fearful Symmetries, The Dreamer, La Sonnambula 5/22

What a Sunday matinee! 

Peter Martins should rename his piece Fearsome Symmetries.  Today his choreography was knocked out with fearless authority by Sterling Hyltin & Chase Finlay, Tiler Peck & Taylor Stanley, Lauren King & Allen Peiffer, and a razor-sharp corps that wielded its way through the complicated John Adams musical phrases like a tribe of Bruce Lees slicing through Way of the Dragon. 

Corps members Chase Finlay and Taylor Stanley handled their assignments like there could not possibly be anyone better for them.  Corps members Lauren King and Allen Peiffer, dancing in perhaps their most technically challenging assignments to date, pushed and pushed their abilities to their limits - both so incredibly hungry for the opportunity and both seemingly growing their artistry to a new level right before our eyes.   Sterling Hyltin and Tiler Peck led by example today with an inspiring level of controlled energy - working hard to mesh their styles. 

Right now, this company is impressively strong, sassy, and has a Hasselblad-focus on its dancing.  Fearful Symmetries was but one example today.

Robbins' Opus 19/The Dreamer received a terrific performance from Janie Taylor and Gonzalo Garcia.  Taylor flew around the stage in grand allegro with perfect calmness.  Garcia was physically stunning in white tights and white tee-shirt and gave a top-notch performance in every respect.  The piece may have been made for Baryshnikov, but Garcia has truly mastered the ability to convey the dreamlike situation along with his frustration and pain of not being able to reach his counterpart. 

La Sonnambula with Jenifer Ringer as The Coquette, Wendy Whelan as the The Sleepwalker, Amar Ramasar as The Baron, and Sebastien Mardovici as The Poet, was well-danced, but the ballet is far less than the Balanchine masterpieces we saw during the first two weeks of the season and not a particularly great telling of the story.   It mostly exists so that a ballerina can bourree around like a sleepwalker with a man seemingly managing her direction changes.  At times, it's shallow and unconvincing, but gave Ana Sophia Scheller and Antonio Carmena a challenging PdD and Daniel Ulbricht some impressive jumping and comedy to perform.  As The Sleepwalker, Whelan was quite believable and managed the massive amount of bourrees and the eye focusing very well.

Haglund was blown away by the energy and level of dancing in Fearful Symmetries.  Each performer deserves his or her own Pump Bumb Award, but there can only be one.  So, this dashing red Christian Louboutin award is bestowed upon the entire cast for a very red hot performance.

 

NYCB – All Robbins – 5/21

After preparing all day yesterday for the End of the World - laundry done, litterbox changed, checkbook balanced, recycle bins emptied - what did we get at 6PM?  A couple of dark clouds and some sprinkles.  Not enough for an apocalypse, just frizzy hair.  Apparently, we all can keep on a-sinning.  So, Haglund continued on his gluttonous balletic course by attending NYCB's All-Robbins evening performance that included the debuts of Sterling Hyltin and Robert Fairchild in Afternoon of a Faun to Debussy's famous Prelude. 

With some nods to the Nijinsky masterpiece, Robbins placed two dancers, a man and a woman,  in practice clothes in a ballet studio in front of an imaginary  mirror - the mirror being the "fourth wall" between the performers and the audience.  The concept is to keep the audience wondering whether the the woman is real or simply imagined by the man.  Lying on the floor with the sun streaming in through the windows, the man leisurely stretches his limbs until he notices in the mirror that a beautiful woman has entered the studio from the back.  They dance a PdD which climaxes when they kneel next to one another on the floor where the man gives the woman a tender kiss on the check.  She gets up and backs her way out of the studio while the man goes back to stretching on the floor - finishing with a back stretch that reminds one of the act that Nijinsky intended to portray at the end of his own ballet.

The debut performances by Fairchild and Hyltin were pretty enjoyable – certainly expertly danced.  Fairchild was completely believable in his reverie while alone in the ballet studio.  When Hyltin entered, however, there wasn't that feeling that she could have been all a figment of his imagination.  They looked at each other just the way they look at each other in all the other ballets which they beautifully dance together.  They were maybe just a little too familiar.  But Afternoon of a Faun is a wonderful ballet, and Haglund is happy to see it appear this spring.

Immediately following Faun was Antique Epigraphs, also choreographed by Robbins to Debussy music.  Rachel Rutherford, Sara Mearns, Savannah Lowery, Teresa Reichlen and a corps of four women performed Greek inspired poses and movements that utilized flexed wrists, flexed feet, and limbs at 90 degree angles - again like what is in Nijinsky's Faun choreography.  While the music was supposedly based on the Greek Sapphic poems, Songs of Bilitis, the choreography didn't appear to be.  The women bore glaring, angry expressions for whatever reason.  But as each got moving in her individual solo, the ballet became enjoyable quite simply because each woman is a beautiful dancer who is compelling to watch no matter what the choreography. 

The evening opened with a high-energy performance of Robbins' Interplay (music by Morton Gould) with Ashley Laracey, Tiler Peck, Erica Pereira, Ana Sophia Scheller, Joaquin De Luz, Amar Ramasar, Troy Schumacher, and Sean Suozzi.  This was a bright romp with a great cast that had natural chemistry.  Must say that the synchronization of the virtuosic steps was perfect - even the ladies' ponytails were swinging together.  De Luz, with his charisma and masterful technique, kept this piece fresh and away from its tendency to look outdated. 

It was a fine evening (Haglund could not stay for the final ballet The Concert) that saw a promising new cast in Afternoon of a Faun.  But the Yves Saint Laurent "little sinner" Pump Bump Award goes to the cast of Interplay for its Gould old fashioned fun:

ABT – Corella to dance in Giselle w/Reyes

Praise the Lord.  Thank you.  Thank you.  Thank you.

According to the ABT calendar on its website, Angel Corella will be stepping in for the injured Herman Cornejo to dance Albrecht to Xiomara Reyes' Giselle on Wednesday EVENING, June 1st.  Go here for tickets.

Wouldn't it be in everyone's best interests to move Abrera's Myrtha back to that Wednesday evening performance?  Since she's being unfairly denied the title role, she shouldn't have to stand there and watch someone else smirk her way through the opportunity.

ABT – Don Q – Reyes & Sarabia 5/19

ABT reinvigorated and perhaps deepened its Cuban heritage tonight as Rolando Sarabia made an emergency guest stop to cover for an injured Herman Cornejo in Don Quixote with Xiomara Reyes.  Since defecting from Cuba and the Ballet Nacional de Cuba (via Mexico) to the U.S. in 2005, Sarabia has danced with Houston Ballet and then Miami City Ballet which he left about a year ago citing an incompatibility with the Balanchine repertory. 

The way in which Sarabia simply and very comfortably stepped into the middle of ABT looked almost like a homecoming.  We've seen him before on this stage, haven't we? Nope.  He used to dance with ABT in the 1970s, didn't he?  Nope.  He just showed up, and he fits real good, as they might say.  Well, it didn't hurt that he knew Xiomara Reyes like the back of his hand.  In Act I, he twice lifted Reyes above his head with one arm and kept her there so long that she started banging her tambourine in order to come down.  In the downstage corner facing Reyes who was in the opposite corner, Sarabia launched a marvelous pirouette with the working leg changing positions and finished it by motioning with his fingers to Reyes to come on.  It set her off - big time. 

Act I was a period of acclimation for Sarabia.  When the lights came down low for the Act II Gypsy Camp scene and then up again for the Tavern scene, Sarabia got down to demonstrating how Cuban ballet got its reputation - and why that reputation is so important to American Ballet Theatre.  His characterization of Basilio, the poor barber, was extraordinarily theatrically detailed.  No moment was wasted.  It was among the most fully acted Basilios that Haglund has seen at ABT.  When, after Basilio had performed all kinds of amazing feats, the glittering gold Espada showed up and indicated it was time for him to dance, Sarabia motioned as if to say, "I just did all of that, and now you come along with your fancy clothes to fight some tame little bull and try to make everyone think you're something special?"  Well, to be fair, Jared Matthews was a fierce Espada, and there was no question as to where the sword went near the end of his variation.  Stella Abrera was a glistening Mercedes, even more stunning than at yesterday's matinee. 

Act III included a superb PdD with Sarabia rotating Reyes' pirouettes with one hand.  Reyes' variations were on fire all night long, but Act III in particular, was thrilling.  Her version of the fouette turns included fully opening her red fan above her head on the double revolutions.  Usually Reyes is the one who has such a positive influence on her partner that he delivers a superior performance, and that may well have been the case again tonight; but it also seemed that Sarabia coaxed Reyes to a new level of energy and a new level of daring. 

There were many other fine performances tonight as well.  Maria Riccetto and Misty Copeland were perfect Flower Girls.  Their simultaneous jumps landed with a single, barely audible sound.  Luciana Paris and Daniil Simkin as the Gypsy Couple were phenomenal, and Luciana's interactions with Sarabia were nicely wicked.  Yuriko Kajiya's Amour flew around the stage like the ultimate Tinker Bell.  The Toreadors were improved this evening, but really, why is it so hard for everyone to stab the floor with the arrows on the same count?  Is it really more difficult than a double saute de basque?  To be fair, things were improved tonight, and Sean Stewart and Isaac Stappas were neat as a pin when dancing with the two Flower Girls.

So, it would seem that ABT could do this country's ballet community a service by finding a place for Rolando Sarabia for a few years and then work him into the artistic team.  He's got what we can't seem to develop on our own.  He's not young; he's struggled with injuries; but there is no denying his ability, talent, and commitment.  Oh damn, and he's not tall.  Oh, well.

Haglund bestows this shiny Givenchy Pump Bump Award to Rolando Sarabia and Xiomara Reyes for the brightest Don Quixote of the season so far:

 

ABT – Don Q – Simkin & Kajiya debut 5/18

Daniil Simkin and Yuriko Kajiya may be the most youthful Basilio and Kitri who ever spun across The Met stage.  Today, before an already-adoring crowd, they debuted in Don Quixote; the performance also marked their debuts as leads in a full length production on the mammoth Met stage.  It felt a little like the commencement ceremonies going on simultaneously over in Avery Fisher Hall - big steps, big accomplishments, big opportunities on the horizon, and proud looks from the audience and especially from their colleagues on the stage.  And there's even a historical recording of the performance.  A Japanese camera crew was working from the front Grand Tier Box.

Basilio and Kitri had a few musical uncertainties in the first part of Act 1; sometimes the music ended before the dancers were finished.  But overall, their presentation had all the requisite technical candy and more, and was a highly polished performance.  The two overhead lifts in Act I were flawless with Simkin executing them as smooth, single moves and seemingly freeing the left arm even before Kajiya was all the way up in the air.  Time and time again, he let loose with pirouettes that just would not end.  Kajiya's Act I Kitri variation was packed with stabbing pointes, neatly folded pas de chat, and loads of charisma.   Their strongest elements all came together in Act III with a stunning Wedding PdD, even though they still looked too young to get married.  Kajiya rotated her fouettes en dehors which was pretty spectacular to see. 

Stella Abrera and Jared Matthews were a smoldering, sophisticated Mercedes and Espada.  Haglund has about run out of words to describe Abrera's artistry.  Without fail, every time she returns from a period of injury, she somehow comes back having progressed to a new level of achievement.  Today in Act II as Queen of the Dryads, she looked like the prima of all primas - absolutely glorious.  Expansive leaps; soft, exquisite port de bras; Italian fouettes where each looked like a Xerox copy of the one before it.  Matthews was a hot, dashing Espada - all excellently danced, but that glimmer of Bocca that Haglund saw last year has faded.  Specifically, the legs went up very authoritatively but then gravity brought them down instead of Espada pulling them down.  It's a very small complaint about a terrific, sizzling performance.  Haglund hopes we're not too far away from seeing an Albrecht from him. 

Gemma Bond, as Amour, overcame some initial nerves to give an outstanding performance.  Haglund can't recall ever seeing her as Amour; so, if this was a debut, it was pretty impressive.

Like the Flower Girls Tuesday night, Renata Pavam and Simone Messmer, had some problems synchronizing jumps but their variations were solid.  Misty Copeland was a sultry Gypsy; her solo full of energy and sass.  Arron Scott's Gypsy was too refined and too focused on preparations.  There was none of the fierceness and intensity that we saw in Joe Phillips' Gypsy the night before.  

The Toreadors have had problems two performances in a row.  Today, turns failed, musical cues were missed, and jumps were wimpy.  They really need to pull it together.

Nevertheless, today's performance was made memorable by the debuts of Simkin and Kajiya.  The leopard cub print Pump Bump Award with red bow goes to them: