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:
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