Haglund's Heel

RNZB - Sleeping Beauty clip

Gary Harris (designer) and Greg Horsman (choreographer) talk about their new production of Sleeping Beauty for the Royal New Zealand Ballet.  Check out the fire-breathing dragon in these clips which seem to be from a dress rehearsal!  This looks like something that we need to see in New York, and it seems like it might fit nicely in the New York State Theater.

The clip includes a blurb of Stella Abrera in class and in interview which is all fine and dandy, but we need to see her freakin' Rose Adagio. 

 

Nut notes

The kids at Ballet Mississippi are about to have a few Christmas dreams come true when ABT's Veronika Part and Blaine Hoven join them as The Sugar Plum Fairy and Her Cavalier for a couple of performances of The Nutcracker next weekend.  Down in Mississippi they'll be singing Tina's "Role Model on the River" for many years to come.

Haglund can't wait for the opening night of ABT's The Nutcracker with Veronika and Marcelo Gomes on December 14th at BAM.

For those who cannot travel thousands of miles to Brooklyn to see them, there will be an awesome NYCB cast performing on PBS's Live from Lincoln Center that same night.  Megan Fairchild, Joaquin De Luz, Ashley Bouder, Tiler Peck, Ana Sophia Scheller, Teresa Reichlen, Daniel Ulbricht, and Rebecca Krohn will be lighting up the TV screens around the country for FREE.  You can also see the same cast at local movie theaters the night before during a live simulcast – which is not free.

 

NYCB - The Nutcracker – Opening Night 11/25

Watching the children perform in the New York City Ballet's annual Nutcracker is a little like watching a collection of rare Madame Alexander dolls come to life.  There is no end to the perfectly curled hair, the perfect smiles – and no one ever misses a beat or a step.  All cuteness with killer instincts for seizing and controlling the audience's attention. 

This year's crop of little boys has a few more Dennis the Menace types who on opening night seemed to truly relish acting out and antagonizing the little girls.  The kids make or break The Nutcracker – they know it – and it's hard to recall any year when the kids in the NYCB Nutcracker failed to completely captivate the audience with their honest, knock 'em dead charm.  On Friday night, Fiona Brennan as Marie, Colby Clark as the little Nutcracker prince, and Maximillian Brooking-Landegger as Fritz led the children's cast with poise and polish. 

There were some admirable performances by the adults, too.  Tiler Peck as Dew Drop managed the frantic pace of the choreography with aplomb and clarity.  The beauty of the dancing by the ladies in the Waltz of the Flowers easily survived an unfortunate belly splat by one lovely tall stem in the back.  She quickly peeled herself off the floor and returned to waltz.  Her quick, reflexive recovery was actively discussed with admiration by people on the way out the door at the end of the evening. 

Georgina Pazcoguin as Coffee, Sean Suozzi as lead Candy Cane and Troy Schumacher as Tea gave thoughtful and generous performances.  Georgina was especially mysterious and slightly dangerous as the alluring Coffee.

Sara Mearns and Jonathan Stafford as the Sugar Plum Fairy and Her Cavalier were a bit of a mismatch.  Sara's feet etched out the choreography with exceptional clarity and grandness.  However, her port de bras was a mess.  Dropped elbows and pointy elbows were the rule instead of the exception last night.  It's been a while since Haglund has seen arms overhead in fifth position that quite literally formed the shape of a rectangle instead of a circle.  Of course it feels so good to raise the shoulders up to the ears and stretch those arms straight up instead of rounding them.  It makes the dancer feel like she is making herself look taller and more slender.  The truth is that it just makes the dancer look hopelessly unclassical and like she doesn't know what she's doing.  It does not make the dancer look taller or more slender; it has the opposite effect. 

Broad shoulders accent a classical tutu beautifully when used with a classically rounded port de bras.  Sara is blessed with those shoulders; however, when she jumped to sit on her cavalier's shoulder, she raised her arms victoriously like a showgirl who'd just hopped on a circus pony.  Not pretty at all.  Nor were the fold-at-the-waist backbends with the stomach pitched forward instead of a classical curving of the spine up and over to the back.

Haglund isn't being overly fussy.  When a NYCB dancer puts on a classic shaped tutu in order to perform traditional classical choreography, she shouldn't dance like it's a black & white leotard ballet. 

Jonathan Stafford came fully prepared to be a princely cavalier last night.  He generally presents one of the more classical forms among the NYCB men, as he did last night, and successfully managed his jumps and turns.  However, he looks much better with a more refined ballerina who is similarly attentive to form and classical lines.  It would be nice to see his Cavalier to Rebecca Krohn's Sugar Plum Fairy.  Haglund likes Jonathan Stafford as the Cavalier and bestows upon him this elegant Givenchy lace peep toe Pump Bump Award ($791) for his elegant portrayal of The Cavalier in the opening night of The Nutcracker:

RNZB – Abrera continues to captivate New Zealand as Aurora

The New Zealand Herald has a feature article that focuses mainly on Stella Abrera in conjunction with its preview coverage of the RNZB's performances of Sleeping Beauty in Napier, Auckland, and Rotorua this week and next.  Raewyn Whyte interviewed Stella for the article following her international debut as Aurora recently in Wellington:

"Abrera has given a good deal of thought to the challenges she faces. "I am familiar with the role, as I have understudied it several times over the years with ABT, and I had just enough time with the company to put the rest together before the tour started. The more I dance her, the more I learn about her."

On this Thanksgiving Weekend, there are more than a few people who are thankful that Ethan Stiefel stepped in and accomplished what Kevin McKenzie couldn't or wouldn't – that is, to give this world class ballerina the chance to shine like we know she can.  Hopefully, we'll see some video of one of her performances soon.

In the meantime, Haglund found this video which says a little something about this situation:

 

 That Stiefel sure do play a mean piano, don't he?

 

Ballet Next debut - Joyce Theater - 11/21

The premiere performance of Ballet Next at the Joyce Theater was the place to be last night.  The sold out crowd included sophisticated, professional, tony New Yorker financial types – an un-Joyce-y crowd, lots of NYCB dancers (including Wendy, Maria, R. Fairchild) and lots of critics taking up seats that could have brought in more money. 

Artistic Directors Michele Wiles and Charles Askegard have defined Ballet Next as a classical ballet company that "offers a progressive environment for collaboration among leading dancers, choreographers, and musicians."  Not sure what progressive environment means.  From last night's performance, it wasn't clear how this group will ultimately differentiate itself (if it needs to) from other small companies that over the years have sprung up around town with limited success; e.g., The Daring Project (Sappington & Kozlova - present last night), Dance Galaxy - (now Ballet NY), Ballet, Inc. (Charles Anderson).  An  innovative collaborative group that has been incubating at the Baryshnikov Arts Center of late is the Satellite Ballet (Troy Schumacher & Kevin Draper). 

For its debut performance, Ballet Next presented a collection of classical PdD and contemporary solos and a duet.  Performers included mostly well-known and well-liked dancers from the NYC area.  Live music by a chamber group accompanied the dancers.  Must mention that listening to live and sensitively played cello music in the Joyce Theater left Haglund feeling all warm and fuzzy.

The program opened with a concert version of Act II of Swan Lake performed by Michele and Chuck.  It has to be noted that both of these dancers exited ABT at the height of their careers which had been impeded as the result of Kevin McKenzie's uncontrolled Guestophilia.  One wonders if their full Swan Lake might have evolved and deeply matured into something special.  Michele was a lovely Odette who didn't have to worry about whether Siegfried had eaten his Wheaties that morning or whether he would forget his steps.  There was a softness and unforced emotion in Michele last night that we didn't see very often in her Met performances.  Hearing a chamber orchestra version of the Tchaikovsky music was a little strange at first, but ultimately Haglund fell under its spell, too.

The Sleeping Beauty Act III PdD was performed by Maria Kochetkova (SFB) and Joaquin De Luz (NYCB).  It was okay.  The Joyce stage was too small for Joaquin's variations and a little too big for Maria's.  Both are short dancers, but the similarities and compatibility pretty much stop there.   He has an extraordinary and compelling stage presence whereas she does not.  Steady technique was on display in Maria's variations but so were cuteness and coyness making it look like an offering at a competition or an audition.  Maybe the ABT Guestophile's scouts were there to assess her.

The Tchaikovsky PdD was vibrantly danced by Misty Copeland and Jared Matthews (both of ABT) with tremendous confidence.  Misty's high energy was sometimes directed toward executing things in a big way which resulted in a little bit of abruptness.  What makes Paloma Herrera's version of this so enjoyable is that the full force of her energy goes into following the force of the music through loving clarity in her steps.  Her force is unforced.  Misty is right on the verge of figuring all this out.  Her dancing is finally taking on a maturity and the upper torso and limbs are catching up with those phenomenal legs and feet.  Misty may see herself as a contemporary ballerina, but Haglund sees her as Lise in La Fille Mal Gardee.

Let's get to the highlight of the entire evening, that being the gifted and accomplished Jared Matthews whose every performance now puts the audience on notice that he is the Corvette that has been kept in the garage way too long, tank full, keys in the ignition, top down baby.  It's time to roar the engine, and roar he did last night.  This guy's style and demeanor on stage are so generous that you know that he's doing it all for you - not for himself.  He's doing it for us, baby.  Huge jumps last night.  Huge lifts last night.  Spot on turns.  Relaxed.  Confident.  Gentlemanly with a touch of James Dean.  He's got the star power and the prince power.  Why don't we get to see it more?  Every time Haglund sees this young man in performance, he becomes more angry at the reckless waste of talent within ABT's ranks.  Lots of people are noticing how the company's soloists are getting the shaft while the ABT Guestophile gives their opportunities away to less talented dancers who have Eastern European surnames.  One Haglund'eeler who hangs with some of the ABT moms said that the moms of the kids in the JKO School are starting to question the value of keeping their kids there after observing how the company's soloists are getting shafted.  One decided to pull her kid out of the school and send her to London for the summer because of it.

While the first half of the Ballet Next's program was ballet, the second half was the "Next" part with modern choreography by Jorma Elo, Margo Sappington, Robert Sher-Machhemdl, and Mauro Bigonzetti.  With the exception of the Sappington piece, they all followed the current dance scene's mantra of emphasizing the sculpting bodybuilding effects of ballet training rather than what that training can achieve in terms of musical movement. 

The Jorma Elo piece entitled One Overture and "danced" by Maria Kochetkova was his usual stuff.  Maria was wearing a half-tutu that went halfway around her body and was attached to a tiny leotard.  She threw poses and glances at the audience.  The piece wasn't funny, cute, thought-provoking, or the least bit interesting.  Elo needs to be retired to the Mark Morris Home for Has-Beens.

Margo Sappington's Entwined for Askegard and Jennie Somogyi (NYCB) to Erik Satie music was Arpino without the Arpino.  Margo used to do really interesting work that spoke directly to the times, and thus became dated quickly, but was often forward thinking.  She created a hot tango piece to Astor Piazolla before tangos achieved mainstream popularity.  She once created a crazy piece to Stephen Forsyth's Step Out of Love for five angry women.  Oh, yeah, and there was that "Oh, Calcutta."  Haglund adores Jennie Somogyi and will watch her in anything, but last night, he just wanted to be released from this Entwined which was a never ending entwining of Chuck and Jennie limbs. 

Robert Sher-Machhemdl's One to the music of Max Richter was a solo for Misty Copeland.  Misty wore a shift-like dress of very pedestrian design with bare legs and pointe shoes.  It's hard to remember this because there was so little movement but for walking and tendues, a few plies, while Misty masterfully held everyone's attention which was focused on the muscular shapes of her legs and feet.  How can anyone NOT focus on those?  We all got it right off the bat - she was one.  Okay, but why?  What happened?  What's it mean to her?  Why is it important for us to know about it?  The piece was all about showing us Misty's legs and feet - emphasizing the body building results of ballet training not dancing.

The final piece was Mauro Bigonzetti's La Follia.  Amphetaminatic angst from one end of the stage to the other driven by Drew Jacoby and Michele.   Haglund often likes Bigonzetti's work, but he seemed to be going for the Elo effect, not to be confused with the Halo Effect.  Michele actually looked more interesting in this than Drew who generally dances similar stuff. 

What Haglund would like to see NEXT in ballet is a retreat from reducing choreography to that which focuses principally on the sculpting bodybuilding effects of ballet training.  Let's focus on movement and musicality for a little while – if it's not too passé.

The Pump Bump Award, a pricey 4 wheeled sports shoe by Reebok goes to Jared Matthews.

Watching the Bolshoi's Sleeping Beauty from the prompter's box

That's what it seemed like at today's satellite transmission of the Bolshoi Ballet's new production of Sleeping Beauty.  Thanks to Ballet in Cinema and Emerging Pictures, more than 500 cinema theaters in the U.S. received a live-stream transmission of the brand new Yuri Grigorovich production which premiered last week in Moscow. 

It really seemed like a camera was positioned in the opera singer prompter's box near the foot of the stage which resulted in much of the performance being viewed with the cinema audience's sight line angled upward starting at the dancers' feet.  It was great to be able to see the individual sequins on the tutus, but as the camera whipped from left to right and right to left following each soloist, it all became dizzying and sometimes blurry.  The few shots from the back of the upper tiers of the Bolshoi Theater that captured the corps work revealed beautiful formations of perfect symmetry. 

The ultra-close camera work also captured and magnified the dancers' physical stress which is usually masked with a smile that the audience sees instead of the stress.  Worse, it did not allow the cinema viewers to watch the soloists in the context of what the other dancers on stage were doing.  We got to see a lot of production details that we don't normally see (thank you) but we missed huge aspects of the performance.

But what a production!  Is there anyone on the planet who does ballet spectacle bigger and better than Yuri Grigorovich?  It's doubtful.

As Sleeping Beauties go, Grigorovich's effort is stunning in terms of production values, fine in terms of staging, but was somewhat dully danced - except for the new tall guy.  The new tall guy, ABT's David Hallberg, performed with an elegance and refinement that probably hasn't been seen much at the Bolshoi in recent history.  His dancing was big, too.  Big, space-devouring jumps that were impressive in both their horizontal and vertical measures were a major part of Hallberg's soloist choreography.  As usual, as expected, as treasured, he finished his variations as if he were the conductor's baton bringing the orchestra to a stop.  However, the close camera shots didn't always bring complimentary images.  Often Hallberg could be seen struggling to convey appropriate facial expressions and he appeared acutely aware of the cameras.  But his dancing was fabulous.  His few overhead lifts of Aurora were successful but the close-camera caught the strain of his effort and made them look slightly scary.

Svetlana Zakharova as Aurora was not exactly in her element.  Right off the bat in Act I she made some unfortunate artistic choices which those who are familiar with her dancing guessed she would make.  Every time she executed a  developpe to the ecarte position, she chose a nearly 180 degree extension that completely destroyed any possibility of harmony with the arm on the opposite side of the body.  The leg was high and turned out and the foot was strongly pointed, but what was the point of it if the position lacked harmony?  Maybe total body harmony isn't important in Forsythe, Balanchine or Ratmansky choreography, but it is imperative in Petipa.  [Witness harmony here.]

In the Rose Adagio, Zakharova did not raise both arms on the balances, and thus, really didn't do any balancing at all, and she did not engage the princes who were trying to impress her.  This was a Bolshoi principal, a former Kirov principal and someone who the American Ballet Theatre has touted as a guest star?  Haglund doesn't want to give the impression that Zakharova gave a bad performance.  She gave a serviceable but undistinguished performance.  Acting is not her strong suit, so we really didn't see a transformation of Aurora in Act I to Aurora in Act III.  However, Zakharova is lovely physically and was perfectly beautiful in the costume.  Her face had the glow of a beautiful woman who was beautiful on the inside as well.  She gave Hallberg a fairly easy time in the partnering because she was securely on her leg during pirouettes and steady in the promenades. 

Maria Allash is not Haglund's favorite type of Lilac Fairy – that being the Veronika Part/Stella Abrera/Christina Fagundes variety – but she  gave a credible interpretation.  Her port de bras lines are not long and can sometimes appear lumpy if she over-extends the elbows and hands.  But the main objection is the lack of shape in her feet.  Her face is elegant and her expression was one of benevolence and confidence.  There are lots of different interpretations of the Lilac Fairy's demeanor that are completely valid, and Maria's was one of them.

The Bluebird and Princess Florine (Ovcharenko and Kaptsova) and all of the Fairies of Kindness and Jewels were a joy to watch –  that doesn't mean they should be brought here to be guest artists – and all of the character roles, especially Carabosse (Loparevich right? not Savin as listed in the program), were portrayed with the degree of importance that you expect from the greatest of the Bolshoi generations.  Try as some Western companies may, you cannot have an artistically successful Petipa story ballet without giving the character roles the respect and importance they deserve.

Without a doubt, the costumes by designer Franca Squarciapino and the scenery by Ezio Frigerio are the major triumph of this production.  Bold, brilliant, complimentary, rich in color, sparkly without being gaudy, TASTEFUL – they enhanced all aspects of the choreography and never competed against it for attention.  While some may not have been pleased with the white wigs in Act III, they looked so good from the mid-house camera angles (but, of course, not so hot from the close-up camera).  From the camera near the middle of the house, Hallberg looked smashing in the wig and the rest of his costume.

The staging is not controversial - Haglund has no complaints whatsoever.  He does prefer seeing the fish dives in the Act III PdD that we are accustomed to seeing here, but their absence in the Bolshoi version didn't make it less enjoyable.  Haglund is grateful for Yuri Grigorovich and for the fact that he is still turning out these huge productions that are so full of fantasy and are respectful of the historical traditions of the art form.  This stunning Christian Louboutin Golden Ankle Pump Bump Award (just $910) is bestowed upon Mr. Grigorovich:

Some refreshing good news . . .

NYCB Nutcracker opens in less than one week!  All the familiar faces of the dancers we cherish will be in the leading roles.  The only guest artist is – what!@¿# – why, oh, why do they keep calling Robert La Fosse a guest artist?  Why not Honored Alumnus, Honored Former Principal, Treasured Principal?  Can we just strike the words "guest artist" from the language – then maybe they will all go away.

 

At the graveside service

McKenzie:    It's a nice grave marker.

Koch:           I'm glad I could buy it for you.  It's styrofoam.

Kramer:        Listen, Dave, is that thing insured?  Can we perhaps talk after refreshments?

Koch:            My money will be happy to talk to your money anytime, Don.

McKenzie:     No one understands.  I tried my best.  When I applied for this job, I never claimed that I could train and develop dancers to realize their greatest potentials. 

Koch:            Don't blame yourself.  All that transcendental voodoo googoo gummed up your brain and you tried to philosophize ABT to greatness.

Kramer:        You know, Dave.  Have you thought about our new Insure-Your-Risks-by-Hiding-Your-Risks-From-the-Public Excess Risk Coverage for your refineries?  We've been churning out these policies – I mean, turning out these policies faster than a Cornejo brisé volé.

Koch:            My money will be happy to talk to your money anytime, Don.

McKenzie:     If that Baryshnikov had just stayed where he was supposed to stay, my life would have been so much easier. 

Koch:           Take it easy on yourself.  Trust me.  That's why I've set up the Americans for Prosperity in Art. I've been talking to Ratmansky and I have a list of all the dancers in the world that he would like to have, and I've gone out and bought them.  We're going to set up a new company on the Met Opera artistic model:  an anonymous corps de ballet with all-imported principals. We're going to turn it over to the Met Opera to run - you know, like the Mariinsky and Royal Opera House.  The Met Opera has kept me away from their big table long enough.  If I buy them a ballet company, they'll have to invite me to join them.  That Annie Ziff and especially that Mercedes Bass have been smug around my Julia far too long.  The prissy Met board needs a real man on it.

McKenzie:    Wow.  That sounds like Heaven.  A place where I wouldn't have to actually train any dancers to be stars of the company because you would go out and buy them for me.

Koch:            Well, not exactly.  I've been meaning to tell you.  We're going to go with our guy Alexei.  But don't worry.  We're going to give you a nice 20th anniversary farewell party.

Kramer:        – and rest insured, I mean, assured that we'll find a nice rest home in academia for you.  Would you like to go to the North Carolina School of the Arts?  Dave and I bought a piece of that for just this type of transitional experience.

McKenzie:    Could I?

Kramer:        Hey Dave, our No Risk Academic-Success-For-All Excess Risk Policy is a steal. 

Koch:            My money will be happy to talk to your money anytime, Don.

Kramer:        I could make a donation to your new Americans for Prosperity in Art?

Koch:            Now you're talking.  Let's have tea, shall we?

Kramer:        In styrofoam cups, of course.

Koch:            Of course.

 

Paul Taylor – 21st Century Pioneer

He's still doing it.  Still forging a path through new territory when he doesn't know where it will all lead.

One of the "Top Stories" in Crain's New York Business this week (November 14-20) is the Paul Taylor Dance Company's new fundraising initiative in which Paul Taylor will allow bloggers, photographers, and videographers to be present in the rehearsal studio to observe his creation process.  The results of each day will be posted on a new website page "Create With Taylor." 

Here's the fundraising part:  For unlimited access to that page, donors will pay $5.  Donors who contribute more, say $500, will be invited to watch the dress rehearsal. 

Crains refers to Taylor as "widely considered to be the last living member of the pantheon that created the modern-dance art form."  Yes, indeed.

$5 to witness Paul Taylor in creation mode?!  Every conservatory and university dance student in America should pony up the $5 to get a glimpse of this - it should be a class course requirement.  Every budding and flourishing choreographer from Kennebunkport, Maine to Kearny, Arizona and from Kennewick, Washington to Kissimmee, Florida should pony up $5 to watch this.  We should all pony up the $5 to watch Paul Taylor's creation process.

As the Crain's article noted, Paul Taylor, himself, doesn't use the internet. 

Also of extreme interest in the article is mention of future collaborations on music and programming between PTDC and NYCB if PTDC returns to Lincoln Center after next year.

It's $5 folks.  Now come on, really.  $5.  Do it today.

They're still talking about RNZB Sleeping Beauty and Stella Abrera's Aurora

From Saturday's edition of the New Zealand Listener:

"One of the highlights of the Royal New Zealand Ballet’s new production of The Sleeping Beauty is guest artist Stella Abrera’s interpretation of Princess Aurora’s first encounter with Prince Désiré."

and this

"Abrera, from the American Ballet Theatre, is stunning. A poised Aurora, she has total control over the challenging choreography, dancing with finely nuanced movement and expression."

Here's the rest of the review.  This whole production sounds magical.

Update:

Here's a rehearsal photo  of Aurora and Désiré by Dean Kozanic in Christchurch, NZ  this week.  It appeared with a brief article at Press.co.nz.

Update:

From the November 17 edition of Theatreview.org.nz which reviews the RNZB's performance in Christchurch:

"Guest artist Stella Abrera radiated warmth and displayed masterful technique as Princess Aurora and was partnered with bravado and splendour by new dancer Sergio Torrado"