Haglund's Heel

. . . and then the violinist began juggling the scarves.

What a freakin' interesting night at the New York Philharmonic.

A Dancer's Dream premiered last evening at Avery Fisher Hall, and has two more performances this weekend – but it's sold out.

Using as its basis the Stravinsky works of Le Baiser de la fée (The Fairy's Kiss) and Petrushka along with a brief excerpt from Durey's Neige (Snow) for Piano Four-Hands, A Dancer's Dream combined music, dance, film, live video, puppetry, and stage actors to create an enormously complex multimedia performance.

Master visionary director Doug Fitch teamed up with puppeteers Giants Are Small, choreographer Karole Armitage, and video producer Edouard Gataz for the project.  NYCB dancers Sara Mearns and Amar Ramasar danced the steps, although Amar also had major responsibilities as a puppeteer.  The New York Philharmonic played the music when they weren't –– more on that later.

The evening strung together like this (from Fitch's Playbill notes):

Tonight, our story unfolds as a kind of über Fairy Tale, connecting two great ballets by Stravinsky with an excerpt from a piece for piano (four hands) by the surrealist composer Louis Durey.  The thread that weaves them all together takes the form of a young woman who slips into the world of her own imagination and is swept away by muses to become a ballerina.
. . .
By über I mean it amalgamates several themes that fairy tales share, and from which they derive their own subconscious logic.
. . .
We have merged these into a kind of daydream – a reverie induced by the seductive and transformative power of great music.

Sara Mearns spent a remarkable but exhausting 50 minutes on stage in character during The Fairy's Kiss.  She submerged her lifesized self into the miniature world of the puppets, simultaneously appearing on stage and in live video that was projected on a huge screen that hung from the ceiling over the woodwinds section of the orchestra.  We watched the live video image of her face gazing from above at the tiny ice capped mountains below as she stood on stage looking over the puppet scenery.  If you grew up watching Mr. Roger's Neighborhood, you'd understand the integration of humans, puppets, and the toying with size perception.  On stage, Sara was the norm and the puppet stuff was tiny; on the screen, we viewed it all from the puppet's perspective: the puppet stuff appeared normal size and Sara was gigantic.

The shallow stage depth limited Armitage's choreography in The Fairy's Kiss which was dull and typical of what modern choreographers come up with when handed accomplished ballet artists: arabesques, battements, pirouettes, basically a collection of tricks on pointe to alert the audience that a ballet dancer was on stage.  Sara was able to overcome the mundaneness of the steps and insert her own imagination into the production – and what an imagination.  She wore considerably less makeup than when dancing at NYCB, and for once, we really were able to see into her eyes and soul.  What a great job this artist did in conveying the fantastical journey of the young woman and the character Columbine on stage, on film, and in live video.

The Petrushka section of the program was genius on the verge of insanity.  Conductor Alan Gilbert earned much applause not just for the gorgeous music he coaxed from the orchestra but for his portrayal as the fully costumed Magician in Petrushka.  With the orchestra still playing, he stepped off the podium onto the stage, picked up the lifeless sawdust bag of a puppet Petrushka, gave it a disrespectful shake, and dragged it off the stage and up the audience aisle.  He suddenly turned and looked up at the screen to see the huge form of Petrushka still very much alive and menacing at him.  Mr. Gilbert's Magician, overcome with fear, turned and ran up the aisle out of the concert hall.

The orchestra members found themselves involved like they probably never envisioned.  All were costumed in Russian hats and shawls and sometimes swayed back and forth to the music.  While most of the musicians played their instruments, the live videocam caught others in the back drinking and partying.  On several occasions the musicians suddenly all got up and switched chairs.  On stage, the Moor, Ballerina, and Petrushka as tiny puppets were playing out the storyline while their live video was projected above. Suddenly, a front row violinist stood up and waved a white dialogue paddle that said, "It seems the puppets are fighting."  A big puppet bear appeared and jumped on a red ball and walked on it for half the width of the stage.  Another violinist suddenly jumped out of her seat and onto the middle of the stage and began juggling three colorful scarves.  She was pretty darned good.

Meanwhile, the puppeteers, including Amar Ramasar who was having the time of his life, were racing around in black clothing switching miniature puppet scenes and operating the puppets in front of the video camera – occasionally pausing to insert some Russian folk-style steps.

Sara Mearns has indicated that the performance will be filmed for theaters.  Wherever and whenever – don't miss it.

A Matryoshka Doll Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon master visionary director and producer Doug Fitch for this remarkable program.

ABT – 6/26 Mat & EveSylvia is gold with Jared Matthews as Aminta

Let's start with Jared Matthews in his fantastic debut as Aminta at the Wednesday evening performance of Sylvia.  No, no, let's start with the power-packed, remarkable performances by the supporting cast of the evening, particularly in Act III. 

When Eric Tamm and Joseph Phillips as Jaseion and Pluto arrived on stage with the lovelies Zhong-Jing Fang and Luciana Paris as Ceres and Persephone, it was an essay in how to ratchet up the already high level of the audience's attention.  Tamm just grabbed the stage and spotlight with his beautiful and quite enormous jumps and a stage presence that screamed Prince.   Haglund hopes to live to see the day when the dream team of Eric Tamm and Stella Abrera are matched up in Ashton's Cinderella, Giselle, or Sleeping Beauty. 

Leann Underwood was glorious as Diana in Act III – strongly danced and exceptionally acted.  It's odd how she was added as a Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty and then quickly removed and replaced by Haglund's favorite Stella Abrera.  It seems that McKenzie needs to tie up Stella's time in secondary roles so that he can avoid applying the finishing touches to her Aurora, the role which she should be dancing.  It is a mystery as to why ABT didn't move Xiomara Reyes into the Sleeping Beauty spot vacated by Cojocaru and invest in preparing Stella's debut opposite the marginal exchange artist who isn't selling tickets anyway.  Now that Xiomara has added two more performances of the very taxing Sylvia, wouldn't it make sense to take the five minutes that is needed to tune up Stella's Aurora and let her dance it next Saturday afternoon?  She's only performed it 10 times already on the international stage after having received better coaching than she'd ever get from McKenzie who seems to be trying hard to make her indispensable in secondary roles in order to keep her career under cap.

Sarah Lane and Joseph Gorak were excellent as the goats.  Daniel Mantei and Karen Uphoff were elegant and commanding as Apollo and Terpsichore.  Arron Scott in the statue-comes-to-life role of Eros was formidable and had the best petit ronde de jambe en l'air of the week so far.

But really now, Jared Matthews triumphed in his debut as Aminta.  The role begins with the extremely difficult promenades in arabesque that conclude in penche plie, and Jared just nailed them. The form and musicality of his pirouettes that evolved into circling port de bras were beautiful.  What gorgeous epaulment all evening!  The aerial shapes of his sautes fouette during his variation in Act III were crystal clear.  His partnering of Paloma Herrera's Sylvia was faultless – not just faultless – they complimented one another and were completely in tune theatrically.  His timing in catching Paloma's arm for a very difficult promenade after she had performed a pirouette facing away from him was almost unbelievably smooth and musical.  And then they did it again!  His own skillful acting was on the mark in every scene.  It was, in a word, honest.

Sascha Radetsky gave a huge performance as Orion, and boy, did he ever manipulate Paloma in their testy PdD!  Perfect coordination between these well matched dancers.  With Cory Stearns now out with an injury and unable to dance in Sleeping Beauty, ABT has both Jared Matthews and Sascha Radetsky who can admirably partner Paloma Herrera and undoubtedly Gillian Murphy.  But it appears that Marcelo Gomes will be further burdened with another performance that could be handsomely danced by either Jared or Sascha. And in a truly unfortunate turn of events, McKenzie's new go-to boy, the effervescent blue video star James Whiteside is going to be foisted upon Gillian Murphy for Friday night.  There's one to skip.

Paloma Herrera was a lovely Sylvia, if a little underpowered compared to Murphy or the Royal Ballet's Darcey Bussell.  Haglund recalls that Paloma conveyed more authority in her dancing when she performed Sylvia several years ago.  But Paloma has evolved into a different kind of dancer than she was many years ago when her steely legs seemed to suggest they were powered by 10 gauge wiry tendons running down the insides of her thighs.  A lively new partner like Jared Matthews or Sascha Radetsky might be just what is needed to amp her up again.

Haglund also attended the matinee performance of Veronika Part's debut as Sylvia.  Due to Cory Stearns' injury, Marcelo Gomes stepped into the role of Aminta on short notice and performed flawlessly.  Regrettably, Sylvia is not going to be one of Haglund's favorite roles for Veronika, as much as he adores her.  She's simply blessed with too much length of leg to wield her limbs around the way Sylvia must do. 

Veronika's opening series of grand jetes were mammoth. Later when she sat next to the fountain to bathe her face and neck and enjoy a cool drink from her hand, the temperatures inside the Met Opera House soared to a scorching 112 degrees.  The main difficulty came in complex steps such as when Sylvia had to grand developpe to the front after a half of a pique turn or the rapid renverse turns.  It sounded like the conductor took the tempo down a notch in solos to accommodate Veronika, but it sometimes caused her more difficulty in addition to making the orchestra sound like it was flagging.  The arabesques sometimes rose slowly instead of with battement authority, possibly because of the tempo.  Her pizzicato solo in Act III included fabulous acceleration of her gorgeous feet across the front of the stage.  Some of the partnering with Marcelo did not go smoothly, especially that difficult section involving pirouettes and promenades.  Veronika's characterization of Sylvia was spot-on in all three acts, and the dramatic exchanges with Marcelo were great theater.

Craig Salstein made such a performance out of Eros playing the musical notes with his fingers over top Aminta's dead body.  Then when he shook the magic red poppy over Aminta's face, the shepherd woke up so quickly that Eros almost didn't get out of the way in time.  James Whiteside as Orion had one volume the whole performance and that was to be as loud as he could be.  He's still pushing his pirouettes past the music just to get in an extra revolution. 

Devon Teusher seemed a little meek for Diana and didn't dance with the authority that we saw from Leann Underwood in the evening or Kristi Boone on opening night.  Melanie Hamrick and Thomas Forster were striking as Terpsichore and Apollo. It's easy to envision Forster as the Prince in Ashton's Cinderella.  That would be nice to see someday.  Isabella Boylston was clearly not thrilled with having to dance Persephone to Luis Ribagorda's Pluto.  She had minimal jumps to do but still managed to drop her chin and chest in the preparations with the end result being a very horsey quality.

So after a long day of Sylvias – to be repeated on Saturday – Haglund bestows the Pump Bump Award on Jared Matthews and Sascha Radetsky for tremendous individual performances and partnering.  Use the spikes wisely.

TimeOut NY speaks with Simone Messmer

Haglund's love/hate relationship with Gia Kourlas continues. Her ballet reviews in the New York Times are often so off the mark and filled with errors that they are an embarrassment to all of ballet and to NYT journalists, but her interview pieces for TimeOut New York can be pretty compelling reading. Maybe TONY actually has editors.

In her latest Time Out NY interview with departing ABT soloist Simone Messmer, Kourlas wades ever so slightly into the murky, sadly polluted, scummy waters of casting decisions at ABT.  Who isn't disgusted by the stench of the contaminants being continually dumped into ABT's stream?  It looks like just another resource that David Koch and Kevin McKenzie are turning into a toxic sewer.

Let's switch to less gross metaphors.

Kourlas's interview with Messmer is the latest confirmation – like we really need further confirmation – that the best dancers at ABT are being passed over for opportunities and promotion while other less capable and less accomplished dancers are being handed opportunites that they are not equipped to handle.  Messmer, Abrera, Lane, Kajiya, Radetsky, Matthews – all being starved or surviving on bread crumbs while one mediocre import after another is ushered to ABT's table to feast.  And that is why Messmer is leaving at the end of the Met Season to join the San Francisco Ballet.

The question is: WHY won't Kevin McKenzie put the best dancers on stage to perform?  What benefit does he derive from not putting the best dancers on the stage to perform?

In baseball, it's called throwing the game for a buck. 

Kevin McKenzie isn't paid a lot to do his job, mostly because A) he's doing a crappy job and B) the ABT Board isn't good at raising money from other than its own pockets.  He's paid less than half of what Peter Martins is paid.  He's paid a lot less than Helgi Tomasson gets paid to run the San Francisco Ballet, whose board does a better job of raising money.

So how does Kevin McKenzie get compensated like he feels he deserves?  That's probably the question that needs to be answered via an independent investigation to determine the extent to which folks associated with Ardani Artists Management (the Danilians) and donors interested in advancing the careers of those who they sponsor/import actively lobby McKenzie for their own interests.

If a coach is not putting his best players on the field the way that McKenzie is not putting his best dancers on stage, there's usually a dirty little rea$on for it.

Like many, Haglund is sad that Simone Messmer is leaving ABT. It's one more reason to despise the current director and despise and resist the horsey, empty fluff who McKenzie casts in leading roles and promotes instead of dancers like Messmer, Abrera, Lane, Kajiya, and the much missed Maria Riccetto.  Who would be surprised if McKenzie yanked Messmer from her final performance on the evening of July 6th?

TimeOut NY

You may also wish to revisit this video interview of Irina Dvorovenko and Max Beloserkovsky which further confirms the sad situation at ABT.

 

ABT – Sylvia – Murphy, Gomes 6/24

Sir Frederick Ashton's Sylvia opened the seventh week of ABT's season at the Met Opera House.  Created in 1952 to the glorious music by Léo Delibes with original designs by Robin and Christopher Ironside, Sylvia was a spectacular vehicle for Margot Fonetyn in the title role when the Royal Ballet premiered it.  The choreography for the principal role of Sylvia is so demanding that it's understandable why so few companies today attempt to present the ballet.  ABT's opening night cast did itself proud, and Haglund is especially looking forward to the performances on Wednesday when Jared Matthews and Veronika Part face the challenges of their big debuts.

Last night there was something exciting about how Sylvia and her Hunt Attendants, all iron women armed with bows and arrows, flexed their weapons and aimed them out generally toward the parterre box where ABT's director usually sits.  Yes, Gillian Murphy, Stella Abrera, Sarah Lane, Simone Messmer, Kristi Boone, and Yuriko Kajiya had the opportunity for a little fantasy last night.  Their platoon was further enhanced by Devon Teuscher and unannounced substitutes Skylar Brandt and possibly April Giangeruso, although that last guess might be wrong – sorry, if it is.  They were all fierce, fearless femme fantastics who deployed their circles of complex grand allegro with feminine authority.  Aminta, the shepherd, (in the handsome form of Marcelo Gomes) was truly afraid for his life when the Hunt Attendants dragged him out of the woods – where he had been hiding since his pristine Act I solo of pinpoint-perfect placement – and threw him at Sylvia's feet.  He finally took an arrow in the chest when he got in the way of Sylvia trying to shoot Eros (Daniil Simkin) and died with appropriate drama.

Ah, Sylvia.  There are probably some witnesses still alive who could claim that Margot Fonteyn danced it better in 1952.  In fact, David Vaughan, who was sitting in the seat usually occupied by the NYT critic (NYT was on the other side last night) might be one of the few who could argue that point.  But Gillian Murphy was phenomenal. There's not much in the ABT repertory these days that requires its lead principal to execute such complex and taxing classical technique.  It's rare that men perform the strength-sapping combination of consecutive grand jetes with the right leg going forward and then the left; having Sylvia triumph in them beautifully underscored her power and authority.  Murphy's coupe jetes were huge, just huge last night.  Turns, feet, finishes were all gorgeous.  She raised hell, succumbed to love, suffered in captivity, schemed-up an escape, and rejoiced in being reunited with Aminta – each chapter as fully developed and divinely danced as the one before it.

What a treat it was to see Marcelo Gomes as Aminta again and to see him embrace the legendary Ashtonic quick changes of direction without any fudging.  In Act III, there was such joy on his face during his grand allegro variation to the glorious and uplifting melodies by Delibes.  His soaring sautes fouette where the foot attached to form a parallel passe were sustained in the air beautifully.

Cory Stearns gave a fantastic performance as the evil hunter, Orion, who kidnapped Sylvia for his own use. Once again, as happened in The Moor's Pavane, when this guy was put into sinister makeup and thrown onto the stage with Gomes, he really stepped up his game dramatically.  And his partnering of Murphy looked pretty smooth, too. (If Stearns can handle a gun, do drugs, and convey mental instability, we could have ourselves another potential Crown Prince Rudolph for MacMillan's Mayerling – if ABT ever again decides it wants to mount a work that will sell out its house.)  Orion doesn't have a lot of choreography and you can't really see his legs which are in loose pants, but Stearns pulled off some nice sized jumps.  Hopefully his more classical assignment as Aminta to Veronika Part's Sylvia will go as well on Wednesday.

Haglund has no complaints about Daniil Simkin's performance of Eros.  Ashton is not his native language but he managed to communicate his character very well.  The quick little ronde de jambe en l'air movements were tongue twisters for him but those are minor elements of the role. 

The goats were to die for.  Honestly, Misty Copeland and Craig Salstein with his little tail quivering excitedly almost made you forget about Sylvia and Aminta.

Several of the iron women danced two roles during the evening.  In Act III, Kristi Boone was an enraged but elegant Diana who dispatched Orion and finally allowed Sylvia and Aminta to be joined together.  Stella Abrera was the beautiful Aurora Ceres who glistened in her solos and duets with Grant DeLong's Jaseion.  Simone Messmer and Thomas Forster as Terpsichore and Apollo were handsome together. Forster has an extraordinary set of legs and feet, and every time he extended his leg to the side, the developpe made quite a statement.  Messmer, an audience favorite for several years, will be missed terribly, but she'll do exceedingly well in San Francisco if it turns out that's where she's going.  Luciana Paris and Alexei Agoudine performed Persephone and Pluto confidently.  The attendants in yellow tutus were lovely but it's becoming more and more difficult to watch the beautiful and supremely accomplished Sarah Lane and Yuriko Kajiya relegated to these ensemble roles when they should be in starring roles.

Earlier in the day, word was spreading that Natalia Osipova had withdrawn from Thursday's performance because she needed more time to rehearse; the Ashton steps weren't coming easily for her.  By the end of the day, the reason for her withdrawal had evolved officially into an injury.  Unfortunately, in its clumsy announcement, ABT failed to say anything nice about her replacement or that it would in fact be her own debut on short notice. A more appropriate announcement would have included, "We're sorry that Natalia cannot perform but we are pleased and excited that Xiomara Reyes, a beloved Titania in Ashton's The Dream, has agreed to debut in the role on short notice." Xiomara will be a fantastic, fearless Sylvia on Thursday and a better partner for Herman Cornejo than anything else he's been handed this season. Haglund wishes he could attend, but he has a pair of expensive tickets to see Sara Mearns perform with the New York Philharmonic that night. However, if Natalia can't pick up the steps in time for Saturday's performance and Xiomara dances instead, you can bet Haglund will be there.

The HH Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Gillian Murphy for her "showing 'em how it's done" performance in Sylvia.

. . . some of the best classical form we won't see

(Oh well, we knew our good fortune to see beautiful Stella Abrera in performance as Aurora in Sleeping Beauty on an international stage would eventually come to an abrupt end. Who would be surprised if someone from ABT initiated the takedown? More than 1700 people viewed Stella through this link. So the secret of her remarkable artistry in this role is out.) 

Keeping this gem at the top for a while.

José takes over Jose

Ballet San Jose announced today that José Manuel Carreño will be the new Artistic Director effective September 3rd.  That's terrific news! 

Now ... BSJ's artistic consultant, Wes Chapman, is completely free and available should ABT's Board – currently asleep at the wheel – wake up and decide to correct the company's course before it is steered into the Moskva River. 

Swan Lake – Mariinsky; NYCB

Tickets for NYCB's Swan Lake performances beginning September 17th will go on sale in early August.  

Tickets for the Mariinsky's Swan Lake performances at the Kennedy Center in January go on sale October 2nd.

You can bet your last dollar that neither of those companies will resemble the Bolshoi Landfill that ABT has become.

Villella at SPAC with NYCB

Edward Villella will be NYCB's Guest of Honor at the Ruby Ball Gala on July 13th at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center.  The performance will include Balanchine's Rubies in addition to rep by Martins, Wheeldon, and Robbins.

This is a very good sign that NYCB's talented artists may receive the honor of working with the originator and powerful interpreter of some of Balanchine's greatest works.

 

ABT – Romeo and Juliet – 6/15

The final Romeo and Juliet of the season included some fine performances from the supporting cast but the performances of the principal cast were uneven.  While Roberto Bolle was a thoughtful Romeo of mostly fine lines, tidy turns, and faultless partnering, his Juliet, Julie Kent, was dry bordering on stale with a spine in need of a spritz of WD-40.  Although she was lovely when being carried and thrown around by Bolle, her individual dancing efforts showed strain and on a ocassion seemed more like marking of the steps. 

Nearly 44 years old, Kent has managed a long lasting career with a moderate amount of technical skill compared to the great ABT principals who came before her.  She may be the only one who doesn't recognize that it is past time for her to let go of repertory like Juliet, Odette/Odile, Giselle, Manon.  There are mid- and late-career ballerinas in the company who are ten or more years her junior but have yet to see their much deserved chances to dance important roles that Kent has been allowed to decline in over the past several years.  It is doubtful that many who follow the company closely would argue that they'd rather see Kent in yet another performance of Giselle instead of seeing Stella Abrera, Sarah Lane, or Yuriko Kayjia get a chance to shine.

Tonight the back of the orchestra level of the house was filled with a group of people who seemed primed to lead the audience with loud applause and who eagerly clapped and laughed at inappropriate points – such as when Mercutio and Tybalt dropped over dead.  It probably didn't matter to ABT who the people were who bought the discounted tickets or who sat in the seats for free, because giving the false appearance of a successfully sold house doesn't require either a loyal or interested audience.  It just requires butts in the seats.  Mainstreaming these people throughout the house instead of concentrating them in the back of the orchestra (and the back of the family circle) would have made them less distracting.

Craig Salstein and Blaine Hoven were excellent as Mercutio and Benvolio.  Their impressive virtuosity was unforced as was their camaraderie. Sascha Radetsky's Tybalt and Stella Abrera's Lady Capulet offered plenty of references to their characters' intimate storyline. When Lady Capulet marched upstage past Tybalt with her arms spread in front and behind her, he seemed to give her trailing hand a sniff as it went by him. At one point in Juliet's anteroom, it appeared as though these two were very tempted to cross the line before Roman Zhurbin's Lord Capulet entered and interrupted them. Radetsky's fencing was the best that Haglund can recall ever seeing in this production.

The three harlots, Misty Copeland, Simone Messmer, and Kristi Boone, showed supreme sass and spot-on spitting. 

MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet is such a riveting masterpiece.  Every character has his/her own distinctive dance vocabulary: the skipping and spitting harlots, the Martha Graham-inspired choreography for Lady Capulet, Mercutio's non-stop spinning, Benvolio's vertical jumps, the delicate pointe work of Juliet's friends – all very distinctive voices.  There's not much of that going on in choreography being made today.  It is, sadly, a lost part of the craft.  Everybody seems to do the same steps no matter who their character is.

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a fierce gladiator stiletto from Sacha London, is bestowed upon Sascha Radetsky for his intense, richly drawn, and risky performance of Tybalt.

Program for Roberto Bolle & Friends @ NYCC

Here's the program for the September 17th gala event at City Center.  Alina Somova in Excelsior with Bolle won't be remotely like a Petipa disaster, and might, in fact, be quite watchable.

Dancers: Roberto Bolle, Jirí Bubenìcek, Marlon Dino, Lucia Lacarra, Alicia Amatriain, Jason Reilly, Elisa Carrillo Cabrera, Mikhail Kaniskin, Alina Somova

Mono Lisa
Choreography: Itzik Galili
Music: Thomas Höfs
Dancers: Alicia Amatriain, Jason Reilly

Two Times Two
Choreography: Russell Maliphant
Music: Andy Cowton
Dancers: Lucia Lacarra, Marlon Dino

Kazimir’s Colours
Choreography: Mauro Bigonzetti
Music: Dmitri Shostakovich
Dancers: Elisa Carrillo Cabrera and Mikhail Kaniskin

Excelsior
Choreography: Ugo Dall’Ara after Luigi Manzotti
Music: Romualdo Marenco
Dancers: Roberto Bolle and Alina Somova

So far, this looks like a fairly short program with a lot of the same type of twisty, gymnastic PdD that seems to enthral dancers who do it but bores/irritates ballet audiences.  Haglund is going to hold off buying tickets for a while.