Haglund's Heel

NYCB 4/29The future ain't what it used to be. – Yogi Berra

It’s a good thing that the 21st Century is still young – at 2014, it’s entering what is typically a period of obnoxious adolescence. Who doesn’t know a 14-year-old who should be locked up for a few years until he comes to his senses? But a century will occasionally produce a young genius like Jack Andraka – that high school freshman Intel Science Award winner who developed a promising test that could expose biomarkers of pancreatic cancer. We mention Jack to remind everyone of the Annual Dance Against Cancer gala benefit performance coming up on May 5th. Produced by NYCB’s Daniel Ulbricht, the gala features performances by well known dancers, many of whom are dancing in memory of loved ones who battled cancer or in support of those who battle it today.

In addition to Ulbricht, performers will include Clifton Brown, Maria Kowroski, Gillian Murphy, Jared Matthews, Tiler Peck, Robert Fairchild, Tyler Angle, Taylor Stanley, Herman Cornejo, Michael Trusnovec, the simply irresistible girl in the yellow dress and her friends from Contact, and many others. The performance of Wheeldon’s After the Rain is cast as TBD but, well FYI, Craig Hall and Alessandra Ferri will perform it in Italy on May 10th at the gala opening of the new Florence Opera House. We know that Alessandra will mine something new out of that PdD.

Anyone who has an extra $150 lying around should consider attending the Dance Against Cancer benefit performance. Unfortunately, Haglund does not.

But he did score a 4th Ring Society ticket to NYCB’s opening night dubbed an evening of 21st Century Choreographers for which “photograffeur" JR staged a concept piece about the 2005 riots in the Parisienne housing projects, which, we recall, burned as well as our own. At the time, music and visual artists were getting some of the authorities’ blame for inciting the riots, and JR was in the thick of it all since he had plastered his photographs all over the buildings in the area. After JR's spectacular contribution to the NYCB’s Art Series last fall, Peter Martins decided to help him bring a multi-media idea to the stage, and JR chose to relive the thrills of 2005 in a piece entitled Les Bosquets. Thrilling for him, maybe, but for many, it was eight minutes of life down the drain. The JRinas and JRinos in the house, identified by their distinctive JR hats, loved the dance and applauded enthusiastically.

Les Bosquets featured Lauren Lovette, who was costumed in a white paper-like (of course, paper) swanny tutu, and Lil Buck who chased Lauren around while doing moves on his tenni-toe shoes. A large corps of dancers who portrayed rioters and police moved in infantry-like lines across the stage while wearing black and white dotted unitards. The costumes, all designed by NYCB’s Marc Happel, were the art-i-est part of the piece. Hopefully, some pictures will emerge.

Wheeldon’s This Bitter Earth marked the return to the stage of Wendy Whelan after surgery and a long lay-off. Her tender PdD with Tyler Angle set to the Max Richter/Dinah Washington musical mash-up from the motion picture Shutter Island registered with emotional strength. If the audience seemed to be nervously holding its collective breath the whole time, the exhale and tumultuous reception at the end was its clear relief that this artist had finally made it back on stage. The beautiful Valentino costume designs worn for this ballet during the fall 2012 gala have been replaced by Reid Bartelme’s designs that are earthen and ordinary – not an improvement at all.

Barber Violin Concerto by Peter Martins and the PdD from Herman Schmerman by William Forsythe completed the first half of the evening. Megan Fairchild, Sara Mearns, Jared Angle, and Ask la Cour gave an adequate performance of what is one of Martins’ best compositions. Ashley Bouder is always able to push this ballet into and past the realm of its original cast, but she had cigarette puffing duties tonight in the second half.

Maria Kowroski and Amar Ramasar found some humor in Herman Schmerman - Forsythe’s ballet-schmallet in which the performers do little dancing but lots of schmancing to faux-show their fun in strutting through what amounts to a pairs competition in arrhythmic gymnastics.

Alexei Ratmansky’s Namouna, A Grand Divertissement, to the Edouard Lalo’s score returned to the rep in good shape. Here again, the costumes were one of the strongest elements of the ballet. The long empire-waist dress designs and the funky single-layer tutus that are transparent like insect wings were created by Marc Happel and Rustam Khamdamov. Sterling Hyltin, Robert Fairchild, Ashley Bouder, Sara Mearns, Megan Fairchild, Daniel Ulbricht, and Abi Stafford were the power-cast with Bouder’s cigarette girl the highlight as she puffed away while delivering the most creative steps in the ballet with innate comedic timing.

Namouna was enjoyable but there was a lot of walking around and pedestrian-type movement, particularly for the corps, instead of dancing. However, when the principals started firing those allegro pistons, you sensed that there is no other company that can press the pedal of a Ratmansky ballet to the floor quite like NYCB.

The first Pump Bump of the spring season, a stainless steel and sterling silver stiletto from the House of Borgezie, goes to Ashley Bouder who last night began the season spectacularly.

Home Improvement

Here is a snapshot of the beautiful red azaleas in Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park. So pretty when they're in full bloom this time of year.

Here is a snapshot of some of the new modern art in Lincoln Center's Damrosch Park – public art created to accent the beautiful red azaleas.

 

 

observations 4/24

Well, the Times is almost a month behind the times, but better late than never.

They finally caught wind of the fact that Sascha Radetsky's final performance with ABT will be this spring. Haglund reported that last month. Here's the NYT blog post which also allows for comments/tributes, etc.

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2015 is going to be a huge year for ballet stars branching out on the stage and screen. Here are Haglund's Predictions:

Emmy nominations for Irina Dvorovenko and Sascha Radetsky for Flesh and Bone.

Tony nominations for Robert Fairchild in An American in Paris and Tiler Peck in The Little Dancer - both of those productions are expected to hit New York in 2015. No theaters assigned yet, though.

Who will win? Well, Irina, of course. But it could be a sweep.

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Some exciting casting coming up during NYCB's second week of the spring season.

Tiler Peck will debut in the 1st Movement of Symphony in C opposite Chase Finlay.  Maria Kowroski and Sara Mearns will each have two performances of the 2nd Movement. Lauren King gets four performances of the 4th Movement: two with Adrian Danchig-Waring and two with Sean Suozzi. And Ashley Isaacs has a big debut in the 3rd Movement.

Raymonda returns with Megan Fairchild and Joaquin DeLuz followed by Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette.

 

 

Hoops

How is it that the New York Knicks can fire their entire coaching staff - from top to bottom - cleaning it out from corner to corner while retaining all of the players, and in a few weeks, implement a whole new coaching staff and be ready to start the next season, but ABT can’t rid itself of one incompetent artistic director who cannot put together one week of a Met Season without relying on imports who someone else has trained? The Knicks fired their entire coaching staff – everyone – because they understood that it was time for a change and a fresh start for their team of great players.

It looks like Steve Kerr, the NBA’s 3-point GOAT, might take over as head coach. He knows the Triangle Offense like the back of his hand, having learned it from Phil Jackson while playing for the Chicago Bulls. On a team where he wasn’t the media star or even one of the tallest guys, Kerr came up with huge plays when he took control of the ball.

In the final seconds of Game 6 of the NBA Finals in 1997 against the Utah Jazz, the score was tied at 86. During a time-out, Kerr grabbed the attention of the team’s biggest stars, Scottie Pippin and Michael Jordan, and boldly told them that he’d be ready for the ball to make the winning shot. He’d be ready even though he and everybody else in the world expected Jordan to take that shot. In the final 28 seconds, Pippen was blocked from getting anywhere near the basket and passed to Jordan. Jordan drove inward but got caught up in traffic. He saw Kerr standing 15 feet back and faked a jumpshot to pass the ball to him. With 5 seconds left, Kerr grabbed the pass, planted his feet, and swish. Game over. The Drive to Five was complete. [Relive it here.]

Pippen > Jordan > Kerr for the 5th Championship. The Bulls didn’t phone up Charles Barkley or some YMCA player to ask them to join the team for a couple of high profile games because the team’s management didn’t have confidence in the up and coming players on the bench. What the hell is going on at ABT?

Jared Matthews is finally getting the opportunity to dance Albrecht in New York during the Met Season only because of another dancer's injury. ABT’s first press release that announced the casting change was apologetic in tone instead of praising Matthews' accomplishments and conveying the certainty that it would be worthwhile to attend the performance. The press release lauded the accomplishments of the guy who wasn’t going to show up to dance, but said nothing about the guy who was.

Last year when Natalia Osipova bailed out of Sylvia because she couldn't get the steps, ABT’s stupid fools made the same mistake. They trumpeted the grand importance of Osipova, who wasn’t going to show up to dance, and made an apologetic-toned reference to Xiomara Reyes, who was the wonderful artist who would replace Owhimpova on short notice in her own debut.

ABT’s marketing strategy seems to be to convey to the public that all but a couple of its own dancers are losers. No wonder ticket sales suck.

Phil Jackson wouldn't think twice before firing Kevin McKenzie, because he would know that McKenzie is the source of ALL of ABT's problems. We need to be able to win with our own players.

Steve Kerr

UIEX: ABT guest artist developments

The Unofficial Information Exchange (UIEX) has received two tips that ABT will add two more guest artists to its spring season.

Denys Nedak of the National Ballet of Ukraine will arrive to dance we-don't-know-what-yet. The Honored Artist of the Ukraine has danced the role of Solor in Natalia Makarova's production of La Bayadere, and there is now a need to find a replacement for Cory Stearns. It is extremely doubtful that Mr. Nedak is a better choice than any one of a half dozen of ABT's outstanding dancers (particularly Jared Matthews), but Haglund didn't plan on seeing the Stearns/Semionova/Seo cast anyway; so he would pass this up regardless.

As a sidebar, there is a petition over at Whitehouse.gov to allow Ukranians to enter into the United States for 90 days without the requirement of Visas. If you want to sign that petition, go here.

Why doesn't ABT invite a bunch of the Ukranian corps dancers to come here so that our own dancers can move up into soloist and principal opportunities? Since there are oodles of corps dancers around the world who already know Makarova's staging of La Bayadere, why not hire them instead of importing principals? ABT should be hiring outsiders at the bottom ranks, not the top.

McKenzie would never hire these guys (Nedak, Jackson, Lendorf) as permanent soloists, let alone permanent principals, but he brings them in as guest artists and holds them over the heads of the company's hard working, starving-for-opportunities, enormously talented dancers. No wonder the dancers are so demoralized. When is ABT going to get an artistic director who can actually coach the company's dancers in principal roles instead of depending on the rest of the world's directors to do his work for him?

NYCB's Andrew Vyette will also make a guest appearance in we-don't-know-what-yet, but with Cory Stearns out, there is a need for someone to dance his two performances of Theme and Variations. Maybe Andy will bring along his orchestra, conductor, costume and a few corps members to help out, too. Hey, maybe he'll even bring along Bouder. No objections to that.

 

Reminder: Ballet Preljocaj in Blanc Neige

Angelin Preljocaj brings his fascinating theater-dance version of Snow White to Lincoln Center next week for six performances beginning Wednesday through Sunday.

This is not your mother's Snow White. Some Day My Prince Will Come not. No Silly Song, either. Instead, this grown-ups' version relies on Gustav Mahler's serious symphonies and, trust us, literally takes choreography to new heights.

What an imagination:

 

  

On the road & in the cinema

On the road in Wash. DC

ABT’s Tuesday night performance at the Kennedy Center was dedicated to the memory of former principal dancer Ivan Nagy who expired earlier this year. Nagy was one of the greatest partners in ABT’s history, and is remembered for his unapologetically Romantic performances opposite Cynthia Gregory, Natalia Makarova, Gelsey Kirkland, and others.

There were some lovely, lovely moments in ABT’s opening night performance of Les Sylphides. Stella Abrera, Joseph Gorak, Hee Seo, and Sarah Lane were the principal cast. Adrienne Schulte and Cassandra Trenary led the corps de ballet. But let’s get the main complaints out of the way first.

Shoe noise: Totally unacceptable in Les Sylphides where few steps require the support of stiff, clunky shoe boxes. When Hee Seo landed her little assembles upstage, it sounded like she was wearing metal horse shoes. The corps’ feet looked and sounded like they were wearing shoes prepared for Don Quixote, not a little bit of Romantic bourreeing around. How is it that the Mariinsky and NYCB corps can perform on the Kennedy Center stage with minimal or no noise, but ABT can’t? How is it that the Paris Opera Ballet and NYCB can perform noiselessly on the Koch Theater stage but ABT can’t? Unfortunately, on this first night, the corps seemed to approach Les Syphides like a draw by numbers assignment. Not its best night.

The orchestra: Just like last year, when the brass players made such a mess of Bizet’s Symphony in C, they again mutilated a performance — this time Les Sylphides. Are they maybe playing badly in retaliation for not getting all the paid rehearsal time that they want or are they really so poor that they can’t muster basic Chopin? B.a.s.i.c. C.h.o.p.i.n.

Stella Abrera's ebullient Sylph seemed like a throw-back to the days of Nina Ananiashvili. When she leaned in to whisper into the Poet's ear, there was a suggestion of mischief in her eyes. A little bit of La Sylphide in Les Sylphides? Perhaps - but it worked wonderfully. In her Mazurka solo, Stella gave us wispy Romantic shapes in her grand jetes, not over-split competition jumps. She swept through her half-circles of releves with confidence and security without being showy. Her fast little walking bourrees floated forward like cirrus clouds pushed by the winds. Hers was an individual, fully thought-out, and beautifully danced interpretation –– a welcome change from the generic and clumsy performances that we saw others do last fall.

Joseph Gorak’s Poet will soon be one for the ages. Velvet smooth in 75% of his landings, scrupulous arabesque lines, effortless and expansive tour jetes, contemplative on the verge of moody — he sometimes bore a resemblance to Patrick Bissell. His partnering of Stella - their first matchup - seemed to go very well and there was a good rapport between them.

Sarah Lane’s Waltz solo was kissable - so full of joy, sparkle, and warmth. She had a bit of mischief in her as well. Sarah was not out-danced by anybody and continues to be (along with Stella and Yuriko) criminally under-appreciated by ABT.

Hee Seo had more pretty, ethereal moments than during her performances last fall. It’s a shame that her noisy shoes marred so much of her work which really should have required a minimum of block support.

Marcelo Gomes’ Aftereffect to Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence immediately followed Les Sylphides. It looks like he has been working on it, but the piece still resembled a fairly forgettable plate of Forsythe, Kylian, and Welch cliches. There was no chest beating, but there were plenty of bare chests, and an unexplained clenched fist. Sterling Baca stepped in for Thomas Forster as the first soloist. It possibly could have been Baca's first solo since joining the company, and his technique held together very well under the pressure and scrutiny. Calvin Royal looked like a million dollars. So, we have learned from the past few seasons that Royal is a gifted contemporary and demi-character dancer. May we please see him in a “classical" something-or-other? Swan Lake PdT perhaps? Or Theme and Variations opposite Stella Abrera?

Haglund couldn’t stay for The Dream; he’ll catch that at the Met, probably. The Met casting could undergo a shake-up soon. Everyone knows that Cory Stearns is injured, and believe it or not, we are sorry about that. But everyone knows and has known for quite a while. It’s dishonest for ABT not to announce his replacements so that tickets can be exchanged, purchased, or torn up, as may be the reaction. Hopefully Jared Matthews will get the call and not some stinking guest artist.

In the cinema

Pierre Lacotte's comic ballet, Marco Spada, to music by Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber and as performed by the Bolshoi Ballet in a recent cinema-cast presentation, is the cat's pajamas.

 As the Bolshoi proved, we’re all a little bit French and c’est si bon. Tamping down the tendency for bold, in your face but sometimes sluggish Bolshoi bravura, Lacotte had everyone in this company moving at lighting speed with crystal clarity and French elegance. Oodles and oodles of superbly musical choreography for the corps de ballet framed oodles and oodles of superbly musical choreography for the soloists and principals. It all looked like such fun to dance.

Lacotte dearly loves and respects the language of classical ballet and proved with this new production that there is no “need to update” it with street dance nonsense in order to make it “more accessible” for the masses. The language remains rich; and when the vocabulary is chosen by someone as articulate and musical as Lacotte, the art form wins on its own strengths. Lacotte is Haglund’s new ballet hero, and Pierre is totally forgiven for that little snippy remark about one of Haglund’s favorite NYCB ballerinas that was recorded a few years ago by Frederick Wiseman.

The principals in this performance - David Hallberg, Evgenia Obraztsova, Semyon Chudin, Olga Smirnova, and Igor Tsvirko - were extraordinary in most every way. Lacotte's costume and set designs were extravagant without encumbering his choreography.

Semyon Chudin proved to be the real dancing star of the show. He's not the most attractive man in the Bolshoi company, but he seems to be its best dancer. With feet like bear paws that carry his perfectly proportioned limbs, he is a marvel.

David Hallberg's performance, although incredible by any reasonable standard, wasn't as perfect as we have seen in the past. Landings from tours assemble were a little sketchy and pirouettes weren't as calm and collected as those of his that we remember. His partnering of Obraztsova was sometimes a little off in supported pirouettes. But the main disappointment was with his acting. It just didn't convince, and it seemed to be 110% tongue-in-check while still managing at times to be awkward. When he looked at his daughter, played by Obraztsova, it was as though he was looking at a chair. But Lacotte had the tall guy moving his feet at POB speed with POB clarity, and that was a real treat to see.

Obraztsova was a complete joy in every way and was a good sport when Hallberg didn't quite get the partnering right.

Smirnova was a pleasant surprise from an acting standpoint. She really came across well to the cameras and danced up a storm without any sense of tension or reservation that we have observed previously. One of her PdDs required her partner to promenade her around while her leg was in a developpe a la second. Unfortunately, we then saw that same unattractive turned in and misalligned position that has been seen in her Kingdom of the Shades PdD. Did Smirnova really get through the eight year curriculum at the Vaganova Academy without having to squeeze her po-po when executing developpes a la second? Hard to believe.

The remarkable Bolshoi press person, Katerina Novikova, may have mentioned that the Bolshoi has Marco Spada locked up for the next eight years. So, let's hope that they tour it next year to the U.S., because it is fabulous. Lacotte has done a splendid job. Marco Spada in its early opera form had a scattered narrative, and this ballet is no different. Lacotte could have rewritten the story or added his own chapters in order to "make it more accessible" to the 21st century audience and critics who need their hands held, but he didn't. Good on him.

 

Veronika Part & Jared Matthews @ The Mariinsky

Oh, this is one beautiful treat. Hurry and watch Veronika and Jared in Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas at the Closing Gala of the Mariinsky Ballet Festival on Sunday:

 

Extraordinary. Just extraordinary. So proud of the home team.

More videos from the festival here.

 

Twyla speaks Southern

NYCB's Robert Fairchild will star in Christopher Wheeldon's upcoming musical production of An American in Paris. Fairchild will sing and dance the role of Jerry which was made famous by Gene Kelly. The production will open at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris this fall and then move to Broadway in 2015. Wow.

This tidbid of information was tacked onto the tail end of Fairchild's biography in the BAMbill that was handed out at BAM tonight prior to the delightful concert by the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Twyla Tharp choreographed the Cornbread Duet for Fairchild and Tiler Peck to perform to a few musical selections. Norma Kamali created the fetching costumes of unitards and tights with wide horizontal black and white stripes.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops are a four-member group [Rhiannon Giddens, Hubby Jenkins, Malcolm Parson, and Rowan Corbett] who sing and play the fiddle, amplified cello, various banjos, acoustic guitars, hand drums, and bones. They perform a unique blend of bluegrass, blues, and African music with a little bit of gospel and country thrown in for good measure.

Oh my, was Twyla ever in her element working with this group. Her most interesting choreographic moments came during her own freestyle outburst during the second half of the program. Within the 'official' PdD, however, she put together some nice square dance based movements and then jacked them up with Peck's pointework and Fairchild's solos that pitched and rolled like those that John Selya used to dance for Tharp.

What a fun night.

 

Bait & Switch @ ABT

More cast changing for ABT's Washington run.

After using the irresistable sales pitch of a Les Sylphides with both Veronika Part and Stella Abrera to increase ticket sales for Wednesday night, ABT has suddenly pulled Abrera and substituted Boylston. Those who bought tickets thinking that they were going to witness extraordinary grace and refinement in an exemplary cast on Wednesday night are now getting Sue Heck mixed in with the cast. It's like adding bacon to Strawberries Arnaud.

People should demand their money back.