Haglund's Heel

observations 6/9

It's a busy day on the blog!

Thanks much to Carol for forwarding several links to us including one of Paris Opera Ballet's transmission of Balanchine's Le Palais de Cristal, the forerunner of Symphony in C, with gorgeous new costumes (rubies red, emeralds green, sapphire navy, and creamy) by Christian Lacroix. Millepied's Daphne et Chloe is on the bill, too. The transmission will be available for viewing until December 5th at FranceTV CultureBox:

http://culturebox.francetvinfo.fr/live/danse/le-palais-de-cristal-par-georges-balanchine-157321

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Graham Spicer's Gramilano is a good, credible blog source for information about what is going on in European ballet circles. Haglund doesn't visit as often as he should but he's glad that Carol thought to send us the link to Graham's post about Angel Corella calling it quits in Spain and moving on. It would be great if he would move into 890 Broadway but only if the current AD moved out.

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And just as Haglund was ready to hit the publish button, this startling announcement came through the wire. Veronika Part will dance the title role of Giselle opposite Vitali Krauchenka this weekend in Ballet L'Etoile's production in Columbia, Maryland which is just outside of Baltimore. The staging is by Svetlana Kravtsova and Vadim Pijicov. This could be a once in a lifetime opportunity; so, if you can get there, go!

 

Cindeready

ABT's production of Ashton's Cinderella opens tonight. Haglund will be seeing the Reyes/Gorak and Murphy/Hallberg casts; so check back later in the week for a blog post. Comments about earlier performances are always welcome here.

Haglund is looking forward to being delighted by the details that the casts capture. Cinderella's Act III manege of pique turns, soutenus, and rapid fire chaines are always a joy to watch when they're done at tempo. I wonder who among the four casts will only do three chaines and who will do five or even six?

Cinderella's little jete combination with her back to the audience in which she releves into passe and does an actual cambre back is a gorgeous moment in her Act III variation. Who among the casts will really do that cambre and who will simply turn the head and throw it back with a smile toward the audience?

It probably comes as no surprise that Haglund adored Anthony Dowell (and still does) and has never gotten over the way that he could employ the exact amount of force that was required to get the job done with beautiful grace while always seeming to have lots in reserve. It was that sense of powerful reserve that helped make him so princely. In his Act III variation, he did double tours followed by an eloquent backward soutenu that seemed so perfect. For some reason, not all men do that backward soutenu these days, but instead pause to recalibrate for the next double tour. That seems so whimpy.

Haglund's disappointment in not being able to see Stella Abrera as Cinderella still stings. She is one of the few ABT ballerinas who possess the classicism and technique needed to dance this role beautifully. Instead, she has been relegated to the Fairy Godmother role – a wand carrying Lilac Fairy – while ABT's aged, declining prima refuses to recognize that her time to dance at the ball has run out. How much more of this do we have to endure?

 

NYCB – 2013-2014 season over & out

NYCB's 2013-2014 season is over. Manhattan has returned to its sleepy norm, and the llamas have returned to their grazing on West 18th Street at 6th Avenue.

Oh no, look! It's a little pony left over from ABT's pony & kitten giveaway. Nobody bought tickets to see three guest artists in La Bayadere so that he could be given away to a new home. Look how sad he is. The sad pony whinnied, "Haglund, do you think Peter Martins would let me audition for the Costermonger section of Union Jack? My behavior record is unblemished. I don't belong behind bars with these llamas." Haglund tucked Peter Martins' cell phone number under the sad pony's halter and suggested he lose some of his gut before auditioning. That seemed to lift the sad pony's spirits a little bit.

Haglund didn't attend as many NYCB performances during the spring season as he usually does. That first week with no Balanchine or Robbins was a real bummer and the new stuff offered wasn't wholly satisfying. If anything, that first week doubly underscored the point that the success of Balanchine and Robbins in the 20th Century isn't guaranteed to be repeated in the 21st century – at least not without a lot more hard work.

The good news is that the company's dancers delivered phenomenal performances throughout the spring and throughout the year. With important dancers still sidelined with injuries during the spring [Wendy Whelan, Jennie Somogyi, Ana Sophia Scheller, Chase Finlay to name a few], others seemed to rise up to demonstrate the breadth and depth of this great company.

Sterling Hyltin was a revelation along with Robert Fairchild in Opus 19/The Dreamer; Abi Stafford danced her best in years, seizing the first violin role in Concerto Barocco with a glorious expansiveness that we usually associate with Sara Mearns.  Sara in Walpursisnact Ballet and Davidsbundertanze, Ashley Bouder in Raymonda Variations and Other Dances, Tiler Peck making her debut in the First Movement of Symphony in C, Rebecca Krohn in Emeralds and in a thrilling Concerto Barocco with Abi, and Ashley Laracey, Ashly Isaacs, Lauren King, Lauren Lovette, Faye Arthurs, Kristen Segin, and Alina Dronova all were superb.

Jon Stafford bid farewell with exceptional elegance and style in Emeralds with his sister, Abi, and in Diamonds with Sara Mearns. Joaquin DeLuz with Bouder in Other Dances, Union Jack, and Rubies danced like he was 25 again. Robert Fairchild along with Tiler Peck sizzled in Who Cares? Russell Janzen, Troy Schumacher, Peter Walker, and Harrison Coll came out of nowhere to grab our attention with outstanding dancing. Anthony Huxley made a strong classical statement in Raymonda Variations opposite Lauren Lovette.

Gosh, it seems like Haglund may have been to more performances than he originally thought.

Maybe 2013-2014 was not the strongest of programing, but 2014-2015 is going to bliss us out from start to finish. Let's get the summer (that hasn't officially begun yet) over with ASAP so we can get to the fall season.

 

ABT – Manon 6/2 & 6/3

Manon just turned forty last March. How this masterpiece came about is compressed into a few fascinating pages in Jann Perry’s biography of choreographer Kenneth MacMillan, Different Drummer, which Haglund has been trying to finish reading since its publication in 2010 – it is, after all, 758 pages with very few pictures. MacMillan was the Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet when he created Manon in 1974.

“MacMillan, thinking as an artistic director, decided that his new three-act ballet should not serve as a vehicle for a guest artist. [And] Fonteyn had held back the Royal Ballet’s young stars for long enough; it was time he gave them a chance.”

Monday evening, ABT opened its run of eight Manon performances at the Met Opera House. The cast included the company’s oldest ballerina, who continues to block much younger but fully mature artists from leading principal roles, and a de facto guest artist. So much for thinking as an artistic director.

Following the 1974 premiere, critic Mary Clarke summed up the ballet’s plot in the Guardian:

“Basically, Manon is a slut and Des Grieux is a fool and they move in the most unsavoury company.”

Monday night, Julie Kent's Manon was neither a slut nor someone looking for a sugardaddy. She conveyed prettiness and acted too much like Juliet, as in Capulet. But many people in the sparse audience were thrilled to see exactly that and did not know that anything was missing.

There was no sense of selfishness in this Manon. Nor was there any sense of fear or shame she might experience if she had to give up all of the jewels and luxurious life style. There was very little that was erotic in the portrayal.

“In both the bedroom pas de deux, MacMillan told [Antoinette] Sibley that he wanted her to make seductive use of the inside of her upper arm. 'He loved that area, so Manon often twines her arms around her head…it’s her special erotic zone,' says Sibley.”

Julie's Manon raised her elbows and arms, and pushed her smile at Des Grieux. But there was nothing provocative about it. There are still many people around who remember the way Alessandra Ferri seduced Julio Bocca’s obsessed Des Grieux with the insides of her elbows. She made us smell the perfume that she had dabbed at their pulse points. When Ferri’s Manon turned her back on Bocca’s Des Grieux and abandoned him after being seduced by Monsieur G.M.’s wealth, she did so with such callous indifference that it shocked the audience. No such shock was delivered on Monday night. And while the choreography required little in the way of classical or neo-classical soloist technique for Manon, it was evident that Julie’s arabesque had become less clear and her back less flexible.

Roberto Bolle invested his Des Grieux with enough emotional intensity for the both of them. Except for a slight unsteadiness in his opening solo, he danced magnificently throughout the night. For such a huge man, he moves with the swiftness of Mercury and judiciously employs a masculine flexibility to punctuate the drama in his dancing. But his intensity sometimes seemed overwrought in response to Julie's pale output. While he might prefer to dance with Julie because of her feather lightness – and he certainly could throw her around easily enough – they do not compliment one another in any meaningful way.

The reason that Haglund returned to Different Drummer was to try to find out why MacMillan gave more challenging and complicated choreography to Lescaut’s Mistress than to Manon. On Monday night, Stella Abrera imbued the role of Mistress with a seductive, earthy gusto. Here was a woman who would dump her man for a shiny nickel. She danced with a theatrical authority that eclipsed Julie Kent.

It required more than a little suspension of disbelief to accept Daniil Simkin as Lescaut, the guy who sells his sister Manon in order to line his own pockets. In the opening tableau, he looked absurdly ridiculous and unconvincing wearing a huge hat while kneeling at the center of a swirled cape. His “drunk dancing” during the party scene was slapstickish. Haglund probably wasn’t the only one who gasped when Daniil picked up Stella while doing his drunk stumbling steps. He has a hard enough time partnering when he’s sober-serious. When Daniil's little Lescaut forced the gold coins into big Roberto's Des Grieux's hand and then forcibly twisted his arm behind his back at the end of the act, it looked stupid, because, as everyone knows, Bolle could have just swatted Simkin like a fly.

The harlots’ wigs now make them look tres chic instead of whorish. And for some reason neither Julie Kent on Monday nor Diana Vishneva on Tuesday would let go of the eye makeup to the extent needed to convince us that they were captive prostitutes or in ill health. Alessandra Ferri let us see Manon’s suffering through a face with little makeup on it.

There seemed to be two different choreographies for the Skivvies’ little dance on Monday and Tuesday nights for no apparent reason.

On opening night the Gentlemen (Joseph Gorak, Blaine Hoven, and Eric Tamm) were a strong, unified trio. On Tuesday night, the Beggar Boys were a mess and seemed not to have a clue what they were supposed to be doing. This was an example of where the differing styles that ABT is trying to brag about really backfired.

The orchestra on Monday night sounded a lot more robust than on Tuesday night when it sounded tired.

Tuesday evening’s principals, Diana Vishneva and Marcelo Gomes, were more collaboratively passionate than Monday night’s cast. Both artists still dance as though at the tops of their games. Marcelo had terrific control of his solo adagio movements, and the beauty of the leg positions and foot placements were a highlight. And he’s still got very good back flexibility in his arabesque. The PdD in the swamp was ridiculously thrilling when Marcelo threw Diana up in the air and spun her around. Diana's performance just had so much more energy to it than Julie's. Her every movement and position were fuller and had a sense of independent strength to them. And she really looked the part of someone for whom wealth and luxury were of the utmost importance. Thank goodness that a meaningful-sized crowd turned out to see this performance.

Herman Cornejo and Misty Copeland were Lescaut and His Mistress. Herman found it much easier than Daniil when it came time to burn pirouettes while wearing a very long-tailed coat. He also had a better crafted and much funnier drinking solo. While Misty danced well, her lack of projection turned the role into a soloist gig instead of the principal role it is supposed to be. She didn’t mess up anything; it’s just that none of it looked very important. It may have simply been a case of miscasting. At the end of the night, a very odd thing happened during bows in front of the curtain. Everyone came out in pairs, and then for the second round of bows, Herman came out by himself followed by Diana and Marcelo together. One wonders if Misty missed the call or if she wanted to have a solo bow for the ultimate photo opp - but it didn’t happen.  

The HH Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon beautiful, talented Stella Abrera whose glitter is real gold. If Kenneth MacMillan were directing ABT, a 45-year-old declining ballerina would not be blocking Stella’s path to leading principal roles nor our opportunity to watch her perform them.

If she's gonna be in chains, they may as well be Giuseppe Zanotti for Balmain chains:

ABT – Coppelia 5/30, 5/31 mat & eve

In a span of 26½ hours, Haglund sat through 7½ hours of Coppelia. He’s not complaining, though, because those 7½ hours included 7 minutes of the most divine Prayer variation that he expects ever to see. At the first two performances of Coppelia, there was a curtain announcement that Yuriko Kajiya would dance the Prayer variation. She had been unexpectedly told to learn the new role only two days before.

As any balletomane will tell you, there are performances that take your breath away and then there are those rare performances, like the Prayer solo on Friday and at Saturday's matinee, where the viewer stops his own breathing so as not to disturb absorption of the experience before his eyes. In little more than three minutes of celestial musicality, arabesques of pure song, and floating bourrees, Yuriko engaged us in the rarest example of spiritual communication through dance. Our grieving when she leaves ABT at the end of this season will be deep and long-lasting, but we respect and admire her and Jared Matthews’ unwillingness to accept ABT’s wasteful treatment of their enormous talents.

On Friday evening, the Dawn variation received a warm and glowing performance from Stella Abrera, whose talent is treated by ABT with the same offensive, wasteful indifference as Yuriko’s. Sparkling classicism and a bright vivacity marked her allegro throughout. She commanded the stage regardless of how many other people were also dancing. On Saturday night, Devon Teuscher made a commendable debut in this role with a careful performance. She commanded attention in part because she is, thankfully, devoid of mannerisms. We look forward to seeing how she blossoms and hope that she does not get perpetually typecast in roles according to her physical type as opposed to her artistry. Speaking of mannerisms, Isabella Boylston made stew soup out of the Dawn variation on Saturday afternoon. Does the entire ABT artistic staff have severe cataracts or has Isabella actually been coached to spread her fingers apart, stick out the little finger, bend and flop the wrists, hyperextend the elbows so that the upper arm skin sags, stick her nose up in the air like she smells farts, look down her nose at the audience, dump her upper torso, clomp her big shoes noisily, and turn classical ballet into a hillbillyfest? To think that this most inelegant, unmusical, unprepossessing dancer who lacks any evidence of classical artistry will be monopolizing a Giselle and Swan Lake, while much better dancers with mature classical artistry such as Kajiya, Abrera, and Sarah Lane have little to dance, has the emetic effect of gargling raw egg whites.

As Dr. Coppelius, both Roman Zhurbin (on Friday and Saturday nights) and Alexei Agoudine (at Saturday’s matinee) masterfully portrayed the character with great humor and sincerity, and did so without inserting slapstick. Under the unruly wisps of white hair and glasses, each dancer moved with such authentic agedness that he was completely unrecognizable.

Gemma Bond as the Lead Mazurka Lady on Friday night had more rapport and stylistic similarities with Herman Cornejo’s Franz than the evening’s Coppelia. Not to belabor the thematic point, but why aren’t we seeing this gifted and admirably classical ballerina as Giselle or in any major roles in the Petipa rep instead of being force-fed unnecessary guest artists?

The Mazurka and Czardas was led enthusiastically by Devon Teuscher & Alexandre Hammoudi on Friday, Christine Shevchenko & Luis Ribagordo at Saturday’s matinee, and Shevchenko & Blaine Hoven on Saturday evening. Hammoudi had more energy than his recovering body was ready to launch. Let’s not rush this artist back to the stage until he’s really ready. Luis Ribagorda was outstanding technically and theatrically. He’s got that De Luz high wattage stage presence and is an excellent partner. Why aren’t we seeing more of him in important roles?

The production’s principals were Misty Copeland & Herman Cornejo on Friday night, Sarah Lane & Daniil Simkin at Saturday’s matinee, and Gillian Murphy & Jared Matthews on Saturday evening.

Misty danced quite adequately in her NY debut in the role of Swanilda with no mishaps but she did not carry the performance with the strength, theatrical flair, or artistry of Sarah or Gillian. Misty simplified the Act III variation somewhat, e.g., substituting Italian fouettes before tossing off nine or ten regular ones. But what was most disturbing was the hard and very stiff shoes that didn't roll through releve. She bounced up to releves and the force would reverberate up through her legs and torso. The noise of her hard shoes was greater than that made by the corps of eight women dancing as Swanilda’s friends. Even considering the simplified content, it appeared that Misty was dancing at the very edge of her ability. Given that Coppelia isn’t a real technical test for an accomplished ballerina, it would appear that Misty has work to do before she deserves to be promoted to principal ahead of the likes of Abrera or Lane, and she would also fall behind Yuriko Kajiya, Simone Messmer, and Maria Riccetto to name just some of the talent that has left (or will be leaving) ABT because of the lack of opportunities to dance.

Herman’s performance of Franz included brilliant solo work, although not as brilliant as we have seen him dance. But Herman doesn’t have to be at the top of his game in order to top everyone else. He just wasn’t “in the game” to the extent that he always is with Xiomara Reyes or on those occasions when he dances with Sarah Lane. There was one bit of messy partnering at the beginning of Act III, but otherwise, the PdDs with Misty went well.

On Saturday afternoon, Haglund was surprised by how much he enjoyed Daniil Simkin’s Franz. For once, the guy seemed to belong with Sarah Lane on stage. For once, he seemed to fully inhabit his character – a dude who thought he was wise but was really clueless.  For once, he was out on stage to create dance theater instead of seeking an opportunity to show off. Not only were there no visible partnering mishaps, but the final PdD pose with Swanilda atop his shoulder was the best of the three performances.

Sarah’s Swanilda was an exceptionally well thought out and well executed effort. She did carry the performance with her artistry and secure technique, and she managed characterization that was not evident in the other two performances. In Act I when Franz teased Swanilda with the long-stemmed flower/pinwheel/whatever and then the two embarked on a circle of grand jetes with Swanilda chasing him, Sarah’s upper body and arms really reached forward like she was trying hard to catch Franz. It was quite the trick to do and make it look like part of the character because a dancer is so strongly taught to hold the body upright in grand jetes and not to pitch forward. Neither Misty nor Gillian was able to convey the impression of chasing Franz the way Sarah did. Her allegro, full set of fouettes, pirouettes, and musicality all pointed to a great ballerina poised to rise to the top - if only she had more to dance. Haglund expects Sarah Lane to give the world premiere performance of Ratmansky’s new Sleeping Beauty next year. If Alexei wants assured success, he will tap Sarah to make it happen.

The joy of the Saturday evening Coppelia was in watching Jared Matthews deliver a huge performance opposite Gillian Murphy in which the two of them carried the evening with equal shares. Gillian put as much energy into bringing Swanilda’s character to life as she put into any of the jaw-dropping turns that she casually tossed into the performance. She upped the octane level for the Act III variations considerably which sent the audience into a state of euphoria. Jared’s own octane was close to hydrogen’s. He didn’t waste even a second on stage. Every minute was packed with character and enthusiasm. His double tours were splendid with beautiful soft landings in plies. His pirouettes were solid as could be. His whole heart was in what he was doing, and you couldn’t not be persuaded to believe in him and care about what he was doing on stage. What a tremendous loss it will be when he and Yuriko leave at the end of the season. What a totally unnecessary and unfortunate loss it will be. ABT just keeps cutting at itself like it has a self-mutilation disorder.

Three Coppelias down; three to go. Would it be too much to ask to see Yuriko’s Prayer variation one last time? Probably. We’ll have to pray on it.

In the meantime, the H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Stuart Weitzman stiletto with 595 carat diamonds that retails for $2,000,000, is bestowed upon Yuriko Kajiya, who we will miss more than she will ever know.