Haglund's Heel

NYCB – autumnal bliss

It’s hard to believe that we’ve begun the final week of New York City Ballet’s fall season. The company is dancing with such strength and so vividly that it’s a shame we have to interrupt the rep season with a string of Nutcrackers, although undoubtedly we’ll see some new novae burst onto the stage with emboldened brightness as we always do during Nutcracker season.

Rebecca Krohn, Ashly Isaacs, and Zachary Catazaro gave new life and new importance to Peter Martins’ Morgen last week. Rebecca’s luxuriant musicality in the upper body, particularly in the use of her neck and head, gave the choreography a drama that it never had before. Zachary was right in there with her as far as depth of performance, and he supplied terrific partnering support as well.

Zachary and Gretchen Smith debuted impressively in Liam Scarlett’s new Funérailles on Saturday night. Gretchen has a natural tension in the shoulders and upper body that worked so well in this piece and in Spectral Evidence, and her throw away arms work very well in Ratmansky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Her legs, feet, and general facility are wondrous, but the upper body in some of the more classic staples – oy. Seeing her mangle the port de bras earlier in the season as a demi-soloist in Theme and Variations and in other corps work made Haglund cry. Every time the arms went above the shoulders, she had no clue where they were or what shapes she was making with those tension-filled hands. When the head pitched forward of the shoulders, the shadows created by the stage lighting made her look like a turtle with no neck from the upper ring. Can’t we please fix this?

Just a few words about the effects of lighting on the performer when viewed from the higher rings above the orchestra in this theater – none of which apply to Gretchen Smith, just to be clear. A dancer who doesn’t get up and over the box of her pointe shoe allowing the shank to conform to the arch suddenly looks like she has stiff, shapeless feet when viewed from above in the ring levels of the theater. A dancer who has a few cellulite dimples under the cheeks of a white leotard suddenly has shadowy craters that jiggle under the stage lighting when viewed from above. A pair of too large false eyelashes and excess liner and dark shadow suddenly spreads black smears from corner to corner of the eyes when viewed under the lights from the ring levels.

When viewed from above, small faults and miscalculations are strongly illuminated, and when things go awry, it is often far more noticeable than when viewed from the orchestra section.

That was more than a few words, wasn’t it?

Last week included a sensational performance of Agon by Maria Kowroski and Amar Ramasar on Sunday with out-of-this-world debuts in secondary roles by Anthony Huxley, Ashly Isaacs, Harrison Coll, and Joseph Gordon. Lauren King, also superb in this cast, had her own debut in Agon during the first week of this season. She, along with Huxley and Ashley Laracey, ripped that trio section with splendid authority and precision.

Last night in her soloist debut with Anthony Huxley in Chaconne, Lauren revealed new ballerina qualities and a brand new sturdiness in her technique. She, like most of the new soloists, has gotten less stage time since her promotion, but it’s apparent that all of them have been making very good use of their preparation time. Lauren’s pirouettes had a spirited whip to them and could have easily cruised past two rotations, but like a pro, she quashed the temptation and closed her turns precisely and solidly on the prescribed musical count. She looked fantastic when paired with Huxley, and they had a fabulous energy together. When has he ever smiled that much on stage? He’s got a great grill; if it takes Lauren to get him to show it to us, then let’s see more of them together.

Haglund hopes that we can get past the Nutcracker season in record speed, because over the finish line is a program of Serenade, Agon, and Symphony in C waiting for us in January. It seems, though, in the past couple of years of block programing, that we have gotten fewer blocks and fewer alternative casts. NYCB is the cocktail at the end of a tiring day for many of us who attend nearly every night. A little more variety of ingredients mixed in with the smooth vermouth would enliven our spirits.

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a progressive classic from Oscar de la Renta, is bestowed upon Lauren King, Ashley Laracey, and Anthony Huxley who are building marvelous careers one dynamic step after the other, and making us more than eager to schlep up 9th Avenue to Lincoln Center night after night.

NYCB – Chaconne in beautiful harmony 10/8

After getting a shot in the arm for flu season on Wednesday afternoon, Haglund proceeded to ensconce himself in a plush seat at New York City Ballet in the evening for what turned out to be another shot in the arm that further invigorated his experience of watching the hyper-energized, mega-vitalized, gloriously dancing NYCB in its fall season.

Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle led a wondrous performance of Balanchine’s Chaconne that made the audience fizzy-giddy with joy. Maria’s long, tapered limbs and perfectly tapered feet were like smooth candles with graceful wick flames at the end. No bumpy, protruding calf or thigh muscles interrupted the balletic line. No exaggerated indentation of the knees through excessive, intentional hyper-extension marred the shapes of the legs. Perfect narrow ballet body, perfect legs and feet – all seemingly effortlessly coordinated as she wove her movement through the architecture of the music in a way that made the viewer all the more sensitive to Gluck’s flute notes.

Watching Maria’s legs maneuver through the devilish series of supported finger turns that went double en dehors, double en dedans, double en dehors in quick succession was like watching her hand out little gifts to the audience. The grace and modesty of it all delivered the audience right into her palm. Of course, Tyler’s expert partnering had more than a little to do with it. The communication and coordination between the two was persuasive. Tyler’s allegro variations, while perhaps not as accented or dynamic as the boss’ own work back in the 1970s and ‘80s, were executed with crystal clarity and high energy.

The demi-soloists, Erica Pereira and Antonio Carmena, made a good start but then got tangled up in the PdD. Antonio made a quick effort to save an awkward moment, but somehow Erica ended up airborne and then nearly prone to the floor. It seemed to be just one of those things that happens.

Alina Dronova got an opportunity to display her vibrance and beautiful dancing. She was stunning in this ballet as she has been in all of her other demi-soloist opportunities such as in Serenade along with the exquisite Faye Arthurs. Whatever is holding these two ladies back isn’t visible from the audience. Megan Johnson, who a few years ago got a big push forward into Concerto Barocco before she was ready, seems to have matured and is dancing with a nice ease and control along with a lovely presence.

The evening’s program included a super excited cast of Robbins' Interplay. If at times, we missed the energy that Daniel Ulbricht always brings to it, that was compensated swiftly by Sebastian Villarini-Velez’s awesome series of four double tours in rapid succession. It was his debut. He killed it. Lauren Lovette and Chase Finlay danced an inspired PdD. Kristen Segin who seems to be maturing along with Megan Johnson was a breath of fresh air and is starting to draw the eye more and more.

Wheeldon's After the Rain and Peck's Everywhere We Go completed the program. The comfort and familiarity of Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall in the first seemed to be quietly savored by the audience. In the second, the audience began applauding at a point long into this long piece when it appeared to be over but then had to curb the rustling of coats and packages when the dancers appeared back on stage for another long ten minutes. Maybe it wasn’t that bad. Ashly Isaccs, Rebecca Krohn, Taylor Stanley and Adrian Danchig-Waring gave a distinctive pulse to a piece that otherwise lacked a reason to live due in part to the tedious score by Sufjan Stevens.

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, an elegant golden Louboutin with distinctive red sole, is bestowed upon Maria Kowroski who wears what she’s got with style, modesty, and extreme beauty, and makes it all work like the highest fashion. 

observations 10/8

Only a couple of more chances to see Alexei Ratmansky's new Pictures at an Exhibition during the fall season at New York City Ballet – this Thursday and Saturday evening. Ratmansky may still be tinkering with the choreography. Either that, or else Haglund was so tired last night that he completely missed the two annoying arm and hand sequences from the night of the premiere. But overall, this is a highly interesting and entertaining new piece. Cameron Grant is playing his hands off, the dancers are dancing their feet off, and the Kandinsky backdrop design is slipping around in its own paint. You're not going to get a total experience like this anywhere else.

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Do you remember that fancy brooch that Sarah Jessica Parker and Cindy Chao co-designed to auction off at Sotheby's to benefit New York City Ballet? Estimates were that the sparkling ballerina butterfly would go for $750,000 to $900,000. Well, yesterday at Sotheby's the bids fluttered up to $1.21 million. No word on who bought it, but maybe he or she will show up wearing it at the next NYCB gala.

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Pennsylvania Ballet opens next week with its highly anticipated first season under Angel Corella. We're going to try to get down to Philly to check things out although it may be hard to squeeze it in between Alessandra Ferri at the Joyce Theater, Wendy Whelan's Farewell, and all of the local Oktoberfest activities. We'll do our best, though, because we know you expect nothing less.

 

Houston Ballet - Giselle in Detroit 11/2

We got our special license plates painted up, and put a little extra air in the tires. The Gisellemobile will be on the road again in November to see Yuriko Kajiya and Jared Matthews as Giselle and Albrecht at the Detroit Opera House.

We are very excited to see this performance.

They're still talking about Stella Abrera's Giselle

The Philippine Daily Inquirer has published another crowning review of Stella Abrera's debut as Giselle opposite James Whiteside's Albrecht on September 19th as Typhoon Mario bore down on the city in an effort to disrupt Ballet Philippines 45th Anniversary Gala and fundraiser for the victims of last year's Typhoon Guiuan.

From critic Tats Rejante Manahan:

For some reason, body types largely contribute to the grace exuded by a ballerina: long limbs that softly waft; sloping shoulders that ordinarily would look weak on a fashion ramp; endless legs that end in perfectly arched feet; and a height just right—not too petite to be forever cast as Tinkerbelle, and not too tall to take on a female Carabosse.

Abrera possesses these enviable body parts, which are suited for a role like Giselle—who transforms from a sweet, gullible country wench to a pale, spooky Wili.

In Act 1, she played her role with innocence and coyness without being cloying....
. . . .

When Albrecht walked Giselle over the ground in a series of supported temps leves en arabesque, we saw the refinement of Abrera’s technique, softly floating across the stage.

And when she ended this particular section with a protective stance over her lover, the pas de deux’s ending tableaux was breathtaking.
. . . .

As many aficionados of this classic piece will declare, Act 2 is the test of the dancer-actress where, as [Arlene] Croce points out, the ballerina must act through her dancing. This is the particular challenge in a role like Giselle: To be convincingly romantic in specter form.

Abrera took full advantage of those proportioned body parts: her arms that lift starting from the armpits, unraveling softly to their lengths; the gracefully curved long neck supported by the gentle slope of the shoulders; and that lightness of being despite the difficulty of the step—in a word, sprezzatura.

She was, indeed, the ethereal spirit, up until the last of her fingers slipped into the earth as though swallowed by it in the end.

We, in New York, are long overdue the opportunity to witness Stella Abrera's Giselle, and we're running out of patience as ABT serves up goop and imported inferiority.

 

Lar Lubovitch Dance Company @ the Joycewith Alessandra Ferri as Artemis

Just a reminder that this you'll-be-sorry-if-you-miss-it event is coming up October 15–19.

Each night's program will consist of two dances: The Black Rose to a commissioned score by Scott Marshall and Artemis in Athens to a commissioned score by Chris Theofandis which will be played live by Le Train Bleu.

Artemis in Athens is a new, reconceived production of Artemis that Lubovitch created for ABT in 2003. Ferri will dance the title role with Tobin Del Cuore as Aktaion. Ten dancers from the Juilliard School will perform as the ensemble. Tickets are available here.

Ferri is having one of the busiest retirements ever. She has spent the last year taking Martha Clarkes' Cheri around the world with Herman Cornejo. Now she's dancing a week at the Joyce and soon we should be hearing more about her return in May to the Royal Ballet to star in Wayne MacGregor's new full length ballet based on stories by Virginia Woolf. Ferri's return to the Royal Ballet 30 years after her departure is going to be quite the homecoming. We'll probably get excited about it here, too.

 

NYCB – the art is alive! 10/2

If you ever find yourself in the Städtische Galerie in Lenbachhaus, Munich, Germany at 6pm closing time, you may want to get out of there fast before the security guards turn out the art gallery's lights and lock you inside. You don’t want to be hanging around when Wassily Kandinsky’s famous, and apparently very party-prone, Color Study Squares with Concentric Circle comes alive and breaks out into a Ratmansky crazy-dance. Or maybe you do want to be there. Or maybe you should just drop by New York City Ballet this fall season to catch a glimpse of what happens to CSSw/CC when the lights go down.

Last night during the second intermission which preceded the premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s Pictures at an Exhibition to Modest Mussorgsky's piano concerto, Haglund’s friend asked, “What are you expecting this next piece to be?” Haglund replied, “Oh, this is a pretty important piece of music; I don’t think Ratmansky will stray too far off into the wilderness” emphasizing "too" with about six counts of “o”. Haglund continued, “Maybe we’ll see some chicks hatching out of their shells or some old Jewish men” – a reference to the famous Viktor Hartmann paintings from which Modest Mussorgsky drew inspiration for his concerto. Haglund repeated, “Ratmansky won’t stray too far this time.”

As NYCB Orchestra's rockstar pianist, Cameron Grant, began the ambitious task of performing the famous and incredibly stirring concerto, the backdrop on the stage filled with the image of Kandinsky’s Color Study Squares with Concentric Circle. Suddenly, the individual squares within the square separated and some disappeared as others came forward with more prominence. Dancers filled the stage wearing costumes with painted panels similar to Kandinsky’s colors and took on the personalities of the individual squares. When the dancers exited the stage following a solo, duet, or ensemble section of the dance, and new dancers arrived, the Kandinsky painting reassembled its squares in some fashion to correspond with the dancers’ costumes. Via the dancers, the squares in Kandinsky’s famous painting broke into grand life and danced like they thought no one was watching.

While Mussorgsky used Hartmann’s paintings as inspiration for his own music, Ratmansky took Mussorgsky’s concerto and then used the Father of Abstract Art’s most famous painting for his own choreorgraphic inspiration. The idea was utterly brilliant, and the dancers committed to the concept with their customary quasar energy. The choreography was frequently reminiscent of other Ratmansky dances that we’ve seen and sometimes became predictable. But audience members not familiar with Ratmansky's other works likely found it revelatory as a form of ballet.

Sara Mearns, Tiler Peck, Gretchen Smith, Abi Stafford, Wendy Whelan, Tyler Angle, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Gonzalo Garcia, Joseph Gordon, and Amar Ramasar comprised the entire cast. It was a joy to watch them tear through this new dance which will bear repeated viewings particularly if one is a fan of either great abstract art or great piano concertos.

The projection designs by Wendall K. Harrington were stunning. She previously worked on Ratmansky's On the Dnieper and Firebird for ABT where the production values were superb also. The costumes by Adeline Andre included unfussy shorty dresses for the ladies that had color panels and circles in reference to Kandinsky's art. At bows, Andre's own black and white striped dress seemed to have been inspired by one of Kandinsky's designs, The Singer 1903.
 
The rest of the evening’s program was the same as the opening night gala program except that Wendy Whelan and Tyler Angle switched from the beautiful Valentino designed costumes to the more mundane, dull-colored costumes by Reid Bartelme for their performance of This Bitter Earth. Both Liam Scarlett's Funerailles and Justin Peck's Belles-Lettres grew even more impressive with a second viewing. Both are major works although the success of Scarlett's ballet might forever be dependent on the power casting of Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild. It should be interesting to see if a certain newspaper critic begins to back-pedal away from his initial nose-up-in-the-air snorting after the two premieres.

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, an abstract art-ish stiletto with concentric circles gone awry, is bestowed upon the cast of Pictures at an Exhibition for bringing their unparalleled energy to this unique collaborative work.

Royal Winnipeg Ballet - survivors in the audience

Going Home Star – Truth and Reconciliation may be the most important dance mounted by the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in its illustrious 75 year history.   – Robert Enright, CBC News

At last evening's premiere of RWB's new full length production based on Canada's grim past use of residential schools in order to force assimilation of its First Nations children, there were survivors of the system in the audience. One survivor indicated he knew little about ballet but understood and was moved by what was being portrayed on the stage.

Going Home Star is what Native Canadian's called the North Star which they used to guide them home. Truth and Reconciliation refers to the Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission founded in 2008 to uncover the truth about the school system which tore First Nations children from their homes and led to the abuse and death of thousands.

From CBC News:

 

Our earlier report on RWB's 75th Anniversary season.