Haglund's Heel

ABT 5/29 & 5/30 matSleeping Beauty and other restorations

Friday was the official opening day for the observatory at the new One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan, and Haglund was there among the masses who snaked along queues for nearly two hours before packing into an elevator that skyrocketed us at a whistling speed to the top to behold a view that hadn’t been seen in quite a number of years. The landscape has changed, of course. It would have changed dramatically over the past decade and a half even if the city had been spared historical events. But the charge to the top by the masses on the first day was less about the view and more about perspective. Changing one has led to a restoration of the other.

This photo looks down into the memorial waters of the footprint from the 102nd Floor. Click on the picture for a better resolution:




In the evening, Haglund attended ABT’s New York opening of its new production of Sleeping Beauty and returned for the Saturday matinee performance. The premiere performances of this reconstruction by Alexei Ratmansky, with costumes and scenery by Richard Hudson, occurred in Orange County in March. Those performances were enthusiastically received, but revealed that this production is more about the costumes and wigs than about the dancing. The costume/wig opulence has been magnified while the dancing has been moderated to erase most evolutionary changes in ballet technique since the 19th century so that we see Sleeping Beauty as it was originally intended to be seen.

Here in New York, where the non-costumed ballet was born with the intent to emphasize the importance of choreography (substance) over costume (style), it might be tough to sell this Sleeping Beauty to the audience. Orange County was brought up on Disney. New York was brought up on Balanchine. That’s why there are 2,500 good miles between us.

A few words about wigs.

Yes, it’s true that at a point in history, wigs were a sign of affluence and power – the bigger, the better – but their basic purpose was to deal with head lice and the balding side effect of syphilis. If the hair didn’t fall out from venereal disease, then it was shaved off to eliminate crawly things. In ABT’s new Sleeping Beauty, the historically-minded viewer might spend an inordinate amount of time wondering about what was growing within the Queen’s tall hive on her head or how the ladies wearing starchy yellow-tinged unattractive wigs acquired their syphllis. Maybe, you say, we shouldn’t make too much of the wigs? Well, ABT certainly made much of them and spent much on them; so, it’s all the more reason to speak up if we don’t like them. ABT needs to find wigs that don’t make so many of the women look ugly and the children look like they are part of The Addams Family.

The costumes are intended to overwhelm just as they did historically, but overwhelm whom is the question. Their scope overwhelmed the viewer but also seemed to overwhelm some of the dancers, most notably poor Herman Cornejo who could barely be seen under his hat and whose long red hunting jacket swallowed him up. Speaking of ridiculously overdone hats, on Friday night, Roman Zhurbin’s Indian Prince wore an enormous pink turban and pearls that made him look like Johnny Carson’s Carnac the Magnificent. A lot of money went into those hats, costumes, and wigs - probably enough money to pay for a few new world class classical coaches for a year – maybe coaches good enough to be able to teach ABT’s ballerinas what they need to know to be suitable to dance Nikiya in Makarova’s La Bayadere. It’s odd how Makarova can set her production on companies all over the world and use those companies’ dancers, but can’t seem to find a crew of acceptable ballerinas in New York. Few if any people want to pay money to see the pointless, tragically ordinary, and unappealing Kochetkova dance Nikiya once, but McKenzie and Makarova think she’s just what we need to see three or four times in one week. It must be the language connection that keeps her employed here, because it sure isn’t her dancing. Haglund will skip Herman Cornejo’s brilliant performances rather than have to sit through Kochetkova while the enormously talented Sarah Lane sits on the sidelines.

Back to Sleeping Beauty – we’re not going to indulge in presentism, but a literal reconstruction of Sleeping Beauty is more likely to appeal to academics than anyone else. Try talking to the Met Opera about doing a literal reconstruction of La Boheme that requires everyone to sing exactly as they did in 1896 and see how far you get.

The first two casts of this Sleeping Beauty have been superb although both ballerinas had trouble with the little bit of familiar virtuosity remaining in the ballet - those Rose Adagio balances. Gillian Murphy and Sarah Lane are ABT’s most reliable balancers (now that Yuriko Kajiya is gone) and have brilliantly exceeded expectations in their performances of the Rose Adagio in the prior production. But each had trouble completing her sequence this week, and Sarah slipped off releve during her third promenade in attitude. Up to that point, however, each ballerina interpreted the historic choreography with glistening sensitivity and style.

Sarah, in particular, illustrated the beauty in the quickness of pirouettes that opened instantly to arabesque or other position as opposed to the rhythmical pirouettes that finish leisurely - which can also be pretty. We were seeing the music - to borrow a phrase from across the Plaza. Also, Sarah has mastered the most articulate pas de chat under the sun. We saw them earlier in the season in Theme and Variations where her feet scooped so quickly and cleanly beneath her. We must also compliment Sarah on the articulation of her saute ronds de jambe, her beautiful backbends, the softness of her port de bras, and the gradual redefining of Aurora from Act I’s eager young princess to Act II’s spiritual vision, and finally, to Act III’s elegant bride-to-be. All in all, a lovely debut in this production. Though we hadn’t planned it, we’re going to buy a ticket to her performance on June 11th because we’re pretty sure that we will see some spectacular balances in the Rose Adagio.

Gillian had more confidence in the role on opening night, in part, due to having performed Aurora in Orange County a couple of times already. She wore the antiquity of the style with complete ease and grace, particularly the lovely demi-seconde positions of the arms and hands. She wore the heavily layered costumes more easily than Sarah who would have looked much better had she been wrapped in less fabric. Gillian seemed more committed to the lower developpes and doing the pirouettes with the foot closer to the ankle than she was in Orange County in March, and they were prettier.

The Princes in this production have little to do until their Act III variation. Both Marcelo Gomes and Herman Cornejo dispatched their steps brilliantly. We’re accustomed to Herman’s incredible allegro form, but seeing the big guy Marcelo move at high speed with clarity was a treat. Both partnered admirably while executing different versions of the fanciness in the Wedding PdD. Marcelo and Gillian performed the fishdives that we are accustomed to seeing. Herman and Sarah performed something closer to the original choreography where Sarah launched a double en dedans pirouette with the leg in attitude devant and finished with a fast opening developpe en ecarte. As she and Herman performed this three times, it became rather clear how simply and naturally this step evolved into the more complex fishdive. This version was interesting to see but was much less pretty than the fishdives. Let’s hope that Sarah and Herman get a chance to do it the modern way for their next performance.

In addition to fishdives, other bits of evolution could be reintroduced without compromising the idea of the reconstruction. Aurora’s diagonal of triple pirouettes could be returned to the Act I variation as a replacement for Ratmansky’s lame attempt at wide-eyed humor in this section. Did the Stepanov notes dictate exactly how this diagonal should be characterized or was this Ratmansky’s extension of a theme picked up earlier? Haglund thinks it’s misguided and comes perilously close to slapstick. Aurora should be demonstrating that she is a supremely beautiful and talented princess, not struggling to be so.

The Lilac Fairies – Stella Abrera on Friday and Devon Teuscher on Saturday – each were lovely in their brief but killer variations where each step could have spelled disaster for lesser skilled dancers. Still, we missed seeing the Lilac Fairy dance in Acts II and III; here she was simply a character role.

The Bluebird and Prince Florine were extremely well danced at each performance – Daniil Simkin and Cassandra Trenary on Friday and Blaine Hoven and Stella Abrera on Saturday. Haglund loves how this section no longer has the strange, ungainly awkwardness that was common in the prior production’s choreography. When Simkin’s Bluebird did split jumps high off the ground, it was no surprise because we’d seen Simkin do that sort of stuff before. But when the big guy Blaine launched into the air and stretched those legs, they went from goal post to goal post. Beautiful.

Of all the Fairies in both performances, one stood out as most composed, scrupulously styled, and elegant. Gemma Bond as the Breadcrumb Fairy on Friday and the Sapphire Fairy on Saturday was the exclamation point for why we love watching this ballet over and over again. Lauren Post as the Silver Fairy on Friday and the Breadcrumb Fairy on Saturday also embodied those same qualities.

Courtney Lavine and Calvin Royal as Cinderella and Her Prince gave their couple of minutes a good whirl on Friday night. They’re both very likable artists, and Courtney projects great warmth and generosity in her dancing.

A quick side note – Some of the minor adult character dances in Act III were fielded to non-ABT dancers from around the area. What a fabulous sight, and surely a cosmic sign, to see Katia Raj in the role of Scheherazade on Friday. After being somewhat ignored at the JKO School several years ago, Katia found her way to Gelsey Kirkland who performed her own reconstruction on this dancer and turned her into a lovely performer. Haglund fondly remembers a particularly spellbinding Swan Lake Act II PdD that Katia performed with Alexander Mays during one of the Kirkland Academy’s performances. They had been coached by both Gelsey and Ivan Nagy and were ravishingly beautiful. In Friday night’s Sleeping Beauty Alexander Mays was Bluebeard. Another of Gelsey’s gems which she is currently polishing is Marcus Salazar who was Mandarin on Friday night. We just saw him as Sancho Panza a few weeks ago with the Gelsey Kirkland Ballet at the Schimmel Center where both Katia and Alexander also performed. It's all a cosmic sign of something or other, for sure.

The HH Pump Bump Award by Valentino is bestowed upon Sarah Lane, who despite an imperfect Rose Adagio, was a perfectly genuine Aurora who danced delicately and decisively just the way a princess would.

 

Foreign notes sing praises for Stella Abrera's Giselle

The former arts editor of the The Australian for ten years was in New York for Stella Abrera's ABT debut as Giselle. Deborah Jones witnessed Stella's debut with the Australian Ballet in the same role a couple of months ago. Here is an excerpt of what she published today:

IF this had been The Australian Ballet, this is what would have happened. During the curtain calls the artistic director would have come on to the stage, microphone in hand, and elevated the evening’s Giselle to the rank of principal. But it was American Ballet Theatre, and although AD Kevin McKenzie was in the house – he made a pre-performance announcement – he did not right what many observers think is a long-standing wrong. Soloist Stella Abrera remained unpromoted. It was, in fact, only injury to another dancer that delivered Abrera her New York premiere as Giselle (last month she danced the role with the AB in Sydney and has also danced it in the Philippines).

ABT principal artist Polina Semionova was to have danced on Saturday night but was announced as injured on May 18. Abrera therefore got the nod at fairly short notice that she would finally be appearing as Giselle before her home crowd, and would do so with starry Mariinsky guest artist Vladimir Shklyarov.

And this:

Abrera’s New York debut was a triumphant occasion, made even more special by the presence in the house of about 200 former ABT dancers, who were to attend a party after the performance as part of the company’s 75^th anniversary celebrations (that was the reason McKenzie stepped before the curtains: to ask us to applaud the contribution of the alumni). There’s nothing like an incredibly knowledgeable and supportive audience to ramp up the excitement level.

And this:

Come curtain-call time, no amount of partisanship could have accounted for the tumultuous reception, which went on after the house lights came up. Shklyarov, who had been such a responsive partner as well as dancing with extraordinary clarity and beauty, repeatedly kissed Abrera’s hand and knelt to her. The house went wild.

We couldn't agree more with international opinion. It's time to do right by Stella Abrera. It's past time. It's time to put sleazy, unethical, corrupt, racially-motivated politics aside and do what is right. Promote this extraordinary artist to principal ballerina and allow her audience more opportunities to experience her beautiful artistry. Do it today.

MIRA's incredible image:

 

ABT 5/27 Mat & EvePaloma & Xiomara retire with style

Of the three principal ballerinas retiring this season, one has retained nearly all of her technique but seemed to have lost some of her spirit along the way over the years, one lost nearly all of her technique but retained her spirit, and one has retained both technique and spirit and has continued to grow as an artist until the very end. This may suggest why overall audience emotions range widely as these three careers come to their natural ends. It is worth noting that, happily, each of these ballerinas is walking off the stage under her own power and none has experienced the debilitating, career shortening injuries that so many dancers experience. Some call the ballerina’s career short, but it actually resembles in length and risk that of a major league player in many elite level professional sports.

Paloma Herrera and Xiomara Reyes danced their farewells on Wednesday in the same role of Giselle – Paloma at the matinee opposite Roberto Bolle and Xiomara in the evening opposite Herman Cornejo. They were supported by pillar-strength performances in the role of Myrta from Devon Teuscher (matinee) and Stella Abrera (evening). Haglund has seen most of the performances of the artists in these roles over the years at the Met and also saw Devon Teuscher’s debut as Myrta in Chicago in March of 2012 when Yuriko Kajiya and Jared Matthews had their own ABT debuts in the leading roles. He admires all of these artists very much and found Wednesday’s performances to be among their finest and most heart warming - or in the case of the two Myrtas, most bone chilling.

While Giselle has always been a natural role for Xiomara that illuminates her strengths as an actress and her Cuban ballet heritage, it has not been so for Paloma who did not take naturally to dramatic roles or to Romantic form during much of her career. In yesterday’s performance, her slight discomfort with Act I was still evident; there seemed a desire to give more without knowing quite how to do it. But she rode out the choreography skillfully, trusting it to take her down the right path. The speed of her circle of pique turns was so great that when she finished, her hands were beet red from the blood being drawn away from the center of her body by the centrifugal force of her spinning. Her hops on point were joyous and oh-so easy. Her balances were as nonchalant and impressive as ever.  Her Act II seemingly held more of a release from an unpleasant hold for Giselle than for Albrecht. She flew through her tour jetes and petit allegro as though it were an accelerated beginning – not an ending. 

Paloma was of course aided by her unusually animated and giving partner, Roberto Bolle. So impressive were the lifts in Act II in which Albrecht pressed Giselle overhead and then walked around in a circle with her high above him that we wished that he would do them four times instead of two. His 38 or so entrechat six were stunningly beautiful as were all of the other things that he did, including just standing around on the stage. Roberto at 40 shames us all. He’s like the Tom Brady of ballet, only older and better looking and probably doesn't know anything about deflated balls, either. We love Roberto. We want to see his Apollo in ABT’s fall season.

Xiomara’s evening performance felt very much like a final gift to us all. She took each moment of her dancing to its limit. The Act I pique penche arabesques leaned way over nearly past the point of no return. Her skips and ballonnes were so full of joy and optimism for her future. When it was time for Giselle to go mad and die, Xiomara unhinged her like a door in a tornado. All over the stage she went with her madness. And there was such beautiful clarity in that moment in which she grabbed the sword, leaned back, and looked for all the world like she was about to plunge it into herself. Her Act II was beautiful in its simplicity and sincerity. Her entrechats and tiny saute passes drew gasps from the audience for their speed. As in Act I, she danced every step to the maximum - as though it were her last. Her partner, Herman Cornejo, gave the best performance of Albrecht of his career. Xiomara was his first Giselle and his second and probably his favorite. He was on fire dramatically. There was anger in Albrecht's sense of loss – anger in his predicament from which Giselle ultimately released him with a single red lily which he took in hand and then tucked into the front of his costume by his heart. She gave him a red lily. How perfect.

When both performances were over, the receptions on stage with greats of the past and present went on and on and on. A most welcome site at each affair was Angel Corella, the long-time partner of each ballerina. The applause died down each time that Kevin McKenzie walked on stage at the end of the flower parade to hand the ballerina her final bouquet. In the evening performance, there were some boos from people in the house when McKenzie appeared. Certainly not unwarranted.

Within a span of a few hours, ABT swept out all of its Latina principal ballerinas from its roster. Paloma and Xiomara made it publicly clear weeks before that they did not like what had become of the institution’s culture and did not feel as though they fit into an environment where the serious artistic focus was constantly interrupted with playing with cell phones. They were critical of the over-reliance on guest artists instead of building the company from within. (Just a note that at around noon on Thursday there were still 800+ tickets available for Natalia Osipova’s Giselle that evening. Not exactly a sell-out.)

We salute Paloma and Xiomara and give our deepest thanks for the many years of bright performances that they gave us.

observations 5/25

The Mariinsky Ballet gave the debut of our glorious Stella Abrera in Giselle opposite Vladimir Shklyarov far greater coverage than ABT did. Stella's picture and/or name are all over their Twitter, Facebook, and VK accounts. The Mariinsky social media audience has now seen more about Stella Abrera's Giselle than ABT's own readers.

This VK entry not only identifies Stella as the ballerina (Стелла Абрера) but also tells everyone that it's her debut in the role:

 

And then there are these three entries from the Mariinsky Twitter feed:

 

 

 

 

And then there is this entry that the Mariinsky is running simultaneously in two different areas of its FB page.

 

 

 

NYCB La Sylphide 5/23 matABT Giselle 5/23 eveThe best ballet hangover – ever

The spirits were flowing freely from one end of Lincoln Center to the other on Saturday. Haglund was happy drunk as a skunk all day long.

First, you can take the afternoon’s debut cast of NYCB’s La Sylphide and just ship it to Denmark. Utterly brilliant. So brilliant that Haglund is nearly at a loss for words, but he’ll try to think up a few.

Lauren Lovette’s spirited Sylph, filled with beauty and mischief, also possessed a strong sense of Bournonville form, especially the seemingly effortless clear footwork that we have come to take for granted from her. When the curtain opened to reveal this Sylph kneeling next to the chair where James slept, we at once observed the delicacy in her arms, her graceful profile, and an expression of love that radiated all the way back to the cheap seats where Haglund was sitting on the edge of his. Lauren’s full surrender to the Bournonville style was evident in her skimming jumps in which her torso was high atop the hips and the legs created a lovely wide arc — none of these modern split jumps that some ballerinas are afraid not to execute because their modern-day casual audiences value the gymnastic elements of ballet more than the classical elements.

Anthony Huxley, his star rising so quickly and authoritatively that we knew to expect brilliance, still astonished us with the completeness of his artistry in the role of James. Would we have liked to see those double tours go left as well as right? Sure, but we’ll wait for them, and in the meantime savor every phrase of of his articulate, musical being, and now, his mastery of character development. He is riveting on stage whether in flight or standing dead still.

Lauren King’s Effie and Troy Schumacher’s Gurn were imaginatively played in earnest with a theatrical eagerness that made every moment they spent on stage one of pure joy for the audience.

Then as the Saturday sun set and the clearest skies of spring revealed the new beginnings of a beautiful waxing crescent moon, our wait came to an end. More than a decade after receiving our first promise – after more than a decade of interruptions from injury, from lesser dancers’ unrestrained ambition, and from ABT's near fatal drug-like use of guest artists, we finally got to see our own Stella Abrera’s Giselle on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera House. The authority of the evening’s audience was among the highest – seven decades of alumni with scrutinizing skills of forensic scientists, many if not most of whom are plenty unhappy with ABT’s sidelining of this gorgeous dancer and other homegrown talents in favor of imported media candy.

When Stella opened the door of Giselle's cottage and first appeared on stage, there were roars from every side of the theater - roars of relief, roars of “It’s about time!” and roars of “Finally!” She gave one slight smile to acknowledge the welcome and then set about her business of portraying ballet’s most beloved village girl – launching into joyous saute ballonnes that skipped and flew while she looked in every corner for her beloved Loys who she believed was hiding from her. When he finally appeared – in the form of Vladimir Shklyarov from the Mariinsky Ballet – Giselle bloomed with love. Beautifully matched, both physically and temperamentally, they looked for all the world like they belonged together. There was much charm in their tandem grande jetes with neither straining for height in the jumps.

The Act I variations were filled with details that revealed Giselle’s weak heart and her conflict between heeding her mother’s warnings and following her own heart. When she struck a happy arabesque and bent into a deep penche with plie, we saw not only nearly unbelievably gorgeous lines but also the foreshadowing of her ghostly penches in Act II. Why the hops on pointe were tentative was a mystery as was why her variation with the attitude turns included double en dedans pirouettes that did not switch into a stepover turn. We happily noticed that Giselle’s shoes were essentially silent; so, it may be that they were a little too soft for those hops. We vote to keep the ultra soft shoes but keep working on the hops. Other than those two elements, the act was flawless and concluded with a mad scene so thoughtfully detailed and well acted that the moment of death hit hard with its emotional impact.

Shklyarov’s own variations were characterized by the elegance and magnificence that one expects from a Mariinsky principal. What a surprise it was, though, to see such warmth and rapport - two things that were not evident when Haglund saw his Romeo to Vishneva’s Juliet some years ago. And what a sensitive partner. Stella seemed to have full confidence in him every second they were on stage together.

The Act I Peasant PdD, performed by Craig Salstein and Misty Copeland, was underwhelming. The slow tempo made it all excruciatingly dull and lifeless, but seemed to be of necessity in order for the dancers to make it through. Without exception, every releve that Copeland does includes a wavering reverberation in the ankle from the force of her weight coming down on the foot. Every time. It’s simply bad technique that some teacher should have eliminated before she ever got into the corps. It looks unstable and unaesthetic. The clomping loud noise from the shoes is inexcusable, particularly when our evening’s Giselle never made a sound with hers. Where are the uniform quality standards for this company?

Tom Forster’s Hilarion is a work in progress, but we have no doubt that we’ll soon see a remarkable portrayal. In Act I Hilarion was a nice guy who sort of loved Giselle and was sort of suspicious about Loys. Act II was much, much better – his desperation and pleading were believable but his exhaustion less so.

Veronika Part’s Myrta was as beautifully vengeful as should ever be allowed. Haglund will swear that the myrtle switches she wields are getting bigger and bigger every year. When she whipped them into the air and into the wings, they whistled and we may have heard the groans of all of her victims who preceded Albrecht. Myrta’s streaming jetes soared like arrows piercing the hearts of men everywhere. Beautiful, yes, but only safe with a fourth wall separating the viewer from this angry spirit.

Act II was one for the ages – so beautiful and full of harmonious shapes and lines. The breadth of Stella’s port de bras was astonishing. Yes, the arms are indeed long, but they seemed endless in each arabesque - the energy continuing off the tips of her fingers. The lines of the legs and feet were so beautifully tapered. The flow of her movement so evocative of a weightless spirit. The iconic pose with Giselle resting in arabesque behind a kneeling Albrecht was picture perfect. As good as this Act II was, Haglund is certain that it was not Stella’s best. Another performance will include the lingering balances that have characterized her dancing for 15 years and more stability in the developpe releves.

However, we may not ever see a better Pas de Deux in Act II. The coordination between the two artists was masterful. The overhead lifts were epic and the slow, slow descent of Giselle from her horizontal position was a testament to Shklyarov’s skill and strength. His own variations were mammoth in terms of technique and drama. His 34 entrechat sixes grew in height and anxiety until he ultimately dropped to a heap on the floor while an angry and beautiful Myrta leered at him. His final wandering and collapse at Giselle’s grave revealed true remorse and suggested that the pain in his heart would remain forever. It was a very powerful ending to a most beautiful evening of Giselle.

It's terribly clear to one and all what we have missed over the years by the sidelining of such a beautiful artist as Stella Abrera, particularly given the absence in quality of dancers pushed in front of her. Normally in the world of ballet, such a brilliant performance of Giselle would yield more opportunities, growth, good luck - all those things signified by a waxing crescent moon like the one watching over last evening. But in this case, there still hangs heavy a sense of hopelessness that the inferiority in artistic direction will prevent what should rightly be.

Our golden H.H. Pump Bump First Position Award is bestowed upon Stella Abrera for her exquisite Giselle:

 

Visit Not My Day Job Photography for some lovely pics of last night's curtain calls.

 

 

observations 5/22

The New York Post reports that David Koch isn't going to help fund the renovation of the new David Geffen Hall (formerly Avery Fisher Hall) at Lincoln Center. Well, who's surprised. They couldn't exactly put his name on it since his name is already on the New York State Theater across the plaza. David and David are not exactly political cronies, either.

What will be most interesting to H.H. readers, however, are the last paragraphs of this article in which NYP explains that they caught up with Koch at the ABT Gala where lots of people were unhappy with the Gala program content, its length, and the fact that folks didn't get to dinner until 10:30pm. From NYP:

Meanwhile, ballet lovers are so annoyed at how long the performances on Tuesday dragged on, there are whispers that ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie is in trouble. The dinner after the ballet didn’t start until 10:30 p.m. even though the curtain went up at 6:30 p.m.

“There were too many dances, too many speeches, too many videos. It was endless,” said one ballet lover. Lots of guests left before the second intermission.

One big donor groused, “If he [McKenzie] doesn’t understand people have to get up in the morning and want to go home, we need a new artistic director.”

Exactly.

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It's going to be a pretty exciting and full day tomorrow. At NYCB, Lauren Lovette, Anthony Huxley, and Lauren King debut in La Sylphide at the matinee. Then in the evening, Stella Abrera finally gets the chance to dance Giselle with her home company after being acclaimed in it internationally.

When Makarova, who is here supervising her La Bayadere, gets a look at Stella and Vladimir Shklyarov together in Giselle, she may get some new ideas about a pairing in La Bayadere in the event that Osipova doesn't pass Makarova's test as Nikiya or if Cojocaru can't make it here. Wouldn't that make McKenzie squirm like a worm? Just sayin'.

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A ballet legal lecture by NYCB's general counsel, Robert Craft of Holland and Knight, will be presented by the New York Court of Appeals on June 4th in Albany at the Court of Appeals Hall on 20 Eagle Street. Mr. Craft will discuss "legal and practical aspects of preserving a choreographic legacy" in a program entitled “Dancing with the Law: Counsel, Choreography and Copyright.”

Space is limited. People interested in attending are asked to reserve a seat by Tuesday, May 26 by calling (518) 455-7818 or email: [email protected].

More info in Saratoga News.

 

Gelsey Kirkland Ballet – Don Quixote 5/16 eve

When the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Dance and the Gelsey Kirkland Ballet move to their new home in the St. Ann’s Warehouse Theater in Brooklyn this June, they’ll not only have five large studios and a 300-seat theater at their disposal, but they will be smack dab in the middle of one of the trendiest, most art-friendly communities in the city. The prospects are exciting, and few will be surprised when the borough enthusiastically embraces and supports Gelsey’s Russian-tradition trained dancers and the authentic content of their performances such as the one Haglund caught on Saturday night.

The Gelsey Kirkland Ballet’s spring season at the Schimmel Center at Pace University just concluded with a vibrant production of Don Quixiote. The Petipa/Gorsky based version was staged by Gelsey and her team including Nikolai Levitsky, Vera Solovieva, Lyubov Fominich, Alexandra Lawler and Liudmila Polonskaya. Pilar Garcia provided additional mime coaching. Michael Chernov directed. To say that these stagers, coaches, teachers, directors, along with the other faculty and musicians have done a wondrous job with the young artists would be a total understatement. This crew has “nailed it” and the result is a Don Quixote that is fresh, brilliantly danced, and fully lived by all of the artists on stage.

We’ve been following Gelsey’s journey with her school and company for the last six years as it has gained traction in the New York area with its outstanding full versions of The Nutcracker, La Sylphide, Sleeping Beauty, and an array of tantalizing repertory pieces such as Harlequinade, Cavalry Halt and excerpts from Swan Lake, Napoli, Flames of Paris, and La Bayadere – and now this huge undertaking of Don Quixote.

While the artists' levels of ballet technique and facilities are wide-ranging, what has begun to appear is a distinct group pedigree marked by fundamental knowledge of styles and a commitment to bringing the proper one to the stage each time with full theatrical weight. Call it artistic intelligence. Even the smallest children who appeared with their feet seemingly glued to the floor in little flat-footed bourrees had complete command of their mime.

Saturday evening’s cast was led by the charismatic artists Dawn Gierling as Kitri, Johnny Almeida as Basilio, Anderson Souza as Espada, Sabina Alvarez as the Street Dancer, Nagi Wakisaka as the Dryads Queen, Nina Yoshida as Amour, India Rose and Natalia Sheptalova as the Flower Girls. There were several substitutions announced quickly at curtain; our apologies for any mess-up on cast details.

All of the dancers possessed technique in spades: academically correct with strength enough to exploit the rules without offending them.

Kitri’s hops on pointe were accompanied by full circle ronde de jambes. Her fouettes alternated with double revolutions, not just for the first 16 but all the way through to the end. She delighted with her fiery, quick-tempered articulation in Act I, creamy port de bras and a sense of mystery as Dulcinea in the Act II Enchanted Forest scene, and elegance, beauty, and poise in the Wedding PdD.

The very slim Basilio pressed Kitri over his head and confidently held her there with one arm like she was made of paper. His specialty pirouettes included ones in which the arms rose above his head with a final flourish of the wrists and palms turning toward the sky. To see the intense joy and determination in his face while standing behind Kitri and turning her like a wizard was a little reminiscent of the intensity we recall in Kirkland herself.

There was so much to admire in classical dancing skills in this production, but equally impressive were the high levels of character dancing. This story relies on the storytelling efforts of the Sequidilla Ladies and Men, the Torreadors, the gypsies, townfolk, and the all important Don Quixote (Alexander Mays), Sancho Panza (Marcus Salazar), Lorenzo (Samuel Humphreys), and Gamache (Erez Ben-Zion Milatin). Again, there were substitutions announced at curtain too quickly to make note. The serious investment that Gelsey’s staff has made in character development, traditional character dances, and authentic mime has paid off handsomely in each and every artist.

The work of set designer Court Watson, costume designer Michael Chernov and his team of six, and scenic artists at Infinite Scenic all contributed extraordinary elements to this production.

Isn’t this painted scrim magnificent? Haglund knows that he wasn’t supposed to take a picture of it, but heck, everyone else was; so, why not?

[Edited to add: We received word from the company that this scrim is originally from the New York City Opera's  production of Barber of Seville - which, in our opinion, makes it all the more wonderful.]

Look at the layers of detail in the fan, the richness of the palette, the distinct artistry in the design. What you see in this fan represents what we saw in the dancing on stage. All of it was so enjoyable. We can’t wait to be standing at the door for this company’s first performance in their new Brooklyn home.

The H.H. Pump Bump Award is going to have to be shared by many – actually by everyone who contributed to this stunning production:

observations 5/17

When Haglund awoke early this morning, his mailbox already contained a report that Yuriko Kajiya and Aaron Robison were phenomenal in last night's performance of Giselle outdoors under the stars and moon in Houston Ballet's production at the Miller Outdoor Theater. We knew they would be. One last chance tonight for everyone to experience those spooky Wilis marauding through the night mist.

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Haglund just read on FB that when Sarah Lane and Herman Cornejo perform Ratmansky's version of Sleeping Beauty, they will omit the fishdives in the PdD. Of all the couples, Ratmansky has chosen them to execute the Stepanov notes that call for a series of three double en dedans pirouettes, each finishing with a pose in second position. Why not have the dumpster Boylston do that version or the struggling Seo or Vishneva who is already simplifying her own version and turning the virtuosity into a joke? Why choose Sarah and Herman who are fully capable of doing the more complex without making it look like a cheap or clumsy trick? Oh wait, maybe they were McKenzie's choice so that he can make a comparison to the simplification for Copeland's pitifully deficient technique in her dumbed down Swan Lake. No doubt, McKenzie just loves the idea of dimming Sarah's illustrious technique and artistry. What a cheap shot.

If a comparison of then vs. now is truly the idea behind this change, why not have Sarah and Herman alternate fishdive, pose, fishdive and why not have ALL of the couples do it?

Edited to add: Why doesn't Ratmansky have his Osipova delete the fishdives and substitute a quaint finishing pose? She shouldn't be dancing Sleeping Beauty in the first place, regardless of the version unless it's Mark Morris or some version intended to look inelegant. The more we think about the choice of Sarah Lane as the sole dancer to perform this simplified version, when in the last presentation of Sleeping Beauty at the Met she wiped the floor clean with the other Auroras, it makes us sick at the politics at ABT of trying to hide its true talents in order to make the mediocre look better.

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OMG, Natalie Portman is going to play Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a movie. The big question is: Will she swing her own gavel?

 

NYCB 5/15 – The pups are loose!

Watching the young NYCB pups race on stage to run with the big dogs makes Haglund’s heart sing.

In last night’s blistering and beautiful Symphony in C, the young corps dancers Ashly Isaacs and Joseph Gordon tore through the Third Movement: Allegro Vivace with such pleasure, such lift and momentum that they nearly stole the show.

Nearly, we say, because nobody can really steal the show from Ana Sophia Scheller’s First Movement: Allegro Vivo danced brilliantly with Andrew Veyette who stunned with the speed and accuracy of his turns. And of course, nobody can steal the show from Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle in the Second Movement: Adagio who last night may have given the most extraordinary performance of this Spring Season. And these days, nobody can steal the show from Lauren King in the Fourth Movement: Allegro Vivace who, along with a sizzling Sean Suozzi, lit up the stage with her charismatic dancing and verve.

But the young pups were up for a big run last night, and they ran head to head with the pack leaders and finished with enough energy so that it looked like they wanted to do it all again. What a terrific job from everyone including the blazing corps de ballet and demi-soloists.

Ashley Bouder and Gonzalo Garcia, debuting in Sonatine, made us welcome back this little gem to the stage just as Tiler Peck and Joaquin De Luz did earlier in the season. The chemistry between the players is what makes this piece so lovely, and Ashley and Gonzalo worked it well into their phenomenal dancing. The Bouder-effect could be seen in Gonzalo’s pirouettes which were unusually centered and confident.

Sara Mearns and Jared Angle led La Valse along with Amar Ramasar as the seductive death figure. It was okay, but didn’t take off the way Sterling Hyltin with Jared did last week. How nice to see Faye Arthurs return to the stage. Still missing from the season: Ashley Laracey, Abi Stafford, Chase Finlay, and Emily Kikta –all dancers who Haglund looks for on the schedule each week.

The evening began with Walpurgisnacht Ballet which got a nice, but tepid reading from Teresa Reichlen, Adrian Danchig-Waring, and Erica Pereira. We didn’t get nearly enough stretching to go beyond oneself from the two ladies, all the more apparent because Adrian gave us exactly what was needed. Erica, so tiny in comparison to the massive corps behind her, nearly got lost. The quality of her movement has to be bigger and less safe when she’s not alone on stage.

Walpugisnacht is one of those big hair ballets that Haglund can take or leave. Lovely ladies racing around with their locks down has its appeal, but it can grow tiresome quickly.

The HH Pump Bump Award, a happy tail by Kobi Levi, is bestowed upon the pups, Ashly Isaacs and Joseph Gordon, for their joyous romping in Symphony in C.

OMG STE-L-L-L-A!!!!

Giselle, Saturday night opposite Shklyarov and Veronika!!

I knew that my eyes weren't playing tricks on me, but now the casting has been changed back to the original casting. WTF?  (15 mins later) Whew – so, now it's back the way we want it.