In case anyone is having trouble clearing his or her mind of the puppymonkeybaby that danced through the pet-door last evening during the Super Bowl, don’t worry, we won’t remind you of it. Puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby, puppymonkeybaby. Just let it be and it will go away on its own –– after it licks your face three times.
Enough lightheartedness. It’s time to get back to the serious business at hand. Haglund caught some brilliant performances at NYCB last week that he wants to share.
Balanchine’s Ballo della Regina returned this season after a lengthy absence. Originally made for the fleetness and long legs of Merrill Ashley, Ballo has received extraordinary performances from different types of dancers over the years including the luminous and dazzling Kyra Nichols. This season New York City ballet fielded two casts, one led by Megan Fairchild and Joaquin De Luz during the first week of the season; the other led by Tiler Peck and Gonzalo Garcia on this past Saturday afternoon.
Megan began the evening performance on January 21st with a studied tone and surgical precision but eventually relaxed and let the joy of her dancing shine through during the later parts. Within the first minute or two of this performance, it became evident that the technical level, speed, and clarity that were the extraordinary exception among a few dancers three decades ago, are now common characteristics that run throughout the principal, soloist and corps de ballet ranks at NYCB. It was no less than astonishing to see the finely finished ballerina quality of soloists Ashley Laracey, Erica Pereira, Ashly Isaacs, and Lauren King.
This past Saturday afternoon (Feb. 6) Tiler Peck debuted in the role and also started out a little studious. But that didn’t last long. Like a tennis pro who unerringly finds the sweet spot on his racket strings, Tiler blazed through the allegro, possibly on a single breath, and found those moments where she could make winning shots by stamping her own musicality with indelible ink on the choreography.
One such moment came in the diagonal phrase where the ballerina performs pique turns and finishes by popping out a strongly accented arabesque, all of it at a blistering pace. There is no room for error or hesitation or thinking twice. Somehow, Tiler found room in the music to finish those arabesques with arms in wide open second position turned to the audience – and then paused there in a completely stopped position to twinkle her eyes and smile at us.
The matinee’s demi-soloists Sara Adams, Alexa Maxwell, Emilie Gerrity and Brittany Pollack were superb, also. Brittany looked ready to take on the principal role just like she has, this season, looked ready to take on Theme and Variations.
At the Jan. 21st performance Joaquin De Luz was in fine form while on Saturday Gonzalo Garcia offered some of his most polished dancing of the season.
Kammermusik No. 2 as executed with the vibrant energies and sharp attack of Rebecca Krohn and Abi Stafford with partners Ask la Cour and Adrian Danchig-Waring on Saturday afternoon was much more satisfying than the depleting energies of Teresa Reichlen and Sara Mearns on Jan. 21st when it looked like they might pass out before finishing this non-stop sprint that goes on for twenty minutes. Even Amar Ramasar’s vitality and spirit couldn’t lift the quartet (completed by Jared Angle) past exhaustion.
Both performances of Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 were gold. Tiler Peck with Andrew Veyette on January 21st and Megan Fairchild with Joaquin De Luz on Saturday Afternoon delivered the goods in spectacular style. Veyette gave perhaps the best turning performance of this ballet that we have seen from him. Also remarkable was Zachary Catazaro who danced the Elegie opposite Teresa Reichlen on Saturday afternoon. We may have mentioned before that Catazaro owes us a Siegfried from last year when he had to cancel his Swan Lake debut due to injury. We were reminded of that throughout this section as we watched his sorrow haunt him, as we watched him search through the lovely ladies on stage for his one & only, as we watched him plead with her.
The HH Pump Bump Award, a Regina tango shoe, is bestowed upon Tiler Peck for her brilliance in Ballo della Regina.
I just watched Theme and Variations posted on facebook with Tyler Peck and Andrew Feyette. It was fantastic!
Posted by: J | February 22, 2016 at 04:30 AM
J, which FB page has the clip?
Posted by: Haglund | February 22, 2016 at 09:38 AM