When a ballet company other than New York City Ballet performs a Balanchine work in New York, the reaction is usually “Ugh, why?” – except in the case of Miami City Ballet where the reaction is the equivalent of fashion’s “Who wore it better?” with the answer choices being (A) our celebrated home company or (B) the celebrated visitor. Comparisons are inevitable, have little value, but still are inevitable. They are an indicator of the very high esteem that we in New York hold for Miami City Ballet’s care and feeding of the Balanchine masterpieces that it performs. This respect was first born in 2009 when Edward Villella brought the company's Miami heat to New York City Center in the dead of winter. They melted our hearts with extraordinary dancing in Balanchine’s Symphony in Three Movements, Symphony in C, La Valse, and Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room.
It has been difficult for us to wait for Miami City Ballet to return after its triumphant season seven years ago. Much has changed. Turmoil at the company has been weathered successfully due in no small part to the commitment by Lourdes Lopez to preserve what had been passionately built by Villella while looking toward the future. Several of the young star ballerinas who exhibited energy and competencies like chips off the old Villella block in 2009 now possess a maturity and elegance to go with their irrepressible spirits. And there is a load of new talent to watch.
When the curtain opened Wednesday evening on the company’s performance of Serenade, the dancers must have felt they were in the midst of a surreal situation. They were about to dance one of Balanchine’s most loved masterpieces in the House of Balanchine to the accompaniment of the New York City Ballet Orchestra. But they did not waste time being overwhelmed by the moment.
The opening passage of music gave way to glorious, expansive dancing exhaled by the corps de ballet as a single breath. Generous bending of the torso, lovely saute arabesques with the front foot always pushing the dancer forward, informed port de bras as opposed to throw-away arms — were present throughout the corps.
Debuting as the Waltz Girl, Simone Messmer brought imagination, drama, and exquisite lines to her role. Several times when the lighting caught her upward gaze toward her partner, the debuting Rainer Krenstetter, there seemed to be an emotional dialogue between them that was at once unsettling and dreamlike. Her character was irresistibly drawn toward her partner while seeming to be troubled simultaneously. Simone's dramatic reading, her generous sweeping battements and their perfect, effortless placement were, for us, moments that recalled Kyra Nichols’ performances. This was a performance that carried intense emotion for the artist for many reasons which may still sting her as they still sting us. She directed that emotion into the very heart of her dancing and delivered a performance that we could not have asked to be better.
Nathalia Arja as the Russian Girl jumped as if possessed by the music. Emily Bromberg was an introspective Dark Angel, but nevertheless beautiful.
Back in 2009, Miami City Ballet’s performance of Symphony in Three Movements at City Center was a revelation. We hadn’t been accustomed to seeing dancers actually accelerate as they disappeared into the wings of the stage. Details such as that made us realize what we had been missing. Over the past seven years, our home team has acquired new commitment to this ballet and now performs it brilliantly.
On Thursday night the curtain opened to reveal the diagonal line of ladies in white leotards and unrestrained pony tails who suddenly launched their energies into piston-like tendus to the front and to the back with arms in circular rotation like some internal combustion ballet engine. Nathalia Arja, Patricia Delgado, and Ashley Knox drove this ballet in its highest gear for 22 minutes before crossing the finish line – in first place. An absolutely thrilling performance. We have to see it again this Sunday.
The third Balanchine ballet that MCB brought along this time was his 1949 Bourree Fantasque, a humorous take-off on a variety of types of dance including can-can and tango. While perhaps not one of his masterpieces, its conventions still outshine most of what is being passed along as new ballet these days. Pristine allegro with arms that complimented the movement, never distracting from it, were augmented by flexed foot positions, standing in second position with feet flexed upward, and prancing en pointe and hip-jutting as seen in Rubies nearly 30 years later.
The first movement was led by the vivacious Jordan-Elizabeth Long and Shimon Ito, a natural comedic talent with awesome technique. The second movement, led by Simone Messmer and Rainer Krenstetter perhaps took a little poke at the French ballet while maintaining admiration. While the leading ladies in the first and third movements wore the short compact tutus that Balanchine favored at the time, suddenly in the second movement here came a long, many-layered tulle skirt of the Romantic era in a lush PdD that seemed designed as an interruption of the festivities of the first and third movements. The third movement led by Nathalia Arja and Renato Penteado evolved into a full company processional of circular dancing and fanfare with occasional Polonaise brushes of the feet and lots of pas de bourree.
Following on the success of their 2009 tour formula of Balanchine/Tharp, MCB also brought along Tharp's Sweet Fields. While not as compelling as In the Upper Room which they danced seven years ago, it was nevertheless highly interesting and enjoyable to watch. We’re not sure why this piece doesn’t have a higher profile in the Tharp canon. Performed to beautiful hymns from William Billings, the Shaker tradition, and The Sacred Harp – all sung a cappella – the dance reflected Tharp’s keen sense of musicality and logical composition. Her intelligence shone through as did her offbeat sense of humor.
The dancers were dressed in white Norma Kamali costumes that reminded one of summer pajamas and bathrobes. Some of this dance was clearly inspired by Shaker themes including the separation of men and women. Initially the women entered from the sides and danced by themselves before leaving. Then the men entered and danced by themselves. Eventually, of course, they got together. There were themes of life, death, and the mysterious crossing over period, all of it handled with the subject-to-interpretation-seriousness that is unique to Tharp. Haglund enjoyed it immensely and can’t wait to see it again Sunday night.
The other three ballets on these programs were Alexei Ratmansky’s Symphonic Dances, Justin Peck’s Heatscape, and Liam Scarlett’s Viscera – each of which aptly displayed its choreographer’s style too closely to what we have seen in other works.
Was it Symphonic Dances or was it Russian Seasons or was it Symphony No. 9? There were gags or quirks or long looks or suspicious looks or double takes that we had seen before – all of it tired and overused. There is such a strong tendency for hyper-choreographing the music and arbitrary arm-dancing in Ratmansky’s works that we fear some day he will strap pointe shoes on the ladies’ hands in order to jam a few more steps into the choreography. A too-steppy ballet is no better than a too-wordy poem or a too-windy speech. Unfortunately, Symphonic Dances followed the trend of suggesting or hinting at an important storyline but didn’t deliver the skillful choreography that revealed it.
Heatscape, oy, how many times have we seen this choreography by other names? How many times have we seen a triangular grouping of dancers off to the side of the stage staring at the soloist dancing? Instead of the full run from wing to wing that started one of Peck’s other ballets, we got the line of dancers running directly at us from the back of the stage. From the time the curtain went up on Heatscape until the time it came down, the only thing that Haglund felt was exhaustion. Certainly it must have been a party for the artists to dance, but it was no party to watch.
We must say that the dancers in both of these pieces rose to the occasion and delivered superlative technique. If these had been the first ballets by Ratmansky and Peck that we had ever seen, we might have been impressed. But we’re not a new audience and these ballets were old hat.
There is considerable marketing and media pressure for everyone to get on board with those who are locally being portrayed as the choreographic geniuses of our time. Some people even hesitate to express an alternative opinion because the media noise surrounding Peck and Ratmansky is so great. It is as though the need to cheer is more important than the need for good ballet.
Genius dance makers are few and far between. Because the 20th Century yielded a bumper crop of brilliant and very individual choreographers, there is wide thinking that it’s going to happen regularly. When it doesn’t, then everyone just pretends that it does.
The H.H. Pump Bump is bestowed upon – wait, this is a hard decision because there was so much to enjoy during the three performances. What a pleasure and relief it was to see Simone Messmer again and observe that she is dancing as wonderfully as ever. But the Pump Bump simply must go to the Ladies in White in Symphony in Three Movements. Oh, what a roaring engine they were.
