Haglund's Heel

NYCB Swan Lake 9/27Devil worship

Tiler Peck’s Odile leaned an arabesque into the chest of the young Chase Finlay’s Siegfried as if asking him if he wanted some – ahem – candy. “Yes!” he cried helplessly. She then straightened up with a sneer and shortly thereafter chugged her arabesque backwards with balances long enough for her to hiss, “I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too.”  She hissed. She spat. She glared. She wielded her wings like they were crackling bolts of lightning. She lured in Siegfried with a fast combination of  double pirouette and double attitude en dehors turns and shortly thereafter threw him 32 counts of dazzling fouettes; her first 16 counts of doubles were so fast that she appeared possessed while her head spun on her shoulders. This debut was a New York-sized Odile – something that is in high demand but short supply. We have plenty of highly visible fakers selling their fake Odiles like the sidewalk vendors selling fake designer handbags. But when something this authentic comes along, it’s time for everyone to stop, take notice, and express admiration.

Tiler’s Odette, while not as convincing theatrically as her Odile, was performed with pristine clarity and softness. She was openly sad without being overly angsty. Vulnerability, which wasn't evident in this Odette, may be a next-to-impossible trait for Tiler to project given her absolute lack of vulnerability as a dancer. NYCB's fast tempi in this production of Swan Lake simply won't accommodate much legato from any dancer, and when Tiler attempted to insert some, it looked rather forced and Broadway-ish. She also had a lot of special sauce in her hands and wrists that was distracting along with a tendency to over-palm the hands – an unfortunate trait of many NYCB dancers. When descending to supported penche arabesques, she looked like she might even rest her palm on the floor. But overall, her Odette was as distinctly different from her Odile as Haglund has ever seen — in character, in style, in musicality.

Chase Finlay’s first Siegfried wasn’t bad. It was even good for a first shot at the role. We’re going to cut him some slack for not going-for-broke in his dancing as he did a few years back. He’s had a lot of injuries, and it currently makes sense for him to calculate his jumps with a lower risk element. But – he’s kind of been losing fifth position where it could score big points for him. We’ve been noticing this in a number of other men in the company. Where are the fifth positions disappearing to? The ladies seem to be able to keep their fifths in tip-top shape. 

Getting back to Chase’s Siegfried – he was thoughtful, serious, clearly a mama’s boy, and hopelessly without a direction in life until he spotted Odette. His reactions to both Odette and Odile were perhaps by-the-book but nevertheless were expressive. His character's naivety was totally believable. His partnering of Tiler seemed fairly free of error but for a messed up pirouette in Act IV. His own variations, while conservative, were quite pleasing to watch. So we're bagging it and taking it home.

Joseph Gordon danced the role of Benno with extraordinary power and grace. We loved how he was ever so slightly in front of the music, pulling it with him. However, the acting wasn’t anywhere close to what it should be. Even when standing on the side, Benno appeared not to know what to do with his hands or focus or truly contribute to the side action.

The evening included a tremendous Russian Dance from Abi Stafford and Zachary Catazaro. We just never see Abi in roles like this, not to mention in a midriff-baring costume, and she was fabulous as she forcefully threw her extensions around with a take-charge attitude.

Ashley Hod among the gorgeous Six Princesses was distinctive in her length of line, speed at getting to a position, and beautiful musicality. Jeezle Pete, did she ever light up the stage in her little solo. 

The happiest surprise of the night, however, was Lauren King in the Pas de Quatre opposite Anthony Huxley. What a striking impression she made with her beautiful accelerating chaine turns and her glistening footwork. It’s no small job to steal the viewer’s eye away from Ashly Isaacs and Indiana Woodward in allegro, but Lauren’s radiance and her calm grace in executing the steps were potent enough to do just that. 

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Tiler Peck for her strap-spanking Odile that blew our feathers off.

 

NYCB Swan Lake 9/26Less is more

What totally surprising, totally terrific debuts in Swan Lake last night by Megan Fairchild and Gonzalo Garcia. Gone were the excessive arm flapping, angst, and cat-howling of other NYCB Odettes. Gone was the deer-in-the-headlights expression on Siegfried’s face when it was time to convey his deep love for Odette along with a realization that he had been bamboozled by another's pretty face. Despite the fact that these were principal debuts, they were, in fact, mature, fully thought out character interpretations with lots and lots of traditional-style Swan Lake dancing. And finally, there was some magic between the dancers in the principal roles.

Megan’s choice of port de bras for Odette looked more like the variant that we have seen in clips from Ratmansky’s restoration for La Scala and Zurich Ballet than what we have been accustomed to seeing of late from both of our New York companies. It was softly expressive with shapes that were more like wide arcs than frantic up & down Ws. This Odette was so beautifully lifted in the torso that we could envision her in flight. 

Oh, how Haglund wants to see Megan's Odile again. She was spit-in-your-face cunningly gorgeous. We’ll cut her some slack for holding back the virtuosity — she is one of two debutantes who we know can rip through Odile’s pirouette/ en dehors attitude / plie with triple pirouettes and double or triple turns in attitude. But Megan wasn’t going to mess up her debut by getting greedy. Maybe she’ll get greedy at the Saturday matinee.

Gonzalo Garcia seems to have found his niche in the NYCB roles that call for imaginative, convincing acting. Last night in his Siegfried debut, he looked as though he had been portraying this character his whole life. Haglund totally believed what he was seeing on the stage. Technical aspects of his dancing seemed to be emboldened by the opportunity to infuse a story into the steps. All of it was just terrific. 

Harrison Coll appeared for the second time as Benno. The character portrayal was very good, but we wish the dancing showed more flexibility and extension, particularly in the arabesque and with the back leg in jumps which should be higher and more dramatic. But he had the crowd in the palm of his hand the whole time. His rapport with the audience is going to quickly make him a favorite as he steps out more and more in featured roles.

Sebastian Villarini-Velez gave a controlled and energetic performance as the Jester — on par with Troy Schumacher’s and Spartak Hoxha’s portrayals. Georgina Pazcoguin and Sean Suozzi led the Hungarian Dance with panache and exuburance. Ashley Hod was a standout in the Pas de Quatre for the ease in her gazelle-like jump and extraordinary charm.

There is nothing that we liked about the corps’ choreography; so, we’ll skip over it except to say that it adds nothing to the production but irksome jerkiness.

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award by Roger Vivier is bestowed upon Megan Fairchild for her unexpectedly authentic portrayals of Odette and Odile.

 

 

NYCB Swan Lake 9/22Off the Siegfried Schneid

Watching someone else’s dreams come true can make your own heart go all puddly-messy. And so it was last evening when Zachary Catazaro finally got to dance the role of Prince Siegfried in Peter Martins’ Swan Lake. A few years ago when he was poised to chase his first Odette/Odile, Sterling Hyltin, around the lake, he suffered a serious injury that kept him off stage for many months. When he finally returned to the stage after a long rehabilitation, it seemed as though he could not get Siegfried off his mind; the prince’s sense of loss and longing bubbled up in other of Catazaro’s dancing, such as in the Elegy section of Balanchine's Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3.

In his debut last night, the third-year soloist demonstrated a much-improved ability to focus on his technique while delivering a convincing, at times rich reading of Siegfried. In Act I, his sense of wonderment and disbelief at the beauty of the creature just outside his reach was palpable. The careful tenderness with which he finally held Odette helped to convey her fragile predicament. The prince’s variations in all acts, while not spectacular or daring, were consistently danced with authority and a sense of grandeur. But the basics need to be better: the closings of assembles, stronger; the pirouette finishes should be tied up with a bow; the arabesque lines need to be closer to 90 degrees and more defined. This will all come with work.

Sterling Hyltin as Odette/Odile had some very nice moments. Odette’s diagonal of sissonnes were brilliantly executed. A manege of pique turns at an unbelievably blistering speed would have been even more impressive if the port de bras had been calmly balletic. Sterling’s sparrow-like legs and feet were beautiful and always tidy, but the upper body, arms, and face did not convey Odette’s deep sadness, only her torment and anxiety. Odile was less technically assured than she should have been and honestly didn't have enough clean virtuosity and cunning to seduce Popeye, let alone Siegfried.

Debuting as Benno, Harrison Coll was clearly livin’ the dream. His dancing in the Pas de Trois with Unity Phelan and Sarah Villwock showed new attention to clarity and form. Legs and feet were more stretched and turned out. Pirouettes were consistent. We loved how he punctuated his phrases of music. 

If we left the theater without feeling much for either of the main characters, it is more likely due to the production than the dancers’ efforts. This Swan Lake – loosely based on Petipa, Ivanov, and Balanchine – is short on magic. (Well, so is Balanchine’s, for that matter.) It’s loaded with fast steps, frantic racing around, and a barely-negligible amount of mime that is carried out in a perfunctory manner. The way in which the dancers raise their arms and flip their wrists and hands to summon someone is more like an Italian obscene hand gesture than mime. The music races, and last night even the violin soloist had trouble precisely locating notes.

Basically, in order to make peace with this Swan Lake, we have to forget about the real Swan Lake and simply view this as an evening of divertissements which end with Odelle bourreeing back to her grave while Sigbrecht acts remorseful. It all requires more imagination than most of us have. 

In the divertissement department, there were many bright moments. Spartak Hoxha’s Jester was the glue that held the first act together. His fast pirouettes, speeding maneges, high jumps, and funny charm all made his character very likable. Emilie Gerrity and Adrian Danchig-Waring sizzled in the Russian Dance which seemed more Arabian, but what the heck. We’re so relieved to see Adrian back on stage after way too long an injury absence. Among the six princesses, Lydia Wellington, gorgeous in a yellow costume, stood out for the elegance and refinement in her dancing. The Four Small Swans (Jacqueline Bologna, Baily Jones, Kristen Segin, and Claire Von Enck) were precise as could be. 

We’re happy that Zachary Catazaro finally got his long-awaited opportunity to dance Siegfried and that he turned in a strong performance with some depth. We’ll toss him an H.H. Pump Bump Award and wish him luck on his second effort next Friday.

Houston BalletMayerling gets set for some Texas-sized insanity

Possibly the most important ballet event of the 2017-2018 season in all of North America will be celebrated tonight in storm-ravaged Houston – and, almost unbelievably, Haglund won't be there. It's true, Hurricane Harvey blew Haglund's well-laid plans to attend into the water. But we have some Haglund'eelers there who are likely to report in to H.H. after their emotional recovery from what is sure to be a theatrical hit in the gut like nothing Houston has seen before.

It is Kenneth MacMillan's greatest theatrical masterpiece - his complex, historically based Mayerling. It will thrill you. It will chill you. It will fill you with hair-raising anxiety. It will kill your will not to believe everything you are seeing on stage.

Mayerling...has...come...to...America.

Houston Ballet is the first company in North America to present this masterpiece that has thrilled European audiences and the most respected critics for decades.

For one of the performances Haglund had planned to attend, he had a front row seat on the right side of the house – close enough that he could have felt the deranged Crown Prince Rudolf's breath as he sat at his table toying with a human skull, fingering his gun, and jamming the needle filled with heroin into his arm. Oh. My. God.

Best of luck to Houston Ballet and congratulations on hustling up a theater at the last moment after the beautiful Wortham Center was so terribly damaged by Hurricane Harvey.

Bring on the insanity.

Mukhamedov, Durante, and the gun (1994)

 

observations 9-21

Thanks to the keen-eyed Haglund'eeler Silvie who let us know that Maria Kochetkova is gone from ABT's website. A rare moment of common sense surfaces at ABT...

 

 

observations 9-11

Saddened but not surprised to hear that Robert Fairchild will leave New York City Ballet in a month. His final performances will be October 14th and 15th in Duo Concertant opposite Sterling Hyltin. BUT folks, don't miss him in Brigadoon at City Center. Haglund, of course, will be there opening night. Get your tickets here.

 

 

observation 9-8

What interesting conflicting impressions we're reading about Daniil Simkin's departure for Staatballett Berlin. First, congratulations to him. Even though we don't know the details yet, we do know that he has plenty of artistic ambition and long-incubating creative dance ideas that will be better nurtured in a more contemporary, less classical environment. That said, we totally expect him to become the next director at Staatballett Berlin when the Frankensteinish politically-motivated co-directorship involving Sasha Waltz and her arm-dancing implodes on itself. (Oy, Berlin, we feel your pain.)

The New York Times article which states that Simkin "will retain his position at Ballet Theater but will be based in Berlin" sounds, itself, suspiciously just like Staatballett Berlin's political effort to convey that everything would remain as it was before when the uproar among the dancers and public erupted over the directorship change. However, Simkin has clarified on his own Instagram that this is a break with ABT and that he will "return" as an invited guest during the spring season. (One doesn't "return" to somewhere that one hasn't departed from.)

So, here's our interpretation. Simkin will no longer have a standard principal contract with ABT but will be a guest artist with only a couple of appearances at the Met Opera House. However, in line with Kevin McKenzie's ongoing effort to defraud the public, ABT will continue to post Simkin's picture and resume as a principal dancer on the ABT website the way it does with Roberto "2-pops-per-year" Bolle.

The more interesting aspect of the Times article is Simkin's mention of a new La Bayadere by Ratmansky for Staatballett. By the time Ratmansky gets there for that, the dancers will have made the ruinous adaptation of wearing their pointe shoes on their hands and perhaps even ribboning them around their ears. So what other company will partner with Staatsballett on such a large project as a new La Bayadere? Perhaps one where the control for their current production of La Bayadere is in the clenched iron fists of the choreographer who has so little respect for the company's director (and the job that he isn't doing) that she demands guest artists for every performance and only entrusts the company's dancers with her production for matinees. Just speculating here, folks.

 

observations 9-4

Thanks to our eagle-eyed Haglund'eeler, CS, who spotted this announcement in the U.K. blog, Ballet News.

Cynthia Harvey and her En Avant Foundation, a coaching entity, are bringing in Julio Bocca and Alessandra Ferri to coach Harvey's senior level students at the JKO School at ABT in New York at the end of September. Julio and Alessandra will be teaching the students solos and PdDs from Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet.

This is truly an extraordinary opportunity for these students. Not even the ABT principals get the opportunity of having both Julio and Alessandra together fine-tune their Romeo and Juliet interpretations.

Where will the ABT Board members be when yet another opportunity to snag Julio presents itself?

Here's the full press release from En Avant Foundation's FB page:

ALESSANDRA FERRI AND JULIO BOCCA TO REUNITE
EN AVANT FOUNATION AND ABT, JKO TO PRESENT A WEEK OF COACHING

New York, September 3, 2017

En Avant Foundation and American Ballet Theatre’s Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis School will present an extraordinary week of coaching, reuniting dance luminaries Alessandra Ferri and Julio Bocca. Cynthia Harvey, Artistic Director of ABT’s JKO School and En Avant Foundation co-founder, is providing her ABT JKO Upper Division students the opportunity to learn from celebrated dancers Alessandra Ferri and Julio Bocca. The focus of the classes and coaching will be Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, a ballet that emphasised the iconic partnership of Ferri and Bocca at American Ballet Theatre and internationally. ABT JKO students will be coached by Mr. Bocca and Ms. Ferri in solos and pas de deux from September 25th through September 30th. The two artists will, together, give a coaching demonstration during a special symposium for students and invited guests of the ABT JKO School and En Avant Foundation. The focus on MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, and the legendary partnership of Ferri and Bocca, will also be stressed during the students’ regular Music lesson with ABT Principal Conductor, Charles Barker and during their Dance History class with Allison Eggers. The week culminates with a Master Class and coaching sessions on Sunday, October 1st, for a limited number of advanced students, aged 14-19, from outside the school.

Ms. Ferri has reshaped her performance career by appearing in numerous projects ranging from performing with American Ballet Theatre (Cranko’s Onegin and MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet,) to dance theatre pieces (The Piano Upstairs and Martha Clark’s Cheri,) contemporary ballets (Wayne MacGregor’s Woolf Works with The Royal Ballet and John Neumeier’s Duse with Hamburg Ballet) and opera (Gotham Opera’s The Raven.) She has appeared in a BOOT’S campaign as the face of a cosmetic line for “fabulous women over 50”.

Mr. Bocca, Artistic Director of the National Ballet of Sodre in Montevideo, Uruguay, is deeply committed to his growing company and to giving back to the dance world. He was Jury President of the 2016 Prix de Lausanne and has been guest teacher around the world, when his company commitments allow.

For information: PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT American Ballet Theatre, write to: [email protected]

 

Gotta love this . . .

because the truth is that no one could find any pictures of ABT dancers actually being "coached" by McKenzie; so, City Center had to pull out a picture of some NYCB stars from the company where in-house coaching matters. Sometimes the sad truth is loaded with hilarity: