New York City Ballet’s winter season continued into its second week with the All Balanchine Program that included changes in cast. Here we were again in iconic Farrelldom enjoying the poetic, musical geometry of Maria Kowroski’s Chaconne. Adrian Danchig-Waring, substituting for Tyler Angle, did not seem to encounter any of the partnering difficulties that developed during his Chaconne opposite Sara Mearns last week. Happily, his own variations looked much like the pre-injury Adrian except that some jumps landed hard with short plies.
Maria and Adrian, although not quite at the level of the premiere duo, are the best that we’ve had since that time and most closely replicate the charm and elegance from the 1970s. The tall, limb over-blessed 41-year-old Maria held her own against the memory of the 30-year-old shorter Farrell who premiered Chaconne with Peter Martins in the same year that Maria was born. Maria has seemed serious about dancing this choreography as it was originally intended whereas last week Sara Mearns focused more on putting her own stamp on it. It has taken us more than a generation of dancers to get from Suzanne Farrell to Maria Kowroski; talents of their magnitude certainly do not come along very often. We don’t see any men in the pipeline who might ever actually equal the allegro brilliance and elegant calm of Martins in Chaconne. The circumstances that brought his talent to NYCB’s stage in this ballet are like stars that align only once in the universe.
Ashley Hod, Isabella LaFreniere, and Andrew Scordato were grandly elegant in the Pas de Trois. Lauren King and Harrison Coll danced a superb Pas de Deux. Lauren’s fearless en dedans turn with the leg in a la seconde that whipped right over into a penche arabesque was beautifully executed. Wow, are these two having an incredible winter season. Lauren has been dancing at a stepped-up level on par with the principals while Harrison is about to debut as Romeo.
Also on the evening’s bill were Divertimento No. 15 and The Four Temperaments. Highlights of Divertimento were soloists Indiana Woodward and Erica Periera in the first and second variations. Each of these dancers skimmed across the floor in allegro which made their speed look deceptively easy. On the other hand, Ashley Bouder and Ashly Isaacs, both also brilliant in this ballet, bolted through steps which made their speed look more strenuous.
The Four Temperaments included a refreshing debut by Russell Janzen in Phlegmatic. This may be his first principal role in which he hasn’t had to heft & heave-ho some ballerina, and he seemed energized by the opportunity. The most he had to pick up last night was one-half of Savannah Lowery’s Choleric while Anthony Huxley picked up her other half. It’s going to take a while for Russell to nail down the details of this role, but he made a good start and was quite interesting to watch.
Debuting in the 1st Theme were Olivia Boisson and Lars Nelson. Olivia's well-placed, turned-out extensions were lovely, and Lars handled the difficult partnering impressively. Anthony Huxley brilliantly conveyed the sorrowful, heavy-heartedness of Melancholic. Sara Mearns and Jared Angle powered through Sanguinic without much charisma.
Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Louboutin balletic lattice of sparkle and grace, is bestowed upon Maria Kowroski for her gorgeous Chaconne, but we suggest that Lauren King and Isabella LaFreniere think about clearing a little space on the floors of their closets for some similarly dazzling stilettos that are sure to come their ways soon.
Hi Haglund,
Thank you for this great review and especially for another beautiful appreciation of Maria Kowroski in Chaconne. I recall seeing it for the first time on Dance in America centuries ago. Recently I've watched it on youtube several times. Martins is fabulous in this role. Sometimes one forgets how sparkline his allegro was.
Posted by: Marta | January 31, 2018 at 11:04 PM
True, Marta. Even by today's standards, Martins would still be the standout in the company.
NYCB needs to figure out how to bring Martins back into the fold once he has addressed his alcohol problem. His institutional knowledge is irreplaceable when it comes to keeping Balanchine alive in this company. With his retirement, the ballet mastering for Apollo is now Craig Hall's responsibility. While I appreciate everything that Craig has to offer in those ballets in which he gave authoritative performances, Apollo was not one of them. I recall that he danced it only one time as part of a Dancers' Choice program in which the rep and the casting decisions were made collectively by the dancers themselves.
Posted by: Haglund | February 01, 2018 at 07:14 AM
Haglund, when you say "bring Martins back into the fold..." , do you mean as a coach? I saw that Dancers' Choice performance in which Hall danced Apollo. His performance was OK but didn't measure up to Martins, Hubbe, Boal, and others who were great Apollos. I don't remember ever seeing a Dancers' Choice program again.
Posted by: Marta | February 01, 2018 at 10:35 AM
Marta, I think that if the company's internal personnel investigation discredits the allegations of "abuse", Martins should be begged to come back in either his original role that would allow for a more organized & natural handing down of the leadership of the company, or in whatever position he wants to hold.
Posted by: Haglund | February 01, 2018 at 11:19 AM
Haglund, thanks for these impressions. I’m looking forward to seeing the all-Balanchine program and the new choreographies bill, with dance odyssey, on Saturday. In the meantime, I saw a dream of an OTHER DANCES pairing with Sarah & Herman here in DC. Boy, oh boy!!!
Posted by: Jeannette | February 02, 2018 at 11:38 AM
I heard that Sarah & Herman gave quite the performance of Other Dances. It would be nice if ABT added this dance with this cast to its spring gala performance which is currently quite lacking in appeal.
Posted by: Haglund | February 02, 2018 at 11:54 AM
H, I was at the 1/30 performance and I agree 100% I thought MariaK was just lovely! Sounds trite, but for me she breathed, became the steps and didnt just perform them. Indiana too! She was a surprise to me. Never really took note of her before. But, "Note to Self' from now on, get tickets for an Indiana performance when you can. And as for SaraM and Jared, they seemed like they were 'marking' their steps. Was someone ill, or injured?
Posted by: gstavella | February 06, 2018 at 09:02 AM