Haglund's Heel

ABT 5/30 matinee & evening La Bayadere – the long and the short of it

Wednesday’s matinee and evening performances of Natalia Makarova’s exquisite production of La Bayadere included debuts by the tallest and the shortest ballerinas portraying Nikiya for ABT. At the end of the day, they both stood tall as Himalayan peaks among the ever-rolling range of highs and below-sea-level lows that ABT puts on its stage.

 

At the matinee, Devon Teuscher’s Nikiya was of towering strength, sturdy form, and cool grace - not unlike the Nikiya who Makarova chose for the opening of ABT’s Kingdom of the Shades in the mid-1970s, the 28-year-old Cynthia Gregory who had Made in America / Built to Last stamped all over her steely technique. The Kingdom of the Shades proved to be Devon’s strongest of the three acts for the superb technical control in her dancing, her unruffled nerves, and beauty of line. In the Act I dance in the garden of the palace, Nikiya could have offered more bend in the back to convey the depth of her love of Solor. Overall, the acting did not come from within her; rather, it seemed laid over the steps.

 

Making his debut as Solor, Joo Won Ahn already is more interesting to watch than most of the “homegrown” principal men in the company. Ahn's guiding principal, Marcelo Gomes, who was abruptly pushed out of ABT last year during the NY Times's irresponsible frenzied feeding on and publication of hearsay and rumors, has had a huge and obvious impact on this young dancer’s growth and style. Gomes first paired Ahn with Teuscher in the Black Swan PdD a couple of summers ago during an off-season tour to his home town in Brazil. This occurred a couple of months after Ahn, while racing to the back of the stage carrying Medora, pitched her to the floor and fell on top of her in a most memorable performance of Le Corsaire. (Balletomanes never forget.) Things have definitely smoothed out for him, though, and he’s now very watchable. We can’t say that there was much natural rapport between Ahn and Teuscher — both are relatively new to the idea of creating rapport with a partner in a principal role – but their partnering was highly coordinated and musical.

 

Christine Shevchenko brought stunning technique, confidence, and first rate drama skills to her debut as Gamzatti. Not since the Days of Dvorovenko in this role have we been so tantalized by the seething Gamzatti and her sense of entitlement. Shevchenko’s Act I was technically secure in every way, but it was her Act III solo that combined desperation, humiliation, anger, passion, and to the extent possible for Gamzatti, love for Solor. A fine debut, indeed, and we were ready to see this performance again, but unfortunately, it was a one-off.

 

Also a one-off was the evening performance in which Sarah Lane gave a reading of Nikiya of such depth and complexity that we thought we were seeing this character for the first time. She is nearly as tiny as Makarova was 38 years ago when she debuted her full La Bayadere for ABT. We keep mentioning Makarova because of her unmistakable and authoritative presence in the main orchestra section at each performance. Seventy-seven years old going on 50. That means, hopefully, that ABT dancers will have to continue to strive to meet her standards for many more years to come.

 

Sarah Lane had such a light burning within her that we could see the love in her soul for Solor. The Act I solo revealed achingly beautiful arabesques and a deep bend in the back without punching out the ribs. We could see that she was aiming for those Tereshkina balances during her dance at the betrothal of Solor and Gamzatti. Hopefully, she’ll get a few more chances to achieve her goal long before McKenzie decides it’s time to march those ballerina hooves off to the glue factory. Sarah’s Act II, but for the turns in the scarf dance, was exceptionally well-danced. Her diagonal of racing soutenus and backward arabesque chugs were thrilling. Those scarf turns were odd in that a couple of times Sarah finished with a point tendu to the front rather than in 5th position which meant that she repeated the same miscalculations in her turns instead of correcting them. Her Act III Nikiya was all beautiful spirit – in high distress. She was a slender trace of the gorgeous vision that Solor had dreamed about while in an opium stupor – now running through the wedding nuptials trying to disrupt them while only visible to Solor.

 

Herman Cornejo gave a convincingly theatrical and brilliantly danced Solor.  Upon his entrance he had Haglund totally believing that he had just killed the tiger whereas with Joo Won Ahn in the afternoon, we weren’t sure whether perhaps he might be telling some kind of fish story. Herman didn’t try to turn Solor into Basilio who throws himself around for the sake of flash. This guy was a noble warrior and noble was Herman Cornejo. His saute battement fouette battu were gigantic and crystalline clear. His endings of combinations were dramatic. His partnering of Sarah was secure and tender. Their rapport was the best of any pair of dancers at ABT — maybe that’s not saying as much as it used to say but nevertheless it is now the truth. We should be seeing these two together in Swan Lake rather than seeing the Swan Lake week soiled with two slog-filled performances by the Celebrina who has to fake her way through the steps. The Celebrina in Swan Fake - that’s what they should call it.

 

Skylar Brandt’s debut as Gamzatti showed great promise. The technical dancing was masterful, but nailing down and holding onto Gamzatti’s character was more challenging. The fight with Nikiya where Gamzatti tried to buy her off with a necklace was pretty darned good theater. 

 

Some supporting roles deserve mention for either being good or not. Both Tom Forster and Roman Zhurbin were overpowering brutes as The High Brahmin, but Forster nearly stole the show in Act I from the sheer force and expansiveness of his mime. Great as he was, we would rather have seen him as Solor, and we all know that we should have seen it this year.

 

The Bronze Idols, Arron Scott and Joseph Gorak, gave good tries, but nobody seems to understand this role the way Renvall and Corella did. We’ve often wondered whether Luis Ribagorda might be able to bring back the role’s original intent. It takes a special type of dancer who knows how to harness and release energy in staccato increments.

 

Several of the Shade soloists turned in very pleasant performances, most notably Catherine Hurlin and Anabel Katsnelson. We continue to be alarmed by what ABT is allowing April Giangeruso to present as a classical developpe that bears little relationship to academic form. The hiking of the hip, scrunching and rolling of the torso, lack of turn out, and hideous shoulder placement — all in the name of getting the leg to the ear and crushing the tutu against the body is plain and simply unattractive if not ugly. 

 

Now, about the Shades. Oh my goodness. What is going on here? Is it that ABT’s daily classes don’t include practicing developpe during center work while wearing pointe shoes? Seems they may not. Seems that they may not practice arabesques either. 

 

For many years ABT’s Shades use to come down the ramp by stepping forward with a tendu to the floor to steady their balance before raising the leg to arabesque. That memory is clear as vodka. Now, it seems the corps is trying to do this section the grown-up way of the Mariinsky and Paris Opera Ballet who step forward and immediately raise the back leg to arabesque without the benefit of a steadying tendu. Nearly everyone was having trouble, and those who were not having trouble were lifting the arabesques at different speeds. While we applaud Natalia Makarova for trying to make these dancers grow up, it’s a lost cause when they don’t have the discipline instilled by rigorous classes where developpes in center while wearing pointe shoes are a common feature. But there is hope: Madam Makarova’s original Gamzatti of 38 years ago can eventually fix this embarrassing problem all by herself, because she now runs the JKO school. The students who land jobs in the corps don't need misplaced extensions to the ear; they need to be able to stand still on the supporting leg when developping to the side or when lifting an arabesque. There are no excuses for what we are seeing from the corps of Shades. Priorities of fundamental classical technique seem to have gone awry at ABT.

 

Sorry to have to end on such a sour note when in fact we were thrilled with so much that we saw in both performances. Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, Guiseppe Zanotti's Cruel Wings, is bestowed upon Sarah Lane for her glistening, fresh, and soul-baring debut as Nikiya.

 

 

 

observations 5-24

ABT's week of La Bayadere is on TDF at the moment. Don't  miss Wednesday night May 30th with Sarah Lane, Herman Cornejo and Skylar Brandt. 

Discounted tickets for Whipped Cream at the Met and La Bayadere in L.A. are currently on Goldstar.com.

 Update 5/25:

NYCB's Coppelia for Saturday night  5/26 (Tiler Peck, Joaquin De Luz, Robert La Fosse) is on TDF as of Friday 7am.

ABT Gala 5/21Wayne's World at ABT: a goat-blowing epic failure

Last January when we heard that Wayne McGregor was coming to town to create AfteRite to Stravinsky’s iconic score, we made this prediction of what Wayne’s World would reveal:

 

The savages consumed the sacrificial virgin while wearing nude-colored briefs to accentuate the dislocation of their limbs as they yanked them around to – not choreography – but to an algorithm loaded with palindromes which were most likely written on the palms of their hands. This Rite sequel, however, may need to pander to the local press; so there may be lots of gratuitous same-sex sphincter-groping and kissy face. Maybe the savages in Wayne's World will even blow goats -- just to appeal to a wider audience. 

 

It turns out that the prediction was fairly accurate. AfteRite is a goat-blowing epic failure, epic in its pretension, an epic waste of money, and an epic waste of a treasured score. Anybody who buys a ticket to see Wayne’s World at ABT may as well flush his money down the toilet.

 

From the Playbill production notes:

 

Inside the last colony, humanity is a fragile frontier and survival demands the fittest. As nature reclaims its rites, a mother must choose what she holds most dear and what she can afford to lose.

 

Two young girls were held in a glass terrarium at the back of the stage which was eventually filled with “gas" to snuff one of them out. The girls were the mother's children – Alessandra Ferri being the mother who had to make the unfortunate choice presented to her by the savages wearing their nudie underpants. Thirteen dancers did an angst & yank act from one end of the stage to the other, augmented by walking around and glaring fiercely. At several points during a Pas de Deux by Ferri and Herman Cornejo, we thought we were watching something in an Assisted Living Center for Senior Ballerinas. We’re sure that it all held great meaning and artistic satisfaction for Ferri and Cornejo, but that’s not what anybody pays for. Hello ABT? That's not what anybody pays for. Ferri's unsteadiness throughout made it painfully clear that she is way past the pointe shoe phase of her career and past most technical-based adagio.

 

Overall, this entire dance was McGregor's signature repetitious gymnography, absent of any and all musicality or even a hint of simple response to the music. It completely relied on anticipated audience fascination with seeing the dancers in their brief panties while splitting their legs and throwing their limbs around like they were patients in Ken Kesey’s psychiatric hospital. Then McGregor glamorized on stage the gassing of a little girl. Glamorizing violence is so "in" these days. So pop. So cool. It makes it all sooooo meaningful. If someone like McGregor could convince ABT to let him kill live kittens on stage, think of all the media attention it would bring ABT.

 

Normally gala audiences roar their approval for everything. They’ve already been plied with alcohol and only go to the ballet once or twice per year for galas. It’s tradition to whoop it up no matter what they have to watch. The gala audience’s response to this AfteRite was more muted than we have ever witnessed at a gala. As Haglund was descending the stairs at The Met afterward, two young British men in front of him were discussing how terrible and "monotonous" the choreography was. One said that if he ever encountered the choreographer on the street, he would want to tell him how unwatchable the work was. Do you think McKenzie will take note of the audience’s reaction or has he already scheduled this epic failure for a future season?

 

According to Hoyle, the audience obligingly cheered Michelle Dorrance’s Praedicere, pretentiously titled in Latin which translates into foretell or predict and which had dancers – including Tyler Maloney – tapping in pointe shoes, sliding on pointe across the stage, and engaging in the type of inane steps that non-ballet choreographers always fashion for ballet dancers. Once again, ABT is looking to non-ballet choreographers to try to save it and give it pop popularity. Thankfully, this was just a pièce d’occasion which we won’t have to watch again. But of course, given the failure of AfteRite, McKenzie may mistakenly think he can save some of ABT’s integrity by throwing this piece out on stage again. People, do not buy it.

 

At the beginning of the evening, we got our first peak at Alexei Ratmansky’s reconstruction of Marius Petipa’s Harlequinade. As we anticipated, the costumes are fabulous. This time Ratmansky used Robert Perdziola, a major opera and ballet designer, for both sets and costumes. When the Masked Couples in various colorful outfits began to dance the Ballabile from Act I, we immediately noticed that the choreography was less noisy and frenetic than we usually see in Ratmansky’s ballets. What a good sign this is. Luis Ribagorda and Courtney Shealy had a highlighted dance as Babesh and his Wife, both as charismatic as could be. The Harlequin, James Whiteside, with sufficient mask and head covering, danced the Harlequin pretty clearly as a character who over-strives for everyone’s attention. He ripped a series of turns a la seconde with pirouettes that was the best balletic dance of the evening. Isabella Boylston as Columbine had the toughest dancing job of the evening and managed it very well. (Those hops on point and rotations of the leg into arabesque are not going to be doable by the Celebrina Columbine during the production run.) Still, as personable and as strong as Boylston was, there was an ungainliness to some of the dancing, particularly when she had to be hoisted up by the Harlequin which revealed an awkward underview of the legs, etc.

 

Columbine’s tutu is stunning. Whether by design or not, as she danced around the stage the lighting seemed to slightly alter the colors in the costume. Bright spotlights made it satin pink while basic lighting made it look pinkish with earth tones – both beautiful. The Larks’ tutus in Hunt of the Larks from Act II were a longer version of Columbine’s, slightly more earth-toned, but just as pretty. Haglund’s heart fluttered when he saw Courtney Lavine and Kaho Ogawa paired when the Larks danced downstage on the diagonal. Such beautiful, beautiful arms and gracious, unaffected movement. Haglund is going to use their image in his meditative breathing today in an effort to clear the mind of the disasters that followed Harlequinade. In fact, he’s throwing them a Pump Bump Award.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A big roar for The Beast in the Jungle

which counts among its stars Irina Dvorovenko. The "dance play" which was inspired by the Henry James novella of the same name has been in previews at the Vineyard Theatre on East 15th Street for a couple of weeks and is slated for its official opening night this coming Wednesday.

Susan Stroman directed and choreographed; John Kander wrote the music; and David Thompson developed the book. In addition to Irina, the cast stars Tony Yazbeck, Peter Friedman, Teagle F. Bougere and a corps of dancing women.

The Vineyard Theatre stage, which is not really large enough to accommodate sprawling choreography, has in the past served as an incubator for Broadway productions Avenue Q, Scottsboro Boys, and the original How I Learned to Drive. The Beast in the Jungle is definitely a production that would be better served by a larger stage. Perhaps it will be someday.

Of course, the reason Haglund went to the show during the first weekend of previews was to see Irina Dvorovenko who is developing into one of the freshest, most interesting new musical theater stars in New York. This spring her stage skills are once again much missed during the ABT season. Who can forget the ungraceful push out the door (to make room for guest artists) that Kevin McKenzie gave her and which still stings her fans. Truth be told, were it not for her recent private coaching of several of ABT's brightest talents, the company would be in a much more sorry state than it already is.

For those who are unfamiliar with Henry James's novella, The Beast in the Jungle is about a man who believes that his future holds a dramatic event – The Beast – that will determine his life's meaning. He forgoes love and marrying, and does not even allow himself to get close to a woman who truly loves him while he waits for the unknown event to occur. It turns out that The Beast was his wasting of his life while doing nothing but obsessing over some unknown future event.

The Beast in the Jungle is unlike Stroman’s other well known dance play Contact in that the dance aspect of the production is incidental to the development of the story. The choreography is necessarily uncomplicated given the size of the stage and once in a while can seem to intrude, particularly when the corps dancers arrive in mass although there are only a half dozen of them.

What's great about The Beast in the Jungle? The acting.

Peter Friedman masterfully portrayed the main character, John Marcher, who wastes his life away while waiting for the unknown to happen. We think, however, that the book for the play could be tinkered with to more emphatically convey what Marcher's Beast was. While it was revealed, the lesson within it wasn't particularly clear.

Teagle F. Bougere as the art collector/dealer husband of Irina's character in later life held on to her like a prized painting on his wall. When he sensed that young Marcher might still be interested in his wife from their previous encounter years earlier, there was convincing talk of the husband's skill with guns and of shooting the wild prey that invaded his property.

Tony Yazbeck's performance in the dual role of the young Marcher and the Nephew of Friedman's older Marcher was a tour de force. As the evening progressed and Yazbeck danced and brilliantly switched back and forth between his two characters, we wanted him to break out into a song. Alas, there are no songs in this dance play. (We still can't believe that his work in the Hal Prince revue Prince of Broadway went unrewarded by the Tony nominating committee this year.) 

The biggest reward of the evening was witnessing the mercurial advancement of Irina Dvorovenko's acting skills and authority. As she developed her character, May Bertram, from young girl to a woman of advanced age with illness, we were reminded of Irina's gripping performances as Marguerite Gautier in John Neumeier's Lady of the Camellias and in John Cranko's Onegin -- only this time, she created life's transitions with dialogue as well as movement. Her posture became less straight and her gait less steady as she aged on stage. Her voice changed. Her spirit changed from being filled with youthful whimsy to acceptance of her life's Plan B because Plan A was never truly an option. Every single word that came out of her character's mouth was believable and natural.

The dance part of this dance play revealed that Irina still out-classes all but a few of her former colleagues who remain at ABT. Classical discipline and her respect for doing things correctly is embedded in her movement. She traversed the small stage area seizing opportunities for full arabesques and attitudes. Without giving away too much detail, we'll reveal that there was a bathtub scene with Yazbeck that included some over-the-top choreography. An extended Pas de Deux between the two had flair and ingenuity. But the audience, being so close to the small stage, could observe the dancers' effort. As we indicated earlier, this production would look much better in a larger venue.

The Beast in the Jungle triumphs as a rewarding and transportive couple of hours in Off Broadway theater. In addition to the outstanding acting and dancing, John Kander's beautiful music was filled with waltzing melodies that were immediately hummable. The scenery and costumes by Michael Curry were appealing. (We say that knowing full well that Irina could wear a brown paper bag and make it look spectacular.) Ben Stanton's lighting design created great tension in the play, particularly when it evoked The Beast.

Haglund is going back for another look-see in the coming weeks. The Beast had its run extended at the Vineyard Theatre even before it opened for previews. It now runs until June 17th. Tickets here.

 Go check it out.

 

ABT - Giselle 5/16

Let’s hope that Miss Meghan fares better this weekend in her nuptials to her dally-predisposed prince than our Giselle did yesterday when the royal love of her life shattered her heart like it was candy glass. 

Sarah Lane and Daniil Simkin once again had to overcome ABT’s blunder of midweek matinee casting – one of many blunders this past year including the small-balled pushing out of Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes; the overindulging and mollycoddling of the inferior, 2nd rate Misty Copeland and the over-highlighting of the homely, heavy dancing of Isabella Boylston; the over-reliance, dishonest over-selling of Lendorf and Hallberg in the schedule; the pox-party casting of the best with the worst to try to make everyone sick at the same time and try to even out sales; and the failure to eradicate the company’s dancing of McKenzie’s signature blandness. Blunder after blunder after blunder.

 

But yesterday Sarah and Daniil were able to turn a deaf ear to the dissonance at ABT to focus on a remarkable telling of Giselle. Their performance was a divine blend of artistry and technique, clearly more netted together than last year when there was a sense of desperation in both the audience and in Sarah’s Act II. Everyone had waited so long to see this Giselle.  Sarah had waited nine years since first performing the role in Texas to show her home audience her interpretation. And then after such a resounding successful performance that surpassed the celebrina and equinarina that day, would she even ever get another chance given the pay-to-play politics of casting at ABT? That sense of desperation and the tension that accompanies it were set aside yesterday in both Giselle and the audience, and it resulted in a clarified telling and listening of the ballet’s main themes of love, betrayal, and forgiveness.

 

Robust dancing and vivid acting filled Act I. Sarah’s variations included arabesques that balanced lightly but made strong statements before lowering into deep penchés which foreshadowed the ghostly penchés of Act II. She showed supreme trust in Daniil’s partnering particularly during Giselle’s fainting spell when she fell backwards with such freedom that she would not have had the slightest chance of saving herself if Daniil had not swooped in to catch her. 

 

Sarah's hops on pointe effortlessly took her all the way to the front of the stage. The final manège of pique turns was especially impressive for the stretch of the leading leg, the perch to the top of the pointe, and the beautiful second leg always quickly arriving to attach itself to the back of the knee. The authority and speed of the menage this year reached far beyond the perfectly acceptable manège which we saw last year. 

 

Giselle’s dissent into madness was about as perfectly played as we’ve ever seen. Her face expressed a heartbreaking disconnection from reality. Her torment was ours. And her death stopped our own breath. 

 

Daniil’s fluency in all things jumping and turning was applied strictly in service to the story. No showboating. No smirks. His Albrecht's commitment to Bathilde was the farthest thing from his mind as he chased Giselle around the village. He was in the world where he’d rather be. It seemed not to occur to him that he was doing anything wrong or that there would be any consequences until his fiancée, the glamorous Isadora Loyola, showed up on the arm of her daddy (Roman Zhurbin) to discover Albrecht’s duplicity. Here we saw the character’s – not Daniil’s – immaturity as he tried to cover up his cozy cozening in the village. His sudden realization of the adult consequences of straying off the royal path was convincing. His regret was sincere.

 

Act II was one of those joyful viewer events when the telling of a known story surpassed expectation. From the whirling revolutions of the awakening spin – a creepy indoctrination into the sisterhood of Wilis that Sarah had to brake slightly before transitioning into the grand allegro – to the final stretched arabesque of love above her grave, Giselle showed us that she simply could not be a rank and file cold-blooded, revenge-filled Wili. And while we recognized some of Giselle's warm-blooded characteristics from Act I, the transition to cool spirit with a heart still filled with love for Albrecht was complete and convincing. Giselle's developpes reached high with a strongly arched foot as she circled the kneeling unaware Albrecht. While some Giselles emphasize the landing position in arabesque in this moving circle, Sarah chose the more difficult emphasis on the developpe while balancing at the top with striking articulation in the pointed foot. It’s a very good choice if the ballerina can do it, but it is very difficult.

 

Sarah’s crisscrossing the stage opposite Daniil while holding the lilies was exquisite. Once again Daniil's variation was loaded with virtuosity in service to his story: beautiful cabrioles, deep bends in the back, blistering brises, turns in which he seemingly watched Giselle pass before him. He didn’t get all the way underneath Sarah for the first overhead lift which ended up being less solid than the perfect second lift which he held for a fairly long time. Strength is never an issue with him. Coordinating with the partner sometimes is. For the ending, Daniil chose a happy realization that he had been truly loved by Giselle and then lay across her grave. This pair gave a highly polished performance with nearly complete mastery of technical and artistic matters.

 

Not so for some of the supporting cast. We have seen and have been thrilled by Christine Shevchenko’s Myrta in the past, but last night she was having some kind of trouble standing on one leg that affected nearly all of her arabesque promenades. Her character seems to have hardened a bit this season into a “Myrtanator” who takes immense pleasure in eliminating men from the world. Her greatest moment last night was her highly expressive realization that Giselle’s love for Albrecht was impermeable. Alexei Agoudine was a stock Hilarion rather than trying to make the part into a principal role as has been done thrillingly by Tom Forster, Roman Zhurbin, Jared Matthews, Sascha Radetsky, Ethan Brown, and Frank Smith. The Act I Peasant Pas de Deux was danced by Catherine Hurlin and Gabe Stone Shayer, a mismatch in heights which led to some partnering issues. Catherine was lovely and confident in the technical aspects including the pirouettes that rise from the knee on the floor. Gabe is showing steady improvement. Feet and legs were cleaner, but still not clean enough. His leg lines would look longer if there was vertical muscle definition like Simkin’s legs have. 

 

Moyna and Zulma, danced by Rachel Richardson and Lauren Post (substituting for Cassandra Trenary), were under-powered, under-rehearsed and danced without distinction.

 

Luis Ribagorda made Wilfred noticeable for more than running after Albrecht. 

 

The Wilis were fine in their steps but there was nothing startlingly beautiful about them as one sees in the Mariinsky or Paris Opera Wilis. Just small tidy steps that didn’t translate into anything more than small tidy steps.

 

Our HH Pump Bump Award, a Giuseppe Zanotti gold stiletto exclusively for Balmain, is bestowed up Sarah Lane and Daniil Simkin for their remarkable performances as Giselle and Albrecht. If they want the mate to the pair, Simkin will have to come back next year for a redux.

 

 

Pennsylvania Ballet 5/10 Luxury Jewels in a fine gold setting

Over the course of five performances of Balanchine’s Jewels during a 72 hour period, two ballerinas at Pennsylvania Ballet will have performed principal roles in each of the sections Emeralds, Rubies and Diamonds. Lillian DiPiazza and Oksana Maslova, clearly master bench jewelers in the world of ballet, will accomplish something remarkable, if not unheard of. Others in the company will dance principal roles in two of the three sections which normally would be astonishing for such a brief performance run, but in this case, is so over-shadowed by the accomplishments of DiPiazza and Maslova that it’s almost ho-hum. Really, think about what it takes for any ballerina to perform one of the principal roles in either Emeralds, Rubies, or Diamonds, and then consider what it takes for any ballerina to perform principal roles in all three — in 72 hours.

We caught the opening night performance on Thursday at the beautiful Academy of Music in Philadelphia. Mayara Pineiro with Arian Molina Soca and Oksana Maslova with Ian Hussey led the opening Emeralds section, arguably the most beautiful section unless, of course, one happens to be watching Diamonds. The highlight of the first 31 minutes of Jewels was watching Maslova caress the phrases of Fauré as though they were the first and last loves of her life. Our sense was that she had no choice but to be this music, to embed herself within its melodies, and to treat each note as a cherished gift. Here she moderated her extensions – avoiding the ear-whacking that is her preference – and the end result was an artist who looked much bigger on stage, drew more stage lighting to herself, appeared more dramatically weighted, and held our deep interest in wanting to know who she was. The walking pas de deux with Ian Hussey progressed with such delicacy that Maslova appeared almost to be walking on water.

Mayara Pineiro, the company’s show-stopping allegro specialist but here cast contrary to type, made a good start with Emeralds. The steps were crystalline clear, but her torso lacked the bend and sweep that makes the ballerina in this ballet so mesmerizing and gives her such perfume. Her pas de deux with the ever attentive, ever romantic Molina Soca was quite lovely. 

Lillian DiPiazza, Jermel Johnson and Alexandra Hughes got off to a careful start with Rubies but accelerated steadily. Lillian, also cast against type, faced the challenge of employing the kind of bold salesmanship that doesn’t lie within her comfort zone. But it didn’t take too long for her to trot out her sass & glam and bring this work to a convincing conclusion. Alexandra’s Tall Girl showed considerable promise. She’s got the legs; she’s got the courage; she’s got the right idea. But nerves were in play on this debut. The exiting slow penche arabesques were a little unsteady and a little shy on penche. We wish we could have seen her second performance of this role on Saturday afternoon which was surely more confident, because the next time Jewels comes around at Pennsylvania Ballet, we suspect that Alexandra will be dancing Diamonds.

But the Diamonds on Thursday night had spent considerable time on the jeweler’s polishing wheel. Sterling Baca rose to a startling new level of nobility and graciousness in his dancing. On stage he looked as tall as – as tall as – hmmm – as tall as Charles Askegard, a premiere Diamond principal of his generation and now the company’s Ballet Master. Baca's variations were beautifully controlled with double tours to the right and left equally impressive for their clean landings to fifth position. A polished performance, indeed. But his smooth, unaffected, confident, blue-blooded partnering of his glorious ballerina pleased us even more.

Haglund’s newest addition to his collection of favorite ballerinas, Dayesi Torriente, was the 69 carat Burton-Taylor white diamond of the evening. Were it not for Amtrak’s dynamic pricing increase, we would have been on the train back to Philly for her second performance this afternoon. What a beauty! 

The notion that occasionally is circulated by less than knowledgeable folks that Balanchine must be danced in a certain specific way in accordance with their personal faultless memories of some NYCB performance decades ago is such a crock… Here Dayesi Torriente gave us a big, bold, and beautifully Cuban interpretation that was loaded with regal grandeur, Imperial attitude, and formal romance beneath which passion simmered patiently. Oh, this was good, good, good. If anyone saw her Tall Girl in Rubies on Friday or Saturday, please send in a report.

Throughout the first performance, the Corps de Ballet danced with exuberance and jubilation. For most, it was their first time dancing Balanchine’s masterpiece. During Diamonds, some of their young faces suggested they were on the verge euphoria and experiencing a moment of “How could it get any better than this?” Well, it’s Jewels. It probably won’t get any better than this.

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, a bespoke creation with more than 2,000 diamonds from House of Borgezie, is bestowed upon Dayesi Torriente and Sterling Baca for the beauty and brilliance of their Diamonds.

 

 

 

 

NYCB – Robbins 100 continues

Oh my goodness. There was more ritual packed into Tuesday than you’ll ever find among The Cats of Thistle Hill. (Last night in NYCB's 4th Ring, Haglund observed a balleto-felineo-mane cuddling up with his dog-eared copy of the 1994 book during the unusually long intermissions.)

The day began with what was supposed to be a quick trip to The Met Museum to see the latest exhibition Heavenly Bodies – Fashion and the Catholic Imagination which opened for member previews. Five hours later… Well, you know how it goes once you get inside The Met. “Which way to the Anna Wintour Costume Center?” you ask. “Go through Egypt and turn right,” you are told. Well, Egypt is pretty darned big at The Met. It’s, like, everywhere. 

 

But we finally found the stairs down into the cellar where The Vatican Collection was on display. This is a stunning collection of garments worn by clergy in past centuries. Pope Pius IX, the longest reigning Pope in the history of the Catholic Church, had a team of 15 women who worked for 16 years to make a series of vestments for him out of gold metal and silver metal threads. The artistry in these garments – delicate shading of colors within the embroidery, the intricate detail of human faces and men on horseback –  is nearly unbelievable. A few of the characters depicted in their bare feet on the capes even have Morton’s Toes.

 

No one is supposed to take photographs of the exhibit. But the single cordial museum employee stationed at the exhibit was no match for the happy, enthusiastic crowd of donors who were clicking away. Haglund got caught up in the herd mentality of it all:

 

 

So, then we proceeded upstairs to the Medieval area to see the rest of the exhibit from the collections of Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Valentino, McQueen, and many others whose fashion ideas were influenced by Catholic ritual and clergy dress. One wedding ensemble by Christian Lacroix seemed pretty enough until you noticed that the bride was holding dead or nearly dead roses.

 

 

This exhibit is well worth the investment of time. So, if you’re coming from out of town this spring to see some ballet, take some time to visit The Met Museum, too.

 

Then in the evening, it was off to NYCB to see the alternate cast of last Friday’s program of Fancy Free, Dybbuk, and West Side Story Suite. 

 

Dybbuk was a fascinating excursion into Jewish folklore. It’s not only a “black and white” ballet by Robbins, but it’s about dark and light as well. Prior to their births, a young man and woman are pledged by their fathers to marry one another. Right before the wedding, the father of the bride breaks off the marriage agreement because his future son-in-law is too poor. The young man dies of a broken heart but comes back in spirit to enter the young woman’s body. The father and the religious order perform a Hasidic exorcism to rid the daughter of the young man’s spirit. Ultimately, she chooses to join the world of his spirit rather than marry anyone else.

 

Tiler Peck & Joaquin De Luz on the first night and Sterling Hyltin & Anthony Huxley last night were phenomenal in their portrayals of the young couple. But the stars of this dance were the Men of the Corps de Ballet who performed the lines, circles, and individual dances based on Jewish origin with impeccable precision, energy, and authority. Devin Alberda, Daniel Applebaum, Harrison Coll, Cameron Dieck, Ralph Ippolito, Alec Knight, Roman Mejia, Lars Nelson, Aaron Sanz, Peter Walker, and Andres Zuniga, always dressed in black with either caps or fedoras cocked identically on their heads, were a stirring sect engaged in determined ritual. 

 

Fancy Free is getting a major cast refreshing this year. Last Friday, Mary Elizabeth Sell made an impressive NY debut as the girl in the yellow skirt with the red purse. Last night Alexa Maxwell did the same. Both women found the flirty confidence to handle all three sailors at the same time. No problem. Miriam Miller was lovely in her NY debut as the third passerby on Friday night and in her repeat performance last evening. But what Manhattan had been waiting for since the unveiling at the Kennedy Center some months ago was the new trio of cracker jacks: Roman Mejia, Harrison Coll, Sebastian Villarini-Velez. This was Fleet Week as it should be. Sign us up for duty on their ship.

 

Harrison Coll, his white “Dixie Cup” pushed back from his forehead, gave a wow performance as the second sailor, the one who gets an extensive turn around the dance floor with the girl wearing purple, in this case Tiler Peck. With full steam ahead charisma, he slid across on his heels stage-fore and stage-aft. His enthusiasm and energy were so high that when he rushed to pull out a chair for his lady friend, his feet scooted out from under him. It was something that could have been in the choreography from the outset. We’ve got to get Coll on the fast track at NYCB, because we are sure to lose him to Broadway sooner than later.

 

Roman Mejia and Sebastian Villarini-Velez took star turns as the little, feisty sailor and the one who can’t keep his shoes tied. We haven’t seen such a fully animated, musically punctuated trio of sailors in this ballet in a long, long time. Let’s hope that they don’t get split up but have the opportunity to build on the rapport they’ve thus far created.

 

We can’t avoid mentioning how the use of the low-level inaudible recording of Billie Holiday’s singing at the beginning of Fancy Free is a terrible substitute for the authentically scratchy yet clearly audible recording by Dee Dee Bridgewater that NYCB used from the time that it premiered its own version of Fancy Free in 1980 until Andrew Litton made the switch a couple of years ago. Maybe Ms. Holiday sounds just fine to someone standing on the conductor’s platform, but it is a washout in most of the rest of the house. Worse still, it has to compete with the noise and conversation of the ushers seating people after the lights go down. 

 

West Side Story Suite ran into some problems on both nights due to terrible singing by the dancers. Terrible. Period. Everybody, everybody, needs singing lessons, and only dancers who can reach the high notes should be cast in the singing roles. Some of the flat singing was cringe-worthy. Nevertheless, Peter Walker made a fine dancing/acting debut as Tony last evening. Zachary Catazaro was persuasive in his debut as Bernardo, but his knife very nearly came out of his hands when he spun it – just like the lute slid out of his hands during his debut as Apollo. Also, several of the male Jets and Sharks couldn’t drop their “ballet walk” to look like credible hoods. West Side Story Suite needs some caring attention right now before things get any worse.

 

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Louboutin netted vamp that holds the shoe intact, is bestowed upon the Men of the Corps de Ballet in Dybbuk and the three Corpsmen last night who tore up Fancy Free into parade confetti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

NYCB Gala 5/3

Playing dress-up never goes out of style. Especially at the New York City Ballet Spring Gala where dressing up can mean up to thousands of dollars. Dressing up can also mean dressing down or dressing down & out or dressing out of style or dressing with no style at all which can often be the hottest style in town. In the game of dress-up, everyone gets to be on stage. We saw it all at Thursday night’s gala along with a superb evening of dance that kicked off the company’s Jerome Robbins 100 celebration. 

 

Three dances by Robbins – a ballet, a novelty piece for children, and a solo originally made for Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project – were joined by two new pieces – Justin Peck’s high energy Easy, which was anything but that, and Warren Carlyle's half-hour salute to Jerome Robbins’ Broadway career with a Jerome Robbins Broadway type production piece. 

 

First, let’s get to the authentic Robbins dances. The Four Seasons (1979) seemed in acceptable shape but for some odd casting in the warm months. Indiana Woodward, Joseph Gordon, and Ralph Ippolito with a corps of eight ladies who shivered while hotfooting their ways through allegro, made for a happy Winter. Sara Mearns was delightful and full of spirit in Spring opposite Tyler Angle, but her dancing did not possess the requisite lightness. We were more aware of her landings than airy suspension. The Summer section was less than sultry hot with the pairing of Teresa Reichlen and Aaron Sanz. No real difficulties were noted, but their physiques were not complementary and there was little perceptible chemistry. Tiler Peck, Zachary Catazaro, and Daniel Ulbricht caught the playfulness of Fall in their blistering allegro. What a happy sight it was to see Catazaro not only save a potentially disastrous turning moment on stage at the end of his variation, but triumphantly rise above it for the rest of his performance. 

 

In Circus Polka (1972), Ringmaster Ask la Cour with whip in hand paraded the “trained" 48 little theater animals from the School of American Ballet around the circus ring. They chassé-ed, hopped, and ran in three groups of 16, with the smallest animalettes arriving on stage last. The finale parade of three concentric circles of high-stepping "ponies" with the middle one rotating in the opposite direction of the other two exemplified the absolute finest Circensic Dressage.

 

Jerome Robbins made A Suite of Dances for Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project in 1994, a few months before it premiered at NYCB. A solo to selected movements from Bach’s Six Suites for Solo Cello, it was custom-tailored for one dancer who possessed an inimitable ability to captivate an audience no matter what he was doing on stage – jumping, turning, walking or standing still. Robbins didn’t choreograph that element into the solo; it was just there in the artist from the start. Joaquin De Luz, with all his charisma, theatrical talent, and dancing ability, may be the best one to have come along in years to try on this dance, but it still tended to look like he was wearing someone else’s suit. 

 

Justin Peck’s Easy to Leonard Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs was easy to enjoy given the personable cast of Preston Chamblee, Unity Phelan, Harrison Coll, Sean Suozzi, Claire Kretzschmar, and Indiana Woodward. Harrison Coll in pink sneakers which matched his pink pants thrilled with the ability to cut loose in this pastiche of Robbins-Fosse Broadway style choreography. NYCB Orchestra principal clarinetist Steven Hartman matched the dancers’ nimbleness with his own variations.

 

Something to Dance About, the much anticipated Warren Carlyle compilation of dances from Robbins’ Broadway hits, offered a terrific costume spectacle and energetic Broadway dancing. 

 

Sara Mearns in America from West Side Story, Tiler Peck and Daniel Ubricht in the Charleston from Billion Dollar Baby, the stage full of sailors from On the Town, and the Wedding Dance from fiddler on the Roof were all sensational. There was an excerpt from Gypsy (All I Need is the Girl) that included dialogue by Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette which needs a lot of work or perhaps should be replaced. 

 

Toni-Leslie James’ costume designs, all executed by Marc Happel’s NYCB superb costume shop, were the highlight of the entire evening. Clearly someone with the capability for big vision, James dressed up these NYCB dancers in some of the fanciest threads we’ve seen at these costume-oriented galas over the years. (Still #1, however, are Valentino’s Italian silk creations from 2012.)  No doubt about it, playing dress-up is the biggest aspect of these galas - on both sides of the footlights – and it will never go out of style.

 

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, a simple Valentino sandal to wear under those red dresses from the musical number America, is bestowed upon Toni-Leslie James.

 

From the Department of Ballet and Politics Intersect

Again.

Michael Caputo, the former senior official on Trump's campaign who has drawn Robert Mueller's interest and the interest of Congressional Committees, is working with Diana Vishneva on an avant garde production called Sleeping Beauty Dreams which will premiere in Miami in December, then come to New York before embarking on a 30-city tour. The show's creative director, Rem Khass apparently ran afoul with the Russian political web and had to seek asylum in the U.S. for his own safety.

Before Caputo's recent questionings by Mueller and the Congressional Committee, he and Diana met with NY Magazine at Diana's Upper East Side apartment for an interview.

You can't make this stuff up.

Well, maybe you can make some of it up:

Here is Robert Mueller as he tries to understand the Dianglish on a wiretapped conversation with Caputo:

He realizes that now things are starting to get complicated.

 

A Prelude to The Shed, May 1-13On the best day of spring so far –

There we were – in the middle of the Hudson Yards Development, somewhat elevated along The High Line in the “212” (and the 646, 332, 917) walking on our way to see what was advertised as a “radical reimagining” of William Forsythe’s central duet in his signature composition, In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated, which he created for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1987. This time he would set the choreography to rapper Azealia Banks’ ode to violence and vulgarity “212” for A Prelude to The Shed, a series of performances at a temporary location at 10th Ave and 31st Street during May. Prelude is designed to entice the highbrow, lowbrow, unibrow, no-brow, hip, and hip-hop crowd to the area where The Shed is under construction. When finished in 2019, The Shed will host contemporary multi-art performances, be the home to new art galleries, and function as a high-end shopping mall with restaurants. 

 

But it has gotten off to a less than impressive start. Forsythe’s contribution was his same angst & yank stuff in a duet danced by two men, the tall Josh Johnson and the short Roderick George whose frame comes packed with balletic virtuosity. So if the 1980s thrill of In the Middle, Somewhat Elevated was in witnessing Sylvie Guillem wield her mile-long limbs like swords, would the adapted choreography’s now-dated charm translate to George’s flexible but clearly not long legs? Not really. If the “radical reimagining” was supposed to be simply a change in gender, physique type, and music – well then, boo to Forsythe and boo to Alex Poots, The Shed’s director, for thinking that this was something special. And the fact that it was preceded by an hour of Tino Sehgal’s presentation of people chanting in the dark did not advance New York’s reputation for cutting edge art.

 

This is New York. Please pay attention to content.

 

On the other hand, the first day of the Prelude to The Shed did include some engaging academic stuff. There were a bunch of architecture professionals milling around with carts of drawings and pictures which they used to explain the concept of The Shed and the influence that British architect Cedric Price had on the project. Price, who died in 2003, was a proponent of non-permanence in architecture. On view at the Prelude is a model of Price’s Fun Palace which he designed with theater director Joan Littlewood. It was very interesting to hear about Price’s plans for Manhattan which he submitted to a city planning competition — and lost. On the lot across the street from the location of the Prelude performances, he had proposed a building with a huge hole in the middle of it through which the air stream that flows down the Hudson River would be partially diverted through this building and into Midtown. A very cool idea, and there is still time to realize it in the Hudson Yards Development. 

 

Visitors were handed a book by Dorothea von Hantelmann entitled What is the new ritual space for the 21st century? The author delves into the importance of ritual gatherings in society and how ritual modalities and their places of gatherings have evolved over time. Very fascinating stuff. Von Hantelmann will participate in the Prelude's series of evening conversations on new institutional models.

 

Our enthusiasm for The Shed, which officially opens in 2019, has not been dampened by The Prelude, which by the way, was free. But, like we said, this is New York where one has to do better, especially when it comes to performing arts.

 

While tickets are available through The Shed's website, the Prelude seems to be a completely open event where people can just walk in off the 10th Avenue sidewalk throughout the day to check on the happenings.