Haglund's Heel

NYCB Sat 9/29 Mat & Eve Huxley in La Sylphide – As if to the manner born

On Saturday evening, Anthony Huxley returned to the role of James in La Sylphide, which in 2015 vaulted him to his appointment as principal dancer along with his partner at the time, Lauren Lovette. That New Yorkers have had the privilege of seeing both Huxley and Herman Cornejo (across the way) dance this role in recent years is one of those blessings for which balletomanes will be eternally grateful. Huxley's dancing and theatrical interpretation were brilliant. He carried himself in true Bournonville fashion throughout the evening as though he had been born to it. His allegro cut across the stage with the sharpness and accuracy of a Boker Gorm chef knife. (Gorm was the first Danish king.) His dramatic timing was acutely musical. His fascination and obsession with the Sylph were totally convincing. Every aspect of his performance needs to be praised including his partnering which on this evening was everything one could ask for.

In the evening Ashley Bouder’s enjoyable Sylph was more of an earthen tease than Sterling Hyltin’s ethereal sprite at the Saturday matinee opposite Joaquin de Luz’s handsome, amusing James. Ashley was quick to seize on potential balances, but they were static showstoppers as opposed to the breathing, floating balances that were present in Sterling’s performance. 

 

Marika Anderson gave an outsized performance as Madge in both performances on Saturday. Her witch was unpredictable and strangely endearing.

 

Lauren’s King’s Effie in the matinee was a sparkling lass whose wide-eyed naiveté, easy smile, and bold dramatics allowed her to hold her own against the uninhibited theatrics of de Luz and Daniel Ulbricht as Gurn, James’ rival for Effie. Gurn’s one grand allegro variation in Act I is less than a minute long but punishingly slow to elicit maximum height and distance of jumps. Ulbricht made them seem effortless. In the evening, Harrison Ball’s Gurn variation looked like a forerunner to what could be his James during the next run of La Sylphide. What a pleasure it was to see that Ball can deliver comedy; we’re so used to his serious expression that borders on grim that this sudden change made us see him as someone with more wide-ranging possibilities on the stage. His Effie in the evening was Megan LeCrone. She, too, stepped out of her ultra-serious default expression to create a warm and somewhat daffy character.

 

But for the color palette chosen for the costumes, this is a handsome production staged lovingly by Peter Martins with the assistance of Petrusjka Broholm in 2015. Ms. Broholm, a Bournonville expert who also stages Martins' works and Alexei Ratmansky’s works on other companies around the world, has recently joined ABT as a teacher in the school and as the ballet mistress for the ABT Studio Company directed by Sascha Radetsky. 

 

La Sylphide was the closing piece on a program that included Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante, Justin Peck’s Easy, and Christopher Wheeldon’s Carousel [A Dance].

 

Sara Mearns and Tyler Angle led Allegro Brillante at the matinee with success but without the brilliance implied in the title. It’s not a good fit for Sara’s strengths; trying to force the ballet to fit her is the wrong approach. Maybe if the music were the big symphony that Tchaikovsky originally intended it to be before discarding the symphonic form to focus on it as a concerto, it would be grand enough to accommodate Sara’s very big and intense style of movement. But it’s a concerto; a quick, at times delicate concerto that requires delicacy and lightness in the ballerina. 

 

On Saturday evening, Tiler Peck, who is now this ballet’s foremost interpreter, danced with a debuting Roman Mejia, a corps member for less than a year. An obvious talent of the allegro persuasion, Roman is also height disadvantaged and leg length disadvantaged. When he bolted onto the stage leading a squadron of medium and tall, lean, long-legged men (Andrew Scordato, Aaron Sanz, Daniel Applebaum, Devin Alberda), he looked like a fierce little Napoleon with major Latino flair. Charming, yes. Big arabesque saute, yes. Balletic leg lines either en l’air or à terre, nuh uh. Roman was exciting and he was excited — so much so that he nearly dumped Tiler to the Marley and had a few other mishaps. We’ve helped bolster up many danseurs as they brought their partnering skills up to speed, and we’ll hold up Roman, too. But we have to see lines if he is going to dance in ballets such as Allegro Brilliante. 

 

Tiler was a very good sport in all of this — kind of like the mother cat who took her kitten’s clumsiness all in stride. Hopefully, between Saturday and their next performance on Wednesday, she will have grabbed that kitten by the scruff of the neck and taken him somewhere for a little cleanup.

 

There’s not much to say about Peck’s Easy which is set to Leonard Bernstein’s Prelude, Fugue and Riffs. It’s trivial, boring, and borrows too much from Robbins. The audience wasn't enthused enough on Saturday afternoon to even bring the dancers to the front of the curtain for bows. 

 

Wheeldon’s Carousel [A Dance] is inferior to the piece that Kenneth MacMillan made and not engaging without voices singing “If I Loved You”. Tiler Peck in the afternoon and Lauren Lovette in the evening stamped the choreography with their own beautiful and individual nuanced interpretations. Tyler Angle was a superb partner and had both a softness and the toughness of a carnival barker. 

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a gold party stiletto by Danish designer Nanna Liv, is bestowed upon Anthony Huxley for the beauty of his Bournonville in La Sylphide.

 

 

 

 

 

Like a lame Carson jokeHow bad was it?!

It was so bad that the Citizen App on Haglund's phone sent him an alert that a crime was in process at Lincoln Center. Twice.

We are, of course, talking about New York City Ballet's Fall Gala performance that has dropped its focus on ballet in favor of trying to sell low brow pop culture to the high brow crowd. The new choreography at this annual event has devolved into freestyle punctuated with ballet clichés. From one couple: "I don't think we should have purchased front row for this." No kidding. Not even back row would have been a sensible way to spend money.

But sensibility is not what this particular gala is about. Nor is it apparently about projecting responsibility and maturity at a time when the institution's sense of responsibility and maturity have come under attack and recently suffered a major loss to suicide. Here's what NYCB chose to dance to last evening in Kyle Abraham's The Runaway:

We're going to skate to one song and one song only
Ball so hard muh'fuckas wanna fine me

So I ball so hard muh'fuckas wanna fine me
But first niggas gotta find me
What's fifty grand to a muh'fucka like me
Can you please remind me?
Ball so hard, this shit crazy
Y'all don't know that don't shit phase me

...

She said 'Ye can we get married at the mall?
I said look you need to crawl 'fore you ball
Come and meet me in the bathroom stall
And show me why you deserve to have it all

 

And this:

 

The most beautiful thoughts are always besides the darkest
Today I seriously thought about killing you
I contemplated, premeditated murder
And I think about killing myself
And I love myself way more than I love you, so
Today I thought about killing you, premeditated murder.

 

While NYCB may think it's cool to joyfully skip blithely across the violence and misogyny of popular hip hop culture, the majority of the audience (excepting the student screamers in the 4th Ring) thought otherwise. It also begs the question: If they put this on stage, how can they object to any dancer's private texts or emails that celebrate similarly atrocious behavior?

 

In Gianna Reisen's Judah set to selections from John Adams' "John's Book of Alleged Dances", we had an unrealized concept that relied once again on freestyle dance punctuated with ballet clichés. At the back corner of the stage and at the opposite front corner of the stage were two white staircases of six steps. We truly wish that they would have led to somewhere, anywhere. Instead, they were used to present two dancers in white unitards (attractive costumes). As in Gianna's previous piece created for NYCB, we had a large group of dancers carrying one atop them to signify – what? Chunks of music were devoted to intricate hand movements of the type that one would see in a Christopher Wheeldon piece when he runs out of ideas for steps.

 

The Exchange by Matthew Neenan set to Antonin Dvořák was the most cohesively constructed dance on the program. Here again, though, it was mostly freestyle dance punctuated with ballet clichés. But they were clichés that became clichés because we've been watching them forever in Jiří Kylián's work and in Najarian's Gaga. By the way, Lady Gaga was listed in the gala program as an honorary committee member, but we know of no sightings of her.

 

Since this gala was principally for the costumes, we'll speak of them briefly: we've seen them before – except for the black and white creations by Giles Deacon for the Abraham dance. The headpieces were as outrageous as they were fun. Sara Mearns in a black wig with straw-like pigtails sticking out of the sides of her head took the night's honors when she chaînéd on the diagonal without allowing her headpiece to "helicopter" her into the air. We can't be sure, but we think that it was Peter Walker in a headpiece that looked like his head was stuck in the middle of an upside down black broom. Even though he couldn't really "dance" in it, the effect was awesome when he lay down on the floor horizontally.

 

We're glad this gala is over with. We knew it was in trouble from the start when the dancers decided to address the audience with a speech about how committed they are to ballet and to maintaining a respectable culture – you know, one in which you hear "Today I seriously thought about killing you / I contemplated, premeditated murder" and "I said look you need to crawl 'fore you ball / Come and meet me in the bathroom stall And show me why you deserve to have it all." NYCB needs to get its signals straight.

 

 

NYCB All Balanchine thru 9/26 Notorious GB

George Balanchine’s great company, which he founded and which was subsequently nurtured by his handpicked successor Peter Martins to become the most extraordinary ballet company in the world, continues on its blazing path under interim leader, Jon Stafford. The company is focused, engaged, and accelerating at a breathless pace. 

 

The first week and a half of NYCB’s fall season was a mammoth display of artistic force – nine performances that left the large audiences overcome by the architectural polish and beauty of Balanchine's King Kong-sized ballets – and Haglund saw every one of them. The dancers lifted themselves above the cacophony of ugly, baseless attacks on the NYCB institution and art form to deliver glorious dancing that was, as the man in the fedora said in the 1933 movie, the “beauty that killed the beast.” By the way, King Kong, the Musical opens in preview performances on Broadway next week. Yep, Haglund will be there, and he will be sitting close enough to the stage to smell Kong’s breath.

 

Let’s finish up the Jewels performances by talking about our new Emeralds. Lauren King and Daniel Applebaum were ravishing as a new first couple. His legs are so long, thin, and straight that they looked like an architect’s drafting tool as they created perfect lines and angles in response to the French curves that Lauren drew with her own limbs and wonderfully flexible back. Lauren tamped down her nearly irrepressible smile for the first half of Emeralds to create more dynamic. The problem is that once the natural expression is eliminated, the artist must insert something in the void so as to avoid blankness. Lauren will have to go through the same discovery process that Tiler Peck did some years ago when she realized the value of modulating her radiant smile. 

 

Megan LeCrone debuted in the “walking” pas de deux opposite Andrew Scordato. Her Tuesday performance was more fully realized than the debut on Sunday when the solo parallel bourrées walking forward may have suffered from debut tension. Megan’s movement had deep, beautiful sweep and expanse – much like her dancing in Serenade – and she danced breathlessly when she allowed her sense of urgency to take over.

 

Sarah Villwock enjoyed a sparkling debut in the Pas de Trois with Harrison Ball and Kristen Segin. Sarah was also a member of the snap-perfect corps de ballet in Concerto Barocco each night.

 

This season Teresa Reichlen, Abi Stafford, and Russell Janzen led all of the Concerto Barocco performances brilliantly. Each performance gained in strength and freedom. 

 

Joaquin de Luz gave his final salute to Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux on Wednesday evening with a tune-up the Friday before. We are really going to miss Joaquin in this one. The company now is in the hole with Tschai Pas. It has to come up with some new men who possess the virtuosity that makes this gem zing. Same with Rubies. Harrison Ball debuted in the role opposite Ashley Bouder on Saturday evening. He delivered mostly squeaky clean technique without much virtuosity. Cabrioles were unimpressive. Other grand allegro diagonals were basic and cleanly danced without being impressive either in size or complexity. Partnering was pretty smooth even though Ashley is probably a little too tall for him.

 

Stravinsky Violin Concerto enjoyed two magnetic casts. Sterling Hyltin, Ask la cour, Sara Mearns, and Taylor Stanley led two performances while Lauren Lovette, Jared Angle, Maria Kowroski, and Adrian Danchig-Waring led the third performance. We were mesmerized by the Mearns/Stanley rapport. Opposite Taylor, it was impossible for Sara to take on any over-wrought or self-absorbed seriousness that sometimes make her performances seem heavy. The two dancers contrast in so many ways and yet somehow seem perfect together. Lauren Lovette and a debuting Jared Angle were an odd couple. She is perfection in miniature while he tends to recall a late-career Ivan Nagy in his physical form. Maria and Adrian delivered a powerful and stirring pas de deux, but then Adrian didn’t show up again on stage having apparently injured himself. It all became a little awkward but Maria handled it smoothly, but not happily.

 

Symphony in C was the salve for the soul that it always is. Several dancers made New York debuts after having had role debuts while on tour. Joseph Gordon, in particular, in the First Movement Allegro Vivo is rocketing his way toward indispensability. In addition to razor sharp allegro that eats up space, he possesses fine partnering skills and enough height to be paired with almost any of the ballerinas. He looked especially fetching opposite Tiler Peck and seemed inspired to try to keep up with her. That's exactly what we need. The Second Movement received its incomparable interpretation by Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle on two nights while Jared Angle and Sara Mearns performed it once. Indiana Woodward and Sebastian Villarini-Velez danced the Third Movement like arrows shot from bows. Erica Pereira and Troy Schumacher were much more suited to the technical finesse required of the Fourth Movement rather than their usual assignments in the Third Movement. Erica would stand out more and be more appreciated as a soloist if she would just move her dancing downstage a couple of meters. It would make all the difference in the world. 

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, Manolo Blahnik's ode to Emeralds, is bestowed upon Lauren King and Daniel Applebaum. Here's hoping that we see a lot more of them soon.

 

 

 

observations 9-23

Landmark Theatres at W. 57th & 12th Ave has now added a third screening of An American in Paris starring Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope. Tickets are available for tomorrow night (Monday, 9/24) at 7PM. Reserve your reclining seat here.

 

 

NYCB 9/19 & 9/20So many jewels, so little time

New York City Ballet waltzed out wearing more new bling on Wednesday night.

 

Taylor Stanley brought exceptional grace and pristine line to his Emeralds debut opposite an enchanting Tiler Peck. Unity Phelan, debuting in the Emeralds “walking” pas de deux, found in Adrian Danchig-Waring’s perfect partnering the guidance she needed to dance more freely, although more effort needs to be made to show less effort.  Sara Adams, Sean Suozzi, and Meagan Mann brought a vivid energy to their pas de trois along with some much appreciated unison.

 

In her debut Claire Kretzschmar gave the Rubies Tall Girl role a unique and fascinating interpretation as a predator. There’s room for that reading in this ballet. However, even though she is long-limbed and narrow, she is not tall. When the curtain opened, it was difficult to spot her in the half circle of dancers standing on pointe because they were as tall or taller than she was. There were times when she blended in with the corps rather than seeming apart and in charge of it. We’ll have to give her some time to see what adjustments can be made to overcome the absence of height, because the character she created was indeed different and interesting. She was startling quick on the uptake Thursday in her second performance; the technique was far more secure and the articulation was thrillingly emphatic. However, in both performances, when the grand battements reached their peaks a la seconde, the ankle seemed lax and the foot not fully pointed which spoiled the overall effect.

 

Sterling Hyltin and Andrew Veyette were an odd couple in the Rubies pas de deux. Her light, quicksilver, and highly spirited dancing contrasted with his sullen and perfunctory performance. It was a good thing that Sterling’s brilliance, flexible back, and devotion to the choreography were able to hold up the both of them.

 

In his most major assignment since his promotion to soloist, Joseph Gordon revealed himself to have grand partnering abilities and noble bearing in addition to his technical wizardry in the Diamonds pas de deux opposite the bold but rushing Sara Mearns. By the way, tickets for her March performances of I Married An Angel at NY City Center are now on sale to members. The non-members can buy beginning on Monday. Tickets in the balcony are $35. Haglund wouldn’t miss this opening night for anything after having seen Sara triumph in Bourne’s The Red Shoes last year. 

 

Thursday night’s performance included Joaquin de Luz's final salute to Rubies. The audience was torn between "That’s remarkable!” and “Whoa guy, please don’t try that again at your age.” But of course, he did, over and over again. Those traveling double tours en l'air with the legs tucked were launched with the love of candy as was the series of spinning emboité turns across the front of the stage. Nobody loves dancing more than Joaquin de Luz. It was a relief to read in the Playbill that he anticipates some ballet coaching and teaching in his future as well as other performing projects. It was Haglund’s hope that Joaquin and Tiler Peck might turn up in A Chorus Line this fall at City Center, but there has been no indication of that as yet.

 

As his final partner in Rubies, Ashley Bouder gave her all in celebration of this magnificent and adored dancer. The spark was there between them and the rapport could not have been more honest and sincere.

 

Once again last night, Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle were million carat gem quality in Diamonds.  Maestro Litton gave them all the music they wanted so they, in turn, could give everything they wanted to give. It was a glorious performance that brought the audience to its feet.

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Weitzman original with 600+ rubies valued at $2,000,000 (for the pair), is bestowed upon Joaquin de Luz who, like Maria, seems intent on making great memories for us right to the last moment.

 

 

 

 

Arthur Mitchell

soars into the clouds...

RIP.

 

NYCB 9/18 Powerlifting

New York City Ballet’s fall season opened with Balanchine's Jewels which was masterfully led by the company’s long respected senior veterans. Their calm and focus never wavered throughout the evening. Only during a few moments of Faure’s Pavane and Tschaikovsky’s Finale when the music let the movement rest did the composure of some seem uncertain. Their shoulders may be sore this morning from the massive weight they carried last evening, but the dancers certainly must still feel the generous and genuine support of the large audience.

 

A strong debut in the Emeralds Pas de Trois by corpsman Spartak Hoxha, who was substituting for principal Anthony Huxley, confirmed once again – as if there are still any doubters – that the depth of talent in this company is unparalleled. We were amazed at his double tours – so fast that the revolutions seemed completed before he got to the peak of his jump. His strong and ever-confident partnering of Erica Periera and Indiana Woodward – two very different dancers – revealed his instant adaptability. Both Erica and Indiana danced sublimely. However, Indiana seemed in her own universe musically. We’ve seen many different pairings of ballerinas in this section of Emeralds over the years. Regardless of their differences, they've always seemed to understand that they were a pair rather than individuals hoping to stand out. 

 

Ashley Laracey and Ask la Cour in the “walking” Pas de Deux sustained the quiet beauty of this section – she with a slightly mysterious parfum, he with nobility and tenderness. 

 

Abi Stafford and Jared Angle, between them they have nearly 40 years with NYCB, danced their main PdD and variations with the exact qualities that one wants to see in Emeralds. Abi's warm and engaging demeanor and Jared’s intense interest in her created a hint of story that left the viewer wanting more. But unfortunately what was wanting was flexibility in Abi’s back and anything close to a 90 degree arabesque. Ditto with Jared. Once the arabesque goes, so to speak, the dancer should relinquish roles where it is expected.

 

The Emeralds corps de ballet had some skittish newcomers nervously trying to find their spots on the stage which made the confident beauty of Christina Clark’s dancing stand out even more. 

 

Rubies was curiously formal. Both Joaquin de Luz and Ashley Bouder threw off the mandated technique easily, but there wasn’t much charisma and the rapport seemed standardized. Emily Kikta, on the other hand, was a sensational Tall Girl. Those legs were flexible whips that the male quartet was begging for, and Emily came fully prepared to deliver. 

 

The Diamonds Pas de Deux might be the most brilliant that Balanchine ever created. And in the fifty years since its creation, no interpreter has brought more beauty and articulation to the ballerina role than Maria Kowroski.  The song has found its perfect voice, and the voice has found its perfect song. It was nearly difficult to believe the level to which Maria and Tyler Angle rose last evening. They weren’t dancing choreography; they were delivering scripture, singing praises, and humbly grateful for the opportunity. We could not have asked for a more uplifting performance where the dancers simply gave everything in their souls and soles to put beauty on the stage. Maria’s arabesque was as stunningly beautiful as it was twenty years ago but now it holds more authority. Did we notice that she had to curb her own force to avoid a third revolution in a pirouette that might have seemed too showy — yes, we did. Tyler seems to have found a new dedication to grand allegro. His was splendid last evening, particularly in his manège of coupé-jeté en tournant.

 

At the end of Emeralds, Rubies, and Diamonds, the danseurs escorted their ballerinas to the front of the stage and then stepped back several feet deferring to the women and allowing them to bask in the applause. It is one small courtesy long embedded in ballet’s tradition which acknowledges the prime importance of the woman in the classical art form. Truthfully, much more often than not, she is the reason we buy tickets.

 

Probably not too far down the road will be some political operator’s demand that everyone in classical ballet stand side by side on the stage at bows with no differences. The zealot-driven frenzy and desire to eliminate courtesy and differences is based on the simple ignorance that all courtesy and differences among men and women are bad and always denote inequality. (Actually we can even see some has-been dance magazine putting up an online petition about "democratizing ballet bows for the good of the collective" in order to convince themselves that they are relevant in the world of ballet, and then claiming it was their original idea.) The Let’s-Make-A-Stink-To-Get-Some-Attention has become SOP. 

 

ISS (It’s so sad.)

 

Our HH Pump Bump Awards are bestowed upon Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle for the elegance and authority with which they danced Diamonds.

 

 

 

New York City BalletThe MLB Season officially opens tomorrow!

Let's go let's go let's go, People.

Dancers – Rise above the banshee wailing of obnoxious tribalists and their political maneuvering. Dance your feet off!

Audience – Rise above the banshee wailing of obnoxious tribalists and their political maneuvering. Clap your hands off!

Here we go here we go here we go!

Emeralds, Rubies, Diamonds -- it's the purest of gold, People. We are so lucky.

Rise, Everyone.

 

 

NYCB terminates Catazaro and Ramasar

Email from Jon Stafford and Katherine Brown:

In a previous communication from New York City Ballet, you learned that the Company recently undertook an internal investigation that determined that Zachary Catazaro, Chase Finlay, and Amar Ramasar had violated the norms of conduct that NYCB expects of its employees. At that time New York City Ballet took the initial action of suspending Catazaro and Ramasar, and had made the decision to terminate Finlay, prior to receiving notice of his resignation.

After further assessment of their conduct and its impact on the NYCB community, the decision has been made to terminate Catazaro and Ramasar. A workplace where our dancers and staff feel respected and valued is our highest obligation, and we will not allow the private actions of a few to undermine the hard work and strength of character that has consistently been demonstrated by the other members of our community, or the excellence for which the Company stands.

Your thoughts these past weeks have been welcome and appreciated. And thank you again, for your support of New York City Ballet.

 

Katherine E. Brown
Executive Director

Jonathan Stafford
Interim Artistic Team Leader

 

 

Surprise, surprise – for ABT, that is

That little announcement by The Met Opera's Peter Gelb on a late Friday afternoon no doubt caught ABT off guard. The reduction of ABT's Met Season from eight to five weeks has been a topic of speculation for more than a year. (We suggested the possibility in August of 2017 here when we heard that Julio Bocca had resigned his position in Uruguay and we begged the ABT board to quickly sign him.) Now the Met Season cutback is official, and there is no way for ABT, who has been holding this development under its hat for a long time, to put a good spin on the news.

ABT's board has ignored the company's #1 problem for years and now it's painfully clear that they're going to let Mr. #1 Problem sink the ship. They’ve already considered moving the company either to Washington DC or LA. They’ve tried and failed to build an LA partnership multiple times including the current one. They’ve failed to engage the other boroughs in NYC with their Nutcracker. They’ve failed to impress with new works. All of it has been directed with the nasal drone of a dull director who should never have had the job in the first place. He has never understood that ABT's core audience will not put up with mediocre crap on the stage no matter how big some dancer's celebrity status or  Instagram account are and no matter how hard The Gray Lady's moronic critics try to persuade everyone how great they are. ABT's core audience demands excellence and it has been indignant toward McKenzie's insistence on putting less than excellence on stage – it's about excellence from every corner of the organization. Anything less is unacceptable.

Let us backtrack on the above statement that there is no way for the company to put a good spin on the news. An unequivocal "McKenzie is out" would be met with rejoicing across the land.