NYCB 1/22 Myths & legendary dancing open the season

Apollo, besides being the god of music, poetry, truth, healing, and sunlight, is also the god of foreigners and the protector of refugees. We thank him for taking time out of his impossibly busy schedule to open the Winter Season for New York City Ballet.

 

Taylor Stanley, debuting as Apollo, with Muses Tiler Peck, Brittany Pollack (also debuting), and Indiana Woodward were a competent if at times dull team last night. Was Apollo on Prozac? we asked ourselves.  It wasn’t all the dancers' fault, though. It seems that Maestro Litton, conducting from the newly named Stravinsky Orchestra Pit, was determined to keep everyone calm on stage by making the revelatory score sound like elevator music — slow, slight, and shallow. 

 

Over the past couple of years, Haglund has suggested that the stage be named the George Balanchine Stage at Lincoln Center so that we all don’t have to squirm when referring to the location of NYCB. Since this step of naming the orchestra pit after the great Stravinsky has now been taken, why can’t a donor or two step up for the privilege of naming the stage after Balanchine? And the city should still consider ceramic murals of Bing, Balanchine, and Bernstein in the 66th Street subway station. And maybe Toscanini, Tallchief, and Te Kanawa. Better yet, the Plaza at Lincoln Center should be a Walk of Arts with our great ones' faces and names forever engraved.

 

Back to the performance last night –

 

It will be interesting to see how Stanley’s Apollo develops over these next two weeks and whether he can figure out how to convey Apollo’s youthfulness and inexperience which were missing last night. Scowling into the spotlight and stoically glaring at the muses did not do the trick. For a dancer as expressive and intelligent as Stanley, this brand new type of expressiveness should come quickly. Throughout his performance, Haglund kept thinking about what Stanley's Prodigal Son might reveal to us. 

 

All of Apollo’s steps seemed to be intact. There was a little bit of extra wiggling of the shoulders and arms which didn’t contribute anything other than extra wiggling. But then, his Terpsichore, Tiler Peck, also occasionally indulged in a little bit of Broadway-type wiggling of the shoulders. Last night’s slow tempo meant that Tiler had time to embellish the choreography which is sometimes a great thing but not with the role of Terpsichore.

 

Brittany Pollack’s debut as Polyhymnia was the strong performance that we expected to see. No problems with the pique turns with finger to the lips. But there was a sense that the tempo was holding her back in places. Her exceptionally long, lean lines contrasted with those of Tiler’s and Indiana Woodward’s. Indiana’s Calliope wasn’t danced with the urgency that we normally associate with her dancing, but the role was danced faultlessly.

 

Balanchine’s Orpheus, created in 1948, may have been the choreographer saying, “I will do Martha Graham my own way.” Here’s a picture of Graham's 1944 Herodiade, a work based on the Greek myth with a little Jungian flavoring thrown in. Watching Orpheus requires some patience which some in the audience didn’t seem to have judging by the phone lights that went on during parts of it. The Stravinsky score is not dance-y or even particularly dramatic. It plods like Orpheus plodding through the Underworld searching for Eurydice. Last night’s performance was certainly better than the ones we saw the last time this dance came around thanks to Gonzalo Garcia’s expressive face and Sterling Hyltin’s melodic phrasing and commitment to her character.

 

Peter Walker was a demonic Dark Angel. Unity Phelan led the Bacchantes with an open throttle. That was certainly pleasing to see; however, there is still an awkwardness that appears when Unity’s shoulders go up, the arms with dropped elbows fly careless behind her torso, and the head juts forward. Every dancer knows that it feels good to do that, but it looks awful.

 

Following Orpheus several people in the row in front of Haglund left the performance, so the sightline for Agon could not have been more pleasurable. Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle wrestled through their pas de deux with Euclidean perfection and left us breathless. Such extraordinary geometry one rarely sees on the ballet stage — except at NYCB. It takes more than just long legs to achieve the visual art that Agon is. The ballerina must define the shapes with the longest possible arabesques, the largest possible circles, the most clearly defined angles. And Mr. Angle was expertly directing Maria's compass and pencil the whole way.

 

These days it’s so important to see every one of Maria’s performances in these iconic black & white masterpieces. Who knows if anyone her match will ever come along again in our lifetimes. We look at the instruments of corps dancers like Christina Clark and Clara Miller and think of the possibilities for the future of Agon; but that future is so far away that we may never see it.

 

Anthony Huxley danced the Sarabande with exuberance and a just-below-the-surface wryness. Megan LeCrone’s Bransle Gay was going great guns but then ended abruptly like there was a miscommunication with the music. Daniel Applebaum demanded our attention with every step, battement, arabesque, and even when he was standing still.  Lydia Wellington, Unity Phelan, and Devin Alberda completed the principal cast and danced handsomely. It’s such a pleasure to see Lydia Wellington get a few more opportunities. She radiates unusual warmth whenever she’s on stage and would probably make a stunningly beautiful Lilac Fairy.

 

So that was the opening night. Overall, there was a sense of caution in the dancing with not much risk taking. At times it all came close to an “I’m okay, you’re okay; let’s all have a nice day” sort of performance. That’s not what we come to NYCB to see.

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Maria Kowroski who after nearly 25 years is still kicking ass and delivering legendary dancing like no one else.

 

 

 

Comments

[yukionna]

Great review! I’m glad I got to see Orpheus. It’s an interesting work for sure, but not my particular cup of tea.

Looking forward to Tschai PC2 tonight. I hope the new costumes turn out well.

[Solor]

The real tragedy is that the building itself wasn't named the George Balanchine Theater. A shame Koch wasn't big enough to understand the significance that gesture would have had.

[Marta]

Hi Haglund,

Terrific review! I saw the performance and although Stanley was good [and better than Catazaro's Apollo last year], I definitely thought something was missing. You articulated it: not enough youthfulness and too much stoical glaring. Stanley's stern countenance was very off. I was disappointed by Woodward and thought she could have been much more expressive.

I saw Orpheus long long ago with Peter Martins and never saw it again until last night. Garcia, not a favorite of mine, danced very well and Hyltin was great.

You said it all about the magnificent Maria Kowroski in Agon! She is the personification of the notes in the score. I've loved this dancer since I first saw her when she was very young. What a thrill for us that she's still dancing.

[Gerry]

Well naturally the NYT (Siebert) has almost the exact opposite review of the performance, right down to Pollack being "shaky". What a joke that rag is.

And now dancers must dance with a "gender-fluid" quality??

I'm out.

[Haglund]

LOL, Gerry. And the number of Apollo debuts that Siebert has seen for comparison is___?. And the number of performances of Apollo that Siebert has seen is ___?. All he did in his "review" was carry on with the NYT socio-political agenda which is now more important than the art in the art pages of NYT. Instead of playing it safe and only writing what he actually knew from his own experience, Siebert just drank & poured the Macaulay-Kourlas Kool-Aid.

Brittany Pollack's debut was NOT shaky. It's doubtful that Siebert ever saw Mearns fumble through the role or Bouder's tension-filled less than perfect efforts in the role. But the NYT agenda to some how convey nepotistic casting is clear--a clear effort to detract from the great job that Jon Stafford is doing. Wait until you see what Siebert/Kourlas or whomever writes about Abi Stafford's performances this week and next. It's probably already written.

Now, let's ask again, why aren't there any African American classical arts critics at the New York Times? Where's our critic "for our time." Obviously, the Times practices the same type of racism that it complains permeates ballet.

[Rose]

Oh no, it would upset me so much if they go after Abi Stafford. I've always loved her dancing and, though it's shallow, always thought she was one of the prettiest dancers in the company.
She's been woefully undercast in the last 5 years and I was so happy to see her back on the casting sheet since Martins has left.

[Haglund]

Rose, I disagree with your implication that there is a connection between Abi's recent castings and Martins' departure. Abi was out a long time on maternity leave. Prior to that Martins and Ratmansky both cast her quite a bit and appropriately. She's near the end of a very long and respected career at NYCB. She hasn't been dancing anything that she shouldn't be, and I don't think that either she or Brittany should have to forgo new opportunities that other dancers get just because some ignoramuses at NYT might pounce on a knee-jerking, reactionary opportunity.

[Ellen]

Hi, Haglund,

It's your contrarian friend, Ellen, who once again is out of step with others. For what it's worth, here is what I thought about Tuesday night. I've been going to City Ballet since 1973, so even though I don't go all that often every year, I've seen enough to have an opinion.

Apollo: I thought it was the best I have ever seen. This is the first time I saw a god and muses. All the other times I've seen photogenic dancers in white costumes, but who or what they were supposed to be never came through. I also thought Taylor Stanley had tons of energy, more than I've seen anyone else in the part has had. I thought the whole thing was a triumph and the highlight of the evening..

Agon: I thought it was very good but not so great as the Apollo. Anthony Huxley stood out to me; I couldn't take my eyes off him whenever he was on stage.

Orpheus: To the best of my recollection I have only seen two other performances of this, both with Peter Martins and Karin von Aroldingen, two or three seasons apart. I don't believe I've seen anyone else in the roles. The first Orpheus was electrifying and remains one of my great memories of City Ballet. The sensuality of Eurydice as she twined herself around Orpheus was off the charts and the unbearable struggle of Orpheus to not rip his eyeshade off was unreal. The dramatic commitment by the principals is burned in my brain. Now, you can correct me if I am wrong. but my memory is that in those performances, in the moment when Orpheus ripped off the eyeshade, Eurydice vanished instantly. She was literally ripped away under the curtain. It was a body blow and I was stunned. (More so the first time; the second performance didn't live up to the first.)

In contrast, I thought Tuesday night was a dull, lifeless, crashing bore. The seat in front of me was empty and I had a very good view from up in the 2nd Ring. I had to restrain myself from laughing out loud when I actually saw arms protruding from under the white curtain to pull Eurydice back after she had been on the floor for an eternity. There was absolutely none of that nonsense with Martins/von Aroldingen. My verdict on Tuesday's Orpheus: awful, just awful.