NYCB Week 1Serenade, Mozartiana, Tsch Piano Concerto No. 2

Somebody’s out of shape.

A month and a half of holiday eating and then – wham bam! – it’s right into a string of seven performances at NYCB without so much as an episode of Law & Order with chips from the couch for a breather. But that’s the balletomane’s life. Truth be told, the law & order on the George Balanchine Stage at Lincoln Center during the first week of the Winter Season certainly helped to calm our junk food/anxiety/political pangs. 

 

Balanchine, Stravinsky, and Tschaikovsky kept the goings on stage on the straight & narrow. Energy was high, fifths were flat, and the dancing was in service to the art. The Corps de Ballet in Serenade has never looked more ravishingly beautiful or moved with a greater sense of sisterhood than they did last week. The women entered the stage time and time again as if carried by winds and often exited with faces turned upward to the sky to catch the light. 

 

Two casts of principals complemented the Corps de Ballet stars for the four performances of Serenade. Tiler Peck’s wondrous Russian Girl caught the spirit of the corps and danced with a vibrant independence and luscious musicality. Hers was the highlight performance among the principals. Lauren Lovette’s debut as the Waltz Girl in the alternate cast showed great promise. She also showed lovely musicality but on a smaller scale. And while the pairing of Lauren with Ask la Cour looked odd, it really didn’t hurt their individual performances. Ask’s debut in this role showed him to be in very good form and partnering with his usual elegance and faultless coordination. Aaron Sanz debuted and danced the other male role in all four performances. It’s a tougher assignment than the male role that is matched with the Waltz Girl because this secondary male must partner each of the three women principals as well as a slew of corps dancers who come flying toward him at full speed. Aaron didn’t allow himself to become overwhelmed although his concentration and determination were evident. This guy’s classical dancing and dramatics in the core repertory could take NYCB to a new level in the near future so long as he does not get injured from being over burdened with partners who are too large or thrown into too much worthless new choreography that relies on stupid pet tricks. He’s among the most handsome dancers in the company with an extremely readable face; he doesn’t need to wear more makeup than Sara Mearns. 

 

Speaking of makeup, if a dancer has a hard feature, is it really wise to emphasize it with black-red lipstick? Half of the principal ladies in Serenade seemed to think that black-red lipstick would make a difficult smile more appealing. It doesn’t make thin lips look bigger, and it has an extremely unflattering effect on a dropped expression. 

 

Mozartiana received exquisite readings from both Maria Kowroski and Sterling Hyltin although on different scales: Maria’s dancing in Mozartiana continues to burn with ever-increasing brightness like our own aging sun in our solar system; Sterling’s interpretation of Mozartiana is just beginning to form and release glow and warmth. Both artists seem to understand that they can trust the choreography and do not need to over-do facial expressions or convey faux happiness or drama. The lightness and weightlessness in their dancing and interpretations revealed the brilliance in the choreography.

 

Tyler Angle and Anthony Huxley each responded to the lightness of their ballerinas in kind. Tyler is dancing superbly this season with speed and articulation that one normally doesn’t see in a man his size. Anthony’s dancing has reached yet another level of brilliance. His every moment on stage is polished to perfection. In Mozartiana – first of all, he kills in the white tights – he blitzed through the allegro knocking out batterie with such straightforward clarity that it made one wonder why anyone else would have to struggle with it.

 

Daniel Ulbricht and Troy Schumacher shared performances of the Gigue, and both danced the steps cleanly and with energy. What made Daniel’s far more exciting was his intensity and his ability to dance on the front of each note — always on the music, but on the very front of the note.

 

Completing this program was the Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2. Ashley Bouder, Joseph Gordon and Lauren King led the first cast; Teresa Reichlen, Tyler Angle, and Megan LeCrone led the second. Lauren King’s performances were unquestionably the highlight of the current run. She out-danced, out-graced, out-performed everyone else and made this ballet about the “turning ballerina” which is what her role is nicknamed. Lauren’s progress over the years has been slow & steady - an anomaly at NYCB where the stars tend to rise quickly. But good heavens, she stole the show in this ballet and probably would have been more watchable in the lead ballerina role.

 

Ashley Bouder got her allegro steps just fine but offered little else. The upper body and arms were graceless. Due to the buildup of the muscles in the shoulders and arms, her port de bras is now shorter than ever. The extension of the leg and foot in developpe, while accurate, is not a particularly lovely line and shape. From the first note, it did not seem like this was a good matchup of dancer and ballet. Ashley is quite wonderful to see in lightning fast allegro of the Concerto DSCH variety, but big ballerina roles should be shelved. 

 

We can’t say what might have happened to Teresa Reichlen in the alternate cast, but her performance looked like her timid debut from several years ago. Fortunately, that debut was followed by powerhouse performances that demonstrated her ownership of the role. Hopefully, we’ll see that again in the coming week.

 

Megan LeCrone did not fare well in TPC 2 either. Joyless dancing with stern concentration made the role look terribly small and unimportant. 

 

As for the men, Tyler Angle once again delivered a solid performance as Teresa’s partner while powerfully and cleanly dispatching the allegro. Joseph Gordon enjoyed an excellent debut, but his matchup with Ashley was not pleasing. He was mesmerizing during the Andante non troppo when he partnered the two lines of women. Everything was vivid and worth watching: his own lines, his face, his reverie, his gracious manner with all of the ballerinas. Wherever his heart went in that section, we went, too.

 

The new costumes for TPC 2 were likable for several reasons: the blue-gray-navy color scheme is a bit unusual but handsome; the sparkles look good; the bodices are elaborate enough to go atop tutus. The only objection to this costume (as well as the previous ones) is the length of the skirt combined with the weight of the fabric which gives it a cocktail dress look. A cocktail length skirt looks fabulous overtop stilettos. Not so over a flat foot. Nor is the clingy cocktail length the best friend to the short leg. The cocktail length also looks odd below a tiara-ed head. Tiaras go with tutus or floor length gowns, not cocktail dresses. The combination of tiara and elaborate bodice over somewhat plain cocktail skirt yielded an unbalanced look. That said, we’ll take ‘em. They are an improvement over the peachy things of the past — they're just not the tutus that we had our hearts set on.

 

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award for last week’s Tschaikovsky program is bestowed upon Lauren King whose name was on the lips of many after each of her three glorious performances. 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[yukionna]

I wish Hyltin/Huxley got another Mozartiana. I wasn’t too keen on Mearns in that ballet last season. She can go a bit (a lot?) overboard in roles Suzanne Farrell created.

Lauren King has got to have the warmest and most genuine smile in the entire company.

[Haglund]

I totally agree with all of your points, yukionna.

[Emily]

So glad to read your reviews, as always, Haglund. Unrelated, I have never seen eyes THAT green on a kitty, just gorgeous!

[Haglund]

Thanks, Emily.

[Jennifer]

I saw this program last Friday night. The Mozartiana was over the top fabulous, as you noted. I have never seen Tyler Angle dance so well and I agree with your comments about the other principals. What a privilege to be in the audience for this program.

[Rachel Perez]

The Corp in Serenade was just as breathtaking as you mentioned, Haglund. I was lucky enough to sit in the center of the first ring and I was near tears with lovely a ballet it is. The shapes and the patterns! I’ve seen it many times but it really came alive last night seeing it at some distance. I still cannot get over the thick yellow panels in the women’s skirts. I’m sure they are peach or more Caucasian flesh colored but next to pink tights and toe shoes they look old and discolored.

I really enjoyed Lauren Lovette’s Russian girl. The elegy of this second cast was beautifully danced by all.

I agree with yukionna re Mearns in Mozartiana. I actually like her a great deal more than many Haglunders, but I do think she “plays” mozartiana as incredibly dramatic whereas I see it as formal, but with a lightness of being to it that Suzanne brought to this role. I couldn’t figure it out until I YouTube’d a clip of Suzanne this morning.

A wonderful season thus far, which is a credit to Stafford and the interim team. They’ve directed “their” company to some phenomenal dancing and a number of very promising debuts.

[Haglund]

I agree about those yellow panels stuck in the front of the skirts of Serenade. Sometimes they look lemony; sometimes they look buttery; sometimes they look cream-colored. Whatever they are, they truly reduce the beauty of the ballet. This change was a huge misfire and let's hope that it gets corrected quickly. I hope we are not on a path where every time costumes need refurbishing, they succumb to re-design whims. The Serenade costumes are classic. NYCB needs to get back to them ASAP.

I don't buy this diagonal waist band business which was allegedly adopted so the waistband doesn't lay across the widest part of the hips. If that's "a problem" then use dancers whose hips won't be offended by Karinska's original design. I would hate to think that this Serenade costume alternation was dreamed up to make Mearns or any wider dancer appear more svelte. NYCB has plenty of beautiful dancers who look gorgeous in the original costumes. Use those dancers.

[Rachel Perez]

I didn’t appreciate that was the stated rationale for the design change. I assumed it was because they wanted the skirts to appear to have even more movement, which I found unnecessary, but I’m no costume designer. I don’t think the new design is any more flattening to the less svelte ballerinas. Meghan Dutton O’hara stood out in the Corp in serenade last night and she looked lovely. Not to mention all of the dancers at NYCB are thin, just not all relative to their colleagues!

[pennsylvania]

Bouder is looking, shall we say, portly. It's not a pleasing look that's for sure.

[Haglund]

She's rectangular as she always has been, but her arms look increasingly matronly. As I indicated, she is quite wonderful in the power-driven allegro roles. But elegance and adagio lyrical line have never been among her strengths, and it's a little late to try to acquire them. Nor do I think the audience should be expected to overlook what's lacking in this case just because she can beat out the steps and jump. There are other dancers in the company who possess everything needed to dance the entire role. It's time for a reality check.

[B]

I won't comment on the ballet... but what a beautiful friend you have, Haglund!!