Haglund'eelers are snapping up the tickets to the February 19 screening of the Royal Ballet's La Bayadere at Landmark Theater Cinemas on W. 57th St. We all recall how the RB's Swan Lake sold out quickly which necessitated opening up a second screening room for the overflow crowd; but there is no guarantee that another screening room will be opened this time. So, we recommend getting your tickets ASAP. No opportunity to see Marianela Nuñez should be missed.
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Haglund is skipping the Justin Peck premiere this evening. Of late, the choreographer hasn't made enough progress and has continued to offer up the same schtickky pseudo-intellectual pop dope accompanied by media which suggests it's like some gift from Christ. On a program where NYCB has elected to celebrate, promote, and normalize the violence and misogyny inherent in rap music, it all becomes too easy to walk away from.
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In our review of NYCB's Tschaikovsky program, we neglected to mention the outstanding debut that Emilie Gerrity made as the Dark Angel in Serenade. A dancer who possesses near-perfect physical and technical form, Emily is a full-service ballerina who excels in the stark black and white ballets as well as the lusciously romantic ones. Burned into the memory is the image of her in Serenade where her stationary arabesque ascended slowly until it pointed to the heavens.
We're happy to report that on Tuesday evening, Teresa Reichlen soared in Tschaikovsky PC 2 as we hoped she would following her timid performance last week. Her temperature was perfect for the main ballerina role: slightly cool, approachable, confident. The dancing was strong, assertive without being brash, and glamour-worthy of the tiara atop her head. Loved the performance.
But Mozartiana -- good grief, what a miscast. Such bull-in-a-china-cabinet mucking around we got from Sara Mearns. Clomp, clomp, clomp went the hops on pointe with cutesy expression. She seemed to be having such a good time missing her steps and trying to turn them into artistry. And, trust us, whenever anyone hears a ballerina publicly over-proclaim how important a role is to her and what it means to be allowed to dance it, you know damn well that she knows she should not be dancing it. But she was having such a wonderful time... How about thinking more about the quality and integrity of what one is putting on stage rather than whether one is having a great time. Hopefully, this is the last season that we'll have to see Mearns in Mozartiana.
We found Harrison Ball's Gigue pretty darned pleasing -- dancing, musicality, and especially expression. The only thing we object to were those moments where it looked like he might consider them a place to get a little rest. The front attitude in plie that came at the end of a musical phrase arrived on time but not with the punctuation that one sees in Ulbricht's performances where there are definitely no resting places.
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In the Department of Who Takes Their Arts Seriously: There was an uproar among the public and performing artists this month in Kyrgyzstan when the Kyrgyz National Academic Opera and Ballet Theater allowed their theater to be used for a Cyber Sports tournament of Dota 2, the multi-player computer game devoted to violence and war. Such was the uproar – which included baritone Tair Beisheev's public declaration that a "terrible event" was taking place where great names, the sons and daughters of Kyrgyzstan had performed – that the director of the theater was dismissed by the country's Culture Minister. The country's Prime Minister signed a decree relieving the director of his position. Aren't we lucky here in America where Kanye West's violence and misogyny can be glamorized and normalized on the ballet stage in the name of promoting diversity without any such consequences?
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