YAGP Gala 4/18

We're sure that even Anderson Cooper (had he been in attendance) would have agreed that there was more than enough evidence presented last evening at the YAGP Gala to indict leaders of major ballet organizations and their various media influencers for the decline in ballet. No one is ever going to make ballet great again by relying on men in their panties doing splits, or waving their arms gracefully while stalking a working ballerina in an iconic solo, or engaging in gymnastic tumbling. 

Let’s start with the worst, though. While it’s best never to say never, Haglund can’t imagine ever again buying a ticket to see Olga Smirnova in anything. With Kimin Kim as her partner in the Black Swan pdd, she managed to dance like she came out of some Siberian Institute of Farming instead of the Vaganova Academy. Such klutzy, uninspired work one rarely sees from a Bolshoi ballerina. The simplest turns were hesitant and done at a snail's pace. And here we had a Bolshoi ballerina who couldn’t get a stepover turn on balance. Then to wow the kids in the audience who always hold in a full 50% of their screaming for fouettes, Olga stepped to the corner of the stage to begin a manège of unimpressive pique turns instead. Thank goodness Kimin Kim delivered the goods — brilliantly, classically, respectfully, and spectacularly.

 

Olga was even worse than Isabella Boylston in the Don Q Jubilee at the end who had little to offer but strongly pointed feet. Lifeless, graceless, and clueless would pretty much describe her dancing in the PdD with Kimin Kim. It was like watching Sarah Huckabee Sanders drop her chin and face while delivering a load of lies that she hopes everyone will buy. Disappointment doesn’t begin to describe our reaction. Outrage that Boylston continues to get away with mediocrity is more like it. We can again thank Kimin Kim for delivering the goods — with bold Don Q authenticity. Thank goodness we were treated to Skylar Brandt’s zippy Amour variation, which the audience loved, Tyler Donatelli’s (Houston Ballet) Act III fouettes, and Christine Shevchenko’s brilliant Act I Kitri variation. Shevchenko invested three acts worth of energy into her variation. That’s how you win friends and influence people — the Ananiashvili/Dvorovenko way.

 

Time is short and we have more to get to…

 

Why on earth would anyone think that it’s cool to defile Fokine’s Dying Swan? While Smirnova performed a version of the iconic choreography, Calvin Royal in shiny white tights and shirtless stalked her in circles while waving his lovely arms. Yes, Calvin has lovely arms, no doubt about it. But I’m afraid that lovely arms are not the #1 priority when the public is looking for a new danseur to admire. But Calvin took some of our attention away from Olga which might have been best anyway. Thank goodness we have multiple strong memories of Ananiashvili and Lopatkina as the Dying Swan.

 

Indiana Woodward and Taylor Stanley danced the Tarantella PdD. It’s possible that Indiana learned the choreography during the day’s lunch break, we don’t know. But it was definitely not a good fit of dancer with dance. Her limbs are too cherubic for both the choreography and costume, and she did not have the energy that one expects to see in this PdD. Taylor started off with intense concentration, but by the end was relaxed and moving with high voltage running through his system. 

 

Melanie Hamrick’s new Porte Rouge to a medley of Rolling Stones tunes didn’t offend like the typical new choreography of the times, but it really did not have much invention. What it did have, however, was attention to structure in a Tharpian way. That was very interesting to see. Herman Cornejo, Daniel Ulbricht, Skylar Brandt, Thomas Forster, Calvin Royal, and Christine Shevchenko ripped through the pop-classical choreography with festive energy. Cornejo was thoroughly enjoying himself while reveling in his Sir Mick-ness. Ulbricht, who also danced this piece recently at the Mariinsky Festival, was spinning and rockin’ with the same high spirit. In the end, the piece had a Kings of Dance feel to it with the four guys tearing around the stage doing what they love to do. Good gala stuff, but probably not much more.

 

Hee Seo and Cory Stearns in the Act I PdD from Manon danced accurately but blankly. Both temporarily lost their composure when the kids in the upper rings started squealing at their passionate stage kiss. Ekaterina Kondaurova and Konstatin Zverev sliced through Forsythe’s In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated. Fabrice Calmels and Lucia Lacarra captivated us in Arpino’s Light Rain by their acute musical accents in this stretchy, bendy, unitard ballet. Zoey Anderson of Parsons Dance performed Caught — this dance, its concept, its use of strobe lighting to catch mid-air movement, and its originality never get old. Derek Dunn of Boston Ballet and Juliano Nunes of the Royal Ballet of Flanders danced Nunes’ premiere of Nothing Left. The best that this piece had going for it was Karen LeFrak’s music. The choreography was melodramatic gymno-nonsense with the guys cavorting around in their tight shorty pants.

 

The surprise highlight of the performance was Paso Doble performed by ABT’s Catherine Hurlin and World Ballroom Champion Denys Drozdyuk. Both exuded sex appeal, sassy charm, authoritative dancing, and were completely captivating while — almost unbelievably — performing fully clothed. She sizzled in a hot red dress; he was in black pants and Tango waistcoat. Shocking it was. No fouettes. No little panties. No personal messages about their personal lives. Just good, steaming hot, choreography (by Donnie Burns and Gaynor Fairweather, world Latin dance champs) that didn’t rely on anything but technique and artistry. There ya go…

 

In an equally hot red dress in the audience was Paloma Herrera. Lots of luminaries were there, as always. But what a surprise it was to see Peter Martins. People were stopping to greet him warmly and engage him just as they always did for decades. There is so much respect for his stewardship of the Balanchine legacy and gratitude for his nurturing of New York City Ballet for more than thirty years. 

 

We don’t usually toss out an H.H. Pump Bump Award for these types of galas but we were so impressed with Catherine Hurlin and Denys Drozdyuk that we simply can’t not throw a shoe at them even if that might mean something else in another part of the world. These are confusing times...

Comments

[Ellen]

Love your review, Haglund. I was there also and for me the lowest moment was the awful Hamrick piece. I don’t know where you sat, but from up in the Second Ring it really looked pedestrian. Even the star power of Cornejo couldn’t save it for me. Then there was Boylston. Is she never, ever going to do anything with those floppy wrists and claw hands? They ruin the look of everything she does. As for Tarantella, that was the blandest of the bland. God forgive me for saying this, but the last truly great Tarantella I saw was done by the Trocks a decade ago. Agree about the highlights of Kimin Kim, the Paso Doble and Caught.

[MK]

Denys, congratulation! You are the King of Ballroom, as I always said!
All of YOU: your trained body ( since age of four), your everyday hard work, your brain, your heart, your soul, your talent and sacrifice for art of dance - You ARE the real Art!

With love,

M

[Haglund]

Hi, Ellen.

I was sitting so close that I thought the strobe lights were going to trigger my first seizure. I'll have to be more careful the next time I see Caught on the schedule.

Unfortunately, I missed the Trocks' performance of Tarantella which was to be in Hudson River Park a summer or two ago. But thankfully, there is rehearsal video. The backdrop of the river is quite pleasing, but the baseball cap on the dancer is everything.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2RE-ttIQq0

[Haglund]

MK, your friend Denys was ferocious in last night's performance. Tremendous, just tremendous.

[MK]

From the bottom of my heart,Thank you dear Haglund, for your comments and appreciation of my son Denys! His Dance is my Life!

Kindly,

MK

[Haglund]

MK, it's always my pleasure to talk about a fabulous performance.

[yukionna]

Indiana debuted Tarantella in 2017 at the Kennedy Center. We actually have rehearsal footage of it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLOwc5rOVHA

[Jennifer Vasiloff]

Just saw the Friday evening performance which had a slightly different program. I agree that Kim was definitely the highlight of the evening but I also enjoyed the Carmen pas de deux. Of the swans, I have to say that Calvin Royal was the most horrifying. What a terrible idea to add another dancer to the Fokine work, randomly wandering the stage flapping. Wow. Could not wait until it was over. On the other hand, it was inspiring to see some of the talented youth