It's impossible to count the many times in the past 25+ years that Maria Kowroski has rocketed through the balletic Kármán Line to deliver celestial performances. As proof, those who were listening closely last week may have even heard William Shatner whisper as he stared out the window from the edge of space, "My god, I feel like Maria Kowroski."
In a well planned Farewell performance yesterday, Maria personally saluted Balanchine, Bigonzetti, and Wheeldon by dancing their works and called on Sterling Hyltin and Gonzalo Garcia to dance a representative Robbins piece. Opening with the first Pas de Deux from Chaconne opposite Russell Janzen proved to be a fitting choice. The artists' limbs homed in on beautiful balletic lines as the flute wept its long notes of goodbye. Maria exited the stage in Chaconne, her leg pawing the air like the mythological Pegasus cantering above the clouds with Janzen providing her wings.
But Maria was not done flying on this day – she just had to change vehicles. After a few lovely minutes of Opus 19/The Dreamer, Maria returned to the stage for an excerpt from DGV: Danse a Grande Vitesse. While holding Maria horizontally high over his head, Tyler Angle backed onto the stage slowly like he was marshalling a jumbo jet off the runway and into its assigned gate. The excerpt was simply phenomenal. There was no need for scenery or other principal dancers, just a seamless corps that moved with linear precision in the background sort of like we see in Robbins' Glass Pieces.
The presumably final ever performance of Bigonzetti's AMARIA, which the choreographer made as a tribute to Maria and Amar Ramasar who will retire next spring, somehow looked more cohesive than any of its previous performances. It's hard to say why it was different. Perhaps after a few outings, the choreography had finally crossed over from being staged to being organic. It was much more watchable.
We then had the first and only intermission of the fall season. Oh my goodness, at the orchestra level social distancing gave way to social cavorting with thinly veiled loose lips kissing and gossiping nose-to-nose. Good luck to all those social butterflies; the incubation period is typically 2 to 14 days.
Finally we got to the finale of the finale and boy was it ever a grand finale. Slaughter On Tenth Avenue was the dance party on stage to end all parties. Every character was bigger than big. Maria and Tyler Angle spent it all on the dance floor. The Bartenders, Alec Knight and Jules Mabie, were uncorked. Ask la Cour, making a post-retirement appearance as Big Boss, was clearly off the leash. The rest of the cast was marvelous as well. This ballet is really all about the stripper's legs. And there are no legs that are more eloquent or have more flash & beautiful form than Maria Kowroski's. She let 'em go and the crowd went wild. Ecstatic joy to the back of the 4th Ring.
The final bows, the flowers, the cheers went on for several minutes. Maria's final fling on the stage brought a lot of artists back together and brought many back to their old home to pay tribute to her. We were there because we loved her dancing; others were there because they loved her as a friend. So much love.
Last week an emotional William Shatner was struggling for words to describe what it was like going over the Kármán Line. He finally just said, "I hope I never recover from this." Our feelings exactly after yesterday's celebration.
Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, special-ordered from Amazon, is bestowed upon Maria Kowroski. Live long and prosper.
Pure class and elegance right through her last bow.
Posted by: Solor | October 18, 2021 at 09:45 PM
Hi Haglund,
Kowroski was magnificent in everything! I've watched her and loved her since her earliest days. I didn't care much for AMARIA but maybe, as you and others have suggested, it improves with repeated viewings. I was thrilled to finally see Opus 19 and thought that Garcia and Hyltin were excellent. It was an inspired idea to end with Slaughter. What an absolute thrill, and everyone was stellar. The final flowery tributes were very moving.
Posted by: Marta | October 21, 2021 at 03:19 PM