NYCB 9/20 Opening Night

It was as though the morning sun rose to shine upon the beginning of NYCB’s 2022-2023 season. A bevy of ballerinas wearing Karinska’s warm yellow and soft white tutus with blue trim stood motionless just long enough to make the audience gasp at their sight before taking flight in Balanchine’s wondrous choreography of Divertimento No. 15.  Oh it’s true that many of us consider the anthemic Serenade as the perfect start to any season. The emotional Tchaikovsky always triggers spine chills and weepiness. Mozart’s bright Divertimento, on the other hand, made us feel like we should be toasting the start of the season with a glass of bubbly. 

It’s been said that Mozart had a taste for luxurious clothing. Elegance to the point of extravagance was his daily fashion. Karinska, to her great credit, captured not only Mozart’s sense of elegance in her designs but captured his fondness for nankeen with a little added sunbeam. Don’t expect to ever see a more beautiful tutu on stage than her creation for this ballet.

 

Our cast arrived determined to please Mozart, Balanchine, Karinska, and the evening’s audience. Joseph Gordon astonished with the strength of the statements made with his dancing and the clear punctuation of his musical phrases. It is just thrilling whenever we encounter a dancer who is compelled to take his brilliant artistry to an even higher level. Gordon has set some very high standards for himself, and we can’t help but cheer him on with our appreciation. Megan Fairchild flew through the allegro as though she were a top whose string had just been pulled sharply. Emilie Gerrity’s warm serenity and sure-footedness, Sara Adams’ sparkling speed, Erica Pereira’s new elegance about the neck and shoulders, and Unity Phelan’s crystalline lines and opulently arched feet more than did justice to the music, choreography, and costumes. Harrison Coll and Sebastian Villarini-Velez managed both sizzling allegro and gallant partnering. The corps de ballet was gorgeous although we would rather have seen Alexa Maxwell and Christina Clark in yellow soloist tutus instead of white. 

 

Scotch Symphony received a performance of mixed qualities. Baily Jones as the Scottish soloist was delightful and danced with impressive articulation. She’s a lovely, lovely dancer but her tiny stature prevents much projection out to the audience. When she’s dancing far down stage, she commands our attention. Otherwise, not so. Jovani Furlan in the male lead held the performance together with his natural sense of drama and beautiful dancing. But the ballet could not withstand the stale dancing of Ashley Bouder who was far from the level of fitness that is normally required on NYCB’s stage. The steps were there, alright, but not much else in the way of performance or balletic beauty. The extra flesh in her arms and shoulders made her arms look even more short and stocky than usual. Her swollen size made her head look too small for her body. What is going on here? Why is this dancer who obviously lacks professional discipline equivalent to her colleagues permitted to throw her weight around and bulldoze her way onto the stage? Similarly, senior corps member Laine Habony has not been able to recover her pre-pandemic fitness and looks particularly bulky and pedestrian along side her colleagues. The ruffles around her waistline In La Sonnambula made the size of her girth even more apparent. 

 

It’s a common theme among dancers who cannot or will not commit to a fitness regime that can produce professional results to criticize the ballet culture as being unfair or out of date. It’s not. The standards are high but not as high as elsewhere. Imagine being in the NFL and being weighed and measured every single day, being told what to eat every day, having your execution speed and accuracy measured every single day, and then being cut from the team when your numbers are fed into a formula and come up below the median. If dancers want the public to perceive them as professional “athletes” as well as artists, they’d better live up to the standards. Stop whining about how unfair ballet is to the average person when the average audience member doesn’t ever want to see the average person on stage. Haglund doesn’t ever in a million years want to see himself “represented” on stage. Not kidding. We come to see the extraordinary, the better-than-we-could-ever-hope-to be physical instruments engaging in Balanchine’s masterpieces which have always required an aesthetic of length and line. Bouder should not be featured in any role until she can recover her professional fitness and eliminate her bulk, and she certainly should not be permitted to stand in the way of other dancers who are at the height of their powers and would thrill the audience in the same role. Her time is up. 

 

La Sonnambula closed the evening with outstanding performances from Taylor Stanley and Sterling Hyltin as the Poet and Sleepwalker, Sara Mearns as the Coquette, Andrew Veyette as the Baron, and the ever remarkable Daniel Ulbricht as the Harlequin. Ulbricht’s commitment to perfection has been our privilege to watch for an amazing two decades. 

 

In his role debut, Taylor Stanley captured his poet’s delight and disbelief at the Sleepwalker’s unusual parasomnia. His theatrical gifts are extraordinary and so wide-ranging that NYCB really needs to have a choreographer come in to make a piece which exploits his dramatic weight. (Would love to see him take on Robert Fairchild’s role in Spectral Evidence.) Sterling Hyltin's fleeting bourrees and eerie remoteness conveyed the perfect combination of delicacy and trance that seized our attention at her every step. 

 

We were ecstatic over the Pas de Deux performed by corps members Jacqueline Bologna and Maxwell Read. We’ve been paying new attention to Bologna in the past few seasons since she has achieved a streamlined silhouette that makes her classical lines stand out and emphasizes her very lovely legs and feet. She was sensational in the Theme section of The Four Temperaments in the recent past. Read is in steady development, too. Sometimes his level of energy soars beyond his stretched lines, but we’re watching him with great interest.

 

The season’s first H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Sophia Webster beauty available at Saks for $895, is bestowed upon Joseph Gordon who has become one of the company’s most prominent standard makers.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Allie Kenney]

Oh how I love the opulence of Karinska's costumes.

What happened to Ashley Bouder? Did she have another baby? Was she injured? I believe she was out in the spring, and possibly also the winter, seasons.

[formerdancer]

I've never been a fan of Bouder's body type for ballet. It's always been too bulky for my tastes. A ballerina should look light as air and she has never looked that way.

I haven't seen a recent photo of her though so I'm curious now.

[Jan Levitt]

Apparently Laine Habony spent the last 6 months dealing with surgery and recovery for that horrid wrist break she had last season. According to IG, she works out with Joel Proudy (Sara Mearns) and although not as thin as she used was, she still is a gorgeous classically-trained dancer with gifted musicality and port-de-bras. Let's hope she can continue to move in the right direction as she is a beautiful dancer. I have always wanted to see more of her!!

[Haglund]

Thank you, Jan. Let's hope that she does move in the right direction. However, continuing to reward a dancer with front row courtesies when she is not in front row condition doesn't provide an incentive to improve, IMO. The issue we're talking about goes back to the first season after the lockdown was lifted.

[Kelly Deck]

Ooof I just saw Ashley Bouder's IG post from Scotch Symphony the other night. She does not look to be in world-class ballerina shape. I came on here wondering if anyone else had noticed. Mr. B would not approve.

[Jeannette]

I saw Scotch Symphony on Friday night’s program. I have to agree with all who’ve posted that Boulder, at this point in time, doesn’t seem to be fit enough to be on stage in classical ballets. I cannot believe that management and the coaching staff allow this. Maybe NYCB is trying to make a point about welcoming diversity of body types?

On the other hand…Emma v E. was terrific as the Scottish Girl in part one. Fairchild and Gordon led a first-class Divert 15, while Hyltin was sublime as the titular Sleepwalker/Sonnambula.

[Haglund]

Thanks, Jeannette.

Unfortunately, I had to miss Friday night and all three weekend performances due to a cranky sciatic nerve. Sorry to have missed all these great performances, particularly Emma von Enck's new assignment. I was thinking how her energy will be superb in Stravinsky Violin Concerto in either role. And of course as Aurora with those elegant elbows and wrists. . .