New York City Ballet closed the season with a terrific Sleeping Beauty that was a mere handful of balances short of spectacular. But we'll take it and be thrilled.
It had been a stressful, head-scratching, hand-wringing 72 hours since Thursday's Sleeping Beauty which turned out to be like the perfect souffle that unexpectedly got knocked flat as it was nervously being pulled out of the oven. Did Chef Ramsey stop by to straighten out the kitchen staff with his charms? Whoever did, we're grateful.
Our Aurora, Isabella LaFreniere, soared on her second try and delivered a truly beautiful, distinctive, authoritative, intelligent, principal-worthy performance. At her birthday party, Aurora was not a giggly, Tiktoking 16-year-old. Rather she was a teenager, impeccably groomed with royal manners, who was on the brink of being handed the kingdom once she found the right prince.
Overall, the Rose Adagio was beautifully danced but for the attitude balances which while improved from the debut performance were not yet realized. However, the final arabesque balance was of such formidable shape and steadiness that we almost forgot the seven before it. Aurora's arabesque balance, rather than being static, grew and lengthened with the music. The prior attitude balances, however, were static attempts where the energy line from the foot to the head seemed perforated rather than flowing upward continuously. Though motionless, a balance is still an expansive movement -- an inner flowing of energy that rises and expands right through the top of the head. It's never about holding still although it may look so to the audience.
Hats off to The Suitors Christopher Grant, Taylor Stanley, Gilbert Bolden and especially Harrison Ball who swiftly escorted Aurora around for the final promenade before she punctuated the phrase with her exclamatory arabesque.
The Vision Scene was nothing less than triumphant. Aurora's apparition was elegant and soulful, almost whispering warm encouragement to Prince Désiré. Peter Walker as her Désiré fit the bill from head to toe. His partnering was impeccable and his solo dancing was outstanding except for a wild pitch on a double tour to arabesque.
The Wedding PdD gave Désiré the opportunity to display some of the most tightly zipped-up legs during double tours that we may have ever seen followed by soft landings to clean fifth positions. Aurora's Wedding variation was pure heaven: delicate pointe work, beautiful shaping of the phrases, poise, and polish. The duo's first two fish dives were magnificent in their speed and daring. The third one was a bit more tentative, but oh my goodness, what a difference from 72 hours before!
Emily Kikta as the Lilac Fairy was gorgeous as well. Sunday's performance just seemed more expansive, more confident, more meaningful in its presentation than Thursday's had been. The spotlight adores this ballerina. It is difficult to pay attention to anyone else when she is on stage. It is our hope that her ongoing stellar contributions will soon be rewarded with a promotion. While it is true that her glorious statuesque frame might limit the number of potential PdD partners, it should not limit her accession to the principal level. After all, the absence of height that indeed has limited potential PdD partners and roles for Daniel Ulbricht did not prevent him from rising to the principal level in a mere six years. There is some distasteful incongruence in a practice of holding back women because they are deemed too tall while advancing men who are deemed too short.
After the performance, four new principals were announced: Emily Gerrity, Isabella LaFreniere, Mira Nadon, and Roman Mejia. Congratulations to all. So now it's 13:9. Why are there 30% fewer women than men on this company's principal roster? Who do they think sells the tickets? Why are the women standing for this? Where is the union on this? Optics matter.
But we digress . . . (on and off, now and then).
Our Act I fairies on Sunday included Olivia Boisson as the Fairy of Tenderness, Nieve Corrigan as the Fairy of Vivacity, Lauren Collett as the Fairy of Eloquence, Miriam Miller as the Fairy of Generosity, and Olivia MacKinnon as the Fairy of Courage. Ashley Hod returned as the scene stealing Carabosse.
All the fairies performed their traditional choreography competently but we yearned for the beautiful shaping that Jackie Bologna gave to Tenderness and the lightning force of Alexa Maxwell's Fairy of Courage that we saw over the course of the run of Sleeping Beauty. We seem to be seeing both Olivia MacKinnon and Baily Jones featured in soloist roles, but as yet neither has distinguished herself beyond getting the steps right in ordinary fashion whereas Bologna, Maxwell and Collett have continually offered much fuller framed artistry. And now we've suddenly become aware of the exquisite length and beauty of one of the newest corps members, Dominika Afanasenkov, who got a handful of performances of the Fairy of Generosity. We'd like to see more of what these special artists have to offer.
Since we're talking about the corps members, let's talk about the corps de ballet. They were nearly perfect in Sunday's closing performance. The Lilac Fairy's Attendants in Act I and the Nymphs in The Vision Scene danced with flawless uniformity. The Cavaliers all had mammoth sissonnes.
This closing performance was such a strong team effort with so many brilliant performances that we immediately wished that Sleeping Beauty would return again next season. It offers so much more than either of the company's Swan Lakes. And right now, the company has the exact strengths that it needs to fill multiple casts who can easily pull off two weeks of performances.
Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, Louboutin's Chick Queen stiletto, is bestowed upon Isabella LaFreniere for her amazing comeback performance of Aurora.