NYCB 1/25 Wheeldon + Martins + Peck

        If NYCB wants to paper the house for Wheeldon's and Peck's dances, it should find people who can behave. It's hard to remember a performance with more obnoxious, orchestrated applause & woo-whoo that disrupted the performance than we saw last evening. Are these people planted because Wheeldon and Peck are afraid of honest audience reactions and are so desperate for audience praise that they are willing to plant it?

        It defies logic why NYCB continues to give away tickets but refuses to re-open memberships to the 4th Ring Society that would allow people to buy two cheap tickets to any performance as far in advance as they wanted. Isn't it better to engage people who are willing to spend $10 to see NYCB rather than people who are not and only come because they get a free ticket? What on earth is wrong with filling up the 4th ring with $10 ticket buyers rather than leaving it empty? Ugh. Wait until the next NYCB survey pops up in Haglund's email in-box. . .

        Last night's program consisted of works by Wheeldon, Martins, and Justin Peck.

        It's completely understandable that some people might be intrigued and intellectually stimulated by Gyorgy Ligeti's compositions. That's why his work shows up at the NY Phil once every 100 blue moons. Last year, they cushioned the program with Brahms to ensure attendance. We know Wheeldon was attracted to the challenges of Ligeti (It "frightened" him, he says.) and that he viewed the creation of Polyphonia to this music as a mathematical problem. We're grateful that as yet, he has not been attracted to the concept of √-1. Actually, Peck has probably already run across that little number and we'll eventually see a sneaker ballet called "i" which was created with AI.

        Complaining aside, the dancers in Wheeldon's Polyphonia were stunning in their Shen Yun splits, contortions, and manipulations. We particularly enjoyed the second of the two pas de deux danced by Unity Phelan & Chun Wai Chan for its inventive geometric shapes and the earlier thoughtful solo by a pensive Sara Mearns. That solo, originally danced by the interestingly unpredictable Alexandra Ansanelli, requires a melancholy that can look very different on different people. Mearns could not be more different than Ansanelli, but she worked the solo well with what seemed to be her own interior story. Polyphonia is "early" Wheeldon, and he has gone on to create much better works for other companies, e.g., A Winter's Tale, DGV, Thirteen Diversions but he also created the much more accessible Mercurial Manoeuvres for NYCB prior to Polyphonia.

        Peter Martins' Barber Violin Concerto received an exceptional performance from Miriam Miller, Alec Knight (subbing for Aaron Sanz), Alexa Maxwell, and Preston Chamblee. The guest conductor, Emmanuel Plasson, elicited a stirring, bold reading of Samuel Barber's work from the NYCB Orchestra and Concertmaster Kurt Nikkanen. Alec Knight danced like the Alec Knight who gave us so much hope over a half dozen years ago -- excellent form, lots of energy, and great rapport with Alexa Maxwell who was the unmanageable modern dancer wrecking havoc with Knight's efforts at classicism. Miriam Miller managed the challenges of the choreography well -- with only a few uncertain moments in the pas de deux with Preston Chamblee. The role exploited her spacious arabesque and expansive port de bras. Chamblee made a good case for being an old school Paul Taylor dancer -- brawny, big chested, and moved like a cat. He was tall enough to provide Miller with the secure partnering that she needed. Here's hoping that he will evolve physically the way Gilbert Bolden has been able to do, because those legs are fairly stocky and struggle to make any type of a balletic line.

        The evening closed with Tharp on Broadway by Peck "The Times They Are a-Changin' " -- oh whoops, we meant to type "The Times Are Racing." Our bad.

        The HH Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Alec Knight and Alexa Maxwell for their final pas de deux in Barber Violin Concerto which was a mismatch of styles coordinated beautifully.

 

Comments

[Zachary]

Alexa Maxwell and Ashley Hod were beautiful in Polyphonia yesterday afternoon. I also enjoyed Barber Violin Concerto more than I thought I would (I left before the last ballet).

Hoping to see In the Night this week, but I cannot get myself excited about a lot of these repertoire choices. I suppose I can dehydrate and sit through a Copland Episodes again...any recommendations for particularly good programs?

On another note, the Bolshoi just had a sold out run of "Raymonda" in Muscat, Oman. If audiences in the Gulf region are wanting to see Raymonda in its 19th century form, why do we not have a full length production anywhere in this country? Sultan Qaboos bin Said loved classical music and art and built a pretty opera house in Muscat - seems it was a worthwhile investment. People claim Raymonda is offensive, and indeed certain aspects may be, yet this past week seems to show that some with a microphone are speaking for audiences which refute their claims?

[Haglund]

Great to hear about Alexa Maxwell's and Ashley Hod's success in Polyphonia. The piece demands beautiful, long limbs and those two certainly have them.

It seems this season has really been limited in repertory, unfortunately, with too many dates devoted to 2nd shelf work. With so many extraordinary artists at their disposal, it would seem NYCB could present a lot more substantive rep.

Oh Raymonda -- Great to hear about its success in Oman. And how about last year's success of Malakhov's La Bayadere in Asia? The problem with presenting those here is the all-American BPD that fosters Victim Mentality.

[Mark]

Alexa Maxwell has 4-5 debuts this season! It's great to see her featured more after 10 years in the Corps.

[Haglund]

ITA, Mark -- would love to see Alexa tackle T&V, Ballo, Allegro Brillante, and any of the major petite allegro Balanchine roles sooner than later. We should not have to watch the same crew monopolize any Balanchine roles for 10-20 years unless they can continue to grow & enhance their performances with artistry, e.g., Tiler Peck.

[Rachel Perez]

Perhaps slightly off topic, but I chuckled a bit to see that the Spring season's "Classic NYCB I" program contains two brand new works. Seems a bit premature to call these debut works "classics" :)

I assume they meant it's "Class NYCB" insofar as we are carrying on the tradition of bringing in new works, but I laughed nonetheless.

Haglund - did you see any of the presentations of Tiler's first work for the company?