Tiler Peck's Concerto for Two Pianos From soup to nuts, she gets it right.

music ☑︎

choreography ☑︎

costumes ☑︎☑︎

casting ☑︎

lighting ☑︎

 

        Tiler Peck’s first choreographic commission for New York City Ballet wasn’t a surprise success. We all were sure that she could create a quality dance without violating good taste or stooping to mediocre schtick — a rarity today. She understands that the art comes from honing skills and respecting the discipline of the art form.

 

        What we saw at the premiere of Tiler’s Concerto for Two Pianos was something on the level of Christopher Wheeldon’s early work in which his ability to move a large corps of dancers in thrilling fashion was so promising. Here Tiler displayed similar skill with a special attentiveness to musical coloring in addition to musical counts. The music by Francis Poulenc, played gorgeously by Hanna Kim and Stephen Gosling, was inherently danceable and a joy to the ear. Her corps dancers were beautiful, relishing the musical accents and displaying the high energy characteristic of their choreographer. Like choreographers who have sent Tiler out early in a new ballet to do a bunch fouettes or other fast turns in order to suck applause out of the audience, she sent Roman Mejia out for an early irresistible burst of bravura and frequently again thereafter. There really aren’t enough roles in NYCB’s rep to take care of this guy's appetite for traditional ballet bravura; so, we’re very happy that someone is making them for him. Hopefully, Alexei Ratmansky will also come to his rescue in the near future.

 

        Is there anyone today who can better drape a woman in fabric to make her look gorgeous than Zac Posen? (Okay, Valentino with a bolt of Italian silk is a no-brainer.) The variants of blue/gray for the corps and soloists and the seductive deep red for Mira Nadon had our pupils dilated to the max. Our eyes couldn’t take in enough of the elegant dress designs, especially the stunning necklines on the soloists’ costumes and sophisticated sheer accents. Posen has become a major reason to see any new ballet that boasts him as designer.

 

        Mira Nadon, Roman Mejia, and Chun Wai Chan comprised the principal cast along with Emma Von Enk and India Bradley as soloists who often functioned as a duo. We loved the fact that the principals’ various pas de deux included much dancing of the same steps side by side instead of the current trend of the pas de deux being nothing other than a long wrestling session where the man contorts the woman from the beginning to the end and barely lets go of her. It was real dancing, as they say. Not sure that we can say that we noticed any special rapport between Nadon and either Mejia or Chan but, perhaps — and this is perfectly fine too — there wasn’t supposed to be any. Perhaps it was just dance for dance’s sake. The choreography was skillfully assembled, musically interesting, and a joy to watch. That can often be quite enough.

 

        The two soloists were a mismatch. Von Enk was beyond technically secure, musically appealing, and connected with the audience in much the same way as does Tiler. Bradley was fine in the dinky prancing parts but struggled with basic double pirouettes and looked like a brittle pencil drawing from Point A to Point B to Point C. Management’s push of Bradley is little more than a bend-over for DEI. A black dancer with an edgy Instagram account that depicts her trying to emulate a call girl and who can be manipulated by The New York Times into saying anything that they want are not collectively good reasons to promote her to the public when her current ability is inferior to so many of her colleagues in the corps. Going forward, every time we read a quote in the NYT from Bradley or any dancer that trashes the art form, the company, its current or preceding artistic direction, or implies that it’s racist, we’re going to reduce our next annual contribution by 20%. And we recommend others consider doing the same.

 

        Ratmansky’s Odesa received a vibrant reading from everyone, but Daniel Ulbricht gave a compelling dramatic performance opposite Megan Fairchild. So far in the first half of the Winter Season, Ulbricht has theatrically run from A to Z in Fancy Free, The Four Seasons, Rotunda, and Odesa. The brilliant and exacting discipline of his dancing certainly belies his age. Within the exceptional corps, Mary Thomas MacKinnon and Charlie Klesa had Ratmansky running through their blood. We wonder if Ratmansky has observed that Klesa came from the same school as one of his ABT favorites Michael de la Nuez in Cincinnati (de la Nuez’s parents’ school) which might account for the similar attack and spirit in their dancing. Klesa simply looked sensational working all the ups and downs and deep turn-arounds in Odesa. 

 

        Rotunda began the program with its unlistenable music by Nico Muhly, unwatchable choreography by Justin Peck, and eye sore costumes by Reid & Harriet. The worst dance that Peck has sold to the company. Surely they all know it.

 

        The H.H. Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Daniel Ulbricht for the range and depth of his performances this past week. 

 

 

Comments

[formerdancer]

I wish I had seen this! I usually shy away from new works at NYCB and ABT because (at the risk of sounding like an old fuddy duddy) the choreography is vulgar and the music is grating and tune-less. Or some social justice theme is being pushed.

India Bradley lost me when she came out with that article (was it in the NYT?) during the pandemic saying if she didn't start getting cast in big roles, she was going to leave NYCB. At that point, management should have said "there's the door."

[Haglund]

ITA formerdancer.

At this point in time, NYCB has enough established or nascent choreographers developed in-house, including Lauren Lovette and Silas Farley, that the company should not have to throw Hail Mary passes at modern/contemporary dance choreographers who have little or no ballet background. I thought Farley's first piece for the company and his costumes were wonderful and showed great promise. As did Walker's. As did Lovette's.

[TurkishDelight]

Haglund is going to start a firestorm on the Reddit boards when they see this, haha.

They think that anybody who doesn't blindly bend the knee to DEI is an out-of-touch Boomer, but your commentary is totally fair and valid.

Other than that, there's plenty to like about City Ballet at the moment.

[Haglund]

Reddit schmeddit. Very few of them actually attend NYCB performances.

In the real world, employees don't try to cut their employer off at the knees and get away with it. There is no reason whatsoever that donors should financially support that kind of sabotage. Enough is enough.

[Cream Soda]

I wasn't thrilled with India's comments in the NYT, either, about how she "didn't want to be in the corps forever." No dancer wants to be in the corps forever. Is it really necessary to say it? I'm sure Faye Arthurs and Mary Liz Sell didn't want to be in the corps forever, either, but there you have it. At the end of the day, I'm just not a huge fan of her dancing.

[Haglund]

Cream Soda,

India's comments especially directed at being in the Diamonds corps really made her sound arrogant. Subsequently, in Gia Kourlas' agenda-driven article on the two new Dew Drops this year, India tried to promote a false narrative that people claim that the Dew Drop needs to be "pink" in skin color. Her exaggerated sense of self-importance about her debut was really over the top. She conveyed that 20 years earlier -- which would have been 2003 -- she would have experienced a less than welcoming atmosphere at NYCB if she had, in fact, even been given the role of Dewdrop to dance. Based on what? It seems to concern those who want to leverage their skin color that the audience really doesn't care anymore what color the dancer is. They only care about the quality of the dancing.

[Marta]

Hi Haglund,
Enjoyed your review of Tiler Peck's ballet, which I look forward to seeing. I agree with the comments about Bradley. I never understood why she was being praised over other corps dancers. Her remarks in the NYT during the early pandemic --"Tired of being in the corps of Diamonds" -- were a big turnoff. I'm not a fan of her dancing, but I did wonder if I was missing something.

[Haglund]

Hi, Marta.

Bradley has a lovely instrument (as do most of the corps women) but still has skills and maturity to develop.

[Ballet Fan]

Very surprised that Huglund didn’t discus Ashton Edwards guest performance in The Times Are Racing on the 27th and 28th! A rare gem of a dancer, no doubt! Or simply the fact that no one at Times has the courage to acknowledge it!

[Haglund]

BF, I could not sit through another performance of The Times Are Racing.

[Georgiann]

Haglund, If you haven't seen it yet, there is news on Instagram regarding ABT's contract negotiations, a long article with the headline stating, "Artists of American Ballet Theater and AGMA Leadership Overwhelmingly Approve Strike Authorization." I hope that something can be resolved soon! This vote happened February 6th, 2024.

[Minkus]

Hi Haglund, dare I say it? Tiler Peck is a true choreographic heir of the riches of Balanchine and Robbins. See the music, hear the dance, indeed. Seeing Rotunda and Concerto for two pianos back to back was quite revealing. Rotunda almost punishes the audience. Concerto shows what's missing in Rotunda - a willingness to embrace classical steps and bravura dancing, to judiciously sprinkle in double cabrioles, double tours, maneges, gargouillades, and pirouettes a la seconde without, as you write, 'violating good taste or stooping to mediocre schtick'. And the audience responded in kind.

[Haglund]

Minkus, 😹😹😹 -- "Rotunda almost punishes the audience." Perfect description.

[JCS]

I noticed Roman is not in the cast for the new Ratmansky -- thought that was a surprise after he did such a good turn in Namouna recently. The ballet includes both Sara Mearns and Mira Nadon, however, which should be interesting to see, considering Mira is the natural inheritor of plenty of Mearns roles.

[Haglund]

JCS -- I'm definitely looking forward to the new Ratmansky ballet and have absolutely no idea what to expect.

[Lina]

JCS, Roman pulled out of a few roles early in the season and has had tape on his ankle, so he’s likely giving himself a lighter season to rest. Ratmansky is very technically difficult, and since Roman and Tiler are dating he probably decided to give Tiler’s ballet the priority.

[NS]

I agree, the difference in technique between Emma and India was so apparent in the flash footage they showed from Tiler’s ballet. I definitely expected more from her after all the hype, but it’s probably telling that they never posted footage of her Dewdrop…

[Cream Soda]

NS, I totally agree! Emma and India basically had the same role in Tiler's new ballet. Same steps. And it was clearly evident why Emma is a Soloist and India is not. India is a perfectly adequate dancer. But she is no better, IMHO, than the vast majority of the Corps women. I saw Ava Sautter, for example, debut "In A Landscape", and she was remarkable. Joined the Company 18 months ago. No featured roles to speak of. But she was really, really good. With this kind of talent in the lower ranks, it's going to be hard to justify a promotion for India based on talent alone. That's just my opinion.