NYCB 2/6 Paquita 2.0

        New York City Ballet is known for stripping down classics to their essential elements and compressing them for their always-on-the-go audience who only has so much time it can devote to going to the ballet. “Just the steps, ma’am, just the steps” as Sgt. Joe Friday might have said. It was Thursday, February 6th. Me and my partner were working the night watch at New York City Ballet under cover in the shadows of the 2nd ring. We spotted a few misdemeanors in progress but mostly good things were happening in the ‘hood. The usual suspects were staying in line. Nobody was stepping on anyone else's toes.

 

        At times, the new Alexei Ratmansky-driven Paquita had us trying to unravel the scene like Friday and Gannon going over the evidence. Where did this or that part come from? The corps had its assignment down impressively but what were the principals trying to convey? Are these questions even relevant? Turns out not, which became more clear on the second night.

 

        This Paquita, a composite of Balanchine’s Minkus Pas de Trois after Petipa and Alexei Ratmansky’s contemporized reconstruction of Petipa’s Paquita Grand Pas, is actually a throwback to when lines were lines, shape was shape, and the challenges of classical form were revered. Nothing could be better for New York City Ballet these days than this to help it shake off the sloppy sneaker look that has seeped into its daywear.

 

        Thursday evening opened with the Minkus Pas de Trois danced by Erica Pereira, David Gabriel and Emma Von Enck. For the most part, they met the challenges that Balanchine threw at Andre Eglevsky, Rosella Hightower, and Marjorie Tallchief, and made us appreciate what those original artists in 1948 were capable of in terms of technique. Gabriel’s controlled landings, beautiful leg lines in sissone assemble, clear batterie, and sequence of double tours were all accomplished with a burning determination — not just to get through the variation, but to give the absolute most to his audience. The women each excelled in their fleeting foot work and Emma brilliantly finished her phrases with held positions. Nobody likes to do the step-step-grand jete instead of glissade grand jete because it’s so hard to get up in the air without an awkward lurching forward as happened on this night. But Petipa, Vainonen, and others made both men and women do this combination not infrequently. 

 

        The Grand Pas - Ratmansky’s contribution - benefitted from stellar corps work where everyone was hell-bent on holding that arabesque in line for several counts with the arms purposefully placed. Indifference to port de bras isn’t tolerated in Ratmansky’s classically-based works. This might end up being one of his most significant contributions to the NYCB dancers’ growth as he continues as the company's Artist in Residence. While the arm and torso placement was challenging for some of Thursday night’s corps members, others (Meaghan Dutton-O’Hare, Ava Sautter, and Malorie Lundgren) embraced the beauty and demands of precision with enthusiasm that bordered on hunger. They wanted to dance like this.

 

        So did Unity Phelan in her principal variation where she was as Zen as could be and her port de bras looked beautifully intuitive. Every second was grace defined and rich with soft color like a Monet painting. Indiana Woodward flew through her “Amour” allegro like she was riding on a spring breeze. Emily Kikta’s turns were strong and steady as was her rapport with the audience in her variation. Olivia MacKinnon made it through her variation but she definitely had challenges within it.

 

        Perplexing in this opening night cast was the choice of Sara Mearns with Chun Wai Chan for the Pas de Deux. It was difficult to watch Sara because she simply wasn’t prepared to dance this role, didn’t have the required concentration, and may have thought that getting all emotional about her many slip-ups and glaring at her partner would somehow ameliorate them and make her less responsible for them. The relatively simple turns that were supposed to end in point tendu saw half of Sara’s foot on the floor. Arabesques were unsteady, pirouettes were unsteady, staring at the floor didn’t help matters, throwing the arms and shoulders around like she couldn't care less about the requisite style didn’t help. She seemed to be trying to be some kind of character alla zingareze even though Ratmansky had purged this staging of specific characters who are in traditional Paquita stagings. 

 

        Chan managed a more than respectable variation after a sometimes difficult PdD with Sara where neither of them seemed sure where the music was. He treated his variation as he might treat any non-narrative variation — with resolute placement and skillful execution of the grand allegro and his batterie. Loved seeing the eschappes with entrechats six multiple times with each time becoming a bit bolder. Turns a la seconde impressed with their stability without being flashy.

 

        The flash came the next night when Roman Mejia and Tiler Peck led the principals. Pleading guilty here: we loved the flash; we didn’t want to, but we did. We loved the one-upmanship between them. We loved Tiler's double saute de basque and Roman’s triple thingamabob in the air. We could have died happily while watching Tiler lovingly open and close her arm while moving upstage on the diagonal with piques. It was so unexpectedly beautiful and so much more than the perfunctory waving of the arm in and out that we got the night before. We simply loved every blessed moment that Tiler was on stage in this production and are grateful that she embraced the stylistic challenges that Ratmansky threw her way. We’ve also got to mention Emma Von Enck’s “Amour” variation in which her feet and legs bolted across the stage like lightning, only pausing to strike an unwavering pose on pointe before speeding off again. One never sees this dancer accelerate or slow down. She starts at full speed and stops on a dime without decelerating. 

 

        A word or two about other things: The tutus designed by Jerome Kaplan were stunning. The lush pink and red costumes for the Minkus PdT weren’t helped with black sheer tights, especially when worn with black pointe shoes and solid satin ribbons which truncated the women’s leg lines. If the NYCB women insist on wearing sheer tights (whether black or pink), they should switch to sheer ribbons on their pointe shoes. The solid ribbons simply make the leg lines look broken and thick. Dancers know this.

 

        The black tutus with white under-tulle for the Grand Pas principals were just as pretty. So much loving care, exceptional skill, and hours of labor went into these art pieces that it seemed a shame to put them on stage on dancers who looked like it was a rehearsal. Hair strands flying all over, buns that purposely looked like they were about to fall out. No head ornamentation. The whole look was unfinished. And the point of all that was what ? Did they spend all their money on the costumes and couldn’t afford to buy hairspray or put a ribbon or ornament in the bun? To repeat, it all looked unfinished. Please re-think.

 

        We truly enjoyed seeing this Paquita 2.0 at NYCB, but we’re not giving up Pierre Lacotte’s full staging with all that sparkly opulence, those fancy hair combs, and, oh yes, those dazzling fouettes — not in a million years. 

 

        Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Louboutin tulle and lace pump, is bestowed upon Unity Phelan for her exquisite performance of the 2nd Variation. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Solor]

Not only did Friday's performance totally obliterate Thursday's (and the corps was much more in unison on Friday), but the rest of the program was superb both nights - Robbins's "Into the Night" and Balanchines "Symphony in Three Movements," which shows off what Balanchine's musicality was all about.

[Haglund]

ITA. I plan to address the rest of the program on the blog shortly.

[Blue Door]

Hey Haglund!

I’ve seen Paquita now with both the Tiler/Roman and Mira/Joseph casts. Wow! What an incredible ballet! As I watched, I was reminded for the first time in a long time why I love ballet so much. I go, I see something magical, and I feel different. Better. I leave happy and excited. This is what we are paying for. Justin Peck and others need to take note. We don’t want to see a red ball bouncing around on stage, or wildly flailing arms while dancers run in and out of a big circle. We want to see ballet. Thank you, Ratmansky, for giving us that.

My other thought is that NYCB and choreographers as a whole need to stop giving roles to Principal dancers simply because of their longstanding rank and seniority. Translation: Sara Mearns should not have been cast in Paquita. She is no longer one of the best dancers for the part. I know she and Ratmansky have a special relationship, and I know that Jon Stafford may have hesitance knocking his former partner from her perch. Okay, but what about the audience? At what point are our needs for seeing the best dancer in the part greater than the dancer’s ego or some antiquated seniority BS? I am buying my ticket with money I work hard for. I frankly don’t care that Sara and Ratmansky have a history. I will not buy a ticket to see Sara in this ballet.

Along that vein, consider the fact that we have seen 100+ Megan Fairchild Sugar Plums, and 0 Alexa Maxwell. Zero! Whatever reasons Peter Martins had for promoting a 20-year old Megan Fairchild to Principal in 2004, it should not still be impacting casting decision 21 years later. It’s actually absurd, and when you start to look at the math – 100 Sugar Plums for Megan and 0 for Alexa - - it becomes really obvious how messed up these antiquated rules are.

[Haglund]

Thank you, Blue Door. Astonishing numbers.

I wish I could have seen Mira Nadon and Joe Gordon but did not jump fast enough to get one of those Art Night tickets. It sounds like they had quite the performance. Hoping for better luck next time around.

[yukionna]

I also saw the Tiler/Roman cast. Loved the ballet. It's my first time seeing Dominika Afanasenkov in a featured role. Very impressed.

Totally agree about the hair and costuming. The messy buns do not go with this choreography. The lack of jewels/tiara/any accessories at all made me feel the ballet couldn't quite reach it's potential. Its hard to call it a Grand Pas when there is a glaring lack of grandness.

Other than that, I absolutely loved the ballet. I hope it stays in the rep for many seasons to come.

[Laura]

I'm going against the grain here and saying I liked the messy buns! But I respect others opinions. Either way, it's a great ballet not to be missed! The thing that pleases me most is we are seeing positive chatter about NYCB. The Bouder nonsense is behind us and we have an exciting future to look forward to!

[Haglund]

yukionna, yes Dominika is quite a lovely and versatile dancer with scrupulous fundamentals.

Laura, lol about the messy buns. It's funny that we all noticed them and that they flashed controversy. Given the music, I'm glad we didn't get spit curls.

[Jeannette]

Thanks for this gorgeous, HH!

[Haglund]

Jeannette, the NYC ballet scene misses you!!