Haglund's Heel

ABT – Sleeping Beauty 7/2

Why do people invest large sums of money in antiques and devote such passion to them? Is it so they can fuss about authenticity or distinguish themselves with their knowledge of the period? Is it so they can tell people not to sit on them or not to place coffee cups on them without double doilies?

This is Haglund’s antique book cart. It’s a stylish mid-Victorian piece that, according to an appraiser, was probably wheeled around by a nurse in a New England hospital to offer books to patients. What apparently makes it unique and valuable is the tiny, hardly visible brass beading around the back wheels. What knocked the value out of the book cart was Haglund’s father’s efforts to restore and refurbish it to make it look good in our 20th century livingroom. "Don’t put any heavy books on it,” he warned through his teeth. “This antique will pay for your grandchildren’s college,” he promised. Today the book cart, which is worth less than $700, sits in Haglund’s maison in shrine to a giant long-gone relative. 

 

That is where the mind strayed Tuesday night during those long sections of ABT’s restoration of Father Petipa’s Sleeping Beauty when not much was happening except for a lot of parading around by people in expensive costumes. Six million dollars was spent on this production, none of it spent on bionic limbs for the dancers. But who needs bionic limbs when you have Herman Cornejo – the Colonel Steve Austin of ballet who can blast through special high-risk missions of Ratmansky allegro like they're just another day in the M2-F2 aircraft or working on the moon as a member of the Apollo 17 team. To digress momentarily as we do only occasionally, let us say how incredibly disappointed we will be if Colonel Cornejo doesn’t show up in at least half of those five Apollo missions scheduled for the fall season. 

 

Now where were we… Oh yes – Sleeping Beauty.

 

Most people actively engaged in the ballet world in some manner would agree that there is great value in a historically based reconstruction of Sleeping Beauty. But to be sustained in the repertory, performances must appeal to and be attended by a lot more paying customers than the relatively small group in and around the ballet world. When Haglund reviewed the Orange County premiere performance of ABT’s staging by Ratmansky in March of 2015, he noted that "The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment performs its music on period instruments in an effort to achieve a performance quality closer to that representative of the time in history when the music was composed.” The OAE is perhaps the most well-known orchestra in the world to perform classical music in its historical style, but its audience size does not approach the size of audiences for major orchestras and never will. The OAE’s last charity financial report shows it survives on income of less than $4 million per year and yet, the orchestra has a solid reputation within its relatively small market niche for doing important work. ABT needs 10-15 times that amount to survive.

 

Even though ABT’s production of Sleeping Beauty has some fine features, it likely will continue to struggle to find its paying audience because it doesn’t meet the evolved expectations of the typical or “lite” ballet goer. While walking home from Tuesday night’s performance, Haglund heard two distinct and separate groups of people talking about how pretty everything was but that it was way overdone with too little dancing. Expectations were not met. Comparisons were being made with the production at NYCB which moves along a lot more quickly and is not as stuffed with over-the-top costumes. There are reasons that  Sleeping Beauty productions (Bolshoi, POB, Mariinsky, and NYCB) evolved the way they did over the century to look as they do now. Not all of the reasons are invalid.

 

 Our cast on Tuesday evening did a fine job for the most part. In addition to Cornejo’s blistering allegro variation of scrupulous Brisé Volé that clearly brushed through fifth position and crossed in the air, we enjoyed Sarah Lanes’s Aurora who developed from an excited 16-year-old to a vision of Prince Désiré’s quest for love to a mature and commanding life partner for him. Aurora's Act I Rose Adagio was music-caressing with overall successful balances in attitude. Her variations, swift and sunny, were propelled by joy, not athletic showmanship. In Act II Sarah danced divinely and vividly as the Vision of Aurora that  compelled Désiré to continue searching for her. Act III’s famous Pas de Deux was further refurbished by Ratmansky who replaced the fish dives with stunning poses in which the ballerina snapped her supported en dedans pirouettes and then fell into Désiré’s arms finishing with arms overhead in fifth position and head turned to a 90 degree perfect profile toward his face which was in profile toward her. The working leg simultaneously snapped to a gorgeous leaning efface devant developpe. The result was a climactic pose held through the climactic notes of music that very nearly matched the thrill of the fish dives that we’ve been accustomed to seeing – but maybe not quite.

 

Our beautiful Lilac Fairy, Christine Shevchenko, possessed all the expected authority and commanded complete control over her repeated releve arabesque fouette sequence. Skylar Brandt as the Canary Fairy chirped cheerfully and fluttered bourrees at hummingbird speed. The Candide Fairy danced by Paulina Waski experienced some awkward wobbliness. The staging of Violente, danced by April Giangeruso, tried too hard to make the fairy humorous. Stephanie Williams as Wheat flower and Rachel Richardson as Breadcrumb danced competently. Keith Roberts displayed a theatrical authority as Carabosse that we wish we had seen in him when he was a dancing principal back in the day. Alexei Agoudine as Catalabutte stole every scene that he was in — in fact, ran away with every scene except in those where Roman Zhurbin’s unflappable, ever-smiling King Florestan was competing for the spotlight.

 

Devon Teuscher’s Diamond Fairy was almost Ashton-like in its charm and vividness. Brittany DeGrofft, Courtney Lavine, and Melanie Hamrick were fine as Gold, Sliver, and Sapphire, but not at their best. Katherine Williams and Blaine Hoven encountered no problems as Princess Florine and The Bluebird. It is unusual to see such a big guy as Blaine dance with such fleetness and allegro clarity. Bolle certainly could as could Marcelo Gomes. Clearly, Blaine could have stepped in at a minute’s notice as Désiré when needed on Monday rather than pushing Aran Bell into dancing four performances this week and risking injury. 

 

The character divertissements in Act III didn’t possess a lot of charm except for perhaps Red Riding Hood and The Wolf danced by Betsy McBride and Patrick Frenette, who was also an outstanding English Prince in Act I. The corps de ballet was serviceable throughout the three acts. However, the lack of uniformity in legs, arms, and girths was sometimes distracting.

 

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Herman Cornejo for his stinging allegro that packed the poison of a hundred hornets. It killed. We died happily. On to Apollo!

 

 

 

 

 

Sarah Lane's Odile 6/26 Letter to Haglund

Hi Haglund,

I still can't believe it but I was able to make it to Sarah's Black Swan last night.

After a long day at work, I took a short nap and woke up at 7:40 pm to Sarah's Instagram story announcing her last minute Black Swan. Even though the show was already ten minutes in and I live an hour away, I knew I had to get to the Met somehow. So I threw on some fresh clothes and ran to the subway. I arrived just as intermission was ending and the second person I saw leaving gave me their ticket after I fairly begged. I got in and act three had already started. An usher told me about the movie theatre on the left side of the orchestra where I could watch. I got there during the peasant pas.

Even though I was watching through a screen, Sarah blew me away. I've been wishing for her Swan Lake ever since I got to see her debut two years ago. She was just amazing. Especially with Herman! The two of them were on fire.

I actually discreetly filmed from Rothbart and Odile's arrival to the end of act three. Haglund, would you be interested in this footage? I don't know what your opinions are on filmed shows and absolutely don't want to offend you. I just thought that since you're such a big supporter of Sarah, you'd be interested in seeing a somewhat decent video of her Black Swan. I haven't uploaded the nearly twenty minute video yet but will if you're interested. If not, I completely understand and hope I haven't offended you.

Thanks, as always, for your reviews and news alerts.

Are you interested? she asks. Haglund immediately went to the vault and fished out his hottest summer H.H. Ballet Warrior Pump Bump Award and sent it off via ScootExpress Courier to this devoted fan. Voilà, here's a link to the Black Swan PdD.

What a treat this is! Thanks much to this devoted fan for sharing with all of us her story and video.

 

 

ABT Swan Lake 6/26 mat Prince of Preparation

Describing Wednesday’s matinee performance of Siegfried in Swan Lake as a fully thought through and immaculately danced debut would not begin to be fair to 20-year-old Aran Bell. He was a smashing success. His outstanding preparation and the inherent stress in such an important role debut combined to create a compelling swimming-for-his-life interpretation that Haglund will remember for a long, long time. But Bell didn’t just swim. He nearly rose up and stood atop the water. Here we had a prince candidate for whom we did not have to worry about whether he was going to complete his pirouettes, land his tours upright, cross his beats, display perfectly lined arabesques, leap high with classical form, or efficiently partner his ballerina. We had the luxury of sitting back, relaxing, and watching what he made of his first Siegfried. 

 

First, kudos to the ABT hair & makeup artist for slicking back Bell’s unruly adolescent locks from his forehead and defining his eyes. At times he looked like a cross between Simkin and Jared Matthews – not a bad combination – and the grown-up style suited him handsomely.

 

Bell’s entrance down the staircase in Act I was authoritative – after all, he was the biggest guy on the stage and visually made a larger impression than anyone else. Instantly, we knew he had to be the prince. He showed no nerves, no uncertainty, no puppyness. As he whirled about the room sampling the ladies who were vying for him, his cheeks flushed slightly – probably from exertion – and he showed the type of slight detachment that one expects from Siegfried who was grappling with the complexities of being the prince and contemplating his future. When he met up with Odette in Act II, there was no question as to his fascination and determination to connect with her. His face, now glistening with perspiration, revealed his desperation to close the deal with Odette. Truthfully, it was such a shock to see this because we had previously found Bell to be a rather bland personality on stage. In Act III, he was the clueless prince who thought he’d once again found the love of his life. His lady made him feel like dancing — even throwing in a couple of double tours with extra sauce. In Act IV, Siegfried showed signs of exhaustion that looked more real than act. But he managed the enormous task of all those lifts in the Act IV Pas de Deux like a champion.

 

We need to pause here to make a quick plug for the nabe:

 

Down at the Hudson Yards compound next to The Vessel, there is on display the new FIA Formula E Gen 2 Racer. It’s a beauty. It goes from zero to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds with a top speed of 175 mph. But get this – when you take the wheels off and the battery out, it only weighs 100 lbs! Pretty sleek, fast, and light, but nothing compared to Devon Teuscher as Odette/Odile at the Wednesday matinee. Holy moly. What a beauty of an Odette and what a sizzling bitch of an Odile! After this performance, Haglund’s wallet was practically jumping out of his pocket to get to the box office for a ticket to tonight’s performance.

 

As Odette, Devon was perfection in form — all length and soft curves in the limbs, exquisite control over her arabesques and turns, lush bend in the torso and back, generously expressive in her face. Each perch to arabesque or attitude was steady, strong, and full of grace. Her lingering balances and control in battements and turns almost made them seem unreal. If perhaps there wasn’t a lot of vulnerability revealed in her character, it may be that it would have been out of place given all that this Odette possessed. 

 

As Odile, there is not much left to say – but as the saying goes Speed Kills, and she killed it and us with her display of piston power and roaring revolutions. This was Mario Andretti coming around the bend with his sights set on Mile 500. There should have been checkered flags waving all over the stage when Devon finished with Odile. Haglund is bringing one tonight!

 

Other people danced at the Wednesday matinee besides Aran Bell and Devon Teuscher and most danced exceptionally well.

 

We’ve never seen Calvin Royal dance so wonderfully as he did in his work as Benno. An outstanding performance in every respect.

 

Jose Sebastian’s Von Rothbart was admirably danced — he got the arabesque balance which seems to have been a problem for so many others recently. His sissonnes were magnificent. The only thing missing was characterization. 

 

The ladies in the Pas de Trois were Melanie Hamrick (subbing for Fang) and April Giangeruso. Melanie has a lot of experience in this section, and it showed. She has danced magnificently in everything that we have seen her in during the spring season. Quality that lovely should have far more opportunities.

 

The Neopolitan duo of Joo Won Ahn and Sung Woo Han spun superbly — better than we’ve seen in this section in several years.

 

The ladies in the swan corps de ballet looked lovely and were unusually precise. 

 

The H.H. Pump Bump is bestowed upon Devon Teuscher who has come to be a stunning Odette/Odile for our time.

 

 

 

 

Black Swan drama at the Met

 

Actually, Haglund recalls a matinee in Minneapolis in the 1980s when Barynshikov put Jolinda Menendez in as Odette and Yoko Ochino as Odile. That was one bizarre performance. But sometimes bizarre things happen on tour; but they shouldn't happen at The Met Opera House in ABT's Spring Season where dancers' standards and competence are supposed to be at their highest.

ABT – Manon 6/18

When 16-year-old Manon first stepped from her coach into the courtyard at the inn, she seemed overwhelmed by the size of her own hat — a round, huge-brimmed affair with long, showy ribbons tied stylishly in a bow under her young chin. The hat began to slide off the back of her head prompting Manon to pull it back into place with an awkward tug. After greeting her older brother, Lescaut, she walked off to the side to remove the hat but fumbled again momentarily with its showy ribbons. The hat might have been a luxury item that this under-financed Manon had acquired but didn’t quite know how to control. In fact, it was Manon’s lack of control over her fondness for the pretty things, her passion and sensuality, and her adolescent amorality that prompted her father to send her off to the Catholic convent. 

 

But for that one brief stop to say hello to her brother at the start of her journey, Manon might have ended up being veiled, converted, and saved from herself. And oh what a loss that would have been for those of us who would have been denied the spectacular Act III pas de deux of Sarah Lane and Herman Cornejo in their debuts as Manon Lescaut and Chevalier Des Grieux on Wednesday evening. The extent to which both artists gave themselves over to their roles and to one another even surprised those who have long championed them. Sarah’s absolute trust in Herman allowed her the freedom to “die” with the utmost daring leaps into Herman’s arms and blind falls that required blind faith that he would be there to catch her. At one of the many climactic moments, Manon raced aimlessly in a circle while the music raced up the scale after her. She perilously threw herself into an unsurvivable arabesque before being caught from behind right as the cymbals crashed just as she would have crashed to the ground had it not been for Des Grieux’s heroics. Herman has never combined the intensity of theater and the brilliance of his dancing the way he did in this pas de deux. His Des Grieux was on the brink of collapse throughout — his own desperate life spiraling out of control as he spun Manon high into the air and grabbed her back again. This five minutes on Wednesday night will be the highlight of ABT’s entire Met Season. 

 

Kenneth MacMillan’s masterpiece is longer than five minutes, though. Prior to arriving in Act III, we had to immerse ourselves in Acts I and II. They weren’t bad, and they will certainly become better as the principals get more performances under their belts — but can we actually count on that considering how ABT is functioning in these times? 

 

Overall in Acts I & II, ABT was like Julie Andrews singing:

 

Getting to know you
Getting to know all about you
Getting to like you
Getting to hope you like me

 

Getting to know you
Putting it my way
But nicely
You are precisely
My cup of tea

 

Getting to know you
Getting to feel free and easy
When I am with you
Getting to know what to say

 

Haven't you noticed
Suddenly I'm bright and breezy?
Because of all the beautiful and new
Things I'm learning about you
Day by day

 

Basically, they're not where they should be yet, most probably because the majority of the cast had not appeared in Manon before this week. And, we’re coming to find out, some had never even seen a live performance of it. But that wasn’t the only issue. Herman’s dancing in Act I was so careful and understated that we feared he might not return after the first intermission. His current negotiations with his calf injury were surely the cause and continue to make ticketholders very nervous about whether he will appear in Friday’s performance. Sarah’s Act I was technically secure and fully danced, but the characterization needed tighter stitching. We saw the lovely young Manon in the courtyard, but didn’t see why her father would want to send her off to the convent. When Monsieur G.M. offered her the fur coat, she suddenly bolted for it without having shown any previous interest in the finery on display around her. It came as a surprise to us.

 

The Bedroom PdD hit all the important points but wasn’t danced with the freedom and passion that we’d hoped for. To be honest, in the days and hours leading up to this performance, we had to continually caution ourselves to manage our expectations and to avoid watching the performance while playing memories of Bocca and Ferri in the background. Not easy, and maybe not even possible. Herman’s & Sarah’s Act I Bedroom PdD would certainly become enriched and empowered through more full performances, excerpt performances, and gala events, but it doesn’t seem that ABT is in a frame of mind these days to do any of those old-time galas and excerpt evenings which were invaluable to artists cutting their teeth on new roles.

 

Act II of Manon is all about the heroine’s seduction of the wealthy, handsome men around her. Her solo in which she is deliciously manipulated by them from one airborne position to the next was at times mesmerizing. But Manon’s dives had a “close my eyes, drop my head, and dive off the high board” look to them instead of being alluring and filled with sensuality. Overall, this section was a marvelous success even if the final moment when G.M. put the bracelet on her arm looked a little hurried like “Come on, get the damned bracelet on before the music ends!” However, the bracelet PdD between Manon and Des Grieux that followed was in all respects quite wonderful. Herman didn’t seem to be as cautious as in Act I and was willing to dance more authoritatively — which is the only way to conquer the difficult solo assigned to Des Grieux at the beginning. All the switching of directions with turns and arabesques went smoothly for him. 

 

Making his debut as Lescaut a day early, Blaine Hoven was a striking success from the opening pose wrapped in his cape and kneeling under the spotlight to his murder in handcuffs in Act II. His drunk-dancing by the inebriated Lescaut was intoxicating to watch. He “stumbled" from one end of the stage to other crossing his legs this way and that way, falling and catching himself at the last second, all the while looking sloppy drunk and pleading for approval from those on stage watching him. He is such a fine and respected dancer and artist who certainly should have been elevated to leading principal roles and principal status years ago. It is all such a damn shame and loss.

 

Making her debut as Lescaut’s Mistress, Cassandra Trenary, danced well but unfortunately nearly totally disappeared into the crowd of other women on stage. Her lack of height was a big part of the problem, and she seemed to vanish in the elaborate costume. It just had too much fabric for Trenary’s size which made it difficult for her dancing to be seen and appreciated. While the steps didn’t cause her problems, the character wasn’t fully realized.

 

Keith Roberts as Monsieur G.M. was as blank as could be. Luis Ribagorda was brilliant in the Beggar Chief’s allegro and would be a natural Lescaut. Roman Zhurbin as The Jailer substituted a meanness like Cruella de Vil for the Jailer’s horrific rapist's mentality. And did ABT once again bend over for the Woke Folk by taking the Jailer out of his crisp white tights and fearsome belt and then costuming him in some sweet little sweat pants to try to alleviate some of the horror of the rape scene? The Actresses and Harlots conveyed that they were thinking about their steps instead of thinking about being Actresses and Harlots. The Courtesans had more success; Courtney Lavine, in particular, was able to convey the allure and sensuality of the character.

 

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Sarah Lane and Herman Cornejo for their remarkable Act III Pas de Deux in Manon.

 

 

 

 

ABT 6/15 -- More courageous dancing

Joo Won Ahn’s relationship with Le Corsaire is – shall we say – complicated. Actually that’s not quite accurate. Our relationship with Joo Won Ahn in Le Corsaire is what is complicated. It’s not likely that we’ll ever forget how he dumped our glorious ballerina, Veronika Part, to the floor like a Peterbilt front-end loader dumping rock into a pit and then sprawled on top of her during his debut as Lankendem a few years ago. But we may have to forgive him eventually – perhaps sooner than later. 

On Saturday night, Ahn as Ali the Slave was the sensation in the sensational cast of Le Corsaire’s closing performance. He along with Christine Shevchenko (Medora), Cassandra Trenary (Gulnare), Brooklyn Mack (Conrad) and Aran Bell (Lankendem) delivered bold, high risk dancing in a two-hour round of one-upmanship. Ahn came out on top and even scored extra points with his blistering manege of double tour assembles that he brought back from the brink of disaster time and time again and concluded with one heck of an exclamation point to claim his victory. Even if he had rolled one of those assembles to the floor, we sensed that he would have rolled to his feet and fought back to finish the job. A fast manege of double tour assembles may not exactly be Ahn’s “thing" at the moment, but everything else is, it seems: high flying saut de chat, huge double tours, sizzling pirouettes, bullet-like coupe jetes – and all of it accomplished with the high velocity that this production demands in order to be its most entertaining. It was another courageous performance from an ABT dancer this week.

 

Christine Shevchenko soared through all three acts as Medora – her adagio work was as rich with beauty as her allegro was brilliant. Shevchenko’s willowy limbs and long, narrow torso created exquisite arabesque lines that curved gracefully from the back of her neck through her spine and out to the edge of her toes. Near the conclusion of the bedroom pas de deux with Brooklyn Mack’s Conrad, Shevchenko launched herself toward Mack’s chest and he lifted her upside down overhead so that her body was absolutely vertical except for the gentle arch in her neck as she turned her face toward the audience. The pose was as spectacular as any we’ve ever seen in the 20+ years of this production. Shevchenko’s power was admirable when it came to the big steps – such as in her fiery fouettes and turns a la second, and yet, her precision was never compromised. 

 

Brooklyn Mack opened and closed the run of Le Corsaire as Conrad and sandwiched in other performances of Conrad and Ali during the week. The opening performance was okay but lacked Conrad’s character. The final performance four days later showed a much more relaxed Mack who was confident theatrically while blasting his way through some terrific grand allegro. Aside from a few wince-inducing sickled feet and careless leg positions in Act III, he was great fun to watch. There was more exaggeration of character than earlier in the week which made his performance much more likeable.

 

Cassandra Trenary, new to the role of Gulnare this season, was beyond lovely in both her dancing and interpretation. Her distinctive phrase punctuation which we found overdone in her Aurora in Sleeping Beauty was absolutely perfect for the role of Gulnare. While the matchup of Trenary with Aran Bell’s Lankendem wasn’t particularly harmonious, the two of them seemed to make it all function technically. Particularly lovely were those two lifts in which Gulnare held her legs in a wide second position — there was an element of restraint that made the whole image much more beautiful than the overly-athletic split that others have favored in past seasons.

 

Aran Bell as Lankendem got all the steps fabulously, particularly the spacious jetes and the deep knee bends in the landings of assembles, but he wasn’t convincing in character. He was out on stage showing us how Aran Bell would portray Lankendem instead of showing us Lankendem. The red pajamas didn’t seem to liberate Bell the way they liberated Malakhov, Carreno, Beloserkovsky, Simkin, Saveliev and others who knew that they could steal the show if they packed enough sleuth, slime, and Buster Keaton into their character.

 

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Joo Won Ahn for his fabulous dancing and great competitive spirit in Le Corsaire on Saturday night.

ABT 6/11 – The Pirates' Gold in Le Corsaire

Lots of brave dancing on display at the opening performance of ABT’s Le Corsaire. It wasn’t on the level of the courageous dancing that we remember from the Noche Latina evenings of a long time ago when the grand old man of the cast, Julio Bocca, came flying out of the back corner of the stage and threw a flying triple tour assemble with the kick of a winning World Cup goal. Argentina didn’t win that year, 2006, but maybe they would have if they’d enlisted Bocca, Corella, Carreno, both Cornejos, Herrera and Reyes. What a time that was, oh lordy...

Still, the levels were pretty high last night. The highlight of the evening was the gleaming, polished elegance of Skylar Brandt’s Medora and Sarah Lane’s Gulnare who were at once distinctive and complementary. 

 

With her fabulous face that is readable far out into the theater, Skylar created humor by overplaying the seriousness of her character’s predicaments. But it was her dancing that astonished. At this moment in time, Skylar is the prima ballerina of ABT whether she’s accorded the title of principal or not. Simply put — in terms of technical levels, musicality, classical form, reliability, and theatricality — she is on top. Last night, there were a multitude of details in her dancing that reminded us of Irina Dvorovenko, who assists her with role preparation these days and who probably got most of her own details from Irina Kolpakova. The held positions in balances, the lowered arms that heightened the torso, the turn of the face and opened expression, all of it reflected brilliantly through the polish of an uncompromising academic correctness. These days, every time Haglund sees Skylar dance, it makes him treasure Dvorovenko all the more.

 

Sarah Lane’s Gulnare was all soft beauty and refinement reinforced with a steely structure of squareness that enabled her to hold balances for an unusually long time and turn with supreme stability. And she always looks stunning in that yellow tutu. She and Blaine Hoven (Lankendem) produced some glorious, airy dancing in their PdD. He lifted her high; she took the opportunity to luxuriate in her beautiful positions. Blaine’s partnering was flawless, as we’ve come to expect, and his grand allegro was handsome with a nobility that one doesn’t usually observe in this character. But there was something wrong with the pirouettes last night. His first set of pirouettes were supposed to open to second position, but instead petered out and closed in fourth. The problem was either that the music was too slow or that Blaine didn’t want to turn fast enough to commit to an extra revolution before extending the leg to the side. It just wasn’t right. There was a tendency — also with Arron Scott’s Birbanto –– to drop character as soon as it was time to prepare for a pirouette and concentrate on classroom technique. Come on, guys, don’t drop character to prepare for a pirouette. 

 

Somebody who never drops character to prepare for a pirouette because he never can get to them fast enough is Daniil Simkin who was our spectacular Ali for the evening. Here was some courageous dancing – he added so many bells and whistles to the Act II variation that it was like fire engines, the Salvation Army, and the circus all coming together at one time. Even though Skylar and Sarah were the highlight as stated above, Daniil is the one who is prompting Haglund to buy tickets to another couple of shows to see him try to pull off that manege of flying triple turns. Oh my goodness, were those a pleasure to watch. They didn’t end as he intended but he didn’t bail on them and start doing pique turns either. His spectacular surprise of multiple pirouettes that ended with spread eagle arms and backbend not only had the crowd screaming but also laughing in utter disbelief. Good show from this guy!

 

Brooklyn Mack was a guest artist that ABT brought in for a few performances, and he ended up subbing for an injured Herman Cornejo on opening night. Mack was a secure partner for Skylar and offered many huge jumps, but there was an unpolished roughness and heaviness to his dancing that wasn’t even right for the rough pirate, Conrad. While we can understand why he might have wanted to try as hard as possible to jump as high as possible, the sickled feet at the end of not quite stretched legs were not pleasing to see. Mack's expression wasn’t blank as in the past, but he did not convey the exaggeration in the role of Conrad that all of the characters in this ballet need in order to make the comedy work. It’s just so hard to understand why this guest was brought in instead of giving Tom Forster an opportunity to dance a role that he was born to dance. He possesses so much power and beautiful technique, great feet, charisma, comedic timing, and he can run a string of pearls through his teeth in a way you’ll remember until you die – and maybe later, but that's in another ballet.

 

Roman Zhurbin was a deliciously disruptive Pasha, even more silly than in past years. It’s hard to believe that there are still a few morons out there who think that the portrayal of this character is somehow racist or anti-whatever and that the caricature of him is improper. Geeze Louise, a pasha is a political figure, not a religious figure — and what, pray tell, is more American than making fun of political figures?

 

The Odalisques were a mixed bag with only Melanie Hamrick acquitting herself with the expected success. Her feet were absolutely gorgeous and attached to scrupulously lined legs. There is a harmony between what is going on below the tutu and what is going on above it that is lovely to watch. Zhong-Jing Fang was in her own world musically, nearly missing the beginning of the trio’s first diagonal pass because she was luxuriating in stretching her neck and head. Throughout her variation her mouth was going like she was chewing gum. There is so much potential that could be realized in Fang if she would just stick with the choreography and stop adding stuff. Catherine Hurlin showed considerable courage in her turning variation, but didn’t quite pull off those triple turns. We’re confident that we will see them eventually, but just not last night.

 

While there was plenty of bravery on display last night, unfortunately ABT chose the coward’s way in pimping itself out to the Woke Set by altering sections of choreography of a 20+ year old prized production because of publicity sympathetic to those few who constantly engage in hypervigilance and self-victimizing. This is the same ABT that not long ago had a white man fiercely bouncing a black woman's tits on stage in a Liam Scarlett dance and then had its longtime supporter and sometime board member Susan Fales Hill tell the press that it was a wonderful ballet with real life maturity, and there was nothing wrong with that. 

 

That said – the choreographer/owner of this Le Corsaire production is still alive, and she has every right to change her work. Unfortunately, the changes made (whipless slavemasters, removal of a prayer scene) didn’t enhance the production and looked like patchwork or simply omitted choreography. But as we said, it is the choreographer’s freedom to make those changes. It does lead down a slippery slope that sends ballet sliding head first into more people’s political agendas and Hokey-Wokey. Soon there will be calls in the NYT to alter MacMillan’s works to make them comfortable for the Woke Folk who never go to the ballet anyway. Gosh, what would happen if everyone decided that they couldn’t bear to read the NYT because original owner/publisher Adolph Ochs had a habit of squeezing women against the wall at the NYT office or that in 1917 the Times pined for the days when most blacks “admitted the superiority of the white race and troubles between the two races were unheard of.” We need to save the ballet from the Wokes who wear a scent of McCarthyism.

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Skylar Brandt and Sarah Lane – oh, okay, and Daniil Simkin for their glistening and courageous dancing in the opening performance of Le Corsaire.

 

Met Opera House 5/30 & 6/3Twyla tachs it up for ABT

We’re just now catching up with ABT. Due to programing and casting, we didn’t sign up for much of the first half of the Met season. However, we did hit the first and final evenings of the Tharp Trio program and found much to cheer about along with the same-old-same-old annoyance or pathetic half-effort by the same-old-same-olds. But this Tharp program was a hit, and all of those young’uns and rarely used dancers (who mistakenly think we don’t notice them holding their swords and fans in the back rows of the big classics) really fired up the ole pistons in a few of Twyla’s prized antique classics. 

 

Twyla Tharp spent years trying to prove her ballet-worthiness after making her disdain for it clear to one and all. She built her ballet credibility from the ground up like a chemistry student investigating every element on the periodic table for properties and behavior – from Actinium to Zirconium, or from Ailes de pigeon to Voyage as in her 1973 Deuce Coupe which she made for the Joffrey Ballet and her own small company of modern dancers. She might have had disdain for classical ballet and its rigid stuffiness, but she was smart enough to seek out and study with the best independent ballet teacher in New York at the time, Richard Thomas, to make sure that her fundamental knowledge about ballet was as strong as that of any priss-ass ballerina tip-toeing around the stage. 

 

Tharp created her Deuce Coupe to 14 songs by the Beach Boys that were released from 1963 (Little Deuce Coupe) through 1972 (Cuddle Up). During the 60s and early 70s, the Beach Boys led a musical revolution which saw the fusion of rock 'n roll with folk music. It was all happening in Laurel Canyon in Hollywood Hills where the Byrds, Tom Petty, the Mamas and the Papas, and Buffalo Springfield were inspired by what the Beach Boys were creating and echoed their mix of acoustic with electric along with their use of complex harmonies in pop music. [Pause: Echo in the Canyon is now playing at Landmark Cinema Theatre on W. 57th Street and around the country. It is a documentary about the West Coast music scene during the 1960s and the revolutionary fusion of rock and folk as led by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.)

 

Like the Beach Boys’ fusion of incongruent musical genres, Tharp created her own fusion of classical ballet and social dance that would roar through mainstream ballet and be echoed by choreographers across the world. In Deuce Coupe, she employed a single ballerina in white — Monday evening,  Katherine Williams — who devoted herself to academic exercises. Her devotion was not unshakable, however, and she occasionally offered a little shimmy in the shoulders with a sly smile to make us think that under her disciplined demeanor there might lie some contemporary impertinence. As the ballerina in white devoted herself to her exercises, others performed variations on social dances while a few more mixed their styles and continually changed lanes amid the heavy traffic. 

 

Katherine Williams on Monday and Christine Shevchenko on opening night had the unwavering nerves and steady technique for the ballerina role. Stella Abrera, Catherine Hurlin, Luciana Paris, Cassandra Trenary, Patrick Frenette, and Javier Rivet – all natural Tharpentars – were a joy to watch as they reeled, rocked, and releved through the motorized Papa Ooh Mau Mau, the prehistoric pounding of Alley Oop, the galloping of Long Tall Texan, and the poignant beauty of Dennis Wilson’s lyrics and harmonies in Cuddle Up. 

 

The Brahms-Haydn Variations, tidy and somewhat small this time around, nevertheless offered outstanding performances from Blaine Hoven who partnered Stephanie Williams on opening night and Hee Seo on closing night, and Skylar Brandt with Arron Scott. It’s one of those busy as Grand Central Station ballets where one can look anywhere on the stage at any given time and see a pair engaged in something interesting or at least something odd. Misty Copeland, featured in both performances, didn’t exactly blow by our expectations. ABT keeps casting her in roles that she never grew into and is now rapidly shrinking from except for her glorious bowing at the end which grows bigger as her technique withers. On opening night, her little variation started with a single pirouette with her weight falling back to her back foot. After a pause she managed about five fouette turns before simply stopping and posing for the rest of the music. On closing night, she offered the same single pirouette that fell backward and then she completely bailed on the fouettes. Instead, she did about five unimpressive, slowish single pirouettes and then posed for the rest of the music. She was applauded loudly by a few of her fans who perhaps thought the turns were just preparation for that all-important pose at the end.

 

The biggest joy of these performances came from the exhilaration created by the main Stompers – Devon Teuscher, Skylar Brandt, and Cassandra Trenary on opening night and Stephanie Williams, Wanyue Qiao, and Catherine Hurlin on closing night – who rocked the Philip Glass minimalist tunes of In the Upper Room. Stephanie and Wanyue are quintessential Tharp dancers who “get” her downtown attitude and cheekiness. Stephanie, in particular, showed a stamina that put the big boys to shame and then looked at the end like she was ready to go another round. Stephanie also was lovely whirling like a maple seed pod through The Brahms-Haydn Variations with Blaine as her partner.

 

In fact, we’re throwing the H.H. Pump Bump Award, a high-heeled sneaker from Adidas which looks best when worn with a Grateful Dead sockette available at Stance in Hudson Yards, to Stephanie and Blaine for their awesomesauce dancing in the Tharp Trio program.

 

 

 

 

Balanchine: The City Center Years 11/1 and 11/4

When the Americans’ loudest complaints about Russian ballet dancing are the smiles and the rich operatic bows, you know their asses have been whooped. Apparently, no one should dare not dance Balanchine exactly as New York City Ballet does. By that, we mean ig-zakt-lee, not iks-hahk-lee or eek-zaxt-lee. When in Amerakuh, speak Amerakuhn dammit. (For the love of all humanity, please vote by the end of tomorrow.) Good heavens, some of this snooty-snoot that Haglund has been hearing about the visiting companies’ performances makes locals sound like a bunch of Parisians. 

 

Without a doubt, it’s important to ballet and also gratifying to New York City Ballet that companies throughout the world want to dance Balanchine’s great works and want their audiences to experience them. But there are no other companies on the planet that devote themselves to Balanchine’s ballets like NYCB does. There are no other companies on the planet who require potential dancers to push through the rigors of SAB, then take a daily class that focuses solely on the Balanchine-espoused technical demands, and spend all working hours trying to stay true to the underlying dancing principals that have made the company and Balanchine’s ballets so great. There are no other companies on the planet that do this. So why should anyone expect that a company that arrives for a festival will match NYCB musical counts (which can vary widely on any given night), NYCB aesthetic (which can vary widely on any given night), or any aspect of NYCB’s performances at all? Honestly, it sounds like the locals believe that the visiting companies were trying to be disrespectful since they didn’t mirror what is or has been seen here on NYCB’s stage. Maybe it’s time to look in the mirror, folks.

 

On Thursday evening, the Mariinsky Ballet’s interpretation of Balanchine’s Apollo was filled with stunning dancing, sensitive characterization, and elegant beauty. This crew hammered home how fundamentally important it is in this art form to start out with the right physical instrument. If the instrument isn’t right, the aims of the choreography cannot be achieved with excellence. Ballet isn’t about being the best average one can be. It’s not democratic. It’s not an art where we all vote on whether turnout, straight narrow legs, length in the limbs, a clear arabesque, and minimal body mass are important.

 

Xander Parish as Apollo clearly portrayed the young god who needed instruction from his muses. His boyish face showed the frustration of not yet being able to master his god-tasks. He conveyed Apollo’s struggle and disorientation as the liminality in his transformation to a full-fledged god. The moment when his head rose from the open palms of the Muses’ hands could not have been played more clearly. By delivering the expression with the force to reach the back of the Mariinsky Theatre, he may have whammed those in the forward rows of the NY City Center unexpectedly. But he was clear. His solos were technically and aesthetically gorgeous: shapes in the air, shapes on the ground, shapes standing still. It was impossible not to admire his artistry. We say this while clearly remembering how completely underwhelmed we were the last time we saw him on stage. Xander has quite literally made his own Apollo rite of passage.

 

Maria Khoreva, Anastasia Nuikina, and Daria Ionova as the Muses are all 2018 graduates from the Vaganova Academy. Khoreva, who danced Terpsichore, has already been promoted to First Soloist bypassing the ranks of Coryphee and Second Soloist, and doing virtually no time in traditional corps roles. What an amazing opportunity it was to watch this fledgling fly with such poise, precision, and grace. A couple of times, we thought that she veered dangerously close to turning her pas de deux with Apollo into a love duet, but we ultimately decided that she was expressing her love for her art form, not the hot god before her. Especially beautiful was the “swimming” moment while poised on Apollo’s back where the arch in her back and the length in her neck were extraordinary. The final pose with her arched torso tucked against Apollo’s arched back was a gorgeous image. Both Calliope and Polyhymnia danced equally well. Polyhymnia had a little struggle with the pique pirouettes to arabesque plié with the finger to the lips, but nothing more than what we’ve seen on NYCB’s stages from its long time principals.

 

Thursday night’s program included NYCB in Concerto Barocco. It was danced dreadfully slowly which made it a bore. Maybe the tempo was adjusted down so as to avoid problems dancing in the smaller space. Both Maria Kowroski and Abi Stafford danced as though they were tired. Russell Janzen dispatched his partnering duties reliably and cleanly.

 

The Royal Ballet couple Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé brought their game up considerably from the night before and delivered an energetic Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux. 

 

The San Francisco Ballet’s Divertimento No. 15 suffered some from the narrow stage. These are excellent dancers who would have appreciated being able to really cut loose for the New York audience, but were somewhat confined. Their dancing was scrupulous and refined, however.

 

Sunday’s closing performance of the festival included the Joffrey Ballet in The Four Temperaments. Jeraldine Mendoza in the Third Theme and Yoshihisa Arai in Melancholic were commanding. Unfortunately, the rest of the company didn’t match them in authority. Given the difficulties that Christine Rocas and Victoria Jaiani had with Sanguinic and Choleric, respectively, we wondered if the Joffrey had actually danced The Four Temperaments much in Chicago. It was not a fully baked loaf, so to speak.

 

Along with the Mariinsky’s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux redux, the Paris Opera Ballet performed the Divertissement Pas de Deux from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Taken out of context, this PdD was not very interesting. The dancers (Sae-Eun Park and Hugo Marchand) were like print & plaid together. Neither made a strong impression in this dance even though we know from having seen them perform before that they are fantastic dancers.

 

American Ballet Theatre’s Symphonie Concertante to music by Mozart turned out to be one of the highlights of the three performances that Haglund saw - for two reasons. First, NYCB doesn’t dance the ballet so we have no idea what it would look like if dispatched with Balanchine styling and speed. Second, ABT danced it very, very well in their own style. Christine Shevchenko, Devon Teuscher, and Thomas Forster were an elegant and glistening trio of academic beauty. For quite some time, many have wondered why Forster has been so underutilized in major full length works at ABT. While we were certainly transfixed by the beauty of Shevchenko and Teuscher, we suddenly snapped to a new alertness when Forster arrived on stage. For such a huge man, he certainly moves with the grace of a panther. Charming, handsome, killer lines, gorgeous feet, huge jumps, beautiful pirouettes, youthful arabesque. And his dancing has always been superior to the management-favored, audience-abhorred James Whiteside. 

 

ABT’s corps looked very comfortable dancing on the smaller stage. Tidy lines, bright smiles, lovely port de bras, no need to rush or stretch to reach a position. It all looked very pleasant. No stress, no mess. We can’t fail to mention how gorgeous the Theoni V. Aldredge tutus were. Every woman on stage looked like a million dollars.

 

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon the Mariinsky Ballet for their Apollo.

 

 

observation 11/1

Leo from LA alerted us to the fact that the Met Opera's website is showing Olga Smirnova for Gulnare on June 12 & 15 and Lescaut's Mistress on the 17th and the 20th. See below. Hopefully, this is an error. We'd hate to see Stella's dwindling performances gutted even more.