Haglund's Heel

NYCB cancels its Spring Season

Unhappy, but what can anybody do? We'll all live but it won't be a very happy spring.

Meanwhile, companies begging for money doesn't sit very well at a time like this -- at least not in my 610 sq ft of isolation. The dancers will get the unemployment benefits and all of the other benefits that people working regular jobs get -- if not more. They'll get any rent freezes that NYS or the Feds declare. They'll get stimulus checks, and the company will get help, too. They are as fine or as not fine as the rest of us. Instead of begging people who are also hurting, why don't some of these dancers line up like regular folks at the Amazon warehouse for a temporary job. Would it hurt them to finally realize what working in the real world is like? The tragedy would be that they might not be able to spend all day on Instagram.

I am so sick of the tone-deaf begging. Sick sick sick of it.

Tulsa Ballet's staff is sewing hospital masks. NYCB and ABT have campaigns of tone-deaf begging. Think about it.

 

 

David Hallberg to become Australian Ballet's new artistic director

Yep. Beginning January 2021.  Congratulations to all.

ABT@KC Giselle 2/16 – Brandt & Ahn

The impact of the ballet Giselle can be so powerful that it inspires forgiveness and thoughtfulness within the audience that lasts past the lowering of the curtain. So went the Sunday matinee performance at the Kennedy Center where aspects of ABT’s somewhat lusterless production of Giselle suddenly looked like polished 24 karat gold. At the end, the audience exited particularly slowly while murmuring wows and exclamations of how touching the performance was. So true.

This performance was to have included the debuts of Skylar Brandt and Joo Won Ahn, but Skylar ended up stepping into the role a few days early after the company’s celebrina simply could not go on stage the night following a reportedly brilliant performance by Sarah Lane and Daniil Simkin. Deja vu three years ago at the Kennedy Center when the celebrina couldn’t come to terms with Devon Teuscher’s brilliant success in Swan Lake and sustained a thought-injury before withdrawing from her scheduled performance (Just thinking about the fouettes makes me hurt, she said). But this time, she may have had extra reason to feel bad about having to follow Sarah’s brilliance. Maybe even some guilt. Time will soon tell.

 

So Sunday’s matinee was Skylar’s second performance. At the outset, it was apparent that this was an ambitious interpretation which had been set on her by one of ABT’s great Giselles, Irina Dvorovenko, and Max Beloserkovsky. Their version, which may have been founded on the principle The difficult we do immediately; the impossible takes a little longer, was an interpretation that Skylar will grow into. However, we’re not sure that all of the difficulty designed into the variations will ever pay off in terms of risk-benefits. In Act I, for example, Giselle’s pique arabesques that roll down through the supporting foot and descend into penches were attempted with the face turned toward the audience from start to finish. The step is risky enough when the ballerina is focused on exactly where she is stepping and descending into the penche; not looking where one is going was, in this case, a rather perilous approach that resulted in some instability which carried into a few other moments in the variation. Further, the entire visual frame provided less foreshadowing of Giselle’s Act II deep penches. 

 

We have to take exception to some of the dramatic choices made in Act I. Giselle’s little fainting spell was suddenly a Code Blue cardiac arrest with googly eyes bulging and opened mouth gasping for breath. This is a classical ballet not a Quentin Tarantino movie. Life’s experiences are represented by dance in a musical and choreographic fashion, not depicted with brute realism for the purpose of shocking the audience. This needs to be toned down in future performances and certainly long before Skylar ventures anywhere near Juliet’s bottle of nasty-tasting potion where the temptation to offer gagging realism is almost irresistible. Again, the ballet is a representation through the use of musical and choreographic movements. It’s not realism. Giselle’s Mad Scene was also overloaded with enough shaking hands and arms to warrant a straightjacket. Less is more.

 

But overall, Skylar’s Act I variations were exquisitely danced with beautiful phrasing and style. We loved the delicacy of her pointes, the lightness in the diagonal of hops on pointe, and the sparkling joy in the manège of pique turns. For most of Act I she had to carry the drama and entire story by herself. Our Albrecht was mostly absent although his technical dancing was admirable. Thank goodness this ballet has an Act II where both of our leads rose to the heights that we had hoped to see.

 

The Act II awakening spin began with an unusually low lunge and whirled as furiously as we’ve ever seen. The ensuing sissone-assembles and coupé jetés seemed to be fueled by some unstoppable force. The pas de deux showed tremendous promise with Joo Won finally waking up dramatically to dance a love story filled with guilt and desperation. Finally Skylar had someone responding to her which seemed to propel her performance to an even higher level of grace and beauty. Unfortunately, the second overhead lift did not go well, perhaps in part due to the sluggish musical tempo. In fact, the tempi were erratic and odd throughout the performance. It brought back the nightmare of Irina Dvorovenko’s final Giselle in which the conductor (the same one as Sunday) lost track of what he was doing and sent the orchestra awry like we’d never heard before. 

 

Joo Won was beyond spectacular in his Act II variations — so spectacular that we instantly forgave his blankness in Act I. His diagonal of cabrioles must have been five or six feet off the ground and were punctuated with daringly dramatic backbends. His entrechat six were textbook perfect. And as equally important, he was convincing as Albrecht on his last legs, so to speak. The life had been sucked out of him and he was ready to give up until Giselle saved him with her love. 

 

The supporting cast included Catherine Hurlin as Myrta, a new role for her. As everyone knows, Myrta is homicidal, and Hurlin brought that out clearly with her facial expressions of revenge and unforgiveness. She also displayed some fierce grand jetes and strong arabesque lines. Rachel Richardson and Lauren Post as Moyna and Zulma didn’t leave much of an impression. Nor did the Act I Peasant PdD danced by Cassandra Trenary and Tyler Maloney. There was a time at ABT when this Peasant PdD nearly stole the show from starry principals. Roman Zhurbin was menacing (in a lovable way) as Hilarion and died a great, great death. Such marvelous pathetic grovelling at Myrta’s feet we rarely see. Lastly, the Wilis were serviceable, but not more. A lack of uniformity was particularly evident when they jete’d upstage into the wings after dispatching Hilarion.

 

We’re going to pitch an HH Pump Bump Award, a Louboutin custom-made pump, to both Skylar and Joo Won for their impressive early interpretations of Giselle and Albrecht. Both are bold risk-takers in their dancing. They possess staggering amounts of technique but also a sense of vulnerability that could be exploited in other dramatic roles. Should the stars align so that they get a Giselle slot during this coming Met season, you won’t want to miss them.

 

ABT@KC Running on adrenaline

Giselle, we can't bear to live without you. We're making good time, but Baby, this shortcut ain't for the faint of heart.

 

 

observations 1/10

Oh my goodness, this is good news.

Eric Tamm is back. Happy New Year!

Five years ago Tamm and Luis Ribagorda walked out of ABT after having had enough of watching McKenzie wipe the noses and butts of countless guest artists while ignoring the home grown talent. We had some say about it back then. Tamm always had an elegant warm/cool assured stage presence that harmonized with any of his ballerinas. He was a reason to buy tickets. He was a reason to rejoice at ABT when there was precious little other reason to be happy. Five years is a long time to be gone, but it's also five years with no injuries or wear & tear. We hope he's in tiptop shape.

If Ratmansky puts this guy in a red Désiré coat and a tri-corner hat, Haglund will put himself in the front row of the Met -- so long as Aurora isn't the equinarina or fakerina. We see two open slots in Sleeping Beauty where Tamm (and/or Hoven) would fit like a glove.

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Who, besides Haglund, missed the ballet Jeopardy clue last night?

Answer (the DAILY DOUBLE): A pas de deux based on music by Samuel Barber premiered in 1975 with Baryshnikov as Jason and Carla Fracci as her.

Brad Rutter without any hesitation: Who is Medea?

Damn. Who could remember that? It didn't even happen in New York. 😸

 

observations 10/26

If you liked ABT's Costume Fee, you'll love the Single Ticket Fee they are apparently charging during their final 8-week spring Met Season. But you won't know how much you love it until you try ordering a single ticket in March, because nobody wants to disclose how much it will be. Just try asking the Met box office. "Oh, we don't know about that."

But in the fine print of the season brochure which arrived yesterday, there is a list of subscriber benefits which includes a potential 20% discount off of the single ticket price AND a Waived single ticket fee.

What a load of fee-ces. Good luck with that, ABT.

But ABT's fee-ces isn't what stinks the most about the spring season. After her appalling and disgraceful performances last year, including one in which Sarah Lane had to be called in to do the hard steps for her, the Fakerina has once again been granted two Swan Lake performances in an expanded run of the ballet while Sarah has been shut out. And the Fakerina seems to be at the center of a lot of company disharmony these days while playing the race card to get what she wants. It always helps when the boss has realized that he will never achieve artistic respect; so, instead, he'll focus solely on his social promotion agenda at great expense to the company's artistic reputation. Maybe this spring when McKenzie sends Sarah in to do the hard steps for the Fakerina, he'll put her in blackface so the Fakerina's fans can't tell who it is and who it isn't.

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The National Ballet of Canada announced that its acclaimed artistic director and former ballerina, Karen Kain, will retire in January of 2021. The company has begun a global search for her successor.

Ms. Kain has always epitomized eloquent grace and strength. She and Rex Harrington were among the most celebrated and glamorous ballet pairs of their time. And we'll always remember how she came on stage at SPAC and graciously thanked the audience for attending in the sweltering 100+ degree heat. Class from head to toe. And still stunningly beautiful.

 

 

 

 

observations 10/24

Without a doubt, the most exciting news of today is that Edge at Hudson Yards, the tallest observation deck in the Western Hemisphere, will open on March 11th. At 1,131 feet above the ground AND jutting out 80 feet from the side of the 100th floor of the new supertall tower at 30 Hudson Yards, Edge will have your nerves dangling and buzzing like you're at the edge of life itself. Step onto the glass floor and push out onto the leaning glass walls, if you dare. Yep, Haglund's got his tickets for the opening day. You can get yours online too, which we recommend doing right away, because this is sure to be the hottest ticket in town this spring.

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In other news today, it seems that ABT has announced its final 8-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House. Mounting years of dismal sales and mounting scores of dissatisfied customers made it a painless decision for The Met to slash ABT's season by three weeks and insert its own thriving productions beginning in the 2020-2021 season. ABT hasn't figured out a way to turn that into good news yet and has buried its head in the sand like nothing is wrong. The company has certainly earned its irrelevance.

We're still holding out hope for some decent casting in T&V. Maybe Blaine Hoven's name will show up or maybe Cornejo or Simkin will appear in the casting opposite Sarah Lane. Ditto for Sleeping Beauty: Hoven, Cornejo, and Simkin would suit us just fine. We're happy to see Forster featured as he has long deserved.

Spring is a long time away. Changes will be made, and blanks will be filled in. Come May 11th, there will be a ton of great programming across the plaza to enjoy – which we imagine we will.

Oh Good Night Irene!

Twyla Tharp’s new concoction for Herman Cornejo, A Gathering of Ghosts, is a catch-all crazy good time. Her "what if " scenario of the ghosts of great historical/literary figures such as Louis XIV, Marie Antoinette, Proust, Murasaki, the North Wind, Madame de Staël, along with someone named Irene, etc. meeting up with Cornejo, who will eventually become the brightest ghost of his own generation as Tharp suggests at the end, is a clever choreographic device. But she could have used characters named Hail Mary and Last Night’s Meatloaf and it wouldn’t have mattered. 

Cornejo was brilliant as he wandered through what looked more like Tharp’s choreographic ghosts of ABT’s past than anything new. Even the opening strains of Johannes Brahms’ String Quartet in G Major, Op 111 revealed where Philip Glass got a musical idea for In The Upper Room, Tharp's 1986 masterpiece. We saw glimpses of her past works all mixed up and costumed eclectically by Norma Kamali. It’s as if Tharp told the designer, “You gotta save me. Go crazy. Spend all you want. McKenzie will just add a bogus costume fee to the ticket price to cover the nonsense.” And crazy the designer went. Blaine Hoven wearing a painted unitard with wide tulle skirt that opened to the front suddenly turned to face the back of the stage and clasped his hands behind his scapula the way he did as a bare-chested hunk in In The Upper Room. It was almost as if Tharp was saying the costumes didn't matter; it all would work regardless of the costumes. And in the case of her dances, it always does. But when men lifted women upside down in the splits or carried them on stage overhead with their legs in a diamond shape, it was a reminder that new ideas are really hard to come by in ballet. We heard the echo of Marie Antoinette, “There is nothing new except what has been forgotten.” 

 

A Gathering of Ghosts is a terrific tribute to Cornejo with whom Tharp seems to have been as fascinated as she was with Baryshnikov. And Cornejo has obligingly molded himself to be the ultimate classicist with a funky side just as Baryshnikov did for Tharp. The choreography that she made for him here showed that he's got plenty of razzle-dazzle left and just the right amount of chutzpah to make it all charming. But this dance will not likely survive past Cornejo’s time which is approaching its conclusion. And then what? By what, we mean what becomes of the investment in a large new work with expensive costumes that has been built around one key person. Is ABT so rich that it can splurge on productions that have little or no future past a certain dancer? It’s true that Tharp might be able to continue to recycle her choreography, but what about the costumes? Oh, wait – the obvious answer is to saddle the ticketbuyer with a forced contribution called Costume Fee and then just pack up the costumes after a few uses and forget about them. In the past decade, ABT has overspent mightily on costumes, including costumes on major failures. But will ABT learn from its failure in sales this season when the public refused to foot the bill? Probably not.

 

This program also included Balanchine's Theme and Variations which looked terribly constipated. It hurts to say this, but ABT should not even consider dancing Theme and Variations again until a new director is installed who can resurrect the ballet's beauty and energy. And the company should not dance Theme and Variations again until the women can do entrechat six and bourree at a single speed to the music. Watching the corps bourree around on the stage was like watching the start & stop traffic on 9th Avenue at rush hour. Some of the ladies were step-step-step-step-stepping quickly in their bourrees while others were slowly clomping left-right-left-right as though their toes hurt. Doesn’t it matter to the ABT artistic team if the corps women’s feet aren't moving at the same speed? Jeezus, it didn’t even seem to matter that within a side line of corps dancers, one person didn’t even know which foot should be in front during bourrees. And these shrimp-sized dancers all danced as if they were running out of space. All in all, they made a shrimp-sized impact.

 

Nor was it the finest hour for our principals Sarah Lane and Joseph Gorak although their second show was considerably better than the first. But after all these years, not having double tours performance-ready is just not excusable. Nor is fumbling a simple lift of the tiniest ballerina to the shoulder. Good heavens, Sarah could have lifted Gorak to her shoulder with less trouble. The constipated musical tempo led Sarah through some very slow chaines and pirouettes. Had this been Tiler Peck dancing, she would have exploited the tempo by turning even faster, not more slowly. Theme and Variations should not look like a walk down Lazy River Lane.

 

The evening closed with a vibrant performance of Ratmansky’s hyper-kinetic The Seasons. Overheard on the way home, “I liked the middle one the best. The last one was kind of manic.” Oh, yeah, manic is a good description. There were too many ideas swirling throughout and too much minutia thrown in to address every note of Glazunov’s hummable melodies. The frantic arm movements of the corps de ballet often distracted the eye from the principal dancers. Still and all, we were happy to see Blaine Hoven get a well-earned chance to show what a brilliant artist he is. As the Summer Faun, he uncorked a thrilling barrage of aerial allegro. Blaine can do double tours, pitch petit allegro, gun through grand allegro, and has always been able pick up a woman or three and load them on his shoulder. And nobody looks better in white tights. Nobody. So why hasn’t he ever led Theme and Variations? 

 

The ABT dancers are adept at Ratmansky’s dense, detail-filled choreography. Winter's Snowflakes were able to pick up where they left off in Ratmansky's Nutcracker and accelerate. Most of the other dances were similarly complex. Not much that the ensembles danced aligned with or complemented the principals’ choreography. There was a lot of independent action on stage but not a lot of symbiotic design. Nevertheless, we enjoyed seeing so many dancers featured. We’ll never see half of them in anything that McKenzie directs. 

 

As the Summer's Spirit of the Corn Flower, Isabella Boylston retained her homely sloppiness from the waist up. Cassandra Trenary was a bold and scene-stealing Bacchante in Autumn. Zimmi Coker and Skylar Brandt as The Rose and The Swallow carried the Spring. The choreography for Winter out-paced Aran Bell who hasn’t yet caught up with Ratmansky’s style – but he’s obviously trying hard.

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a faun-colored sparkling stiletto, is bestowed upon Blaine Hoven who no matter how high he steps up can't seem to get in McKenzie's line of sight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alicia Alonso RIP

Oh, my goodness. Such thanks we owe her. Hopefully tonight's Theme and Variations as danced by Sarah Lane and Joseph Gorak will be a stunning and beautiful homage to the great Alicia Alonso.

Alonso and Youskevitch in T&V.

 

 

observations 10/16

The oral arguments in the lawsuit Waterbury vs. NYCB, SAB, Longhitano, Finlay, Catazaro & Ramasar have been further postponed to January 21, 2020. It seems that they had been postponed to November 7th without documents being posted online. Now they are being postponed again.

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Reminder: ABT's Koch Season is on TDF (with no costume fee) but now only two dates remain: Sat. Oct. 19th@2pm and Sun. Oct. 20th@2pm. Tickets are still available on Goldstar.com (with no costume fee) for Oct. 19th@2pm, 20th@2pm, 22nd, 23rd, 25th, 27th@2pm for $25-$54 depending on performance.