Halloween is one of those unofficial holidays when people pretend to be something they are not. It’s very big in New York – as is St. Patrick’s Day when everyone pretends to be Irish in order to celebrate the Irish. Nobody complains to Horst McSchmidt that he's not really Irish on March 17th; it wouldn’t be in the spirit of the holiday to do so. Besides, Horst just might know a little more about what it means to be Irish than those with authentic green in the family tree.
This all really doesn’t have much to do with last night's opening performance of New York City Center’s grand celebration of Balanchine in conjunction with its marking of the center’s 75th anniversary – well maybe a little.
Balanchine and the New York City Ballet were in residence at New York City Center from 1948 until the company moved to Lincoln Center in 1964. Many of his most famous works were created during this period. Almost immediately following NYCB’s move to Lincoln Center, the Joffrey Ballet moved into City Center where they stayed for the next 30 years before decamping to Chicago. While it doesn’t seem that City Center, which is run by former Joffrey Ballet dancer Arlene Shuler, will be offering many remembrances or postcards from the past Joffrey residency (other than a Studio 5 discussion in April), the Joffrey Ballet will make a pilgrimage back to the old Mecca Temple to perform Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments three times over this weekend.
Getting back to last night’s opening performance which included some spectacular dancing within the overall good performances - it also included spectacular music. The New York City Ballet Orchestra, which is playing for all performances, was energetically conducted by Andrews Sill and Clotilde Otranto.
Miami City Ballet presented a neat, academic Serenade except that in addition to the two scheduled falls in the choreography, there was a third unscheduled fall. Everyone seemed okay afterward, though. Much of the corps de ballet danced with the joyless, sometimes nervous sternness that Haglund recalls in Lourdes Lopez’s own dancing many years ago. Simone Messmer as the Waltz Girl danced exquisitely and forcefully, but had a demeanor of Myrta throughout much of the ballet. Emily Bromberg’s Dark Angel possessed just the spirit that one wants to see in the role. Her stationary rotating arabesques on pointe began to turn immediately upon hitting the pique arabesque which was lovely to see. Jeanette Delgado as the Russian Girl was the soul of this Serenade. It seemed like she simply could not contain her explosive energy or stop herself from devouring every inch of the stage. She danced as though she dearly wanted to jeté over the orchestra pit and into the audience.
The Mariinsky Ballet’s Viktoria Tereshkina and Kimin Kim gave a knock-out performance of the Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux at high speed. We simply don’t have anyone in either of New York’s companies who can dance like that. Sad to say, but true. Of course, the Mariinsky doesn’t have a lot of other dancers who can fly like Kim or charge with the grace of Tereshkina, either. The Mariinsky brought their best for this — no surprise there. Haglund loved their every step, their musicality, their respectful rapport, and the joy with which they expertly and cleanly dispatched the choreography. The speed was easy for them. Kim’s grand allegro was huge, but it was also beautifully lined and stretched. Tereshkina has always been a goddess in everything that she does. It was wonderful to see just how warm she can be and how she reached out to establish a rapport with the audience.
The Royal Ballet presented Tarantella danced by Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé. We can’t say that there was anything wrong in what was danced, but it did seem lacking in flavor. We’re not saying that it was bland, because it wasn’t. It just needed some more spice.
New York City Ballet closed the program by ripping through Symphony in C. (Much thanks to Conductor Otranto for keeping everyone aflight.) It was a very good performance, but not close to the best that we have seen these principals dance. Tiler Peck, Sara Mearns, and Ashley Bouder seemed sluggish like they were coming back from a few days off. Lauren King in the Fourth Movement was brilliant - so absolutely ready and eager for every step. In her few years as a soloist, she has developed gorgeously and is now so ready for much bigger leading role challenges. We remember when she was first promoted how her legs and feet needed so much work. She put the work in and it has paid off beautifully. We note that the brand new soloist Claire Kretzschmar now faces challenges very similar to those that Lauren had, and we are excited to watch her develop and improve, too.
The men in Symphony in C (Tyler Angle, Jared Angle, Anthony Huxley and Taylor Stanley) came fully prepared to impress. And they did. But so did demi-soloists Aaron Sanz, Daniel Applebaum, and Peter Walker whose long, clean leg lines and powerful jumps had greater impact. Just want to remark how beautiful those tall corps women were and how impressive their speed was. We’ve been watching Miriam Miller pick up speed like she was skipping gears this year. In Symphony in C and earlier this year in Concerto Barocco, she kept up with the 5-footers without reducing her range. And hopefully, we will soon see a lot more of that Sequoia with long graceful limbs, Christina Clark. How about a Dewdrop at the end of the month?
Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, Louboutin's studded metallic leather stiletto, is bestowed upon Viktoria Tereshkina and Kimin Kim for bringing the daring, the energy, the preciseness, and the elegance to Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux.