Haglund's Heel

NYCB's second week of mixed results

The most incredible thing is that even though it's the Year of the Rabbit again -- and again, and again, seemingly everywhere we go with choreographer Justin Peck's works -- it really should be the Year of the Firebird. What a fabulous flock we have in the making! Isabella LaFreniere and Ashley Hod are both simply divine in the principal role.

Ashley Hod's debut in the title role on Tuesday evening revealed all the anticipated perfect lines and generous jumps, but what stunned us was the bending beauty of her upper body and port de bras during the Firebird's bourree solo. This was, perhaps, Hod's most significant debut to date and secured her place as a major ballerina in the company -- one who is just now entering the sweet spot of her career. Her work respectfully reflects the traditional Balanchine style from the time he led the company while just beginning to incorporate an individual style. It's as though we are watching a flashback that has been updated.

Miriam Miller was captivating in the role of the Prince's Bride. All that length and bend combined with the ever increasing expansiveness in her dancing really demanded that we watch this character in every scene she appeared.

This production of Firebird is rich in so many ways that it almost leads to sensory overload. The stirring Stravinsky music, the overpowering scenery, the nightmarishly appealing Kastchei costumes, the ravishing Firebird, and the brilliant choreography create a theatrical experience that Haglund could sit through night after night. In fact, now that we have two new Firebirds who are burning brightly, we want to see the rest of the latest class of soloists illuminate the role. Kikta, Miller, Nadon, and even the little Von Enck would all be very individual stunners as Firebirds.

As for Justin Peck's new Copland Dance Episodes which premiered last evening, let's just blurt it out: No, not ever again. First, most of the Copland music we heard last evening (Rodeo, Appalachian Spring, and Billy the Kid) wasn't just used previously for dance, it was commissioned by choreographers who had specific artistic plans for its use. The music is stirring, just as stirring as the Stravinsky works that Balanchine commissioned. Why doesn't Peck "re-work" those into his own vision? Answer: Because he knows that doing so would be bad form and would neither enrich the art nor stand up to the art for which the music was originally made.

Copland Dance Episodes included only a few moments of inventiveness. It was an interminably long, intermissionless 72 minutes. Peck applied his formulaic choreography in the same way that he has applied it in his other works. It was the same swoopy, gosh-this-is-fun-to-do-but-tiring-to-watch choreography that tried way too hard to be hip and accessible. The formula applied to the costumes as well: women in leotards dyed to look like various colored underpants and tops; the men in various colored tights and shirts. All the colors were apparently derived from the front panel curtain designed by Jeffrey Gibson seen here:

The most interesting moment of the ballet came during the Appalachian Spring music when Haglund looked away from the stage and glanced up into the darkness at the people in the side tiers: a single line of still, serious faces slightly illuminated by the stage lighting who could have been Worshipers in Martha Graham's landmark Appalachian Spring. Miss Graham's masterpiece. Miss Graham's commissioned score. Miss Graham's 1944 story of a community of 19th century American pioneers in Pennsylvania. Miss Graham who built her own company from scratch and included Asian and Black dancers long before most any other company. Miss Graham who nurtured Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp.

Back in 1958 when Miss Graham's Appalachian Spring appeared on TV, Haglund was deep into ballet's circus side and didn't appreciate the brilliance of this composition. Years later, another visit to her Appalachian Spring brought an emotion-filled appreciation of Graham's brilliance, inventiveness, style, and her extraordinary dancers. In this 1958 video, Graham performs in her mid-60s along side Matt Turney (pictured right) and Yuriko. A character similar to the stiff and serious Preacher, danced by Bertram Ross, would later show up in Paul Taylor's Speaking in Tongues but with a less than wholesome side.

The one redeeming characteristic of Peck's ballet was that it conveyed how much the dancers like to dance together as a large group and how they support each other as a little democracy. Principals danced among the corps as much as they were featured alone. Corps dancers were spotlighted throughout the ballet. Everyone was having a wonderful time on the stage. Haglund was looking at his watch.

Without a doubt, the New York City Ballet Orchestra saved the night. What a joy it was to hear them dive into Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man at the opening of the piece. But no amount of fanfare would help what was about to take place on the stage. Take us back to Firebird, the most incredible thing -- pronto.

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, a fiery stiletto for hot feet, is bestowed upon Ashley Hod for debut as the Firebird.

 

 

observations 1/22

It was an extraordinary Saturday filled with memorable performances by New York City Ballet, but what is wrong with this composition?

Twelve men principals to a mere six women principals?! Can management stop discounting its women's talent and make an effort to achieve principal parity? Just the optics are highly disturbing, but what's behind this inequity?

 

NYCB on fire 1/20

        Tiler Peck's fabled Allegro Brillante was on display last night at NYCB. She and Roman Mejia gave a pristine and glorious performance. No complaints about Mejia’s lines last night. His arabesques were stretched to the limit and surprisingly turned-out. Tiler’s own arabesques were subdued with many achieved via an overly opened hip, but that was a minor quibble in a performance that was filled with brilliant articulation, thrilling speed, and a generosity that conveyed that she was out there for us, not herself. Wow wow wow.

        The corps was fantastic. The women (Meaghan Dutton-O'Hara, Ashley Hod, Olivia MacKinnon, Emma Von Enck) were exceptionally in sync while moving at open-throttle speed. We must remark that if we don’t see Emma Von Enck as Aurora in Sleeping Beauty this season, we will be extremely disappointed. If she is relegated to Bluebird or Canary, we just won’t go because the injustice would be too great. It’s quite possible that we in New York have never, ever seen a dancer who is more suited to the role of Aurora, and it would be an absolute travesty if we had to wait until this Sleeping Beauty cycles around in a few years to see her in the role. The corpsmen last evening were tops as well. My goodness, the cabrioles derrière by Christopher Grant were of such beauty and length that they took our eyes away from the principals.

        Christopher Wheeldon’s now 20-year-old Liturgy reveals the genesis of many of his later oft-repeated ideas: flag-like arms, draped bodies on the floor, acrobatic coupling, dragging the women around. It’s of historical interest but we’re grateful that Wheeldon’s work has grown more substantive as the years passed and has developed in the area of storytelling as in his extraordinary ballet, The Winter’s Tale. However, we wouldn’t mind seeing his early Mercurial Manoeuvres pop up on NYCB’s calendar more often. Unity Phelan and Chun Wai Chan performed the Liturgy pas de deux with precision and maximum extensions. Both looked handsome in the costumes by Holly Hynes.

        Walpurgisnacht Ballet was a mood lifter after the dark seriousness of Liturgy. It’s a hairy ballet, that’s for sure. Two dozen women flying around at top speed in their fushia-crimson-viva magenta gauze with animated hair dancing its own choreography was quite the lovely sight. Emilie Gerrity, in her debut of this principal role, milked the music for all its worth. She didn’t bang out the choreography but rather served it up with clarity, authority, and warmth in a very pleasing interpretation. Tyler Angle was her capable partner. Erica Periera shimmered in her solo.

        Firebird has become 5-alarms since Isabella LaFreniere took over the role last year. Good heavens, what an extraordinary and beautiful performance she delivered last night. Okay, the mammoth Chagall scenery helped. A lot. But LaFreniere, besides looking positively stunning in Karinska’s tutu, was resplendent with pure academics and intelligent musicality. The accelerating circle of saut de chat that finished with a gargantuan leap to exit the stage was breathtaking. When she later arrived on stage and began her bourree solo, lawlessness broke out in the audience. iPhone cameras lit up everywhere. Someone even engaged the flash to catch her image. Yeah, the Chagalls helped, but LaFreniere was simply spectacular. Hers is not a performance that anyone should miss.

        Jared Angle served as Prince Ivan and Megan LeCrone gave a lovely, unusually warm and very open performance as the Prince’s Bride. Gilbert Bolden III’s Kastchei was fantastic as well.

        Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, hot wings with sauce, is bestowed upon Isabella LaFreniere, a blazing talent, for her performance as the Firebird. 

 

 

 

NYCB plays to its strengths in the Winter Season opener

        We're grateful to be back among the civilized herd of NYCB regulars who appreciate the genius of Balanchine and can chat intelligently about the bright performances on the stage before them. Speaking about the well-balanced four-bill of Donizetti Variations, Haieff Divertimento, Valse-Fantaisie, and Stravinsky Violin Concerto, one said, "This is the unpretentious real deal." Thank goodness nobody replied that the pretentiousness will arrive next week.

        Tuesday night's opening performance of the Winter Season may not have revealed the tidiest corps de ballet, and there was an old-time sense that some newer members had been thrown into the deep end of the pool, so to speak, to either sink or swim. Everybody eventually made it to the safety of the pool's edge. As the night progressed, things improved.

        Donizetti Variations, set to music from his opera Dom Sebastian (not Don Sebastian as misprinted in the Playbill), has a Bournonville bounce and cadence without adherence to Bournonville's strict style. Occasionally the port de bras lowered to accentuate what the feet were doing, but mostly this was a festive romp filled with deceptively difficult challenges for the dancer's entire body. We had the luxury casting of Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley leading the first night. Surprisingly, this was Huxley's debut in the role, but he danced it as though it had been created on him. His skimming allegro, compact pirouettes, and instantly airborne jetes seemed as effortless as breathing. Watching Megan Fairchild make song of the steps was the first of several uplifting performances of the evening. The beautiful shapes of her supported grand jetes and the cheery, boundless energy in her grand pas de chats were all achieved with a twinkling joy and not an ounce of hubris. The corps de ballet definitely needed more rehearsal, and the polish of Mary Thomas MacKinnon is what they should aspire to in the future.

        Haieff Divertimento is an "arty" piece that is dependent on length of line and the ability to achieve starkly clear geometry. While Indiana Woodward and Harrison Ball made an honest go of it, the ballet didn't seem to be a good fit for their individual talents. Here we saw some real standout dancing by corps women Jacqueline Bologna and Lauren Collett. Lauren possesses the length and innate glamour of a pint-sized Kowroski. Jacqueline is one of those corps women who is long overdue for a major principal role. She has that quality of being immediately likeable in addition to possessing killer legs and pristine feet.

        We may never have seen Erica Pereira jump as strongly as we saw in last night's Valse-Fantaisie opposite Daniel Ulbricht. Her composure, mature demeanor, luxuriant musicality, and soaring jetes (except for one exit) were a joy to watch. Ulbricht seemed to spur her on with his infectious joy, precision, and accelerating energies. Here, the corps women were impressive and radiant -- Olivia Boisson, in particular, sparkled throughout the glorious Glinka music.

        Stravinsky Violin Concerto closed the evening with riveting performances from Ashley Laracey, Joseph Gordon, Mira Nadon and Adrian Danchig-Waring. While the company has several dancers who achieve fine performances in this ballet, it now belongs to Ashley Laracey whose ability to combine strength and acutely accurate lines with delicacy gives her a unique place within the company. And it is hard to think of a more perfect partner for Joseph Gordon - physically and temperamentally. He danced like a dancer with goals, like someone who aspires to a greatness of his own design. As each familiar moment approached in his solos, we wondered in eager anticipation what he might make of it. He and Laracey dance SVC again on Thursday and next Wednesday. They simply should not be missed.

        Mira Nadon had a highly successful debut (subbing for Sara Mearns) opposite Adrian Danchig-Waring. There was a tendency to add individual detailing which sometimes cluttered the choreography, but all in all, it was a very strong, well-prepared performance. Adrian danced with a force and exhilaration that seemingly know no peak. Again, the corps women slayed: Olivia Boisson, Christina Clark and Mimi Staker to name three who controlled the stage. The men were far less ready although it was certainly a relief to see Spartak Hoxha back in the lineup and dancing with his customary authority.

        We are very much looking forward to tonight's performance which will feature Tiler Peck in Donizetti, debuts by Christina Clark and Peter Walker in Haieff, and another brilliant cast of Stravinsky including Russell Janzen. For now, we bestow the H.H. Pump Bump Award, a bejeweled Louboutin, upon Ashley Laracey for her standard-setting performance in Stravinsky Violin Concerto.

 

 

observations 1/5

Ya can't say it came as a surprise -- that is, Alexei Ratmansky becoming Artist in Residence at New York City Ballet after 13 years at ABT. Ya can't watch Emma Von Enck, Jovani Furlan, Jonathan Fahoury, Ashley Hod, Davide Riccardo, and others and not envision an upcoming new Ratmansky ballet. The way Emma Von Enck tore through his Concerto DSCH could have easily closed the deal for NYCB.

This is all good news. Good that Ratmansky's base will continue to be in New York. Good that ABT will be able to have him available to help keep his works energized in their repertory. Good that he will be surrounded by the ceaseless inspiration of the NYCB dancers. All good.

We're very much looking forward to the first week of the Winter Season and will be at most, possibly all, of the performances. The casting is irresistible -- particularly Stravinsky Violin Concerto with Gerrity, Janzen, Phelan, Stanley & Laracey, Gordon, Mearns, Danchig-Waring. How great to see that Christina Clark is getting a shot at Haieiff Divertimento. Would love to see her as Lilac Fairy later on.

The Winter Season should benefit from all those company Covid cases during Nutcracker. According to "experts", those who get the current Covid variety should be good for about 90 days before being ripe for their next case.

The first week of January is a happy one.

 

 

Merry Christmas

Nutcracker Season at New York City Ballet went by like a sleigh on jets — mostly because the tickets were so cost-prohibitive that much of the faithful core audience couldn’t afford to attend many performances, let alone binge like one might want. So it was best just to forget about it for most of the season. In fact, when the Mouse King waddled out in all his vainglorious macho, he boasted how he was going to make Nutcracker even greater again next year by charging $400 for every seat in the house and soaking parents double the amount for their kids to have their pictures taken in front of a picture of posing snowflake dancers of yesteryear. Apparently it was too risky to have a human snowflake dancer on hand engaging with the public but it was safe to have a real live cashier ringing up sales and intimately counseling folks on their choice of final photos. Ah, well. . .

But we did manage to buy a few performances early-on which turned out to be lucky in the Sugarplum Fairy category: both of Sterling Hyltin’s dates, a Tiler Peck evening, and a magical matinee with Mira Nadon.

 

The performances by Sterling Hyltin — her final ones before retiring — did not evoke the sadness that we anticipated. They felt less like events celebrating a retirement/goodbye and more like a graduation sendoff. That’s because we’ve always had a sense that Sterling’s contributions during her prime of life could overshadow her gifts to us during the prime of her performing career. It’s just a gut feeling. The company is lucky that she will remain close by. All that sensitivity on stage, the love of getting it right, the respect for her partners and colleagues, and the ability to adapt and achieve greatness within an imperfect system will be shared by her in the coming years with those who will indeed struggle to fill her shoes. In her last two performances as the Sugarplum Fairy, both opposite Andrew Veyette whose own performances were highly energized and polished, Sterling filled her dancing with the clarity, crispness, warmth and wonder that has always made her perfect for this role. It came as no surprise to see her express her gratitude with a bouquet and hug for Peter Martins who stood in the aisle by the stage’s apron at her Farewell performance. The audience instantly recognized him and gave him the extended warm reception that he so deserves.

 

Tiler Peck and Chun Wai Chan were stylish and dazzling as a couple in their performance. The Sugarplum Fairy role requires a lot of sustained arabesques. While Tiler always technically made her arabesques, they were generally modest. Chan threw impressive turns a la second and looked every inch the handsome Cavalier.

 

Christmas Eve’s matinee performance with Mira Nadon and Peter Walker got us into the holiday spirit. So many things make this ballerina a special gift including her extraordinary desire to communicate with everyone on stage and in the audience. The Angels adored her. These pint sized performers have the riskiest assignments among the children due to their stiff angel costumes under which they scurry smoothly around the stage in formations. It seems that almost every year, some tiny Angel face plants after tripping over the front hem of her costume. Any tiny lapse of concentration can yield a catastrophe. These Angels were so captivated by Mira Nadon’s attention toward each one of them that as they motored their little feet across the stage right in front of her, several of the Angels “took their eyes off the road” so to speak to look up at the ballerina hoping to catch her glance. There was a disaster begging to happen, but thankfully all of the Angels made it across the stage to their proper heavenly positions.

 

Mira went on to captivate all of the children and the audience with her graceful yet authoritative arabesques, piques that made their own statements, and confident pirouettes. An unscheduled exit during The Little Prince's mime solo -- apparently to fix a pointe shoe that went kerflooey -- caused some audience concern but Mira returned on cue to wave her wand right on the musical climax. Her pas de deux with Peter Walker was sublime. The jumps to his shoulder, the sliding arabesque, the step-over pirouette caught by the wrists, and the thrilling promenade that concluded with a sustained balance and daring drop into a fish position were all masterfully completed by the two.

 

At this performance, Isabella LaFreniere danced brilliantly as Dewdrop with absolute command of her long, articulate limbs. In the Peck/Chan performance Unity Phelan glistened beautifully in the role, and in both of the Hyltin/Veyette performances, Indiana Woodward combined authority with her lovely musicality.  Christina Clark made an impressive debut as Coffee while Alexa Maxwell deepened her theatrical hold on the role. Daniel Ulbricht was perfection in Candy Cane; Harrison Coll’s CC was thrilling; Cainan Weber’s hulahoop was uncooperative at the performance we saw.

 

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, which had to be scaled back due to the price of Nutcracker tickets, is bestowed upon Mira Nadon and Peter Walker for their exquisite pas de deux as the Sugarplum Fairy and Her Cavalier.

 

 

 

observations 11/17

        A dancer’s body is an instrument of the workplace. If the instrument is out of tune, it is absolutely the responsibility of management to get it corrected or replace it. Ashley Bouder has been out of tune for a long time, and it’s time for NYCB to stop tip-toeing around and bench her or cut her loose. The old “I can no longer make the standards, so the standards must be wrong, unfair, and cruel” will never go away. There will always be people who think everyone should cut them slack, that they are entitled to slack, and that if they make enough noise they will get the slack that they want.

        People in the real world don’t get slack these days. If a salesman’s numbers aren’t what they should be, he loses his job. Sometimes he loses his job anyway because of numbers more important than his own. Sometimes he loses his job because he made too many medical claims or because he actually used all of the vacation days allotted. Sometimes he loses his job because he doesn’t project the youthful, energetic image that his company wants projected to potential customers. Sometimes he loses his job because he contributes to a toxic environment in the workplace. Sometimes he loses his job because, well, the boss just doesn’t like him. That’s the real world. That’s the real, cruel world. 

        Ashley is in a place in her career where many other dancers are. The new generation is coming up and they are much better than the outgoing generation. Her star has been dimming for a while and it has not been pretty to watch her deny it or try to claim that she incurred some hardship that others have not. For years she has done whatever she wanted to do regardless of the impact on NYCB or the other dancers in the company. She rode a very high ‘high' in which her brand was to force her way through everything and present herself as being better than everyone else. Time has marched on. Other dancers achieved more on and off the stage. They got more college degrees. They had more babies. They had more success with their books and endorsement deals. They expanded their dancing careers to Broadway and cinema. They danced better. And they got the attention that Ashley wanted for herself.

        The latest episode of Ashley reaching out to the public to help defend her and support her by telling her that she is right in every way is nothing short of nauseating. It is a shame that she got injured and that she admittedly didn’t commit to a fitness regime like many of her co-workers did. Her injury was not her employer’s fault. Injuries happen and Ashley knows it. It is what it is and Ashley is not helping herself by trying to place blame on others or make a case that she is so special that she deserves some slack, i.e., to be on stage when she is not in performance shape and when there are others who could dance better. The audience deserves the best performance that NYCB can deliver every night.

 

        Ashley knows that she crossed the line by publicly berating a board member. She intentionally implied that the board member waltzed in, started the conversation about Ashley’s weight and then told her that it was time for her to look for a new job. It’s not likely that it happened that way at all. It is just as likely that Ashley herself brought up the subject of her effort to shed weight to which the board member offered that he/she didn’t mind it. And for a dancer at 39 years of age, it is expected that there will be career transition inquiries, particularly when a dancer is struggling with injuries and fitness. You don’t burn down the bakery because you want more bread — unless you are Ashley Bouder. She’s now weeping and wailing and drowning in self-pity about being a victim of everything and everyone but her own ego in an effort to ameliorate her own missteps. Her “possibly career ending injury” was chronicled on instagram starting with showing her free-wheeling on a knee scooter which indicated that she was supposed stay off her foot, followed immediately by endless pictures of her wandering around Paris and Disneyland on vacation. That’s not taking care of one's instrument the way the NYCB organization has every right to expect an artist to do. And while she was supposedly recovering and rehabbing, she was also taking a long vacation away from the discipline that dancers maintain. Ashley Bouder has made her choices and she freely admits to making those choices. She also admits that any discussion about weight, no matter how it is delicately discussed, sounds to her like fat-shaming. It’s time for NYCB to make the business and artistic choices it knows it should make. 

 

        In addition to Ashley Bouder, we now have MSNBC’s fired Tiffany Cross who just declared that she would “go out in a blaze” and “take the network down” and go after her boss. What is it with these people?

 

observations 11/4

School of American Ballet is hosting a FREE digital insider look beginning on November 29 at 7 p.m. through December 6th. Behind the Barre -- See the Music will focus on how music shapes SAB's training. Daily classes, interviews with students, faculty, and pianists, and some student choreography will be presented.

One must sign up on this SAB website page in order to receive the link.

The program premieres on Giving Tuesday; so it would make sense for it to be a solicitation effort as well as an informative, interesting, and entertaining SAB event.

______________________________________________

November 10 @ 7 p.m. and November 12 @ 8 p.m. are the dates and times for Paul Taylor Dance Company's performances of Kurt Jooss' The Green Table. The program includes Arden Court and an orchestral performance of a suite from The Hours by Philip Glass. The November 6 and 8 performances include an orchestral performance of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue featuring Conrad Tao. This is imaginative programing by PTDC -- not to be missed.

From NYTimes:

Photo of PTDC in The Green Table by Ron Thiele

 

 

observations 11/2

Looking forward to jingling these in my pocket soon. The issue date is 2023 but the coins always seem to appear in circulation early.

 

 

Edited to add: Below "Maria Tallchief" is her name in Osage orthography.

 

 

 

NYCB -- Fire in the House 10/7

Gotta ask one more time: Why isn't our New York City Ballet Orchestra playing its power to the masses at Carnegie Hall just like the Met Opera Orchestra does? The Shostakovich played last night by Stephen Gosling and conducted by our favorite Clotilde Otranto was electrifying. The orchestra simply out-did itself, and the dancers were not about to waste its efforts. In short, this performance brought back the excitement of its premiere fourteen years ago.

In Ratmansky's Concerto DSCH, Emma Von Enck, Sebastian Villarini-Velez, and KJ Takahashi switched on the high voltage without any warning to the audience -- their electricity arcing back and forth among one another. The aculeate pointes of Von Enck, the soaring spins of Villarini-Velez, and the seriously devastating allegro from Takahashi brought a fire to the house last night. It was just the type of fire that will inspire Ratmansky to return to NYCB to make more ballets.

Sterling Hyltin and Adrian Danchig-Waring had such an ease between themselves that their PdDs often looked like one piece as opposed to two dancers performing together. Their harmonious lines simply blended as one. It was so lovely to see them dance together.

The Corps de Ballet did not let up for one second in their energy and focus on implicit storytelling. Olivia Boisson, Ashley Hod, Olivia MacKinnon, and Mary Elizabeth Sell were standouts as were Victor Abreu and Alec Knight. We're on our way to getting Knight back after his long absence. He's had a number of important assignments this season. There's no need to press this comeback too fast; we can wait.

The evening's opening performance of Stravinsky Violin Concerto was huge. The kinetic energy was off the charts (no one conducts this better than Maestro Otranto) and the dancing was sublime. Ashley Laracey and Joseph Gordon were an extraordinary pairing, gorgeous in every note of music. Beautiful chemistry. Sara Mearns and Taylor Stanley also had a unique, playful chemistry which was fun to watch. We're just wondering what happened to the leotards in this ballet. They used to have such a pretty neck line, but now they seem to be stretched open at the front -- for what purpose? It brought back bad memories of Darci Kistler's white leotards that were obviously re-made to accent her late-age bodybuilding efforts.

The Corps de Ballet in Stravinsky was outstanding. There was so much going on and everybody was giving it their all. Every one of them was dancing like a star. It was such a wonderful experience to be able to watch this performance and listen to the magnificent New York City Ballet Orchestra play Stravinsky like they own it. They do.

Unfortunately, Haglund had somewhere to go and couldn't stay for Everywhere We Go. And so it goes . . .

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, fire in the feet at Lincoln Center, is bestowed upon Emma Von Enck whose explosive debut in Concerto DSCH will be remembered for a long time.