Haglund's Heel

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.

NYCB – A tipsy close to the Fall Season

Did the dancers of Sunday's finale enjoy drinks before closing down the office with Symphony in C? Oy. 

Ashley Bouder and Joseph Gordon leading the First Movement were nothing but business as they stapled down every last step to the stage – bam bam bam. Sterling Hyltin and Amar Ramasar were like the paper in the copy machine gone wild in the Second Movement. We’ve never seen so much off-partnering from these two. But it didn’t compare to the paper jam of demi-soloist pair Megan LeCrone and Christopher Grant that brought them to a complete halt on a pirouette while stuck facing one another. Grant, who usually maintains a serious-to-threatening facial expression while dancing (as does his partner), must have suddenly figured that he should try to do something right to make up for the faux pas; he instantly began smiling from ear to ear. We had no idea that the guy had such handsome teeth. The verve and efficiency of Indiana Woodward with Sebastian Villarini-Velez in the Third Movement and Brittany Pollack with Andrew Scordato in the Fourth Movement were a much needed distraction.

 

What saved this performance of Symphony in C was the sparkling Corps de Ballet. All of the ladies were ravishing and danced full-heartedly, but we simply couldn’t take our eyes off of Christina Clark, Emily Kikta, and Ashley Hod. Mira Nadon and apprentice Savannah Durham were pulling our glance, too, and it was a relief to see Isabella LaFreniere popping into the finale. Among the men, Spartak Hoxha was unmatched. It didn’t matter that he was usually in the back row, his ferocious allegro was easy to spot. 

 

More care should be taken with Symphony in C’s casting. It requires commanding ballerinas who possess the strength to project endless elegance through regal lines and imperial footwork. It is not about smirking at the audience in the First Movement or exaggerating the plies in eschappes while looking down at the feet as if to instruct the audience to do so, too. It’s not about whacking the leg back into an arabesque during the Second Movement and throwing the arms around without any sense of how they relate to the lines of the legs and the rest of the body. It’s not about trying to be cute and cheerful in the Third Movement. It’s not about blending in with the proletariat in the Fourth Movement. 

 

We should have seen at least one full and brilliant new cast in Symphony in C this season — and in the other major Balanchine ballets as well. Fielding essentially the same cast or the same two casts for each performance discouraged ticket buying. And enough is enough with these autumnal ballerinas who think they are entitled to own roles that could be danced better and with a fresh interpretation by other dancers. When a young, brilliant dancer is given an opportunity to dance a major role, it does not mean that the audience should be sentenced to watch her/him for the next 15 years to the exclusion of others—and that goes for Nutcracker, too. Here’s hoping that the Winter Season casting for Swan Lake and the major Balanchine ballets is mostly wiped clean and refurbished with new talent. 

 

The fall season brought forth stellar dancing from Emilie Gerrity in Serenade, Emeralds, and Summerspace. She is clearly already a major ballerina of great range and should be under the spotlight a lot more frequently. Let’s keep her healthy, please.

 

Still out with injury: Aaron Sanz, Alexa Maxwell, Tiler Peck. We hope that these three and all the others who missed the Fall Season for physical reasons will return for a glistening Winter. 

 

The “seasonal wrap-up” H.H. Pump Bump Award, a gleaming but cuffed & caged stiletto, is bestowed upon Emilie Gerrity and Spartak Hoxha for distinction in performance throughout the four weeks of the Fall Season.

 

 

NYCB's Week 3 – Full of starlight

Perhaps our strange compulsion to pick up and buy all things plaid will subside now that Union Jack has been stored away for the season. What a terrific run it was for this old ballet which is always a pleasure to revisit when it’s on a vibrant, single-intermission program. The dancers were not only strong and properly proud while dancing it at every performance, but they were united in more ways than in just executing the steps. So many obstacles had been overcome by the many dancers on the stage — serious injuries, personal relationship implosions, technical challenges –– that seeing nearly everyone (70+ dancers) on the stage in one ballet dancing brilliantly gave us one more reason to celebrate the fall season.

 

Several regiments acquired new leaders. Lauren King, Brittany Pollack, Unity Phelan, Lauren Lovette, Amar Ramasar, Ask la Cour, and Daniel Ulbricht all debuted in principal roles and brought a fresh energy to the ballet. To be clear, the energy never flags in Union Jack when Clotilde Otranto is at the conductor’s podium. 

 

Last Saturday night brought the season’s first performances of Balanchine’s Serenade and Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 along with Merce Cunningham’s Summerspace which had not been danced by NYCB since 1999. 

 

Summerspace is an oddity in the NYCB repertory. When Balanchine first put it on stage in 1966, it was along the lines of an experiment to see what Cunningham’s style might look like on ballet dancers in pointe shoes who had been trained by Balanchine. According to critic Jack Anderson, the pointe shoes slowed everyone down. This may be why Balanchine lost interest in it – the experiment failed to produced the effect that he had hoped for, and he apparently had no interest in seeing his dancers perform Summerspace in soft slippers as did Cunningham’s company. Thirty-three years later, Peter Martins thought it was worth looking at again, but this time he kept the dancers in soft slippers during performances of the piece as part of the Lincoln Center Festival. Twenty years later, NYCB is giving Summerspace yet another try in conjunction with the Cunningham Centennial Celebration.

 

Balanchine and Cunningham connected via their appreciation for geometry in dance. Cunningham and composer Morton Feldman who wrote the sound-score for Summerspace were known to create their artistic outputs initially on graph paper. 

 

The top photo is an example of Cunningham's graph composition; the bottom photo is of Feldman's composition that eventually accompanied Summerspace:

 

 

Often in Cunningham's works, the steps were created independent of the music. The art was not born as a relationship between the dance and the music. Rather, the relationship, if any, evolved through chance. The artistic process in the creation seemed more important than the end result. That’s always been a popular idea in the contemporary dance world, but not so for ballet audiences who expect an end result that moves them, engages them, thrills them, uplifts them, and makes them want to come back again and again to see a work. In ballet, the end result – that is, what finally appears on stage – is what counts, not the process of getting it there. Hate to have to say it, but it’s true, most of the ballet audience doesn't care if the dancers feel challenged, fulfilled, organically connected, or awesomely inspired by the choreographic process. The audience only cares about what ends up on stage to music in costume under lighting — in other words, the end product for which they have paid a lot of money to see.

 

On NYCB’s stage this season, Summerspace was slightly interesting and slightly curious, and we would be happy to revisit it in another twenty or thirty-three years. The NYCB dancers (Sara Adams, Adrian Danchig-Waring, Emilie Gerrity, Abi Stafford, Andrew Veyette, and Lydia Wellington) executed the Cunningham choreography with knife-sharp articulation. They soared when they were supposed to soar and dipped when they were supposed to dip, and basically looked under-employed throughout the whole dance in which their greatest challenge was counting. What they accomplished was to make Summerspace look as slick and acutely geometric as it could possibly look – which was probably the gist of the original experiment in 1966. 

 

The highlight on the opening night of this particular program was the revelatory performance of Balanchine’s Serenade. But those awful, previously pale banana but now pus-colored panels inserted into the fronts of the women’s blue tulle skirts have got to go. What a misfire this change was. The panels look dreadful from every part of the house. It doesn’t matter if they are viewed from the orchestra level or the fourth ring, they impair the beauty of the ballet. 

 

Erica Periera, who replaced Ashley Bouder as the Russian Girl, gave one of the best performances of her career. Something or someone has unleashed a brilliant burst of full spectrum color in her artistry this season. Full-bodied musicality and a wonderful new risk-taking element in her dancing suggest that we should be excited about what is on her horizon. Sterling Hyltin's Waltz Girl was breathtaking in its expansiveness and beautiful in its romantic inflection. Megan LeCrone as the Dark Angel also had a superb performance that included generous sweep and bend in her movement. At one point, she slipped to the floor and then immediately rose to toss off a perfectly rhythmic triple pirouette. Ask la Cour was a gallant partner to Sterling. Preston Chamblee as the second male principal looked handsome, strong and more streamlined but needed to rotate the Dark Angel’s arabesque a little more smoothly.

 

The Corps de Ballet was simply astonishing in its beauty and energy. That the corps didn’t have the opportunity to walk forward for a bow at the end was a little disappointing.

 

Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 received a strong performance to close the evening. Like Serenade, there are problems with the new costumes although they are certainly an improvement over the previous peach dresses. The ornateness of the women’s new bodices suggest that many people at NYCB probably think that this ballet would look better if danced in tutus as Ballet Imperial was originally, but no one has the courage to go all the way with the change. So what we now have are bodices that would look drop-dead gorgeous above classical tutus but instead are overweight atop the flimsy skirts.

 

The dancing on this night was grand. Lauren King gave a glorious performance as the third principal – grace, beauty, energy, speed, and joy infused her technically solid variations. She’s dancing at such a high level, and consistently so, that it wouldn’t surprise us if she was within reach of a promotion. Sometimes we wish she would use her plie more to deepen the dynamics in her dancing.

 

Sara Mearns and Russell Janzen looked mismatched at this performance. Her arms were flying all over the place with the front arabesque arm nearly whacking her in the head. Arabesque legs were loose battements without the position being held. Feet were not always as stretched as they needed to be. There was a sense that Sara was trying to beat this ballet to a pulp. Meanwhile, Janzen was a model of good taste and beautiful form. 

 

The corps de ballet and demi-soloist pairs danced brightly and elegantly.

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award from Manolo Blahnik is bestowed upon Erica Pereira and Lauren King who wore the blue beautifully and whose dancing was the highlight of the evening.

 

NYCB - Slapsticks and finger-pointing

Last week left Haglund with a percussion concussion.

The relentless advancing cadence of the drums in Balanchine’s Union Jack and the cacophonous cymbal-crashing, drum-beating advocacy in Lauren Lovette’s new The Shaded Line all gave new meaning to the phrase getting a lot of bang for your buck. Nevertheless, if you can snare a ticket to these separate programs in the coming week, you’d be wise to beat a tom-tom to the theater to see both bills which will have you shaking your cow-bells after seeing Symphony in C and Valse-Fantaisie among other ballets. 

 

Balanchine created Union Jack as New York City Ballet's contribution to America’s celebration of its Bicentennial in 1976. It is a mammoth-sized production that requires 74 dancers and a donkey to fulfill all three parts of the ballet. Part 1’s military tattoos had seven colorfully kilted crews of Scots and Canadians marching through Balanchine’s kaleidoscopic designs that somehow always achieved stunning organization and beauty. The charm of Part 2’s Costermonger Pas de Deux might have been lost on the younger set in the audience; these days, street vendors don’t even try to be entertaining, except for that guy who works the Hell’s Kitchen/Times Square area with his cart full of political buttons. The lively sailors of the Royal Navy and Women’s Royal Naval Service in Part 3 had Popeye stamina: they were strong to the fin-ich cuz they eats their spin-ach. Tough Gazookus, every one of them.

 

On the same program were Balanchine’s Valse-Fantaisie and Kammermusik No. 2. The first performances of the week weren't ready, and too many people danced like they were tired. But things certainly improved throughout the week. By Sunday afternoon, Erica Pereira had lifted her performance in Valse-Fantaisie to a breathtaking level. Over a span of a few days, she had incorporated into her dancing a new risk-taking musicality. She would slowly open her arm from overhead, luxuriating in the music until it nearly passed by her. Then she would suddenly accelerate the arm to catch up with the music. She continually challenged herself to hold the music within her as long as possible. Her jumps had good energy and height whereas at the opening performance, they were not good at all. Overall, her performance on Sunday was the type that Daniel Ulbricht deserved to have from a partner. He certainly had a bright energy and space-gobbling grand allegro all week. He’s always ready when it’s performance time. It’s doubtful that anyone has ever seen him give a tired first performance, no matter how tired he might have been.

 

Kammermusik No. 2 improved throughout the week, also. By the time Sunday rolled around, Emilie Gerrity, Unity Phelan, Jovani Furlan, and Peter Walker were a cohesive quartet. However, we’re not yet sure how Furlan will add more value to the soloist ranks than, say, Spartak Hoxha, Roman Mejia, Alec Knight, or that eye-catching Jonathan Fahoury might. Hoxha has been dancing up a storm in everything and out-dancing everyone around him. He would have done a good job in a Kammermusik No. 2 lead role.

 

The other program of the week included the two new ballets of the fall season – Lovette’s The Shaded Line and Edwaard Liang’s Lineage – along with Robbins Opus 19/The Dreamer and Balanchine’s Symphony in C. 

 

Set to Tan Dun’s bombastic Fire Ritual, The Shaded Line is part Peony Pavilion, part Mark Morris, and part whatever. At the start, Gina Pazcoguin in white tailored shirt and black tights pointed her finger angrily at the audience. (It’s our fault that she never fit in with all the ballerina types. It’s our crime for valuing lovely long lines and graceful limbs over Tootsie Rolls. Shame on us.) A corps of women with their asses toward the audience wore Zac Posen-designed tutus with the backs upended — purposely designed to reveal the gross aspects of the dancer’s ass and the skeleton of the costume. Pazcoguin proceeded on a journey to discover her self-worth in a culture where she was the different one and ended the journey by victoriously rising on point under the spotlight. On Saturday evening, the curtain was not lowered at the end which required her to remain under the spotlight while standing victoriously on pointe for a good length of time. It all looked by design, although it may have come as a surprise to her.

 

The crashing cymbals, loud smacking slapsticks, threatening Chinese drumming, and a violin that empathized with the main character’s predicament made for a stirring musical experience. Tan Dun wrote it as a musical ritual for the victims of war. Of course, these days, so many people with far too much time on their hands are at war with ballet. So, this all seems a perfect fit. And what about the actual choreography? If you liked Peony Pavilion and Shen Yu, you’ll see similar ideas. A lot of expense was applied to “expose” ballet as a cruel, ugly-under-its-skin art form — if only metaphorically or to make a point about something else. But, honestly, NYCB dancers shouldn’t be finger-pointing at the subscribers and donors who support the company.

 

Liang’s Lineage was several cuts below the thrilling work that he made for San Francisco Ballet, Symphonic Dances, which that company brought to the Koch Theater a few years ago. In this new piece, he obviously was trying to channel those other choreographers who inspired him, but in doing so, failed to exert his own voice. The best that can be said about Lineage is that Anna Sui’s costumes were lovely, particularly the iridescent quality of the skirts.

 

Opus 19/The Dreamer was a bit of a snore. It was danced impeccably but some element was missing that should have drawn the connection between Gonzalo Garcia's and Sterling Hyltin’s roles. Symphony in C, while always enjoyable, was less so this week. The music seemed leaden, the dancers looked tired (except for Megan Fairchild), and it lacked the brilliance and energy that one always expects to see. The music used to be at a tempo that challenged these dancers; now it overindulges them. We wish there was more of Clotilde Otranto’s energy at the podium. Her conducting of Valse-Fantaisie, Kammermusik No. 2, and Union Jack ballets last week was superb.

 

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Erica Pereira for her remarkable turnaround in Valse-Fantaisie.

 

 

Calm is her super power

Sitting through the shimmer and glimmer of five performances of Jewels last week was certainly worth the increased posterior spread. And we wouldn’t have missed the first performances of Raymonda Variations or Variations Pour une Porte et un Soupir either.

Something strange and a bit wonderful happened during the week. Three times. While watching Diamonds we kept asking ourselves "Who is this new Sara Mearns?” Several times we thought, “Okay, now here is one point where she always goes way over the top into drama queendom and doesn't recover from the self-indulgence. Wait – did we miss it?” As the ballet progressed with this uncharacteristically calm, serene, yet authoritative Mearns, we suddenly noticed that her partner, Russell Janzen, was delivering a performance marked with sincere emotion and loving support of his ballerina – as opposed to usually only noticing his fine partnering, beautiful lines, and handsomeness during pauses in the ballerina’s emotional meltdown. There was a new balance to their performance. No longer was this a diamond solitaire. It had been replaced by a pavé setting that unleashed the light and grandeur of Balanchine’s masterpiece. All three performances were immensely enjoyable. And Janzen owned a terrific manége of coupé jetés entournant throughout the run along with solid turns a la seconde.

 

What a magnificent debut Mira Nadon made in the role of the Tall Girl in Rubies. It’s arguable whether she is really tall — she’s more like the small forward on a basketball team, but she tore through the role like a power forward. Strongly arched feet at the top of lethal battements, a winning seduction that she used to control all of the men on stage, fabulous speed and strength — all propelled her to a huge success.

 

Megan Fairchild and Gonzalo Garcia in the same cast were da bomb. The energy, playfulness, and sharp-shooter technique were off the scale. We have never seen Megan dance better than we saw this past week.

 

We finally got a revelatory performance of Emeralds at the last performance with Lauren King and Daniel Applebaum in the leads. Finally there was eloquence. Finally there was honesty and expressiveness. Finally there were long lines of excruciating beauty. Jeeze, these two make a handsome pair on stage. There was a small snafu on a promenade that brought Lauren off pointe, but other than that, we must say that it was a beautiful rendering of Balanchine’s exquisite choreography. 

 

Emilie Gerrity in a role debut as the ballerina who walks on pointe was mesmerizing. There was an understated beauty in her dancing that compelled the viewer to lean closer to see her. Andrew Scordato was her elegant partner.

 

We noticed early in the week that a brand new Sequoia with long, narrow branches has sprouted in the Emeralds forest. The gorgeous apprentice, Savannah Durham, stunned Haglund with the length and beauty of her port de bras, her swan-like neck, and aristocratic profile. And there she was dancing opposite one of Haglund’s favorite Sequoias, Christina Clark, who we hope we'll see in soloist roles soon.

 

The program of Ramonda Variations, Variations Pour une Porte et un Soupir, and Wheeldon’s DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse included some fine performances. Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley were ravishing in the leads. But they took none of the spotlight away from the five women soloists – Sara Adams, Ashley Hod, Emily Kikta, Kristen Segin, and Mary Elizabeth Sell – who delivered outstanding performances of their extremely difficult material. (There was a magnificent face plant early on which was all but forgotten by the end.) Every one of these dancers possessed outstanding technique and fresh enthusiasm.

 

Variations Pour un Porte et un Soupir received a superb reading from Sara Mearns and Daniel Ulbricht. If it went on a little too long, overplaying its good ideas, we’ll overlook that because of its unique place in the Balanchine canon. It may never become sacred, but it will always be a respected example of the breadth of Balanchine’s genius.

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Manolo Blahnik richly jeweled stiletto, is bestowed upon Lauren King and Daniel Applebaum for literally saving Emeralds last week.

 

 

 

NYCB Opening Night 9/17 NYCB arrives adorned with Jewels

It felt like a gala last night, didn’t it?

 

The lobby and promenade crackled with excitement from the high-powered patrons, high-voltage balletomanes, high-heeled junior bunheads, and the high-fives among friends “Good to see you! It’s been a long three months.” Damned long, if you ask Haglund.

 

But this was not an official gala, only the opening night of New York City Ballet which delivered what the crowd always wants: top drawer Balanchine. Truth be told, the crowd craves Balanchine whether it comes from the top drawer or the lower shelf — it doesn’t matter.

 

Balanchine was a Master Jeweler long before he choreographed Emeralds, Rubies, and Diamonds. He borrowed liberally from previous gem ballets to make the evening-length Jewels. The formations in Emeralds, the little wrap around of the arms when the man stands behind the woman in Rubies, much of the adagio in Diamonds — it’s in his earlier works. But what the Master Jeweler did was to assemble some of his life’s best ideas and apply a lifetime of craftsmanship and an ever-evolving musicality essentially to re-create to make something totally new. 

 

Last night’s cast featured some of the company’s most senior veterans along with a mingling of blazing upstarts and solidly evolving soloists.

 

Emeralds, led by Abi Stafford with Amar Ramasar and Unity Phelan with Ask la Cour, had some very lovely moments. The corps de ballet, which included several apprentices, experienced isolated problems lining up, but as a whole captivated with sweeping movements and elegance. Unity Phelan has grown enormously into the role of the woman who walks the length of the stage on pointe and ticks off time as she lifts her arabesque. Ask la Cour provided her with all the security she could ask for and conveyed warmth and nobility. Amar Ramasar looked to be in fine shape; his legs in those white tights were stretched tautly and lined all the way to the toes. Abi Stafford delivered lovely musicality in her dancing, but we have witnessed her dance much better than last night. Her back was noticeably stiff, and she occasionally had to re-set the positions of her feet in the first adagio. Abi isn’t the only dancer in NYCB who has sagging triceps, and that problem does much to mar performances where the choreography calls for beautiful port de bras. Hyperextending the elbow or the little pinky finger does nothing short of making the problem more apparent. The soloist trio of Georgina Pazcoguin, Sara Adams and Sebastian Villarini-Velez were not optimally matched. Sara has lovely feet which are always strongly pointed no matter how high the leg is thrown; not so with Georgina who also exhibits sagging triceps. Sebastian handled the partnering efficiently and displayed some handsome lines of his own.

 

Sterling Hyltin and Andrew Veyette were sensational in Rubies. She skittered across the stage like a stone skipping across the surface of a brook. Sometimes it looked like her feet weren’t even touching the floor. And there was Veyette, gall dang, having his own Renaissance and looking more vigorous and engaged than we have seen him in years. But this night’s Rubies was stolen by Emily Kikta whose dazzling “Tall Girl” –– surrounded by the shortest corps dancers available –– grabbed the black & white keys away from pianist Stephen Gosling and played them for all they were worth. So commanding, so stylish, and so, so likable. 

 

Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle delivered a sublime Diamonds. The softness of the feet as Maria walked with heels lifted along the diagonal on her first entrance is a new element that appeared last season, and it has an exquisite effect. On this night, Maria most evoked the poetry that the company wants us to think about this season in its Poets of Gesture campaign. As difficult as this role is and as many times as Maria has danced it, she continues to try to make it richer for us each time. It has been such a blessed gift to have watched all of these years. Tyler danced a superb variation and seemed to be in top shape at the beginning of this season. Gallant and noble to the power of 10 doesn’t sufficiently calculate how he impressed with his partnering of Maria. We have yet to figure out why in his variation he beats the assembles going left but not to the right. Perhaps there is no deep meaning to be mined from it...

 

Our first H.H. Pump Bump Award of the season is bestowed upon Emily Kikta, who dances with the saturated color of a Sunrise ruby, which by the way, was named after a 13th century poem.

 

 

 

observations 9/8

This morning NYCB introduced its new podcasts with fabulous content.

http://podcast.nycballet.com/welcome-to-city-ballet-the-podcast

http://podcast.nycballet.com/hear-the-dance-a-history-of-new-york-city-ballet-part-1

http://podcast.nycballet.com/hear-the-dance-a-history-of-new-york-city-ballet-part-2

observations 9/3

Here we go...

NYCB's fall season opens in two weeks, and the first week of casting has been announced. Fabulous Jewels casting all around with a new Tall Girl strutting to the center on Thursday, September 19th: Mira Nadon debuts. Equally exciting is Emilie Gerrity's debut in Emeralds on Saturday evening in Haglund's new fav cast of Lauren King and Daniel Applebaum -- don't miss them! Nor do you ever want to miss Emily Kikta's Rubies Tall Girl (Tuesday and both performances on Saturday). The beauty of Diamonds depend on their polish, and we have the brilliance of Maria Kowroski & Tyler Angle, Teresa Reichlen & Russell Janzen, and Sara Mearns & Janzen throughout the week. 

Speaking of Diamonds, Zachary Catazaro paired up with the Bolshoi's glistening Alena Kovaleva for the PdD at a Gala in Chile in August. Do you remember how she made our hearts flutter when she danced the lead in Diamonds during the Jewels Jubilee a couple of years back?

Meanwhile, ABT is limping along trying to stick it to patrons with its forced costume restoration FEE added to fall season tickets. It's pathetic that they think cable company model pricing is going to help their reputation and sales.

 

 

observations 7/12

Well, this takes the cake.

Today is the due date for Plaintiff Waterbury's counsel's replies to the defendants' motions to dismiss. So far only a response to Jared Longhitano's motion has been filed. The plaintiff's response is the Trump classic "facts don't matter" when it comes to motions to dismiss. AND he attached a long, gossipy affidavit from Winston Nguyen about NYCB's culture. Nguyen is the scumbag who was sentenced to Rikers Island for stealing $335,000 from a blind elderly man and his wife while he was their home health aid. He used the money for trips, meals, and ballet tickets according to the prosecutor.

https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20170825/upper-east-side/man-indicted-grand-larceny-stealing-from-elderly-couple-ballet-tickets-trips/

Then when he got out of Rikers, he tried to sue the Department of Corrections Commissioner because he wasn't given socks and newspapers while in prison.

https://nypost.com/2019/07/09/ex-rikers-inmate-files-suit-against-doc-chief-cynthia-brann/

Could this get any more ridiculous? We're sure it will.

 

NYCB – There is no such thing as too much.

New York City Ballet has been accused of a lot of things lately, but the only thing it’s guilty of is talent hoarding. This excessive, unapologetic displaying of the talent pool drives this balletomane crazy-happy — like a little piggie who gets to roll around in fresh mud every day. “Mejia is debuting in Dances at a Gathering” oink, splat, roll. "Hoxha and Ball are debuting in Stars and Stripes” oink, splat, roll. "Huxley and Gordon are debuting in Theme and Variations" oink, splat, roll. “Laracey and Gerrity are debuting in Scotch Symphony” oink, splat, roll. Filthy happy only begins to describe it. 

 

We’ve been pretty busy beatin’ the path up and down the 9th Avenue ballet trail the past few weeks in an effort to take in all that NYCB has been offering. Seeing veterans revive former levels of excellence or build on already rich interpretations of Balanchine’s and Robbins’ choreography has been most rewarding. Special mention needs to be made about Andrew Veyette’s fine performances in Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet opposite Lauren Lovette, Scotch Symphony opposite Ashley Laracey, and Stars and Stripes opposite Theresa Reichlen. He’s having his own renaissance this season and has brought importance to his performances like we haven’t seen from him in several years. Tyler Angle and Gonzalo Garcia are also dancing as though age doesn’t matter. 

 

The highlights these past couple of weeks have been like a nonstop strobe of brilliance and overwhelming beauty. We kid you not – much more of it and we could all be having ballet seizures. 

 

We want to rave again about the Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet/Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 program. Haglund saw every one and could happily sit through more of them. The final program last Thursday included See the Music hosted by the ever-popular Clotilde Otranto. Was this a debut? We can’t remember ever seeing her conduct these sessions. Well, she was a hit. The audience loved her energy and has always loved her energetic conducting that challenges the dancers to be their best. 

 

On Thursday Erica Pereira and Anthony Huxley in the Andante of Brahms-Schoenberg once again transported us to musical heaven — such a perfect match of artists and material. Erica is wearing the perfume this season like never before. Megan Fairchild and Gonzalo Garcia in Theme and Variations were blessedly speedy and musically generous without being complacent. Earlier in the run, a T&V performance conducted by Music Director Andrew Litton was so deadly slow in the adagio that Ashley Bouder tried to fill the music by making faces and mouthing her joy. It was difficult to watch and one more sign that she needs to hand off this role to others who deserve the opportunity – such as Brittany Pollack, Erica Periera, Emily Gerrity, and (where the heck is that) Alexa Maxwell – all of whom have the speed and the graceful limbs that could make T&V as stunning as it deserves.

 

Scotch Symphony showed us that NYCB’s tiniest are terrific, too. Corps women Baily Jones, Rachel Hutsel, and Alston Macgill each got a turn as the Kilt Soloist during this season. All were charismatic but Alston had that unstoppable, run-away-with-it quality that left one breathless after watching her. 

 

Ashley Laracey made a lovely debut in Scotch Symphony on Friday evening opposite Andrew Veyette. But we weren’t quite prepared for what we saw last night in Stravinsky Violin Concerto. Ashley and the debuting Claire Kretzschmar were a stunning pair of newcomers who rocked the house with the strongest debuts of the season. Well, yes, they were helped along by outstanding performances from Amar Ramasar and Ask la Cour, but the two ladies took over the stage with absolute confidence, authority, and flawless dancing. This was a magnificent performance from one and all, and the audience knew it.

 

An earlier Stravinsky Violin Concerto with Lauren Lovette, Sara Mearns, Joseph Gordon and Aaron Sanz seemed like it had been cast for a completely different ballet. Sara and Aaron as a pair — just no. Maybe if the partners had been switched, it all would have seemed less strange. Joseph Gordon gave a powerful and articulate performance — exceptional. Lauren’s dancing was perfect, but the performance aspect was odd due to a lot of extraneous facial expressions. It all became very predictable: smile,2,3,4, scowl,6,7,8, smile,2,3,4, scowl,6,7,8. But like we said, her dancing was perfect and its scope seems to be growing larger with every season. Aaron Sanz also danced perfectly, but also didn’t have control of his cooing and Vogue-ing with his mouth which was richly lined with lipstick. He flirted with everyone on stage constantly. Enough already. Every role isn’t a flirt role. But like we said, he danced perfectly and we are so happy to see Aaron being featured in principal roles.

 

Last night Indiana Woodward and Harrison Ball blew the lid off of Valse-Fantaisie. They, along with the brilliant quartet of Alston Macgill, Olivia MacKinnon, Kristen Segin, and Sarah Villwock, simply could not be contained. They clearly went for the athletic aspect of the choreography, but it was certainly fun to watch. We’re almost to week seven of the season, and Harrison Ball is still fully intact from head to toes which is amazing considering the explosiveness of his dancing this season. He has elevated his dancing the most of anyone and now stands shoulder to shoulder with all the principal men in the company.

 

Spartak Hoxha made a smashing debut leading the 3rd Regiment of Stars and Stripes. What a charmer he is. And what a strong impact he made with his squeaky clean double tours and tight fifth landings. We remember enjoying him quite some time ago in Emeralds. It's time for more.

 

It’s been an outstanding season. We’re sad that Maria Kowroski won’t be able to dance her two Titanias next week. However, we hope that means that we’ll see one, perhaps two debuts. There are so many potential Titanias hanging out in the rank & file. Christina Clark and Emily Kikta, who have been monopolizing our attention every time they are on stage, could be wonderful Titanias. And, of course, Lauren King and Emily Gerrity would as well. So we’ll just have to wait and see. Whatever happens, we need to see much, much more of all four of those ladies.

 

We wish we could have cheered more for Megan LeCrone’s work in Stars and Stripes and as one of the all important demis in Theme and Variations, but something is very off in her dancing this season. The stone face in T&V was so distracting that it negatively impacted all of the performances she was in. In S&S, Megan’s exits from the stage were marked by her quitting before she got fully off stage. Leaps literally quit in mid-air; the head dropped; and she would stoop over at the side edge of the stage to pick something up. The exit leaps didn’t even look committed when she took off. Overall, the dancing was very, very small and uncommitted whenever she was on stage. It is a shame to see this happening.

 

It is worrying to see Lars Nelson being featured so much in demi and quartet corps roles when his dancing can be sloppy and unfinished. His port de bras is so unformed that it looks like it came out of hockey camp. It all becomes even more evident when he's dancing side by side the very gifted and charismatic Alec Knight.

 

We're on to the final week and then it's a long dry spell until the fall season. It would seem that some promotions should be coming up. It's always nice to see the dancers who we enjoy the most get well-earned recognition from their company. It's been four years since a woman has been promoted to principal. There are at least four, maybe five or six who have consistently been dancing at a high principal level. Our H.H. Pump Bump, a fashionable futuristic Balmain sandal with rhinestones, is bestowed upon Erica Pereira, Lauren King, Ashley Laracey, Brittany Pollack, Indiana Woodward, and Emily Gerrity. The future looks good.