Haglund's Heel

NYCB 5/18 matinee An interesting and heartwarming afternoon at the ballet

For the record, there were three NYT dance critics in attendance at this matinee. Unfortunately, Gia Kourlas discovered a need to leave at intermission following the standing ovation and cheering that Amar Ramasar received after a truly wonderful, spirited, and expertly danced Rondo alla Zingarese with Sara Mearns in Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet. The audience's reception and warm welcome didn't jibe with Gia's ongoing NYT smear campaign designed to try to run Amar out of town away from the sulphur-laden stench of her yellow journalism. 

But the audience had other ideas. Not only did they cheer and cheer at the end, they cheered and cheered as soon as Amar appeared in the upstage corner necessitating a few seconds delay in the start of the music. Then they cheered and cheered his wonderfully danced variations. Really, it is rare to see a NYCB audience come to its feet to cheer mid-bill in a performance. This wasn’t just a handful of people either. It was many, many knowledgeable, devoted NYCB patrons who know the screw job that Gia & company are trying to perform and wanted to send her a personal F-U, your nonjournalistic-feces doesn’t matter. She got the message, and she left. 

 

But we can expect that Gia will continue on her course of reinforcing unfortunate stereotypes about women who can’t stop ragging. She’s like the Republicans who can’t stop talking about Hillary Clinton’s emails. But what else is she going to do? She’s not going to be NYT’s Chief Dance Critic. So she will continue to rag and continue to promote Plaintiff Waterbury’s misguided legal efforts. By the way, the amended complaint has been filed. It still has the plaintiff claiming that she experienced the “worst nightmare of every woman” — you know, having the ecstasy of her sex with the man she loves memorialized on a video snippet or picture and then having him share it with his close friends. Yes, that is certainly "the worst nightmare of every woman” or at least it is to the rich, white, privileged women who have a complete disconnect with the real sexual abuse that common women experience in the real world. But hey, she’s got a hustling lawyer who knows that he has to climb on the backs of real women victims everywhere and make the public believe that his client suffered just like they did. It is a disgrace. And anyone who has ever been on a jury in Manhattan knows that juries here are not made up of rich, white, privileged women who don’t understand what true sexual abuse is. Most any jury would laugh in this lawyer’s face if he tried to convey that his client had suffered “the worst nightmare of every woman.” Of course, the plaintiff’s lover should never have made and shared the photo/video without permission – let’s be clear about that.

 

The afternoon included some downright marvelous dancing besides that of Amar and Sara Mearns (yes, she was marvelous again). Emilie Gerrity, Joseph Gordon, and Lydia Wellington shone brightly in the opening Allegro although they did seem to be concentrating studiously. They relaxed about midway and then their dancing seemed to enlarge and envelop the music beautifully. Lauren Lovette and Andrew Veyette, new to the Intermezzo section, were smooth as silk. Megan Fairchild and Gonzalo Garcia carried the Andante section as though they were one. Megan’s movement was so melodic and joyful that we didn’t want it to end.

 

The Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 got a better reading this afternoon. For the record, the crew fixed the lights on the middle chandelier, but now the light second from the right on the major chandelier in the middle of the stage is dozing off. Do you suppose that someone is intentionally messing with us and is trying to set off our OCD which, as you probably know, is a dominant gene in all balletomanes? Is it a plot to drive us crazy?

 

Teresa Reichlen and Adrian Danchig-Waring were ravishing in the Elegie. Lauren King and Taylor Stanley were a fascinating couple in the Valse Melancolique. They danced with a calmness that conveyed that the movement belonged only to them. We all know Lauren for her bright smile and endless joy in her dancing, but when she goes serious, she is devastatingly beautiful. The Scherzo was again danced by Georgina Pazcoguin and Harrison Ball. They seemed more relaxed. He delivered one heck of a series of moving turns like crackling lightning and stopped precisely on the music. They both danced well and seemed unimpaired, but then only Harrison showed up for the final curtain bows. We’ll just have to wait for that particular backstory to come out. Maybe Gina had to take a call from Gia.

 

Ashley Bouder and Anthony Huxley brought the afternoon to a close with the Theme and Variations section. Everything was going so well until Anthony had to do that series of double tours/pirouette. He got through almost all of them before things got shaky and he ended the last one seated on the floor. We’ve never seen Anthony unintentionally seated on the floor, so it was a new experience for us, too. Other than that, he walked right into first place in T&V at NYCB now that Joaquin has retired. By the way, Joaquin was in Row A of the Orchestra seating for the afternoon. 

 

Ashley didn’t make any big blunders and was able to keep up with the speed which was indeed – and thankfully – zippy under the baton of Maestro Otranto. But it’s no longer a best role for her, and more importantly, there are several other dancers who deserve the challenge: Brittany Pollack, Emilie Gerrity and a few extremely talented whippersnappers in the corps de ballet. We shouldn’t have to watch the same dancers do the same roles for ten years when there is really nothing they can add to them in terms of performance value and when there are others who could dance the roles as well and with a fresh perspective. 

 

The sun has gone down on Saturday and we’re done. Tomorrow’s another day, and we’ll be back for more. Until then, we bestow today’s H.H. Pump Bump Award on Amar Ramasar. We’re thankful that he’s back and dancing splendidly, but he should watch his back.

 

NYCB 5/15 - Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet & Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3

Emily Kikta came flying out of the wing with her four wingmen desperately trying to keep up with her. Holy Moly, talk about taking over the stage; talk about a high octane performance that made the viewer’s heart pound as much as the dancer’s. It was almost seven years to the day when Emily first danced this solo role in the Allegro section of Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet — May 18, 2012. At that first performance, all we could think was that we wanted the little corpsbirds to get out of the way so we could watch this majestic eagle soar through Balanchine’s beautiful choreography. True, at that first performance her leg buckled and she nearly went down spectacularly. But victory in the face of near-catastrophe used to be pretty standard fare at NYCB. Last night there were no stumbles – nothing but glorious, huge, GRACEFUL, respectful, and musical grand allegro that used every inch of stage and every note of music. Simply and astonishingly beautiful.

Ashley Bouder and Russell Janzen danced the PdD in the Allegro section. It wasn’t a good match-up: his elegance vs. her rough stylishness; his long lines vs. her compactness; his coolness vs. her boldness. While it was easy to admire Ashley in the allegro solos, it was less easy in the PdD where length of line and grace were desired.

 

In the Intermezzo section, Jared Angle did a good job making Sterling Hyltin look like a miracle. In the Andante, where Erica Pereira and Anthony Huxley were debuting, both danced superbly as soloists and as a pair; the only thing missing was that confidence that comes after getting one performance under the belt.

 

In the Rondo alla Zingarese, Sara Mearns (substituting for Maria Kowroski) and Tyler Angle gave it all the wild gypsy they could without getting arrested – a marvelous output of joyous dancing.

 

Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 wasn’t as ship-shape as it should have been. There are still lights out in the middle chandelier on stage which once again set off balletomanes’ OCD throughout the theater. There were problems with the coordination of the demi-soloists in Theme and Variations and at times the corps struggled with uniformity. Sara Mearns and Ask la Cour gave the Elegie excessive drama. Ashley Laracey and Jared Angle repeated their lush performance of the Valse Melancolique. Georgina Pazcoguin and Harrison Ball danced the Scherzo like they wanted to murder it. Megan Fairchild and Gonzalo Garcia in their second shot at T&V this season gave it more polish.

 

At barely two hours, this program provided a fulfilling evening of ballet with wonderful music, and sent the audience spilling out the doors in a happy mood. 

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Giuseppe Zanoti winged stiletto, is bestowed upon Emily Kikta for her remarkable performance in Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet.

NYCB 5/3 – Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Barber Violin Concerto, Diamonds

The red azaleas in Damrosch Park are showing off again. They seem to think they’re the prime act at Lincoln Center – oblivious to the competition next door where on Friday night blooms burst to their fullest and most fragrant since the beginning of this spring growing season at New York City Ballet.

 

The three-part bill of Slaughter On Tenth Avenue, Barber Violin Concerto, and Diamonds had the heft of content that longtime balletomanes crave. It’s the type of bill that drives us to buy extra tickets for the purpose of dragging the uninitiated into the ballet world and converting them to our religion. A powerful night it was.

 

Sara Mearns uncorked herself in Balanchine’s Slaughter On Tenth Avenue with lethal leg kicks and fatal shimmy like we haven’t seen her do before. She was the Striptease Girl who only accepts large bills and knows how to shake them out of the wallets. 

 

Debuting as the Hoofer, Peter Walker was subdued with his face down under his hat too much, perhaps concentrating on making the steps accurate instead of exaggerating them and his character. He definitely got the steps, but they are only half of the role. But we have to give him a lot of credit for holding onto Mearns who was, as we said, uncorked. We know that Walker will pull it all together quickly as will Daniel Applebaum as Morrosine, Silas Farley as the Gangster, and Gilbert Bolden as the Big Boss. Theatrically-driven roles are tough for NYCB dancers to grasp on the first try.

 

Megan Fairchild, Teresa Reichlen, Jared Angle, and Aaron Sanz as the quartet in Peter Martins' Barber Violin Concerto emphasized the opposition of the grounded modern dancers and the airy ballet dancers. Freedom versus discipline. Impulse versus restraint. How they clash but ultimately combine beautifully are good themes to think about. Megan was a perfectly impish, insistent, and impetuous modern dancer who continually got in the face of Aaron's stoic ballet character. This was his debut which may account for why he didn’t look sufficiently perturbed with Megan buzzing around him like an annoying fly. His excessive lipstick distracted from any firmness of expression. Teresa and Jared were lovely in their PdD; her arabesque, lavish and flexible, made a particularly strong statement.

 

Sunday afternoon will mark the debuts of Sterling Hyltin, Taylor Stanley, and Emma Von Enck who we think will probably knock the nuts out of the squirrels’ cheeks, so to speak.

 

Balanchine’s Diamonds, excerpted from Jewels, received a stunningly beautiful performance from Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle. In the past several years, Maria has captured the essence of this role to such an extent that it has looked like Balanchine was thinking of her when he created it nearly a decade before she was born. But we remember when that wasn’t always the case; those early performances of Diamonds some 15 years ago were not always easy to sit through because they were so unfinished. She was the proverbial diamond in the rough for some time. Following Balanchine’s custom, Peter Martins expected dancers to search and find their own ways through roles. His faith in Maria’s ability meant that the audience would have to hang in there while she figured things out. But our persistence, and hers, paid off with rich rewards. She is an artist of the most uncommon quality that comes along only once in our lifetime.

 

So while all the media hoopla is playing out about Suzanne Farrell’s return to offer some coaching to seasoned artists who have been dancing Balanchine’s works during long careers, it’s worth remembering that the artists were not exactly flavorless brisket beforehand. Nevertheless, we did notice some enrichment in Friday night’s Diamonds. The first lovely little change in the PdD was the ballerina’s entrance. Her simple stage walk has returned to the more formal ballerina walk on the balls of the feet which leaves a heightened impression of nobility. But the most notable enhancement was Maria’s strong use of her eyes to extend the line of the arms. What makes this interesting is that Farrell was always a very introspective dancer whose eyes were frequently downcast even when her face and chin were up. It seemed almost painful to her to let the audience into her soul. But Maria is letting us in, and it is indeed beautiful.

 

We’ve taken for granted Tyler Angle’s fine partnering for a long time, but he can — and did on Friday night — show himself to be a fine soloist. His turns a la seconde were the best we’ve ever seen from him – snapping to full speed at the outset and never losing energy in the double revolution. His pirouettes, double tours, and manége of coupé jeté were powerfully driven. We did wonder why the assembles traveling towards Amsterdam Ave. were plain whereas the assembles traveling toward 9th Ave. had beats.

 

There seems to have been some fiddling with the corps de ballet in Diamonds. They haven’t quite figured things out yet with regard to shapes, particularly at the end, but they all looked lovely nevertheless. We could not help but notice the exceptional beauty of our sequoias in the corps: Christina Clark, Emily Kikta, and Miriam Miller.

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, the Passion Diamond stiletto from Jada Dubai ($17 million/pair), is bestowed upon Maria Kowroski who continues to inspire us with her magnificent interpretation of Balanchine's masterpieces.

 

 

NYCB All Balanchine 4/30 & Spring Gala 5/2

Sometimes nonsense is so prettily and poetically marketed that people don’t question it.

 

Take for instance, “New work is the lifeblood of the company” - all pure nonsense. The lifeblood of New York City Ballet is the Balanchine repertory. Period. Once that repertory fails to be pumped by strong hearts through the artistic veins of the company, it’s curtains. 

 

If NYCB had to rely solely or even halfway on a composite of contemporary offerings like what we saw during the first week and introduced at last night's gala, the company would not survive to see another season. In fact, without a continual infusion of Balanchine’s works throughout the country’s dance companies, professional level ballet in America might be at death’s door. 

 

But let us not be ungrateful for the few Balanchine works we have seen so far this week. Nor should we neglect to express our joy for the return to the stage of Megan Fairchild and corps dancer Christina Clark after their long absences.

 

Tuesday evening, the first All Balanchine program delivered the vitamin power we needed. Scotch Symphony, led eagerly by Ashley Bouder, Joseph Gordon, and Baily Jones, evoked the essence of a 19th century Sylph-centric ballet without the narrative. The bounding, ebullient allegro in this ballet is a specialty of Bouder’s, and here she was comfortably and joyously in her element. However, Scotch Symphony also includes a substantial amount of traditional adagio which is becoming more and more difficult for her to pull off sensitively. Neither the shape of foot nor the shape and shortness of leg lend themselves to producing the lyrical, seamless quality that one expects in adagio. Joseph Gordon displayed his gift of using his gaze outward to entice the viewer to follow him on his imaginative journey. His complex Romantic spirit and eloquent technique made for a strong debut. Baily Jones, a corp dancer of three years, debuted impressively in the principal allegro role of the girl in the red plaid highland kilt and tartan sash. The corps de ballet looked lovely but for some wiggling and lax feet when it came time for all of them to stand still and developpe to the front. 

 

The center of the program, Duo Concertant and Sonatine, were a workout for gifted on-stage pianist Elaine Chelton who had to switch gears dramatically and quickly from Stravinsky to Ravel. Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley danced a spirited Duo Concertant. Lauren Lovette and Gonzalo Garcia carefully attended to Sonatine. It’s not yet fair to compare Lovette and Garcia to Tiler Peck and Joaquin de Luz who mastered the PdD with such tenderness and coordinated clarity. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to avoid a comparison because so many people saw and loved what Peck and de Luz made of the ballet.

 

Stravinsky Violin Concerto closed the Tuesday program with the expected blazing performances from Maria Kowroski and Sterling Hyltin. The long and the short of it is that these two possess the instruments that can reveal the genius in the choreography more brilliantly than anyone. This ballet has always had a reductive spirit with its emphasis on primary shapes, primary steps, simplification of lines, and clarity of form. The composition is genius, and so was this performance. Adrian Danchig-Waring and Russell Janzen were admirable partners. Adrian’s movement, in particular, had a panther-like quality in its strength and softness.

 

We wish the Thursday night gala had lived up to half of what was presented on Tuesday. Justin Peck’s Bright was the least worst of the two premieres. Costumes by Reid and Harriet looked like cast-offs from Ratmansky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Peck’s choreography tried to mimic the energy and communal spirit of most any Ratmansky ballet. He even gave Sara Mearns a solo in which she could throw herself around and tragically emote like she does in Pictures at an Exhibition, Russian Seasons, etc. The music by Mark Dancigers was the type that one hears mid-movie when nothing important is going on. Dreadful stuff from note one to the finish.

 

Pam Tanowitz’s Bartók Ballet might be the worst, most god-awful thing that New York City Ballet has ever foisted onto its patrons. The best parts of the dance were when no one was on stage. The dancers were costumed initially in Reid & Harriet’s drab unisex one piece leotards with blousy tops and long sleeves with cutouts. Then most of them changed into mostly unflattering gold leotards and then some changed back to the drab onesies. The choreography was what you'd expect from a remedial gym class at Nameless U. in Can’tFindIt-ville, West Dakota. It dragged on for an eternity with no connection to the undanceable Bela Martok composition for string quartet. We just wonder if NYCB ever decided to experiment with the cuisine at the gala as much as it experiments with the  dance at the gala, would anyone ever show up again.

 

At least the evening included and concluded with a relatively fine performance of Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3. Maybe there needed to be a little more attention to details here or there — well, for instance, how about making sure that there aren’t four or five lights out in the middle chandelier on stage. 

 

Highlights included the beautiful Ashley Laracey’s Valse Melancolique with Jared Angle and Erica Pereira and Daniel Ulbricht’s nearly aerial Scherzo. Ashley Laracey’s ability to pull the pulse of whatever music she’s dancing to is the strongest in the company. She was so full of life and energy that this section could have been the finale of the evening. 

 

It has been thrilling to watch Erica Pereira rocket herself into high orbit with her dancing these past several months. We are so excited to see what next is in store for her.

 

The Theme and Variations finale led by Megan Fairchild and Gonzalo Garcia was the evening’s crowdpleaser. The performance didn’t have the boldness that we are accustomed to in Mega's T&V performances, but it was still quite wonderful. Gonzalo didn’t have any particular problems with any part of the ballet, but he didn’t possess the clear lines and strongly arched feet that one always hopes to see in this ballet. 

 

So, in summary, it was a typical NYCB gala with new choreography that you don’t want to ever see a second time.

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, Birds of Paradise stiletto from Altuzarra, is bestowed upon Erica Pereira and Ashley Laracey for their stand-out performances in Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3.

 

 

NYCB Spring Season Week 1 Limping along without Balanchine

From an audience’s perspective, it’s hard to imagine there could be any upside to Tiler Peck having to cancel a bunch of performances due to injury. Like, come on, the Koch Theater may as well be called the Tiler Peck Teepee when she’s got the stage — superfast double-puffs of black smoke belch through its upper smoke flaps signaling to all of Mannahatta Oh yeah, we’re hot in here, you know it. (By the way, does everyone know that Navajo is now available on Duolingo in beta form? Free. Yáʼátʼééh abiní.)

 

Alas, our Tiler must rest her tootsies for a while. Merde happens. But oh my goodness, did some of the soloists rise to rescue this first week of the spring season in which the repertory was as a whole wanting in content and wasteful of the talent on stage.

 

Most notably, Erica Periera debuted in the role created for Tiler in Matthew Neenan’s The Exchange. The ballet is an imitation of Jiří Kylián’s greatest hits. Nevertheless, it was one more vehicle that affirmed Erica’s immense talent. Snapping the skirt of her red dress, whipping her head, and bending her torso with new found freedom, she charged through the choreography much like the predecessor. Her light frame meant that Joseph Gordon could fling her with ease — a pleasant assignment — and Erica didn’t hesitate to launch herself with complete abandon and full confidence. 

 

Megan LeCrone and Aaron Sanz replaced Peck and Tyler Angle in Forsythe’s Herman Schmerman PdD. The whole ballet was performed this time with the other cast members being Sara Mearns, Unity Phelan, Brittany Pollack, Devin Alberda, and Harrison Ball. H.S. is the choreographer’s earliest harbinger that pointed to the deterioration of neoclassical ballet. Touted as an example of his deconstructionism, it is a little like watching a cat twist and rip a chicken's wings and legs off. Nevertheless, Megan’s geometric limbs and acute musicality — and her ability to always snap back from the hyper-extended movements — made it all curiously enjoyable to watch. Her partner is still in the process of developing his own statement in this choreography but can’t be faulted for concentrating 110% on meeting Megan’s needs.

 

Indiana Woodward replaced Tiler in Ratmansky’s Pictures at an Exhibition on opening night before dancing her own scheduled performance on Thursday with the liveliness and commitment that one expects to see in this ballet. She was the exception. Haglund was at the Thursday performance and was so depressed by what he saw that he trudged home at intermission. Overall, it didn’t even look like a good rehearsal. Everyone was nervously looking at everyone else like they weren’t sure what the next steps were or what the timing should be. Lauren Lovette danced the major PdD with Adrian Danchig-Waring for the first time in New York. We assume that she felt safe, respected, grateful, secure, and whatever out there, but she was also deadly boring. Deadly boring. So many emoting faces, so little energy. 

 

Andrew Veyette, back after a long absence, danced the role created on Amar Ramasar, who is not yet back and sorely missed at times like these. Veyette's double tours were in good form, and he had a good amount of stamina — but not a hint of an arabesque. Nor was there any sense of the wildness that Ramasar stamped on the role. Basically, the performance was an nth of what we know this role should be.

 

Gonzalo Garcia, Roman Mejia, Andrew Scordato, Lauren King, Claire Kretzschmar, and Sara Mearns made up the rest of the cast. The whole lot simply wasn’t gelled as a cast yet.

 

The highlight of the week for Haglund was the Sunday performance of Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH. Holy smokes, now here was a gelled cast that brought freshness and crisp energy to the ballet. Sterling Hyltin was so perfectly in tune with the music and choreography that it was hard to believe that the steps weren’t originally made for her. Adrian Danchig-Waring seemed to relish his light assignment of partnering her, and offered what looked to be his full-out allegro, which was good to see considering the length of time that he was out with injuries.

 

But what knocked our socks off was the threesome of Harrison Ball, Brittany Pollack, and Joseph Gordon. Whereas the more seasoned trio on Wednesday night (Garcia, Bouder, Huxley) emphasized all the exercise involved in the steps, this Sunday cast turned it all into a romp — a high velocity game of chase & tag from one end of the stage to the other. Ratmansky's choreography looked even brighter when its star points were connected with the long lines of Brittany Pollack. But the megastar among this galaxy of hot burners was Harrison Ball who detonated his dancing like some supernova. Explosive wouldn’t begin to describe it. Ball’s live fast and die young approach to performing has always been thrilling. We hope he has luck on his side this season and avoids injury. 

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, Prada’s feet in flames stiletto, is bestowed upon Harrison Ball.

 

 

It's a Good Friday Clarification from Zachary Catazaro

Full text:

Please see below in reference to my reinstatement as Principal Dancer at NYC Ballet..... thanks to everyone who helped me along the way ❤️
“I am grateful and relieved that the arbitrator has found the New York City Ballet’s abrupt termination of my contract to be wrongful and unjust. After considering the situation I have decided to respectfully decline my reinstatement and I will not be returning to NYCB.
NYCB has been my home from the age of eighteen and I’m thankful for the many opportunities that were given to me there. I would like to thank all of the dancers, ballet masters, and staff who have guided me through my time there. Most of all I would like to thank all of the patrons who have watched me perform and shown their support.
In light of all the facts that were presented, I feel vindicated knowing that the arbitrator has found NYCB’s decision to be wrong.
As I continue my career elsewhere, I look forward to challenging myself as an artist and renewing my spirited passion for dance.

Good to hear: The arbitrator has found the New York City Ballet's abrupt termination of my contract to be wrongful and unjust. So there ya go. We're not happy about his decision to leave NYCB, and we hope to see him dancing in New York again soon.

 

Food for thought From Soup to Nuts

These are Campbell's tomato and chicken noodle soups in 1948, the year that New York City Ballet was founded by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein.

These are Campbell's tomato and chicken noodle soups 71 years later in 2019:

Not much tinkering there in 71 years, is there?

Despite product managers' efforts to come up with the next biggest thing, that is, the next soup that will make everyone forget tomato and chicken noodle, and despite their most dedicated efforts to move the art of soup forward into the next century, everyone still buys more tomato and chicken noodle soup than any other Campbell soup. 285,000,000 cans each year (200 million chicken & 85 million tomato).

Campbell knows that these core products are the pillars of its master brand. It doesn't expect people to conclude that it's time to try something else and to be daring, e.g., white cheddar tripe soup or chunky suspicious mushroom soup, just so the food critics will have something to write about. They don't take risks with their master brand core product, and they don't try to force people to buy something in its stead. These two soups are on the shelf wherever Campbell products are sold. And that's been the story for a lot longer than 71 years.

When the day comes that the only way one can buy Campbell's tomato or chicken noodle is in a three-pack with white cheddar tripe and chunky suspicious mushroom soups, that will signal great trouble for Campbell's and a great disregard for its loyal customer base. In a nutshell, it would be nuts.

Likewise, a spring program audaciously entitled Peck Meets Balanchine, with its irreverent implications and which sandwiches a single tasty patty between two big highly-processed nutritionless buns, has summoned ballet's Clara Pellers to sound off "Where's the beef? Where's the beef?!" As much as we admire and love Balanchine's Symphony in Three Movements, we're not going to plunk down money for a Clara Peller program that is two-thirds bread. Just sayin' ...

More beef, please.

 

 

 

 

NYCB winter season blahs are behind us

New York City Ballet’s Winter Season ended yesterday with a whimper rather than with a Balanchine bang – the type of bang that makes you wish the season had not ended and makes you immediately start looking forward to spring. But this final performance curiously had no Balanchine in it at all. It was a Robbins program of ballet lites. The lovely In the Night was bookended by Interplay and N.Y Export: Opus Jazz which featured several of the same dancers, not to mention similar costume colors, to go with the recognizably similarities in the choreography.

 

In the Night featured a cast of strong principals, who while perhaps were not having their best performances, did manage to make this nearly 40-year-old ballet seem timeless. The other two ballets featured competent enough corps dancers along with soloists Peter Walker, Sara Adams, and Indiana Woodward. Some of yesterday's corps dancers generally do fine in Robbins’ works but cannot distinguish themselves in Balanchine’s works – on occasion even looking out of place. We wonder what it’s going to take for Devin Alberda to stop looking for places in the choreography where he can rest. When will Lars Nelson acquire stretched lines and feet and any hint of a dancer’s presentation? We’re sorry if they did not in years past get the opportunities to dance that they felt they deserved, but honestly, there were and still are artistic reasons for that. 

 

However, there were some corps dancers on stage yesterday who delivered an extra kick in their performances that made them very worthwhile to follow: India Bradley, Mimi Staker, Emma Von Enck, Spartak Hoxha, Roman Mejia, and Gilbert Bolden III. We realize that Bolden’s physique is not yet what it should be, but we’re holding out hope for him because he’s got technique, power, and tremendous presentation. But what really intrigued us was the potential for electric performances if the immensely likable and technically gifted Mejia were to ever get paired up with the junior Von Enck, a hummingbird with uncommon articulation in her dancing. They never even came close to one another in N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz yesterday, but it was impossible not to notice how each one gave off similar vibes on stage.

 

The Winter Season offered fewer than usual highlights. Lauren King’s Lilac Fairy, Sterling Hyltin’s and Indiana Woodward’s Auroras, Theresa Reichlen’s Carabosse, Anthony Huxley’s Désiré, Maria Kowroski’s Mozartiana and Agon, and both Kowroski and Sara Mearns along with Daniel Ulbricht in Variations Pour Une Porte Et Un Soupir brought much joy. What the season was missing was a bigger share of defining moments by leading men. We can’t pretend that the company’s Winter Season didn't suffer from the absence of Danchig-Waring, De Luz, Ramasar, and Catazaro, and possibly even Veyette. It further suffered from the selfish grandstanding and lying by Ashley Bouder who seems to be on the verge of a breakdown and separation from reality. She even found the Instagram account of Jon Stafford’s in-law who had posted a congratulatory note about Jon. Bouder jumped on the in-law’s account to publicly admonish the relative for not also congratulating Wendy Whelan. As they say, who does this bitch think she is? Going after the new boss’s relative on Instagram is serial stalker behavior. Therapy is in order if not company discipline. 

 

The reality is that Stafford is the new artistic director. Period. The reality is that Wendy Whelan is going to be doing pretty much exactly what Sean Lavery did for many years as Assistant to the Ballet Master in Chief, Peter Martins. Lavery planned the seasons, taught, coached, and whatever. That’s what Wendy will be doing in addition to going out and looking for new choreographers - which makes us all nervous. And while we commend Stafford for his generous attitude toward Wendy and the projection of partnership, the fact remains that he will be supervising all artistic matters and that includes what Wendy does. If Wendy’s ideas about new choreographers are a bust, Stafford ultimately will be held accountable. 

 

It’s only seven weeks until the start of the spring season. Here’s hoping that we see the return of Danchig-Waring, Ramasar, Catazaro, and possibly Veyette along with the return of all of those ballerinas who have been out with injuries. We could have a spring season filled with extraordinary dancing or a spring season filled with pettiness, identity politicking, and egomaniacal maneuvering. Place your bets.

 

 

Finally ...

New York City Ballet announced today that Jon Stafford has been named to the position of Artistic Director of BOTH NYCB and SAB. An excellent choice, we believe. In fact, our first choice from the very beginning. In fact, our first choice going back to when Stafford retired and took up posts at both NYCB and SAB years ago.

The company also announced that Wendy Whelan will be Associate AD. We hope that works out and that it doesn't evolve into a political divide the way it did when Suzanne Farrell joined Peter Martins' team. We also hope that Sarah Jessica doesn't start parading Wendy around as "the face" of NYCB.

Announcement

 

Hitchcock by BalanchineVariations Pour Une Porte et Un Soupir 2/26

A new set of Jaws chewed its way into the House of Balanchine last night. Debuting in the role of the all-powerful, seductively sinister Door in Variations Pour Une Porte et Un Soupir, Sara Mearns may have initially looked like she bit off a little more than she could chew, but she ended up gulping down this role whole. 

 

For those who don’t get Haglund’s Jaws reference, it comes from the enormous black fabric attached to the Door that billows and morphs into various shapes until in the end it looks like the enormous dorsal fin of you-know-who. After 20 minutes of torturing, testing and bumping the Sigh to the sound of threatening creaks, screeching hinges and – dare we say – jack-hammering teeth, the Door’s billowing blackness washes over the Sigh like a big wave, and she swallows him whole, finally closing her arms over head more like a Venus flytrap clapping shut. The end. Period. Try going to sleep after that.

 

The Sigh, one of Daniel Ulbricht’s most masterful takes on a character (the other being Prodigal Son which we will see this week also), whines, pines and pleads for the Door’s attention. “I want IN!” he cries while pounding his fists in the air. He whimpers. He slides about the stage in frustration. He becomes exhausted only to rise again to try another tactic to get the Door to open. He’s got OCD like a mouse on a treadmill or a dog chasing its tail. He wants IN – or as Alfred Hitchcock might have suggested, perhaps he really wants OUT. Perhaps he wants the Door to open to let out a Sigh. This unique theater piece by Balanchine really needs to be performed more frequently than it has been. It teases the imagination like nothing else that he created.

 

The H.H. Pump Bump Award is bestowed upon Sara Mearns and Daniel Ulbricht for masterfully turning the stage into a Hitchcockian organism where we could delight in the horror instead of being repelled by it. We should remind everyone that Mearns’ I Married An Angel will be at NY City Center as part of the Encores Series. Seven performances will run from March 20 through March 24. Tickets here. And Ulbricht’s annual Dance Against Cancer Benefit is slated for April 22nd at Alice Tully Hall. Tickets here.