18 replies to this topic

[Giselle05]

Anyone go?

[balletchic101]

i did. i thought the program was a bit bizarre, weaker as a whole than in past years. wasnt crazy about either of the new pieces (by millipied and christopher d'amboise) and western symphony seemed a bit stale to me.

[Farrell Fan]

I didn't enjoy the program as much as in previous years, but the main reason for that might have been the location of my seat -- in the Siberia of the mezzanine. There's nothing wrong with the view from up there, but "everybody who is anybody" is sitting downstairs. So I wondered what I'd done wrong to be relegated upstairs -- but many of the balletomanes I know (none of them slinky) had also been moved up there. Somebody said that everybody who ordered online was put up there, but that can't be true. I sent in my request by snail mail.

At any rate, the first piece, by Benjamin Millepied, was to music of Brahms, and titled "28 Variations on a Theme by Paganini." The title gives a clue to what was wrong, in my opinion. It was an academic exercise that grew tiresome before the variations reached double figures. It was a kind of attempt at "Liebeslieder Walzer" that didn't come off.

The Chris d'Amboise piece, "Tribute," a leotard ballet to music of Bach, came off much better, I thought. The tribute was to the choreography of Balanchine, from which there were many quotations. It was a trifle overlong, but I kept thinking how much more appropriate a centennial tribute to Balanchine this would have been than Eifman's "Musagete."

"Western Symphony" didn't seem stale to me. If anything, I thought it was a little
frenetic. All the dancers, all evening long, acquitted themselves superbly.It's impossible for me to single out anybody.

[nycbstarr]

who performed the principal roles?

[Farrell Fan]

In Western, the featured dancers were Maira Barriga, Andrew Scordato, Chantelle Pianetta, Daniel Baker, Isabel Vondermuhll, Matthew Renko, Coco Gonzalez, Robert Fairchild. In the d'Amboise piece, Michael Breedon, Cindy Huang, Eugene Shlapko, Emily Adams, Jason Franklin, Coco Gonzalez, Kathryn Morgan, Sean Orza. In the Millepied: Michael Breedon, Jan Burkhard, Zalman Grinberg, Nicholas Hagelin, Olga Krochik, Janelle Manzi, Kathryn Morgan, Chantelle Pianetta, Jose Sebastian, Eugene Shlapko.

[Michael]

Chris d'Amboise's ballet is an especially good Workshop piece both for its choreographic virtues and because it has so many good roles for both the boys and the girls.  (Katrina Killian assisted in choreographing and setting this).  

The ballet is called "Tribute".  In the afternoon, Jenelle Manzi (a mere 16 years old) and Devin Alberda (a mature 18, what?) had the most prominent roles among the girls and the boys respectively in this, although there were so many fine performances it seems almost a shame to single any one out.  

Brittany Pollack, Gretchen Smith, Leah O'Conner, Robert Fairchild, Andrew Scordato and Max van der Sterre, among others, had other prominent roles in the d'Amboise.  

Again in the afternoon, in Western Symphony, some of the same kids danced principal roles, to which we must add Kathryn Morgan (2d Movement paired with Mssr. Alberda), and Jan Burkhard and Masahiro Suehara (3d Movement).  Maira Barrigo and Ralph Ippolito danced the Rondo and a fine Rondo it was.

In Western, it was particularly good to see the 3d Movement (scherzo) restored to the Ballet for these workshop performances.  You don't often see it.  The company hasn't performed Western with the 3d Movement in it for over ten years or more, although the 3d Movement dancers appear for the finale at NYCB without having danced the movement itself.  The fact that Western is a closer and the wish to avoid overtime may be the reason it's usually omitted?  If so, that's lame.

This is a very promising group of dancers.

[carbro]

balletchic101, on Jun 5 2005, 05:13 PM, said:

i did. i thought the program was a bit bizarre, weaker as a whole than in past years. wasnt crazy about either of the new pieces (by millipied and christopher d'amboise) and western symphony seemed a bit stale to me.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hi, balletchic!  Glad you've joined BalletTalk!  Good to see you're not shy about sharing your opinion.  We look forward to more from you!

Thanks to a thoughtful and generous friend, I was able to see the dress rehearsal on Friday.  While I don't think Western is stale, I do agree with your other points.  Since Western is really a demi-caractere ballet, I was disappointed that we didn't get a familiar, classical (or neoclassical) work that would allow us to appreciate the dancers.

[harpergroup]

Any word on which of the performers got invited to be NYCB apprentices?

[Helene]

harpergroup, on Jun 7 2005, 01:22 PM, said:

Any word on which of the performers got invited to be NYCB apprentices?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

This will be posted as soon as we get word from the Company

[Renata]

The NYCB apprentices have been told who they are, but outside of a friend of my daughter's, I don't know their names.  Does anyone have the list?

[Helene]

Renata, on Jun 8 2005, 01:59 PM, said:

The NYCB apprentices have been told who they are, but outside of a friend of my daughter's, I don't know their names.  Does anyone have the list?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not yet

[carbro]

[Donning Moderator's beanie]

We are all very eager to hear, but please do not name names until the school or company (any company) does so.  
IN PRINT!

Thank you.


[Doffing Mod's beanie]

[Paul Parish]

Western Symphony has a SCHERZO!!!

THank you Michael, for mentioning htis... never heard of that --

What's the tune? What's hte character of the movement? Can it possibly be funnier than leClerc's mule-kicks in hte rondo? Inquiring minds need to know......

[Helene]

Paul Parish, on Jun 8 2005, 08:43 PM, said:

Western Symphony has a SCHERZO!!!

THank you Michael, for mentioning htis... never heard of that --

What's the tune? What's hte character of the movement? Can it possibly be funnier than leClerc's mule-kicks in hte rondo? Inquiring minds need to know......

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Scherzo was choreographed for Patricia Wilde and Andre Eglevsky, and was reportedly dropped because no one else could do it at the time.  According to Choreography by George Balanchine, in "ca. 1960" it was "permanently eliminated."  It was dusted off for at least the 19 February 1989 performance, in which Katrina Killian and Gen Horiuchi danced the leads.  The only thing I remember is that it was a virtuoso turn.  I also just notice that Kelly Cass, Peter Boal's wife, danced the second movement, originally choreographed for Janet Reed, in that performance.  The date is too early for the season ender; I'm not sure what the occasion was.

The music listed in the book for the ballet is:

"Red River Valley"
"Old Taylor"
"Rye Whiskey"
"Lolly-Too-Dum"
"Good Night, Ladies"
"Oh Dem Golden Slippers"
"The Girl I Left Behind Me."

I'm not famililar enough with the titles of the songs except for the first and last to know if this listing includes the music from the Scherzo or just the current score.

[liebs]

Paul, the third movement Scherzo is for jumpers.  Think thrid movement Bizet.  The girl does entrechats six and huit.