carbro Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Last season's new ballets, Tālā Gaisma and After The Rain, return with new cast members. Five new leads in Western Symphony. Who's been? Link to comment
oberon Posted February 16, 2006 Share Posted February 16, 2006 Wednesday 2/15/06 This was the first of 3 times I will see FRIANDISES; I liked it but it will take at least 2 repeats for me to digest it all. There is an awful lot going on. This is one time when the words "amazing" and "awesome" truly apply to the dancing of Tiler Peck & Daniel Ulbricht. Tiler reminds me a bit of Somogyi; her daring style and myriad turns were thrilling to watch. Ulbricht's ease in the air stupefied the audience; he reaped multiple waves of applause throughout the ballet. For me, the most interesting aspect of the piece is the adagio which is danced not by the leading pair but as a triple pas de deux by three of the demi couples: Savannah Lowery w/Jon Stafford, Sara Mearns w/Amar Ramasar and Ashley Laracey w/Adrian Danchig-Waring. This section was a nice respite in an otherwise fast-moving piece. The eighteen demi-soloists are given very tough combinations and everyone danced up a storm; Megan LeCrone was absent and Maya Collins seemed to be the substitute though I could swear the unlisted Katie Bergstrom was also dancing. In order to more closely observe what these dancers are doing, I spent quite a while watching the beauteous Sarah Ricard with newcomer Max van der Sterre. I'll look forward to zeroing in on some of the others at the next two performances. DONIZETTI VARIATIONS was good, with Edge & Keenan stepping in for LeCrone & Barak. Elizabeth Walker was lovely and the 3 boys (Ramasar, Carmena & Craig Hall) were very fine. Saskia Beskow & Carrie Lee Riggins were beautifully featured. Millepied was replaced by Andrew Veyette; I wonder if he & Miranda Weese had much opportunity to rehearse. They carried it off but did not look like an ideal match. Andrew's solo dancing was light & buoyant and he has a nice presence. Miranda was delightful in her solo passages. I always enjoy FANFARE. The pomposity of the narrator is very much tongue-in-cheek. A host of wonderful performances from several of my favorite soloists and corps dancers, starting with Keenan (Piccolo), Arthurs (Oboe), Abi S & Liang (Clarinets), Rachel R & Adrian D-W (Violas), extremely pretty Cellos (Beskow, Krohn & Ricard), luminous Harp (Reichlen), dapper Double Bass (Jon Staffford). It is always a pleasure to see Ed Liang, who dances all too rarely. He has such a classy classic technique and perfect hands. The entire cast danced very well. Link to comment
oberon Posted February 17, 2006 Share Posted February 17, 2006 Thursday 2/16/06 I was really looking forward to seeing Bouder in WESTERN SYMPHONY, but she cancelled and was replaced by Fairchild. Megan started the evening with a lovely BAISER DE LA FEE in which she and Joaquin de Luz danced beautifully. This is one of the most magical scores in the repertoire, and any ballet that has Amanda Edge & Carrie Lee Riggins as demi-soloistes makes me happy. The corps girls were teriffic. Sebastien Marcovici has had a big season, and tonight he scored in TALA GAISMA, created for Jock Soto but premiered by Jared Angle. This role calls for highly skilled partnering which Sebastien delivered in spades, meanwhile holding the stage with his physical magnetism. His pale, handsome face, long arms and large hands draw the viewer to watch him. An excellent performance for which he was warmly applauded. The three ballerinas who created these roles seemed tonight to be exuding more sexuality than I remember in previous performances. Darci looked great and danced well in a role that now seems a bit taxing for her; Miranda Weese was cool & technically splendid. Sofiane Sylve gave what I think was the best perfomance I have seen from her; her pas de deux with Sebastien was the highlight of both the ballet and the evening, sensuous & full of wondrous line and extension. Plus, she's facially gorgeous. Kurt Nikkanen played the mesmerizing & difficult Vasks score superbly. The ballet, which I hated at first, is just a little too long to be thoroughly satisfying. But the music & the dancers make it very worthwhile. Ringer & Nilas Martins kicked off WESTERN SYMPHONY with gusto, dancing very well and having fun. Albert Evans was simply magnificent as the Rhinestone Cowboy, tossing off his solo passages and combining humour & sexiness while partnering Fairchild like a charm. She was delightful here, deadpan to a T and hurtling herself into the fish dives. Damian Woetzel has not danced alot this season, but tonight he tossed off the cowpoke's flashing turns with good-natured authority. Reichlen's big extension and line worked well here, though her fouettes were not entirely stable. It's odd that NYCB never lists the 4th couple who, though shorn of their number, must appear in the finale to fill out the staging. Tonight it was Gwenyth Muller & Adrian Danchig-Waring. Link to comment
drb Posted February 18, 2006 Share Posted February 18, 2006 Friday night saw repeats of Tala Gaisma and Union Jack, and began with Christopher Wheeldon's 1999 ballet Scenes de Ballet, originally (and tonight) set on SAB students. Tala Gaisma featured the same cast as reviewed above for Thursday's performance. The four stars again all shown brightly. But La Sylve... . "OOOOO-LA-LA-LA SYLVE!" Union Jack. The casting was nearly the same as last week, but tonight Kyra Nichols brought back memories of Patty McBride's personal magnetism dancing Costermonger with Nilas Martins, surely one of his best roles. Teresa "Legs" Reichlen seems to be placing her own personal stamp on the Farrell role, one of Balanchine's great unheralded creations. She brings a special airy lightness of step, I'd not seen before, to the Wren's Queen. But the night belonged to The Kids! What a wonderful teaching ballet Mr. Wheeldon gave them. Admirable risk-taking on the part of the then young choreographer to use the score for one of THE greatest ballets of the 20th Century. Wouldn't it be nice if some of that generous Diamond money could be used to purchase Ashton's sublime masterpiece for NYCB? The new generation of City Ballet dancers could surely do the work justice. And it would be in safer hands than it is with the company that neglects its supreme genius. But, The Kids: The almost-grown ups with the Big PdD, did it full justice. Kathryn Morgan and Jerome Tisserand danced as if they were already here, both with stage magnetism and strength, and I look forward to when they join the company. But everyone deserves mention. So, in the typography of the program, BRETT FUKUDA LINDSAY TURKEL Madeleine Martin Rebecca Tran Brianna Abruzzo Alixandra Domney Austin Bachman Harrison Coll Oliver Oguma Ghaleb Kayali Connor Cohen Jerimy Rivera Isabelle Bachrach, Genny Berman, Miwako Chimura, Anjelica Fellini, Allegra Herman, Ashley Hod, Emily Inglis, Emma King Arden Pickoff-Rafferty, Emma Sameroynina, Skylar Schreter, Hayley Welsh DAVID PROTTAS EZRA HURWITZ Ellany Abbott, Callie Bachman, Lola Cooper, Shelby Elsbree, Kay Ohta, Chantelle Pianetta, Helen Ruiz, Kristen Segin, Alies van Staveren, Isabel Vondermuhll, Lillian Watkins, Mallory Welsh KATHRYN MORGAN JEROME TISSERAND SARA ADAMS, PUANANI BROWN, JACQUELINE DAMICO, MEAGAN MANN, LEAH O'CONNOR, ERICA PEREIRA, SARAH WILLIAMS, ANTHONY HUXLEY, SEAN ORZA, JUSTIN PECK, JOSE SEBASTIAN, AMIR YOGEV Gabrielle Baden, Anne Shannon Baxter, Lauren Brown, Priscilla Crommelin-Monnier, Alicia Fecto, Jenna Kesneck, Courtney Muscroft, Brittany Pollack, Sylvie Volosov Rood, Rachel Sherak, Lucy Van Cleef, Lydia Wellington Please forgive typos, it is getting late! Link to comment
ViolinConcerto Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 Saturday, Feb.18, 2006 - Evening Three very different ballets from three excellent choreographers working to three excellent composers: my idea of heaven. Until recently NYCB was the only place where you could see three works this different, up to these standards, but it's clear that there are other (mostly NYCB-seeded) companies producing the same kinds of performances. I'm not able to get to many performances this season, and I felt that this mix gave me a very rich experience. AFTER THE RAIN: My first viewing without Jock. It, to me, is so clearly a farewell that it is difficult not to get caught up in that bittersweet emotion. But each time I see this ballet, it gets better. I love the stark graphics that Wheeldon uses (in nearly all his works), and how this sets off the shapes in his choreography. The first few times I saw it, I didn't pay as much attention to the first section. This time I did, and was really moved by the design of ensemble work. The second section was stunning as ever, the music sweetly hypnotic. One friend noted later that during that pas de 2 you couldn't hear a sneeze, a cough, or a pin drop. Everyone had stopped breathing, I think. I personally have never been excited by Marcovicci. When he first arrived, with his strong physique, his good looks and his teardrop tatoo, I had great expectations, but the memory of his work just evaporates -- I've never felt his commitment -- and for someone who looks so strong, his upper body doesn't seem too solidly connected to the lower part. So I felt that he "did" the ballet, but didn't "dance" or "live" the ballet. Wendy, on the other hand was all there -- feeling, commitment, and communicating. She perfectly embodied the contradictions (strength and vulnerability; rawness and sophistication) in the ballet and set off sparks in everyone's mind and heart..... IN THE NIGHT was richly portrayed by the three couples: Rachel Rutherford and T. Angle seemed well matched as the fresh, romantic young couple. They were very lyrical, and maintained the smoothness and continuity of their section. Kyra Nichols and Philip Neal embodied the respectable, stable loving couple. Her phrasing is as unique and authoritative as ever, but I have to admit that even though I wanted to not notice, not see any change in her abilities, her line is not what it was. A standout moment , where he holds her, feet in the air, and her feet start with teeny bouree-like movements as he lowers her, until she is doing bourrees on the floor, just wasn't up to her own past standards. Boy does that break my heart to see -- and say. But she still has presence and command and depth. The lighting seemed to be a bit off, with the "stars" from the first section not fading out to isolate the "chandliers" in the second. Jenifer Ringer and Sebastian were lovely together. WESTERN SYMPHONY was tons of fun, as ever, with a fine performance by Adam Hendrickson and Megan Fairchild. He really is a good actor, with good comic timing and an open face. Because I'm not a SWAN LAKE fan, I hadn't seen Sara Mearns featured, and now I understand the comparisons to Monique and the fuss. She really has confidence and authority, and looked very good in the 4th movement, especially with that hat! She really got Askegard all charged up. But I've seen better corps work in this. But as ever, I wished the curtain would have stayed up a bit longer.....please, please, more of those turns! The newly reconstructed costumes looked wonderful. Link to comment
NYCfanatic Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 Did anyone else see Sat Matinee (2/18 @ 2:00)??? I got to see it and it was a lovely program. The students in Scenes De Ballet were delightful, also there was a new pas de deux couple who performed for this run. Sonatas and Interludes was very interesting, i felt Sebastian Marcovici was a stand out in this. Concertino I could do without, however. And Western is always a fun ballet to see! I would love to hear what some other fans thought of this performance, if they were fortunate enough to see it. Link to comment
carbro Posted February 20, 2006 Author Share Posted February 20, 2006 also there was a new pas de deux couple who performed for this run. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Names, please, NYCfanatic? And welcome to BalletTalk! I hope you'll post a little bit about yourself on our Welcome Page. Link to comment
NYCfanatic Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 I believe there names are Tabitha Rinko-Gay and Justin Peck. They appeared to be very fresh and youthful (reminded me of the days when i once took ballet classes recreationally ) . Link to comment
Leigh Witchel Posted February 20, 2006 Share Posted February 20, 2006 I believe their names are Tabitha Rinko-Gay . . . <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Hmm. Score another one for CPYB, then. Her sister, Catherine (I knew her as "Katia" when she was about 15 in '01) is now dancing with Pennsylvania Ballet, and BBII before that. Katia worked hard, but she was so bright that I was convinced she was going to go to college instead. I'm delighted to see they're both doing well. Link to comment
pugbee Posted February 21, 2006 Share Posted February 21, 2006 And prior to that, the Rinko-Gay girls, and their dancing brother hailed from north Houston! Link to comment
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