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Morphoses-Wheeldon NYCC First Program


drb

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Wednesday October 17, 2007

Darcey Bussell and her long-time partner Jonathan Cope got the program off to a roaring success. Unfortunately, their PdD from Tryst lead off the program's second act. Something about the unfortunate opening piece later. Each of the four short works in the middle of the program was preceded by a short film of Mr. Wheeldon preparing the dancers. It was very effective. Ms. Bussell was her charismatic self, very beautiful of course, still with her great flexibility, lyrical yet so modern, so Balanchine. For me she is in the first tier of post-Farrell Balanchine dancers and it was a very great honor to have a chance to see her one more time, especially when so grandly presented by Mr. Cope, who conveys his adoration of Ms. Bussell with his special combination of restraint, service, and nobility. This looked like high-quality Wheeldon, but I might say the same if Darcey just brought out a chair and sat on it. For me this was worth the price of admission.

Next came Wendy Whelan and the much-missed Edwaard Liang in the NYC premiere of William Forsythe's Slingerland PdD. This looked like Mr. Forsythe was playing with Balanchine technique, with a dollop of the Master's eroticism as well. Ms. Whelan wore the familiar "flat" tutu that the American choreographer sometimes favors. By the way, Philip of Oberon's Grove has posted an outstanding, in-depth interview with Mr. Liang. For those of us who have admired his many peak moments at NYCB, it was wonderful to learn the whys and whats of his frequent comings-and-goings. And even more special to see the power of his present level of dancing--what skill in displaying a ballerina.

Third was Wheeldon's Prokofiev PdD, that we got to see being created on Johan Kobborg (who had to miss this engagement due to a sprained ankle, as reported in the press) and Alina Cojocaru. Since Ms. Cojocaru danced at the Royal last night her role was danced by the National Ballet of Canada's Tina Pereira, who shares of bit of Alina's loveability (a recent subject of discussion elsewhere on BT). NBOC's Nehemiah Kish partnered Tina, as he will Ms. Cojocaru the next two days. Still, this has the look of a piece d'occasion, that probably needs its creators to make its point.

The middle portion ended with a fortuitous recent change in program, Wheeldon's Dance of the Hours, created for the Metroplitan Opera last year. This excercise on the fun side of Petipa, was lead by Ashley Bouder and new NYCB Principal Gonzalo Garcia. This was Ms. Bouder in comic mode. She dazzled as did her partner, evidently a fine turner, and such a match with Ashley that one can only hope they will often partner at NYCB. I'd love to see them together in the serious side of Ms. Bouder's Petipa, Sleeping Beauty, where Ms. Bouder has already gifted me with the Aurora of my lifetime, and Swan Lake, where she's my all-time favorite O/O in the Peter Martins production. The can-can corps of eight ballerinas included Gina Artese of Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and, since Ms. Bouder was the only debutante in this dance, I assume seven dancers from the Met: Cecile Girard, Anna Laghezza, Emery LeCrone, Melissa Sadler, Denise Small, Beatrix Eugenia Stix-Brunell and Miku Tsuji.

After the second intermission the final Wheeldon work, Fool's Paradise. This turned out quite a winner. Beginning with a duet for Craig Hall and Mr. Garcia, with Wendy Whelan quietly observing from center back. Then Ms. Whelan joined them for a trio, with Aesha Ash (WELCOME HOME!) soon joining in as well. Various duets, including a very muse-driven PdD for Wendy and Craig. What a miracle for Ms. Whelan, so soon after her monumental partnership with Jock Soto ended with his retirement, to find a new partnership of comparable grandeur with Mr. Hall. A miracle for us viewers, of course, but more importantly for Mr. Wheeldon to have such continuity in inspiration. This was thrilling. Subsequently Tess Reichlen, on fire with her sexy, Farrellesque command, so noticed in her recent Queen of the WRENS (Mr. B's Union Jack), was partnered by Adrian Danchig-Waring and Tyler Angle.

A final peak for Mr. Wheeldon: his PdD for Maria Kowroski (in pinker tights than the others, and with those legs, why not?) and Mr. Liang. This was very remiscent of the PdD choreographed on her by Mr. Bigonzetti at the last Diamond Project. I think we are in the midst of seeing this ballerina at the summit of her considerable powers. Magnetic intensity, focus buried so deeply in the music, fully worthy of Edwaard's devotion. Only the ovation for Bussell/Cope exceeded the powerful response of the audience for this final ballet.

Added later:

Before the opening curtain Mr. Wheeldon spoke of his company's successes in Vail and London. He thanked a number of people, saving his greatest thanks for last: his gratefulness to Peter Martins.

The opening ballet was There Where She Loved, sung to alternating songs of Chopin (sung in Polish) and Weill (sung in German and French). It was obviously very programatic, relating to the sung words. But one needed to be fluent in three languages. A Polish friend was quite familiar with the first song, a woman singing of her love for a man currently far away. Along the lines of if I were the sun I'd find you wherever you are and shine my light just for you,...if I were a bird my song would be sung only for you etc. Yet it was a dance for a woman and four men (she was certainly fickle, unlike Chopin's woman). The singer's Polish was otherwise so broken that my friend could not make out the other Chopin songs. So this was like going to a play where the actors neglected to speak (in an understandable way). Lots of star power in the casting, but... It was not received with enthusiasm.

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I just wanted to say, I agree with most of what you said drb! I have some different opions on a few things, but I will share those at a later date! I need to sleep! I will say, I very much enjoyed the whole evening and was VERY glad to see Darcey perform! She was on my list of Ballerinas I wanted to see before they stopped performing!!! :)

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I left at the second intermission having had way too much pas de deux with way too much sameness. So much of it seemed to be the same soup in a different bowl. There was so little horizontal movement in most of it that it could have been performed on a postage stamp. This type of programming will not only never build new audiences, it could well drive existing audiences away.

Wheeldon has the pretzel pas down pat. I just hope he's not trying to build a company around it.

What I liked:

-- Maria Korowski and Michael Nunn in the final pas de deux from There Where She Love. Both were determined to make some dance out of it, and that was much appreciated. I'd not seen Nunn before in performance, and was struck by the strength of his stage presence.

-- Seeing Darcey Bussell again. I kept saying to myself, "I wish she would dance. I wish she would dance." But no, it was more pretzel pas (Tryst).

-- Seeing National Ballet of Canada's Tina Pereira. Another dancer determined to make something out of her pretzel pas (Prokofiev). She is an extremely warm and giving performer. Immediately likeable. There was the hint that, if allowed, she would dance up a storm.

Rob Fisher conducted the Orchestra of St. Luke's. The music sounded superb

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I left at the second intermission having had way too much pas de deux with way too much sameness. So much of it seemed to be the same soup in a different bowl. There was so little horizontal movement in most of it that it could have been performed on a postage stamp. This type of programming will not only never build new audiences, it could well drive existing audiences away.

Wheeldon has the pretzel pas down pat. I just hope he's not trying to build a company around it.

Haglund's -- almost exactly my response, although I did stay for Fool's Paradise (which I did mostly like and parts of which I loved -- more later today or tomorrow). "Get them in the air!" I wanted to shout, "Move their feet!" It was hard for me to tell if my frustration was a function of the choreography, poor programing choices, or the limitations of the hall. The steep rake of the rings combined with their being way too close to the stage puts everything in an oddly foreshortened perspective, no matter where one sits. (The steep rake does nothing to improve the sightlines: I was in row B of the grand tier and had my view partly obstructed by the head of the rather petite woman sitting in front of me.) So, I couldn't tell if the choreography seemed earthbound because it was or because of my angle of view. Based on Slingerland and Dance of the Hours -- where the dancers actually did move their feet -- I'm inclined to think the former, but dreary City Center didn't help. If Wheeldon has any fundraising mojo at all, he needs to use it to extract a better venue from someone pronto.

Look, I like Wheeldon's choreography well enough and appreciate the scale of the show he's managed to pull together in a relatively short time, but the evening was hardly a grand eclat. There was a lot of the same-old same old and nothing suggested that Wheeldon needed to start Morphoses to put on the program that he did. (And in fairness, these initial evenings may be more about just getting the damn thing up and running to create the growing medium for what is to come next.)

My big take-aways from the evening: 1) this isn't Cunningham, Cage, Rauschenberg and six dancers in a VW bus taking challenging art to the heartland and 2) ballet in Wheeldon's hands really isn't particularly sexy, although it can be very tender when he gets more than two dancers on the stage, and that's a pretty special thing.

More later. I'm going again Sunday and a second look may help me see more.

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Slightly off topic . . . a happy result of leaving at the second intermission was that I got home early, flipped on the T.V. to see NYCB's Kristin Sloan starring in an Apple iPhone commercial and plugging thewinger.com. Very cute!

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I enjoyed the first piece, and I really liked the last piece - the middle section with all the pas de deux was the problem for me.

I felt the opener,There Where She Loved was Wheeldon's take on an episodic, lyrical ballet like Dances at a Gathering, Leaves are Fading, Diversion of Angels etc. Although not in the same league with those masterpieces I enjoyed what I read as his exploration of the many different facets of a woman's relationships with the men in her life as guided by Chopin and Weill.

As for those pas de deux - there were some beautiful moments in each of them and if each one had been seen on it's own I might have liked them all but back to back the similarity became monotonous. Plus, even though I liked the two end pieces both of them were really constructed of a series of pas de deux and pas des trois and as the evening went on the effect became cumulative and the monotony grew. The fact that with the exception of Dance of the Hours the costumes and color palette were similar throughout the evening didn't help either.

The last piece, Fools Paradise, seemed like one of his best efforts – rich in visuals with several series of steps repeated, expanded and resolved or refracted through various groupings of dancers. There were wonderful roles in it for all of the dancers but especially Whelan & Kowroski. I didn't see a story or the significance of the title but I definitely found it very enjoyable & thought provoking and am looking forward to seeing it again.

I have mixed feelings about the evening. I love Wheeldon's work and enjoyed much of what I saw but the bottom line is that the work that was presented in program 1 was just all too similar. I respect the fact that Wheeldon didn't want to repeat works that had been seen in NY recently, and understand that he is working under extreme financial constraints but I think the fact that none of the ballets he presented used a corps contributed greatly to the "sameness" of the evening. If something like Evenfall or Scenes de Ballet or Shambards had replaced the series of pdd or one of the other pieces it would have been a much more enjoyable evening for me.

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I think there's a consensus here -- I also felt over pretzel pas-de-deuxed. A friend referred to "There Where She Loved" as "Dances at a Gathering" for depressives.

Maybe if the program began with "Dance of the Hours," it would get everyone "up" and the long series of serious pdd's would not feel so same same. Even the lighting was same same. If there had been some brightness, some color, the dances might have been distinguishable. That said, I thought Tryst pdd was beautiful, and that Darcy B out-Wendy'd Wendy! I felt that the Forsythe and Liang were much weaker than Wheeldon's work. I was grateful that he let Ashley Bouder shine in "Dance of the Hours" as she does best, being joyful and flirtacious and fun.

Wheeldon's visuals in "Tryst" and "Fools' Paradise" were exceptional. I've always liked his visual concepts in pieces like "Mercurial Manoeuvres," "Variations Sérieuses," etc. He certainly knows how to choreograph good, clean footwork and large ensembles -- I do find it disappointing that he didn't DO those things. [Off-topic, sort of: my friends and I had the same problem with the Miller theater's program last year, which is why we felt Tom Gold's piece was such a delight and welcome relief. I know not many others liked it.... but wouldn't it have been a terrific contrast in this program?]

But the reality of fund raising, designing a program, order of ballets, casting, selecting costumers and costumes, bookings, finding out which theaters would be best for your ballets (NOT CITY CENTER!), publicity, etc., etc. will all pull Wheeldon in different directions, when surely what he wants is to do choreography.....

I wish him and his artists the very best. It's a hard road.

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Just returned from the "Gala" performance- where I got to meet Phillip AKA "Oberon".. what a delight!

I can't claim to know that much about Ballet- but I agree with what has been said about the monotony- and the fact that I wished the dancers had a chance to MOVE!

I too am honored to have seen Darcey B.(having only seen on TV) and I actually liked that PDD a lot, but still- combined with the rest of the program it was more of the same. What amazing presence she has though!

I did love Sterling Hyltin's little PDD in "There where she loved" and that little bit with all of the dancers in a brief moment of joy (and MOVEMENT!) before the final PDD.

The Dance of the hours got a great audience response, I think not only because of the great dancing and Ms. Bouder and Mr. Garcia, but because there was MOVEMENT! (sensing a theme)...

I was very intruiged and mesmerized by "Fool's Paradise". I Have never seen Craig Hall before, and I'm now a huge fan. He and Wendy are amazing together- and I love the contrast their skin makes (as well as Aesha/ Adrian). There was a sigh when this one finished, and I felt it was pretty magical.

I'm going to try to go to the open house rehearsal tomorrow- and will report if I make it there.

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Violin Concerto: You refer to the Liang ballet but it has not appeared yet...perhaps you were misreading the programme which listed all the works the Company is performing. Liang's piece makes its City Center debut tonight (Friday).

It's a little unfair to compare Liang's work unfavorably to Wheeldon's when it hasn't 'arrived' yet...unless you saw it out-of-town.

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I thoroughly enjoyed the gala performance, without quite understanding what made it "gala." Usually gala means higher prices, but that did not seem to be the case last night. Nor did the audience look particularly dolled up. At any rate, three of the greatest ballerinas since Farrell were on the program -- Bussell. Whelan, and Bouder, so what was not to like? All the pieces were sufficiently different from each other, IMO, so that I failed to detect any monotony. "The Dance of the Hours" is a hoot, especially to those audience members who remember Allan Sherman's "Hello Muddah, "Hello Faddah." In at least one respect, the Wheeldon company is ahead of the game. All the music is played and sung live. Even some long-established dance companies can't say that.

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I was at tonight's performance, and for what it's worth my impressions:

There Where She Loved - worked overall, a bit too long, Sterling Hyltin looked wonderful, the singers were excellent

Vicissitude - a pas that seems to me very dependent on performance but can be enjoyable (as an aside, a possibly good subject for this board - ballets that work vs ballets that work only with exceptional performers.) T. Angle and M. Kowroski were very engaging. I really like his masculinity and it works well with her sensual quality.

Slingerland - I could have done without this one and the program was a bit too long.

Prokofiev - my favorite of the pas de deus. It was also my first Alina Cojocaru. Her warmth is enveloping. The shapes and lines bring to my mind beautiful "ringing tones" in voices. I'd love to see her in a full length ballet.

Dance of the Hours - Nothing is more fun than seeing Ashley B in something like this. You have to smile.

Fool's Paradise - I have to admit that I was tired by then. I think I liked some of it. I'd like to see it as an opening ballet.

Overview

I still think Wheeldon is strong on Pas de Deux and very week on groups. A group meaning more than 3.

The program was too long. Many people left before the last ballet.

I wish this endevor well but right now it is built on stars and pas de deux. We'll see what happens

One more thing - It was an enjoyable evening.

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Friday, October 19, 2007

Tonight there was a sucessful new dance, replacing the Bussell piece, plus the chance to see the Princess of Love, Alina Cojocaru, in the work made on her and Johan Kobborg.

Edwaard Liang's Schubert (Death and the Maiden) dance Vicissitude ("Natural change or variation; alterations manifested in nature and human affairs.") made its NYC debut, having premiered in Vail in August. Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle were the dancers in this fascinating little ballet. Mr. Liang really allows one inside a complexly evolving relationship. While they start out together, neither wants to be very involved with the other. So, for instance, when it is time for his solo variation, where one might expect the man to put on a display to impress the woman, Ms. Kowroski turns her back on him, not seeing any of it, including some promisingly fine turns by Mr. Angle. Then, when it is her turn for display, he simply leaves the stage. They get together when she backs into him (at least he was looking, she not). But they've got back together. The relationship grows. It becomes a human affair. Nice work, Mr. Liang.

Unlike most everyone else, I agree with Farrell Fan in not finding the central four dances too alike. And the dancing of those superstar ballerinas! One of the reasons they are great is that they are, and cannot avoid being, unique. Alina Cojocaru's presence made tonight's Prokofiev seem as if it were a much longer version than opening night's. For there was the story! An engaged couple, having one of those special conversations, dreaming as one, anticipating joys of their mutual future. Might these have once been those school-yard children in first love, as created by Katie Morgan and Seth Orza in their own magical version of Wheeldon's Carousel? Special appreciation to Mr. Kish for enabling Ms. Cojocaru to dance with such freedom, allowing her lyricism to flow as if garlands of flowers from some endless garden.

Thank you to those above who suggested watching There Where She Loved as if a sort of Dances at a Gathering. While still annoyed at being kept in the dark by its multilingual secrets, there were some beautiful dance moments by the likes of Mlles Yatsenko, Bouder, Hyltin (with Mr. Garcia, out Romeo and Julieting last year's R+J), and Kowroski. And their suitors. Wednesday all the dancers were making debuts in their roles. They seemed better tonight. The audience response was far warmer, too.

Slingerland was still erotic, Mr. Liang taking advantage of Ms. Whelan's Potato Chip tutu. Dance of the Hours, again a delight, and giving respite to those who were "pretzeled out." Conventional choreography, perhaps, but what fun finishing with Gonzalo Garcia's tours a la seconde being twice circled by Ashley Bouder's tours chaines! We really liked the little rehearsal film that preceded each of the four short dances. Made by the "Ballet Boyz", Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, and not without humor.

After second sight, After the Rain excepted, Fool's Paradise is now my favorite Wheeldon ballet. It all seems so logical, so inevitable. And that endless finale: at first it looks as if it will be something akin to that of Four Temperaments, but a shift in the music and all dancers but one, in little groups, are onstage. The last comes on, and starts an ingenious process by which one dancer after another leaves till the ballet's opening trio of Whelan, Garcia and Hall are left. They reposition into their places at the dance's beginning, again with the two men advancing together as Ms. Whelan stays back center. The two begin to dance. But this time the other three men appear, watching. The other three women arrive. The finale is here, as they all dance, then form a kind of human mountain: Craig Hall thrusts Wendy Whelan skyward. Mr. Wheeldon's muse-pair has the final word. They've done their work. Mr. Wheeldon concludes this program with his inspiration.

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Violin Concerto: You refer to the Liang ballet but it has not appeared yet...perhaps you were misreading the programme which listed all the works the Company is performing. Liang's piece makes its City Center debut tonight (Friday).

It's a little unfair to compare Liang's work unfavorably to Wheeldon's when it hasn't 'arrived' yet...unless you saw it out-of-town.

If you check the program, you'll see that Vicissitude was performed as part of program I on Oct 19th only. Probably for the Gala. Dr. B. also discusses this ballet. Part of my reaction was that it was too Maria Korowsky-specific. (I think it was also Dr.B who referred to her as "Legs" Korowsky last NYCB season.) The whole look of the ballet hinges on the length of her legs.

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I also went again last night, and I enjoyed the program much more than I did on Wednesday. Last time I enjoyed it but had reservations, this time I loved it.

The only differences were Kowroski and Angle in Liang's work instead of Bussell & Cope in Tryst, Cojocaru instead of Pereira in Prokofiev pdd, and seats that were much closer to the stage. I don't think the first 2 changes made the difference, though Cojocaru alone was worth well more than the price of admission last night. Along with strong technique she has such gorgeous lines and just exudes freshness and purity. Can you tell she's one of my 2 co-favorite ballerinas in the world today?

Much as I love her, that doesn't explain why I liked this performance so much better than the last one. I also love Bussell and thought Tryst pdd showed her off beautifully. I enjoyed seeing Tina Periera in the Prokofiev on Wednesday . Perhaps the dancers had settled in a bit, as drb suggested, but I think the biggest difference for me was the seating. Last time I was sitting in the front of the rear mezz, and I think the switch to the front of the grand tier made a huge difference. I like to be far from the stage for some types of choreography, I think the 4th ring is perfect for most of Balanchine but the works on this program were on a smaller scale, with a lot of subtlety that I missed the first time around. This time each work seemed much more differentiated and unique, and I loved every minute of the evening and every single dancer from the great ballerinas of our age and some of my favorite male dancers to emerging favorites including a very lyrical Ashley Laracey - each one made a vivid impression.

I also agree with drb that on second viewing Fool’s Paradise went from a work I really liked to one I totally love. This time I noticed how many of the lifts ended in shapes that made the couples resemble stars, and together with the falling star confetti it gave the work very celestial overtones. Could it have been about foolish humans reaching for the stars? Seeking the heavens, paradise? At first seeking in groups of 2 or 3 - starting on the right path, then struggling and getting frustrated until their efforts fall apart and they start from scratch. This time they all work together, the pieces fall right into place and Whelan ascends. Just one possible scenario... anyway, I loved it and hope they do it somewhere again soon. It’s a work that deserves to be seen by a wide audience and one that I’d like to see over & over again.

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I attended the 10/21/07 performance of Program Two – for those of you who may be keeping track, Sterling Hyltin replaced Ashley Bouder in the program opener, Morphoses. No white slip in the program, and no announcement before the curtain either. :cool: I found this odd, since Wheeldon came out and spoke briefly before the program began and presumably could have mentioned the casting change then. In any event, Hyltin was a more than able substitute and a lovely, lively presence -- I for one was pleased to get a chance to see her in this role.

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Kathleen, maybe your slip fell out, because I got one, along with the slip about the Ballet Boys film. And yes, Hyltin was lovely. Mary

I attended the 10/21/07 performance of Program Two – for those of you who may be keeping track, Sterling Hyltin replaced Ashley Bouder in the program opener, Morphoses. No white slip in the program, and no announcement before the curtain either. :flowers: I found this odd, since Wheeldon came out and spoke briefly before the program began and presumably could have mentioned the casting change then. In any event, Hyltin was a more than able substitute and a lovely, lively presence -- I for one was pleased to get a chance to see her in this role.
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Kathleen, maybe your slip fell out, because I got one, along with the slip about the Ballet Boys film. And yes, Hyltin was lovely. Mary

On Sunday neither of us got a slip regarding the cast change. Not seeing Bouder in the first piece was such a shock and cause for concern that it got in the way of enjoying the performance. But that also may have had to do with the second program; as one may note, there is not even a thread for reviewing it on BT. Did the slip give any information on why Ms. Bouder was not dancing?

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Kathleen, maybe your slip fell out, because I got one, along with the slip about the Ballet Boys film. And yes, Hyltin was lovely. Mary

On Sunday neither of us got a slip regarding the cast change. Not seeing Bouder in the first piece was such a shock and cause for concern that it got in the way of enjoying the performance. But that also may have had to do with the second program; as one may note, there is not even a thread for reviewing it on BT. Did the slip give any information on why Ms. Bouder was not dancing?

It only said what the cast for Morphoses would be; not what it was supposed to be.

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Kathleen, maybe your slip fell out, because I got one, along with the slip about the Ballet Boys film. And yes, Hyltin was lovely. Mary

On Sunday neither of us got a slip regarding the cast change.

just a note to second--my mother and I had no slips in our programs either... I guess they were rather haphazard about ensuring they were in there.

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For me after seeing Morphoses on October 18, I'd say that a whole evening of Wheeldon is too too much.

He is in love with contortionism .I am not. I am sick of seeing the dancers rolling around on the floor. I loved seeing Darcy (GULP.).

Check the Observer this week for Gottlieb on Wheeldon.

Wheedon 's stuff works better for me at NYCB with a bill including Ballanchine and maybe Robbins.

I hated the piece from the opera.

JM

I also went again last night, and I enjoyed the program much more than I did on Wednesday. Last time I enjoyed it but had reservations, this time I loved it.

The only differences were Kowroski and Angle in Liang's work instead of Bussell & Cope in Tryst, Cojocaru instead of Pereira in Prokofiev pdd, and seats that were much closer to the stage. I don't think the first 2 changes made the difference, though Cojocaru alone was worth well more than the price of admission last night. Along with strong technique she has such gorgeous lines and just exudes freshness and purity. Can you tell she's one of my 2 co-favorite ballerinas in the world today?

Much as I love her, that doesn't explain why I liked this performance so much better than the last one. I also love Bussell and thought Tryst pdd showed her off beautifully. I enjoyed seeing Tina Periera in the Prokofiev on Wednesday . Perhaps the dancers had settled in a bit, as drb suggested, but I think the biggest difference for me was the seating. Last time I was sitting in the front of the rear mezz, and I think the switch to the front of the grand tier made a huge difference. I like to be far from the stage for some types of choreography, I think the 4th ring is perfect for most of Balanchine but the works on this program were on a smaller scale, with a lot of subtlety that I missed the first time around. This time each work seemed much more differentiated and unique, and I loved every minute of the evening and every single dancer from the great ballerinas of our age and some of my favorite male dancers to emerging favorites including a very lyrical Ashley Laracey - each one made a vivid impression.

I also agree with drb that on second viewing Fool’s Paradise went from a work I really liked to one I totally love. This time I noticed how many of the lifts ended in shapes that made the couples resemble stars, and together with the falling star confetti it gave the work very celestial overtones. Could it have been about foolish humans reaching for the stars? Seeking the heavens, paradise? At first seeking in groups of 2 or 3 - starting on the right path, then struggling and getting frustrated until their efforts fall apart and they start from scratch. This time they all work together, the pieces fall right into place and Whelan ascends. Just one possible scenario... anyway, I loved it and hope they do it somewhere again soon. It’s a work that deserves to be seen by a wide audience and one that I’d like to see over & over again.

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I thoroughly enjoyed the gala performance, without quite understanding what made it "gala." Usually gala means higher prices, but that did not seem to be the case last night. Nor did the audience look particularly dolled up.
There was a high-priced dinner following the performance. Both while having a quick bite at the coffee shop on the corner and on my way into the theater, I saw a few ladies in fancy-ish dresses. What I can't understand was, given the bill of fare on all nights consisting of a roster of international stars in a string of pas de deux, which one was not a gala?

I saw both programs and agree with most posts here.

Wheeldon manages, in most of his pieces, to create at least one, sometimes two, sometimes three, images that are original and startling. You see them, and they're over. There was the change of epaulement -- from first to second arabesque arms -- of the four men at the end of "There Where She Loved"'s The Wish section, or the beautiful, circling lift that ended that piece's Spring (danced in New York by Hyltin and Garcia); Wouldn't it be great if he could make such moments recurring motifs? That would require building the ballet phrase by phrase, maybe working backwards from the end or out from the middle. It would result in ballets being easier to differentiate each from the others in his growing oeuvre.

I used to cringe during the Cygnettes dance in Swan Lake. So annoying! But over time I realized that it was necessary to separate the White Swan pas from the Waltz. Without Cygnettes, the two would probably blend together, the majesty and eloquence of the pdd diminished. Wheeldon needs to learn to make -- or at least program in -- some Cygnettes equivalent.

I can't say I disliked the Dance of the Hours. I'm just having trouble deciding whether it, with its abundant choreographic cliches, is intended as a parody or whether Wheeldon, stretched in so many directions, simply lacked inspiration. But it came at a point in the program when I was crying out (to myself) "Please! :dunno: Let me see one pas de chat! Some step that I recognize!" And there goes Bouder -- flying across the stage in a pas de chat diagonal! :devil:

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