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2016 Winter Season


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Today's matinee performance had a lovely performance from Hyltin (really love the way she uses her arms and hands), but Andrew Veyette looked very tired and constantly slumped his soldiers. As for PC#2, Ask and Sara had the kind of fall no dancer ever wants to have in the studio not to mention onstage. It was in that backwards gliding/dragging circle sequence. All of a sudden Ask just fell over and Sara fell on top of him. It took several seconds for them to get up, and I was really relieved they weren't injured.

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Today's matinee performance had a lovely performance from Hyltin (really love the way she uses her arms and hands), but Andrew Veyette looked very tired and constantly slumped his soldiers. As for PC#2, Ask and Sara had the kind of fall no dancer ever wants to have in the studio not to mention onstage. It was in that backwards gliding/dragging circle sequence. All of a sudden Ask just fell over and Sara fell on top of him. It took several seconds for them to get up, and I was really relieved they weren't injured.

Wow I hope no one was hurt in the fall. As for Veyette, as others have said Ulbricht could have been given the role of James. He was a wonderful Oberon last season. Peter Martins is squandering Ulbricht's prime years in secondary roles while overusing Veyette.

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I've seen Ask la Cour make the exact same mistake the last time the company did TP2 - that time he brought Tess down with him. Can't believe he did it again with another ballerina. Tess must be glad she got the superlative Tyler Angle this go around. The crash kind of broke the mood, to say the least. Sara was good and should only get better the more she does the role, but she was a little behind the music for a lot of the first movement and does not have the jump Tess does.

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Tschai #2 is coming to DC on the more contemporary (Justin Peck, Wheeldon, etc) bill! Anyways, in the spring I much preferred the Bournonville Divert. to La Sylphinde -- it was so sunny and full of life. I thought they should have flipped the order of the program and played Sylphide first and end on a happy note.

That's the order listed for the Kennedy Center performances. La Syphide, then Bournonville Divertissements.

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I'm not really disagreeing with you, just noting that what is often called art's transcendence is not an easy thing to characterize outside of its historicity.

I'm not really disagreeing with you either. Nothing in this world can be taken entirely out of context. If you take a kangaroo and a potted cactus flower to a performance of The Sleeping Beauty neither of them will make any sense of what is going on onstage. So, yes you have to be a human being; and a member of the civilized community. You need (for example) to have a basic understanding of what a King, a Queen, a Prince, a Princess, a royal court and an aristocracy all are. But once we take that for granted--

The Sleeping Beauty is a celebration of life, humanity and --love! It suggests that we never truly come alive, never truly become aware of the endless possibilities this world presents us with or the dangers that confront us until-- we truly fall in love with someone. And that the only thing that ever has a chance to vanquish the everpresent darker forces in this world is the power of human love.

Is this idealistic nonsense? Each of us has to decide for themselves. But it is worth remembering in the midst of all the celebratory dancing that we see and music that we hear that nothing comes about easily in this tale: how many years does Princess Aurora have to lie asleep? what internal and external struggles does Prince Desire have to undergo before he finds her? And there is nothing in Tchaikovsky's majestic music at the end to suggest anything otherwise than that being a Queen is no simple matter, and that Princess Aurora --now a Queen-- will give birth to a new Aurora ....The struggle between good and evil here is implicitly everlasting.

You do not need to be a member --or be fond-- of the nineteenth century Russian landed aristocracy to grasp any of this. Nor do you have to be an expert in Russian socio-economic history, a Westerner, a One Percenter in the United States of 2016 .... And you don't really need to know all that much about choreography and music either. Deep down this is why people of all kinds flock to see this ballet. Its themes and messages are universal and have the potential to resonate within every one of us. It will continue to be so for as long as we retain our humanity. This is an example of an artwork that transcends the time that produced it.

To say about something like The Sleeping Beauty that it is "an idealized depiction of the mating rituals of the landed aristocracy and is rooted in reality only to the extent that such a class existed" (my emphasis) does such a masterwork --I feel-- no justice.

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If you take an Aboriginal Australian, a kangaroo, and a potted cactus flower to a performance of The Sleeping Beauty none of them will make any sense of what is going on onstage. So, yes you have to be a human being; and a member of the civilized community.

I would suggest respectfully that we avoid grouping any human beings alongside animals and plants in terms of their capacity for arts appreciation. However, you do not do justice to the Aboriginal Australians, who are not only capable of appreciating ballet, but whose descendants are dancing it.

To say about something like The Sleeping Beauty that it is "an idealized depiction of the mating rituals of the landed aristocracy and is rooted in reality only to the extent that such a class existed" does such a masterwork --I feel-- no justice.

I would also suggest respectfully that the quote is actually a perfectly accurate description of one aspect of "The Sleeping Beauty." Surely it is no deprecation of TSB to acknowledge its historical context.

The Sleeping Beauty is a celebration of life, humanity and --love!

That we can certainly all agree on. :)

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I would suggest respectfully that we avoid grouping any human beings alongside animals and plants in terms of their capacity for arts appreciation. However, you do not do justice to the Aboriginal Australians, who are not only capable of appreciating ballet, but whose descendants are dancing it.

I would also suggest respectfully that the quote is actually a perfectly accurate description of one aspect of "The Sleeping Beauty." Surely it is no deprecation of TSB to acknowledge its historical context.

That we can certainly all agree on. :)

It was clearly not my intention to offend any human beings --or for that matter any animals and plants! But I edited the sentence.

As far as a consideration of historical context is concerned I am all for it (in due course); but in this particular instance I offered my opinion and I'm finished with the issue. My latest post was in response to the one Drew wrote, not to Kathleen O'Connell's observations and opinions. Also, I am to blame for how this discussion came about, not Kathleen O'Connell. I apologize.

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Thank you, all! I feel uneducated (even though I am the mother of a former very serious ballet student who studied under Yvonne Mounsey and Colleen Neary) and unqualified to post myself, but your writings are very interesting and thought-provoking for me. Please keep them coming. Also, those from out of town like me who are not able to get to performances very often hang on your every word.

P.S. Still nursing my "wounds" from January 23rd -- the day of the great snowstorm. My daughter flew in from California and I flew in from Texas for that particular program which was our dream program. Our tickets had been taken and we were handing over our coats as the announcement came down.

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You should not feel uneducated and unqualified to post! I feel bad for what you experienced in January and hope that you will soon get another opportunity to watch NYCB live.

Coming from someone who is a young member of the corps and was not even scheduled to dance this part, Indiana Woodward's performance in La Sylphide last night simply stunned me. Not only did she dance superbly, but even more impressively she showed great dramatic sensibilities! She was totally enchanting! Anthony Huxley as James was also great.

Sara Mearns' debut in Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 on Saturday afternoon was not quite as successful as when I saw her first dance Mozartiana. But I consider her a remarkable ballerina so it came as no surprise to me to see her settle down and give an excellent performance in this piece last evening. I was especially glad that this was so after what reportedly happened on Sunday afternoon.

Last time NYCB did Piano Concerto I enjoyed it very much but still did not quite appreciate how marvelous and wondrous a work it is! Balanchine and Tchaikovsky were tremendous artists!

Every one in the female corps seems beautiful to me when they dance in the Concerto. Last night at one point one of them lost her balance and fell out of position. I wish that this young lady one day acquires the strength, the courage, the imagination, the authority, the artistry, the grandeur --whatever is required-- to dance all the "queenly" roles in the Balanchine repertoire!

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I was flabbergasted. Martins typecasts constantly by size, so although I expect Peck will be the best ballerina in the company in the Tschaik Concerto I never thought she would be allowed to dance it.

I am not at all interested in who is "the best ballerina in the company in the Tschaik Concerto". (The three women who danced the part this season are all stellar ballerinas.) I am very interested in the issue of size (and hair color, I guess).

It was a great honor and a privilege to have witnessed last night's performance of Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2.

Tiler Peck's biggest career hurdle is her size. Since Martins is casting the shorter "soubrette" types in T&V, she was able to get that lead part and triumphed in it. However, I doubt we will ever see her in most of the "queenly" roles due to her stature.

Another lead part, another triumph.

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Well I went to three separate casts of the La Sylphide/Ballet Imperial program.

Best Sylph: Sterling Hyltin (Indiana Woodward was close behind her)

Best James: Anthony Huxley

Best Madge: Gretchen Smith

Best Gurn: Joseph Gordon

Best leading female in TPC2: Tess and Tiler (tied -- they were both great)

Best male leading role: Tyler Angle

Best female soloist: eh, a close one but I'll give it to Lauren King

Best demi-soloist: Harrison Coll

More thoughts on my La Sylphide/TPC2 marathon here and comparisons of casts:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2016/02/winter-season-diaries-continued.html

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I hope that she'll be cast in one of the DC SYLPHIDES in early March. Ooops...just saw the above post. Yeah...3rd cast.

She was just lovely as the Sylphide. Beautiful, flexible feet in all the flat & demi point work, excellent technique overall and with beautiful arms and positions, although she didn't really dance in the Romantic style - no wafting arms, or forward inclination in the body - Hyltin was closest to the Romantic style. But Woodward's Sylph was very bright and playful. She exuded charm and confidence - you would never believe that she was only in the corps.

And as much as I love Mearns (and I adore her) Reichlen is the one to see in TP2 - she owns the ballerina role now.

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Yes, Reichlin is stellar in Tschai Piano Concerto. Mearns is still working out the intricacies of the choreography and gives a good, but not stellar, performance. She may also be hampered by her partner, Ask LaCour. On Tuesday he flubbed the portion where he has to do a turn in the air and then drop to his knee while partnering the ballerina.

Tiler Peck's execution of the choreography last night in Tschai Piano Concerto was very, very impressive, as was her musicality. Nevertheless, I felt like the choreography lost some of its grandeur because she does not have long enough legs or feet to really show off all of the many elongated lines and extensions built into the ballet.

Of the three soloists in Tschai Piano Concerto, my favorite was Savanah Lowery. She dances with exuberance and covers a huge amount of space in jumps. She radiated joy. I thought both Scheller and Lauren King were too small scale and dull.

Garcia was just sloppy as James. The footwork and speed are too difficult for him at this stage of his career.

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