Bellepoque

I haven't posted in a very long time and I actually did not see any of NYCB's past season. I have read many of Acocella's articles over the last 15 years and in particular the ones' regarding NYCB and I often feel that she has such a personal gripe against Martins. In addition, Acocella drools over Farrell. I think it is important to note that in this mythical battle between good and evil, and in Acocella's eyes Martins is very much the evil, she always is on the side of Farrell. Whereas many people look upon Acocella's extensive history as a dance spectator and reviewer, I feel that her criticism is often colored by her personal relationship with NYCB dancers, both past and current, and really works as a disfavor to any one who is watching a performance or reading a review. How can we look for a new voice or interpretation if we are continually be informed that it already happened? I do not mean to throw in the apple of gossip here, but it should be mentioned that as much as people praise Farrell as a teacher and coach, there are many people who also say different. The time that she spent at NYCB, teaching classes and staging for SAB, was a period of transition going on everywhere, within the school and the company. Fugate, Lopez, Calegari, Saland and many male dancers were either retiring or had retired. Martins was receiving good reviews for Estactic Orange and Fearful Symmetries; the school and company moved into the new building and SAB was going through all kinds of growing pains. As a student at SAB during that time, I remember that we could tell when Farrell was teaching company class (she did not only teach during Nutcracker; she taught during both the winter and spring season both at SAB and at NYCB): our classes were filled with members of the corp, soloists and principals. I do agree with Acocella that NYCB and SAB have been struggling with technique and strength. I think a lot of that has to do with the passing of Stanley Williams and the retirement of Richard Rapp. Their classes were definitely crucial in the development of so many young dancers, both female and male. Just my 2 cents.

Great review. It's always interesting to hear about debuts, particularly ones that are last minute replacements. According to Jennifer Dunning's review in the New York Times, Bouder learned the role the day of the performance. I realize that NYCB's repertory is extensive and that dancers are often performing three times in one night, but wasn't there anyone else understudying the role or are there that many dancers out with injuries already? I remember seeing Kyra Nichols perform Firebird and I haven't seen her name up for performances this season. (Not to detract from what sounds like an incredible debut, but I'm wondering if this season is a pivotal one in that the last of the dancers who knew or were picked by Balanchine are phasing out.) I also know that this is a common occurence at City Ballet and that Balanchine was known for replacing an understudy last minute because he thought that another dancer would be better in the role. Just curious as to what people think and know.

NYCB, 5/17: La Source, Appalachia Waltz, The Four Seasons. This is the first review I have posted, so here I go... It was a pleasant surprise to see a mixed bill of choreographers whose pieces complemented each other so well. The night started off with La Source by Balanchine with music by Delibes. This ballet is pretty straight forward: pas de deux, solos, corp with soloist, pas de deux, solos, corp finale. A minitiature classical ballet without the plot. The principals dancers, Margaret Tracy and Peter Boal, were, well, lovely. Margaret Tracy looked like she loved being a ballerina and was clearly enjoying this role last night. Her moves were crisp and clear and arms flowed. All of her movements flowed together and when she was dancing with Peter Boal she looked even lovelier. Peter Boal is IMO one of the best partners at the company. He allowed her to be the ballerina. His variations were good; his jumps wonderful and he looked so regal. The main disappointment in this piece was the corp and the soloist, Abi Stafford. The corp was mostly composed of younger and newer dancers, Melissa Barak, Martine Ciccone, Elena Diner, Megan Pepin, Sarah Ricard, Carrie Lee Riggins, Kristin Sloan and Jamie Wolf, and I don't know if it was because of lack of rehearsal of the piece or nervous energy, but everything was a little off. Their lines, their overall alignment and their arms and port de bras, were all over the place. All of the little idiosyncracies that can creep into a dancer's overall upper body presentation after spending some time at SAB were present. Lots of bent writsts, flying arms and wildness. With that said, I do have to comment that those eight women show a lot of promise and talent and I often wonder if you have a corp with many talented dancers if that can be worse than having a corp with solid, good dancers. Any of those eight women could of danced the soloist role in La Source and they may of performed better than Abi Stafford did last night. I know that Abi Stafford is the latest wunderkind and I know that she is young, but she didn't thrill me last nice. Her dancing technically is wonderful. Great feet, fantastic jump, very nice upper body movement, but she looked frigthened. Almost like a deer in headlights. I know that this a new role for her, but I was hoping to seem some sort of sparkle, something that makes her different from those eight other corp girls and I just didn't see it last night. The next piece, Appalachia Waltz, was choreographed by Miriam Mahdaviani, and she has quite an eye for dancers and movement. The piece is set to music by Edgar Myer and Mark O'Connor and performed by a trio of a violin, cello and double bass who sit onstage in front stage right corner. The audience really liked this ballet and it was performed very well. Toward the end of the piece it seemed to become a southern fried Square Dance with a do-see-do, but otherwise the dancers seemed to be having a lot fun and enjoyed dancing this piece. The two principal couples were Albert Evans & Jennie Somogyi and Jenifer Ringer & Nilas Martins. Evans and Somogyi were fantastic. The two have so much elasticity in their joints that in one of their pas de deux it looked like they were playing cats cradle-with their bodies. They were electric and there was an underlying sensuality to their dancing. Ringer and Martins were nice, but not as electric as Evans and Somoygi. Ringer and Martins seemed to run out of steam. The piece has a small corp of eight dancers that are more like four sets of demi-soloists. Mahdaviani gives each of the eight an opportunity to shine and they all did. Aesha Ash, Rachel Rutherford, Eva Natanya and Abi Stafford danced well together, and Rutherford and Natanya shined. Stafford looked much more comfortable in this piece. She looked like she was enjoying dancing. Their male counterparts were complementary and danced just as well. All of them were soloists: Arch Higgins, James Fayette, Jerome Hoeffens and Jared Angle. My companion commented on how their were more male soloists than female soloists in the company right now--2:1 to be exact, and they are all good dancers. When did this happen? The night ended with Jerome Robbins The Four Seasons and the company was on. There was this incredible energy in everyone's dancing throughout the entire piece and seemed to increase from section to section. However the section that ultimately got all of the audience's applause was Fall. Antonio Carmena almost stole the ballet with his impish autumnal Puck and it looked like at times he was about to leap into the audience. A last minute replacement for an injured Benjamin Millepied in the Fall section brought a great treat: Damian Woetzel dancing with Miranda Weese. This was the first time I have seen them dance together and they were great. They compliment each other so well and Weese has really majured into a wonderful dancer. And Damian Woetzel. He just gets better with age. The other sections were good as well: Janie Taylor, who I am liking more and more, with Jerome Hofmans, Alexander Ritter and the shivering corp. of snowflakes; Pascal Van Kipnis and Philip Neal in Spring with a great corp of men, Stuart Capps, Kyle Froman, Craig Hall and Stephen Hanna and Summer with Rutherford, who looked radiant and seemed to be encompasing the idea of summer, and Marcovici. Overall the corp looked fantastic in this piece. They were on. Who knew that they loved dancing Robbins ballets? There was so much energy in that piece and synchronization. I don't know how many times I can say they looked so good after seeing them look kind so lackluster in the past. One quick note though, the theatre was half full. I was very surprised to see so many open seats. Any speculations? People going to see ABT? Economic woes? Thursday night? I look forward to reading other people's thoughts...

I too was at the performance on Sunday and Darci blew me away--and I was sitting all the way up in the fourth ring. The last time I had seen Darci dance was eight years ago and I was very curious to see her dance again because of the recent discussion of her abilities deteriorating. I was not disappointed, which I couldn't say about other pieces performed that day. I will try and provide a review later today.