ABT @ City Ctr., Fall 2005

[Michael]

On a sleepy Wednesday evening in the Fall, with night falling earlier and earlier these days, and an unseasonal chill in the New York streets, both Twyla Tharp's "In the Upper room" and Tudor's "Dark Elegies" had their first performances of ABT's fall season last evening. The reaction of an audience is nearly impossible to predict, and it may be that it is always combustible material waiting for a spark -- but the Tharp provoked one of the hugest, most vocal ovations you will see at a Ballet, with the previously subdued audience on its feet for a long series of curtain calls.

The Ballet (if we can call it that) is extremely theatrical. It's 40 minutes long, to a recorded Phillip Glass score which becomes increasingly ecastatic ("in the upper room" itself is a phrase irresisibly suggesting the seance of the Pentecost). The stage is filled with smoke and dramatic backlighting and the dance employs half of the company's principal dancers. It's an extremely forgiving piece, it doesn't require classical dancing much, just a lot of spirit, and company gave it all of that. You can really see, in fact, just who the classically trained people are because they are the ones who have most trouble with it. Of everyone, Ethan probably got it best, and Erica Cornejo among the women. But it's lovely to see Murphy and Abrera, usually pretty controlled in the stage affects, required to kick out the jams.

Over the evening, two brilliant performances by corps members require comment. First, Adrienne Schulte in the 4th variation in Dark Elegies, the performance of a career as far as I'm concerned, by the far the most fluent and accomplished of anyone in this piece. Tudor requires these very sudden bursts of motion in this ballet, in very controlled and narrow physical circumstances. The dancers motions throughout Elegies begin and stop very abruptly within a narrow space - within which Adrienne managed to dance with complete abandon and flow, completing each phrase in legato motion only to stop it on a dime, and conveying -- the only one who did this -- the intense emotional stasis and then catharsis necessary to the work.

Second, Sasha Dmochowski in the Tharp -- such an extraodinarily beautiful and well trained classical dancer, with strong feet and lovely lines -- but what sticks in the memory here more than anything is the incredibly sensitive and instinctive response to the music.

[FauxPas]

I was there too last night for my first performance of the City Center season.

The first ballet was "Kaleidoscope" with Herman Cornejo and Sarah Lane (as the Cowgirl in blue tutu) replacing Gillian and Ethan with Max and Veronika repeating the second couple. First of all, yes it is heavily influenced by Balanchine but it is quite musical and beautifully constructed for someone who is only 26. The corps formations for men showed an original voice emerging. Herman had beautiful batterie but some of his turns were sloppy (for him). Sarah Lane had these slips off of toe to flat feet - with Murphy you would know if it was on purpose, with Lane you weren't sure. The first couple has very step intensive busy choreography that could be streamlined for greater elegance. Sarah Lane reminded me more of an Aurora by way of Theme & Variations and Symphony in C. The music that Max and Veronika dance to is odd - very Satie-like with some jazzy dissonance and spiky chromaticism - really forward-looking composition by Saint-Saens. Max was particularly clean and buoyantly elegant. A friend complained that Veronika's choreography didn't make her look good - I felt that she looked fine but in a different key than what she has done before. My friend also complained that the stage was crowded for the finale with all the principals and corps and that it would look better on a bigger stage.

Troy Cook was an excellent baritone soloist for the Kindertotenlieder. One problem with a dance like "Dark Elegies" is that it helps if you have dancers with some maturity and weight. Some of the corps members and soloists looked very young and danced steps without connecting them to an internal state of grief. Julie Kent, Adrienne Schulte and Jesus Pastor stood out for their commitment and Michele Wiles' final exit was deeply moving.

"In the Upper Room" had the audience cheering and stomping at the end. If you want to see Gillian Murphy and Stella Abrera stomping around in athletic shoes, this is your chance. Paloma Herrera and Laura Hidalgo had the pointe work to do in red shoes. The cast got increasing naked as the show went on, the men losing their shirts and the women their prison-striped pajama pants. The famous Jennifer Tipton lighting and the pulsating ecstatic Philip Glass music were as narcotizing as ever. Keith Roberts in a black and white tux jacket came out for the final bow. Everyone onstage looked exhausted yet totally exhilirated by performing the piece. The woman next to me mentioned that you could power New York City with all the energy on that stage.

Faux Pas

[Michael]

If you want to see Gillian Murphy and Stella Abrera stomping around in athletic shoes, this is your chance. 

Faux Pas

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

What could be better, I ask you?

Actually, the casting here seemed to me either delicious or malicious, take your pick. You take the two women in the company who seem the haughtiest, most regal and distant of anyone -- you have them progressively disrobe until they end up costumed in red spandex bathing suits which ride high on the thigh, sneakers and red ankle socks, with their hair nevertheless up in Ballerina Buns throughout -- and then you have them performing this "Little Deuce Coupe-Chubby-Checker-Twist-and-Shuffle" with a sort of shimmy shake in the shoulders and neck, with a lot of other stuff mixed in, in an increasingly frenzied and sweaty manner. I think it was quite conscious on Kevin's and Co.'s part. And actually it worked. They seemed to enjoy it and the audience did too.

Casting against type to exploit the contrast.

[Juliet]

Delightful image, Michael! I'll have to make sure to see it.....

[drb]

Twyla Tharp's site has a number of photos as well as other information about "In the Upper Room."

http://www.twylatharp.org/archive/dance_pa...anceSelected=85

[nysusan]

The Saturday matinee of Afternoon of a Faun with David Halberg and Stella Abrera was beautiful, the best maybe I've ever seen Faun performed.  This is why one keeps going to the ballet - because you never know when a performance like this is going to happen.  I left immediately afterwards because there are some acts which should not be followed.

One should note that in JP's staging at City Center the lighting is quite beautiful at the outset.  The curtain goes up on a white scrim with milky light; the scrim then rises and the lighting seems to go through a transformation or two, through a soft golden glow, before coming up to performance level. 

There are several successful readings of Faun -- Hallberg's was to be quite taken with Abrera, to try to, but to be unable ultimately to escape the mirror and to break through to her.  Something in him kept dragging him back to the mirror.  It was the condition of his existence.  Abrera -- who is looking very ethereal and attenuated these days -- read the part as a woman very dissociated from herself. With an animal quality too.  She was gorgeous in costume, her hair sensual, she's lost weight and her eyes were very striking.  Suddenly she seems like Ballerina material -- that transformation that happens when a dancer somehow becomes a little inhuman, more a creature of the stage than one of the street. 

What is it that constitutes dramatic immediacy?  You know it when you see it.  Stiefel and Kent were acting.  Today, something real happened on the stage.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I just got home after this evening’s performance & couldn’t agree more with Michael’s impression. Hallberg & Abrera were stunning. The sexual tension bubbling beneath their calm exteriors was unmistakable. I agree there was a great immediacy to their performance, but I also felt a very strong existential dimension in their inability to connect. There was a beautiful moment when he almost broke through to her, an instant when she almost seemed ready to entertain the possibility of another reality and then the moment passed. I was never more aware of the connection to Nijinsky’s faun - the raw, primitive energy I imagine must have been present in that original faun was very much present onstage tonight - barely contained behind a very civilized 21st century exterior.

This amazing performance was preceded by Les Sylphides. I know that Veronika Part was not the only dancer onstage, but she was the only one I could see. Her prelude was magical, a true invocation. This may be the the 7th or 8th time I’ve seen this production, and though I’ve seen some pretty good performances I think she and Erica Cornejo are the only ones who really capture the magic of this ballet.

Corella and Herrera brought the house down in Corsaire immediately after Faun, and the evening closed with In the Upper Room. Tonight I saw the second cast, and they were phenomenal. Sometimes with ABT I tend to focus on the stars, it’s easy to do and they encourage it. A night like tonight makes me realize just how deep the talent level is in the ranks. Michele Wiles ,Kristi Boone, Sascha Radetsky, Blaine Hoven, Patrick Ogle, Misty Copeland, Yuriko Kajiya, Aaron Scott, Luciana Paris, Carlos Lopez, Irina Dvorovenko and Gennadi Saveliev were all fabulous, but the real surprise of the evening for me was Marian Butler as the ‘4th” girl in points. I know what she looks like & I was sitting pretty close, but I had to whip out my opera glasses a couple of times to figure out who she was. Her dancing was beautifully phrased & incredibly musical. I’ve seen her in a few demi soloist roles & she’s always solid, but tonight she was gorgeous.

It was a very good night at City Center.

[Helene]

So often the emphasis in ABT is the stars and the younger dancers in star roles. It's really exciting for me to hear from across the country such terrific reviews for young dancers like Adrienne Schulte and Marian Butler.

Foremost on my list for a New York visit is "Must See Part."

[PAmom]

and the evening closed with In the Upper Room. Tonight I saw the second cast, and they were phenomenal. Sometimes with ABT I tend to focus on the stars, it’s easy to do and they encourage it. A night like tonight makes me realize just how deep the talent level is in the ranks. Michele Wiles ,Kristi Boone, Sascha Radetsky, Blaine Hoven, Patrick Ogle, Misty Copeland, Yuriko Kajiya, Aaron Scott, Luciana Paris, Carlos Lopez, Irina Dvorovenko and Gennadi Saveliev were all fabulous, but the real surprise of the evening for me was Marian Butler as the ‘4th” girl in points. I know what she looks like & I was sitting pretty close, but I had to whip out my opera glasses a couple of times to figure out who she was. Her dancing was beautifully phrased & incredibly musical. I’ve seen her in a few demi soloist roles & she’s always solid, but tonight she was gorgeous.

It was a very good night at City Center.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A very good night indeed however even into the second movement some members of the audience left muttering that they couldn't see anything. The smoke usually does not cover the stage beyond the first movement (after which it is intended to dissipate drastically) as intensely as it did last night and the second movement dancers were not even able to see their own feet. Unnerving to say the least but I enjoyed how the 40 minutes had many stages of visual clarity. It was nice seeing Mr. Radetsky dance his heart out and really cut loose.

[Colleen Boresta]

I went to the October 30th matinee. Maybe it’s me, but I did not like Tudor’s “Dark Elegies” at all. I just could not get into it. I’m not sure whether it was the choreography, the music, or the performers – probably a combination of all three.

On the other hand, I was absolutely riveted by ABT’s production of “The Green Table”. The whole cast was wonderful, but Julio Bragado Young stood out as the Profiteer. He was just so smarmy – it was a perfect characterization. And Isaac Stappas was very powerful in the role of Death. Did anyone see both David Hallberg and Stappas dance this role? I would be interested to read about the differences or perhaps similarities in their interpretations. I hope ABT keeps “The Green Table” in their repertory. I think it’s the kind of ballet I could get more out of every time I saw it.

The highlight of the afternoon for me was “Les Sylphides”. I’ve seen “Les Sylphides” four times in the past two years, and Sunday’s performance was by far the best. Other posters have already written about the dancers I saw in “Les Sylphides” yesterday – Erica Cornejo, Zhong-Jing Fang, David Hallberg, and Stella Abrera. I agree with what was said about Hallberg, Fang, and Cornejo. But I didn’t find Abrera to be at all stiff in her dancing. In fact I was so impressed by her performance that I would like to see her dance the title role in “Giselle” (instead of Myrtha). As a matter of fact, I would also like to see Cornejo and especially Fang as “Giselle”. One thing I don’t understand was why Sunday’s audience seemed so underwhelmed by “Les Sylphides”. To me the ballet was very close to magical.

[Andres]

Colleen, I agree with you that Julio Bragado Young did stand out as the profiteer in The Green Table. I also thought another stand out was Kelly Boyd as the young girl. I was fortunate to see both Stappas and Hallberg in The Green Table. Their performances were very different but equally powerful. Stappas' Death was more humanized than Hallbergs. He used his eyes to threaten and to menace. Hallberg's portrayal was more like an automaton. Someone not of this world and even more to be feared than Stappas. I also enjoyed seeing Erica Cornejo and Xiomara Reyes as the Cowgirl in Rodeo. Erica was a delight as a carefree Cowgirl but I felt she was missing the heartbreak and pathos which is also part of her character. I thought Reyes captured this aspect extremely well. One final word about Carmen Corella. She appeared briefly as the Woman in The Green Table and once again as in last season's VIII she dominated the stage. I feel she is ABT's finest modern dancer and hope to see her more prominently in future seasons.

[Michael]

The Green Table is a beautiful work but it certainly wouldn't fill the MET stage, it's perfect here at City Center. It's very much out of the period of Brecht in Berlin but also relates to the medievil folk dramatic tradition of the Dance of Death, as well as to Breughel, Bosch and to universal dance traditions of Masquerade. No one would want to miss this who can manage to see it. It's being very well danced. Quite right to mention Kelly Boyd on Saturday and one should also note super performances by Kristi Boone, Melissa Thomas, Kenneth Easter and Matthew Murphy, indeed the entire cast. How often can you say that?