jsmu

I could not agree more with papeetepatrick about 'A and B list principals'--something transparently obvious in NYCB's casting for many, many years, including during Balanchine's time. With rare exceptions, fine dancers like Jillana, Mounsey, Hlinka, Fugate, Lopez, Saland, etc., never had the cachet nor the roles of LeClercq, Farrell, Verdy, McBride, Ashley, Nichols; in Balanchine's period, certain roles were never given to anyone but ballerinas in the highest favor (Square Dance, La Source, Raymonda Variations, Barocco, Bizet adagio--the list is endless).

I'm afraid Borree received far more than her share of undeserved kindnesses for many years at NYCB; her inadequate performances in Square Dance, Divertimento no. 15, Raymonda Variations, et. al., were a source of utter misery to many of us who love and admire brilliant Balanchine ballerinas. La Rocco spoke considerably less than the full truth; it's too bad that many posters here seem to have applied the adage 'never speak ill of the dead' to any criticism of Borree's farewell.

How sad, once more a ballet company is reduced to doing Nutcracker, in order to fund anything else. And to think I use to cheer that at least one company in the world wasn't doing Nutcracker each autumn/winter, and I could actually see some new/interesting choreography instead. Sorry, but I hate looking around each fall, and no matter which direction I face, all I see are Nutcrackers. I don't mind it once and awhile, but all the time, everywhere?!

Yes, indeed. It's hard to believe that Nutcracker was ever a Great Idea (when Balanchine began this trend, as he did so many others, so many of which have gone similarly wrong), and that's in spite of one of the world's great scores--for ballet or anything else. It's far too obviously an ordeal to be endured for most dancers and all orchestras playing it--and the non-Balanchine choreography of it is usually even more of an ordeal. Surely there could be SOME alternative? Cinderella? Tales of Beatrix Potter? ANYTHING????

And what a night opening night was last night! Carrie Imler and Lucien Postlewaite in Square Dance were beyond beyond. PNB is a Balanchine company, and it showed last night. As Lucien said at the post-performance Q&A: "It feels like coming home" (this comment is in the context of how very different the programming has been this year, e.g., Dove, Sleeping Beauty, et al).

I am prostrate at not being able to see Imler in Square Dance, in which role she burned up the stage the last time I saw it. I KNOW she was dazzling in the steps; was she as astoundingly witty, funny, and diverting as she was the last time? I laughed out loud several times watching her, in delight, which only the kinescope of Patricia Wilde ever did to me before. There was a moment in the dance with the girls which was just classical comedy worthy of Moliere.

Ballo Della Regina? Isn't that the one with the fiendish passage danced almost entirely en pointe?

Wonder who in the RB will get to dance that, though I can think of a few that shouldn't even attempt it.

Probably Rojo and Lamb, Mashinka? and there may be a new dancer or two with dynamite jumps and footwork whom we know not of...would be a good thing to put a dazzling young corps member in--

I knew it...but as it was never official, I couldn't say it here...

If anything, I think Sarabita was never comfortable with the company's repertoire. He's definitely not a "Balanchine boy".

This is terrible. Sarabita, as cubanmiamiboy calls him, , may never have been comfortable in Balanchine rep,

or been a natural 'Balanchine boy', but someone of his talent could have been trained--could have learned. I'm

a Balanchine fanatic, and I was never offended nor disappointed by Sarabia in Balanchine roles; in fact, I thought

the last few times I saw him he'd really made tremendous progress.

He's a superb, handsome, stalwart, and most prepossessing dancer, and I sure hope he will dance somewhere

after this. he will be sorely missed. Seay and Sarabia in one fell swoop---UGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHH!

Thanks for that clarification, carbro. I go back to d'Amboise, though I recall later performances by Robert La Fosse and Sean Lavery.

It seems to me that having one male lead creates a kind of over-arching story line that holds the work together. With different men, wouldn't the effect be more like a suite of separate dances? I guess I'll get the chance to answer my own question this weekend.

jsmu's memories of the original cast raises the issue of what happens when new dancers enter a ballet, bringing different strengths and personalities. Merrill Ashley, who I believe danced more than one of the parts during her career, including the Morris role to which jsmu refers to, was sometimes criticized for being miscast.

McBride was lucky to have danced (monopolized) The Man I Love and, especially, Fascinating Rhythm, for so long.

Yes. In fact, as carbro said, the only times the role has ever been split this way is in galas, when things are being done as excerpts; certainly not in repertory performances. I think it's a spectacularly bad move, not only because as bart says it's intended to be a kind of story line with ONE guy and three women, so to speak ( there is no 'plot', but that is quite different from complete abstraction), but because there is no virtuosity if a different man dances every pas de deux. There are several SMALL pdd in the section with the soloists before the principals appear; clearly it is a progression to larger and more virtuoso star parts and dances. This is one of the few Balanchine ballets which features a male role every bit as smashing as the ballerina parts, and piecing the role out ruins it.

The brilliant Ashley danced all three of the roles in Who Cares?, perhaps the only ballerina ever to do so; she began with the jumping role, moved on for many years in the turning role, and finally McBride's part until she retired. I did not see her in the Morris role, though I did see her exquisite performances in The Man I Love and Fascinatin' Rhythm more than once, but I think the occasional remarks about miscasting were probably made when the company was filled with rather brilliant turners. Ashley, as she observes in her book Dancing for Balanchine, had great trouble with turns when she got into NYCB, and her remarkable prowess in them later (passages such as the doubles opening into arabesque in Ballo della Regina, made for her) was probably due to the trial by fire of such roles as Morris' in Who Cares? She changed one diagonal, as did everyone who's danced it except the goddess Elizabeth Loscavio, but Balanchine certainly would not have kept her in the role for years were she inadequate. He doubtless saw it as 'stretching' her, as he did by putting her in Emeralds, Swan Lake, etc, and asking for more lyricism, more repose, and more softness--which was beautifully realized in Ballade.

The other lamentable thing about MCB in Who Cares? was its esthetic cluelessness. This is a ballet with music from and, basically, about the Twenties and early Thirties, and the qualities of high spirits coupled with the 'nice' and 'all-American' behavior of the time. When the ten dancers who do the five small pas de deux reenter the stage and wave happily at each other, the gesture is completely lost; MCB's boys and girls look silly and self-conscious in it. The giddiness of brilliant, showy social dancing as an outlet for youth, irrepressibility, and very elegantly sublimated sex is utterly absent; these look like well trained 2010 dancers going through the motions in what they see as a dated period piece. I very much hope Mr. Villella will insist the entire company watch some Fred and Ginger movies before their next revival of this ballet, at the very least.

I attended two performances of Dances/Who Cares? this past weekend, and I must say

it was probably the most disappointing show I've ever seen MCB give.

Dances, which was made on and for stars (McBride, Mazzo, Kent, Verdy, Villella,

etc, ad infinitum), is not successful without the charisma which those stars brought to

it in addition to their superb dancing. Katia Carranza in pink was her usual lovely and

lyrical self, but rarely rose above a monotone; Tricia Albertson was, sadly, just as

inadequate as the Girl in Yellow as she was in the jumping role in Who Cares? (these

are probably the worst two miscastings ever of this perfectly fine dancer, calling for

jumps and acrobatic tricks she simply cannot do with any style, scope, or panache);

Carlos Miguel Guerra couldn't manage all of his choreography, and the extremely fine

Renato Panteado looked taxed to his absolute limit in Villella's solos, especially the one

to the A minor Etude, Opus 10, no. 2 (close to the end). Only the divine Deanna Seay,

whose retirement is a tragedy for us, and the nearly as divine Jennifer Kronenberg rose

to the occasion; they both danced the Girl in Green, with interesting differences: Kronenberg

was more flirtatious, lighter, and slightly more of a coquette, while Seay was a grande dame

rather like the Hostess in Les Biches--dazzling. Kronenberg was also compelling as the

Girl in Mauve, with an utterly piercing moment after her partner deserts her near the end of

the girls' trio to the A minor Waltz, and Amanda Weingarten, who is still in the corps, was

very promising in this role as well. And, sadly, Dances was by far the best dancing of the

performances. Who Cares? is also for stars, and I have never seen MCB put on more mediocre,

undistinguished Balanchine dancing; ONLY Kronenberg in the McBride part was at all

good (especially in The Man I Love; the weight shifts and breakneck coda of Fascinatin' Rhythm

were difficult even for her); the young corps dancer Jennifer Lauren may be a 'good turner' in

a quotidian sense, but she was completely incapable of even a simplified version of Marnee

Morris' drop-dead virtuoso variation. The role is, sadly, usually dumbed down/made easier

even at NYCB--especially the one notorious diagonal from upstage right--but the turning

ballerina in Who Cares? should not be falling out of her double fouettes, nor struggling with

the speed throughout. I was sorry to see Lauren so woefully miscast; she seems to be an

appealing and attractive dancer. The absences of Mary Carmen Catoya and especially

JEANETTE DELGADO in these technical firework displays were beyond lamentable; I am not

a devotee of Patricia Delgado and she was suited to neither the turning role nor the McBride

part--one could not help but think of her sister in both. There was also an extraordinary

bizarrerie which I'm surprised Mr. Villella put on and the Balanchine Foundation countenanced;

imagine my surprise to see three men listed partnering the three Who Cares? ballerinas, when

of course the role made on Jacques d'Amboise is a tour de force with three pas de deux and

a dynamite variation-- for ONE man. Had this occurred with an announcement, and only at one

performance, it might have been due to the injury of, say, Rolando Sarabia; but it clearly

was not a one-off. This was more disturbing even than the subpar dancing throughout. I should

mention Sara Esty and especially the wonderful, leggy, tall, vibrant Allynne Noelle in the smaller

pas de deux; Noelle has great presence and style.

I certainly hope not to see this sort of denatured Balanchine ever again from MCB, which has been so

brilliant in so many others of his ballets.

I just wanted to mention Carolina Ballet's latest production, which was on stage last weekend. For La Sylphide, they had costumes and sets from Boston Ballet, and they were gorgeous, as was the dancing -- I went on Friday night and saw the debut of two second soloists, who did an outstanding job! I can't wait to see them settle into these roles... sadly, it was an extremely short run over 4 days. I hope they do it again!

La Sylphide was prefaced by a new work by Lynn Taylor-Corbett, Nine by Twelve. I enjoyed this fun piece, but thought that first half was somewhat referential, and enjoyed the majority of the second half much more.

Margaret Severin-Hansen was indeed gorgeous as the Sylph: her light, billowing jumps and lapidary beats were along the lines of Gelsey Kirkland in this role, if video footage is to be trusted. 'Somewhat referential' is putting it too kindly for the Taylor-Corbett piece, but Melissa Podcasy displayed again her remarkable presence, with Alain Molina and Lara O'Brien distinguishing themselves as usual.

Houston Ballet's spring mixed repertory program is interesting in several ways: it is made up of three chamber ballets; although its spirit is indeed very 'American at heart', only one of its choreographers is a Yank; it brightly features nearly every dancer who appears in it; and it even gives the orchestra a break in between the demands of Apollo and Fancy Free.

Connor Walsh is an excellent Apollo: lean and hard without being stringy, with a body type one might call 'rangy' were he five inches taller, he is at once strong, graceful, colloquial, and idiosyncratic in this difficult role. His jumps forward in the prologue, while still in the swaddling bands, were notably fluid, as was his partnering in such passages as the one with a Muse hanging onto each bicep. He shows his feet at times in a most impressive and Balanchinean way. The Muses were good; Sara Webb as Terpsichore was especially arresting in sudden pauses, silences, and poses--the stillness of her body spoke, unusual for a dancer as technically agile as she. The 'sunburst' was not quite perfectly spaced, but most of the other images, such as the 'troika', were very fine and the final pose was exquisite. Houston Ballet, providentially, does the real (uncut) version, which is manna to the undernourished soul subjected to the recent horrendous NYCB Apollos with such dancers as Martins and Borree (shudder); Jessica Collado, who did triple duty this evening in three extremely different parts, had great presence as Leto. It's worth traveling just to see the original masterpiece uncut and unmutilated.

Christopher Bruce's Hush is set to music by Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma, mostly original with a few arranged chestnuts (Bach-Gounod 'Ave Maria', Flight of the Bumblebee), and features a family of six dancers--Mother, Father, Older Sister, Older Brother, Younger Sister, Younger Brother--in roles rather like a cross between Paul Taylor grotesques and the Kettle clan. It's very funny, engaging, charming, and grateful for the dancers, almost all of whom have display opportunities. Collado, who has wonderful arms and hands, was lithe and sensual in her variation, while the sterling Melody Herrera (who just finished appearing as Nikiya) was a panic as the whacked-out funky-chicken younger sister. I'm not sure I've ever seen elbows and knees sticking out to such effect. The rather subtle ending, at the end of a frenetic hoedown which makes the audience long for a big finish in which to stand up and scream, was slightly ineffective (not the dancers' or the choreographer's fault) but the audience was warm and loud once it realized this was indeed The End.

Fancy Free had Collado yet again, deliciously unrecognizable as the first girl with the red purse and huge hair (and very Forties in the best sense), along with Oliver Halkowich, Ian Casady, and James Gotesky as the three sailors (in order of variations), and Amy Fote with Gotesky in the pas de deux. Everyone showed great relish and considerable authority in what was a company premiere--Casady was very fine in the lyrical passages of his variation, showing lots of sweep and line; Gotesky, the tallest of the three, had an almost burly (not by body type but by the placement of his weight) presence which was extremely arresting and effective. He and Fote seemed to enjoy the pas de deux and they made the tricks, some of which are not simple, look quite easy. This was a terrific evening in every way.

Balanchine STRONGLY discouraged his dancers from 'acting', as is extremely well known, and anyone who has seen Farrell in full-lengths outside NYCB has seen that her 'acting' ability was quite formidable. I find Mearns nowhere near even the video footage of Kent in any role in terms of conveying anything and everything; she has a certain opaqueness which is the opposite of Kent's incredible transparency, and although she is a good dancer I am completely nonplussed at the showers of hosannas rained on her of late--to my mind Reichlen, for example, is so vastly superior in every respect that there is no comparison. Fortunately, no one will have to live up to Kent (an impossible task), as this will not be the Balanchine choreography--a great pity. I cannot imagine a choreographer as facile and shallow as Taylor-Corbett being up to the esthetic demands of a dark, mordant, somber period piece like The Seven Deadly Sins.

Is it possible that the situation Macaulay laments is a reflection of everyone's enormous work load, as compared with companies with a different system? Isn't it inevitable that there will be some unevenness in a succession of Jewels performances? Or is the problem greater than that?

Sadly, the problem is far greater than that. For a Jewels example from one golden age, imagine Nichols and Calegari in Emeralds, McBride in Rubies, and Farrell in Diamonds. I saw this cast more than once, and it was even more splendid than one would imagine. This was also in a period where one could see Nichols and Ashley at their zeniths virtually every night--for several years--often on the same evening. There can hardly be a bigger workload than these two dazzling ballerinas sustained for years, in the most taxing and revealing Balanchine repertory. I probably do not need to add that NYCB's current Jewels casts are not in the same universe as the one I mentioned...nor on a par with such dancers (Nichols and Ashley aside) as Alexopoulos, Hlinka, Saland, even Fugate. Mearns may be a good dancer, but not in an iconic Verdy role.

Fairchild is efficient and usually clean. Taylor is wild, undisciplined, clearly has never fully recovered from serious injuries, and is occasionally very stimulating. This is not the level of dancing Jewels needs. It's quite true that Seay, J. Delgado, and Catoya at MCB; Nadeau and Pantastico at PNB; and Feijoo at Boston Ballet, put all of NYCB's current Jewels cast to shame and embarrassment.

Splendid programs!!!!!!!!!!

I love SPAC, actually.........seeing Midsummer while the skies get blue and then darken, and the fireflies mirror the ones onstage.........pure magic! One can walk around the park if there is a ballet one wishes to miss, or go to the Hall of Springs and get a cocktail or soda, or have a picnic beforehand......

Juliet, Arlene Croce once wrote, memorably, that in an evening performance of Emeralds on a clear Saratoga night there is always a moment when the green in the sky matches the costumes and decor onstage. it's true.

that was a lovely observation about fireflies onstage. magic indeed.

Bobbi, I wondered what you didn't like about Kowrowski in Cortege? I haven't seen her do the role,

so I have no opinion. however, you know that it was a piece d'occasion--for Melissa Hayden's farewell,

nearly thirty years ago--and that Balanchine changed the role a lot for McBride after Hayden's

departure (Hayden danced it only a few times before her retirement). I saw Nichols and Ashley in

the role--both dazzling--and would think that, judging by its origins (Tallchief in Pas de Dix, and

Danilova in Raymonda), it isn't well served by anything but a virtuoso ballerina. Much as I enjoy

Kowrowski in many things, she is not that...Also, the soloist roles are not demis; their variations

are both extremely difficult and they were made on Colleen Neary and Ashley.

The differences between Apollo I and Apollo II (this is starting to sound like a post about NASA ), is that II is an abridgement of I. The meat is the same. Apparently, Balanchine came to an opinion that the birth and the ascent of Mt. Olympus were unnecessary, so he cut them.

Not surprising, in a way, since he cites Apollo as the ballet that led him to realize that he did not need to use all his ideas. That that epiphany would continue to speak to him in that ballet nearly 50 years later seems fitting, although I like both versions and am glad that we can still see the original.

I agree with Kirkland, Farrell, Weslow, and many other former NYCB dancers in loathing the cut version of

Apollo; a youthful masterpiece which contained no unnecessary material whatever did not need cutting,

rearranging, or abridgement. The sunburst or peacock pose which now closes the ballet, in complete

superfluity, should never have been moved from its earlier position; the walk of Apollo and the Muses

up the staircase was one of the great moments in all ballet, and the perfect ending.

Many people have implied--and some, like Weslow in the interview in I Remember Balanchine, stated outright--

that Balanchine was of very mixed minds about the stardom of his dancers and their dazzling virtuosity. Weslow

says that Balanchine cut Apollo and kept it cut because he 'didn't want Baryshnikov to do the wild pirouettes at

the beginning and create a sensation'....and Villella, a great Balanchine star and follower, speaks of many

instances where Balanchine was furious when Villella got ovations in Tschaik Pas and Donizetti. It is terribly sad

that the genius chose to mar his early masterpiece--and it is not the same ballet in the cut version.

The Arensky Variations on a Theme of Tschaikovsky--a masterpiece, never played (far too difficult), and why Balanchine never set it is a mystery beyond our ken. it has everything--right down to an adagio tailor-made for a PDD.

I suspect you answered your own question: "never played, far too difficult."

Sadly, carbro, that doesn't stop any other scores which are far too difficult from being regularly slaughtered....

Cf. the NYCB orchestra...

I thought this article in the Star Ledger was an interesting commentary on the programming changes this season. Spoiler: it's quite the indictment of Martins.

OUCH! Absolutely true on the subjects of Martins, mangling, programming, Martins ballets, etc, but was he so outraged by the latest Martins premiere, Kowroski as Titania (he should be counting his blessings that it wasn't Kistler!), etc, that he

couldn't even give a good word to the brilliant Scheller and the wildly kinesthetic Hyltin in roles as dazzling as those they danced in 'Who Cares?' Wish someone would inform the reviewer that the turning role in 'Who Cares' is usually neither as clean nor as candid as Ms. Scheller makes it.

Take Five was, in fact, the figure skater Chen Lu's short program

in one of her comeback efforts. She wore hot pink--it was

utterly charming.

The Arensky Variations on a Theme of Tschaikovsky--a masterpiece,

never played (far too difficult), and why Balanchine never set it is

a mystery beyond our ken. it has everything--right down to an

adagio tailor-made for a PDD.

Ben Huys was a fine Apollo. The stereotype of the Apollo Belvedere was the

last thing Balanchine wanted in this role; in fact, Peter Martins was only the

second dancer of this type whom Balanchine cast. He is quoted more than

once as saying 'Everyone dances Apollo like a statue; he's a devil, a rascal..!'

and the deviations from classical positions, epaulement, and deportment which

are extremely conspicuous in the role make this emphasis even more obvious.

The NYT posted her obituary today. Terribly sad news--

as Dunning said in the NYT, Turney had ' a gift for stillness'...among legions of other gifts....

She was a dancer of such grace, quality, and refinement that her formidable physical

abilities were almost invisible, completely sublimated to the expression of the artwork.

Irreplaceable.

Although I am not a true fan of story ballets, I am anxious for the winter season to start. I will miss the first week (will be in London. Will see The English National Ballet and Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake this time. ), but will catch the last "A Midsummer's Night Dream."

That said, I had to exchange nearly all of my tickets (4 subscriptions) to get around the story ballets that I'd like to avoid. I understand, of course, that the story ballets bring in money, and younger audience members (a good thing), but I do wish that the programming

was more diverse. I certainly hope that the spring season doesn't follow this pattern. Thoughts Ballet Talkers?

Deborah, I couldn't agree more. Worst NYCB season I've ever seen advertised, by light-years. So many

things NYCB doesn't (and probably can't, given the current regime) do well, and so few of the things it

could shine in...and, yet one more time, audiences suffering through Kistler as Titania and who knows what

else...

Interesting point. In my opinion, 4 of the 5 promotions to principal are absolutely based on stellar past achievements. These individuals have been doing principal level work, and have been carrying a substantial workload, for quite some time. They are finally receiving the recognition and compensation they deserve, in my opinion. Given the dire financial issues that have been swirling around NYCB in recent months regarding the firing of various corps members, some of these individuals may have been wondering how much longer they would have to wait for a promotion due to financial considerations.

Indeed, especially in the case of the superb Reichlen. Her delicacy, sensibility, and elegance are far, far beyond the NYCB norm at this point, and recall the great dancers of NYCB's glorious past.

Seymour has said that Ashton told her that she had feet like Spessivtseva's or Pavlova's--that they 'talked'...

they certainly speak eloquently here.

Surprisingly (because the Hamburg Ballet production/choreography was so awful), the brilliant Elizabeth Loscavio, even in a costume that resembled a wedding cake, was superb as Odile--and subtle. She was in the Makarova line of evil: she TOYED with her Prince, heartlessly, cruelly, with great pleasure, and with absolutely no over-the-top vamping or femme fatale schticks. It was almost disgusting to see how casually she played with him and made him her puppet.

I only saw her once, in less than ideal circumstances, but she was wonderful. I wish her all the best for the future.

This is a tremendous loss...a ballerina of the highest refinement, the most ethereal elegance, with a sensibility which one virtually never encounters in any art form or from any performing artist. I shall never forget her lapidary performances in three of the most varied and demanding ballets on earth: Square Dance (!), the adagio of Symphony in C, and above all Diamonds....unforgettable.

Ms. Seay, you will be sorely missed.

Can you picture Violette Verdy in the kitchen wearing an apron?

Yes indeed. I'm featuring her not only singing and swaying merrily away--

speaking and singing in both French and English at 1000 mph--but whipping

up unimaginably gourmet meals while assuring us it's the simplest thing in the world.