Kathleen O'Connell

I don't have time for a more comprehensive wrap-up, but I thought I'd pass along a brief take on the 2/10/19 Herman Shmerman / Principia / The Runaway triple bill.

My husband was only going to be able to take in one NYCB performance during the winter season. I asked him if he'd like to see either the Balanchine / Stravinsky program or the Balanchine / Tchaikovsky program since these ballets have been among his favorites. "No!" he said, "I want to see something new!" So, off to Forsythe / Peck / Abraham we went.

His thoughts, in no particular order:

1) He thought Herman Schmerman was the most well-crafted ballet of the three and thought that in the end it would prove to have the longest legs of any of them.

2) He LOVED Emily Kitka in Herman Schmerman. (And truly, what's not to love?) He thought that she, along with Taylor Stanley, was one of the afternoon's standout performers.

3) He thought Principia was  ... meh. He found Sufjan Stevens' score to be very well orchestrated, but badly in need of editing with little by way of thematic or stylistic unity or clarity. 

4) He really enjoyed The Runaway and was in awe of Taylor Stanley's performance. He liked the costumes and lighting, and enjoyed the music so much that when we got home he fired up our streaming service of choice and spent an hour or two listening to Kanye et al at full volume. He would like to see more Abraham, too.

41 minutes ago, canbelto said:

Whelan also had a monopoly on certain roles that is no longer the company's norm. For instance while she was in the company I don't think I ever saw anyone else do the main Agon pas de deux or Symphony in Three Movements. And new choreography would almost always be Wendy. 

In Dancing for Balanchine, Merrill Ashley recounts how she got to dance the lead in Square Dance—one of her dream roles—during a tour to DC because an injury had sidelined Kay Mazzo. Ashley hoped to be cast in the role when the company returned to NY for its spring season, but wasn't, and decided to appeal to Balanchine directly for another performance.

"Summoning up my courage, I approached Balanchine one afternoon and said, somewhat apologetically: 'Mr.B, I know you have lots of considerations when it comes to casting, but I would really love to do Square Dance again, if it is possible.' 'No dear,' he responded quickly. 'Is Kay's ballet."

It took another injury to Mazzo before Ashley got to perform the role again.  

1 hour ago, abatt said:

Yes.  Ditto with Robert Schumann's Davidbundertanze.  I guess audiences are more into electronica music (Times are Racing) and hiphop lyrics (Runaway) than "old fashioned" masterpieces.

Well, to be fair, they are also into a lot of other Balanchine ballets. 

10 minutes ago, cobweb said:

So this afternoon's performance of Liebeslieder did not cast the same spell that Thursday and Friday night's performances did. But I'm hopeful that the fact that there is new casting means they might bring this back next year. (I can hope, anyway.)

Sigh. Liebeslieder is like Halley's Ballet: it only comes around every seven seasons. This wouldn't be the first time that NYCB threw a bunch of new dancers at Liebeslieder for a single performance at the tail end of the season and then didn't bother to give them a chance to dance in it again until three years later (if then). The last time this happened I had the same happy thought you did, cobweb, but alas it wasn't to be.

I agree that today's performance was a uncharacteristically muted, which I chalked up to a mostly new cast. It looked as if they hadn't quite sorted out who they were, or at least, how to convey who they were. The vocal quartet and the two pianists were very, very good, however. 

10 minutes ago, nanushka said:

That seems like a useful way of thinking about it: concept and execution. I'm curious how much of a say Stafford will have in the former, though. Will he give much input? Will he exert his veto power? Will he care to? Will he need to? Will he have the temperament to? All remains to be seen. (Or not — since much will be out of view. But still, I'm curious.)

I imagine there would properly be some useful give-and-take. Stafford might ask Whelan to consider programming (or commissioning) something that would challenge the dancers in a particular way or he might ask her to reshuffle a season if he's concerned that he wouldn't be able to marshal the forces to pull it off. (And not just the dancers: he'd have to be alert to the concerns of the production, design, and wardrobe staff as well. I'm not sure who worries about the musicians.) Whelan is a professional; I can't imagine her putting a season together without consulting with the rest of the team regarding its nuts and bolts feasibility. 

Whelan should of course be ready to challenge Stafford if she thinks the company is growing complacent, is ignoring some corner of the repertory that could use reviving, is being too cautious about the choreographers it considers for commissions, or isn't giving the dancers things to perform that will allow them to flourish as both artists and technicians. If it's her job to tend to the company's artistic vision, I hope she gets free rein to do so. She will make mistakes; that's OK. 

By-the-by, no one much mentions the woman who does have a leadership role at NYCB: Executive Director Katherine E. Brown. Not a model for ballerinas? Keep in mind that they have many years to fill when they're done dancing. There are more things to do than teach ballet, and some of those things carry real power and authority.

8 hours ago, Helene said:

It's the original cast, except Patricia McBride dances instead of Melissa Hayden.  If this is the Business Couple, their penultimate pas in Part II to a slow section belies all sense that it's business that holds them together.

The Business Couple?!? I had to wipe away more than few tears every time I saw Wendy Whelan and Nikolai Hübbe dance that pas! No couple has packed more yearning and tenderness into those oh-so-simple but oh-so-glorious moments when the man gently lowers his partner to the floor and then even more gently lifts her into an arabesque while she slowly sweeps her foot forward along the floor. 

Since it's beyond description (like the last few moments of the glorious Midsummer Divertissement pas) here's some footage with Lauren Lovette and Jared Angle. The moments I'm trying but failing to describe start at about 23 second mark:

This same couple also get a few iconic moments in the first half when they dance to "Am Donaustrande." To me it always looks like they're recalling a lovely spring day when he pushed her in a swing. 

7 hours ago, Helene said:

You'd think Whelan was going to deliver Stafford his Starbucks every morning, not be in charge of, oh, new choreography, the season's rep, etc.  

This. If I understand the arrangement correctly, Whelan's priority will be crafting a season—including commissioning new works and other artistic collaborations—and Stafford's will be getting that season onstage—well presented, well rehearsed, and well danced. 

6 hours ago, sandik said:

One thing that Whelan will bring to the mix that hasn't been talked about much here is her public persona -- she's a much more visible individual than Stafford, and that will count for quite a lot when it comes to the social aspect of fundraising and promotion. 

This too. The company needs a public face that is at once glamorous and comforting. Whelan has the capacity to be just that.

20 minutes ago, nanushka said:

Gia Kourlas has a strong take:

In the current climate — something City Ballet and its board should know a thing or two about — elevating the job title of a man over a woman seems like a regressive, shortsighted and even cowardly act.

With all due respect to Kourlas, I think it's a shallow one. I'd have liked to have seen a woman fully in charge of NYCB as anyone, but Whelan doesn't arrive with a full portfolio of AD skills. As Kourlas herself points out:

"She certainly faces a steep learning curve. Until recently, she hasn’t done a great deal of teaching, coaching dancers or staging ballets."

You know, those things that take up a considerable portion of an AD's working day. Kourlas seems to think that Whelan's biggest qualifications are her "star power," her willingness to hire contemporary choreographers to make dances on her, her showing up at MoMA, and her personal grace. Does that warrant co-equal status? I'm not sure.

1 hour ago, Helene said:

Perhaps there's no shock value by another company performing Revelations.

Would any other company even be given the performance rights for Revelations? I don't believe this is still the case, but there was a period of time where every AAADC performance would close with Revelations. I don't know who controls the rights, but it could be that the company itself has them locked up for as long as it wants them. It's AAADC's signature work, a touchstone of the company's heritage,  and a cash cow. I can't imagine the company wanting to dilute the work's box office potency — or, less cynically, its stylistic integrity and the special place it holds for the company and its audience.

3 hours ago, ABT Fan said:

I wonder if we’ll see all (most) of Martin’s works go bye bye.

Well, about $4.8 million of the company's $200 million endowment has been earmarked for Martins repertory. I don't know what stipulations the donors have attached to the use of these funds or what specifically they are intended to support (royalties? rehearsal time? music licensing fees? production maintenance?), but the powers that be would have to have a really good reason to walk away from that pool of money.  

If I were fabulously wealthy, I'd tell the Board I'd double the amount of money earmarked for Martins just to put his R+J and Swan Lake permanently in mothballs. Yes, R+J and Swan Lake do put butts in seats, but I think anyone's version of Romeo and Juliet or Swan Lake would put butts in seats. 

9 minutes ago, Marta said:

 Is it significant that the announcement came now,   soon after the clash between Martins and Stafford, rather than at the  gala in May.

Oh, I suspect the Board's gala committee will be able to fill more tables with a leadership team in place than they would be with a hint that a "big announcement" might get made at the gala itself. 

Also, the foundations and government agencies that provide a decent chunk of the company's funding were probably as eager to see the leadership question wrapped up as everyone else. (Organizational stability is one of the key factors foundations consider when they make funding decisions.) Delaying the decision for much longer might have put some of their funding at risk or a least created a little friction with the institutional donor base.

And ... at least a subset of potential gala donors will happily pony up for Whelan. Being able to put her name on the invitation is a good thing. 

12 minutes ago, Leah said:

Finally! I suppose this means Whelan is next in line for the job?

I think it's more complicated than that. From the press release:

"As Artistic Director for NYCB, Stafford will supervise all areas of the Company’s artistic operations, working closely with NYCB Executive Director Katherine Brown, who is responsible for all administrative functions for both the Company and its home, the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. Stafford will also continue to teach Company class and rehearse and prepare ballets for performance."

"In the role of Associate Artistic Director for NYCB, Whelan will focus on conceiving, planning, and programming NYCB’s annual performance season; commissioning new work from choreographers, composers, and other artistic collaborators; and working closely with NYCB’s dancers in the rehearsal studio, both teaching class and coaching numerous works in NYCB’s unparalleled repertory."

"The new leadership formation at NYCB will also expand the involvement of Resident Choreographer Justin Peck, who will add the role of Artistic Adviser to his portfolio. In this capacity, and at Stafford and Whelan’s invitation, Peck will work closely with both of them on ideas for programming and new commissions."

"As Artistic Director of the School of American Ballet, Stafford will work closely with Chairman of Faculty Kay Mazzo and SAB Executive Director Carrie Hinrichs to ensure that the most promising ballet students in the United States have the training, resources, and guidance to develop into world-class artists and healthy, well-rounded individuals. While Whelan will not take on a formal leadership role at SAB, she is expected to guest teach with regularity."

I'll have to noodle on this for a while to sort out what it really means in terms of who does what and has final say when push comes to shove.

In any event, it is past time. 

1 hour ago, Helene said:

Oh, I had a massive crush on him in my misspent youth.

Rest in peace, Peter Tork.

"Daydream Believer" was playing overhead while I was waiting in line at the drugstore, and it was like being 14 all over again.  I should have saved those copies of Tiger Beat!  We were all so young ... 

RIP, Peter Tork. 

1 hour ago, vipa said:

I'll add that I'm sure Bouder was disappointed. There is not a professional dancer, past or present, who hasn't been hurt or angered at losing a role, not getting a role or losing a performance. My main objection to Bouder is that she sees only one explanation to what happened. Maybe it was retaliation, I can't know that with certainty and neither can she. There is the possibility that Martins knew he wouldn't have a lot more chances to cast it (it isn't performed that frequently) and decided to forgo seniority and give opening night to the dancer he thought best in the role. Some people would find that implausible, but I view it as a possibility. 

It would have behooved Martins to explain the reason for his changes to both Stafford and to the dancers who were affected by them — and it could well be the case that Bouder wasn't the only dancer who, at his direction, got bumped from a performance slot, got bumped from a role altogether, or got thrust into a role they either weren't ready for or that didn't suit their talents.

Martins had to have known that bumping Bouder from the opening night slot had at least the potential to send a message — to Bouder, to Stafford, and to the company as whole — and to create additional friction in a company grappling with enough disruption as it is. A thoughtful person with some regard for the company and its dancers might have tried to ameliorate the damage. 

22 minutes ago, vipa said:

Hyltin, in some ways, flies under the radar in that she doesn't seem to have a big social media presence. 

Hyltin doesn't post to Instagram very often, but her post wishing Indiana Woodward every success in her debut as Aurora is an example of how it should be done. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BuKH1ZHgZiw/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

34 minutes ago, FPF said:

I respect Bouder for not backing down from her previous statement, but I wonder if she will continue to be cast at all in Martins' works after this statement: “Dealing with somebody like Peter — who could be mean and could be a tyrant,” she said, “how do you change that reality when it’s been that way for so long?” 

Eh. There are plenty of non-Martins ballets in the NYCB rep that are worthy of Bouder's particular talents. Is she regularly cast in any Martins ballet other than Sleeping Beauty and Barber Violin Concerto? 

It's time for the Board to do their job and select — and fully empower — a new AD. And in the interim, someone needs to have Jonathan Stafford's back. Putting Martins' ballets in mothballs for a while, as Nanushka suggested above, would indeed be an excellent brush-back pitch. 

49 minutes ago, California said:

American companies have realized they have to excise blackface. Wouldn't it make sense to touch up some other details that are at least mildly problematic? Suggesting that a Native American should be a suitor to a European princess? How about making the suitors Spanish, French, Italian, and Russian? There's no claim that this is an historic reconstruction, so it doesn't matter what Petipa did. 

I suppose that the objective of this almost 30 year old production was to show that princes came to court Aurora from all the continents as a demonstration of her worth and renown. (I don't think the conceit of having a prince from each continent was part of the original production, but if someone knows, please say! If we can trust Wikipedia, the four suitors are Prince Chéri, Prince Charmant, Prince Fortuné , and Prince Fleur de Pois.)

Since the Native American prince is pretty clearly capital-R Royalty on a par with the other princes, I suspect the production team intended the depiction to be nothing but respectful. I don't think it would be unreasonable for someone to see at least vestiges of colonialism in the African, Asian, and American princes, however, so perhaps it's time to rethink the fancy-dress and just let them be plain old fairy-tale princes once again. 

In NYCB's production, the American suitor is costumed to evoke a Native American. In past productions the dancer performing the role has worn a long black braid, a few conspicuous feathers in his headgear, and a fringed cape and tall beaded boots evocative of haute buckskin. (Ahem, and also darkened his face.) You can get a pretty good look at the four costumes in this footage of Ashley Bouder's Rose Adagio. I believe Ask La Cour is America, Taylor Stanley is Africa, Zachary Catazaro is Asia, and Jared Angle is Europe (I think.) I've always assumed that Asia is supposed evoke Ottoman or South Asian royalty.

https://www.facebook.com/nycballet/videos/10158366933385529/

Congratulations! 

13 minutes ago, gallerina said:

I've never seen NYCB's Sleeping Beauty, and there were some elements that seemed like hallmarks of Martin's choreography. The prologue fairy variations felt rushed to me! I'm not sure if it was the orchestra's tempo or the sheer number of steps crammed into the music.

Likely both. For whatever reason, NYCB insists on taking the score at an absolutely punishing pace. It's not just hard on the dancers, it's hard on the audience too; it's impossible for the music to breathe at those metronome markings and it's as fatiguing to listen to as it must be to dance. If the company is worried about overtime or getting the audience on the last train to Ronkonkoma, then for heaven's sake cut a few minutes of fairy promenading or something. And yes, it does seem as if Martins indulged in an extra step or two when he really didn't need to — when everyone, dancers and audience together — would have benefited from a phrase that was allowed to breathe. 

I find Laracey to be a much more interesting dancer than a couple of the other soloist women who are cast more often — and not infrequently in ballets that either don't make the most of their talents or that actually showcase some of their weaknesses. From the outside it looks as if the company has decided that there are a handful of ballets that suit Laracey's presumed "type," and that's what she gets. If it's willing to challenge other dancers with roles that might not suit them at the outset, but that will feed their artistry, why not Laracey? 

2 hours ago, Leah said:

Casting up for week 6. Does anyone know in what order the couples in Liebeslieder are listed? 

I think the ballerina roles are listed as follows:

1 = Diana Adams' role
2 = Melissa Hayden's role
3 = Violette Verdy's role
4 = Jillana's role

But don't bet the ranch on it.

25 minutes ago, nanushka said:

To her credit, Acocella referred only to Finlay and Ramasar as "stars":

I suppose, in a rather broad sense, they both were — though perhaps only one of them primarily for the strength and interest of his dancing.

Ah - right you are! I should have checked the text again before I posted.

Well, the company certainly seemed to have tried its darndest to make a star out of Finlay from the get-go, which perhaps served its own interests more than his. 

1 hour ago, Leah said:

I am really sick of writers like the New Yorker one bemoaning “only” fourteen male principals. At that time there were and continue to be only nine female principals. The last four promotions to principal have all been male. And the recent firings have been used to create more opportunities for men rather than women in the company. 

It also skates past the fact that there are more than a few very promising talents in the junior males ranks, as well as the fact that although Finlay and Catazaro may have been "stars," as Accocella would have it, they weren't especially strong or particularly interesting dancers.

Based on the enthusiastic (and richly deserved) applause that greeted Taylor Stanley during his solo bow after yesterday's performance of Runaway, I'd hazard a guess that if NYCB has a male star right now, it's him. 

39 minutes ago, DC Export said:

This is so exciting! I've heard such incredible things about her work, can't wait to see her work with the talent at NYCB.

Tanowitz has already done some work with NYCB dancers at Vail, where she's also worked with dancers from ABT & MCB.