BalanchineFan

I received the 2024-25 subscribers calendar in the mail today. One listing made me a bit wistful. Andrew Veyette Farewell May 25, 2025 I’ll be quite sad to see him retire from NYCB. Any guesses or suggestions for rep he should perform? I’d love to see the pas he does in Everywhere We Go. He and Sterling Hyltin originated those parts

@Helene "I can understand a name switch -- and, given its content, it would be a mockery to call it Roma or Romani -- but why Errante, when Balanchine already created up-to-three works with that name to music by Schubert, the Wanderer? According to the Balanchine Catalogue entries: 138 - L'Errante 1933 (also called ERRANTE; ALMA ERRANTE; THE WANDERER, performed in Les Ballets 1933) 143 - Errante 1935 197 - Alma Errante (Errante) 1941 (Performed by Ballet Caravan in rep)" Do you think audiences will come to Errante expecting to see choreography from 1941 (or before)? I think it's a safe bet that no one remembers Balanchine's previous ballets with that title, even if someone is of an age to have seen them. The fact that several ballets already had that title also dulls the objections, imo.

@dirac, that is not quite accurate. I’m looking at a New York City Ballet program from 1979. Balanchine went by Ballet Master. He had refused the Artistic Director title. Many said it was an example of his lack of self aggrandizement. Balanchine valued the craftsmanship aspect of his role. Jerome Robbins and John Taras are listed in the same category. Ballet Masters George Balanchine Jerome Robbins John Taras Peter Martins was the one who instituted the “Ballet Master in Chief“ title. In my opinion, he wanted to follow in Balanchine’s footsteps, but he also felt a need to elevate himself above everyone else. To me it, again, reads as grasping.

1. It discounts the different ballet companies that Balanchine ran before NYCB. Ballet Society and Ballet Caravan even had many of the same ballets and dancers. NYCB literature used to link them. 2. It does compare Martins to Balanchine. “the same X as Balanchine” is literally saying they are equals in that regard. It doesn’t say they both had two legs or other things that are not ballet related but equally true. My reaction would have been different if it said, factually, “Martins ran NYCB for 35 years.” Balanchine wasn’t there helping Martins when Martins ran NYCB, why is Balanchine even named if not to state Martins’ “equal” achievement? It is grasping. I would respect Martins more if he tried to stand on his own accomplishments. Martins comes off better, imo, when the emphasis is on him, The Choreographic Institute and how SAB students now regularly work with emerging choreographers, ie emphasizing things that set Martins apart from Balanchine.

Thank you for the link! It’s an interesting read. The note at end sent a shiver up my spine, though. “Peter Martins ran NYCB for 35 years, the same tenure as Balanchine.”

A Youtube video from City Center's Studio 5 in honor of Arthur Mitchell, including Robert Garland, the exceptional dancers of DTH, NYCB's Wendy Whelan, and dancers Savannah Durham and Chun Wai Chan.

There's a Company class with PNB and DTH

Wow! i can't believe you found that. The weird thing is, I remember it happening in July of 1976. I don't think I'd have been in NYC in April.

There is a huge, enthusiastic audience for Illinoise, judging by the ticket sales and the audience reaction when I went. I hope they do well. If The Park Avenue Armory was one of the original producers they might benefit from the Broadway transfer as well. I believe A Chorus Line kept The Public Theater afloat for years, though this is advertised as a limited Broadway run. And I wonder who will replace Robert Fairchild for the Broadway run.

Thank you so much for the report, @On Pointe! It sounds like a wonderful evening. I hope I get to see that theater at some point.

The NY Times article mentions that they considered having Jaffe continue in both Executive positions, but decided ultimately that it was too much for one person. That is what I was referring to.

Yes, Merrill Ashley thought that. It doesn't mean it was true. I think he didn't promote her because he didn't feel she was ready. The transformation that happened when she started to relax onstage and respond to the music was MAJOR.

I love what Stafford and Whelan are doing at NYCB. There was such excitement this winter with the rep and the casting, moving younger dancers into principal roles. Judging from the past, NYCB keeps artistic management forever (they have never fired an AD, not even Martins) and since it took two years to come up with the Stafford-Whelan combo, I don't see them changing unless Jonathan or Wendy kill someone on Fifth Avenue. They have just, just stabilized and are positioned to recover from the pandemic. It was interesting to see NYCB's plans to perform with a smaller group in London. In ABT's announcement of their new Executive Director, Barry Hughson, they said that their company was too large to tour as it used to. Or that's how I understood the following, from the NY Times: he hopes to re-examine the company’s touring model, long Ballet Theater’s lifeblood, so that tours can be “artistically vibrant but also economically viable.” NYCB seems to be leading the way in that respect. Stafford and Whelan came up with the Digital Seasons that we all watched during the pandemic. They had to negotiate with the unions to do them. Those were a huge hit and imo, contributed to NYCB's bounce back when theaters reopened. I've always imagined that Whelan was the visionary between the two of them, and that Stafford was the one to keep the Balanchine/Robbins rep, and the pathway from SAB to NYCB humming. I've seen him teach Advanced Partnering at SAB and never seen her teach there (not that she needs more to do). Also interesting that ABT feels the need to have two people doing the Executive jobs. That NY Times announcement is a marvel in not ruffling any feathers and in giving everyone (Jaffe, Rollé) their due.

I saw Illinoise last night. The audience was very enthusiastic and gave a standing ovation. It may help if you're a fan of Sufjan Stevens and are familiar with the album that the songs came from, Illinois. I thought there was a lot of ingenuity in the story telling and that the dancers are all fabulous, but it didn't move me. It seems to be about teenagers who feel like tweens and all of their attendant puberty and hormonal angst. There are parts that I thought were beautifully staged, a car created out of steering wheel, lights and a door, but the lights kept flashing into the audience, in my eyes, which was annoying. It's worth seeing, if you're interested in the artists, but it was not to my taste. I also couldn't get past the dancers not speaking or singing. The costumes are unflatteringly homemade looking on purpose. Are they all teenage runaways? I'd read something that called it a "new musical" but it's not. I was misinformed. It's a dance piece with live band and live singers onstage, 1 hour 40 minutes, no intermission. The singers wear butterfly wings, and if you have any idea why (many posting in the NY Times comments loved this) you'll probably enjoy it more than I did. Positive review from Theater critic Jesse Green (it's his Critic's Theater Pick) https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/07/theater/illinoise-review-sufjan-stevens-justin-pick.html?searchResultPosition=3 Less positive review from Gia Kourlas https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/13/arts/dance/illinoise-dance-justin-peck.html?searchResultPosition=1

Roman Mejia also rose through the ranks quickly. I think it's good that NYCB has their own criteria for promotions. Peter Martins also promoted Erica Pereira to soloist fairly quickly. It's not true that it-always-worked-well-in-the-past-and-now-it-doesn't. There’s also a difference because Balanchine could promote an inexperienced youngster knowing he was interested in choreographing many different ballets on them. If a non-choreographer AD promotes a dancer, they don’t have the assurance of what will be created on that dancer.

Kikta is gettings some attention here, at Pointe Magazine. there's a pay wall, but they offer 8 days free trial. https://pointemagazine.com/emily-kikta-has-found-her-power-onstage-and-off/

I was in the audience when Elaine Stritch and Bernadette Peters took over the lead roles in A Little Night Music. Stritch went up on her lines a few times until Peters said, "didn't you mean to say....." and fed her the line. The audience loved it, and loved Bernadette for saving the moment. I love live theater for the high wire-never gonna happen again aspect of it. Mann spoke about it the next day at the patrons breakfast. If you want it all to be perfect, imo, watch a movie. They get to do multiple takes. Performers are human, like the rest of us.

Have you looked at videos of the piece to see how it matches up with the choreography? I was watching Patricia McBride and there are several steps that could be construed as "shuffling her feet."

Wendy Whelan spoke at a donor breakfast before the last performance of the recent winter season. Someone asked if she felt inclined to put toe shoes on again, and she responded with an emphatic no. Christine Redpath was also there, speaking about creating the role of the Swan/grandmother in his Carnival of the Animals, and Wendy didn't cast herself into that one either. Sara Mearns was just lovely and moving in the role. I'm not sure what might entice Wendy Whelan to perform again, but I tend to think that she's changed her mind and her dancing now is a private matter.

Thanks for the link! I was wondering who was shown in The Cage. Dominika Afanasenkov!

It looks like Isabella LaFreniere and Gilbert Bolden have two performances of Sanguinic in 4T. Wish I could see it.

I thought what Ratmansky did with the boy was spectacular, though. Not just him lying there, but the moment when the boy appears with the two women and then disappears before the father gets there. the boy being lifted, and then echoing the man's movement the boy walking upstage amid the rubble, followed by the man's jetés circling the stage the boy and the man being reunited and the man sheltering the boy as the lights flash brightly And it's never the only thing happening in the ballet. I felt moved and not manipulated.

I always appreciate your charts. Thank you for putting it together. I think Kikta was just unlucky in the rep that was offered this season. I don't see a lot of ballets that they "could" have put her into. Or maybe she wasn't able to perform that often. She was great as Choleric in 4T when I saw it.

My favorite Peck duet. this is the original Sufjan Stevens music https://m.facebook.com/nycballet/videos/flash-footage-russell-janzen-and-maria-kowroski-in-justin-pecks-everywhere-we-go/501067244130489/