BalanchineFan

More Nutcracker with Alistair MacCauley presiding. 

Emma von Enck -Anthony Huxley 

and 

Ashley Hod -Chun Wai Chan

with Suki Schorer, Jonathan Stafford, Wendy Whelan and Sara Mearns speaking. 

I found Gustave Le Gray interesting, but not classical. The dancers wear red... body suits, you could call them. They are similar to the suits certain sky divers might wear with fabric between the leg and arm, and between the legs, creating a kind of sail. The dancers also push a piano across the stage, I don't remember if the pianist was playing then, or not. Visually striking, I found it fascinating, but no one would compare it with Dewdrop.

You wouldn't think a cast of four would fall victim to Covid, but they did. The performance I saw, Naomi Corti was replacing one of the men.

On 9/4/2023 at 7:23 PM, choriamb said:

I've always felt that announcing promotions at the END of the Summer season was an utter waste from a marketing perspective:  why drop the most exciting press release of the year on your audience months before they can take action on it by subscribing/buying tickets?

I know this post is months old. I agree, it's not great marketing, but it works in terms of creating a rehearsal schedule. Suppose you want to promote 4 dancers to soloist. You wouldn't want them to rehearse their corps parts for a month and then, BANG on opening night you throw four new corps members onstage and give the four new soloists new soloist roles. If you announce promotions at the end of a season everyone has time to rehearse and prepare.

3 hours ago, matilda said:

At the same time, maybe they wanted to cast her in a Balanchine ballet due to the DTH connection, and this felt like a better option than the Balanchine ballets programmed in winter or spring?

Could be. Certainly, there wasn't much uproar about missed opportunities the last time Hutchinson danced with NYCB. She's quite lovely. I guess no one thinks Pam Tanowitz is a way to climb the ladder at NYCB.  As @abatt said, they want to acknowledge the companies lead by former NYCB dancers and the breadth of NYCB's influence.

While dancers want to be promoted, NYCB has so many performances and so often that you don't usually hear dancers complaining about lost performance opportunities. I could have missed it, I suppose, or maybe that's not something one says publicly. On the other hand, I've seen posts joking about the slog of put-in rehearsals when other dancers are out injured. To me, they seem to want to share the load.

I went to the open rehearsal before Thanksgiving. It's always such fun. Megan Fairchild danced SPF, Tyler Angle was the Cavalier (he looked great, they both did!) Mira Nadon was Dewdrop (sort of like the Sleeping Beauty cast last spring). Emily Kikta was Coffee (beautiful, leggy and sultry) and Sara Adams lead Marzipan. Sebastian V-V was Tea, Daniel Ulbricht as Candy Cane (which seemed impossibly fast, I can't believe no one asked for a slower tempo). Mary Elizabeth Sell is back and looks as good as she ever did. She and Victor Abreu danced Hot Chocolate.

Fairchild had a few amazing attitude turns that hung in the air and floated before she closed to fifth. Some of the dancers watching gasped. You could hear them from the fourth ring where I was sitting. Gilbert Bolden did Mother Ginger and the little Polichinelles were great. You can tell Fairchild is rehearsing, working things out onstage, lively, engaged, speaking audibly at times. Sometimes I try to figure out what she's working on. Nadon seems so polished it's not like she's rehearsing. She repeats things from time to time but, honestly, it seems complete the first time.

I'm always so impressed with Dena Abergel, Arch HIggins and all the people who teach those small children. Those kids know their business onstage. 

I’m excited to see Alexandra Hutchinson as Dewdrop. From her bio, she’s danced a lot of Balanchine. NYCB had two dancers from DTH perform last year in a Pam Tanowitz piece.  They were great. So it’s certainly not the first time NYCB has had guest artists. Don’t they typically have a few guest Drosselmeyers?

Alexandra Hutchinson bio

https://www.dancetheatreofharlem.org/people/alexandra-hutchinson/

I can't imagine two missed Dewdrop opportunities will set anyone's career back.

I think she has a Dewdrop scheduled, tho. No, sorry, it’s Coffee. I’d love to see her dance that too!

On 11/26/2023 at 5:21 PM, Papagena said:

I believe that it's acknowledged and accepted amongst NYCB management that in-demand principals use this time to make some extra $$ in paid appearances elsewhere, thus opening space for debuts, 

I think there was quote from Martins or someone else high in the ranks about how it's expected that principals are leaving to guest in other Nutcrackers - not sure where I read this, however. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/24/arts/dance/the-nutcracker-gives-young-dancers-a-spotlight-role.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
‘The Nutcracker’ Gives Young Dancers a Spotlight Role

On 11/26/2023 at 3:40 PM, cassieallison said:

I saw on Tiler Peck's insta that she's only doing 2 Dewdrops and 1 Sugarplum all season. I know they allow principals to guest, but shouldn't thee first duty be to the company?

Most Nutcracker audiences don’t care about casting, buy tickets in August or September and couldn’t tell you who danced SPF or Dewdrop if their lives depended on it. Since principals can make a lot of money guesting they often get time off to guest during Nutcracker. 

I think it’s an excellent practice for NYCB, where the Nutcracker season is 50-60 performances long. It allows for debuts at NYCB and helps promote ballet across the country, increasing the smaller companies’ star power and earning power. 

And NYCB has a deep bench!

The quote is from a NY Times article, 2015. Peter Martins. 

4 hours ago, Josette said:

They are also guesting with Pacific Festival Ballet in Thousand Oaks, California, on December 16 and 17.  

It sounds to me like she wants to stay close to her home in CA after her father's death. Her IG posts about him have been very moving.

On 11/14/2023 at 9:01 AM, brokenwing said:

India Bradley posted an image on her story rehearsing alone in an arabesque that looks suspiciously like the one dewdrop does in her second variation before exiting with fouettés. Let's hope she is cast along with some of her other very talented corps sisters (I would love Corti, Lister, M. MacKinnon, in Dew, Afanasenkov in Sugar, etc). The new administration seems allergic to some of the bolder decisions the previous leaders used to make during Nut (Ansanelli and Peck both did dew around age 16) that could make this season exciting.

I am just recovering from Covid in NYC, and Nutcracker season is long. There are sure to be some unexpected surprises, casting wise.

I'm just hoping they don't have to cancel anything. A full Nutcracker season - THAT would be BOLD and EXCITING, imo!

I’m glad Gilbert Bolden has a Cavalier, too. It’s not a debut but he has kept working on it. 

Hi Orel,

Thanks for the links. I'm going to ask for your book on LeClerq for Christmas. And I'm loving your talk about her life.

On 10/25/2023 at 7:28 PM, miliosr said:

I couldn't agree more. For all the money ABT threw at him, Ratmansky never provided them with the kind of lasting multi-act story ballets that are the company's bread and butter. (His Nutcracker and Whipped Cream probably came the closest.)

Has any choreographer done that? I mean, in the past 40-50 years? Imo, Natalia Makarova was the last one.

I really loved this program. If you have PBS Passport it is still available ($10/month). Local PBS stations are certain to repeat it.

Highlights for me where the lovely performance of Serenade, with Unity Phelan, Indiana Woodward, Miriam Miller, Russell Janzen (oh, I miss him!) and Aaron Sanz. Unity and Indiana seem to have blossomed into their roles; full, expansive, alive and totally at ease in every moment.

I also particularly enjoyed the duet between Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia in The Times Are Racing. Perfection! Harrison Coll and Peter Walker danced well, as did the three ladies (Gerrity, Segin and MT McKinnon), but Coll and Walker are so different physically that the unison doesn't come off as spectacularly as with Justin Peck and Robbie Fairchild. I couldn't hear any of the tapping.

I thought the sound wasn't great for Square Dance or for Times Are Racing. It could be that my home TV set doesn't have great sound, or great sound settings, but the orchestra seemed to get softer and softer during the Square Dance finale. Not really helpful as the movement ramps up. Did anyone else have this issue?

Thank you for the link. I'm glad they're getting press. Jaffe's ideas don't sound that bold to me, just what everyone is doing these days.

 It's an odd article. It doesn't sound like the author writes about ballet often, Jaffe "retired for performance"? Or maybe they just don't proofread things at Town and Country.

15 hours ago, vipa said:

Interesting point volcanohunter. I also remember Kistler saying that being told to be herself, removed the burden of trying to live up to all the great dancers who did the role before her. She found it liberating. Kirkland wanted, perhaps needed, a different type of direction which is one the the reasons she left NYCB. She wanted to do narrative ballets with a narrative approach. Different things works for different dancers. 

Excellent points @volcanohunter @Kathleen O'Connell @Helene and @vipa I sometimes wonder if it would have made a difference if Kirkland had been told “you are enough.”  But then, remembering her first book, I doubt it. Perhaps someone even said those very words to her.
 

You often just can’t absorb what people are telling you, try as you might. 
Or what YOU want is different.

2 hours ago, vipa said:

Besides the Emeralds trio, I've  seen Bradley in the first Agon trio, a Raymonda variation, the soloist role in La Source. I can't remember what else. I agree with that Mary Thomas MacKinnon is interesting to watch. I'll have to look out for Lauren Collett. So much talent in the company!

India Bradley danced an intriguing duet with Claire Kretschmar in Justin Peck’s ballet to Caroline Shaw’s music, Partita. In the Kyle Abraham created during the pandemic, When We Fell, she held penchée arabesque for… about two days(!!) (filmed on the Promenade). She did a demi role in Bourree Fantasque (she and MT MacKinnon both looked great!) and another demi in the Bizet.

And thank you for mentioning Lauren Collett, @cobweb. I’ll look for her. 

Regarding the “facial expression” issue, I wish we had a larger word to describe it. To me, it’s a question of performance; how a dancer performs onstage other than doing the steps, other than their musicality. I find it’s much deeper than deciding when to smile. It brings life and humanity to the stage. You see the whole person.   

I don’t think Balanchine ever focused on it. My guess is that he wasn’t great at getting what he wanted from his dancers in that domain (or he was preoccupied with other issues) so he left them to their own devices and simply cast people who worked it out for themselves. Many, many memoirs are filled with dancers trying to figure out their roles and what he wanted. 

Do others have ideas about this? Agree? Disagree?

1 hour ago, cobweb said:

 Another petite corps woman who has potential is Lauren Collett. 

I haven't seen her in many (any) featured roles. What have you seen Lauren Collett do? How did she capture your attention?

2 hours ago, abatt said:

Based on his appearances this season, it looks like Chamblee has added quite a bit of weight, and I suspect that has played a role in why he is not cast anymore in soloist roles.  

I read a review that said "It looks good on him," and I agree. He was also great as the Baron in La Sonnambula this season.

@pirouette, thank you for the chart. It's so interesting. I imagine the corps dancers, many of whom appear in several ballets an evening, would be dancing "off the chart."

Troy Schumacher said on his IG that he was so happy to be back onstage after a long injury.
 

The rep and performance schedule at NYCB is so intense I hope they don’t push injured dancers off the roster. That sounds incredibly unfair, and possibly illegal, not to pay people who are injured at work. 

Joseph Gordon said on IG he injured his knee before the season started and was lucky to be able to perform. 
Preston Chamblee recently returned from injury. He was great as a demi in Symphony in C and really commanding as the father in Prodigal Son. He got a mention in The NY Times review. 

.

7 hours ago, abatt said:

It was great to see so many performances in which the fourth ring was open and sold.  Proof positive that in instances where ticket sales are weak, it's not because of Covid.  It's because people are simply not interested in the content of the performance and/or the performers. 

The programming has been wonderful! However, the full houses could also be due to the advertising they did for the 75th anniversary, and inviting the previous generations back. All of the places where those 350 former NYCB dancers teach probably had students that came this fall, as well. And it's true that fewer people are concerned about Covid, now.

Solange Knowles' score for Play Time brought in HUGE crowds last fall.

43 minutes ago, vipa said:

1 hour ago, cobweb said:

I wouldn't assume that Tiler Peck intentionally works on her facial expressions. Perhaps she does, but when you watch her in interviews she changes her expressions as she speaks, frequently smiling very naturally. It could be that she allows her natural facial expressions to carry over to the stage.

Exactly. 

5 hours ago, fondoffouettes said:

One of NYCB's current Instagram Stories congratulates Owen Flacke, Allegra Pascale Inch, and Noah McAuslin on their promotions into the corps de ballet. 

Thank you! Everyone who was at that Bourree rehearsal saw it, whether they realized it or not. 

The issue of facial expression always brings Merrill Ashley to mind. Her husband helped her a lot in this regard and it transformed her performances. She writes about it in her book.

In acting training, you work on focus and relaxation. If you are relaxed and aware, your face changes and responds to the things happening around you in the moment; the music, your partner, the changing configurations onstage. It was one of the things that jumped out at me in the company class. You could see who was able to dance well and be relaxed enough to enjoy and notice their fellow dancers. Some notable corps dancers seemed to tune everything out in order to focus, whereas Gilbert Bolden, Megan Fairchild, Sara, Tiler, Unity, Indiana, countless others, were still living breathing humans dancing across the floor, reacting and available to interact with others. 

When people’s expressions get stuck, in my experience, it’s nervousness, fear, apprehension, etc. I’m sure students are taught ways to overcome that, but performing is so stressful that they’re not successful managing their anxiety all the time. 

Megan Fairchild talks about it in one of her Youtube interviews. Her internal performance monologue used to be “omg, here comes that hard step I practiced, here it comes, it’s coming, (voice getting higher and higher) omg, omg, OMG!” Not the most useful approach, as you can imagine. I think she took up meditation. 

2 hours ago, volcanohunter said:

I didn't see these performances, but one of the qualities I like most in Phelan is that she doesn't muck with placement. It's so rare nowadays. I'd rather she not start tilting her pelvis in an attempt to hoist her leg higher. It's unseemly in a white tutu and tiara, even in a Marc Happel tutu.

I just love Unity Phelan and her dancing. I think she's grown so much and is just radiant and serene onstage.

I HATE the Bizet tutus. While they look beautiful, they don't function well for the choreography.  When the ballerina does penché arabesque the tutu turns itself inside out. It happened to Maria Kowroski every time.  I think it was Gia Kourlas who described the look as "Hello sailor!" Is that  the unseemly aspect you describe? The tutus have softened a bit, because it used to happen with a thunk!

Karinska's tutus NEVER did that. She made a bubble tutu with more layers of tulle on the bottom, so the women's bottoms stayed covered.

I loved this season. The Balanchine focus, the veteran dancers returning, the past, the present, the new dancers coming up, the veterans in bloom. A picture of Domenika Afanasenkov (in her Diamonds tutu) chatting with Suzanne Farrell just brought home how profound the connections must be. And I love that they've started announcing promotions when the dancers are all together. It seems more transparent. Dancers get congratulations from their peers right way and we in the audience could even hear the shreiks from the other side of the curtain.

After the Bourree Fantasque open rehearsal something similar happened. There's been no official announcement that I can see, but they called over two tall young men and one young woman, and since the other dancers started hugging them and clapping, I'm sure that those three dancers ended their apprenticeship and became members of the company.