KikiRVA

I felt very lucky to see Midsummer on Sunday. It was total magic. I hadn't seen Veyette this season until then, but while he is certainly not in his prime for the showy stuff, he seemed to be a super-solid partner for Woodward, and their PDD was glorious. She appeared to be totally comfortable, able to move with abandon. I was sad to miss Friday evening's performance due to a flight cancellation. I hope Piano Pieces comes back soon!

Andrew Scordato will be retiring at the end of the season. He has been a superlative reliable and expressive corps member since around the time I started following NYCB. He will be missed, but will still be full-time at SAB. https://www.instagram.com/p/CdbSak4OHa2/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Per Sara Mearns's Instagram story, she got COVID while rehabbing from her injury. She says she doesn't know if she'll be back during the season. Get better soon!

Thank you for your impressions, bellawood! I have felt that Harrison Coll is really coming into his own this year.

Total trash.

And wow! As a pleasant contrast, today we have Russell's thoughtful and beautifully-written take on partnering. Makes me even more frustrated that I missed the Tanowitzs this weekend! https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/04/arts/dance/gender-roles-ballet-russell-janzen.html

Wow. If she thought doing this article would make her look good or make the current leadership of NYCB look bad, she was quite mistaken.

I hope that is so. I came up from Virginia to see both the Saturday evening (a great night) and Sunday performances, mostly for the Tanowitz ballets. It was disappointing, but I was ADW leaving from the theater just before the performance, so it must have been a last-minute decision to cancel. Hopefully we’ll see them programmed again soon.

Sunday matinee had both Tanowitz ballets cancelled. Emanon (pause) Taylor Stanley’s Runaway solo (intermission) Partita Too many people sick and injured to perform the whole planned program. If there’s a bunch of COVID, hopefully folks will be back quickly. Here’s to some good luck for next week! In and out in 1:25.

Uh oh. Ballet changes because of COVID and injuries! https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cc86jPLJxqu/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

I will miss seeing Tombeau, though! It is such a great showpiece for the corps.

So sorry to have missed Gonzalo’s farewell. Does anyone have a video of his curtain call?

Totally agree about La Valse, cobweb. I’ve grown to love it. I thought Chan was spectacular. I had seen Jared Angle last Friday, and by contrast, Chan was sexy, menacing, totally commanding. From social media, he seems to have been welcomed with open heart by the company and will thrive here.

Yes, the live performance used microphones. There is a lot of vocalization that is not full-out singing: speech, breath, throat-singing. I’m curious, was the ensemble in the pit when they performed live?

Sorry, misspoke. I meant Anderson. Only know from the video online.

It was a wonderful weekend at the ballet! I went up the weekend’s performances starting Friday night, so got to see the all-Balanchine with two different sets of casts. Some things that stuck out to me: -Laracey was phenomenal in both Unanswered Question and Summerspace. So glad she’s back! -Devin Alberda was crystal clear in that incredibly challenging Merce role in Summerspace. Bravo!!! -Both Mearns and Peck (debut) brought their own something special to Mozartiana. The moment toward the end when the principal couple joins hands with the girls and they start dancing together choked me up both times! -Speaking of Mozartiana, Ball looked fabulous. He seems to have studied Martins’s posture, gesture and look to the stars. -The tall women in Rubies (both LaFreniere and Nadon) rocked it out. Less smile from LaFreniere than she must have had on Wednesday from the comments. I wish Huxley had a little more smile, but he did bring some wonderful swagger. Mejia was huge in his debut. Hyltin was a dream, and Peck gave a great first go. -The stars of La Valse were the 3 soloists at both performances – Kikta, Anderson, and Dutton-O’Hara. -I quite liked Partita. Sorry to have missed the live vocals. Peck seems to have matured to more sophisticated musicality. The non-erotic but sensually loving duo of Stanley and Coll made my heart glow. -And speaking of Coll, he looked like he matured immensely over the last couple of years since I’ve seen him. He was commanding and beautiful in both the Ives and the Peck. -And Mearns in Walpurgisnacht. It was wonderful 10 years ago, and even better now. Wow! Overall an excellent ballet blitz for Winter 2022.

It was open this weekend once the precipitation dried out.

Tiler Peck and Anthony Huxley we’re WONDERFUL in Sonatine when I saw them as NYCb Moves at Vail. She is great in this role, clearly understanding Verdy’s intent and technique. Fingers crossed that we can see them again!

That makes sense. Thanks!

The calendar lists January 29 having both matinee and evening performances, but I can't find the evening performance when I try to buy tickets. Did they cancel a performance?

Thanks, Bellawood. I agree all around. I came up from Richmond, VA for a ballet blitz this weekend and had the pleasure of seeing all 4 shows starting Friday. It was wonderful to see the company back and in great shape. I had the privilege of seeing Moves in Vail, but this felt like a miracle return with the whole company and orchestra. We are so lucky!!! The farewells were totally classy and unique to their respective artists. And it was a privilege to see some of Maria’s “lasts.” I’m getting choked up thinking about her Glass Pieces performance now. I’m ebullient, but thanks to you all for your thoughtful notes here. We are all better for it!

I brought a complete newbie to today’s matinee. It couldn’t have been a better introduction to NYCB! The dancing was full of joy throughout. And it highlighted the best of today’s company: Balanchine and Robbins as fresh as if new, and Peck capturing the essence of the dancers. Standouts that even a complete novice was able to appreciate were Tiler in Serenade, Anthony (but really the whole cast) in Pulcinella, and Maria in Glass Pieces. Chan was exciting to watch and I look forward to seeing a lot more of him, as well as Furlan. It was such a treat to introduce someone to ballet this way!

She's on permanent faculty at SAB, so I am hoping that her plan is to stay around.

Noooooo!

Just now on NYCB Instagram stories, Savannah Durham Zoe Magnussen Samuel Melnikov KJ Takahashi promoted to corps. Congrats!