Le Bateleur

I attended the Thursday night Balanchine/Robbins program and all I can really say is "Wow". Serenade was beautiful, as would be expected. Erica Pereira was much more buoyant than the last time I saw her in another show, and really impressed me. Miriam Miller stood out as well, and the gravity she brought to her role looked almost effortless, in the best possible way. In The Night was a huge crowd pleaser, at least in my section, and the Veyette/Phelan pairing really got everyone sitting up in their seats. They brought energy that most of us weren't prepared for, and it payed off massively. Their dancing had a very cinematic quality and I heard a few hushed "oh, my"s from the ladies seated within a stone's throw. The Four Temperaments really sealed the deal on a great evening and led to a standing ovation immediately afterwords that was meant for all of the evening's performers. It was well earned, and Chicago clearly loved what had been delivered. Isabella LaFreniere and Gilbert Bolden were as good as advertised, and both Adrian D-W and Mira Nadon were relentless. Some Corps members who stood out, imo, were Sarah Harmon and Laine Habony, who always has extremely fluid movement. But everyone looked really solid and I don't think Chicago got any worse of a show than NYC. One minor issue, unrelated to the dancing, was that the Harris Theater allows guests to bring drinks to their seats. I don't recall what the policy is at the Koch Theater, but it smelled like booze the whole show and there were wine puddles in the rows. If they can fix that problem, I'd love to see many more shows of this kind at this venue.

Tiler Peck, Joseph Gordon, and Samuel Melnikov have all been subbed out for other dancers in the most recent update.

Casting for the NYCB Chicago shows in March has been announced https://www.harristheaterchicago.org/new-york-city-ballet