drb
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Thanks, Oberon! Directly after the tree-lighting, the Winter's Eve at Lincoln Center Festival will offer free food and beverages (with many restaurants offering more serious fare for $1-$4, a good chance to check out what's available in a neighborhood not always noted as gourmet heaven). Street activity, plus dozens of free entertainment events for adults and for children will span the neighborhood.
Details:
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If you are willing to go to the low high-priced level (just under $300), I find the Zeiss Classic B T* P* Compact 8x20 to be exceptional. They are incredibly light-weight, 6 oz, collapsible. 6.6 degrees angle of view (pretty ideal for ballet houses). The sharpness and color-correction are remarkable for the price and size. They also can be balanced perfectly for a person with one near- and one far-sighted eye! The extreme low weight means you can easily watch a full act without fatigue. While it may seem expensive, one series in the Dress Circle instead of the Grand Tier (forgive the Met-Speak), will pay the difference, and for the rest of your life you'll reap the benefits.
Some people may have trouble with unsteady hands, so that the image jiggles badly with normal binoculars. They may find that image stabilizer models will work for them. While these are generally very (four figures) expensive and weigh a few pounds, Canon makes a model that is 8x25, 6.6 degrees, weighs barely over a pound and costs just $250. Certainly worth checking out if you've got that problem.
Many binoculars now come with built-in video or digital photo, many models by Bushnell in the $45-200 range. With proscriptions against taking pictures, how do theaters deal with these (most are easy to spot)?
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Based on some PMs, there may be some interest in the interview. Since it constitutes over half the article, I don't know if a complete translation of the Q & A's would be legal, so here is just a summary of portions that may interest her English speaking admirers (while a comparison with the original Italian will show that this is much shorter, if it needs to be shorter still, please advise me so and I will shorten it further):
When 5 yrs old, Ms. Bouder saw her mother study ballet and wanted to follow in her footsteps. Since early on, she wanted to study at SAB. It was a dream come true and she always worked very hard.
Without a doubt this is the profession she wants. She always worked hard at SAB since you need a sense of discipline to reach a certain level in ballet. The most important studies were probably Balanchine's ballets. So when she entered the company she was prepared and already knew the technique. This was important because she could now grow as an artist. The artists most significant to her include Merril Ashley, a master of technique and a person well loved. Ms. Bouder also admires Carla Fracci.
Ashley Bouder has a whole mix of ballerinas inside herself, not just one model. She is still searching for herself. She does not particularly prefer any single type of role (romantic, psychological, or dramatic)--she likes them all since they allow her to explore different aspects of character and technique. It is also very important to have a good rapport with a partner. All her partners have been great so far and she is able to find something new and diverse with each one. Each creates a different passion and a different encounter.
She likes both classical and modern ballet. She enjoys the modern collaboration with the choreographer. That is the main difference.
As Farrell Fan mentioned, rehearsals she dances with her brain but on stage she dances with her heart.
To the question "Do you know you have great talent?," she responded that she knows she has weak points that she must correct and she must improve to go forward. Sometimes when she tries a step with which she is not content she must exercise control to go outside herself, her technical limits and emotions, to find another level within herself.
She wants her audience to feel as if she is dancing only for them, and to rise above just technique to leave an impression of the joy of dance.
She makes sacrifices to be a ballerina but feels she has as normal a life as any girl her age. Her life is balanced between discipline, work, and normal everyday life. After a performance in the evening, she goes home because she is tired. But on the weekends or when she is free she goes shopping, to the movies, out with her friends.
She feels that Talent is a gift from God. The career is not.
Her parents are proud of her--whatever she does, even if she becomes a secretary in an office. She has always been free to choose and to decide her own career. Important advice from her mother was to be always happy whatever she was doing in life. For her it was always ballet.
Asked about competitive feelings of dancers in her company, she remarked that all have strenghths and weaknesses. When she sees something that she admires in another dancer, she tries to do it herself and learn from her. She thinks other dancers are like her and want to learn and are not really envious or jealous.
The ballets she would most like to do now are Balanchine's Theme and Variations and Square Dance. She would also like to do Giselle, Juliet and Romeo, and Manon.
This season she is very busy first with NY and then touring in Washington, London, Paris and Denmark.
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With the new Ferri/Bolle La Scala Midsummer Night's Dream scheduled for release on November 20, it may be even greater news that the Patricia Barker PNB (1999) version will be released on the same day, but in High Def!
http://hddvd.highdefdigest.com/mendelssohn...sdream1999.html
If ever anything needed High Definition, it is ballet. Does anyone know whether there are other ballet vids in this format? (Would it make sense to open a high definition thread?)
Both versions are available with discount at Amazon.
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Thanks, 4mrdncr, for pointing out that the For Four photo #8 (that showed Kobborg, unlike #1 that included his replacement Gudanov) was not taken at the BT. Indeed, Nina Alovert (writing from St. Petersburg for the current issue of the Brooklyn weekly Russian Bazaar) says that Johan also did not dance the part in Petersburg.
She reports that, "as in Moscow," the Kings of Dance was a "phenomenal success in St. Petersburg." The program and Kings were as at the Bolshoi, with Gudanov guesting. Tsiskaridze played The Teacher in the performance she saw, making a powerful impression, as he also did with Carmen, where she found his multi-character shifting could be likened to legendary performances of Vestris! (Ms. Alovert did not mentioned who played Student to his Teacher, but it was a very defiant Masha Alexandrova in his BT performance.)
Ms. Alovert credits the producers for finding a way that contemporary art can move, while neither destroying nor contradicting the art created before. (My guess is that this is an oblique reference to Silenzio, a gala that recently rocked the MT.) She also found the Osipenko Jubilee and the Male premiere of their new Giselle to be quite significant events.
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...Just a thought: I sometimes wonder if Angel Corella gets tired of being known/admired just for his turns. I used to watch Baryshnikov turn as much (if maybe not quite so fast), but he was also known for so much more; hopefully, Corella will be too some day.
Actually, Angel's acting in The Lesson received some exceptional praise, and one reviewer said his stage presence even matched that of Tsiskaridze! I doubt it is possible to give greater acclaim than that.
The Bolshoi's site is currently offering ten photos of the opening performance. If you click the red swirlygig under each photo you'll get a hi-res version. While many are of the piece that will be entering the Company's rep, there are others, including one of Johan Kobborg's Faun.
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Based on Moscow press reviews, The Kings program was a great success, with personal triumphs for Angel Corella and Johan Kobborg.
Alexandr Firer, writing in the Russian Gazette, reported that there were six, rather than four, Kings: Angel Corella, Ethan Stiefel, Johan Kobborg, Nikolai Tsiskaridze, and, "since an injury two weeks earlier, Kobborg had just dropped crutches", Dmitri Gudanov and Sergei Filin also danced.
Reporting that The Lesson will enter The Bolshoi's repertory, its opening night performance was led by Sergei Filin, a performance of "dark violence and cruelty." Later performances starred Tsiskaridze, Corella (much admired for the "Hitchcockian" intensity of his portrayal), and finally, Kobborg, "the most profound, an historic portrayal... Eternal. Universal Evil."
The dancing began with Wheeldon's ballet to Schubert's Death and the Maiden, titled For Four. Corella's "vortex rotation" was especially admired. Gudanov, Kobborg's opening night replacement, impressed with his lyricism.
Corella's solo to Ellington "lighted the room", Tsiskaridze's solo to Carmen was admired, and Stiefel's Fosse showed "elegant clarity." But it was Kobborg's Faun that won the heart. "Beyond the bounds of musical eloquence... the plasticity of hands and body... his dance hypnotised as if the dancing of Sirens."
All dancers received substantial ovations at the program's end, especially Angel Corella.
http://www.rg.ru/2007/11/02/koroli-tanca.html
Reviewing the program for Moscow Novosti (News), Alla Mihaleva's article had the headline "Royal Lesson: Bolshoi Theater Once Again Shown Class." She praised Ethan Stiefel for getting the idea for Kings, and "for organizing a magnificent gala." She enjoyed the film that opens the show, that let her see the dancers' "skill and sexiness, who is humorous, who serious." As in the above review, The Lesson was especially admired.
She considered the Wheeldon work to be a "beautiful plotless ballet that asserts the priority of male dance... dignity and harmonious synergy." She also admired the way solos channeled into duets, trios, quartets.
In Faun, she felt "rewarded by Kobborg's jewel-like dance technique," which brought to mind James in La Sylphide. Tsiskaridze's Carmen was "artistic, convincing, and witty." Stiefel, who "is the ideal Balanchine Apollo", was heart-stopping in Fosse. As for Angel Corella, he "flies on the Ellington music... crowning dance at a frenzied speed."
http://www.mn.ru/issue/2007-43-59
Reviews published in Russian fora were also usually lavish in their admiriation. In particular, Mikhail Alexandrov, who in the past has been so generous (recall the massive interactive "Internet Bridge" with Masha Alexandrova) and informative in BT's former Bolshoi subforum, was especially eloquent writing in a Moscow analog of BT for which he is Moderator. He wrote of hearing Ellington's On the A Train so long ago on Voice of America, and seeing remarkable videos of Baryshnikov and Chabukiani with grand pirouettes so fast that he thought this effect had been created by speeding up the tape. Then the revelation of seeing Angel Corella do it live to this beloved music. I hope he finds this current BT thread and graces us with his comments and analysis.
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Another "new" name added to the Corps, Sarah Rose. It is no coincidence that "Sarah Williams" was simultaneously removed from the list. Ms. Rose is indeed the Ms. Williams who so impressed at the 2006 SAB performances.
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ABT's site now has the Met season's casting. It seems in agreement with the subscription brochure's casting that was posted on this thread a couple of days ago. Not inspiring.
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...No sign of Malakhov or Acosta
Well, Malakhov's partner, Vishneva, only has three widely spaced performances (unless something in the mixed bill). Lots of prospective jet-lag, unless she has other American engagements to fill the gaps. At least she's got Gomes for Swan Lake. They were awesome together last summer. But the Diana/Vladimir magic will be sorely missed in Giselle.
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Complete casting (I hope abbreviations will be excused):
Monday thru Saturday, including Weds and Sat mats and eves.
May 19 Gala 6:30
20 Corsaire Dvorovenko/Carreno
21 mat Kent/Hallberg; eve Herrera/Gomes
22 Murphy/Saveliev
23 Wiles/Hallberg
24 mat Dvor/Carr; eve Her/Gom
26 Mur/Sav
27 Swan Lake Wiles/Hall
28 mat Her/Stiefel; eve Dvor/Beloserkovsky
29 Vishneva/Gom
30 Kent/Corella
31 mat Part/Hall; eve Mur/Carr
June 2 Ananiashvili/Corella
3 Tharp/Etudes
4
5
6
7
9 Don Q Mur/Stie
10 Her/Corella
11 mat Reyes/Cornejo; eve Vish/Carr
12 Dvor/Bel
13 Wiles/Hall
14 mat Mur/Stie; eve Anan/Corella
16 Sleeping Herr/Corella
17 Kent/Gom
18 mat TBA; eve Reyes/Corn
19 Mur/Stie
20 Dvor/Bel
21 mat Wiles/Hall; eve Her/Corella
23 Bayadere Part/Gom
24 Mur/Hall
25 mat Her/Corella; eve Kent/Stie
26 TBA
27 Her/Corella
28 mat Part/Gom; eve Mur/Hall
30 Merry Widow Kent/Carr
July 1 Her/Gom
2 mat TBA; eve Dvor/Bel
3 Kent/Carr
4 holiday
5 mat Her/Gom; eve Dvor/Bel
7 Giselle Anan/Corella
8 Kent/Stie
9 mat Dvor/Bel; eve Her/Gom
10 Reyes/Corn
11 Vish/Carr
12 mat TBA; eve Kent/Stie
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Today a brochure from the White Nights Foundation of America arrived. It turns out that the Sunday, April 6 performance is to be a Gala. Following the 3 PM performance, there is to be a cocktail reception followed by a seated dinner with the Artists, at the NYCC Atrium. Valery Gergiev is slated to conduct Scheherazade.
According to the brochure, Igor Zelensky and Daria Pavlenko are to be among the dancers during the City Center season, but no specific dancers are mentioned for the Gala performance. The document is not dated, so it might well pre-date Ardani's casting, or may not. In a way, perhaps a cautionary note regarding reliability of Mariinsky casting.
The organization's phone number is 212-757-9632 and they give their website as www.wnfa.org
The event is very expensive; the organization is headed by former Pepsi Chair and Goodwill Ambasador for Presidents Nixon and Bush pere, Donald M. Kendall.
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Also received the subscriber's renewal brochure, with season's casting.
All announced casting involves Principals except for two long-time Soloists: Gennadi Saveliev dances two Corsaires with Gillian Murphy (May 22, 26), while Veronika Part dances Bayadere with Marcelo Gomes (June 23, June 28 matinee) and Swan Lake with David Hallberg (first time not with Gomes) (May 31 matinee). No mention of any other Soloist or Corps dancer.
The two permanent guests, Nina Ananiashvili and Diana Vishneva, are scheduled as follows:
Ananiashvili: Swan Lake with Angel Corella (June 2), Don Q with Corella (June 14 eve), Giselle with Corella (July 7).
Vishneva: Swan Lake with Gomes (May 29), Don Q with Carreno (June 11 eve), Giselle with Carreno (July 11).
The above anticipated Reyes/Cornejo pairings are Giselle (July 10), Sleeping (June 18 eve) and Don Q (June 11 matinee).No mixed bill casting is given, and there are four full-lengths with TBA.
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By the way, the net increase of four puts the Corps at 55, and with 26 Principals and 19 Soloists, that equates to 100 full-time dancers. I'm sure that is a recent high. Unfortunately, I don't keep ancient programs, but can't remember the company ever being this large. Not sure where on BT to pose this question, but in the past, HAS ANY AMERiCAN BALLET COMPANY EVER REACHED 100 FULL-TIME DANCERS? As far as I know San Francisco Ballet and ABT are the other two largest.
One more NYCB roster change: Jennifer Tinsley has been happily removed from the Soloist list. Her repacement: Jennifer Tinsley-Williams.
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Ardani is putting out a book to celebrate Vishneva's solo tour...
Thanks for the link, Dale. While one might find the discounted price of $150 a bit much, the site kindly shows many of the often impressive photos. They've now also given details about the three ballets on the program. Not only will the Mariinsky supply dancers, but also musicians. And for the Ratmansky premiere, the Opera, too!
Pierrot LunaireChoreography: Alexei Ratmansky
Music: Arnold Schoenberg
Assistant Choreographer: Elvira Tarasova
Diana Vishneva and members of the Kirov Opera, Ballet and Orchestra
Flow
Choreography: Moses Pendleton
Assistant to Choreographer: Cynthia Quinn
Prop Designer: Michael Curry
Costume Designer: Phoeby Katz
Solo by Diana Vishneva
Three Point Turn
Choreography: Dwight Rhoden
Music: David Rozenblatt
Costume Designer: Isabel Rubio
Lighting Designer: Antonio Marques
Diana Vishneva, Desmond Richardson and members of the Kirov Ballet
Live Music (Percussion Quartet)
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On the eve of the book's release date of September 27, Nina Alovert wrote a very positive story on Mr. Vinogradov for Brooklyn's Russian language weekly Russian Bazaar. It seems Mr. Vinogradov has a very pleasant life, in Korea (where he heads a ballet company), the U.S.A. (the primary home, where most of his family live), and Russia. He may not exactly be in disfavor in Russia: Ms. Alovert reports that the first congratulatory greeting that he received for his recent 70th birthday came from one Vladimir Putin.
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Drb, Did V Part danced last night?Who were the other dancers in Leaves... ? Thanks
Cast in order of appearance:
Jennifer Alexander (the rememberer)
Melissa Thomas
Carrie Jensen
Anne Milewski
Melanie Hamrick
Veronika Part (she danced the pas just before Reyes/Saveliev)
Jacquelyn Reyes
Maria Bystrova
Yuriko Kajiya (particularly outstanding)
Roman Zhurbin
Jeffrey Golladay
Arron Scott
Tobin Eason
Cory Stearns
Xiomara Reyes and Gennadi Saveliev
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Friday, October 26th
I may simply be suffering from the paralysis of analysis, but I can't think of a lot to say about last night's premiere of the Millepied/Muhly From Here On Out...
But I do thank you for the lot you've had to say about this week's performances, especially your coverage of all those dancers whom we'd love to love, if only they'd get a chance to show their own uniqueness and virtuosity. So far this season they've had that chance, turning the pretty furniture that they play for much of the summer into dazzling, individual dancers.
From Here on Out certainly seems the work of an individual choreographer, Ben Millepied. Not many others favor such flowing jerkiness, nor would many not vary from this throughout a ballet. He uses a bright backdrop, that, especially for dancers farther back onstage, often produces silhouettes that remind of the Robbins Glass Pieces. I would not be surprised to learn that both the choreographer and composer, Nico Muhly, have seen the Robbins work. And also to learn that Mr. Muhly had heard Janacek's Sinfornietta. However, in his extensive program notes the composer says that when he met Mr. Millepied in Paris last year the choreographer was always listening to Bach. For their ABT project, "...we would incorporate his love of repeated chords into a set of variations on a base line."
That constant layer of jerks and sways that seem to spring off classical steps, swoops of imbalance, may be Mr. Millepied responding to the pulse-based rhythm that dominates the early, fairly quiet part of the composition that concludes in a PdD for Paloma Herrera and Marcelo Gomes. Contrasted with Wheeldon, Millepied makes more of a ballerina's feet and pointes, so very apt since his ballerina has a couple of really good ones! Perhaps his choreography is less interesting for the male. This pas was not all that different from the duets for corps pairs that lead up to the PdD (subtle costume distinctions clarify which man goes with which woman, and on first look they do not seem fickle). The audience rewarded Paloma and Marcelo with a substantial ovation.
Immediately after, the music took percussive flight. The finale was quite energetic and drew a prolonged ovation for the lead couple as well as pairs Isabella Boylston/Cory Stearns, Maria Riccetto/Alexandre Hammoudi, Jacquelyn Reyes/Sascha Radetsky, Sarawanee Tanatanit/Blaine Hoven, Melanie Hamrick/Thomas Forster. The audience response was sustained, so that each pair was well-rewarded, as were the almost look-alike composer and choreographer. Overall, there was insufficient variety in movement, but that could have been the point, of course. There were a lot of young people looking very satisfied as the crowd filed out of City Center.
The program began with a repeat of Ballo Della Regina, that I've been enjoying since its premiere back in 1978. I wonder if the occasional loudness mentioned early might be related to Gillian Murphy's choice of toe shoes? Of course sound was also noticeable during unison corps landings. Perhaps we are just used to hearing this work on Mr. B's silent State Theater stage? I have never seen the male lead perfomed with the level of unhurried ease and amplitude, breathing the music, as danced by David Hallberg tonight.
The crown of the evening belonged to the center-piece, Antony Tudor's 1975 Leaves are Fading. Created over two decades after his "retirement", I suppose he must have been inspired back to creative life by Gelsey Kirkland. Very different to his complex psychological stories, almost as pure dance as Mr. B., and yet...
Again very duet-filled (unfortunate for the Millepied ballet that followed), giving so many young ABT dancers chance to climb summits of choreographic beauty; and then Xiomara Reyes danced her Kirkland diagonal toward Gennadi Saveliev. She approached him with a simple warm, young-love smile that gave goose-bumps. He was drawn in, of course not one of ABT's male virtuosi, but his pure Russian classicism served him very well, adding the virtue of dance purity to the glowing purity of Ms. Reyes's Juliet. Their pas radiated Romeo and Juliet. (Wouldn't it be cool if that Tudor ballet were to appear to honor his centenary? It even has the wrong music, so wouldn't really conflict with ABT's full-length version.) But of course Tudor, and so this duet has subtle moments where the couple stare together at some distant unknown, at first toward audience right (from their perspective), a favorite sightline of Chris Wheeldon, then other directions too. Are they having premonitions of fateful events in their to-be-shared future? (After all, as the dance's final image shows, this is a story being remembered.) In their final, very moving PdD, many years later, it looks the world like they've experienced such events. It is as if this "Juliet" and her "Romeo" had a priest who got his mail delivered, and thus they lived forever after, but they had a real life, not a fairy-tale one. Bravi to Amanda McKerrow, who had herself brought this work back to post-Kirkland life, and her husband John Gardner, for not freezing their rescension into a museum piece, but letting the dancers breathe their own souls into one of ABT's sacred treasures.
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NYCB's 2008 Winter Season brochure updates the roster of dancers. I compared the list of Corps Dancers with last season's last performance Playbill. Congratulations to the newly added dancers:
Anthony Huxley
Meagan Mann
Justin Peck
David Prottas
Tabitha Rinko-Gay
Briana Shepherd
Sarah Williams
Some of these were announced in BT as long ago as June, 2007. Significantly, each of them danced in the Corps on that season finale Jewels, even though none were yet on the official dancers list.
Three dancers no longer appear. They are
Ashlee Knapp. I can still see the heavenly vision of 14-year old Ms. Knapp's entrance, perched on James Fayette's shoulder, in Chief Peter Martins's Harmonielehre, back in 2000. There were subsequently gaps of what seemed years, when she was not seen on the State Theater's stage. I wish her greater fortune in the next stage of her career.
William Lin-Yee. This is quite incomprehensible. This tall young dancer has had high visibility, especially as a superb partner. There have been times when I've completely missed the lead couple in a PdD because Mr. Lin-Yee and partner Kaitlyn Gilliland have simply been outdancing them in the Corps.
Carrie Lee Riggins. One of the most beloved Corps members in some years, injuries have limited the number of her performances recently. Thank you for years of magic and beauty.
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Kathleen, maybe your slip fell out, because I got one, along with the slip about the Ballet Boys film. And yes, Hyltin was lovely. Mary
On Sunday neither of us got a slip regarding the cast change. Not seeing Bouder in the first piece was such a shock and cause for concern that it got in the way of enjoying the performance. But that also may have had to do with the second program; as one may note, there is not even a thread for reviewing it on BT. Did the slip give any information on why Ms. Bouder was not dancing?
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Tonight's BBC World News (for America) just finished (on PBS in NYC) with a feature on Carlos Acosta. Mr. Acosta said he was now "working toward" there being a movie on his life story. Mention was made of his bringing the National Ballet of Cuba to London to perform his choreography. Some footage of his dancing was shown as we were informed that he is "the most critically acclaimed dancer since Nureyev."
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Ashley Bouder danced three performances as Aurora in the Rome Opera Ballet's Sleeping Beauty, partnered by Jared Angle, with Carla Fracci as Carabosse. From reports in the Italian press, she had an astounding success.
La Repubblica:
"...you cannot take your eyes off [Ashley Bouder], the perfection, elegance of movement, and freshness... [she] dominates the stage with a magnetic presence and superlative grace.
...the new bright star of the international ballet firmament."
These performances, September 26, 29, and October 3 at the Rome Opera, had been a BT topic under NYCB last February.
The toast of Roma, it would seem, meriting a lengthy interview (and a fine nine photo slide show, including Aurora) on October 2:
http://www.ilsole24ore.com/art/SoleOnLine4...amp;type=Libero
I know, it is in Italian. But the Google translator will do a pretty decent job (perhaps a bit better than Babelfish).
Some wonderful stuff in the interview. When told that her mother must be very proud of her, she replied in the affirmative, but no more proud than if she'd been a successful secretary in an office. Her parents never pushed her, except that she should do something that makes her happy. Quite nice things about Merrill Ashley, as well, and also Carla Fracci.
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Friday, October 19, 2007
Tonight there was a sucessful new dance, replacing the Bussell piece, plus the chance to see the Princess of Love, Alina Cojocaru, in the work made on her and Johan Kobborg.
Edwaard Liang's Schubert (Death and the Maiden) dance Vicissitude ("Natural change or variation; alterations manifested in nature and human affairs.") made its NYC debut, having premiered in Vail in August. Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle were the dancers in this fascinating little ballet. Mr. Liang really allows one inside a complexly evolving relationship. While they start out together, neither wants to be very involved with the other. So, for instance, when it is time for his solo variation, where one might expect the man to put on a display to impress the woman, Ms. Kowroski turns her back on him, not seeing any of it, including some promisingly fine turns by Mr. Angle. Then, when it is her turn for display, he simply leaves the stage. They get together when she backs into him (at least he was looking, she not). But they've got back together. The relationship grows. It becomes a human affair. Nice work, Mr. Liang.
Unlike most everyone else, I agree with Farrell Fan in not finding the central four dances too alike. And the dancing of those superstar ballerinas! One of the reasons they are great is that they are, and cannot avoid being, unique. Alina Cojocaru's presence made tonight's Prokofiev seem as if it were a much longer version than opening night's. For there was the story! An engaged couple, having one of those special conversations, dreaming as one, anticipating joys of their mutual future. Might these have once been those school-yard children in first love, as created by Katie Morgan and Seth Orza in their own magical version of Wheeldon's Carousel? Special appreciation to Mr. Kish for enabling Ms. Cojocaru to dance with such freedom, allowing her lyricism to flow as if garlands of flowers from some endless garden.
Thank you to those above who suggested watching There Where She Loved as if a sort of Dances at a Gathering. While still annoyed at being kept in the dark by its multilingual secrets, there were some beautiful dance moments by the likes of Mlles Yatsenko, Bouder, Hyltin (with Mr. Garcia, out Romeo and Julieting last year's R+J), and Kowroski. And their suitors. Wednesday all the dancers were making debuts in their roles. They seemed better tonight. The audience response was far warmer, too.
Slingerland was still erotic, Mr. Liang taking advantage of Ms. Whelan's Potato Chip tutu. Dance of the Hours, again a delight, and giving respite to those who were "pretzeled out." Conventional choreography, perhaps, but what fun finishing with Gonzalo Garcia's tours a la seconde being twice circled by Ashley Bouder's tours chaines! We really liked the little rehearsal film that preceded each of the four short dances. Made by the "Ballet Boyz", Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, and not without humor.
After second sight, After the Rain excepted, Fool's Paradise is now my favorite Wheeldon ballet. It all seems so logical, so inevitable. And that endless finale: at first it looks as if it will be something akin to that of Four Temperaments, but a shift in the music and all dancers but one, in little groups, are onstage. The last comes on, and starts an ingenious process by which one dancer after another leaves till the ballet's opening trio of Whelan, Garcia and Hall are left. They reposition into their places at the dance's beginning, again with the two men advancing together as Ms. Whelan stays back center. The two begin to dance. But this time the other three men appear, watching. The other three women arrive. The finale is here, as they all dance, then form a kind of human mountain: Craig Hall thrusts Wendy Whelan skyward. Mr. Wheeldon's muse-pair has the final word. They've done their work. Mr. Wheeldon concludes this program with his inspiration.
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Wednesday October 17, 2007
Darcey Bussell and her long-time partner Jonathan Cope got the program off to a roaring success. Unfortunately, their PdD from Tryst lead off the program's second act. Something about the unfortunate opening piece later. Each of the four short works in the middle of the program was preceded by a short film of Mr. Wheeldon preparing the dancers. It was very effective. Ms. Bussell was her charismatic self, very beautiful of course, still with her great flexibility, lyrical yet so modern, so Balanchine. For me she is in the first tier of post-Farrell Balanchine dancers and it was a very great honor to have a chance to see her one more time, especially when so grandly presented by Mr. Cope, who conveys his adoration of Ms. Bussell with his special combination of restraint, service, and nobility. This looked like high-quality Wheeldon, but I might say the same if Darcey just brought out a chair and sat on it. For me this was worth the price of admission.
Next came Wendy Whelan and the much-missed Edwaard Liang in the NYC premiere of William Forsythe's Slingerland PdD. This looked like Mr. Forsythe was playing with Balanchine technique, with a dollop of the Master's eroticism as well. Ms. Whelan wore the familiar "flat" tutu that the American choreographer sometimes favors. By the way, Philip of Oberon's Grove has posted an outstanding, in-depth interview with Mr. Liang. For those of us who have admired his many peak moments at NYCB, it was wonderful to learn the whys and whats of his frequent comings-and-goings. And even more special to see the power of his present level of dancing--what skill in displaying a ballerina.
Third was Wheeldon's Prokofiev PdD, that we got to see being created on Johan Kobborg (who had to miss this engagement due to a sprained ankle, as reported in the press) and Alina Cojocaru. Since Ms. Cojocaru danced at the Royal last night her role was danced by the National Ballet of Canada's Tina Pereira, who shares of bit of Alina's loveability (a recent subject of discussion elsewhere on BT). NBOC's Nehemiah Kish partnered Tina, as he will Ms. Cojocaru the next two days. Still, this has the look of a piece d'occasion, that probably needs its creators to make its point.
The middle portion ended with a fortuitous recent change in program, Wheeldon's Dance of the Hours, created for the Metroplitan Opera last year. This excercise on the fun side of Petipa, was lead by Ashley Bouder and new NYCB Principal Gonzalo Garcia. This was Ms. Bouder in comic mode. She dazzled as did her partner, evidently a fine turner, and such a match with Ashley that one can only hope they will often partner at NYCB. I'd love to see them together in the serious side of Ms. Bouder's Petipa, Sleeping Beauty, where Ms. Bouder has already gifted me with the Aurora of my lifetime, and Swan Lake, where she's my all-time favorite O/O in the Peter Martins production. The can-can corps of eight ballerinas included Gina Artese of Suzanne Farrell Ballet, and, since Ms. Bouder was the only debutante in this dance, I assume seven dancers from the Met: Cecile Girard, Anna Laghezza, Emery LeCrone, Melissa Sadler, Denise Small, Beatrix Eugenia Stix-Brunell and Miku Tsuji.
After the second intermission the final Wheeldon work, Fool's Paradise. This turned out quite a winner. Beginning with a duet for Craig Hall and Mr. Garcia, with Wendy Whelan quietly observing from center back. Then Ms. Whelan joined them for a trio, with Aesha Ash (WELCOME HOME!) soon joining in as well. Various duets, including a very muse-driven PdD for Wendy and Craig. What a miracle for Ms. Whelan, so soon after her monumental partnership with Jock Soto ended with his retirement, to find a new partnership of comparable grandeur with Mr. Hall. A miracle for us viewers, of course, but more importantly for Mr. Wheeldon to have such continuity in inspiration. This was thrilling. Subsequently Tess Reichlen, on fire with her sexy, Farrellesque command, so noticed in her recent Queen of the WRENS (Mr. B's Union Jack), was partnered by Adrian Danchig-Waring and Tyler Angle.
A final peak for Mr. Wheeldon: his PdD for Maria Kowroski (in pinker tights than the others, and with those legs, why not?) and Mr. Liang. This was very remiscent of the PdD choreographed on her by Mr. Bigonzetti at the last Diamond Project. I think we are in the midst of seeing this ballerina at the summit of her considerable powers. Magnetic intensity, focus buried so deeply in the music, fully worthy of Edwaard's devotion. Only the ovation for Bussell/Cope exceeded the powerful response of the audience for this final ballet.
Added later:
Before the opening curtain Mr. Wheeldon spoke of his company's successes in Vail and London. He thanked a number of people, saving his greatest thanks for last: his gratefulness to Peter Martins.
The opening ballet was There Where She Loved, sung to alternating songs of Chopin (sung in Polish) and Weill (sung in German and French). It was obviously very programatic, relating to the sung words. But one needed to be fluent in three languages. A Polish friend was quite familiar with the first song, a woman singing of her love for a man currently far away. Along the lines of if I were the sun I'd find you wherever you are and shine my light just for you,...if I were a bird my song would be sung only for you etc. Yet it was a dance for a woman and four men (she was certainly fickle, unlike Chopin's woman). The singer's Polish was otherwise so broken that my friend could not make out the other Chopin songs. So this was like going to a play where the actors neglected to speak (in an understandable way). Lots of star power in the casting, but... It was not received with enthusiasm.
an all-adults/dancers "Nutcracker" live production in NYC:
in Ballets and Choreographers
Posted
This will be shown at Hunter College's Kaye Theater, 68th between Lexington and Park. (Box Office open Mon-Sat, noon to 6PM, 212-772-4448). Abi Stafford and Stephen Hanna of NYCB are the advertised leads. Six perfs, Dec. 6-9.
There is no mention of SAB students, but four dance schools are referenced, including the Ailey School. I've seen this, with pleasure, several times. It is set in Old New York, yet is still traditional and has classical dancing, but is a bit more story-oriented than Mr. B's sublime version (which should really be seen on its home stage!).
http://www.dancespatrelle.org/repertory.ph...l&id=649445