drb

We went tonight, the first time I've been to an opera in a couple of decades. The attractions were Mark Morris, of course, but even more to experience the music that Balanchine chose to make his true welcome home to Suzanne Farrell, Chaconne. Of course our Klavier has given us his brilliant and helpful review of the music, and also, as usual, tells of his inexperience with dance, and then, as usual, puts the lie to that reservation. As also usual, Alastair Macaulay comes through. So I've just got a handful of remarks.

I felt that in Act I Orfeo was clearly shown to be a member of the fairly unurban community that the dancers also inhabited, so had no problem at all with the celebratory dances they shared with the happy couple at the end. In both those Acts Lauren Grant seemed a central, nurturing figure, one whose method was infectuous joy. There was an especially brilliant exit for the dancers from center stage to wings stage right. At first the image of Suzanne skimming magically off, as of course pulled by the unnoticed cloth she was standing on. But operas clearly can do these things more expensively, as their exit formed an arc, convex to the audience.

While many commentators were not enamored with MM's Dance of the Blessed Spirits, I really liked this, especially as the dancers circled, hands reaching high with palms up, reaching to catch the rain, as one of the dancers told me after the show. I could see here many Romantic ballerinas dead, such as wilis from Giselle and bayaderes (they surely die in Makarova's last Act) from La Bayadere, at least now in a proper place of grace. Not long after, Sterling Hyltin with her Juliet hair appeared from the group and exited stage left. Well, from a distance. It was of course Euridice, Maija Kovalevska. (Pain, thinking of upcoming NYCB Balanchine. How about new principals in Orpheus, the new principal Hyltin, for one?)

I really liked that carbon-like rock passage O+E climbed on their way up from Heck. This was a place where diamonds grow, some sparkles already. Eventual optimism. It takes a lot longer than in ballet, but the music was beautiful. Then he blew it and she was borne back down. The beautiful music was gone and replaced by the sublime. Mr. Daniels was far more than I'd expected.

As he sang for his wife to return, I think I learned why Mr. B. made Chaconne for Suzanne.

By chance I purchased a copy of the WSJ today and found the review of R + J. Nearly all of it seemed about the two creative artists, with the slap of Juliet's face and Romeo's stabbing Tybalt in the back listed as "high points." While not seeming to admire the decision to cast young dancers, Mr. Greskovic, apparently having seen all four casts, did single out two couples for relative praise:

...the least seasoned of these seemed to offer the most depth--not because of their youth, but because of their own inherent distinction.

He went on to identify them:

...Kathryn Morgan, opposite confident Romeo of Seth Orza...had a luminous quality that at times burnished the tinny aspects of Mr. Martins's choreography to a precious metal sheen.

...Erica Pereira and a most dignified and elegant, if not physically secure, Allen Peiffer...likewise brought personal resonance to their one-dimensional roles.

From today's Chicago Sun Times (Links) we learn of yet another venue for Nina's 2008 tour.

So far

Berkeley, February 14-17

Chicago, March 5-9

U. Minnesota, March 14, 15

Does anyone know the booking agency, or can anyone fill in the gaps?

LOVES

Have I got that right, Mr. Kirkeby?

But for those beautiful dancers,

And especially, thanks for those photos of each of the R + J pairs,

and for giving us large pictures!

From a prewrite on the Spoleto Festival, Nina describes her dancers and her somewhat radical Swan Lake:

The young dancers are eager to succeed, she said. But she has to tend to their mind-sets.

"They're liking to do tricks," Ananiashvili said. "They think doing 25 pirouettes is ballet. What I try to teach them ... is that ballet is art. Ballet is not a circus."

What keeps audiences coming, she said, is seeing dancers express emotion. In "Swan Lake," that means the romance of Prince Siegfried and Odette.

Her troupe's version of the tale makes it a point to get to the romance quickly. The opening scene, usually Siegfried's birthday celebration, is abbreviated. It's staged as a scene in a rehearsal studio, where dancers are practicing for "Swan Lake." The man cast as Siegfried dozes off. He dreams his way into a performance, and from there the traditional scenario and choreography take over.

http://www.charlotte.com/364/story/110737.html

Lucky those with tickets to Wednesday night, the Juliet Mr. Macaulay saved for last in his review. He had kind words for each Juliet, but I feel he gave his best for Kathryn Morgan. I just reread good ole' Clive Barnes's review of last fall's gala. Do these critics get casting way in advance, or what? Anyway, he ends his prescient review with a discusion of Carousel:

The girl - one of nature's Juliets - was 18-year-old Kathryn Morgan, from the School of American Ballet. Although a standout at the school performance last June, she's virtually unknown to the public, and Tuesday made a star-glazed debut.

If not pushed too far too soon, potentially she could be one of the most fascinating presences to emerge from the company school since the days of Gelsey Kirkland.

Watch out for her in the future, as I trust will New York City Ballet.

WOW!!! OK, all you SAB and Patrelle fans, now that Erica's Juliet has sent NYC balletomanes pirouetting on their heads, tell what else you've seen her do!

What's with all the aCs and TMs on the official NYCB ac TM announcement? They make everything look smudged and a pain to read. I know Ballet Talk is not to blame.

Looks like Trade Mark marks.

But Mr. Martins then is trade-marked. I thought only Mr. Balanchine was in that class.

What a nice surprise to see that Abrera and Radetsky will be doing the Piece d'Occasion on Opening Night. I remember last year, Abrera was to have been featured with Saveliev in the Piece d'Occasion based on the operatic aria Shadow Dance with soprano Ruth Ann Swenson. But Ms. Swenson got sick and had to bow out; so they cancelled that part of Opening Night. How nice to see this couple finally featured together on the Met stage.

With regard to the hostel on Amsterdam and 105th, I actually stayed there in 1990. It was interesting being in a room with 4 bunk beds and being the only one of eight people who spoke English (plus being in a foot cast and on crutches while searching for a NYC apartment added to the uniqueness of the experience.) My memory recalls that it was a good deal, reasonably safe, and not unpleasant. However, I'd probably not make it a first or second choice.

1. Maybe rehearsals for that explains missing their YAGP performance? Also glad Lang Lang is playing an additional solo. He is glorious.

2. Buddy, that hospice's neighborhood has upgraded since 1990, and is incredibly convenient. Exactly a two mile walk, straight down the Avenue to LC, a veritible tour of Manhattan life. And the local bus takes you right down it to LC as well. Also, you'd be two blocks from the subway on Broadway that lets you off right under LC. You may see some interesting locals, NYCB and ABT dancers, along either Avenue.

Does anyone know whether Suzanne Farrell's apartment has been granted official historical monument status?

What an amazing excersize in incompentence this website is. Sunday I ordered my tickets for Mark Morris's Mozart Dances from Lincoln Center's site. So easy, exact seat location choices for the NYS Theater given, purchased, and here in Tuesday's mail. For NYCB: When I'd learned the casting for R+J I decided to avoid a trip to BO and use NYCB's site. Of course still no choice except section. I gambled (all ballerinas must be seen).

The site claimed, despite my being registered for years, it didn't know which state or province NY was in. Being sent to my stuff on their site, the state was, of course, there. I filled it in anyway. Many cycles after, I rereg'd (had to use a different e address) and it finally sold me the ticket. But it used my original address (I'd had to alter that a bit so I wouldn't "already" exist) and claimed it needed my phone number (of course, there, in both registrations). After more hassles, it finally agreed to allow me to attend. Indeed, the ticket's here. I hope they let me in.

Even the parts that work are behind countries around the world, where many show you videos to help you decide what you'd want to see, and let you see their dancers dancing, a help in selecting casts. Nina's Georgia will even show you a 3-D picture of their theater to help you select your seats!

Also, do you dare check NYCB's site at night when people (even neighbors) are sleeping? Pretty music, but loud, and it takes a bit of time to find the way to turn the sound off. Well, at least the dancers can really dance.

One bit of getting it right: Kristin Sloan's work on the R+J vids. Maybe she should retire and take over the site. Or the company. But NO! She's just been too beautiful in these R+J's.

Congratulations to all.

Extra congratulations to Craig Hall. It's about time.

Ditto!!!

Ditto-ditto!!!.

I don't think the reviews in DVTimes are of any use at all in compairing the three casts. We are really compairing reviewers. Mr. Macaulay's comparison of the four (three in photos, since one cast had its photo for the premiere review) casts would of course be colored by his taste, as well as his overall feelings about the production. But at least he's already given us his stand on Romeo and Juliet overall, and that version by Mr. Martins in particular. So we may see his comparisons in context.

I still have one more cast to go, yet even then compairing casts would still be problematic for me. The first cast I saw was of course during my first sight of the production, so I had to pay attention to things like the set, colors, costumes, story-telling choices, choreography... I go to enjoy what I see, so much of my first experience is to learn what I should filter out, to find what I need to see more clearly next time, and to be sure to look somewhere where something seems to have happened that I missed by looking elsewhere the first time around. By the third time everything I don't care about is pretty much invisible and I can get down to what matters (to me): in a story ballet that would be the story the dancers are telling, which takes huge precedence over anything in a libretto or score or source. A story in dance matters only in so much as dancing is telling more (surely something wordless, even nameless) than what can be told by other means.

We are fortunate to now have a critic with the skill to sort the figure from the ground so effectively that he can make such comparisons.

The Orchestra has a center section flanked by a left side and a right side. Aisle seats are numbered 1 and 2. You'll see the feet from row K or further back, and the wide aisles will give you a few rows worth of head free unobstructed viewing. It would take a lot of luck to get one of these seats as they are the closest ones with completely unobstructed full stage view. Lots of critics seem to get them...

I don't know whether they still do it, but they used to provide a cushion on request for a viewer that would have an obvious need for one. You could call in advance to find out.

I haven't seen either Aesha Ash or Alicia Graf perform, so I ask of those who have seen them: was Ash talented enough to get a promotion? would Graf's dancing style fit in with either NYCB or ABT's artistic standards?

Alicia J. Graf, in her prime at 27, is one of my favorite Balanchine ballerinas. Admittedly that is a very large group, so more specifically one of my favorite Farrell ballerinas. I've always liked the Ailey Company, and given their Ronald K. Brown dances and a couple of terrific new additions to their rep last winter, there are even choreographic reasons to go more often. But what's tripled the frequency of performances I attend are those evocations of Farrell by Ms. Graf.

The courageous off-balances, with luxuriant resolutions that seem to do for whatever music she's dancing what Balanchine does for his chosen music. Also, like Suzanne, she's an eye-dancer. Now currently NYCB has loads of ballerinas who obviously have their own individual gifts to bring Suzanne Farrell's Balanchine ballets to life (every once in a while one gets a chance: Sara Mearns in Walpugisnacht, most recently). But Ms. Graf has had plenty of Balanchine experience at DTH, creds, and also has that magic old Farrell-heads crave. There's always the matter of a newly added dancer taking up roles that a current company member aspires to. There's the counter matter that, anyway, many of these roles are staying with dancers without a breath of Farrell's perfume. And there's the third matter, that art matters. For me two out of three is enough.

There is the height issue, 5' 10". Poor, tall, Mr. Askegard is already doubly overburdoned. But there are major Farrell roles that don't require tall guys.

Art matters. But, as Mr. Macaulay of The Times reminds us, it should matter more.

And, speaking to the issue of the small African-American ballerina pool. Obviously role models are needed. Why should you make such a monumental effort, with no goal in sight? Alicia's trying: If I may borrow a Link from BT's Ailey forum:

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/...rtslife-theater

SNOW ALERT

Record Blizzard due in NYC Feb 21-24 next winter.

In other words, my tickets arrived, located exactly where I want.

NEW YORK VISHNEVA SEASON: Feb 21 through 24, 2008 at City Center.

...

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Peiffer+Pereira

"...that is when she knew."

Having seen the casting posted I knew that I would have to go four times, as the Juliets all seemed right, and they are what ballet is. Well, there was one I didn't know of but others told me enough. So that's the one we saw this afternoon. Well, in a certain way we didn't see her. We saw the rarest of things, a partnership. Partnerships, the kind I mean, as for example Ferri/Bocca, don't grow over time, but happen as the Big Bang, created all at once at the beginning of its time. As Ferri described (translated on a thread under Dancers). And as Vishneva/Malakhov. She an accidental teenage sub on a North American tour. And it seems so important to her that she appears to tell of it in every interview she gives. "Two Half Souls..."

A hint of something else, when Allen Peiffer comes out sort of moonstruck-looking and we prepare to get mad at Peter Martins for not having Rosaline. He didn't have that kind of look. Well then, what's his story? I think he was anticipating that Ball, that he even might have dreamt that night of that girl he'd only seen from a distance.

Meanwhile Mama Darci and Dena Abergel were prepping Erica Pereira for her debut. Of course Erica was the rookie among the Juliets, and I sensed a double dimension in Darci's playing. You could really hear her kisses as she gently stroked her double daughter's hand. How important as well as beautiful Darci is in this teen-Juliet version. Well, if Erica was nervous it never showed. Later, when Juliet entered followed by Nurse Dena, the nurse's fall wasn't a comic pratfall, and you didn't wonder if there'd been an accident, it seemed another company member being extra kind and concerned for the debutante dancer.

As Erica danced her way through the ball scene one learned some things about this newest ballerina. Of course all these Juliets can dance and jump and all. In her case there was something in the hands. The wrists were incidental, the hands moved as if from somewhere in her back, perfect harmony with the arms, extending them, amplifying the music. What a challenge for Allen, having to dance between such technical whizzes as Daniel Ulbricht and Antonio Carmena. He survived, nobly. Once their bodies found themselves where their eyes wanted to be you didn't need a story (although they told it well).

The Balcony Scene. Wherever the choreography took them they were never apart. The eyes sometimes made the connection, but even those weren't needed. Chemistry, of course. But even more the more that once you've seen it in a partnership, the more you hope it will sometimes happen again. And so you keep on buying ballet tickets. That invisible link, that belies this title's + sign. This sum is greater than its very considerable parts. The kind of math that makes this choreography right and whole. Yes, he can lift, and yes they make the wind sweep.

A little later at intermission I mentioned how moved I was at that moment when he lifted her just a few inches, both facing forward, he leaning back very slightly, so her back folded warmly across his chest. You could sense her back's feeling his body. Of course, being a person she would. But Erica the dancer gave it significance. My little ballerina said back to me that is when she knew, she felt his heart and it was true. Of course ballerinas get lifted so she'd know, and also she noted that he would not feel her heart from that position. So we needed that note scene right away, so he'd know too.

Even though in much of the second half one was on stage when the other one wasn't, they always danced as a pair. We may not know where or how, but they'd told us so with their first act. And when the story line let them be together, we were honored to see the unseeable, that higher place of harmony where partnerships dwell. Hopefully NYCB will be such a place for this one.

A selling point for this production was the chance to be there when a star is born. Who expected something rarer, a double star? In the universe, such pairs encircle each other almost forever. Casting directors, aware! The universe does not tolerate breaking the laws of physics..

Thanks, drb.

Direct link to live event details: http://www.lincolncenter.org/show_events_l...eventcode=14559

Just ordered my tix. Remember that subscribers have already had time to submit mail orders. Better selection is available on the weekends. Subscribers tend to go for orchestra or First Ring, so I found excellent dead center Second Ring for opening night and perfect Second Ring Row A dead center for the weekend. If you haven't seen this, it is extremely likely you'll want to see it more than once.

Mostly Mozart sales rules require at least two purchases unless you wait 'til sometime in June, when single event purchases apply. So you might wish to check out other offerings, if you do not want two or more Morris perfs. If you love choral music you may be glad you did. For example, Faure Requiem + Rachmaninoff Liturgical music in the best accousitics section of Avery Fisher Hall (First Tier second row center) for just $55! Also the Wolfgang Requiem...

Mozart Dances

Thursday, August 16, 2007 8:00 PM

PBS

Live From Lincoln Center

Performed by the Mark Morris Dance Group, and featuring the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra, under Maestro Louis Langrée, and soloists Emanuel Ax and Yoko Nazaki.

Performances at the Mostly Mozart Festival August 15-18, 2007 go on sale Sunday at:

http://www.lincolncenter.org/search_results.asp

Did you know that Jewel of Russia is the official vodka of NYCB?

Strange, why do we no longer see the Alexandrite movement in Jewels?

Yes, a hooker for the old guy! Nice to see a tradition of Mr. B extended to Mr. K for his 100th. Actually Mr. B's term wasn't used by Mr. Martins as he and 12 other ballet masters toasted Lincoln, but I'm sure I heard Mr. B say it anyway. And we certainly enjoyed our intermission Vodka, as the audience was given the chance to drink a toast as well.

Friday, May 4, 1907 + 100

Fairchild + Hyltin II

or IV if you count the two dress rehearsals.

How remarkably different the ballet looked tonight from subs orchestra seats under the ominous ball. Last night I'd seen it from up and way right.

How remarkably different the interpretations of the Juliets. Tonight Ms. Hyltin was an extrovert, a willful Juliet, accustomed to having her own way. At the ball, from dance to dance she revealed more and more of her outgoing and self-confident self, where the night before Ms. Morgan let us see her voyage of self-discovery. Sterling has already succeeded in a large role, two Auroras this winter. There was something very mother-daughter with Darci, of course, as she is the young dancer who most recalls Ms. Kistler. Also, her Mariinsky legs and pre-Guillem Mariinsky line made for anticipation of the Balcony scene. She did not disappoint. The choreography for this looked more natural from straight on, certain formalisms seen from above were less distracting. Perhaps being alone on the floor a bit was not as distressing for her, for she was certainly less in the thrall of Fate, or rather was more ready for romance, it was less overpowering to this little extrovert. Her Juliet even in the awakening scene seemed more self-assured, after all, things had always turned out her way, hadn't they? And movement under the covers suggested something other than being sheltered from the real world.

So Mr. Martins clearly trusts his ballerinas to live the part as they wish. So far, both ballerinas I've seen have not let him down.

The male leads in this cast offered plenty of dazzle as well, all well-reported on BT.

From head-on the "abstact" ensemble pieces were often pleasing, to me more enjoyable than watching unsavory families overdressed and pompously walking around. Of all stories, who doesn't already know this one? With the play, of course, the words are beautiful. In the ballet the dancers are beautiful. One might compare Raymondas: Grigorovich's at the Bolshoi, one suite of dances following the other, with ABT's, very literal, full of story details. The world's big enough for both.

I also think the group of five children is artistically valid. After all, there must have been little kids all over Verona. If a company has a school, it has a family. And everbody seems to like them, including that 8-year old gymnast.

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Seth + Kathryn

Early on as my binocs caught a closeup of Kathryn Morgan a memory popped up of a photo of the young Fonteyn. Not related to anything about the performance. Ms. Morgan is of course very beautiful, and in a particularly expressive way.

At the Ball, when it came time to dance with Paris (Christian Tworzyanski) Katie danced in a very by-the-numbers way. Now she could have got more applause being expressive, but I think she had an emotional arc in mind. A shy child, showing she could dance grown up steps. Then her girlfriends came by and she danced with them, clearly playmates playing one last time. Then came Romeo (Seth Orza), and she danced to him. After convincing Mommy (Darci) and Daddy (Jock) to let her hang around when they wanted her to go with them, to became tu. And to the Balcony.

The Balcony PdD, began well enough, with Seth dancing Big, something good to see with a NYCB man. As passions were starting to build something went very wrong with the choreography. Soaring passion must not take time out for intellectual puzzle solving. You don't pause in the middle of love-making to play a game of chess (at least not when you are young). It started prettily enough with Seth setting Katie on the floor in a neat sort of asymmetric way. But then she was left just sitting there holding the pose as he moved asymmetrically to get in position for that asymmetrical upside down kiss. The dancers solved the puzzle precisely. But passion's momentum lost. And there was still a piece to the puzzle yet to complete: regaining symmetry by dancing a bit side-by-side. The PdD is a masterpiece of sorts in the MacMillan version, sort of kin to the White Swan PdD's position in Swan Lake. If a rechoreographer of Swan Lake changed that PdD it would not be Swan Lake any more. If some choreographer ever finds a really better PdD, she should make it the centerpiece to some whole new ballet. It is a shame that MacMillan's couldn't be used in this R+J.

But the dancing was soaring and splendid.

This was scene #4 of 11. Another problem to solve if you only want one intermission. The choice, to divide by two and round. So stop at 5 or 6. OK, use 5 since you could use the downtime for the characters to run to 6, the church. Unfortunately, totally wrong for the music, and for emotions of the audience, which both say stop after 4. Math rules. The chance to send the audience to intermission on a high, lost.

The church was a very non-religious place, i.e., not at all Catholic (assuming this is in Italy, not Denmark). Although Mr. Hubbe was a handsome priest, he wasn't a Priest. The non-religious aura was somewhat crushing to the way the story played out. Eventually stuff of the play happens, yes Jock slaps Katie, but he feels his error, with some of the intensity that Robert Schumann probably felt when he slapped his daughter (ref. Davidsbundlertanze). Kathryn holds absolutely true to character throughout.

The wake up scene. Lovers awake. Juliet first. She sees the void that is their future. He wakes. I think Martins does some of his best work here. They dance with great mutual tenderness. Together, they dance memories of their love. R + J are not possible in their world. A glint of happiness. They hop back under the covers, covering themselves from that world. I really think that what they did then was simply hold each other, protected children, just for a moment, away from the world together. The nurse came in, he left, she yielded to her parents. She went to the priest. OK, but then she had second thoughts about the potion. It was her only Hope, but in this version's religious context, their wasn't Faith to push her over the line to dare the potion. Instead, confused, a quick hopeless helpless desperate gulp. Ms. Morgan, of course made it all believable.

The long period that they lay dead in the tomb was very effective, away from the world together.

This being the first cast I saw, I cannot make comparisons. But, as in all her other dancing that I've seen, Katie doesn't act. She is real. She truly is wonderful. The stamina of a ballerina in her prime. Pure beauty.

Beauty. Not a word for Mr. Kirkeby's work. The drop, as in his prior Danish Lake, follows his color-coding painting aesthetic. Juliet's side in warm colors, Romeo's in cool colors. Tybalt's (another excellent technical challenge for T. Angle) Yellow shrieks all across the bottom, mapping his story-driving support for all the wrong things. You wonder why Peter has worked with him on his last two ballets. Why would he drop the collaboration with the three Limbourg brothers (well, a channeled version of them), who gave him the exceptionally beautiful Beauty?

A good thing about this ballet. New stars are born for all the new faces in the full audience. We anguished when we found our favorites not cast. We would have enjoyed them for we would see the total dancer of our experience, a full moving arc of technique and artistry, a movie of our experience of that dancer. The newbe sees a snapshot. Sees our old favorite just as she is now. The compensation of depth for technique, artistry for freshness, is not available for newbe. These young leads give the next generation their own artists to watch grow, to come back to see. NYCB's young dancers are doing their jobs well, being and attracting the future. Some people will come back to see them in Balanchine. Balanchine gives me Faith. There is Hope after R+J.

Clive Barnes makes a number of cogent points in his review in today's Post. In particular regarding the version Mr. Martins rejected for NYCB:

Martins has taken a purely classical approach to Sergei Prokofiev's music, as did Frederick Ashton in his 1955 version for the Royal Danish Ballet (a revival in which Martins himself appeared).

I won't go over his points, as I'm sure the review will soon be posted in Links.

Joel Lobenthal in the Sun takes a relatively positive position:

NYCB's new "Romeo and Juliet" is a high-concept mis-en-scène, supporting an assertive projection by Mr. Martins of how he believes the balletic classics should be reinterpreted today.

Back when word of R+J was blowing in the wind, in my "mind" I cast Kathryn Morgan as Juliet. So tonight's the night that I'll eat crow. Or not. Go get 'em, Katie!

Well, Mr. Macaulay of the Times was not pleased. He really ripped Per Kirkeby for backdrop, costumes and set. But he was kind to the young dancers.

Tiler Peck, the youngest dancer at NYCB, yet already a Soloist, is about to make her debut as Juliet. A spectacular technician for whom the sky's the limit (well, maybe she has the power to overcome gravity), she's already become a fan favorite. Many may not know that her professional Broadway career began in 2000 and that she's appeared in two motion pictures. A recent profile in Movmnt magazine:

http://www.movmnt.com/tiler-peck_0049.html