drb

Friday, February 23

Gergiev's Bouderbird

Valery Gergiev not only made the orchestra play like a first-rate Orchestra, he supplied an ideal ocean for dancers to swim in. He was magnificent. The dancers responded in kind.

There were two major debuts tonight. Sara Mearns gave new life to Walpurgisnacht. After the successful larger-than-life adagio with Charles Askegard, she managed the speedy pyrotechnics of both variations, happily popping back on stage after her dazzling success in the second, to take an extra bow. Of course that lush score never sounded better. I think the pacing by the Maestro was just fine, usually giving her the musical space for those magical musical slow-downs of hers at the end of a phrase, in which she melts into one with the music. Maybe about 5 seconds more time spaced through each variation would have given her time to do it more, but I can't knock Gergiev for that, as it was both a debut and a very different kind of dancer. Charisma matters, both on the stage and in the pit.

The second debut was also Sara Mearns, as Jonathan Stafford's Princess in Firebird. Her princess was already a rich, fully-drawn character, full of dew-drop freshness. And incredibly beautiful. But of course, this great living painting belongs to Ashley Bouder. And Gergiev excelled himself in a perfect interpretation, with great dynamic range and what sounded to me like flawless playing on the part of the band. Bouder was one with the music, dramatically and technically a powerhouse. She found her perfect partner tonight, and he was Gergiev.

The program opened with the wonderful children romping through Circus Polka, and also included Jeu de Cartes, which I was able to enjoy for the first time. Gergiev had much to do with that, of course. But kudos also to the dancers, especially the Darci-like dancing of Sterling Hyltin and an Ace-of-Spades who showed why he was the top card in the deck.

But the night had four dominant stars: Assoluta Bouder, of course; double debutant Divine Sara, Balanchine may yet have a future at NYCB; Valery Gergiev, a profound ballet conductor; and the Orchestra of the New York City Ballet.

G B

Just compared the company list from February's Playbill with January's and found that Ralph Ippolito has also joined the Corps. So up four. Have any left?

I'm not picking on Sara Mearns' unsuccessful fouettes but use her only as an example: is it fairly unusual nowadays to be weak at fouettes? They seem to be such a standard Thing - does the SAB not place very much emphasis on training to dance the 'classics'? Or have I got a rather outdated/inaccurate idea?

Interesting questions! I was wondering the same thing. Does anyone have an answer?

I don't think Ms. Mearns is incapable of 32 fouttes. It may well have been a matter of stamina or fatigue, after all up to O/O her biggest role had been the Chinese dance in Nutcracker! Also, the strong point of the Martins Lake is Act 4, and perhaps it was her fouette choice that enabled her to deliver the goods in that act. If so, an extremely worthy trade-off! If it suits her artistically, which matters more than abstract opinions, I suspect she'll perform them next time around. Obviously Mr. B. wasn't a great fan of the 32; on the other hand, Ms. Mearns is very atypical of NYCB dancers, which also may explain why she is so often fascinating when dancing Balanchine.

Mozart Dances returns to Lincoln Center August 15-18, 2007. Here's the Mostly Mozart announcement and five photos:

http://www.lincolncenter.org/show_events_l...eventcode=14559

.... I have seen Part in many roles and am still looking for the experience that others have had. In my experience she seems tense, flubs steps and under performs. Is it possible that those that love her are taken with her looks, body, Russian training and facial expressions? I just don't get it

Have you seen her O/O? In other roles my experience is very often consonant with yours.

her looks, body, Russian training and facial expressions...

When you think about it, those are not the worst of things. If you toss in musicality, the ability to sustain character, and managing most of the steps, you can have something.

Since Makarova I have seen many O/O's but very few have touched her level. Other than Part, just (young) Guillem, Nina Ballerina, Ashley Bouder, and (on her way, at least) Sara Mearns. I think Mr. B's one-acter should count for something too. Early Darci Kistler, and Maria Kowroski's last (a while ago...).

Based on her performances in Paris, I have a hard time picturing her in Swan Lake. Can she really manage it technically at all ?.... So what makes her Odette/Odile so special ? I'm looking forward to Buddy's comments on her upcoming performance !

I have seen her four New York Swans. Each time her Odile has improved. But she really embodies (emdisembodies?) Odette. Each performance was radically different, alive. She isn't one to refine a role over time, rather she recreates it, as if she's a real creature reacting in the moment. Her back to Siegfried, the slightest brush of his leg with her wing. The house exploded with silence. Which became a roar when the variation ended. My favorite of all was her July 4, 2005 performance. Indeed, the finest O/O I've seen since Makarova in her prime. James Wolcott of Vanity Fair saw that performance and wrote the following:

I went to see her at the Met as Odette-Odile in Swan Lake, and felt resurrected. I haven't been this knocked sideways at the ballet since Baryshnikov exploded from the cannon. Not that Part indulged in pyrotechnics. She isn't Sylvie Guillem showing off her leggy Rockettes kicks. It's that she has the super-alive sharp focus of an artist incapable of betraying her artistry with false moves and conditioned responses. She savors every moment on stage as if it were newly minted.... No dancer alive uses her wrists and hands with more calligraphy than Part, their elegant air-tracings suddenly whipped into force when she swoops her arm away from a suitor in a tai chi semicircle--yin instantly tranformed into yang. In act two in an allegro passage, her swan arms beat as her toeshoes stabbed the floor with diagonal slashes.

.... as Odile, she was an imperial presence, her eyes in supreme command, and the fact that I even noticed her eyes was an astonishment--you almost never notice dancers' eyes, they're so doll-like and disciplined.

....When a performer of genius flames new life into an art form, particularly in an art as difficult and evanescent and often ossified as ballet, it has to be seen in person--taped recordings don't do justice...

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/blogs/w...ly_a_reaso.html

Here is the home website of Nina's company. The ballet is about the same size as each of the three large American companies. It is worth clicking on the museum link, and the opera one, in order to hear some interesting singing. With some patience one may see some panoramic ballet photos, including the local choreographer's Serenade, at the top of the ballet page that suggest their corps is quite impressive.

http://www.opera.ge/eng/ballet.php?page=ballet

Sunday, February 18

The dreaded insert re illness and injury was of more substantial concern than usual, for it included Maurice Kaplow, who on Friday night was unable to return to the podium for the final piece, Evenfall. Much praise and appreciation to David Briskin for his work conducting Russian Seasons and The Four Temperaments.

Russian Seasons was danced by the original cast, save The Woman in Red where Rebecca Krohn replaced Sofiane Sylve, who is otherwise occupied dancing Nikaya in Amsterdam. Ms. Krohn danced the technically demanding role very well, and with beauty, yet the light applause by just a few people after her first solo contrasted with the thunderclap that greeted Ms. Sylve at the premiere. The dramatic side of Ms. Sylve that creates a character was lacking. In this ballet "Red" is an aggressive counterpoint to the solemn lead role, she flavors the ballet with a large dollop of spice.

Still there was much to admire in this probable masterwork. Jenifer Ringer, Green, seems to have even deepened her character, the soft and delicate one. A kind of Romantic ballerina. In the ballet's central Pd4 (to the first movement of the Autumn Concerto, Postovaya), she plays a wandering Soul in search of Eden (or perhaps a higher paradise) partnered by three angels, Amar Ramasar, Jonathan Stafford and Sean Suozzi. They lead her in its direction and give her a raised platform to get a better view by forming a path to walk on: stepping into each angel's hand then onto his knee, and so to the next, the path being extended as the last moves to the head of the line. In the song we learn that these angels sit on flowers in Eden. This has been a year of renewal for Ms. Ringer, what with her moving performance in Dybbuk, a ballet I don't like, but could not avoid watching for Jenifer.

Posledniaya. Wendy Whelan was profound as the one who dies. She enters in white, with Albert Evans in priestly white as well; for her old friends she is but a spirit they are commemorating. Early in her solo is a nod to Act 2 Giselle, then another to the Sylphe in La Sylphide. Already non corporeal, she takes her leave toward rear stage right, pausing to kneel as if a Russian woman in church, toward some alter in the wings. Or more likely toward that which believers believe is made manifest there. As Mezzo Susana Poretsky sings Alleluia.

The Four Temperaments. Looking more rehearsed today, the corps was impressive throughout. Ellen Ostrom again impressed in Theme 1 and Glenn Keenan danced in place of Amanda Hankes in 2. Tom Gold danced with more clarity than amplitude in Melancholic, again replacing Sebastien Marcovici. Ask La Cour filled space and commanded attention in Phlegmatic. Looking like that tall Principal the company has needed for years, and what a partner he'd be for this afternoon's Choleric Teresa Reichlen! Her space-swallowing extensions and moves were there of course, and by there I mean the music. These last two temperaments were thrilling, as were the leads, soloists, and the CORPS in that fabulous finale.

Excellent news. Mr. Macauley should bring eome necessary coherence to Times dance reviews.

Can you imagine, a critic who can teach us what we'd like to know:

Writing on the Fred Step

...the enchainment is as follows—pose en arabesque (i.e. a step onto pointe, or onto the ball of the foot, with the other leg stretched straight behind), coupe dessous (i.e. a small step back, transferring the weight onto the other foot, while picking up the first foot), small developpé a là seconde (in which the raised foot is brought into the ankle of the supporting leg, is drawn up a little, and is then extended out to the side), pas de bourrée dessous (a series of four small steps, transferring the weight sideways in the direction of the developpé), pas de chat (a sideways jump in which the knees are bent and which begins and ends with the feet closed together in fifth position).

and then list in detail all the places it occurs in Ashton's works! From

http://www.ashtonarchive.com/fredstep.htm

Who can place a new Mark Morris work in context:

Reviewing last month's world premiere of Mark Morris’s Italian Concerto:

... only Morris could have conceived so powerfully original a response. Choreographers since George Balanchine have all tended to set a concerto’s slow movement as some poetic male-female drama for the leading dancers also featured in the fast outer movements. But Morris – who gives the first movement to one male-female couple, and starts the third with a second male-female couple – makes the slow movement a solo for himself, now 50 years old. Just to watch his weirdly heavy, semi-galumphing walk, making us hear anew the music’s tread, is to feel the spell that is unique to him. Unforgettable is the way he mimes a single, fast, beat of the heart, or the way he stretches a slow, elongated lunging gesture.

From

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2d8634d4-aaf7-11db...00779e2340.html

And review Mr. Wheeldon too:

With each ballet, Wheeldon leaves two separate impressions. The mind that constructs them seems often clinical, analytical; the human impulse that carries his dancers along seems lyrical, mysterious, coherent.... In "Continuum" (2002), choreographed to Ligeti piano etudes, Wheeldon shows himself a complete master of his medium from the opening dance on. The last of its several duets, danced by Muriel Maffre and Benjamin Pierce, is the strongest spellbinder of the whole evening. Yet what a strange spell it is: again, the choreographic brain that constructs it is clear, while the heart that beats within stays opaque.

From

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...30/DD303175.DTL

Now let us hope that the NYT gives him enough space!

If you are a registered user of NYCB's site you may purchase tix for Gergiev at quite reduced prices:

https://www.nycballet.com/nycballet/mg/index.asp?promo=febmg

The online ordering process does permit your input regarding location.

Given that you could have any ballet of your choice revived with the cast of your choice, what would you most like to see?

Currently, I'd go for Stone Flower, with Alexandrova as Mistress of the Copper Mountain.

Or Ashton's Phersephone, a ballet I have always been curious to see.

I like your Stone Flower, that was enjoyable with the Bolshoi years ago, but the time is ripe to really out do the performances of earlier times. I'd start by giving production control to Lavrosky's son, he's been doing a lot of this lately with his father's ballets, and also hope for better lighting. Your casting of Masha Alexandrova is inspired for Mistress Copper, and for the young couple Danilo/Katerina there is now a perfect pair, Ivan Vasiliev/Natasha Osipova! For the great Gypsy Solo I'd go absolutely first class with Maria Allash. Maybe a small part, but musically crucial. Allash and Osipova will get some of the best, and very-well suited to them, of Prokofiev's score. Masha's charisma, her reach over the whole stage, could control the progress of the story to make it more classically clear. But who would you cast as Severyan?

When that's worked out, then we'll have the Met write a letter to Mr. Ratmansky.

And I'd vote for any Ashton...

...

Not to mention nebulous. What on earth does the paragraph mean?...

Maybe we're giving these Times reviews too much attention, more than the reviewers seem to be giving to what's on stage. Frankly, I'm beginning to miss Mr. Rockwell. He seemed to care, and didn't appear to need to huddle with other papers' reviewers at intermission to figure out what he'd just seen.

Are promotions in order? Maybe Lane, Copeland or Fang (although she seems to have fallen by the wayside recently).

Yes, all three. But even more, performances by them are in order.

A promotion or two or three or four is definitely in order. I am eagerly waiting to see who will be selected to compete for the Erik Bruhn prize. That will be a big clue, after all, the last competitors were Wiles, who won, and Hallberg, who didn't win but has since blossomed into a danseur of world-class stature.

I think David was there as a non-competing partner for Michele. Odd, in that he is in some ways reminiscent of Bruhn. Haven't the competitors been listed already?

While I deplore the company's new Blockhead programming, one justification was that fewer ballets would need to be rehearsed each week, hence more time to prep each ballet. I came upon some calculations I did last August.

It could have had that effect, but the scattering of the individual blocks was not thought out properly, with the effect that there's been no change in the number of ballets per week:

For example, even if three blocks were staggered throughout a week there would be an average of 11 different ballets to rehearse.

Last winter with old-fashioned diverse programming there were five full weeks of rep, with an average of 13.8 different ballets performed per week.

This winter there are six weeks of rep. But the blocks are so scattered that the weekly average is 13.7.

We've sacrificed diversity without gaining quality.

From September 19 through October 13, 2007, Lorin Maazel will lead the New York Philharmonic in the following Tschaikovsky pieces:

Symphonys 1, 2, 3 (Jewels), 4, 5, 6, Manfred

Piano Concerto 1, Violin Concerto

Rococo Variations

Selections from Swan Lake

At the moment just regular subscriptions are on offer, but later choose-your-own subscriptions will be available for those who might wish, e.g., to plan a visit to the city and be assured of good seats for concerts they desire.

If you haven't heard the orchestra in a while, under Mr. Maazel we now have happy musicians playing for the love of music. Samples of the music and analysis of the compositions are available on-line.

http://nyphil.org/attend/season/index.cfm?...007&seasonNum=7

There is probably no universally correct answer to the question of whether the 32 are necessary. It is certainly important that they are remembered, and when one is new to that specific ballet it is good to see a complete performance, including them, just to know.

But when one has seen it and knows the gist of it, isn't the raison d'etre for Swan Lake that it is one of those special works of art that can bring the beholder to a level that transcends mere excitement or beauty, an enobling experience that touches the sublime?

Earlier in this thread I mentioned the (second) Sara Mearns Swan Lake, with her 12 fouettés. Up to that time she hadn't even had a demi role at NYCB. In a Gia Kourlas interview in Time Out (still available on their site) after her two performances, she spoke of her dress rehearsal and first performance:

What part did you enjoy the most: Odile or Odette?

SM: I thought I was going to enjoy Odette more, but that became the most stressful for me. It was weird. I’ve always loved the white swan, but being the black swan was so exhilarating.

TONY: After a few fouettés, you substituted pique turns. What happened?

SM: Your leg, by that time, is dead. When we were in the dress rehearsal, I didn’t really finish the fouettés; I just kind of walked around and Merrill and Sean Lavery said, “You have to have a plan.” So I did a version of what I wanted to do: fouettés into pique turns without even posing to go into them, and I was fine with it. So during the performance, after 16 fouettés, I thought, Oh no. I cannot do anymore. I couldn’t feel my leg.

After over a hundred Swan Lakes I know the gist of it. Frankly, if that voice that tells you to turn off your cell phone had blurted out at the beginning of the variation "The ballerina needs to rest, and will come back out after the 32 music," I still wouldn't have traded her O/O for any other one at NYCB (except, of course, for Bouder's), and a lot of others too. In the face of her art, I can easily live without a rote fairy tale.

In the truly great works, the duty of a ballerina is to elevate, not just jump. To move, not just move.

Bravo to NYCB:

From NYCB's site:

Wednesday, February 14 Snow Procedures:

Patrons unable to attend tonight's New York City Ballet performance due to snow conditions will be offered complimentary tickets to the 2007 Spring Season (April 24 through June 24 with the exception of Romeo & Juliet performances from May 1-13) as an accommodation for their missed program.

To receive this accommodation, patrons must mail their unused 02/14/07 tickets to the following address:

Dept. A

New York State Theater

20 Lincoln Center

NY, NY 10023.

Patrons must include contact information, including address and telephone number. Patrons will be contacted after the conclusion of the Winter Season and given instructions as to how to take advantage of the accommodation offer.

The site gives much more detail on the casting. Most remarkable: Ekaterina Shipulina is listed as the Queen of the Driads for all performances of Don Q. Washington is getting premiere first highest class casting!

...

There will be an expanded interview on timeoutnewyork.com.

It is here (and includes four photos):

http://www.timeout.com/newyork/Details.do?..._in_seattle.xml

Nice to know she's contracted for three more seasons at PNB.

I hope NYCB at least does something to honor her final performance. Of course the audience can assure this is so. Are there any plans?

...Ballet technique is the result of the application of French rationalist principles to what was already known of anatomy as it relates to dancing -- the very idea of working en croix is Cartesian geometry -- the dancer in his/her box facing avant stands at the crossing of the x, y,and z axes, and it all derives from thinking logically in that manner from there.

Thanks for the insight, Paul. As a mathematician, I appreciate that most important of all mathematical ideals, Cartesian coordinates. The 20th Century's key mathematical idea (probably, still needs some more distant historical perspecitive), Topology, involves the continuous tranformation or deformation of that ideal. Very interesting, how ballet has charted a like course.

Perhaps slightly OT, regarding the idealist, his intellectual rival, and ballet, there is Richard Watson's book, Descartes's Ballet:

In his 54th year, Rene Descartes went to Stockholm at the invitation of Queen Christina. He caught pneumonia there and died on February 11, 1650. It is said that because Descartes refused to dance, Queen Christina charged him with writing the verses for a court ballet, La Naissance de la Paix....

http://www.staugustine.net/Descartessballet.html

ABT's latest:

A bus stop poster featuring a charming photo (by Gene Schiavone) of Sarah Lane and selling PayLess shoes.

Mea culpa! I'd lost faith Kevin McKenzie would ever cast Sarah in a major role. Things may well be looking up for ABT's Corps. Keep the new casting coming, Corps Exploiter in Chief.

You can "own" a principal dancer at the ABT if you donate enough.

The "American" Program has begun its run at the Bolshoi Theatre. Their website has published two photos of each. If you click the squiggle under each you will get a full-page image.

Serenade Zakharova/Uvarov, Corps:

http://www.bolshoi.ru/ru/season/press-service/foto/serenade/

Misericordes (Wheeldon) Yatsenko/Lopatin, Company:

http://www.bolshoi.ru/ru/season/press-serv...o/misericordes/

In the Upper Room Osipova/Medvedev, Medvedev/Ryzhkina/Godovsky:

http://www.bolshoi.ru/ru/season/press-serv...intheupperroom/

....Of course, history is rife with heads of state with significantly sub-genius IQs.

While Great Leader Stalin did not attend Maya's performance with Chairman Mao, Vladimir Putin did accompany guest G. W. Bush to the Nutcracker. And President Bush did invite the American Ballet Company to perform Nutcracker at the White House. It is good that our leaders can take a break from the pressures of State.

FRI., FEB. 23, 2007 at 8 pm [GERGIEV]+

Circus Polka: LA FOSSE

Walpurgisnacht Ballet: *MEARNS, ASKEGARD, A. STAFFORD, SCHELLER, DRONOVA

Jeu de Cartes: HYLTIN, J. ANGLE, MILLEPIED, VEYETTE

Firebird: BOUDER, J. STAFFORD, RUTHERFORD, SETH

Bouder for Gergiev's speed, that was predictable!

Finally, some charismatic youth for Balanchine (Mearns in Walpurgisnacht). Who knows, maybe Balanchine will begin to get the whooping applause from young members of the audience that's been mostly limited to star turns in lesser works...