oberon

Liebs has made some wonderful observations about the current crop at NYCB, though the list could be much longer. The variety of personalities, strengths and "perfumes" there today is astounding. A casual ballet-goer, dropping in once or twice a season might not see it but those of us who go often don't know where to train our opera-glasses first. "Things are not as good today as they were yesterday," is a pervasive theme in ballet, opera, tennis, baseball, politicians, you name it. Maybe it is true. But we have to have ballet, opera, tennis, baseball...well, maybe we don't need politicians. Longing for the past won't get you anywhere. The past cannot be recreated; the wonderful dancers of the past are gone. You can either find things to enjoy in the new generation or...you can feel depressed. Or stop going. You can "seek the snows of yesteryear" as the Marschallin says, but they are gone. As I have said many times, things could certainly be better at NYCB...and they could be much, much worse. One of the problems in this high-profile Balanchine season has been all the injuries. We didn't really see the full roster at peak form. Some dancers danced thru injuries, other "healthy" dancers were put in roles they probably would not be doing if everyone were in good shape. Also, the turnover in the corps has been brisk lately. I feel like every time I go there are people onstage I've never seen before."Who IS that girl??" is a recurring theme. These kids are getting their bearings while the world is watching during a big anniversary season. I think they did quite well. As far as coaching, again Liebs is right to note all the "old timers" on the staff. Merrill Ashley and Sean Lavery are in the audience every night and going back during the intermissions to give notes and moral support. Many of the "departed" dancers are teaching elsewhere, running their own companies, not in the best of health. And not every great interpreter is a great coach: a friend of mine in the corps was at a coaching session last year where a very famous Balanchine ballerina tried to impart her knowledge of one of her most celebrated roles to a young dancer. The woman was so wacky and self-absorbed that no one knew exactly what she wanted to convey.

It will be nice to see POLYPHONIA and GOLDBERG again, and I liked Peter's tango ballet with Wendy in black toe shoes. Mostly it is repeats from the season just ended. But one can never get enough of SUITE #3 or DIVERT...

Who is J Acocella? I've been going for about 30 years. The company has always had some strong technicians, some who are less proficient but have other "assets" and some who are big personalities but not technical wizards. There are roles to suit all these types in the NYCB rep. There are roles for mature, Indian-summer-of-the-career dancers and roles for young dynamos. Back in the 70s I saw some very memorable performances and some mediocre ones. It is the same today. The corps can be really on one night, ragged the next. It was the same back then. Some people could do triple pirouettes, someone else might only do two...but beautifully. There were turners who couldn't jump, jumpers who couldn't turn, men who landed too heavily, partnering glitches, broken wrists, funny fingers, people fell, you name it. I think it is a human condition to remember the past as being golden and feel the present to be somewhat tarnished. That is certainly true in the opera world. I have kept a "ballet diary" over the years, and all my programmes...sometimes I read back about those early years and am surprised at how I reacted to some of the dancers who we now consider legends. But mostly I like to enjoy the present. I do not think it is worse today; it is different...but that is inevitable. I have accepted this and that is perhaps why I enjoy going now more than at any time in the past. We have no way of knowing how it might be if someone other than Peter ran the company; we can surmise. Someone else might have cracked the whip more, kept that elusive "technical level" at a higher notch. Maybe it could be better. I always think: it could be much, much worse. Or, it could not exist at all. So I don't complain much. If it got to a disturbingly low level, I could stop going. Instead I seem to be going more and more, and regretting the nights I have to skip.

The two ballets that come to mind which have sort of been "different" were LA STRAVAGANZA and VESPRO. I liked the first and hated the second. In general, I have liked Wheeldon's plotless ballets (POLYPHONIA, MERCURIAL, MORPHOSES, SHAMBARDS) more than his "story/costume" ones (SCENES DE BALLET, VARIATIONS SERIEUSES, CARNIVAL OF ANIMALS)... Choice of music is a key to building an interesting ballet; some of the recent Diamond Project pieces suffered from uninspiring scores. Two ballets that I greatly enjoyed, PRISM and TWILIGHT COURANTE, showed imaginative use of familiar music. Balanchine's range was enormous: from BAROCCO to PORTE & SOUPIR, from WESTERN SYMPHONY to EPISODES. I wonder if newcomers to the ballet, seeing these 4 Balanchine works on a single programme without being told they were all the work of one choreographer, would be able to figure it out. After HAIKU, I'm looking forward to seeing what Albert Evans comes up with next...

Perky, I agree with you about Pauline Golbin...pure glamour! I love watching her and always hope to see her get some featured roles. She now seems to be in that group of select "taller girls" so she is frequently to the fore. I used to run into her sometimes in the Village and she is always dressed with a sort of casual elegance, whereas some of the other girls look like they threw on whatever they could rummage up. Oberon

For me, the ballets that looked best were EPISODES and 4 TEMPS...EPISODES, especially, thrilled me. In general I thought that it was a very good, solid season but without alot of really memorable individual performances. Although I thought Wendy Whelan may have come back off her injury a bit too soon, she undoubtedly did not want to miss the Balanchine season altogether. She gave many engrossing performances but a very slight feeling of caution was there. Nevertheless, her MOZARTIANA, CAGE, BARBER VIOLIN, EPISODES, SYMPHONY IN C, GLASS PIECES and MUSAGETE were among the very best things I saw this season. Wendy being cautious is like most ballerinas going full-tilt. Weese was excellent in SHAMBARDS, THEME & RAYMONDA. Sylve and Ansanelli had some really exciting nights. At this point, I am so happy to see Kyra and Darci dancing so well...any minor difficulties they might have seem so unimportant when viewed in the light of their lyricism and musicality. Borree had a lovely role in ANDANTINO. There were many other very pleasing performances from the female principals. And Bouder's Firebird was electrifying. It is becoming an increasingly rare delight to enjoy Peter Boal, he seems to be dancing less frequently than ever. His OPUS 19, with Wendy, was a joint triumph for them. Robert Tewsley in MUSAGETE, Albert Evans in 4 TEMPS (and everything else he did); Marcovici and Hubbe also had some interesting roles. Millepied did not dance so often, I believe he may still feel the effects of his earlier injury. The injuries that plagued the season were disturbing, and for me Abi Stafford (though she eventually returned) and especially Janie Talyor were sorely missed. It was a joy to see Edwaard Liang back at NYCB, and Stephen Hanna is turning into a prince of a dancer. If I start in on the corps, this posting will run to Proustian lengths, but I must mention Laracey in EROS PIANO and Rebecca Krohn in CAGE. After her radiant Lilac Fairy, I try to keep an eye on Amanda Hankes and of course it is difficult to keep your eyes OFF Carla Korbes. Much, much wonderful dancing from the various corps dancers that I love. Most of the guests I could have done without, though Dupont & Legris were pretty nice. It would have been lovely to see Gitte Lindstrom again. Overall, I don't think guests are really needed at NYCB...there are plenty of soloist or corps level dancers that I would like to see get opportunities rather than bring in outsiders. But I understand the idea of inviting guests for the Balanchine Celebration. I look forward to the Winter Season, hopefully free from injuries.

Yes, there has been a decline in the Robbins area at NYCB, but I believe an anniversary is coming up and several works are to be revived then. While I enjoy some Robbins ballets, I do not think he is on a level with Balanchine as a choreographer and I am not sure how many of his works will continue to be performed as the decades pass. The change in the "tossing of the girl" in GATHERING was discussed here a few months ago. It started at a performance I attended where there was a very serious faux pas at this moment in the ballet. At the next performance it had been changed and I have never seen it restored to its the original state. Perhaps it will be in future. It was suggested that, rather than alter the steps, more rehearsal should have been devoted to perfecting the passage...but the dancer who made the error was an old GATHERING hand...he never danced the ballet again. All the rehearsal and experience in the world won't erase a major flaw in performance. Just ask Dame Kiri Te Kanawa. Isn't Jean-Pierre Frohlich sort of the Robbins authority at NYCB now? He must have felt that the alteration was acceptable...for the safety of the ballerina.

Thanks, carbro...I like Tuttle and wanted to go on Monday but I couldn't get anyone to cover me at work. I was thinking it would be a good role for her.

Jock Soto, Marcelo Gomes, Amar Ramasar, David Hallberg, Albert Evans, Jose Manuel Carreno, Steve Hanna, Craig Hall, Seth Orza, Adam Hendrickson, Vincent Paradiso, and I think Eddie Liang is really attractive, too. Women? No one holds a candle to Helene Alexopoulos...but Korbes & Golbin are right up at the top and I have always found Amanda Edge and Carrie Lee Riggins quite striking. Miranda Weese is gorgeous, she is in fact delectable...

All of the discussion of MUSAGETE has set me to wondering, is NYCB still Balanchine's company? Or is it simply a ballet company which performs lots of his ballets? I always think of it as Balanchine's house, and like programmes with at least one Balanchine work included. And I can sit thru plenty of all-Balanchine evenings and be happy as a lark. But what about newer audiences? People who have only been going a few seasons, or are just starting to go? Do they think of it as a night of entertainment or as a trip to the Balanchine shrine? Do they know Balanchine's story, his connections to Diaghilev, to Stravinsky? His wives? His muse? Do you need to know all of this to enjoy his ballets? In the past couple of years, I have gotten tickets for one of my younger colleagues and his girlfriend...they have been 4 times, seeing mixed programmes. I have told him a little about Balanchine, but he's not that interested in "history". His favorite piece so far was Wheeldon's CAROUSEL, and he loved Peter's JEU DES CARTES and is smitten with Janie Taylor...understandably. He thought B-S Q was "pretty". And he wants to go again and again, he keeps asking me about various pieces in the repertoire. He wanted to see FIREBIRD last week as he loves Chagall. He went, and loved it. So, here's someone to whom Balanchine essentially means very little yet he is very enthusiastic about the company and getting hooked on it.

...if anyone saw COPPELIA, please report. Thanks, Oberon

Wednesday = OPUS 19/THE DREAMER received a mesmerizing performance from Whelan & Boal. Boal to me is a perfect dancer, everything is so clean and precise yet it all flows...and dramatically the man gives and gives and gives...I was enthralled watching him.Wendy's mystery & clarity echo him perfectly. One of the highlights of the season. Excellent corps. Otherwise it was not an especially good night, though fun to see CORTEGE HONGROIS again...Albert & Ringer were sensational gypsies and Abi Stafford and Dana Hanson fine in their solos...Cavallo was good if a bit stiff, Nilas gave it a go and in the final series of turns he was pretty good. They looked like they needed one more rehearsal. VALSE-FANTAISIE, such a pretty ballet, seemed lacklustre tonight. Whenever I see Megan Fairchild I feel I am watching some high-school kid...I cannot see anything special in her dancing and would rather have seen Abi, Carrie Lee Riggins, Bouder or Mandradjieff. de Luz was de Luz...small, cute, buoyant. The four corps girls did well. Borree and Hubbe danced ZAKOUSKI perfectly well but is is not a very interesting ballet and I have always hated the dumb final pose of the woman's solo. But OPUS 19 made the evening worthwhile.

Canbelto, the thought of seeing Wendy Whelan in GISELLE or BAYADERE makes my pulse race.

Bobjot, I so enjoyed your remarks about Kyra Nichols...she is one heavenly dancer!

Yes, I agree that NYCB audiences are quite conservative and in fact I pretty much agree with everything canbelto says, and I too LOVE Wagner!! (Ever seen Paul Taylor's ROSES, set to the SIEGFRIED IDYLL?) At NYCB, ballet is woman...the passions are refined, suffering becomes spiritual...and I just love it. I do wonder if someone were to make a ballet in which two men (or two women) were to be portrayed as lovers, how would NYCB audiences react? I remember ABT doing MacMillan's TRIAD which showed two men in a loving domestic relationship only to have Amanda McKerrow swoop in and carry one of them off to hetero-land, leaving the other man bereft.

Lampwick's review seems pretty fair...and yes, cats are very sensual! Americans? Conservative? Oh, yeah...here in the land of the brave, home of the free I can't serve in the military or marry the person I love.

I voted "other". The ballet is certainly interesting...just look at all the interest it has generated. The premieres of L'APRES-MIDI D'UN FAUN and SACRE were considered in very bad taste and caused alot of negative reaction...and sold-out houses for Diaghilev. I wasn't bored with it...I also feel no desire to see it again.

I didn't hate it, but I also wouldn't want to see it again. I am not sure if the Eifman ballet is the reason, but on the last 3 days I have been in the lobby at different times of the day (I work nearby) and there have been unusually long lines, considering the season is almost over. My feeling is, it will play another season...too much was spent on costumes and it was well-received by a large part of the opening night audience. Remember, you don't have to go if you don't want to.

Carbro, I've sat next to Mary Helen Bowers and Emily Coates in 4th Ring (not at the same performance!)...the dancers who are not dancing have free standing room space on the First Ring; I have often seen Daniel Ulbricht, Abi Stafford, Janie Taylor and others there. Merrill Ashley & Sean Lavery seem to have their own personal seats near the rear of the orchestra...they are there at almost every performance.

Farrell Fan, of all the things written about MUSAGETE here to date, I feel you have hit the nail on the head. Anyone who didn't "know" the ''subtext' of the ballet would have seen an aged ballet master in a nursing home remembering in dreams/nightmares his life and work. I wonder if audiences other than the NYCB audience, not versed in Balanchine lore (the tendu pose, Mourka, Suzanne, etc.) would view the work differently. Judging from the enthusiasm, a good number of the opening night audience found something to like in the piece. I was doing some yelling myself, but it was for the dancers.

Solo bows before the curtain at NYCB are rare, but in recent years I have seen Jock (CHIAROSCURO), Wendy (CAGE), Peter Boal (APOLLO), Damian (ORGANON), and Wendy & Peter B separately (OPUS 19) accorded this honor. Whether you like the Eifman or not, Tewsley certainly gave a powerful performance and deserved his ovation. Has any other choreographer been the subject of a ballet? Well, Nijinsky, I suppose...but he is primarily remembered as a dancer. Balanchine's life (the wives, the elusive muse, the famous cat, the many signature movements & gestures from his ballets) certainly provides interesting raw material. What would a ballet about Petipa, Ashton or Robbins be like?

Tewsley brought Quinn out after MUSAGETE, gallantly kissing her hand. Lovely...

Eifman's new ballet, MUSAGETE, which begins as a dance drama and ends with a pastiche of DIAMONDS/SYMPHONY IN C and veers in many directions over the course of its progress, will annoy, disgust, delight or amuse people. But for me the unalloyed success of the evening was Robert Tewsley's portrayal of Balanchine. We knew Tewsley was a noble and poetic dancer, but who would have thought he was such a potent and daring actor, both in his startling use of the body as an expressive instrument and his beautifully emotional face. Whether you agree with this choreographer's portrait of Balanchine or not, one could only admire Tewsley's utter commitment to what was asked of him. His much-deserved solo bow drew a wave of cheers from the audience...as did Eifman's bow. The public, in fact, seemed to be thoroughly captivated with the ballet. There is so much to take in, so many references...it would take paragraphs to chronicle it all. It certainly held my attention at every moment, but I did think the shift from psycho-drama to bejewelled finale was somewhat jarring. Who but Wendy could have portrayed Mourka? In the choreographic highlight of the piece, her uncanny and amazingly supple body went through impossible stretches and poses using Tewsley's body as her support, object of affection and scratching post. She looked incredible in her jet-beaded cap and bodice. It was upsetting to watch Ansanelli portray LeClerq's eventual suffering...as the "healthy" Tanny, Alexandra danced superbly. I suppose if you are doing a ballet about Balanchine, this episode has to be included. Kowroski danced Suzanne with awesome extension and staked out her resistance at the barre...on which Balanchine then had a sort of breakdown. I half expected Benjamin Millepied to portray Paul Mejia and Nilas to portray his father, but these developments were left out in favor of the purely balletic finale. Steve Hanna, partnering Maria, has developed into a veritable prince before our very eyes. Earlier, Hanna was the dreamer in the Elegie of SUITE #3...having loved Karin, Helene and Monique in this role, and having seen Korbes's earlier performance a couple years ago, I was astounded at her development...so womanly, so lyrical & so mysterious. She & Hanna were thrilling. The bewitching Rachel Rutherford excelled in the Waltz with Fayette partnering her ardently. Tinsley & Gold spun and leapt through the scherzo with a light touch. Angel Corella had some fans over from ABT who cheered him on...he danced very well, of course, but in the end I missed Damian. Corella seemed a bit too small for Miranda. She, that most luscious of ballerinas who is having an extraordinary season, was extraordinary tonight...I could watch her dance for hours. She has it all.

Yes, that is a good idea... I do like the way Quinn bows from the podium after she enters the pit...she stops and takes in the audience at every level of the house and then bows her head. Often it seems during the curtain calls that the ballerina almost "forgets" to fetch the maestro...sometimes you can see the partner mouthing "Go get the conductor!"

I hate lists.