KayDenmark

The NYCB has growing coterie of mature dancers – meaning over-35s. Although age may add depth and subtlety to a performance, are there some Balanchine parts that are simply not feasible or appropriate for a mature dancer?

How long can a dancer continue to perform the company’s repertoire – historically, have there been any NYCB principals whose prime continued past 40 or 45?

How does a dancer stay in peak shape – physically and psychologically - when, like Kyra Nichols or Robert La Fosse, he or she only performs two or three times a season?

And are there some roles that are simply better when performed by a mature dancer?

I agree that Hall would make an electrifying Apollo. He seems popular with the NYCB audience, if this board is anything to go by. I can't understand why he wasn't promoted to soloist with the recent Group of Nine.

Yes, I'd also expect Ask to show up as Apollo at some point. Peter Martins still seems to see Apollo as blond or, at least, fair. Perhaps on some level he still sees Apollo as "his" part, and casts it with dancers who resemble him physically, if not always stylistically. I agree that Albert Evans would make a great Apollo, and once asked him during an interview if he would like to do it. He said "Of course." I'm sure it would sell tickets, which is something Martins usually does his best to do.

Dale, now that you mention it, I haven't ever seen anyone but Nilas Martins do Orpheus. This ballet is certainly performed less frequently than Apollo - is it because it is generally considered to be inferior, or is it just not a favorite of the company's current management?

If you'd asked me five years ago, I would have paid through the nose for a ticket to see Millepied do Prodigal. Now I'm not so sure. Again, I'm watching the company from a distance, but in the performances I've seen since then, he hasn't shown the personality and charisma I originally found so exciting. Perhaps he could be coached well in the part and surprise me.

Stephen Hanna and Jared Angle are currently the youngest male principals - would either one of them be appropriate? Or are their strengths in partnering?

Forgive me for revisiting an issue I raised in spring 2005, but the recent spate of retirements and promotions may shed new light on the topic.

Apollo, Prodigal Son and Orpheus are all absent from the NYCB schedule this year. That may be a calculated choice, giving the audience a bit of perspective between the Boal and post-Boal eras. But given that Boal has retired and Hubbe, Woetzel, Nilas Martins are presumably in the late afternoon of their careers, which of the younger NYCB men are well placed to provide the next interpretations of these great Balanchine roles? Who has the talent, who has the emotional intelligence and depth, who has the looks? (Apollo, at least in Peter Martins' mind, seems to require a certain look.)

I only watch the company from a distance, so I'd be very interested to hear what more regular viewers think. Are any of the new soloists good candidates?

Rosie, I'm translating from the Danish ticket agency blurb below:

"Ballet Stars of Tomorrow. Something entirely new: the Royal Theater's ballet schools in Copenhagen,

Holstebro and Odense get their own show on the main stage of the Royal Theatre. The 125 students between 7 and 16 will show excerpts from Napoli's third act and Graduation Ball, steps from class and new choreography by Louise Midjord, Ann Crosset, Esther Lee Wilkinson and Ann Kolvig. Anne Marie Vessel Schlüter is MC and will delight us with ancedotes about the young dancers."

John Rockwell's review from today's New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/16/arts/dan...pib&oref=slogin

It's an odd review, I think - Rockwell first talks about two pieces he doesn't like, then circles around to say that Millepied's own composition was actually quite lovely. Where were the Times' copy editors?

It's amazing that all the City Ballet dancers found time to rehease these pieces in the midst of the winter season.

I wonder if all of these promotions at one time is a sign of things to come with regards to a few of the more seasoned veterans stepping-down in the near future to make way for additional promotions to the principal level??

At least six of the company's male principals - Woetzel, Hubbe, Askegård, Evans, Nilas Martins, and Philip Neal - would seem to be approaching the ages at which dancers often retire, so it would make sense for the company to groom their successors.

Happy to see Ramasar moving up, and sorry to see that Craig Hall wasn't one of the chosen.

Hope none of the lucky nine slip into that "black hole" that sometimes swallows soloists - no longer in corps parts, but not quite ready for principal parts, and they're somehow never heard from again.

That's a great interview!

When young dancers leave NYCB, one tends to fear the worst, but it's nice to know that Emily Coates left for the "right" reason - to further explore her passion for dance.

We non-New Yorkers would love to see it too!

If anyone from the company is reading, how about putting a PDF of the company's posters and/or subscription brochures on the website?

And when IS that new website going to be ready, anyway? The current version is certainly showing its age.

Wow, Oberon, that's the kind of show I wish I could have seen!

So happy to see Craig Hall getting some opportunities and carrying them off with aplomb. He seems sometimes to be an afterthought to NYCB management.

I'm a great fan of Craig, and I hope to see him get a chance at many new roles.

Wendy has been getting a lot of media attention recently - well-deserved, of course, but is there a particular reason the attention should come now, as opposed to at some other time?

Usually news organisations look for a "news hook", ie a signficant role, significant birthday, significant event, etc.

I would prefer that the dancers do not fall for me. Injury may result.

Re: Fancy Free, whatever happened to Pascal van Kipnis? She used to be a regular in that red-handbag role. I had to check the NYCB website to confirm that she was still with the company, and apparently she is.

It seems like soloists sometimes fall into a black hole and are never heard from again.

Jennie is really game for being willing to do this! Talk about having to sacrifice for your art.

Thanks for pointing this out, Amanda. I'm also a huge Somogyi fan.

I've heard that Ramasar shows a similar passion in his performances.

Would those of you who get to the State Theater more often than I do say that this is true?

I agree with Michael. I've also recieved moderator feedback when I noted that one dancer was not my favorite, feedback that urged me to "focus on the positive."

That approach chills lively debate, in my opinion. I'd rather read something I passionately disagree with than a string of happy talk.

Furthermore, positive comments mean a lot more when they are sincere. If other posters can openly say so when they believe La Sublimova was not at her best, it means a lot more when they say that she DID have a fantastic performance.

My point of view is that anything that takes place on the stage should be open for comment. We're not here to gossip about dancers' personal lives - unless they choose themselves to present them in the media - but paid performances should be open to honest comment from paying audiences.

Interesting to see that they mentioned both Woetzel and Hubbe, neither of whom seems to dance much any more. Somebody's got a long memory.

Neal and Marcovici danced the two male roles - not sure which one was originated by Boal.

Taylor was listed as part of the Tivoli cast, and her headshot appeared in the program, but she did not dance in the performance I saw and was not mentioned in any of the reviews.

Can't imagine the Morgen columns would have been any bigger or heavier than the Thou Swell costumes.

According to the Danish newspaper "Berlingske Tidende," former NYCB dancer Ulrik Wivel has just released another short film starring Nikolaj Hubbe, who worked with him on "Dancer" a few years ago.

The 25 minute film, titled "Jeg Dig Elsker," is in Danish and follows Hubbe as he stages a new version of Bournonville's famous "La Sylphide." ["Jeg Dig Elsker" means I love you, in old-fashioned sounding, poetic Danish]

"A refined blend of documentary and fiction," says reviewer Vibeke Wern. "We follow a serious and thoughtful Nikolaj Hubbe in his work staging La Sylphide at the Royal Theater."

"Ulrik Wivel's artistry consists of his ability to cross-cut between practice room, performance, and a solitary Hubbe alone in his hotel room."

"Now and then the film can be a bit irritating, when important mime movements take place outside of the camera frame. But we can clearly see Mads Blangstrup in the practice room carrying out the central bit of mime, from which the film gets its title."

"And as a gesture of love to both Bournonville and 'La Sylphide,' we see Hubbe beautifully repeat this gesture at the end of the film."

I should add that Red Angels actually got quite a positive review in Politikken, which headlined its review "You Can't Have Enough Red Angels," and praised Ashely Bouder's work.

One more review, from the establishment newspaper Berlingske Tidende. Vibeke Wern gave the performance five out of six stars and wrote:

It's amazing what the New York City Ballet can do in toe shoes. It doesn't matter if it is Balanchine's classic steps to Tchaikovsky, Ulysses Dove's hypermodern choeography to electric violin or Peter Martins' ballroom ballet to jazz evergreeens. At the gala NYCB performance in honor of the reopening of Tivoli's concert hall, we saw a whole palette of ballet styles in the six works on the program.

Whereupon Ms. Wern waxes enthusiastic about absolutely everything, with the exception of Nilas Martins' performance in Allegro - she says he is no match for Weese. When it comes to Zakouski, she writes.

One of the evening's high points was Nikolaj Hubbe and Yvonne Bouree in Martins soon-to-be-classic Zakouski. With playful and nonchalant energy, the charismatic Hubbe phrased his courtly steps and jumps to classic Russian tones, while Yvonne Bouree is an elegant and devoted ballerina.

She also had some mildly kind words for Thou Swell.

Peter Martins' very American Thou Swell is not in the same weight class as Zakouski. In this ode to Richard Rodgers, elegance and nostalgia are in focus. Jenifer Ringer and Amara (sic) Ramasar are fortunately able to put a bit of life in their fancy clothes. But with a jazz trio and a singing duo live onstage, Martins' show ballet with a starry sky in the background made a wonderful ending to the gala program at Tivoli Concert Hall.

Newspaper review from Monna Ditmer in Politiken, slightly left-leaning broadsheet:

For me, Nikolaj Hubbe is still the king of this company. Only he could make something like Peter Martins' Russian pastiche Zakouski really catch fire. He is somehow able to balance between a Russian duke's dancing dignity and the flippant haughtiness of the phasing, giving this gallant number an ironic twist.

But there was no help or Hubbe to save Peter Martins' flatflooted finale Thou Swell..The couples danced until it was time to put on their coats and go home, but Martins should have just put them and the rest of this number to bed in New York. Without the finale this company would have been much stronger.

Newspaper review from Henrik Lyding in “Jyllands-Posten”, the top-selling daily newspaper in Denmark, with a USA Today-like tone.

The opening is brilliant. (Allegro Brilliante) The middle is a couple of lightweight pieces and a refreshing birthday greeting. (Liturgy, Red Angels, Zakouski, and Tarantella, a salute to Bouronville’s 200th birthday) The finale is an insult…Peter Martins is probably and hopefully a good ballet executive for the New York City Ballet, but he is a wretched choreographer. He takes advantage of his position when it comes to programming and casting, and therefore we have to put up with his supposedly festive finale Thou Swell.

The problem is that Martins doesn't have a sense for interesting or original steps, either as a show or a ballet choreographer. A yawning bore of a cavalcade was the result. Think if Balanchine or Jerome Robbins had worked to Richard Rodgers melodies!

In the middle were three small numbers. Red Angels, by Ulysses Dove, was done without warmth or charm as a purely aesthetic show of steps. It was followed by Zakouski, which also bored us at the Royal Theatre ten years ago. Nikolaj Hubbe and Yvonne Bouree made its banalities into intelligent dance, but think if we had had the chance to see Hubbe as Apollo!

But no more complaining. Balanchine's subtle and loving note to Bouronville, Tarantella, was a charming little ballet, and the first part of the program, Balanchine’s Allegro Brilliante, was delicate, elegant and well-danced.

Jenni was wonderful - she's so wonderfully supple and athletic, yet graceful and feminine at the same time. Strong, but light on her feet. She's what I think of as a truly American ballerina. She seems to be back in full form.

To be honest, the Tarantella height difference didn't bother me nearly as much as the Fairchild/de Luz contrast in Zakouski. And I don't think Fairchild is particularly tall! It's unfair that de Luz's lack of height should lessen his impact onstage, but it sure does.

I will agree that Hyltin was poorly suited for the Tarantella. Oh well, that's what performing overseas is all about - taking chances.

I have not yet seen the local reviews of the Tivoli performances, but I will do a search for them later today.

Sterling Hyltin was Ulbricht's partner, but she didn't make much of an impression on me.