Spring 2004 Week 1

[Dale]

Anybody go to the first night?

[oberon]

Kyra Nichols, dancing with greater abandon than she has for a couple of years, made a wonderful impression with her flowing lyricism in WALPURGISNACHT...it's nice to have a living legend dancing on this kind of form. Askegard & Lindy Mandradjieff added to the success of the piece and Kyra was enthusiastically cheered by the large & attentive audience. SONATINE, danced attractively by Aurelie Dupont & Manuel Legris of the Paris Opera Ballet, is an innocuous bon-bon. The lack of Janie Taylor was appeased by fine portrayals of the doomed lovers in LA VALSE from Rachel Rutherford and Robert Tewsley; Jock Soto was an eerie Death figure and several excellent contributions from the soloist/corps dancers most notably Stephen Hanna who is a mesmerizing stage presence...Krohn, Edge,Tinsley, Bar, Beskow, Muller all lovely. Jenifer Ringer's gracious beauty lit up the opening movement if SYMPHONY IN C with Nilas Martins her ever-attentive cavalier. Wendy Whelan's adagio enthralled me, both in her dancing and in the air of mystery she creates...she was very warmly welcomed back by the audience, called out twice after the adagio. Askegard took perfect care of her. Bouder & Millepied gave a joyous 3rd movement, brilliant dancing from both. And Jennifer Tinsley made a fine impression with her speed and clarity in the 4th movement (with Arch Higgins)...as the stage filled for the finale the energy seemed to overflow.

It was, as always, a joy to see the dancers again including Sarah Ricard whom I missed during the Winter season. If I were to start listing all the corps people who caught my eye at various points this posting would become very long. Anyway, it was for me a super evening and a thrill to have Wendy back.

[carbro]

It was an outstanding evening of ballet. I was impressed in W'purgisnacht not only by Nichols' amazingly fine form, but perhaps more by Mandradjieff's command. Mandradjieff, who danced clearly and brightly, has developed an amazing lift to everything she does. The tombes back from her pique arabesques were s-o-o-o-o

s-l-o-o-o-o-o-w, her balon remarkable. Plus, she looks grander in size than she did last season.

In Sonatine, I found Dupont and Legris physically incompatible. He is just too slight for her. Also -- quibbling -- I did not perceive much change of level between when she was on pointe and when she was on flat feet, and her feet are not so tiny! But both danced with charm and the appropriate French accent that's been missing here since originators Verdy & Bonnefoux departed.

LaValse has regained its edge, which for so long was missing in action. (Or missing, inaction? ) Back were the danger and mystery. I join Oberon in singling out a Myrtha-like Krohn; also Hanna, whose pirouettes from kneeling port-de-bras (clear?) were seamless and impassioned.

Bouder stole Bizet, flat out, and maybe the whole night. :flowers: The most thrilling performance I have ever, ever seen of that role in over 30 years, although the whole ballet was danced at an unusually high level. When Ashley was on stage, I could feel my heart beating fast, and neither I nor the young man in the next seat could quite sit still. :hyper: I can't wait to see what lies ahead for this young lady. :huepfen:

Editing to add: Program insert attributed Janie Taylor's absence to illness. Get well soon, Janie!

[Françoise]

Carbro, I must say as a French reader of your review , I'm really surprised by your comment about Aurélie Dupont and Manuel Legris .

They dance so often together, I never saw a difference between them, perhaps, is she a few tall for him, but they are one of the most beautiful couple of POB :shrug: .

Concerning Aurelie , she is suffering from foot since several weeks, perhaps it can explain the no difference between pointes and not. I know she wanted too many dance this part despite her injury.

[flipsy]

Balanchine is 100, and he has a new muse. Wendy Whelan stopped the show last night when NYCB opened the spring season of its Balanchine Centennial, as she and partner Charles Askegard took two roaring curtain calls after the second movement of Symphony in C. At 35, Whelan has emerged as the most articulate interpreter of Balanchine's choreography. Last night, her penchee was spectacular and her final swoon luxuriously romantic, but you could say that about others who have done the role. What's different, I think, is the subtlety and clarity of her changes in level, shape, and direction, especially the last. Whelan knows how to make herself visible from all angles, like a cut diamond, with tiny shifts of the shoulder or hip. What she accomplishes is pure Balanchine -- making us see the music, but on a deeper level, in all its complexity and trickiness. This is wonderful news for those of us who feared that Balanchine's work would decay in the hands of those who never knew him. Whelan knows him.

Symphony in C saved what was otherwise an odd program for opening night. The opener was Walpurgisnacht and the centerpiece was La Valse, two spooky ballets that would seem better suited for Halloween than spring. We were also treated to introductory remarks by a French consular official, and a guest appearance by two two dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet. The explanation: this was an evening of French music, the opening of a European Music festival, celebrating Balanchine's love and appreciation of same. That's nice. But it seems to me that a vast category like "European Music" is hardly the thing to get excited about on opening night of the Balanchine centennial! How about Balanchine? Dividing the spring season into three music festivals (American and Russian to follow) may have something to do with Balanchine's musical influences, but it seems to me to add a distracting layer of gimmickry to what ought to be a pure look at a master's work. The Movado Watch company is sponsoring this festival; but whose idea was it?

Back to Symphony in C: Jenifer Ringer was smooth and generous as always in the first movement, while demi-soloist Teresa Reichlen almost stole the show from her with her long-legged leaps. Ashley Bouder and Benjamin Millepied put on the fireworks in the leaping third movement, though Bouder's off-beat phrasing at times got a bit too precious. Ana Sophia Scheller, a recent refugee from ABT, made a sparkling debut in an otherwise ragged corps. An elegant Jennifer Tinsley and Arch Higgins kept up with the zippy pace of the finale, conducted by Andrea Quinn.

Edited April 28, 2004 by flipsy

[justafan]

I too thought it was a phenomenal evening of ballet. The company as a whole looked wonderful -- rested and well-rehearsed. There was not one poor note in the entire evening.

I loved Aurelie Dupont and Manuel Legris and thought they delivered a performance you would expect of POB -- lyrical but precise at the same time. This was my first time seeing Sonatine, and while it is not a weighty ballet, I thoroughly enjoyed it in part for its quirkiness. I though Dupont and Legris were lovely and well-matched. I didn't see what Carbro saw, but once Legris started to dance his solos, he seemed to stretch and come into his own.

The highlight of the evening for me was Whelan's return, in Symphony in C. She was glorious, and didn't seem to be suffering any ill-effects from her previous injury. A performance to make you sigh -- food for the soul. I also loved Bouder's quick-as-lightening dancing in the third movement. She is a joy to watch.

While Rachel Rutherford delivered a fine performance in La Valse -- it is nice to see her get some well-deserved starring roles -- the evening's only downer was the absence of Janie Taylor. I was so looking forward to her return after she missed the winter season. Does anyone know if she has re-injured herself and whether we are likely to see her this season?

[Roma]

I thought Dupont and Legris danced together beautifully. She is just a little bit too tall for him, but there was such a wonderful rapport between them, that even when she was offstage he seemed to be dancing for her. Dupont has really blossomed since returning from her injury, and last night she danced with all the wit, intelligence, elegance, taste, and musical sensitivity one could wish for. She is a very beautiful woman, with a soft, feminine line, gorgeous-- very expressive-- feet, and an understated sort of glamour. Every inch an etoile.

[Françoise]

Aurelie began to become an artist before her deep injury, but now since she recovered, she became this wonderful artist whose we saw some sketches before. She has intelligence of the parts, musicality. Last february, she was the most beautiful Giselle of the serial and one of the best I saw since 20 years I go to POB !

[Juliette]

I'd have really liked to see that night! I've never seen Dupont and Legris in Sonatine (I hope they will dance it in Paris next September), but I find them particularly well-matched in Balanchine's pieces and there is a real chemistry between them. But I have to admit that the first time I saw them together I also found she was a little bit too tall for him (and still think it sometimes), but I think it's more obvious in great classical parts than in Balanchine's ones.

About Aurélie, she is according to me the best female principal at the moment in the POB and as Françoise said, her Giselle was wonderful!

[Alexandra]

Wow! What a start to the season!!! (I mean you guys ) Thanks for all the comments.

Flipsy, I can see your very interesting point about its being a marketing gimmick to have a French program, a Russian one, an American one, but I could also see that part of the fun of a repertory season is to see how (or if) ballets look different depending on the program they're on, what ballets they share a program with, etc.

Anyway, it's good to read they're off to a strong start, and good to welcome some new, or at least new-ish voices to our discussions. More please And please keep it up throughout the season -- no injuries, no illnesses, just lots of opinions and observations.

[carbro]

Symphony in C saved what was otherwise an odd program for opening night.  The opener was Walpurgisnacht and the centerpiece was La Valse, two spooky ballets that would seem better suited for Halloween than spring.

I sometimes wonder how to respond to Walpurgisnacht. Usually, Balanchine seems to have choreographed it with a wink of the eye and his tongue in cheek -- a light parody of bacchanalia ballets. But sometimes it gets a straightforward, serious performance. Last night, the dancers gave it just enough of a sense of fun, stopping safely short of turning it into camp.

Never occurred to me to see it in the same vein as La Valse, but I can see how that happens.

[nysusan]

This was my first time seeing Walpurgisnacht, La Valse and Sonatine. I especially liked the dancing in Walpurgisnacht - Nichols & Askegard, of course, but I was also really impressed by Mandradjieff and the 2 female soloists. Were they Riggins & Walker?

I loved the style (and stylishness) of La Valse, but found Sonatine to be pretty dull. I liked the french dancers, just thought there was nothing special about the piece.

I agree that Bizet was the evening's highlight - especially Whelan and Bouder. They were each amazing in their own way. I have loved Whelan since the first time I saw her (it was only a couple of years ago & I've only seen her in a few things), but despite the consensus on this board I had my reservations about Bouder last season. Last night she was absolute perfection in the 3rd movement. I'm going again tomorrow night, can't wait! :bouncing:

[Alexandra]

Tobi Tobias, on Kyra Nichols, in her Arts Journal Blog -- just up!

KYRA NICHOLS

For the last several years, Nichols has quietly and steadily demonstrated how a ballerina can comport herself with continuing grace and growing luminosity as she nears the close of her performing career.  Though time inevitably eroded her phenomenal technical capability, she has never relinquished the key elements—call them principles—of her dancing:  the purity, the musicality, the self-presentation so modest, so tactful, so reticent that her dancing figure, offering almost no ego, looks simply like a flowering of the music or perhaps the incarnation of Balanchine’s imagination.

[oberon]

Thank you, Alexandra, for posting the Tobi Tobias quote about Kyra...

"...luminosity..." : Tobias has found just the right words to describe this unique dancer at this stage of her long & admirable career.

[jimmattimore]

I can't help myself:I could see Symphony in C for 11 hours a night. Last winter a lot of persons found Benjamin Milliped to be outstanding , and he was tonight. I'm up in the fourth ring, and it was empty.Driving to work this morning in chilly, but sunny weather, I felt great for the first time in 2004: the sun was out, the flowers were growing and NYCB was back. To all: Happy spring and many more.

[GeorgeB fan]

I heart is full! I've just return from the State Theater after having one of the happiest experience at going to the NYCB! The Saturday Matinee performance (5/1) was just fantastic! I've been a long time lover of LaValse, but I think the ballet has never been danced as wonderfully as it was this afternoon. Rachel Rutherford as the Girl in White (while I wish Janie Taylor could have been well enough to perform Ms. Rutherford was very good), Robert Tewsley as her gallant suitor and Jock Soto as Death (no one danced attractive menace as well as Mr. Soto) made strong leads to a darkly romantic ballet. Ellen Bar, Saskia Beskow, Gwyenth Muller as the three Fates set the mood for the ballet at the very beginning. Eerie, mysterious, strange but more importantly danced with a sharpness, speed and clarity that seem to premeate throughout the entire ballet. But for me, the real discovery was Stephen Hanna! His dancing with the Fates was amazing, I don't think I've ever seen him dance with so much abandonment. He was great.

In my opinion Afternoon of a Faun belongs to Alexandra Ansanelli! She just seem to understand that role better than anyone else I've seen dance it. The clarity, delicateness, wide-eye innocent as well as the small touch of sexual curiousity was all there to see. When Damian Woetzel kiss her on the cheek and she slowly raise her hand to touch her face, you truly believe that she just experience her very first kiss. The bouquet of flowers thrown to her at the end of the performance from a audience member was well deserve.

The fragrance of french perfume was in the air when Aurelie Dupont and Manuel Legris from the Paris Opera Ballet brought the unique french style of dancing when the perform Sonatine. This may not be one of Balanchine's major works but you would not notice it with the way they danced it. They was in perfect harmony with one another. A wonderful performance. And as for pianist Elaine Chelton - Wow! I don't think I've ever heard anyone play the Ravel music played as beautifully as she played this afternoon.

But the moment I loved the most was discovering Jerome Robbins' The Four Seasons. In the seven years of going to City Ballet this is the first time I've ever seen this ballet. I had no idea what I was missing! The entire cast brought out all the humor, athletic, creativity and inventiveness of Robbins' choreography. But more importantly they danced with pure joy and abandonment! You knew they all was having the time of their lives. The only dancer I've single out is Carla Korbes. Her dancing in the summer section was fantastic. When she and Robert Trewsley finish dancing their pas de deux, before the audience could applaud her, someone at the top of their lungs shout Bravo! And boy, was that deserve! When is Peter Martins going to wise up and promote her to soloist and start giving her more important roles. She certainly deserve it!

[oberon]

Sunday matinee 5/2 = Wendy's dazzlingly crisp WALPURGISNACHT opened the programme, Askegard gave perfect support and Mandradjieff was spectacular in the soloist role. STABAT MATER is one of Peter's most tedious ballets, to me. The music (superbly sung by Amy Burton & David Walker) is lovely and the costumes and lighting are nice but all the dancing is too same-y...it just seems to go on and on, pleasant but aimless. A sextette of fine dancers (Kistler, Weese, Borree, Nilas, Jock Soto & Millepied...) I would much rather see MORGEN or BURLESKE. Robbins' FOUR SEASONS was a crowd-pleasing finale with excellent dancing from Bouder, Carmena, Suozzi, Rutherford & Fayette. Daniel Ulbricht's seemingly-impossible flying turns and leaps drove the public to cheers, then Damian tossed off a barrage of turns just to remind everyone that he's the King. Ansanelli, at her most daring and alluring, scored a big success and flowers were thrown to her at the end. Jenifer Ringer's lyrical radiance in Spring was a pleasure and it was great to see Edwaard Liang back onstage...his elegant, spacious dancing and astute partnering make us realize what we've missed in his absence.

[Alexandra]

fyi -- I just put up the new danceviewtimes, and there are three reviews of last week's programs:

DanceView Times

[Colleen Boresta]

I also went to the May 2nd matinee. "Stabat Mater" is a very pretty ballet - pretty costumes, pretty scenery, pretty dancers, pretty choreography that was extremely repetitive. I don't know if it's just me, but I've found that most of Martins' ballets suffer from the problem of repetitive choreography. And the ballet just seemed to go on and on and on. If "Stabat Mater had been half the length, I would have liked it much better.

On to "Walpurgisnacht Ballet". I've always loved this ballet, and this time was no exception. Wendy Whelan was especially good in the lead ballerina role. Whelan has always been a technically strong dancer, but in the past few years she's become an artist. She has a real rapport with the audience, and seems to enjoy thoroughly every step she dances. I don't think I've ever seen Whelan perform with as much joy as she showed on Sunday afternoon. I was disappointed not to see Megan Fairchild in the second ballerina role, but Lindy Mandradjieff danced it very well. She's a very promising young ballerina. All the female dancers did a good job in Walpurgisnacht. The one disappontment was Charles Askergard (whom I usually like). He was okay partnering Whelan during the pas de deux, but Askegard was really off in his later solo. He made one major fumble and a few smaller ones after that. Fortunately the male part is this ballet is very small. I was wondering about the weakness of NYCB's male dancers during the first intermission, but fortunately "The Four Seasons" showed me that NYCB has some really exceptional male dancers.

The highlight of the afternoon for me was "The Four Seasons". Oberon has already posted my feelings about the ballet better than I ever could, so I can be pretty brief. All the male dancers were superb, especially Ulbricht and Woetzl. Ulbricht filled the stage to overflowing with his superhigh leaps and love of dance.

And Oberon is certainly right - Woetzl is the king. He's so good that it's hard to do justice to his dancing in words. Woetzl is no kid either - he's got to be around 37 or so. He's certainly not slowing down, not even the slightest bit.

It was great seeing Edward Liang again. What a clean elegant line he has. Liang reminds me somewhat of ABT's David Halberg. The women were wonderful too.

Jennifer Ringer was the personification of Spring. Alexandra Ansanelli's performance was as indescribably wonderful as Damian Woetzl's. I don't think there's any part Ansanelli can't dance beautifully. She's become my favorite ballerina at NYCB, maybe my favorite ballerina period. I was disappointed with Rachel Rutherford in the Summer section. I really miss Helene Alexopoulos in this part. Alexopoulos had a smoldering sultriness that Rutherford lacks.

[Quiggin]

The Brahms-Schoenberg piece on Saturday was first rate Balanchine--a sort of lopsided Symphony in C, in pink, less cool and crystalline and, sadly, with no great recapitulation. Instead there was substitute gypsy dance last movement, Rondo alla Zingarese, which was a terrible disappointment after all the witty choreographic asides that had preceded it. I liked the first movement best, with its strange ending where most of the men stepped out of the scene, to let the last string of figures enfold on their own. In another section one of the women leaps into her cavalier's arms and he carries her off backwards and elsewhere the corps jack-knives open into asymmetrical arrangements. It's one of those seemingly traditional and innoculous ballets that Balanchine is subverting at every juncture.

I enjoyed the second movement of Thursday's Symphony in C with Maria Kowroski and Charles Askegard very much, but it has been years since I've seen a performance where the great abacus lines of corps upon corps and soloists upon soloists has totaled up to the great effect it should. Liebeslieder was great, and seemed to be even better on Saturday than Thursday, or else by then I was less jet-lagged. Kyra Nichols seemed to completely luxuriate in her role by then, not rush the ends of her figures, snap them off, as it seemed Thursday, and Wendy Whelan, when carried across stage, continued the "bloom" of her gestures, by varying them ever so slightly, inventing time, so that they filled out all of her being aloft.

When she spoke at the San Francisco Performing Arts Library with Sheryl Flatow earlier this spring, Kyra Nichols said that Liebeslieder, unlike other Balanchine works, was not one in which you looked to the audience for support, but in which you danced in as if you were in a box, in another world. You could say that Liebeslieder, which we all have been so lucky to see one more time this year, is something like one of those quiet and strange little boxes that Joseph Cornell made for Allegra Kent.