Notes on May 20

[Leigh Witchel]

On Thursday night (May 20) Miranda Weese and Nikolaj Hübbe were still finding their way to La Source; I’m not sure Hübbe ever will. Like Michael Trusnovec at Paul Taylor, it doesn’t matter that Hübbe is fair; his temperament is dark. La Source is an emotionally straightforward work; there’s no darkness shot through it. It doesn’t need Hübbe’s diablerie and he doesn’t need it. He hurls himself into what should be light jumps and inserts false stops and starts into his variation to give himself something to hook into. It’s like watching a cat toy with a mouse out of boredom before moving in for the kill. Wednesday was Weese’s debut in the role. She understands how to lead a ballet, but La Source is heavy on arabesques and light on footwork; it doesn’t have her steps. She brightened considerably in the solo variations, but she hasn’t yet found room to expand in the adagios.

Nichols and Askegard had a very fine Davidsbündlertänze; for Nichols it seemed even better than last season’s performances. Kistler danced the Farrell role; her reading of it at this point is eccentric and vampy. Ansanelli made her debut as one of the women in the secondary quartet (in Heather Watts’ role) and she did it go-for-broke. That’s what’s interesting about her process. To find her place in a role, she needs to find the excess in it and there needs to be room for her to push its edges; force the accents and extend the lines. She doesn’t dance much with Hübbe and it may be too much to put them together; they did a very dramatic Violin Concerto a while back. Ringer was lovely in the Mazzo role.

Because this is one of Balanchine’s late works; the original dancers are relatively clear in memory, and it’s interesting to trace the lineage; to see what’s maintained and what’s altered with time. Nichols has pretty much owned von Aroldingen’s role for the better part of a decade (Farrell also did it before she retired). Kistler and now Kowroski inherited the bulk of Farrell’s roles. I’d argue that with Kowroski the resemblance ends at the physical; she needs to force herself temperamentally into Farrell’s parts. The intersection between Kistler and Farrell is that both are otherworldly, but totally different planets. Ansanelli is getting several of Watts’ roles via Wendy Whelan, but like Weese, she has a different effect when she gets them. It’s not so much Mazzo I see in Ringer, but Judy Fugate, who did this role late in her career.

It’s always great to see The Four Temperaments. Robert Tewsley substituted for Askegard in Sanguinic. He and Hübbe could have comfortably switched parts (Hübbe would be very interesting in any of the male roles in the ballet) but I’m glad Tewsley is doing it. Sanguinic is a good route into the black and white works; it’s familiar in structure (a good old grand pas de deux) but with adjustments to make from classical timing and placement. Tewsley is clean and elegant in the part; he doesn’t look native but I like his accent more as time passes. He’s making a real effort to acquire the repertory. Tess Reichlen also made a debut; she has everything for Choleric but fire. It was like her Episodes last week; her body is so pliant that it offers no resistance to the steps. There are roles that need some tension. Right now, she’s better in sunnier parts like the second ballerina in Piano Concerto No. 2. And it isn’t as if she’s the most ligament-free girl in the company. Right behind her, Faye Arthurs lifts her leg up to the front and smacks herself in the face; it takes her effort not to.

[perky]

It's interesting to read your comments on Davidbundlertanze. It's one of my favorite Balanchine ballets but Kistler's performance last Thursday almost ruined it for me. Her accents seemed too strong and she seemed way too jittery and frantic.

She missed that otherworldly serenity and strength that Farrell had. But Kyra Nichols saved the performance for me with her steady and calming influence.

[Leigh Witchel]

Yes, she pushed the role hard, and though there is something about the character that is supposed to be flirtatious yet unreachable, I didn't think it suited the part.

[Helene]

A note on older casts,

I saw the ballet a bunch of times between 1983 and 1993, and these are the casts I have listed:

Farrell/d'Amboise

Farrell/d'Amboise

Calegari/Kozlov

Kozlova/Crabtree and Kozlov

von Aroldingen/Lüders

von Aroldingen/Lüders

Nichols/Lüders and Proia

Farrell/Lüders

Watts/Martins

Watts/Martins, Joseph Duell, Soto, and LaFosse

Mazzo/Andersen

Leland/Andersen

Saland/Andersen

Fugate/Houston and Huys

Calegari took Farrell's role in the one performance I saw in which Farrell took von Aroldingen's role, and Proia took Lüders' role in the one performance I saw in which Lüders didn't dance it. I never saw any other dancer in Watts' role, and it's hard for me to envision anyone else in it. Mazzo retired before I saw the ballet performed, and Leland is in the recorded version.

I've always loved this ballet.

[Drew]

I saw Kistler dance the Farrell role in Davidsbundlertanze Thursday and Saturday night and was a touch shocked--she appeared to be mugging through the choreography. She didn't seem Farrell like and she didn't effectively reinvent the role in her own image either.

I can't say I remember Farrell's performance in detail, but I do recall that even when she had a playful, erotic quality she remained a more otherworldly or mysterious figure--Kistler danced as if she thought her character was a flirty jokester and a bit of a drama queen. Yet Saturday she received the biggest cheers of anyone in the cast and although I'm aware she is much (and deservedly) loved by the NYCB audience, I was still curious if perhaps I had somehow missed or misunderstood something in her performance. I was actually slightly relieved when I read Leigh Witchel's and Perky's comments. (This is one Farrell role in which I found Kowroski quite magical when I saw her dance it a few seasons back.)

I also found Ansanelli's performance to be a little too callow for the ballet even if one allowed that she was part of a "couple" that was supposed to be younger and more impulsive in its love, but in her case I could feel some potential in what she was doing--and the role is not quite so central to the ballet. On the other hand I did like both Nichols and Ringer very much. Watching Ringer and Boal next to Ansanelli and Martins, one saw and felt the beauty of a 'less is more' approach to the choreography. Saturday night, I thought Nichols was even more intense dramatically than Thursday; Ringer, too, semed even more deeply connected to her role and (if possible) more beautiful than on Thursday. (I suppose that seeing the ballet a second time simply helped me connect better to the performances I most admired.)

Back to Thursday...I actually quite enjoyed Hubbe in La Source. It's not a ballet I've seen much, so perhaps I was less sensitive to ways in which his approach didn't "fit" the ballet. Anyway, I found the nuance and musicality of the performance quite engaging.