Megan Fairchild

[MakarovaFan]

I'm going to see Megan Fairchild dance Sugar Plum Fairy at NYCB this Sunday. Can anyone give me their opinions of her?

Thanks.

[E Johnson]

If you do a search of the board you will probably find a lot of comments about Fairchild. Personally, she isn't a favorite of mine but I think she has been greatly improving recently. I find her too uniformly perky and cute, treating almost every role as if it were The Steadfast Tin Soldier (in which she is very good ). She also seems to almost resist being partnered on some ocassions. However, last season she gave a beautiful, nuanced performance in Feld's Intermezzo No. 1 (partnered by her brother, with whom she looked absolutely lovely). I have wondered if Feld coached the ballet and was able to draw out a different side of Fairchild, or if she is simply maturing as an artist. That said she is strong technically -- you don't worry about her making a mistake or getting tired.

[MakarovaFan]

Thank you, E Johnson. I look forward to see her dance on Sunday.

[carbro]

I hope you'll report on the performance.

I like Megan. She has often been cast as a soubrette, befitting her appearance. But her classical style has a natural regality, as she demonstrated in the Corsaire PdD with Nilas & Co. last month. Beautiful line, lovely arms. I'm sure you'll see that same quality in her SPF.

[beck_hen]

Her performances in Baiser de la Fee divert with de Luz touched a deeper core of emotion. I think that piece may be considered minor in the Balanchine canon but their work (and the music) made it one of the favorite things I've seen at NYCB. I was convinced after that she's worth following, since, as carbro mentions, she also has a solid technique.

[Helene]

It sounds like Fairchild is coming into her own.

[Michael]

Her performances in Baiser de la Fee divert with de Luz touched a deeper core of emotion. I think that piece may be considered minor in the Balanchine canon but their work (and the music) made it one of the favorite things I've seen at NYCB. I was convinced after that she's worth following, since, as carbro mentions, she also has a solid technique.

Absolutely. That was a deeply emotional performance. She's very young, I don't think Fairchild can be more than 22 or 23 -- She's amazingly strong technically, everything finished perfectly, everything proceeding in complete coordination from a perfect center. The question for her is one of emotional depth, of projecting self -- That's what she connected to in Baiser, a work where she had no one else's exemplar in front of her to distract. Often these days it looks to me that she's been watching Bouder project -- her Dewdrop for example shows Bouder's phrasing. But Fairchild as Fairchild has more than enough oomph. She's an extraordinary dancer.

[perky]

I like Megan. She has often been cast as a soubrette, befitting her appearance. But her classical style has a natural regality, as she demonstrated in the Corsaire PdD with Nilas & Co. last month. Beautiful line, lovely arms. I'm sure you'll see that same quality in her SPF.

This has made me think she would be a lovely Cinderella. If only that ballet instead of Romeo and Juliet next year.

[Kathleen O'Connell]

I’ve seen Fairchild in quite a few ballets now, and I like her a lot. I like her best when she doesn’t have to be adorable (in Intermezzo, say, rather than The Steadfast Tin Soldier). I thought her performances in Intermezzo and Baiser demonstrated that she has the potential for considerable dramatic resonance and no need to rely on pyrotechnics, mugging, or overblown gestures to have an impact. (It must be a real challenge to put a performance of Baiser together – I mean, who ARE these people? Like Scotch Symphony, it has all the trappings of a narrative ballet but makes no narrative sense at all.) I’m going to offer just about the highest praise I can: I’d happily head over the State Theatre to watch Fairchild in something she might not seem ideally suited for just to see what she’s going to do with it. (I put Weese in the same category.) I’d like to see her in Liebeslieder, Davidsbündlertänze, the Midsummer Divertissment, or Central Park in the Dark (but please, not In the Inn). Maybe Mazzo's role in Stravinsky Violin Concerto. The only fly in the ointment is that she is often partnered by De Luz – I don’t think they’re ideally paired. Their styles are very different, but not in a way that’s reliably complementary.

[carbro]

Beatutifully stated, Kathleen. Thanks. I wholeheartedly agree with your last point/s -- that Megan excels in roles that are dark or moody (I'll keep my fingers crossed for Liebeslieder Tudor will have to remain a fantasy, I suppose) and that she needs to be paired with someone other than deLuz. I find them physically wrong for each other, in addition to their stylistic and tempermental differences.

It must be a real challenge to put a performance of Baiser together – I mean, who ARE these people? Like Scotch Symphony, it has all the trappings of a narrative ballet but makes no narrative sense at all.

My guess is that these questions are the reason Balanchine stripped off the story and mounted what remains -- the Divertissement -- expecting that the dancers would draw their clues from the music and the choreography.