Sleeping Beauty Reviews, 2007

[drb]

Thursday, January 4

The season's second performance featured a flawless Rose Adagio, some fine debuts, and a Lilac-driven story.

Jenifer Ringer, not new to Aurora, entered both joyously and very confident, not easy to do when the Rose test is to come so soon. The test was passed with flying colors, and nary a hint of concern. While kudos must go to her suitors, Veyette, La Cour, Lin-Yee (what a Prince he'd make for Aurora by Tess Reichlen), and Hall (what a Siegfried he'd make for a Bouder Odette), such a confident ballerina must be a joy to partner.

Earlier, for the christening, curtain-time replacement (most sadly, for Carrie Lee Riggins), the company's Petipa ballerina, Ana Sophia Scheller as Vivacity dazzled in this production's otherwise underwhelming variations for the junior fairies (I don't mean the dancers, but management ought to care that this is Petipa, and coach the style). Naturally, Lilac dominated this section, especially as danced with the freedom and extension of a Tess Reichlen. Sure, when her coterie went en couronne so properly while she followed her inspiration of the moment, it wasn't very Petipa, but it is surely what Balanchine wants! While Maria Kowroski obviously was having fun playing bad fairy Carabosse, how is it possible that the greatest Lilac I've ever seen at NYCB is not dancing Lilac this season?

In the vision scene Desire, quite well danced by Philip Neal, was a snob who was dismissive of others yet redeamed by his yearning to yearn. That he couldn't, made him fair game for Lilac. She quickly found that he couldn't find his heart, nothing to yearn with, and was therefore unable to become a man (mature). She of course had the ideal cure: beauty, or rather Beauty. It is beauty, not that other nonsense about success or winning or achievement, that makes a boy a man. And she had that available at movie-star level in Ringer's Aurora. As suggested in the Times review of Wednesday's performance, this scene can be lacking in dramatic depth. All Jenifer had to be was beautiful. And that is all she was. It was enough. Still, one only has to recall Ashley Bouder's Beauty 2, in which her Aurora fused Odette and Giselle, Classicism with Romanticism, to know that the vision scene can be the emotional and aesthetic high point of this ballet. But it is unfair to compare anyone else to America's greatest dance-actress.

The awakening scene would also have lacked effect, as reported in the Times review of the prior performance, were it not for Reichlen's dramatic masterstrokes. The heavenly lightness as she danced a sigh of joy when it was obvious that Desire was proposing to Aurora. And then her blessing of the couple with arms floating angelic bliss over the bliss she has made possible for them. This is why there is a Lilac Fairy, and it is wonderful that this great dancer can tell us so.

For the wedding I especially liked the Jewels (though the audience was not as demonstrative as I). Stephen Hanna replaced Jared Angle as Gold, doing the main things very well, but needing to be as attentive to the steps in between. Savannah Lowery debuted with a high-carat (high amplitude) Diamond, G, VS. Ana Sophia Scheller's Ruby debut had the clarity and the color of a first class Burmese, but even more important, that inner glow that makes the very best rubies more expensive than perfect diamonds, the inner glow of a true classical ballerina. An Aurora, for sure. Perhaps some of McBride's rep? Tiler Peck's second Emerald performance reminded one of Kyra Nichols in her earliest days. Everything was there, save the magical glow of a prime Colombian. Still all smiles. It took a while for Kyra to find her stage persona. But when she did.... What a joy it will be to watch Tiler find hers!

Sterling Hyltin's Florine, paired with Daniel Ulbricht's athletic Bluebird, was simply great dancing. She's found her charisma, so many flashes of teen Darci Kistler! Can't wait to see her Aurora.

Maria Gorokhov and Robert Fairchild, and the young student forest, were splendid in Peter Martins's magnificent version of Red Ridinghood. Giovanni Villalobos made a fine debut as one of the three jesters.

Teresa was all grandeur and depth, preparing us for a splendid grand pas by Jenifer and Philip.

The company looks fine, its future finer still.

[Farrell Fan]

Your characterization of Bouder did not go unnoticed, drb. Welcome back.

[uli]

Thursday, January 4

The season's second performance featured a flawless Rose Adagio, some fine debuts, and a Lilac-driven story.

I also attended this performance, but came away with a different impression. I felt that it seemed as if Aurora had OD'd on Vivacity, and could have used more Tenderness and Eloquence. Confidence in one's dancing is one thing, but in terms of the character being portrayed, I would have preferred something more in keeping with a 16 year old fairytale princess coming-of-age. It also seemed to me that Ringer never connected with her suitors or her prince; she looked right through them. It was as if they were just tools for her to showcase her dancing.

Maybe the frenetic pace of the production and the conductor's uneven, sometimes frenzied tempo kept her from being able to better express herself. The pace and tempo affected others as well: the Fairies, excluding Melissa Barak, seemed almost frantic at times; the Cavaliers were not even in position when the conductor started; and the Jewels seemed desperate to stay with the music.

The highlights of the evening for me were Teresa Reichlen as The Lilac Fairy, Maria Kowroski as The Fairy Carabosse, and Sterling Hyltin as Princess Florine. Teresa Reichlen was graceful and luminous in the lighting, her dancing improving as the night progressed. Maria Kowroski showed a flair for comedy and drama. Sterling Hyltin was a refreshing change - she was a pleasure to watch. Her dancing was beautiful and she was able to maintain her composure, even when her partner could not execute the shoulder lift and held her in front instead. I also look forward to seeing her as Aurora.

[chiapuris]

Performances of 1-4-07 and 1-5-07

The evenings of the 4th and 5th were my first view of Peter Martins' Sleeping Beauty, the acme of 19th century classicism, performed in the formal seat of neoclassicism-the NYCBallet.

Martins' musical abridgements, to bring the work to a reasonable length, means that sometimes less is less. Classicism needs framing.

The vision scene loses some of its dream quality with efficiency in time. The hunting scene before it seems like a pointless parenthesis. The awakening scene is so abbreviated it carries little import.

Martins' enhancements were welcome. One example is the chance for the male pages in the prologue to show off their dancing prowess as well as to serve as the retinue for the fairies.

As for the dancing, the evening of the 4th featured the luminous dancing of J. Ringer. She excelled in the Rose Adagio, and was very good in the Vision scene partnered by the gallant Philip Neal.

The wedding pdd was faultless, even though not always reaching the scope and splendor of the musical score. Neal's solo seemed underpowered, lacking buoyancy.

The prologue fairies were, overall, fine. My personal favorites were Ana Sophia Scheller as Vivacity, and the elegant Melissa Barak as Courage. The major fairies were the sparkling Teresa Reichlen as Lilac, and Maria Kowroski as the evil Carabosse; both of them excellent.

The Court Jesters, Hendrickson, Severini, and Villalobos, were dashing.

Martins' stroke of genius was choosing the smallest child as Red Riding Hood (Gorokhov) and pairing her with a tall Wolf (R. Fairchild).

Gorokhov also danced the mazurka splendidly in the ballabile that ends the work.

Friday's performance (1-5-07) featured Y. Borree as Aurora and N. Hubbe as Desire,

dancing in the place of Jared Angle. (I watched the rehearsal with Angle on the 4th).

Sara Mearns made her debut as the Lilac Fairy.

Mearns' seemingly instinctive sensitivity to classicism brought an aura of cohesion to the work. The evening gained a sense of grandeur with her every appearance as Lilac Fairy. A very auspicious debut.

Hubbe was a gracious and virile prince, enlivening every scene he was in.

Borree was technically refined, but not always reaching a depth of conviction that traced and suggested a young girl's journey to maturity.

Melissa Barak made a fine showing in her debut as Carabosse. Her every gesture and physical expression was clearly etched as if in black ink. A wonderful performance.

Tiler Peck's Florine had energy, definition, but no indication of a princess. Also, she had a strange, upper-body, mannered movement in the opening that she repeated later. It seemed out of character. (The result of coaching or of its absence?)

Carmena's Bluebird was very dashing, but with some peculiar notion of facial makeup.

(The formula I read is: Neoclassical=severe, classical=glitzy?)

The evening belonged to Mearns' Lilac Fairy.

[Balanchinomane]

Saturday Jan 6 Matinee was a wonderful performance. Whelan and Hubbe are both so

experienced and secure in their technique - it was a pleasure to see them portray their

characters so believably and dance so well. Wendy is more well known for the plotless

modern ballets but she reminds us time and again that she is a true ballerina, capable

of a flawless Rose Adagio and a majestic Wedding Pas de Deux.

I love Merill Ashley's Carabosse - she is as scary as the queen in Snow White and

oozes evil down to her splayed fingertips. Wish there were more opportunites for

her to be onstage.

The corps looked well rehearsed - the Garland dance in particular looked great. The

soloists that stood out most for me were Megan Fairchild as Florine, Veyette as the

Bluebird, Ulbricht's jester, Reichlin's Diamond, fairies Lauren King, Ellen Bar and

Alina Dronova. And how about Ask La Cour as the King - he looked like Louis XIV.

Jennie Somogyi as the Lilac Fairy told the story - she was divine. Every step, every

gesture, every emotion on her face moved us along. I wanted to jump into the boat

too. I hope this production with this company lasts happily ever after.

[Klavier]

Saturday Jan 6 Matinee was a wonderful performance. Whelan and Hubbe are both so

experienced and secure in their technique - it was a pleasure to see them portray their

characters so believably and dance so well. Wendy is more well known for the plotless

modern ballets but she reminds us time and again that she is a true ballerina, capable

of a flawless Rose Adagio and a majestic Wedding Pas de Deux.

I love Merill Ashley's Carabosse - she is as scary as the queen in Snow White and

oozes evil down to her splayed fingertips. Wish there were more opportunites for

her to be onstage.

The corps looked well rehearsed - the Garland dance in particular looked great. The

soloists that stood out most for me were Megan Fairchild as Florine, Veyette as the

Bluebird, Ulbricht's jester, Reichlin's Diamond, fairies Lauren King, Ellen Bar and

Alina Dronova. And how about Ask La Cour as the King - he looked like Louis XIV.

Jennie Somogyi as the Lilac Fairy told the story - she was divine. Every step, every

gesture, every emotion on her face moved us along. I wanted to jump into the boat

too. I hope this production with this company lasts happily ever after.

This was the performance I saw, too, and I by and large agree with Balanchinomane. I had never seen this work performed before by any company, and since Peter Martins's name was listed as the choreographer, I was a bit skeptical based on my previous experience with NYCB's rather marginal Swan Lake. I had nothing to fear, maybe because a lot of the choreography was still based on Petipa.

The costumes and settings were thoroughly splendid, with the projections of the castle looking just like some of the chateaux one sees in the Loire Valley in France, and the backdrop for the final scene looking like the gardens at Versailles. Costumes were just dazzling, the silver suits in the finale being as gorgeous as the costumes for the fairies, garland dancers, and more were thoroughly lovely and the getups for Carabosse and her vermin were suitably vile without being over the top. A real contrast to the frankly terrible mise en scène of the first act to Martins's Swan Lake.

I know there have been complaints about the cuts, but large-scale works like this (operas as well) were routinely cut in past decades, and I did not think the pacing on the whole injurious. The one exception was the Awakening Scene, which lacked amplitude. I don't need something as lengthy as the Awakening Scene from Wagner's Siegfried, but a bit more sense of struggle on the Prince's part before getting to the girl would have been more convincing. But I also have a full score of the ballet, and as far as I can tell, I don't see that there has been much left out of this episode. The mistake, I think, might have been in placing the intermission point after the Vision Scene rather than the Spell. Considering the present timings - 1.20 and .50 - it could have gone either way, and the Spell ends on a much more dramatic note, just right for a break. My interest flagged only during the Vision Scene, where I feel Tchaikovsky is dozing a bit too. (No doubt I'm in a minority about that. But I suppose my reason may be that the central adagio in this scene, with the cello solo, is melodically very close to an important theme in the slow movement of the 5th symphony which was written roughly about this time, and I find the treatment in the symphony far more interesting.)

On to the performers. Almost everyone seemed just first-rate to me. I have seen Wendy Whelan often (I actually would have preferred Jenifer Ringer, but Saturday matinee better suited my schedule), and she is beyond superlative as a dancer. It is amazing how she keeps her balance during the Rose Adagio (Ringer's article in the past Playbill makes it clear this is every bit as hard as it looks). Yet no one would take Whelan for a girl of 16. Hübbe was fine in a rather thankless part. Jennie Somogyi, Merrill Ashley - both superb. Virtually all the secondary roles were done well - Sean Suozzi's lecherous cat (I would have never expected he could pull off something that comic), the jesters' trio led by Daniel Ulbricht in the kind of acrobatic romp he does with such panache, Stephen Hanna (whom I had never seen before) powerful as Gold, and the little tyke playing Red Riding Hood. No wolf had better cross this little lady! My only reservation was with Andrew Veyette's Bluebird. He looked a little wobbly at times, not as secure in his footwork as Megan Fairchild or Daniel Ulbricht. But the audience was certainly with him.

Kaplow's tempos were mainly reasonable, but I felt he raced through the Diamond variation too roughly for Teresa Reichlin to keep up, and the Polonaise that introduces the wedding scene would have had greater gravity at a slower pace.

Of the upcoming performances, the one I'd most want to see is Sterling Hyltin's debut on Thursday. Surely she would bring the girlish innocence that Wendy Whelan didn't quite capture. But as someone who lives in central Long Island and can't get to the city any time, I may have to skip this. Besides, tickets aren't exactly cheap, and seeing this more than once in close proximity may diminish some of the magic.

[ViolinConcerto]

I'd like to add that Daniel Ulbricht did a lovely bluebird on Saturday night. (Isn't Veyette a bit tall for that role?) I found Ringer delightful, and even thought that the "awakening" was a bit more detailed and prolonged than it had been in previous years, where he kissed her, the covers flew off, she stood up and was ready to go. (I may be wrong.)

I'll bet Sean Suozzi was a wonderful Puss in Boots.....wish I could have seen it. And let me join in the chorus of praise for little Red.....from first to last step, she was a total pro. Just remarkable. Let's give much credit to the coaches at SAB for the great work of these tiny dancers.

Korowsky has always had a flair for drama and comedy. Does anyone else remember "Blossom Got Kissed" from "Duke?" (That was the best of the sections. She was hysterical -- and sweet as always.

I'll share a comment I heard from an older fellow with wild white hair and beard in the audience on Saturday night -- he thought that Jenifer had just grabbed those roses, and that we should all have seen Margot Fonteyn X years ago with Nureyev.....as she gracefully accepted the roses as the tributes they were..... (Wouldn't mind if I could have. Time machine anyone??)

[Abby918]

And let me join in the chorus of praise for little Red.....from first to last step, she was a total pro. Just remarkable. Let's give much credit to the coaches at SAB for the great work of these tiny dancers.

I agree. Maria Gorokhov was an adorable and very polished Red Riding Hood. Kudos to Garielle Whittle, a teacher at SAB and the Children's Ballet Master for NYCB who's solely responsible for teaching all of the choreography to the children for their various roles in ballets such as Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Midsummer, Harlequinade, Circus Polka, Mozartiana and many more. I'm amazed at how she gets it all done each year!

[drb]

Tuesday, January 9

Bouder 3

Tonight we saw a story about a Princess and her Prince.

The Spell. Ashley Bouder arrived at her coming out party a young girl excited to learn about the next phase of her life, little suspecting to be wacked with a hundred years of it. Enjoying family and friends, she looked forward to meeting four potential suitors, not to a test for a ballerina. Each balance, each rose, was just a part of getting acquainted, and of course the balances, one early minor imperfection notwithstanding, were brilliant. Never tricks, just expressive art danced on a grand scale. The final four were the stuff of dreams, each entered and held perfectly for an eternity, well they could have been, but she was a very polite young women who would not deny the next young man's hand forever. Her variation following was not a respite for a ballerina after a test, but a time for this introspective girl to investigate her body and spirit, how she and her place in society were about to change. All the while acknowledging the folks around her, and in the variation's final circles of turns showing to all what she'd discovered about the new Aurora. Then wonderful villain Merrill Ashley had her prick her finger. But this Aurora doesn't just get scared and fall asleep. She cares so much about her friendships (in a way that calls to mind Giselle in Act 1) that she seems to acknowledge each before her time stops.

The Vision Scene. Tonight it was the peak of this Everest of ballet. Benjamin Millepied's debut as Desire must have meant a lot to him. I've never seen him better. His approach was different from what one normally sees at NYCB, perhaps more in the way of Anthony Dowell. After he'd cut the young woman short, he realised he'd been impolite and took care to make amends. But he did need some quiet time to think about the next phase of his life. The very clasical Lilac of Amanda Hankes happened not upon a young man needing to be fixed, but instead one who was the ideal match for Aurora that she'd been searching for. All she had to do was introduce them. It is clear that the waking dream Lilac made for him was also made a sleeping dream for Aurora. Bouder's entrance had the shock and urgency of a Giselle waking from the grave. Her diagonal, the expressive power of the famous willi spin. Her quiet return soon after combined the serenity and fear of Odette, with far away eyes, trying desperately to see back a hundred years. But Aurora was luckier, for instead of a sick prince she saw one sharing much of her own kind and noble traits. Love at first dream. And as he later awakened her with a kiss, her eyes opened with immediate recognition and joy.

The Wedding. The grand PdD was classical perfection.

Of course there were many other splendid performances tonight. David Briskin conducted, and while I can't say where on City Ballet's brisk-brisker-briskest scale he falls, nearly all of the fairies did seem to have breathing room in their solos. They were Ashley Laracey, Ana Sophia Scheller (again subbing for Carrie Lee Riggins), Faye Arthurs, Alina Dronova and Gwyneth Muller, all beauties, of course. Lilac was given a very pure classical interpretation by Amanda Hankes, refreshingly traditional in her back leg's placement in arabesque. Because tonight's Aurora is a great actress she did not bear the burden of having to tell the story. Stephen Hanna's Gold was really fine, more fully realised this time around, perhaps reflecting well on Mr. Briskin's tempi. Naturally Tess Reichlen's Diamond was of Hope size, but how I hope she'll be given all the Diamonds (Mr. B's Jewels of course). I found Lauren King's Emerald very pretty, and Ana Sophia Scheller's Ruby was again Burmese. While Adam Hendrickson's Bluebird was not perfect, it was exciting and very much a bird, and certainly he held his own opposite Abi Stafford's Florine. Henry Seth's Wolf was danced on a large scale, yet tiny Maria Gorokhov(a) certainly earned her A, swiftly eluding the beast till overcome by a moment of sleepiness. The cats Stephanie Zungre and Sean Suozzi delighted everyone.

[bobbi]

Well, drb pretty much said it all. But I would like to add my accolates for Ashley's performance. Her solo work was just astonishing -- demonstrating the kind of quiet perfection and detail that make a balletomane's heart fill with joy. I too was totally taken with her Vision Scene. This dancer just gets better and better.

One suprrise: A really quiet (read "dead") audience. There were oodles and oodles of terrific dancing last night that just seemed to go unappreciated. Go figure. . .

[sz]

drb,

A dreamy, beauty of a review...

[Old Fashioned]

Has anyone seen Fairchild as Aurora yet? I'm interested in others' impressions of her...I'll be seeing her and De Luz Saturday evening.

[Dale]

Fairchild makes her debut as Aurora tonight.

[Leigh Witchel]

Heh. I guess I'll give the review from the parallel universe State Theater. I'm a longtime Bouder fan, and she was lovely, but it was not an on night. It's not as if Bouder gave a bad performance; it was just off. She's a risky dancer and she missed some things. She had to wrench herself back on to balance during the first set of Rose Adagio balances - the amazing (and very Bouder) thing was that she did, and to a rock-solid balance.

In the grand pas, she and Millepied were two for three on the fishes, the second one they saved somehow. That's him, not her; there's almost nothing she can do in those to affect them. The Vision scene was quite beautiful.

The fascinating thing for me now is moving from London to NYC for viewing as I have for two years now. Though I see a lot less in London it's during a concentrated period, and it does affect your eyes. I saw the Royal do Beauty five times last year, the last time in late December. NYCB's production isn't bad, but if you have the Royal in your eyes, it's slipshod and careless. Period. They're not sweating the details and they're getting by on grit, talent and chutzpah. You notice every broken formation, every unrehearsed entrance and exit of the corps, every flyaway arm - and this isn't Balanchine, it's "after Petipa" - so it really is apparent.

Of course, after the season here, I go to London and watch the Royal massacre Balanchine by dancing under themselves and acting. It's not like the Russians or the French, where it feels like there is some bridge between their style and ours somewhere. English and American ballet just don't convert for me. I'm thinking of buying two sets of eyeballs, one for the State Theater and one for Covent Garden. It's important not to wear the wrong ones to the theater.

[drb]

... They're not sweating the details...

To put it mildly! Here was a killer from the end of the Spell scene. Two young women (at least in this moment I couldn't call them dancers) are having an hilarious chat center stage. Their friend the Princess has just been carted off as good as dead and everyone around them is being frozen in place by a Lilac gone seemingly mad, and they are laughing??? You'd have thought one of them would have pulled out a cell phone. Would that Lilac had gotten to them first.

But Bouder sweats all the details. In the Awakening, after first opening her eyes with instant recognition, she blinked them shut, and opened them again: All was real. On enough for me.

[beck_hen]

Leigh, I was living in your universe. The two moments you mention struck me as major gaffes, although I experienced the overall performance as absolutely thrilling. Bouder has such audacity—she has the ability to be more in control than any other ballerina, but you can see her sometimes trying to exceed her own limits, watch her taking the risks. The timing and scale of her renverses in the Vision scene were on that edge for me. Can I pull it around at the last possible moment? Whew, watching her is like riding a rollercoaster. By this I don't mean to imply she fell out of character; I was fully convinced she was the shining center of her world (on Saturday evening Reichlen's Lilac stole the spotlight from, and drove the story instead of, Ringer's Aurora, IMO).

About those fish dives. I'd like to see them done the way they were in the Fonteyn-Somes and Fonteyn-Blair videos: BAM! like magic, out of nowhere. Ringer and Neal completely exposed the mechanics Saturday night when she paused in arabesque coming out of the pirouettes.

Also, I thought Abi Stafford's staccato approach to Princess Florine was completely wrong, no matter whether the character is viewed as a bird or an enchanted princess. An off note.

It's difficult for me to judge the production since it's the first Sleeping Beauty I've seen live. Still, for me it felt like an amuse bouche for ABT's outing on the grand stage of the Met, with fantasy casts I'm already dreaming up (Murphy Aurora, Hallberg Desire, Part Lilac, Cornejo-Lane Bluebird, Fang Kajiya Copeland Boone Schulte fairies...). Dramatically it is so condensed it doesn't really hold together. Some action is so brief as to be comical. At this rate, doing away with the hunting scene entirely would be fine. The Awakening is also a bust. I'd prefer another intermission to stretch my legs, with the conventional division of scenes restored.

[richard53dog]

About those fish dives. I'd like to see them done the way they were in the Fonteyn-Somes and Fonteyn-Blair videos: BAM! like magic, out of nowhere. Ringer and Neal completely exposed the mechanics Saturday night when she paused in arabesque coming out of the pirouettes.

The fish dives are a guilty pleasure for me. I believe they are not really authentic, but at this point they are pretty much traditional in the West.

And Beck_Hen, I hate it also when you can see each tiny stage of them exposed. Spin. Stop. Lift one leg. Lift the other leg. Etc, etc.

The Fonteyn videos you mention are fine , and I saw her a number of times with Nureyev and they were also fine but there is no need to go back years and years in history.

Last June I saw the RB in DC and Cojocaru/Kobborg made the dives sizzle. Alina spun into them, trusting

Johan to catch her. So at least from my corner, I don't say "oh, but you should have seen so-and-so sixty years ago"

[carbro]

I'm a longtime Bouder fan, . . .

Me, too.

. . . and she was lovely, but it was not an on night.

If all goes according to pattern, that augurs well for the Sat. Mat. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Although, as beck_hen notes, an off-night with Bouder can be quite thrilling.

About those fish dives. I'd like to see them done the way they were in the Fonteyn-Somes and Fonteyn-Blair videos: BAM! like magic, out of nowhere. Ringer and Neal completely exposed the mechanics Saturday night when she paused in arabesque coming out of the pirouettes.

I agree. Not only did we see with indiscreet clarity every element of what should look like a single movement, but Ringer pressed that supporting leg deep into the floor until the v-e-r-y last possible moment, as if she didn't trust her prince to catch her. Where's the metaphor? Not to mention the kinetic thrill. And it was not a beautiful position. By far the worst moment from an otherwise lovely Aurora.

It's clear that Ringer's given much thought to the role since I last saw her in it. She made very clear distinctions between the three aspects of Aurora -- first as a coltish girl on the brink of womanhood, then the intangible spirit, and finally the woman awakened to the love of her life, ensuring continuity of the Florestan dynasty. Her big problems were in the aforementioned fishes and (twice) little bobbles which marred clean finishes to traveling turn sequences. Her strongest scene was the Vision.

Neal was a most gentlemanly prince, a solid partner. The sloppy moments in his variation I attribute to the breakneck speed of the music.

Reichlen's Lilac was just wonderful, radiating authority and benevolence from every pore. She understood that Lilac narrates the tale and imbued every moment with fullest meaning. Unfortunately, Kowroski was not her equal. From their first confrontation, we knew who'd come out the winner. While the tonight's matchup (Kowroski vs. Bar) was more even, I'm willing to give Bar the benefit of the doubt for her debut. Maria has a sweet and pretty face. Shouldn't be a disadvantage, but I guess once in a while it is. She needs to add weight to her presence and her gestures, and she should go deep inside to pull out her inner Joan Crawford. I suspect her Joan -- if she even has one -- is very difficult to access.

Has anyone seen Fairchild as Aurora yet? I'm interested in others' impressions of her...I'll be seeing her and De Luz Saturday evening.

What a promising Aurora! This was a terrific debut. I don't think I've seen the Rose Adagio danced so -- well, dancingly -- in a long time. She was utterly (and blessedly) free from any coyness. Her road to maturity began when she was first presented with her suitors. Technically, she was solid throughout, and I find her restrained (relatively speaking, that is) brand of classicism well suited to this role.

I've complained often about the pairing of Fairchild with deLuz. He made the best of what he had, which, given the stripped to near nothingness as the Hunt is, ain't much. I don't know whether the costumes change the visual proportions, or if he's beefed up a bit, but I did not find them so mismatched Wednesday. And the looks they exchanged in the closing moments dispelled any misgivings I might have had. Was this a prince adoring his bride? Or a dancer sharing his pride and exhiliration with his partner? I don't know that it mattered.

I'll talk about some of the soloists later. I tend to get bogged down, and my posts get delayed. But this covers the principals for the two performances I've seen so far. One more to go!

[Farrell Fan]

I greatly enjoyed Bouder's Sleeeping Beauty on Tuesday night, bobbles and all. What I didn't enjoy was the sleeping audience, one of the most somnolent I've ever been part of in half a century of ballet-going.

[ViolinConcerto]

Here's some background on the fish dives:

Tim Scholl, in "From Petipa to Balanchine" says that in 1921 Serge Diaghilev decided to revive the Sleeping Beauty. Four ballerinas danced the role of Aurora in this London production, which he called "The Sleeping Princess," Olga Spessivtseva, Lubov Egorova, Lydia Lopokova, and Vera Trefilova. Diaghilev had Bronislava Nijinska make a few changes in the choreography, including the fish dives, which were controversial with the ballerinas.

A friend of mine, Edward Swift, interviewed Valentina Kozlova (I don't remember where it was published), who said (in summary) that Vera Trefilova hated the fish dives and thought they were acrobatic tricks. She refused to do them in Diaghilev's production, and did the original choreography, which has the ballerina swooning into her partner's arms. "A double pirouette and then she falls back into his arms 3 times as if his handsome face has swept her off her feet -- like three fainting spells. This is the version Valentina danced on the road in the US and she said all the critics criticized her for not doing the original. She WAS doing the original. We are so accustomed to those double pirouette's into fish dive (three times) because of Diaghilev and Nijinska.”

And from the biography of Olga Spessivtseva, THE SLEEPING BALLERINA: “Olga, who had never danced the part of the Princess Aurora, though of course she had witnessed the ballet on many occasions in Russia, had to learn to role first from Sergeyev and then with Vladimirov, a fine partner and fervent admirer of Olga. It was he who introduced for the first time the famous two en dans pirouettes by the ballerina, ending in the “fish dive” into her partners arms, which was repeated three times in the last act grand adagio."

"Olga was the first to execute this at that time sensational feat. It was one that Egorova, later to be followed by Lopoukhova and Vera Nemtchniva as Aurora, performed but it was an innovation never accepted by Trefilova who arrived in London a few days before the first performance. She refused to depart from the original choreography remarking that it was not classical but an acrobatic feet. Even today the Kirov Ballet still adheres to the first arrangement.”

[drb]

Thursday, January 12

Mariinsky Legs and an Adagio for Arms

An evening of major debuts and of a dancer who so believed in mime that it made a fairytale come true.

Hyltin/Stafford debuted as Aurora/Desire. The dancer who danced her mime was Sara Mearns.

Richard Bernas drew unusually clean playing from the orchestra, and when, at certain points, he did seem to go too fast, on afterthought it seems to have worked. The first sense of acceleration came with Courage, but Gwyneth Muller, subbing for Ellen Bar, seemed to delight in the challenge, literally dancing with flying colors. This was immediately followed with Lilac's variation for adagio dreamgirl Sara Mearns. The effect was as if she surrendered control, letting the music carry her body wherever it willed. And it carried her with thrilling effect.

The Rose Adagio. Sterling Hyltin, fresh from a Darci-like debut as Florine, now faced what must be one of the peak events in a ballerina's life: the classical role. She entered well, as a sweet and lively young girl, but it would be hard to think that she didn't have The Test on her mind. All her balances worked! It seemed that Mr. Bernas again made the right tempo decision for the final four diagonal: there wasn't time to have to match the eternal time of Bouder's, nor even to worry about the next one. That over, her well-acted variation was beautifully danced. Delicacy through strength, a swift and airy lightness skimming the stage, the swirling innocence of a true princess. There is real potential here, she may well become NYCB's most traditional Aurora, and those beautiful Mariinsky legs and concomitant line are great plusses in this regard. If you haven't seen this young dancer recently, she has a new softness to compliment her clarity.

Melissa Barak's powerfully portrayed Carabosse did her bad deed, but then Mighty Mearns began her Adagio for Arms, and sustained her focus and trust in mime through the rest of the ballet, creating a peace so spiritually Divine it could and did stop time and make all things well.

The Vision Scene. Jonathan Stafford's debut featured acting that kept it simple, yet found ways to create theatrical arcs, in which the prince's growth resonated with his prior state. This evening the vision scene was remarkably a PdT, one was very aware of Lilac's presence, with her movement and mime in wondrous harmony with the lovers-to-be. Sara's intense focus on them was clearly not a stage effect, her heart was dancing with them. With Lilac so present, when Jonathan's epaulement announced he'd opened his heart to Sterling, one flashed back to his miming to Lilac that he couldn't find his heart. I'm not sure why, but there seemed a sort of pre-echo of The Sun King in his prince. Throughout the scene Hyltin sustained her delicacy and Jonathan danced quite Big.

While I miss Tess Reichlen's dramatic enhancement of the Awakening, it was very right of Sara Mearns to follow the letter of the mime, to continue the flow of her adagio.

The wedding. Another pair debuts: Scheller/Paradiso as Florine/Bluebird. Both succeeded. Ana Sophia was a dancing delight, perfection, 'though I'm sure she'll inhabit more of the character's persona with time (unless, more to the point, she graduates to the other princess role in this ballet), as she does with Ruby.

The Grand PdD featured quite impressive fish dives, especially for a debut, and the variations were terrific. At the very end of Sterling's, dancing thrillingly full out, she spun out of control to her right and executed a magical save with three little hops on pointe. Usually a final faux pas leads to a dim audience response. But not in this case, the beauty of this save merited the response for a goalie's in the last minute of the last game in a Stanley Cup.

And so, another prince in the making, and a very special real Aurora too.

[drb]

January 13, matinee

Bouder 4

Thank you Ashley.

[drb]

The New Beauties

City Ballet's January 22 (6-7:30) Seminar will cap the Sleeping Beauty season with a panel of

Megan Fairchild, Sterling Hyltin and Ana Sophia Scheller exploring

how they prepared and approached the rehearsal process: learning the steps, forming a character and working with a partner to sustain a full-length ballet.... Joaquin De Luz, dancing the role of the Prince in a full-length production for the first time, will add his insight into how a partner works with the ballerina to create the central characters...

This quote from a just-received card from the Company seems to suggest that Ms. Scheller danced an Aurora. When?

The Seminar is free (with card) to Guild Members, $5 for others.

[ViolinConcerto]

I also saw the Saturday matinee with Ashley, and probably for the first time in my life, words fail me. There is no way to adequately describe the utter grace, sweetness, joy, technical perfection, beauty.... (as I said, words fail me!) that Ashley Bouder brought to her portrayal of Aurora.

She seemed to conduct the conductor -- one of my friends said that the music seemed to flow from her. David Briskin's pace was at times a bit quick for some of the dancers, but when Ashley did her solos, time seemed to slow down so that every motion and position was crystal clear. She held balances as if suspended from above.

I mentioned last week that someone had groused about Jenifer Ringer taking the roses too quickly from her suitors -- I hope he was there this afternoon to see Ashley sweetly take each rose and look, really look at each rose and each suitor. Amar was extremely attentive during the entire scene, and brought real feeling to his performance. (He was also really funny as Puss in Boots, and played with his tail in a very cat-like manner!)

Benjamin Millepied was excellent, much as described by a response to his earlier performance. However, during his variations in the wedding scene, he seemed to tire in his jumps, and lost his line -- fortunately, for the tour jetes, he seemed to catch his wind. There was a very, very minor problem with the second of the three fish dives, which may have been due to the tempo.

Melissa Barak as Carabosse was fabulously hateful, Amanda Hankes was graceful and calm tho not outstanding, Adam Hendrickson was excellent as the Bluebird, the jesters were delightful (and now I know why people were asking where Suehara came from!), and the jewels were just OK, but I bet that anywhere else, where they wouldn't be measured against the standard set by Ashley, they would be judged as superb.

The audience was very responsive (to the point where, in the coda, they seemed to think that every break in the music was the end -- either that, or they were all visiting from ABT), and very appreciative of Ashley's performance.

You shoulda been there!

[Dale]

The New Beauties

City Ballet's January 22 (6-7:30) Seminar will cap the Sleeping Beauty season with a panel of

Megan Fairchild, Sterling Hyltin and Ana Sophia Scheller exploring

how they prepared and approached the rehearsal process: learning the steps, forming a character and working with a partner to sustain a full-length ballet.... Joaquin De Luz, dancing the role of the Prince in a full-length production for the first time, will add his insight into how a partner works with the ballerina to create the central characters...

This quote from a just-received card from the Company seems to suggest that Ms. Scheller danced an Aurora. When?

Scheller danced Aurora when SAB performed the last act. Mearns was the Lilac Fairy.