Week 2 Performances -Spring 09 Season

[abatt]

I attended the Tues evening performance. The program started w. the 4Ts. Albert Evans looks very, very good this season. He gave a detailed, excellent performance of Plegmatic. Tess Reichlin ruled the stage is a high octane performance of Choleric. Her limbs slashed through space like knives. Less impressive, in my opinion, was Marcovici in Melancholic. He lacks upper body flexibiity, so the impact of the choreography is diminished. Jared Angle and Abi Stafford performed the Sanguinic section. Jared was wonderful. Every movement was full of energy. He gets better and better every year. I didn't really care for Abi's small scale dancing in this. I sat out the next piece, La Stravaganza, because I dislike it. Wendy Whelan looked like she was floating in the initial pdd in Chaconne, to the Dance fo the Blessed Spirits music. Philip Neal was a wonderful partner. The leads were also wonderful in the allegro pdd later in the ballet. Another standout was Erica Pereira.

[sz]

5/9/09

I attended the last night's performance.

Sean Suozzi in 4Ts' male solo of Melancholic was a thrill, and certainly the best performance of the evening. Raw, risk-taking without losing control. He was full of deep passion, feeling for the part, and technically his dancing was huge, expansively clean in execution. When I first saw Sean dance this part, years ago, it was, well, all over the place. Now it's a masterpiece and the audience roared him with well-deserved bravos.

Second best of the night, was Ana Sophia Scheller with Jared Angle in Tchai pas de deux. I was very curious to see how she would dance with an excellent partner. And of course, Jared gave Ana Sophia the safe ground to let her really enjoy dancing this wonderful part. Ana Sophia was gorgeous, but still holding back the bit of more personality and/or risk taking that would have made her beautiful technique exciting. Ana Sophia is a creamy-smooth, strong, warm, excellent dancer. I always enjoy watching her dance. Now it's time to fire it up a bit, season this principal part. She's danced the role several times now. Still, on the whole, it was nice to see Ana Sophia dancing with calm joy instead of worry for her partner....

Janie Taylor was hauntingly beautiful in La Valse, and I thought the corps of Concerto Barocco was better than ever.

[vipa]

Jared Angle and Abi Stafford performed the Sanguinic section. Jared was wonderful. Every movement was full of energy. He gets better and better every year. I didn't really care for Abi's small scale dancing in this.

Saw Sat. May 9 evening. A. Stafford was anything but small scale in Concerto Barocco. She gobbled up space, which she combined with a beautiful clarity of movement. She owns the ballet, which was over all very well danced, I thought.

Meanwhile Savannah Lowery was anything but small scale in the Sanguinic section. She went for it all in a big way, she had a small mishap but that didn't ruin it for me at all.

Tch pas was very enjoyable with Ana Sophia (all glittery musicality in her variation) and Jared Angle. There is a nice masculinity in his partnering. I really liked the way they related int he pas.

Anyone else there? I thought that the company looked terrific, and that it was an excellent night of ballet and music.

[dufay]

Sat matinee- many empty seats. Thumbs down- the setting behind "Scotch Symphony", based upon painting by K von Aroldingen. I guess it was supposed to represent the Highlands, but I thought it amateurish and garish. Thumbs up to everything else- J Ringer wonderful, E Pereira quite "spritely" (she is a tiny thing!), and the corps looked well rehearsed. M Kowrowski looked fantastic in Monumentum/ Movements, and M Fairchild and D Ulbricht tore it up in "Tarantella". The footwork reminds me so much of Bournonville (but not the arms), but no mention of this an influence on Balanchine. ?? This was my 2nd time for Concerto DSCH, and I still find the first movement confusing, but overall enjoy it. J Taylor was wonderful.

Anyone else there?

[sz]

Sat matinee-.....and M Fairchild and D Ulbricht tore it up in "Tarantella".

Tiler Peck filled in for Megan Fairchild with Daniel Ulbricht. There was no buckslip in the matinee's program, but the change was listed on the lobby's casting sheet and announced by the stage manager, though it was difficult to hear over the talking in the audience. Tiler Peck was a perfect fit for Ulbricht -- both had such high voltage energy and technique.

[dufay]

Oh! thanks for the correction- I didn't have my opera glasses. Yes, loads of energy!

[darlindancer]

"Anyone else there? I thought that the company looked terrific, and that it was an excellent night of ballet and music."

Yes, I am so happy to finally be able to say that I was there! It was the first NYCB for my husband and me and we were totally overwhelmed. It was beautiful and pure delight to see pieces that I'd only ever read about, or seen snips of on Youtube. We were delighted to see a few finely-tuned, beautiful dancers who we'd known growing up in our local school and whom we hadn't seen since then.

This company is absolutely wonderful to us, based on that first, glorious experience. For me Concerto Barocco was over the top energy to me. The dancers move so fast, all the time, as we'd known the Balanchine style to be famous for. The music, a long favorite of mine, with this ballet set to it...just altogether lovely. I enjoyed La Valse and thought it very well-danced and clever. So elegant and big drama. My husband decided his favorite was the Tchaikovsky Pas, and then we both were thrilled to see the Four T's. I read the above comments on individual dancers in this program, and could agree on all of them. Such individual successes throughout each piece. It was impossible for me to tell the novices from the seasoned dancers as well.

This is not any attempt to make a critique of the show, just a first timer's breathless wonder at the experience. I doubt that I could find fault with any of it as the seasoned ballet goers are able to discern. I simply enjoyed each dancer giving up what they had for us, and it was an evening to remember. It was a privilege to be among those who were there, watching those dancers. We also enjoyed seeing the other people at the show, the city life and style. We look forward to seeing more, and will try to make more frequent attempts in the future.

Again, I must say that I enjoy reading and learning from this discussion board. I kept an eye out for you...were you the lady scribbling notes in the program seated in front of me? Might you have been the young dancer-type sitting beside me sharing with your friend what sounded like genuine knowledge about so many of the dancers? Were you the mother of the little girl who sat so still and well-behaved and in complete absorption, even though you were sitting a few rows behind her? Were you the proud parents of one of those amazing dancers? Did you call out the first Brava or Bravo? Might you have been one of the many posters on this board who write so descriptively and make me jealous of you that I don't live near NYC?

[abatt]

I wish I could have been there. I've been home getting over a nasty cold. Hopefully I'll be back soon. Thanks for the reports.

By the way, did Danny Ulbrict break his tambourine in Tarantella?

[Leigh Witchel]

For a wildly refreshing change, no.