Spring 2015

[Amour]

Sara Mearns has tweeted that her calf is not good and may take lots of time to recover. I assume that means she's out of Morgen tonight and Bournonville Divertissements on Sunday afternoon:( Also, who knows what else. She probably is trying desperately to save herself for several Midummer performances in week 6. Feel better Sara!

[abatt]

I attended last night. Ramasar and Mearns were replaced in Rodeo by Adrian DW and Pollack. Adrian is a mature presence, so I didn't feel that the comic aspects of Ramasar's role really came through. Also not much feeling in the romantic pdd with Pollack. Pollack, who is usually very technically reliable, fell in the final section of the ballet. (She got up and did not appear to be injured.)

Symphonic Dances is too long and becomes boring in parts, but it was well danced by Catazaro and Reichlin.

Great performance by Huxley, Tiler and Tyler in Mercurial.

Went with a friend who was seeing Rodeo for the first time. She loved it, and the audience was also very enthusiastic again at the curtain calls.

[California]

I also attended Thursday night. I had never seen any of these before. Rodeo is a real joy -- the post-modern take on the story of Rodeo is genius and, even without that, the patterns, formations, innovations were endlessly fascinating. The dancers seemed to be enjoying it, most especially Ulbricht.

The Wheeldon is so complex in its structure that it needs multiple viewings to appreciate, and it's worth seeing again. The use of all that red in the sets and lead dancer, contrasting with the blue, was interesting, especially as it was also dominant in Ratmansky's piece to the same music. But I don't know if he had thoughts of Shostakovich's Soviet Union, as Ratmansky did. Would be interesting to know more.

The Martins, on the other hand...I kept trying to understand why he is such a disappointment. The relationship to the music is so obvious -- staying with the beat, never the musical structure. Steps? Mundane and/or derivative. I saw echoes of Balanchine everywhere and not in a good way. They really should put his work last so people can leave early. I overhead long-time supporters I have seen at Friends rehearsals complaining -- "all that jumping, jumping - can't they do anything else?!" But I'm also not crazy about the score, which doesn't help.

[wsnyc]

Never posted before, so apologies if this is not on the appropriate board (I don't see another board for extra tickets, and I did see another ticket offer for the nycb spring 2015 season further up this chain).

I have an extra ticket for Saturday 5/23 evening (tomorrow night) performance of La Sylphide, with Tiler and Gonzalo. Orchestra row K, middle of left bank of seats, good view, for $21 (Society price .... I think the price on the website is something like $134). Please PM me if interested.

Sorry to be missing this performance but will be across the plaza watching Stella in her Giselle debut ...

[abatt]

Many cast changes for the rest of the week. Erica Pereira replacing Bouder in Raymonda tonight. So disappointed. Also, Mearns, Korowski and Ramasar are all replaced for tonight's Morgen. Mearns is replaced in all her assignments through the weekend.

[cobweb]

I urgently hope that both Mearns and Kowroski can keep their assignments for Midsummer Night's Dream!

[vipa]

Many cast changes for the rest of the week. Erica Pereira replacing Bouder in Raymonda tonight. So disappointed. Also, Mearns, Korowski and Ramasar are all replaced for tonight's Morgen. Mearns is replaced in all her assignments through the weekend.

I'm so disappointed that I'll be seeing Pereira instead of Bouder. Hardly a worthy replacement IMO but I'll go with an open mind and hope to be proven wrong.

[Royal Blue]

Last evening's program --Symphonic Dances; 'Rode,o: Four Dance Episodes; Mercurial Manoeuvres-- was also presented last Thursday. I attended both nights. Largely because I enjoyed 'Rode,o more the second time I saw it (much like in the winter season), last night proved to be the more enjoyable one.

However unoriginal it may be, Martins' ballet contains --interspersed with a few silly ones-- some very lovely moments. Because of this and the fact that I really like this musical composition, I don't find this work long at all. Its ending though is unquestionably awful! The choreography in no way does justice to the glorious coda of Rachmaninoff's opus. Teresa Reichlen was positively ravishing on both evenings, but the partnering with Zachary Catazaro was smoother last night. On the previous performance, for instance, some supported turns Reichlen did at the back of the stage during the latter half of the work were rather shaky, whereas yesterday they were exquisite.

After last week's performance of 'Rode,o I was somewhat irritated with this work. I simply saw no real value or beauty in it. Sara Mearns is a great dancer and a lovely woman (hopefully the injury to her calf heals soon), but she does not look particularly good (during movement) in this costume. Additionally, neither she nor Daniel Ulbricht were at their best last week --both doing some very unsteady turns. Brittany Pollack looks much better in this role and with some further preparation would be able to dance it with more authority than she even did last night. Adrian Danchig-Waring, Gonzalo Garcia, Andrew Veyette, Taylor Stanley, Ulbricht --all were superb by her side. Carried along by the exuberance displayed on stage and the beauty of Copland's music I went with the flow and enjoyed myself very much. I'll always prefer a great deal more all that flowing hair and those streaming garments in Walpurgisnacht though!

There was not the slightest difference or variation in quality that I could detect between the two performances of Manoeuvres that I saw. Each was phenomenal! All the elements that make up a ballet performance --the music and those who performed it, the choreography and those who made it come alive, the backdrops on stage, the lighting, the costumes, the color scheme-- came together to a powerful and hauntingly beautiful effect. Tyler Angle, Anthony Huxley, and the corps de ballet were splendid! As for Tiler Peck --may she always remain grounded, take all high praise and criticism in stride and continue honoring us with great performances for many years to come!

[Amour]

I'm so disappointed that I'll be seeing Pereira instead of Bouder. Hardly a worthy replacement IMO but I'll go with an open mind and hope to be proven wrong.

Same here:(( The cast changes were announced too late for an exchange, but that's the only reason I'm going.

[Amour]

Wait - I just saw online all the cast changes listed are for May 27, not tonight (May 22). I guess we'll see when I get to the theatre.

Just called the box office and they haven't been informed of any cast changes for tonight:)

[KarenAG]

Well you might not be seeing Maria Kowroski in the role for awhile, that's for sure. She just announced on her public instagram (so I'm posting it here) that she's pregnant and the baby is due in November.

That's great! Blessings to you, Maria!

[Amour]

Just back from NYCB. Unfortunately all the cast changes were correct. In fact, for the first time I can recall, there was actually a written insert inside each program with them. They were Pereira for Bouder in Raymonda Variations. For Martins' Morgen they were Tess for Maria, Rebecca Krohn for Sara and Zach Catazaro for Amar. For Morgen I didn't find the changes too terrible. For Raymonda they were. Despite all this, the house was full.

First Raymonda Variations. This is a very difficult ballet, extremely fast, lots of jumps (and gargouillades, Italians), hops on point, quick turns. Generally very tough stuff. Generally , there are 9 variations; judging from the insert, they simply cut two, since we saw 7. (It looks like they cut one lead male and one lead female variation.). The variations were executed by 5 soloists or corps women - Brittany Pollack, Kristen Segin, Megan LeCrone, Megan Mann. and Savannah Lowery. There is also a corps of 7 additional women (and I still can't tell if Emilie Gerrity or Indiana Woodward is the one I like) There is only 1 man - Joaquin - in the whole ballet. There was also one PDD for Erica and Joaquin. Each variation has something unique about it; it may have all hops on pointe or another one have have lots of turns. I thought the first two variations, performed by by Brittany Pollack and Kristen Segin were the best (I think Kristen had the hops on point). But with the exception of Savannah Lowery falling briefly off pointe, they were all executed pretty flawlessly. Well done ladies.

But Erica, oh Erica. Oy. Why does Peter keep putting her into ballets Ashley generally dances? To teach her a lesson? To humiliate her? To show her some " Tough love"? Poor girl. Yes, she did all the steps (I think) required of her but just barely. And they had to cut two variations. Erica made a feeble attempt to play with the music (Holding an arabesque a little longer) but she fell out of it. The fact is she is not the whiz kid virtuoso Ashley is. No one else is.But I think Erica could be a lot better than she is, if they started her more slowly, with less difficult roles. Erica seems to suffer from a debilitating lack of confidence and has zero stage presence or charisma. Part of it is her tiny frame. She is short and very thin. As a result, to make up for a lack of physical presence (and some technical issues) she ABSOLUTELY needs to learn stage presence and how to project confidence. (As a small modern dancer I learned that lesson a long time ago). She needs to take a cue from her male colleagues - De Luz, Ullbricht and Cornejo . These guys are all small but they're some of the most beloved dancer because they have PERSONALITY andd CHARM.Right now, when she finishes a solo, she looks like she's about to cry. That, to my mind, is her worst enemy. You could see the charismatic Joaquin trying to buoy her but she was already lost to her inner demons. So in sum, Raymonda Variations is a good piece (a great one, really) but it needs leads who can pull it off.

Martins' Mogen is a tiresome ballet about 3 couples and the nature of love. The piece is all about the ballerina, the man never does a solo, he just partners and lifts her. Each of the 3 female leads get steps that would show their best assets. The first girl (Maria/tonight Tess) gets to unfurl her long limbs in a variety of directions. The second girl - Sterling gets to fly around and jump into her partner's arms. The third girl (Sara, tonight Rebecca) gets to swoon dramatically a lot. I'm not generally a Sterling fan but I thought she was great in this; confident throwing herself into her partner's (Justin?) arms in a variety of poses. She was brave,light on her feet, quick and fearless. Tess showed of her beautiful long limbs. Rebecca isn't nearly as dramatic as Sara but she's a good dancer and did her best. The men are cavaliers, they never get a solo (they were Catazaro, Peck and Ask La Cour). Zach was having an ok night and Ask, while boring, is a decent partner. But Justin Peck? He needs to stop dancing and just choreograph. He looks sloppy and out of shape. You might not see it in the next piece - N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz - but it was more than apparent in Morgen. Do yourself and the audience a favor, Justin, and just choreograph! BTW, I have to give props to the wonderful soprano - Marjorie Owens- who beautifully sang the Richard Strauss music. Very well done and she got more applause than any of the dancers.

As for the Robbins piece, it is a candy colored sneaker "ballet" (really not ballet at all). It's really a jazz piece, kind of reminiscent of West Side Story but not as much fun. Lots of finger snapping, hunched backs, quirky, bent arms, flexed feet and turned in jazz pirouettes. You might find it fun or you might find it really dated (I found it a bit of both.). Gina Pazcoguin was the lead woman and has such great energy and style for the piece. Since there are only about 20 dancers, it was the first time I got to really see new corps member Preston Chamblee dance. He's tall, handsome and has good technique. Now he just needs to slim down a bit. He is significantly larger than his colleagues (though by no means fat). But this is really a nothing piece. A lot of people left at the end of Morgen. It's not really my cup of tea, either, but I wanted to see how the dancers did.

As a final thought, despite this being opening night for Giselle at ABT, Macauley was at NYCB. I guess that like me, he still prefers NYCB, even when their best casts are out. (But that leaves Seibert or Gia to write the Giselle review).

[vipa]

I was also there last night and second Amour's review! I just want to add a few comments. While I enjoyed all the soloist ladies in Raymonda I particularly liked Meagan Mann's floaty jump and enjoy watching the artistic growth that seems to be happening in Megan Le Crone since she became a soloist. She's become a much more versatile dancer.

DeLuz's partnering of Pereira was generous, elegant and supper supportive. Partnering like that is a beautiful thing to behold. Pereira is a mystery to me. Her arms get stiff and she hardly plies which leads to a very brittle effect. She tried to hold an arabesque here and there and has a solid double pirouette but mostly just gets trough the steps with zero musical phrasing. One of the things I love about City Ballet dancers is their musical imagination, and that musicality was apparent in everyone but Periera. She's been a soloist for 5 or more years now. Maybe Peter Martins is trying to give her a jolt by pushing her to meet challenges, but it doesn't seem to be working.

Yes Morgan is tiresome. There are a lot of difficult and complicated partnering moves and lifts that have no effect but to look difficult and complicated. Sterling Hyltin danced beautifully

I enjoyed NY Export Opus Jazz. On the whole I'd say the women took to the style better than the men. The piece was a relief after Morgan.

[abatt]

Can't believe they cut two variations from Raymonda. Tragic. Why didn't they just call on Peck. She is second cast and will perform the role next week.

[mimsyb]

Just back from NYCB. Unfortunately all the cast changes were correct. In fact, for the first time I can recall, there was actually a written insert inside each program with them. They were Pereira for Bouder in Raymonda Variations. For Martins' Morgen they were Tess for Maria, Rebecca Krohn for Sara and Zach Catazaro for Amar. For Morgen I didn't find the changes too terrible. For Raymonda they were. Despite all this, the house was full.

First Raymonda Variations. This is a very difficult ballet, extremely fast, lots of jumps (and gargouillades, Italians), hops on point, quick turns. Generally very tough stuff. Generally , there are 9 variations; judging from the insert, they simply cut two, since we saw 7. (It looks like they cut one lead male and one lead female variation.). The variations were executed by 5 soloists or corps women - Brittany Pollack, Kristen Segin, Megan LeCrone, Megan Mann. and Savannah Lowery. There is also a corps of 7 additional women (and I still can't tell if Emilie Gerrity or Indiana Woodward is the one I like) There is only 1 man - Joaquin - in the whole ballet. There was also one PDD for Erica and Joaquin. Each variation has something unique about it; it may have all hops on pointe or another one have have lots of turns. I thought the first two variations, performed by by Brittany Pollack and Kristen Segin were the best (I think Kristen had the hops on point). But with the exception of Savannah Lowery falling briefly off pointe, they were all executed pretty flawlessly. Well done ladies.

But Erica, oh Erica. Oy. Why does Peter keep putting her into ballets Ashley generally dances? To teach her a lesson? To humiliate her? To show her some " Tough love"? Poor girl. Yes, she did all the steps (I think) required of her but just barely. And they had to cut two variations. Erica made a feeble attempt to play with the music (Holding an arabesque a little longer) but she fell out of it. The fact is she is not the whiz kid virtuoso Ashley is. No one else is.But I think Erica could be a lot better than she is, if they started her more slowly, with less difficult roles. Erica seems to suffer from a debilitating lack of confidence and has zero stage presence or charisma. Part of it is her tiny frame. She is short and very thin. As a result, to make up for a lack of physical presence (and some technical issues) she ABSOLUTELY needs to learn stage presence and how to project confidence. (As a small modern dancer I learned that lesson a long time ago). She needs to take a cue from her male colleagues - De Luz, Ullbricht and Cornejo . These guys are all small but they're some of the most beloved dancer because theybhave PERSONALITY andd CHARM.Right now, when she finishes a solo, she looks like she's about to cry. That, to my mind, is her worst enemy. You could see the charismatic Joaquin trying to buoy her but she was already lost to her inner demons. So in sum, Rsymonda Variations is a good piece (a great one, really) but it needs leads who can pull it off.

Martins' Mogen is a tiresome ballet about 3 couples and the nature of love. The piece is all about the ballerina, the man never does a solo, he just partners and lifts her. Each of the 3 female leads get steps that would show their best assets. The first girl (Maria/tonight Tess) gets to unfurl her long limbs in a variety of directions. The second girl - Sterling gets to fly around and jump into her partner's arms. The third girl (Sara, tonight Rebecca) gets to swoon dramatically a lot. I'm not generally a Sterling fan but I thought she was great in this; confident throwing herself into her partner's (Justin?) arms in a variety of poses. She was brave,light on her feet, quick and fearless. Tess showed of her beautiful long limbs. Rebecca isn't nearly as dramatic as Sara but she's a good dancer and did her best. The men are cavaliers, they never get a solo (they were Catazaro, Peck and Ask La Cour). Zach was having an ok night and Ask, while boring, is a decent partner. But Justin Peck? He needs to stop dancing and just choreograph. He looks sloppy and out of shape. You might not see it in the next piece - N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz - but it was more than apparent in Morgen. Do yourself and the audience a favor, Justin, and just choreograph! BTW, I have to give props to the wonderful soprano - Marjorie Owens- who beautifully sang the Richard Strauss music. Very well done and she got more applause than any of the dancers.

As for the Robbins piece, it is a candy colored sneaker "ballet" (really not ballet at all). It's really a jazz piece, kind of reminiscent of West Side Story but not as much fun. Lots of finger snapping, hunched backs, quirky, bent arms, flexed feet and turned in jazz pirouettes. You might find it fun or you might find it really dated (I found it a bit of both.). Gina Pazcoguin was the lead woman and has such great energy and style for the piece. Since there are only about 20 dancers, it was the first time I got to really see new corps member Preston Chamblee dance. He's tall, handsome and has good technique. Now he just needs to slim down a bit. He is significantly larger than his colleagues (though by no means fat). But this is really a nothing piece. A lot of people left at the end of Morgen. It's not really my cup of tea, either, but I wanted to see how the dancers did.

As a final thought, despite this being opening night for Giselle at ABT, Macauley was at NYCB. I guess that like me, he still prefers NYCB, even when their best casts are out. (But that leaves Seibert or Gia to write the Giselle review).

Or possibly waiting to review Stella's debut tonight in "Giselle". Which might prove to be more exciting than the Opening cast.

[Amour]

Ashley Bouder just posted a picture of herself on Instagram where it looks like she's in a boot:( She titled it "a boot and a clog". If that's the case, I guess she's out for the rest of the season.

https://instagram.com/p/3A3gqgP_6N/?taken-by=ashleybouder

[abatt]

I saw the Huxley Lovette Sylphide yesterday afternoon. I thought Huxley was the best James of the three casts I saw. His technique is flawless and he makes everything look effortless. In the past he has looked a bit wooden on stage, but in this I thought he did a pretty good job with the acting. Lovette was my least favorite of the three casts I saw. She is not a high, big jumper. Nor is she a great actress in this, but her footwork is crystalline clear. It was a good performance, but not up to the high standards of either Bouder or Hyltin, in my opinion. (I liked Lovette much better as Juliet in February with her Romeo Chase Finlay. Now that was some great chemistry.)

[mrpereira]

Thanks abatt for your post Anthony is one of my favorite male dancers with NYCB. We are hoping he gets promoted soon.

[vipa]

I saw the Huxley Lovette Sylphide yesterday afternoon. I thought Huxley was the best James of the three casts I saw. His technique is flawless and he makes everything look effortless. In the past he has looked a bit wooden on stage, but in this I thought he did a pretty good job with the acting. Lovette was my least favorite of the three casts I saw. She is not a high, big jumper. Nor is she a great actress in this, but her footwork is crystalline clear. It was a good performance, but not up to the high standards of either Bouder or Hyltin, in my opinion. (I liked Lovette much better as Juliet in February with her Romeo Chase Finlay. Now that was some great chemistry.)

Thank you for the report abatt. I see such growth in both Lovett & Huxley that it is nice to hear how they met this challenge.

[Amour]

I saw the Huxley Lovette Sylphide yesterday afternoon. I thought Huxley was the best James of the three casts I saw. His technique is flawless and he makes everything look effortless. In the past he has looked a bit wooden on stage, but in this I thought he did a pretty good job with the acting. Lovette was my least favorite of the three casts I saw. She is not a high, big jumper. Nor is she a great actress in this, but her footwork is crystalline clear. It was a good performance, but not up to the high standards of either Bouder or Hyltin, in my opinion. (I liked Lovette much better as Juliet in February with her Romeo Chase Finlay. Now that was some great chemistry.)

Just came back from the Sunday matinee and I agree with abatt. Huxley was my favorite James. His footwork was sparkling, crisp, clean and clear. I had never seen him act, though, so his superlative mime and acting was a delight.. Really, this was the clearest acting I've seen of all the casts. I feel like I could have seen the ballet and not knowing the story would understand exactly what is happenening. His only flaw at all is just his height. He is shorter than most of the women around him. Still, De Luz and Ulbricht are even shorter. Is it too much to hope he will be made principal at the end of the season?

I liked Lovette but she was my least favorite of the Sylphs. She has a womanly body so I was impressed she looked as light as she did. She is not the airy, delicate Sylph like Sterling or the technical virtuoso of Asley. She doesn't have the musicality of Tiler. Still, I thought she did a very credible job and her chemistry with Anthony was good.

Lauren King was a spunky Effie with a sunny disposition (her wonderful smile and pretty good looks help a lot). Gretchen Smith as Madge was a bit less comic (a good thing) than some of the others. Troy Schumacher was much better than I expected but I definitely prefer Joseph Gordon.

The Bournonville Divertissements started out the program. Tess substituted for Sara in the PDD with Tyler Angle but I thought she was terrific. Shy, girlish, her acting was wonderful. And her technical mastery was in full evidence. I thought all her poses, the height of her extensions, her attitudes derrières were all better than Sara's. Tyler was formidable in his jumps and footwork as seen previously. Erica and Allen Peiffer did the Ballabile. I thought Erica looked strong and confident. Her balances and turns were terrific. Yay Erica! It was a pleasure to see her looking like she enjoyed being onstage. I like Taylor Stanley a lot better in this role than Allen but his footwork was crisp and he did a good job partnering Erica. I thought the Pas De Six was especially good today. I'm not quite sure who is who among the women but the woman who I think is Meagsn Mann had rock solid balances, held extra long in arabesques and a la second poses. Ashley Isaacs (I think?) is also very strong technically and very musical. Andrew Scordato was again terrific in his footwork and tours. The corps (the same people who have been doing it at every performance) looked slightly weary as though the jumps and footwork were becoming slightly too much. Luckily for them, this was the last Bournonville program.

Overall, a very enjoyable afternoon and a pretty credible run of Bournonville for a company not used to doing that style.

[mrpereira]

Glad to hear Erica was strong and confident. We have enjoyed watching Erica from when she did Square Dance in workshop at SAB. I think we will be seeing some wonderful and exciting dancing from her in the coming weeks.

[abatt]

I liked Reichlin in the Bournonville Divert., but Catazaro was her partner on Sat afternoon (not Tyler Angle). The problem again is that she is too sophisticated and tall for the role. Her decision to wear diamond earrings didn't help to create the illusion of a peasant girl, either. However it was well danced. Ashley Isaacs was my favorite.

[Amour]

Ashley Isaacs was my favorite.

Mine, too, abatt. I'll be keeping my eye out for her in the future. I don't think she'll be in the corps for long.

[Amour]

So far, Ashley has not been replaced in Clearing Dawn on the 29th (I have tickets) although she's out for Raymond Variations on the 27th. So disappointed at not being to see her in Raymonda. I doubt that even Tiler can dance it with the same virtuosity as Ashley so I'm still debating whether to get tickets to the Sunday matinee. I'm praying that Ashley is better in time for Midsummer.

[mira]

it's a small thing but the two "Ashleys" spell their names differently - Ashley Bouder and Ashly Issacs.