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NYCB Spring 2016 Spring Season


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Any comments on the new (refurbished?) Vienna Waltzes costumes? The pink dresses in the first Tales of the Vienna Woods are shorter (you can now easily see the shoes) and have a fuller cut and seem to swirl more; the Voices of Spring tutus seem to me to be darker than the originals; the Polka costumes seem much brighter; and, finally, the white gowns in Rosenkavalier are really, really white (as opposed to a light cream originally).

I too thoroughly enjoyed Huxley's dancing. Brought back memories of that pure classic dancing of Helgi.

And Tiler was just wonderful in Ballo. Those pique turns ending in arabesque were right on the money musically. And, yes, what a company this is that it can field two completely different casts (both principals and soloists) for such a virtuoso work.

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Anybody was there for Maria's return in Vienna?

On the NYCB Instagram account she was saying she has some foot pain, and being off for so long, she is having a harder time dealing with it so for now she has to limit her performances:

"I'm hoping to dance Apollo and Everywhere We Go in Paris, at least -- and Mozartiana and Symphony in C are on the back burner. I just have to see; my foot's been giving me some issues.

I've had issues with it my whole career, but having been off it so long, I've lost all of that strength to hide the issues, so now they're very visible and they're like, every time I start to do something, or move fast -- it doesn't have the strength. And getting that back has been really hard. I've had to start over like three times -- this spring, I wanted to do Midsummer, I wanted to do Dances (at a Gathering), I was supposed to come back for Everywhere We Go and I was possibly going to do Diamonds -- but now it's just Vienna.
You make a plan, but it's not always what you think it's going to be. Which is tough, because you have an aspiration of what you think you'll come back to -- but at the same time, maybe I wasn't ready, or maybe I needed more time with the baby.

I hope I can come back and do all my roles. I hope my body lets me. It's a challenge; I feel like when I first started back, I thought 'Oh, this is never going to happen!' and my body was like nuh-uh. You realize that you lose all your muscles in your core, so lifting your leg is so hard. Front and back I can do now, but the side is still hard and I end up doing weird things with my hips.

I spoke with (retired Principal Dancer and mom of two) Jenny Ringer and she said, "Maria, honestly, it took me six months both times I had the babies. And all of a sudden, it just clicks; all of a sudden my body just started to work." So, we'll see."
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I thought the diminishment of Maria's range of motion with her legs was apparent last night in VW. I also noticed a stiffness in her upper body. I hope she is able to work her way back into her old roles. No time to write about the rest of the performance now. However, a big shout out to Huxley for a stellar debut in Ballo.

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Week 6 Midsummer's Casting Posted: http://www.nycballet.com/casting/

Lovette debuting divert. Catazaro and Farley Cavalier. Maxwell Butterfly and Ball Puck. Miriam Miller has 2 Titanias. Has Megan Fairchild ever done divert? She's not cast (Hyltin, Peck, and Stafford are)

Yes, M. Fairchild has performed the Midsummer Divertissement. I am a fan, but it's not a role she's ideally suited for. In the pas especially, the Divertissement ballerina has to be able to fill up a ton of ballet "white space" with an equivalent ton of expansive musicality. Fairchild is very musical in allegro; less so in adagio.

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I thought the diminishment of Maria's range of motion with her legs was apparent last night in VW. I also noticed a stiffness in her upper body. I hope she is able to work her way back into her old roles. No time to write about the rest of the performance now. However, a big shout out to Huxley for a stellar debut in Ballo.

I agree with abatt. Though it was great to see Maria, her range of and (for me) the very apparent stiffness in her back really detracted from her performance. Sara was much more fluid, with deep back bends, and of course she was very glamorous. But she got a huge amount of applause at the end (more than any other dancer in the performance).

As for Ballo, I am a huge Anthony fan. He is very clean, very fast and has quick footwork. I far prefer to see him paired with Megan than Lauren Lovette. Megan has this role down cold. But maybe that's the problem. She doesn't project any charm or charisma. Her positions were clipped. And pique turn into and arabesque was over in an instant; Tiler is luxurious in this same sequence of steps, holding the arabesque longer. She is just a more interesting dancer to watch. I'ud like to see a Tiler/Anthony matchup in Ballo one day. If he can dance wilth Miriam Miller (probably the tallest female in Midsummer), he should be able to partner Tiler in Ballo.

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I'ud like to see a Tiler/Anthony matchup in Ballo one day. If he can dance will Miriam Miller (probably the tallest female in Midsummer, he should be able to partner Tiler in Ballo.

A Peck/Huxley match in Ballo sounds a lovely idea. Certainly it's something I would want to see.

(Re partnering sizes, though, I don't think the Midsummer example tells one much. Balanchine wanted a short Oberon with a taller Titania and had a cavalier rather than Oberon actually partner her.)

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re: Balanchine's AMND, the only contact between Oberon and Titania in the staging is for O to escort T out of the final scene by the hand.

otherwise, T is partnered by her cavalier in the bower sc. and by Bottom in the rustics' sc. and arguably by her retinue in the lullaby sc.

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A few more words about Huxley's Ballo debut. Every step and shape of the choreography was so clear in his performance. He covered so much stage space in one of his solo passages that the stage was almost too small for him. I'm so disappointed that I will not be able to see Huxley's Oberon this season. I saw it last season, and he was fantastic. Re the Ballo performance, Megan has great speed and gets the job done, which is no easy task int his ballet. However, her performances of Ballo lack musicality and phrasing.

Reichlin and Mearns were very impressive in Kammermusik. For the first time I actually enjoyed the ballet, although I feel it goes on too long.

What a lucky lady S. Lowery was to be escorted by the dashing R. Janzen. in Vienna Waltzes. I thought Lauren Lovette was utterly miscast as the Merry Widow. She is both too short and too young looking. they should have at least switched up the casting and put Janzen and Lowery in the Gold and Silver Waltz, since they both look more adult than Finlay and Lovette.

As for last night, Catazarro was replaced in DAAG by Adrian DW. Thus, Adrian was Blue and Amar Ramasar took the Green role that Adrian was originally scheduled to dance. Tiler Peck was magical in Pink. Utterly breathtaking. Also special mention for Joseph Gordon in Brick who demonstrated great virtuosity. I think Megan Fairchild is too short for Green. This is part of the new trend at NYCB of casting short dancers in traditionally tall roles. Would have loved to see Laracey try out the Green role.

There was a major error during DAAG. It occurred during the waltz section where there are six dancers on stage and the three men have to throw each of the three women. The Blue man is at the end of the line, catching each ballerina. Usually, the last ballerina is thrown with a flourish to make the final big throw a heartstopping magical moment. However, perhaps due to the last minute casting change, Adrain DW spent too long dismounting ballerina no. 2 (Lovette) from his arms, so that he was not ready in time to make the catch of ballerina #3 (Pollack). As a result the second man in the line (Tyler Angle) did not throw Pollack, and instead kept her cradled in his arms and eventually passed her on to Adran DW (not a throw). The result was that both men were holding her in their arms, but she was never thrown in the air. Awkward. Angle definitely made the right choice because Brittany would have been thrown on the floor . Adrian was not ready to catch her.

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I thought Lauren Lovette was utterly miscast as the Merry Widow. She is both too short and too young looking. they should have at least switched up the casting and put Janzen and Lowery in the Gold and Silver Waltz, since they both look more adult than Finlay and Lovette.

I agree 100% about Lovette, she is so small she just got swallowed up in all that costuming. She definitely has the personality for the role but she looked like a kid in her mother's dress and that hat - well, the hat wore her.

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I wasn't as bothered by Lovette's youth or petiteness. I thought she looked beautiful and carried off the hat pretty well, even if was like a third of her height. Also she and Finlay are both well into their 20s, and especially at the time depicted, widowhood could easily happen at a young age.

Heading into tonight's performance, I find myself especially looking forward to Alexa Maxwell in Ballo, having seen her fly around the stage with energy and joy several times now.

I note a few casting changes for upcoming weeks. It looks like Scheller is out, but Isaacs is expected back for Midsummer Night's Dream.

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NYCB updated the casting lists. Catazaro is out of all shows this week and next week. (No update of the Midsummer Night Dream casting yet.) Chase Finlay is debuting in the Blue role in DAAG, substituting for Catazaro in the first cast and for Thew in the second cast.

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I saw a double header of DAAG and WSS Suite. Peter Martins seems determined to dance Chase Finlay back into another injury -- he's now Blue Boy AND Tony, which meant dancing three times in one day. Sterling Hyltin (Pink), Sara Mearns (Green) and Megan Fairchild (yellow) were IMO more idiomatic than Tiler Peck (Pink), Megan Fairchild (Green), and Lauren Lovette (yellow). Both Mearns and Krohn are now overdoing the angst of the Mauve Girl solo. R. Fairchild was a disappointment as Brown Boy.

More thoughts here, plus opening night Sylvia and a second cast of all-Balanchine:

http://poisonivywalloftext.blogspot.com/2016/05/spring-season-diaries-part-3-sylvia-and.html

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It was glorious to see Maria K back on stage. She is the ONLY ballerina I have seen in VW who doesn't make me miss Farrell in the part :tiphat: Such a pleasure to see true artistry. .Sterling Hyltin was dazzling in the second waltz--I expected to see electricity sparks flying. Lovette and Finlay do not have the necessary sophistication for the G&S waltz.

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One thing that's bugging me about the way DAAG is done nowadays is that almost none of the dancers try to recreate the late 60's/early 1970's look of earth tones, simple hairstyles for the women, and makeup that emphasizes the brows/eyes than the lips. When I saw Sara Mearns in a fancy updo, blood red lipstick, and modern pancake makeup I thought it looked so wrong.

Here's some pictures of the original DAAG cast:

50697844-multiple-exposure-of-allegra-ke50375787-sara-leland-robert-maiorano-pat

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One thing that's bugging me about the way DAAG is done nowadays is that almost none of the dancers try to recreate the late 60's/early 1970's look of earth tones, simple hairstyles for the women, and makeup that emphasizes the brows/eyes than the lips. When I saw Sara Mearns in a fancy updo, blood red lipstick, and modern pancake makeup I thought it looked so wrong.

That surprises me too, given ballets often have make-up guides and Robbins' rep for micro-managing costumes...it does nick at the "villager" look. (Then again, if there were a DAAG character to wear bright red lipstick, the Girl in Green would be it: does Mearns wear it for her other characters too?)

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Mearns gave an enthralling and heartbreaking performance in Serenade last night. I've seen her do the role before, but I thought last night's performance reached a new height of insightfulness and poignancy. Tiler Peck was magnificent in her debut as Russian Girl. She added some dramatic nuance that you usually don't see. (I would love to see Tiler Peck do the Waltz Girl at some point in her career.) Jared Angle and Adrian DW were both ardent partners. Megan LeCrone had a very nasty fall, but she continued on and did not appear to be injured.

Ulbricht is always impressive in Hallelujah Junction because it shows off his speed and technical ability. I had never seen Taylor Stanley in this ballet (substituting for Garcia), and was impressed by his strong dancing. I thought Lovette was too slow and leaden in the female lead role.

Next was Duo Concertant with Hyltin and R. Fairchild. Some have commented on the fact that R Fairchild is out of shape. This was never more apparent to me than in last night's performance. The allegro footwork that he used to do with ease is now a struggle - a fight to the finish line.

Abi Stafford, usually not one of my favorite dancers, was light on her feet and did a wonderful job in the first movement of Western Symphony. Her partner, Taylor Stanley, looked a bit tired. After all, he had just danced a demanding role in Hallelujah Junction only minutes earlier. Brittany Pollack needs some time to settle into the lead role in the second movement. What is supposed to look charming and comic came off looking forced. Also, she just barely managed to stay on pointe during that killer portion of her role where she has to deeply bend her knees while staying on pointe. Reichlin was sassy in the final movement but the fouettes eluded her. She came off pointe, started over, and came off pointe again.

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I thought the diminishment of Maria's range of motion with her legs was apparent last night in VW. I also noticed a stiffness in her upper body. I hope she is able to work her way back into her old roles. No time to write about the rest of the performance now. However, a big shout out to Huxley for a stellar debut in Ballo.

I saw the program on Tuesday.... I think Maria did a great job. I have been watching her for a long time.

Even if I did not know that she just had a baby, I could not tell that she has foot pain.

On top of everything else, her artistry is beyond. She masters the use of the big skirt train to her advantage, elongating and enhancing her dancing. Truly romantic and brought the audience to another space. keep it.

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The prize of the night goes to Huxley, who was outstanding in both Belle Lettres and DSCH. Is anyone else praying for a Huxley debut next season in Prodigal?

I am praying that Anthony gets to do T&V, preferably with Tiler but otherwise with Megan Fairchild. I think Anthony's superb performance in Ballo showed he is ready for his "white tights" moment. He is quick, has superb footwork, is rather lyrical and now an accomplished technician.

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