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NYCB at Saratoga 2017 Season


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Greetings, Everyone.  I didn't see a thread on this year's season at Saratoga Performing Art Center, July 5-15, 2017, so I'm starting one.  Here is the schedule and casting:

 

 SARATOGA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY
JULY 5-15, 2017

BUY TICKETS

Casting

WEEK 1

WEEK 2

Wednesday, July 5
Fearful Symmetries (Adams/Martins)
The Times Are Racing (Deacon/Peck)
Stars and Stripes (Sousa/Balanchine)

Thursday, July 6 eve
Allegro Brillante (Tschaikovsky/Balanchine)
Tarantella (Gottschalk/Balanchine)
Swan Lake (Tschaikovsky/Balanchine)
Stravinsky Violin Concerto (Stravinsky/Balanchine)

Friday, July 7
Fearful Symmetries (Adams/Martins)
The Times Are Racing (Deacon/Peck)
Stars and Stripes (Sousa/Balanchine)

Saturday, July 8 mat
Allegro Brillante (Tschaikovsky/Balanchine)
Tarantella (Gottschalk/Balanchine)
Swan Lake (Tschaikovsky/Balanchine)
Stravinsky Violin Concerto (Stravinsky/Balanchine)

Saturday, July 8 eve (Gala)
Carousel (Rodgers/Wheeldon)
Thou Swell (Martins/Rodgers arr. by Kelly)
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (Balanchine/Rodgers)

Tuesday, July 11
Dances at a Gathering (Chopin/Robbins)
The Concert (Chopin/Robbins)

Wednesday, July 12
Jeu de Cartes (Stravinsky/Martins)
New Peck (Desyatnikov)
New Ratmansky (Desyatnikov)

Thursday, July 13 eve
Dances at a Gathering (Chopin/Robbins)
The Concert (Chopin/Robbins)

Friday, July 14
La Sonnambula (Reieti/Balanchine)
Prodigal Son (Prokofiev/Balanchine)
Firebird (Stravinsky/Balanchine)

Saturday, July 15 mat
Carousel (Rodgers/Wheeldon)
Thou Swell (Martins/Rodgers arr. by Kelly)
Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (Balanchine/Rodgers)

Saturday, July 15 eve
La Sonnambula (Reieti/Balanchine)
Prodigal Son (Prokofiev/Balanchine)
Firebird (Stravinsky/Balanchine
 

I will be attending opening night and several other performances.  This is the best time of the year for Mr. KarenAG and me!  I'm looking particularly forward to the two all-Balanchine programs, the all-Robbins, the two Peck ballets and Ratmansky's Odessa.  I have not seen Fearful Symmetries before, either, so that will be good.

 

I noticed Robert Fairchild is not dancing at all.  

 

Who else is visiting Upstate NY and SPAC?  

Edited by KarenAG
clarification and grammar
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On 7/9/2017 at 2:48 PM, cobweb said:

I would love to read reviews of these performances. 

Well, I've gotten off to a slow start this season for a variety of reasons,which is very disappointing, but I did see the the matinee on Saturday and it was spectacular!  I will see several performances this week. The company is well covered with reviews in four newspapers and much enthusiasm.   This is the best time of the year for those of us who live here and adore ballet!  

 

Each work was danced beautifully.  Allegro Brillante with Tiler Peck and Andrew Veyette, as well as the corps, was brilliantly danced.  It was thrilling, more so than when I saw it danced by Miami City Ballet at Jacob's Pillow two weeks ago.  Perhaps because it was live v taped music and the stage is much bigger at SPAC.  This is not to take away anything from MCB and it's wonderful dancers.

 

Tarantella was danced by Joaquin de Luz and Erica Periera and it was a lot of fun. Joaquin was pretty sensational.  Erica danced the role nicely - I think she needs to work on her speed and personality in the role.

 

Swan Lake kind of brought down the house.  Sarah Mearns is a wonderful Odette - she  embodies a 19th c Russian Odette with all the gravitas and tragedy but with killer American technique. She was amazing.  The corps was marvelous - they were so musical and ate up the stage - they were really dynamic and at least half the equation.  Von Rothbart had the best wings I've ever seen.  For the record, I have seen this production several times.

 

Stravinsky Violin Concerto was also beautifully danced - so flirty and charming.  I am gaining a deeper understanding of Sterling's gifts.  It was Taylor Stanley's second performance of this - he premiered it on Thurs night - and he looked great.  

 

i apologize this isn't anything more than a sketch.  

 

 

        

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I attended Thurs matinee and and Friday evening.  I'll be at the matinee today and will write about all three performances soon.  Suffice it to say that the company is just wonderful this season, dancing so well.  I have so many impressions, I need to get them in order, but suffice it to say that last night's Balanchine Short Stories was beyond.   The three female leads - Sterling, Maria and Theresa - were so well-fitted to their roles, they were just phenomenal :smilie_mondieu:.  More later.    

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KarenAG - Thank you for sharing!  I'm going through NYCB withdrawal, and have to wait until September when they're back at the Koch.  We came close to going to Saratoga for a few days, and after reading your reviews, wish we had. 

 

Enjoy the rest of the performances, and please continue to share your reviews!

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Per NYCB's Twitter, Ashley Laracey debuted in Thou Swell today.  I believe she replaced Sara Mearns who posted on Instagram that she is injured but hopes to perform at the Lincoln Center Festival next week.  If anyone saw the performance, please comment!

 

DEBUT: Merde to Ashley Laracey as she makes her debut in Peter Martins' Thou Swell this afternoon on the @MagicofSPAC stage.

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On 7/15/2017 at 2:34 PM, NinaFan said:

KarenAG - Thank you for sharing!  I'm going through NYCB withdrawal, and have to wait until September when they're back at the Koch.  We came close to going to Saratoga for a few days, and after reading your reviews, wish we had. 

 

Enjoy the rest of the performances, and please continue to share your reviews!

Thank you, NinaFan.  I completely understand -  I am going through withdrawal and the company only left Saratoga four days ago :(.  And I did not see them nearly as much as I would have liked. But I'm grateful for the four performances I saw.  And happily, the Fall Season is only a couple of months away.   

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On 7/15/2017 at 7:26 PM, Balanchinomane said:

Thanks for the reviews Karen. The Short Stories program was my favorite for the whole year.

It's only July and I already could use a "fix."

Hi Balanchinomane!  Balanchine Short Stories was my favorite at Saratoga, too, along with the other all-Balanchine program.    

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New York City Ballet had a short season at SPAC this year; only 12 performances, over two weeks (with July 4 being a Tuesday, opening night was Wednesday, instead of the usual first Tuesday following July 4, and for some reason unknown to me, they have eliminated the first week's Thursday matinee since 2016.  Perhaps someone can shed a light as to why this precious matinee has been eliminated the last two seasons?  For those of you who may not know, City Ballet had its first performance with A Midsummer Night's Dream at Saratoga on July 8, 1966, which began its 51-year summer residency.  In those good, old days, their residency spanned four weeks (that was before my time), then to three weeks in 1977, which was the season length when I went to my first NYCB performance at SPAC  in 1980.  In 2009, the season was reduced to two weeks. In 2013, NYCB came to Saratoga for one week only.  Since then it has visited for two weeks, giving twelve to fourteen performances, depending on the year. You may sense the undercurrent of anxiety I am experiencing relating this bit of history :(.

 

For me, there is nothing like seeing the New York City Ballet at Saratoga.  With it's tall pines, cool air, burbling Kayderosseras Creek, gorgeous baths and spa buildings, and Museum of Dance,  all within the graceful and stately Saratoga State Park, a perfect harmony of nature and art exists.   When I see the company in its home at Lincoln Center, I'm thrilled.  If I'd had the good fortune to have seen them in Paris last year, I would have been ecstatic.  But to see them on the SPAC stage is just pure magic, breathtaking. Somehow, the dancers dance different, the ballets feel different. The dancers and musicians are exuberant, relaxed and seemingly very happy; of course, who wouldn't be happy dancing and performing under the stars in that night air?   Because SPAC is also their home, even as their residency has grown shorter.  It is truly one of the great summer offerings and I can't imagine being anywhere else; it's my home, too.

 

It's late so I will write about the ballets I saw tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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