MCB program IV. Apollo, Concerto DSCH, La Valse.

[cubanmiamiboy]

It was a joyous ending for this season, with Apollo, beautifully danced by Renan Cerdeiro and company veteran Tricia Albertson as his Terpsichore.  Every time I see this ballet I cant stop but visualizing the roaring 20's in Paris and Danilova, Lifar and Doubrovska dancing this revolutionary and angular choreography.  The audiences must had been quite shocked I bet.  I truly like this ballet because of its elegance and sharpness.  There's never a dull moment on it.  MCB does it with the original birth scene and ascension to Mount Olympus at the end.

Ratmansky's work came next.  I have seen good and bad from Alexei, and I think this is quite a very enjoyable work, given that it revolves around true balletic idiom.  It is very energetic, quasi acrobatic., so one can enjoy a good share of pirouettes and jetes, and even a beautiful romantic pdd, along Shostakovich music. Two thumbs up.

La Valse is La Valse.  So elegant, so atmospheric... so chic...so Dior's "New Look" reminiscent.  My mother even identified her teen years fashion in the dancers attires.   

I left the theater in good spirits. ;-)

 

[Helene]

I'm so glad you enjoyed it.  I was envious when I posted this year's calendar and saw that the company was performing these three works on one program!

[Birdsall]

Last time MCB did Apollo it was without the birth and the climbing the stairs at the end. Interesting that Lourdes Lopez went back to the original.

[Buddy]

Glad that you enjoyed it as much as you did, Cristian.

The season’s announcement shows Simone Messmer along with Renan Cerdeiro. Would love to have seen that. Someday I’ll be lucky enough to see her again. I’m sure that Tricia Albertson was just fine.

https://www.miamicityballet.org/performances/program-four

In the video that I watched of Balanchine’s La Valse, I really admired his usual flow of genius and beauty  and was really hoping that the woman would dust the guy in black off at the end. That would have made it for me.

Concerto DSCH is a lot of fun. Alexei Ratmansky has streaks of brilliance along with a fine sense of humor and plain enjoyment.

 

Edited April 14, 2018 by Buddy

[sandik]

18 hours ago, Birdsall said:

Last time MCB did Apollo it was without the birth and the climbing the stairs at the end. Interesting that Lourdes Lopez went back to the original.

I'm glad that they've made that change -- I think it's a much more coherent version of the ballet.

[Helene]

Especially the "un-swaddling" and his first solo, as he gets his feet under him.  

[Drew]

This program at Miami City Ballet sounds great. Preparing to see Apollo live in a couple of weeks, I've been watching older black and white films/video of the ballet, and I agree that the whole ballet seems more coherent with the earlier scenes ... The ballet as great as it is (and as decisive for Balanchine as it is), always feels a little "historical artefact-ish" to me, but I found watching records of older performances in which the story is intact-and the dancers dance as if the story infuses the steps-helped me make sense of the ballet as a ballet. I first saw Apollo before the cuts were made, but my first strong memories of it are the cut version Baryshnikov danced at NYCB. I suppose it's likely that, in making the cuts he did, the 'story-ness' is just what Balanchine was trying to discard...

Edited April 15, 2018 by Drew

[cubanmiamiboy]

8 hours ago, Drew said:

This program at Miami City Ballet sounds great. Preparing to see Apollo live in a couple of weeks, I've been watching older black and white films/video of the ballet, and I agree that the whole ballet seems more coherent with the earlier scenes ... The ballet as great as it is (and as decisive for Balanchine as it is), always feels a little "historical artefact-ish" to me, but I found watching records of older performances in which the story is intact-and the dancers dance as if the story infuses the steps-helped me make sense of the ballet as a ballet. I first saw Apollo before the cuts were made, but my first strong memories of it are the cut version Baryshnikov danced at NYCB. I suppose it's likely that, in making the cuts he did, the 'story-ness' is just what Balanchine was trying to discard...

I wish there would be a complete record on how the ballet looked like in the 20's, both choreographically and in terms of props and costume design. It is a shame they didn't engage Danilova while she could to film a complete reconstruction of it. The original Chanel costumes are gorgeous, with the three different lengths for the muses skirts, and so are the headdresses. I remember the ballet as it is danced in Cuba, and it has a good share of props, including a chariot with horses up in the sky, where Apollo climbs at the end. There is also no staircase, but a rocky mountain instead.

https://goo.gl/images/SsJJoA

[Buddy]

Here's where a review is noted and can be discussed.

http://balletalert.invisionzone.com/topic/43711-miami-city-ballet-program-iv-and-simone-messmer/

 

[sandik]

On 4/15/2018 at 10:47 AM, cubanmiamiboy said:

I wish there would be a complete record on how the ballet looked like in the 20's, both choreographically and in terms of props and costume design. It is a shame they didn't engage Danilova while she could to film a complete reconstruction of it. The original Chanel costumes are gorgeous, with the three different lengths for the muses skirts, and so are the headdresses. I remember the ballet as it is danced in Cuba, and it has a good share of props, including a chariot with horses up in the sky, where Apollo climbs at the end. There is also no staircase, but a rocky mountain instead.

https://goo.gl/images/SsJJoA

I envy you the experience with the old sets/costumes -- Pacific Northwest Ballet did a lovely production with the stairs and platform up until recently, when Peter Boal decided to present the current NYCB version.  I understand it is the one he knows and likes to coach, but I do think that the birth scene gives a richer context to the work.