Balanchine at City Center

[nysusan]

3 minutes ago, rkoretzky said:

So this is interesting. I finally had a few minutes to call city center when our schedules lined up. They don’t open the offices  until 10am.

I left a VM for the Vice President of marketing and certainly hope she’ll return my call. However the person I talked with (didn’t get her name) told me she’s worked there for eight years and the box office closes every August. (This is July 29-September 4, but I guess close enough). 

I’ve been buying tickets at CC for decades and have never heard about or experienced this. Anyone? 

Its true, I always go to the box office to buy tickets and they do close for vacation every year in August. They re-open about a week before fall for dance tickets go on sale.

[rkoretzky]

And as an example of an excellent policy that rewards frequent ticket purchasers:

I’m an original member of NYCB Fourth Ring Society, now know as Society NYCB. This goes back decades. My tickets can be purchased by phone or at the box office, with no service fees ever. There is a $3 facility fee for every ticket purchased, box office, online, phone. In my memory that’s relatively new, maybe 5 years?, but I just add it to the price if the ticket and it’s fair, across the board. 

I pay $25 annually to keep my my membership. It started at $20 all those years ago. I consider it a supplemental donation to NYCB and pay it gladly. It’s like season tickets at Yankee Stadium or my very inexpensive glimmerglass subscription. I won’t give it up. 

Ticket prices have risen a lot over the years. $12,$15,$17, $23, $28, $31. Maybe an increase this season, I still think it’s a marvelous deal.

Quite a few years ago, the PTB tried to eliminate our society. What a hue and cry! Our dear Carley Broder, R.I.P., published a letter in the New York Times!  It was restored, but only to current members. 

It us capacity controlled. I had a problem once, trying to see a Mearns Swan Lake. And you sit where they put you. No other down side. 

[rkoretzky]

10 minutes ago, nysusan said:

Its true, I always go to the box office to buy tickets and they do close for vacation every year in August. They re-open about a week before fall for dance tickets go on sale.

Wish I had known this and I would have asked my daughter to get to BO sooner. 

Notice on the website maybe? Prominently? I was checking often. 

[Olga]

I would like to be corrected if I am wrong, but I do not recall the box office of any other major dance venue in NYC (Koch, BAM, Joyce) closing like this. 

[bcash]

On 8/1/2018 at 4:34 PM, nanushka said:

I have to say I completely agree with his criticisms of Xander’s hand placement (is he stopping traffic? wholly lacking in poetry) and the muse’s hand on her knee. It sounds like he and Xander have a relationship and that the latter is genuinely grateful (not just being polite and brushing him off).

As often before, though, I’m struck by how AM views his role as a critic to be one of a directly intervening advice-giver to dancers — not at all the only (or predominating?) way of viewing the enterprise.

I mean, I would probably have commented on that hand too. It's just so jarring.  I initially thought it was a random, casual rehearsal moment caught on camera but then the way Parish posted it and the way he responded to Macaulay made it seem like he really didn't notice the "problem"?  The whole thing is a little confusing. 

[bcash]

On 8/3/2018 at 9:05 PM, Quiggin said:

Well put, Drew. It's an absolute conflict of interest. I thought of Clement Greenberg, the Nation art critic, who got in trouble for changing the colors on David Smith's sculptures – and other interventions. 

Also I'm of the opinion that Apollo is simply about the steps and 1920's acrobatics, not about the sets of myths that has encrusted the ballet over the years. "Twelve gods, eternity, transcendence" is for a Sunday school lesson, not for a witty ballet.

That's a very interesting take. I'm tempted to view it that way. But it's also been said that Balanchine would tell stories and give specific suggestions for what to think when rehearsing Apollo, unlike most other ballets of his. 

[Quiggin]

13 hours ago, bcash said:

... But it's also been said that Balanchine would tell stories and give specific suggestions for what to think when rehearsing Apollo, unlike most other ballets of his. 

Lew Christensen, who was the Apollo of the late thirties, also says you dance Apollo without emotion, just going here and there, one step and the other... And didn't Balanchine use stories when he needed them to make a point in rehearsal (and discard them as easily) rather than for the ballet to illustrate a literary or mythological narrative as Macaulay seems to want? 

Anyway for me the ending of Apollo is like the extended ending of Emeralds – a real mystery as where the players are going or what's going to happen to them. And so very moving because it is such a mystery. 

[dirac]

On 8/8/2018 at 11:25 AM, bcash said:

That's a very interesting take. I'm tempted to view it that way. But it's also been said that Balanchine would tell stories and give specific suggestions for what to think when rehearsing Apollo, unlike most other ballets of his. 

True. For example, Edward Villella wrote that Balanchine told him Apollo was a rascal. Villella doubted, probably rightly, that Balanchine told Peter Martins that. Different dancers, different approaches to the role.

Quiggin wrote:

Quote

Anyway for me the ending of Apollo is like the extended ending of Emeralds – a real mystery as where the players are going or what's going to happen to them. And so very moving because it is such a mystery. 

I guess I never thought of it as a mystery - I always figured they were ascending to Olympus (?)  I do agree that it's very moving - because they're leaving us to the earth and our messy mortality.

[Buddy]

I would think that Xander is a good choice because of his cultural familiarity. He also looks like a young Apollo. With time he can make it even better.

Yekaterina Kondaurova is always my choice for anything outside familiar Mariinsky waters. She would probably be the best in interpreting Terpsichore. Yet for the high point duet (in my opinion), because of its beautiful loveliness, there are many who could give it a shot. Kristina Shapran was cast for one night at the Mariinsky and she could be a very good choice. Maria Horeva, who just graduated from the Vaganova, did the second night. Part of this can be seen on video. Of the three young graduates who performed that night, I’m becoming more fond of what she did. She had a lovely, delightful and creative sense of dance in her solo. The duet isn’t on the internet, but I’d love to see it. She may have a ways to go in grasping the character, but I somehow think that she would have brought a smile to George Balanchine’s face. She does to mine.

[Buddy]

I mentioned that I thought that Maria Horeva (Mariinsky site spelling) did a very fine job with her Terpsichore solo, but perhaps will understand the character better in time. I still feel that this is true, but I’m not sure that understanding the character better would actually improve the performance. She’s chosen a delightfully playful approach, her own, and I think that it works just fine. I have no idea if she’ll appear in New York, but I sort of wish that she would.

Added: In her duet, which someone at Ballet Alert! sent me, thanks again so much, I feel that she’s very charming and her dance is absolutely fine and lovely. Also she has a  more developed facial approach, which I think is very impressive.

Edited August 11, 2018 by Buddy
"Added" added

[CharlieH]

Buddy, the playful (“facial”) approach is typical Mariinsky Apollo muses and, to me, is dead wrong compared to Farrell and other NYCB greats who don’t show teeth or flirt with the audience. It’s what many in this forum complained about in Assylmuratova’s Terpsichore, for example, who actually smiled at the audience in spots - not just to Apollo. Same problem with Veronica Part, even when she had moved to ABT. Of course each audience member interprets a performance through his own prism. The flirty approach seems jarring to those used to more poker-faced muses, like Farrell. Remember, the muses are teaching cerebral lessons to the young Apollo.

If one prefers flirty, chacun a son gout!

[Buddy]

2 hours ago, CharlieH said:

Buddy, the playful (“facial”) approach is typical Mariinsky Apollo muses and, to me, is dead wrong compared to Farrell and other NYCB greats who don’t show teeth or flirt with the audience. It’s what many in this forum complained about in Assylmuratova’s Terpsichore, for example, who actually smiled at the audience in spots - not just to Apollo. Same problem with Veronica Part, even when she had moved to ABT. Of course each audience member interprets a performance through his own prism. The flirty approach seems jarring to those used to more poker-faced muses, like Farrell. Remember, the muses are teaching cerebral lessons to the young Apollo.

If one prefers flirty, chacun a son gout!

Thanks, Charlie. This is all news to me. I’m glad to know that it’s not my fantasy perception. Do you have any idea who introduced this interpretation?

But yes, with her anyway, for me, it works just fine.

I think that it might be less noticeable in her duet than in her solo. And at the last few moments of the duet, and earlier, she has a facial expression that suggests almost sublime reverie. These moments, for me, are almost magical, and show a prowess of expression, that I find quite remarkable for someone so young.

Edited August 11, 2018 by Buddy
slight rewording

[CharlieH]

Buddy, this began with whoever coached the first Apollo at the Mariinsky in the mid-1990s. Asylmuratova and her fellow muses. Forgetting the stager...Francia Russell perhaps? But the dancers and their own coaches often override the Balanchine Trust stagers.

[nanushka]

On 8/9/2018 at 4:40 AM, Quiggin said:

And didn't Balanchine use stories when he needed them to make a point in rehearsal (and discard them as easily) rather than for the ballet to illustrate a literary or mythological narrative as Macaulay seems to want? 

In most of his works, yes, though a handful do have more traditional narratives — e.g. Prodigal Son and La Sonnambula. Apollo strikes me as falling somewhere in between.

On 8/10/2018 at 12:32 PM, dirac said:

I guess I never thought of it as a mystery - I always figured they were ascending to Olympus (?)  I do agree that it's very moving - because they're leaving us to the earth and our messy mortality.

At least to the extent that Balanchine is responsible for the content of the book published in his and Francis Mason's name (and indeed the book is written from GB's first-person perspective throughout), this is affirmed in Balanchine's Complete Stories of the Great Ballets (pp. 25-26):

Quote

From on high, Zeus calls his son Apollo home with mighty crescendos of sound. ... Now Apollo takes [the Muses'] hands and draws them like a chariot across the stage. He takes them to the foot of the high rock, then walks forward and begins to climb to the summit, pointing the way to Olympus. The Muses follow.

 

Edited August 13, 2018 by nanushka

[nysusan]

Casting has been posted for this: https://www.nycitycenter.org/pdps/2018-2019/Balanchine/   Scroll down to Cast & Credits to see the casting

I'm most excited about seeing Jeanette Delgado in Serenade, Mathilde Froustey in Scotch, Tereshkina and Kim in Tschai Pas. Also the 2018 top Vaganova grad Maria Horeva as Terpischore.

I don't know the POB dancers very well at all, but I'm wondering if Hugo Marchand and Sae-Eun Park are versatile enough to do justice to both the heavenly Midsummer's Divert and the bold, bracing Agon Pas. 

Edited September 27, 2018 by nysusan
edited to clarify location of casting

[Dreamer]

Thanks for posting it, nysusan. I am very happy with most of the cast. SFB is definitely bringing its best dancers. Other American companies didn’t disappoint either.  Excited to see Tiler Peck, Ashley Bouder, Maria Kowrowski, Sara Mearns, Simone Messmer, Jeanette Delgado, Rory Hohenstein, as well as Viktoria Tereshkina and Kimin Kim. Couldn’t be happier with  Shevchenko and Teusher in  Symphonie Concertante. I would prefer someone else as Mariinsky’s Apollo and am disappointed that Fabrice Calmels is not part of the tour. But otherwise, it should be quite thrilling to see eight different companies perform Balanchine.

[howpureisivory]

3 hours ago, nysusan said:

Casting has been posted for this: https://www.nycitycenter.org/pdps/2018-2019/Balanchine/   Scroll down to Cast & Credits to see the casting

I'm most excited about seeing Jeanette Delgado in Serenade, Mathilde Froustey in Scotch, Tereshkina and Kim in Tschai Pas. Also the 2018 top Vaganova grad Maria Horeva as Terpischore.

I don't know the POB dancers very well at all, but I'm wondering if Hugo Marchand and Sae-Eun Park are versatile enough to do justice to both the heavenly Midsummer's Divert and the bold, bracing Agon Pas. 

Yay! I want to see the Vaganova grads in Apollo! Can't decide on what would be better for the rest of Nov 1 or 3 programs.

[maps]

as of 10/7/18 this program appears to be trending to a potential sell-out for 4/6 performances.

Edited October 9, 2018 by maps
box office

[ABT Fan]

nysusan - thank you for posting the casting!

I can't wait for this!

[mussel]

Program I—Wed, Oct 31 at 8pm

Miami City Ballet Serenade (Tschaikovsky)
Emily Bromberg, Jeanette Delgado, Simone Messmer, Rainer Krenstetter, Chase Swatosh

The Mariinsky Ballet Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux (Tschaikovsky)
Viktoria Tereshkina, Kimin Kim

The Royal Ballet Tarantella (Gottschalk)
Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé

New York City Ballet Symphony in C (Bizet)
First Movement: Tiler Peck, Tyler Angle; Second Movement: Sara Mearns, Jared Angle;
Third Movement: Ashley Bouder, Anthony Huxley; Fourth Movement: Lauren King, Taylor Stanley

Program II—Thu, Nov 1 at 8pm

The Mariinsky Ballet Apollo (Stravinsky) 
Apollo: Xander Parish, Terpischore: Maria Horeva, Polyhymnia: Anastasia Nuikina, Calliope: Daria Ionova

New York City Ballet Concerto Barocco (Bach)
Maria Kowroski, Abi Stafford, Russell Janzen

The Royal Ballet Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux (Tschaikovsky)
Anna Rose O’Sullivan, Marcelino Sambé

San Francisco Ballet Divertimento No. 15 (Mozart)
Dores André, Frances Chung, Sasha De Sola, Koto Ishihara, Ana Sophia Scheller,
Benjamin Freemantle,Angelo Graco, Lonnie Weeks

Program III—Fri, Nov 2 at 8pm

San Francisco Ballet Scotch Symphony (Mendelssohn)
Mathilde Froustey, Joseph Walsh, Dores André

The Mariinsky Ballet Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux (Tschaikovsky)
Viktoria Tereshkina and Kimin Kim

Paris Opera Ballet Divertissement Pas de Deux from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Mendelssohn)
Hugo Marchand and Sae-Eun Park

The Joffrey Ballet The Four Temperaments (Hindemith)
Melancholic: Yoshihasa Arai; Sanguinic: Christine Rocas and Dylan Gutierrez;
Phlegmatic: Greig Matthews; Choleric: Victoria Jaiani

Program IV—Sat, Nov 3 at 2pm

The Joffrey Ballet The Four Temperaments (Hindemith)
Melancholic: Alberto Velazquez; Sanguinic: April Daly and Miguel Angel Blanco;
Phlegmatic: Rory Hohenstein; Choleric: Victoria Jaiani

Miami City Ballet Pas de Trois (Glinka) (Glinka)
Nathalia Arja, Ashley Knox, Kleber Rebello

Paris Opera Ballet Pas de Deux from Agon (Stravinsky)
Hugo Marchand and Sae-Eun Park

San Francisco Ballet Divertimento No. 15 (Mozart)
Dores André, Sasha De Sola, Koto Ishihara, Wona Park, Ana Sophia Scheller,
Benjamin Freemantle,Angelo Graco, Lonnie Weeks

Program V—Sat, Nov 3 at 8pm

The Mariinsky Ballet Apollo (Stravinsky)
Apollo: Xander Parish, Terpischore: Maria Horeva, Polyhymnia: Anastasia Nuikina, Calliope: Daria Ionova

The Royal Ballet Tarantella (Gottschalk)
Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcelino Sambé

Paris Opera Ballet Pas de Deux from Agon (Stravinsky)
Hugo Marchand and Sae-Eun Park

American Ballet Theatre Symphonie Concertante (Mozart)
Christine Shevchenko, Devon Teuscher and Thomas Forster

Program VI—Sun, Nov 4 at 3pm

The Joffrey Ballet The Four Temperaments (Hindemith) 
Melancholic: Yoshihasa Arai; Sanguinic: Christine Rocas and Dylan Gutierrez;
Phlegmatic: Greig Matthews; Choleric: Victoria Jaiani

Paris Opera Ballet Divertissement Pas de Deux from A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Mendelssohn) 
Hugo Marchand and Sae-Eun Park

The Mariinsky Ballet Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux (Tschaikovsky)
Viktoria Tereshkina and Kimin Kim

American Ballet Theatre Symphonie Concertante (Mozart)
Christine Shevchenko, Devon Teuscher and Thomas Forster

*Casting subject to change

[kbarber]

I have seen Marcelino Sambé  in Tarantella and he's pretty fab. I also really liked Hugo Marchand in Midsummer when the Paris Opera Ballet broadcast it (to Quebec); surprisingly fleet of foot for one so tall (he's 6'4 or 6'5 I think). Greig Matthews from the Joffrey is a beautiful dancer and Phlegmatic should suit him.

[pherank]

I noticed that Angelo Greco's name was misspelled above ("Graco"). He's the dynamo trained at the Teatro alla Scala.
It's interesting that Mathilde Froustey will be dancing in Scotch Symphony - that's got to be a new role for her.

[Royal Blue]

There is no denying the significance of style in ballet, even if a viewer who has not studied the art form in depth overlooks such essential details as the precise positioning of the hands and arms, the placement of the feet, the direction the body is leaning or the head is facing, and the speed or elevation required during a choreographic sequence. Without doubt, it is splendid and appropriate, therefore, that NYCB has a school of its own where students learn the Balanchine style from a young age, and from which the company primarily recruits its dancers. There are, nevertheless, issues regarding the element of style. Evidently, people who worked closely with Balanchine have disagreements about it. This is why individuals who attended earlier NYCB performances occasionally have remarked on renditions by other companies purportedly more faithfully capturing the illustrious choreographer's intentions. One wonders, moreover, about the impact of the passage of time on this style as various persons instructed by Balanchine no longer are around to pass their knowledge directly to new generations of dancers. Furthermore, all the coaching provided aside, as artists shouldn’t the topmost dancers eventually determine how to interpret a critical role? And isn’t great choreography ultimately about more than style?

Despite specializing in works from divergent traditions, it seems unreasonable for other major companies not to be performing any Balanchine—which is partly what makes the six City Center programs starting tonight fascinating. It would be unwise, however, to draw precipitate, sweeping inferences from a sampling of performances.

The cast for this evening's performance of Symphony in C by NYCB is superlative. It will be riveting to observe the company perform a magnificent ballet included in the opening program in 1948, and in the venue which served as its original theater.

Edited November 1, 2018 by Royal Blue

[BalanchineFan]

It was a beautiful opening night performance tonight. Miami City Ballet gave a beautiful and moving Serenade. The audience is closer to the dancers at City Center so we were viewing it from another angle.  Jeanette Delgado was superb. 

The Mariinsky dancers brought a different style to Tschai Pas. Lovely at times, puzzling at other times. Kimin Kim has such ballon he looked like he might jump off the stage. I’m not sure he was able to fit all the choreography into the available space, but he was a hit with the audience. They also take a lot of time with their bows in the middle of the piece. Perhaps that’s the style in Russia. It seems self indulgent in NYC.

Tarantella was a lot of fun and really connected with the spirit of the piece and with the audience. 

More later.... I’m interested to hear what others thought. 

[fondoffouettes]

10 hours ago, BalanchineFan said:

They also take a lot of time with their bows in the middle of the piece. Perhaps that’s the style in Russia. It seems self indulgent in NYC.

Yes, that's absolutely a Russian thing. You'll find videos on YouTube where Odile takes bows after her 32 fouettes, completely interrupting the flow of the Black Swan PDD's coda. 

Edited November 1, 2018 by fondoffouettes