NYCB 2019 Kennedy Center Tour

[DC Export]

Casting has been posted: https://www.nycballet.com/NYCB/media/NYCBMediaLibrary/PDFs/Press/Casting/NYCB-Casting-Washington-DC-April-2-7-2019_3-06-19.pdf

 

Lots of debuts (Phelen in "In the Night" and "Kammermusik") and the return of Megan Fairchild!

[cobweb]

Glad that Fairchild is back performing! (Although why do they still list her as M. Fairchild, when there is no longer any possibility of confusing her with R. Fairchild?) But, still no sign of Adrian Danchig-Waring. 

[ABT Fan]

2 minutes ago, cobweb said:

Glad that Fairchild is back performing! (Although why do they still list her as M. Fairchild, when there is no longer any possibility of confusing her with R. Fairchild?) But, still no sign of Adrian Danchig-Waring. 

Old habits die hard? Or, it could be so people don't think Robbie has returned (plenty of folks don't look at the website's roster....).

[cobweb]

Also I see that Baily Jones is doing the third movement of Symphony in C. I wonder why they don't let Alston Macgill do it again, after she did it a few years ago in Paris, on the DVD that was released. I don't think Macgill  has ever done the role in NYC, or as far as I know, anywhere after the Paris tour. 

[BalanchineFan]

I think Alston MacGill was injured and only recently returned to the stage. She’s great in the Paris dvd, though I think she was an apprentice. It must have been Martins’ choice to cast her. 

[sunshine67]

On 3/7/2019 at 8:39 AM, DC Export said:

Casting has been posted: https://www.nycballet.com/NYCB/media/NYCBMediaLibrary/PDFs/Press/Casting/NYCB-Casting-Washington-DC-April-2-7-2019_3-06-19.pdf

 

Lots of debuts (Phelen in "In the Night" and "Kammermusik") and the return of Megan Fairchild!

So excited to see Megan return.  Becoming a mother (of a gorgeous baby girl!!) is going to impact her artistry, no doubt!  It will be exciting as she was already a full-scale performer.

[maps]

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Edited April 7, 2019 by maps

[lmspear]

Here's another promo code offer.

The Kennedy Center is offering $29 tickets for select seats for the performances of the New York City Ballet on Tuesday, April 2, Wednesday, April 3, Thursday, April 4 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, April 6 at 1:30 pm. Tickets are regularly as high as $69 in that area.

 You can click the link below and your discount will appear automatically. If you call (202-467-4600) or stop by the Box Office for the discount, be sure to mention Offer Number "337602".

New York City Ballet

 

New York City Ballet
with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra 

Balanchine, Robbins & Reisen (Apr. 2, 3)
Composer's Holiday (Foss/Reisen)
Kammermusik No. 2 (Hindemith/Balanchine)
Opus 19/The Dreamer (Prokofiev/Robbins)
Symphony in C (Bizet/Balanchine)
 
New Works & New Productions (Apr. 4, 6m)
Easy (Bernstein/Peck)
In the Night (Chopin/Robbins)
The Runaway (Muhly, West, Jay-Z, Blake, add. artists/Abraham)  **Please see content note below
SOMETHING TO DANCE ABOUT Jerome Robbins, Broadway at the Ballet (Bernstein, Bock, Gould, Rodgers, Styne/Robbins, direction and musical staging by Carlyle)

**Content Note: Music used in The Runaway contains lyrics with strong language and mature themes.
 

Restrictions: Offer valid on remaining seats in select orchestra seats in the 4/2, 4/3, 4/4, and 4/6 matinee performances of New York City Ballet.

[Fleurfairy]

Nice to see Abi Stafford getting a Balanchine debut as well.

[abatt]

I'm glad to see that the company is finally putting a warning on the program regarding lyrics used in the Runaway. 

[maps]

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Edited July 13, 2019 by maps
update-delete

[BalanchineFan]

I think lyrics warnings are becoming more common wherever rap music or other explicit language is used. Brooklyn Academy of Music had one for Ohad Naharin's Venezuela.

Kammermusik is Abi Stafford's Balanchine debut?  I think I've seen her perform Kammermusik, but maybe it was just an open rehearsal.

Edited April 3, 2019 by BalanchineFan

[The Traveling Ballerina]

For those interested in reading it, I've written a review of the performance I saw last night. I left the show feeling a bit ambiguous, appreciative of their technical abilities and at the same time lacking an emotional response to what I saw. Anyone else attend?

[Liotarded]

I went tonight (April 3) for the A Program with wife. We loved it! The house seemed very well attended. I’m not familiar with NYCB so can’t compare but def worth it, especially bc tix were only $29 a piece. 🙂

[yukionna4869]

17 hours ago, BalanchineFan said:

 

Kammermusik is Abi Stafford's Balanchine debut?  I think I've seen her perform Kammermusik, but maybe it was just an open rehearsal.

She has danced Kammermusik before, but she did the other ballerina role. 

[BalanchineFan]

2 hours ago, yukionna4869 said:

She has danced Kammermusik before, but she did the other ballerina role. 

Thank you. In fact Abi Stafford is pictured on the NYCB website dancing in Kammermusik with Rebecca Krohn. Verrrry interesting. I'm not that familiar with the ballet. Is there a big difference between the roles? Does one of them get a pas de deux and the other not, like with Concerto Barocco?

Edited April 4, 2019 by BalanchineFan

[The Traveling Ballerina]

16 hours ago, Liotarded said:

I went tonight (April 3) for the A Program with wife. We loved it! The house seemed very well attended. I’m not familiar with NYCB so can’t compare but def worth it, especially bc tix were only $29 a piece. 🙂

They are definitely impressive! I trained at SAB so was fortunate to have been exposed to their performance for so many years. I am considering attending tonight, too, to see the other program.

[CTballetfan]

Today’s Washington Post reviewed opening night (sorry I don’t know how to link  it here), singling out for praise the piece by the 18-year-old dancer in her first publicly performed piece. The reviewer was thrilled with the end of the piece when the men throw the woman up in the air with her skirt billowing around her, and just as she seems to float on the air above them, the lights go out. End of piece. This reminded me of a short solo piece called “Caught”, with similar lighting tricks, that I saw performed at the May 2010 ABT gala by Angel Corella. It used strobe lighting, which went on and off as he performed his jumps. On the final jump, as he seemed to hover in the air, the lights went out a final time, leaving the stage in the dark. The audience was left with the impression that he was forever “caught” in midair. I never forgot this piece and wonder if this type of trick has been used elsewhere in ballet. 

[bluejean]

32 minutes ago, CTballetfan said:

Today’s Washington Post reviewed opening night (sorry I don’t know how to link  it here), singling out for praise the piece by the 18-year-old dancer in her first publicly performed piece. The reviewer was thrilled with the end of the piece when the men throw the woman up in the air with her skirt billowing around her, and just as she seems to float on the air above them, the lights go out. End of piece. This reminded me of a short solo piece called “Caught”, with similar lighting tricks, that I saw performed at the May 2010 ABT gala by Angel Corella. It used strobe lighting, which went on and off as he performed his jumps. On the final jump, as he seemed to hover in the air, the lights went out a final time, leaving the stage in the dark. The audience was left with the impression that he was forever “caught” in midair. I never forgot this piece and wonder if this type of trick has been used elsewhere in ballet. 

I think you're referring to "Caught," by David Parsons.  I first saw that piece performed by the Alvin Ailey company during a tour in Texas, and I was blown away.  I've been dying to see it again ever since.  Here's the link to the article in the Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/theater-dance/its-hit-or-miss-for-new-york-city-ballet-in-first-kennedy-center-program-under-new-directors/2019/04/03/6125114e-5633-11e9-a047-748657a0a9d1_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.f327984f518e

Edited April 4, 2019 by bluejean
clarity

[sandik]

"Caught" is a popular work -- Parsons' company performs it regularly, but he's also staged it on many different people.  Here in Seattle the Chamber Dance Company has performed it, as have several folks (men and women) at Pacific Northwest Ballet.  It always reminds me of Parsons' work with the photographer Lois Greenfield, especially in her book Breaking Bounds.  She made a very popular calendar out of images from that period -- I imagine many of us have seen it.

[YouOverThere]

On 4/3/2019 at 5:58 PM, The Traveling Ballerina said:

For those interested in reading it, I've written a review of the performance I saw last night. I left the show feeling a bit ambiguous, appreciative of their technical abilities and at the same time lacking an emotional response to what I saw. Anyone else attend?

I kind of felt the same way, though perhaps not for the same reasons. Though to be fair, I was tired due to getting home late the day before due to a rock concert in Annapolis and I was stuck high in the nosebleed seats. I thought that Ms. Reisen's  piece was very impressive for an 18 year old, though the Balanchine influence was unmistakable. Unlike apparently just about everyone else, I really enjoyed Opus 19/The Dreamer. It brought me back to my childhood days when it was, in certain times and places, possible to watch the clouds and stars move through the night sky. I'm not a big fan of Symphony in C, mainly because I don't find the music to be very interesting. My accomplice complained about the ballerinas in Kammermusik No. 2 not always being in sync, but I did not notice this. I was tempted to go back and see the program again on Wednesday, but I was delayed in leaving work and the traffic was absolutely brutal, as sometimes happens when the cherry blossoms are blooming.

 

[The Traveling Ballerina]

On 4/6/2019 at 5:36 PM, YouOverThere said:

I'm not a big fan of Symphony in C, mainly because I don't find the music to be very interesting.

 

This is now the second time I've seen Symphony in C, hoping that it would grow on me. Perhaps third time's a charm?

[nanushka]

On 4/6/2019 at 5:36 PM, YouOverThere said:

I'm not a big fan of Symphony in C, mainly because I don't find the music to be very interesting.

For me, it absolutely epitomizes Balanchine's treatment of music. It's not an inherently great piece, but it's dansante from first to last — and Balanchine captures it so perfectly in movement, making it seem to become essentially a better piece of music than it was before he touched it.

Edited April 10, 2019 by nanushka

[Drew]

On 4/6/2019 at 5:36 PM, YouOverThere said:

 My accomplice complained about the ballerinas in Kammermusik No. 2 not always being in sync, but I did not notice this. I was tempted to go back and see the program again on Wednesday, but I was delayed in leaving work and the traffic was absolutely brutal, as sometimes happens when the cherry blossoms are blooming.

 

A lot of factors go into one's reaction to a performance for sure!

I think "in sync" could mean dancing together or simply coordinated musically. I think this was addressed above...For much of Kammermusik no. 2 the ballerinas dance in "fugue" so they have to be coordinated musically but do not dance together, that is, performing the steps at the same time.  Of course it should be clear that they are dancing in fugue... If it isn't that's a problem. But if one expected them to be "together" then one might be puzzled or think they were off.

I remember quite liking Kammermusik no. 2 the few times I have seen it -- it has a rather unusual (for Balanchine) male corps.

[California]

54 minutes ago, Drew said:

A lot of factors go into one's reaction to a performance for sure!

I think "in sync" could mean dancing together or simply coordinated musically. I think this was addressed above...For much of Kammermusik no. 2 the ballerinas dance in "fugue" so they have to be coordinated musically but do not dance together, that is, performing the steps at the same time.  Of course it should be clear that they are dancing in fugue... If it isn't that's a problem. But if one expected them to be "together" then one might be puzzled or think they were off.

I remember quite liking Kammermusik no. 2 the few times I have seen it -- it has a rather unusual (for Balanchine) male corps.

I had the privilege of hearing Colleen Neary give a brief lecture on the creation of this ballet when LA Ballet performed it at UCLA (at least 10 years ago). She was in the original cast, along with Karin von Aroldingen. She said that Balanchine choreographed the opening for the two "in sync" and once they had the movements down, he announced that Colleen would actually start the sequence one count after Karin, which was startling but brilliant. I am guessing he had planned that all along. It's a favorite of mine, perhaps because of this, as well as the unusual presence of a male corps. You might call it "late Balanchine" (1978), as it was one of the last new works he was able to create.