New York City Ballet 2021-2022 season

[cobweb]

I was there last night and found the evening overall kind of blah without knowing exactly why. Were the performances lacking in energy, or was my mood just off? Still not sure. 

The comments about LaFreniere's smile made me wonder - how much is facial expression specifically addressed in training, if at all? Different ballets call for a whole variety of facial expressions, from poised regal grandeur to cheerleader-type grins to seductive slyness, and everything in between. Whether a dancer has a facial expression suitable to the role, or not, makes a tremendous difference in the performance. Is this directly taught or coached, or are dancers on their own with figuring out what their facial expression should be and how to achieve it?

[abatt]

I also thought Tiler Peck was not at her absolute best last night.  (Has she done this role in Vail?  With Cornejo?)  She certainly was good, but I was hoping for more. Maybe she needs to settle into the role and into her partnership with Huxley. 

The performance last night that did put a huge smile on my face was the brilliance, energy and verve of Sara Mearns in Mozartiana.  It was pure joy to behold.

I didn't stay for La Valse.

The Third and Fourth rings were empty.  The first and second rings had substantial numbers of unsold seats.  People, it seems, are not venturing out to the theater.  It was depressing to think that this All Balanchine program doesn't sell. 

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by abatt

[California]

13 minutes ago, abatt said:

I also thought Tiler Peck was not at her absolute best last night.  (Has she done this role in Vail?  With Cornejo?)  She certainly was good, but I was hoping for more. Maybe she needs to settle into the role and into her partnership with Huxley. 

Peck and Cornejo did Rubies at Vail in 2014.  (It starts at about 1:20) (Wasn't she out for over a year after that with a serious injury to her back?)

 

[JuliaJ]

28 minutes ago, abatt said:

The Third and Fourth rings were empty.  The first and second rings had substantial numbers of unsold seats.  People, it seems, are not venturing out to the theater.  It was depressing to think that this All Balanchine program doesn't sell. 

The performing arts are generally suffering right now. Even popular Broadway shows have opted to close or pause performances because they aren't selling enough tickets. It is depressing, but not surprising, that ballet feels a bit dead too... even when Balanchine masterworks are on the program. 

Also, this particular Balanchine program used to be a lot more exciting when "Diamonds" was supposed to be the closer. The Nutcracker cancellations and resulting uncertainty about winter shows going on also may have deterred a lot of people from coming. I think the company will need as many blockbuster-type programs as they can muster for 2022-23!

[abatt]

Both LaFreniere and Kikta were  excellent as the tall girl in Rubies.  But the tone of the performances were very different.  Kikta knows how to flirtatiously vamp in this role, which is exactly what is needed. The constant grin of LaFreniere didn't bother me, but it robbed her performance of the sense that she is the sexy master of ceremonies.  More sweet than dangerous.

Edited February 3, 2022 by abatt

[FayBallet]

 

5 minutes ago, abatt said:

The constant grin of LaFreniere didn't bother me, but it robbed her performance of the sense that she is the sexy master of ceremonies. 

Completely agree. For me, the tone wasn't as commanding as it could've been and the smiling didn't help that. Still thought she did a great job though.

 

I adore the music for La Valse. I wish there was time between the first and second valses nobles et sentimentales for audience applause. The first waltz was played so well and I wanted the orchestra to take in some applause just for them before any dancing started, but the second waltz started too soon.

[Sal]

1 hour ago, cobweb said:

I was there last night and found the evening overall kind of blah without knowing exactly why. Were the performances lacking in energy, or was my mood just off? Still not sure. 

I agree. I left after Rubies feeling kind of low, which is not how I usually feel after a night at NYCB.  The energy was off. 

 

1 hour ago, abatt said:

The performance last night that did put a huge smile on my face was the brilliance, energy and verve of Sara Mearns in Mozartiana.  It was pure joy to behold.

This was the high point of the evening. Sara Mearns was transcendent. 

[cobweb]

2 hours ago, abatt said:

The performance last night that did put a huge smile on my face was the brilliance, energy and verve of Sara Mearns in Mozartiana.

 

1 hour ago, Sal said:

This was the high point of the evening. Sara Mearns was transcendent.

Sal and abatt, what did you think of Russell Janzen? I agree about Sara Mearns, who gave it her all. 

[Sal]

24 minutes ago, cobweb said:

Sal and abatt, what did you think of Russell Janzen? I agree about Sara Mearns, who gave it her all. 

I thought Russell was a great partner, as always, to Sara. She obviously loves dancing with him. I thought he wasn't ideally suited to the allegro demands of his solos. He was able to execute the very quick small jumps, but for me, his tall stature somehow distracted for the overall effect, if that makes sense. I wanted him to jump higher, but the tempo made that impossible. This was my first time ever seeing Mozartiana, so it was a lot to take in all at once. I might have a different opinion after seeing it again.

[vipa]

8 hours ago, cobweb said:

I was there last night and found the evening overall kind of blah without knowing exactly why. Were the performances lacking in energy, or was my mood just off? Still not sure. 

The comments about LaFreniere's smile made me wonder - how much is facial expression specifically addressed in training, if at all? Different ballets call for a whole variety of facial expressions, from poised regal grandeur to cheerleader-type grins to seductive slyness, and everything in between. Whether a dancer has a facial expression suitable to the role, or not, makes a tremendous difference in the performance. Is this directly taught or coached, or are dancers on their own with figuring out what their facial expression should be and how to achieve it?

I don't know about anyone else, but I've never experienced or heard of real coaching about facial expressions. Sometimes something broad like - smile more. Sometimes an overall mood like - look saucy here. For better or worse, I think it's assumed the the over-all right physicality will lead to a suitable facial expression.

[canbelto]

I saw a coaching session between Suzanne Farrell and her dancers where she kept saying "Why are you smiling?" She was so stern about it.

[abatt]

Janzen was an excellent partner, but his footwork in his solo could have been a little cleaner.

[Quiggin]

I thought the rule for smiles – Kyra Nichols once suggested this – was that there are outward facing ballets for the audience where you could smile and there are ballets that are introspective and for the dancers. "Liebeslieder" would be an introspective ballet and the only smile would be one for a partner or a smile about a fleeting memory. I imagine Balanchine saying you should smile with your body, dear – or with something like the hand gestures in the last movement of "Violin Concerto."

Edited February 4, 2022 by Quiggin

[cobweb]

Considering that ballet involves control over virtually every aspect of the body, it seems surprising that facial expression and how to achieve it isn't a part of training. Anthony Huxley is a dancer who is perfect in so many ways, but his dancing would be enhanced if in roles like Rubies his face would look joyful.  Megan LeCrone's facial expression rarely varies, and I don't think I've ever seen her with a full-on smile. Some dancers carry anxiety in their face, which distracts the audience with worry. Considering the amount of training and discipline that dancers have, I would think that a little more deliberate attention to this could have big results. 

A distinction can be made between artistic choice of a facial expression, and the dancer's ability to achieve that. For the Rubies Tall Girl, Emily Kikta and Claire Kretszchmar (who did it a few years back) seem to have made different choices. Kikta is going for the menacing powerful sexy type, of which smiling is not a part, and she carries it through to delicious perfection. Kretszchmar went for the sunny, smiling cheerleader type. I didn't like this choice at all, but the point is that it seemed to be a deliberate choice on her part, since she carried it throughout the performance. My issue with Isabella LaFreniere's Tall Girl was the inconsistency in her facial expression. Sometimes it was a big smile, other times she seemed to be going for something more restrained. It seemed like she didn't know what kind of Tall Girl she wanted to be, and defaulted to an uneasy version of her natural megawatt smile. Either that, or she did have an idea, but found it difficult (perhaps under the excitement of her debut) to be consistent.

Edited February 4, 2022 by cobweb

[Kathleen O'Connell]

18 hours ago, Sal said:

He was able to execute the very quick small jumps, but for me, his tall stature somehow distracted for the overall effect

The principals in the original cast—Suzanne Farrell, Ib Andersen, and Victor Castelli—were all tall, but also fast. (And if Andersen were one of the four elements, he'd be air ... he was also a very different kind of Prince than the grander Peter Martins.) The ballet was cast with tall dancers until, at some point, the second male role became the domain of short powerhouse technicians. To me, the overall temperature of the role has changed as a result. I'm not saying that's bad, just that it's become a somewhat different ballet than the one I first saw. I assumed that the contrast in height between the seven adult dancers and the four young SAB girls was purposeful, so I've found the gradual elimination of it over the years a marker of something, but I'm not sure what. (Necessity, perhaps? The tall up-and-comers may change that calculus.) 

The first genuinely not-tall principal woman I saw in Mozartiana was Sterling Hyltin. (Wendy Whelan was a medium.) It took my ballet eyes a few minutes to re-adjust to her scale, but I liked the wit and sparkle she brought to the ballet; to me one the the role's small miracles is the emotional range Balanchine has given the principal ballerina to explore—unambiguously reverent and inward in the opening Preghieria, witty in an "oh, the airs we aristocrats put on" kind of way in the Thème et variations. (I think both the Gigue  and the Thème et variations wink at aristocratic manners.) Hyltin's partner was Chase Finlay, so the entire cast wasn't on the short side. The latest cast—Tiler Peck, Harrison Ball, and Troy Schumacher seem about as different from the original cast as it is possible to be—and it will be interesting to see what they do with it. (For the record, I've seen both Ball and Schumacher in the Gigue, and liked them.)

PS - You can watch that original cast here: 

 

Edited February 4, 2022 by Kathleen O'Connell

[nanushka]

Arlene Croce wrote at some length about the heights and body types in Mozartiana:

Quote

Farrell and Andersen don't appear mated, the way Farrell and Peter Martins do, or Farrell and Jacques d'Amboise. Andersen has a stripling, asexual quality; he doesn't mate easily with anybody. Even the very young Darci Kistler looks better with Sean Lavery or Christopher d'Amboise than she does with Andersen. In Apollo, Andersen looks fine as the boy-god, but later, when he comes into his maturity and has to dominate the Muses, he's unconvincing, especially with Farrell as Terpsichore. Balanchine in Mozartiana uses Andersen's slightness in relation to Farrell as part of a scheme. It is, first, a way of accentuating the mild force of the music and its spiritual temper. ... The ballerina's dancers in Mozartiana are lighter, airier, more restricted in their sensuous range than they are in Chaconne, which Farrell performs opposite Martins or Adam Lüders. She hurls no thunderbolts here; instead, one sees a fiery glow of pinpoints clustered in the sky. And then the feathery fall through space. Andersen's dances are also concentrated and aerial, but if he's light, she's lighter. Balanchine in his casting and use of Andersen has removed much of the gravity from the male end of the male-female partnership, but he hasn't upset the balance. The result lifts the whole ballet into an upper atmosphere; we breathe new air—the ether of Mozartiana.

...

Balanchine has avoided setting up the obvious correspondences and turnabouts. Although we sense the connection between the big and the small girls and between them and Farrell (for one thing, they're all dressed alike), it's an elusive and mysterious connection. And who is the second man? You might think that Balanchine would cast this lone male dancer in contrast to Andersen, but in fact it's Victor Castelli, another lightweight.     (Going to the Dance pp. 404-405)

ETA: Castelli is remarkably fleet in his gigue (in the video posted above). Ulbricht didn't have nearly that same speed when I saw him on Sunday (the tempo was significantly slower), but he had good precision and elevation.

Edited February 4, 2022 by nanushka

[BalanchineFan]

This time of year is typically slow for theater going. NYCB used to offer subscribers a 2 for 1 deal ("bring a friend for free") and they didn't do that this year. I'm not certain the pandemic is the reason for the smaller houses.

I was at the theater last night (Thursday) for the Jamar Roberts premiere, Emanon, Tanowicz's Bartok Ballet (MUCH improved) and Kyle Abraham's The Runaway. The audience was wowed; three contemporary ballets using pointe work. I wasn't sure what to expect of Roberts' ballet. It is very pretty and dance-y. A nice, expansive solo for Unity Phelan followed by a duet for Peter Walker and Emily Kikta, a solo for Indiana Woodward followed by a duet for Jonathan Fahoury (I believe) and Emma von Enck. All nice and pretty, dresses in shades of lavender for the women with cut outs to show their backs. Emma von Enck made quite an impression on me. I still love my old favorites; Phelan and Woodward. Kikta looks great, and makes everyone else look smaller. E. von Enck seems daring and full of zest, really fun to watch. The ballet also has a lot of unison passages, unison for the group of women, unison for the group of men, finishing with everyone in... (wait for it) unison. The unison made it a bit blah, but it was a very pretty opener (maybe too pretty) and hopefully Roberts will develop more of a relationship with the dancers and take more risks. He didn't seem to have any issue dealing with pointe work. I also thought Wayne Shorter was an interesting choice for music, and new for NYCB, but some of that veered too far towards Kenny G for my particular tastes. The ballet is pretty, but safe.

Bartok Ballet gets better and better. I don't know if there's an official word, but I heard that the piece wasn't finished last time it went and that Tanowicz had time to finish it this time. Whether that's true or maybe my memory is just faulty (I've seen the ballet at least three times, now), there are sections where the women do pique arabesque and fouetté turns that I don't remember being there previously. The dancers all seem more relaxed and they interact more like people and less like insects. It's more dance-y. Miriam Miller has a beautiful bit downstage doing penché arabesque literally on the proscenium. Many of the dancers change from bronze costumes to gold, and the proscenium itself is lit by the end. Indiana Woodward is obviously the leader of this little tribe, dancing with great attack, clarity and authority. At one point she seems to be giving the dancers hand signals 

The evening ends with Abraham's The Runaway. This ballet, for me, remains the ne plus ultra of new works for NYCB. It opens a new movement language, it builds on classical technique, it brings in Black culture and music and plays with all its many elements in a deep and satisfying way. The audience was more full than the Partita, Summerspace, DGV performance I saw, but I was still able to slip into a better seat. I ended up next to two older, white women with canes. We got to talking and when it became clear I could identify all the dancers, their only question at the end of The Runaway was "WHO WAS THAT??" The answer, as always, was TAYLOR STANLEY. A woman in the row behind us also got in on that conversation. He got a well deserved solo bow.

I see more and more in The Runaway, too, however. Roman Mejia's "Kanye" solo. I can't remember exactly what Kanye is saying in the music, but he repeats his name every sentence while Roman brisé volés and gargouillades into break dance-club moves. Mejia is spectacular. There's also a duet between Mejia and Sebastian Villarini-Velez. Amazing, with the same cross cultural virtuosity. In the section where Kanye is saying "I thought about killing you... I thought about killing myself, and I love myself... so, of course, I thought about killing you" Peter Walker has that crazy, face obscuring feather headpiece on and, to me, it really changes how one experiences that duet for Walker and Christopher Grant. I have a friend who was offended by the lyric  ("I've never had anyone threaten my life in THIS theater!!" he said), but the fact that Kanye is talking about mental illness (that's what it is when you're thinking about killing yourself) while someone is dancing with their face ridiculously obscured... it both lightens the mood and makes a comment on the lyric. Megan LeCrone took over Ashley Bouder's role, and I think LeCrone has finally found a vehicle for all of her angular, badass bitchiness. She never seems like a "sweet" dancer to me, and here that's really not a drawback. At one point she and Mearns, who had been doing different things, hit an arabesque on pointe in unison and just hang there for a moment. The vernacular does not, in any way, prevent the classical movements from shining through. The contrast heightens both. Mearns and Georgina Pazcoquin were also great.

The Runaway melds so many cultures, touches on so many aspects of contemporary life that we NEVER see in classical ballet. It works those costumes. It opens a door to a new world. It is masterfully put together and suggests a new direction, whether NYCB can (or wants to) continue in this vein, who knows? But just think, they can do this kind of work and then turn around do 4Ts the next night and Symphony in C the following. I am electrified, and so was the audience.

With new choreography, one should see the dancers revealed in new ways. You want to see new possibilities, new affinities, artistic growth. You want the impression that they've shared their souls onstage. For me The Runaway does all that like a home run bouncing into the parking lot outside the stadium.

Edited February 4, 2022 by BalanchineFan

[Kathleen O'Connell]

28 minutes ago, BalanchineFan said:

Roman Mejia's "Kanye" solo. I can't remember exactly what Kanye is saying in the music, but he repeats his name every sentence while Roman brisé volés and gargouillades into break dance-club moves.

I laughed out loud the first time I saw this. It's perfect. NYCB had a clip of it up on their website very shortly after the premiere, but took it down not long thereafter.

The lyrics:

I miss the old Kanye, straight from the 'Go Kanye
Chop up the soul Kanye, set on his goals Kanye
I hate the new Kanye, the bad mood Kanye
The always rude Kanye, spaz in the news Kanye
I miss the sweet Kanye, chop up the beats Kanye
I gotta to say at that time I'd like to meet Kanye
See I invented Kanye, it wasn't any Kanyes
And now I look and look around and there's so many Kanyes
I used to love Kanye, I used to love Kanye
I even had the pink polo, I thought I was Kanye
What if Kanye made a song about Kanye
Called "I Miss The Old Kanye, " man that would be so Kanye
That's all it was Kanye, we still love Kanye
And I love you like Kanye loves Kanye

The track:

The Runaway is one of the few Fashion Gala ballets with real legs. The music, costumes, choreography, and dancers all came together with *chef's kiss* perfection.

I liked Bartok Ballet more than most people when I saw it, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

[cobweb]

@BalanchineFan, thank you so much for your detailed comments on the "Visionary Voices" program. I had not intended to see this (and even swapped a subscription ticket for another program), but knowing that you are, well, a Balanchine fan, and still loved this, you have convinced me. I'll have to see it during the final week, and hope to get the same casting that you reported on. 

[FayBallet]

From the NYT:

Quote

For Roberts, the challenge lay in exploring the dynamics of pointe work, not a skill he encounters in his everyday work. (A lot of his experience involves dancing barefoot, and choreographing for barefoot dancers.) Dancing on pointe not only changes the reach and range of motion of the body, but also requires a different sense of timing.

“I thought it would be easier,” Roberts said, “but there is actually a time of execution that I had never had to consider before. It takes a certain amount of time for somebody to go from plié,” in which the body goes down onto bent legs, “to passé relevé,” in which the body rises up onto one pointe with the other foot raised to the knee. For someone as musically inclined as Roberts, such tiny adjustments matter.

 

4 hours ago, BalanchineFan said:

He didn't seem to have any issue dealing with pointe work.

It sounds like those adjustments have worked out!

[MarzipanShepherdess]

Was so glad to be back at NYCB for my first performance of the winter season. Reasonably full house, maybe 3/4?

Walpurgisnacht: I've read that this is one of Sara Mearns' favorite roles and it shows. She is thrilling in this, particularly the final series of turns which she really threw herself into, gaining glorious speed as she went across the stage. Janzen was debuting as her partner in this role and seemed to struggle in his final solo and just not really be in form. I've been noticing in recent seasons how Erica Peiera is growing as a dancer years after her IMO premature promotion, she had some lovely jumps. The corps was mostly apprentices and junior corps members and they looked a bit under-rehearsed. Someone fell pretty hard (I think Dominika, who I can recognize from On Pointe) and someone else I couldn't recognize had a bit in the finale where she was doing different steps than everyone else (smoothly, just the wrong steps). Still love this ballet even when some of the cast is not at their best.

Unanswered Question: An interesting little oddity. The opening movement in which the ballerina is held aloft by 4 male corps dancers, advancing towards the main male dancer who is both reaching for her and retreating from her is quite striking but I found that even within the six or so minutes the choreography was repetitive. It's not a wholly satisfying ballet to me and I think Balanchine works with some similar choreography and motifs more powerfully elsewhere (Serenade, Agon, etc) But glad to have seen it again after many years.

Moves: So much here to take in with Robbins choreography. I love the references to calisthenics and yoga in the choreography, the pointe percussion, and all the side profile corps arrangements. Emilie Gerrity very strong in the main female solo role. 

Slaughter on Tenth Avenue: I always find this fun and they've updated it with a pandemic gag: after the gunman hides his gun under his hat and is about to take his seat, he puts on a KN95. Got the biggest laugh of any of the jokes. Teresa was pitch-perfect as Striptease Girl as always and seemed to be having a lot of fun in one of what's sadly one of her last performances. 

[nanushka]

I was there too, @MarzipanShepherdess, and agree with many of your observations. Mearns was fantastic. She looks in marvelous shape, and she is so perfect in this role. She has gorgeous, powerful legs — almost a match for Reiclen's in Slaughter! I enjoyed Pereira's dancing more than I ever had before. (I do just wish she'd tone down the lipstick.) Janzen was a good partner, which is nearly all this role requires — but yes, then he botched two of the three double tours, stepping out of the landings.

I completely missed the hard fall! Must have been absorbed in watching another part of the stage.

I agree about Unanswered Question. I'd have been perfectly happy with just Walpurgisnacht as a first act, but they don't seem to program it that way. Moves would have made a bigger initial impact without UQ in between. There are indeed too many repetitions of the same thing, but I did enjoy seeing Laracey hold that gorgeous arabesque, supported only by the four men from below. I'd be interested to see the piece in the complete Ivesiana, where it perhaps works better.

I really enjoyed Moves, which I'd never seen, and I thought all four leads (Gerrity, Grant, Hod, Walker) looked great. Got the sense this piece was an influence on Peck.

I've decided never to stay for Slaughter again, unless there's someone in it I really want to see. (I wanted to see Reichlen for one last time.) It's not a strong enough closer to round out a really satisfying program (which this wasn't, alas — didn't all add up to quite enough).

Edited February 6, 2022 by nanushka

[vipa]

I was a Fri. night's show. I had eagerly awaited Tiler Peck's Mozartiana. It was a good, but uneven performance IMO. Some of the variations were an absolute joy of clarity, musicality ad phrasing. There were also beautiful moments in Preghiera. I think the issues I had with the performance, are a result of the lingering effects of her terrible injury. She can't really bend back, or drop her head back. There is a moment in Preghiera with a deep backbend. Peck leaned back and looked upwards. It doesn't have the same effect. Also, and I believe injury related, she seems to be struggling with her arabesque. Tiler Peck is an amazing dancer and artist, and I'm glad I saw her in this ballet, despite what I view as her limitations.

I enjoyed Harrison Ball as the male lead, and he had me rooting for him. He did a lot of excellent dancing. The video with Ib Anderson holds up as the gold standard. I didn't really care for Troy Schumacher in Gigue. 

Loved Rubies. Sterling Hyltin - what a delight - playful, spontaneous, spirited, not a false move on stage. Mira Nadon blew me away in the tall girl role. She is fearless, eats up space, and can move with great speed. In that naked, difficult exit when she does the penche arabesque sequence moving backwards. The first one had a shaky moment. She fixed it. No problem with the rest, in fact huge, beautiful movement. Impressive in a young dancer, to not get spooked by a mistake and go bigger and bigger! She is going to be a big star.

Didn't stay for La Valse. Saw it twice in the fall and it was never a favorite!

OK - let me just say. I, for one, am sorry intermissions are back.

[JuliaJ]

I'm no expert on how Mozartiana is "supposed" to look (although I have seen the Farrell/Anderson footage), but I thought Peck gave a beautiful, moving performance last night. Her trademark musicality was well-matched to the choreography. Her port de bras was expansive in the Preghiera. This is a good role for her at this point in her career. I love Harrison Ball and thought he nailed the difficult footwork and turning passages. You really need quick, pointed feet for this one and he delivered the goods. He also is among the most attractive men in the company in white tights. I don't think the company would have put him in this role if they weren't planning to promote him. He and Peck are new partners but I thought they showed promise as a pair and were well matched in size/height. 

Rubies was fabulous. Mira Nadon cranked the heat WAY up since she debuted this in 2019. That promotion must have given her some extra juice. She really went for broke and it paid off. I'm so excited to see what else she masters. She really has it all in terms of star quality. Roman Mejia had a very successful debut -- I was impressed by how much personality he was able to show, despite being so early in his career. He really brought out the humor in the choreography and maintained a playful rapport with Hyltin. Oh, and it helps that he can jump what looks like ten feet into the air. In my opinion, Hyltin is the Rubies gold standard in the way she articulates every note of the music. And despite being short, she's very leggy and flexible for the pas de deux. 

Indiana Woodward had what I felt was an excellent debut in La Valse. She brought both delicacy and drama that projected throughout the theater. I had never seen her dance with Gordon before, and I thought they were very good together. He has such a beautiful grand jeté. 

This was a great program and made for a much-needed winter Balanchine fix. This whole cast performs again on Wednesday; I'd recommend catching it for anyone who can. 

Edited February 6, 2022 by JuliaJ

[abatt]

I was happy to see Tiler Peck's Mozartiana.  It was a much more successful debut that her Rubies performance.  Her Prayer opening reminded me of the beauty of her second act performances in Midsummer Nights Dream, one of her best roles.  However, as noted above, it was obvious that she cannot do the iconic back bend.  She tilted her head back a little bit.  Her musicality and technique throughout the remainder of the ballet made for a fine performance, but Ms. Mearns remains my favorite of the current roster of ballerinas in this role.  Harrison Ball was an eager and attentive partner, but I wish he had more elevation in his dancing.  I did not care at all for Troy S. in the Gigue.

Incredible performances from all in Rubies.  Thrilling from beginning to end.  I thought that Mejia would be too short for Hyltin, but they actually looked very good together.  

I vote for  Nadon as Siren in Prodigal  ASAP.

La Valse was well done.  Woodward looked like the sweet innocent in La Valse.

I saw Walpurgisnacht in the afternoon just to see Mearns in this ballet.  She dances with abandon.  Love it.  I am a big fan of Janzen but he seems to be having some issues this season with landing jumps.