New York City Ballet 2021-2022 season

[nanushka]

I just noticed that Tombeau de Couperin has been changed to Allegro Brillante. Great news! (Might have been changed quite awhile ago, not sure.)

Edited April 14, 2022 by nanushka

[KikiRVA]

I will miss seeing Tombeau, though!  It is such a great showpiece for the corps.

[cobweb]

Wasn't Symphony in C also on the original schedule for Spring?

[nanushka]

4 minutes ago, KikiRVA said:

I will miss seeing Tombeau, though!  It is such a great showpiece for the corps.

Yeah, I enjoyed it the one time I saw it — but I'll take Peck and Mejia in Allegro, and an overall more exciting program!

[bellawood]

Hi! Not sure if this is the place but I have two tickets to tonight's show that I can't use at the last minute. they are second ring C seats 9/11.  Send me a note if you are interested and we'll see if we can do a handoff. 

[abatt]

10 minutes ago, bellawood said:

Hi! Not sure if this is the place but I have two tickets to tonight's show that I can't use at the last minute. they are second ring C seats 9/11.  Send me a note if you are interested and we'll see if we can do a handoff. 

You can call the box office, tell them you can't attend and ask them to credit your account.

Edited April 19, 2022 by abatt

[bellawood]

Just now, abatt said:

You can call the box office, tell them you can't attend and ask them to credit your account.

Thanks! I thought it might be too late as it's past noon on a show day.

[tutu]

Miriam Miller and Ashley Hod debuted in Serenade (Dark Angel and Russian Girl, respectively, with Sara Mearns’ Waltz Girl) last night.  Both were good, clean performances — a bit tentative in places, but that can probably be chalked up to debut nerves.  Mearns, the veteran, was extraordinary as always in the role, and against the shadow of Hyltin’s impending retirement, I can only pray that we get more time with Mearns bringing us into her world onstage.  The Miller/Mearns/Sanz trio was especially striking with Miller and Mearns’ mirrored blonde hair.

The dancers looked great in Goldberg Variations (an especially nice debut for Indiana Woodward!) and Walters plays the Bach well, but my word, that is a long ballet.  Worth it to get one more chance to see Sterling Hilton (please don’t go!) but I don’t think I’ll seek this out again unless it’s presented as an excerpt.  Maybe this is just because it’s my first time seeing it — would be happy to be told that the length holds up better on subsequent viewings!

[cobweb]

A few quick thoughts on last night's Serenade-Goldberg Variations program. I wasn't sure how I would like Goldberg Variations, having had mixed reactions to it when it was last done, probably like 5-7 years ago? It's a long piece and if Robbins had a unifying theme in mind, it isn't obvious to me. It's kind of all over the place, style-wise, and I don't know what it's all about. Still, it's a terrific showcase for a whole bunch of dancers, and they are doing actual ballet - as opposed to, say, some current choreography that uses ballet dancers but they're not doing actual ballet. The music alone is worth the price of admission; as happened last time, the music lingers in my mind all the next day, especially the opening theme. I remember the opening/closing couple being Faye Arthurs and Zachary Catazaro last time, both beautiful. Here it was Miriam Miller and Preston Chamblee. He looked very elegant, especially in the opening costume, while Miller is beautiful but seemed to have trouble slowing down to the slowly unfolding pace of the music, and was arriving at her positions too fast. There were many standouts in the principal cast. Ashley Laracey and Emilie Gerrity both delivered absolutely lovely, assured performances. I was thrilled to see Isabella LaFreniere, in the second half with Adrian Danchig-Waring, looking grand, expansive, and ready for more. So great to see her doing these big roles, finally! And Chun Wai Chan is INCREDIBLE, somehow both commanding and kind/gentle, I find him mesmerizing. Jovani Furlan is beautiful also, and generally, all the principals looked terrific. Must get back to work now, will try to commend on Serenade later. 

[cobweb]

Still no Week 3 casting! 

I enjoyed last night's Serenade. Sara Mearns continues to grow and is a force of nature that I have trouble finding the words to describe. I enjoyed the debuts by Ashley Hod and Miriam Miller. Both have room to grow, but it was refreshing to see new faces in these roles. My only quibble was Taylor Stanley. He makes such incredible and beautiful shapes that it can be hard to take my eyes off of him. But oftentimes I feel his heart is not really in what he's doing, and last night was one of those times. Obviously I have no way of knowing what he's really thinking or feeling, but it's just my impression is that he's not fully engaged. 

[BalanchineFan]

I, too, loved Ashley Hod and Miriam Miller in  last night's Serenade. Both very assured and expansive, lending such glamour to their roles. Shining and radiant. I wouldn't have thought they were debuts (or perhaps the actual debuts were earlier in the week?). It seems like it's a new generation onstage now. Lovely to see Mearns in Serenade, too. She brings so much to every role, and also has a great touch with the simplicity and vulnerability needed.

I never think of Serenade as a showcase for the men. Often it's a primer for how to create a ballet without men. Maybe they're not so interested in dancing it? I also think of the male role that deals with the Dark Angel (trio) before I think of the other leading male role, The Waltz Man, I guess. I thought Taylor Stanley looked great, clean, full phrasing.  He was understated and gave his attention to his partner. What more would anyone want in this role?

I love the Goldberg, but it did seem long last night. I was sitting behind a tall woman who kept fluffing up her hair, so I got her head, her arm and quite a lot of her hair in my view of the stage. She could scarcely have hid the stage better if she had tried. When I moved, the ballet seemed much shorter! I always thought of it as an encyclopedia of dance. A court dance for the first couple, a section of people dancing, all of equal stature (more or less). That's Part One. Then Part Two has more formal groupings of dancers; pas de deux with corps behind them (rather than friends dancing as equals). In Part Two the women eventually change into tutus and the men get jackets, more or less bringing us full circle with the first couple, who reappear wearing ballet practice clothing. It's strongest in the costumes, but the actual choreography follows the same basic outline. I'm not sure if that helps anyone watching it, it's just what I see. To me, it's somewhat like Robbins did a dance version of The Well Tempered Clavier, my other favorite Bach piano œuvre.

 

Edited April 22, 2022 by BalanchineFan

[BalanchineFan]

5 hours ago, tutu said:

 Mearns, the veteran, was extraordinary as always in the role, and against the shadow of Hyltin’s impending retirement, I can only pray that we get more time with Mearns bringing us into her world onstage.  The Miller/Mearns/Sanz trio was especially striking with Miller and Mearns’ mirrored blonde hair.

Has Sterling Hyltin announced her retirement? She looked great in The Goldberg Variations. There has been a noticeable changing of the guard with all the retirements, new principals, newly promoted soloists, but Sterling Hyltin is flying the flag for experience, depth and glorious, fully realized dancing. If more often seems to be happening when she dances, it's because she gets more into the phrases.

Oh, I forgot to mention how much I love Chun Wai Chan. His dancing, his personality, his Instagram. Promote this fine man asap!

[tutu]

10 minutes ago, BalanchineFan said:

Has Sterling Hyltin announced her retirement? She looked great in The Goldberg Variations. There has been a noticeable changing of the guard with all the retirements, new principals, newly promoted soloists, but Sterling Hyltin is flying the flag for experience, depth and glorious, fully realized dancing. If more often seems to be happening when she dances, it's because she gets more into the phrases.

Haven’t seen an announcement from Hyltin herself, but an announcement was slipped into a recent Broadway World summary of the 2022-2023 season announcement.  D-day is December 4:

“The 2022-23 Season will also feature a farewell performance for Principal Dancer Sterling Hyltin who will retire from NYCB after 20 years with the Company. For her final performance, Hyltin will dance the role of the Sugarplum Fairy in George Balanchine's The Nutcracker® on Sunday, December 4 at 5pm.” 

Agree with everything you say.  Hyltin’s at the top of her game and I’m just heartbroken, but I guess it’s up to the ballerina to decide when she hangs up the boots 🥲

[abatt]

It's very unusual to retire in a Nutcracker performance.  I don't recall anyone else doing that in the past.  I guess Sugarplum is her favorite role. 

 

[cobweb]

Still no week 3 casting posted. Guess we’ll have to get through the weekend without knowing who will be cast as Firebird. I hope LaFreniere finally gets her debut, and Nadon is a no-brainer too. 

[Helene]

Peter Matins retired in Nutcracker.  His SPF was Suzanne Farrell.  

[nanushka]

50 minutes ago, Helene said:

Peter Matins retired in Nutcracker.  His SPF was Suzanne Farrell.  

Interesting, I hadn't known that. According to the Times review, it was a significant performance for a number of reasons:

Quote

''FEAR not, I shall not dance,'' Mayor Koch promised last night's State Theater audience at intermission during what was billed simultaneously as Peter Martins's farewell performance with the New York City Ballet, Jerome Robbins's debut as Drosselmeier and the 1,000th performance of George Balanchine's ''The Nutcracker.''

With so many unusual aspects to the program, the result was hardly your standard evening at the ballet. It was an event - a festive and even moving one.

The Mayor was on hand to proclaim December as ''The Nutcracker Month,'' which he did with a flourish and with an eloquent tribute to Balanchine, who died in April. Since Mr. Martins's first New York appearance with the company, on Dec. 25, 1967, was in ''The Nutcracker,'' the choice of this ballet had some closing-of-the- circle connotations.

 

Edited April 22, 2022 by nanushka

[vagansmom]

I read in an interview with Hyltin that her first principal role at NYCB was in 2006 as Sugar Plum. She said it was her breakthrough performance and as such, it holds a special place in her heart. So it makes sense she'd want to close her NYCB career in that role.

[canbelto]

Week 3 casting is up.

[Fernie M]

3 hours ago, cobweb said:

Still no week 3 casting posted. Guess we’ll have to get through the weekend without knowing who will be cast as Firebird. I hope LaFreniere finally gets her debut, and Nadon is a no-brainer too. 

I was very surprised to not see Nadon cast in Firebird.

[MarzipanShepherdess]

1 hour ago, Fernie M said:

I was very surprised to not see Nadon cast in Firebird.

She was scheduled to dance in the new Tanowitz tonight and Naomi Corti subbed in for her last minute. Hope it’s not an injury. 

[canbelto]

How was the new Tanowitz? Good?

[nycvillager]

49 minutes ago, MarzipanShepherdess said:

She was scheduled to dance in the new Tanowitz tonight and Naomi Corti subbed in for her last minute. Hope it’s not an injury. 

She posted that's she's missing due to Covid, so hoping she'll be back soon!

[Fernie M]

10 hours ago, nycvillager said:

She posted that's she's missing due to Covid, so hoping she'll be back soon!

Thank you so much for the update. I wish her a speedy recovery.

[Drew]

On 4/22/2022 at 4:49 PM, abatt said:

It's very unusual to retire in a Nutcracker performance.  I don't recall anyone else doing that in the past.  I guess Sugarplum is her favorite role. 

 

Well, this is waaaay back when...but Martins did. Although this was, I think, before "farewells" were as much of a regular item, Martins' farewell got a lot of attention, and I remember how hard it was to get a ticket...