New York City Ballet 2021-2022 season

[Petra]

5 hours ago, vipa said:

I wouldn't rush to idiosyncrasies of taste. I find the programing mysterious. I can't figure out who the programming is designed to please. A few examples from the coming fall season. - An all Balanchine program that ends with La Sonnambula. A program that opens with Symphony in  C and then moves on to new works. 

It looks like the programmers don't differentiate between the various Balanchine styles, all his ballets are "Master Works" and classified as "classics" so a Balanchine can fit in any program and in any order. Almost the opposite of the way Balanchine spoke about his ballets and programming. 🙂

Perhaps I should send them one of my mother's old Arnold Haskell books that I prevented her from throwing out when she downsized a few months ago...

[abatt]

18 hours ago, jerryb said:

No Midsummer in 2023 is ridiculous.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

When they were doing Midsummer every year, I think it wasn't so well attended because it was being revived too often.  It doesn't have the same audience pull as Swan Lake, for example. I think it's a good idea to revive it every other year, rather than every year.  Peter Martins stopped the annual revival of Midsummer during his tenure. 

Edited May 10, 2022 by abatt

[uptowner]

As a parent of three kids I have paid attention to the kid-friendly ballets, and I am pretty confident that Midsummer has recently only been performed every other year, though maybe that was just the years that I've been occasionally taking young people to the ballet. I agree its a good one and maybe they should do it more often! I often recommend it to other parents as something family-friendly but not-Nutcracker (which truly is the only ballet many people have seen). 

Edited May 10, 2022 by uptowner

[JuliaJ]

I hope Coppélia comes back soon -- makes for a great season closer and it's totally family friendly. I love how much virtuoso dancing it has in addition to all of the storytelling and "cute" moments. They last did it in NYC in spring 2018, I believe. 

[BalanchineFan]

I was delighted a few years back to see Balanchine's Harlequinade. I'd never seen it. It's family friendly, there are even roles for children, IIRC. There's a drunken dance for some sailors on leave and two great leading roles. I hope it gets revived again. Not sure if it could take the place of Midsummer in anyone's heart, but very delightful and not performed that often.

[KikiRVA]

Per Sara Mearns's Instagram story, she got COVID while rehabbing from her injury.  She says she doesn't know if she'll be back during the season.  Get better soon!

[Jacqueline]

Ashley Laracey also reported on her Instagram story that she has COVID and will have to miss her debuts in Orpheus and Apollo this week.

[BalanchineFan]

15 minutes ago, Jacqueline said:

Ashley Laracey also reported on her Instagram story that she has COVID and will have to miss her debuts in Orpheus and Apollo this week.

It's knocking people out like bowling pins. I was at a Broadway show over the weekend and two understudies were on for actors with Covid. I think the cases are fairly mild, thank goodness.

[abatt]

23 minutes ago, Jacqueline said:

Ashley Laracey also reported on her Instagram story that she has COVID and will have to miss her debuts in Orpheus and Apollo this week.

Poor Laracey. She's been waiting so long for  these roles and opportunities. 

[Drew]

48 minutes ago, Jacqueline said:

Ashley Laracey also reported on her Instagram story that she has COVID and will have to miss her debuts in Orpheus and Apollo this week.

24 minutes ago, abatt said:

Poor Laracey. She's been waiting so long for  these roles and opportunities. 

I was very sad to read about her illness...Would love to see her in both ballets and if not see her at least read about her performances (as would have been the case this season).

[cobweb]

57 minutes ago, Jacqueline said:

Ashley Laracey also reported on her Instagram story that she has COVID and will have to miss her debuts in Orpheus and Apollo this week.

Argggghhhhh! I was so looking forward to Apollo! She has been having a breakout season... if a nearly 20-year veteran can be said to have a breakout season. 

[bellawood]

Emily Kikta has COVID too so will be out of Rubies.

[FayBallet]

Now I'm kind of wondering whether they should isolate Amar Ramasar at some point, so that he can actually perform on the 29th!

[Susu_nyc]

Any updates on this week’s casting with both Kikta and Laracey out?  Was anyone at tonight’s show?

[FayBallet]

1 hour ago, Susu_nyc said:

Any updates on this week’s casting with both Kikta and Laracey out?  Was anyone at tonight’s show?

Hyltin was Eurydice tonight.

[abatt]

And LeCrone subbed for Kikta in Orpheus, but the stage manager did not make an announcement regarding that substitution.

I thought J. Gordon was terrific in Orpheus, but I wish he were dancing Apollo instead.

Furlan was superlative in the Sarabande of Agon.

 

 

[BalanchineFan]

Any thoughts on Unity and Amar in Agon?  Wasn't it her debut in that role? 

Has Joseph Gordon danced Apollo yet? He would be my next pick!

Edited May 11, 2022 by BalanchineFan

[abatt]

Unity and Ramasar got major applause at the end of their pas, and I thought it was a stellar debut for her.  However, I have a couple of quibbles on things that will probably improve over time.  First, in the opening section of the pas where she has to wrap her leg around her partner's neck, her timing was off.  She was a little late, thereby blunting the impact of this moment.  Also, in the section late in the  pas when Ramasar lays down on the floor but Unity has to remain on pointe, I thought Unity came down off pointe too quickly.  

More generally, this is supposed to look like a "contest" between equal partners, and I think Unity needs more time to settle into the role to bring out this nuance.  She is still finding her way.  We have been blessed here in NYC  with two stellar ladies - Whelan and Maria K. - dominating this role for decades. 

Edited May 11, 2022 by abatt

[MarzipanShepherdess]

37 minutes ago, BalanchineFan said:

Any thoughts on Unity and Amar in Agon?  Wasn't it her debut in that role? 

Has Joseph Gordon danced Apollo yet? He would be my next pick!

I thought it was a very strong debut by Unity. Lots of enthusiastic applause and cheers for her (and Amar) both right after their pas de deux and during the curtain calls. Apollo and Orpheus were great, but Agon was the piece of the program that got the most enthusiastic audience reaction.

I feel awful for Ashley Laracey, who has been dancing so well this season and getting so many great and well-deserved opportunities--hopefully she at least gets to have her Apollo debut in the fall as it seems unlikely she'll be back on stage this spring. Not sure how City Ballet is determining when dancers down with COVID can return to performing, but it seems like people are out for two weeks or so?

Still, I was glad to have the chance to see Sterling dance Eurydice since it's not one that will come again. She was, predictably, glorious. I'd never seen Orpheus before and loved the sets and costumes, but had mixed feelings about the ballet as a whole. It reminded me of Balanchine's Firebird, in some ways: visually, it's so striking but I'm left hungry for more dance-wise (even though it has more exciting choreography than Firebird). Sterling was definitely the highlight for me. 

[BalanchineFan]

42 minutes ago, MarzipanShepherdess said:

Still, I was glad to have the chance to see Sterling dance Eurydice since it's not one that will come again. She was, predictably, glorious. I'd never seen Orpheus before and loved the sets and costumes, but had mixed feelings about the ballet as a whole. It reminded me of Balanchine's Firebird, in some ways: visually, it's so striking but I'm left hungry for more dance-wise (even though it has more exciting choreography than Firebird). Sterling was definitely the highlight for me. 

Thank you for the account @MarzipanShepherdess!! I wish I could have been there.

I think Orpheus is a ballet that could use additional coaching. Many writers have commented on how its impact is not what it was in other decades. I've often found Euridice's death mishandled by the way things work with the curtain. I remember seeing it in the 80's and it was like the curtain billowed and she disappeared suddenly, tragically.  Recent viewings have been less dramatic (once I could even see the people pull her under the curtain) and it makes me question whether other... nuances, shall we say, have been lost. I'n not sure i've seen the ballet since the pandemic, but I'm looking forward to seeing it this weekend.

Edited May 11, 2022 by BalanchineFan

[MarzipanShepherdess]

38 minutes ago, BalanchineFan said:

I think Orpheus is a ballet that could use additional coaching. Many writers have commented on how its impact is not what it was in other decades. I've often found Euridice's death mishandled by the way things work with the curtain. I remember seeing it in the 80's and it was like the curtain billowed and she disappeared suddenly, tragically.  Recent viewings have been less dramatic (once I could even see the people pull her under the curtain) and it makes me question whether other... nuances, shall we say, have been lost. I'n not sure i've seen the ballet since the pandemic, but I'm looking forward to seeing it this weekend.

Thank you for this perspective! That's interesting, last night Eurydice's death registered to me as more of a slow pull under the curtain versus a sudden disappearance, and I did feel like we were seeing the "behind the scenes" a little more than we should have. The parts that felt like they weren't quite landing for me were mostly the parts that made the heaviest use of props (like the sequence where Apollo comes on with the bow and the other mythological figures come out with their own corresponding props, and they assemble a figure out of all the props which Orpheus then dances before).  The final moments, with Apollo dancing with the mask representing the now-dead Orpheus, didn't feel like they had the emotional impact they should have, it felt like the dancer was really relying on the presence of the prop to communicate everything and not projecting much himself. 

[Kathleen O'Connell]

On 5/9/2022 at 6:43 PM, nanushka said:

e.g. I love Balanchine, generally, but there are certain of his pieces that just do not do it for me

There's a lot of Balanchine that doesn't do it for me, including some of his popular ballets. If I never saw Western Symphony or Vienna Waltzes again, my life would not be materially altered for the worse. 

 

On 5/9/2022 at 6:52 PM, nanushka said:

I've also found that the new team doesn't seem to have as good a sense (or perhaps just has a very different sense) of the three-act structure and how to use it most effectively.

Yes to this. I've wondered if the programming and program order have been driven by the exigencies of both Covid and retirements. 

[cobweb]

Still no casting updates for the week. They must be struggling to figure out how to juggle the available dancers.

Like others, I have been attending fewer performances than I used to. Partly that's because although I might want to see an individual ballet (Stravinsky Violin Concerto, most recently), I'm not keen on the overall program. Also, the subway ride home has become dicey enough to be a factor I have to consider. I am at my office in midtown, near Lincoln Center, every day, but most days I decide I just want to get on home while it's still light. I wonder if they've considered an earlier curtain time, like 7:00pm. I liked the intermission-less programs during the fall season, but I know not everyone was a fan and also intermissions are needed for set and costume changes. But maybe an earlier curtain could be an option. 

[abatt]

1 hour ago, cobweb said:

Still no casting updates for the week. They must be struggling to figure out how to juggle the available dancers.

 

Casting is now updated, and the final week of Midsummer casting is now up.  Gerrity gets a debut as Titania.

Mearns is still listed for her Titania performances, but I think that may end up changing because of her injury.

[Royal Blue]

My sense from watching the streams by NYCB was that one of the few performances whose beauty I had somehow overlooked at the theater was that by Miriam Miller in Pulcinella Variations. Consequently, I enjoyed watching her immensely on Sunday afternoon (especially in "Serenata"). Besides that, one can only marvel at the extent the dancing by the inimitable Tiler Peck and others in the same work, by the students of the School of American Ballet in Scherzo à la Russe, by the sixteen dancers featured in Architects of Time, and by the entire cast of Stravinsky Violin Concerto —Ashley Laracey, Joseph Gordon, Unity Phelan, Amar Ramasar and the corps de ballet— sparked uninterrupted enthusiasm throughout the afternoon.

Regarding the previous program, I heartily concur with all the praise for Isabella LaFreniere's debut as the Firebird. Together, her beautiful dancing and consummate gesticulation in portraying the mythical creature  —as well as her superb carriage and appearance in the outfit— proved riveting every moment she was on stage. (A magnificent Hippolyta, I should think; however, definitely looking forward to watching her as Helena.)

Without a doubt, Symphony in Three Movements is one of the most exciting, richest and (at 22 minutes long) concise of all Balanchine's ballets. Nevertheless, it would be a grave error to take for granted the lavish beauty of the 47-minute-long Firebird either. With its resplendent Marc Chagall scenery and costumes aptly matching Stravinsky's powerful score, and Balanchine's (and Robbins') engaging choreography enacting on the stage an intriguing ancient Russian fable, it is one of the most spectacular ballets in NYCB's repertoire. Like other great works of art created by people long gone, it is now in our possession to do with as we please. One of the main functions of such works is the succor they provide for our burdened, anxious minds and souls in this unruly world. We should take care to preserve them because we need them. To wit, this magical ballet intimates an apposite metaphor apropos Balanchine’s entire body of work and the company he founded.

(Those who post on this subforum love at least some of Balanchine's ballets, so they have that much in common. Since we are different individuals, our particular takes on specific works will sometimes differ sharply though. No programmer will be able to satisfy everyone at all times.)