Monday, February 14

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A review of Washington Ballet by David Friscic for Broadway World.

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Julie Kent, Artistic Director and Victor Barbee, Associate Artistic Director and the entire company have given us a Swan Lake to savor. The Washington Ballet's production of this beloved classic is performed with sensitivity and an urgent sense of dramatic passion.

 

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A review of New York City Ballet by Mary Cargill for danceviewtimes.

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Sara Mearns, with Russell Janzen as her prince, was a strong, powerful, and wild Odette, struggling against her fate.  She danced the pas de duex with a slight restraint, hopeful but wary of this impulsive stranger, keeping her eyes down and away from him while her body seemed to yearn for his protection.  She made it a narrative poem, not a simple valentine with flapping arms and gooey eyes.

Ashley Laracey and Emily Kitka led the Pas de Neuf and the Valse Bluette respectively and they both had a dramatic cogency, dancing with a gentle melancholy that prefigured Odette's fate.  They, and the rest of the evening, did Tchaikovsky proud.

Marina Harss' review for Fjord Review.

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This was supposed to be the week New York City Ballet was to dance Peter Martins’s full-length version of “Swan Lake.” Because the rapid spread of Omicron forced the company to shorten its rehearsal period, that production was replaced with George Balanchine’s one-act version, which has been combined with other repertory ballets. No regrets—Martins’ “Swan” is a cold, bleak affair—but some of the resulting programs have been a bit of a grab-bag.

Harss reviews NYCB, again for Fjord Review.

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Thankfully, no further Covid disruptions have marred the company’s winter season, though fear-of-Omicron has kept the houses less than full. A shame, since the company is dancing so well. This week and next, Balanchine’s one-act “Swan Lake” has been added to the mix, in place of the originally-scheduled full evening production by Peter Martins. Even “Swan Lake” has not been enough to fill the house, though it was noticeably more populated on the evening of February 11 than it had been a few days earlier.