New York City Ballet 2022-2023 season

[FITTB85]

27 minutes ago, Dancingdemon said:

Would someone give their thoughts on the gala last night? 

Symphony in 😄

Megan Fairchild was in for Bouder and Unity Phelan was in for Mearns. Fairchild was partnered by ex husband Andy Veyette, I believe this may have been only the second time they’ve danced together since the divorce, they were professional and looked happy.

Holy crap is Unity Phelan talented! She just has “it” there was something about her that made her shine just a little brighter than the other 3 leads (Fairchild, Hod and Gerrity). Hod looked wonderful as well, I feel like long/tall girls are sometimes criticized for a bad port de bras but she was lovely.

Reisen, I thought the costumes were good; the colors, silhouettes and texture work onstage. Often the fashion collaborations fail because the fabric or color doesn’t translate onstage. I thought the choreography was quite derivative, a lot of combinations you’ve seen a million times before but it was fine.

 

Peck, I always say Justin Peck is best with an ensemble piece, creating unique formations etc. This was just basic solo, the only thing that made it unique to was that it was a man. The costume was inexcusable, I don’t know what happened, maybe a breakdown in communication.

Abraham, I agree with the Times that it was a bit long but only a little, maybe remove 1 or 2 of the last few sections.

I am a millennial and therefore I’m the target audience for Abraham but I LOVED this. Incorporating pop-and-lock movement with ballet is all I’ve ever wanted. The nod to swan lake was messy, I don’t know if the music was too fast or the dancers not up to snuff but it wasn’t great. Opening section with Fahoury was wonderful, Grant and Walker were great together, Emily Kikta looked incredible in her unitard, she has amazing lines. The print on the costumes wasn’t good because you couldn’t see what it was but the silhouettes were fun in a nod to 18th century French court dress. 

[canbelto]

Fairchild and Veyette have actually danced together several times since they divorced.

One was a last-minute throw on Allegro Brillante.

Another was a run of Divertimento #15's.

They also did the Costermonger pas de deux in Union Jack. That was actually a bit awkward because they play a bickering couple, but they were good sports about it.

[BalanchineFan]

On 9/26/2022 at 5:37 PM, fondoffouettes said:

She's probably just working on it. There's a video of her on Steps' Instagram from August (https://www.instagram.com/p/ChaWtbQFI2x/?hl=en). It's clear she's done a lot of work since then to get back into shape for this season. She probably just needs more time. Since we don't know the nature of her injury, it's possible she hasn't been able to take class, etc., for all that long. 

On 9/26/2022 at 5:37 PM, fondoffouettes said:

  On 9/26/2022 at 4:40 PM, FauxPas said:

Ashley B bounced back quickly from her pregnancy, losing all the weight and really pushing herself in class.  I wonder what is going on now.

Returning from pregnancy is quite different from having an injury. During her pregnancy Bouder posted videos of herself doing fouettés in class at 6 and 9 months pregnant (scroll through her IG, the posts are still there). Not the sort of thing you can do in the midst of a "possibly career ending injury."

Edited September 30, 2022 by BalanchineFan

[BalanchineFan]

On 9/28/2022 at 1:45 AM, brokenwing said:

Pretty frustrated by Mira Nadon's casting, if I'm being honest. She is a once in a generation talent and I don't want to see her rot on the vine. I know she had surgery, but if she is capable of doing the *very* difficult final solo (and two ladies dance that follows) in 'Raymonda', is she not capable of doing more than stand in heels for the entire last two weeks of the fall season? I could see her leading in almost every ballet in the rep and instead we are treated to people who are simply not of her caliber (or at best inadequately prepared/out of shape). 

Hoping I'm just being cynical and there is a logical reason here. 

There is a lot of variety in foot injuries. I was in physical therapy a few days ago and the dancer next to me was saying she felt fine on pointe but was in pain  coming off pointe or wearing some other sort of shoe. I've had injuries where I could hop on one leg but not the other. Some choreography can be changed to accommodate that, other choreography... no. Hard no. I'm sure no one has "forgotten" Mira Nadon. I sure haven't, and wouldn't forget her dancing if (god forbid) she retired tomorrow. There may also be additional cast changes in the next few weeks. There usually are. TPTB may know that she's understudying a few people who are likely to go out.

Plus, it's a big company, there are a lot of casting considerations to balance.

[Balletwannabe]

Post-childbirth is a whole different story than still being pregnant with your first child.  I'm amazed at what Megan Fairchild's been able to do with having had twins as well.  There's no surgery to be had for childbirth effects, and "bouncing back" really just means putting an incredible amount of time & effort to try and build/maintain strength in your pelvic/core area.  Mom ballerinas have to work 2x as hard and they don't get enough credit.  

Edited September 30, 2022 by Balletwannabe

[Jacqueline]

I was at last night's performance.  Isabella LaFreniere looked radiant, regal and assured.  I loved her musicality and phrasing. There were some quietly breathtaking moments in the pas de deux with Chan, who also gave a very winning performance overall, with a constant spring in his step and dazzling smile.  Of the solo variations, for me, the standouts were Nadon (no surprise there) and Staker. Phelan, being cast in both Tschai Pas and Piano Pieces, had a big work load, and it was announced at curtain that Indiana Woodward would replace her in the Piano Pieces June Barcarolle solo (but not the Chant d'Automne pas -- hope that's not too confusing.). Tschai Pas was exhilarating and as others have said, Joseph Gordon was riveting, with technique, charisma and partnering chops to spare.  I saw Piano Pieces twice last spring, and the corps parts looked a lot better rehearsed and more polished on my third viewing last night.  As others have mentioned, as a whole, this ballet may not seem very cohesive, so I just decided to enjoy each section as its own entity.  There was lots of beautiful dancing, particularly the tender and romantic pas by Gerrity and Furlan and Gerrity's solo.  (Please bring back Dances at a Gathering soon!)

One other observation.  There were NO casting sheets up in the lobby, unless I was looking in the wrong place?  They used to be in frames on either side of the entrance doors, and now there's nothing there.

[abatt]

6 minutes ago, Jacqueline said:

I was at last night's performance.  Isabella LaFreniere looked radiant, regal and assured.  I loved her musicality and phrasing. There were some quietly breathtaking moments in the pas de deux with Chan, who also gave a very winning performance overall, with a constant spring in his step and dazzling smile.  Of the solo variations, for me, the standouts were Nadon (no surprise there) and Staker. Phelan, being cast in both Tschai Pas and Piano Pieces, had a big work load, and it was announced at curtain that Indiana Woodward would replace her in the Piano Pieces June Barcarolle solo (but not the Chant d'Automne pas -- hope that's not too confusing.). Tschai Pas was exhilarating and as others have said, Joseph Gordon was riveting, with technique, charisma and partnering chops to spare.  I saw Piano Pieces twice last spring, and the corps parts looked a lot better rehearsed and more polished on my third viewing last night.  As others have mentioned, as a whole, this ballet may not seem very cohesive, so I just decided to enjoy each section as its own entity.  There was lots of beautiful dancing, particularly the tender and romantic pas by Gerrity and Furlan and Gerrity's solo.  (Please bring back Dances at a Gathering soon!)

One other observation.  There were NO casting sheets up in the lobby, unless I was looking in the wrong place?  They used to be in frames on either side of the entrance doors, and now there's nothing there.

The casting board is now to the right of the ticket booth windows, right next to the handicapped elevator on the right side of the lobby.

Edited September 30, 2022 by abatt

[Jacqueline]

5 minutes ago, abatt said:

The casting board is now to the right of the ticket booth windows, right next to the handicapped elevator on the right side of the lobby.

Thank you, abatt!

[Kathleen O'Connell]

20 hours ago, FITTB85 said:

I am a millennial and therefore I’m the target audience for Abraham but I LOVED this. Incorporating pop-and-lock movement with ballet is all I’ve ever wanted.

I'm a millennial at least twice over and I have quite the appetite for Abraham. Pop-and-lock moves date back to at least the 70s Funk era—aka, Boomer Salad Days. 😉

The Royal Ballet has a video up of Abraham rehearsing the ballet he choreographed for them (Optional Family) with three of the company's dancers and it provides a little window onto his way of working within the context ballet technique.

[cobweb]

On 9/24/2022 at 5:18 PM, Royal Blue said:

Divertimento No. 15 is one of the ballets uppermost in my mind when reflecting on the purpose and significance of the art form. Among those artworks, for me, that give the impression of encompassing the answer to the mystery of life ... beauty ... art … love …

After seeing tonight's performance, and all five performances of the Divertimento-Scotch Symphony-La Sonnambula program, gotta agree with @Royal Blue here. If you love ballet, and I do, you must love Divertimento No. 15. And I do. I bow to Mr. B. 

[Peg]

I was there tonight as well.  Agree that Divertimento No. 15 is great, and tonight’s cast was really good.

Hyltin and Stanley struck just the right notes in La Sonnambula. I was sad to think I’ll never see Sterling dance this role again—she is impossibly ethereal/romantic/mysterious/tragic in it, in the Allegra Kent tradition.  

I’ve been reading the comments about Bouder but was jolted and felt sad when I saw her on stage tonight. Jovani Furlan is very good here but he and Bouder looked to be from two different planets. Emma von Enck, on the other hand, was fantastic as the opening highland girl.  You just wanted her to return to the stage and bring us back to that happy place. 

[cobweb]

6 minutes ago, Peg said:

Emma von Enck, on the other hand, was fantastic as the opening highland girl.

Emma von Enck looked GREAT. Why isn't there more to do for this great young dancer? There has been concern here about Mira Nadon's casting, but I feel sure her talent is being recognized. Emma von Enck, not sure! She deserves lots, lots more. 

[Jacqueline]

I agree! (and it was delightful getting to meet up with you tonight, Cobweb!). I cannot say enough about Divertimento.  I felt like I had been submerged in a jewelry box full of fantastic treasures and everywhere I looked there was something brilliant to behold. Too many riches, and I loved it. 

Emma was a highlight for me tonight too and her performance seemed all too brief.  She sat across from me at dinner later and I had to resist fan-girling her!  Anyway, I feel more opportunities will come her way.

I had never seen La Sonnambula and I loved the melodrama of it all.  And of course, I was happy to be able to see Sterling in such a beautiful performance, probably the last for me before her retirement, since I'm a (way) out-of-towner.  Will never forget her Aurora, "Spring" in Four Seasons, and Mozartiana.

[abatt]

I went last night specifically to see Hyltin.  Hyltin was breathtaking as the Sleepwalker.  She floated.   Note to Phelan - your pointe shoes are supposed to skim more or less silently on the floor while you bouree in this role. 

The entire evening was wonderful with one notable exception.  The more I see of Bouder on stage, the less I like her in her current condition. It's not just that she's heavy for a  NYCB dancer.  She now has almost no elevation.  The phrasing and musicality are still there, but she is now a bit leaden.  I hope she can eventually come back to good form. 

[Royal Blue]

11 hours ago, cobweb said:

After seeing tonight's performance, and all five performances of the Divertimento-Scotch Symphony-La Sonnambula program, gotta agree with @Royal Blue here. If you love ballet, and I do, you must love Divertimento No. 15. And I do. I bow to Mr. B. 

Our love for the art form and the greatest ballets —of which Divertimento No. 15 is decidedly one— supersedes any differences of opinion we may have about the rest of the repertoire and/or performances, cobweb.

[cobweb]

A few more comments about last night. I thought Bouder looked considerably better than she did when I saw her last week, with more spring in her step and more flexible. Still not where she should be, and I still don't think she is a good fit for this role. I'm really enjoying Scotch Symphony and hope it's programmed more often. Emma von Enck was terrific, and I'm baffled as to why they debuted three ladies in this solo, but von Enck only got one performance. Hyltin was wonderful in La Sonnambula, with bourrees so tiny and so smooth she was sailing across the stage. I was wishing we could see Ashley Laracey here. Unity has a ton of debuts this season, and to me it would make sense to spread the workload around a little bit more, and Laracey would be a natural as the sleepwalker. Pondering the roster, I wonder if we will see Alec Knight and Davide Riccardo moved up to soloist. I notice that the new soloist batch (LaFreniere, etc) are getting lots of opportunities, whereas there is little if anything new for Erica Pereira and Georgina Pazcoguin. Oh, and it was fun meeting up with @Jacqueline last night! I look forward to comments on today's matinee and Ashley Laracey's debut tonight in Apollo. 

[Balletwannabe]

I went last night to see Hyltin, was not disappointed, she was magical.

I passed Ashley Bouder on the street before the performance...she is not overweight.  I'm going to take a guess that most of the NYCB dancers would fall in the underweight category on a BMI chart.  This is to say nothing about "health", they could ALL be healthy, but my point is, we're conditioned to seeing super skinny, so in comparison, Bouder looks out of place (and I would note, one of the corp members as well, I don't know her name), despite being a perfectly average size.  Just keep that in mind next time someone on this website comments "I wish they would eat a hamburger".  What you're really saying is "I wish they would eat more, but not too much, because there's an aesthetically acceptable weight for a dancer and they must remain in that razor thin margin".  You can't win with the audience when it comes to weight, always something to say.  

So to comment on her dancing: her footwork was wonderful.  I don't feel like her upper body (expressiveness, port de bras) matches the quality of her pointe work.  Megan Fairchild on the other hand had the whole package last night.  Just my opinion.  

[Fernie M]

19 hours ago, cobweb said:

Emma von Enck looked GREAT. Why isn't there more to do for this great young dancer? There has been concern here about Mira Nadon's casting, but I feel sure her talent is being recognized. Emma von Enck, not sure! She deserves lots, lots more. 

I agree concerning Emma von Enck. I would love to see her as Aurora.

[cobweb]

1 hour ago, Fernie M said:

I agree concerning Emma von Enck. I would love to see her as Aurora.

Great idea. I would love to see this. She brings her "A game" to everything, and I feel sure she would be radiant as Aurora. 

[FITTB85]

On 9/30/2022 at 2:33 PM, Kathleen O'Connell said:

I'm a millennial at least twice over and I have quite the appetite for Abraham. Pop-and-lock moves date back to at least the 70s Funk era—aka, Boomer Salad Days. 😉

Hahaha, yes I know break dancing is by no means new. I meant more, I’m the “Center Stage” generation. All I’ve wanted for the last 22 years is to see GOOD choreography and GOOD technique performed to popular music (not the crap you see in competition dance). So far I feel like Abraham is the only choreographer who has delivered on this.

I really want to see good ballet technique performing choreography that brings the music to life. I want Balanchine musicality enhancing the music.

[abatt]

16 hours ago, Balletwannabe said:

 

I passed Ashley Bouder on the street before the performance...she is not overweight. 

I don't think anyone has stated that Bouder is overweight in comparison to the general population.  But that's not the standard that applies to major ballet companies, or to NYCB.  I don't think anyone here wants NYCB looking like the Mark Morris Dance Group.  Weight impacts line, elevation, speed and partnering issues.

One of the least snarky people I know asked me at intermission the other day if Bouder is on steroids.  That's how jarring and apparent this issue is to many audience members. 

On this issue, I recall an interview with Maria K. regarding how much harder she had to work as she aged and following injury to get herself back into shape and maintain her weight and her form.  This is the life that these dancers have chosen, and they have always known the exacting and difficult requirements of their unique jobs.

[canbelto]

I really enjoyed Symph in Three Movements last night. Will miss Hyltin in the central role.

[abatt]

Yes, I will miss Hyltin.  She is leaving at the top of her game and the height of her powers as an artist.  I happened to be seated next to her many years ago at a ballet performance by a visiting company.  I said hello and spoke to her briefly.  She was very nice and well spoken.  Peter Martins had an eye for spotting emerging talent early in a person's career, and he and the company struck gold with Hyltin.

[MarzipanShepherdess]

Saw the oddly named "NYCB Classics II" program yesterday (oddly named because 3/4 of the pieces on the program were new works). This was better sold than any ballet program I've attended in some time, all the way up through the fourth ring. The first ring and orchestra, which was what I could see directly, were completely sold out. Noticeably younger and much, much more diverse crowd than your average ballet performance.

Symphony in C-- Watching Megan Fairchild in the first pas de deux I was really struck by how much more I appreciate her dancing at this point in her career than any other (and that's post-injury, post-twins, etc). She has developed a lovely, gracious gravitas, very evident here. I like her dancing with Joseph Gordon very much. The absolute highlight for me, though, was Sara Mearns. This is one of my favorite roles for her. There is such a beautiful unfurling quality to her port de bras, like she is weaving a spell and sending some kind invocation out into the universe. She was worth watching at every single moment she was on stage, even when just stationary in the back of the stage slowly moving her arms like she was gathering force to unleash when her next solo or pas de deux started. Just magical to watch.

Peck solo--Always glad to watch Anthony Huxley. I can imagine this perhaps having been more impactful in the medium it was choreographed for (virtual): it's a small, melancholy solo that felt a bit lost on the Koch theater stage.

New Reisen (Playtime)--I really enjoyed the Solange Knowles score and would be happy if she did more commissions for City Ballet. I liked the costumes, the way the sparkly material caught the light was fun and eye-catching and I enjoyed their playful, twisted references to 17th/18th century pannier skirts and traditional men's suiting. But the choreography itself was unmemorable to me. Not bad, just not engaging. She had some great dancers to work with so it felt like a shame. Seeing Chun Wai Chan for example, who is such a mega-watt, charismatic dancer, it just felt like, that's all you can think of to give this guy to do in a solo?  I don't think that Reisen's work feels deserving yet of the platform City Ballet has given it, but she's only 23 so maybe it will in time.

New Abraham (Love on Shuffle)--I've been anticipating this for years and I loved it. There are resonances with The Runaway (the diverse range of dance traditions being tapped into, the "breaking the third wall" flashes of humor, the Giles Deacon costumes, the expansive range of emotions being evoked), but it also feels like Abraham is exploring new ideas and continuing to evolve as a choreographer. I enjoyed how he played with "pop and lock" dance elements, twisting that style and giving it emotional heft as a way to convey the way that "character" struggles to connect and inhabit intimacy with another person. I thought Jonathan Fahoury was excellent in a challenging role, as was Harrison Ball as his pas de deux partner. Tiler Peck also stood out to me, as did Claire Kretzchsmar (what a nice note to end her City Ballet career on, debuting a great new work, as I believe she's retiring at the end of the season). Love on Shuffle is a darker, more brooding work than the Runway, and in that way feels like a reflection of the times it was made in. I loved the tender, hopeful note it ended on, with the dancers assembled to evoke the opening movements after Ball and Fahoury's gorgeous pas de deux, ending with Fahoury walking into Ball's arms. Very powerful. I look forward to this coming back in the spring.

[Balletwannabe]

1 hour ago, abatt said:

I don't think anyone has stated that Bouder is overweight in comparison to the general population.  But that's not the standard that applies to major ballet companies, or to NYCB.  I don't think anyone here wants NYCB looking like the Mark Morris Dance Group.  Weight impacts line, elevation, speed and partnering issues.

One of the least snarky people I know asked me at intermission the other day if Bouder is on steroids.  That's how jarring and apparent this issue is to many audience members. 

On this issue, I recall an interview with Maria K. regarding how much harder she had to work as she aged and following injury to get herself back into shape and maintain her weight and her form.  This is the life that these dancers have chosen, and they have always known the exacting and difficult requirements of their unique jobs.

I don't have any issue with people being honest about what they like seeing- but the verbiage I've seen used (not just here) is definitely fat shaming her, so I just think people should be honest- the audience prefers underweight dancers.  Elite female ballet dancers (and elite athletes in many other sports) in the best of shape really can't help but be underweight.  And again, that doesn't mean that they're not healthy.  BMI charts have nothing (or very little) to do with health.  

Edited October 2, 2022 by Balletwannabe