2023-2024 Season

[Helene]

I wish I could find the shortish snippet from Tiler Peck's new ballet from wherever I saw it under whoever's account, but from it I can see why so many people rave about and seek out Emma Von Enck. 

[volcanohunter]

There was this on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/yQawr8ARarV5QCzx/?mibextid=oFDknk 

[nysusan]

22 minutes ago, volcanohunter said:

There was this on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/yQawr8ARarV5QCzx/?mibextid=oFDknk 

Beautiful! I'm going to see her (& Mejia) in this soon but bummed that I'm not going to be able to see her first Ballo. She is quite something.

 

[cobweb]

Great video snippets. Ava Sautter looks bold, confident, and ready for bigger things, while Von Enck's sparkling personality and dancing really radiate out of the screen. 

[abatt]

IN addition to seeing Emma V Enck in Ballo, I'm also looking forward to seeing what Gabriel can do with his lead role, which is no walk in the park.  It is unusual for Staford to give such a difficult lead role to a corps dancer.   Gabriel is emerging as a major talent.  I wonder if the original plan was to cast Mejia, but due to his ongoing issues with injury, Gabriel got the nod.  I thought Gabriel was outstanding in Martins' HJ.

[cobweb]

4 minutes ago, abatt said:

I'm also looking forward to seeing what Gabriel can do with his lead role, which is no walk in the park.  It is unusual for Staford to give such a difficult lead role to a corps dancer.   Gabriel is emerging as a major talent.  I wonder if the original plan was to cast Mejia, but due to his ongoing issues with injury, Gabriel got the nod.  I thought Gabriel was outstanding in Martins' HJ.

Also, what about KJ Takahashi? I would think he and Von Enck would be a good fit height-wise. 

[deanofdance]

A few thoughts on tonight’s performance:

1) Rotunda — Uninspired and lacking freshness — especially from the conductor Litton.  Also, Peter Walker is becoming the male Unity — only a worse version of a dancer who comes across as bland and dull and seemingly cast every night.  
2) Concerto for Two Pianos — this was my second viewing, and there was no improvement — actually this piece slipped into the banal for me.  Especially banal when there are 2 extraordinary dancers in Roman and Mira — and they don’t really register — I was waiting for something to happen, and then I was just waiting for it to end.  2 positive things I noticed — the lovely epaulement of Emma, and the rapacious consumption of space by Ava (in the corp no less!). 
3) Odesa — Sara smiles!

Edited February 15 by deanofdance

[Brook703]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3Vt4LQuWZL/?igsh=MWV1OXc0bnB3YWY0eg==
 

this reel of Alston and Emma from Ballo was posted on Instagram. 

[Helene]

May thanks for posting the links, @volcanohunter and @Brook703!  The Peck wasn't the one I had seen, but this one was clearer.  I love Ballo, so watching that clip was a pleasure.

I wonder if I had seen the Peck clip in a story that is past its expiration date.

[deanofdance]

What a sweet article to come out on Valentine’s Day!

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/14/arts/dance/ashton-edwards-nonbinary-ballet.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
 

[On Pointe]

4 hours ago, deanofdance said:

What a sweet article to come out on Valentine’s Day!

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/14/arts/dance/ashton-edwards-nonbinary-ballet.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
 

I'm genuinely curious - what is it about this article that you like?  Because if I'm being honest,  as a Black American,  the optics are terrible.

[abatt]

It was, in my opinion, a bit of stunt casting which showed the world how liberal, diverse and inclusive NYCB is.  It had the desired effect, because the company got an article  about the performance in the NYTimes.  

I did not see the performance because I'm not a fan of this ballet no matter who is performing. 

[nysusan]

I am a huge fan of the Peck work and enjoyed the fluff piece from the Times but thought it was highly exaggerated.

 

For one thing, while Stanley may consider himself non-binary but to my knowledge he has only danced male roles at NYCB. And it's not as if Edwards was debuting the Walz girl in Serenade. Both couples in The Times are Racing have had gender swaps since early on in it's history. Ashly Isaacs and more recently Brittany Pollack have danced the Robbie Fairchild role. The pdd Edwards and Taylor did was originated by T. Peck and Ramasar, but the T. Peck role has also been danced by male dancers including Stanley himself (with Applebaum).

 

So while it was nice to see this with Edwards & Stanley (and I enjoyed them in it) it didn't feel to me like it was "making history" in any way. It may have felt that way to Edwards but to me it was just another interesting cast change.

[On Pointe]

3 hours ago, nysusan said:

And it's not as if Edwards was debuting the Walz girl in Serenade.

I have to confess,  I'd kind of want to hate watch that!

There are now plenty of dancers of color (not my favorite term) on NYCB's roster.  No need to bring in outside talent to virtue signal.  They just need to develop the dancers they have.

 

 

[Helene]

They are bringing in dancers from different companies for their anniversary season.  At least some of them have gotten attention from the NYT. PNB dancers have participated in other anniversary years, like when a young Noelani Pantastico and Olivier Wevers danced the second movement in Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, and when Patricia Barker danced Polyhymnia during the 1993 Balanchine Celebration, along with a Calliope from the Mariinsky Ballet and a Terpsichore from Paris Opera Ballet.

They may have chosen this particular ballet to send a message -- or they may have taken a recommendation from Stanley, who'd worked with Edwards before, or they may have remembered that and run with it, or they may have considered that people would be less upset if another visitor danced an iconic Balanchine or Robbins role, instead of a Peck, ie, one less opportunity for a NYCB dancer, or, or, or -- but they invited him as part of their anniversary, not in a vacuum.

[BalanchineFan]

On 2/14/2024 at 6:03 PM, cobweb said:

Also, what about KJ Takahashi? I would think he and Von Enck would be a good fit height-wise. 

I’m on my way home from the ballet. A lot of luminaries were there, Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, James Whiteside, Suki Schorer, Susan Pilarre, Heather Watts  

The new Ratmansky, Solitude, is quite moving, masterfully composed. He really knows what he’s doing. What a great evening. 

(KJ Takahashi partners Indiana Woodward in it. He’d be great with Emma Von Enck)

Joseph Gordon is amazing. He opens Solitide in stillness, he has an extended solo later. Both Mira Nadon and Sara Mearns are beautiful and moving. It deals with death and the war in Ukraine, it’s quiet and powerful, with bursts of activity, lifts and partnering. The juxtapositions (stillness vs sharp, tense movement, or swooping dancing) work very well. This isn’t a review, just a reaction. I recommend it HIGHLY. People should see it. I think it will be in the rep for a long time  

Opus 19 began the evening. Lovely dancing by Taylor Stanley and Unity Phelan, though this atmospheric ballet has never spoken to me. 

Symphony in 3 closed the evening. The women danced well, but I’m hoping to write about them more at length. David Gabriel and Adrian Danchig-Waring were stand outs for me. Adrian, in particular is killing it every time I see him. So clear and dynamic. Jules Mabie is also making his mark as a partner of tall ballerinas and capable soloist in the making.

The more often I see NYCB the more I am struck by the depth and variety of the rep. Next I’ll be back for 4T and Liebeslieder. They are churning these ballets out. In the best way. 

[volcanohunter]

The inspiration, if that's the right word, for Ratmansky's ballet were photographs of a man in Kharkiv who spent two hours praying and holding the hand of his dead son, who had been killed in a rocket attack at a bus stop.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/07/20/pictured-father-holds-hand-dead-son-fresh-russian-air-strikes/

There were also pictures of emergency workers comforting the father as he kneeled on the ground, which is alluded to in the piece as well.

https://www.itv.com/news/2022-07-20/heart-wrenching-photo-shows-father-holding-dead-sons-hand-after-russian-attack

I won't post related videos, because they are more graphic.

[l'histoire]

1 hour ago, volcanohunter said:

The inspiration, if that's the right word [...]

Of course it's the right word. Does a source of inspiration have to be something positive & good? Inspiration just means (at least in Latin) to give one's breath to something. 

Have just been teaching this week with some of the famous WWI poets. They were "inspired" by the trenches to great art, doesn't mean they were inspired by anything good. 

[Novice123]

Ballet fans like to think they are progressive and liberal but not really.  

[Helene]

40 minutes ago, Novice123 said:

Ballet fans like to think they are progressive and liberal but not really.  

Regardless of how this was meant, it violates our "discussing the discussion" policy by talking about each other instead of the topic.

There is also no such monolith as "ballet fans."

[balletsoiree]

On 2/15/2024 at 3:30 PM, nysusan said:

I am a huge fan of the Peck work and enjoyed the fluff piece from the Times but thought it was highly exaggerated.

 

For one thing, while Stanley may consider himself non-binary but to my knowledge he has only danced male roles at NYCB. And it's not as if Edwards was debuting the Walz girl in Serenade. Both couples in The Times are Racing have had gender swaps since early on in it's history. Ashly Isaacs and more recently Brittany Pollack have danced the Robbie Fairchild role. The pdd Edwards and Taylor did was originated by T. Peck and Ramasar, but the T. Peck role has also been danced by male dancers including Stanley himself (with Applebaum).

 

So while it was nice to see this with Edwards & Stanley (and I enjoyed them in it) it didn't feel to me like it was "making history" in any way. It may have felt that way to Edwards but to me it was just another interesting cast change.

Taylor Stanley uses the pronouns "they" not "himself/he". hence "non-binary"... https://www.nycballet.com/discover/meet-our-dancers/principal-dancers/taylor-stanley/

[PeggyTulle]

6 hours ago, Novice123 said:

Ballet fans like to think they are progressive and liberal but not really.  

As a long-time ballet fan, I like to respect the artists, including using their pronouns.

[PeggyTulle]

23 hours ago, On Pointe said:

I have to confess,  I'd kind of want to hate watch that!

There are now plenty of dancers of color (not my favorite term) on NYCB's roster.  No need to bring in outside talent to virtue signal.  They just need to develop the dancers they have.

 

 

And why should this be virtue signaling? Because they are black? Or non-binary?

[Helene]

They brought in outside dancers because that's what they do in their big anniversary years.  Most of the guests are from companies that have some lineage from Balanchine through their Artistic Directors, past and present.  PNB dancers under Russell and Stowell were invited, and Edwards was invited while dancing under Boal.

[abatt]

FYI tiler peck is replaced in ballo on sunday by fairchild per lobby sheet