Wednesday, October 11

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A review of New York City Ballet by Alastair Macaulay in The Financial Times.

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For the October 5 gala this year, a Balanchine ballet was given an haute couture makeover. A suite from his enchanting Gershwin ballet Who Cares? (1970) was showcased in new flared midi-length frocks by Wes Gordon for Carolina Herrera. But these dresses, individually splendid, neither cohere into their own stage world, nor belong in Balanchine’s modest girls-next-door vision of New York romance. The original orchestral arrangements of Gershwin songs by Balanchine’s old colleague Hershy Kay were vulgar in instrumentation but caught all the choreographic points. Robert Miller’s new orchestrations, though less tacky, did much to make four of the eight dances fall flat. Since the whole ballet was not shown, it’s to be hoped the Gordon frocks and Miller arrangements fall by the wayside.

Reviews of NYCB by Mary Cargill for danceviewtimes.com.

Dessert First

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Anthony Huxley was a dignified Poet but without the sense of isolation and yearning some can give the role; he seemed confused by the Sleepwalker rather than enthralled with the vision of the unattainable Romantic ideal.  This may have been in part because he seemed so happy with the Coquette (Brittany Pollack), who danced the role with a puzzling softness, as if the Poet were her true love.  When he first appeared in the square, she seemed about to break into “Some Enchanted Evening” and she danced pas de deux, where the Coquette faces away from the Poet with a look of cold triumph, as if she were just too shy and overwhelmed to look at him.  They seemed to be having a cosy little canoodle at the during the divertissements and she seemed broken hearted when she saw the Poet with the Sleepwalker and overcome with grief and shame at her treachery.  The aura of mystery and danger, of some hidden evil in the Baron’s establishment but Maxwell’s vivid Sleepwalker showed how haunting the ballet can be.

Old Masters

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Miller was a young looking Siren; she is tall but slight and has a beautifully sunny aura which gave the moment when the Siren pounds her chest in an apparent paroxysm of guilt finally seem plausible though she recovered quickly and went after the poor Prodigal, though I did miss the smoldering gleeful venom of more practiced Sirens.  Ulbricht’s humiliation and despair  alternated between a powerful stillness and sudden movements, falling with a shattering crash when he could no longer stand.  His final crawl was slow and painful, done without melodrama and his encounter with his Father was unusually uneasy, as if he weren’t sure of his reception.  Chamblee gave the father a stern but rather frightening dignity.  He came more downstage for his son’s return than I remember others doing, watching the poor boy carefully as if deciding whether or not to forgive him.  Ulbricht had to climb into his arms by himself until finally Shamble slowly gathered him in.  It was a very effective and powerful moment.

 

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The Estonian National Ballet presents a new evening-length ballet by principal dancer Jevgeni Grib.

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Risto Joost, music director and principal conductor of the Vanemuine Theater, had an idea to create a ballet with music by Gustav Holst and Edward Elgar. "The opportunity to perform with the Vanemuine Symphony Orchestra is a double blessing," Grib said. The production features Holst's "The Planets" and Elgar's "Enigma Variations."