Travelogue

“Le Tombeau de Couperin,” “Tarantella,” “Bugaku,” “La Sonnambula”
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
New York, NY
January 17, 2008
January 19, 2008 matinée

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

Visit France, Japan and Italy without ever leaving your seat!  New York City Ballet appealed to the armchair traveler contingent of ballet-goers with “Balanchine’s World,” a varied program of four of his far-flung works from the exotic to the serene.

“Le Tombeau de Couperin” was created for the 1975 Ravel Festival; its subject is the corps de ballet. The current cast at NYCB (it was the same both performances) is mixed with more senior and junior corps dancers.  All of the women have danced with the company half a decade or more.  Among the men, company stalwarts Henry Seth and Kyle Froman danced with several younger men; the long legged newer crop includes Daniel Applebaum, Allen Peiffer and Austin Laurent.  Troy Schumacher and Vincent Paradiso, both getting some featured parts recently, are shorter and more muscular. Block programming seems to have led to more efficient casting. At least in this program many of the corps dancers performed in the other ballets as well, a few in all three.

The audience seemed a little thrown by the ballet when it opened the program; no stars to clap for and the Ravel score can be mesmerizing, sometimes not in the right way.  “Tombeau” is more interesting the more one watches, starting to recognize flashes of individuality, but it remains as Balanchine intended – a community of equals with a single face.

“Tarantella” followed immediately for a complete change of pace and mood.  Gonzalo Garcia made his debut in the role with Ashley Bouder at the Saturday matinee. Though Garcia is a virtuoso, he hasn’t yet nailed down how he wants to put the role over; Bouder, with her killer instincts, filled the vacuum and was the powerhouse of the two.  Garcia is dark-haired, fair-skinned and sexy, with a European swagger that’s a bit more elegant than ours.  He’s musical (one can see it in how he times the arm swivels in one of his entries) and his moment of wit came before a diagonal when he stood in the back for what seemed like an unusually long time just staring at us as if we could imagine what mischief he might unleash. 

Daniel Ulbricht, who did the part on Thursday, may unfortunately be trapped as a specialty act, but this happens to be his specialty.  His beats were brilliant and he sailed around the stage suspended in the air in his jumps, but he’s also honing a knack for delivering the pyrotechnics expected of him while still letting his dancing speak for itself.  In one of those mishaps that made excellent intermission conversation, he broke the tambourine with a bash. It must have been ready to go as Ulbricht didn’t hit it harder than usual, but cymbals went flying everywhere like sequins off a gown.  When he re-entered it was mysteriously repaired, and a good deal larger. Contrasted to Garcia’s temperament, Ulbricht has an American “whattaguy” persona, but though may be flashy he avoided being cheap.

Bouder had more than a few tricks up her sleeve.  This is a virtuoso part that can handle her in full throttle, and she floored the pedal while the audience cheered.  She has re-timed much of the role, particularly the dips in second position, which she makes pert rather than sexy.  Her choices are on the brassy side. I think that’s fine in this ballet, but agree or disagree, at least she is making choices. Megan Fairchild danced with Ulbricht in the role and if she’s not the Take No Prisoners dancer that Bouder is, she still looks lovely and natural in the part.  She’s made strides recently in her stage presence (there wasn’t one frozen smile) and kept up with Ulbricht, including a series of unnaturally slow but beautifully placed attitude turns.

One wonders what “Bugaku” looks like to the Japanese, but given their propensity to also make bizarre transformations of Western cultural artifacts, they probably would find it interesting.  The setting and the music (Toshiro Mayazumi’s re-imagining and re-orchestrating of Japanese Court music) is Japonaiserie, but the movement is pure Balanchine.  And then there are Karinska’s costumes for the women, which through progressive disrobing culminate with a spangled bikini. The men’s costumes are less ludicrous.

Maria Kowroski and Albert Evans led the ballet; Evans remains out of shape and had trouble with relatively simple beats.  Kowroski’s performance was intentionally diffident but once she strips down to the bikini and dances the acrobatic pas de deux with Evans she lights up as much as the paillettes on her costume. 

Nikolaj Hübbe is heading to the end of his tenure at NYCB, and he’s ending well.  The Poet in “La Sonnambula” is a role he’s done a long time, and where for a time his character seemed almost dissolute, now his poet seems younger, impetuous and more naïve.  It’s still convincing. Sara Mearns had a physically avid but emotionally blank debut in the role of the Coquette on Thursday but by her second performance on Saturday the blankness had been filled in with a mixture of desire for the Poet and fear of the Baron.  Her innocence worked to explain her impulsive betrayal of the Poet at the end; she was playing a game of revenge that was over her head.

Darci Kistler took the role of the Sleepwalker on Thursday; Wendy Whelan danced the same part Saturday matinée.  Both seemed to have taken a similar tack on the role that is different from what they’ve done in the past.  Instead of seeing nothing, each seemed to see things that weren’t there and instead of the next-to-impossible feat of focusing on nothing, stayed in rapt attention to a vivid interior dream.  Whatever it was, it freed Whelan to be as otherwordly in spirit as she was in physical presence.  Fluttering backwards in rapid bourrées, she turned in the best performance of the role I’ve seen her do.  It pointed up what Hübbe was doing with the part and gave him that much more to work with.  For the first time in a while, the Poet’s death gave one chills.

Several of the corps dancers also had featured roles in the divertissements.  Paradiso has made strides over the past year; he now can keep up with Ana Sophia Scheller when he dances the “Moorish” pas de deux with her.

Bournonville prided himself on knowing more variants of the Tarantella than could be counted on two hands.  Balanchine was no anthropologist. Even though some of his steps derive from authentic movement sources he’s more like Petipa; his dances take on an ethnic character by music, setting and costuming more than steps.  Travel as far as you wish around the globe, but Balanchine’s world is classical ballet and can only exist inside the theater.

copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

Photos (all by Paul Kolnik)

Top: “Le Tombeau de Couperin”
Middle: Maria Kowroski and Albert Evans in “Bugaku”
Bottom: Nikolaj Hübbe and Wendy Whelan in “La Sonnambula”