Inspirations
Divertimento from "Le Baiser de la Fee," "The Chairman Dances," "Rococo Variations," "Stars and Stripes"
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
New York, NY
February 19, 2008
by Tom Phillips
copyright 2008 by Tom Phillips
“Rococo Variations,” Christopher Wheeldon’s last ballet as resident choreographer for New York City Ballet, may be his best. Unlike the “cool, sexy” material he has cooked up for his own new company Morphoses, this is warm and romantic – an atmosphere where his flowing combinations and inventive partnering can turn into something truly moving. It does so here because of two inspired choices – a Tchaikovsky piece for cello and orchestra, and a cast that pairs two of NYCB’s rising female stars with two young men from the corps de ballet, who more than rise to the occasion.
“Rococo Variations” is what I think of as a Senior Prom ballet. The leading example of the genre is Robbins’ “In the Night,” where several couples thrash out their turbulent romances, focused intensely on each other but also relating at times to the other couples. Here there are just two, and their relationships are less conflicted – but Sterling Hyltin with Giovanni Villalobos, and Sara Mearns with Adrian Danchig-Waring, supply enough intimacy to fill a ballroom.
Whereas Robbins’ ballet was a study in spectacular lifts, this one is more about falls, reversals, pushes and pulls. Still, it’s no less graceful. Mearns’s opening motif looks like a contraction opening out into a sustained arabesque that her partner moves in to support. It’s an odd combination but it works, and sets the tone for a ballet that is modern yet romantic, pleasingly uncomplicated yet emotionally satisfying.
The characters make it memorable. Mearns sets the romantic mood, seemingly picking up from where she left off a few days before, as the woman left alone and yearning at the end of “Davidsbundlertanze,” but in a lighter, less careworn mode. She’s perfectly paired with the long-limbed, fair-haired Danchig-Waring, a danseur noble whose modesty is just part of his aristocratic bearing. He supports but does not intrude.
The other couple could not be more different. Hyltin is slight and light, pure light and upward movement. She’s the prom date everyone would compete for, but in a stroke of casting brilliance, she’s paired with the earthy, comic Villalobos, who looks like he might have arrived from the pool hall. Up to now, his solo turns have been in circusy parts (e.g. Tea and Candy Cane in “Nutcracker”) but here he gets to show his own natural aristocracy – a sure-handed partner who never takes his eyes off his ballerina, and scrambles to be where he needs to be for her. Still, he’s best when he gets down and dirty, as in a lowdown Charleston shuffle he seems to sneak in behind her at one point.
At first it’s disconcerting when these two couples dance the same steps together; the dissonance in styles fights the unison of movement. But after a while you get used to it, and realize that this is true to life, and exciting for being so true. Bravo Wheeldon, excellent exit. See you again here, I’m sure.
Of all the program titles dreamed up by NYCB’s marketers, “Inspirations” may be the most insipid. What work of art can’t be traced to an inspiration? Anyway, this program began with Balanchine’s Divertimento from “Le Baiser de la Fee,” winningly led by the fleet and poised Megan Fairchild, who survived a high-speed tumble to pick herself up and finish her variation without a tremble or a hitch. It ended with “Stars and Stripes,” led by a thunderous regiment of men with Adam Hendrickson at the fore. Among the female leads were two relative newcomers: Kathryn Morgan was stylish and precise as the baton-twirler in the first campaign, while Teresa Reichlen seemed a bit overmatched by the classical ballet turns in the fourth. “Stars and Stripes” never got off the parade ground. But it was still fun.
Rounding out the high-energy, densely populated program was Peter Martins’ 1988 piece of faux Chinoiserie, “The Chairman Dances.” Abi Stafford in red shoes and silk robes valiantly led a corps of 16 women who charged in waves across the People’s Republic of a set by Rouben Ter-Arutunian. Whatever the original inspiration might have been, I think this should now be recycled as part of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, and retired from the ballet repertory.
Copyright 2008 by Tom Phillips
photos of Sara Mearns and Adrian Danchig-Waring (top), Sterling Hyltin and Giovanni Villalobos by Paul Kolnik
