Boldly Venturing into Balanchine's Tschaikovsky

RUSSIAN TREASURES: "Serenade," "Mozartiana," "Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2"
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
New York, NY
February 22, 2008

by Susan Reiter
copyright © 2008 Susan Reiter

It's almost a tradition that during the final weekend of a New York City Ballet season (sometimes even at the final performance) a major, often surprising, debut is scheduled. This second performance of the winter season's final program definitely were offered a major -- and, as it turned out, triumphant -- one. Teresa Reichlen bounded joyfully and expansively into the lead ballerina role of "Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2," a role that includes fiendish technical demands and requires authoritative ballerina presence. Others have sometimes been done in by the role as early as the daunting opening solo; if she does not command the stage and radiate a regal, confident glow as she navigates the intricate steps to the piano's extended solo passage, the ballerina can throw the whole work out of balance. But Reichlen displayed no hint of tension, and shaped her long line, which tends to look more at home in rangy, more knotty choreography, with exquisite, bracing clarity and energy.

In her extended first movement duet with Jonathan Stafford, the pair's elegant long lines complement each other beautifully, and the dancing breathed effortlessly along with the music. One sensed Reichlen's growing authority as the ballet progressed. Admirably, she seemed to approach the role not as a major hurdle to overcome, but an opportunity to luxuriate in Tschaikovsky's magisterial score. In the second movement, one could have wished for a touch more romantic yearning, so that the pair's coming together would feel more achingly abridged by the destiny that drew her away, through the parting branches of the ensemble's arching arms. Reichlen tends to dance with athletic vigor, but already at this early stage in the role has tempered that with admirable refinement. With time, she could add a touch of the old-world magisterial quality that can make the ballerina of this homage to imperial grandeur truly come across as the queen of her realm.

Savannah Lowery, who was new to the complex soloist role when this program had its first performance (on February 16), is a strong, forthright dancer, and had many fine moments as she cleaved through space with vigor and amplitude. What was missing was a more yielding quality in her back, and an ability to respond to the music with a bit more spontaneity.

Also new in an important role (in which she also had her official debut on the 16th) was Kaitlyn Gilliland as the so-called "dark angel" of "Serenade" --- the fate figure who darts through the first two movements before asserting her presence more fully in the concluding Elegy. A lovely, willowy member of the corps de ballet who can always be spotted for her liquid phrasing a diligent attention to detail, she effortlessly imbued the role with the mystery and supple flow it requires. Her beautiful arabesque, as she was slowly pivoted by the unseen but sure hands of Stephen Hanna, swept up towards infinity, filling out and embodying the devotional music at the moment. Gilliland instinctively shapes her movement with amplitude and unmannered directness, and embodied the melancholy of the Elegy beautifully, as well as the touchingly noble sense of sisterhood that permeates the entire ballet.

The other two lead female roles were in much more veteran hands. With Darci Kistler, as is mostly the case these days, the spirit is willing, but the physical limitations intruded on the choreography. Free, extended movement and the kind of expansive sweep that is a hallmark of "Serenade" are beyond her, and the dancing often looks constricted. Yvonne Borree was acceptable within her demure modest range, but with her at its center, the pulsating vigor and daring of the Tema Russo section was much diminished.

There was nothing forced or artificial about this particular program, which -- unlike some others this season -- was certainly assembled with logic, rather than marketing, at its core. Its three enduring Balanchine masterworks to Tchaikovsky, each with a refined purity of intention and rarefied musical insight, made for a balanced and illuminating compilation. But aside from the excitement of the new casting in the closing ballet, the program somehow didn't deliver the expected magic, perhaps because for the first two works, memories of the burnished, luminous performances Kyra Nichols was delivering last year at this time still resonate strongly, and without that fervently beating heart, the ballets feel somewhat diminished at the moment.

Wendy Whelan's serenity made for a poignant Preghiera, and she banished much of the edginess and angularity are her more natural tendencies, relaxing into the variations and making them very much her own. Benjamin Millepied, who has been handed an enormous repertory of demanding roles this season, not all of which have been an ideal fit, understood the manner and style of this one to a considerable degree, even as he is still mastering all of its specific, intricate demands. He may not unfurl as many pirouettes and finish them with the vivid punctuation that Damian Woetzel did in the role, but he did bring an appropriately Mozartean temperament and attack to the role. Tom Gold restored the sense of surprise and almost jazzy timing to the Gigue, which too often gets smoothed out or performed like an antic jester specialty act. His dancing insightfully captured the dignity and wit Balanchine mined from the music.

Maurice Kaplow conducted with brio and refinement throughout the evening. For the piano concerto, soloist Susan Walters played from the apron at stage right; in the past the pianist has usually been in the pit. Her distance from the other musicians made the opening pre-curtain portion of the music more of a dialogue, as she traded measures with the orchestra from a distance, but did not prove to be a distraction once the curtain rose.

Photos by Paul Kolnik:
Kaitlyn Gilliland in "Serenade"