“Serenade,” “Mozartiana,” “Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2”
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
New York, NY
February 24, 2008
by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel
A program with “Serenade,” “Mozartiana,” and “Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2” is a great program to close the season. Happily there was one great performance, but some of the principal dancers who led the last show of the New York season on Sunday have danced better and sadly, seen better days.
The crowd was less valedictory than it has been at other closings. A long while back, the company used to hold the Dancers’ Emergency Fund benefit on that day, and deployed every (uninjured) soloist and principal in a series of excerpts, but this Sunday was business and block programming as usual. There’s usually a collective intake of breath when the curtain rises on the half-lit landscape of “Serenade.” This time, silence.
Even if it’s not a pièce d’occasion, “Serenade” is a good way to wrap things up with a nod to the women’s corps de ballet. The corps danced well, and how nice to see Megan LeCrone back onstage even though she wasn’t listed among the cast. Darci Kistler danced the “Waltz Girl” in an eccentric performance, robust in many ways – except for the steps, which she sketched and smudged. Kistler is at the point where the ballet seems to matter less to her than her appearance onstage and it leads to quite singular moments. She didn’t even bother to try and conceal the removal of her hairpins while turning. She barely bothered to turn. She stood there as the corps exited past her, quickly took out her hairpins, did a brief turn in a cursory nod to the choreography and clunked herself to the floor.
As often with Yvonne Borree, things started off all right as the “Russian Girl,” but then something happened. It’s usually something barely visible to the audience, a bobbled turn or a small skid, but the rest of the performance is all jangled nerves. Borree did only single turns in places. Kaitlyn Gilliland, a young corps member, danced the Dark Angel. She’s got great promise and facility, but as of yet her performance is a bit blank.
At the end of the ballet Kistler had an inscrutable moment of
inspiration; as she brought her arms back in the final procession, she
brought her hands together as if in prayer. I’m not sure where it came
from. Were I king, I would tell her not to do it, but does anyone on
staff give her any direction on her performances?
As inappropriate as the gesture was, it did provide a segue from the blue world of “Serenade” to the black and blue world of “Mozartiana” – from death and transfiguration to memorial. Wendy Whelan infused the opening Preghiera with tender intelligence, but in one of life’s vicious little ironies, just as she is beginning to crack the code of a ballet that isn’t natural for her, her body is starting to give way in protest. The great series of variations are harder for her and she couldn’t cover that up as easily; her movement seemed dry. As her consort, the role flattered Benjamin Millepied; it gives him a lightness he doesn’t always exploit. His beats were brilliant and he threw in a few very impressive turns, but there were also some near misses and shaky partnering. The cast was completed by Tom Gold in the Gigue, the four women of the Menuet and a quartet of sharp little girls who shadowed Whelan.
Someone had to give a performance worthy of a senior ballerina; it
ended up being one of the youngest of them. Ashley Bouder finished
things off the right way with a grand performance of “Tschaikovsky
Piano Concerto No. 2.” She made the whole treacherous role look easy,
even the dastardly swivel turns in her opening; every one came to a
stop without any fidgeting. She made her debut in the part last June,
now that she’s had some experience in the role she’s actually developed
a – perish the thought – character and presence in response to the
music. She enters like a queen in the first movement, but her final
variation in it, to a stampede of a cadenza, had an air of ferocity.
The second movement was all sweet nostalgia and the last movement
glittering virtuosity. Bouder may try and infuse moods into
Balanchine’s choreography, but they are the right ones, and most
importantly she understands that when the music changes, so must her
mood; the finale isn’t going to wait for her to finish feeling
sentimental. Jonathan Stafford was a fine partner and Savannah Lowery
danced the second ballerina role with heart, but without polish.
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel
Photos by Paul Kolnik:
Top: Wendy Whelan and students of the School of American Ballet in “Mozartiana”
Bottom: Ashley Bouder and Jonathan Stafford in “Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2”
