Russian Roots and Spanish Dancers

“Andantino,” “Opus 19: The Dreamer,” “Piano Pieces,” “Les Noces”
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
New York, NY
May 9, 2008

by Leigh Witchel
copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

Jerome Robbins’ version of “Les Noces” reentered the repertory at New York City Ballet after a decade, this time with live music rather than a recording, and as Stravinsky intended, the four pianos, percussion and chorus were all behind the dancers for an imposing spectacle. Painted icons towered over the rough-hewn set with the musicians and chorus lined up in the back all in black as if it were possible for them to be inconspicuous in their mass.

Robbins made the ballet for American Ballet Theatre in 1965 without having seen Nijinska’s production.  His “Les Noces” has the look of someone who studied old photographs and tried to imagine them three-dimensional and moving, but with his imagination helplessly caught in his own era.  Robbins himself said that if he had known that Nijinska’s ballet were able to be revived (The Royal Ballet brought it back one year later through Ashton’s championing) he would never have made his.  He was right; the Nijinska version is close to a perfect match for Stravinsky’s music and sadly for choreographers, there probably won’t be a need for another “Les Noces” for generations to come, if ever.

Robbins stayed close to the same casting and tableaux detailed within the score: four scenes with a bride, groom, parents, closest friends (Robbins calls them matchmakers) and wedding guests.  The bride still had her long fabric braids; the other women jumped and weaved to braid the strands.   Robbins did not put the women on pointe.  It sounds like a small difference, but Nijinska’s deliberately restricted pointe work gave the women an otherworldly vocabulary.  The dancers do not meet our gaze, and aren’t women or men onstage, but iconic representations.  Robbins’ icons were only on the scenery; the dancers are flesh and blood.

Robbins tried, as he did in “Watermill,” for as impersonal and ritualistic a quality as he can manage, but his roots weren’t in the Eastern Orthodox Church.  One year earlier, Robbins had done his last staging on Broadway, “Fiddler on the Roof.”  That was his Russia, the Jewish one that got on a boat to America, and his theater wasn’t liturgical, but Broadway via Stanislavsky.  The dancers acted out Stravinsky’s libretto literally; the bride and groom were frightened of the impending marriage and at the end of the third tableau when both female soloists representing the mothers lamented, both dancing mothers dutifully lamented.  There are some exciting moments, particularly for the men as they jump and swirl, but what was missing was mystery. Robbins used theatrical rituals – the cast came in, bowed to the orchestra, bowed to us, bowed to the each other – it felt very much of its time, when much of theatrical experimentation was about the Fourth Wall. But Stravinsky and Nijinska’s rituals were not just of the stage, but of the church, and have an epic scale. Even when he’s trying for epic ritual Robbins couldn’t help but personalize it.  Adam Hendrickson and Tiler Peck were the frightened bride and groom; Georgina Pazcoguin and Benjamin Millepied their matchmakers, Rachel Rutherford with Stephen Hanna and Rebecca Krohn with Jonathon Stafford as the parents.

The three other works in the long program also were to music by Russian composers, two of them made for the 1981 Tchaikovsky Festival.  “Andantino” was danced by Ib Andersen with a very young Darci Kistler.  It’s a short work, meant for the delicacy of youth.  Megan Fairchild has a light, soft presence that works in the role.  Partnered by Joaquin De Luz, the two had quiet modesty as they seemed to discover one another to the soft opening notes.

De Luz has developed considerably in adagio since joining NYCB.  He’s got some excitable Latin spice in him but he’s also developed calmness.  Partnering is still his bête noire.  He can press Fairchild over his head without any issue but keeping her on her leg when she is on pointe is trickier.  There were spots where he lost her.  Dancing solo, he negotiated the tough choreography. The Tchaikovsky Robbins chose isn’t musique dansante; it’s a concert showpiece filled with cadenzas and Robbins responded to them with a barrage of steps.

“Piano Pieces” was Robbins’ other Tchaikovsky Festival creation, a long series of dances that is as if “Dances at a Gathering” met “Scherzo à la Russe.”  Balanchine’s use of folk vocabulary was learned from an early age.  Robbins’ seems more studied; it’s not innate and he experiments more with the mechanics of folk dance.  In “Piano Pieces” the corps de ballet wore costumes based on Russian peasant dress and had more of a character feel while three couples wore soft pastels and danced classical pas de deux and solos.  Between the two groups, one solo dancer (once again originally Andersen) had a very demanding role as perhaps the bridge between the two worlds.  This time the role was taken by another Spaniard, Antonio Carmena, who sped through it with quicksilver entries.

I n a debut, Sara Mearns danced well with Jared Angle but the pair could use a bit more contrast.  She often projects more with her body than her face and as amiably as Angle did his variation and as gallantly as he partnered her, neither brings much out of the other.  Abi Stafford played the coquette with Amar Ramasar as well and dancing a long, demanding and musical solo.  On pointe, Kaitlyn Gilliland towered over Stephen Hanna, who’s no pipsqueak.  She used her height well, lushly dancing her duet with Hanna.

The evening began before the ballets with flickering ghosts; a short film shot in 1990 of Robbins rehearsing Jeffrey Edwards in “Opus 19: The Dreamer.” The originator of that role was Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1979; another Spaniard, Gonzalo Garcia, made his debut.  Garcia is handsome and youthful; Narcissus as well as a dreamer.  Wendy Whelan burst on the stage lanky and wild-eyed like a gypsy sorceress.  She danced her part emotionally, not as steps but as gestures as she grabbed his hand or cut away from him.  Even in this ballet that has more situation than plot, it illuminated the mood, but she and Garcia also didn’t pair easily.  Garcia is smoother with soft edges to his dancing like a Castilian lisp.  It was s attractive, but his Spanish folk didn’t have the same strong accents as Russian folk.  The corps gave a crisp performance as they entered from the corners of the stage to intrude on his reverie.

copyright © 2008 by Leigh Witchel

Photos by Paul Kolnik:

Top: Rachel Rutherford, Georgina Pazcoguin, Tiler Peck and Stephen Hanna in “Les Noces”
Bottom: Sara Mearns and Jared Angle in “Piano Pieces”