"Serenade", "Who Cares?", "Chaconne"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, NY
June 13, 2010
by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2010 by Mary Cargill
Philip Neal gave his farewell performance at NYCB Sunday afternoon to an appreciative audience, who applauded his every entrance. These entrances, like his career, were understated, elegant, and devoted to the art. He had originally been scheduled to perform what looked like a tag-team arrangement of Balanchine's boisterous "Who Cares?", but the final program saw him in "Serenade" and finally in "Chaconne"; this was apparently his choice for his final appearance, and that elegiac and courtly work was a fine summation of his virtues. "Serenade" centers on its women, and Neal made his first entrance unobtrusively in the back, focused on Jenifer Ringer as his waltz partner; I expect I was not the only one with tears in my eyes at the sight of such loving generosity. "Serenade" was magnificently performed by all its dancers, including Ringer as the watlz girl, Megan Fairchild in the Russian variation, and Sara Mearns as the so-called Dark Angel. Ringer brought a wonderful range of emotions to her role, without over-dramatizing the feeling of loss. Fairchild, too, was very expressive, going from explosive jumps to the mysterious sadness of the sisterhood, gently offering her hand in that beautiful vignette of comfort and sorrow. Mearns used her pliant back and power to haunting effect.