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Women in White

"Giselle"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
May 28, 2011

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2011 by Mary Cargill

ABT's version of the most famous Romantic ballet is, fortunately, straightforward, clear, and by and large, dramatically strong.  The basic structure has not been rethought, so the story of the poor peasant girl and her faithless swain remains as moving and powerful as ever.  This season, ABT has imported a number of guests, and the Royal Ballet dancer Alina Cojocaru danced Giselle.  She is a natural romantic heroine, small, frail, and completely committed.  The logical mind did notice some quibbles; her costume in the second act didn't match her sister wilis' dresses, she avoided some of the jumps, her extensions sometimes got in the way of her dancing, and her first act solo differed from the one usually done, and seemed much less musical.  But the overall impression was so much greater than these reservations, as Cojocaru's intense yet delicate performance triumphed over mere technical questions.  Not that her technique was completely at issue--her delicate, floating jumps were beautiful.

Black and White and Illuminated

Balanchine Black and White
"Symphony in Three Movements," "Duo Concertant," "Tombeau de Couperin," Stravinsky Violin Concerto"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, N.Y.
May 6, 2011

By Carol Pardo
Copyright ©2011 by Carol Pardo

Balanchine Black and White provided the most intensely enjoyable week of dancing to be seen at the New York City Ballet in years. The house vibrated with the buzz of seeing great works danced with focus, care and conviction. Though some ballets were incompletely realized, there was evidence that they can be resuscitated over time and hope that they will be. Until now, hope has been in short supply. At this performance of the three immediately acknowledged masterpieces from the Stravinsky Festival of 1972 and the only one to be so acclaimed from the Ravel Festival in 1975, it was "Duo Concertant," the most intimate of the lot, that shone most brightly. Credit it to Megan Fairchild and Chase Finlay, in their debut performances.

De Rerum Natura

"Chapters from a Broken Novel"
Doug Varone and Dancers
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
San Francisco, CA
May 22, 2011

by Rita Felciano
Copyright © Rita Felciano, 2011 

Doug Varone makes dances that matter. They do for a variety of reasons. Even as he is very much his own man, shimmering through his work is the humanism of Limon's heritage that has become so unfashionable in contemporary dance. Here too a mirror is being held up to nature. It may be fractured and half blind but we can't help seeing ourselves in it. Varone's vision is almost always dark. Sometimes I think his choreography is so full of tempestuous energy because, damn it, he tells us, we have to keep going; there is nothing else. His latest piece, "Chapters from a Broken Novel" abounds with the latter though not always with the best results.

Finding Their Way

"Nameless Forest”
Dean Moss
The Kitchen
New York, NY
May 20, 2011

By Martha Sherman
Copyright © 2011 by Martha Sherman

There was more confusion than mystery in Dean Moss’ “Nameless Forest.” Bells rang, water rippled, stories started and stopped, and storytellers were both cast and audience in an exotic sculpted set. It didn’t add up to a fairytale, but it worked best when the piece played just below consciousness, luring the audience into stories of their own.

Casting From Heaven

"Apollo," "Afternoon of a Faun," "Antique Epigraphs," "La Sonnambula"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
May 18, 2011

Copyright 2011 by Michael Popkin

Except for the Brecht-Weill "Seven Deadly Sins" performed last week, the Jerome Robbins' "Afternoon of a Faun" and "Antique Epigraphs" on Wednesday were the first time New York City Ballet danced anything but Balanchine this season.  In this "Founding Choreographers" program, the idea was to highlight the relationship between Balanchine and Robbins in NYCB's history. On any normal night this theme would have held.  But the extraordinary performance of "Apollo" by the phenomenal young Chase Finlay along with a superb new cast of Sara Mearns, Teresa Reichlen and Maria Kowroski as his muses made the evening anything but normal.  This was an "Apollo" for the ages.  [Finlay's Apollo has already drawn a rave review in these pages from Mary Cargill]

Curtain Call

"Passing Through", "As Above, So Below", "Carmen"
The Washington Ballet, Youth Orchestra of the Americas Quartet
Harman Hall
Washington, DC
May 19, 2011

by George Jackson
copyright 2011 by George Jackson

Live music for dance is like letting in sunlight, fresh air, and a sprinkling of dew. Movement becomes intensely colored, the phrasing breathes richly, and formal measures seem heartfelt. For the first work of the Washington Ballet's final program of the season, David Palmer's "Passing Through", a string quartet played the music and sat semivisibly to the left of the stage. The score was the fourth string quartet of Michael Nyman - a dense, astringent composition to which Palmer paid close attention. Afterwards, instead of breaking for an intermission, the members of the quartet performed Antonio Vivaldi's "Concerto in G - Alla Rustica" and Javier Alvarez's "Metro Chabacano". Both the musicianship and the appearance of the players - violinists EmmaLee Homes-Hicks and Rafael Galvan-Herrera, violist Simon Gangotena and cellist Diana Flores - gave this program distinction. So did the contributions of some of the designers. Among the bill's three choreographers - Palmer, Edwaard Liang and Septime Webre - Palmer was the most diligent. 

Olé, and All That

"Don Quixote"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
May 19, 2011

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2011 by Mary Cargill

The perennial charmer of a ballet was danced with great verve by two Cuban-trained dancers, Xiomara Reyes and Rolando Sarabia, a guest from the Miami City Ballet.  ABT's production does have its faults--the gypsy scene looks like Hungarian goulash served by MacDonald's, but when danced well, it has a sunny and infectious charm.  Reyes is a very fine Kitri, with a natural sweetness to temper her spunk.  Her final, gentle farewell to the hapless Don, as she told him that no, she wasn't really the one he was seeking but that he should keep looking, was truly moving.  Her dancing was finely calibrated, not trying to hold her balances to the point of wobbling.  Like many Cuban dancers, she has an impeccable inner gyroscope, and her fouettés in the famous pas de deux (she is a fan holder) were fast, furious, centered, and frequently doubled, as she brought her fan arm up and down.  Yes, it was circusy, but if you don't want to see a circus, you shouldn't go to Don Q.  The audience certainly was primed for action--there were many people speaking Spanish in the lobby, and there was a sense of cheering for the home team, but it was generous and appreciative cheering, which made for a warm-hearted, sunny evening. 

Return of the Prodigal King

John Neumeier´s “Illusions – like Swan Lake”
 Bavarian State Ballet
 Bavarian State Opera
 Munich, Germany
 April 28, 2011
 
by Horst Koegler
copyright 2011 by Horst Koegler
 
So he has returned, resurrected just in time for the 125th anniversary of  his death, to his Munich residence, to open the Ballet Festival 2011: Ludwig II (1845-86), King of Bavaria, in John Neumeier´s “Illusions – like Swan Lake”, premiered as the first of his docu-epics in Hamburg 1976. Outside of Bavaria best known through Visconti´s 1972 film about the unhappy monarch, builder of those fairy-tale castles which are today the country´s biggest tourist attraction, benefactor of Richard Wagner  and the Bayreuth Festival, victim of his frustrated homosexual inclinations and of his death under never revealed circumstances in Lake Starnberg near Munich.

Not Lethal

"The Seven Deadly Sins"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, N.Y.
May 11, 2011

By Carol Pardo
Copyright ©Carol Pardo

Sloth, pride, greed, anger, lust, envy, even gluttony took up residence at the David H. Koch Theater last week. The occasion? Lynne Taylor-Corbett’s new production of Berthold Brecht and Kurt Weill’s "The Seven Deadly Sins." (Balanchine’s first version, from 1933 is certainly lost. That same fate has befallen the 1958 version while a revival intended for the 1977 season fell victim to a strike.) Once again the heroine Annie sets off from her home in Louisiana on a vice- yearly tour of urban America. Once again she is divided in two: the tough-minded, Teflon-coated Annie 1 who sings and the victim/waif Annie 2 who dances and suffers. But what was once a ballet with song infused with Marxist abrasiveness now goes down as smoothly as the finest single malt.

Junior Prom

Le Tombeau de Couperin; Duo Concertant; The Seven Deadly Sins; Vienna Waltzes
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center, New York
Saturday, May 14, 2011

by Tom Phillips
Copyright 2011 by Tom Phillips

The most sumptuous of New York City Ballet's productions -- Vienna Waltzes -- has been looking a bit run-down in recent years. It didn't need new sets or costumes -- these are as magnificent as ever. What it needed was a whole new cast, and that's what it got on Saturday. No fewer than seven of the company's younger dancers made their debuts in the main roles, with results that ranged from promising to thrilling.