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One Year Gone, Another on the Horizon

"School Demonstration", "Rendezvous," "Blue Rose," Effervescence" "Stars and Stripes"
San Francisco Ballet School
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
San Francisco, CA
May 24, 2018

by Rita Felciano
copyright © Rita Felciano

To young performers recitals are the equivalent of graduation: you finish one set of skills and, hopefully, are allowed to the next level. Every ballet school has them, and teachers work long hours to show off students at their best. Mainly, they are an opportunity for family and friends to enjoy a particular student performing for an audience. San Francisco Ballet School’s yearly Showcase fulfills all of those ingredients. Those of us without youngsters to admire get an opportunity to step back from the grandeur of the Opera House and remember what it takes to finally get there.

San Francisco Ballet School Students in Balanchine's "Stars and Stripes".
Photo © Lindsay Thomas)

Storytime

"Coppélia"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 25, 2018

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2018 by Mary Cargill

Though New York City Ballet is renowned for its one-act plotless ballets, it is exceptionally satisfying to watch a character (and a dancer) develop and change over several acts, as Tiler Peck and Joaquin De Luz showed in their magnificent "Coppélia".  Story ballets also give dancers a chance to show that ballet is richer than a collection of steps and the mime role of the deluded Dr. Coppélius (Robert La Fosse in this performance) can dominate the stage with a fussy little gesture.  Swanilda, that high-spirited, unchaperoned adolescent, emerged (at least as Peck danced her) as a somewhat chastened but grand ballerina in the final act, while Franz has learned his lesson.

New York City Ballet in "Coppélia" photo © Paul Kolnik.

The Giselle for Our Time

“Giselle”
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, New York
May 18, 2018

by Michael Popkin
copyright © 2018 Michael Popkin

Every generation hopes for dancers who bring iconic roles to life. In 2005, when Natalia Osipova suddenly emerged from the Bolshoi corps de ballet dancing as if shot from the proverbial canon as Kitri in “Don Quixote,” she did it for that role. Thirteen years later, dancing alongside David Hallberg at ABT last Friday night in “Giselle” (her only New York performance this year), she confirmed that she’s done it for this role too. To the likes of Margot Fonteyn, Lynn Seymour, Natalia Makarova and Gelsey Kirkland, iconic Giselles of the 60’s and 70’s, add Osipova’s name today.

Photo © Rosalie O’Connor of Natalia Osipova and David Hallberg in “Giselle”

Things to Come

"Harlequinade", "Praedicere", "AfterRite"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 21, 2018

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2018 by Mary Cargill

ABT's Spring Gala included three premieres, two of coming attractions ("AfterRite" and excerpts from "Harlequin- ade") and one gala special (tap dancer Michelle Dorrance's "Praedicere").  "Harlequinade" is a reconstruction by Alexei Ratmansky of Petipa's 1900 ballet, based on the Stepanov notations now owned by Harvard, so it is technically not a premiere, but the Petipa version was last danced in Russia in 1927 and though there was another reconstruction in 2012 by the Japanese NBA Company, the Ratmansky version was new to the audience.  

Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside in "Harlequinade" photo © Marty Sohl.

White Magic

"Giselle"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 17, 2018

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2018 by Mary Cargill

ABT's Giselle Week hooped along with a fine and moving, if not always technically perfect, performance by Stella Abrera and Cory Sterns, supported by an impressive debut by Katherine Williams as Myrta, a haunting mime scene by Nancy Raffa, and a sparkling and elegant peasant pas de deux by Skylar Brandt and Joseph Gorak.  

Stella Abrera in "Giselle" photo © Rosalie O'Connor.

Delicious Variety

“Wash/A Variety Show”
Vicky Shick
West End Theatre
New York, NY
May 12, 2018

by Martha Sherman
copyright © 2018 by Martha Sherman

I remember when a “variety show” was a jumble of generally mediocre acts crammed together in a program that tried to provide a little something for everyone. Vicky Shick’s wryly titled “Wash/A Variety Show” offers quite an alternative – a mash-up of marvelous solos and duets, lightly connected by an interlocked cast and Shick’s magical touch. Shick filled the cozy West End Theater with personality and wit, in the 40th edition of David Parker and Jeffrey Kazin’s “Soaking WET” dance series, now in its 15th year in the space. 

Photo: Vicky Shick in "Wash/A Variety Show." Photo ©Yi-Chun Wu.

Love in a Cottage

"Giselle"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 16, 2018, matinee

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2018 by Mary Cargill

ABT has a solid version of the Romantic classic "Giselle", with beautiful, traditional designs which, even if the first grape was harvested in 1987, look vivid and fresh.  Though some of the stage business could be rethought (Bathilde's nose now almost scrapes the sky, eliminating the sad irony of the two girls sharing their love stories, and why, if all the nobles troop off for the hunt, does the fateful horn get left behind) the production lets the principals develop individual characters.  Sarah Lane and Daniil Simkin, as the tragic couple, had obviously thought deeply about their roles and their performances had many small and telling details.

ABT's corps in "Giselle" photo © Gene Schiavone.

The Man in Her Life

“Giselle”
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, New York
May 14, 2018

by Carol Pardo
copyright © 2018 by Carol Pardo

  The ballet "Giselle" is intended to be about its title character, a village girl who dies of a broken heart when she discovers that her beloved is a nobleman in commoner's clothing and betrothed to boot. Yet so great are her feelings for him that, from beyond the grave, she saves him from the Wilis, vengeful women who have died before their wedding days, Incel of the distaff side. The ballet's themes? Love betrayal and forgiveness. But at the center of this performance was Roberto Bolle's Albrecht, and brought to the fore the class distinctions that permeate the ballet. Perhaps the shift in emphasis was due to the fact that Giselle (Hee Seo) didn't come alive until act two. Perhaps experience tells. Bolle has danced the part innumerable times in a career that began more than twenty years ago. By now his Albrecht has been defined, refined and distilled.

The Heart Has its Reasons

“Carousel”
The Imperial Theater
New York, New York
May 10, 2018

By Michael Popkin
© 2018 by Michael Popkin

Any good production of “Carousel” is noteworthy and the current Broadway revival is better than good. Beautifully directed by Jack O’Brien, strongly cast, sung, and acted throughout, the new production appeals to a general Broadway audience. But with dances by Justin Peck, designs by Santo Loquasto, and appearances in major roles by New York City Ballet principal dancer Amar Ramasar and soloist Brittany Pollack, there’s particular interest for the dance aficionado.

Photo © Julieta Cervantes of Amar Ramasar and ensemble in “Carousel”

Memories

"The Unsung", "The Body is a House Without Walls", "Querida Herida", "Missa Brevis"
Limón Dance Company
Joyce Theater
New York, New York
May 10, 2018

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2018 by Mary Cargill

The Limón Dance Company opened its New York season with a program bookended by two powerful works by José Limón supporting two newer works, both of which sported interesting designs, committed dancers, and somewhat meandering choreography, which put Limón's focused, structured works into sharp relief.

Limón Dance Company in "Missa Brevis" photo © Gabriel Morales.