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Fun in the Forest

"A Midsummer Night's Dream"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 30, 2019

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2019 by Mary Cargill

As is semi-traditional, the New York City Ballet is ending its Spring season with a flourish of Balanchine, Shakespeare, and Mendelssohn with refreshed costumes, looking much brighter (though in an odd oversight, some of the men's bloomers in the second act divertissement were missing their red ribbons). The end of the season also saw a number of debuts, an emphatic statement about the depth of the company, as well as a preview of coming attractions.  Roman Mejia's Puck was much more than a preview as that phenomenally talented young dancer flew through the role, but the other debutants (Unity Phelan, Emilie Gerrity, Andrew Scordato, and Alex Knight as the confused lovers, and Lars Nelson as the very confused Bottom) reveled in the comedy.

Teresa Reichlen in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" photo © Paul Kolnik.

 

Hear the Dancing

“Scotch Symphony,” “Duo Concertant,” "Sonatine", "Stravinsky Violin Concerto"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
May 24, 2019

by Carol Pardo
copyright © 2019 by Carol Pardo

That the musicians, soloists and orchestra alike  received the loudest and longest ovations throughout the night at this all Balanchine bill would probably have pleased the choreographer, who firmly believed that music is the floor for dancing. But that increasing volume and duration was in inverse proportion to the quality of the dancing. The evening opened with "Scotch Symphony" set to Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 3 (minus the first movement), a triptych, based on the composer's and choreographer's memories of their encounters with Scotland, the former in 1829 the latter in 1952. This revival featured three all but new casts including this one, with Ashley Laracey, Andrew Veyette and Rachel Hutsell getting their turn at this the last performance of the season, that timing a City Ballet specialty.

New York City Ballet in George Balanchine’s "Scotch Symphony". Photo credit Erin Baiano.

The Familiar and the Strange

“Valse Fantaisie”, “Change”,

“Passage”, “Dougla”

Dance Theatre of Harlem

Ballet Across America

Opera House,

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Washington, DC

May 28, 2019

 

by George Jackson

copyright 2019 by George Jackson

 

This time Ballet Across America spanned just the nation’s East Coast, but from New York to Florida. Opening night was all Dance Theatre of Harlem’s. It started with company director Virginia Johnson, chic in a sharply cut suit, stepping in front of the curtains and briefly addressing the audience. Johnson had chosen George Balanchine’s neoclassical “Valse Fantaisie” as opener. It is a little piece – a leading couple plus a female corps of four. Mikhail Glinka’s music hasn’t the sweep of a waltz by Johann Strauss 2, nor the surge of one by Richard Strauss, nor the ravishment of Ravel. Rather, the Glinka score is cute and the choreography makes a neat little exercise of it. Dylan Santos as the danseur and Crystal Serrano as the ballerina were amiable, amidst the quartet in its green gauze. After just a brief pause, “Change” followed and it was quite a change of temperament.

 

Photo: Crystal Serrano, Da' Von Doane, and Lindsey Croop in "Valse Fantasie." Photo by Dave Andrews.

 

Creme Fraiche

"Whipped Cream"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 27, 2019

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2019 by Mary Cargill

Alexei Ratmansky's "Whipped Cream" is a multi-layer confection, full of surprising treats, among them the opportunity Ratmansky gives to some of ABT's explosion of young talent. This performance highlighted this, with one principal (Devon Teuscher as Princess Tea Flower), two soloists (Cassandra Trenary as Princess Praline and Thomas Forster as Prince Coffee) and a corps dancer as the Boy (Jonathan Klein, making his New York debut in the role).  Klein, who joined ABT in 2013, with his teen hearth throb good looks could more properly be called the Youth, and there was a hint of romantic possibility between Klein the Trenary's sweet-natured, charming, and very feminine Princess Praline.

ABT in "Whipped Cream" photo © Gene Schiavone.

Ratmansky Trio

“The Seasons,” “Songs of Bukovina,” “On the Dnieper,”
American Ballet Theater
New York Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
May 23, 2019

by Gay Morris
copyright© 2019 by Gay Morris

American Ballet Theater’s spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House is, in part, dedicated to the works of Alexei Ratmansky, who is celebrating his tenth anniversary as artist in residence with the company. Last week there was an all Ratmansky program that featured a premiere, “The Seasons,” set to Alexander Glazunov’s well-known score, as well as two of his earlier ballets. His full-length “Harlequinade” was seen earlier in May, another full-length work, “Whipped Cream,” is being presented this week, and his reconstruction of Marius Petipa’s “The Sleeping Beauty” will be shown in July.

The final scene from Alexei Ratmansky's The Seasons. Photo: Marty Sohl.

A Child's Eye View

"Whipped Cream"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 25, 2019 matinee

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2019 by Mary Cargill

Alexei Ratmansky's colorful extravaganza "Whipped Cream" returned for the third year, looking vivid and fresh; the dancers, it seems, have become at home in their roles and have added individual touches and comic flourishes.  The many roles, from the Worm Candy Man to the leads, were danced with a snap and vigor, combined with fine comic timing which created a sort of parallel universe.  The ballet is a sympathetic but unsentimental view of childhood, with its dreams (who wouldn't want all the sweets in the world, even if they made you sick?) and fears (all those powerful grownups with their giant heads).  And it stays fearlessly in that world, ignoring any moralistic tut-tutting as the boy gets both Princess Praline and all the whipped cream he can eat as the curtain falls.  As Mark Twain wrote about "Huckleberry Finn" “Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will be shot."

ABT dancers in "Whipped Cream" photo © Gene Schiavone.

Ten Years and Counting

"Serenade after Plato's Symposium", "The Seasons"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 20, 2019

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2019 by Mary Cargill

ABT's Spring gala saluted Alexei Ratmansky's ten year association with the company by presenting an evening of his works, opening with the dense, fascinating "Serenade after Plato's Symposium" and closing with a premiere, "The Seasons", a plotless excursion through Alexander Glazunov's eponymous score, written in 1900 for Marius Petipa.  Fun fact -- Glazunov was commissioned to compose the ballet currently known as "Harlequinade" and his friend Drigo was given "The Seasons" but they realized they were more suited to each other's assignment so they swapped.  This season ABT audiences can enjoy both the tuneful melodic Drigo and the sweeping, soaring, lyrical Glazunov.  Another interesting bit of ballet history is that Petipa's Glazunov ballet was a one-act, plotless work choreographed seven years before the premiere of the first version of Fokine's "Les Sylphides", described by many writers as the first abstract ballet.  It seems that Petipa got there first.

ABT in the final pose of "The Seasons" photo © Marty Sohl.

Debuts New and Old

“Judah,” “Dances at a Gathering,” "Stars and Stripes"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
May 17, 2019

by Carol Pardo
copyright © 2019 by Carol Pardo

The New York City Ballet presented a program that was simultaneously overstuffed and undercooked. The evening lasted more than two and a half hours, with a generous helping of dance, including four local debuts in "Dances at a Gathering", but underpowered, and leaving one peckish at its end.

Photo: New York City Ballet in Gianna Reisen’s "Judah". Photo Credit Paul Kolnik.

Sensibilities

"Exuberant Fanfare”, “At the Seams”, 

“Lissajous” and “Du Vent et des Vages”

Bowen McCauley Dance Company

Terrace Theater

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

Washington, DC

May 18, 2019

 

by George Jackson

copyright 2019 by George Jackson

 

The entire program was titled “An Awakening”, and without doubt the evening’s choreographers, Lucy Bowen McCauley and Ilana Goldman, displayed the ferment and sensitivity of nascent feelings. The joyous opener, “Exuberant Fanfare” by Bowen McCauley, was very balletic. Bodies were turned-out and limbs were streamlined or smoothly folded, with steps and stances being linked together propulsively. The piece could have been even more danse d’ecole if its three women, or at least their leader, had worn toe shoes. The  two men stood, partnered and soloed with filigree leg-and-footwork  much as danseurs can in neoclassical ballet. The music, played live by violinist Leonid Sushansky and pianist Carlos Cesar Rodriguez, was Igor Stravinsky having fun recomposing scores from early 18th Century Italy. The shift of mood to the next piece was sharp.

 

Photo: BMDC in "Exuberant Fanfare." Photo by David Moss.

 

Having a Lark

"Harlequinade"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 16, 2019

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2019 by Mary Cargill

Dying may be easy and comedy hard, as the old saying has it, and "Harle- quinade" has both, though this performance of Petipa's frothy confection of commedia dell'arte characters as reconstructed by Alexei Ratmansky made comedy look easy.  The ballet has all the trappings of an old-fashioned comedy: a poor young man, a beautiful girl, an angry father, and a fatuous rich suitor who all live in a village populated by unemployed and energetic youngsters who spend their lives dancing (though considering the numerous hats they wear, the town must have had a thriving millinery trade).  Skylar Brandt and Daniil Simkin danced the young couple, Columbine and Harlequin, with a technical dazzle and seemed to be having a wonderful time.  The supporting cast too, notably the dim-witted, inept servant Pierrot of Alexandre Hammoudi, had exemplary and explosive physical timing.    

Skylar Brandt and Daniil Simkin in "Harlequinade" photo © Doug Gifford.