danceviewtimes

For the Dancers

"The Dream", "The Seasons"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 26, 2022

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2022 by Mary Cargill

Frederick Ashton choreographed his version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" as part of the 400th anniversary celebration of Shakespeare's birth.  The ballet also celebrated the birth on one of the twentieth century's most noted partnerships, as it gave Antoinette Sibley and Anthony Dowell the starring  roles and Ashton's Titania and Oberon are saturated with those dancers' qualities. Alexei Ratmansky's "The Seasons", set to Alexander Glazunov's luscious one-act ballet score, premiered in 2019 and celebrated Ratmansky's tenth year as ABT's Artist in Residence, and its cornucopia of dances, to quote the choreographer, "is a celebration of American Ballet Theatre and its dancers".  But ballet dancers don't last forever and new dancers take over roles; fortunately both of these works can bloom with different casts.

Herman Cornejo  in Frederick Ashton's "The Dream" photo © Marty Sohl

Cream Puff

"Whipped Cream"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 21, 2022

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2022 by Mary Cargill

Alexei Ratmansky's deceptively frivolous "Whipped Cream" got a bracing performance, led by guest artist Daniil Simkin, the original Boy with the insatiable sweet tooth.  The wisp of a story of a boy celebrating his first communion by sucking up so much whipped cream that he ended up in a hospital where he hallucinated a magical kingdom with a beautiful Princess Praline, only to find, after being threatened by a tipsy doctor, that he could return to that land and eat all the sweets he wanted does not seem like a solid foundation on which to build a complex, full-length ballet.  But Ratmansky, using the original libretto (slightly modified--the rioting proletarian cakes were dropped), the long-neglected Richard Strauss ballet score, and elaborate, detailed sets and costumes by the pop-surrealist Mark Ryden, has created a wonderfully layered, densely choreographed, and captivating extravaganza.  Unlike "The Sleeping Beauty", whose grandeur it nods to, there is no uplifting message, but there is a gentle understanding of childhood, of its confusion and helplessness when faced with authority.  Obviously, watching a boy rewarded for his greed is not going to make anyone a better person, but watching him enjoy himself in such a colorful world certainly makes people happier and the ballet is an innocent, rapturous joy.

ABT dancers in the finale of Alexei Ratmansky's "Whipped Cream" photo © Gene Schiavone

One Night Only

"Episodes", "Vienna Waltzes"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 13, 2022

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2022 by Mary Cargill

In a night filled with debuts, the audience was focused on one particular couple, the first and last performance of the final scene of "Vienna Waltzes" by Sterling Hyltin, who is retiring at the end of the season after on last "Nutcracker", and Robert Fairchild, who left City Ballet in 2017, returning to say farewell to his frequent partner.  (Hyltin danced with him in his farewell performance of "Duo Concertant" and requested him for hers.). The audience greeted both with loud applause, but then watched with a breathless silence, concentrating on every nuance.

Sterling Hyltin and Robert Fairchild in "Vienna Waltzes" photo © Paul Kolnik

Viennese Snapshots

"Episodes", "Vienna Waltzes"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
October 5, 2022

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2022 by Mary Cargill

 

These two ballets, one so austere and the other so luxurious, are both set to Viennese-based music divided into unrelated sections of various moods.  "Episodes", with its black and white leotards, luminous grey background and atonal music (selections of orchestral music by Anton von Webern), is astringent, precise, and impersonal while "Vienna Waltzes" has elaborate scenery (including a majestic transformation scene worthy of any 19th century ballet), yards of gorgeous fabric, luscious melodies by Johann Strauss II, Franz Lehár, and Richard Strauss, and semi-narratives; Balanchine had astounding range as this intriguing program showed.

New York City Ballet in "Vienna Waltzes" photo © Paul Kolnik