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Ratmansky Rules

By Gay Morris

We tend to think that ballets create fantasy worlds far removed from the messiness of real life. However, it is impossible to consider Odesa and Solitude, the two Alexei Ratmansky works New York City Ballet has offered this winter season at Lincoln Center, without also thinking of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Alexei Navalny’s solitary confinement and recent death in a Siberian prison.

New Faces

"The Four Temperaments", "Liebeslieder Walzer"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
February 16, 2024

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2024 by Mary Cargill

This program, made up of two of Balanchine’s finest ballets, had several important debuts; the company’s lower ranks are full of fine and interesting dancers and it’s encouraging that so many are getting opportunities.  These ballets, though, need not only fine dancers, but dancers with style, imagination, and depth, characteristics that usually need time to develop, so it’s not surprising that some debuts were more successful than others.

Ashley Laracey and Andrew Veyette in "Liebeslieder Walzer" photo © Erin Baiano

Man Alone

"Opus 19/The Dreamer", "Solitude", "Symphony in Three Movements"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
February 15, 2024

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2024 by Mary Cargill

“Solitude”, the first ballet Alexei Ratmansky has choreographed since becoming New York City Ballet’s Artist in Residence, is dedicated “to the children of Ukraine, victims of the war”; Marina Harss, writing in the New York Times about the creation of the work, explained that the inspiration came from a photograph of a father sitting by his son, killed by Russian bombs. (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/10/arts/dance/alexei-ratmansky-new-york-city-ballet-ukraine.html). It is both personal and universal, allusive and shattering.  Ratmansky used Gustav Mahler’s Funeral March from the First Symphony and the “adagietto” from the Fifth; the two parts, mournful yet agitated and serene, combine in a lamentation for the lost, too horrific even for anger.

Mira Nadon, David Gordon, Chun Wai Chan in Alexei Ratmansky's "Solitude" photo © Erin Baiano

Something for Everyone

"Ballo della Regina", "In a Landscape", "Hallelujah Junction", "The Concert"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
February 9, 2024

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2024 by Mary Cargill

This varied program began with Balanchine’s “Ballo della Regina”, a luscious soap bubble set to Verdi, continued with two more astringent ballets, a revival of Albert Evans’ “In a Landscape” to John Cage followed by Peter Martins’ high energy “Hallelujah Junction” to John Adams, and ended with Jerome Robbins’ “The Concert”, a romp to Chopin.  The dancers coped very well with the different styles and the dancing, which included a number of debuts, was uniformly exciting. 

Mira Nadon in Jerome Robbins' "The Concert" photo © Erin Baiano

Old Friends

"The Four Temperaments", "Liebeslieder Walzer"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
February 6, 2024

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2024 by Mary Cargill

NYCB’s yearlong celebration of its 75th anniversary is in it second phase, called "Evolution", but it paused for an evening to look back, and this program featured two of Balanchine’s most memorable works, “The Four Temperaments” (1946) and “Liebeslieder Walzer” (1960), two of Balanchine’s most memorable works.  “The Four Temperaments” is danced frequently but “Liebeslieder Walzer” is a rarer treat.   It requires four singers who can performs Brahms’ two song cycles and a coherent, well-rehearsed cast to create the stories of four upper-class nineteenth century Viennese couples using only waltzes and style.

New York City Ballet in Balanchine's "Liebeslieder Walzer" photo © Erin Baiano.

Different Worlds

"Rotunda", "Concerto for Two Pianos", "Odesa"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
February 1, 2024

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2024 by Mary Cargill

Tiler Peck’s new ballet “Concerto for Two Pianos” premiered in a program featuring ballets created in the twenty-first century; rather optimistically NYCB calls the program “New Combinations”. It also included Justin Peck’s 2020 “Rotunda” and Alexei Ratmansky’s 2017 “Odesa” (the updated spelling for “Odessa”).  All three were abstract, all three explored different worlds, and all three very danced with flair. 

NYCB in Alexei Ratmansky's "Odesa" photo © Erin Baiano