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New Combinations

Polyphonia,” “Bright,” “Opus 19/The Dreamer,” “Voices”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
February 12, 2020

by Carol Pardo
copyright © 2020 by Carol Pardo

"There are no new steps, only new combi-
nations". So said George Balanchine. At New York City Ballet, the company he founded, that statement has given rise to the rubric New Combinations, most often incorporating a new work, and other modern or modern-looking works; tutus and tiaras need not apply. Such was the case here, with wholesale debuts in "Voices," Alexei Ratmansky's newest ballet, just under two weeks old, and Christopher Wheeldon's "Polyphonia" which turns twenty next year. They were programmed with Justin Peck's "Bright,"new last year and Jerome Robbins' "Opus 19/The Dreamer" new over forty years ago. Novelty, chronologically at least, is relative.

Photo © Erin Baiano of New York City Ballet in Alexei Rabmansky's  “Voices”

Debuts Galore

“Allegro Brillante", "La Source", "Firebird"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
January 25, 2020 matinee

by Carol Pardo
copyright © 2020 by Carol Pardo

There may have been four debuts on the cast list, but at this performance, the most vivid and memorable performances came from veterans of their parts. After ten months away due to injury, Tiler Peck is back in the rotation, partnered superbly by Tyler Angle. "Allegro Brillante" -- as Balanchine famously said, "All I know about classical ballet in thirteen minutes" -- is often danced as a literal reflection of its title: fast and brilliantly, often with a hard, sharp edge like a faceted gemstone. Here, for whatever reason (that injury, conductor Andrew LItton's choice in the pit) the focus was on flow, rising and waning sumptuously, without descending to slow or stodgy. Consequently, there was time to notice details that otherwise fly by: the gust of air under a jump, the shape of a step revealed, the suddenness with which the corps disappears before the ballerina's solo. Peck, one of the most articulate dancers around, took full advantage of that flow, also looking extremely happy to be back on stage. The audience was equally happy to see her there.

Nutcracker at 65

"George Balanchine's The Nutcracker"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
December 17, 2019

by Carol Pardo
copyright © 2019 by Carol Pardo

"George Balanchine's The Nutcracker", as it's now called, turned sixty-five this year, old enough to be eligible for Medicare and half-price rides on the New York City subway. Whatever else might have changed over the decades, the ballet has always been anchored by Tchaikovsky's score, from its first delicate notes, glittering like ice on snow and transporting us to a cozy vision of Biedermeier Nuremburg, to its final fanfare as the hero and heroine are born aloft in a sleigh drawn by reindeer to an unknown destination, and Balanchine's response to that score, not just the steps, but the theme and tone as well.

Teresa Reichlen and company in "George Balanchine's The Nutcracker. Photo credit: Paul Kolnik

Back to Back at ABT

“Theme and Variations", "A Gathering of Ghosts", "The Seasons"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
October 19, 2019 evening

“Apollo", "Some Assembly Required", "Let Me Sing Forevermore", "Deuce Coupe"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
October 20, 2019

By Carol Pardo
copyright © 2019 by Carol Pardo

Balanchine, Tharp, Ratmansky at night with Balanchine and Tharp anchoring a quadruple bill the next afternoon had all the makings of a choreographically rich weekend at American Ballet Theatre. "Theme and Variations", made for the company in 1947 is — or should be — their Balanchine calling card."Apollo" too has a long history at ABT, here with the birth scene and ascent to Parnassus intact. A Tharp premiere, "Deuce Coupe" the grand-daddy of crossover ballet, now forty-six years old, which brought the matinee to  close, changed ballet forever. Would her new work, "A Gathering of Ghosts" have the same force? New last season, Ratmansky's "The Seasons" looked distant and dwarfed on the cavernous stage of the Metropolitan Opera. What, if anything, would be revealed by seeing it elsewhere? The performances would be rounded out by Clark Tippet's "Some Assembly Required" now thirty years old, and "Let Me Sing Forevermore" made to be performed at the Erik Bruhn Competition earlier this year by two of the company's most promising soloists, Aran Bell and Catherine Hurlin while simultaneously demonstrating the company's interest in presenting works by female choreographers, here Jessica Lang, whose "Garden Blue" and "Her Notes" are already in the repertory.

Sarah Lane and Joseph Gorak in  "Theme and Variations" ©The George Balanchine Trust. Photo: Gene Schiavone

Union Jack & Co.

“Valse Fantaisie", "Kammermusik No. 2", "Union Jack"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
September 21, 2019 evening

by Carol Pardo
copyright © 2019 by Carol Pardo

One of the casualties of a wholesale shift in programming last spring (along with "Liebeslieder Waltzer" and a revival of Jerome Robbins' "Branden- burgs"), "Union Jack'" is back. This was the best news of the night. Otherwise, things were often tipsy-turvy, including starting the evening, far from Balanchine's view of a triple bill -- appetizer, main course and dessert -- with a serving of whipped cream. "Valse Fantaisie", all of eight minutes long, is sweet, light, evanescent, a candied violet of a ballet. Both lead dancers are required to jump indefatigably, while four corps women daintily pick their way around the stage. Daniel Ulbricht and Erica Pereira, veterans of their parts, can certainly jump, and Pereira earlier in her career was so light that she seemed to disappear into the ether, leaving no impression behind. She's grown up, showing increasing authority, here accenting nailing balances effortlessly to the ground. Ulbricht can still jump like nobody's business, though here he was a little tight in the shoulders. The insouciance of youth, revealed here as fundamental to "Valse Fantaisie," is no longer the province of these mature artists; Pereira and Ulbricht have moved beyond this ballet which once suited them to a T.

New York City Ballet in George Balanchine's "Valse Fantaisie" Photo credit  Erin Baiano

 

Room to Grow

“Jewels"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
September 21, 2019 evening

by Carol Pardo
copyright © 2019 by Carol Pardo

George Balanchine's "Jewels" is now fifty-two years old. A hit from its first performance, it still reliably fills the house, for several reasons. It has sets (of varying degrees of success over three iterations) and costumes and lasts a full evening, all of which is counter to the generally held assumptions about the New York City Ballet's repertory. It has all the trappings of a "traditional" ballet except a plot. There is variety in the scores (Fauré, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky) the norm at NYCB, and, if one cares to see it, a lesson in ballet history and style with a nod to the places that sheltered and influenced Balanchine himself (France, America, Russia). But here, lesson learned was how a ballet can offer opportunities for dancers whether debutants, yearlings or veterans, and in consequence, not only survive but thrive.

Lauren King and Daniel Applebaum in 'Emeralds' George Balanchine's "Jewels" Photo credit  Rosalie O'Connor

Upended Expectations

“Raymonda Variations,” “Variations Pour Une Porte et Un Soupir,” "DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
September 18, 2019

by Carol Pardo
copyright © 2019 by Carol Pardo

On paper, the first mixed bill of the New York City Ballet's fall 2019 read like a study in diminishing returns, increasingly anemic as the program progressed. But assumptions are made to be upended and so they were here. For the most compelling work fo the evening was the strangest, "Variations Pour Une Porte et Un Soupir".

Sara Mearns and Daniel Ulbricht in  in George Balanchine's "Variations Pour Une Porte et Un Soupir" photo by Erin Baiano

Curating and Collaborating

"Then and Again", "Song of a Wayfarer", "Elite Syncopations (divertissement)"
Ballet Festival Program C
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
August 13, 2019

by Carol Pardo
copyright ©2019 by Carol Pardo

If The Joyce Theater's 2019 Ballet Festival is intended as a showcase of or for the Royal Ballet, this program, created by the designer -- and former dancer -- Jean-Marc Puissant, a frequent collaborator with Christoper Wheeldon at the Royal and in New York, seemed a strange way to show it. Members of the company did not arrive onstage until "Elite Syncopations" the final ballet of the evening and the only one actually in repertory at the Royal Ballet. Even then, they were joined by Cassandra Trenary of American Ballet Theatre. True, Gemma Bond, choreographer of "Then and Again" danced with the Royal Ballet and studied at its school, but after years at A.B.T. she seems like a local. True, Béjart's "Song of a Wayfarer'" was made for Rudolf Nureyev who found his home in the West with the company. But those links are indirect. Perhaps Trenary's presence and the program as a whole were intended to underscore the theme of collaboration, considered by the Royal's director Kevin O'Hare to be central to this edition of the festival.

Joseph Gordon in Maurice Béjart's "Song of a Wayfarer" photo by Maria Baronova

 

Bits and Pieces

"Asphodel Meadows pas de deux", "Dance of the Blessed Spirits from 'Orpheus and Eurydice: Dance in the Elysian Fields,'" "Concerto pas de deux", "Within the Golden Hour (two duets)", "Obsidian Tear," "Qualia pas de deux," "Jojo," "Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan"
Ballet Festival Program A
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
August 6, 2019

by Carol Pardo
copyright ©2019 by Carol Pardo

Once upon a time, the Royal Ballet was a reliably frequent visitor to New York City. The locals knew its dancers, repertory and history almost as well as those of the home teams. The high cost of touring put an end to such familiarity. So the prospect of seeing even a small sliver of the company, in combination with the dearth of ballet in town in August, filled the Joyce with an enthusiastic audience. The program, comprised of solos and duets and over in eighty minutes, was a lightning fast Cook's tour of the company's history, dancers familiar and new, and repertory, spanning Ashton and MacMillan, but with the accent on the younger generations, and dances less than a decade old.

Joseph Sissens in Sir Frederick Ashton's "Dance of the Blessed Spirits" photo by Maria Baronova

A Bouquet of Virtues

"Concerto Barocco," 'Garland Dance' from "The Sleeping Beauty", "New Sleep (pas de deux)", "Bourrée Fantasque"
School of American Ballet
Peter J. Sharp Theater
New York, NY
June 1, 2019 (matinee)

by Carol Pardo
copyright © 2019 by Carol Pardo

At this graduation performance by the students of the School of American Ballet, there was no single dancer who generated ongoing buzz (Paloma Herrera, 1991) or who made hearts stop (Monique Meunier, 1990). The virtues of this performance were not so much individual as collective: the ardor and scrupulousness of the students, the benefits of quality coaching (and a long rehearsal period) and -- perhaps most surprising -- the benefits of seeing all these works, particularly the three by Balanchine, on a small stage.

Zoe Bliss Magnussen and Ben Lepson "Concerto Barocco" Photo by Paul Kolnik, choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust.