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Going to Extremes

"Runes", Post Meridian", "Brandenburgs"
Paul Taylor Dance Company
Joyce Theater
New York, New York
June 26, 2024

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2024 by Mary Cargill

Marketing has christened the Joyce’s week-long Taylor season as “Extreme Taylor”, a perfectly accurate designation since all of Taylor’s works are extreme challenges, requiring both physical strength and an internal fierceness strong enough to transport an audience. This program highlighted Taylor’s variety; “Runes” (1975) showed his fascination with communal rituals, the rarely seen “Post Meridian” (1965) featured his sly and sometimes oblique humor, and “Brandenburgs” (1988) celebrated his classical exuberance and each dance had thrilling performers.

Paul Taylor dancers in "Rune" photo © Steven Pisano

Sumer is icumen in

"A Midsummer Night's Dream"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 29, 2024

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2024 by Mary Cargill

Though it is not quite as inevitable as “Nutcracker” at Christmas, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” often means summer for the New York City Ballet, and it returned this year for a week of magic. Its structure does have some issues—why is Titania off in her grotto dancing with a boy toy, what does that magic flower actually do, and why are the dancers parading around so endlessly in Act II, only to leave as the entertainment starts?  But the choreographic high points are so very high, and the settings and costumes are so very beautiful that these questions don’t really matter.  As always, the many children made delightful, confident, and well-rehearsed little bugs, fluttering through the shifting, shimmering shapes of Balanchine’s choreography.  Unity Phelan and Joseph Gordon were the warring couple, and there were several debuts, including Ashley Bouder as the scorned Helena, an unexpectedly small role for the long-time principal.

SAB students in "A  Midsummer Night's Dream" photo © Paul Kolnik.

Those Were the Days

"Dances at a Gathering", "Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 12, 2024

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2024 by Mary Cargill

The double bill of Jerome Robbins’ “Dances at a Gathering” and Balanchine’s “Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet” was a glimpse back at an idealized European past, where elegant youths wore colorful chiffon while dancing to Chopin and, in an idealized Vienna, beautiful and mysterious women enticed stalwart men while luscious Gypsies cavorted on the green.  Both ballets can seem long and occasionally overly sentimental, but these fresh and lively casts gave committed and moving performances.

Indiana Woodward, Emilie Gerrity, and Dominika Afanasenkov in "Dances at a Gathering" photo © Erin Baiano

Pretty in Red, White, Black, and Yellow

"Rubies", "Dig the Say", "Underneath, There is Light"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 2, 2024

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2024 by Mary Cargill

New York City Ballet’s Spring gala had one Balanchine, two premieres, three brief speeches, and no intermission and clocked in at a very efficient one and a half hours.  It opened with sparkling version of “Rubies”, in all its bright red glory, danced by the veterans Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley, with the phenomenally talented Mira Nadon as their tall cohort.

Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley in "Rubies" photo © Erin Baiano.

Back to the Future

"Bourrée Fantasque", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "Errante", "Symphony in C"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
April 24, 2024

by Mary Cargill
copyright © 2024 by Mary Cargill

The New York City Ballet opened it’s 75th Anniversary Spring season, subtitled “The Future”, with an all-Balanchine program of four ballets whose dates ranged from 1940’s (“Symphony in C”, 1947 and Bourrée Fantasque, 1949 ) to 1975 (“The Steadfast Tin Soldier” and “Errante”, the new name for “Tzigane”).  The future, it seems, is a moving target. But the ballets looked well-rehearsed and vibrant, auguring well for whatever the future is.

Emilie Gerrity and Chun Wai Chan in "Symphony in C" photo © Eric Baiano

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