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The Giselle for Our Time

“Giselle”
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, New York
May 18, 2018

by Michael Popkin
copyright © 2018 Michael Popkin

Every generation hopes for dancers who bring iconic roles to life. In 2005, when Natalia Osipova suddenly emerged from the Bolshoi corps de ballet dancing as if shot from the proverbial canon as Kitri in “Don Quixote,” she did it for that role. Thirteen years later, dancing alongside David Hallberg at ABT last Friday night in “Giselle” (her only New York performance this year), she confirmed that she’s done it for this role too. To the likes of Margot Fonteyn, Lynn Seymour, Natalia Makarova and Gelsey Kirkland, iconic Giselles of the 60’s and 70’s, add Osipova’s name today.

Photo © Rosalie O’Connor of Natalia Osipova and David Hallberg in “Giselle”

The Heart Has its Reasons

“Carousel”
The Imperial Theater
New York, New York
May 10, 2018

By Michael Popkin
© 2018 by Michael Popkin

Any good production of “Carousel” is noteworthy and the current Broadway revival is better than good. Beautifully directed by Jack O’Brien, strongly cast, sung, and acted throughout, the new production appeals to a general Broadway audience. But with dances by Justin Peck, designs by Santo Loquasto, and appearances in major roles by New York City Ballet principal dancer Amar Ramasar and soloist Brittany Pollack, there’s particular interest for the dance aficionado.

Photo © Julieta Cervantes of Amar Ramasar and ensemble in “Carousel”

Running the Gamut

“Set and Reset,” “Dances of Isadora,” “Esplanade”
Trisha Brown Dance Company, Sara Mearns, Paul Taylor Dance Company
Paul Taylor Modern American Dance and The American Dance Festival
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
March 18, 2018

by Michael Popkin
Copyright 2018 © by Michael Popkin

On the second Sunday evening of its Lincoln Center season, Paul Taylor showcased the rebranding of his organization as Paul Taylor American Modern Dance. While the program called Icons – also sponsored by the American Dance Festival – started in cool Zen mode with the Trisha Brown Dance Company presenting a revival of its 1983 “Set and Reset,” the program built steadily in energy and force. New York City Ballet’s superb ballerina Sara Mearns was then unforgettably dramatic performing barefoot in a series of dances that claimed to be recreations of works by Isadora Duncan, before the Taylor company – as the home team - wound things up with a rendition of “Esplanade” of more startling attack than anything seen here for years in that particular work.

Photo © Darial Sneed of Sara Mearns in “Dances of Isadora”

The King is Dead, Long Live the Company

“Divertimento No. 15,” “The Four Temperaments,” “Chaconne”
New York City Ballet
The David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
January 24, 2018

by Michael Popkin
copyright © 2018 by Michael Popkin

New York City Ballet entered its interregnum this week dancing two straight all Balanchine programs. Programmed by Peter Martins before his resignation, they now serve to emphasize continuity between the reigns in a way Martins probably didn’t imagine. It’s neither the new world (and won’t be until a replacement for him is named) nor the old. But between the two, we saw some of the company’s enduring strengths in real time.

Photo of Ashley Laracey in Divertimento No. 15 © Paul Kolnik

It's His Company Now

“Songs of Bukovina,” “Symphonic Variations,” “Other Dances,” “Serenade after Plato’s Symposium”
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
October 21, 2017 afternoon

Copyright © 2017 by Michael Popkin

The two ballets by Alexei Ratmansky on the program, including his newest work, were vibrant and full of life. Meanwhile iconic works by Ashton and Robbins were more or less dead on arrival. On Saturday afternoon at ABT, if you needed proof positive that it’s Ratmansky’s company now, the dancers his, their contemporary techniques molded primarily for his material, you needed but open your eyes.

Photo copyright © Marty Sohl of ABT in “Songs of Bukovina”

2017 Fall for Dance Program One: A Tour of Contemporary Dance Theater

“Polyphonia,” “Gula,” “You can see us,” “Myelination”
Miami City Ballet, Vincent Mantsoe, Trisha Brown Dance Company,” “Dorrance Dance”
New York City Center
New York, New York
October 2, 2017

By Michael Popkin
Copyright 2017 © by Michael Popkin

New York City Center’s annual Fall for Dance Festival (five varied programs over two weeks, all tickets $15) opened on Monday night with a program that ranged from ballet to tap, by way of modern dance and an indigenous African genre. On view was more than just contrast. We got nearly four different conceptions of dance on the stage. Amazingly, given the spread of different performers and styles, everything was top quality, sensitively performed, and registered fully with a packed house completely tuned in to what was happening on stage.

Dorrance Dance in “Myelination” photo © Stephanie Berger

You Don't Miss Your Water 'Til Your Well Runs Dry

“The Open Door," “Continuum,” “Brandenburgs”
Paul Taylor American Modern Dance
Paul Taylor Dance Company
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
March 9, 2016

By Michael Popkin
Copyright © 2016 by Michael Popkin

What a feast Thursday night’s Paul Taylor New York gala was. With Taylor himself now 89 years old, the New York premieres of his latest work “The Open Door” and Lila York’s “Continuum” (commissioned by the company) showed that we can still regale ourselves with the living source of a great wellspring of contemporary dance, both in the person of the choreographer and in that of the company he has shaped. “The Open Door,” understated on its surface, steadily developed a poignant force that stayed with one long after the performance ended. “Continuum,” while effortful at times, was also a keeper, with York’s choreography providing the base for extraordinary dancing , especially that of Eran Bugge in the leading role. Meanwhile Taylor’s “Brandenburgs” ended the evening with a work of genius that felt as fresh today as it did in 1988 when new.

Photograph © Paul B. Goode of Francisco Graciano and James Samson in "The Open Door"

Reshuffling The Deck

“La Sonnambula,” “Prodigal Son,” “Firebird”
New York City Ballet
The David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
January 29, 2017

by Michael Popkin
© 2017 by Michael Popkin

What do we look for when dancers take on new roles? For every “star is born” performance there’s probably a flop. Reshuffling the deck in three Balanchine story ballets on Sunday afternoon, New York City Ballet posed the question by casting no fewer than nine dancers in debuts. The answers were at neither extreme; instead the message was promise. The ballets looked fresh and spontaneous but the price of the new was, well, novelty in dramatic interpretation. And in the end it was the non-debut in the program (Ashley Bouder as the Firebird, replacing an injured Isabelle LaFreniere, and thus forestalling what was to have been yet another debutante going into a leading role) that reminded us how much experience in a role lends to a performance.

Ashley Bouder in "Firebird." Photo © Paul Kolnik.

Stravinsky Light and Sometimes Edgy

“Scènes de Ballet,” “The Cage,” “Eight Easy Pieces,” “Scherzo Fantastique,” “Stravinsky Violin Concerto”
New York City Ballet
The David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
January 22, 2017

by Michael Popkin
copyright © 2017 by Michael Popkin

While the New York City premiere of Justin Peck’s new ballet from last summer might have looked like the highlight on the bill, a crisp and focused performance of Jerome Robbins’ perennial classic “The Cage,” driven by the company’s youngest female principal dancer Lauren Lovette, stole the show. Peck’s “Scherzo Fantastique” certainly provided an entertaining 20 minutes. But on this program of all-Stravinsky ballets, NYCB’s revivals of works by Christopher Wheeldon and Peter Martins, and performance of Balanchine’s “Stravinsky Violin Concerto,” also proved more substantial.

Photo © Paul Kolnik of Anthony Huxley in "Scherzo Fantastique"

 

Where Their Hearts and Their Treasure Is

“Serenade,” “American Rhapsody,” “Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux,” “Western Symphony”
New York City Ballet
The David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
October 7, 2016

by Michael Popkin
copyright © 2016 by Michael Popkin

Christopher Wheeldon’s recent ballet to Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” (incongruously programmed in the middle of an otherwise all Balanchine program entitled “Classic NYCB”) was the only ballet on the bill that felt consistently alive Friday night. Among the Balanchine ballets, “Serenade” started well only to limp to the finish line. “Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux ” was stiff and “Western Symphony” paradoxically small scale and then over punched out. The contrast between how the company danced Balanchine and Wheeldon brought a line from the Bible to mind: “Where your treasure is, there also shall be your heart.” Putting how this program looked together with the way the company danced in the series of new ballets that premiered at NYCB’s gala earlier this season (often middling works that were nonetheless attacked with fervor), I couldn’t help thinking that the company’s heart was in its new work this fall decidedly more than in the traditional repertory.

Photo (c) Paul Kolnik of Amar Ramasar and Unity Phelan in "American Rhapsody"