New York City Ballet - 2005 Spring Season

ksneds · **Posted:** Wed Apr 27, 2005 10:46 am

Jack Anderson reviews opening night of the New York City Ballet's Spring Season in the NY Times:

Quote:

Marching Into Spring, in American and British Styles

By JACK ANDERSON
April 26, 2005

The New York City Ballet did a lot of marching when it opened its spring season on Tuesday night at the New York State Theater.

The marching came in two works by George Balanchine: "Stars and Stripes," to Hershy Kay's adaptations of Sousa marches, and "Union Jack," to Kay's adaptations of traditional British music. It was bizarre programming. Parades can be fun, but too much parading can make festivity look monotonous. And this was decidedly too much.

More

ksneds · **Posted:** Wed Apr 27, 2005 10:56 am

Week Two casting, with some real treats!

Among the highlights are:
*The Spring Gala with new ballet by Peter Martins, Christopher Wheeldon and three NYCB dancers, Edwaard Liang, Albert Evans and Benjamin Millepied. Of the five pieces, it's Wheeldon's "An American in Paris" that would seem to have the most promise. It's perfect material for Wheeldon's talents and his casting - Ringer, Woetzel & Korbes - is sure to please!

*Joaquin de Luz's debut as Harlequin in 'Harlequiade'

MAY 3-8, 2005

TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 3 AT 7:30PM

Chichester Psalms: ABERGEL, SETH
Pause
Tarantella: FAIRCHILD, ULBRICHT [Moverman]
Intermission
N.Y.Export: Opus Jazz: TINSLEY, RUTHERFORD, ORZA, HALL
Intermission
Who Cares?: HÜBBE, RINGER, ANSANELLI, REICHLEN [McDill]

WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 4 AT 8:00PM - [Quinn] - SPRING GALA

Tālā Gaisma*: KISTLER*, WEESE*, SYLVE*, SOTO*
Intermission
Broken Promise*: BOUDER*, HANNA* [Grant]
Pause
Double Aria*: KOWROSKI*, la COUR*
Pause
Distant Cries*: WHELAN*, BOAL*
Pause
An American in Paris*: RINGER*, KÖRBES*, WOETZEL*

THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 5 AT 8:00PM

N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz: TINSLEY, RUTHERFORD, ORZA, HALL
Intermission
Tālā Gaisma: KISTLER, WEESE, SYLVE, SOTO
Intermission
Stars and Stripes: BOUDER, MILLEPIED, HYLTIN, HANSON, ULBRICHT

FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 6 AT 8:00PM

Harlequinade:
Columbine: BORREE
Pierrette: FAIRCHILD
Le Bonne Fée: REICHLEN
Lead Aoulette: TINSLEY
Harlequin: DE LUZ*
Pierrot: GOLD
Léandre: La FOSSE+
cassandre: KRAMAREVSKY
Intermission
Who Cares?: MARTINS, WEESE, SYLVE, BOUDER [Chelton]

SATURDAY MATINEE, MAY 7 AT 2:00PM

Apollo: MARTINS, KISTLER, SYLVE, WEESE
Intermission
N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz: TINSLEY, RUTHERFORD, ORZA, HALL
Intermission
An American in Paris: RINGER, KÖRBES, WOETZEL

SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 7 AT 8:00PM

Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3:
Elegy: KÖRBES, HANNA
Waltz: RUTHERFORD, FAYETTE
Scherzo: BOUDER, GOLD
Theme: WEESE, ASKEGARD
Intermission
Union Jack:
Lennox: MILLEPIED
Dress MacLeod: WOETZEL
Green Mont.: ANSANELLI
Menzies: NEAL
Dress MacDonald: BORREE
MacDonald of Sleat: WHELAN
R.C.A.F.: KOWROSKI
Pearly King & Queen: RINGER, MARTINS
1st Pas de Trois: WHELAN, HIGGINS, J. ANGLE
1st Var.: WOETZEL
2nd Pas de Trois: MILLEPIED, ANSANELLI, BORREE
2nd Var.: NEAL
Wrens: KOWROSKI

SUNDAY MATINEE, MAY 8 AT 3:00PM [Quinn]

An American in Paris: RINGER, KÖRBES, WOETZEL
Intermission
Harlequinade:
Columbine: BORREE
Pierrette: FAIRCHILD
Le Bonne Fée: REICHLEN
Lead Aoulette: TINSLEY
Harlequin: DE LUZ
Pierrot: GOLD
Léandre: La FOSSE+
cassandre: KRAMAREVSKY

ksneds · **Posted:** Thu Apr 28, 2005 2:07 am

This week, one of the highlights is the NYCB debut of Jerome Robbins' "NY Export: Opuuz Jazz", a piece Robbins created for his own short-lived travelling company.

In todays' NY Times, Anna Kisselgoff talks to Edward Verso, who is setting the piece on the company, about the ballet and it's noy-so-innocent themes:

Quote:

Leaping a Generation Gap to Revive a Robbins Ballet

By ANNA KISSELGOFF
April 28, 2005

With its defiant, finger-snapping young people, stylized gang rape and duet for vulnerable teenagers (the boy was black, the girl white) Jerome Robbins's landmark 1958 ballet "New York Export: Opus Jazz" was no ordinary essay on alienation.

The sensation that its images (1950's tension beneath surface cool) created that year in Europe with Ballets: U.S.A., Robbins's new touring company, may be hard to imagine when New York City Ballet performs "New York Export: Opus Jazz" for the first time on Friday.

More

ksneds · **Posted:** Fri Apr 29, 2005 1:47 am

Jennifer Dunning reviews Wednesday's performance...

Quote:

Blown Across a Nightscape Sketched by Gershwin

By JENNIFER DUNNING
The NY Times
April 29, 2005

George Balanchine's "Who Cares?" salutes Manhattan and the songs of George Gershwin that so captured the city's insouciant night life and its lovers. But this is also a ballet in which individual dancers occasionally deliver the equivalent of an Alex Rodriguez turn at bat. In a performance by the New York City Ballet on Wednesday at the New York State Theater, Ashley Bouder made it impossible not to think of her whenever the "I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise" role is danced again.

More

ksneds · **Posted:** Sat Apr 30, 2005 3:50 am

The NYCB premiere of Robbins' "NY Export: Opus Jazz" seems to have been a great success:

Quote:

Robbins in All His Timeless Finger-Popping Glory

By JOHN ROCKWELL
NY Times
April 30, 2005

Jerome Robbins's "N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz" took a mere 47 years to make it into the repertory of the New York City Ballet, but it finally did last night. Chances are it will be revived for many seasons to come.

Robbins may have been the lesser star revolving around George Balanchine, but he had and has his admirers, and this is a major Robbins piece. Wildly popular back in 1958, it has been seen intermittently in New York with other companies, in performances of varying quality. But now it's "home," in a staging that does justice to it and to Robbins.

More

ksneds · **Posted:** Sun May 01, 2005 8:38 am

A brief article and slide show on Jock Soto in the Directions column of the Sunday NY Times:

Quote:

Why Jock Soto Has Been the Perfect Partner

Published: May 1, 2005

On June 19, Jock Soto will celebrate his retirement from the New York City Ballet with a farewell performance at the New York State Theater. Mr. Soto, 40, who has danced with City Ballet since 1981 and has been a principal since 1985, has an astonishing sixth sense: he is a born partner, the finest that has graced the company since Peter Martins himself.

Click here for more.

ksneds · **Posted:** Sun May 01, 2005 8:45 am

And Sylvaine Gold interviews Christopher Wheeldon about his upcoming ballet remake of "An American in Paris":

Quote:

Hey, Gene Kelly, You've Got Competition

Published: May 1, 2005
NY Times

! CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON, the resident choreographer at the New York City Ballet, has never been timid or predictable. He has repeatedly tackled the spiky music of the Hungarian composer Gyorgy Ligeti, and he has moved the mists of "Swan Lake" indoors, into a Degas-style dance studio. But in his latest work, "An American in Paris," he is going up against one of the defining movie musicals of the last century and the imperishable image of Gene Kelly twirling Leslie Caron in a make-believe Montmartre to George Gershwin's music.

More

Poohtunia · **Joined:** Fri Jul 18, 2003 11:01 pm **Posts:** 219

A few notes on last evening’s performances of Apollo, N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz, and Stars and Stripes.

Peter Boal was a thoughtful, contemplative Apollo. His movement had the elegance and integrity that one has come to expect, if not take for granted, and will be sorely missed come June 5th. The Playbill noted that Boal was hired on the day that Balanchine died. Last evening was the 22nd anniversary of that death. Yvonne Borree (Terps), Ashley Bouder (Poly), and Miranda Weese (Calliope) were serviceable. Borree looked a lot less brittle than she appeared last season. Weese made it clear that she has dramatic abilities that her employer has yet to tap. Bouder looked increasingly like the much-missed Jennie Somogyi.

N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz was something of a disappointment. It can be as painful to watch ballet dancers try to do jazz as it is to watch jazz dancers try to do ballet. The corps has a long way to go before they are jazz bunnies - not that they aspire to the title. A little commitment to the classic jazz hand would go a long way. It might be that the dancers were less committed last evening, because some of the orchestra playing was so awful. The trumpet players (in this piece) were so bad that it made me wish for taped music.

Stars and Stripes was wonderful. Tom Gold led the 3rd Regiment as they tore up the stage with precision. Alexandra Ansanelli was gorgeous as Liberty Bell. She is not a tiny dancer, and to watch her move with her characteristic abandon in and out of partnering maneuvers with Damian Woetzel intentionally just barely getting there in time, was thrilling.

ksneds · **Posted:** Mon May 02, 2005 1:37 am

Jack Andersen on Peter Boal in "Apolloo":

Quote:

An Apollonian Goodbye in a Grand and Friendly Bow

By JACK ANDERSON
The NY Times
Published: May 2, 2005

Peter Boal, who is retiring as a principal dancer of the New York City Ballet to become director of the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, will give his final performance with City Ballet on June 5, in a program that will include an excerpt from Balanchine's great "Apollo."

On Saturday night at the New York State Theater he danced the complete ballet - well, not quite the complete ballet, for beginning in 1979 Balanchine devised various abridged versions of "Apollo," all less dramatically effective than the original production of 1928.

More

Morris Neighbor · **Posted:** Mon May 02, 2005 9:29 pm

Last Friday, I made my first visit to NYCB this season. There are many posistive signs, including young dancers growing into key roles in an exciting way.

There are also some dreary notes, starting with Peter Martins' excrutiatingly dull CHICHESTER PSALMS, which offers artfully crafted, if utterly boring, stage pictures to accompany one of Leonard Bernstein's more pretentious religious scores. The men wear long black robes apparently borrowed from a gamelan orchestra; the women are in virginal white, as is the boy soprano who, in this performance, was a bit too far on the road to becoming a baritone. The applause barely lasted till the curtain hit the stage, with a polite burst when the largely blameless principals appeared. In a time of financial retrenchment, it's embarrassing to see such an obviously expensive (large chorus, elaborate set, guest conductor) turkey gobbling in the NYCB repertory. Old-timers will yearn for PMTGG.

Next came TARANTELLA, an evergreen Balanchine pas de deux "for dancers fleet of foot and long of breath," as Walter Terry once wrote. Megan Fairchild was cast, most likely, to expand her talents. She has the technique to perform the ballet's demanding steps at its swift tempo, but she does not yet have the confidence to do this fiendish choreography while simultaneoously creating a character. She is young, however, and a bright future looms. Her partner was Joaquin de Luz, who eats bravura parts for lunch. Between them, they woke up the audience and prepped them for the main event:

N.Y. EXPORT: OPUS JAZZ, a ballet from Jerome Robbins in his West Side Story/Interplay/Moves period, made its NYCB debut on Friday. Robbins sanctioned performances by many companies -- most notably, the Joffrey Ballet, which shared its stunning Ben Shahn backdrops with NYCB -- but felt that Balancine's dancers were "too classical" to deal with a work built largely around popular dance of the '50s. This production -- staged by Edward Verso, who has a long association with Robbins as a dancer and a ballet master -- proves Jerry wrong. The history and (original) program note make the ballet sound terribly dated. But what we saw on stage was alive, crackling with energy, and in its own way, tiimeless. Even the once-sensational adagio for a black man and a white woman became a touching exploration of youthful hope and passion in the gifted hands (and feet) of Rachel Rutherford and Craig Hall. The concluding ensemble variation and fugure brought the house down. The only disappointment was that Verso declined to appear for the ovation he so richly deserved.

The evening ended with an impressively crisp performance of STARS AND STRIPES. Sterling Hyltin <yes, that IS her name>, Dana Hanson, and Daniel Ulbricht shone as soloists. The pas de deux featured Sofiane Sylve and Stephen Hanna. The Frenchwoman's silky style and subtle humor were impressive; Hanna is a wonderfully attentive partner, but he has yet to develop much charisma when he's along onstage.

I look forward to the new season.

ksneds · **Posted:** Tue May 03, 2005 8:08 am

More news...

Congralutions to Tiler Peck, who is now a member of the corps. She performed in the 2004 SAB Workshop and became an apprentice in the fall of 2004.

Kate

ksneds · **Posted:** Wed May 04, 2005 1:55 pm

More debuts in Week 3:

* Jock Soto in Peter Martins' new piece - he must be ill or injured as Jared Angle is now scheduled to dance in the premiere tonight
* Daniel Ulbricht in Scherzo of 'Tschaikovsky's Third Symphony'
* Sterling Hyltin and Adam Hendrickson in 'Harlequinade'
* Orza and Krohn in 'Glass Pieces'

Casting

Program and Casting Subject to Change
* First time in role
+ Guest Artist
# SAB Student

MAY 10-15, 2005

TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 10 AT 7:30PM [Quinn]

Apollo: MARTINS, ANSANELLI, BOUDER, RUTHERFORD
Intermission
Tālā Gaisma: KISTLER, SYLVE, WEESE, SOTO*
Intermission
Distant Cries: WHELAN, BOAL
Pause
An American in Paris: RINGER, KÖRBES, WOETZEL

WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 11 AT 8:00PM

Allegro Brillante: NICHOLS, MARTINS [McDill]
Pause
Tarantella: FAIRCHILD, DE LUZ [Moverman]
Intermission
Tālā Gaisma: KISTLER, SYLVE, WEESE, SOTO
Intermission
Musagète: WHELAN, KOWROSKI, ANSANELLI, TEWSLEY+, la COUR, LIANG, HANNA [Chelton, Delmoni]

THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 12 AT 8:00PM

Harlequinade:
Columbine: ANSANELLI
Pierrette: EDGE
Le Bonne Fée: REICHLEN
Lead Aoulette: HYLTIN*
Harlequin: MILLEPIED
Pierrot: HENDRICKSON*
Léandre: DANCHIG-WARING
Cassandre: KRAMAREVSKY+
Intermission
Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3:
Elegy: BAR, la COUR
Waltz: RUTHERFORD, FAYETTE
scherzo: BOUDER, ULBRICHT*
Theme: SYLVE, ASKEGARD

FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 13 AT 8:00PM

Allegro Brillante: RINGER, NEAL [McDill]
Pause
Double Aria: KOWROSKI, la COUR
Pause
Broken Promise: BOUDER, HANNA [Grant]
Intermission
Barber Violin Concerto: KISTLER, EVANS, BOUDER, ASKEGARD [Nikkanen]
Intermission
Glass Pieces: KROHN*, HIGGINS, RUTHERFORD, ORZA*, A. STAFFORD, la COUR, WHELAN, TEWSLEY+

SATURDAY MATINEE, MAY 14 AT 2:00PM [Moredock]

Allegro Brillante: RINGER, NEAL [McDill]
Intermission
Harlequinade:
Columbine: ANSANELLI
Pierrette: EDGE
Le Bonne Fée: REICHLEN
Lead Aoulette: HYLTIN
Harlequin: MILLEPIED
Pierrot: HENDRICKSON
Léandre: DANCHIG-WARING
Cassandre: KRAMAREVSKY+

SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 14 AT 8:00PM [Quinn]

An American in Paris: RINGER, KÖRBES, WOETZEL [Grant]
Pause
Broken Promise: BOUDER, HANNA
Pause
Distant Cries: WHELAN, BOAL
Pause
Tarantella: FAIRCHILD, ULBRICHT [Moverman]
Intermission
Musagète: WHELAN, KOWROSKI, ANSANELLI, TEWSLEY+, la COUR, LIANG, HANNA [Chelton, Delmoni]

SUNDAY MATINEE, MAY 15 AT 3:00PM [Kaplow]

Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3:
Elegy: BAR, la COUR
Waltz: RUTHERFORD, FAYETTE
Scherzo: BOUDER, ULBRICHT
Theme: SYLVE, ASKEGARD
Intermission
Musagète: WHELAN, KOWROSKI, ANSANELLI, TEWSLEY+, la COUR, LIANG, HANNA [Chelton, Nikkanen]

kurinuku · **Posted:** Thu May 05, 2005 2:41 am

Quote:

Robbins' masterful 'Jazz' riff
by APOLLINAIRE SCHERR for the New York Newsdays

The most fully realized moment in "Opus Jazz" is its most adult - a probing duet between Craig Hall and Rachel Rutherford. They meet briefly before departing in opposite directions. Here, Robbins illuminates a mute, tentative tenderness between two strangers.

published: May 3, 2005

more

ksneds · **Posted:** Thu May 05, 2005 11:19 am

Two promotions to soloist at NYCB - Ask la Cour and Carla Körbes!!

And more on the opening gala in the NY Times:

Quote:

An Elegant Audience, Certainly, and Five Premieres

By JOHN ROCKWELL
May 4, 2005

New York City Ballet galas are always fun: nice dancing, elegant audiences and a lovely, twinkly spread as you exit the New York State Theater auditorium.

Wednesday night's gala promised more than that. In testimony to the strength of its company choreographers and to the sophistication and openness of its public, the program consisted of no fewer than five premieres - two New York and three world.

More

Azlan · **Posted:** Mon May 09, 2005 11:14 pm

Enjoyed "Harlequinade" very much Sunday matinee. Both Tom Gold and Joaquin de Luz are such strong "character" dancers and were enjoyable as the two male leads. And Megan Fairchild is extremely expressive as Penrietta.

I'm not sure what to make of Wheeldon's "An American in Paris" though. The music, under Andrea Quinn's baton, and the dancing, especially by Damian Woetzel, Jenifer Ringer and Carla Kobbes, were stylish in that inimitable Gerwshin style but there was simply not enough arc in the work for me -- it was a lot of the same thing throughout.


	public forum

New York City Ballet - 2005 Spring Season

Who is online