CriticalDance Forum

Robert Gottlieb reviews the Spring Gala in the New York Observer:

http://www.observer.com/pages/dance.asp

Casting for the fourth week, with corrections to earlier weeks:

Interesting tidbits-

* Robert Tewsley is guesting in both "Musagete" and "Glass Pieces", and it's nice have him back for those performances!!

* Jared Angle is debuting in 'The Four Temperaments'
*Joaquin de Luz and Megan Fairchild are debuting in Theme
* Ask la Cour is debuting in 'Goldberg Variations'



MAY 17-22, 2005
TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 17 AT 7:30PM
The Four Temperaments: ARTHURS, VEYETTE, RIGGINS, RAMASAR, HANSON, J. ANGLE*, BOAL, SYLVE, ASKEGARD, EVANS, REICHLEN [McDill]
Intermission
Polyphonia: WHELAN, WEESE, ANSANELLI, TINSLEY, SOTO, VEYETTE, HALL, RAMASAR* [Grant, Walters]
Intermission
Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3:
Elegy: BAR, la COUR
Waltz: RUTHERFORD, FAYETTE
scherzo: BOUDER, GOLD
Theme: FAIRCHILD*, DE LUZ*

WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 18 AT 8:00PM [Quinn]
Emeralds: RUTHERFORD, HANNA, RINGER, FAYETTE, EDGE, RIGGINS, CARMENA
Intermission
Rubies: WEESE, WOETZEL, REICHLEN [Walters]
Intermission
Diamonds: KOWROSKI, NEAL

THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 19 AT 8:00PM [Moredock]
Ballo della Regina: BOUDER, MILLEPIED, HYLTIN, EDGE, SCHELLER, RIGGINS
Intermission
Polyphonia: WHELAN, WEESE, ANSANELLI, TINSLEY, SOTO, VEYETTE, HALL, RAMASAR [Grant, Walters]
Intermission
Glass Pieces: KROHN, HANNA, RUTHERFORD, J. ANGLE, A. STAFFORD, la COUR, WHELAN, TEWSLEY+

FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 20 AT 8:00PM [Kaplow]
Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3:
Elegy: KÖRBES, HANNA
Waltz: RUTHERFORD, FAYETTE
scherzo: BOUDER, GOLD
Theme: WEESE, ASKEGARD
Intermission
Musagète: WHELAN, KOWROSKI, ANSANELLI, TEWSLEY+, la COUR, DANCHIG-WARING, HANNA [Chelton, Nikkanen]

SATURDAY MATINEE, MAY 21 AT 2:00PM [Kaplow]
Stravinsky Violin Concerto: BORREE, MARTINS, SYLVE, EVANS [Nikkanen]
Intermission
Polyphonia: WHELAN, WEESE, ANSANELLI, TINSLEY, SOTO, VEYETTE, HALL, RAMASAR [Grant, Walters]
Intermission
Glass Pieces: KROHN, HANNA, RUTHERFORD, J. ANGLE, A. STAFFORD, la COUR, KOWROSKI, NEAL

SATURDAY EVENING, MAY 21 AT 8:00PM [Moredock]
Ballo della Regina: BOUDER, MILLEPIED, HYLTIN, EDGE, SCHELLER, RIGGINS
Pause
Double Aria: KOWROSKI, la COUR
Intermission
The Goldberg Variations:
Theme: REICHLEN, la COUR*
1st Sect.: BOUDER, HANNA, J. ANGLE, FAIRCHILD*, HIGGINS, DE LUZ
2nd Sect.: WHELAN, EVANS, KOWROSKI, NEAL, WEESE, BOAL [Grant]

SUNDAY MATINEE, MAY 22 AT 3:00PM [Quinn]
Emeralds: RUTHERFORD, HANNA, RINGER, FAYETTE, EDGE, RIGGINS, CARMENA
Intermission
Rubies: WEESE, WOETZEL, REICHLEN [Walters]
Intermission
Diamonds: KOWROSKI, NEAL



MAY 10-15, 2005
TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 10 AT 7:30PM [Quinn]
Apollo: MARTINS, ANSANELLI, BOUDER, RUTHERFORD
Intermission
TÇlÇ 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: RINGER, MARTINS [McDill]
Pause
Tarantella: FAIRCHILD, DE LUZ [Moverman]
Intermission
TÇlÇ Gaisma: KISTLER, SYLVE, WEESE, SOTO
Intermission
Musagète: WHELAN, KOWROSKI, ANSANELLI, TEWSLEY+, la COUR, DANCHIG-WARING*, 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: KöRBES, HANNA
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*, HANNA, RUTHERFORD, J. ANGLE*, 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, DANCHIG-WARING, 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, DANCHIG-WARING, HANNA [Chelton, Nikkanen]

I caught Saturday's matinee performances of Allegro Brilliante and Harlequinade.

Jenifer Ringer and Philip Neal didn't disappoint anyone as the leads for Allegro. Even though this wasn't exactly typecasting for JR, she flew through it, making exceptions to her preference for tidiness when the music and the moment called for it.

While Harlequinade is a story ballet of sorts, it's somewhat unsatisfying in that the story is less than secondary to whatever else is going on. One never connects with the characters. That said, Alexandra Ansanelli's Columbine was exquisite and exciting. Benjamin Millepied seemed miscast as the Harlequin. He's neither a bravura dancer nor an actor. But he was certainly up to the partnering challenges thrown his way by AA. Teresa Reichlen was the soloist La Bonne Fee in Act II. Loved her dancing, but hated the loose hair flying around.

The orchestra sounds, I think, better under Richard Moredock. But it always sounds muffled in that theater. And when Nancy Dill was playing the piano in Allegro, she was so far back under the stage, she sounded like she was in the next room.

That really is my only complaint about that theater. I really don't mind hearing feet if it means a more robust sound from the pit.

New York City Ballet
New York State Theatre,
Lincoln Center, New York City
May 7, 2005; matinee
Apollo, New York Export: Opus Jazz; An American in Paris



There was good news and not so good news at NYCB’s matinee performance on May 7. The good news is that masterworks are still being performed, and brilliantly so. The not so good news is that the ballet that closed the program, “An American in Paris,” is not in the same league as the other two.

It is an understatement that George Balanchine’s “Apollo,” which premiered in 1928 at the Ballets Russes in Paris and with NYCB in 1951, is a masterpiece. Although I would have preferred to have seen the Prologue, which is omitted in this production (I saw it in a production many years ago), the work represents both the arrival of Balanchine’s neoclassic style and the annunciation of a choreographic genius. It is as if the god Apollo and artist Balanchine are creating each other as the work progresses. “Apollo” is also a remarkably accessible piece of abstract storytelling, exuberantly restrained and awesome in its imagery.

Darci Kistler, Sofiane Sylve, and Miranda Weese were respectively Terpsichore, Polyhymnia, and Calliope. To absolutely no one’s surprise, each delivered a superb, nuanced performance. It was particularly heartening to watch Weese dancing in wonderful form after a lengthy recuperation from an injury. But the pleasant surprise of the performance was Nilas Martins as Apollo. Although not blessed with his father’s noble bearing, Martins was a commanding yet somewhat vulnerable deity. Inspired and enriched by the muses that he creates, he becomes, literally, both enlightened and enlightening.

When I first saw “New York Export: Opus Jazz” many years ago performed by the Joffrey Ballet in New York, I do not recall being particularly impressed. Either the performance was off that night, or I was not open to what I was seeing. I suspect the latter. After being performed by many different companies since its premiere with the Ballets: USA at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto in 1958, “Opus Jazz” finally arrived at Jerome Robbins’s final choreographic home this season. Although it was a long time coming, the wait was worth it, and Robbins, I think, would have been pleased. I certainly was.

“Opus Jazz” recalls a time when American culture was just beginning not only to impact, but to be the reference point for much of the world’s cultural expression, and at that time New York was the breeding ground for American culture. Although jazz predated the 50s and did not originate in New York, the jazzy style that New York exported reflected the spiritual discontent and diminished expectations into which early 50s optimism had morphed. Whether the “beat generation” of the late 50s was a reflection of this mood or created it is not something I can competently speak about, but whatever the genesis, this cross between exhilaration and alienation presaged the tumultuous 60s.

Robbins was a superb chronicler and stylist whose dances are more than just choreographic snapshots in time. Whether in works such as “Fancy Free,” “West Side Story,” “Les Noces,” “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Dybbuk” and even “The Goldberg Variations,” his choreography always seems not just to mirror the times portrayed, but to capture its spirit. “Opus Jazz” is no different. Although the current staging by Edward Verso wisely appears to encourage the dancers to portray the mood of the piece rather than be inhabited by it (only Georgina Pazcoguin, who appeared noticeably different in attitude and expression from the other dancers even before she became identifiable in certain sections of the dance, seemed to “get it”), the staging works because the Robbins choreography, properly taught and executed, works. But this production of “Opus Jazz” is not simply a recreation. Whether the dancers are “into” it or “imitating” it, the piece is exciting to watch because, even if they many not be quite sure what the late 50s was about, the dancers’ capabilities and exuberance do the Robbins choreography justice. Every dancer was superb, and the fact that most of them are members of the corps is a testament to the company’s strength. In addition to Ms. Pazcoguin, most notable because of their highlighted roles were soloist Rachel Rutherford and Craig Hall, but the entire group deserves credit, as does Mr. Verso, for bringing this piece back to life.

Although the season’s run for “Opus Jazz” ended with this performance, I understand that it will be part of NYCB’s repertoire for next fall.

Christopher Wheeldon’s “An American in Paris” followed “Apollo” and “Opus Jazz” on the program. It suffered by comparison. Perhaps it will look better on re-viewing (the other Wheeldon piece I recently saw, “VIII” for ABT, did look better on second viewing and with a different cast). Perhaps it also will appear stronger as a program’s opening piece. But I doubt it. If “An American in Paris” had been a choreographic distillation of the movie from which it was derived, that would have been fine. But Wheeldon’s work is a Readers’ Digest Condensed version. It takes bits and pieces of the movie, but loses the film’s heart and soul. I saw little that was particularly inventive choreographically, and it all seemed a hodgepodge of vignettes. Particularly distressing were the “crowd scenes,” which looked overly, well, crowded. As the Gene Kelly character, Damian Woetzel tried gamely, but, aside from partnering, there was little for him to do (although the works are not exactly comparable, the difference between Woetzel portraying a Fred Astaire-type character as choreographed by Susan Stroman in the recently reviewed “Double Feature” and the portrayal created by Wheeldon in this piece was glaring). Jenifer Ringer looked the Leslie Caron part, but also didn’t seem to have much to do other than look sweet and get soaring lifts from Woetzel from time to time. Carla Korbes executed well but tried too hard. She was perky and effervescent enough, but not nearly as seductive as she should have been. .

Despite the disappointment of “An American in Paris,” being able to see two beautifully danced masterworks on one program was sufficient to glow all the way home.

Joan Acocella reviews NYCB's Spring Gala performance in The New Yorker:

New Yorker

In the New York Times, Gia Kourlas reviews Megan Fairchild and Joaquin De Luz in the Divertimento from "Le Baiser de la Fee."

Review

Jennifer Dunning reviews Tuesday and Wednesday night's performance in the NY Times.

Peter Boal's final performance with NYCB is this afternoon and Jennifer Dunning profiles Boal in the NY Times.

Gia Kourlas review Peter Boal's final performance in in the NY Times:



Clicker here for more, including a nice photo of the final curtain call.

Congratulations to two more new members of the corps: Taryn Wolfe and Rachel Piskin!

Kate

Jock Soto, who retires tomorrow, is profile in the NY Times:



Click here for more.

Jennie Somogyi returns, Jock Soto prepares to leave...



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