Quote:
Adventures in Geometry and Color, as Well as Dancing
By ROSLYN SULCAS
NY Times
Published: February 16, 2007
Of all the titles that the New York City Ballet has come up with for its new fixed programs, “For the Fun of It” sounds the silliest. But as it turns out, this program, presented for the first time on Wednesday night, is one of the most persuasive groupings that the company has so far presented — and it makes a strong case for being able to see this particular set of works together again. (For those not following City Ballet’s policy decisions with bated breath, the company previously performed ever-changing combinations of ballets, rotating through about 40 works a season.)
hereI think the positive nature of the above review might suggest that doom and gloom below was a little melodramatic... I think the point about the dancers being tired is probably right on target, but she seems to miss the obvious point that tired dancers can lose the train of a ballet pretty quickly...
Quote:
Dancers, and Their Company, Held Down by Gravity
By CLAUDIA LA ROCCO
Published: February 15, 2007
New Yorkers are adept at running themselves ragged, so perhaps it’s only fitting that a company that bears the city’s name should put its dancers through such grueling paces. Still, while 38 different ballets over eight weeks may be impressive, wan dancers aren’t, and on Tuesday night the company looked exhausted.
This wasn’t so problematic at first: exhaustion actually suits Christopher Wheeldon’s “Klavier,” a dark exploration of the moment when opulence overripens to decadence. Set to the sensuous, disquieting Adagio Sostenuto from Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” piano sonata in B flat, Op. 106, which was performed by Susan Walters, the ballet unfolds (or perhaps collapses) in a destroyed ballroom, as conjured by Jean-Marc Puissant’s giant fallen chandelier.
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