Macaulay on the 'Three Masters' Program:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/19/arts/ ... 9mast.html

Thanks, Kate; I made the correction. That's what I get for not doing it promptly, and then having to take a short-cut - I looked at the scrambled cast listing posted here, b/c I couldn't find my playbill. I thought the Romeo I saw looked a little different from the person I saw do Paris.

Sorry on my part too - with the new website, it's really hard to cut n' paste the casting and I often don' have time to edit it to look right.

Here is Macaulay on the 'Greek Triology' program. Given his short tenure here, I think it's a bit cheeky to comment on past conductors (to comment on a conductor/music director' overall performance with an orchestra you really need to see regular performances), but refreshing to hear some honesty about Nilas Martins. I do think he has some great qualities as a partner, but often wonder if the world would have been better enriched had he been able to escape the 'son of' world and be able to branch out more into music and staging, in which from what I understand, he has great talents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/arts/ ... 1tril.html

From Marcia Siegel in the Boston Phoenix:

More...

Maybe it's a British/US thing, but someone needs to point out to Macaulay that toes shoes is not a correct term in the US. They are POINTE shoes (not POINT as the NY Times has frequently been letting slip these days). The NY Times is too high class a paper and Macaulay too good a writer to make such mistakes, because to call them toe shoes gives his writing a bit of an amateurish sheen:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/25/arts/ ... 5esse.html

Here's another review of R + J from Deborah Jowitt in the Village Voice:

Village Voice

More Robbins at NYCB...reading this review again reminds me that Benjamin Millepied has been conspicuously absent from the casting this season. He's one of the company's best Robbins' dancers and so I really hope that he overcomes whatever is keeping him from the stage.


http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/28/arts/ ... 8esse.html

Edited to note that I 'spoke' too soon. Millepied is dancing in "Dances at at Gathering" and "Union Jack" this week and got a good review for his performance last night.

Robert Gottlieb from the New York Observer on R + J:

NY Observer

Mr. Gottlieb appers to have spent a far more satisfactory afternoon at the May 27 matinee of "Mozartiana" (with Kyra Nichols), "Piano Pieces," and "Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2" (aka:"Ballet Imperial") in the NY Observer:

NY Observer

Alastair Macauley on the "International Balanchine" program (Serenade, Bugaku, Union Jack) from Wednesday, May 30, 2007:

NY Times

Macaulay writes about the 2007 SAB Workshop, although he slips and a bit and forgets to mention who the Wien award winners are (something that is usually conveyed in the NYT review):

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/06/arts/ ... 6work.html

Gia Kourlas reviews NYCB is a trio of ballets to Bach:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/arts/ ... 5trad.html

It's a beautiful sunny day today. I am still thinking about last week in New York City and how wonderful it would be to be in the Park (Central Park) and to be able to see another wonderful performance tonight. I am thinking about being happy and having fun.

I remember several performances that I saw by the NYCB and I get a sunny day, happy day feeling.

I am not very familiar with the NYCB dancers but Ashley Bouder comes to mind immediately. I remember watching her and thinking that she resembles the amazing Natalia Osipova--both being joyous bundles of energy and talent. In a recent review Alastair Macaulay recalls once seeing Ashley Bouder.

"...at the end of an entirely distinguished account of City Ballet’s “Three Masters” triple bill — young, small Ashley Bouder made her commanding debut in the leading role. Talk about energy! The technical demands of this part are staggering, yet Ms. Bouder etched every step burningly into the score, and at the end looked ready for more. Remarkably, she danced the ballet with a powerful overall sense of its architecture, shading its moods and finding its shadows."

Mr. Macaulay also makes some general comments about George Balanchine's "Serenade" which I really like.

"This, the most beloved Balanchine work of all, is also the most structurally democratic ballet he ever made, with principals, soloists and corps all intermingling, and each corps girl commanding the space around her while sharing steps that are usually a star’s prerogative."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/01/arts/ ... nted=print

I saw both the retiring Kyra Nichols (I stayed an extra two days to see her) and Darci Kistler in "Serenade". They were both wonderful.

Still what accounts for the happiness that I feel when I think about last week's dancing ?


It Has To Do With George Balanchine And Jerome Robbins' Ability To Take High Art And Make It Joyous.

It Has To Do With The NYCB Dancers' Love Of And Pleasure In Doing What They Are Doing And Their Ability To Convey This To Us.

It Has To Do With Brilliant Technical Dancing And Genius Inspired Dance Material.


There was poetically beautiful strutting around the stage and joyful takes on traditional folk dancing and 'good-times' jigging.

Then there was that wonderful tribute to Fred Astaire, "I'm Old Fashioned" !

Fred Astaire's old movie,"You Were Never Lovelier", with Rita Hayworth was projected on a large screen. I never saw a better example of his dancing as he joyfully floated across the screen. It was so good that it was projected again (I think that it was the same sequence) at the end of the performance. Maria Kowroski and Jenifer Ringer danced along with their partners. With a little bit of 'twinking' what wonderful partners they would have been for Fred Astaire.

And Maria Kowroski--What a great talent she is !

Her ethereal grace, radiant beauty, 'metaphysical flexibility and agility' (not sure what that means)----Wow !

Jenifer Ringer--I just got a sense of her expressive capabilities from her brief appearances but I hope to be back for more.

Damian Woetzel-- from other performances--Excellent !

The list of wonderful talent just goes on and on--Wendy Whelan, Sara Mearns, Teresa Reichlen, Abi Stafford, Yvonne Borree, Albert Evans, Nilas Martins, Philip Neal....

There were works with delicate and dreamlike beauty as well.


Memories of last week with the NYCB.

A day in the Park--A day at the Circus--A day in Heaven !

It sounds as if Wheeldon's final ballet as Choreographer in Residence is a huge success:



http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/11/arts/ ... 1whee.html

From Marcia Siegel in the Boston Phoenix:

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New corps members:

Erica Pereira
Tabitha Rinko-Gay
Meagan Mann
Briana Shepherd
Justin Peck