Saturday January 22, 2011 - The inimitable Wendy Whelan in Balanchine's MOZARTIANA, the ballet which opened tonight's celebration of the choreographer's birthday at New York City Ballet. Photo by Paul Kolnik.
MOZARTIANA: Whelan, J. Angle, *Huxley
intermission
PRODIGAL SON: De Luz, Kowroski, la Cour, Brown, *Anderson, Suozzi, Hendrickson
intermission
STARS AND STRIPES: Bouder, Veyette, Pereira, Muller, Ulbricht
How great to have Wendy Whelan leading off the Happy Birthday celebration with her epic clarity and grace in the Preghiera. Her performance seemed like an hommage not just to Mr. B but to Tchaikovsky, Mozart, to music and to life. Over the years I have always counted on Wendy to show me why dance is not just important but essential. She's never failed me in this regard.
Jared Angle danced with velvety smoothness and he and Wendy look great together; they seemed to be truly enjoying the experience of dancing Balanchine's combinations. Jared's sense of nobility and his beautiful arms and hands are very pleasing assets to behold in this ballet.
Anthony Huxley, the 2010-2011 Janice Levin Dancer honoree, debuted in MOZARTIANA. Looking like a hign-born page from some fantastical royal court, Anthony danced with quiet brilliance of footwork and a very appealing presence: elegant and with just a touch of the enigmatic. This past Autumn I watched Anthony taking Jock Soto's class at SAB and was hypnotized by his superbly pointed feet: an essential component in ballet but not always so clearly evident.
Again the plush dancing of Gwyneth Muller, Dara Johnson, Gretchen Smith and Marika Anderson in the Menuet was of particular note. And the four petite ballerinas from SAB also did very well and won a big round of applause.
Maria Kowroski (in Paul Kolnik's photo) as The Siren in PRODIGAL SON. This is one of Maria's signature roles and how thrilling it is to encounter her in this ballet again. The luxuriously leggy ballerina is on peak form this Winter and tonight she gave a stunning portrayal of this iconic role. I can easily imagine Balanchine and Felia Dubrovska looking on from their skybox and applauding Maria's performance, and Diaghilev dropping his monocle in astonishment. Brava, brava, brava!
Joaquin De Luz has had a tremendous season at NYCB so far this Winter...and we're only just finishing the first week! Contemporary virtuosity (in CONCERTO DSCH), romance, humor and spectacular dancing in a Robbins classic (DANCES AT A GATHERING) and now a beautiful and deeply moving portrayal of one of the greatest male ballet roles ever created: the Prodigal Son. Joaquin's fearless technique and abounding energy in the opening scene evolved into his sense of wonder in the sexual awakenings of his scene with The Siren. In his degradation and despair, Joaquin got right to the heart of the matter with a direct emotional current to the audience; his final scene in asking forgiveness from his father was heart-breaking.
So nice tonight to see Maria and Joaquin taking solo bows after this tremendous performance and to hear the packed house giving them huge roars of well-deserved applause and cheers.
Ask LaCour as the father is an awesome presence: silent and mysterious. The moment when Joaquin climbs into Ask's arms at the end and Ask wraps his errant son in his cloak is so wrenchingly conveyed by these two artists. Likolani Brown and new-to-the-cast Marika Anderson continue the Company's tradition of casting these brief but moving roles from among some of my favorite dancers. In the tricky demands of their combative duet, Sean Suozzi and Adam Hendrickson excelled. Faycal Karoui and the NYCB orchestra gave Prokofiev's colorful, evocative score its full due. A splendid performance all round.
Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette, seen above performing at the New York Stock Exchange during the Christmas season (great photo, yes?) led the cast of STARS AND STRIPES. Ashley, celebrating her sixth anniversary as a principal ballerina, gave a dazzling performance: playful, sexy and technically vibrant. Andrew looked dashing and kept pace with his ballerina: not an easy task when Bouder is on this kind of form. They were liberally applauded throughout the piece and hugely cheered at their curtain calls.
Erica Pereira and Gwyneth Muller led their regiments in fine style (though some spacing issues need fixing in Gwyneth's platoon) and...
...Daniel Ulbricht put the final dollop of frosting on the evening's Balanchine birthday cake with a mind-blowing performance garnished by air turns of astonishing whiplash speed and landings of silken softness. In one passage Daniel found an interesting rhythm of slowing down slightly and then finishing the sequence with a pop; this was repeated four times in different directions. This tiny detail is so characteristic of Daniel's artistry, along with his generosity of spirit.
Headshots by Paul Kolnik.
Thank you, dancers...and Happy Birthday, Mr. B!
wow! what an evening. thanks for the detailed account.
Posted by: Mira | January 23, 2011 at 08:53 AM
No one can capture an evening at the ballet like you, Oberon. As a jealous out-of-towner I am so happy to read your frequent and detailed reports. I miss New York terribly (moved away 6 yrs ago due to my husband's career). thanks and keep up the good work.
Evelyn in Atlanta
Posted by: EMartin | January 23, 2011 at 11:12 AM
That's a great photo of Bouder and Veyette.
Posted by: MarieMusique | January 23, 2011 at 11:22 AM
Is that a new costume for De Luz in Prodigal Son?
Posted by: Laura | January 24, 2011 at 01:18 PM
LOL..no, that's actually from DIANA & ACTEON I think. I should have clarified that!
Posted by: Philip | January 24, 2011 at 02:10 PM
I should have guessed by his body position that he wasn't dancing Prodigal...but I've only seen the ballet two times so I can't be blamed!
Posted by: Laura | January 25, 2011 at 12:55 AM