Wednesday October 5, 2011 - At New York City Ballet tonight, works by George Balanchine, Peter Martins and Christopher Wheeldon were on the programme, with a terrific lineup of dancers.
SQUARE DANCE: M. Fairchild, Huxley
LITURGY: Whelan, *Hall [Solo Violin: Arturo Delmoni]
FEARFUL SYMMETRIES: Hyltin, Finlay, T. Peck, Stanley, King, Peiffer, Ippolito, Schumacher, Villalobos
LA SONNAMBULA: Taylor, R. Fairchild, Somogyi, J. Peck, Isaacs, Villwock, Alberda, Prottas, Dronova, Paradiso, Hendrickson
In SQUARE DANCE, Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley gave an elegant polish to their dancing. Megan's precision and clarity make us admire Balanchine's choreography all the more; she's perfect in this ballet not just for her brilliance of execution but also in her evident joy in what she is doing. And she throws in a touch of playfulness along the way. Anthony was equally impressive and he's developing his stage persona to match his technical skills. The two dancers were just such a complete pleasure to watch; the audience applauded them liberally throughout the ballet and vociferously at the curtain calls. A host of attractive dancers from the corps de ballet caught the spirit of the music and of Mr. B's revelatory architecture of steps and patterns.
In a complete change of music and mood, Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall danced Christopher Wheeldon's LITURGY in a state of grace. They moved with a captivating sense of other-worldly mystery, the complex gestural language beautifully synchronized, the partnering silken-smooth but also intense. Drawing us into this spiritual world, the two dancers were ideally supported by Arturo Delmoni's spine-tingling playing of the Arvo Part score. Wendy and Craig held the audience enthralled throughout the long duet, then basked in a sea of applause and cheers as they came forward to bow.
The programme, so nicely constructed, then swept on to the relentless propulsion of John Adams' FEARFUL SYMMETRIES. This big-cast Peter Martins ballet gives many dancers a chance to shine and everyone seized their opportunities. Troy Schumacher tossed off one set of pirouettes with remarkable speed and flourish before flying onward with his two dashing sidekicks, Ralph Ippolito and Giovanni Villalobos. Lauren King and Allen Peiffer sailed about the stage with free-wheeling energy, pausing for a partnered passage of give-and-take. Two superb principal ballerinas, Tiler Peck and Sterling Hyltin, danced with reckless abandon, their contrasting beauty and individual styles thrown into high relief. Chase Finlay looks great as he continues his onward-and-upward quest thru the repertoire, and Taylor Stanley gave a wonderfully focussed performance with a unique intensity that marks him out for future possibilities. Amid the swirl of dancers, Amanda Hankes continually caught my eye.
Listening to the awful arrangements of Bellini operatic melodies that constitute the score of Balanchine's LA SONNAMBULA is always a chore for me but it was worth it when Janie Taylor as the ethereal Sleepwalker finally appeared. The idea of poetry in motion comes to mind as Janie skims the stage with her delicate bourees; she is clearly a creature not of this world. Robert Fairchild was her handsome, Byronesque cavalier and Jennie Somogyi made a jeweled miniature of manipulative deceit out of the Coquette. Justin Peck should find a way of losing the moustache ("It must have fallen off just before the ballet started!") but his performance otherwise was fine. In the divertissement, Sarah Villwock and Ashly Isaacs added more blossoms to their growing bouquets of roles, dancing with Devin Alberda and David Prottas. Alina Dronova and Vincent Paradiso seemed to have beamed in from a production of BAYADERE; their clockwork adagio had a feeling of mystery. Adam Hendrickson is a Harlequin sans pareil. The audience seemed to want a solo bow from Janie Taylor, but the audience doesn't always get what it wants. Janie's Sonnambula is a masterpiece.
