Oberon's Grove: Barber/Stravinsky/LUCE NASCOSTA @ NYCB

Wednesday September 29, 2010 - Above: a Paul Kolnik photo of Craig Hall and Ashley Bouder in Mauro Bigonzetti's LUCE NASCOSTA, the closing work on tonight's programme at New York City Ballet. (Craig unfortunately did not dance tonight though he was announced.)

A programme change brought a repeat of Peter Martins' BARBER VIOLIN CONCERTO - one of his best ballets - in place of his charming but less profound GRAZIOSO. Portrait of composer Samuel Barber, above. The excellent cast for the BARBER - Sara Mearns, Megan Fairchild, Charles Askegard and Jared Angle - repeated their roles from the season premiere which I wrote about here. Tonight's performance found all four dancers on top form and violin soloist Arturo Delmoni and conductor Faycal Karoui giving an especially moving and - in the final movement: edgy and witty - performance of the score. Kokyat was thrilled with Sara Mearns' luscious dancing, and he and I both thought Megan Fairchild reminded us of the inimitable Rachel Berman, the great Paul Taylor dancer we met last year at the NYIBC.

Balanchine's STRAVINSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO was likewise given an excellent musical rendering by violinist Kurt Nikkanen and Maestro Karoui. During this Fall season we have seen four fascinating ballerinas in this ballet: Sterling Hyltin and Janie Taylor shared one role, and Maria Kowroski and Rebecca Krohn shared the other. Each seemed perfect in her own way, and thankfully we don't need to choose who's better or best: we can simply relish the wealth of star-power on display. Tonight Rebecca danced with Sebastien Marcovici and I wondered if they would develop the same electric current that passed between Rebecca and Amar Ramasar at the earlier performance. They did, making for a exciting rendition of their duet. Janie Taylor is already digging deeper into her role - she was wonderful in her debut in this ballet but she's finding it even more congenial as she repeats it: small nuances of gesture and expression making the ballet more her's. Sebastien and Ask laCour danced powerfully and partnered the girls superbly in the demanding duets.

The Santiago Calatrava setting for LUCE NASCOSTA looks stunning, and the score by Bruno Moretti continues to reveal entrancing facets on each hearing. The sexy costumes (bare chested, black-trousered boys and the girls in bewitching black-ruffled skirts) add to the appeal of this dark yet curiously romantic (in the second half) ballet. An injury to Gonzalo Garcia (hopefully not serious) caused his original role to be danced by Adrian Danchig-Waring tonight, and the unannounced absence of Craig Hall necessitated further changes: Sam Greenberg appeared in the ensembles as did David Prottas who danced very well in the duet with Sean Suozzi; and Christian Tworzyanski took over one partnered passage with Tiler Peck. It also seemed to me that Georgina Pazcoguin and Vincent Paradiso had expanded opportunities which is fine with me since they are two of the Company's most striking dancers.

Tiler Peck and Adrian Danching-Waring open the ballet, drawing us into the the mysterious world of this lost tribe. Their opening passage is danced in silence; Tiler's dancing is so mysterious and intense that we are immediately in her thrall. One motif that threads thru the choreography is of the girls in a rather awkward balance on both pointes which they must sustain. Tiler stayed strikingly still as Adrian moved around her.

Adrian was nothing short of magnificent: his powerful physique and the intensity of his persona are riveting. In his duet with the gorgeous Tess Reichlen they were smoulderingly powerful. Maria Kowroski continued her top-notch season with a stunning perfomance; her duet with Amar Ramasar was jaw-dropping in its physicality and in the allure of these two spectacular dancers - people were screaming for them at the curtain calls.

Georgina Pazcoguin and Vincent Paradiso are such remarkably communicative personalities onstage and this ballet gives them the perfect opportunity to display both their physicality and their sense of risk-taking while meanwhile simply savoring the erotic undercurrents they bring to their duet passages.

The solos for Teresa Reichlen and Tyler Angle show us these two beautiful dancers at their most charismatic; Ashley Bouder & Jon Stafford in their duet bring a vivid tension to the partnering which is complex, angular and steamy all at once.

Maya Collins looks so great in this ballet, always catching my eye. I wish Ana Sophia Scheller had more to do here - I'd love to see one of Mr. Bigonzetti's duets crafted for her and Sean Suozzi for example. The two blonde beauties Lydia Wellington and Sarah Villwock and the smooth-moving, exotic-looing Sam Greenberg were all excellent and I hope they will each have more opportunities to step out in the near future.

As LUCE NASCOSTA ends, the girls glide across the floor into the arms of their men - this striking motif seemed especially impressive tonight. As the music fades away, I felt I was awakening from a dream that I did not want to end.

Walking to the train after the performance, Kokyat captured this image which seems like a tribute to Santiago Calatrava's floating disc and to LUCE NASCOSTA.