Monday September 20, 2010 - To a score by Kaija Saariaho (above), choreographer Luca Veggetti has set MAA for performances at the Miller Theater/Columbia University on September 22nd, 24th and 25th. In anticipation of the production, the Guggenheim's Works and Process series inaugurated their current season with a preview in which both composer and choreographer spoke of their work and excerpts were danced.
I had a really enjoyable trek across Central Park as evening was just starting to descend, arriving a bit early at the Museum with time to take a few exterior shots of the New York landmark.
As an introduction to MAA, the Works and Process event showed us four excerpts from the work interspersed with a conversation with composer Kaija Saariaho and choreographer Luca Veggetti hosted by the Miller Theater's Melissa Smey. Ms. Saariaho had literally just arrived in our City from Paris; and traffic delayed her arrival at the Guggenheim til the last minute. The composer said that the excerpts being danced tonight were her first viewing of Mr. Veggetti's setting of her score.
MAA was commissioned by the Finnish National Opera and premiered in 1991. When MAA was first performed, the number seven was a key element in Ms. Saariaho's thoughts on structure: seven movements each in seven parts played by seven instrumentalists. The original choreographer, Carolyn Carlson, surprised the composer by utilizing 24 dancers; Mr. Veggetti's vision appropriately employs seven dancers. They are - with one exception - all either alumni of or currently part of the Juilliard Dance Division: Craig Black, Frances Chiaverini, Spencer Dickhaus, Min Youg Lee, Viktor Usov, Casia Vengoechea, and Chen Zielinski.
Four excerpts were performed tonight, each having a title: FALL (danced by four dancers with ethereal music of the harp played by Bridget Kibbey); ...de la Terre (a solo danced by Frances Chiaverini - her entire body expressively in tune with the music - with violinist Erik Carlson, a master of contemporary idiom); FOREST (a trio set to pulsing electronic rhythms) and WINDOW (all seven dancers moving in dreamlike, shifting patterns to the mysterious and somewhat ominous sounds of amplified whispering). One choreographic element which was especially effective was a sliding, gliding motif which the dancers mastered with skill, making it quite evocative.
The choreographer said of the composer's music: "It is like a poem." Luca told of his longtime desire to work with this score which, he said, creates its own space. Ms. Saariaho spoke of some of the sonic themes she incorporated: the sound of her own footsteps, whisperings, and the sound of the wind blowing thru a wheat field. With the electronics evolving from the live playing of the musicians, no two performances of the score are exactly alike.
Watching the dance, my feeling was of being in a cool-blue world that resonates with its own energy and sense of time. MAA, as the choreographer noted, is a poetic experience both musically and visually.
The dancers, with musicians Bridget Kibbey and violinist Erik Carlson (a familiar presence at Miro Magloire's New Chamber Ballet) taking a bow. The International Contemporary Ensemble, a stellar band of musicians will be playing the Saariaho score for the Miller performances. Ryan Streber is the electronics artist.
Sunday September 18, 2010 - Miro Magloire's New Chamber Ballet is one of the gems of the New York City dance scene. In an intimate studio setting, Miro and his small ensemble of lovely dancers provide the up-close immediacy of watching classically-rooted dance with the additional attraction of live music. Above, Kokyat's photo of Alexandra Blacker and Elizabeth Brown at the dress rehearsal.
Alexandra Blacker in Miro's newest ballet, 104 FARENHEIT, which is set to his own score, quite a demanding workout for the pianist which Melody Fader took well in stride. One dense, sustained buzzy cluster of notes in the highest range was spine-tingling; earlier the music had a dream-like quality. The three dancers - Alexandra Blacker, Elizabeth Brown and Madeline Deavenport - wear Candice Thompson's elegant burgundy and black costumes.
Each dancer has a solo passage, starting with an agitato variation for Madelline Deavenport (above).
Alexandra Blacker (above), the Company's newest dancer, has a traquillo solo...
...and then Elizabeth Brown (above) dances with intense lyricism to frenzied music, finally swooning at the end. Throughout this piece Kokyat and I were quietly nodding to each other over the individual beauty and poetry of the three dancers. Miro described his new piece as being "short" and indeed one wanted to see more.
Miro has re-worked his Haydn ballet, set to the sonata #39 in D-Major, and it is now titled COMPOSITION IN DARK COLORS. Again we have a trio of women - Elizabeth Brown, Victoria North and Lauren Toole - now wearing pretty black frocks. Above: Victoria North, Lauren Toole and - at the piano - Melody Fader.
Above, Melody at the piano with dancer Elizabeth Brown in a dream-state. Originally rather light-hearted in feeling, this ballet has now become altogether darker (hence the title). It seems to be a tale of three sisters one of whom - Lauren Toole - might be drugging her siblings.
Above: Victoria North as one of the slumbering sisters. Lauren periodically awakens Victoria and Elizabeth, willing them to dance but...
...by the end, Lauren calmly walks away having conjured the demise of her sisters. The Haydn music at first seems to suggest that all is well and that the girls are just having a romp, but Lauren has complete control over the situation; she leads her sisters around and they follow meekly. Any resistance they might offer is quietly de-fused.
A revival of Miro Magloire's ADUE set Melody Fader another demanding musical task in tackling the Salvatore Sciarrino score. Exploring the highest and lowest notes on the keyboard, often struck in unison, the music sets up a duet for two dancers - Lauren Toole and Maddie Deavenport, above - now in Candice's white tunics. They enter together, moving up the diagonal with mirror-image port de bras.
Maddie's solo (above) is danced to a surprisingly melodic passage from the composer who more often tends to keep things spare.
The music reverts to Sciarrino's his more elemental style for Lauren's solo. In the final movement, the girls dance together as the music becomes misterioso...
...and the work ends with this poetic image of Lauren and Maddie. Candice Thompson's costumes were so light and airy, adding to the visual effect.
Emery LeCrone's FIVE SONGS FOR PIANO, which premiered at the Columbia Ballet Collaborative's performances earlier this year, was re-worked for New Chamber Ballet's dancers.
Victoria North (above), who also danced in the original version, is wonderfully expressive and the other dancers - Elizabeth Brown, Maddie Deavenport, Lauren Toole and Alexandra Blacker - each bring their own attractive personalities to bear on the Mendelssohn music which Emery has depicted in movement with vivid success.
Melody Fader (at the rehearsal, above) plays a flowing, wonderfully 'sung' prelude and just as it's ending the five dancers enter.
This sisterhood are observing their own private rituals, and while there is no narrative per se the underlying connections between the five dancers are woven into the music.
Each of the dancers have individual passages in which to express themselves ad the others observe; above: Alexandra Blacker's solo. There's a lively duet for Maddie Deavenport and Elizabeth Brown and another solo for Lauren Toole.
Victoria North's dramatic urgency as the group's high priestess gives this lyrical work a touch of edginess. Kokyat's photo of Victoiria at the end of the ballet, from an earlier rehearsal.
FIVE SONGS FOR PIANO is one of Emery LeCrone's most striking works to date and Kokyat and I have followed it from its early stages at Columbia to its current powerful incarnation at New Chamber Ballet.
Above: Emery LeCrone in rehearsal. Emery is now Choreographer-in-Residence for New Chamber Ballet.
A few of my favorites among Kokyat's shots from the dress rehearsal:
Maddie Deavenport makes up.
Costumier Candice Thompson with Maddie & Miro.
Melody, Maddie and Alexandra Blacker. Alexandra. the newest member of New Chamber Ballet, formerly danced with Los Angeles Ballet.
Miro surpervising the revival of ADUE, with Maddie Deavenport.
Miro, Melody, Emery with the dancers.
New Chamber Ballet's next performances are set for November 19th and 20th.
Saturday September 18, 2010 evening - The music of Igor Stravinsky (above) inspired George Balanchine to create some of his finest ballets. Tonight at New York City Ballet, the programme gave us five works from the collaboration of composer and choreographer. There was some magnificent dancing to be seen, but quite a few people I talked to seemed to feel that an all-Stravinsky programme is more enticing on paper than in practice. While there is great variety of rhythm and instrumentation in the works presented, it seems the Stravinsky pieces are at their most fresh and vibrant when contrasted with works from other musical periods.
That said, the closing work STRAVINSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO did tend to sweep such concerns aside; one of the composer's finest scores and Balanchine's most inventive settings, the ballet was gloriously danced and the dancers were gloriously cheered by the audience.
Above: Charles Askegard and Maria Kowroski in MONUMENTUM PRO GESUALDO, a Paul Kolnik photo. In the two ballets that are invariably performed together, we could bask in the Balanchinian splendor of Maria Kowroski. Maria danced with such compelling majesty and grace that it seemed the works could have been created just for her. Ideally showing off Maria's sensational legs and splendidly supple upper body, her partners Charles Askegard and...
...Sebastien Marcovici (in MOVEMENTS FOR PIANO AND ORCHESTRA) shaped the ballerina's body into dazzling geometric poses. Backed by fine dancing from the NYCB corps, Maria and her two cavaliers drew us deep into the world of black-and-white Balanchine. The MONUMENTUM score in particular I think is one of Stravinsky's most appealing and there is a touch of sexiness in the music that Maria subtly underlined in her dancing. It was a privilege to watch Maria Kowroski in these ballets tonight and the audience seemed to fully concur, calling the ballerina and her two partners out at the end with sustained applause.
In DUO CONCERTANT, Sterling Hyltin was ravishing and spirited by turns, just as the music calls for. Her partner Jared Angle danced with polished smoothness and their partnership moved from playful to poignant in the course of the ballet. Kurt Nikkanen and Cameron Grant were the onstage musicians. Sometimes when I am watching DUO these days it seems a bit dated in concept; Sterling and Jared in the vitality and tenderness of their evolving performance tonight overcame such thoughts.
Andrew Veyette and Megan Fairchild (above, photographed by Henry Leutwyler) took the leads in Balanchine's music hall romp, DANSES CONCERTANTES. The fanciful Eugene Berman show curtain invites a longer perusal with the opera glasses but there isn't time for that, really, as the dancing kicks off immediately on the rise of the curtain. Backed by an ensemble of a dozen of the Company's best corps dancers, Megan and Andrew in their canary-yellow costumes were vivid and amusing, playing with technique in some fanciful footwork. One of Megan's balances was astounding: I kept thinking "She cannot possibly still be there on balance!"...but she was. Of the four trios of corps dancers, the red group - Faye Arthurs, Ashley Laracey and Daniel Applebaum - were especially brilliant.
STRAVINSKY VIOLIN CONCERTO was given a grand musical treatment by violinist Kurt Nikkanen and conductor Faycal Karoui. When the curtain rose on Janie Taylor and four boys from the corps, I knew we were in for a treat. This was Janie's second new Balanchine role in the House in the course of a single week (her SERENADE was heart-wrenching this afternoon) and watching her in both ballets today made me so glad that she is back onstage. Her performances have always fascinated me in their mixture of seeming fragility and passionate impetuosity; there's no one else like her, a totally unique ballerina. Her duet partner Ask LaCour also gave a wonderful performance tonight, just as he had done at the afternoon's SERENADE.
Following up on her very impressive debut in this ballet back in May, Rebecca Krohn was riveting in her authoritative dancing and the communicative power of her persona. She and the equally impressive Amar Ramasar put a keen edge on their performance, expert in their timing and thrilling in their sense of risk. The audience erupted in shouts of approval after Rebecca and Amar finished their pas de deux, and they were called out for a bow. So great to hear such unbridled enthusiasm which these two dancers so richly deserved.
So whatever misgivings about an overdose of Stravinsky might have been felt in the course of the evening, in the end the dancers made it all worthwhile.
Saturday September 18, 2010 matinee - I've done this before: gone to New York City Ballet just to see the opening work on the programme. This performance of Balanchine's SERENADE featured the same quintet of principals who danced the ballet on opening night and it was well worth seeing - and hearing - a second time in a single week. Above: Paul Kolnik's photo of Sara Mearns, Janie Taylor, Megan Fairchild and Ask LaCour.
Today's performance in fact produced all the physical reactions a great SERENADE should produce: lump in the throat, tears in the eyes and those wonderful little shivers up and down the spine.
What gave this matinee performance a bit of an edge over the opening night's SERENADE was the choice of tempo Andrews Sill made for the first movement. At the opening, Faycal Karoui took things just a little too briskly - I love Faycal and think that 99% of the time he is perfect, but once in a while he errs on the speedy side. Mr. Sill's more spacious approach allowed Sara Mearns to linger just that extra demi-second on her balances in arabesque and gave Megan Fairchild just the extra bit of time to stretch out her jumps and to bask in the lyricism of her combinations.
Both Sara and Megan were spectacular today: Sara's luxuriant rendering of the Angel's supported arabesque in the final movement was compellingly gorgeous. A little earlier, Megan came down the center line in a superbly timed piruouette/arabesque combination that just glowed.
Above: Henry Leutwyler's photo of Charles Askegard, who danced the first of the two principal male roles this afternoon. His wonderfully alert partnering of Janie Taylor was one of the many truly pleasing aspects of the performance. He danced really well, too.
Above: Janie Taylor in the foreground, a Paul Kolnik photo. Janie's New York debut in SERENADE at the opening night was completely marvelous but this afternoon she took everything to an even higher level both in terms of technique and dramatic fascination. One moment I especially loved was her entrance, near the end of the first movement, when she finds her place among the other girls and quietly raises her hand (photo above). Here and in a thousand other moments throughout the ballet, Janie's beautiful facial expressions and nuances of gesture built the role in a highly individual and achingly moving style.
We won't talk about her hair or I'll never finish this article.
Above: Sara Mearns, Ask LaCour & Janie Taylor. Performance photographs by Paul Kolnik, courtesy of NYC Ballet. (Sara's hair is pretty spectacular, too). Ask is superb in this ballet, carrying on in the grand tradition of Kipling Houston, James Fayette and Stephen Hanna.
The corps were so extraordinarily luminous today; I could write a paragraph about each and every single one of them, for indeed I took the time to focus on each one individually. Georgina Pazcoguin had me under her spell, and I loved the big wafting lift that Ask gave her in the fourth movement. She looked so weightless, I thought she might float away. I could go on and on - it was a SERENADE aglow with such moments - but now I must get ready to go back for the evening performance.
I know that I should have stayed on this afternoon to see Amar Ramasar in WHO CARES? again (he is sensational in that ballet!), but I just could not bring myself to sit thru INTERPLAY, despite a cast of excellent dancers. So I came home after SERENADE to re-group for tonight's Balanchine-Stravinsky programme.
Before SERENADE began, Daniel Ulbricht welcomed us and gave a brief master-class in the opening port de bras of the Balanchine masterpiece. The entire audience stood up and participated. While I am not sure I like these little pre-curtain speeches, Daniel is very good at it.
Principal dancers portraits...
...at either end of the Promenade. Hi Wendy!
Musical combo playing pre-curtain.
I love NYCB. I was so happy to be there today, and so glad to be going back tonight.
Pontus Lidberg - photographed above by Wendy Whelan - is creating a film entitled LABYRINTH WITHIN. Read an interview about the early stages of the project here. Three dancers are involved: Wendy Whelan, Giovanni Bucchieri and Pontus Lidberg. I first heard about this film from Wendy one afternoon when, charging up the steps from the subway, I nearly collided with my favorite ballerina. She told me that day that she was en route to Joyce SoHo to work with Pontus.
From the film's initial press release:
"Labyrinth
Within is a new dance film by Swedish choreographer and director Pontus
Lidberg. It takes off from the worldwide success of his 2007 dance film “The
Rain”.
A
married couple are experiencing difficulties in their relationship. The man
suspects that all is not right, that perhaps the woman is having an affair. The
elusive lover and the unpredictable world that surrounds him soon take over.
Based
on a screenplay for three characters written and developed by Mr. Lidberg with
dramaturge Niklas Holmgren, the film, set to a contemporary score symphonic score, aims to tell the story through the merging of emotive dance and
imagery.
The
project involves international collaborations and patronage on both sides of
the Atlantic. In October 2009, The Symphony Orchestra of Sweden's
NorrlandsOperan recorded the score written by Pulitzer Prize winning composer
David Lang featuring New York based cellist Maya Beiser. The following Spring,
during artist residencies at The Joyce SoHo and the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Mr.
Lidberg continued his creative process with a cast that features dancers from
the United States and Sweden including New York City Ballet principal dancer Wendy
Whelan in the leading female role.
The
film was shot in Stockholm, Sweden during the long days and white nights of
June and July and is currently in the last stages of post-production through
the fall of 2010, it will be just under 30 minutes long.
On
the surface, “Labyrinth Within” is a danced drama about love gone stale, that
perhaps has disappeared in favor of veneer, and about the outlet found through
an affair. However, below this vessel for our story, it’s an existential
thriller about the human longing to connect with another on a deeper level and
to be free from constraint and the restriction of rules and convention. The
film explores the border of surface and substance: the apartment in which the
story takes place becomes a fourth character, balancing on the blurred border
between the kept surface of reality and the uncontrollable forces of emotion."
A
chamber version of the choreography adapted for the stage will follow in the
near future.
Above: Wendy Whelan in a still from the film. I asked Wendy if she would tell me about her involvement in the project and she very kindly took the time - right at the start of the NYCB season - to send me her thoughts about the film.
Here is Wendy's story, with photos:
"I have never done anything like it before... and I realized that I would
really love to do more things like it in the future. This project
really opened my eyes to new levels of expression, dancing and acting.
It really made me use my mind differently. This project required me to
bring more details of myself out, to bring more to the table, so to
speak. It was very liberating and gave me great confidence in the end.
Pontus told me about this project more than a year ago and I had to
decide if I was interested and/or had time. I wasn't to sure about it at
first. It was such a foreign and scary thought to "act" in front of a
camera. (Photo above by Adrian Danchig-Waring)
I decided to go for it, so we worked a bit
in January on some of the material, and then I'd say we rehearsed
regularly for about 7 weeks - the whole of last Spring season. Whenever I
didn't have a show I was working in the afternoons and evenings with
Pontus and Giovanni, either at BAC or Joyce Soho. (Often gave up my
Mondays to work with him too.) It was seriously taxing to spread myself
like that, and it was frustrating for me to remember the choreography.
We rarely used the music, and it was much different movement style for
me. A lot of floor work and holding the weight of the men. My arms got
quite strong from holding their weight:) Gabrielle Lamb was my cover and
she helped me so much with the movement.
The choreography eventually
started to flow for me when we would do showings. I knew that filming
would bring on a different and interesting life to the steps. I was
eager to feel what that would be like. Once I got to Stockholm, the experience of filming was totally worth all that work, and it was beyond what I could ever have imagined.
I really enjoyed the "acting" and telling this particular story. I
loved being able to show these two very different sides of "a woman"....
A real woman, with feelings and faults and desires - one side that's
hardened and a bit bored and one that seeks out and embraces pleasure
and intimacy.
Pontus had to keep reminding me to get off my
tip toes and walk on my heels, like a pedestrian. He seemed to see
something in me for the role that I wasn't so sure of at first, but he
and I developed it together in the studio, but in front of the camera he
really pulled it out of me and shaped it. (Above photo by Adrian Danchig-Waring)
Giovanni Buccheri, the other
dancer in the film, was incredibly helpful too. It became very easy to
lock eyes with Giovanni and get into his zone. He's quite intense.
Giovanni and I play a husband and wife whose marriage has gone stale and
we have a great discomfort communicating. We say a lot through our eyes.
Our duet is more staccato and brittle, square and confined. He
imagines I am having a affair. It's not totally clear if it's real or
his imagination.
Pontus plays the lover, and he seems to be part
beautiful young man and part animal. Our duets are very seductive and
sensual, full of swoops and circles, and skin and touching. I don't
think you see much of his face, unfortunately.... in our duets,
mostly bodies, I think. He's sort of kept a mystery.
We filmed in a castle just outside
Stockholm for a week. We worked at least 12 hours a day. I never wanted it to
end each day. The crew was fantastic - from the cinematographer to the
one makeup artist. They were all top notch in their field and lovely
people.
Pontus directed the film, and he was amazing at it. He was so
focused and knew exactly what to say to get what he wanted out of us. It
was really something else, another level of artistry and beauty. I have
no idea what the film will be like at all. All I know is what it felt
to be a part of it... it was a week of total love and magic."
Above, Pontus and Wendy photographed by Adrian Danchig-Waring. I've always thought Wendy Whelan would be a splendid big-screen presence so it's enticing to read that she loved the experience and wants to explore further possibilities.
Now we await the film's release and hopefully an opportunity to see it here in Gotham.
Meanwhile, there's an opportunity to see Pontus Lidberg's choreography here in NYC as he participates in the performances by MORPHOSES at The Guggenheim on October 2nd and 3rd. Info here. For these performances, both Pontus and Jessica Lang will be setting the same work by composer David Lang (whose music is also to be heard in the film). More about the MORPHOSES performances will appear on my blog in the coming days.
Tuesday September 14, 2010 - Nothing could have pleased me more than to watch Balanchine's immortal SERENADE being performed by the magnificent dancers of the New York City Ballet as the opening work of their first Autumn season. An Ernst Haas photograph of the choreographer above.
Getting ready for the performance, it was an odd sensation to put on 'real' clothes after spending 99% of the summer in my old faded cargo shorts and ratty sneakers. The plaza at Lincoln Center was buzzing with the comings and goings of the Fashion Week crowd, and the Met has hoisted a huge banner in anticipation of their upcoming new - and totally sold-out - RHEINGOLD. Inside, the State Theatre was nearly full and the audience showed great enthusiasm all evening.
Peter Martins welcomed us and then called on his principal dancers to step out, one by one, to vigorous applause. Only Benjamin Millepied was absent ("He's somewhere in France..." Peter told us, gesturing vaguely in the direction of Paris). Some of the dancers were in costume already; those who were not dancing this evening came in their street clothes. Peter has dedicated the Fall season to his principal artists, and their photos - by Henry Leutwyler - grace the walls of the 1st Ring Promenade. It was lovely to see them all ranged across the stage. Peter further announced that free champagne would be served during intermission and asked everyone to toast the principal dancers. Champagne in the evening makes me sleepy so I did not partake, but I certainly toast the dancers every single day. Paul Kolnik photo above: click to enlarge.
SERENADE is the ballet I have seen more times than any other, and it is the ballet I love above all else. I never tire of it and even now, some 35 years after seeing it for the first time, I still find it wonderfully fresh and compelling. Balanchine's switching of the order of the musical movements turns what might have been just a beautifully swirling series of dances into something far more poignant and illusive.
In tonight's performance, Faycal Karoui tended to push things a bit in the first movement ; the dancers sometimes seemed rushed in their phrasing. Later the tempos smoothed out and there was more time for breadth of movement, and of expression.
The corps danced beautifully; I love sweeping my opera glasses from one ballerina to another during this ballet and watching their quietly committed responses to the music. The four demi-solistes tonight were just delicious: Faye Arthurs, Alina Dronova, Lauren King and Georgina Pazcoguin.
Of the leading roles, Megan Fairchild's clarity of technique and her ever-maturing artistry were truly pleasing to behold, and Sara Mearns danced with thrilling amplitude. Over the years (decades, really) I have seen the three principal female roles of SERENADE danced by so many persuasive beauties, each convincing me at the time that her interpretation was the ideal. Megan and Sara tonight each seemed just right, and I loved watching them.
Janie Taylor's in-House SERENADE debut struck a particularly deep and resonant chord with me; ever since she stepped out as a mere slip of a girl fresh from SAB in Balanchine's LA VALSE she has brought a special quality of impetuous, unique glamour to everything she dances. She can seem - in the same phrase - both marvelously cool and unsettlingly passionate: a paradox, but there it is.
Having gone thru an injury and illness ordeal that would have defeated a ballerina of less resolve, Janie's performances always fascinate me. Tonight she created her role in a way that made the ballet seem so alive and so...important. Beautifully partnered by Charles Askegard in the second movement, Janie was well on her way to success; yet in the third and fourth movements, aided by the now-perfect pacing from Maestro Karoui, she took us to another world altogether. When the Taylor hair came cascading down, a frisson swept thru the House: how vulnerable she seemed suddenly.
And how beautifully Ask LaCour managed his three ballerinas in that fourth movement, whether simply walking across the stage in unison with Sara and Janie, or catching Megan as she flew into his arms, or - best of all - when the three women lay their heads against his chest. Then there's the passage where the four of them clasp hands in the center and swirl in a circle before whirling off individually to the four corners of the stage. How did Balanchine come up with that simple but oh-so-effective idea? I don't know, but I'm glad he did.
The audience seemed to agree with me that we'd seen something special: insistent applause and volleys of 'bravos' called the dancers out three times: the season is off to a wonderful start.
Who remembers GRAZIOSO? I certainly do. In this charming ballet set to music of Mikhail Glinka, Peter Martins provides four of the Company's virtuoso dancers with many opportunities to shine. In Paul Kolnik's photo above: Gonzalo Garcia, Andrew Veyette and Ashley Bouder. Ashley has a new costume for this revival (I prefer the original, above). She danced with brilliance and reveled in all the choreographic demands: one sensational balance stood out, along with flurries of multiple pirouettes and many flourishes expertly timed to the music. The three men vied with one another in a contest to see who could execute the most astonishing combinations. The audience cheered them on and seemed to favor Daniel Ulbricht but really, all three were high on the dazzle charts.
UPDATE: Here's Ashley in her new costume with all three boys. This photo by Paul Kolnik from the opening night performance.
The music of Giuseppe Verdi (above) - culled from his operas I VESPRI SICILIANI, I LOMBARDI and IL TROVATORE - propels the dancers thru the colorful Jerome Robbins extravaganza THE FOUR SEASONS, always a delightful finale to an NYCB evening. If the ballet is sometimes a bit silly and sometimes outright camp, the dancers know how to bring just the right touch of tongue-in-cheek wittiness to the stage. And Robbins demands bravura brilliance much of the time which these dancers deliver with ease.
Erica Pereira, Sean Suozzi and Christian Tworzyanski were a lively trio in Winter, followed by the one-and-only Jenifer Ringer giving a lovely performance in Spring where her cavalier, Jared Angle, danced his solo passages with impressive clarity. The quartet of bouncing boys - Giovanni Villalobos, Allen Peiffer, Ralph Ippolito and David Prottas - delighted the audience.
In Summer, one of my favorite partnerships at NYCB these days - Rebecca Krohn and Amar Ramasar - looked magnificently grand and sexy and they danced so very well. When their 'season' ended, I wanted to call out "Could you do that again, please?"
But Antonio Carmena's faun had already signaled the approach of Autumn where Tonio, the brilliant and zesty Tiler Peck and the fantastical Joaquin de Luz went wild with spins and leaps, reaping repeated waves of applause as they tossed off balletic feats with total abandon.
Justin Peck's stately Janus sets the ballet in motion, and the four deities - Russell Janzen, Ellen Ostrom, Marika Anderson and Henry Seth - paraded around in their flowing capes. In Fall, several new female corps members were to be seen; we will have to put names to these pretty faces. It was good to see Antonio Carmena, Russell Janzen and Brittany Pollack all back onstage after bouts of injury - may they dance now in the best of health.
Overall it was one of the best audiences in recent seasons - until the end of Winter when some idiot woman in the 4th Ring suddenly decided that someone had 'stolen' her seat (she had clearly come to the wrong tier after intermission) and loudly proclaimed that she was going to find an usher and have the culprit ejected. Of course, we never saw her again - she's probably in Bellevue now, hopefully under sedation.
OK, I know...I should be feeling too old and jaded to be all excited about the opening of the Fall Season at New York City Ballet. But instead I feel almost giddy...and I keep getting these little shivers of excitement at the prospect of seeing SERENADE again. I should be used to all this by now, but I'm not.
What the next four weeks will bring us in terms of repertoire is certainly cause for anticipation, but even more than that I'm looking forward to seeing the dancers who are some of my favorite super-talented people on the face of the Earth. Above, the three blonde beauties: Teresa Reichlen, Sterling Hyltin and Sara Mearns in a Henry Leutwyler photo. Let's go, goddesses!
One last gallery of Kokyat's images from our Labor Day photo-shoot. Above: Josiah Guitian and Christine Moloney.
There is a small album of my own candid pictures from this photo-shoot on Facebook.
Jamison Goodnight
Michelle Puskas
Matthew Tiberi
Josiah Guitian with Jamison, Michelle and Christine
Matt Tiberi & Josiah Guitian
Josiah & Matt
Christine, Jamison & Michelle
Parting shot: after two hours of shooting in the studio, the dancers were still up for a final leap. Kokyat had a great time working with these dancers and we extend our thanks to Christine, Matt, Michelle, Jamison and Josiah. We're already talking about ideas for more photo-shoots; working with this group certainly bolstered our optimism about making such shoots an on-going feature of my blog.
My very special thanks to Kokyat. Visit the Facebook page with many of his images from our various dance experiences here.
The only problem to arise from having had this Labor Day photo-shoot is deciding which images by Kokyat to post on my blog. He took hundreds of pictures that afternoon and then he began sending the ones he liked best to me in batches. The dancers took a look at the photos and most of them were 'approved' for publication so then it fell to me to pick and choose. Above, the wonderful quintet of dancers who worked so beautifully together and made the afternoon so enjoyable: Jamison Goodnight, Matthew Tiberi, Christine Moloney, Josiah Guitian and Michelle Puskas. Click the image above to enlarge.
Jamison Goodnight
Josiah Guitian
Michelle Puskas
Matt Tiberi (in the air) and Josiah Guitian
Christine Moloney and Josian Guitian
Jamison Goodnight and Christine Moloney; click image to enlarge.
Josiah Guitian and Christine Moloney
Matt Tiberi & Michelle Puskas; click image to enlarge.
Still more of Kokyat's images from our Labor Day photos-shoot. Looking at the photos reminds me of what a nice afternoon we had with these dancers; the were all so amiable and willing to try anything, in addition to coming up with ideas for some of the best shots. Above and immediately below, Josiah Guitian and Michelle Puskas.
The above images will enlarge with a click.
Christine Moloney
Jamison Goodnight
Click on each of the next four images to enlarge:
Matt Tiberi, Michelle Puskas
Christine Moloney, Josiah Guitian
Matt Tiberi, Christine Moloney
Jamison, Christine and Michelle
I was thinking there would be one more gallery to come from this photo-shoot, but now I'm thinking there will be two more. At least.