Oberon's Grove

NYCB NUTCRACKER 2010 #6

Thursday December 30, 2010 @ 2:00 PM - Today's treat: Hot Chocolate!

This was one of those difficult days at the ballet - nothing to do with the dancing, which was super all afternoon. But my usual safe-haven in the 5th Ring was full of chatty, cell-phone prone, camera clicking and food-consuming persons (a group, so it seems - they all knew each other). They were pretty quiet during the overture and then there was some commotion and they started going in and out and there was lots of whispering. Apparently they did not like the 5th Ring view and went to complain or find other seats. I gave up and went to standing room, But there was a kid up in the gallery who talked all the way thru the party scene with no attempt from his parents to shut him up. Other people were shushing and one woman said: "Take him out!" but the parents didn't budge.

So, all I remember about Act I today was that Vincent Paradiso seemed to be doing twice as many flat-footed entrechats as usual in the Soldier doll solo. I love it when the dancers improvise like that. The snow scene was very pretty and perhaps that music finally lulled the blabbering brat in the Fourth Ring to sleep.

The main reason I went to the performance today was to see Rebecca Krohn's Sugar Plum Fairy. Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while knows that Rebecca is one of my ballerinas of choice: I singled her out soon after she joined the Company and I've been very pleased with her progress - most especially in the last two or three years where she seemed to really take things to another level in terms of presence and presentation. She has the look, the technique and the artistry and she showed them all off to perfection today with a very impressive performance of this difficult role.

Right from her first entry, everything looked so polished and clear. The solo was attractively danced in the lyric style with just a trace of prima ballerina hauteur here and there to keep things fascinating. Her cavalier in the pas de deux was Zachary Catazaro, one of the handsomest guys in the Company. I'd mostly only ever seen him in the large corps works so I had no idea how he would fare in this testing adagio or how he would register as a stage presence beyond his good looks. He did really well; he and Rebecca had clearly worked hard to develop a strong partnership and things went smoothly, they looked great together and they had a flair for finishing things off with just the right flourish. The audience seemed very taken with them and gave them a big cheer at the curtain calls. After this, I would look for Zachary's partnering stock for go way up; as for Rebecca, one might say 'a star is born' but she's been a star in my book for a while now.

 

Zachary Catazaro and Rebecca Krohn; headshots by Paul Kolnik.

Tiler Peck's Dewdrop was spectacular, full of sustained balances and brilliant pirouettes. She varied the pacing of certain phrases, such as her spins en attitude which seemed to linger on the music to delightful effect. A phenomenal dancer in every respect.

Marika Anderson and Gwyneth Muller were poised and gracious as the demi-flowers. Mary Elizabeth Sell repeated her excellent Spanish senorita from yesterday; today she danced with Devin Alberda, one of the corps de ballet's most accomplished young men. Both Mary and Devin seem ready for more and bigger assignments. Megan LeCrone's Arabian is all mysterious allure, and superbly danced. Antonio Carmena (Tea) and Giovanni Villolobos (Candy Cane) were on fine form.

As the Marzipan's back-up quartet Likolani Brown, Alina Dronova, Callie Bachman and Meagan Mann danced charmingly and remained unperturbed when the fire alarm started going off during their piece. Brittany Pollack was the main Shepherdess, adding another sparkling performance to her list. In the finale, Brittany treated us to three beautifully elongated grand jetes: no signs of NUTCRACKER fatigue from this rising star.

Brittany's vibrant performance was one more reason to celebrate the perfection of the Balanchine staging of this ballet. There's been a lot of controversy about the new ABT/Ratmansky production, but one thing is clear: the set pieces of the Act II divertissement in the Balanchine version are surely more rewarding to dance than their Ratmansky counterparts. Spanish, Arabian, Marzipan, Dewdrop - these Balanchine roles give young up-and-coming dancers great opportunities to step out and show what they can do. Ratmansky's Spanish and Marzipan are nothing-special ensemble pieces, his Arabian is a bare-chested guy doing a walk-about, and there's no Dewdrop at all. 

It was interesting today to listen to the Battle of the Mice music while leaning against the back wall of the gallery, not watching the action. You don't even need to see the stage to know exactly what's happening because Balanchine uses every militaristic ruffle and flourish in the music - right down to the smallest instrumental nuance - to depict the conflict in theatrical detail.

 

TKO

Ringside seats for the title bout between Christopher Ralph and Bennyroyce Royon at the Secret Theatre in Queen, December 19, 2010. Photos by Kokyat.

Benny

Chris

NYCB NUTCRACKER 2010 #5

Wednesday December 29, 2010 @ 2:00 PM - Today's treat: candy canes!

In the final week of New York City Ballet's annual NUTCRACKER season I decided to brave two matinee shows - knowing they'd be packed with tiny tots - in order to see some of my favorite dancers who have taken on new roles in this ballet this Winter. This afternoon I saw Lauren King as the Dewdrop and Vincent Paradiso as Drosselmeyer. Both of these dancers had made their debuts in these roles earlier in the month. Tomorrow I will see our newest Sugar Plum Fairy, Rebecca Krohn who just debuted in this role opposite Zachary Catazaro (another first-timer).

In the week between Christmas and New Year attendance sometimes falls off a bit at the NYCB NUTCRACKER but today the House seemed pretty well packed. Aside from one terribly loud cellphone ringing, the audience was pretty well-behaved.

Vincent Paradiso's Drosselmeyer (seen in a backstage photo, above) is dance-oriented in its movement and his characterization is detailed and fully-formed. It seems that, aside from some basic blocking, the NYCB Drosselmeyers can develop the character each in his own way. Vincent leaves off the arthritic old-man stuff; just having white hair doesn't automatically make you a senior citizen: my hair was completely white by the time I was 30.  Vincent plays Drosselmeyer as a vigorous gentlemen, young and strong enough to lift Austin Laurent's soldier doll and carry him back to his gift box after his solo. Using his arms and hands beautifully, Vincent's is clearly a dance-based portrayal, and in fact he broke into a jig at one point and even added a touch of flamenco footwork. His rapport with the individual children and with the party guests was easy and natural. As the party was winding down, Vincent began sizing up the room and planning his magic spells for the upcoming scene where he will make everything grow. It's good to see such a polished and well-thought-out portrayal - the latest in a long line of Drosselmeyers at NYCB that stretches back to Jerome Robbins and to Balanchine himself.

The party scene seemed especially pleasant today, perhaps as an antidote to Ramtamsky's unfortunate concept as presented in the new ABT version. Amanda Hankes as the graceful Frau Stahlbaum and Henry Seth as her spouse welcomed their guests elegantly and worked hard to keep their naughty son under control. Aside from Austin Laurent's tall soldier, Sara Adams and Callie Bachman were sweet and charming as Harlequin and Columbine. In the snow scene I very much enjoyed watching Lauren Lovette while in the meantime trying to figure out who some of these new faces in the corps belong to.

Teresa Reichlen's Sugar Plum Fairy is so dreamy to watch: her beautiful floating-on-air quality in the solo is matched by the gentle radiance of her facial expressions. Her two big jetees just before she leaves the stage to the Spanish dancers were so remarkably stretched out and silky. In the pas de deux, Tess and her cavalier Ask LaCour use their height to exude a regal feeling; they moved securely thru all the many dangers that Mr. B has set in their path and reached a climax with an exciting balance from the ballerina.  If Tess was an opera singer instead of a ballet dancer, she would be one of the great lyric sopranos of all time. I'm looking forward to what the coming Winter repertory season might have in store for her.

Mary Elizabeth Sell and Daniel Applebaum danced Spanish; Mary looks superb and - speaking of balances - she had one phenomenal one. She reminds me more and more of Alexandra Ansanelli, quite a high compliment in my book. She and Daniel were going great guns with some wonderfully spacious dancing; Daniel had to put a hand-down in the final pose but it really didn't spoil the effect of their flavorful dancing.

The long-limbed Gwyneth Muller danced Arabian with evocative fluidity of movement; when viewed from above the dancer in this piece casts a triple shadow. Giovanni Villalobos was a musical and technically precise Tea, and Adam Hendrickson spiced up his Candy Cane by increasing the speed of his hoop-leaps as he came down the center line. Later in the finale Adam added an extra jump thru the hoop as he made his exit. Erica Pereira's Marzipan reminds us how difficult this solo is - and how easy she makes it look. Cameron Dieck's Mother Ginger has become a more detailed characterization in the course of the season; I expect we'll soon see Cameron as lead dancer in Spanish and eventually as the Sugar Plum cavalier. He's too princely of a dancer to keep him in a hoopskirt for very long.   

Kokyat photographed Lauren King (above) when she appeared in a Zalman Grinberg pas de deux (with Vincent Paradiso partnering her) at the Young Choreographers Showcase at MMAC earlier this year. This fetching young ballerina caught my eye right from her first appearances on this stage and it was simply a great pleasure to watch her Dewdrop today. She was wonderfully quicksilver in her movement and with a smile that so clearly shows her pleasure in being able to dance as she does. After seeing her in the Grinberg duet, I feel certain she will be dancing Sugar Plum - and several other major roles - very soon. Georgina Pazcoguin and Rebecca Krohn were the demi-flowers, both thoroughly lovely.  

Although the Balanchine NUTCRACKER has had a bit of friendly competition this Winter from the new ABT/Ratmansky setting at BAM, today's performance at New York City Ballet - coming at a point in time when the dancers, musicians and stage crew are probably suffering keenly from NUTZ-exhaustion - served as a reminder that this timelessly classy version with which Mr. B brought the Tchaikovsky score back to prominence is the one that will endure. Its old-world charm may seem dated to some people, but its perfect fusion of music and choreography makes it indispensable.

From spotting the cat in the Stahlbaum's window (who has been sitting there for a half-century) to that stunning moment at the end of the Sugar Plum Fairy pas de deux when the ballerina lets go of her partner's hand in a sustained balance, the Balanchine NUTCRACKER continues to cast its spell, however often I see it.

 

En garde!

Kokyat's images from the December 19, 2010 photoshoot at The Secret Theatre in Queens. Above: Bennyroyce Royon.

Paul Monaghan and Justin Lynch

Paul Monaghan and Justin Lynch

Justin Lynch

Justin Lynch & Bennyroyce Royon

Justin Lynch & Bennyroyce Royon

Bennyroyce Royon

Paul Monaghan and Christopher Ralph

Justin Lynch

All photos by Kokyat. Click on the images to enhance.

DASH Ensemble: News

Gregory Dolbashian's DASH Ensemble are preparing for their performances at Dance Theater Workshop on January 7th and 8th where they are sharing the bill with Camille Brown, Helios Dance Theater and Corbindances. Above photo by Kokyat: Christopher Ralph and Marie Doherty of the DASH Ensemble.

Watch a cool video of Gregory talking about The Playground here. 

Photoshoot: Christopher Ralph

Kokyat's images of dancer Christopher Ralph from our December 19, 2010 photoshoot at The Secret Theatre in Queens.

Ratmansky's NUTCRACKER for ABT

Sunday December 26, 2010 at 5:30 PM - Ever since he photographed Veronika Part when she was dancing for Avi Scher, Kokyat has been smitten with the ballerina. He had a second opportunity to photograph her when she repeated her role in Avi's ballet TOUCH. He and I went to see her in ABT's SWAN LAKE and he was really excited at the prospect of seeing her in Alexei Ratmansky's new version of THE NUTCRACKER. Kokyat's image of the ballerina, above.

I have always liked ABT's 'Baryshnikov' NUTCRACKER though I must say I think the filmed version falls short of experiencing it in the theatre. I especially like what Baryshnikov did with some of the divertissement pieces, most notably Spanish (danced in this filmed clip by Jolinda Menendez and Clark Tippett) and Marzipan (Aurea Hammerli and Warren Connover in the filmed excerpt).   I also have a soft spot for the way Baryshinikov made the pas de deux a 'psychological' pas de trois for Clara, the Prince and Drosselmeyer. I once saw three consecutive performances of the Baryshnikov production on a single weekend: my Claras were Leslie Browne, Mariana Tcherkassky and Natalia Markarova. Much as I admire Gelsey Kirkland in the film, each of these ballerinas was quite wonderful in the role.

Aside from the Balanchine NUTCRACKER which I have seen close to a hundred times (not counting the filmed version), the Baryshnikov setting is the only version of this ballet I'm really familiar with. But it's been years since it was presented 'live' and now ABT have put on a new version at BAM and so we braved the snowy trek to Brooklyn and the restless audience full of kids to see what Ratmansky has devised.

The Ratmansky NUTCRACKER opens in the Stahlbaum kitchen. Mice (beautifully costumed in in grey tailcoats) play a big role in this production, especially one little mouse who quickly became tiresome. The kitchen scene was an unnecessary addition since it had nothing to do with anything.

One immediate realization about this production is how much better the NYCB orchestra play this score than their ABT counterparts. Of course, the NYCB musicians have had much more experience playing it. (The interpolated violin intermezzo which links the two scenes of Act I of the Balanchine is not done at ABT).

The party scene is played in a large, flat-tourquoise room. The children in this scene are too old to still be enchanted by Christmas, so they are spoiled and snotty instead. There's hardly any dancing aside from the Harlequin/Columbine duo and a couple known as The Recruit and the Canteen Keeper. These mechanical dolls appear from large wrapped Xmas boxes just as the dolls in Balanchine's version do. But their choreography isn't nearly as lovely. They also reappear randomly later in the production.

There is no sense of mystery or magic about Ratmansky's Drosselmeyer who looks - in his plaid pants and spangled cloak-liner - like a 19th century dandy/pimp. Isaac Stappas, handsome as ever, did what he could with the role.

Rehearsal photo: Ratmansky, Gomes, Part.

The Battle of the Mice is a rather helter-skelter affair. Then we're off to the Snow scene where Clara and her boy-prince encounter their older selves in the persons of Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes. The younger and older couple have a sort of parallel pas de deux; there's lots of hugging and excitement over being with someone you love but the choreography for Part & Gomes seems hellbent on making them look their worst for the most part. You have two of the greatest dancers in the world at your disposal and this is all you could think of to do? Meanwhile the snowflakes are doing some dancing but it isn't cohesive; in fact it's rather random....and they sometimes lay down on the floor. Their petite leaps in place make lots of toe-shoe racket on the stage, causing me to yearn for Balanchine's swift, magical and winter-quiet snowflakes. Where are Mary Sell and Sarah Villwock when you need them? Well, anyway, all the ABT snowflakes appear to die at the end of the scene. Drosselmeyer pushes on a large sleigh but its runners have not been oiled and there's a loud screeching sound. He manages to run over the tutu of one of the recumbent snowflakes before her gets Clara and her boy-prince into the sleigh to head for Sugar Plum Land. 

Ratmansky's divertissement 'national dances' lack the charm of the Balanchine versions - the music is charming, so the choreography should be also. Aside from a conventional and pleasing Spanish dance for three couples, most of the choreography in ABT's Act II went in for cuteness and cleverness rather than vivacity or anything vaguely poetic.

Who knew, for example, that the Nutcracker has five sisters? Dressed in pink top hats, five excellent ABT ballerinas danced very nicely but the choreography just seemed so pointless (they had the Marzipan music). I could swear I saw Maria Riccetto among them though she was not listed.

In Arabian, all I could think was "Sascha Radetsky came back to ABT for this?"  The conductor chose a molasses-in-January tempo, making the already-long piece stretch out interminably. The handsome Sascha, in harem pants, bare-chested and beautifully tattooed, simply walked around the stage while four women teased, cajoled and scolded him. At the very end of the piece he did a very quick phrase of real dancing and then swept off.

Marian Butler and Joseph Gorak were fine in Chinese though they had more interesting things to do in the finale than in the set piece. Three men danced a slapstick Russian trepak; the dancers were replacing the announced trio and I am not sure I got the names right but they seemed to be Luis Ribagorda, Roman Zhurbin and Julio Bragado-Young.

Ever since Balanchine put a male dancer on stilts and created a drag Mother Ginger, several productions have done the same in this number. Ratmansky tries it again but what undermines his version is having the 'polichinelles' dressed as Red Hot Chili Peppers. Cuteness prevailed yet again and by this point things were getting pretty stale. (Baryshnikov's pleasing solution to this set piece was to have it danced by four Jesters with tinkling bells sewn to their costumes).

The Waltz of the Flowers featured anonymously pretty choreography; there's no Dewdrop but there are four male Bees who buzz around the bouquet of ballerinas. My heart bled for the four excellent danseurs who were forced to carry on with much coy prancing about. Baryshnikov's version had also omitted the Dewdrop role, and he too used men in the Waltz but they were elegantly dressed cavaliers, not silly and superfluous bugs.

Part and Gomes danced splendidly in the grand pas de deux, given in standard performance order (adagio/male solo/female solo/coda) as opposed to Balanchine's version which rearranges it, putting the Sugar Plum variation at the start of Act II. There were some exciting partnering feats in the duet but even here Ratmansky seemed to feel a need to be different just for the sake of being different; the choreography wasn't memorable enough for me to recall specifics. At times, though, it seemed to me that the choreography was working against the natural grace of the dancers by making them do odd things.

As the finale draws to a close, Gomes asks Part to marry him. He places a ring on her finger while attendants place a veil on her head. They elope.

At the end, in a bizarre scene, Clara is seen in her bed with Gomes standing to one side and the boy-prince at the other. She awakes and goes first to one, then the other. Does she want them to get in bed with her? They recoil and withdraw. Clara settles down with her Nutcracker doll as the voyeuristic Drosselmeyer peeks in thru the window.

Curtain call photos by K. Click to enlarge.

There were lots of empty seats though it's possible the weather was to blame for some of them, The production seems to have been built for touring; it looks nice enough at BAM but I think it would be really dwarfed at the Met.

My guideline for the success or failure of a ballet production is simple: is it something I want to see again or - failing that - would I be willing to see again despite misgivings just to see other dancers in the leading roles? This production fails on both counts. Kokyat liked some of it simply because it was so visually different from anything else. I kept wishing they'd simply refurbished the Baryshinikov.

My friend and fellow blogger Tonya Plank takes a different view of the production here; she saw a different cast and I believe she plans to see additional performances.

So many superb dancers in each roster rank: I wish ABT would make more of an effort to mount productions which are truly worthy of their talents. 

Thinking about current choreographers who might offer an interesting take on NUTCRACKER, the names Christopher Wheeldon, Edwaard Liang and Melissa Barak came to mind.

 

 

Photoshoot: Paul Monaghan

Kokyat's images of Paul Monaghan from the photoshoot at The Secret Theatre in Queens on December 19, 2010. Kokyat photographed Paul earlier this year when he was rehearsing for a solo created on him by John-Mark Owen.

Click on the images for an enhanced view.

 

At the Secret Theatre

More of Kokyat's images from the photoshoot at The Secret Theatre in Queens in December 19th, 2010. Above: Christopher Ralph. Click on the above picture to enlarge.

Justin Lynch

Bennyroyce Royon

Paul Monaghan

Bennyroyce Royon

Justin Lynch

Paul Monaghan

Christopher Ralph

Paul and Justin Duke It Out

From Kokyat's December 19, 2010 photoshoot at the Secret Theatre: Paul Monaghan in the black trunks and Justin Lynch in the white trunks have at it.