Oberon's Grove: Balanchine & Ratmansky @ NYCB

Thursday January 20, 2011 - Maria Kowroski opened this evening's programme at New York City Ballet in the Preghiera of Balanchine's MOZARTIANA. I hadn't seen Maria in this ballet for a while and was really looking forward to it. Above: Maria on the cover of the DVD of Bringing Balanchine Back. What? You haven't seen it yet? Tsk, tsk. Go get a copy now and watch it.

But before the curtain rose, the orchestra pit rose to stage level and Faycal Karoui came out and started talking about MOZARTIANA and having the musicians play phrases from the Tchaikovsky score. This is all well and good for people who like this sort of thing...but I don't. Faycal is charming of course and it is nice to see the faces of the musicians and hear them playing as individuals. But the information has to be so general in order for the musical laymen in the House to comprehend it that it really serves no valuable purpose. Also the Preghiera is such a serene, spiritually pleasing way to start an evening of dance; you just want the House to go dark and to see the gorgeous Maria K immediately. Finally, the added 8 or 10 minutes of talk and examples pushed the programme just long enough into that purgatory when trains run with far less frequency. (Have you noticed how they raised the Metrocard fee while correspondingly cutting service?) Anyway, after half an hour on the platform I did finally get on a super-crowded A train.

Tonight's lineup:

MOZARTIANA: Kowroski, *T. Angle, Ulbricht

CONCERTO DSCH: Whelan, Millepied, Bouder, *Veyette, De Luz

CORTÈGE HONGROIS: Mearns, Askegard (replacing J. Stafford), Scheller, Muller, Krohn, Suozzi

Maria Kowroski's performance in MOZARTIANA was radiantly danced; whether skimming the stage in bourees or wafting her legendary extension heavenward, Maria was a complete joy to behold. Her Preghiera was luminous. Tyler Angle had the unenviable task of inheriting his role in this ballet from a perfect interpreter: Philip Neal. Tyler gave an impeccable performance, matching Maria in poise and expressiveness and assuring us that these danseur noble roles will be in very good hands for years to come. I must also commend Tyler for the great leap forward he has made in technical polish and presentation over the past couple of seasons.

Daniel Ulbricht (photographed by Henry Leutwyler, above) turns the soloist role in MOZARTIANA into a young prince. However many times you might see Daniel in a given part, he's never content to just come out and coast thru it. You always feel in watching him not just his technical wizardry but a thoughtful approach to each role - even the most purely virtuosic - that makes his every perfomance special. That's a great gift for a dancer to give us.

The quartet of ballerinas - Marika Anderson, Dara Johnson, Gwyneth Muller and Gretchen Smith - looked fine in their satiny black frocks and danced the Menuet joyfully. Their young counterparts from SAB also did very well and I was wondering: has any dancer performed both as a little girl and later as a Company ballerina in this work?

The revival of Ratmansky's CONCERTO DSCH (Kolnik photo, above) was to have featured a reunion of the original cast but due to Gonzalo Garcia's absence, Andrew Veyette made a debut in this ballet...a very exciting debut. In this piece (which I think is Ratmansky's best so far) Andrew and Joaquin De Luz perform wild virtuoso feats, spurring one another on to see who can leap highest, spin fastest and pull off the craziest aerial stunts. They were both just fantastic. Ashley Bouder also was sensational tonight both in her dancing and her facial expressions; in the first two weeks of this Winter season we'll have seen her as a romantic (VALSE-FANTAISIE), witty (DSCH) and severely contemporary (OUTLIER) ballerina. Her range is as impressive as her technique.

In the central pas de deux, set to a ravishing melody, Wendy Whelan and Benjamin Millepied danced with airy lightness and grace. The tenderness of their duet is an oasis of calm in this swirlingly colorful ballet. How simply gorgeous to see Wendy floating magically in high lifts. She and Benjamin were so poetic here. And a rose for pianist Elaine Chelton for her expressive playing of this tear-inducing theme.

At the premiere of CONCERTO DSCH a 'corps' of soloists and senior corps dancers made a major contribution to the work's success. For this revival a particularly impressive set of corps dancers appeared, each making a vivid personal impression. There is so much to take in while watching this ballet and I enjoyed focussing on each of these 14 dancers in turn. It was especially good to see Russell Janzen dancing again after quite a long hiatus.

Sara Mearns danced sumptuously in a revival of Balanchine's CORTEGE HONGROIS tonight. Sara, above as the Sugar Plum Fairy with Charles Askegard in a Paul Kolnik photo. Charles replaced Jonathan Stafford as Sara's partner tonight.

Sara's regal dancing, her beautiful line, her musicality and fearless technique mesmerized the audience tonight. For all her bejeweled elegance there is just a touch of the feral in Sara's presentation. This makes her doubly fascinating. Her solo was jaw-dropping in its security, clarity and lushness of expression. The crowd simply basked in her glorious performance. Charles Askegard had the ballerina well-in-hand and he spun off a long series of turns in the center with easy command as if to say "This is how it's done."

CORTEGE HONGROIS is like two ballets in one: the classical and the folk-inspired. Leading the Czardas were Rebecca Krohn and Sean Suozzi, both exuding star power in their fanciful costumes. Their back-up emsemble included such spirited folk-heros as Giovanni Villalobos and Vincent Paradiso, and it's always good seeing Henry Seth - dancing with Lydia Wellington.

On the classical side, Ana Sophia Scheller (soon to appear in the principal role of this ballet - a must-see event) and Gwyneth Muller danced their solos beautifully and the quartet of Sara Adams, Likolani Brown, Alina Dronova and Lauren King were just peachy in the pas de quatre. Good to see Zachary Catazaro back after he missed a performance on Tuesday. Questing this corps of courtiers with my opera glasses I paused for a while to watch Alina Dronova and Chase Finlay dancing with such assurance and flair.

But really, everyone onstage all evening just gave and gave and gave, making this a particularly satisfying evening at the ballet.

Finally, the question of the evening needs to be answered: yes, Natalie Portman was there.

Comments

To answer your question- Gwyneth danced in Mozartiana as a little girl and dances it now- there's a short picture of it in the "When we were kids" video from Dancer's choice. :-)

Posted by: Sandi D | January 22, 2011 at 04:52 AM