Wednesday February 23, 2011 - A really nice evening at New York City Ballet tonight with two beautiful Balanchine masterworks as the centerpiece, opening with a recent work by Benjamin Millipied and ending with a Jerome Robbins classic that still feels quite contemporary even though it's a quarter-century old. Top photo: Sterling Hyltin & Tyler Angle in Benjamin Millepied's PLAINSPOKEN, photographed by Paul Kolnik.
PLAINSPOKEN: Hyltin, Taylor, Reichlen, Somogyi, T. Angle, Marcovici, Ramasar, J. Peck
VALSE-FANTAISIE: T. Peck, De Luz
SQUARE DANCE: M. Fairchild, *Huxley
GLASS PIECES: Laracey, Hankes, Lowery, Whelan, Finlay, Thew, Tworzyanski, Hall
The curtain rose on the Millepied and I felt certain I was going to like it much better than I did the last time I saw it. The music is very good (especially the 'Sterling Hyltin' section), and the eight dancers looked great. But as the work progressed I found my interest fading, despite the high level of dancing and the individual personalities of some of the Company's best and brightest stars. The audience applauded dutifully at the end but failed to muster a call for the dancers before the curtain. My feeling is that we won't see PLAINSPOKEN again; as well-danced as it is, there is nothing in the ballet that really grabs the viewer either musically, emotionally or technically.
Thereafter the performance soared steadily upward with superb dancing from Tiler Peck and Joaquin de Luz in VALSE-FANTAISIE. Backed by a lovely quartet of ballerinas - Amanda Hankes, Ashley Laracey, Gretchen Smith and Lydia Wellington - Tiler gave a stellar performance where her musicality, technical wizardry, personal beauty and her elegant joy in dancing Balanchine's steps combined in perfect measure to delight the audience. Joaquin tossed off the virtuoso passages with his accustomed brilliance. Watching Tiler and Joaquin is one of the great pleasures of ballet-going these days and they were at their finest tonight.
In SQUARE DANCE, Megan Fairchild has one of her most appealing roles. Whether wafting into balances or embroidering the stage with her fancy footwork, she gave a wonderful performance. Her partner was Anthony Huxley, debuting in his role with impressively precise technique. His quiet lyricism in the expressive slow solo kept the audience engaged, and he and Megan swept thru the allegro passages with easy charm. The audience responded enthusiastically to their dancing, calling them out three times before the curtain: a well-deserved success. The ensemble of twelve was comprised of excellent dancers from the NYCB corps and they all deserve mention: the ladies - Likolani Brown, Alina Dronova, Lauren King, Meagan Mann, Kristen Segin, Mary Elizabeth Sell - and the gentlemen: Devin Alberda, Cameron Dieck, Ralph Ippolito, Austin Laurent, Troy Schumacher and Giovanni Villalobos. They added so much to the pleasure of watching this beautiful Balanchine creation.
Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall danced the adagio of the concluding GLASS PIECES with cool intensity; the audience scarcely breathed as these two gorgeous dancers cast their spell, abetted by the mystery of the Philip Glass score. An excellent sextet of demi-solistes - Ashley Laracey with Chase Finlay, Amanda Hankes with Joshua Thew, and Savannah Lowery with Christian Tworzyanski - made a vivid impression in the first movement, and of course the finale of this ballet is a treat for corps watchers.
It was nice to see the house packed to the rafters tonight. Perhaps the sold-out SWAN LAKES this season have generated a desire among newcomers to the ballet to see more of the Company's rep and more of this great troupe of dancers. I hope the management are planning a couple weeks of SWAN LAKE in the Autumn: strike while the iron is hot! In addition to generating good box office and buzz, there are some potential Swan Queens and Siegfrieds in the Company who I'd like to see have an opportunity.
Comments