Tuesday September 27, 2011 - When I think of my 'top 25' ballets by George Balanchine, UNION JACK is not on the list. I like to see it once in a while (mainly because you get to see so many dancers we love all in one fell swoop) but it doesn't compare to things like SERENADE, FOUR TEMPERAMENTS or SYMPHONY IN C mainly because the musical score is just a melange of sea shanties, British naval themes and folk tunes strung together with filler by Hershy Kay. But it suits Balanchine's purposes well for this ballet, inspired by the military tattoo he saw in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Tonight, serving as the second half of a programme which opened with the new OCEAN'S KINGDOM, UNION JACK seemed like the most fantastic bloody masterpiece ever made. A lineup of superstar principal dancers led the various regiments onto the stage in Balanchine's superbly crafted processional in which seemingly every available corps de ballet member and most of the soloists are pressed into kilts to fill the stage.
One after another, beloved dancers marched into view: Joaquin de Luz, Charles Askegard, Abi Stafford, Jared Angle, Janie Taylor, Wendy Whelan and Maria Kowroski. Corny as it may sound, I simply loved seeing them all onstage together: these are people who have given me so many fantastic nights of dancing over the years. I love them both as artists and as personalities. As they stepped out in the ensuing solos and duets, the lingering gloom induced by OCEAN'S KINGDOM vanished. We were back with our Company and all seemed right with the world again.
Later, Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Veyette appeared in the dance hall interlude as the Pearly King and his Queen. They were sweet, silly and sly...and meanwhile they both danced very well too.
In the final segment, super-soloists Adam Hendrickson and Sean Suozzi joined Wendy Whelan for some loose-limbed high-jinx. Joaquin flirted with Abi and Janie and the three of them whisked about the stage with efffortless comic bravura. Jared and Chuck looked terrific, and then Mrs. Harvey (aka Maria K) came strutting along the quarterdeck as a high-kicking Wren.
UNION JACK might not be the greatest Balanchine ballet but as an antidote to the evening's earlier offering it was sheer perfection. Several people around me stood up to cheer at the end as the NYCB all-stars came before the curtain to bow.