Above: New York City Ballet principal dancer Joaquin de Luz is among the artists to be featured in Justn Peck's new creation for NYCB. Photo by Henry Leutwyler.
Monday September 24, 2012 - The Guggenheim's Works & Process series continued tonight with a preview of a new ballet choreographed for New York City Ballet by Company corpsman Justin Peck. The work, entitled YEAR OF THE RABBIT, will premiere at Lincoln Center on October 5th.
Ellen Bar, former NYCB soloist and now the Company's Director of Media Projects, led the discussion. Composer Sufjan Stevens and musical arranger Michael Atkinson joined Justin on the panel. Much of the evening was given over to outlining the evolution of the score which began life as a 2001 electronic recording. Mr. Atkinson had the task of distilling the music for string quartet, and now that the ballet is to be presented in the large venue at Lincoln Center it's been decided that a full orchestration of the music will best compliment both the space and Justin's vision of using a large enemble of dancers.
In 2010, Justin showed the pas de deux ENJOY YOUR RABBIT as part of a Columbia Ballet Collaborative evening. Read about it here; Kokyat's photo above with Teresa Reichlen and Justin dancing the duet for CBC. On receiving the commission from Peter Martins for a new work for NYCB, Justin decided to expand on the original pas de deux. The full work, now titled YEAR OF THE RABBIT, features six principal dancers and a corps de ballet.
Mr. Atkinson - who will conduct the NYCB performances - stepped into the pit at The Guggenheim to lead the quartet's performances of excerpts this evening. Kurt Nikkanen, Lydia Hong, Maureen Gallagher and Eugene Moye were the players and everything was in good hands from a musical stand-point.
Introducing the first danced except, Justin spoke of the speedy and evasive movements of a rabbit when it is being pursued: the wily changes of direction that help him evade capture. Joaquin de Luz brought these very elements to play in the solo. This peerless danseur is on my A-list of favorite dancers to watch just for the sheer pleasure of watching. His mercurial performance made me wish the solo was twice as long.
Tiler Peck is a latecomer to this work; she replaces the injured Ashley Bouder. Justin talked about creating a piece on one dancer and then having it danced by another; and that while Tiler and Ashley are both super-technicians, each gives the solo a particluar resonance. Hopefully at future performances Ashley will have the opportunity to dance, but tonight Tiler's radiant qualities and her subtle sense of the solo's wit were very engaging. Justin gave her a few notes and she danced it again. Every time I see Tiler onstage I am happy that her career and my ballet-going have coincided.
Two duets were shown: an expansive and vibrant one for Teresa Reichlen and Robert Fairchild and a more dreamy and evocative one for Janie Taylor and Craig Hall. The Reichlen/Fairchild partnership really shines; there's a rich chemistry there and I hope we'll see them paired in other ballets. When two charismatic dancers like Janie and Craig take the stage together, things become engrossingly wonderful; their duet reminded me of their breathtaking performance in AFTERNOON OF A FAUN.
(And speaking of Tess Reichlen, her upcoming debut in the adagio of SYMPHONY IN C on October 2nd is a red-letter date on my calendar.)
You can watch a film of this evening's Works & Process presentation here.
So now we can look forward to seeing YEAR OF THE RABBIT onstage, costumed and lit and with the corps dancing. It has been a long creative process and I feel sure the result will be rewarding.
Loved running into Tom Gold after the performance; I need to touch base with him before he takes his Company to Cuba!