Above: a Paul Kolnik image from Justin Peck's IN CREASES; click on the photo to enlarge
Tuesday June 4th, 2013 - Justin Peck's IN CREASES premiered at Saratoga in 2012 and has now come to the State Theater at Lincoln Center. A pair of sleek black grand pianos are parked at the rear of the stage where Elaine Chelton and Alan Moverman deliver the Philip Glass score before a pale olive-grey backpanel. With imaginative lighting by Mark Stanley, the ballet has a somewhat astringent look offset by the quirky black socks and slippers worn by the boys. Set for eight dancers, the ballet seems larger.
Robert Fairchild gave an outstanding performance, functioning as part of the ensemble before stepping out in a demanding, dynamic solo which showed off the dancer's distinctive energy. Justin gives every dancer in the ballet opportunities to shine, and an especially appealing duet for Sara Adams and Christian Tworzyanski and a solo passage for Daniel Applebaum stood out. Brittany Pollack, Gretchen Smith, Emilie Gerrity and Devin Alberda (subbing for Taylor Stanley) all made strong contributions to the ballet's success.
IN CREASES is neatly structured and resposive to the music; right from the start, the movement draws us in. The choreography is busy but uncluttered and is vastly pleasing to watch - in fact, I wish I had planned to see it more than once, to savor more of the detail.
Richard Tanner seems to have stopped choreographing, which is a pity: his ballets ANCIENT AIRS AND DANCES and SOIREE are uniquely beautiful and I'd love to see them again. Tonight Tanner's 1982 duet to John Cage, SONATAS AND INTERLUDES, shared the programme's middle section with Justin's new ballet and looked wonderfully fresh.
Nancy McDill plays the prepared piano which sounds alternately like a broken music box and an off-kilter coffee percolator. She makes the music hypnotic and mysterious. I last saw this ballet a few seasons ago danced by Sara Mearns and William Lin-Yee in a memorable performance. Tonight's couple, Tiler Peck and Amar Ramasar, did a marvelous job of communicating this music in visual terms. In a series of duets the two dancers were finely meshed in movement and mood; in their solos their charismatic personalities emerged with clarity. The ballet seems cool and almost sterile, but Tiler and Amar seemed to indicate passions lurking just below the surface. Taking their curtain calls, Amar gallantly drew Ms. McDill away from her keyboard with a courtly bow, kissing her hand.
It's fun to see STARS AND STRIPES once in a while; tonight Clothilde Otranto led a vigorous performance of the Sousa marches though the players showed some signs of end-of season fatigue. Still, the atmosphere was right and the two female soloists - Lauren King and Megan LeCrone - were delicious. Troy Schumacher gave a sparkling performance leading the men's regiment; his brisk flurries of air turns and jauntily brilliant landings were smile-inducing.
In the pas de deux, Teresa Reichlen and Chase Finlay - both blonde and beautiful - looked wonderful but did not in the end prove a compatible team. Tess needs the tallest of partners and it was evident from their entrance that Chase is too short for her. This led to some less-than-silky partnering, and Chase also had to put a hand-down at the end of his solo. Tess meanwhile managed to give an exciting performance with her sailing extension and sense of theatrical timing. Chase might have had a better time of it if he'd been paired with Bouder, Scheller or Megan Fairchild.
The evening had begun with a perfect performance of CONCERTO DSCH; this ballet is a Ratmansky gem and along with his RUSSIAN SEASONS shows the choreographer at his most inventive and musical. With the exception of the noble Tyler Angle dancing the role created on Benjamin Millepied, the principals tonight had all been in the ballet's original cast. Ashley Bouder gave a scintillating performance: with her technical brilliance and deft sense of comedy, she fashioned a highly enjoyable 'character' in what is basically an abstract ballet. Gonzalo Garcia and Joaquin de Luz are an amazing team of bravura dancers: two handsome guys sweeping through improbable, off-kilter combinations with daredevil panache.
For all the merriment and playful hijinks of the outer movements of this ballet, its heart is an adagio danced to a simple but incredibly poignant melody played tonight by pianist Cameron Grant. Here Tyler Angle and the spellbinding Wendy Whelan drew the audience into their private world. As Tyler wafted the great ballerina into some airy lifts, time stood still. This is great dancing, and I was so deeply pleased to be watching.
Above: Wendy Whelan and Tyler Angle in CONCERTO DSCH; photo by Paul Kolnik