Above: Craig Hall and Lauren Lovette in Benjamin Millepied's NEVERWHERE
Sunday June 1st, 2014 - Wonderful line-up of dancers for today's matinee at New York City Ballet. The afternoon started with George Balanchine's perfect masterpiece, CONCERTO BAROCCO. This ballet, which is older than I am (!), looks as clear and fresh as if it was made yesterday. Our two excellent concertmasters, Kurt Nikkanen and Arturo Delmoni, struck up Bach's immortal score and...voila! Heaven!
Abi Stafford's very attractive presentation radiated with the joy of dancing to great music; she was soon joined by the elegant Rebecca Krohn and together they gave the ballet a very special lustre. Justin Peck has been so busy with his choreography lately that we might forget what handsome partnering and presence he brings to the stage. I recently asked one of the dancers if the corps work in BAROCCO is as demanding as it looks and she replied in the affirmative: the girls are onstage throughout the ballet, doing deceptively 'simple' combinations in unison or in canon; there's lots of port de bras to be mastered, and then there's the fast hopping on pointe in the final movement...and all of this must be accomplished while you're looking cool and collected. I would imagine it's an honor to be part of this sisterhood and today's octet did a superb job. Roses for all: Sara Adams, Faye Arthurs, Likolani Brown, Alina Dronova, Meagan Mann, Kristen Segin, Gretchen Smith, and Lydia Wellington. Brilliant work!
Jerome Robbins's OTHER DANCES always feels to me like 'deleted scenes' from DANCES AT A GATHERING. Today it was very well danced by Ashley Bouder and Joaquin De Luz - though they didn't quite manage to pull off the ballet's final pose - and I kept wishing they were dancing something else.
I'd missed Benjamin Millepied's NEVERWHERE last year; people had told me I would hate it, but I didn't...not at all. Nico Muhly's chamber score (Drones and Viola) was expertly played by Susan Pray (viola) and Nancy McDill (piano). I often admire Muhly's music (didn't see TWO BOYS but very much liked THE DARK SISTERS), and was particulary allured by today's score since I love the sound of the viola. The music sometimes reminded me of Arvo Part.
At curtain rise, six dancers are entwined in a pool of golden light. They wear unusual outfits (by Iris van Herpen) made of glossy wet-look black plastic; the girls' toe shoes are camouflaged by knee-high go-go boots. It all seems rather Goth and, along with Mark Stanley's atmospheric lighting, gives the piece a unique look. A spidery passage from the musicians opens the work, giving way to a more languid and misterioso section. The three female dancers - Sterling Hyltin, Lauren Lovette and Emilie Gerrity - dance to a plucked motif and then Tyler Angle and Joseph Gordon perform a virtuosic duet. (I should note that Ms. Gerrity and Mr Gordon are both making their mark with the Company, convincingly holding the stage with their stellar colleagues).
Two contrasted pas de deux follow: Lauren Lovette and Craig Hall, both oozing charisma, seem at once wary and mutually attracted; then Sterling Hyltin and Tyler Angle appear - at first isolated by spotlights - to dance an animated duet to slow music. This ends with Sterling flinging herself into Tyler's arms: a visual exclamation point. A sextet to a pulsing beat follows, and the ballet ends as the dancers re-form the cluster that opened the piece.
NEVERWHERE (I love the title!) drew me in: I'd love to see it again. Its performances this Spring season came by chance since it replaced the initially-listed performances of the Peter Martins/Marc-André Dalbavie ballet which has yet to come to fruition. I was glad of an opportunity to see the Millepied.
WHO CARES? is one of my least-favorite Balanchine works; the Hershy Kay arrangements of the classic Gershwin tunes really kill it for me. And the better it's danced, the more depressing I find it. Today everyone invested considerable energy and showmanship into the ballet, with ten of my favorites doing outstanding work as 'soloists', while Clothilde Otranto and the NYCB musicians did everything they could to sell the music. At several points I was ready to bolt but then, "I have to see Tiler!" or "...Savannah!" or "...Ashly!" and so I stayed on to the end. It was pretty much worth it, since the dancing was spectacular. Tiler Peck had a huge triumph: after both her duet with Robert Fairchild and her solo, she was called out for two bows...something you seldom see at the ballet these days. Robbie of course was superb: so easy, fluent and natural in his presentation. Savannah Lowery looked spiffy in her ponytail and she danced up a storm, and Ashly Isaacs tossed off a gorgeous set of fouettés in 'My One and Only". Everyone, in fact, gave it their all...but for all that, I just barely hung on til the curtain fell.
CONCERTO BAROCCO: Krohn, A. Stafford, J. Peck [Conductor: Sill; 1st Violin:Nikkanen, 2nd Violin: Delmoni]
OTHER DANCES: Bouder, De Luz [Solo Piano: Grant]
NEVERWHERE: Hyltin, Lovette, Gerrity,T. Angle, Hall, Gordon [Solo Viola: Pray; Solo Piano: McDill]
WHO CARES?: R. Fairchild, T. Peck, Lowery, Isaacs [Conductor: Otranto; Solo Piano: Chelton]