Above: Gonzalo Garcia in George Balanchine's immortal APOLLO
Sunday February 27th, 2022 matinee - Gonzalo Garcia, one of the handsomest men ever to grace the ballet stages of the world, bade farewell to the New York City Ballet this afternoon.
Gonzalo, a native of Zaragoza, Spain, won the Prix de Lausanne in 1995 at the age of 15 - the youngest dancer to win that coveted prize. He joined San Francisco Ballet in 1998 at the age of 18, and at 22 he became a principal dancer there.
In 2007, Gonzalo made a great leap from one coast to the other, leaving San Francisco Ballet to join New York City Ballet. Since then, he has performed many roles for us here; among them, I have especially loved his Apollo, Oberon in MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, the Princes in the Peter Martins productions of SWAN LAKE and SLEEPING BEAUTY, Franz in COPPELIA, the principal male roles in BALLO DELLA REGINA, RUBIES, and BAISER DE LA FEE, the leads in Jerome Robbins' OPUS 19/THE DREAMER, DANCES AT A GATHERING, and GLASS PIECES, in Christopher Wheeldon's POLYPHONIA and LES CARILLONS, and Alexei Ratmansky's CONCERTO DSCH. Most recently, I greatly enjoyed seeing Gonzalo in Justin Peck's ROTUNDA, an excerpt from which he danced at his farewell gala.
Some wonderful Gonzalo Garcia partnerships:
Above: Gonzalo Garcia and Ana Sophia Scheller in SLEEPING BEAUTY; photo by Paul Kolnik
Above: Gonzalo with Sterling Hyltin in RUBIES; photo by Paul Kolnik
Above: Gonzalo with Tiler Peck in OTHER DANCES; photo by Erin Baiano
Above: with Megan Fairchild in NUTCRACKER
When time has allowed, Gonzalo has danced as a guest artist:
...in STARS AND STRIPES at a gala in Italy...
...and, in Madrid, as Albrecht in GISELLE
Closer to home: dancing with MORPHOSES in Central Park 2009; photo by Kokyat
And in this charming film, Gonzalo shows us how he kept in shape at home during the pandemic.
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For his farewell performance at New York City Ballet, Gonzalo danced works by Balanchine, Robbins, and Justin Peck. The program was book-ended by ballets set to two of Sergei Prokofiev's most fascinating scores: the Violin Sonata #1 in D-major sets the stage for my favorite Jerome Robbins ballet - OPUS 19/THE DREAMER - and PRODIGAL SON, which marked the only time George Balanchine used Prokofiev's music. In between, a studio film of Gonzalo working on a solo from Justin Peck's ROTUNDA (to a fine Nico Muhly score) was followed by a live performance of part of the ballet, with its cast of twelve. Andrews Sill was on the podium, and Kurt Nikkanen's playing of the violin concerto was simply spectacular. How meaningful it was today to hear the scores of Prokofiev, a son of the Ukraine.
During the interval, I loved running into Carlos Lopez, Charles Askegard, David Fernandez, and Wendy Whelan.
Gonzalo was alone onstage as the curtain rose on OPUS 19, and the audience greeted him with a warm round of applause. His opening solo as the restless dreamer was hypnotically beautiful...his arms and hands are so expressive. For this occasion, two ballerinas took turns dancing with Gonzalo: first, Sterling Hyltin skimmed about the space with an airy lightness before their sublime pas de deux. Tiler Peck then appeared for the allegro passages, and then Sterling returned; it was Tiler who ended the ballet, resting her head on Gonzalo's palm. The corps danced splendidly, and the three principals exchanged embraces of mutual affection during the curtain calls.
The filmed excerpt from ROTUNDA gave us an up-close view of the danseur at work, whilst the soundtrack included accolades from Gonzalo's colleagues and his own words about what it means to be a dancer. The live performance went brilliantly, Gonzalo sharing some moments with another of his frequent partners, the spirited Megan Fairchild. The ballet ends with Gonzalo rushing forward into a sudden blackout.
The distinctive setting for PRODIGAL SON was created in 1929 by painter Georges Rouault. This poignant ballet tells of a young man who leaves his home and his gentle family to find excitement in the wide world; seduced, beaten, and abandoned, he returns home in shame and abject misery only to be enfolded in his father's loving arms. Gonzalo, looking youthfully handsome, danced the role with the verve and commitment of a spirited teenager. His degradation and downfall were poignantly portrayed, and the moment where he creeps into his father's forgiving embrace was extraordinarily moving.
Sara Mearns was the deceitful Siren. Harrison Coll and Lars Nelson excelled in their dancing "duel", and Mary Elizabeth Sell and Jenelle Manzi were lovely as the sisters. Arron Sanz made a profound impression as the father.
The gala ended with a massive ovation which Gonzalo accepted with humility and great joy, pounding his heart with his hand to express his love for us. His colleagues came out one by one, presenting flowers and hugs: they all seemed genuinely sincere. Then Gonzalo's husband came out, and they shared a kiss, to the audience's great delight. And so, Gonzalo finished his dancing career while still at peak form, truly one of the finest - and best-loved - dancers I've had the pleasure to watch.
~ Oberon