NYCB Opens Historic 75th Anniversary Season

[Jeannette]

I agree with you, Bruce Wall, that Tiler Peck was technically fantastic yesterday afternoon in Tchaikovsky Violin no 2. The infamous opening solo with the turns on the cadenza were extraordinary!  I personally prefer the overall air and manners of Sara Mearns in the role…but that’s why reactions are so personal! AND I preferred Tiler’s partner, Joseph Gordon, overall.

 

In the all-debuts Apollo, I was so overjoyed with Nadon’s Terpsichore that I forgot to mention the debuting Apollo, Chun Wai Chan, who is so youthful and personable. Total delight. He impressed me a lot!

 

In the new Balanchine IV program on Saturday evening, I once again enjoyed Unity Phelan in Concerto Barocco leading female role - and wait til you see Miraculous Mira in this, as I saw at the Kennedy Center last summer! 

 

Daniel Ulbricht is still powerful as the lead in Prodigal Son! He still leaves me crying at the end, he is so touching. His Siren was new to me - the very tall and gorgeous Miriam Miller, a perfect vixen.

 

The night - the long joyful day! - finished with perhaps my favorite Balanchine work, Symphony in C. I was flabbergasted, as all four movements seemed to be so deliciously performed. First mvt: Fairchild and Gordon were spot on! Second: Sara Mearns was her regal self, overcoming an injury to one foot (!), led by Tyler Angle…then, WHAM! - out blasted Roman Mejia and Emma Von Enck - to dazzle us in the Third movement, while Brittany Pollack and Troy  Schumacher finely led the Fourth/Finale. I wish that I had bouquets for every member of the incredible corps de ballet.

 

I’ll be visiting friends on Sunday. Just two more performances for me: Tuesday’s opening of Balanchine V (led by Serenade), then the 75th Anniversary show on Wednesday, recreating the October 11, 1948 evening.

 

Back home to Puerto Rico after that. 😭 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Jeannette

[OnePigeon]

What an embarrassment of riches you have over at NYCB with so many wonderful ballets being programmed during this celebratory season - I would be bankrupt trying to see it all.  Maybe it’s just as well the RB aren’t staging many works I really want to see as I couldn’t really afford it.  I am so envious of the wonderful repertoire we rarely get to see here.  If I ever win some money, one of the first things I’ll do is get over to New York to witness some Balanchine and Robbins danced in the correct style on the stage the works were created for.

[Bruce Wall]

Thanks for yours, Jeanette and I promise you, OnePigeon, you won't be disappointed.  I'm, in fact, attending ALL of the Fall Season performances - wouldn't miss a moment of this - much as I will the majority of the Winter and Spring NYCB season shows - much as I have done in the past.  It's a gift I give myself working long and hard otherwise here, in the UK and elsewhere.  It's during these times you just know that you will be transported to a different, magical world.  It's also just so wonderful to have this common bond with people in the audience.  So often I find myself chatting with the people sat next to me, many of whom remember the Company from even before I saw it.  I sat beside one woman yesterday who reminded me that all those Fourth Ring Standing tickets I had during the so-called 'dance boom' cost just a dollar.  I had forgotten.  It is so long ago.  Of course, I know this wouldn't be something that would please all.  In truth it never has been.  Still it works for me.  As well, OnePigeon, you will be able when you visit to enjoy the (J) Peck and Ratmansky works which are very much an extension on from the Balanchine and Robbins much as the great riches to be found in McGregor we are so lucky to be able to share in the UK are a very clear prolongation of MacMillan.  I really do think you will be thrilled.  Our national companies so proudly and uniquely serve their own rightful heritages.  They are constructed for such and we are the beneficiaries in our own time.  

 

I agree with Jeanette, Chun Wai Chan is a very special artist.  It is a glorious journey to be able to watch such magnificent (non-SAB-trained) artists like Chan and Jovani Furlan find their way into the NYCB fold.  Furlan's own forays into the adagio segment of Western Symphony and Rubies this season have been baubles of rapturous delight.  I so adored Chan's exquisite use of his hands as Apollo.  You could see his own fascination at their increasing mastery.  Too, that moment where he marks the sudden onslaught of his own maturity was reflationary; nay, definitive money in this memory's bank.  I so look forward to seeing it again this afternoon.  The mid-catch of his head from the palms of the muses - as if checking to see the air was right - and the knife sharp forward propulsion of his eyes upward at that moment - was entirely electric.  

 

Danny Ulbricht is such a treat.  The night before as the Harlequin in La Sonnambula he oh, so wittily dazzled (as did the glorious NYCB corps member, Cainan Weber yesterday afternoon in a SPECTACULAR debut in that same role) - much as Danny had - as is his wont - as the head of the male Campaign in Stars and Stripes.  He is in so many ways as fresh now as he when - as a NYCB apprentice - he was thrown into the Three Ivans segment on the opening night of Peter Martins' Sleeping Beauty nigh on some 30 years ago.  How well I remember that evening.  You didn't forget his name after that certainly.  I enjoyed Danny's Prodigal Son as he - as ever - gave 110% of himself to the effort.  I did feel a little lack in the latter journey to the homecoming but that was probably just me reflecting on past restorative triumphs in the role by the likes of Baryshnikov, Woetzel and Robbie Fairchild.  As with so much in Balanchine it gives the dancer enormous scope to define through the music.  Thought the lads did a fine job as the goons.  Never an easy task.  Here I highlight David Gabriel.  He is SUCH a fine dancer.  Certainly his entrechats have been simply spectacular - oh, those sculpted feet - both in Donizetti Variations and the pastorale variations in La Sonnambula - and his oh, so difficult partnerings in Bouree were truly 'Fantasque'.  He literally made the dazzling Alexa Maxwell fly.  His goon rightfully became a commander of his pack ultimately being worn as the levelled fulcrum for that extraordinary movement Balanchine wrought that is itself physically the equivalent of an Ashton ribbon weave in Fille.    I know the Royal were to have revived Prodigal recently and that it was cancelled due to the pandemic.  THIS is a Balanchine they definitely SHOULD do.  It so suits both their current talents and the much admired direction of their current leadership.  It is just so right for the Royal's NOW.  I would love to see Sambe, say, in the title role with Kankeo as the Siren.  Certainly it would call on his talents much as his glories in Mayerling did.  This is a work I'm certain the current Company's (i.e., the Royal's) special gifts would enliven and certainly the intimate constraints of the Covent Garden stage would actually - in this instance - be a defining buoy.  

 

Last night's Symphony in C was a feast to behold as it only can be on a stage that is of an appropriate size to itself revel in this masterwork's full  majesty.  (Know many have not been to NY - but think of the scope of the performing platforms of any one of the the Garnier [even though the auditorium itself is smaller than Covent Garden], Bastille, Chatalet, Theatre de Ville, Theatre de Champs Elysees or La Seine Musicale stages in our close neighbour Paris and you will get a very definite idea.)  Megan Fairchild continues to astound in her maturity.  She is a small lady who defiantly knows how to dance big and here was partnered by the ever ebullient Joseph Gordon who has become to NYCB what Muntagirov is to the Royal.  Both have feet that define with an ease that astounds.  The speed at which Gordon can command is truly breath taking which is why he is a rightful partner for the likes of Fairchild, Tiler Peck and Woodward.  A word too for one of the soloist parings in this movement:  Italian Davide Ricardo - with his lithe legato line - and Ashely Hod, with a balletic filigree as pointed as the piercing darkness of her eyes.  They blistered in the musical highlights.  Sara Mearns was radiance personified in the second movement and rightfully depended on her extraordinary partner, Tyler Angle, in light of her physical niggle which - in the end - mattered not at all.  Mearns - now in the high summer of her career - has achieved the confidence of her own breath.  It is a significant juncture.  She lets us breathe with her through the music as she hears it.  She has learned how to relax in the midst of a balletic panoply.  It is a special gift.  The air settles as her eyes command the house.  It is entirely invigorating.  She always was and always will be a VERY special artist.  The third movement - what can you say:  Helium seemed to have suddenly been pumped in with the entrance of Roman Mejia and the sparkling bound of the indefatigable fascination that is Emma von Enck.  Together their musical froth bubbled forth, fermenting to a point of elastically carbonated sparkle.  It literally rained down from the heights of the rafters he alone seemingly touched.  The last movement welcomed back Troy Schumacher to the stage which - surely at this point - he must be close to retiring from having served a long and noble career as a soloist.  He partnered the bewitching force that is Indiana Woodward.  She had a tumble travelling upstage early on but recovered immediately nailing every one of the rapid diagonal of those four furious pirouettes.  Thereafter the majesty of the whole amassed and the balletic canon fodder resounded louder here than the climax of any Tchaikovsky 1912 Overture.   As Balanchine himself is reputed to have said of this work:  'You have to go BANG!'.  Last night NYCB blasted on more cylinders than anyone has by any right to imagine.  It was deafening in its bliss.  

 

 

 

 

Edited October 8, 2023 by Bruce Wall

[OnePigeon]

7 hours ago, Bruce Wall said:

As well, OnePigeon, you will be able when you visit to enjoy the (J) Peck and Ratmansky works which are very much an extension on from the Balanchine and Robbins much as the great riches to be found in McGregor we are so lucky to be able to share in the UK are a very clear prolongation of MacMillan.

Unfortunately I doubt I’ll make it back to NYC any time soon, but it’s great to see clips and read your reports - they are a company I admire hugely, with a great history which they are proud to show off and a really well balanced repertoire, as far as I can tell from this side of the pond.

 

Peck and Rartmansky are current choreographers who are producing exciting new works, but very much in the ballet idiom.  I would be thrilled to see more of their work performed here.  Sadly, I cannot share your enthusiasm for McGregor and don’t see him as any kind of successor to MacMillan, being too far on the side of Contemporary dance rather than ballet, for my taste.  To each their own, however.  Enjoy the rest of the season!

[Bruce Wall]

I heartily agree with you, OnePigeon.  I won't substantially go into the subject here as I have covered it at length in another strand.  That said, I would VERY much feel exactly the same way about McGregor - indeed DID - as you do prior to finding a way to achieve an appropriate balance for my own good in terms of the balletic idiom which, at least for me, is core.  I see the Royal entity - as defined in terms of its forward thrust by its much respected leader - very much as 'dance theatre'.  That is a very noble aim no question but it is not, I fear, my primary preference which, as you specified, is the balletic idiom and always has been.  I see NYCB now as my 'home/core company' for this reason and the Royal very much as a fascinating sidelight, so worthy in its own (re?)-focused goals.  As such I can - in all honesty - NOW jump enthusiastically onboard the McGregor, Pite, etc., bandwagon.  There is so  much good there and the Royal company is now so excellently trained at heart to answer such GLORIOUSLY.  As I said in another posting:  Would you want to see NYCB do McGregor or MacMillan?  CAN YOU IMAGINE IT????  I'm sure you'll agree NOT.  That company just is not fit for it.  They would look wholly out of sorts.  Similarly I don't now think you'll be seeing established Peck or Ratmansky being done for the Royal Company as defined.  For similar reasons it (the lightness of touch for example) NOW - completely understandably - would not suit either their current ensemble or the audience now built for such.   

 

Vis a vis the MacMillan extension.  I think you can see - through late MacMillan certainly - with its frequent and certainly much hailed (i) employment of dramatic contortions, (ii) actual physical - in some places some might almost say brutal - contractions embodied and certainly (iii) the hyper-extensions - so significantly persistent as to be commonplace therein - as being a very natural progression to McGregor's contemporary conversation/output with the Royal today*.  That is what I now see as seeding the current 'Royal' heritage, and - if you believe the internal rhetoric - it appears to thrive.  I may be very wrong but I have a feeling MacMillan would have very much applauded such.  I used to share a bus frequently with MacMillan himself and Maria Tallchief - the M4 - as we all lived in the same section of NYC at one time.  Oddly we didn't talk hugely about ballet I seem to recall.  If I remember correctly it was largely about property, city issues or the weather.  There was always a lot of laughter I remember.  How I wish I could wind back the clock, jump onboard with a token as we used to use then and actually ask him.

 

 

*Certainly this would not be the case with the Ashton canon but the time for that work to be at heart of the Royal's FUTURE inspiration has I fear LONG passed. 

 

 

But all this is a world away from the joy of NYCB - which is the primary thrust of this strand.  Queen Tiler again ruled supreme today in TPC2 and the whole Apollo ensemble - that with Chan and Nadon - was transcendent in their dramatic triumph.  Chan at times seemed to be channelling an adolescent Yul Brenner's aura while Nadon - as so often in her radiance - was very much a very young Elizabeth Taylor - who she does, in fact, resemble come to think of it.  Certainly the central PDD was revelatory - as much to the two young charges as their audience. We peeked into their private world.  The latter wailed their congratulations well into the next segment's music.  It was whole heartedly a very natural response.  

 

 

Edited October 9, 2023 by Bruce Wall

[Jeannette]

Last night’s Balanchine V program was a delight, commencing with Serenade (1934, Tchaikovsky), evoking romance and balletic passion, with ladies in long blue romantic tutus. This was the first post-COVID BALLET at NYCB IN Sept 2021, which I viewed…and it still evokes positive feelings. The announced cast of Sara Mearns/ Taylor Stanley (main Waltz couple), Indiana Woodward (Russian girl) and Miriam Miller/Davide Riccardo (Elegy pair/Dark Angels) were impressive. The corps was as synchronized and elegant as ever.

 

As with most programs that I’ve attended during the past week, the bill ends with a large-scaled Balanchine work in the Imperial manner— last night, Theme and Variations, capturing all of Tchaikovsky’s grandness, led magnificently by Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley.

 

The middle work last night was Orpheus (Stravinsky), with the same cast that will dance in tonight’s 75th Anniversary program, so I’ll deal with it at that time.

 

Tonight it’s Concerto Barocco, Orpheus and Symphony in C! May the casts stay as announced! 🤞 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 11, 2023 by Jeannette

[Jan McNulty]

I'm loving your and Bruce's reports Jeanette.

 

Thank you both so much.

[Bruce Wall]

Thank you, Jeanette for your review.  I agree it was wonderful to see and hear Serenade again with its home Company.  It is to NYCB what, say, MacMillian's Concerto is to the Royal.  One might almost long to say - Symphonic Variations - but those days have, quite obviously, long passed for that ensemble given the clear reality of repertory choices/propagation.  When the majestic gold of the State Theater curtain rises unto that bath of blue it always comes as an oasis.  Suddenly, you too know where you are.  Last night Sara Mearns again exercised her personalised genius; the catch of the moment now being her stock in trade.  We watch as her soul thinks.  Her heart embraces the light of its mystery in stunning tandem with the musical undulations and we all profit.  Indiana Woodward too as the Russian Girl was an ardent whirlwind of joy.  Her smiles burst forth in, through and around her fervent turns.  The parts all became whole to the stirringly fervent strains of the last movement; glistening as a monumental pillar of tenderness; a monolith of vitality.  

 

A word for the rapturous Mary Thomas Mackinnon, a NYCB corps members.  As the curtain rose last night she was in the very centre of that fantastical pack.  Most often just now she is to one side.  During these past few weeks I have found myself seeking her out.  There is an air in her placement that seems to sing.  I have a feeling special things - much as for Quinn Starner - will be coming her way.  They will be well deserved.  

 

Theme and Variations - even when standing alone without the Balanchine's build-up in TSN3 - is, as ever, nobility personified.  The grandeur in its sublime steps by right should ennoble via the bright pageant of the music's magnificence.  Of course, I'm cursed with the very real memory of those halcyon ABT days where we watched agape at the supremacy of Baryshnikov and Kirkland; at the preeminent power of Bujones and Gregory in this work's fullest tow.  The sky's heights can only reach so high but, still, Megan Fairchild is oh, so witty in the husbanding of her resources.  You know she knows it and that is part of the exciting thrill of her execution.  What set NYCB's presentation last night apart certainly for me was the ascendant stimulation of the corps.  The silence of their completions was thunderous.  I can hear in my ear even now the fantastical pounding of the pointe shoes into the Metropolitan Opera's floor as Kirkland swept in to literally stun in her two extraordinary variations.  It was I always thought the leading ballast to her bombardment of brilliance.  But NO.  REPEATEDLY in NYCB rehearsals you hear - no matter the ballet - the ballet masters say that this was - definingly - NOT WHAT BALANCHINE WANTED.  Where there was to be sound it will have been choreographed into the work.  (I have to say it is wonderful to see Justin Peck carry on this tradition.)  Last night the girls did the same steps in those forward group forays but they were - unlike my echoes of long ago - silent;  The majesty of the music was entirely predominant and you could feel the air shift as Fairchild grandly curved forward.  Balanchine clearly knew what he was doing to achieve substantive effect on the music's behalf.  So too with the men supporting Anthony Huxley.  Their precision was literally stunning because of its monumental hush.  Gone here was the cacophony of thundering thuds that can so often interrupt the flow at so many other addresses.  For Balanchine - and consequently for us ALL - the opulence of this music was - nay IS - primary.  Here it was the resounding sumptuousness of the music's glare that lifted us all in the ripe communion of Tchaikovsky's illustrious splendour.  THAT, Balanchine instructs, is the true effulgence of its display.  How I wish that could ALWAYS be true.  Surely no audience deserves less.  Once heard; never forgotten.  

 

 

[Jeannette]

2 hours ago, Jan McNulty said:

I'm loving your and Bruce's reports Jeanette.

 

Thank you both so much.

it’s been a Once-in-Lifetime vacation, Jan! It’s going to be hard to go back home on Thursday. Well, the Cuban National Ballet is touring to PR in November.

[Jeannette]

“Happy 75th Birthday to you!”…as everyone sang and ribbons flowed, dancers and directors gathered on stage.

Thus the grand evening ended, following an extraordinary Symphony in C (Bizet), every segment’s leading couple seeming to have outdone the previous one. And did I notice the 3rd presto movement’s main couple - Emma Van Enck and Roman Mejia - attempting one-handed lifts a-la Kitri & Basil in Don Q during the final diagonal?I don’t recall having seen the bump-up and hand-down before!  The segment leaders:
 

First - Fairchild and Gordon were sharp…in Seventh Heaven.

 

Second - Mearns more regally  accomplished than before, with her other-world care…luxuriously partnered by Angle.

 

Third - You already heard about the Don Q airs between Von Eck and Mejia

 

Fourth - Woodward and Shumacher in a fleet festival of fun.

 

Bizet was preceded by Orpheus (Stravinsky), telling the tale of the mythological hero attempting to revive and return his dead wife Eurydice, when the latter takes off her husband’s mask and loses the spell….and today, the swallowing of her body to Hades was better attempted than last night, when we saw stagehands trying to smuggle her. Seriously, it’s a noble and historical work, more felicitous tonight.

 

The evening began with a very sharp and musical Concerto Barocco, with Unity Phelan (season’s most-used star?), Emily Gerrity and Andrew Veyette in leading roles. The two leading women looked so alike (faces and figures), as I’ve never noticed before in this work.

 

So the motto of my week at NYCB is: Happiest Birthday! 🎂 🥳 🎉 💐 💕 

[Bruce Wall]

What a celebration of the date it was. 

 

The gold and silver confetti may have spun out over the SiC cast zealously singing happy birthday after their last call - before all audience members were given their personal slice of celebratory cake in a little plastic box on the way out - but what REALLY marked out tonight - as ever with NYCB - was the dancing. 

 

As ever it speaks for itself. 

 

Concerto Barocco is such a stunningly crafted work and, boy, did it sing mightily this evening.  I watched on the stage screen early this afternoon as Unity Phelan rehearsed the SiC second movement for a performance at the weekend partnered by the glorious Alec Knight, a NYCB corps member.  She was as meltingly beautiful there as she was here.  I find myself now being fascinated watching this relatively new NYCB principal build her performances.  They can start small but soon they reach beyond in a completely natural and spontaneous fashion.  Barocco was her case in point this evening.  It stung as it sung. 

 

This evening Joe Gordon blossomed in Orpheus; so gloriously precise was he in his animation.  While I appreciate the historical relevance of the ballet it remains, I fear, far from a favoured Balanchine work for me - but this performance at least broke the doldrums.  Laracey - such at vividly dramatic dancer - her Namouna last Spring was oh, so witty - made her Eurydice quake and that stunning arabesque of hers deserves to the preserved in time.  Kikta has become one of favourite current NYCB soloists and her lead Fury detonated with a prominence which itself was wickedly delightful..  With that wig in the furious throng of that final segment she reminded me of Vanessa Redgrave in BlowUp.  As the lyre raised up at the end - as graced by the figure of Apollo himself - I thought of all the joy which that defining NYCB symbol has reigned over; still continuing to thrive in the hearts of a ever burnishing many.  It has been so thrilling to see the house so much fuller than it has sometimes been in recent forays during this entire season - and filled with young people.  It is so heartening.  As with Orpheus, NYCB strives to reach beyond and, amazingly, it seems the war has at least in part been won.  You don't I think need to worry about the future here.  It's already bright.  Promise.

 

Balanchine - as he himself said - 'choreographed for the future'.  The SiC was yet another case in point.  It radiated ravishing euphoria from the get go.  Sara Mearns again delineated impassioned expression and Roman - well, what is there left to say.  Who needs firecrackers when this lad's about?  He's a live wire like nobody else's business - jumping higher than a 17 year old Ivan Vasiliev above the rest of that Bolshoi corps - and those one-handed lifts/throws as Jeannette referenced above - NEW TONIGHT - and - count them - three in a row with the ever stunning Emma von Enck (you will want to remember her name too CERTAINLY) at the third movement's completion - didn't just amaze; NO, SIR - they flabbergasted in their predominating ascendancy.  He oh, so well deserves that world mantle he's already assumed at - even now - only 23.  

 

The finale of that life enriching ballet - delivered oh, so cleanly by all at a properly life affirming pace - reminded me just how lucky I am to be present at such a thrilling event.  I have seen the young NYCB corps member, Mckenzie Bernardino Soares, sometimes struggle in his counts - certainly recently in a Glass Pieces rehearsal - but tonight as a soloist in the SiC first movement and then again in the finale his stunning line astonished in the very litheness of its precision.  Suddenly he was defining space with a splicing exactitude.  I vividly remember last Spring passing him sitting on a block outside of the staircase down towards the State Theater Stage Door.  He was reading a book and eating an apple.  At the time he was first year NYCB corps.  (Talk about challenging!)  I was on my way towards the theatre but veered past him, simply pausing to say how much I enjoyed his performances.  He looked up at me in sudden amazement as if checking that I wasn't a figment of his own imagining.  It may have been a rough day for him as he looked like he was about to cry and - after biting down on his lip - he haltingly said 'I can't tell you how much that means to me'.  Well, Mckenzie, tonight you BLAZED.  You - and ALL - have every right to be dutifully PROUD.  This Fall season has - as I said - been like Christmas every day.  I have already boxed up so many cherished memories and they will live as long as I do.  Happy Anniversary NYCB.  You're still better than the very best in my book ... and then some.   

 

 

 

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by Bruce Wall

[Jeannette]

Isn’t this sort of celebration the apogee of humanity, Bruce Wall? With the sad news going on in the world, I can’t help but think about the art and beauty that is being celebrated. How nice, whatever the culture, when humans can do this. My forty years of humanity work turn on the lightbulb. (Sorry for the big thought!)

[Bruce Wall]

Here is a clip from a NYCB feature on CBS' long running Sunday Morning programme.  

 

I had to laugh at that small clip from Balanchine's ballet largely set in and around the Pan Am theme song.  I remember being at it's opening.  It was fantastically bizarre - That's for sure.  As far as I recall it was never revived.  Balanchine was nothing if not pragmatic.

 

The expanse of the repertory in any/every NYCB seasonal segment astounds.  Always.  No other Company dances this volume - but that has been true for many decades now. It is definingly a reason to 'love' New York.  

 

 

[Scheherezade]

30 minutes ago, Bruce Wall said:

The expanse of the repertory in any/every NYCB seasonal segment astounds.  Always.  No other Company dances this volume - but that has been true for many decades now. It is definingly a reason to 'love' New York.  

You are exceptionally lucky, Bruce. 

[Bruce Wall]

4 minutes ago, Scheherezade said:

You are exceptionally lucky, Bruce. 

 

And, believe you me, Scheherezade,  I know it.    It makes all the work entirely worthwhile.  

 

[Bruce Wall]

In haste - Nadon thrilled - as expected - in Concerto Barocco tonight.  Those grandiosely lofty limbs were wings of hope and together they melted into and melded through the music.  LaFreniere thrust her appendages through counterpoint and made both sing.  Together they were a rare pair of humane instruments blending in where apt with all the girls who were themselves on light tonight.  Corps member, Gilbert Bowden III, partnered as if born to the manner born and made the difficult look easy.  The air was rife with the ravishment of elation.

 

I have to take my hat off here and confess that I very much enjoyed Anthony Huxley as the Prodigal Son.  His very succinct wire-like thrusts at the opening somehow made his relationship with the sisters all that much closer and himself even more vulnerable in the face of corps member Preston Chamblee's towering father; oh so very moving.  Sara Mearns gave us her Joan Crawford as the parading Siren tonight - a very witty theatrical animal it was too.  Somehow that made the contrite passion of the homecoming all the more telling and that stalk pulled a furrow along its trodden ground.  No grand effects here but an extremely moving sincerity was exercised by Huxley.  He reminded me for the world of David Threlfall as Smike in the RSC's legendary Nicholas Nickleby production of decades past.  You could almost hear the echo of that Northern guttural cry here grit.

 

Then came SiC and on swept Queen Tiler doing what NOBODY else in the world can NOW do better - and certainly MORE musically than she in Balanchine's triumphant First Movement.  Tiler's father has been life-threateningly ill.  Indeed but one week ago tonight she wrote on her IG that they 'almost lost him'.  Last Sunday NYCB altered the running order of the entire programme - putting TPC2 first - in order that Tiler could catch an earlier flight to California to be with her dad.  Her performance tonight - as ever toying with the intricate details in its music at speed - was the greatest tribute  ANY daughter could offer.  Her feet and lips pointed smiles which not only channelled but also broadcast her amour-propre through the gift of confidence which singularly shook hands with every heart in the hall.  

 

Of the men in the principal capacities, two were ranked principals; (i) Chan partnering Peck in the First so brilliantly and deploying the magic of his rich balletic largess in the coda segments and (ii) Peter Walker in the Fourth.  Alec Knight, a NYCB corps member, made the adagio Second Movement glitter.  Here were two beautiful people:  He has an Ivor Novello profile and matching quaff and Unity Phelan is every inch Audrey Hepburn.  His partnering - as indeed the musical accompaniments which were fittingly luxurious - soared as far in its incisive detail as the deep reverence to the knee she made in that drivingly-deep penche dived.  NYCB Corps member Cainan Weber was tossed into the tumult of the third movement and acquitted himself with joy.  It's THIS mix which makes a GREAT ballet Company - separating it from those which are much more fixed - often out of understandable need - in their hierarchical definition.  That NYCB IS - without hesitation, prevarication or repetition - except where otherwise and professionally apt of course.  

 

A final footnote.  Tonight was YOUNG PATRONS NIGHT.  I don't usually notice - but, my word, THE CLOTHES.  The detail of so many of these ladies' dresses - and of many of the men's accoutrements - was entirely breath-taking.  I went up to a few just to say so.  People don't really dress at the theatre any more - but these youngsters - oh, so handsome ones - certainly did.  The air too was redolent with the expense of their perfumes.  Happily they packed the place out too as young people have been doing throughout NYCB's Fall Season.  If they donate one fifth of what their ravishing apparel cost tonight then NYCB will be set certainly for the Winter.  They had after all made a cool $3.5 million off the back of the Fashion Gala alone the week previous.  

 

 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2023 by Bruce Wall

[Bruce Wall]

Today's matinee was a joyous affair - and after there were big cheers behind the curtain.  Bolden and Ricardo were promoted to soloist.  They SO deserve it.  Bolden danced like a principal this afternoon with Nadon in Concerto Barocco.  What a masterwork it is.  Nadon - WAS EXTRAORDINARY.  That girl never fails to surprise.  I knew she was good … BUT … NOW! .... NOW she redefines everything (and ANYTHING) she touches.  With her Stravinsky Violin Concerto debut last winter - after just the spectre of that first movement alone when understandably the audience wouldn't stop applauding - she went to potentially GREAT in my eyes.  This afternoon I came to believe that what we're actually looking at is someone who is in the LEGEND league - Like Farrell, like Fonteyn, like Alonso: Like Nureyev, like Baryshnikov, like Dowell, like Bruhn, like Bujones, etc.  It happens so, SO VERY rarely.  I'm blessed to have seen a few .... in fact all those mentioned … otherwise I would entirely doubt my senses.

 

What a PRIVILEGE this ENTIRE NYCB Fall Season has been.  It both delineated and exemplified the very word: festive.  Rightly so.  

 

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2023 by Bruce Wall

[DrewCo]

On 14/10/2023 at 00:20, Bruce Wall said:

  Tonight was YOUNG PATRONS NIGHT.  I don't usually notice - but, my word, THE CLOTHES. 

 

 

I've been enjoying your posts, but wasn't going to respond until this--because it made me laugh. I was there --had no idea until the end of the evening that there was a fundraiser of some kind--and just kept staring in wonder and...puzzlement thinking "gee I don't remember people getting this dressed up for NYCB..." One outfit was more glittery and elaborate than the next.

[MRR]

Nadon is that rare talent who not only lives up to the hype, but stirs the imagination by conjuring images of ballets she has yet to dance.  Her performance of Barocco was like a waterfall: sensitive and luxuriant, taking the audience on a dream.  Her trust in herself, her partner, the music and Mr. B is remarkable for an artist so young.  Lush and expansive, her off-balance lunges are something to behold, leaning entirely off her leg in the adagio before setting her foot down. The gradual descent of her working leg after a long series of turns, reaching for her partner's outstretched hand, showed in one sequence her mystery and beauty.  She is also adept at allegro, and while evidently (and forgivably) taxed by the ending steps, she gave a master class in carving the space with those long limbs.  A shame she and Balanchine never got to work together.  Whenever she dances Diamonds, I'm there.

 

Isabella Lafreniere as the second violin is somewhat straightforward and perfunctory next to Nadon, but she is athletic with great force, shown best in her a soaring diagonal of grand jetes.  Gilbert Bolden was mostly stalwart in the pas de deux, flagging just a touch in that exhausting series of lifts. 

 

It was great to see veteran Daniel Ulbricht dance up a storm in the title-role of Prodigal Son.  His opening solo was buoyant, ferocious, and emphatic, bolting all over the stage.  He was perhaps dramatically less impactful in the final scenes as it is difficult to shed that Olympian persona, but no denying a terrific performance.  Miriam Miller is statuesque as the Siren with endless arms and legs.  As with her Dark Angel in Serenade the previous night, her presence doesn't reach beyond the footlights, but I sense she hasn't yet come into her prime.

 

Bizet finished with a top-down roster.  Tiler Peck and Chun Wai Chan were my favorite couple, somewhat of a surprise as I've not always warmed to Tiler's dancing on video.  This ballet is excellent for her, especially viewing from third ring which gives full appreciation to the vastness of her dancing.  No step is insignificant, nor is it effortful, tossing off the technical challenges with ease, sparkle, and grandness of scale.  Her series of turns down the center was tremendous.  Chan is ardent with great beats, excellent lines, a speedy if slightly flawed series of triple pirouettes, and attentive partnering.  

 

Unity Phelan lacks some of the majesty and grandeur for second movement, and her extension in a la seconde and nose-to-knee penchee could be higher.  Nonetheless she is elegant and capable: the way she swirled her torso into every fouette arabesque was lovely, and her arabesque is among the most disciplined in the company.  Alec Knight was a strong partner but could have dared more on the trust falls.  Baily Jones and Cainan Weber (third) suffered a miscue early where the one-handed turn to arabesque pitched far forward with Baily's legs flying out from underneath her.  No big deal as they did two more without incident, and their ballon was well utilized here.  Emilie Gerrity was secure and articulate in fourth movement, partnered by the excellent Peter Walker.

 

The previous Saturday evening Sara Mearns led Serenade with plenty of fantasy and drama as the Waltz Girl.  Her allegro got sticky in a couple of places and overall I probably prefer her Dark Angel, but her resignation to her fate before being held aloft was riveting.  Indiana Woodward was airborne, spirited, and flowing in Russian, the performance of the night.

 

Megan Fairchild began Theme and Variations without obvious magic, but her precision was uncanny in the second solo and her confidence only grew to the finale.  Anthony Huxley, textbook in the first solo, unraveled somewhat in the treacherous double tour series (popping the last one to a single), catching Megan's tutu often in the pas de deux and barely holding onto the final shoulder sit.  The company gave a spirited polonaise for what is one of the most uplifting finales in all of ballet.  The one unfortunate exception was Megan LeCrone in the demis, dancing as if she were marking the choreography.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by MRR

[Ondine]

 

[Ondine]

Serenade.

 

The first ballet Balanchine made in America. The first ballet danced by countless apprentices on the NYCB stage. The first ballet the Company performed after its 19-month pandemic-driven hiatus. Much like its choreography, the significance of Serenade within the ballet canon begs no explanation. Here, several generations of New York City Ballet artists express its significance to their personal artistry.

 

 

Edited October 16, 2023 by Ondine

[Bruce Wall]

I'm back now to the UK realities and much work but will always cherish the reality of the 2023 NYCB Fall Season and its many celebrations.  I so look forward to returning for the Winter and Spring '24 ones.  

 

In the materials noted above there was one special occurrence that was not covered.  On 30th September, a day filled with special events (Company class was one) - all entirely free and open to the general pubic - there was one that I found MOST memorable.  This was a special circumstance between 5.00 and 6.00 pm called 'Discover NYCB at 75'.  It was, again, in the marvel that is the main house of State Theater and in this presentation - made up of Balanchine solos and PDDs - each was introduced by the dancer who chose them.  All had to give the reason for their choice and tell the specific reason why it was, in fact, special to them.  The insights were often moving and certainly highlighted the dance segment which would follow - not just for the audience but clearly for the performers themselves.  You could feel the thrust of their secret incisiveness rebound throughout the orchestra (stalls) and First Ring levels which were completely filled.  (The other sectors were not open for this event.)  

 

The gloriously exotic Taylor Stanley had chosen the haunting solo from the first movement of Agon.  He explained that - to him - the ballet was about freedom and he always thought of his own grandfather who had led a past faction of the UAW (United Automobile Workers) in Lancaster, PA, demanding equal pay for all employees no matter their race.  His performance of Balanchine's stunning entreaty that followed did nothing but enhance the courage of his forefather.  The extraordinary Chun Wai Chan - what a magical dancer he is - talked about the freedom he too felt in coming to America - having initially lived and trained in China - and how - in preparing for this debut as Apollo to come - he found himself tracing the title role's own discovery of the responsibility of privilege.  His opening solo displayed such potently.   Megan Fairchild talked about privilege as well - but that of learning from past NYCB stars and now being able to share that same dynamic knowledge both as a NYCB principal and SAB teacher.  This was followed by herself and that explosion of balletic energy which is Roman Mejia in the Stars and Stripes third movement PDD.  Most moving of all for me in terms of the introductions was Jovani Furlan.  You could tell he was nervous when he came out to speak.  Clearly it's not something he does often, although his English (he is Brazilian) is truly excellent.  He was talking about his own discovery of Jazz through Rubies and its 'foreplay'.  The audience laughed at the mention of the latter and he burst out chortling himself in tandem with a deep blush.  'Yes, foreplay' he blurted amidst a sudden flash of that most winning smile.  Such was replicated many times over as he and the truly sensational Emma Von Enck giddily astonished yet again in that oh, so vivid PDD.  It was - as it had been before - revelatory.  Other works featured during the hour session were Symphony in C (third movement) introduced by soloist Sebastian Villarini-Velez; Balanchine's central Nutcracker adagio - introduced by soloist Ashely Hod and danced by her and her husband, NYCB long-standing principal, Andrew Veyette and the Western Symphony 4th Movement PDD chosen and introduced by NYCB principal Unity Phelan and danced by herself and Veyette.  What an vivid introduction this would have made for someone who had not attended NYCB before.  

 

Finally, I wanted to point out another dancer - among the many great ones - who really stood out for me this season.  She didn't have any featured roles that I can think of but always in the corps I found myself drawn to her extraordinary prowess.  Her name is Ava Sautter.  Something tells me she soon will be going places in this rapidly moving field; i.e., the fast track that is and always has been NYCB.  Here you can see a brief clip of her preparing for the soloist role in the 4T's Phlegmatic segment.  

 

Thanks so, Mr. B.  Once again you enabled miracles.  You always knew that your work would be different in our future .... but, as ever, it remains magical in its magnetism.  Still it is spellbinding; nay, clairvoyant.  As ever you give substance to the balletically mythic and see - irrespective of whatever horror may be prevailing in our immediate surround - that we can STILL be ensorcelled by the succour of such.  There are no words of thanks sufficient for such grace.  Its instinctive exhilaration remains rhapsodic.  It unambiguously remains a paradise of positive stimulation.  There is no greater gift.  

 

 

 

 

Edited October 18, 2023 by Bruce Wall