Stormy Weather—NYCB's Balanchine Slate

Sara Mearns in Walpurgisnacht Ballet. Photo: Paul Kolnik

The storm Jonas dumped nearly a yard of snow in its wake, shutting down all of New York City, including cultural performances. But another tempest, Sara Mearns, channelled some of its vibrant fury in Balanchine's Walpurgisnacht Ballet (1980) at New York City Ballet on make-up night, January 26. Through her musicality and kinetic impulses, Mearns conveyed an astounding amount of inner life while remaining faithful to the choreography, which she has absorbed a priori. Adrian Danchig-Waring was a noble, strong partner to counter her contained passion.

The all-Balanchine program included Sonatine (1975), a duo with Tiler Peck and Joaquin de Luz to a Ravel score played live onstage by Cameron Grant. They shared a tender camaraderie, but she repeatedly left him and returned, as if testing the permanence of closure. Peck never stopped moving, giving life and evolution to seemingly static poses. De Luz crackled onstage; his roguish charm paired particularly well with Peck's joy and wonderment.

Tiler Peck & Joaquin de Luz in Sonatine. Photo: Paul Kolnik

The last time I saw Mozartiana (1981), Anthony Huxley danced the second male role; here, he was in the lead male part wearing white and violet, and the cocoa-clad Daniel Ulbricht danced the secondary Gigue. While Huxley continues to develop his partnering work, and on the softening of his placid facial expression, he was crisp technically and timing-wise, and bestowed his movement with more weight and plushness. Sterling Hyltin gave an elegiac, tender performance, her hand softly unfurling as if presenting a priceless gift; Ulbricht was light and appealing if somewhat flat—it's almost as if he reins in his personality and simply lets his flying leaps speak.

The sturdy Symphony in C (1947) featured Megan Fairchild in the first movement with a lackluster Gonzalo Garcia, who seemed rusty and uninspired. The cool pair of Teresa and Tyler Angle wafted elegantly through the second part, making its difficult chained lifts look seamless. A vivacious Antonio Carmena partnered Erica Pereira in the jaunty third, she emanated energy but her small stature tends to minimize the impact. And I wanted to see more of Brittany Pollack and Taylor Stanley, electric in the brief fourth movement.

Refreshing, Ancient Bournonville at NYCB

Bournonville Divertissements. Photo: Paul Kolnik

It seems illogical to view New York City Ballet's Bournonville renaissance as fresh, as opposed to what defines new—brand new work by young choreographers, increasingly by men such as Justin Peck and Troy Schumacher, from the company's ranks. Bournonville (1805—79) is about as ancient a ballet choreographer as we see, and at that, we see very little. But we must thank Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins for putting together a program of Bournonville Divertissements (1977) and La Sylphide (1985), performed on the evening of the company's spring gala.

Tyler Angle. Photo: Paul Kolnik

Apart from a story with a melancholy ending such as La Sylphide, Bournonville's choreography, as noted previously, is often characterized by a multitude of petit and grand allegro steps, and a generally sunny mood. Dancers are in the air more than they're on the ground. The style makes use of deep pliés from which to spring upward. There is rarely a moment of stasis. The body is an axis, and the turned-out fifth position a ready-set-go point from which to move in any compass direction, and up and down, with fluidity, delicacy, and ease, despite the speed and challenging technique. 

The Divertissements' many sections, derived from Bournonville's Napoli, Flower Festival in Genzano, and Abdallah, offered choice spotlights for many of the company's fleet-footed dancers. Erica Pereira danced with Allen Peiffer, whose shorts and sailor top gave him the look of a teenager. But it simply contributed to an air of youthfulness and promise. Tyler Angle excelled in the style, unsurprisingly, given his lofty ballon and deceptively effortless bearing. But Sara Mearns, somewhat unexpectedly, managed to articulate each position; her broad dramatic sweep and luxuriant emphasis no hindrance. 

Amar Ramasar and Adrian Danchig-Waring partnered Lauren Lovette and Lauren King (both delightful), Rebecca Krohn (with a warmer demeanor than ever), and Megan LeCrone, whose cool modern outlook was somewhat at odds in the work. Anthony Huxley, who danced the gem of a short solo, was superb as always. The entire cast, beating tambourines, took turns dancing and goading on the others in the jubilant, earthy Tarantella.
     

Sterling Hyltin and Joaquin de Luz in La Sylphide. Photo: Paul Kolnik

La Sylphide made its NYCB premiere in a staging by Martins. This production debuted at the Pennsylvania Ballet in 1985, with bright, mannerist sets by Susan Tammany, who also designed the kilts of purple tartan (read the fascinating story about how she also ushers). It's a bit of an odd duck of a ballet; two acts without an intermission. But it contains some great roles for a few dancers, including the previously mentioned De Luz, more radiant and magnetic than ever before, and like so many of the company's many principals, underused. Sterling Hyltin is ideal for the Sylph, whisper-light and delicate, and, as needed, alternately strong and frail. Georgina Pazcoguin played Madge, the witch, with ravenous, and at times contemporary, gestures, reinforcing her reputation as the company's leading character actress. Daniel Ulbricht danced Gurn, the spurned, yet ultimately redeemed suitor. The role is shallow enough that he made little memorable of it.

This dose of Bournonville is welcome, even in a repertory chock full of Balanchine and the talents of many youngsters. It also shows that the company can handle any challenge with flair. 

Backstage drama and bravery at NYCB

Paz de la Jolla, with Tiler Peck (kneeling) and Sterling Hyltin/Amar Ramasar (the lift). Photo: Paul Kolnik

Justin Peck's Paz de la Jolla premiered at New York City Ballet on Jan 31, another satisfying success for the young choreographer and dancer. (I reviewed it for Dance Magazine.) But it wasn't even the most dramatic part of the evening. That honor belonged to corps member (and choreographer as well) Troy Schumacher, who stepped into one of the lead roles in Concerto DSCH (2008), the program's finale choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky. Sean Suozzi was scheduled to dance the allegro male duet with Joaquin de Luz, but had to cancel because of a last minute backstage injury. 

Schumacher happened to be watching the performance in the audience. He had understudied de Luz's part before, but not Suozzi's, so he knew the basic phrases and was coached through the staging as best as possible. One of the emphases of this pairing is the synchronicity of rapid fire grand allegro phrases. It should appear as if a mirror is held up to one of them. And although Schumacher seemed slightly off at times, there wasn't anything egregious or terribly wrong about his performance. Just goes to show how smart and resourceful dancers can be.

Maria Kowroski and Daniel Ulbricht in Porte et Soupir.
Photo: Paul Kolnik

Concerto DSCH remains one of my favorite Ratmansky works, with its contrasting quick and lively lead woman (Ashley Bouder) and her male counterparts (de Luz and Schumacher), and a romantic couple, here danced touchingly and superbly by Tyler Angle and Janie Taylor. Ratmansky lets his corps dancers be human, with the foibles of boredom, sleepiness, and peer pressure seeping into their onstage actions. In fact, the casting structure of Peck's Paz somewhat parallels DSCH, as does some of the playful and irreverent tone and group passages. He has learned from an accomplished mind, in any case.  

The middle work was a folly by Balanchine, Variations Pour Une Porte et Un Soupir, from 1974. It takes inspiration from the score by Pierre Henry, an amalgam of the pseudonymous door creaks and sighs. Maria Kowroski manifested the door, more of an abstraction into a passageway of sorts, with an enormous parachute-sized, shimmering lame skirt whose corners flew up and down from the rafters. Daniel Ulbricht was the sigh, a lizard-like creature fond of the ground. This is a rare surrealist vision from Balanchine, an experiment that should be seen at most every few years. 

Kings Dance Among Us, 2/22/10

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Kings of the Dance at City Center

http://www.thirteen.org/sundayarts/blog/ballet/kings-dance-among-us/802/

Ballet can be a spectacle, but the big companies tend to sublimate this aspect in deference to emphasizing the classic stories, its rich history, the ever-present sublime beauty. So there’s something refreshing, if blunt, about the frank populist appeal of Kings of the Dance which took place at City Center last week. Produced by Ardani Artists, if the artists involved weren’t truly world-class, the title would be more humorous than serious. Fortunately, the cast boasted local stars Marcelo Gomes, Jose Manuel Carreno, David Hallberg (all ABT), Desmond Richardson (Complexions), and Joaquin de Luz (NYCB), plus Guillaume Cote (National Ballet of Canada), Denis Matvienko (Mariinsky), and Nikolay Tsiskaridze.

This year’s densely-packed 2.5 hour program was well put-together for such a star vehicle. It led off with Christopher Wheeldon’s gentle For 4 (2006), which opens with the four crisply silhouetted like a pantheon of, well, kings, with each man’s solo overlapping with the next to Franz Schubert’s music. I think the men were striving to look relaxed, but at times it bordered on feeling unrehearsed. Given the demands on these artists’ schedules, that would be understandable.