NYC Ballet Matinee Performance, Sunday, May 10th

SUNDAY MATINEE, MAY 10, 3:00 PM [Conductor: Sill]

WALPURGISNACHT BALLET: Mearns, la Cour, *Maxwell, Segin, Dronova

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SONATINE: *T. Peck, De Luz [Solo Piano: Chelton] 

LA VALSE: Hyltin, J. Angle, Ramasar, Ippolito, King, Carmena, Pazcoguin, Suozzi, LeCrone (replacing Arthurs), Catazaro, Smith, Wellington, Anderson

SYMPHONY IN C: Bouder, Veyette, Kowroski, T. Angle, Pereira, Carmena (replacing Garcia), Pollack, Stanley

* First Time in Role on Friday, May 8th

The New York City Ballet program we saw on Sunday, May 10th (Mothers' Day) was subtitled 'Hear the Dance: France' -- and consisted of four Balanchine works using the music of French composers.

Walpurgisnacht Ballet
I wrote about 'Walpurgisnacht Ballet' in a post on a NYC Ballet performance on 3/1/2014 which you can read here:

http://zylopho.blogspot.com/2014/03/balanchines-walpurgisnacht-ballet.html

Last Sunday's cast was lead by 'the divine Sara' as my late friend Miriam Pellman dubbed Sara Mearns (without irony).  She continues to dance this role with extraordinary radiance and musical expressiveness.  Her partner, Ask la Cour, was a calm steady presence in a role that requires little more.  The orchestra under the direction of Andrews Sill, the interim music director, gave the dancers a nuanced reading of the scintillating Gounod music.  

Sara Mearns and Ask la Cour in 'Walpurgisnacht Ballet'.  Photo by Andrea Mohin for the NY Times

Alexa Maxwell, stepping out of the corps in an auspicious debut, was confident and elegant as the secondary ballerina.  She had just made her debut in the role two days earlier.  In most of her dancing she fronts the all-female ensemble and even when she is performing the same steps as they are Ms. Maxwell is able by the slightest lingering at the end of a phrase or the mere tilt of her head to distinguish herself from her peers.

Alexa Maxwell in 'Walpurgisnacht Ballet'.  Photo by Andrea Mohin for the NY Times

As viewed from seats in the third ring the choreographic patterns, even in the often chaotic bacchanale that concludes 'Walpurgisnacht', were clearly defined.  Seeing a ballet from a different perspective often creates a new experience of familiar choreography and that was the case on Sunday.

Sonatine
'Sonatine' was the opening work of the Ravel Festival in May, 1975.  Balanchine created 'Sonatine' for two French dancers -- Violette Verdy and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux -- using Maurice Ravel's piano piece of that name from 1906.  The piano is placed stage right leaving the left two-thirds of the stage for the two dancers.  The sensuous, atmospheric three movement work was beautifully played by Elaine Chelton on Sunday afternoon.

Tiler Peck and Joaquin De Luz in 'Sonatine'.  Photo by Andrea Mohin for NYTimes

Individually, Tiler Peck and Joaquin De Luz are wonderful, dancing their scintillating, shimmering solos with complete musicality.  Joaquin's precise beats and centered spins look effortless.  Tiler's delicate pointe work and spiraling pirouettes capture the essence of this music.  Unfortunately, their different physical scale makes some of the partnered passages of 'Sonatine' look uncomfortably awkward.  A series of skimming underarm lifts looked difficult and ungainly where they should have made Tiler look like she's floating on air.

The result was a small, chamber work that seemed long and often tedious.  Perhaps by the time it reappears during the 2016 Winter Season, these wonderful dancers can be paired with others who are more compatible in scale.

La Valse
George Balanchine created 'La Valse' in 1951 using Ravel's 'Valses Nobles et Sentimentales' -- a set of eight short waltzes written for piano in 1911 and orchestrated in 1912 -- plus his 'La Valse' written in 1920.  Ravel wrote about 'La Valse':  "We are dancing on the edge of a volcano".  Balanchine's original cast was Tanaquil Le Clercq, Nicholas Magallanes, and Francisco Moncion with costumes by Karinska and sets by Jean Rosenthal.

Karinska's costumes for the demi-soloist and corps women are an integral part of the choreography.  The ladies long tulle skirts layered in shades of scarlet, orange, lavender and pink under a top layer of black or dark grey are surmounted by tight bodices of gunmetal satin with nude yokes trimmed in jeweled 'necklaces'.   They all wear very long white gloves.

After a brief overture (First Waltz) the curtain opens on three women -- often called the 'three fates' -- Marika Anderson, Gretchen Smith and Lydia Wellington.  To the Second Waltz they gesture primarily with angular arms and hands -- perhaps gossiping or preening or plotting.  It is here that the motif of raising the skirts to reveal the fiery underlayers is set -- perhaps the flames of hell licking at them or Ravel's volcano spewing molten lava.  It is all very unsettling, emphasized by the white gloves and layers of flaming tulle.

The 'three fates' in Karinska's costumes for Balanchine's 'La Valse'.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Three couples are introduced -- Lauren King and Antonio Carmena in the Third Waltz; Georgina Pazcoguin and Sean Suozzi in the Fourth Waltz; and Megan LeCrone and Zachary Catazaro in the Fifth Waltz.  Ms. LeCrone dances the Sixth Waltz.  Mr. Catazaro and the three fates dance the Seventh Waltz which could be the man's fever dream or the three fates singling him out for special torment.  The women circle him in grand jetes and blind him with their gloved arms.  The other couples rush on and off stage.  It ends in another flash of tulle fireworks.

Lauren King and Antonio Carmena dancing the Third Waltz of 'La Valse'.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

All in white Sterling Hyltin enters alone at the start of the Eighth Waltz.  She is soon joined by Jared Angle.  They waltz.  She retreats several times, but is drawn back to the dance.  As the waltz ends a man's face appears behind the black scrim -- inscrutable, sinister -- he is Death.

As the first strains of 'La Valse' are heard the three fates reappear briefly, then the three couples and the corps of 16 women and eight men who gradually come together into a formal waltz -- always with flashes of crimson tulle licking around them like flames.  The girl in white and her partner enter and join the waltz.  Sterling and Jared execute a dazzling series of waltz lifts and supported pirouettes where her free leg describes a 360 degree arc as her head and body pass under her partner's arm. 

Sterling Hyltin & Jared Angle (center) in Balanchine's 'La Valse'.  Photo by Andrea Mohin for NY Times

Death (Amar Ramasar) -- and his servant (Ralph Ippolito) enter from the rear of the stage, dressed all in black.  The waltzers have stopped, transfixed.  Death lures the girl in white to his side -- offering her a necklace of jet stones.  His servant proffers a cracked mirror so she can see the black gems circling her slender white neck.  Death helps her plunge her arms into long black gloves and don a black tulle overdress.  She preens in her new finery.  He presents her with a bouquet of black flowers. Finally realizing that she has been seduced by Death, she tries to break free, but Death grips her in a frenzied, terrifying waltz, then flings her violently to the floor and departs.  Her partner drags her body to the back of the stage while the corps swirls on in the waltz.

In the final moments the three demi-soloist men lift the girl's body high while the rest of the cast circles in a macabre flaming vortex and her partner runs around the edges of the stage in anguish.
       

Final image of 'La Valse' with corps surrounding the girl in white.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

'La Valse' is a gorgeous ballet and it was beautifully performed at this performance.  Still, it seemed a rather dark choice for a Mothers' Day program.

Symphony in C
Stravinsky first recommended Bizet's 'Symphony in C' to Balanchine.  Bizet composed the score in 1855 at the age of 17 when he was a student of Charles Gounod at the Paris Conservatory.  It lay unperformed in the Conservatory's archives until 1933.  It's first public performance was in Paris in 1935. 

Balanchine choreographed 'Symphony in C' in just two weeks in 1947 for the Paris Opera Ballet where it was called 'Le Palais de Cristal'.  In Paris, the costumes and decor by Leonor Fini were in different colors representing jewels -- emeralds, rubies, sapphires and pearls -- for each movement.  (Balanchine, of course, returned to the jewel theme in 1967 for 'Jewels'.)  The Paris Opera Ballet brought this version to New York for their 1986 engagement at the Met.  Of course, Balanchine was right to jettison the jewel theme for this work.

For the first performance of Ballet Society (the predecessor of New York City Ballet) at City Center in March, 1948, Balanchine changed the name to 'Symphony in C' and revised the choreography to reflect the strengths of his New York cast.  Karinska redressed the ballet in simple white tutus with simple satin bows for the women and black leotards for the men -- shown off against a simple blue cyclorama.

In 2012, Marc Happel created new costumes for the Company using masses of Swarovski crystals but retaining the basic black and white format.  Here's a link to the video about the new costumes on the Company's web page:

http://www.nycballet.com/ballets/s/symphony-in-c.aspx

Ashley Bouder and Andrew Veyette were crisp and musically incisive in the First Movement: Allegro Vivo.  There is always a nice spark of energy when Ashley and Andrew dance together and it was evident in this vibrant performance.

Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle seemed a little tired and distracted in the Second Movement: Adagio.  Maria omitted the iconic forehead-to-knee in her 180-degree supported arabesque penchee and Tyler seemed slightly underpowered -- barely taking Maria from one demi-soloist couple to the other in the arabesque lifts back-and-forth across the stage.  It was an atypically dull performance from two incredibly talented dancers who have formed a wonderful partnership in the last few years.

Maria Kowroski and Tyler Angle in the Adagio of Balanchine's 'Symphony in C'.
Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Erica Pereira and Antonio Carmena (replacing Gonzalo Garcia) were poorly matched in the Third Movement: Allegro Vivace.  Pereira uses a veneer of vivacity to cover a basically bland technical facility.  Carmena is a ball of energy who seemed to rein in his dancing to match the small scale of his ballerina's.  This is such a vivid, fun movement, filled with bouncy plies, square-dance promenades and menages -- but it needs a central couple that can bring variety and interest to its several repetitive passages.

Lauren King and Taylor Stanley in the Fourth Movement: Allegro Vivace of Balanchine's 'Symphony in C'.
Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Brittany Pollack and Taylor Stanley lead the Fourth Movement: (also) Allegro Vivace.  I always feel the couple leading this movement and their supporting cast get short changed by the need to bring the ballet's entire cast back for a reprise.  Brittany and Taylor were exuberant and sunny in their too-brief time on stage -- and then they ceded the stage to the first movement cast.

As the casts from each movement reenter the stage, it becomes a kind of mash-up and challenge dance, eventually with all 52 dancers on stage.  Can the four ballerinas keep up in the turns and stabbing bourrees?  Can the eight demi-soloists men all hoist their partners onto their shoulders at precisely the same moment and keep them steady there?  Can the conductor keep the orchestra from racing out of control in the final exuberant moments?  Can all 52 dancers hit their marks in the final tableau.  They all did so splendidly at this matinee and the result was a collective roar of approval from the audience. 

Entire cast in final tableau of Balanchine's 'Symphony in C'.  Photo by Paul Kolnik

It was an exhilarating conclusion for the Mothers' Day matinee.