New York City Ballet -- Thursday, October 9, 2014

Thursday evening, October 9th, we went to New York State Theater to see New York City Ballet's '21st Century Choreographers' program -- basically the program from it's opening night gala (subtitled 'fashion's back at the ballet') with the addition of the new ballet by Alexei Ratmansky and the last minute subtraction of Christopher Wheeldon's 'This Bitter Earth'.  Even with this change, the program was way too long.

THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 9, 7:30 PM
MORGEN: *Reichlen, *Isaacs, *Krohn, *Catazaro, *Finlay, *Janzen [Conductor: Sill, Guest Soprano: Jennifer Zetlan]
CLEARING DAWN (New Greenstein/Schumacher): Bouder, Reichlen, Kretzschmar, Pazcoguin, Veyette, Prottas
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FUNÉRAILLES (New Liszt/Scarlett): T. Peck, R. Fairchild [Solo Piano: Chelton]
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BELLES-LETTRES (New Franck/Peck): Krohn, Lovette, Laracey, Pollack, J. Angle, Danchig-Waring, T. Angle, Stanley, Huxley [Conductor: Capps; Solo Piano: Walters]
PICTURES AT AN EXHIBITION (New Ratmansky/Music by Modest Mussorgsky): Mearns, T. Peck, A. Stafford, Whelan, Smith, T. Angle, Danchig-Waring, Garcia, Ramasar, Gordon [Solo Piano: Grant]

Peter Martins' 'Morgen' started the evening.  Choreographed to 10 songs for soprano and orchestra by Richard Strauss, it is basically six dancers in search of a ballet.  There is a succession of nine pas de deux, as each of the three women dances with each of the three men among a grouping of five Doric columns, followed by a final coming together of all six dancers as dawn breaks over the temple ruins.

The opening night cast in Peter Martins' 'Morgen' with new costumes by Carolina Herrera.
Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

This entire cast was making their debuts on Thursday evening and frankly they looked unprepared for Martins' tricky, awkward partnering.  Ashley Isaacs seemed the best of the women -- throwing herself heedlessly into the arms of her partners.  Russell Jansen fared best among the men -- a strong, attentive partner to each of the women, particularly Teresa Reichlen.  The men, in their drab costumes, seem like anonymous Bunraku puppeteers manipulating the women in complex lifts and movements.  Perhaps this ballet could be subtitled 'misogyny among the ruins'.

The soprano, Jennifer Zetlan, shrill and distracting, seemed ill-suited to the Strauss material, which itself seems ill-suited for dance.  The new costumes by Carolina Herrera, however, look lovely on the women and move easily.

Troy Schumacher's new ballet, 'Clearing Dawn', uses music by Judd Greenstein played by a chamber sextet.  Troy uses a sextet of dancers (four women and two men) costumed by Thom Browne in chic grey, black and white prep school style uniforms.  The costumes were too tight, unfortunately restricting the dancers freedom of movement.

Andrew Veyette being fitted for his costume in 'Clearing Dawn' in the NYC Ballet costume shop while
Thom Browne looks on.  Photo by Matt Bockelman for NYTimes

The choreography looks like stylized schoolyard behavior -- two men in a fist fight, butch girl and man in a fist fight, mean girls intimidating the others, two showoffs (Bouder and Veyette).  It is all light and fun and harmless, but looks strenuous because of the tight costumes.

Georgina Pazcoguin, Ashley Bouder, Claire Kretzschmar, Andrew Veyette, David Prottas and Teresa Reichlen in Troy Schumacher's 'Clearing Dawn'.
Photo by  Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

'Funerailles' by Liam Scarlett to Franz Liszt piano music played on stage by Elaine Chelton is a murky pas de deux for Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild all but swallowed up in costumes by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen.  There are Soviet-style lifts and partnered maneuvers to the dramatic music, but the heavily embroidered costumes leave them blurry.

Tiler Peck and Robert Fairchild costumed by Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen in Liam Scarlett's 'Funerailles'.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Whether Ms. Burton's costume designs or Mr. Scarlett's choreography are individually worthy, together they fight to a nondescript draw -- dance lovers will resent the costumes and fashionistas will resent the movement.

'Belles-Lettres' choreographed by Justin Peck to the music of Cesar Franck with costumes designed by Mary Katrantzou is not one of Peck's best works.  It starts promisingly with four couples clustered around Anthony Huxley, who is seated on the arms of  two men with a third providing support behind him and the fourth at his feet.  The four women fill out the corners of what looks like a Buddhist mandala -- which then dissolves as the piece begins.

Justin Peck's 'Belles-Lettres' with costumes by Mary Katrantzou.  Photo by Paul Kolnik

Ms. Katrantzou's costumes for the women are long flesh-toned dresses with re-embroidered lace tops and lace 'head-ache-band' head pieces.  The men wear flesh-colored body suits appliqued with letters ('beautiful letters') in lace that give the impression on some (the Angle brothers and Huxley) of Tongan tattoos.

There are some beautifully constructed moments of partnering for the four couples, especially Lauren Lovette and Jared Angle, but they don't tell us much about their relationships.  Mr. Huxley is the outsider, sometimes rushing in to demand the group's attention, sometimes remaining aloof -- content to dance on his own.  Huxley has remarkable presence as 'the other' in this little society -- perhaps the artist striving for acceptance or refusing to conform.

Unfortunately, the patterns and dynamics for the full cast are the least memorable aspects of this piece.  In his other works, these have been among Peck's greatest strengths.  

At the conclusion, the women remove their lace head pieces.  In Balanchine's ballets loose hair is often a sign of romantic abandon, but here it adds nothing to the piece except removing something rather distracting from the heads of these four lovely women.

The full cast at the conclusion of Justin Peck's 'Belles-Lettres'.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Clearly the highpoint of the long evening was 'Pictures at an Exhibition' by Alexei Ratmansky which uses the piano suite of 16 short selections by Modest Mussorgsky, thrillingly played on the stage apron by Cameron Grant.  It features costumes by Adeline Andre and projections designed by Wendall K. Harrington, both derived from the paintings of Wassily Kandinsky.

The first section opens with nine dancers clustered in a square in front of a projection of Kandinsky's 'Color Study: Squares with Concentric Circles' -- their colorful costumes echoing the shapes and colors projected behind them -- the women in loose, translucent hip length smocks and the men in loose sleeveless tops and pants.  Soon Gonzalo Garcia breaks free to dance a solo while the rest watch intently. 

Gonzalo Garcia dancing the first solo in Ratmansky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition'.
Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

The projection and the cast break up as Sara Mearns dances a spectacular solo to 'The Gnome'.  The extreme clarity of the shapes that Mearns etches in space in this remarkable solo are the major highlight of this ballet.

Sara Mearns in 'The Gnome' from Ratmansky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition'.
Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Elements of the Kandinsky 'Color Study' continue to skitter and converge on the projection screen at the back of the stage as the work progresses.

Wendy Whelan and Tyler Angle dance the first (and best) pas de deux to 'The Old Castle'.  Tyler is an assured partner for Wendy's shape shifting aerial presence -- a bird of prey, a ghostly wraith, a flickering flame, a hovering angel.   

Wendy Whelan and Tyler Angle in 'The Old Castle' from Ratmansky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition'.
Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

As usual with Ratmansky, the ten dancers are a community of individuals -- defined perhaps by the colors of their costumes, the music that they dance to, or the projections behind them -- but still themselves beneath the patina of score and decor.

There is a section for four women (Mearns, Whelan, Abi Stafford and Gretchen Smith) to 'Bydlo' that is playful and almost slapstick.  Tyler Angle and Joe Gordon engage in a kind of competition with support from the other three men (Garcia, Adrian Danchig-Waring and Amar Ramasar).  There are three more pas de deux -- for Smith and Danchig-Waring; Stafford and Gordon; and Tiler Peck and Garcia.  After a group number, there is a last high-flying, barely-in-control pas de deux for Mearns and Ramasar.

Sara Mearns and Amar Ramasar in 'Baba Yaga' from Ratmansky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition'.
Photo by Andrea Mohin for NY Times

Near the end, there is an ensemble piece where Whelan seems to re-enact the scene from 'Dances at a Gathering' where the man in brown crouches to touch the earth while the rest of the cast looks on.  

And finally, there is Cameron Grant brilliantly playing the magisterial 'The Great Gate of Kiev' while the cast slowly processes in opposing lines.

Entire cast in 'The Great Gate of Kiev' from Ratmansky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition'.
Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Ratmansky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' is a worthy addition to City Ballet's repertory.  Hopefully it will be programmed more congenially in the future when there are no screeching sopranos or ill-conceived costumes fighting for attention.