NYC Ballet Performance on Friday Evening, October 9th -- Part 2

FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 9, 8:00 PM

POLARIS (new Myles Thatcher ballet)
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THE BLUE OF DISTANCE (new Robert Binet ballet)
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COMMON GROUND (new Troy Schumacher ballet)
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NEW BLOOD 
     intermission
JEUX (new Kim Brandstrup Ballet): Mearns, Hyltin, Ramasar, Danchig-Waring; music by Claude Debussy, "Jeux"; [Conductor: Capps]


The second half of the October 9th program consisted of Kim Brandstrup's new ballet 'Jeux' which had premiered the previous evening.

Kim Brandstrup, 58, is from Denmark where he studied film at the University of Copenhagen before moving on to the London School of Contemporary Dance where he studied choreography.  Most of his creative life has taken place in Britain.  He founded Arc Dance Company there in 1985 and choreographed many works for them.  In 1994 he made his Metropolitan Opera debut as the choreographer of Benjamin Britten's 'Death in Venice' which featured Jeffrey Edwards as Tadzio and Karin von Aroldingen as his mother (non-speaking roles).  Brandstrup had previously choreographed 'Death in Venice' for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1992.

Kim Brandstrup (center) in the studio creating 'Jeux'  with Jonathan Stafford, ballet master, Harrison Ball and Indiana Woodward.
Photo by Paula Lobo for NY Times

'Jeux' uses a score of that name that Claude Debussy composed for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1913.  Nijinsky's ballet to the score was set at a tennis game and concerned a menage a trois.  It was completely overshadowed when a few weeks later Nijinsky's 'Le Sacre du Printemps' to Stravinsky's ground breaking score received a tumultuous reception.

The French 'jeux' is commonly translated as 'play' or 'game', but also has connotations of play-acting, masquerade or deception.  It even figures in phrases of the French casino, such as 'faites vos jeux' (make your bets) and 'les jeux sont faits' (the chips are down).  For his 'Jeux' Brandstrup has created a scenario that takes all of these possible translations into account.

Sara Mearns with Sterling Hyltin & Amar Ramasar (right) and ensemble.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

As the curtain opens, Amar Ramasar is tying a blindfold over Sara Mearns eyes as Sterling Hyltin and the five couples of the ensemble watch.  Sara and Sterling are wearing 'little black dresses' while the other women are in dark street dresses with the men in business suits with loosened ties -- some have even shed their jackets.  They seem to be in an empty industrial building with a single dangling light bulb and a single square black column separating a narrow area on the right side of the stage from a larger area on the left.  The lighting is murky until a black back curtain rises halfway to reveal a white wall that is lit with a glaring, sometimes pulsing (and annoying) white light.
  

Sara Mearns with four ensemble couples in Kim Brandstrup's 'Jeux'.  Photo by Andrea Mohin for NY Times

Amar and Sterling with the ensemble proceed to force Sara into a game of blindman's bluff, taunting Sara and always avoiding her searching, outstretched arms.  It seems that Amar and Sara have been romantically involved, but Amar is making moves on Sterling while Sara is blindfolded.  After some ensemble dancing including what are known in pairs figure skating as 'tabletop' lifts -- spectacular from some couples, merely adequate from others -- the six couples leave Sara alone groping for contact. 

Sara Mearns and Adrian Danchig-Waring in Kim Brandstrup's 'Jeux'.  Photo by Andrea Mohin for NY Times

The party crowd is replaced by Adrian Danchig-Waring as a young jock in jeans and T-shirt with a soccer ball.  Initially intrigued by the blindfolded woman, Adrian avoids contact with Sara -- ducking under Sara's leg extended in several extravagant turns. Then he comes to her rescue when she is about to fall and begins to partner her in a sensual, athletic duet.  Here's a link to a brief video clip from the Company of their pas de deux in 'Jeux':

https://www.facebook.com/nycballet/videos/10156161034855529/

Sara removes her blindfold (or maybe Adrian pulls it down) and Sara tosses his ball into the wings with disdain.  

Adrian Danchig-Waring and Sara Mearns in Brandstrup's 'Jeux'.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

As Sara and Adrian leave the stage Sterling and Amar return to dance a romance tinged duet.  Sara sneaks back to spy on Sterling and Amar before confronting him in a jealous rage.  Sara and Sterling fight for Amar's attention.  The ensemble swirls around them.

Sterling Hyltin and Amar Ramasar in Kim Brandstrup's 'Jeux'.   Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Or so it seemed to this observer.  But, who are these dancers?  why are they in this sinister space?  what are their connections before and after these dramatic encounters?  Brandstrup gives us few clues and no compelling reason to search for answers.  

This work strikes me as a descendant of Anthony Tudor's oeuvre.  Unnamed characters engage in unexplained interactions to sensuous, mysterious music.  With the right dancers (and these are the right dancers) this can be highly dramatic.  We're in a kind of post-modern lilac garden where four dancers engage in self-destructive behavior to satisfy carnal impulses.   As  'she who is cast aside' Mearns is indelible -- by turns needy, unstable, sensual and implacable.  Ramasar as 'he who moves on' is part matinee idol, part callous cad and always consummate partner.  Hyltin as 'she who seduces' is by turns alluring and flirtatious.  Danchig-Waring as 'he who hooks up' is wholesome, inquisitive and intense.

The ensemble are 'they who join in the game'.  In the ensemble, I was particularly struck by Emilie Gerrity, Rachel Hutsell and Lauren King among the women and Preston Chamblee and Russell Janzen among the men.  Rachel is still an apprentice and Preston joined the corps only last January.

*  *  *  *  *  *  *  * 

Whether 'Jeux' or any of the other four new works on this program will hold up to repeated viewing, they do provide a showcase the Company's dancers and an opportunity for them to expand their horizons with interesting choreographers.   Mearns and Hyltin shine in very different ways in 'Jeux' and 'The Blue of Distance'; Tiler Peck added cool diamantine sparkle to 'Polaris'; Ramasar provided leading man charisma and assured partnering in 'Jeux' and 'Common Ground'; Preston Chamblee in 'The Blue of Distance' and 'Jeux' stood out for his strong partnering; Russell Janzen in both the 'Jeux' ensemble and in 'Common Ground' is a very tall man who can move with speed and partner with grace; Claire Kretzschmar blazed brightly in 'New Blood' in her female-female duets with Kristen Segin and then Lauren King; and Lauren went on to stand out in the 'Jeux' ensemble; Meagan Mann with Ashley Bouder and Daniel Applebaum with Andrew Veyette held up their end in 'New Blood' duets with the Company's technical dynamos. 

There's always a lot to absorb in an evening of all new choreography, but the vivid dancing of the entire Company taking on new roles helps to point the way.  We're already anticipating Justin Peck's new ballet and to seeing more of these Fall Season premieres during the Winter Season. 

Still More Ballet Quibbles & Bits. . .

NYCB's Program for Children with Disabilities:

This spring New York City Ballet launched a program specially designed for families with disabled children.  It's extremely moving to watch principal dancers Maria Kowroski and Adrian Danchig-Waring work with 19 youngsters with cerebral palsy and their families as they experience the joy of dancing in this short video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp6LeOIkUuQ&utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FY16SummerCerebralPalsyAppeal&utm_content=version_A

"I didn't want to treat them differently from a normal child.  I didn't want to make them feel disabled, " Maria says in the video.  "I was worried that I was going to get emotional watching them because it's difficult to see someone struggle."

Maria Kowroski and Adrian Danchig Waring in Ulysses Dove's 'Red Angels'.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

City Ballet partnered with a cerebral palsy specialist, Joseph Dutkowsky, M.D., who helped Maria and Adrian design and lead the workshop -- a total of four sessions ending with a 'performance' where their young students donned purple tutus and red super-hero capes to perform the movements they had worked on in earlier sessions for an audience of parents and family members.

The final 'performance' of NYC Ballet's workshops for disabled children.
Photo is a still from the video filmed by Upworthy.

Of the 'performance' Adrian says " it was a really emotional day.  Maria and I had not been prepared for how connected we would feel immediately with the group of kids that we had.  In fact, we had underprepared for how energetic, enthusiastic, and physically capable these kids turned out to be."  Watch the video -- it will make you proud of New York City Ballet and Maria and Adrian for undertaking this project, which became a labor of love.


SAB's Summer Choreography Showing:

On Thursday, July 30th, we attended School of American Ballet's Summer Choreography Showing.  Toward the end of every Summer Session the School offers two choreographers the chance to create a work for the most advanced summer students.  This summer, Alec Knight and Jock Soto were the choreographers (Jock stepped in when Sasonah Huttenbach, who was originally selected, dropped out for health reasons).

Alec Knight has choreographed works for the past two Student Choreography Workshops.  For this Summer Choreography Showing, Alec created a work for 16 advanced students to a piece of music called 'Ēvolūtiō' by Break of Reality -- a cello rock band that consists of three cellists and a percussionist.  

Break with Reality, the American cello rock band

Break of Reality was formed in 2003 by four freshman at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY.  Two of the original founders, Patrick Laird and Ivan Trevino, are still with the band.  The other two current members are Laura Metcalf and Adrian Daurov.

'Ēvolūtiō' consists of four movements:  'Intactus' (untouched, pure, to one's self); 'Exordium' (the start, an introduction, or to have curiosity about another being); 'Amare & Luctus' (love and heartbreak); and 'Recomminiscor' (to reinvent, rebuild).  It is an adventurous choice of music for a budding choreographer and Alec Knight used the four sections to portray the transition from often lonely adolescence to adulthood.  Using 16 advanced students dressed in black leotards (the women) and black T-shirts and tights (the men) Alec portrayed in often quirky, abstracted movements and interactions between dancers the evolution he had described in his introductory remarks.

'Ēvolūtiō' begins with a single woman alone in the center of the studio and then moves groups of dancers on and off the performing space.  Interactions are fragmentary and the sense of isolation -- both of the individual and of smaller groups -- permeates the first movement.  In the second movement, interaction becomes more frequent as individuals break through their isolation.  In the third movement an infatuation between two of the dancers emerges, but ends in disappointment.  And in the final movement, the dancers have become a community from which individuals and couples emerge and retreat.

In SAB's Studio One the audience is spread along one long wall adjacent to the performing space which can make watching a performance (or even a class) seem like watching tennis from a front row seat.  Many neophyte choreographers struggle to help observers focus on the important elements of their dance design.  Alec was largely successful with groupings that attract the eye and canonical movements that lead the audience from one 'important' element to the next.

Jock Soto chose 'Valse' from  Alexander Glazunov's 'Raymonda' (beautifully played by Ala Reznik) for his piece, 'The Waltz', for 26 advanced students.  The music was familiar to New York City Ballet followers since it is used by Balanchine in 'Raymonda Variations'.  Jock decided to present the rest of the summer course advanced students (and to round out his design -- two of the women from Alec's work) so all got the opportunity to dance in the showing.

Jock used a female soloist, three male demi-soloists (the Cuban triplets) and an ensemble of eleven couples.  His answer to the 'tennis match' problem of Studio One was to employ symmetrical patterns for the ensemble and also for the triplets -- though I thought they were spaced too far apart.  

The overall look of 'The Waltz' was traditional (the women in white leotards and tutus and the men in white T-shirts and black tights) and the choreography was lyrical.  The triplets were given several bravura passages and the female soloist had a long passage of intricate pointe work.  The 11 couples in the ensemble showcased the impressive results of Mr. Soto's (with Darci Kistler or Yvonne Borree) Adagio classes during the summer session.

The showcase was a wonderful evening of ballet potential -- with student dancers, a budding choreographer and another one too seldom seen exploring new horizons together.


New York City Ballet's 2015-16 Season Artwork:

I'm not wild about the cartoony artwork the Company is using for it's 2015-16 Season brochures, posters and other advertising/PR materials.  

Art by Jamie Lee Reardin from NYC Ballet's 2015-16 Season Subscription Brochure.

It's by Jamie Lee Reardin, who has worked primarily in fashion illustration.  Anyhow, here's a short video which provides a translation from the Company's outstanding repertory and superb dancers to Ms. Readin's caricatured interpretations:

https://video-lga1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hvideo-xta1/v/t43.1792-2/11774942_10155916651600529_1243611289_n.mp4?efg=eyJybHIiOjE1MDAsInJsYSI6MTAyNH0%3D&rl=1500&vabr=626&oh=2d42d309de7e6f4b810639ae590d3a61&oe=55C2BD1E

I really can't imagine Reardin's art blown up to gigantic proportions on the Columbus Avenue side of the Koch Theater!

Jamie Lee Reardin's interpretation of 'Swan Lake' for New York City Ballet.

NYC Ballet Matinee Performance, Sunday, May 3rd . . .

SUNDAY MATINEE, MAY 3, 3:00 PM [Conductor: Otranto]

APOLLO: *Danchig-Waring, T. Peck, *Isaacs, Lovette
AGON: Kowroski, Ramasar, Veyette, King, Hod (replaces Smith),Krohn, Alberda, Applebaum
DUO CONCERTANT: Bouder, *Huxley [Solo Piano: McDill; Solo Violin: Delmoni]
SYMPHONY IN 3 MOVEMENTS: Hyltin, Pereira, Lowery, Stanley, Ulbricht, Scorda

* First Time in Role on Wednesday, April 29th

This program from the Balanchine Black & White Festival was subtitled 'Stravinsky/Balanchine'.  It included four works Balanchine created to Stravinsky's music spanning the years from 1928 through 1972 -- all danced in (mostly black and white) leotards.

First, a word about the excellent playing of the New York City Ballet Orchestra under the conductor Clotilde Otranto on Sunday. These Stravinsky scores are this orchestra's birthright.  They have been playing them for many, many years.  Under Maestra Otranto's enthusiastic baton they sounded as fresh and clean as when they were first encountered.

Apollo
When Balanchine created 'Apollo' (aka 'Apollon Musagete') for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1928 it featured elaborate costumes and sets by the French painter Andre Bauchant.  A year later there were new costumes by Coco Chanel.  By the time he staged it for NYC Ballet in 1951 he had begun a process of stripping away the sets, the costumes and the scenario.  By the 1957 staging the costumes by Karinska were extremely simple leotards -- with brief skirts for the three women.  When he restaged it for Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1979 Balanchine eliminated the prologue -- which portrayed the birth and infancy of Apollo -- and the spare, steep staircase at the back representing Mount Parnassus -- which Apollo and the three muses climbed in the finale.  (I seem to recall that this version was also used by Rudolf Nureyev on his tour programs starting as early as 1967.)

On Sunday, two of the dancers -- Adrian Danchig-Waring as Apollo and Ashly Isaacs as Polyhymnia -- had just debuted in their roles the previous Wednesday.  Danchig-Waring's Apollo is very much a work in process.  He hasn't created a coherent through-line that pulls the individual dance scenes together to portray the young god's development from adolescence into manhood.  On a technical level he doesn't always place the iconic images correctly on the stage and he doesn't accurately align them in relation to the proscenium and the audience -- usually due to an under or over rotation of a turn.

Adrian Danchig-Waring as Apollo in Balanchine's ballet.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Ashly Isaacs' Polyhymnia, muse of mime, was danced with enormous confidence and brio.  Isaacs is still in the corps, but she is this year's Janice Levin Dancer honoree.  It is clear that she has a brilliant future.  Isaacs filled the stage with big, bold, joyous dancing that plays with and against Stravinsky's music.

Tiler Peck as Terpsichore, Ashly Isaacs as Polyhymnia, Lauren Lovette as Calliope and Adrian Danchig-Waring

as Apollo in Balanchine's 'Apollo'.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Tiler Peck's Terpsichore, muse of dance, seemed bored, petulant and lacked rapport with Danchig-Waring's Apollo.  Lauren Lovette's Calliope is not one of her best role, failing to catch the muse of poetry's sparkle and contorting her beautiful face with ugly grimaces while 'reciting' her poetry.  Perhaps Ms. Peck and Ms. Lovette are letting their off-stage affection for different Apollos (Robert Fairchild and Chase Finlay respectively) distort their performances in this cast.

Final image of the current 'Apollo' with Tiler Peck & Adrian Danchig-Waring.   Note the awkward placement of Adrian's left foot and the lack of turnout in the left leg.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

The final image of the 1979 version of 'Apollo' that Balanchine left us is the sunburst of the sun god with the legs of the three muses arrayed in arabesque around him -- what the late critic Robert Garris referred to as 'the Apollo-logo'.  'Apollo' remains an essential work in the Balanchine cannon and we can only hope that this cast will coalesce in future performances.

Agon

Balanchine commissioned Stravinsky to compose the score for 'Agon', which premiered in 1957.  Stravinsky modelled the individual sections of the score on dances from a mid-17th century French dance manual.  Balanchine uses the first three sections: Pas de Quatre (Four Boys); Double Pas de Quatre (Eight Girls); and Triple Pas de Quatre (Eight Girls, Four Boys) to introduce his dancers.  I'm always amazed and amused by how Balanchine moves the 12 dancers in the triple pas like chess pieces between the three groups of four dancers to form mixed-sex foursomes before aligning them back into the three same-sex foursomes.

The company fielded a perfect cast for Sunday's matinee of 'Agon'.
In the first Pas de Trois, Andrew Veyette (with Lauren King and Ashley Hod) danced with polished athleticism.

Andrew Veyette dancing the 'Sarabande' from Balanchine's 'Agon'.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

 In the second Pas de Trois, Rebecca Krohn (with Devin Alberda and Daniel Applebaum) infused the 'Bransle Gay' with sensuous angularity and handled being thrown from one man to the other with cool aplomb.

Maria Kowroski used her extraordinary extension and flexibility to clearly etch the extremes of the Pas de Deux.  More importantly, she interacted with Amar Ramasar -- making him more than a stalwart and steady partner by acknowledging and reacting to his warmth and charisma.  They are great in this iconic pas de deux.

Amar Ramasar and Maria Kowroski in the 'Agon' pas de deux.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

In Part III the Danse des Quatre Duos (4 twos) morphs into the Danse des Quatre Trois (four threes) and then the four boys repeat the opening steps in reverse in the Coda -- followed by an ovation for a truly extraordinary performance.

Duo Concertant
I'm not really sure why 'Duo Concertant' is so often in the repertory.  It is a piece for a violinist (Arturo Delmoni), a pianist (Nancy McDill), and two dancers (Ashley Bouder and Anthony Huxley) that was created for the 1972 Stravinsky Festival (originally with Kay Mazzo and Peter Martins).  Over the years it has been danced by many great dancers -- Peter Boal, Mikhail Baryshnikov and Nikolaj Hubbe all danced it with Yvonne Borree.

The dancers spend about a third of the piece simply listening to the two musicians play Stravinsky's music -- 'Duo Concertant' from 1934.  Even the greatest dancers have difficulty feigning interest in the music while standing still.  When they do dance it is in snippets -- often with folk dance overtones.  It ends with a maudlin section on a darkened stage where the dancers' hands and heads are caught in a single follow spot as they play out an intensely romantic interlude.

Anthony Huxley and Ashley Bouder in 'Duo Concertant'.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Neither Ashley Bouder nor Anthony Huxley (who debuted in the role the previous Wednesday) are ideally cast in this work -- Bouder is too extroverted, Huxley too introverted.  Neither is a very good listener when they just stand behind the piano.  I'm sure that we will see 'Duo Concertant' again, but I don't need to -- it serves as short (and boring) program filler and in the case of this program it suffers in comparison to the masterpieces around it.

Symphony in Three Movements
Balanchine also created 'Symphony in Three Movements' for the 1972 Stravinsky Festival to the symphony Stravinsky composed between 1942 and 1944.  It uses a large cast -- three principal couples, five demi-soloists couples, and a 16 woman corps.  In the outer two movements they are all deployed in complex patterns that challenge the eye with countervailing rhythms and movements.

The opening line of 16 corps women in 'Symphony in Three Movements'.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

The curtain opens on a diagonal line of the corps women -- all in white leotards with ponytails.  It seems like a neo-classical version of a classical 'vision' scene -- the 'Kingdom of the Shades' from 'La Bayadere' or the second act of 'Giselle' perhaps.  But as soon as they begin to move and as the principals and demi-soloists are introduced you realize that this is an edgy, jagged modern work -- 'Shades' on steroids. 

Taylor Stanley and Sterling Hyltin in the central pas de deux of 'Symphony in Three Movements'.
Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

The central movement is a quiet, slightly exotic pas de deux for one of the principal couples -- on Sunday, Sterling Hyltin and Taylor Stanley.  Hyltin and Stanley seem nicely matched.  Their 'oriental' arm ripples seemed a bit extreme (like some slightly crazed Odettes), but they created an oasis of calm between the frantic energy of the first and third movements.

In the closing moments of the third movement Balanchine clears the stage for the principal and demi-soloist couples by having the corps girls stand half covered behind the wings.  As the momentum builds they step out of the wings and back into them -- creating a dynamic frame for the dancing at center stage.  Suddenly all of the cast is on stage in patterns that reminds me of the crews that guide planes onto the deck of an aircraft carrier.

Full cast in the finale of 'Symphony in Three Movements'.  Photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Sunday's performance of this iconic Balanchine work seemed ragged and under-rehearsed.  Lines that should have been straight weren't; patterns that should have been clearly aligned weren't. This detracted from the complete joy that this work can provide.

Balanchine's 'Walpurgisnacht Ballet'

SATURDAY EVENING, March 1, 8 PM

WALPURGISNACHT BALLET: Mearns, Danchig-Waring, Lovette, Villwock, Isaacs [Guest Conductor: Christensen]

This program 'a la Francaise' was put together as an evening of all French music.  With the announcement that Janie Taylor and Sebastien Marcovici were retiring, it was subsumed into their farewell performance.  However, the most exciting dancing of the evening came in Balanchine's 'Walpurgisnacht Ballet' to the ballet music from Gounod's opera, 'Faust'.

Balanchine had originally choreographed to this music for productions of the opera at the Opera de Monte-Carlo in 1925; at the Metropolitan Opera in 1935; and at the Opera Nacional in Mexico City in 1945.  Balanchine created this particular choreography in 1975 for a production of 'Faust' by the Paris Opera where it was danced by the Paris Opera Ballet.

It was first performed as a stand alone ballet by the NYC Ballet in May, 1980, with Suzanne Farrell, Adam Luders and Heather Watts leading the first cast.  One of my ballet friends recalls that Balanchine created a scandal by using the bombastic music obviously intended for a showy male variation for one of Farrell's variations.  Farrell recalls that Balanchine came in at the last minute to 'rearrange and rechoreograph' the work after it had been staged for NYC Ballet by Brigette Thom of the Paris Opera Ballet.  

The entire ballet is a celebration of femininity.  Luders was an excellent partner, but not the epitome of virility on stage (we referred to him as the 'white rabbit' because on stage he was so pale and always appeared to be scared of his own shadow).  As the only man in the cast, Adam's primary functions were to partner Farrell, perform one innocuous variation, and catch her when she made a spectacular leap onto his shoulder at the finale.

Balanchine used a typical ballet hierarchy for this work -- a corps of 16 women, four demi-soloists, two soloists, a secondary ballerina, and the principle couple.

The cast on Saturday evening was splendid.  Adrian Danchig-Waring (who had debuted in the role the previous Wednesday) looked virile, partnered Mearns with gracious ease and danced his scant variation with panache.  Lauren Lovette (who had also debuted on Wednesday) danced with great musicality in the secondary ballerina role.  She's a gorgeous young woman whose dancing projects warmth and confidence.

Sara Mearns and Ask La Cour in 'Walpurgisnacht Ballet', photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

Sara Mearns has made 'Walpurgisnacht' one of her signature roles, completely displacing memories of Farrell and Kyra Nichols, the two other great exponents of the role.  The lovely Gounod music seems to emanate from Sara's pliant lower back, radiate through her arms and legs, and linger in her fingertips and toes.  She doesn't dance to the music so much as she becomes it.

Sara Mearns in 'Walpurgisnacht Ballet' by Balanchine, photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

 
This is no mean feat when the orchestra, under guest conductor Henrik Vagn Christensen, threatened to disintegrate at Sara's feet.  Her diagonal of alternating chaine turns and pirouettes literally replaced the disjointed jumble of notes coming from the pit.

Corps women in finale of 'Walpurgisnacht Ballet' by Balanchine, photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

The finale of the ballet is always a bit of a mess with all of the women loosening their hair and dancing in barely controlled abandon (it is after all 'the witches sabbath') -- leading to Sara's final triumphant leap onto Adrian's sturdy shoulder.

'Walpurgisnacht' is far from top drawer Balanchine, but when it is performed by such outstanding dancers it becomes irresistible.