Still More Ballet Quibbles and Bits . . .

Wendy Whelan's Conversation with Damian Woetzel

While searching the internet for some background information on Wendy Whelan, I found this wonderful clip recorded from a discussion between Wendy and Damian Woetzel that took place at 'Studio 5' at City Center on September 29, 2014 -- during the days leading up to Wendy's retirement from NYC Ballet.  

Wendy Whelan enjoying a laugh with Damian Woetzel at 'Studio 5' at City Center.
Photo by Christopher Duggan

It's nearly 57 minutes long and includes Wendy dancing an excerpt from 'Bitter Earth' with Tyler Angle and the 'After the Rain' pas de deux with Craig Hall -- both choreographed on Wendy by Christopher Wheeldon:

http://www.nycitycenter.org/Home/Blog/October-2014/Whelan-Talks-Robbins

It's delightful and worth the time -- you'll wish you'd been there that evening.

Lincoln Center's Segal Award Goes to 3 from SAB 

Claire Kretzschmar and Silas Farley (both members of the New York City Ballet corps de ballet and SAB alumni) and Alec Knight (an SAB advanced student) have been named 2015 recipients of Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Awards, which will be celebrated at a Lincoln Center gala at Alice Tully Hall on March 2nd hosted by Audra McDonald.  The awards are given each year to promising young artists nominated by Lincoln Center's constituent organizations -- Claire was nominated by NYC Ballet; Silas was nominated by the Lincoln Center Performing Arts Library; and Alec was nominated by SAB.  The late Mr. Segal was a former president of Lincoln Center who had a special interest in the careers of young performers.

Claire and Silas both received their early dance training in North Carolina before coming to the School of American Ballet and then going on to NYCB.  Alec came to SAB from Australia and was one of four students featured in the 2014 Teen Vogue 'Strictly Ballet' videos which I wrote about here:

https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=7731047659115669466#editor/target=post;postID=632383314230361649;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=2;src=postname

Here's a link to the SAB Facebook announcement about the Segal awards:

https://www.facebook.com/SABNYC/photos/a.399587493869.183424.36603863869/10152709748228870/?type=1&theater   

Congratulations to all of the honorees, but especially these three connected to SAB.

2/12/2015 Valentine's Day Open House at SAB

I attended the Valentine's Day Open House at the School of American Ballet.  Unfortunately, I arrived around noon, just as the advanced women were finishing classes with Kay Mazzo, Suki Schorer, and Susan Pilarre.

Suki Schorer (kneeling center) with the C-1 Class at SAB's Valentine's Day Open House.
Photo from the SAB Facebook page.

My first stop was for a brownie in the Student Lounge.  The bulletin board at the back of the Lounge was overflowing with posters and brochures for summer programs and professional auditions.  I counted over 20 schools and companies that will be holding auditions at the School between the middle of February and the middle of March.  As usual our students are in great demand.

Then I got a good seat in Studio 1 for the 12:30pm class.  I should have read the schedule more carefully, because watching Darci Kistler's class with the D ladies would have been much more interesting than Andrei Kramarevsky's class with the Advanced Men.  Mr. Kramarevsky is a beloved member of the faculty, but I always find his classes to be pretty chaotic and frustrating to watch.  

The students either don't understand his instructions or they ignore them.  For example, his sketchy instructions seem to suggest that the students should turn in one direction and then the other as part of a combination.  What happens is that the students turn in their preferred direction -- continuing to perfect their natural turning direction rather than striving to improve their turns in their weaker, less natural direction.

Twyla Tharp once said at a NYC Ballet seminar that Peter Boal was the only dancer she knew who could naturally turn equally well in both directions.  I'm sure that when Peter was a student at the School he practiced turning in both directions. 

Three students from the Advanced Men's class costumed for SAB's Valentine's Day Open House.
Photo from SAB Facebook page.

Following Mr. Kramarevsky's class I watched part of the Advanced Men's Variation class taught that day by Andrew Veyette -- a principal dancer with the Company.  He was teaching the opening phrases of the male variation from 'Swan Lake' (Balanchine's version I think) and his comments and corrections were illuminating for both the students and the observers.  Andrew seems to have a very good eye for spotting potential problems and then providing very positive feedback and understandable corrections to fix them.

More recently, I've watched as students in Andrew's Variation class perform the complete 'Swan Lake' variation.  It's amazing to see the progress that they've made working with Andrew in just two weeks.

A Chat with Resident Choreographer Justin Peck

On February 9th we attended NYC Ballet's seminar -- a conversation between Justin Peck, the Company's Resident Choreographer, and Ellen Bar, the Company's Director of Media Projects.  Of course, Justin has been the talk of the ballet world since the February 6th wide release of 'Ballet 422' -- the film about the creation of Justin's ballet, 'Paz de la Jolla' -- and the premiere on February 4th of 'Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes' -- his newest ballet for the Company.

My post about 'Ballet 422' and 'Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes' are here:

http://zylopho.blogspot.com/2015/02/comments-on-ballet-422.html

http://zylopho.blogspot.com/2015/02/nycb-2815-matinee-performance.html

About the making of 'Ballet 422', Justin said that the filming by Jody Lee Lipes (he's Ellen Bar's husband) was not intrusive during the creation of the ballet.  He said that Mr. Lipes, who was the film's cameraman as well as its director, was always around with his camera during the two months that the rehearsals went on and that no special lighting or sound equipment was needed, so Justin and the cast just got used to it.

About his new Aaron Copland ballet, Justin said that he discarded the original scenario from the Agnes DeMille ballet, 'Rodeo', but tried to maintain the atmosphere.  He was inspired by nature, specifically weather in creating the ballet.  
The five men who dance the second 'episode' of the ballet -- Daniel Applebaum, Craig Hall, Allen Peiffer, Andrew Scordato, and Taylor Stanley -- were on hand to dance that section.  Seeing it danced in practice clothes with piano accompaniment offers the opportunity to see the sheer brilliance of the choreography.  

Justin obviously cares deeply about these men with whom he has danced for his entire NYCB career and whose unique abilities he has captured in this section of the ballet.  Justin said that he used these five dancers to set other parts of the piece, because it's hard to get rehearsal time in the Company for 14 or 15 men all at one time.

Craig Hall joined the discussion following the 'Rodeo' excerpt and discussed his reactions to working on Justin's ballets, sharing a dressing room with Justin, and being part of the creative process for several different choreographers.

Despite all of his recent accomplishments, Justin comes across as a serious creator who is dedicated to the process of making ballets.  At the age of 27 he is very self-confident, but modest about his  enormous success over the last five years.

Liam Scarlett's 'Acheron'

This post has taken a long time to finish because I wasn't that inspired by 'Acheron', which I saw twice -- once at the final dress rehearsal and once on March 1st at the Janie Taylor/Sebastien Marcovici farewell performance.

SATURDAY EVENING, March 1, 8 PM

ACHERON: Adams, Bouder, T. Peck, Veyette, Ramasar, R. Fairchild, Carmena
[Conductor: Otranto; Guest Organist: Michael Hey]

and final dress rehearsal on January 31, 12:45 PM:

NEW SCARLETT (World Premiere): *Krohn, *Bouder, *Mearns, *T. Angle, *Ramasar, *Danchig-Waring, *Huxley
[Guest Organist: Michael Hey]

Liam Scarlett's 'Acheron', is set to Poulenc's 'Concerto for Organ, Strings and Tympani'.  'Acheron' is one of the five rivers in the underworld according to Greek mythology (along with the more familiar river Styx). It was a stream for the cleansing of sins and healing of souls upon their entry into the underworld -- kind of like the 'River Jordan' in Christian mythology.  Scarlett used another reference to the Greek mythical underground, 'Asphodel Meadows', as the title to his first major work for the Royal Ballet (2011) where we was named 'Artist in Residence' in 2012.  That work also used music by Poulenc, his 'Double Piano Concerto'.  

'Acheron' is plotless, but certainly used the Greek mythological reference as a point of departure, especially for the murky 'underground' lighting design.  There are three principal couples plus a male soloist and five corps couples. They are dressed in costumes designed by Scarlett -- the women bare-legged in light, knee-length dresses shading to dark reddish brown on the top of the bodices; the men bare-chested in light, knee-length tights shading to dark reddish brown toward the knees.  Bare-legged ballerinas always look unflattering to my eye -- with thigh and calf muscles more harshly exposed by light and shadow.  The men's costumes have the unfortunate effect of making them look longer-waisted and shorter-legged than they really are.  Amar Ramasar was an exception, looking sleek (and dancing with great strength and impact) because the dark bottom of the tights blended with his darker skin tone while the lighter-skinned men have an awkward break just below the knees that divides their legs into zones.

Ashley Bouder & Amar Ramasar in Liam Scarlett's 'Acheron', photo by Andrea Mohin for the NY Times

In the cast on Saturday evening (first cast shown in parentheses), Sara Adams & Andrew Veyette (or Rebecca Krohn & Tyler Angle) seemed the most tender couple, Tiler Peck & Robert Fairchild (or Sara Mearns & Adrian Danchig-Waring) seemed the most enthralled, and Ashley Bouder & Amar Ramasar seemed the most passionate.  (The three couples in Jerome Robbins' 'In the Night' come to mind). Ashley & Amar danced in the premier and had replaced Megan Fairchild and Gonzalo Garcia by March 1st.  Antonio Carmena as the solo man on March 1st was fine, but seemed a bit too solid as the lone soul observing the other pairs and seeming to be searching for his own mate. The elegant and enigmatic Anthony Huxley in the first cast gave the role a completely different aura of longing and desperation.

The opening moments are stunning as Sara Adams (or Rebecca Krohn) emerges from a flowing river of bodies to find Andrew Veyette (or Tyler Angle) .  What follows is an intense series of choreographic miniatures often with couples in canonical mirroring and expanding phrases -- among principal couples and between principal and corps couples. 

Sara Mearns & Adrian Danchig-Waring, Amar Ramasar & Ashley Bouder in 'Acheron',
photo by Andrea Mohin for NY Times

There are lots of tricky and strenuous lifts for the three principal couples as well as occasional pyrotechnics -- like a whiplash fast series of chaine turns from Ashley.

The dancing from both casts was gorgeous and you could see how their confidence in handling the tricky partnering had increased in the intervening month.  There's a snippet of a pas de deux for Sara Mearns and Adrian Danchig-Waring on the NYC Ballet website here:  http://www.nycballet.com/ballets/a/new-scarlett.aspx 

Sara Mearns & Adrian Danchig-Waring in Liam Scarlett's 'Acheron', photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

The trouble is that what they were dancing was only sporadically interesting.  This work follows a trend in contemporary choreography -- what I've labeled 'ADHD ballets' -- where choreographic snippets are grafted together without overall coherence. Dancers seem to enter and leave the stage without providing much sense of any larger structure to the work.  It all relates to the music that's being played at the time, but doesn't necessarily add to our enjoyment of it or lead us to a better understanding of its structure.  The same lack of choreographic architecture plagues many recent plotless ballets.  

The Poulenc music was nicely interpreted by the orchestra under Maestra Clotilde Otranto with the guest organist, Michael Hey.  They emphasized the impressionistic murmurings of the opening and the jarring tensions later on. It's an interesting score and obviously lends itself to choreographic interpretation (Glen Tetley used it for 'Voluntaries' at the Stuttgart Ballet which was later staged at ABT and PNB among other companies).


  

'Coppelia' at NYC Ballet

After a five year absence 'Coppelia' returned to the New York City Ballet repertory on Valentine's Day.  We have seen this ballet many times since the company first staged it -- including at it's premier in Saratoga Springs in 1974.  The choreography by George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova is based on their recollection of the version by Petipa that they had seen at the Mariinsky in St. Petersburg as youngsters.  Balanchine and Danilova both left the Soviet Union for Europe in 1924 and each soon joined Diaghilev's Ballet Russes.

Mme. Danilova went on to a distinguished career as a prima ballerina in the various companies that arose out of the Ballet Russes after the death of Diaghilev in 1929.  Among her most illustrious roles was Swanilda in several productions of  'Coppelia' that were derived from the Petipa production at the Mariinsky.  

Alexandra Danilova & Frederic Franklin in the Sadlers Wells production of 'Coppelia'

In 1964, sometime after the end of her performing career, Balanchine invited Mme. Danilova to join the faculty of the School of American Balle.  At SAB she became a beloved teacher and in 1965 she staged the first of the annual student workshop performances.  One of my regrets as a dance lover is that I was never able to observe one of her classes at the School.

Alexandra Danilova in 1979, photo by Tom Buck

Balanchine supposedly convinced Lincoln Kirstein (who had always been in favor of presenting only new work at NYC Ballet) to stage 'Coppelia' by pointing out how many family members and friends of each of the 24 little girls in the Act III divertissements would fill the seats at each performance.

Balanchine created and reworked the choreography for the ensembles in Acts I & III, while Mme. Danilova recreated the entire Act II and the pas de deux for the central couple in the opening and closing acts from her memory of the productions she had danced in.  The stellar original cast included Patricia McBride as Swanilda, Helgi Tomasson as Frantz and Shaun O'Brien as Dr. Coppelius.  

Mme. Alexandra Danilova working with Helgi Tomasson & Patricia McBride in 1974,
photo by Martha Swope for NYC Ballet

The production was designed by Rouben Ter-Arutunian.  The sets are in a faux-naif style that was fresh and charming in 1974, but has become rather shabby and dated now.  In researching for this post, I noted that San Francisco Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet have mounted a joint production of the Balanchine/Danilova version of 'Coppelia' "beautifully designed by Roberta Guidi di Bagno in shimmering pastels and whimsical patterns" according to Moira Macdonald in the Seattle Times.

Roberta Guidi di Bagno's designs for Pacific Northwest Ballet's 'Coppelia', photo by Angela Sterling for PNB

The cast we saw last weekend should have sparkled in these roles:
  
COPPÉLIA: SWANILDA: T. Peck; FRANTZ: Veyette; DR. COPPÉLIUS: La Fosse+;
WALTZ: *Lovette; DAWN: *Isaacs; PRAYER: *Smith; SPINNER: *Pazcoguin; WAR and DISCORD: *Kikta, *Ball
(Guest Conductor: Litton)
* First Time in Role

Andrew Veyette's punkish athleticism should be ideal for the loutish, two-timing Frantz and Tiler Peck's solid technique and ingenue sparkle seem ideal for the irrepressible Swanilda.  Robert LaFosse's experience as both Drosselmeier in 'Nutcracker' and as Dr. Coppelius should allow him to work magic.  Instead, we saw confused, almost incoherent story-telling from all three principals.  Andrew didn't convey Frantz's ardor for both Swanilda and the doll, Coppelia.  Tiler couldn't decide if Swanilda was curious or downright malicious in her treatment of Dr. Coppelius.  LaFosse seemed to be torn between creating a daft old codger or a much darker character of Coppelius.  Finally, in the pas de deux of Act I and Act III there wasn't enough chemistry between Tiler and Andrew.  Certainly all of the steps were brilliantly in place, but there was not really much reason for them.

Tiler Peck as Swanilda in the Act III Wedding Pas de Deux from 'Coppelia'
 photo by Andrea Mohin for the NYTimes

Fortunately, the rest of the company looked wonderful -- well rehearsed and enthusiastic.  In the Act III divertissements, Lauren Lovette was musical and enchanting in the 'Waltz of the Golden Hours' -- even though she had to compete with 24 adorable little girls from SAB for attention (didn't W.C.Fields say something about never performing with children or animals?). Gretchen Smith was lovely and solemn in 'Prayer'. Emily Kitka and Harrison Ball even salvaged the kitschy 'War and Discord' from total disaster (it's got to be one of Balanchine's least inspired pieces of choreography).  

And the orchestra under the direction of the guest conductor, Andrew Litton, provided nuanced and lilting musical support.  The Delibes music is among the loveliest in the classical ballet canon and it was brought to robust life in this performance.  Maestro Litton is one of the better 'guest' conductors who have been in the pit since the departure of Fayçal Karoui nearly two years ago.   When will Peter Martins and the NYCB board hire a new music director for the company and bring this conductor 'audition' process to a close?