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.

NYCB Tuesday Evening, May 13th

TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 13, 7:30 PM

ALL BALANCHINE

RAYMONDA VARIATIONS: *Lovette, *Huxley, Pollack, Segin, Laracey, Mann, Lowery [Guest Conductor: Alexandros Myrat]

THE STEADFAST TIN SOLDIER: Pereira, Ulbricht [Guest Conductor: Alexandros Myrat]
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LE TOMBEAU DE COUPERIN [Conductor: Capps]

SYMPHONY IN C: [Guest Conductor: Alexandros Myrat]
First Movement: T. Peck, Finlay Catazaro;
Second Movement: Reichlen, T. Angle;
Third Movement: Isaacs, Garcia; 
Fourth Movement: *Laracey, Stanley 

When the curtain goes up on 'Raymonda Variations', I'm always reminded of the Fragonard Room at the Frick Collection --  with the hazy pastel forest backdrop and the 12 corps women in pink with flowered wreaths on their heads posed in groups of three like shepherdesses at play in the gardens of the Petite Trianon.   

'The Progress of Love: The Lover Crowned'
by Jean-Honore Fragonard
from the Frick Collection

Balanchine found the plot of 'Raymonda' convoluted and ridiculous, but loved the gorgeous score by Glazounov and used it for several ballets, including 'Cortege Hongrois', 'Pas de Dix', and this one.

Lauren Lovette and Anthony Huxley made their debuts in the principal roles on Tuesday evening.  They are both wonderfully vivid soloists and their work in solo passages was sparkling.  Ms. Lovette's pointe work is delicate and precise; she uses her upper body effectively to complete and counterpoint musical phrases.  Mr. Huxley's dancing is elegant and poised; he executes the very difficult beats and tours and pirouettes of his solo variations with such subtle grace and musicality that they appear simple and effortless.

Lauren Lovette and Anthony Huxley in Balanchine's 'Raymonda Variations',
photo by Andrea Mohin for the New York Times

Even though they are wonderful dancers and look great together, their partnered passages are more problematic.  They both appear tense in the two intricate pas de deux.  Mr. Huxley needs to inspire greater trust from his ballerina in these duets and Ms. Lovette needs to cede control to him.  They are too polite and sunny to let these passages degenerate into an open battle of wills, but the overall impression is one of insecurity and unsteadiness.  I have occasionally seen NYCB dancers in Jock Soto's Adagio classes at SAB and I would urge Ms. Lovette and Mr. Huxley to attend when they can.  It would be a shame for them not to work to improve their partnership to match their abilities as individuals.

I still remember first seeing this ballet in the early 1960's from about the third row of the orchestra at City Center.  Melissa Hayden danced the lead (probably with Andre Prokovsky).  Ms. Hayden tested her partner throughout the performance, sabotaging his authority and making herself look wobbly and insecure.  I hadn't watched enough ballet at that point to realize there was a better way.

All five women who emerged from the corps to perform solo variations (Brittany Pollack, Kristen Segin, Ashley Laracey, Meagan Mann and Savannah Lowery) danced so beautifully it seems best to give them all praise.  And the entire corps danced the delicate opening section and the bravura coda with precision, vivacity and heart.  

'The Steadfast Tin Soldier' is one of Balanchine's least interesting works, but one that the company regularly programs as a 'filler' pas de deux.  Set to a sweet, twinkly selection of pieces from Bizet's 'Jeux d'Enfants' and with a homey Christmas set it is too saccharine for my taste.  Daniel Ulbricht dances the title role with elan.  Erica Periera plays the paper doll with glee, but (spoiler alert) still goes up in flames at the end.

Erica Pereira & Daniel Ulbricht in Balanchine's 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier',
photo by Paul Kolnik for New York City Ballet 

Created for NYCB's 1975 Ravel Festival, 'Le Tombeau de Couperin' uses Ravel's score of the same name, which he composed in the style of Francois Couperin, a French baroque composer.  The original 1919 piano suite consisted of 6 movements.  In 1920, Ravel orchestrated 4 of those movements, which are used by Balanchine for this ballet.

'Tombeau' is Balanchine's homage to his fully matured corps de ballet.  The 8 corps couples are initially divided into left and right 'quadrilles'.  For much of the ballet each quadrille performs the same steps -- not as mirror images, but as near carbon copies -- each on it's own half of the stage.  They remind me of those dusty, old stereopticon images that we of-a-certain-age used to view in the school library.  

Stereopticon image -- notice how the images are slightly different.

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When viewed through a special contraption the images seemed to be in 3D.

The special contraption for viewing the stereopticon as a 3D image

I've often wondered if 'Tombeau' is also Mr. B's sly tribute to the steropticon.

Initially, Balanchine seems to give the audience a choice of focusing on one quadrille or bouncing between them.  It is a hallmark of New York City Ballet at this particular point in time that the company dances with great unity and cohesion without ever sublimating the personalities of the dancers.  When I'm familiar with the choreography, I often find myself following one or two favorites -- Olivia Boisson, Lydia Wellington, Troy Schumacher and Devin Alberda all caught my eye in this case.  As the ballet moves on the two quadrille's gradually begin to first encroach on the other's half of the stage and then to interact, eventually intertwining to form one larger pattern using the entire stage. 

Both 'quadrilles' in Balanchine's 'Le Tombeau de Couperin', photo by Paul Kolnik for New York City Ballet

 When I purchased the tickets for the Tuesday evening performance of the 'All Balanchine' program I didn't realize that it was going to be NYC Ballet's 'Celebration of the 80th Anniversary of the School of American Ballet'.  Even when I found out about the celebration from the SAB staff I didn't know that our seats would be right in the middle of their seats.  So we celebrated SAB together!

The actual celebration occurred after the second intermission.  There was a delightful video featuring well-known SAB alumni including Chita Rivera, Jacques d'Amboise, Edward Villela, Allegra Kent, Peter Boal, Kyra Nichols, and many current NYCB principals.   (Unfortunately, they were talking over a tinkling piano soundtrack that made several of them hard to understand).  Then Peter Martins made a short speech, including (as always)  'something Balanchine told me'.  Peter then introduced the current SAB faculty -- all former NYCB dancers and most SAB alumni -- except for Andrei Kramerevsky, the last of the old Russian faculty.

Andrei Kramerevsky in Bolshoi Ballet's
'Fountains of Bakchisarai' in 1960's

Andrei Kramervsky teaching at SAB in 2008

Finally, little girls in pink brought each of the women on the faculty fresh bouquets and Peter rushed to the wings to get a laurel wreath to crown Mr. Kramerevsky. 

Balanchine initially choreographed Bizet's Symphony in C as 'Le Palais de Cristal' for the Paris Opera Ballet in 1947.  The cast for each movement was costumed in a different jewel tone (a pre-cursor to 'Jewels'?).  As 'Symphony in C' and costumed in white and black, it was on the first program of New York City Ballet in October, 1948.  It has been at the heart of the NYCB repertory ever since.

This is our first chance to see the new costumes by Marc Happel that were created for the spring 2012 revival which use (too many) Swarovsky crystals.  I was very fond of the older costumes by Karinska with the simple white satin bows on the tutus.  By comparison, these new costumes seem overly glittery.

Finale of Balanchine's 'Symphony in C' from backstage, photo by Kyle Froman

They are wearing the old Karinska costumes

Nonetheless, the dancers in them are wondrous to behold, dancing in one of company's great treasures.  Tiler Peck seems impervious to the variety of cavaliers that squire her.  The original casting had Chase Finlay leading her through the first movement.  When Chase bowed out due to slower-than-anticipated recovery from his recent injury, Zachary Catazaro stepped in as his replacement.  Ms. Peck and Mr. Catazaro danced the first movement (Allegro Vivo) with high style and no obvious nerves.

Teresa Reichlen and Tyler Angle led the Adagio with a mix of grandeur and radiance.  Tyler has become the company's strongest, most secure partner and his calm support displays his ballerina's long line and extreme extension.  Tess deploys her slender arms and legs to articulate the serene musical  phrases, including the de rigueur forehead-to-knee supported arabesque.

It was a joy to see Ashly Isaacs dancing the third movement (Allegro Vivace) with Gonzalo Garcia.  In spring of 2009 Ashly hobbled on stage on crutches to receive her Wien award at SAB after sustaining an injury during rehearsals for workshop.  Now, here she was dancing one of Balanchine's trickiest roles, seemingly without a care in the world.  Gonzalo came to the company from San Francisco Ballet in 2007.  He is one of three dancers in the company who is not an alumnus of SAB.  Although he is a virtuoso soloist, he is an unexceptional partner.  His cautious partnering of Ashly in this movement resulted in the few tenuous moments of an otherwise glorious performance.

Ashley Laracey and Taylor Stanley led the first section of the fourth movement (also Allegro Vivace) and, yes, I am one of those audience members who leads the applause when they leave the stage to be replaced by the first movement cast.  Ms. Laracey and her corps introduce the repeating dance phrase that becomes the motif of this movement -- rapid multiple fouettes followed by fast, stabbing bourees -- all coordinated to the fast music.  As succeeding casts from each previous movement appear they perform this phrase along with variations on themes from their own movement.  When the principals and demi-soloists from each movement leave the stage, the corps women stay behind, forming an increasingly complex frame for the four ballerinas when they return to center stage.  They are gradually joined by their cavaliers and all 8 demi-soloist couples.  The architectural complexity of the final moments with the entire 52-member cast on stage is astonishing and exhilarating.  

Staged photo of the finale of Balanchine's 'Symphony in C', photo by Paul Kolnik for NYC Ballet

'Raymonda Variations', 'The Steadfast Tin Soldier', and 'Symphony in C' were conducted by Alexandros Myrat, the company's most recent guest conductor.  His conducting in 'Raymonda' was nuanced and quite lovely, although the house's 'sound enhancement system' was producing a decided tinkling on our side of the orchestra.  Maestro Myrat led 'Symphony in C' at a brisk, virtually airless pace -- even the Second Movement (Adagio) seemed too regimented and the lilting Third Movement (Allegro vivace) too efficient and humorless.  This was yet another reminder that the company needs to appoint a first-class permanent Music Director now to bring some musical substance back to the pit and stop the orchestra's current drift into mediocrity.