The Waltz Project, choreography by Peter Martins
Like I said in the previous post, on a whim I purchased a rush ticket for City Ballet's Winter 2013 season. I got extremely lucky with my seat; I was in the front row of the first ring, which is probably the best seat in the house. The first ballet of the evening, The Waltz Project, featured four couples dancing to contemporary American waltz music played on piano choreographed by Peter Martins. The couples had different colored costumes and each had their own personalities. What I remember most was Tiler Peck's playfulness and Teresa Reichlen's grandeur. The woman sitting next to me said, "It's just so beautiful" when it was over.
N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz, choreography by Jerome Robbins
Next up was something totally different, but much more familiar. Opus Jazz is like an abstract West Side Story. The dancers have sneakers on, the girls' hair is loose, and the style, unsurprisingly, is much more jazzy. A highlight here was the third section, which I couldn't help but compare to a dance at a high school gym, each dancer taking a turn to show off his or her skills.
Symphony in Three Movements, choreography by George Balanchine
Before this ballet started the conductor explained some of Stravinsky's influences in writing the music. I don't remember the specifics of the talk too well. I do remember the ballet opening with a powerful image of sixteen women standing in a diagonal line across the stage before the main dancers joined them. One of the sections had a pair of dancers making very particular gestures with their arms, evoking what seemed to be Asian dance traditions. This work comes from a similar milieu as Agon and it was nice to see how Stravinsky and Balanchine came together to create nearly perfectly integrated art. The end of the show was super weird because the lady from Alabama sitting next to me gave me twenty dollars to spend on drinks with my friend afterwards. I was too shocked to return the money, even though I meant to.
February 21st, 2013
The Sleeping Beauty, staging by Peter Martins
Other than that childhood Nutcracker this work was my first full length ballet. The music, by Tchaikovsky, is obviously great. Most of the dance highlights come in act II. The Garland Dance (which uses the "Sleeping Beauty waltz" music) with choreography by Balanchine had what seemed like fifty dancers (including many little girls) weaving around the stage in beautiful patterns without bumping into one another. Unlike my first evening at the ballet, this time I sat in the fourth ring, which, for the Garland Dance in particular, gave me a much better view of the architecture and geometry of the dance. The other dance highlight was watching Sterling Hyltin dance the Rose Adagio. She has to balance on pointe on one foot for extended periods of time multiple times during the movement. It was actually terrifying to watch, but she help up and looked beautiful.
I was less taken with the rest of the piece. There were a lot of non-dance moments. The wake-up scene was incredibly anti-climactic. The witch wasn't all that scary. The role of the Lilac Fairy (the second female lead) is not so well fleshed out. It felt like watching a second-rate Fantasia onstage, especially the sequence of random fairy tale characters dancing at the wedding at the end. Part of me blamed my lack of interest on my lack of knowledge and respect for 19th century Russian ballet traditions, but I'm really not feeling the need to rush back to see "The Sleeping Beauty," except for the two segments noted above.
May 26th, 2013
Fancy Free, choreography by Jerome Robbins
Because of the theme of this afternoon of ballets, it would have been such a good field trip for my Dance in Musical Theater course. It was exactly about the intersection of Broadway and ballet! In fact, two of the three pieces on the program had been extensively discussed in class! The first, "Fancy Free", was a precursor to the musical "On the Town". It still works as a great piece of entertainment with a beautiful pas de deux in the middle that Tiler Peck performed very expressively.
Who Cares?, choreography by George Balanchine
This one is set to a medley of Gershwin music. I liked following the structure, which combined group work, solos, and duets all leading up to a finale with the entire cast. Such fun!
West Side Story Suite, choreography by Jerome Robbins
I actually wasn't crazy about the distillation of West Side Story to just the dance bits. It did give the dancers the opportunity to sing, and there is something special about seeing these dances performed at Lincoln Center, an urban renewal project that replaced the slums of the show. That being said I wasn't sure what the point was. We've seen these dances on film, in numerous Broadway revivals, and in community theater productions all over. Why do we need ballet dancers to do it too?
June 2nd, 2013
Allegro Brilliante, choreography by George Balanchine
Frankly I don't remember much from this ballet other than that one of the four women at the beginning fell down immediately after the curtain rose. Whoops. The funny thing about this afternoon in particular was that while my dad and I were at the ballet together, my sister and my mother were at a Twins Game in Minnesota. As my mom said on Facebook, gender stereotypes be damned! One other thing I remember about this piece was that we saw married couple Megan Fairchild and Andrew Veyette dance as the two leads.
The Cage, choreography by Jerome Robbins
Biology and ballet join forces in this eerie Jerome Robbins piece from the 50s. The women of the Company are a tribe of dangerous insects, luring in male prey to eat. There's a dominant and powerful queen who in this performance was portrayed by Teresa Reichlen whose height made her perfect for the role. There's also a novice who must be initiated into the tribe by killing prey of her own. In her pas de deux with her prey she is initially ambivalent, but in the end biology wins and she goes through with the kill.
Andantino, choreography by Jerome Robbins
This Robbins piece was much less exciting, just a short duet at a slow tempo. It had Tiler Peck though and seeing her is always a highlight.
Stravinsky Violin Concerto, choreography by George Balanchine
I loved this black and white ballet and found the video on City Ballet's YouTube page to be very helpful for directing my gaze during the performance. The use of the heel, the Russian folk-dance quality, and the strange movements in the pas de deux all come through in the video. In general I find NYCB's video introduction to the dances such a valuable tool, taking us into the world of the dancers and helping non-dance people appreciate the works so much more. Here's the Stravinsky Violin Concerto video:
December 15th, 2013
Chroma, choreography by Wayne McGregor
There is so much more in the world of dance in New York than just City Ballet, though it took me a while to take the initiative to explore. One of the greats is Alvin Ailey, the company I had seen on tour in New Bedford. They do an annual holiday season at City Center in New York and my parents and I went together. It was a mixed bill exclusively featuring the work of contemporary choreographers. The first piece, Chroma, used extreme flexibility and the craziest ballet moves in a way that really got the audience going. There was a sharp, bright, white backdrop which added to the extreme feeling of the piece.
Another Night, choreography by Kyle Abraham
A jazzy, fun party. Not as good as a similar, older piece choreographed by Ailey that I saw in New Bedford.
Strange Humors, choreography by Robert Battle
A duet for two men. There was one crazy part when they fell backwards that looked extremely painful. This one was a crowd favorite, but was too short for me to have a real impact.
Minus 16, choreography by Ohad Naharin
I said the last one was a crowd favorite, but maybe nothing other than Ailey's Revelations comes as close to this piece at making the audience go totally nuts. I must say I was completely swept up with the rest of the audience in every moment of this piece. So much of the work is meant to surprise the audience including the choice of music, the costume changes, the transitions, and who participates in the dance. Because of that element of surprise I don't really want to give anything here. Let's just say that it's a must see and if Ailey comes to town or if you're in New York and they're performing this piece please go see it. I promise you will be filled with a kind of goofy, infectious joy that doesn't come around too much in the hoity-toity world of concert dance, or even in life in general. Also, you will never think of the end of the Passover Seder in the same way.
Stay tuned for posts about what the world of dance offered me in 2014.
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