NYCB has a lot of big hitters on the disabled list right now including Somogyi, Bouder, Mearns, and Abi Stafford. We'll see them all back in the lineup sooner than later, but for now, Coach Martins has seized the opportunity to go to his bench to bring in players who need and deserve the experience of playing in pivotal positions. That's what a good coach does — as opposed to importing questionable players from somebody else's foreign team.
Last night we saw a number of promising debuts in Symphony in C, and all of them will surely become more steady and refined over the next couple of weeks.
Teresa Reichlen was mesmerizing in her first performance of the Second Movement Adagio. Her elegance was so pure and lovely that it seemed she could soon add the role of Diamonds to her Emeralds and Rubies in Jewels. Of course, this was all facilitated by Jonathan Stafford's elite partnering which itself has a natural and very elegant formalism.
Erica Pereira debuted in the Third Movement Allegro Vivace and was expertly partnered by the dark and handsome Antonio Carmena. From a technical standpoint, there isn't much that Erica cannot do and do easily. She showed that again last night. She is enormously talented and has undeniable charm on stage. However, the lack of carriage in the upper body and unacademic use of the arms and head mark her as an immature dancer. She would benefit from a little tender loving nagging from one of those proverbial old Russian ballet mistresses who would follow her around and constantly complain about her port de bras which now emanates high from the tops of her shoulders instead of from the middle of her back. Can't Coach Martins find Erica an old nagging ballet mistress? It's how glorious ballerinas are made.
The Fourth Movement Allegro Vivace was led by the debuting Lauren King and the fascinating Adrian Danchig-Waring. Always an eye catcher in corps and demi-soloist roles, Lauren grabbed the audience's attention with her beauty immediately upon appearing on stage. Her initial pas de bourrée en tournant renversé was a little iffy but she followed it with sharp battement fouettés and the rest of the many pas de bourrée en tournant renversé were completed very cleanly and confidently with a beautiful smile on her face. The single pirouette that opens to second position and closes with another revolution to the knee has been troublesome for many a dancer. Lauren's is a work in progress but was certainly serviceable last night. What came across last night was not simply a dancer who is progressing very nicely from a technical standpoint, but a dancer who already has a mature elegance and can captivate the audience with her sparkling personality and fully formed style. In sum, her debut was a stunning success and Haglund cannot wait to see her in Symphony in C in four of her five remaining performances during the final two weeks of the fall season.
Ana Sophia Scheller and Andrew Veyette combined regal elegance with vivacity in the First Movement. Ana is quickly turning into an uppercase ballerina (i.e., BALLERINA) whose performances are not to be missed. Her youthful impetuousness of years gone by when she threw her legs and arms to their limits has been replaced by a calm confidence and a classical form of the type universally admired. We've got ourselves a world class ballerina of unusual artistic intelligence. Andrew Veyette had a pretty good night, too, particularly with his consistently well executed series of multiple pirouettes that opened to saute grand rond de jambe.
Of course, there were other ballets on the program besides Symphony in C. Megan Fairchild and Joaquin De Luz delivered a vivid Rubies with rutile needled allegro but their chemistry was missing. Granted, there is an awfully lot of concentration demanded in this PdD, but Megan rarely took a moment to look at Joaquin who was a storm of passion and sensuality throughout. Savannah Lowery as the Tall Girl had great powerfully slicing legs but her arms, hands, and shoulders were more like an 8th Avenue showgirl than a Radio City Music Hall showgirl. There is a difference, you know.
Janie Taylor as The Novice in The Cage was riveting in her detail as she learned to entice and dispatch her prey who on this night were Sebastien Marcovici and Sean Suozzi. Rebecca Krohn was The Queen who really didn't need to encourage The Novice much since she was fairly blood-thirsty from the start. If it all sounds a little gruesome, it's that kind of ballet.
Andantino received a beautiful reading from Tiler Peck and Gonzalo Garcia. This is another Robbins piano ballet which in less inspired artists' hands can be tedious. Tiler's musicality made this worth watching last night. She could make pushing a cart up the supermarket aisle worth watching — not to equate this particular Robbins choreography with pushing a cart up the aisle, but you know . . . .
The evening's Pump Bump Award of Valentino's sequins and pearls goes to Lauren King for her sparkling debut in Symphony in C.