Haglund is glad he decided to sleep on what he saw last night at NYCB instead of shooting from a cranky hip, because the bright, sunny morning brought back some of the bright, sunny moments from the evening’s performance.
The Magic Flute received a warm but careful performance last night. It seemed slightly under-baked. Tiler Peck and Joaquin DeLuz as Lise and Luke exemplified storybook charm and were crispy on the allegro while a little soft on the pirouettes. One of the chief joys of seeing this ballet return at this time is the opportunity to see these two dance together. DeLuz is a gifted and accomplished theatrical dancer who has found in Peck the perfect degree of response to compliment his own talents. Together they work the stage and storyline with admirable coordination and zest. Peck is one of a few, but growing number of dancers in this company who is not pockmarked with affectations. Her lines are simple in their beauty, usually correct, and the legs and upper body work harmoniously. Haglund wishes there was choreography for her to dance that had different types of arabesques instead of exclusively using that first arabesque with the 170 degree front arm all the time. If ever there was a ballet in the NYCB repertory with which to experiment with the range of arabesque port de bras, The Magic Flute is it.
The supporting cast last night included 18 children from the School of American Ballet. The only way to deal with these SAB kids when they get on the stage is to clear out of their way. Once these kids have gotten a taste of performing in The Nutcracker – where it’s all about them – they become an unforgiving gang of pintsized scene stealers whose goal is to make you forget every adult on the stage. And they can dance, too. Excellent work from every one of them last night.
Duo Concertant with Sterling Hyltin and Robert Fairchild was phenomenal. Every time Haglund sees this duo in Duo, he likes Duo all d'more. Almost forty years after its premiere, this once forgettable, little piece of filler is now a big reason to go to the ballet.
Ashley Bouder was incredible last night in Valse-Fantaisie. What a sight to see her circle of simple saute de chat of such great height and the lift in the body when the legs descended that made it look like she never came down. It was a spectacular series where her body remained at the same level for the entire circle. Unfortunately, it was impossible not to compare that to her partner Andrew Veyette’s jumps in which he threw his head to the ceiling and landed with a pronounced drop of the head and body each time. His jumps have sufficient height but would look a lot better if he followed Bouder’s idea of how to use the upper body.
The four ladies supporting the principals in Valse were lovely in many respects except that they were having a bout with elbow-itis. Pointy elbows were everywhere. Pointy may be okay in a black and white leotard ballet, but wearing tulle to the knees carries an implicit requirement of rounded arms.
The Four Temperaments has to be celebrated for the fine debut of Savannah Lowery as Choleric. Finally this season, a Choleric who comes through as at least irritable. The red hair helped. Lowery is a statuesque dancer with a strong and exceptionally clear arabesque line. Alastair Macaulay took an unfortunate and unprofessional pot-shot at her in a recent review by depicting her as “hefty” which she is not. She is of a commanding height with steely strong legs. Her use of the upper body, however, is somewhat messy and unballetic. It feels so good to raise up the shoulders and chest and bring the forearms close to the head, but it also looks so bad.
Amar Ramasar as Phlegmatic gave a musically-sensitive performance, and Sebastien Marcovici as Melancholic had emotional depth. Abi Stafford and Jared Angle in the Sanguinic section were technically efficient, but Haglund has now come to identify this section with Jennie Somogyi’s intensity. The four accompanying Sanquinistas were dancing to Jennie’s tune last night. All excellent. Lydia Wellington and Zachary Catazaro were the highlight of the Theme section.
Haglund bestows this white-hot winged Pump Bump Award on the fleet-footed Bouder for that white-hot circle of saute de chat in Valse-Fantaisie: