So much casting has come out this week for various runs, but it’s missing important names.

Why aren’t we seeing Ashley Hod and Jules Mabie cast as NYCB’s Sugarplum Fairy and Her Cavalier? Where is Alexa Maxwell’s SPF and Dewdrop? Where is Alexa Maxwell’s SPF and Dewdrop? We have to ask twice.

Moving around – ABT’s Nutcracker casting is missing big names due to injuries. Thomas Forster and Devon Teuscher are disturbingly absent. While we love Devon’s recent and very glamorous art photos for the Valentino Garavani line, we’d rather see photos of her slogging away in PT to get her foot back functioning and maybe some simple walking around in sneakers seriously waving her Mozartiana arms the way Irina Kolpakova might do. This would go a long way toward cheering us up.

The Segerstrom crowd is in for some seismic Christmas events — the good kind of seismic. Michael de la Nuez debuts in Ratmansky’s riveting choreography for the Nutcracker Prince opposite Christine Shevchenko. You do not want to miss this. Jake Roxander and Lea Fleytoux will deliver fresh magic in those roles. But we are past due seeing Patrick Frenette as the Nutcracker Prince. He would never miss bowing his head down at the end of the Prince’s variation like some others have. 

Maybe we could bundle Patrick and Alexa together and find some local New York Nutcracker for them to do? It would be like a full circle moment from when they attended SAB together. That would be way better than pulling last year’s Christmas fruitcake out of the freezer and trying to feed it to guests again.

To conclude the first week of its fall season at Lincoln Center, Paul Taylor Dance Company offered up quite the Sunday service of Speaking in Tongues and Offenbach Overtures, both brilliantly danced with a sharp, bold energy. The company looked superb. 

Speaking in Tongues, which Taylor choreographed in 1988, references a lot of grimy goings-on in the context of a Southern pentecostal church. The dance was made during the time of the televangelist scandals of Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, the Assemblies of God investigation, and when the first sheet was pulled back on the Catholic Church abuse crisis. If Antony Tudor had not left this earth the year before the premiere, he might have sat in the theater awestruck by his former student’s crisping of the moral failings of the church. 

At Sunday’s matinee, Lee Duveneck as A Man of the Cloth revealed layer upon layer of evil within his character, a devil’s food cake of a performance. Everyone in the cast took their characters to their lowest morality with conviction, passion, and divine dancing.

The fluffy, flouncy Offenbach Overtures was the blissful relief to the sordid church community. The mustachioed, elaborate-hatted men and the sassy French-ruffled women all in hibiscus-gone-mad red were delicious in their comedic waltzing and galloping.

Speaking in Tongues is on the bill this coming Friday, November 14th along with Gossamer Gallants, the bug-infested hysteria from 2011. Don’t miss it. Ticketing on the Koch Theater website is a challenge these days because most people who set up purchasing accounts cannot get in to buy anything. One either has to call the box office or use a second email address that is unknown to the Koch system and check out as a guest, not an account holder. The system has been malfunctioning for quite some time — not acceptable for a Lincoln Center theater.

Artistic Director Susan Jaffe appeared before the curtain and began the evening with a brief historical talk that emphasized that ABT does new, innovative works to keep the art form “alive.” The evening went on to disprove her point if not qualify it as balletic perjury.

Juliano Nunes’ Have We Met?! had as its basis a story of two people who met beneath the Manhattan Bridge in 1928 and fell in love before he entered the war and eventually succumbed to PTSD in a dramatic death. One hundred ten years later, their souls, now within other people, met again under the Brooklyn Bridge and fell in love again. We’re pretty sure that the other main theme is that of Manhattan as a dark, nasty, stuck-in-the-past place whereas Brooklyn is now where all the cool kids in colorful unitards reside. Well, maybe not, but it seemed that way. 

As the ballet progressed and innovated, we saw the same old, same old manipulative gymnast-like maneuvering of the women by the men. Some of us who have been following ballet’s claims of innovation for a while kind of predicted this as soon as the casting went up. Except for one dramatic and very physical solo for Isaac Hernandez who came apart at the mental and physical seams before shooting himself, there wasn’t much that we hadn’t already met in Wheeldon’s choreography. Even the music by Luke Howard recalled After the Rain followed by a little humming of Phillip Glass — all of it seeming like a cinematic score. As we’ve said before, ballet music must stand on its own and make a statement. It holds up the ballet like a foundation, not vice versa. We remember nothing about this music or the musicality of the choreography except for some staccato corps moments under the Manhattan Bridge.

In summary, Nunes’ concept was a nice idea, even an innovative idea, but did not come close to realization even as Hee Seo with Isaac Hernandez and Catherine Hurlin with Daniel Camargo poured their souls into it. 

Ratmansky’s Serenade after Plato’s Symposium to Leonard Bernstein’s music by the same name won merit points for giving several talented ABT men the opportunity to whistle their own tunes without the distraction of ABT’s gorgeous ballerinas trying to steal the attention — except that one almost did anyway. It wasn’t necessary to understand the story of Plato’s Symposium to enjoy the ballet anymore than it was necessary to understand it in order to enjoy Bernstein’s music. But for the record, there’s a party where the men give speeches on the meaning and value of love. There’s a contest. There’s an argument. The guys are enjoying themselves doing guy-stuff and then she shows up as a brief distraction for an aerial-emphasized pas de deux before disappearing from where she came.

Dancing highlights included Patrick Frenette taking over Blaine Hoven’s original role and making it his own with his formidable dramatic power and clear dancing. Takumi Miyake danced Daniil Simkin’s original role and, hard to believe, elevated it with astonishing turns and grand allegro. (Simkin was in attendance as were Martine van Hamel and her husband. Man oh man, does she ever look stunning at 80.) Herman Cornejo, James Whiteside and Calvin Royal III — all members of the original cast from 2016 — reprised their roles. Jarod Curley danced the role originated by Marcelo Gomes and performed the pas de deux with the lovely Sunmi Park (originally Devon Teuscher). Tyler Maloney dance a scrupulous, invigorating solo originally performed by Gabe Stone Shayer. If Maloney is truly finished with injuries, we are in for a treat.

The truth is: nearly everyone in the theater was waiting for Balanchine’s Theme and Variations. Some waited too long — Rachel Richardson missed her entrance and bourreed out a phrase after her corps group. The others had already turned to face the back of the stage when out came a smiling Rachel facing front while trying catch up like in Jerome Robbins’ The Concert. Dancing in this ballet is a privilege, or should be. Can’t ABT find a replacement who will be more responsible?

The demi soloist pairs did a fine job. We must remark on the exceptional crossed & tightly closed soutenu turns by the women. Just gorgeous. The demi soloist men were musically uncertain at times and seemed under stress to make the entrechat six and double tours at such a high speed. The corps de ballet was okay until the very last moments when a couple of the men flubbed their double tours. The tempi were just fine, though. The guys just have to get used to it.

Skylar Brandt as the principal ballerina was simply spectacular in articulation and musicality — a thrilling performance even for the usually thrilling Skylar. It’s times like these when we wish she would move to NYCB so that we could see everything that she has to offer. This is what an important ballerina looks like. She’s the one setting the achievement standards for the next generation. She’s the one who values the details that make the artistry shine its brightest. Sung Woo Han, as her principal partner, was reliable in the pas de deux but revealed mushy leg lines with little turnout or stretch. The absence of turnout was what marred his lines the most. While he got through the jumps and turns which is admirable in itself, he made little impact and gave the impression of just getting through them. ABT had other, better options for this spot.

Our HH Pump Bump Award an 18-karat gold version of the Cleopatra Stiletto from the House of Borgezie, is bestowed upon Skylar Brandt for a thrilling Theme and Variations. She carried the point that it’s not innovation that keeps ballet alive; it’s high quality.

It’s never easy to ramp up to negotiate the down ramp in Natalia Makarova’s staging of The Kingdom of the Shades. It just takes constant work and dedication. The seemingly uncomplicated step-arabesque-plie becomes torturous when it requires unrelenting consistency among 24 dancers for five minutes as they descend in a single file — arabesque after arabesque after arabesque. The first two performances this weekend revealed uncertainty in ABT’s corps and a need for more rehearsal. Despite luminous examples that would make Makarova proud, too many of the dancers stepped onto a bent or relaxed knee, hiked the back leg to 90 degrees or lower, stopped the movement to adjust, and then pitched the plie to hike the back leg up higher. Wobbling knees and ankles were the norm more than the exception. The start-stop-start again was the norm more than the exception. Smooth ascent of the working arabesque leg was the exception. The Shades got the arms and hands beautifully harmonized, but the ascent of the legs to arabesque was painful to watch.

Thankfully, things improved once the Shades cleared the ramp and picked up the pace. They not only danced in admirable unison, but their clomping shoes were in the same musical pitch. Apologies for throwing a little shade at the Shades, but ABT needs to address this problem which we deal with year-in and year-out. Of course, the noise issue is mostly due to the flooring that ABT transports around. The shoe noise not only soils the dancing, but it soils the music. The ABT Orchestra was playing its heart out (bless those cello players) and it was unfair for the dancers to mar the orchestra’s artistic effort by adding undesirable percussion.

The Shade soloist trios were delightful at both performances. Yoon Jung Seo, Sierra Armstrong, and Ingrid Thoms danced at the matinee; Lèa Fleytoux, Fangqi Li, and Elisabeth Beyer danced in the evening. Standouts were Seo and Fleytoux for the authority in their pirouettes, Armstrong for the lustrous texture of her developpes, and Beyer for her every move, every position, every moment in the grand allegro variation.

Isaac Hernandez and Joo Won Ahn have Solor in their blood. Outstanding technical and dramatic performances from both. Hernandez in the afternoon poured energy into Solor’s grand allegro and attacked the turns like the celebrated tiger hunter he is. However, it was Ahn in the evening who slayed the biggest tiger with his soaring double tour assembles, grand jetes, and confident pirouettes. Ahn was on and it was good to see.

Hee Seo’s Nikiya began with such promise. She was absolutely lovely and dancing with such gorgeous epaulment and conviction. Her rapport with Hernandez was persuasive. Then she psyched herself out on the scarf pirouettes and most notably the pirouettes to arabesque that followed. Seo can do double pirouettes. She just can’t do them under the stress of the game. Other than those turns, she was truly lovely.

Chloe Misseldine enjoyed a phenomenal Nikiya debut in the evening. What a year this woman is having. Her performance was a celebration of classical accomplishment in every way. Only some small struggles with the scarf turns kept this from being a perfect debut. While Misseldine would be a shoe-in for Gamzatti which we hope to see one day, we know that she could deliver Nikiya’s vulnerability and heartbreak as well.

The afternoon performance included Christian Spuck’s Le Grand Pas de Deux danced by Skylar Brandt and Jake Roxander followed by Twyla Tharp’s Known by Heart “Junk” Duet with Breanne Granlund and Herman Cornejo. Spuck’s piece is a tongue-in-cheek slapstick acrobatic comedy where the ballerina wears glasses and carries a purse. Tharp’s piece is a street-smart acrobatic contest between the man and woman that clearly ends with the woman’s win. Both pieces are nice to see occasionally, but not more often.

In the evening, Lèa Fleytoux and Herman Cornejo danced the very brief pas de deux from Frederick Ashton’s Rhapsody. It was beautiful but so short that it almost seemed like a 3-minute commercial break. SunMi Park and Michael de la Nuez cleared the hurdles of Gsovsky’s Grand Pas Classique in stunning fashion. She is coming back from injury whereas he seems to be trying to push through one. Let’s not allow de la Nuez, who has some of the most velvety grand allegro since Carreno, to tumble his enormous talent toward trauma that will lead to a painful absence. His dancing was superb but clearly under physical stress. We enjoyed every blessed moment he is on stage and live to see him take on all of the major classical roles; so let’s take care of this artist–and all of our artists. We’re missing Devon Teuscher this season terribly. Just terribly.

Sleeping Beauty Act III closed each program. Willa Kim’s costumes from the 2007 McKenzie/Kirkland production were brought back. Question: Who wears the same wedding dress a second time after the first marriage failed miserably? Isn’t that begging for bad karma?

No, this Aurora’s Wedding Act III doesn’t stand on its own legs. It’s like another commercial. This was McKenzie’s 2007 idea finally realized. It was dull, of course — beautiful wedding dancing by Christine Shevchenko and Daniel Camargo aside. Shevchenko and her pristine classicism deserve an Aurora in a full length Sleeping Beauty although we don’t think those long, beautiful attitude positions would serve her well in the Rose Adagio balances. Her performance on Saturday afternoon revealed the confidence and joy one expects in an Aurora on her wedding day along with stately port de bras, pitch-perfect elegance, perfect feet without showing the effort to be perfect, and an engaging rapport with Camargo. As Prince Désiré, Camargo needed only to dance his every day elegant way. The role was a natural fit. He didn’t have to do anything but be himself in order to convince the viewer that he was Désiré. The bride and groom made it through the fish dives but they could have used more drama and daring. 

Remy Young was miscast as the Lilac Fairy. She simply does not possess the basic technique that is required for soloist and principal roles. Her dismal turning effort on Saturday afternoon was not something we should see on ABT’s stage.

Jarod Curley, Fangqi Li, and Sierra Armstrong were a handsome trio in the Rose Pas de Trois. Armstrong’s composure, length, and satin quality of movement are such a joy to watch. 

Lèa Fleytoux and Jake Roxander danced a rousing Princess Florine and Bluebird.

The HH Pump Award, a tiger boot, is bestowed upon Joo Won Ahn for his big, big performance as Solor. It’s what we’ve been waiting for.

Haglund just got back from Wayne McGregor’s new ballet “Beckett’s Endgame.” The music by Dustbin Mama was singularly beautiful for its 90 minute long beat of the hamgam. The existential palette for the scenery was magnificently missing, and the costumes had seven foot long sleeves from which none of the dancers could possibly get out of alive. So, what did everyone else do this evening?

It was an exhausting weekend. Sandwiched between two performances of beloved 20th Century ballets made when the world was embroiled in conflict and revolutions, there was the No Kings March to protest the war on Democracy and an evening at Broadway’s Chess, the self-described “Cold War musical” loosely based on a few things that might have happened during the Bobby Fischer/Boris Spassky/Anatoly Karpov era. Ballet won. Democracy won. In Chess, as the saying goes: “the game ends when the king falls.” 

Diving back into our balletic bailiwick . . .

Fokine’s Les Sylphides, Tudor’s Gala Performance, and de Mille’s Rodeo received admirable performances from two different casts over the weekend. Friday evening’s Les Sylphides led by Hee Seo, Cory Stearns, Lea Fleytoux and Fangqi Li was even more lovely than anticipated. Seo evoked serene reverie with a slight mystery in her Prelude. Fleytoux’s Waltz was gorgeous from the waist up but she had issues maintaining stability while rolling down through her feet. In the Nocturne, Li seemed stern and too Wili-like. Her Mazurka included jumps with good elevation but there needed to be more shape to her feet, or should we say, more shape to her shoes. The shoes looked bulky and made her feet look stiff — especially when compared to the feet of Seo, Fleytoux, and many of the corps women. Cory Stearns actually danced as well as he ever has over the past twenty years, which is an honest moderate compliment, and he also had a sense of calm and joy in partnering Seo. 

Sunday’s matinee Les Sylphides had the stronger cast. Christine Shevchenko glistened in the Nocturne and Mazurka, and one could clearly see the imprinting of Irina Kolpakova in the styling of her movement. Zhong-Jing Fang filled the Prelude with lush port de bras. Joo Won Ahn was a gallant partner to Shevchenko and exhibited the elegance we expect from the poet, if not all the crisp technique. We’re not giving up on him. He’s too likable, and when he finds his concentration he can be brilliant. Not giving up, not yet. The revelation of this Les Sylphides performance was Yoon Jung Seo, a third-year corps member who possessed everything one wants to see in the Waltz section including a sunny, soft expression that captivated our attention. One gorgeous dancer there. We’re looking forward to seeing more of her.

At both performances, the Corps de Ballet was exceptionally beautiful in its unity of style.

Tudor’s Gala Performance pits three obnoxious, ego-driven ballerinas of different ethnicities and/or nationalities against each other. They are evidently world famous and perform on the same program in signature choreography. The Russian ballerina — Christine Shevchenko at the Friday performance; Skylar Brandt at the Sunday matinee — Don Q’ed herself from one end of the stage to the other putting the ick in tricks. The Italian ballerina — Chloe Misseldine on Friday; Hee Seo on Sunday — performed her own slow processional before nabbing a partner to suffer through a bit of pas de deux. Jarod Curley and Michael de la Nuez provided their services for that on Friday and Sunday. At one point, Seo’s magnificent head-plume suddenly sagged and then fell to the stage. She smartly improvised to make the mishap part of the character. The French ballerina — Zimmi Coker on Friday; Lèa Fleytoux on Sunday — fluffed and flitted as she sought center stage but also sought to save herself from the other two glowering ballerinas. Takumi Miyake and Melvin Lawovi were the French ballerina’s partner on Friday and Sunday.

Isn’t it interesting how we welcome mocking stereotypes of Russian, Italian, and French characters in this ballet but then can’t seem to tolerate stereotypes that elicit our admiration and laughs in other ballets? Did someone just whisper Progressives’ hypocrisy? (Pausing here so Haglund can sip some warm anti-digressing tea.)

Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo received superb performances from Skylar Brandt on Friday and Breanne Granlund on Sunday. Their Cowgirls quickly captured hearts with their combination of humor, pathos, sass and sentimentality—and their foot-fancy horse ridin’. Champion Ropers Jake Roxander and Carlos Gonzalez along with Head Wranglers Jarod Curley and Patrick Frenette looked a little ballet-slick rather than being bent from riding their horses all day, but otherwise were fine. In this ballet, the champion performances belonged to the women.

Our H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Bottega Veneta embellished stretch sandal, goes to Hee Seo for her self-actualizing Sylph on Friday followed by her self-deprecating Italian ballerina on Sunday. It was quite a stretch.

A dear reader alerted us to Wiener Staatsoper’s production of Alexei Ratmansky’s Of Love And Rage being produced there under the title Kallirhoe. The performance is available for free streaming for two more days.

You can download the app for the Wiener Staatsoper from the App Store and create a free account . The entire ballet, which includes an appearance by Marcelo Gomes as König von Babylon, is available for the next two days.

We also noted that in other performances Cassandra Trenary performs the role of Kallirhoe.

It is such a shame that ABT failed to bring back this ballet after the year of its sensational premiere. Such waste of an opportunity.

American Ballet Theatre’s opening night program, Twyla @ 60, is a misnomer. Twyla is really 84 — a thumping, jumping, pumping, romping 84; 84 and wanting more, as they say. But she’s been making dances for 60 years. It was nearly a half century ago that she made her first work for ABT and its new star, Mikhail Baryshnikov. She pushed ABT into a new era with Push Comes to Shove in which Baryshnikov wiggled and rocked and mocked and sizzled. It’s been a tough challenge for ballet, ABT in particular, to cast anyone as impactful as Baryshnikov in the lead role. They’re still working on it. Good luck to them.

Wednesday evening, Isaac Hernandez strode out beneath the bowler hat with a self-conscious imitation of cool. The “I am it” swagger was missing, and the steps were not tossed off with the comical ease that they should have been. But he was technically secure in Tharp’s challenges. The aspect of Push that made Baryshnikov such a hit was the surprise of this consummate classical technician melting down into Tharp’s downtown craziness. The surprise wasn’t there in this first performance. Haglund kept thinking what a hoot it would be to see soloist Takumi Miyake trade his ingrained classical elegance for a bowler hat and silks.

Christine Shevchenko and Breanne Granlund were fantastic in the van Hamel & Tcherkassky roles without imitating the originators. Shevchenko possessed the surprise factor that the dance needed. In true Tharp form, she conveyed nonchalance while executing everything meticulously. Granlund’s mastery of the Tharp style and her comfort and joy in dancing it was another pleasant surprise. Lea Flèytoux in Movement II projected like a giant. It was amazing how this tiny dancer could have such a huge effect on stage and communicate with such power. In Movement III, Jarod Curley entered to dance with Shevchenko. What a relief it was to see him moving like a house-a-fire with all that joy in his face after such a long injury absence. 

This Twyla @ 60 evening opened with the company’s debut of Sextet. The piece was originally made for a Tharp program at NY City Center in 1992 that featured Isabelle Guerin, Allison Brown, Robert LaFosse and other dancers from the Paris Opera Ballet. Haglund doesn’t recall seeing it then but it must have been interesting to see POB dancers trying to stifle their French refinement to unpack Tharp’s jam-packed choreography. Thirty-three years later, it retains Tharp’s brand of organized chaos but not the gleam of innovation for which she was known. Been there, done that, seen that since 1992. To their credit, the dancers shone brightly, especially Skylar Brandt, Catherine Hurlin, and Daniel Camargo. All three were able to dispatch the complex choreography with amused twinkles in their eyes.

A revival of Bach Partita was sandwiched between Sextet and Push. Its principal dancing suffered noticeably. However, the underlying duos of Lèa Fleytoux with Takumi Miyake, Fangqi LI with Michael de la Nuez, and Virginia Lensi with Finnian Carmeci made this watchable. While Christine Shevchenko with Calvin Royal III and Chloe Misseldine with James Whiteside were on top of the choreography, if a bit effortfully, Isabella Boylston and Andrew Robare struggled with their pas de deux and surprisingly with their solo moments.

The evening was hampered by the over-reliance on stringed music, either played by soloist or small chamber during the first two-thirds of the program. By the time Push Comes to Shove arrived with the full orchestra, the audience had had its melatonin. A more musically balanced program would have been more successful.

The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a modest stiletto of delicate sparkle and charm, is bestowed upon Lèa Fleytoux, a small star with sun-sized brilliance. 

It’s tiring. 

Every three years we have to go through this tug of war between NYCB dancers and management over the contract. There are practical solutions that NYCB’s board, along with other nonprofit boards, can advocate.

But first, the obvious. $378K for Justin Peck needs to be eliminated. $378K / 100 or so dancers = a pay increase of nearly $3800/yr.

Secondly, Katherine Brown at $745K — come on. For $32 million in contributed revenue, how can NYCB justify more than $250K for an Executive Director? Cut her loose or cut her back. Re-evaluate those administrative salaries and redistribute them. The gap between a nonprofit Executive Director and the lowest paid full time employee should not exceed 4:1. Corporate wage gaps of 281:1 and salaries based on for-profit corporate budgets should have nothing to do with what a nonprofit organization pays its executives. The claim that high executive salaries in nonprofits are required to get competent people simply isn’t true.

Thirdly, re-open the 4th ring to the 4th Ring Society @ $10-15 per seat and assertively push those seats to all the past members, seniors, employees of other nonprofits, and city employees.

Next, plan programing that the core audience wants to see and enjoy. It is arrogant for programmers to think they know what an audience needs to see. This has been a dreadful Fall Season of programing. The company is so off course that it really needs to reset itself immediately.

NYCB is producing artists who acquire formidable business educations in their off-time. Hire from within, not from outside. 

NYCB needs streaming income, and that income must be shared equally among all current employees—penny for penny, equally. Just stop haggling over this and Get It Done.

We need some forward-thinking on state tax legislation. It doesn’t make sense (to Haglund) that a nonprofit organization does not pay income taxes so that all of its revenue can be poured into the charitable activity on behalf of the community, but the nonprofit employees who are actually engaged in the activity must be fully taxed. Maybe a better alternative would be to redistribute the charitable non-tax privilege to part organization and part employees of the organization.

There’s not enough imagination going into potential solutions. It’s always the same exercise of people trying to beat each other down, the same arrogant lawyering, the same stress-inducing nonsense.

It’s tiring. 

______________________________

Congratulations to Victor Abreu, Dominika Afanasenkov, Naomi Corti, India Bradley, Mary Thomas MacKinnon, Andres Zuniga on their promotions to soloists at New York City Ballet. Now, if we could move six or seven soloists up to principal, that would be nice. We’re happy to see all of these promotions, but it’s going to take a lot of work and time to get them to the next level, if in fact that can be done. Meanwhile, newer corps dancers with possibly more potential are starting to stand out: Flacke, Klesa, Sautter, Mia Williams, Kloe Walker, and even apprentice Keenan Kiefer. 

Beckett told Haglund to revisit Voices, an experimental effort by Alexei Ratmansky for New York City Ballet, first performed in 2020. Rather than fitting ballet steps to music, Ratmansky attached them to a mostly unintelligible voice recording of five women — their ramblings further obscured with single piano recorded by Peter Ablinger that recalls the tradition of the Theater of the Absurd. The voices belong to women artists of the mid-20th century and are sourced from interviews or words read by them. It doesn’t matter what the women are saying because most of their words can’t be deciphered. Maybe that’s one of the points; maybe not. In the choreography, the women cut loose from complacent classicism in solos while the men control the stage with their testo-tribal authority. In the end as the curtain drops, they all have fallen into line — the same line — and are engaged together in the same thing. Okay.

Last week while listening to Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter jabber away in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot at the Hudson Theatre, Haglund realized that his own focus should not be on the words and their nonsense as it was some 50 years ago when he first read the play. The words, themselves, don’t matter. Nothing matters. Waiting around for Godot to show up to explain everything is a waste of time, because even if he did show up, whatever he said wouldn’t matter. Perhaps what might matter is the simple need and effort to communicate — not that what was being communicated matters. It’s not a human need but a need inherent in all forms of animal life – birds, goats, and humans alike. In the play when the character Lucky babbles away incoherently with the quiet authority of a religious or political leader, one cannot possibly comprehend his streams of nonsense, but one is completely captivated by his melodious sincerity.

Props to Ratmansky for his sincerity in creating Voices but it still doesn’t speak to Haglund. It doesn’t matter. The steps, at times, respond to the rhythm of the dialogue or piano or to an occasional word that apparently inspires a mimicking choreographic response—onomatopography. There — we said it out loud on this blog. Onomatopography. We can occasionally appreciate Ratmansky’s dabbling in absurdity or even absurd abstractionism. It can be fun, like when Haglund opened the Playbill to the casting of Voices and saw no dancers but immediately saw a tree:

The evening’s program included Jamar Robert’s Foreseeable Future with Iris Halpern’s costume designs which were definitely giving strong Victoria Secret vibes. The huge wings attached to the women, beautiful as they were, limited the women to choreography that protected their wings rather than allowing them to dance freely. The choreography for all was unsophisticated with a lot of arm waving that the dancers tried in vain to make special. Of course, when a choreographer throws Taylor Stanley onto the stage, he knows that the artist can bring any rigamorgraphy to life. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the NYCB dancers just live to have stuff like this made on them. BS. 

Thrown into the mix was William Forsythe’s pas de deux from Herman Schmerman – not enough to save the evening but a respite from the drivel. Forsythe, inspired by Balanchine’s and Arpino’s use of hyperextensions in choreography, spawned a slew of imitators who haven’t possessed his breath of balletic knowledge or imagination but have run with the ideas of dislocating dancers’ joints by tortuously stretching their limbs. Herman Schmerman’s shm-reduplication throughout the choreography illustrates both admiration for and derision toward conventional ballet. This performance was filled with surprises from Tiler Peck whose message to Roman Mejia seemed to be “be ready for anything”. Peck is simply a once in a generation marvel of an artist, and Mejia is doing an increasingly effective job of making their pas de deux a lot more than the sum of their parts.

Also on the program was Composer’s Holiday by Gianna Reisen, a collection of phrasal nothings that looked like they could have been made by Beckett’s Lucky. We can no longer tolerate NYCB’s continued subsidizing of this DEI emblem or the other amateurish choreographers who don’t know how to utilize the company’s talent. Get back to business. New work should come from the experts, not the novices and wannabes.

To borrow from Beckett, there was no lack of void in this program. It is evenings like these that drive us away from New York City Ballet and lead us out the door. Let’s go. We can’t. Why not? We’re waiting for Balanchine — and Ratmansky.