In This World of Tomorrow, which just completed its limited run at The Shed last Sunday, Tom Hanks’ character was a scientist who explored the future by re-visiting the past over and over again through time travel. He finally decided to take up roots in 1939 where he found his life’s love during the New York World’s Fair. The sterile glitz of his futuristic AI-does-everything-world with its substitution of algorithms for empathy and machine-based processes for human communication lost out to a world run by human beings. It was a no less complicated time for this man from the future — on the eve of another world war which Hanks’ character was well aware of because, well, he was from the future. But he chose a messy humanity over coldly capable artificiality.
New York City Ballet’s Nutcracker evokes a similar sense of nostalgia for when these holidays were warm social gatherings marked by genuine human interaction and communication. It was much slower and more thoughtful than the ubiquitous electronic blur of knee-jerk reactions that we mismanage more often than not these days. Human intellect and emotions can’t seem to handle the speed with which electronic mechanisms now throw bytes of information at us. It’s like we are compelled to process and react to a lot of disk data that’s missing header records.
Haglund managed to see two wonderful performances of NYCB’s Nutcracker. Emily Kikta and Owen Flacke, paired for the first time in prime time, gave us a glimpse of the excitement that might await us if we are lucky enough to see them together on a more regular basis. There was an immediate sense that this pair had a grandness that could be greater than the sum of their individual artistries. Finally Kikta was rewarded with an appropriately sized partner for her gorgeous statuesque beauty. The second-year corpsman Flacke didn’t just have size; he had polish, fast feet, and a neatness that doesn’t usually come with being in the neighborhood of six and a half feet tall. This “Big O” is a future MVP and City Ballet point guard extraordinaire. But wait! NYCB doesn’t just have one “Big O”; it has two. Racing down the court right behind Flacke, by mere months and alphabetically, is Oscar Estep — another young corpsman who is stuck in the back of the corps because of his huge size but has us laser focused on his every move.
While Flacke displayed tremendous potential as a partner — managing the treacherous “blind” stepover pirouettes by Kikta, the shoulder sits, and the notorious promenade at the end of the first section — he did show some signs of weariness in his solo, or perhaps it was just carefulness.
What a thrill it was to see Kikta as the Sugarplum Fairy again. Her connection with the audience was generous and immediate. She was a fairy to believe in, the one who would deliver the magic that we were about to see with dancing candy canes and flowers. Such fragrance and grace to her dancing — all of it secure and potent with a hint of mysterious Chanel Coco.
If Kikta’s Sugarplum Fairy reminded us of Coco, the next evening Ashley Hod was No. 5 with her classic elegance and sparkling virtuosity. This is a major ballerina with every detail in place and at the height of her physical power. Her geometrics include sharp angles that can melt into curves at the violin’s signal. She should be recognized as a Diamond, an Emerald, a Waltz Girl, a deaconess of Balanchine’s Black & White canon, and everything in between. Her Cavalier, the beaming Jules Mabie, enjoyed a fabulous role debut and exhibited a maturity that we thought would be years away. Like Kikta and Flacke, the physical match-up of Hod and Mabie was sublime and something that we hope to see actively developed over time. For too long, NYCB has acted like it didn’t really matter who danced with whom. But it does. When the match-ups are attractive physically, musically, and artistically, the performances are truly memorable.
India Bradley and Naomi Corti danced the Dewdrop roles at these performances. Bradley showed great energy but still struggled with eye line focus and immature port de bras. Corti soared in this role like she was heading toward another universe. We are so excited to see her devour the Balanchine repertoire.
Claire VonEnck and Meaghan Dutton-O’Hara nailed the Marzipan soloist role as did Cainan Weber and Victor Abreu with Candy Cane. Lighting up the stage in Tea, Snowflakes and wherever she appeared was Olivia Bell. Ava Sautter and Kloe Walker were gorgeous lead flowers. Both are so ready for bigger challenges.
We’ve certainly covered a lot here: IA, NBA, expensive perfume. Only at HH will one find that depth of variety.
Our HH Pump Award, Gianvito Rossi’s gold bijoux metallic leather ankle strap sandal, is bestowed upon Emily Kikta for her Christmas dream-filling Sugarplum Fairy.
Leave a Reply