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 put down 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: AI, 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.
11 responses to “Nut Nostalgia”
Haglund my family and I were at the City Ballet Nutcracker in the 4th ring on Sunday the 28th at the 5pm performance. The dancing was outstanding, Woodward and Chan with LaFreniere as Dew Drop were terrific. Unfortunately the behavior of the audience was shockingly bad…a chronic crinkler seemed to munch at every quiet spot which caused a woman behind me to lose her mind and loudly proclaim “STOP” at one point (it didn’t stop the crinkle-muncher). Another person repeatedly videoed and took pictures setting off her flash each time and illuminating the two poor people in front of her. She also answered her phone and had a conversation mid Marzipan. I don’t understand why the ushers weren’t posted and on the lookout to shut this behavior down. I heard an usher tell a patron before the performance started that food could be brought into the theatre but not consumed. The only way that will actually happen is if ushers are running around enforcing the no chomping rule (and that in itself is distracting in my opinion). For a family of 4 to spend close to 600 to listen to people crinkle and consume? Unreal! The theatre shouldn’t double as a cafeteria- NYCB, please keep the food out of the performance.
Ballet Fam of Four, I’m so disappointed to hear about your experience. It does seem that going to NYCB’s Nutcracker becomes more and more like going to the circus each year. May I suggest that you send an email to these two addresses: [email protected] and [email protected] and please report back what they have to say beyond “Sorry”. If a person or a parent with kids can’t avoid being disruptive, they should opt for the Sensory-Friendly Performance at the end of the Nutcracker season where expectations of theater etiquette are more relaxed.
I have once or twice gone out,found an usher, and asked them to do something about the offending person(s). Sometimes not so easy to find an usher.
Thanks, Mary. Where do most of the ushers disappear to when the performance starts? One would expect that there would be an usher inside on each side of the orchestra and rings and one usher outside the main entrances on both sides. I’ve often wondered why they are so hard to find.
I agree.When I have managed to find one, esp in rings, I think they have been not where one would expect to find them and talking to another usher.
Happy New Year, Haglund!
Thank you for another year of great reviews and your original and much appreciated commentary.
Happy New Year, Marta. Thanks so much for keeping up with H.H. during this complicated year of transfer to Word Press. We still have much to figure out and will in due time, hopefully.
Hi Haglund and Happy New Year!
I attended the 12/20 matinee and was so excited to watch Ashley Hod and Naomi Corti in the principal roles. While Ashley’s technique and control were fantastic, her projection and acting were mediocre at best. For someone who has danced the role for many years, I expected a higher level of artistry from her. We sat orchestra center, maybe 15 rows back. If she didn’t connect with us, I can’t help but think about the folks sitting in the rings. I am hoping it was an off day her, but if not, could this be reasoning for her not being promoted to Principal quite yet?
Naomi shined as the Dewdrop. I too look forward to watching her dance more rep!
Very surprised to hear this since Ashley’s portrayal a week earlier had been quite lovely. In fact, I thought that her SPF solo in pink was especially artistically strong. Your description doesn’t match what I’ve seen Ashley do in any of her other roles; so, I have no idea what was happening at your performance. I must admit that I have never sat 15 rows back in center orchestra for an NYCB performance. It is completely out of my wallet’s reality. I’m not sure what a performance looks like from there. Hopefully what ever the issues were are temporary.
I am strongly pushing back against the comments made against Ashley here, having attended both performances of her Sugarplum and Dewdrop this season.
In fact, I think Ashley is a ballerina who is one of the best to see if you are sitting higher up; her arms are so expressive they look really wide in the Fourth Ring.
Mediocre is not a word I would use to describe the ballerina I saw this season.
Thanks, Zachary. In addition to what you said, I think she is developing a very individual and thoughtful musicality. I call it “the tickle effect” when someone like Hod or Tiler Peck or Ashley Laracey or Mira Nadon ventures into the music where no one else has gone and you suddenly feel your own face smile with surprised delight. It’s like discovering something new in what one has always loved anyway. Been thinking a lot about Emeralds lately and how much I’ve missed it.