There he stood nearly motionless as the thundering brass of Stravinsky’s final notes of Firebird swirled around him. They were the notes of victory over the evil (albeit totally captivating and adorable) Kastchei and his gang of thugs. There he stood with such obvious emotion in his face on the stage where only days shy of a year earlier he had ruptured his Achilles tendon. Gilbert Bolden III would spend the next year rupturing the common viewpoint that such an injury is necessarily career-ending. This was his moment of victory, too.
The final tableau of Balanchine’s Firebird is nearly overwhelming. There are no steps, per se. Balanchine chose to step back and allow the powers of Stravinsky’s music and Chagall’s artwork carry this production to its glorious end. It is the stunning work of geniuses who we cannot treasure enough.
Bolden’s personal victory aside, this opening night performance of Firebird saw Isabella LaFreniere take flight with blazing splendor. She brought a balance of power and delicacy to the role with a refined, turbo-charged technique. The theatrical rapport between LaFreniere and Bolden fueled the fantasy of the Firebird story. They believed every word — step — of it, and so did we.
Meaghan Dutton-O’Hara was a lovely Prince’s Bride and showed much more interpretive freedom than previously. Oscar Estep as Kastchei, the Wizard, enjoyed a formidable debut.
Also returning to the stage after a maternity leave was Unity Phelan in Agon. Nerves were evident, understandably. Counts weren’t as tidy as usual. There was a collision during heavy traffic in the back court. It was a rather ambitious ballet to return to after a long absence in which the dancer-body was in upheaval for nine months. It’s okay with us if Unity is a little more chill during this comeback season. But her performance was in no way a disappointment. The entire cast was outstanding. Naomi Corti’s slicing precision and power along with an innate glamour are approaching major ballerina territory. She excels in the black & white canon like Agon but she also has a warm and gracious classical side to her dancing which we hope will be cast more frequently.
Adrian Danchig-Waring and Taylor Stanley were simply superb in this masterpiece. Both were propelled by the same understanding that Balanchine’s steps are enough and there’s no need to layer any interpretation on top of them. Haglund was remembering how Danchig-Waring stressed for so many years on that left outside position of Agon, where Victor Abreu danced last evening, and how he was so intent on expending every ounce of his energy to get everything perfect. It must be the role position, because Abreu now exhibits the same stress. We look forward to watching him develop the quiet exactitude that is so valuable in the black & white ballets. Andres Zuniga, Sara Adams and Mary Thomas MacKinnon rounded out the strong cast.
It’s not just smart, but expected and necessary to open the season with a big Balanchine ballet. There are no more eloquent speakers of his language than the dancers at New York City Ballet. Listen to them speak: the enunciation of a tendu, the distinction within a pas de chat, the emphasis of an arabesque position, the mumbling of batterie. What?! Yes, it’s true. The beats often are not what they should be. That was clear during an otherwise sparkling opening performance of Symphony in C when there was much batterie mumbling until we got to Mira Nadon in the Second Movement Adagio. Every time Preston Chamblee picked her up in front of him, Nadon made the most of those beats with emphatic crossings of beautifully arched feet. No mumbling there. She made something quite beautiful out of a moment that many just swim through in order to get to the next trick. What a lovely, lovely debut for her and Chamblee who was understandably hyper-concentrating — but he’s got this, and he’s on the road to greatness.
Megan Fairchild and Joseph Gordon flew through the First Movement allegro with the vitality that has marked their long and successful careers. Emma VonEnck and David Gabriel seemingly never tired from all those grand jetés in the Third Movement. Olivia MacKinnon and Jules Mabie brought charm and clear dancing to the Fourth Movement. And what about that corps de ballet! Exceptional job on the first night back.
Throughout the evening, the NYCB Orchestra held nothing back in delivering their world class music to us. Is there any orchestra that brings alive Stravinsky any better? We doubt it.
So, we’re pretty happy with the start of the season. We recognize the many, many dancers on that stage last night — from every rank— who have come back from serious, persistent injury and physical layoffs. That they were able to soar as they did through such important and beautiful choreography is worthy of everyone’s salute. But there is only one H.H. Pump Bump Award. And for this opening night, we bestow this feathered thong sandal upon Gilbert Bolden III and Isabella LaFreniere for their exquisite performance of Firebird.
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