The See the Music session concluded with Maestro Litton telling the audience to enjoy Balanchine’s Diamonds which was the rest of the program. The orchestra then descended back into the pit in their usual musical way. But there was a pause as two of the musicians quickly exited to seats directly behind the pit. Haglund wondered what the heck was going on when he saw those guys strap on humongous axes. All of a sudden the announcer said, Please welcome Mick Jagger and Jimmy Fallon, and the New York City Ballet Orchestra blasted out the guitar riff from (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction as the two dudes casually wandered out from the wing. It was a short musical intro but it was probably strings-payback for that recent night of all-piano music. (Orch. Mgmt. to the bass player: We’re sorry but we’re devoting an entire night to Ligeti, Brahms and Shostakovich and there won’t be much for you to do. How about we make it up to you by letting you blast Mick Jagger onto the stage at the gala? Oh, yeah.)
Jagger and Fallon, the warm-up set for Balanchine’s Diamonds, never waste an audience. They were ready with a gala-sized schtick: Fallon’s almost-better-than-the-real-thing imitation of Jagger’s singing and dancing. Jagger made a pitch for the upcoming 60th Anniversary of Diamonds and Jewels and lauded the company’s dancers. It was all said with great sincerity which makes Haglund think maybe it’s time to let go of that grudge against Jagger for stealing a favorite ballerina off the stage a decade ago.
Diamonds started off grandly with the corps de ballet sweeping through the intro with flawless clarity amid the flashing of the newly bauble-laden costumes possibly inspired by drag queen Trixie Mattel. It’s hard to believe how a costume update could actually interfere with the sparkle of Balanchine’s choreography, but it has. Isabella LaFreniere and Chan Wai Chun were served a glacial tempo for the pas de deux that caused uncharacteristic awkwardness in some of the turns, and added pauses where there should have been none. Isabella, like some of the NYCB ballerinas, has adopted a pedestrian flat-footed walking entrance instead of entering with the formal walk of weight on the balls of the feet and heels ever so slightly lifted. The flatfooted version removes a lot of elegance and formality from the entrance. The Scherzo Allegro Vivo section and the Finale were blessedly brisk and brilliantly danced. Both Isabella and Chan served their variations with the majestic power of a royal couple.
After discussing Mick Jagger and Balanchine’s Diamonds, it’s hard to argue that the main feature and highlight of the gala performance was something else. But to an extent, it was. Tiler Peck’s second ballet for her home company received its premiere. Symphonie Espagnole, created to the violin concerto of the same name by Edouard Lalo, was an ambitious undertaking — a growing experience and a successful one. Tiler, a musical magician in the ballet world, chose the type of music that her body and spirit crave. Much of Lalo’s Symphonie Espagnole begs to be danced. It’s hot, it’s sultry, it’s tender, it’s bold, it’s spicy. The Rondo Allegro is a stirring finale for the violin soloist but it’s not the type of major orchestral finale that brings an entire ballet together with an explosive wow. When Tiler was putting this ballet together, she probably acquired a new appreciation of how Balanchine fiddled with Serenade to make the music + the ballet > than the two individual components. It would have been impractical for her to do any fiddling with Symphonie Espagnole when she had invited one of the great classical fiddlers of our time to perform as the soloist. Tiler filled the stage with 40 dancers whose high energy along with the memorable choreography created lots of wow, but Lalo’s Finale didn’t support it. So, it kind of didn’t reach the level it should have.
What a treat to have Hilary Hahn working from the orchestra pit as guest soloist for the gala and other selected performances. She had never performed this piece although she had prepared it over the years. It would be wonderful to have her back again for Tiler’s next ballet. Hilary has a fiery interpretation of Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 which definitely is structured like a ballet. You know, if we’re not going to get Bruch’s concerto back where we first met it at ABT (which it appears we never will), there is no reason to waste the beautiful music when we have a developing NYCB choreographer who could really do it justice.
The corps de ballet’s choreography was fantastic throughout the ballet — ambitious, musical, and it challenged the corps to try to dance with the brilliance of Tiler Peck. The end result was quite spectacular. This was the first performance where everyone was having to think a lot resulting in an occasional uncertain moment or two, but wow, what a feast of interesting and articulate phrases. The women who opened the first movement along with Emma Von Enck and Joseph Gordon wore gorgeous burgundy-plum tutus with layered ruffles — Emma’s tutu was bright red — perhaps a faint reference to the ruffles we see in traditional Spanish flamenco dresses. The two principals were tearing up the stage, but honestly, the corps had most of our attention.
The second and third movements, designed for Kloe Walker and Roman Mejia, brought her to the forefront of everyone’s attention and showed a pleasing discipline to his form. Kloe is one of the more unusual talents in the midst of an enormously talented corps de ballet. Her length and narrow lines, clarity of geometric shapes, maximized technique, and natural rapport with the audience make her easy to spot and easy to follow. She looked exquisite in the burning red dress with knee length skirt dancing in front of a corps of women wearing the same dresses in dusty mauve. The choreography given to her revealed a level of accomplishment and mastery that we had not yet seen in the opportunities given to her so far in the company. Roman served up the Spanish spice in response to the Carmenesque 3rd Movement Intermezzo. The corps of eight men who danced authoritatively behind him were the La Mancha saffron to Roman’s smoked picante paprika. We’ll leave it at that.
The 4th movement Andante featured a pas de deux with Mira Nadon and Ryan Tomash who were supplemented by soloists and a should-be-soloist. Mira, in a dress similar to Kloe’s but a deeper cabernet red, was of course lovely and superbly partnered by Ryan although the choreography was not particularly memorable and had a requisite feel to it. This andante dancing came too late structurally in the ballet which was part of the choreographic challenge we mentioned above.
Let’s just say that Symphonie Espagnole was impressive as a whole. The dancing was magnificent. We are excited to see Tiler’s next piece and hope that she will stay on the same course and not think that she has to be innovative or do something weird. Big ballet, lots of dancers in lovely colors, classical choreography, music with a pow factor — basically a ballet that Tiler would like to be in is all we want. Of all the choreographers that NYCB has brought in, Tiler’s artistic sensibilities most closely align with what the audience is looking for. We salute this latest effort and toss her a spicy H.H. Pump Bump Award, a red ruffled slingback from Louboutin.
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