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.

to order dinnerwear for tomorrow. Let’s keep the table conversation light and apolitical, and our snoods & wattles calm.

You know, Giving Tuesday is coming up. This year it’s on December 2nd. Nearly every non-profit organization appeals for donations including New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Let’s take a brief look at how these two companies aren’t giving back.

NYCB recently concluded one of its worst fall seasons ever during which it foisted mediocre contemporary choreography onto its audience while soaking attendees with higher ticket prices and fees and denying audiences its brand product: Balanchine classics. ABT did slightly better during its fall season but has planned a spring season that is a rip-off. Seventy minutes of Othello which amounts to ⅔ of a program at full-program prices; an excerpt from Raymonda Act III which is about 15 minutes even with generous pausing for applause on a bill with Firebird which is 47 minutes — a total of an hour of dancing at full-program prices; Mozartiana which is 32 minutes with Firebird which is 47 minutes, a total of 79 minutes plus some unidentified PdD, possibly the 3 minute PdD from Ashton’s Rhapsody. If ABT can’t scrape together enough programing to fill close to two hours with an intermission, they should adjust their ticket prices to account for what is missing. 

If NYCB and ABT want the public to pony up on Giving Tuesday, they should think about what they are giving in return. NYCB’s blatant effort to minimize its founder’s unparalleled contributions to the art form are an artistic and marketing failure. It smacks of the numb-brained CEO demanding his company take a certain direction without understanding the product line or the consumer. 

Yes, Tide. Since its introduction in 1946 Tide has continued to be P&G’s best selling brand. It is still packaged in the same color and still shelved at premium eye level in the stores. It  has been cast as powdery, cast as liquid, cast with different scents, cast in different sized containers. It is still the “washday miracle” that it was 80 years ago. It is still holding up the sales for P&G, and it is still the top brand. NYCB should be more respectful of its own miraculous products from 80-some years ago.

We are in a time when NYCB and ABT plan how to give the least while charging the most. Think about that on Giving Tuesday. 

Soup kitchens stretch every dollar to feed the most they possibly can for the good of humankind. Animal shelters like Bideawee extend their reach to wherever dogs and cats need them. WQXR plays the ballet music that we’re not hearing much of in the ballet venues. Giving Tuesday isn’t just about giving money. Salvation Army needs your stuff. Housing Works needs your stuff. New York Coat Drive needs your coats. Dozens of food pantries need your help.

So when that glitzy, teary appeal from NYCB or ABT lands in your inbox, think about how they give and who gives better.

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.