During the second week of New York City Ballet’s Winter Season, the company presented masterpieces by Balanchine and Robbins and a couple of filler pieces with qualities that compensated for less rewarding choreography. Concertantes, Cage, Concertino, and Concerto — the last was the extended “high C” that would have stopped the show had it not actually been the end of it.
Balanchine’s Danses Concertantes — created in 1972 to Stravinsky’s 1941 score — featured dessert-worthy costumes and scenery by Eugene Berman who died six months after the premiere. As a child, Berman attended performances of the Ballets Russes; his family lived in the same building as Nijinsky in St. Petersburg. He later studied at the Académie Ranson in Paris where he became associated with a group who would become known as the Neo-Romantic artists. Berman’s stunning tutus in rich shades of blue, plum, yellow, green and red with black drawn accents made up for anything that might have been missing choreographically. Trios of two women and a man in each color were featured in Pas de Trois dancing what might have been balletic versions of a cabaret act in an early 20th century nightclub. The four featured trios were made up exclusively of corps members including the exceptionally well-suited Mary Elizabeth Sell and Claire Von Enck. Kennard Henson, whose career has been paused by injuries, danced with tremendous confidence and clarity as did Samuel Melnikov. The principal couple, Emma Von Enck and David Gabriel, sold us every step with panache and pizzazz.
Robbins’ The Cage received what is sure to be an iconic performance of The Novice by Alexa Maxwell. Her every moment seemed Hitchcock inspired. One sensed when something dreadful was about to happen but couldn’t begin to imagine how screeching bad it would be. Sterling Hyltin in the same role years ago seemed to ooze sticky stuff from the tips of her arachnid tentacles as she cultivated her prey. Alexa’s Novice snapped them up and snapped their necks whenever they wandered into her Bates Motel. “We all go a little mad sometimes.” Yes, Norman.
Emily Kikta was properly ruthless as the Queen. Chun Wai Chan and Victor Abreu only suffered a short time as the victims before being dispatched by the Novice.
Robbins' other piece on the program, Concertino, for a trio of two men and one woman featured New York City Ballet Orchestra’s superb Principal Clarinetist Steven Hartman in Stravinsky's Three Pieces for Clarinet Solo. Emile Gerrity, Jovani Furlan, and Jules Mabie approached the Robbins choreography as though it were a Balanchine abstract ballet with a main emphasis on architecture. At times, this choreography from 1982 seemed Arpino-inspired with its acrobatic lifts of the ballerina although it might have been Arpino who was inspired by Robbins in those days. It was a lucky time for us.
The “high C” of the evening was the spectacular output of Ashley Laracey and Joseph Gordon in Stravinsky Violin Concerto. Their stupendous performance was marked by engaging rapport, complimentary energies, and extraordinary articulation of the architecture and music. What a wild surprise this was to see these two take such ownership of the ballet that it seemed that it was created just for them. One of these days, a pas de deux like they performed will cause the crazed audience to demand an instant encore.
Unfortunately, their performance qualities were not met by the other couple, Sara Mearns and Aaron Sanz, who we found to be an odd match. While it was apparent that they were having fun on stage, there was an awkwardness in their execution, effortfulness, and much less attentiveness to positions.
Our H.H. Pump Bump Award , a Jimmy Choo for you Ashley Laracey and Joseph Gordon for a memorable, standard-setting performance in Stravinsky Violin Concerto.
8 responses to “NYCB 1/24
Danses Concertantes, The Cage, Concertino,
Stravinsky Violin Concerto”
Didn’t see this cast, was there Sunday afternoon. Thankfully Mearns wasn’t on program, I avoid her and a few others like the plague. Alexa was beyond outstanding in the Cage. She needs to be promoted
Toot Suite…
Didn’t see this cast, was there Sunday afternoon. Thankfully Mearns wasn’t on program, I avoid her and a few others like the plague. Alexa was beyond outstanding in the Cage. She needs to be promoted
Toot Suite…
Tony, ITA about Alexa.
Looking forward to Lauren Collett’s debut in The Cage this evening. Also debuting, Naomi Corti as the Queen and Gilbert Bolden as the second victim.
This is going to be one of the strongest Saturday’s in programing that I’ve seen in a while. Matinee will be great as well.
Tony, ITA about Alexa.
Looking forward to Lauren Collett’s debut in The Cage this evening. Also debuting, Naomi Corti as the Queen and Gilbert Bolden as the second victim.
This is going to be one of the strongest Saturday’s in programing that I’ve seen in a while. Matinee will be great as well.
Did you see the debuts in the cage? I’m curious how it went
Did you see the debuts in the cage? I’m curious how it went
Harry, I saw them and thought they were successful debuts, especially Gilbert Bolden’s. I saw details in his performance that I have never noticed in all my decades of watching this ballet. Lauren Collett made a very good start as the Novice. She used her fragile looking limbs to great effect, and was able to create her own unique strangeness within the Novice. Naomi Corti didn’t quite project the way Reichlen, Kikta and LaFreniere have in the past. While she may approach them in height, she doesn’t have their comparable leg length which is kind of noticeable. She definitely got the job done, though, and I’m sure we’ll see more fierceness from her in the future. I’m not able to go to their second performance tomorrow night, but if you can, you should definitely go.
Harry, I saw them and thought they were successful debuts, especially Gilbert Bolden’s. I saw details in his performance that I have never noticed in all my decades of watching this ballet. Lauren Collett made a very good start as the Novice. She used her fragile looking limbs to great effect, and was able to create her own unique strangeness within the Novice. Naomi Corti didn’t quite project the way Reichlen, Kikta and LaFreniere have in the past. While she may approach them in height, she doesn’t have their comparable leg length which is kind of noticeable. She definitely got the job done, though, and I’m sure we’ll see more fierceness from her in the future. I’m not able to go to their second performance tomorrow night, but if you can, you should definitely go.