NYCB 4/22 – The Greening of Ballet

Yesterday was Earth Day.

Spawned in 1970 during a time of energy shortages and high pollution, Earth Day became a way for enlightened citizens of all ages to collectively demonstrate a commitment to support, protect, and honor the environment. It marked the beginning of America’s pledge to go green. In 1970 nearly 20 million people peacefully demonstrated nationwide including an estimated one million in New York City where the mayor shut down Fifth Avenue and turned over Central Park to the eco-activists for the day.

Our president at the time, No. 37, jumped on the environmental bandwagon a few weeks prior and created the EPA by his single stroke Executive Order. Over the next few years, he signed into law the Endangered Species Act, OSHA, Lead-based Poisoning Prevention Act as well as acts that created formal standards for ambient air quality and auto emissions. Positive stuff was happening in addition to all of the non-positive stuff that No. 37 was waging.

It’s been a long journey, but eco-activism is now a fairly mainstream idea. Everyone pretty much agrees that it’s important to preserve and protect the fragile planet. Once a species is lost or a resource is spent, it is gone forever.

We think about that a lot here on the blog where our ballet-eco-activist chanting can sometimes seem disruptive. We thought about it a lot last night while watching New York City Ballet perform works created by the two Giant Sequoias of American ballet.

Balanchine’s Symphony in Three Movements erupted with the force of Old Faithful – a plume of white-hot steam in ponytails hell-bent on living up to its national landmark reputation. What a terrific performance this was even if it wasn’t the tidiest. Coming on the heels of Miami City Ballet’s superb performance last week, NYCB’s reading of the same ballet carried an intrinsic excitement due to the company’s Amazonian-height women such as Emily Kikta, Isabella LaFreniere, Miriam Miller, and Gretchen Smith (one of the demi-soloists in black leotard) who unleashed explosive energy in order to wield their limbs to the powerful, unrelenting charge of the Stravinsky score.

The principals, Sterling Hyltin & Taylor Stanley, Ana Sophia Scheller & Daniel Ulbricht, and Megan LeCrone & Joseph Gordon (debuting) all gave electric performances. Sterling attacked the prickly pointe work with a fury that made her dancing larger and clearer than thought possible. It is one of her best roles and one in which she is unmatched. The chemistries among all of the principal pairs last night was simply outstanding. An unlikely pair on paper, Ana Sophia Scheller and Daniel Ulbricht had a fabulous competition going on. She has finally cast off the Petipa-primness that worried us when she first was featured in Balanchine black & white roles. Perhaps we should credit Ulbricht with some of that because we’ve noticed that he has a tremendous, positive, motivating effect on every ballerina whom he partners.

Haglund first encountered Jerome Robbins’ Moves in the ‘70s when it was danced by the Joffrey Ballet. His initial reaction of What just happened here? gave way to immediate demand for front row seats for the subsequent performances. In Moves, the dancers do not react to music, because there is no music. They react exclusively to one another. The sound of a sliding shoe, the twist of a wrist, or the stomp of a foot suddenly sets off a domino effect of movements in the other dancers. Five minutes into this dance, the viewer doesn’t want the intrusion of music.

Emily Gerrity and Adrian Danchig-Waring, in debut performances, led a cast of absolutely riveting performers. It was good to see Claire Kretzschmar back and in fierce form. She along with Ashley Hod, Isabella LaFreniere, Brittany Pollack and Lydia Wellington gave this ballet a certified diamond reading. Daniel Applebaum, Preston Chamblee, Harrison Coll, Joseph Gordon, and Aaron Sanz – all were outstanding in the Dance for Men. The cast had a new and interesting dynamic going. The undercurrent of aggression was present as always, but in this cast, the women were particularly no-nonsense and moved with scalpel sharpness.

Tiler Peck and Andrew Veyette gave a bright, beautifully danced performance of Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux. Mechanically, they work very well together in the PdD but their rapport did, at times, appear like a business assignment.

Bournonville Divertissements had neat and not-so-neat sections. The Ballabile was a frightful disregard for Bournonville style with the arms flying all over the place, pumping jumps with the hands, and strange twisty palms and fingers. We saw most of the same dancers in this ballet last year, and they were much more authentic. Last night they also looked tired. However, we appreciated the sunny demeanor and relatively clean footwork of Troy Schumacher and Erica Pereira – unfortunately, the upper body style was not there.

The PdD danced by Sara Mearns and Tyler Angle was lovely. It is always a surprise to see Tyler launch into this type of allegro and do it so expertly with informed style, because his rep is loaded with lifting roles. While one doesn’t normally associate Sara with the happy village girl, she carried it off pretty well and looked beautiful in the more natural hair style. If she would pay more attention to lowering her arms, ease up on size of jumps, and really try to find the Danish style (which she certainly can do), we would be very happy. But Bournonville danced as contemporary ballet doesn’t make us smile.

The Pas de Six was the cleanest, most authentic section of the ballet. Sara Adams, Lauren King, Brittany Pollack, and Indiana Woodward excelled both in their variations and as a thoughtfully rehearsed ensemble. Andrew Scordato and Russell Janzen were not quite as on-top-of-it as the ladies and seemed a little winded at times, but we were very impressed with Scordato’s progress and his confident stage presence. Anthony Huxley’s variations were almost as good as what we expected, but we would rather see him in the PdD.

The HH Pump Bump, a Louboutin piña colada, is bestowed upon Sterling Hyltin for her explosive performance in Symphony in Three Movements: