Emily Kikta came flying out of the wing with her four wingmen desperately trying to keep up with her. Holy Moly, talk about taking over the stage; talk about a high octane performance that made the viewer’s heart pound as much as the dancer’s. It was almost seven years to the day when Emily first danced this solo role in the Allegro section of Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet — May 18, 2012. At that first performance, all we could think was that we wanted the little corpsbirds to get out of the way so we could watch this majestic eagle soar through Balanchine’s beautiful choreography. True, at that first performance her leg buckled and she nearly went down spectacularly. But victory in the face of near-catastrophe used to be pretty standard fare at NYCB. Last night there were no stumbles – nothing but glorious, huge, GRACEFUL, respectful, and musical grand allegro that used every inch of stage and every note of music. Simply and astonishingly beautiful.
NYCB 5/15 – Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet & Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3
Ashley Bouder and Russell Janzen danced the PdD in the Allegro section. It wasn’t a good match-up: his elegance vs. her rough stylishness; his long lines vs. her compactness; his coolness vs. her boldness. While it was easy to admire Ashley in the allegro solos, it was less easy in the PdD where length of line and grace were desired.
In the Intermezzo section, Jared Angle did a good job making Sterling Hyltin look like a miracle. In the Andante, where Erica Pereira and Anthony Huxley were debuting, both danced superbly as soloists and as a pair; the only thing missing was that confidence that comes after getting one performance under the belt.
In the Rondo alla Zingarese, Sara Mearns (substituting for Maria Kowroski) and Tyler Angle gave it all the wild gypsy they could without getting arrested – a marvelous output of joyous dancing.
Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 wasn’t as ship-shape as it should have been. There are still lights out in the middle chandelier on stage which once again set off balletomanes’ OCD throughout the theater. There were problems with the coordination of the demi-soloists in Theme and Variations and at times the corps struggled with uniformity. Sara Mearns and Ask la Cour gave the Elegie excessive drama. Ashley Laracey and Jared Angle repeated their lush performance of the Valse Melancolique. Georgina Pazcoguin and Harrison Ball danced the Scherzo like they wanted to murder it. Megan Fairchild and Gonzalo Garcia in their second shot at T&V this season gave it more polish.
At barely two hours, this program provided a fulfilling evening of ballet with wonderful music, and sent the audience spilling out the doors in a happy mood.
The H.H. Pump Bump Award, a Giuseppe Zanoti winged stiletto, is bestowed upon Emily Kikta for her remarkable performance in Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet.
4 responses to “NYCB 5/15 – Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet & Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3”
Hi Haglund, looking forward to seeing this program at the Saturday May 18 2pm matinee. Looks like I’ll get a different cast than you did, with the exception of Pazcoguin/Ball in the Tchaik Scherzo. Thanks for the review!
Hi Haglund, looking forward to seeing this program at the Saturday May 18 2pm matinee. Looks like I’ll get a different cast than you did, with the exception of Pazcoguin/Ball in the Tchaik Scherzo. Thanks for the review!
Saturday matinee will be exciting. There will be lots of debuts, most notably, Anthony Huxley in Theme and Variations. Also, the First Movement of Brahms-Schoenberg will be all new. We haven’t seen enough of the enormously talented Emilie Gerrity this season, and we hardly ever get to see the warm, gracious and utterly lovely Lydia Wellington featured–both of whom will be debuting. And Joseph Gordon in the PdD with Gerrity should be gorgeous. Plus we’ll be welcoming back Amar Ramasar which so many NYCB regulars in the audience have been anxiously awaiting — not to mention lobbying for.
Saturday matinee will be exciting. There will be lots of debuts, most notably, Anthony Huxley in Theme and Variations. Also, the First Movement of Brahms-Schoenberg will be all new. We haven’t seen enough of the enormously talented Emilie Gerrity this season, and we hardly ever get to see the warm, gracious and utterly lovely Lydia Wellington featured–both of whom will be debuting. And Joseph Gordon in the PdD with Gerrity should be gorgeous. Plus we’ll be welcoming back Amar Ramasar which so many NYCB regulars in the audience have been anxiously awaiting — not to mention lobbying for.