The New York City Ballet presented its Spring Gala last evening with premieres by choreographers Benjamin Millepied and Jiri Bubenicek. Millepied chose a 1991 composition by Polish composer Henryk Gorecki for his choreography. Bubenicek chose a composition by his twin brother, Otto Bubenicek, who along with Jiri, graduated from the dance conservatory in Prague and became a celebrated dancer in John Neumier’s Hamburg Ballet.
Not all music is adaptable for song. Not all music is adaptable for dance. Some music is meant just to be music. Gorecki’s Quasi Una Fantasia probably falls into this last category. Haglund would describe much of it as grim minimalist with a strong infusion of endogenous angst. At one point, Haglund’s interest began to perk up until he realized that the additional instrumental he was hearing was actually the whining and groaning of the theater’s elevators as they ascended and descended along the side lobbies. Gorecki is challenging music to listen to and an acquired taste, like much of modern music.
Millepied’s choreography did not penetrate the score but did manage to add layers and layers of unexplained angst making a depressing brew of gymnastic maneuvering with more than a few reprisals of corps/core ideas from his previous From Here On Out for ABT. The choreographic content and structure were low intermediate. The dancers led by Rebecca Krohn, Janie Taylor, Sebastien Marcovici, and Jared Angle, gave it their all and to their credit gave us some interesting moments, mostly when everyone was on stage.
Bubenicek’s Toccata faired a bit better thanks to emotionally dedicated performances by Abi Stafford, Robert Fairchild, Craig Hall, Georgina Pazcoguin, Brittany Pollack, David Prottas, and Andrew Scordato. What a luxury it must be for a ballet choreographer to use music composed for him by a ballet dancer who shares his lifetime of experiences, not to mention genetics. It all just fit together. There was conversation everywhere: between the surfaces of the music, between the music and the choreography, between the choreography and the dancers, and among the dancers themselves. Yes, there was a lot of PdD gymnastic maneuvering, but it appeared less for the sake of maneuvering and more for intent to convey the relationships between the dancers. The final moments with three couples engaged in PdD with the odd man out frantically racing around among them was a nice touch.
Abi Stafford was mesmerizing. She has a proclivity for catching a note toward the end of a musical phrase with her upper body and head and just embellishing it with her own beauty. Add into that mix Robert Fairchild’s and Craig Hall’s dramatic intensities and Georgina Pazcoguin’s unique and powerful presence, and you have one interesting community on stage. Haglund loved seeing the choreographic interaction between Ms. Stafford and Mr. Fairchild. They truly compliment one another.
The final offering on the program was Theme and Variations. But it was preceded by a fabulous film, Recreating a Tutu’s Splendor, in which the restoration of the Theme and Variations costumes was documented. A funny moment was realized when a dancer at a fitting was asked how the costume felt. When she replied that it was comfortable, the fitter said that if it’s comfortable, then he should probably take it in.
When the curtain finally rose, the beauty of the costumes was revealed and the magic of T&V began. A few unsteady moments were apparent at first, but luckily, it all settled down quickly and the ballet progressed to a fine performance led by Megan Fairchild and Joaquin De Luz. Ms. Fairchild is not a naturally grand ballerina type, but she’s working on it. Haglund thinks that it would be a big help if she would lower her arms a bit when they are in second position thus creating the illusion of a taller body and a sense of grandness. Mr. De Luz is a master at disguising his short stature with effective port de bras. All in all, T&V was enjoyable and energetic relief from the dark and moody choreographic works that preceded it.
Haglund awards this Pump Bump to the gala evening for its elegance with a touch of odd: