Following the second intermission Tuesday night, NYCB celebrated the 80th Anniversary of its School of American Ballet with a brief film and stage tribute to its faculty. On film, several of its past and present stars spoke of SAB’s importance and their gratitude to the school. Edward Villella, Arthur Mitchell, Kyra Nichols, Ashley Bouder, Tiler Peck, Robert Fairchild, Sara Mearns and others defined SAB’s importance to the development of New York City Ballet and to their individual careers. Allegra Kent recalled with special enthusiasm how all of the teachers emphasized very different things. Some emphasized endurance while others emphasized style and elegance, she said. Then glancing off to the side with a little pause, she added "and some emphasized eccentricity.” Peter Martins introduced the current faculty on stage with a special tribute to Andrei Kramarevsky, the Bolshoi star who joined the faculty in 1976.
The tribute to SAB took up about 10 minutes; so apparently, it was necessary to shave off 10 minutes from Symphony in C. And before we knew it, the dancers were out of the gate and racing along the infield — every one of them with the Look of Eagles – confident, knowing – responding alertly to the conductor’s whip. Too bad a few of the orchestra players seemed to be limping behind everyone else. This season’s Symphony in C performances have been marred by a wide array of tempi: glacial last week, racing last night. Go fast or get passed.
Tiler Peck and Zachary Catazaro sped through the First Movement – she with ultimate control and coordination in her solos; he with less of it but definitely trying hard and rightly placing his priority on his partnering skills. The Second Movement adagio danced by Teresa Reichlen and Tyler Angle deserved no complaints but Ask la Cour would have had the height needed to show off this tall ballerina. Ashly Isaacs and Gonzalo Garcia led the Third Movement with Ashly inserting too much arm bravado into her allegro vivace. Somewhat distracting were Gretchen Smith and Mary Elizabeth Sell as demi-soloists. They both tend to throw their energy beyond what they can control, adding little extra movements or reverberations that look like they’ve hit bumps in the road and which leave the viewer with a sense of impending disaster.
Ashley Laracey had a solid first run through the Fourth Movement opposite Taylor Stanley. Not only does the ballerina in this movement have to worry about her own taxing variation, but she must maneuver through a good amount of traffic barreling around her. Ashley's virtuoso turns that travelled diagonally were steady. That little trick with the pirouette in which the leg extends to second position and then comes into passe for another revolution didn’t have the clarity needed to make it pop, but we know that will improve. Haglund is looking forward to seeing how this all develops in future performances. If it evolves into anything close to what Ashley made of her variation in Raymonda Variations this past week, then we are in for a treat. Gorgeous epaulement, supple pointes, and dramatic musicality continue to make her dancing so enjoyable to watch.
Tuesday’s Raymonda Variations included the strong debuts of Lauren Lovette and Anthony Huxley in the lead roles. There was uncertainty in an important PdD section in which Lauren was to rotate from a la seconde to arabesque while remaining on pointe. It didn’t set up perfectly and her balance failed her. Inexperience was a major factor. A dancer like Bouder or Fairchild would have known how to get out of the situation and brush it off. The mess-up wasn’t a particular disappointment because of the huge degree of challenge involved for both dancers. However, what was a disappointment was Lauren’s simplifying of the string of pas de chats. Rather than inserting the Italian pas de chat that traveled in reverse, she performed simple pas de chat right and then left. Otherwise, the dancing by both was quite good. Anthony is of short-medium height but his lines are long and elegant, and his stage presence is confident and giving. Lauren also conveys warmth on stage and has exceptionally clear and forceful allegro which made it all the more curious as to why those pas de chats were watered down.
Erica Pereira and Daniel Ulbricht made a full story out of The Steadfast Tin Soldier. You felt what each of them was feeling. Erica was a lot more animated and secure in this performance than earlier last week. Some of that credit has to go to Daniel who is always so connected to his partner that she can’t help but be responsive. As always, he was marvelous – technically and theatrically.
The Pump Bump Award, a 2014 Louboutin stiletto with the graceful individuality of modern classicism, is bestowed upon Ashley Laracey for her performances in Raymonda Variations last week.