NYCB Nutcracker gets the green light:
We're close to the start of this year's Nutcracker run. Opening night cast the day after Thanksgiving includes Ashley Bouder as Dewdrop. The last time we saw her in this role, she had a four-month bun in the oven and could not have looked and danced more beautifully.
Ana Sophia Scheller's Dewdrop at the third performance is much anticipated as is the Sugarplum Fairy & Cavalier match-up of Lauren Lovette and Chase Finlay in the second performance.
Doesn't it seem like the American flag pictured above is a little sad and limp? Hang in there, little flag.
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Pennsylvania Ballet's Revolution program is currently at the Merriam Theater in Philly. It includes Balanchine's Square Dance, David Dawson's The Third Light, and Brian Sanders' Chicken Bone Brain. Haglund can't make it down there this weekend, but he has already heard incredible reports about our own Sterling Baca.
From Bryan after the opening night:
To use a sports metaphor, it certainly seems that Angel Corella is treating Sterling like a coveted first round draft pick to build a franchise around, a la Carson Wentz and this year's Eagles. After being featured as the opening night Prince in the season opening production of Cinderella, Sterling was featured in two of the three pieces tonight, and stole the show.
Writing about The Third Light:
[T]he set is a geometrical shape, reminiscent of the skewed corner of a room. The piece is for five men, clad in purple tights, nude shoes, and bare-chested (why?); and five women in purple long sleeve chemises, purple briefs, nude pointe shoes, and bare legs (why?). There are bright parts and dark parts of the stage, and the dancers are constantly coming into and out of silhouette. The overall lighting scheme seemed really dim to me – I could definitely have used more light. The score by Gavin Bryars was a dreary adagio slog throughout, no discernible count patterns emerged – it must have been difficult to dance to. In the pre-show talk, Christiane Marchant, who staged the piece, talked about Leonardo da Vinci's Vitruvian Man sketch, and that turns out to be the key to unlock the meaning of the piece. The dancers are constantly reaching out with their hands and describing a circle about them in three dimensions and in all angles. From those circles come swooping, swirling port de bras motions. Various groups of the ten dance with each other – there is a quartet section, then most of the men, then most of the women. You can almost see a bunch of Dawson's influences peeking through the choreography – a little bit of Balanchine, Forsythe, and Ratmansky can be detected in specific moves. Toward the end, there is a central PdD with Sterling and Oksana Maslova, with lots of tricky partnering and lifts. You feel as if they are trying to draw you in to some central drama, but the meaning of it remains just out of reach. At the climax of the PdD, Sterling simply walks away, and Oksana simply stands on stage, forlorn. You wish you could comfort her, but the drama didn't really land in the first place. There follows a brilliant solo by Alexander Peters, full of that same swoopy, swirly motion that is the hallmark of this piece. The piece ends with all ten dancers in a line across the stage, performing those port de bras figures in unison as the curtain comes down.
About Chicken Bone Brain:
The score was a bunch of electronica – no one got a music credit. On stage, there were several 12-foot long, thin, bone-shaped set pieces attached to ropes that Sterling Baca, Jermel Johnson, and Arian Molina Soca swung around on, in addition to bone props that dancers danced with. For costumes, the 11 men were 'dressed' in little more than white briefs and nude shoes (bare chests and arms), and the nine women added white bandeau wraps in addition to their white briefs and nude pointe shoes. The lighting felt like a disco, so the overall feel was a stone age dance party, complete with bone set pieces and props.
. . . .
This piece barely qualified as a ballet. I would rather describe it as a Cirque de Soleil piece gone amok. There were several discernible steps, like bourrees and chaine turns, but they weren't exactly put together with much skill. Brian Sanders does great work for other companies, but PAB should stick to choreographers within the art form. The audience didn't really agree with me, though – the piece got quite a large ovation. Sterling got quite a big solo in this piece, but it wasn't really choreography – it was hanging off one of the suspended chicken bone set pieces, climbing all over it, and spinning with it.
About Square Dance:
The second piece on the program was Balanchine's Square Dance, which is a faithful friend of the company, having been performed in 2013 and 2010 most recently, and many more times since its PAB premiere in 1982. Amy Aldridge and Alexander Peters might not be suited for each other on first sight, since she is quite taller than he is, but they have worked on partnering together through a couple of Balanchine ballets in the past few years – Rubies and Allegro Brillante – and that experience shows to great effect in Square Dance. Their dancing was solid, and the corps was solid.
We can't wait for the new Le Corsaire in March. We hope that the dancers will be able to muster the energy they need to keep up with Angel – no small task, but oh, how fortunate they are to have his guidance and example. (Buy tickets here. Also, Amtrak fares purchased this early are a steal.)
8 responses to “observations 11-12”
I saw both the rehearsal and opening night performances. I liked Third Light the first time and even more the second. So much is going on that you cannot take it all in the first time. The WHY? on the bare-chested men was discussed in the Preludes session. It signifies the body…not the costume. I think the music was harmony that the dancers put in motion.
I have long been a fan of Cirque de Soleil. Brian’s piece, though aerial is not Cirque. The beauty of the dancers and their grace was astounding. I (and the rest of the audience) loved it. The music was less than exciting but the rest? All I can say is that Angel proves there is ballet after Balanchine.
I saw both the rehearsal and opening night performances. I liked Third Light the first time and even more the second. So much is going on that you cannot take it all in the first time. The WHY? on the bare-chested men was discussed in the Preludes session. It signifies the body…not the costume. I think the music was harmony that the dancers put in motion.
I have long been a fan of Cirque de Soleil. Brian’s piece, though aerial is not Cirque. The beauty of the dancers and their grace was astounding. I (and the rest of the audience) loved it. The music was less than exciting but the rest? All I can say is that Angel proves there is ballet after Balanchine.
Thanks Sherry, and much much thanks to Bryan for his detailed descriptions and observations.
I’m not generally a fan of ballet companies trying to access other forms of entertainment and pass it off as a ballet performance. If companies want to do that, they should probably eliminate “ballet” from their company names. There are exceptions, of course. Every once in a while a genius comes along who can pull it off marvelously and then everyone tries to imitate them. But a company’s core product should neither slow in improvement nor suffer so that it can expand to other areas.
Angel perhaps may be tinkering with the idea of so-called “disruptive innovation”. It’s such a popular notion, but what people don’t understand is that overall it fails much more often than it succeeds. If a company has a lot of extra cash and can afford failure after failure, fine – bring it on. But if the company doesn’t have the coffers of a Proctor & Gamble or an Apple with which to research, experiment, and spend years fine-tuning, then it should probably resist the idea of disruptive innovation and think about innovating “inside the box” or at least close by it.
Ballet is a specific art form. Giselles and Swan Lakes still sell out all over the world. What does that tell you about what the audience wants to see? Unfortunately, at this time, there are few choreographers who dedicate themselves to working within the specific discipline. Consequently, ballet is searching for heroes to save it within worlds of modern dance, hip hop, gymnastics, and theater. Ballet can save its own soul and flourish, but its art can’t be made on a production line or by people not well-educated in the discipline. It’s really hard to do – duh, what in the arts is worthwhile that isn’t hard to do?
In the case of PA Ballet, it doesn’t sound like any harm has occurred as the result of wandering into acrobatic/gymnastic elements. But because I knew it wasn’t going to be ballet, which is my core interest and where I choose to spend my discretionary income, I didn’t make a great effort to get to Philly this time.
Thanks Sherry, and much much thanks to Bryan for his detailed descriptions and observations.
I’m not generally a fan of ballet companies trying to access other forms of entertainment and pass it off as a ballet performance. If companies want to do that, they should probably eliminate “ballet” from their company names. There are exceptions, of course. Every once in a while a genius comes along who can pull it off marvelously and then everyone tries to imitate them. But a company’s core product should neither slow in improvement nor suffer so that it can expand to other areas.
Angel perhaps may be tinkering with the idea of so-called “disruptive innovation”. It’s such a popular notion, but what people don’t understand is that overall it fails much more often than it succeeds. If a company has a lot of extra cash and can afford failure after failure, fine – bring it on. But if the company doesn’t have the coffers of a Proctor & Gamble or an Apple with which to research, experiment, and spend years fine-tuning, then it should probably resist the idea of disruptive innovation and think about innovating “inside the box” or at least close by it.
Ballet is a specific art form. Giselles and Swan Lakes still sell out all over the world. What does that tell you about what the audience wants to see? Unfortunately, at this time, there are few choreographers who dedicate themselves to working within the specific discipline. Consequently, ballet is searching for heroes to save it within worlds of modern dance, hip hop, gymnastics, and theater. Ballet can save its own soul and flourish, but its art can’t be made on a production line or by people not well-educated in the discipline. It’s really hard to do – duh, what in the arts is worthwhile that isn’t hard to do?
In the case of PA Ballet, it doesn’t sound like any harm has occurred as the result of wandering into acrobatic/gymnastic elements. But because I knew it wasn’t going to be ballet, which is my core interest and where I choose to spend my discretionary income, I didn’t make a great effort to get to Philly this time.
Hi Haglund, I completely agree with you regarding PAB and the veering from ballet. I also did not attend these performances (and I live 20 minutes from the Academy of Music) as I prefer more classical pieces and the Dawson and Sanders works are not my cup of tea. I still remember sitting through the horrible Neenan work last year (mainly to see Lauren Fadeley dance once last time, and also because it was on a bill with Serenade) but Square Dance was not enough of a pull to get me to go and sit through two pieces that I’d likely not enjoy. I’d rather spend my money elsewhere. But I’ll definitely be there for Le Corsaire the last mixed bill of the season in May (I’ll put up with the new Neenan work for Tschai Pas).
Hi Haglund, I completely agree with you regarding PAB and the veering from ballet. I also did not attend these performances (and I live 20 minutes from the Academy of Music) as I prefer more classical pieces and the Dawson and Sanders works are not my cup of tea. I still remember sitting through the horrible Neenan work last year (mainly to see Lauren Fadeley dance once last time, and also because it was on a bill with Serenade) but Square Dance was not enough of a pull to get me to go and sit through two pieces that I’d likely not enjoy. I’d rather spend my money elsewhere. But I’ll definitely be there for Le Corsaire the last mixed bill of the season in May (I’ll put up with the new Neenan work for Tschai Pas).
So far, no interesting or new castings for Nutcracker. I’m sure later in the run there will be.
So far, no interesting or new castings for Nutcracker. I’m sure later in the run there will be.