What gives?
The New York City Ballet rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange this morning, and the market tanked nearly 100 points.
Didn't the traders see the dazzling smile of Lauren King in her Marzipan costume? Her stock is certainly rising. Haglund looks forward to seeing Lauren's debut as the Sugar Plum Fairy this weekend – a sort of rite of passage at NYCB – let's hope. Her Cavalier will be the dashing Robert Fairchild. The equally Lovely Lauren Lovette (L3) will also debut as SPF this weekend (with the young apollonian Chase Finlay as her Cavalier) although it looks like Haglund will have to wait to see them in their second performance next week. Both ballerinas will dance the role twice before the end of December. It sweetens the season just a little bit for us.
Yes, folks, the NYCB Nutcracker is the one in this city where everyone does all the steps. All the ballerinas who dance the Sugar Plum Fairy do that risky step-over turn that developpes to arabesque and twirls itself into a penche. All the Candy Canes have to jump through the hoop. Contrast that to ABT's recent run at BAM of Alexei Ratmansky's beyond-wonderful Nutcracker where there was so much watering down of the technical challenges by some of the lead dancers that one wondered whether they were simply marking the steps. We're seeing more and more of that at ABT. Can't do the steps? Just change them to something you like to do. That's one reason why ABT's stock is declining.
On December 26th, the Kennedy Center Honors will be televised on CBS. As part of the tribute to honoree Natalia Makarova, several of our most beloved dancers will perform excerpts from Makarova's repertory. Hopefully, CBS will not excise the Black Swan PdD segment danced by Veronika Part and Marcelo Gomes. Possibly, we will finally have a snippet of their Swan Lake preserved on professional video.
On December 28, PBS will run the fantastic documentary Joffrey: Mavericks of American Dance as part of its American Masters series. Here in NYC, it will air at 9pm, but check local listings to confirm date/time in your area. Haglund's earliest recollection of the Joffrey is Christian Holder's powerful portrayal of the figure Death in The Green Table. It was one of those "art changes you" moments.
A toast to art that changes you.