The track atmosphere was one of the many elements that he was integrating into Rubies; horse racing seemed to be behind all our prancing.... There were other influences... Degas, Astaire, the world of jazz and show dancing, the brashness and confidence of Broadway nightclubs. Balanchine choreographed a tango into the pas de deux. He even worked cakewalk movements into some of the steps. This kind of layering is a part of every Balanchine ballet and gives them a extra dimension, a subtext that he rarely took time to point our or discuss.
--Edward Villella, Prodigal Son (Simon and Schuster, 1992).
One of the reasons one can see Balanchine ballets over and over and never exhaust their beauty and complexity is because of the extensive layering of sources, of which there were many for each ballet. Balanchine's knowledge was extensive, not just of dance and music but of movement itself, contemporary and historic; I remember saying to Susan once when we were watching Balanchine's "Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 "the whole world is in this ballet" and that's also true of "Jewels," three parts to three different pieces by three different composers.
"Jewels" was beautifully danced on Saturday, though one of the reasons "Rubies" was such a standout (my daughter Victoria's favorite) was because the new regime at NYC Ballet, replacing the autocratic Peter Martins, of Justin Peck, Rebecca Krohn, Jonathan Stafford, Craig Hall brought in the original dancers --Patricia McBride and Edward Villella -- to help coach the dancers. Perhaps next they will bring back Conrad Ludlow of "Emeralds" (his partner Violette Verdy is no longer with us) and Suzanne Farrell and Jacques d'Amboise from the original "Diamonds."
"Emeralds" was elegantly danced by Tiler Peck and Taylor Stanley, Unity Phelan and Adrian Danchig-Waring. Its layers suggest myth and fairies and poets and troubadours, as well as hunters in a lovely green forest. The ballet is slow and meditative compared to "Rubies" and "Diamonds," with music by Faure, including a suite for Pelleas et Melisande, a story of doomed love in a sylvan environment. Ten years after "Jewels" premiered in 1967 Balanchine added the exquisite epilogue, an adagio with four women and three men; as the women slowly leave the stage the men kneel and raise their arms in epaulment, perhaps suggesting farewell to the women of their imagination.
"Rubies" is related to the several other ballets Balanchine did to Stravinsky music; in this case he uses the Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra and emphasizes arabesques, flexed feet and jogging playfully around the stage. Sterling Hyltin and Andrew Veyette were the lead dancers and they and the corps conveyed excitement and pleasure in their energetic and forceful dancing. "Diamonds" is very much in the tradition of Balanchine's spectacular Tschaikovsky ballets, especially "Theme and Variations"(1947). Sara Mearns did a superb job with all the off-balance turns and arabesques done originally by Suzanne Farrell and soloist Joseph Gordon provided intense support as well as spectacular tours en l'air. "Diamonds" is done to Tschaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 in D Major, though interestingly Balanchine does not use the first movement, just as he rearranged the order of movements in his first ballet in America, "Serenade," (1934) to Tschaikovsky's Serenade for Strings in C.
I think too much is often made of the idea that the three ballets in "Jewels" are "abstract" just because they do not have linear plots. Each of the ballets has different layers of stories, with an emphasis on couples, solos and groups and the beauty and necessity of human interaction.
No comments:
Post a Comment