The only connection to Faust that I can see is in its visionary use of classic feminine types... The choreography here is diabolical and at the same time angelic; we think of poor Faust offstage. suspended between Heaven and Hell.
Arlene Croce, The New Yorker, Feb. 11 1980 on Balanchine's Walpurgisnacht Ballet
In this amazing slow-motion adagio, a girl enters standing on the shoulders of four men, who then manipulate her body in a series of passes through space, high overhead or around their waists like a belt or low over the floor on which the questioner stretches himself, hoping for a moment's contact.
Arlene Croce, The New Yorker, May 19 1975 on Balanchine's Ivesiana
It was exciting indeed to return to NYC Ballet after almost exactly two years away. We had to show proof of vaccination and wear masks but the ballets were wonderful; it was nowhere near the same when we spent two years watching ballets on YouTube, even though there was a fair amount to watch, thanks to John Clifford as well as NYC Ballet itself posting videos.
The first ballet on the program was Balanchine's intense Walpurgisnacht Ballet, originally choreographed for a production of Gounod's Faust in 1975 for the Paris Opera Ballet and performed separately for NYC Ballet in 1980, when it was danced by Suzanne Farrell, Heather Watts, Stephanie Saland, Judith Fugate, Kyra Nichols, with Adam Luders as the sole male dancer in the cast; this Saturday it was danced by Sara Mearns, Erica Pereira, Kristen Segin, Mary Elizabeth Sell and Russell Janzen. Sometimes this ballet is considered one of Balanchine's "hair down" ballets, as the last part has the women dancing at incredible speed with their hair flying about, capturing the revelry of Walpurgisnacht, when dead souls and demons come out. Its intensity on Saturday was impressive and when I asked my daughter if she liked the performance she said "I didn't like it, I loved it!"
She also loved the last piece on the program, Balanchine's Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, which Balanchine did originally for Broadway's On Your Toes in 1936; the music is by Richard Rogers and the ballet (which is largely tap) was added to NYC Ballet in 1968. Tyler Angle and the-about-to-retire Teresa Reichlen danced the leads with speed and subtlety, helped immensely by eighteen members of the corps in often hilarious support, especially the policemen danced by KJ Takahashi, Cainan Weber and Andres Zuniga. Reichlen literally lets her hair down in this ballet, from one of four Rogers and Hart shows that Balanchine choreographed in the 1930's, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue looking timeless, helped in part by a refurbishment two years ago.
In between Walpurgisnacht Ballet and Slaughter on Tenth Avenue were Jerome Robbins's Moves, from 1984, and The Unanswered Question, an excerpt from Balanchine's Ivesiana -- music by Charles Ives -- from 1954. The Ives piece is slow and beautiful, as four dancers (Gilbert Bolden III, Preston Chamblee, Christopher Grant, Alec Knight) manipulate Ashley Laracey around Harrison Coll without ever letting her touch the floor or Coll, the strange choreography elegantly implied by the strange Ives music. Moves is subtitled A Ballet in Silence and has some lovely dancing, especially in the pas de deux, but suffers from a lack of compelling structure.
This was the first of three NYC Ballet performances we will be seeing this month (not our original intention, but we had to keep changing tickets as the schedule changed) and Susan, Victoria, Gideon and I are delighted that NYC Ballet has returned.
No comments:
Post a Comment