Yesterday the NYC Ballet performed three ballets by George Balanchine and the theatre was packed. I think Peter Martins has finally realized that ballets by Christopher Wheeldon and Martins himself are not going to draw much attention from many of us and Martins has therefore been making more effort than usual to keep Balanchine's ballets in good shape, at least until the next choreographer of genius comes along. Yesterday showed three of the many sides of Balanchine: the classical, the modern/austere, the romantic.
First on the program was the classical Divertimento No. 15, to the music of Mozart. Choreographers have tended to avoid Mozart, the music so overwhelmingly beautiful that the dance cannot live up to it. In the case of Balanchine's piece we have an elegant tribute to Mozart and the courtliness of the 18th century. Chase Finlay and Megan Fairchild in particular stood out for their precision and speed in the "theme and variations" and the "minuet" was an impressive interpretation of the period as seen through modern eyes. As he often does, Balanchine showed dancers alone, in pas de deux, in trios and in groups. Arlene Croce says that this is "a chamber ballet that has the scale and sweep of five Sleeping Beautys."
Episodes was next on the program. This was part of a joint choreographic effort by Martha Graham and Balanchine in 1959 and New York City Ballet now just performs the Balanchine part to the modern music of Anton von Webern.The first three parts are very much in a style similar to Balanchine's Stravinsky and Hindemith ballets, with much intertwining and use of flexed feet, which I have always thought was to encourage audiences to notice pointed feet. The last part, "Ricercata in six voices from Bach's Musical Offering," was powerfully ritualistic, with Sara Mearns and Russell Janzen seeming like dancers from some lost religion. My teenage son thought this ballet was "too minimalist," which of course was one of the things I liked about it, while my wife Susan thought it was "mechanical" in the manner of science fiction of the time (1959)
Vienna Waltzes was last on the program. I remember what a sensation this ballet was when it premiered in 1977; demand was so great one couldn't get a ticket for love or money. Arlene Croce wrote "Vienna Waltzes seems to come from within. Balanchine is Viennese because he is inside the music." My five-year-old daughter loved this piece from the very beginning, when women in pink fondant gowns danced in the woods with soldiers to the music of Johann Strauss II. The second part was the only part done on point (which is probably part of why many who are not crazy about ballet like this one), an energetic dance, with many wonderful leaps, again to the music of Strauss. The third part is "Explosions-Polka," again with Strauss music, slightly on the comic side, with the men sliding through the women's legs. Next came "The Gold and Silver Waltz", music by Franz Lehar, with Chase Finlay and Lauren Lovette in the roles of mystery originally danced by Kay Mazzo and Peter Martins. The final part was music from Ricard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, with Teresa Reichlen, in the role originally danced by Suzanne Farrell, dancing alone and then with partner Jared Angle and then with many swirling couples, in a dazzlingly full ballroom, which reminded one of the ballroom in Lubitsch's film The Merry Widow (1934). My daughter particularly liked the flowing white gowns in this part and Susan made the intelligent observation that each part represented a season, not only on the calendar but in the lives of the dancers.
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