Paul Boos on Jewels
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Spring 2018 Ballet Review From the Spring 2018 issue of Ballet Review Paul Boos on “Jewels” Cover photograph by Stephanie Berger, Lincoln Center Festival: Dorothée Gilbert and Hugo Marchand in Emeralds. © 2018 Dance Research Foundation, Inc. All rights reserved. 4 Boston – Jeffrey Gantz 8 Tanglewood – Jay Rogoff 10 Chicago – Joseph Houseal 12 New York – Susanna Sloat 15 Chicago – Joseph Houseal 17 Moscow/St. Petersburg – Susanna Sloat 23 Saratoga Springs – Jay Rogoff 26 Jacob’s Pillow – Ian Spencer Bell 28 Toronto – Gary Smith 30 Sun Valley – Susanna Sloat 33 Stuttgart – Gary Smith 79 34 New York – Harris Green 36 New York – Juan Michael Porter II 37 Philadelphia – Eva Shan Chou Ballet Review 46.1 38 Brooklyn – Joseph Houseal Spring 2018 39 Miami – Michael Langlois Editor and Designer: Marvin Hoshino John Morrone 40 A Conversation with Steven McRae Managing Editor: Roberta Hellman George Dorris Senior Editor: 60 46 Picasso in Italy Don Daniels Associate Editors: 48 Adolf de Meyer: Joel Lobenthal Quicksilver Brilliance Larry Kaplan Alice Helpern 52 From the Horse’s Mouth Webmaster: Curated by Rajika Puri David S. Weiss Selected & Edited by Karen Greenspan Copy Editor: Naomi Mindlin Larry Kaplan Photographers: 60 Paul Boos on Jewels Tom Brazil 40 Costas Gary Smith 75 Demis Volpi Associates: Peter Anastos Robert Greskovic John Goodman George Jackson 79 André Levinson on Balanchine, Elizabeth Kendall 1925–1933 Paul Parish Nancy Reynolds 123 London Reporter – Clement Crisp James Sutton 127 Music on Disc – George Dorris David Vaughan† Edward Willinger 8 131 Check It Out Sarah C. Woodcock Cover photograph by Stephanie Berger, Lincoln Center Festival: Dorothée Gilbert and Hugo Marchand in Emeralds. Olga Smirnova and Semyon Chudin (top) and Sara Mearns and Tyler Angle (bottom) in Diamonds. (Photos: Stephanie Berger, Lincoln Center Festival) 60 ballet review Paul Boos on Jewels a half hour or so teaching the steps. And then once you knew them, she would place you into the group, which is basically the way we learned the ballets in those years. BR: And rehearsals? Larry Kaplan Boos: Rosemary took all the rehearsals up until the stage rehearsal. Often Balanchine Paul Boos joined New York City Ballet in 1977 would come to the final studio run-through, while Balanchine was very much still at the but he always took the final stage rehearsal. helm of the company, still choreographing, So, it was basically her responsibility up un- still teaching class. Boos danced in almost all til two rehearsals before the performance. the ballets by Balanchine, Robbins, Martins, BR: What was it like having Balanchine re- Taras, and others that were in the repertory hearse you? at the time. Since leaving the company in 1990 Boos: As you know, we took class with him he has worked as a teacher and répétiteur, every day. So, all the ideas, everything he want- staging Balanchine’s dances throughout the ed us to do, everything he wanted to take from United States and Europe. us for his ballets, he worked on in class. It Five years ago former NYCB prima balleri- sometimes seemed that rehearsing with him na Merrill Ashley and Boos staged Diamonds in was an extension of class. So there was noth- Moscow for the Bolshoi: Ashley working with ing all that unfamiliar when we were onstage the principal dancers; Boos, with the demi- or in the studio. It was very much about en- soloists and corps de ballet. For the 2017 fif- ergy; which we never seemed to have enough tieth anniversary performances of Jewels at of. And that was something that he insisted Lincoln Center Festival the Paris Opera Ballet on regularly. But he would also go into certain danced in Emeralds; the Bolshoi alternated details about the women very clearly, show- in performances of Diamonds and Rubies with ing their legs and feet, and crossing positions. NYCB. Once again, Ashley and Boos were asked BR: Who danced Diamonds when you were by the Bolshoi to work with the company in the corps? dancers, this time in New York. Boos: It was almost always Suzanne [Far- * rell] and Peter [Martins]. Occasionally Mer- Paul Boos: Almost immediately on joining New rill [Ashley] and Kay [Mazzo]. Jacques [d’Am- York City Ballet, I was called to be part of the boise] had stopped dancing Diamonds by the eight corps couples in Diamonds. I have to say time I joined the company. Adam [Lüders] and that was overwhelming. As a first-year mem- Sean [Lavery] also alternated in the ballet ber of the company you get thrown into so during Balanchine’s time. Both of them danced many ballets, and Diamonds turned out to be a beau tifully. I recall as a very young corps very difficult corps role for me to learn. Mu- member being overwhelmed by the dancers sically, there are complicated, seemingly end- I was watching as I performed behind them less repetitions, everything in eights, constant onstage. going in and out. I remember getting a bit lost In many ways, dancing in Diamonds educat- with the counts and the timing. But once I got ed me about Suzanne’s very special qualities. used to it, it was fine. Taking in Suzanne’s performance, her artist - BR: Who taught you the choreography? ry, wasn’t an easy lesson. She had a tendency Boos: Rosemary Dunleavy [Balanchine’s of breaking the rules that we had learned in long time assistant ballet mistress]. By the class, and safeguarded, so it was something time I joined the company Rosemary had per- that took time for me to appreciate. There were fected her methods. She would work individ- so many exciting things to see in her dancing ually with a corps dancer alone in a studio for – thrilling to watch what she did onstage mu- ©2018 Paul Boos, Larry Kaplan 61 Merrill Ashley with Balanchine during the taping of Emeralds for Dance in America. (Photo: Costas) sically, a lesson in art. It’s something that I’ll really branded in my brain. Merrill’s inter- never forget. pre tation was a lesson in classicism and a di- For example, in the finale there was a par- rect line to regal Petipa. These performances ticular step in the fugue – I have not seen any- are something that I’ll never forget. body but Suzanne do it since – a triple pirou- BR: Several years after Diamonds, you were ette from fourth that just seemed to come out cast in Rubies. of nowhere. It’s so musical and daring. It has Boos: Rubies was kind of a surprise. We were to end perfectly because she finishes in fifth on tour in Europe. I had been understudying and then seamlessly adds a few steps before the role for about a year or so, not expecting she exits with her partner. She didn’t always to be cast any time soon. The company was manage the triple, but many nights she would about to head to Berlin when all of a sudden take the chance and go for it. It was always my name appeared on the casting sheet. I just amazing. We’d stand there watching, think- assumed that on tour the company would stick ing, “Wow is she going to make it tonight and to the New York casts. So, I was thrown on. I how’s it going to be?” The moment occurs when knew it, of course, from the sidelines, but it the ballerina is exhausted, and yet Suzanne is different when you’re in it. I went into Ru- could somehow pull it off. We rarely see those bies in Berlin, continuing in the role when we kinds of risks today. This kind of last-ditch went to Paris and dancing it until I left the risk taking is a quality very few people can company. master. BR: Who worked with you on Rubies? Suzanne’s performances, and Merrill’s, are Boos: Again it was Rosemary. Rosemary was 62 ballet review our ballet mistress I would say for 90 percent, really 100 percent, of the Balanchine ballets. BR: Did Balanchine work with you at all? BR: Yes, of course. He was there. Always. He didn’t teach the steps. He would come in for the final rehearsals and if he saw or felt something was missing, something was off, or that we were misinter- preting what he wanted, he would very quickly pounce and correct it by giving us visuals, giving us some sort of feedback about what he wanted to see. It could be just a simple phrase, a simple word and all of a sudden the problem would be solved and a section transformed. BR: Do you remember things he said? Boos: This is a question that people always ask, “What did he say?” I wish I could remember more speci - fically. Generally, as I said, it was inevitably about energy. In Rubies, there’s a wonderful section in the coda with the men. It’s a rough sort of game between the principal man and the four other men: catch Suzanne Farrell and Peter Martins in Diamonds. (Photo: Costas) me if you can. It has this street quality to it. must sound really corny, that the music tells And if he worked with us on that, chasing you what to do. But it really does. Mr. Balan- the principal man or being chased by him, chine opened our ears to the sounds and what he stressed was energy. Energy. That was rhythms of the music, taught us to listen to always what he wanted. and to hear it, so we had an instinctive re- We all understood that the choreography sponse to it.