City Ballet's Beauty
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Spring 2013 Ball et Review From the Spring 2013 issue of Ballet Review The Sleeping Beauty at NYCB On the Cover: National Ballet of Cuba’s Viengsay Valdés in Peter Quanz’s Double Bounce 4 Jacob’s Pillow – Christine Temin 7 London – Jay Rogoff 8 Brooklyn, NY – Sandra Genter 9 New York – Joseph Houseal 11 Stuttgart – Gary Smith 12 New York – Sophie Flack 15 Basel – Renée E. D’Aoust 16 Hong Kong – Kevin Ng 17 London – Leigh Witchel 21 New York – Jay Rogoff 64 Larry Kaplan 24 Maria Tallchief: A Personal Recollection 27 Maria Tallchief (1925-201 3) Hugo von Hofmannstahl 50 Two Essays on Dance 27 Francis Mason Ballet Review 41.1 55 James Nomikos on Graham Spring 2013 Editor and Designer: Harris Green Marvin Hoshino 58 City Ballet’s Beauty Managing Editor: Roberta Hellman Sandra Genter Senior Editor: 64 Trisha Brown Don Daniels Associate Editor: Joel Lobenthal Gary Smith 58 69 Grand Theater Associate Editor: Larry Kaplan Ilona Landgraf Copy Editor: Barbara Palfy 74 Buckle’s Nijinsky Photographers: Tom Brazil 81 London Reporter – Clement Crisp Costas 92 Hanya Holm – George Jackson Associates: 93 Music on Disc – George Dorris Peter Anastos 100 Check It Out Robert Greskovic George Jackson Elizabeth Kendall 69 Paul Parish Nancy Reynolds James Su:on David Vaughan Edward Willinger Cover Photograph by Linda Reyes, National Ballet of Cuba: Sarah C. Woodcock Viengsay Valdés in Peter Quanz’s Double Bounce . Tiler Peck as Aurora. (Photo: Paul Kolnik, NYCB) 58 City Ballet’s Beauty because Diaghilev’s lavish 121 production for London had been the great impresario’s most spectacular flop. The beloved classic had looked hopelessly vieuxjeux to Western Europe aftertheBalletsRusseshadspentoveradecade Harris Green accustoming it to its pioneering repertory. Martins’ production sustained City Ballet’s Had New York City Ballet waited three more reputation for novelty and creativity by com- years to revive Peter Martins’ 11 production pressing all action before The Awakening in- of The Sleeping Beauty, the occasion could have to one fluid act of three scenes and speeding been hailed as “a silver anniversary.” Coming the action along by relying on designer David as it did during the last thirteen performanc- Mitchell’s projections for all the scenic tran- es of the 2013 winter season, the latest revival sitions. must be described merely as a “twenty-sec- For those who insist that a classic be en- ond birthday.” Even so, it was a welcome op- casedinponderoussettingsorbesaddledwith portunity to encounter a production of a work an anachronistic updated production con- long considered the ultimate test of a classi- stantly at war with the genius of Tchaikov- cal company at every level, performed by a sky, the middle way chosen by Martins and company at its peak. Mitchellwaseitherlightweightorreactionary BalanchinehadwelcomedtheSadler’sWells – or both. For me it provided considerable sat- BalletwhenitopeneditsfirstvisittoNewYork isfaction for the only reason that matters: it in 14 with Nicholas Sergeyev’s recreation of worked. Resistance to it dwindled markedly this ballet. (It should be noted that the city’s after American Ballet Theatre’s fatally mis- appetite for dance had been whetted by the calculated 2007 attempt to combine novelty months-long art-house run of Michael Pow- and tradition. ell and Emeric Pressberger’s beloved cult clas- One example must do for the consistently sic The Red Shoes.) Far from considering the odd decisions made by the troika of Kevin Britsascompetition,Balanchinesaidthemore McKenzie,GelseyKirkland,andMichaelCher- dance there is, the better, although he scoffed nov: a heroine who has been asleep for a hun- at those who considered this Sleeping Beauty a dred years is acceptable in a fairy tale, but if spectacle on the level of his beloved Maryin- she’s also been sacked out on the veranda ex- sky’s. posed to the elements all that time, as Ballet He rejected any inclusion of the ballet in Theatre’s indestructible Aurora apparently NYCB’s repertory, but for box-office reasons was,suspendingone’sdisbeliefisasherculean he would soon add an adaptation of the sec- a task as keeping a straight face at her awak- ond act of Swan Lake. Despite the willful in- ening. clusionofaflockofstatelypapier-mâchébirds Mitchell’sprojectionspermittheillusionof – one can imagine him saying, “They want havingKingFlorestan’sdistantcastlecometo- swans;Igivethemswans”–this11fragment ward us, each increasingly closer view fading achieves the impact of the complete work by into its predecessor until lights go up behind bringing the choreography to a boil with the a scrim, the scrim itself rises, and we are in stormy music of the act 4 finale. The closest the throne room watching the courtiers as- Balanchine came to a similar compression of semble for The Christening under the fluttery Beauty was Princess Aurora, a short-lived adap- authority of Catalabutte. (Welcome back, for- tation of Petipa’s last act, done for a Ballet mer soloist Arch Higgins.) Those who believe Theatre visit to Chicago in 14. that a slideshow makes this Beauty less im- Lincoln Kirstein had long wanted NYCB to posing can take heart from Patricia Zipprodt’s produce its own complete version, possibly insistently lavish costumes. The corps looks ©2013HarrisGreen so overdressed they seem to have stepped out Ring were provided by Sara Mearns, a Lilac of an ancient deck of cards. Fairy of flawlessly sustained grandeur, and Everyone probably misses some beloved se- Maria Kowroski, a Carabosse whose laughter quence in City Ballet’s editing. (I would have after bestowing her curse upon the babe Au- kept the scene where the fairies plead with rorawasmimedwithsuchrackinggleeitcould Carabosse to lift her horrid curse and also almost be heard. allowed Désiré either a demanding solo or at Both ballerinas were mistresses of the sim- least one dance with his fellow huntsmen.) ple but telling gesture worthy of Tchaikovsky. Fortunately,Martins not only retains much of Lilac’s music, a soothing balm to heal Cara- Petipa’s original set pieces, but also adds some bosse’scurse,wasembodiedbyMearns’sseem- worthy inspirations of his own. For example, ing to brush aside some gossamer impediment unlike ABT’s nymphs in The Vision, City Bal- before her when she confronted Carabosse let’s are not winsome sprites that keep emerg- in The Christening. Kowroski, her fingers ing three by three from the woods, then re- splayed like the hands of a Bob Fosse dancer treating, and his fairies don’t return in The and her lovely face lit up by the evil smolder- Wedding to upstage the fairytale guests. What ing within, achieved her vivid characteriza- gives City Ballet’s Beauty a special distinction tionwithadancer’sprecision.Toobadthefour no other company can equal is its inclusion apprentices who danced her insectile “crea- of Balanchine’s Garland Dance in The Spell. tures” were the least repulsive monsters I can Created for the 181 Tschaikovsky Festival, recall. The courtiers dutifully cringed in hor- this continuously evolving ensemble of fifty- ror, but the two SAB students who were the seven dancers is a masterly weaving of chore- stalwart little pages of the royal couple never ographic texture. left their posts by the throne. Strongly cast, City Ballet’s Beauty can re- Mearns and Kowroski were generally cast mainsubstantialwithnolossthroughitsfleet- opposite Fairchild and De Luz instead of be- ness. The premiere had starred Darci Kistler ing bestowed upon every principal couple. (Aurora), Damian Woetzel (Désiré), Kyra Sterling Hyltin and Robert Fairchild, fast be- Nichols (The Lilac Fairy), and Merrill Ashley coming one of the company’s historic part- (Carabosse). For this revival, the present com- nerships, were denied co-stars of their mag- pany, which now displays unprecedented nitude. Rebecca Krohn’sLilac Fairy excelled at strength at every level, fielded five different chaperoning by gently intervening between casts of principal leads and filled many lesser Aurora and Désiré during The Vision, not an roles with corps members and soloists of stel- undemanding assignment given the comic lar promise. There were ample reasons for potential in her repeated interference. (Imag- observing the production’s twenty-second ine the foot-stomping hissy fit Les Ballets birthday and anticipating its silver anniver- Trocadero de Monte Carlo’s Désiré would sary. have at such recurring frustration.) The Cara- Every performance would have been a con- bosse of Marika Anderson lacked menace, sistently celebratory occasion had each quar- neither looking nor acting fierce enough to tet of leads been uniformly outstanding. Un- compensate for makeup that left her face so fortunately, that possibility had faded by the seamlessly blank it looked freshly, fiercely first evening. Megan Fairchild and Joaquin De scrubbed. Luz, monotonously chided for being techni- Luckily, Hyltin embodied the essentials of cally immaculate but amplitude challenged, Aurora to a greater extent than any other bal- were predictably a small-scaled Aurora and lerina. Her entrance brought a vernal fresh- Désiré; their grand pas de deux looked best ness onto the stage and her innocent delight when viewed through opera glasses. The per- built to the exhilarating triumph of the last formances that easily reached up to the Fifth sustained balance of the Rose Adagio. I regret 0 ballet review ing his arms along with his hopes. He didn’t hesitate to follow her offstage. New York City Ballet was once thought not interested in, possibly incapable of, such Romantic demeanor, yet here it was, alive and well upon the stage Balanchine and Kirstein had built pri- marilyfordisplayingtwen- tieth-century dance. During The Wedding, our twenty-first-century Aurora and Désiré met the Romantic demands of the pas de deux with joyous as- surance. Petipa, who hadn’t hesitated to dictate the tempoandmeterTchaikov- sky must follow in every measure of the score, was at his most imperious here. He grandly included three fish dives in quick succes- sion in the opening section instead of saving such fire- works for the grand finale.