Category: Ballet

A Novel: ASTONISH ME by Maggie Shipstead

Maggie Shipstead’s ballet-based novel ASTONISH ME draws its title from something Serge Diaghilev reportedly used to say to his dancers: “”Etonnez-moi!” The novel will make a good Summer read for balletomanes who will likely enjoy getting to know book’s characters who are based (loosely or otherwise) on Gelsey Kirkland, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Natalia Makarova, George Balanchine and Suzanne Farrell, among others.

In the novel, a young American ballerina named Joan is rather mysteriously tapped to assist the great Russian dancer Arslan Rusakov in defecting to the West in 1975. A romance between the two follows, but Arslan eventually ends up with Ludmilla, his Russian lover who has also defected. Joan gives up her dancing career and settles into a solid but conventional marriage. But as her son Harry grows up, he displays a remarkable natural affinity for ballet and he plunges headlong into that world, meeting and being mentored by his idol, Arslan Rusakov.

The novel is at its most convincing when dealing with the world of ballet and with the devotion, disappointments, amours, addictions and quirks of the various dancers who people the story. Chapters dealing with Joan’s life away from ballet are a bit tedious, but as Harry’s career seems poised to take off, she is drawn back into the center of things. What might be considered the ‘big revelation’ of the story will in fact be rather obvious to alert readers way before it occurs to the characters involved.

One interesting aspect of the story is that the ‘Balanchine’ character, here called “Mr. K”, succumbs to AIDS.

The ending of the novel is somewhat under-mined by the convention of having the various interactions of the characters and the inter-twinings of their lives danced out in a ballet; I kept wishing that Shipstead could have found a more vivid way of drawing the threads of the story together, providing us with a less predictable denouement.

Despite some reservations, the book is very well-written and definitely worth checking out.

June 24, 2014
Dress Rehearsal of SWAN LAKE @ ABT

Monday June 23, 2014 – I had a wonderful time at the dress rehearsal of ABT’s SWAN LAKE this afternoon, as the guest of my friend Monica Wellington. We had a very nice view of both the stage and the orchestra from a Grand Tier box.

I’ve been to many opera dress rehearsals at The Met over the years, but this was my first time for a ballet. The dancers did not always dance full-out – just as the singers in an opera sometimes mark at a dress rehearsal. Partial costuming, lack of full stage make-up, headwear worn or not…all this made for a very ‘personal’ experience (one girl in the corps wore her eyeglasses throughout).

James Whiteside was an excellent Prince Siegfried in Act I, and then we had a different pair of principals in each of the following acts: the exquisite Hee Seo dancing with Roberto Bolle in the first lakeside scene, then the lush and imperial Veronika Part with Cory Stearns in the Black Swan act, and finally Paloma Herrera (my lovely Giselle from last week) with Mr. Whiteside in the final act. Misty Copeland, Isabella Boylston, and Luis Ribagorda danced the pas de trois, and the soon-to-depart Jared Matthews danced Rothbart’s set-piece in the Black Swan act.

At the end of the ballet, it was decided to rehearse part of the Maypole dance from Act I again, so we had the delightful experience of watching the girls, costumed as white swans, folk-dancing.

The orchestra brought a special glow to the score, playing at performance-level all afternoon. I was especially impressed – and moved – by the woodwinds in the final act: the two oboists were ideally matched in phrasing, harmony and incredible breath-control, as were the bassoonists. Later the melody passes to clarinet, then flute, then piccolo. I very much enjoyed watching the musicians – all dressed in summer casuals – and I quietly applauded their artistry throughout the ballet.

At the end, we stayed on as all the dancers – many of them now in street clothes – returned to the stage for notes. Cory Stearns practiced some very elegant multiple pirouettes stage left.

June 23, 2014
Paul B Goode’s VISION #4

Above: ABT‘s Cynthia Harvey, Robert Hill, and Susan Jaffe in MacMillan’s REQUIEM, photographed in 1986 by Paul B Goode

Photographer Paul B Goode has produced the fourth issue of his magazine, VISION. In this issue, Paul looks back on his formative years and at the people who influenced his development as a photographic artist in the realm of dance.

Paul’s earliest work shooting dance was for Dianne McPherson’s dance company and for Ekstasis Modern Dance Company back in 1981. Following the path of his development, this reflective issue of VISION includes essays by choreographer Charlie Moulton, and by dancers Linda Kent (Paul Taylor Dance Company), John Carrafa (Twyla Tharp Dance Company) and Marie de la Palme, as well as Paul’s commentary on his work shooting at ABT. The current issue also features lavish spreads devoted to the dance drawings of Valerie Sonnenthal and to the photography of Gordon Munro. It was Munro’s work for the 1981-1982 Danskin catalog that initially inspired Paul B Goode – who was Munro’s assistant on the Danskin shoot – to venture into dance photography himself.

Rounding out VISION #4 are some of Paul’s images from a recent studio rehearsal of the Steps Repertory Ensemble, which is now under the artistic direction of Bradley Shelver. My dancer/friend Lane Halperin contributes a beautiful essay to accompany Paul’s images.

VISION #4, as well as the magazine’s previous ssues, may be ordered (either in hard-copy or digitally) via Paul B Goode’s website: LINK.

June 22, 2014
RIOULT: Martha, May and Me @ The Joyce

Above: Charis Haines of RIOULT; photo by Paul B Goode

Saturday June 21st, 2014 matinee – Celebrating twenty years of dance, RIOULT– named for their founder/choreographer Pascal Rioult – offered two programmes at The Joyce. My over-stuffed, end-of-season calendar only showed space for a single performance, and it was a great afternoon of dance.

May O’Donnell was only a name to me, and one that I honestly had heard only in passing. I knew nothing of her work beyond the fact that she had danced for Martha Graham. RIOULT have revived O’Donnell’s 1943 work, SUSPENSION, set to a score by Ray Green. This ‘blue ballet’ made an absolutely stunning effect as the opening work on today’s programme at The Joyce – a programme in which Pascal Rioult honored the creative influence of two women for whom he danced: Ms. O’Donnell and Martha Graham. In a brief film shown before the O’Donnell was performed, Pascal Rioult spoke of the deep impression made on him when he first saw SUSPENSION; the piece had the same powerful effect on me today.

SUSPENSION opens with a marvelous solo danced today by Sara E. Seger. In deep blue body tights, her hair in a ponytail, Ms. Seger is perched upon a pair of powder-blue boxes set stage left. This solo has the feel of an Olympic balance-beam ‘routine’ and was performed with a combination of athleticism and grace by the dancer. Her colleagues, in vari-hued blue body tights then assemble: Jane Sato, Anastasia Soroczynski, Catherine Cooch, Jere Hunt, Holt Walborn, and Sabatino A Verlezza. In stylized movement, they display deep arabesques and open wingspans, striking sustained poses with great control. Their communal rituals are at once stripped-down and ornate; SUSPENSION is as clear as a pristine Summer sky.

Pascal Rioult’s BLACK DIAMOND (2003) shows O’Donnell’s influence in the gestural language. This duet for two women is set to Igor Stravinsky’s ‘Duo Concertant‘, a work familiar to ballet-goers thru George Balanchine’s ballet of the same name. The curtain rises on a black space pierced by David Finley’s shafts of light. In a smoky atmosphere, dancers Charis Haines and Jane Sato – each atop a large black box – begin to move in parallel solos, sometimes in-sync and sometimes echoing one another. Later they descend to stage level and the dancing becomes more spacious. They return to the heights for the final moments of the ballet, with a breath-taking lighting coup as the curtain falls.

Earlier this month, photographer Matt Murphy and I watched Charis and Jane rehearsing BLACK DIAMOND – a memorable hour in Pascal’s studio. Read about that experience here, with Matt’s striking images.

Martha Graham’s 1940 work EL PENITENTE employs a specially-written score by Graham’s ‘dear indispensability’ Louis Horst. Inspired by the simple penitential morality plays presented by traveling players in the American Southwest, we see the self-inflicted torture of flagellation, the temptation of Adam by Eve, repentance, crucifixtion, and redemption all played out with naive simplicity. Michael S Phillips is the Christ figure and Charis Haines plays all the female roles, from virgin to temptress. With his god-like physique and powerful dancing, Jere Hunt’s Penitent was a perfect portrayal.

For the afternoon’s closing work, VIEWS OF THE FLEETING WORLD, master-choreographer Pascal Rioult turns to the music of Bach – from ‘The Art of the Fugue‘ – for this seven-part dancework interpersed with empty-stage interludes which create a pensive atmosphere. The ensemble passages, with the dancers sometimes clad in long red skirts, give way to three duets in which the couples appear in evocative vignettes: Marianna Tsartolia and Michael S Phillips in Dusk, Charis Haines and Jere Hunt in Summer Wind, and Sara E Seger and Brian Flynn in Moonlight. Here – and throughout the afternoon – the technical prowess and personal allure of the RIOULT dancers set the choreography in high relief; their commitment and artistry are wonderfully satsfying to behold.

June 21, 2014
Herrera/Stearns/Part GISELLE @ ABT

Friday June 20, 2014 – With Paloma Herrera’s announced retirement in mind, I wanted to re-visit her in the role of Giselle. ABT graciously provided me with a press seat (next to the lovely Mary Cargill) and despite this being my umpteenth viewing of this production of GISELLE, I truly enjoyed the entire evening.

ABT could surely use a new production of GISELLE: the current one uses sets created for the film Dancers in 1987 and while it is perfectly serviceable, a fresh rendering would surely be a boon for frequent ballet-goers. The orchestra sounded especially plush tonight under David LaMarche’s baton, and it was refreshing to be at The Met for something that didn’t include a 35-to-40-minute intermission (the intermissions at Gelb’s opera performances are interminable and a real drain on the dramatic impetus of the operas).

ABT‘s corps of Wilis danced with their usual expertise, though the two waves of applause as the hopping ballerinas cross paths are now more obligatory than a sign of genuine admiration: applause here rather dampens the atmosphere. Still, there’s no denying it’s an impressive moment. Tonight we had stellar casting in the roles of Myrna and Zulma – Misty Copeland and Yuriko Kajiya respectively – and a spectacularly danced, dramatically vivid Myrthe from the imperial Veronika Part.

Earlier, in Act I, Luciana Paris and Luis Ribagorda danced a spirited Peasant pas de deux, with Luis especially fine in his second solo. Kelly Boyd, as Berthe, was very clear in her mime as she warned her daughter of the perils of dancing too much: a warning Giselles have ignored for decades.

I was excited to see Sascha Radetsky listed as Hilarion – Sascha too is about to retire – but a pre-curtain announcement advised us Thomas Forster would be doing the role instead. Thomas was excellent – a Hilarion taller than the evening’s Albrecht made for an interesting conflict. Of course for me, I’m always on Hilarion’s side in all of this: Albrecht is a liar and a cheat who simply shrugs off his deceitful behavior when he’s cornered. Nothing really to admire here: he’s only redeemed by Giselle’s steadfast love.

I had only seen Ms. Herrera’s Giselle once before, in 2009, on a night when Roberto Bolle danced his first ABT Albrecht. That performance was a veritable Bolle Fan Fest and Paloma’s Giselle, though impressively danced, got somewhat swept away by the enthusiam her partner generated among the fans. So tonight the focus was rightly on the ballerina, and in my view she turned in a beautiful performance in every regard.

Paloma’s sensitive musicality and her lush technique were very much to be savoured tonight; her Act I solo with super-confident hops on pointe and softly sweeping attitude turns drew cheers from the audience; later, her Mad Scene was marked by moments of stillness where Giselle’s mind seemed to be collapsing inwardly upon itself, her dreams destroyed in the debris of love’s betrayal.

In the second act, Ms. Herrera and Cory Stearns formed a visually appealing partnership, his elegance of line and fleet-footed vistuosity counter-poised by the ballerina’s poetic lyricism and the inner strength she summons to keep her beloved alive. The poignant last farewell, the presentation of the single blossom that signifies forgiveness and redemption, was beautifully rendered by these two artists.

June 20, 2014
Gotham Chamber Opera: THE RAVEN

Friday May 30th, 2014 – Gotham Chamber Opera presenting the U.S. premiere performances of The Raven, a monodrama by Toshio Hosokawa, based on Edgar Allen Poe’s immortal narrative poem. Mezzo-soprano Fredrika Brillembourg and prima ballerina Alessandra Ferri take the leading roles with the chamber ensemble under Neal Goren’s baton; Luca Veggetti staged and choreographed the opera. As a prelude, André Caplet’s rarely heard Conte fantastique: Le Masque de la Mort rouge, inspired by another Poe work – The Mask of the Red Death – was performed by a quintet featuring harpist Sivan Magen.

The evening was engrossing both musically and visually; from the moment we entered the theater we were drawn to the stage by the shadow cast by Mr. Magen’s harp. The players made ravishing sounds in the eerily colourful Caplet score, the harpist’s pianissimo melismas delicately pricking the ear. The composer, in this conte fantastique, limns the tale of Prince Prospero who – with several guests – walls himself up in his castle to escape the plague. But Death finds him anyway. At one point Mr. Magen knocked on the wooden frame of his harp, a sinister effect.

Luca Veggetti had the excellent notion of creating a musical bridge between the Caplet and the Hosokawa by having the clarinetist play a sustained tone soon after the opening work ended. Other players took up the sound, an improvised entr’acte that prevented the audience lapsing into idle chatter as the stage was set for the opera.

The Raven takes place on a raked platform, imaginatively lit by Clifton Taylor. The mezzo-soprano sings/speaks the entire Poe narrative poem whilst the dancer moves about the space – is she is the Raven or the lost Lenore? – sometimes physically entwining herself with the singer.

Toshio Hosokawa’s score creates a sonic tapestry which sets the singer’s incantation in high relief. Winds and strings mingle voices with piano and percussion, evoking the eerie nocturnal visitation of the raven. The chill of an evening breeze sweeping thru a graveyard, the darkling shimmer of moonlight on a marble tomb, the icy shudder of tree roots shifting in the frost-covered ground: these illusions are musically expressed, deepening the mystery of the theatrical experience.

Fredrika Brillembourg offered a triple tour de force in her performance: she has mastered both lengthy and repetitive the texts of the poet and the sung-speech called for by the composer, and also the physicality of the director’s staging in which the singer becomes an active counterpoise to the dancer. In the beginning, Ms. Brillembourg’s speech had an exaggerated, measured slowness of expression; her narration later became more urgent. Her clarity of diction almost made the super-titles superfluous. In bursts of song, the mezzo revealed a vast range and a fine dynamic mastery: her vocal performance was engrossing at every moment. Ms. Brillembourg entered fully into the physical demands of the production, singing powerfully from improbable positions…

…and even at one point balancing Ms. Ferri on her up-turned feet, as in the childhood game of Flying Angels. [above photo by Richard Termine]

At the end of this marvelous portrayal, Ms. Brillembourg was rightfully cheered by the large audience who had experienced her riveting performance in a state of pin-drop silence.

Ms. Ferri was equally compelling, her slightest gesture or tilt of the head having a poetic quality that the greatest artists instinctively possess. I found my eyes constantly lured by her, even when she was merely standing still. Her silent presence spoke with the same authority as her singing colleague’s, and together they made the strongest possible statement on behalf of the composer and the poet.

In an uncanny moment, while Ms. Ferri is kneeling at the far corner of the platform (above) her shadow suddenly rises and moves across the backdrop as if drawn by the sound of the music being played stage right. This theatrical trompe l’oeil literally gave me the chills, especially as it was so subtly done.

More images from The Raven, thanks to photographer Richard Termine:

Nothing but praise then for everyone involved in this excellent production: another feather in Gotham Chamber Opera’s cap as they continue to play a vital role in the City’s cultural realm.

May 30, 2014
Viktoria Tereshkina in ABT’s BAYADERE

Thursday May 29th, 2014 – This red-letter date had finally arrived: the guest appearance of ballerina Viktoria Tereshkina (above) in ABT‘s production of LA BAYADERE. I fell in love with Tereshkina when I saw her dancing Balanchine’s BALLET IMPERIAL with the Kirov at City Center in 2008. Vladimir Shklyarov was this evening’s Solor while ABT‘s beautiful Isabella Boylston portrayed Gamzatti.

ABT‘s BAYADERE is old-fashioned looking, but that’s fine…it’s an old-fashioned ballet. The Lanchberry arrangement of Ludwig Minkus’s melodious score often takes on a cheapish, ‘music hall’ feeling, yet nothing can destroy the perfection of the Kingdom of the Shades, in which the ABT corps danced so well tonight; they very much deserved the sustained applause they received after their entrée.

There was lots of excellent dancing to be seen all evening, starting with Aaron Scott’s energetic and commanding Head Fakir: very clever of him to slip the antidote to the High Brahmin just before Nikiya finds an asp at her bosom. One distracting element of attending ballet performances at The Met is the noise the toe-shoes make on the opera house’s stage. Somehow the lovely Stella Abrera overcame this problem in her Shade solo, lyrically and silently danced; her sister Shades were Skylar Brandt (very impressive as she crossed the stage in a series of arabesque hops on pointe) and Melanie Hamrick, always a pleasure to watch.

Zhiyao Zhang (above) stepped out from the corps to dance the demanding solo of the Bronze Idol and did a very neat and precise job of it; he is a young dancer to keep an eye on.

Casting about for a photo of Isabella Boylston, I recalled the day Jade Young and I watched Bella (above) rehearsing with Pontus Lidberg for MORPHOSES. She was on particularly radiant form tonight as Gamzatti, a more complex character than she at first seems. Though vengeful, she is merely acting as her position dictates: a princess can’t be trumped by a mere temple dancer. Gamzatti accepts and embraces her arranged marriage; it’s Solor who has thrown a monkey wrench into things by failing to observe the accepted etiquette and giving his heart elsewhere. Thus for all her spitefulness in Act I, Gamzatti does engage our sympathies when her wedding ceremony crumbles before her very eyes in the ballet’s final scene: Isabella was particularly lovely in the solo here, expressing a bride’s hope and quiet joy, shadowed by the knowledge that her husband’s heart is elsewhere. Earlier, at the betrothal fete, she showed her technical command with some elegant and very grand dancing. The audience loved her.

Above: Tereshkina and Shklyarov in the Mariinsky production of BAYADERE; photo by John Ross.

Vladimir Shklyarov completely won the Met audience’s collective heart tonight; enthusiastic applause greeted his solo passages and his partnering of Ms. Tereshkina was simply exquisite. Shklyarov’s dancing was marked by big virtuosity, his jumps sublimely floated and grandly elevated, his turns rapid and sure. His portrayal was marked by great tenderness for Nikiya and the despair of helplessly watching his beloved expire, forced by decorum to turn his back on her anguish. Remorse and guilt, and then the elation of finding Nikiya again among the Shades, were finely depicted by the danseur; by the time he stands before the Brahmin to be married, Solor is nearly mad, haunted by visions of his love.

Ms. Tereshkina was everything one can hope for in a Nikiya; her dancing – all rooted in a stupendously strong technique – was refined, spiritual, and deeply musical. Forming a particularly resonant relationship with her partner, the ballerina reveled in the tenderness and ecstacy of their mutual love. In the solo danced before the betrothed Gamzatti and Solor, Tereshkina’s lithe and fluid body revealed the temple dancer’s sense of both duty and humiliation in a finely nuanced performance. In the Kingdom of the Shades, the ballerina attained a remarkable level of technique and artistry, re-affirming the great admiration I had felt when I first saw her dancing with the Kirov. She made a stunning spirit in the final scene as she drove the bridal couple asunder.

When the final curtain fell on Nikiya and Solor ascending the stairway to heaven, the audience commenced an appreciative ovation that lasted longer than anything I’ve heard at the opera or the ballet in recent seasons. Tereshkina and Shklyarov bowed together several times, and even after the house lights were up and the gold curtain definitively closed, they were called out yet again. The audience clearly wanted solo bows, but the two stars remained resolutely a couple throughout the ovation.

One especially lovely moment during the bows: Tereshkina came to the very edge of the stage and gave a deep curtsey to the musicians in the pit, thanking them with a sweeping gesture.

I must remember in future not to spend the extra money for a balcony seat at ABT; there’s a massive invasion of the Balcony level from Family Circle: people who have paid less but want more clambering over me, marking seats with jackets and scarves, inquiring ‘Is that seat taken?’ The Met’s depleted ushering staff aren’t able to police the area, so this practice is virtually unimpeded. I myself retreated to the near-empty Family Circle once these eager, pushy people descended. I mean, if you are half-a-block from the stage, a few more yards either way hardly matters. But then, even during Shades, people continue playing musical chairs, much to the disadvantage of the performance. Had it been anyone other than Tereshkina, I probably would have left.

May 29, 2014
In the Studio with Breton Tyner-Bryan

Wednesday May 28th, 2014 – Following my ‘discovery’ of Breton Tyner-Bryan earlier this year when I saw her gorgeous duet Un Tanguito Cualquiera at The Current Sessions, I had the opportunity to meet her on May Day this Spring when she was rehearsing Tanguito with her colleague Catherine Correa for performances at Dixon Place.

Today, Breton invited me to her studio again to watch a rehearsal of a new work-in-process, Self, which may be seen June 12th and 13th at the Tisch Summer Residency Festival and on July 9th at the HOT Festival at Dixon Place. For Self, a dancework about gender perception, Breton has teamed up with one of the Gotham dance scene’s most intriguing personalities, Shay Bares, and a dancer who sings (awesomely): Mary Carter. The three are good friends offstage, and they are obviously enjoying their collaboration on Self.

Breton

Mary…her rich, natural vocals are incorporated into the dancing, and Breton tells me there’s also a bass player who’ll be involved in Self.

Shay…in addition to dancing, singing, and being his sexy self, Shay is designing the costumes for Self.

Breton’s plan is that Self will eventually expand into a three-part, full evening dancework. It will be interesting to follow the development of the piece. Meanwhile, for today, it was a pleasure to watch these three friends working together.

May 28, 2014
Ballet Next in Rehearsal

Tuesday May 27th, 2014 – Michele Wiles (above), artistic director of Ballet Next, invited me to her studio today where she is re-structuring Querencia, a ballet she created earlier this year for Columbia Ballet Collaborative, on her own Ballet Next dancers.

In this ballet, set to a ‘Passacaglia‘ by Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber, a violinist playing live mingles onstage with the dancers.

The ballet opens with the girls – Kaitlyn Gilliland, Tiffany Mangulabnan, and Brittany Cioce – in a cluster. From there the movement becomes expansive and technically quite demanding. The dancers today were concentrating on the nuances of the work, preparing for a studio showing next week.

Tiffany

Brittany

Kaitlyn

Michele, demonstrating the fine points

Join Ballet Next for a studio showing of Querenica and Brian Reeder’s Rameau ballet, Strange Flowers:

And Ballet Next will be at Kaatsbaan June 7th and 8th, 2014. Information here.

May 27, 2014
At NYC Ballet: Jonathan Stafford’s Farewell

Above: Jonathan Stafford, photo by Henry Leutwyler

Sunday May 25th, 2014 matinee – Jonathan Stafford’s farewell performance at New York City Ballet turned out to be not only a royal send-off for this all-American prince, but one of the finest performances that I’ve seen the Company give in recent seasons. Everyone – musicians and dancers alike – were really on their game and the affectionate tributes at the final curtain showed the sincere esteem and friendship in which his dancing colleagues hold Jonathan. It was a very emotional but also a truly happy farewell: the fact that Jon’s not going anywhere – he stays on with us as ballet master and also continues to teach at SAB – reassures us that we’ll continue to see him around Lincoln Center from time to time. It also would not surprise me if he pops up onstage again in an acting role some day.

When I think of Jon Stafford’s dancing, two images immediately come to mind: his beautiful air turns – in several diifferent ballets – where he could effortlessly change from left turn to right in the blink of an eye; and a truly mirthful moment in the first-season performances of Ratmansky’s CONCERTO DSCH where Jon stood in place, simply jumping up and down endlessly, keeping a straight face the whole time. These two elements – technical finesse plus an ability to transform the simplest of movements into something vivid – have always made Jon’s performances so highly enjoyable to watch.

And then there’s the partnering: Jon is a prince of a partner (above, in CORTEGE HONGROIS with Maria Kowroski in a Paul Kolnik photo). At the end of this afternoon’s performance, the principal ballerinas and then the female soloists all came out to present Jon with bouquets; their hugs seemed particularly sincere because over the years he’s helped them all to look their best onstage.

Siblings: Jon and his sister, NYCB principal ballerina Abi Stafford, in Balanchine’s SYMPHONY IN C, photo by Paul Kolnik. Jon and Abi danced together in EMERALDS this afternoon.

A special memory: Jon’s performances in Balanchine’s setting of Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto #2 during the 2008 season moved me to tears in the ballet’s second movement. I saw it several times that year, when Jon danced with Ashley Bouder (Paul Kolnik photos, above and below).

Today Ashley danced the ‘other’ girl in EMERALDS and gave a remarkable performance.

Above and below: Jon in DIAMONDS with Sara Mearns

Sara danced this role with Jon this afternoon, celebrating a grand finale to his NYCB career in high style.

Of course, ‘retirement’ performances always summon up a vast array of memories of the dancer being celebrated. Of the many evenings I have watched Jon Stafford onstage, I especially recall his perfect characterizations of several “Prince” roles: in FIREBIRD, in SLEEPING BEAUTY and in SWAN LAKE. From Balanchine, we enjoyed his LIEBESLIEDER, WESTERN SYMPHONY and NUTCRACKER cavalier, and from Robbins his IN THE NIGHT and DANCES AT A GATHERING (where he played “catch-the-ballerina” so memorably). Jon also made his mark in such diverse contemporary ballets as RUSSIAN SEASONS, VESPRO, LUCE NASCOSTA, OLTREMARE, and RIVER OF LIGHT; in the last-named Peter Martins ballet, Jon pulled off some thrilling one-armed lifts of Erica Pereira. His height and noble bearing made an outstanding impression as the venearble Father in PRODIGAL SON.

Aside from dancing, Jon showed his organizational skills when he put together the 2008 Dancers’ Choice event, a performance I recall clearly to this day.

Above: Jon with colleagues Amar Ramasar, Jared Angle, Jenifer Ringer and Abi Stafford in Robbins’ DANCES AT A GATHERING, a Paul Kolnik photo. Amar partnered Ashley Bouder in EMERALDS this afternoon and together they launched the afternoon with their elegant and truly inspired dancing.

And so, now to the details of today’s performance. Guest conductor Koen Kessels was on the podium and as always the under-sung musicians of the NYCB orchestra played beautifully, especially in the Faure which was so moving today.

Sometimes at a farewell, the actual performance is eclipsed by the event. Ashley Bouder and Amar Ramasar assured us immediately on curtain-rise that we were in for a super-JEWELS: save the confetti and flowers for later, we’re going to do some serious dancing! What a poetic atmosphere these two dancers created immediately, summoning up a quiet yet somehow electrifying bond between two charismatic personalities. Amar’s courtliness and Ashley’s lyric wistfulness played beautifully off one another. Complete enchantment.

The iconic and perfumed solos which Balanchine created for the two principal ballerinas in EMERALDS were so expressively danced today by Ms. Bouder and Abi Stafford. And the gracious pas de trois was danced with lovely, refined virtuosity by Erica Pereira, Ashley Laracey, and Antonio Carmena.

And then at last Jonathan appeared: the music here is too delicate to allow for applause for his entrance, but a murmur of excitement passed thru the House. Ever the dedicated cavalier, Jon devoted all his poetic energy to presenting his ballerina as if she were a precious jewel. Abi’s dancing, so light-filled and polished, had a calm radiance that ideally embodied the music. Together they were perfect.

As EMERALDS moves towards its conclusion, the dancers walk slowly about the stage as the women begin to exit. In a beautiful moment, as Jon passed in front of Ashley Bouder, a subtle smile illuminated her face – a beautiful, personal homage from one dancer to another.

A sizzling performance of RUBIES followed: Sterling Hyltin was absolutely stunning in her virtuosity, toying with the music whilst reeling off pirouettes at improbable speed and creating a character at once elegant, provocative, and playful. She met her match in Andrew Veyette who, fresh from a triumphant guest appearance in THEME AND VARIATIONS at ABT, cut loose with some vibrantly jazzy moves to Stravinsky today. The imperial Teresa Reichlen danced a signature role in today’s RUBIES, wowing the audience with her extension and dazzling sexiness. At the close of the passage where she’s manipulated by four men into uncanny poses, Tess plunges into a deep Arabesque Pencée, eye-to-eye with Giovanni Villalobos; she holds his gaze with remarkable intensity: does she want to kiss him or kill him? Huge applause today for the RUBIES principals and corps.

And finally, DIAMONDS: Jon and Sara Mearns have created a special magic with their partnership in this ballet and the obvious shared joy of dancing beautifully together to beautiful music was tinged today by the knowledge that this would be the last time. Looking a bit forlorn at first, Sara was soon swept along by the gorgeous Tchaikovsky themes and the ardent support of her prince: her smile became luminous, her dancing grand and glorious.

DIAMONDS was somewhat truncated today; eliminating the Scherzo meant that the demi-soliste women had less chance to dazzle us, but in the opening movement Gwyneth Muller and Gretchen Smith gave us some excellent dancing, their contrasting personalities drawing us in to the music.

And so, inevitably, the stage is filled with dancers in white and gold, the opera glasses momentarily zeroing in on the individual dancers of the corps de ballet who make this Company what it is, with Sara and Jonathan at the helm of Balanchine’s jewel-encrusted masterpiece.

What an extraordinary send-off for Jon: the respect and affection of his colleagues was shown in innumerable ways during the long ovation, streamers shooting down and bouquets being flung to the stage. The afternoon ended with Jon standing by a massive heap of flowers while the Company applauded him with sincere admiration.

Jon kept us waiting a long time at the stage door (I think secretly he just wanted to sneak out after everyone had left!); Wei met me there after his work day and we were especially happy to catch up with Faye Arthurs, and to greet so many of the dancers we admire so deeply. I’m sure they were all exhausted and just wanting to have supper, or a beer, and rest their weary bones. But they all took the time to chat us up, reflect on their association with Jon, discuss the highlights of their season, and tell us their summer plans. They are such incredible, dedicated, passionate, and amusing people and I’m so grateful to all of them, both for their dancing and just for being themselves.

At last Jon appeared and with a lovely mix of elation and exhaustion he thanked the intrepid fans who had stayed on to greet him. I mainly wanted to wish him a happy golf game!

On a personal note, Jon has his wedding to look forward to: in August he’ll be marrying New York City Ballet soloist Brittany Pollack. And here they are, at a Yankees game:

Best wishes, Brittany & Jon!

And one more image of Jon, dressed by Valentino (above)…a class act if ever there was one. I’m sure to be seeing Jonathan around the Plaza in the months ahead, so there’s no real need to say ‘farewell’.

May 25, 2014