Tag: Isabella Boylston

Upcoming: Pontus Lidberg for MORPHOSES

Above: MORPHOSES rehearsal director Reid Bartelme and ABT’s Isabella Boylston in rehearsal for Pontus Lidberg’s WITHIN; photo by Jade Young. MORPHOSES will present Pontus’s evening of dance and film entitled WITHIN (Labyrinth Within) at The Joyce from November 7th thru 11th. Information and tickets here.

The performances will open with the newly-staged ballet which has evolved from Pontus’s haunting film LABYRINTH WITHIN. Watch a brief trailer for the film – which features New York City Ballet principal Wendy Whelan, Pontus Lidberg and Giovanni Bucchieri – here. Following the ballet, the film will be shown.

A couple of weeks ago, Jade and I went to a rehearsal of the ballet at the Gibney Dance Center. It happened to be Isabella Boylston’s (above) first rehearsal of the work;, and indeed it fell on a day of firsts since I had earlier watched the New York City Ballet‘s compelling soloist Adrian Danchig-Waing in his first-ever APOLLO rehearsal. Adrian is Isabella’s partner in the Pontus Lidberg work, so I felt like a bit of a stalker following him from one studio to another.

Isabella Boylston and Adrian Danchig-Waring, photo by Jade Young.

Isabella worked with Reid Bartelme, Pontus’s rehearsal director, while Adrian perfected the partnering with Laura Mead, a lovely dancer I’d met earlier this year when she danced for Cherylyn Lavagnino. Laura will alternate with Isabella at The Joyce performances.

Laura Mead, photographed by Kokyat.

I was curious to find that a second couple are also involved in the ballet, since in the film it is definitely a romantic triangle (real or illusory). But Gabrielle Lamb – a favorite dancer of mine – and the handsome Berlin-born danseur Jens Weber were working on another pas de deux, Gabrielle wearing the stiletto pumps that Wendy Whelan wears in the film.

Gabrielle and Jens, photo by Jade Young

Now I’m very curious to see how the two couples will be woven into the story once the ballet takes the stage, and also to find how the staged dance dovetails with the film.

As the appointed studio time seemed about to run out, Pontus let the other dancers go but he stayed behind to work on his solo passages with Reid. Evening was falling outside, and the studio took on a very dreamlike atmosphere.

If you have seen the film, you will recall the striking image of flowers growing thru the floorboards of the mysterious old castle where the film was shot; that’s a Wendy Whelan photo, above.

For today’s rehearsal, Pontus had brought his own flower. His dancing is so poetic, and in these last lingering moments of the rehearsal the outside world seemed to vanish and the beautiful dancer drew us into his dreamworld.

Click on Jade’s images to enlarge.

October 25, 2012
Boylston/Simkin SWAN LAKE @ ABT

Wednesday June 27, 2012 matinee – Alas that the performance I most wanted to see during ABT‘s week of SWAN LAKEs fell on a Wednesday matinee. I knew it would be a bad audience experience and I was right about that; actually, considering the vast number of children in the audience it wasn’t as bad as it might have been. But of course seated right behind us were a mother and her three kids who whispered and squirmed and ate and drank their way through the matinee. Eventually I gave up my excellent seat and moved to the balcony boxes so I could concentrate.

ABT‘s SWAN LAKE is overall rather dull; the ‘traditional’ parts – especially the first lakeside scene – are of course quite lovely but there’s a whole catalog of tedious bits that detract from the focus of the narrative. Nonetheless, it serves ABT‘s purpose as a producton into which each principal ballerina and danseur can be plugged for their annual go at Odette/Odile and her Prince. Today, though, the casting was fresh: soloists Isabella Boylston and Daniil Simkin (photo above) tackled these iconic roles for the first time at The Met and scored a resounding success.

Daniil, point blank, is a dancer I love. Although I don’t go to ABT all that frequently, I am always happy to find Daniil dancing on a day that I am there. And so when he was listed for his first Siegfried, I immediately put this matinee on my calendar. Having seen many 30-to-40 year old Siegfrieds over the years (not that I’m complaining: they’ve been wonderful!) it was really refreshing to witness Daniil’s youthful elegance in the role. Carrying himself with inborn dignity, Daniil brought a sense of true innocence to the ballet. Heart on sleeve, he went bravely into the uncharted territory of first love; that his passion would lead to his eventual doom never entered his mind. Throughout the performance, his boyish figure and expressive face kept us strongly focused on Siegfried’s story. Daniil’s dancing was fleet-footed, immaculate and supremely musical.

Isabella Boylston’s Odette/Odile was a lovely creation, beautifully danced. She hasn’t quite found the quality of mystery that will eventually make her Odette truly impressive, but her interpretation is already well-formed and she is quite a sparklingly powerful Odile. Boylston had the crowd with her from the start, reaping a burst of cheers for her fouettes and a huge shout of approval at her solo bow.

Jared Matthews was superb in Rothbart’s ‘hypnotic’ solo – an unnecessary passage, but Jared made it eminently worthwile. Kristi Boone and Karen Uphoff were luxuriant as the leading swans, but the idea of casting three soloists among the four cygnets didn’t come off: each ballerina seemed to be in her own world and the result was lack of coordination and a rather bumpy traversal of the space. The Act I pas de trois was finely danced by Joseph Gorak, Devon Teuscher and Christine Schevchenko.

In the Black Swan act, the national dances are lamely choreographed but I did very much like Simone Messmer in Spanish and thought – watching her watching the proceedings with her own personal mystique in play – what a fascinating Swan Queen she would be.

Simkin and Boylston taking their bows here.

June 29, 2012
ABT BAYADERE: Seo/Muntagirov/Boylston

Wednesday May 23, 2012 – Tonight was the first of three BAYADEREs I’ll be seeing at ABT. Although this evening’s cast was devoid of top-tier stellar names, the evening turned out very nicely and my friend Kokyat enjoyed his first experience of watching the Kingdom of the Shades. Hee Seo, above, danced the role of Nikiya, with Isabella Boylston as Gamzatti and an ABT newcomer Vadim Muntagirov as Solor.

Going to the ballet at The Met is not a particularly rewarding experience. The place is simply too huge and you feel detached from the action; even when I sit in the orchestra, the dancers seem miles away. Tonight we were in Balcony Row A which was fine until a group of young people snatched the seats behind us after the first intermission and were restless and whispery. We moved further back for the last act. Sadly, there were tons of empty seats on every level; the Family Circle was virtually empty.

There’s also the distracting sound of toe shoes clomping on the Met stage. Mr. B made sure that this would not be a problem at His House, but at The Met – which was built to project sound from the stage – it sometimes sounds like horses are galloping around.

For all that, the performance succeeded in making a fine impression thanks to the work of the three principals and several fine individual contributions among the smaller roles. Hee Seo was a beautiful Nikiya to behold, her dancing was lyrical and devoid of theatricality. It’s a long and demanding role and the ballerina maintained her dramatic focus and her refined musicality throughout, leaving us with several luminous images.

Vadim Muntagirov (above, photo by Sian Trenbeth) is a slender, elegant danseur with a lovely technical polish. His airy leaps and swift footwork held the opera glasses in place throughout his variations, with deep backbends in the concluding poses making an especially fine impression. He and Ms. Seo created a dreamy partnership as their adagio unfolded.

Isabella Boylston (above) was Gamzatti. I overheard someone refer to the character as an ‘evil princess’, but is she really evil? Like Amneris in Verdi’s AIDA, she’s entitled – she’s used to having her way. And, it should be pointed out, Nikiya tries to kill her first. Yes, the snake in the basket thing is cruel but you have to admire Gamzatti’s inventiveness. At any rate, Ms. Boylston was excellent both in her dancing and presentation of the character; in the third act especially her pirouettes were radiant. I look forward to her upcoming Odette/Odile.

Craig Salstein was the Bronze Idol. His technical clarity and vivid delineation of this short but demanding role save me having to publish a disclaimer: he’s one of my opera buddies. I know he’s always thrilled to be on the stage where Tebaldi and Corelli sangs their hearts out. Bravo, Craig! Dancing two roles, including the third solo varation in Kingdom of the Shades, Simone Messmer is one of the most captivating dancers I’ve ever encountered. Technique and presence are abundant, but Simone also has an intangible quality that sets her apart. And it was fun picking out dancers we’ve met in other contexts: people like Sean Stewart, Eric Tamm, Nicola Curry and Puanani Brown.

Yes, parts of BAYADERE – including much of Act I – are hokey. But once Solor takes up the hookah, we know we’re about to be transported to that elusive Kingdom of the Shades. It’s an experience that always makes ballet-going worthwhile.

May 23, 2012