Natalia Makarova and Ivan Nagy dance the White Swan pas de deux from SWAN LAKE at the 100th anniversary celebration of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1984. Ivan Nagy came out of retirement to dance with Ms. Makarova on this occasion. The dancers are accompanied on-stage by violinist Itzhak Perlman and cellist Lynn Harrell.
Watch and listen here.
Natalia Makarova and Ivan Nagy dance the White Swan pas de deux from SWAN LAKE at the 100th anniversary celebration of the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1984. Ivan Nagy came out of retirement to dance with Ms. Makarova on this occasion. The dancers are accompanied on-stage by violinist Itzhak Perlman and cellist Lynn Harrell.
Watch and listen here.
~ Author: Oberon
Saturday January 18th, 2020 – Billed as the “Grand SWAN LAKE“, Shanghai Ballet’s production of the Tchaikovsky classic arrived at Lincoln Center for four performances, of which we saw he third. In this very traditional setting, the Derek Deane Petipa-based choreography offers no surprises, aside from the sheer number of swans to be seen: I guess that’s what makes it “grand”.
The production is mostly pleasing visually, but the scene in the palace ballroom has a very ugly mish-mash of a set in which the vision of Odette seems like an afterthought, thus missing a key dramatic point. Garish costumes for the national dances added to the cheesy effect.
But the lakeside scenes were fine, and the 48 swans were wonderfully in-sync choreographically, making the stage seem full but not over-crowded. Mr. Deane deploys them skillfully as they form pleasing patterns and make smooth entrances and exits throughout the White Swan act. Zhu Haibo, a Rothbart with expansive wings dripping with seaweed, menaced Odette and her prince as Rothbarts have ever been wont to do.
There’s no Jester in this production, nor does the prince have any friends to join him on his hunting expedition. There is a Tutor, who is thankfully not given much to do.
At the heart of the matter, Qi Bingxue as Odette/Odile and Wu Husheng as Siegfried (above) danced expressively and with technical polish. Their love, doomed from the start, played out in the moving tenderness of their partnering, in their effortless brilliance in the feats of the Black Swan pas de deux, and in the jolt of betrayal. But the production ends rather weakly, as the lovers float over the stage on a large swan-boat while Rothbart lay dying. Once you’ve experienced the final moments of the Peter Martins SWAN LAKE, nothing else compares.
The New York City Ballet orchestra played the familiar score with some very nice solo parts shining thru, and Charles Barker conducted, keeping a firm rein on things whilst also admirably supporting the principal couple thru both the poignant and the showy passages.
Late seating, and ushers wandering the aisles to admonish viewers about cellphones during the music, were serious distractions, as were the constant babbling of the two Russian women seated next to us, and of the two silly queens sitting behind us. But we stayed until the end, because Wei was enjoying it.
Production photos by North American Photography Associates, courtesy of Michelle Tabnick PR
~ Oberon
~ Author: Oberon
Saturday January 18th, 2020 – Billed as the “Grand SWAN LAKE“, Shanghai Ballet’s production of the Tchaikovsky classic arrived at Lincoln Center for four performances, of which we saw he third. In this very traditional setting, the Derek Deane Petipa-based choreography offers no surprises, aside from the sheer number of swans to be seen: I guess that’s what makes it “grand”.
The production is mostly pleasing visually, but the scene in the palace ballroom has a very ugly mish-mash of a set in which the vision of Odette seems like an afterthought, thus missing a key dramatic point. Garish costumes for the national dances added to the cheesy effect.
But the lakeside scenes were fine, and the 48 swans were wonderfully in-sync choreographically, making the stage seem full but not over-crowded. Mr. Deane deploys them skillfully as they form pleasing patterns and make smooth entrances and exits throughout the White Swan act. Zhu Haibo, a Rothbart with expansive wings dripping with seaweed, menaced Odette and her prince as Rothbarts have ever been wont to do.
There’s no Jester in this production, nor does the prince have any friends to join him on his hunting expedition. There is a Tutor, who is thankfully not given much to do.
At the heart of the matter, Qi Bingxue as Odette/Odile and Wu Husheng as Siegfried (above) danced expressively and with technical polish. Their love, doomed from the start, played out in the moving tenderness of their partnering, in their effortless brilliance in the feats of the Black Swan pas de deux, and in the jolt of betrayal. But the production ends rather weakly, as the lovers float over the stage on a large swan-boat while Rothbart lay dying. Once you’ve experienced the final moments of the Peter Martins SWAN LAKE, nothing else compares.
The New York City Ballet orchestra played the familiar score with some very nice solo parts shining thru, and Charles Barker conducted, keeping a firm rein on things whilst also admirably supporting the principal couple thru both the poignant and the showy passages.
Late seating, and ushers wandering the aisles to admonish viewers about cellphones during the music, were serious distractions, as were the constant babbling of the two Russian women seated next to us, and of the two silly queens sitting behind us. But we stayed until the end, because Wei was enjoying it.
Production photos by North American Photography Associates, courtesy of Michelle Tabnick PR
~ Oberon
Friday June 26th, 2015 – This evening my 2014-2015 officially ended with a bang when Maria Kochetkova and Herman Cornejo gave the ABT audience a SWAN LAKE to cheer about. The two dancers were recently paired in a very fine performance of BAYADERE and now, having established a lovely rapport, they must be seen in GISELLE, COPPELIA, and ROMEO & JULIET.
ABT really needs a new SWAN LAKE, and their audiences deserve it. Though at fifteen years of age the production is not old by ballet standards (think of Balanchine’s NUTCRACKER or MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM), so much of it looks merely random and dutiful rather than dramatic and intriguing. Its main redeeming value is that any incoming pair of principals can step into the classic elements of the white/black/white scenes and feel perfectly at home; it’s the court scenes that really need freshening.
Tonight in the opening scene we had a superbly-danced pas de trois from Sarah Lane, Skylar Brandt, and Joseph Gorak; all three had ample technique and charm, and Mr. Gorak’s beautifully pointed feet were an added delight. The national dancers in the Black Swan scene are burdened with over-costuming and funny fake moustaches; tonight, only Nicole Graniero (in Hungarian) managed to seize my opera glasses with her vivid performance. Later, as Herman Cornejo was anguishing over which unwanted princess to choose, I wanted to text him and suggest that he grab Nicole and elope to Morocco.
James Whiteside was wonderfully alluring in the solo where he glamors every woman in the hall (and probably some of the men); yet however well this solo is performed, I always feel Rothbart doesn’t need to be humanized and that the less the character does, the more potent his force seems.
But all these quibbles vanished in the face of the wonderful telling of the central love story from Ms. Kochetkova and Mr. Cornejo. Having sailed thru some high-flying combinations in the opening scene, it was at the lakeside that Herman’s Siegfried took on the poetic expressiveness that made his performance so compelling. Such a handsome young prince with the cheekbones, the silken mop of hair, the dark eyes filled with wonder – and later with despair. Slowly overcoming her fear of this ardent youth, Ms. Kochetkova surrendered to his tenderness in an adagio filled with haunting romantic nuance. The ballerina’s pin-pointe turns and poised balances wove a spell thru Odette’s music.
In the Black Swan, the Kochetkova/Cornejo duo simply soared; the detailed courtship and Kochetkova/Odile’s brazen mimicking of the Odette motifs made for a vivid narrative in the adagio. Herman’s solo was a virtuoso show-stopper – igniting a volley of cheers and applause – and in her solo turn, the ballerina displayed her agility and technical command to impressive effect. Then the couple whipped the crowd into fits of rapture in the coda, where Kochetkova’s dazzling speed-of-light fouettés had real sparkle, with Herman taking up the challenge with his own barrage of pirouettes. A roar went up as they struck the final pose.
In the last scene by the lake, the hapless lovers take final leave of one another; their joint suicide leads to the breaking of the curse and Rothbart’s destruction by the swans. The pink sunrise, with the lovers shown embracing in some afterlife, is a final miscalculation in this production. But as Kochetkova and Cornejo came forward for their bows, nothing else mattered: the audience, pleased as punch, were still screaming as I headed up the aisle.
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.
Above: New York City Ballet principal artists Andrew Veyette and Ashley Bouder in SWAN LAKE; photo by Paul Kolnik
Saturday evening September 21, 2013 – When New York City Ballet announced Peter Martins’ SWAN LAKE for their Autumn 2013 season I was hoping we’d have a 2-week run with some new Swan Queens; but instead there were only six performances (all, seemingly, sold out) and the dual role of Odette/Odile remained the property of three of the Company’s top interpreters: Sara Mearns, Teresa Reichlen, and Ashley Bouder.
Tonight was an opportunity to re-visit the Bouder traversal of this very demanding dual role. In this video, Ashley speaks of her constant work in the studio, endeavoring to bring her interpretation of Odette up to the level of her Odile. Tonight she seemed to have reached – and even surpassed – her goal.
A key element in making tonight’s performance so enjoyable was the lack of audience distractions, which so plagued the first half of the previous evening’s SWAN LAKE. Tonight we were seated amongst well-behaved folks who seemed keenly focussed on the stage throughout the performance; even the annoying late-seating was far enough away from us to be tuned out. It makes an enormous difference in one’s appreciation of the performance when there’s nothing to infringe on the powers of concentration.
And so from the very first notes of the prelude to the final heart-rending departure of the doomed Odette, the evening was among the most enjoyable I have spent at NYCB in recent seasons.
Clothilde Otranto paced the music beautifully: full-speed ahead when the drama called for propulsion; tenderness and a sense of lingering when love – or the loss of it – was the theme. The powerful ending of this SWAN LAKE – from both a visual and emotional standpoint – hits home every time, and Peter Martins’ remarkable vision of the ballet’s final moments tends to make me forgive some of his lapses in other productions.
For people like me who simply adore the NYCB dancers, this ballet affords one of the most satisfying ways of savoring so many favorites all at once: from well-established principals to the newest apprentices, SWAN LAKE is a chance to revel in the enormous variety of faces, forms and personalities who make up this phenomenal Company. And so from curtain-up to curtain calls we are immersed in NYCB on a personal level.
The sixteen corps dancers and the flock of small children who appear in the Prince’s Act I birthday festivities have plenty to dance, and they danced up a storm. As the opera glasses wander about the scene, you can pause anywhere and watch someone like Likolani Brown or David Prottas exuding their talents – both in terms of technique and stage-craft. This is not an anonymous bunch of automatons going thru the motions, but lively individual personalities doing what they love.
Troy Schumacher gave a dazzling virtuoso display as the Jester – a demanding role in which the character, in this production, never overstays his welcome. Antonio Carmena as Benno danced with generous spirit and space-filling bravura: his jumps and turns clear and vivid. He shared the pas de trois with two of our recently-promoted soloists: Ashley Laracey and Lauren King, both dancing with sweet assurance. Marika Anderson’s Queen was excellent: her distinctive features reacting to the dramatic situation, her height and bearing setting her apart from her subjects.
Andrew Veyette’s Siegfried was both impressively danced and instinctively well-acted; his portrayal of the lonely boy facing a destiny that doesn’t suit him was remarkably resonant. It’s no wonder that in his magical encounter with equally unhappy Odette he seems to have found his soulmate. That his love for her is her eventual undoing is the basis of the tragedy; his unwitting duplicity, concocted by Rothbart, leaves the bereft Prince on the brink of suicide at the end of the ballet. Andrew moved thru the events of the prince’s coming-of-age – his discomfort at having to choose a bride, his joy when his beloved suddenly appears in the ballroom, his desperation when Rothbart’s ploy is revealed – with a sense of natural nobility mixed with hapless naïveté; his final collapse in a state of deepest despair was so moving. All evening Andrew’s dancing – his lithe and effortless virtuosity – was aligned to his masculine grace and skillful partnering, making for a portrayal that was thoroughly satisfying in every way,
Ashley Bouder’s technical sorcery and her sense of theatrical vitality have always made her Odile an exciting event. Not only is she undaunted by the role’s virtuoso demands, she simply revels in them – and she even adds her own flourishes. The character – sly, enticing, peerlessly confident – has always been a triumphant Bouder realization. Meanwhile, Odette – despite Ashley’s impeccable dancing – has seemed to just slightly elude the ballerina in terms of poetry and expressive nuance. Tonight she seemed to have moved deeper into Odette’s soul and found the needed resonance there: this seems to have come about both thru hard work and thru the natural virtue of the ballerina’s maturing into womanhood. Her Odette tonight was moving, passionate, tragic. Her performance of the iconic dual role is now a complete work of art, though I feel with certainty that she’s not one to rest on her laurels: I suspect the next time we see Ms. Bouder in this ballet she will have taken things to yet another level. But for now: a triumph.
As I remarked earlier, the evening was a feast for devotees of the Company: the Four Cygnets were especially well-matched and accomplished tonight: Sara Adams, Alexa Maxwell, Sarah Villwock and Kristen Segin were among the finest teams I’ve ever seen in this tricky piece.
Presenting themselves as candidates for marriage to the Prince, six ballerinas dance a lovely set-piece in which each steps forward in turn to make her mark: Faye Arthurs, Likolani Brown, Meagan Mann, Jenelle Manzi, Mary Elizabeth Sell and Lydia Wellington all looked lovely in this piece, one of my favorite passages in the production. Faye, of the lyrical extension, was also seen as the Vision of Odette.
Megan LeCrone looked superb in the pas de quatre, with Ana Sophia Scheller and Erica Pereira completing the trio of dark-haired beauties, and the amiable partnering and handsome virtuosity of Gonzalo Garcia making me wish he’d been cast as Siegfried this season (could we not have a Scheller/Garcia SWAN LAKE next time around?)
Georgina Pazcoguin gave off incredible star-power in the Hungarian dance, and the handsome and rather rare Craig Hall matched her for intensity and charisma. Janie Taylor’s intoxicating presence lured my opera glasses in the Russian dance, with Ask LaCour looming over her, part predator and part slave. In the Spanish quartet, Gretchen Smith and Gwyneth Muller imbued their steps wth a flamenco flourish, their yellow fans a decorative asset; Andrew Scordato and Taylor Stanley looked dashingly sexy. Allen Peiffer, always a handsome Neapolitan lad, now has a new village lass to charm: Kristen Segin was excellent and she and Allen are a delightful match-up.
As the Black Swan pas de deux unfolded, brilliantly danced by Bouder and Veyette, a tall newcomer to the stage, Silas Farley, showed an already keen flair for stagecraft with his manipulative, faux-courtly Rothbart.
And so we come to the end: at the lakeside where they had met, Odette and Siegfried are now torn asunder. The power of their love has vanquished Rothbart, but his curse endures. Odette vanishes amidst the swans, and Siegfried collapses in remorseful despair.
Above: New York City Ballet principal artists Tyler Angle and Teresa Reichlen in SWAN LAKE; photo by Paul Kolnik
Friday September 20, 2013 – I’m an admirer of the New York City Ballet‘s Peter Martins production of SWAN LAKE, even though the first time I saw it (with Kyra Nichols in her only performance of it) I found it a great eyesore. I had vowed never to see it again but of course, this Company is my Company and how could I let anything deter me from seeing such Swan Queens as Miranda Weese, Wendy Whelan, Jenifer Ringer, Maria Kowroski, Jennie Somogyi and Sara Mearns? I soon made peace with the sets and costumes (basically by simply tuning them out), and on second seeing realized that there is no more potent ending for this ballet than that which Peter has crafted.
Non-stop dancing and just enough mime propel the ballet forward. The familiar set-pieces are there, and Peter brings especial vitality to the villager’s dance in the opening scene and (truly lovely) the would-be-brides set piece which just precedes the arrival of Odile.
This evening’s performance had its ups and downs. There was a bit of ragged playing from the pit here and there, and it seemed to me that Daniel Capps’ tempo for the White Swan pas de deux was just a bit too fast for Teresa Reichlen and Tyler Angle to make the maximum poetic effect. But much of the first lakeside scene was nullified for me by audience distractions (whispering mother and child behind me; a woman munching on cashews from a plastic cup; someone texting). I retreated to the 5th Ring for the second half of the evening and was far better able to concentrate there.
The opening scene, where Siegfried’s friends from the village have come to celebrate his birthday with a party of the castle terrace (they’d never be allowed inside the royal residence per se) is one long dance-a-thon and the sixteen corps dancers were a pleasure to observe thru my opera glasses: corps-watching heaven. But apparently many in the audience had never seen chidren onstage so there was a lot of ooohing and aaaahing when the small fry appear (they danced very nicely).
Harrison Ball (above, headshot by Paul Kolnik) scored a hit as the Jester; he was one of several dancers making role-debuts tonight. Lithe and agile, Harrison moved thru the virtuoso demands of the choreography with flair. Later, at the ‘official’ birthday party of his master, I very much liked Harrison’s facial acting throughout the Black Swan pas de deux: he seemed to be the only person at court to sense that something was amiss with this Odile woman and her sinister escort.
Amanda Hankes, a natural aristocrat, made a youthful Queen. Taylor Stanley’s handsome Benno (debut) was another feather in this dancer’s cap; watching the vivacious Lauren Lovette in the pas de trois was a treat, and I liked the touch of rubato Ashly Isaacs brought to this attractive set piece.
As the partiers went romping off, leaving the Prince, Benno and the Jester frozen in a gesture of farewell, the stage was set for the drama to begin. At this moment, NYCB decided it was time for a round of late seating, so we had the patter of feet, the urgent whispers, the bright glare of flashlights. The mood of the ballet was successfully broken.
Teresa Reichlen’s opening jeté seemed to proclaim that the ballet could now move into the realm of poetry, but it was at this point that the distractions all around me commenced. Restive audience members are the bane of ballet-going: if you prefer to chat with your daughter, eat, or text, why did you come to the theatre?
So despite being aware of Tess’s lovely attitude poses and deep back bends, and of Tyler’s pale and urgently tender personification of the Prince, much of this scene went for nought. I couldn’t wait to escape; I even thought of simply going home, but it seemed so unfair – this triumph of indifference – and there were dancers coming up in the second half that I really wanted to see.
Tess was at her grandest as Odile, wonderfully predatory as she manipulates the hapless Tyler. Coached by the ultra-tall and sinister Ask LaCour as Rothbart, Tess used the role’s faux-Odette motifs with canny skill: a mistress of deceit. Her solo was gorgeously danced and she whipped off a blazing set of fouettés, followed by the sustained balances up the diagonal. Tyler’s solo was a beautiful paragraph of polished bravura. The pledge…the shock of betrayal…the desperate rush to the lake…
The final scene, built on the prince’s hopeless notion the damage could be repaired, was movingly played by Tess and Tyler. Odette knows her chance has been lost; when the Prince again raises his hand in pledge, she pulls his arm down and wraps it around her torso. This will be their last moment together. But now Rothbart must be defeated: in the brilliant coup de foudre the couple make a last stand for love and Rothbart is destroyed. But the curse has not been broken. In those last heart-rending moments, Siegfried tries in vain to forestall Odette’s transformation. But she vanishes among the ranks of the swans, leaving him to contemplate his failure. In this final parting, Tess and Tyler personified the despair of shattered hope.
Back-tracking to the ballroom, there was lots of fine dancing – commencing with Harrison Ball’s playful number with three small jesters. The prospective brides arrive: in pastel frocks, the girls weave solo passages into a very charming ensemble: Sara Adams, Likolani Brown, Megan Johnson, Jenelle Manzi, mary Elizabeth Sell and Lara Tong each took the opportunity to shine. But despite this bevy of beautiful choices, the Prince demurs.
The pas de quatre, a virtuosic set-piece, brought forth Savannah Lowery, Rebecca Krohn and Ashley Laracey each looking lovely and with accomplished dancing. But something was amiss: Chase Finlay, after squiring the girls thru the opening segment, did not perform his variation. And in the coda, Chase seemed to be marking. If Chase had sustained an injury, let’s hope it’s quickly remedied. I was left wondering how the conductor knew to skip the male variation music.
In the swirling Hungarian number, Gretchen Smith threw a dash of paprika into her role-debut dancing; Justin Peck was her rather somber and very impressive beau: now that Justin is taking the choreographic world by storm, we sometimes forget what a great presence he has as a dancer. Jennie Somogyi and Adrian Danchig-Waring (another newcomer to his role) were daringly provocative and physically fearless in the steamy Russian dance. New senoritas in Spanish – Meagan Mann and Lydia Wellington – vied for our attention with their footwork and their yellow fans; Daniel Applebaum and Zachary Catazaro (debut) were the dashing toreros, In a particularly appealing match up, Lauren Lovette and Devin Alberda (his debut) were the Neapolitan dancers, displaying Lauren’s piquant charm and a touch of devilry from Devin.
The House was full to the rafters, and Tess, Tyler and Harrison were strongly cheered. Ask’s curtain call, drawing the villain’s booing, recalled Albert Evans in the same role: a glacial staredown, and a swirl of the cape. I ran into Albert during the intermission, handsome as ever.
ODETTE/ODILE: Reichlen; SIEGFRIED: T. Angle; VON ROTBART: la Cour; QUEEN: *Hankes; JESTER: *Ball; BENNO: *Stanley; PAS DE TROIS: *Lovette, Isaacs; PAS DE QUATRE: Laracey, Lowery, Krohn, Finlay; HUNGARIAN: *Smith, J. Peck; RUSSIAN: Somogyi, *Danchig-Waring; SPANISH: *Wellington, Applebaum, *Mann,*Catazaro; NEAPOLITAN: Lovette, *Alberda; PRINCESSES: Manzi, Sell, Johnson, Brown, Adams, Tong
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.
Saturday May 26, 2012 evening – Following her memorable performance in SWAN LAKE last season at ABT, I was keen to see Polina Semionova (above) again. Tonight she danced Nikiya in LA BAYADERE with the Company for the first time, partnered by premier danseur David Hallberg. It was a performance I’d been anticipating for a long time and it was well worth the wait.
The House, though better-populated than at the week’s earlier performance, was far from full. Some idiot brought a baby…WTF? After some whimpering in Act I, the kid konked out for Act II; then she took him home. What was the point? People are so vain and thoughtless.
David Hallberg (above) now bestrides the dance world like a colossus – and a very elegant colossus at that. His dancing was splendid of course, with his stretched-out jetés and his imperial line. What struck me most about David’s performance tonight was the depth of poetic resonance that shone thru in his every moment onstage. He’s always had a beautiful presence onstage but it seemed to me that he’s now more intense in his emotional focus and superbly responsive to the dramatic nuances of the role.
Ms. Semionova is a thrilling Nikiya, her impeccable technique and supremely lissome physique investing her performance with a very personal radiance. From her first entrance it was clear we were in for a fascinating embodiment of the role. For all the inspired dancing that Semionova and Hallberg gave us tonight, it was the electrifying chemistry of their partnership that put the performance in that rare echelon of great evenings of dance. Right from their first encounter, the tenderness and steadfastness of their forbidden love gave the evening a vibrant romantic quality, reaching its apex in their reunion in the Kingdom of the Shades. The cares and concerns of the daily world fell away as we watched them dancing together.
Hee Seo, a lovely Nikiya earlier in the week, was tonight appearing as Gamzatti. She gave an impressive performance despite a momentary lapse at the end of the fouette passage. A great beauty, Seo held the stage well, uneclipsed by the star-power of the Semionova/Hallberg duo. Joseph Phillips danced brilliantly in the Bronze Idol solo, effortlessly filling the stage with his leaps and turns. In a particularly appealing trio of Shades, Luciana Paris, Maria Riccetto and Yuriko Kagiya danced superbly and were well-contrasted in personality, each exuding her own perfume. Bravissimi!
Oberon's Glade 