City Ballet's new Stroman
February 7, 2011
New York City Ballet straddled tastes with something old, something new, and something sweet and nutty. At this enjoyable February 6 matinee, the curtain opened with George Balanchine’s 1956 Divertimento no. 15. Clotilde Otranto conducted the Mozart. The cast, in Karinska’s classical costumes, comprised three men and Ashley Bouder heading thirteen women. Of six variations, Bouder's was the final and brightest. The central man, Chase Finlay, only in the corps since 2009, impressed us with space-eating port de bras and leaps. In an engaging, forward traveling duet, Bouder and her partner sparred, crossing each other’s path with jumps. All the men managed ably, and the women accomplished their difficult variations with silent steps, some with more feeling than others.
All form crystalline architecture around the men and the principal women, even if one looked as if she would rather be at the ongoing Super Bowl XIV. Most were present and making Divertimento's geometry shine. Especially at the end when the men face off with a diagonal of the eight women, take their bows, and part. One could watch this classic often with different casts, to really “see the music” as Balanchine intended.
Having fun yet? Undoubtedly, if you saw Peter Martins’ 1981 story ballet The Magic Flute, to Ricardo Drigo’s 1893 music. Megan Fairchild is well cast as the candy sweet Lise and Andrew Veyette as her able beau. It is a village scene with Lise’s parents wanting her to marry nobility, in this case, a lame and elderly Marquis. The ballet is so storybook sweet, it's funny, with lots of entertaining characters. Veyette is a fine, hard-working lad, accomplishing his tours, impressing all.
To top it off, his charity lands him a reward, a magic flute. With that, he has everyone— wigged judge, unsteady Marquis, and Lise’s porcine Dad— dancing to hilarious effect. Even one of the Peasant women, who took an unscored spill, rebounded in a flash. Eighteen very young SAB Children complete the fun. Nestled between two such different works and on a Sunday afternoon, Magic was easy to enjoy.
dancing under the stars
Nightlife fantasy is the theme of Susan Stroman’s new suite of two dances “For the Love of Duke.” David Berger conducts members of the Ballet Orchestra in his arrangement of Duke Ellington / Billy Strayhorn songs. First, Frankie and Johnny… and Rose, with a sharp and jazzy Johnny, Amar Ramasar. He does double duty with Tiler Peck and Sara Mearns, shoving one behind a platform prop while partnering the other. The two-timer does cartwheels and fish dives over Peck, who lays missionary-style on the platform. Mearns unwittingly steals his attention. Broadway style, they all win. They couldn’t be better in their flashy moves.
In the next, Blossom Got Kissed, things go wrong. Savannah Lowery plays a ballet dancer caught in a nightclub. It is easy to laugh at a bumbling ballerina. But in Blossom, Lowery never does turn into a graceful swan.
Blossom was made for NYCB in 1999. The 2011 Frankie and Johnny…and Rose is accomplished. But Stroman missed an opportunity to comment on the popular TV style and illuminate us, as art and ballet can.