New York City Ballet: All Robbins
January 22, 2009
Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall in "The Cage", photo by Paul Kolnik
Last spring, New York City Ballet celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Jerome Robbins’ death with the Jerome Robbins Celebration. This season, the company pays tribute to the choreographer with the “All Robbins” program, which will be performed for the last time on Saturday afternoon. The four ballets cover a range of musical choices and are performed in the order in which they premiered, spanning from 1945 to 1983.
Interplay is a playful piece, set to Morton Gould’s American Concertette, for four men and four women in brightly colored costumes. The dancers flirt with one another, horse around, and do cartwheels, but this is all interspersed with stylized movement that compliments the jazzy score. At one point, the dancers compete to see who can perform the most sophisticated moves. Sean Suozzi was at ease in Free Play, and Sterling Hyltin and Robert Fairchild were excellent in a romantic, lighthearted duet. Interplay is clearly a product of the 1940s, but it still seems fresh in 2009.
Perhaps one of Robbins’ most bizarre ballets is The Cage (set to Stravinsky’s urgent Concerto in D for String Orchestra), which depicts a tribe of female creatures who kill after mating. Rebecca Krohn is an aggressive Queen in command of the pack of fierce, messy-haired women, who move in unison as they stretch open their mouths and creepily crawl across the stage. But the most intriguing creature is the Novice, played by Wendy Whelan. Contorting her muscular limbs into angular shapes while mercilessly attacking Sébastien Marcovici, Whelan looks at home in the quirky movement. I cannot imagine any other dancer more vividly interpreting this role.
If I had been told that Four Bagatelles were a Balanchine ballet, I would have believed it, for it is so simple and different from the Robbins ballets I’ve seen. The piece is set to four of Beethoven’s bagatelles – short piano pieces – beautifully played by Nancy McDill. Wearing a green tulle skirt and corset, Tiler Peck showed a new softness in her dancing that I hadn’t noticed in previous seasons. Her delicate, airy movement matched the music, particularly when she seamlessly glided across the stage in her solo. Gonzalo Garcia was buoyant, expansive, and proved to be an elegant partner with a superb sense of timing. The movement itself was not particularly innovative, but Peck and Garcia emphasized the nuances to make this ballet thoroughly enjoyable.
Gonzalo Garcia and Tiler Peck in Four Bagatelles, photo by Paul Kolnik
According to Deborah Jowitt’s program notes, Robbins did not think I’m Old Fashioned was worthy of Fred Astaire, whose duet with Rita Hayworth in the 1942 film You Were Never Lovelier was the inspiration for the ballet. In a way, he was right. The balletic version of the duet is boring, especially since Astaire and Hayworth’s more interesting duet is shown on a large screen behind the dancers. While there is a visible motif in the theme and variations, the ballet goes on for far too long to hold the audience’s interest. Another Robbins classic, such as West Side Story Suite, Glass Pieces, or even The Concert, would have been a more engaging close to the performance.
New York City Ballet: Dancers’ Choice Program
June 28, 2008
Designed by NYCB soloist Craig Hall
The New York State Theater was packed on Friday night, and not just with the typical crowd of New York City Ballet devotees. Young people, too, had flocked to Lincoln Center to see the Dancers’ Choice program, a benefit for the Dancers’ Emergency Fund. Principal dancer Jonathan Stafford and a committee of company members were in charge of choosing the ballets on the program, casting them, arranging rehearsals, and coordinating everything else that goes into a performance – marketing, press releases, and production, among other things. While I’m sure that the dancers were thrilled to be given the freedom to create their own program, planning the evening must have been a daunting task for everyone involved (I cannot imagine what the costume department went through to prepare: twelve ballets performed by more than seventy dancers!). Nevertheless, Mr. Stafford and his planning committee met the challenge, producing a memorable performance filled with a diverse array of ballets.
The program featured excerpts from works by the four main choreographers of the company: George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, and former resident choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. It was bookended by two of Balanchine’s best: Rubies and the 4th movement from Symphony in C. The jazzy movement, glittering costumes, and upbeat tempo of the former made for a lively opening to the program, while Symphony in C‘s lightning-speed pirouettes and hops en pointe, along with a stage full of white tutus, were a thrilling close to the performance. There were plenty of highlights in between: Robbins’ colorful Interplay was infused with youthful energy; Abi Stafford and Tyler Angle were spellbinding in an excerpt from Wheeldon’s mysterious, otherworldly Mercurial Manoeuvres; Andrew Veyette was elegant and refined in his solo from Balanchine’s Square Dance, while Teresa Reichlen performed with lyricism and serenity in a solo from Emeralds. An excerpt from Union Jack featuring Savannah Lowery was wildly energetic to the rhythmic drumming of Hershy Kay’s score (adapted from the traditional British music), and reminded me how much I love this ballet. Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes lent a bit of patriotism to the program, with Troy Schumacher making a memorable debut as the vibrant leader of the 3rd Regiment. And the program couldn’t be complete without some Philip Glass music. “Akhnaten” from Robbins’ Glass Pieces was as enthralling as it was when I saw the entire piece last week.
The centerpiece of the evening was Flit of Fury – The Monarch, a world premiere choreographed by soloist Adam Hendrickson, with music composed by corps dancer Aaron Severini. Two pianists, Steven Beck and Stephen Gosling, played the mesmerizing score at the back of the stage, while the four male dancers (Sean Suozzi with Robert Fairchild, David Prottas, and Allen Peiffer) and one female (Gretchen Smith) flitted about in front of them with refreshingly edgy, contemporary movement. The piece made good use of the vast space, but the dancers almost always performed in unison – often in two’s while the others looked on from the side of the stage. I would have liked to see more variation and complexity, particularly in the formations, so that the movement would more closely reflect the depth and intricacy of Mr. Severini’s darkly intense score.
In addition to featuring the respective choreographic and musical gifts of Mr. Hendrickson and Mr. Severini, the evening provided an opportunity for many other dancers to showcase their talents. Soloist Craig Hall designed t-shirts and the artwork (shown in the image above) for the posters and advertisements; corps dancer Kyle Froman created a beautiful souvenir book filled with photographs (which Philip wrote about and posted here) that he took of the dancers in and around the NY State Theater; corps dancer Sophie Flack donated two original works of art to the silent auction that occurred during the intermission; and corps dancer Henry Seth and soloist Ask la Cour composed music for a film clip that showed video footage of several company members dancing as children – in their living rooms, on stage, in the wings, and even in jazz competitions.
Dance samplers and benefit programs are often choppy – with too many excerpts squished into a limited time frame – and more focused on showcasing technical prowess than artistry. Neither was the case for the Dancers’ Choice program. The ballets were wisely chosen, reflecting the choreographic innovation of the company and the range of repertoire. Seeing that so many dancers contributed – both on and off stage – to the successful evening proves how much they care about the company and about ensuring that the Dancers’ Emergency Fund will always be there in times of need. This will surely become an exciting annual event.
Celebrating Jerome Robbins at the JCC
June 24, 2008
Ellen Sorrin, Jock Soto, and Robert Fairchild in costume for Fancy Free – photograph by Evan
On Monday evening, thanks to the generosity of my friend Sarah, I attended a special seminar at The JCC in Manhattan on the life and work of choreographer Jerome Robbins, with a particular focus on his contribution to New York City Ballet. The event, which was facilitated by the JCC and NYCB, featured a discussion between Ellen Sorrin, who is on the advisory committee of The Jerome Robbins Trust, and former NYCB principal dancer Jock Soto. The audience got to see some rare footage of Jock in studio rehearsals with Mr. Robbins. Additionally, brief excerpts from two of Robbins’ ballets, The Concert and Fancy Free, were performed by NYCB principal Sterling Hyltin and soloist Robert Fairchild, respectively.
Jock Soto and Sterling Hyltin in costume for The Concert – photo by Evan
The evening began with Ellen discussing the significance of heritage for Mr. Robbins, who was born in 1918 to Russian-Jewish parents. Although he wrote in his diary in 1939 (when he was about twenty) that his dance classes “shall be my daily worship”, his connection to his roots was more pronounced later in his life and often played a part in the ballets he created. It was interesting to hear Jock reflect on his heritage in a similar way. When he arrived in New York as a teenager to study at the School of American Ballet, he “became a New Yorker overnight”. As a dancer in the company, he said, “My church was the New York State Theater”. It wasn’t until he was in his thirties that he reflected on his heritage – he’s half Navajo, half Puerto Rican – and returned to the Navajo reservation where he was born and where his parents lived. Dance, for both Robbins and Soto, seemed to serve as religion, but eventually, both men found their way back to their roots.
Jock talked at length about the rehearsal process for Robbins’ West Side Story, in which he was cast as the original “Bernardo”. Both the video footage and Soto’s comments indicated that it was an often stressful and tiring process in which Robbins always asked his dancers for more. He demanded that they become their characters – that Jock Soto, as Bernardo, despise Nikolaj Hubbe as Riff. This was extremely challenging since the two are good friends. Just when Jock was about to boldly tell Robbins that he and the other dancers were fed up with rehearsals for the ballet, Robbins announced to the cast that they had to rise to Jock and Nikolaj’s level, stunning the two dancers beyond belief. Robbins was, according to Jock, a very intuitive individual.
Jock Soto, Sterling Hyltin, and Robert Fairchild – photo by Evan
After treating the audience to the simple sailor’s solo in Fancy Free, with Nancy McDill at the piano, Robert Fairchild talked about the significance of the role. This is the innocent sailor. He’s awed by the size and glitter of New York City, always looking after his friends, picking up the bill at the bar, and occasionally getting picked on by his pals. Fairchild was charming, moving with ease and fluidity, and truly embodying the good-natured quality of his character. Jock, who taught Robert at SAB, looked on with pride, and later declared that watching his students become gifted company dancers was gratifying. In an excerpt from The Concert, Sterling Hyltin was endearing and funny as the “mad ballerina”. She literally embraces the piano and becomes so immersed in the music that she doesn’t realize that someone has lifted her chair from under her while she is clutching the piano.
The evening ended the way it began, with a discussion of the significance of dance for these artists. Sterling pointed out that “dance is a constant in our lives” and a critical part of her identity, while Jock remarked that a dancer has to fully believe in what he or she is doing in order for a performance to be effective. He noted Wendy Whelan, saying, “She believes in every step she takes”. As a teacher at SAB, Jock said he always tells his students that they can’t get away with faking anything on stage. Robert agreed, adding that performing is one of the most rewarding parts of being a dancer. The high he achieves from dancing for an audience makes it all worth it.
Jock Soto, Sterling Hyltin, and Robert Fairchild – photo by Evan
Listening to Jock talk about his experiences working with Mr. Robbins, and then watching Sterling and Robert – both young, sophisticated dancers who represent the next generation of NYCB – perform excerpts from his works exemplified the lasting impact that the choreographer has had on ballet. The Concert and Fancy Free, both of which I saw in their entirety this season at NYCB, continue to look fresh and appealing. It was clear that Robbins demanded a lot from his dancers when creating new works for them, but his persistence and dedication resulted in a diverse array of ballets that are an essential part of NYCB’s repertoire and truly cherished by the company’s current dancers.
Many thanks to Sarah for inviting me to this unique and memorable event. Please do not use photos without permission.
