ballet blog

Robert Gottlieb gives a big hats off to Gillian Murphy (perhaps the current anchor principal ballerina of ABT) and sings high praise of soloist Stella Abrera "proving how ready she's been to move into the top ranks" (yes! she's always the bridesmaid and never the bride).

He also gives high kudos to NYCB's Tiler Peck ("the company's finest dancer") and knocks "the over-praised Sara Mearns". 

And big shout-out to Irina Dvorovenko, who retired this year, but has continued to dance in projects such as the Broadway revival of "On Your Toes!" and will be a major character in the upcoming Starz TV drama "Flesh and Bone" based on dancers (with a very impressive TV team behind it).

Sara Mearns and Jared Angle as Odette and Prince Siegfried in Peter Martins' Swan Lake

I saw NYCB's Swan Lake last Saturday, the matinee show with Ms. Mearns. The costumes and sets took some time to get accustomed to (orange, red, and blue???). As with all Balanchine-ed story ballets, I feel like he strains out all of the extraneous stuff (gone are the lengthy corps court dance pieces), presses fast forward, and makes the story a very streamlined vehicle.

Ms. Mearns, whom I have only seen in bits and pieces until now, has long lines that project all the way to the fourth partierre. I couldn't have helped but be curious about what Ms. Bouder's performance was like. I feel like Ms. Mearns dances from her instinctual gut, and Ms. Bouder is a bit more sensitive and dances from her thought-out emotions. A bit black swan / white swan dichotomy if you will. 

Odile doesn't always fling herself off of a cliff. In this version, Von Rothbart is defeated, but because Prince Siegfried has sworn his love to two women, Odile does not return to him. The last scene is pure power, with the Odile fading back into the swans, and Siegfried "desolate and alone."

My biggest concern with NYCB women is that they can all be quite wrist-y. You can get away with this if you're a soloist/principal, but in a corps, it can be slightly disastrous. My Vaganova-trained self always cringes. 

But NYCB principals are some of the most exciting dancers to watch. They're allowed to have their personality shine, and Balanchine's pieces are truly a treasure of their own. 

"The schedule at City Center includes festival debuts by the Royal Ballet, Body Traffic, Doug Elkins Choreography, Etc., and the dancers Colin Dunne and Sara Mearns. Ms. Mearns, the Royal Ballet and Ballet Hispanico will give the world premieres of works commissioned by the festival.

Additional performances include the Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, the New York premiere of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui’s “Faun” (2009), and the Richard Alston Dance Company, which perform the New York premiere of Mr. Alston’s “Devil in the Detail” (2006), with music by Scott Joplin."

oooh. can't wait.