by Leigh Witchel
There’s first rate, and there’s world class. It’s pointless to carp about something being “only” first rate; it’s not possible for everything that’s excellent to stand above all its peers and be the best of the best. When you encounter something world class, count your blessings. New York City Ballet’s second Classic NYCB program contained three first-rate ballets and one that’s world class. “La Valse” “Other Dances” and the pas de deux from “After the Rain” have all withstood the test of time to endure in repertory. But “Agon” is the masterpiece. As for performances, Thursday was a lucky night; there were several first-rate performances and again, one that was world class.
A new trio of leads in “La Valse” made their debuts; Joseph Gordon and Andrew Veyette the prior week, and Sterling Hyltin that night. Gordon and Hyltin managed to be believable innocents in roles that have become more knowing and cynical. They didn’t “play the end.” In their port de bras, with all its artifice, they didn’t turn it into broad semaphore. Their delicacy became characterization. Hyltin didn’t get a lot of height in her split jetés, but her slow développés to the side when braced on a diagonal by Gordon seemed to respond to each quivering hesitation in the music.
Andrew Veyette doesn’t always look his best in classical roles because they ask for a line he doesn’t seem to want to produce. He has it, but it reflects a character we haven’t seen him believe in: the prince. Instead, he has excelled in dark, intense roles; Mauro Bigonzetti and other contemporary choreographers have made him look his best, but he also triumphed in a dark, guilt-ridden James in “La Sylphide.” Death in “La Valse” becomes him. He’s sharp and violent, but focused; seductive but frightening. He partnered Hyltin securely, but his punchy quality gave the illusion he was throwing her around.
Hyltin’s straightforward interpretation may be the narrowest path to follow today, but she pulled it off, really seeming as if she didn’t realize where Death’s gifts might lead her. Together with Veyette, they created a believable incarnation of Death and the Maiden. His last, fatal hug was gentle, but he raced offstage like a criminal.
The heady atmosphere of “La Valse,” like fortified wine, seemed passé for a while. In the strange times of a worldwide pandemic, its morbidity doesn’t seem so old-fashioned. Rather, it’s exquisite, like Isak Dinesen’s gothic tales. At the opening, three women, dressed for a ball in full skirts and long white gloves, stared at their hands, as fascinated by them as if they were looking glasses. Later on, a man who tried to pass through the space gets blocked by the trio as if they were Wilis.
Supporting roles were also well done. Devin Alberda and Lauren King danced together with textbook lines, and Andrew Scordato also let his body tell the story. He set up one clean turn after another at the center – becoming the eye of a storm, whose vortex only became clear at the end, when Hyltin was held aloft, lifeless, and the corps raced round and round in a circle as if that were a destination.
New principal dancer Unity Phelan also made a debut in the pas de deux from “After the Rain.” Partnered by Preston Chamblee (who had made his debut the week before), it was auspicious. The role was made for Wendy Whelan and it would be tough to replace her. Whelan filled the quiet in the role with her intensity. Phelan doesn’t have that quality and her lines are more pure, so there isn’t Whelan’s physical unorthodoxy that was part of her impact. Instead, Phelan found a stillness to anchor the dance. The ballet, like Arvo Pärt’s sad lullaby of a score, was performed in a hush. Chamblee was a rock for her in the best way.
It seems churlish to say this when one of the ballet’s main recent avatars has closed her tenure in the role, but “Agon” needs coaching, and a world-class work only looks world class with performances at that level. Details that don’t make sense are being added. There are certainly percussive elements in the ballet: the finger snap in the entrée, the claps in the first pas de trois female duet, and the claps to accompany the female solo. Still, the men were thumping their feet during the sliding walks in the opening as if they were supposed to make noise. When two men clapped during Megan LeCrone’s solo, they could be heard more than the orchestra. That’s too loud.
Some things were first rate. In the first pas de trois, Anthony Huxley has put his own stamp on the part with his coordination; he can change his axis from straight to curved seemingly without transition. He flew through the jetés in the entrée and danced a buoyant variation with a hint of a smile at the end. Unfortunately, Sara Adams and Ashley Hod are several inches apart in height, so weren’t well-matched in the female duet. Then LeCrone had an unlucky spin-out from the big balance in the second pas de trois intro and the men weren’t able to stabilize her enough. It took her a while to stop looking rattled.
Maria Kowroski came out with Amar Ramasar to do her last “ Agon” to four calls for her to bow after the pas de deux. The hallmark of the role when she did it was its soft plasticity; she wasn’t a femme fatale in the part. Years later, her stretch was still there, only if you looked closely you could see the effort. But still, it was the very last one.
Newly-promoted soloist Roman Mejia made a first-rate debut in “Other Dances.” That was supposed to be with Ashley Bouder, but a last minute switch made paired him with Tiler Peck, and didn’t they look fine together.
Mejia kept his cool for the opening, showing off a full, expansive carriage instead of tricks. He’s having to fight his instincts to succeed via a strong offense (imagine him and Bouder in a jumping and turning match . . .) but by holding back, he’s laying claim to a steady rise. If he overjumped his first variation, adding extra happy feet in the middle of high turning jumps, that was a logical choice. The solo is tongue-in-cheek, meant to be blustery as well as virtuoso. The irony is he missed the timing and delivery of the joke spin where he loses his bearings.
There are performances you can tell are going to be great in the first 30 seconds; you can even swear you feel an electric current from the stage to the audience. Tiler Peck gave one of those world-class performances.
It didn’t hurt that Other Dances falls right into her specialty, the chiffon ballet. There wasn’t a standout moment to report; the whole thing was done with rock-solid control tempered by an ease that made it all seem like a conversation. You’ve never seen a dancer so nonchalantly on her leg. Her first solo was delicious. Both she and Mejia had so much breath in their upper bodies; and she floated on balance as she turned.
Mejia’s second solo was even more bang-on than the first, and then Peck danced her variation to the same music in a repeat like calligraphy flowing from a master’s hand. The ballet was over way before we wanted it to be, and that kind of performance – beyond first rate to world class – is what gives us a reason to keep going to the theater.
copyright © 2021 by Leigh Witchel
“La Valse,” “Other Dances,” pas de deux from “After the Rain,” “Agon” – New York City Ballet
Lincoln Center, New York, NY
October 14, 2021
Cover: Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia in “Other Dances.” Photo credit © Erin Baiano.
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