by Leigh Witchel
Yes, ballet spends too much time worshiping youth. There’s beauty in every flower from the bud to the fall of the petals. Still, seeing that fleeting moment of bursting into blossom is so special.
Mira Nadon is right there, right now. Her movement is generous, with ripe, pliant limbs that go on forever. Her body can do whatever she asks, seemingly without effort. Her timing is unforced; so is her technique. She’s in full bloom.
But I’m saving the best for last. First, the rest of a strong final performance of a fine program at New York City Ballet. Casting was largely the same as the prior outing. Miriam Miller turned up the volume in Monumentum Pro Gesualdo, moving with more attack from backbends to a grand arabesque.
In Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Dominika Afansenkov, like Miller and Nadon, all have a similar facility: that extended, loose body that will do what they ask, as long as they care for it properly. Pairing her sweetness with the disorienting acerbic music worked . . . sometimes. In Monumentum, the six couples form a court. Take away the men, and the women’s skirts, leaving only six women and a man alone among them in Movements, and it’s halfway to The Cage. Davide Riccardo pushed as well, jumping and bending in his brief solo, but one thing that may never change is Afanasenkov’s calm, sweet look towering over him at the end. Either he’s safe or he’ll never know what hit him.
Adrian Danchig-Waring was able to do Concerto DSCH finally, and the Ratmansky Effect held for him and the rest of the cast. They danced their best. Unity Phelan can flicker in and out of focus through a season. The lightbulb was not only fully screwed in here, but traded in for higher wattage. Her timing was on, she was hitting everything where it should be. She varied both her attack and her mood throughout and gave finely sculpted shapes in the haunting adagio (Shostakovich’s music will stay in your head for days). Her phrasing was unbroken, as if she were having a quiet conversation with Danchig-Waring. But most importantly, as she fell into his arms, then cradled her face with her own hand, there was more going on than a shape. When they looked back at one another at the end of the movement, it was simple and natural, but also a poignant story.
The trio, Emma Von Enck, Harrison Coll and Sebastián Villarini-Veléz, also sustained their previous good work, with Von Enck slicing in from her first turns forward, Villarini-Veléz barreling round the stage and finally Coll coming forward in tours after stunning beats. Ratmansky had filled several kitchen sinks’ worth of ideas by the time the three jumped and tumbled at the end of the first movement.
Coll pushed even harder in the opening of the third movement, before a moment of Ratmanskyness where Danchig-Waring danced with Von Enck, only to be confronted by Phelan. But watching Concerto DSCH this time, what also stuck were moments such as Danchig-Waring swinging Phelan round in the first movement as Ratmansky built up to a huge circling tableau where Danchig-Waring pressed her overhead. Shades of the end of La Valse, but even more of Spartacus. In the final movement Villarini-Veléz led the men in spirited jumps tucking their legs, but then came forward with his fist over his heart as if swearing to break all production records at the factory. Is Ratmansky the last Soviet choreographer?
The moment we had all come there for came at the beginning of the evening. Nadon made her debut in Mozartiana with Peter Walker two days prior and this sophomore performance was All That. She didn’t hammer or telegraph her effects, but she was focused enough (and she has a great stage face) so that when she lifted her head at the opening of the Preghiera, it was something.
The tempo she took in the Preghiera was slow, but not steady. Her timing had texture, a combination of advance planning and being in the moment. It was moderato; she filled the section without punching it. On the last note, where Mearns froze a tableau to good effect, Nadon kept slowly growing her arms into the final pose until the music slipped away.
Walker had more rapport with Nadon than Mearns. They entered for the duet with a bounce in their walks; he swiped to catch her hand as she playfully avoided him. Her first variation was luscious in its easiness. She surfed the timing of her pliés into pointe tendu, hitting the note without calling attention to it.
Walker was filling out his opening variation with more detail. His lines were wonky when he needed to arch back, but so many other things, his speed and beats, had improved. The vicious turns to arabesque were clearer. There were still challenges; his single to double tour is to fourth, not the knee, but even Ib Andersen on tape had to save his landing.
Checking that tape, Farrell didn’t put her head to her knee when she did a front extension, at least in that performance. She did largely what Mearns and Nadon did, bent towards it relatively far. But this performance for Nadon was all about ease. The turns, the tricks, the footwork, nothing was a struggle. She strolled gently through her final variation, assured with every flourish.
The pas de deux went smoothly. Walker and Nadon were well-matched; he’s an excellent height for her. Walker even took more risks on the blind turn in the coda, not landing before she started turning. This was Nadon’s second shot at the role, and Walker’s fourth. If Nadon is The Natural, Walker is The Honest Worker. But they were both honest. She didn’t put her mystique ahead of the choreography; he worked like a dog to face the challenges of the role. It may never be the natural part for him. But watching him meet the moment, and improve, was as special in its way as watching Nadon take what was rightfully hers.
copyright © 2024 by Leigh Witchel
Mozartiana, Monumentum Pro Gesualdo, Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Concerto DSCH – New York City Ballet
Lincoln Center, New York, NY
October 10, 2024
Cover: Mira Nadon in Mozartiana. Photo © Erin Baiano.
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