by Leigh Witchel
New York City Ballet’s first All Balanchine program was strung together with American composers, though that thread was weak. Even with the Balanchine bonanza, programming hasn’t been astute: “Stars and Stripes” and “Western Symphony” overlap more than they contrast in repertory, and “The Unanswered Question” without “Ivesiana” doesn’t have much point. Still, there were opportunities in the rep program’s run. More debuts were planned, but casting shuffles made these two performances have much the same cast.
Gilbert Bolden III’s upwards climb accelerated this season. He made his debut in “Western Symphony” with clean lines, easy jetés and amiable technique. Olivia MacKinnon made her debut along with him, they related well and their second outing seemed even more comfortable. He’s a strong partner, with stage presence and creativity; he looked under her arm to catch a glimpse of her leg as she kicked it forward and back, then popped her in a lift. He’s also a solid technician, with neat tours.
MacKinnon’s approach to the first movement seemed like how the second movement is now done: flickering on and off into a pose. She hit each stereotype of the fancy blond city girl with a frame by frame sequence like a zoetrope: The Golden Girl of the West. MacKinnon’s not yet vivid onstage, but if she develops steadily like a former soloist that she recalls a bit, Lauren King, that would be lovely.
The second movement is generally cast with a man who can act. Jovani Furlan had an extroverted presence and clearly telegraphed his character. He saw Indiana Woodward and reacted, “Whoa!” Woodward also acted, but not without serving technique, and Furlan related to it enthusiastically.
She sharpened her timing so her character also transitioned between bright and blank like an on/off switch. Still, she and Furlan were able to smooth out the switches so the flickering moods still felt like part of the same idea.
Woodward also showed an eye for history, trying something that Melissa Hayden did on the mid-1950’s recording, repeated en dedans attitude turns. The Italian fouettés done now are hard enough, these were harder. They didn’t work well on Woodward’s first go. Her leg drooped, but by the second outing she had figured out the timing and the axis so that they looked impressive, rather than difficult.
She flew with daring to Furlan, but there’s another historical mystery. There was a moment in Sandra Jenning’s staging in Sarasota, when the woman did the dive to the back, the man tipped her far enough over upside-down that her face was framed by the arms of the corps. It’s logical enough it looked as if it was a restored detail. Except it isn’t in either the early recording or in one from 1990. At the same time, on the second night, Woodward overshot Furlan slightly so that he tipped her farther, and that pose almost happened unintentionally. It’s not impossible that occurred at another rehearsal or performance, looked good and someone said, “No, leave it in.”
Andrew Veyette shot out for the finale. Emily Kikta still towered over him, and Veyette’s not short. Kikta was refining her presence; going with a glamorous darker makeup to be more of a femme fatale. She still smiled when she approached him, then she whacked an endless leg and nearly kicked him. She also nailed every risky penchée dive and did single-double fouetté turns to a clean multiple to finish. She’s continuing to make the case that she’s more than just the current Tall Girl.
The later show brought a cast change for this movement. Unity Phelan doesn’t have as extreme a facility as Kikta, but she went for a risky penchée and did clean single fouettés. This is a role Roman Mejia got early and he sold it hard, with lots of hat tips, salutes and finger pistols.
Both of them hammed it up but the role can handle it and Mejia’s earned the ham. Just don’t copy him – make up your own shtick.
Sara Adams and Harrison Coll wound up doing both performances of “The Unanswered Question.” She went in for Ashley Laracey in the first show, Coll went in for Troy Schumacher the second.
Adams, barefoot with her hair unbound, stayed dispassionate and aloft, above four men dressed in black to be as invisible as Japanese stagehands. We haven’t seen the piece for a while, but it deals with a theme Balanchine returns to in his darker works – the unknowable woman. Was she reaching towards Coll or just reaching side?
For the briefest moment she was tossed into Coll’s arms, and almost immediately returned to the men. Coll spasmed desperately, then spun, turned and thrashed. She remained in arabesque; the men rotated her like a sentinel. He lay down, the men passed her, still airborne, over him and took her off as Ives’ distant fanfare trailed off.
“The Unanswered Question” is the briefest vignette and paired with “Tararantella” that followed, isn’t enough to fill out the middle of a program. But this is the area of Balanchine’s work we’re most in danger of losing. “Ivesiana” hasn’t been presented in full (at least, in the cut-down version Balanchine fashioned in 1961) since a decade ago. Now we only have this pas de deux. This ballet has always been problematic, but the problems start when it doesn’t work, because the audience doesn’t like it. Then it gets excerpted. Then it gets dropped.
“Tarantella” had two casts, Erica Pereira with Daniel Ulbricht and Emma Von Enck in her debut with Sebastían Villarini-Velez. Pereira did the infamous dip in grand plié as less about squatting down and more about the recovery out of a slow bend. Ulbricht has been doing “Tarantella” since the dawn of civilization, and at this point he doesn’t feel the need to beat it into submission (‘member when he used to always break the tambourine?) Now, he shimmies around slowly and plays with tempos, going sloooow then smacking the tambourine, then tearing into a circle of impossibly fast jetés en tournant. He’s the coolest of cats. Pereira performed brightly but “Tarantella” is a competitive dance and Ulbricht was rough competition.
With her sharp little legs, Von Enck was happy and incisive in the part. The drop into plié is one of those steps every dancer is almost compelled to do uniquely. She did it with a snap back up and a fast échappé like a burble. The role gave her zest and also forced her to be big. Villarini was a decent counterpart for her. His tendency is to sell, so he jogged to the center, shuffled around and lustily slammed the tambourine. At times when he shook his chest, he looked like Steve Martin’s Wild and Crazy Guy. But there’s room for that in the part.
Peter Walker and Mira Nadon made their debuts in “Stars and Stripes” the prior week. The ballet wasn’t comfortable for either, so they compensated with gestures and glances. Walker, who is tall and lanky, still is a touch too short for Nadon – some of the overhead finger turns didn’t work.
In his solo, Walker has the long legs for an impressive split jeté. He’s always approached a new part intelligently, and you could see him building a ringmaster persona for the circusy music in this most extrovertedly American of roles. Nadon also scaled up with a springy but wobbly jump, but she pulled it together for a tight manège. And Walker made his circuit as well.
Casting the two of them in this was mysterious. Nadon is long, soulful and pliable to the point of squishy; steel-plated bullerina isn’t what she does. In the pas de deux, she wasn’t on her leg and Walker couldn’t easily find her balance.
Balanchine was known for casting against type. But giving Isabella LaFreniere “Diamonds” and Nadon “Stars” was either thoughtful casting so the dancer could work on it, or completely random. It felt like the latter.
Roman Mejia’s debut in the same role as Walker was no-brainer casting. He’s got the swagger and cushiony plié for the repertory originated by Jacques d’Amboise and continued by Damian Woetzel. At first in the main pas, Megan Fairchild nailed a balance and barely bothered with Mejia, but the next balance went awry and she had to grab him. Still, they both smiled and quickly recovered their poise. Later on she started a step-over turn well before he got there. He came in and completed the partnering – it was daring and exciting, as it should be. They’re both unafraid to take risks.
They were both also loaded for bear. Mejia threw her skywards in an entrechat – POP – and did it again. She held her extension side as she balanced.
In supporting roles, Villarini-Velez made an extroverted debut in the third campaign, disappearing into his hat and uniform like a comic stuffed shirt. As in “Tarantella,” he sold it, KAPOW! to every pose. The part takes a lot of stamina; you could see him take breaths to manage it.
Ulbricht was again his alternate, and again, this is a role he’s done forever. He played with the punctuation and accenting without stretching the phrases out of shape. Even though he’s a show-off in show-off roles, at heart he’s a very clean dancer, with neat port de bras and tight tours into a deeper plié.
Adams got to stay on the ground to do the first campaign, with lovely technique: clean turns and precise beats. Pereira gave a brisk performance, also with neat attitude turns to lovely multiple pirouettes. But if the two of them were any indication, baton twirling is a lost art.
In the second campaign, Kikta gave a performance that was lush but still in control. Alternating with her, Megan LeCrone needs some extroverted parts like this. She flickered in and out, beaming and then falling into herself. But there’s little to actually worry about, except when, bless her heart, she briefly held the prop trumpet upside down. In the finale, when she was home free, she glowed escorted by Villarini-Velez. I know Ulbricht in passing and I’ve stood next to him. He’s not that short. But if Kikta made Veyette look small, when Ulbricht escorted her out as she walked on her pointes, he looked as if his Mom were taking him to the toy store.
If there was any connecting thread in this disconnected American program, it might be the looseness of American classicism. Especially for the men, the solo roles didn’t rely on punctiliousness and line, but on brio and spontaneity. Balanchine’s American works were not about purity. Like us.
copyright © 2023 by Leigh Witchel
“Western Symphony,” “The Unanswered Question,” “Tarantella,” “Stars and Stripes” – New York City Ballet
Lincoln Center, New York, NY
September 26, 2023
October 3, 2023
Cover: Sara Adams and Harrison Coll in “The Unanswered Question.” Photo © Erin Baiano.
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