by Leigh Witchel
What’s the traditional present for a 116th birthday? Diamonds, Emeralds, Rubies? Instead of jewels, New York City Ballet’s gift to George Balanchine was a trio of his ballets led by women who’ve now become the senior ballerinas of the company.
“Allegro Brillante” was danced by an experienced cast, but at a brisk tempo that seemed to rattle the women in the corps more than the men. But not Tiler Peck in the lead. This is a part she’s done very well before, and seemed even more comfortable with.
Peck’s technique is at a level where she can be conversational, shading steps to give different meanings. She stroked the notes instead of hitting them, moving in tight bourrées or hesitating with a slight breath before coming forward out of an extension. The big ballerina moment – the unsupported pirouettes – is right in her wheelhouse. She made double to double and double to triple as smooth as machinery.
Tyler Angle was stylish both with her and alone. His one-handed partnering allowed her to revolve freely with almost no interference. Peck is a strong versatile dancer, but there’s stuff that shows her off best: she seems less of a tutu or leotard dancer and more of a category we think of less: a chiffon dancer.
Megan Fairchild led “La Source” with a spacious response to the music as well. She’s always been a precise dancer; a quality she’s had since she was a student. That’s in her legs, snapping outwards to the side, or walking backwards on pointe. But she’s learned to time her upper body against that to keep it from being small.
Gonzalo Garcia partnered her well; their final duet went off without a hitch. This is his métier – the middle range of Balanchine’s male roles that balances virtuosity with style. His strongest asset was his phrasing. He’s musically sensitive and his instinct is to shape a variation, not just dance it. It’s musicality in the post-Balanchine style, where all phrases accent at the end; he put in a pause each time he hit a coupé. He danced also with a mobile torso and arms: when he leaned back it was an actual bend, not just an incline.
Emma Von Enck made her debut leading the corps in the second ballerina role. She had a high jump, including a buoyant circle in the Naïla Waltz. But what lingered was the incision of the movement the way she darted forward into a brisé, like a small knife with a sharp blade.
Andrew Veyette made his debut as Prince Ivan in “Firebird.” Ivan is more rough and tumble than other ballet princes and so was Veyette: a Princebro. He clapped at the first monster he met to shoo it away, and didn’t make a courtly bow to Emilie Gerrity’s princess. Rather, he folded, almost as if he’d never done it before. But he did have a ring in his pocket to ask for her hand. Gerrity’s spaciousness seems to come to her naturally; she floated on top of her little balancés.
The Firebird was one of the first roles Ashley Bouder conquered on her march to stardom. It’s a bird, not a woman, and Bouder played it that way: staccato and oblique with hair-trigger responses. When she met Veyette, there was something frieze-like about both of them: like lacquer icons. And at the end, after defeating the monsters, Bouder pointed to the princess and directed Veyette to her. He and Gerrity bowed and left, as if everyone understood instinctively that birds and humans have separate lives and separate fates.
Bouder became an apprentice with the company in 2000; it’s hard to believe she’s approaching her 20th year with the company. Fairchild is a year behind her, Peck four. This is the class of the Early Noughties. They’ve spent their adult lives with NYCB, and it is now their company as well as Balanchine’s. That is the march of history. Even so, it was Balanchine’s birthday and they gave him their best.
Before the performance Veyette gave a curtain speech with Lauren Lovette that was a more disappointing gift. It was casually generic, rambling on in general terms about what a pleasure it was to dance Balanchine’s ballets. No matter how much they’ve done danced his work, they sounded like they never knew him – because they didn’t. When we’re celebrating Balanchine’s birthday, there are a diminishing and precious number of people alive who did know and work with Balanchine. Those are the people we need to hear from, while they are still here.
copyright © 2020 by Leigh Witchel
“Allegro Brillante,” “La Source,” “Firebird.” – New York City Ballet
Lincoln Center, New York, NY
January 22, 2020
Cover: Emma Von Enck in “La Source.” Photo credit © Erin Baiano.
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