by Leigh Witchel
New York City Ballet celebrated three quarters of a century with a packed house. After a short filmed feature, the program was the same one as on that October night in 1948. The biggest surprise was which ballet looked the freshest.
Unity Phelan always had the clean lines and positions for “Concerto Barocco.” Her legs were like sharp skewers in high arabesques, but she cut through space more than she displaced it. There wasn’t as much that remained when she left.
In the second ballerina role, Emilie Gerrity’s sunny nature worked. She was off her axis, as the choreography called for, pitching back at the opening and looked glad to be onstage. In the third movement, she leaped in pushing skywards.
The ballet has changed over time, jazzy elements have smoothed out and become more adagio. Here, it looked like a middle-tier work with less impact, but that may also be how it seems when you pair Phelan and Gerrity, two similar dancers without much contrast when put together. Perhaps better to cast two people more immediately distinguishable?
Andrew Veyette’s partnering and lifts with Phelan were as smooth as hydraulics, but he had a little a little trouble twisting, then going to his knee. This corps, a mix of senior corps and youngsters faced with a two-year hiatus from the pandemic, now danced together like a sorority. At the bows, a brief reminder of bigger issues ahead: violin soloists Kurt Nikkanen and Arturo Delmoni wore shirts demanding a fair contract for the orchestra.
“Symphony in C” closed with a solid performance. In the first movement, Megan Fairchild was clean and accurate but jammed herself into positions with little rebound. She looked fine if she didn’t have to go into plié. Joseph Gordon romped through the movement pushing himself through turns with a whack. Still, he made them. Barely controlled force seems to be his style.
Sara Mearns did another larger-than-life gloss on “Swan Lake,” but that product of hers hasn’t yet hit a sell-by date. When she walked it felt as if she were acknowledging the crowd. Other times she appeared downcast, in a sad dream. Even though she always scales up the drama, she didn’t slow down the tempo.
However, her tutu looked unflattering – short and thick-waisted – and she didn’t look that way in “Slaughter” earlier in the season. She was somewhere in the vicinity of her leg during much of the movement, so it was a good thing her partner was Tyler Angle. At the center of the movement, she gave more value to the side extension rather than the big penchée after it. She didn’t do Suzanne Farrell’s head to knee moment but her swoons briefly stopped time.
At this moment Roman Mejia is basically everything. He’s clean, elegant and effortless, so he’s a tough partner to go up with except for someone like Tiler Peck. Together in the third movement, Emma Von Enck bobbed her head in the soutenu combinations and pushed her jumps; he floated his. He didn’t overstuff his little solo; he did the same air jump extending high to the side, but he put a period on it with a stunning double tour in retiré, then popped Von Enck into the air.
Indiana Woodward had to go in for Brittany Pollack in the fourth movement, so she may have been slightly thrown. She got through the nasty turn that’s the finale’s motif, but not the way you’d expect from someone who’s a strong turner.
Everyone seems to dance better in the reprise, maybe because the worst is past. Fairchild phrased nicely, Mearns came out smiling, because it was a different act of “Swan Lake.” Mejia, Von Enck and everyone behind them pitched back of their axes in unorthodox elegance.
The surprise was “Orpheus.” It has looked flat for years, but Gordon has made real strides since his debut in the part and gave the title role musical texture. He attacked with sharp syncopation; the whole cast had a more jazzy inflection. As importantly, he didn’t play Orpheus as inactive and depressed, which doesn’t work on stage.
Peter Walker is also sharp and shadowed more than sunny; his spikiness works for the Dark Angel. He yanked Orpheus, handling him with a rough urgency that seemed almost to shock Gordon when he first wore the mask. Walker didn’t do the descent into the underworld as a series of pretty tendus to the back, it was a struggle.
The scene in Hell has always been the problem and still was. The chicken-wing jumps and neat long tendu poses were neither emotionally nor musically interesting. It still looked like a dance rather than a place. But Walker pulled the music out of both Gordon and the lyre, almost shoving Gordon to get him to play.
Ashley Laracey made her debut as Eurydice the night prior, and though it’s really a brief role – an entry, the departure from the underworld and the great but short pas de deux – it has huge potential in the right hands. Laracey had the right hands. Her angular lines worked for the part, but she tempered them and her accenting with a smoother phrasing for both elongated lines and textured dancing.
This has been Laracey’s season, almost by default. The company seems to see her as a Designated Hitter, but they need her right now, so for the past few months she’s been in part after part. And instead of flagging, she’s kept climbing, giving stronger performances technically and emotionally. She’s made a jump that deserves recognition.
It was her conception of Eurydice that worked so well. From when Laracey leaned her cheek on Gordon’s shoulder she was a woman hungry again for life and love. She cranked her arabesque upwards, using it to mirror the ascent, and beautifully, innocently grabbed at Gordon, wanting nothing more than to see his face again. When he couldn’t find her because of his mask, he was gentle trying to locate her rather than panicked, but he was also desperately trying not to look at her.
When she collapsed lifeless Gordon did a double take. He saw her fall but it didn’t immediately register that he had lost her again. Then, in a heartbreaking moment, it did. All three of the leads were bringing more to the role, and for Laracey, it’s one of the most moving things she’s done. They’ve made it a real story again.
A murderous debut by Emily Kikta, grabbing and pushing as the lead Bacchante, also deserves mention, but Laracey, Gordon and Walker felt like the first cast in a long while to bring “Orpheus” back from the underworld. What more could you ask for on an anniversary?
copyright © 2023 by Leigh Witchel
NYCB 75th Anniversary
“Concerto Barocco,” “Orpheus,” “Symphony in C” – New York City Ballet
Lincoln Center, New York, NY
October 11, 2023
Cover: Joseph Gordon and Ashley Laracey in “Orpheus.” Photo © Erin Baiano.
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