by Leigh Witchel
The first program of spring season got a second cast. Andrew Litton, who conducted New York City Ballet’s opening night, took a brisk pace as if Balanchine were still alive. He was slated to lead again, but Clotilde Otranto conducted instead.
The tempos were much slower, particularly in “Concerto Barocco.” Sara Mearns, who made her debut in the lead two days prior, gravitates towards slower tempos. They allowed her more volume, but had less push. Mearns didn’t look in form in the first movement, with the movement all seeming flyaway, and extensions dropping heavily to the ground. It was as if it were all happening in her limbs, rather than her center. She seemed earthbound next to Isabella LaFreniere, who made her debut alongside Mearns, and took her first entrance with alacrity and pulled-out extensions for a spacious performance.
By the adagio, Mearns looked more in control. Russell Janzen is an innate partner, but he also managed to add his own touch. He let Mearns developpé to the side, then initiated a promenade with his hand so she made a little more swirl to point out the circular patterns of the ballet. After turns, he let her fall gently into his left hand so she could do her extension more easily.
Even though the two ballerinas making their debuts in “Kammermusik No. 2” do the same steps in the opening, Emily Kikta, who did Colleen Neary’s part, had the trickier time musically. Miriam Miller, in Karin von Aroldingen’s role, danced the melody line, Kikta had to syncopate. Even so, she had a secure performance; Miller took a fall in just about the same spot as Mira Nadon a few days prior.
The duets in the inner movements encapsulate how Balanchine handled mystery: as German Expressionism. Hindemith, who was associated with expressionist music, gave Balanchine all the clues he needed. The haunting flourishes to open the second movement feel as if they might have been in a soundtrack to “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” or ”Metropolis.”
Balanchine reacted by having the men in the corps hold hands but tunnel under their neighbors, with one among them ducking his head under legs spread wide to stare at us. In front, the couples turned, lifted and flipped. Miller shaded her eyes and held her hands in a shrug as if every move were a question. Kikta and Aarón Sanz entered as if blown by winds. This vocabulary has shown up before, the cocked arms of the principals happen in both “Rubies” and “Stravinsky Violin Concerto” as well. Even in his later works, Balanchine’s aesthetic was strongly influenced by the period when he matured.
After the slow section everyone swirled to woodwinds and piano, with the stage seeming to be on a turntable as the cast strode round in a massive circle. The cast wove lines, the women were lifted out by their partners and the corps, not the principals, created the final image. Sanz and Peter Walker paired well together and with their partners, but the performance lacked the weight that would have linked it to the music. The end got knottier but didn’t gain mass.
In her debut in “Raymonda Variations,” Tiler Peck found more to bite in her duets with Joseph Gordon than in the entrée. Nowadays, Peck tends to turn up the volume; it’s a kind of Mannerism most ballerinas go through late-career. Still, there’s room to Be a Ballerina in the balances, swoons, and turns flicking from position to position. There was room also for Gordon to Be a Cavalier, offering his hand with a swagger to invite her to fall into his grasp.
Gordon has a loose, pliable body, which works nicely for the little jumps in his solo, where he really leaned and bent. Still, when he needed to pull himself together in big jumps, he whacked around and they were loose but wonky, not hitting a position. He took his second variation, the one with the tricky turn with a flick, much more quickly than Anthony Huxley. But sometimes his Damian-Woetzel-School-of-Is-it-Improvisation-Inspiration-or-Unpreparedness can’t help but be strangely endearing. His final pirouettes went out of control oh-so-slowly.
Peck’s first variation was a bunch of arabesques, something that is more restricted for her now. She was most impressive in the quick turns to close. Her second variation was much more congenial to her present gifts: 90 percent pointe work, ending in a manège of turns and jumps.
In the variations, Olivia MacKinnon had a soft quality that was nice in the opening, but not so nice in when she barely hopped on pointe. Baily Jones’s footwork was quick and avid, and she had no trouble with tricky en dedans turns to finish the second solo. The next three women all got their first tries at these variations two days earlier. Christina Clark is very tall, so the Harp solo was a natural choice for her. She didn’t fumble any of her turns and nailed things that are hard on a body that extended. Mary Thomas MacKinnon is more than just Olivia’s little sister, she’s a bête de scène with bright persona, interesting musicality and a strong jump. Your eye went right to her in her variation. If Malorie Lundgren feels new, even though she’s been in the company three years, you’re excused – she got in just before the pandemic. She looked worth the wait; she punched nothing yet nailed everything in the pizzicato solo, and was also strong in the coda doing high extensions and turns with Olivia MacKinnon.
Proving that cunning and treachery are useful qualities for any ballerina over 22, Peck timed her arms just so in the final dive, bringing them in before flinging them out as Gordon caught her to end with a nice Esther Williams splash. All she needed was a bathing cap.
copyright © 2023 by Leigh Witchel
“Concerto Barocco,” “Kammermusik No. 2,” “Raymonda Variations” – New York City Ballet
Lincoln Center, New York, NY
April 22, 2023
Cover: Emily Kikta and Miriam Miller in “Kammermusik No. 2.” Photo © Erin Baiano.
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