by Leigh Witchel
New York City Ballet is pushing Peter Walker in an unexpected way – to be a partner in classical roles. Walker, an intelligent dancer whose biggest successes have been in contemporary roles or parts that require interpretation and acting, is also tall. With other tall partners overworked or starting to age out, he’s needed.
He made his debut in Mozartiana, the opening ballet of the Balanchine-Ratmansky bill, three days prior alongside Sara Mearns. His second shot was still trial by fire; he’s going to have to fight for the role. Still, he made it with no real flubs. Walker is a solid partner tall enough for Mearns, and he didn’t get in her way, which was saying a lot. They didn’t have much spark, but Mearns was coming off injuries, and has been doing this long enough that she didn’t look as if she felt like breaking in a new partner.
He opened his first variation emphasizing the arms. That was easier; his long legs were fighting to keep up with the speed. Walker is a solid turner, and you could see that in the second variation, but also how he was pushing to shoot his legs out into arabesque at tempo. It was a bear for him, but he tried for the step rather than fudging it. One likely necessary exception; he made his last air turn, a single to a double, but in an act of conservation, it was to a fourth position, not to the knee. You could see how hard he was working in small places. Before the pas de deux, when when the women raced around and through the two leads standing still on opposite sides, he was panting. But Walker didn’t fall apart as he went on – he got more solid.
With Mearns taking the lead, Mozartiana might as well have been a different ballet than when Peck did it. Mearns’ approach in the Preghiera, surprisingly for her, was very internal: little makeup, eyes down, and most surprising, not performing for us. She didn’t even seem to notice the children surrounding her until a pause near the end. It felt more like praying. She remained still in a pose with the children as the strings shivered into silence.
Mearns entered with a different, brighter mood for the pas de deux, taking her first variation wittily, like a restoration comedy heroine with her fan. Mearns always works in the moment; in her next variation one turn almost went awry. She just went on. Perhaps because Mearns has been fighting off injuries, by the third variation she showed signs of fatigue. Neither she nor Walker were crystalline in their leg work; gargouillades looked like leg scratching. Mearns is a different turner than Walker. She can turn around her axis; she doesn’t have to be right on it. Even off peak form, Mearns is still up to a very tough role, and she delivered a performance. And if this is not a natural part for Walker, he approached the challenge honestly and well. When Walker met her as she finished her final solo, she took his hand and just smiled. The worst was over.
Monumentum Pro Gesualdo and Movements for Piano and Orchestra got divided casting, with two couples making their debuts. In Monumentum, Miriam Miller went in for Emilie Gerrity. Miller’s Pre-Raphaelite looks suited the part, and her oblique reticence felt natural, not rolled out for the occasion. Like Mearns, she gave a performance where spirituality did not have an audience. Still, Miller’s body is lush, not moderate; it’s not a big effort for her to crank an arabesque up to the sky. Even though Aarón Sanz is tall, he wasn’t working with her comfortably. He pulled her a little too hard as she moved in bourrées and partnered turns didn’t go easily.
You’d expect to see Dominika Afanasenkov in Monumentum, she also has that gentle quality. So Movements was a good challenge for her. She threw herself into the attack. Her body allowed her to be surprising; there was a lot of give. Running up and flopping into Davide Riccardo’s arms, or cutting through precise leg positions, she went for extreme bends, arches and stretch and tried to add sharpness in her legs.
In her short solo near the end, she plunged and arched way back. Riccardo pushed as well, almost stumbling at one point. But Afanasenkov and Miller have a similar gentle plasticity. At the final pose, where the woman often towers over the man like a predator, Afanasenkov ended with a gentle move upward of her hands, not a harsh flex. It would take work to make her into a killer.
Unity Phelan (in the green central role) and Harrison Coll (in the blue trio) made their debuts in Concerto DSCH a few days prior. Alongside Sebastián Villarini-Veléz, Coll’s beats were sparkling in the opening, followed by Emma Von Enck whirling forward in turns. Neither Villarini-Veléz nor Coll is built or dances like Joaquin De Luz, or KJ Takahashi. It pays to be compact in that part; Coll and Villarini-Veléz have to push for it. They both made it, though it went a little easier for Coll.
Phelan danced with Tyler Angle, who was a last-minute swap for Adrian Danchig-Waring. She still did well; the extreme tempos lit a fire under her. It’s never a question for Phelan of being able to do it, but being able to make something of it.
Von Enck slashed through more insane turns, before the movement’s quintessential moment of Ratmanskyness. The men did a complicated combination of beats while in the center, Devin Alberda jumped repeatedly in parallel position with his feet flexed, like a kid trying to reach the “You must be this high to ride” sign.
The opening of the adagio showed how Ratmansky uses emotions as choreography. It’s a dumb show of a hundred little hurts: a woman pushing a man down, that man refusing another woman’s hand offered to help him up.
Angle was the best pinch hitter Phelan could have asked for; he wound and unwound her through beautiful extensions and footwork. When the pas was ending and twilight turned to dark, he smiled unaffectedly as the two joined a group in a line to walk forward. That quiet moment in fading light wasn’t prayer, or communion, but community. He only hesitated and looked back at Phelan when he approached the wings.
Von Enck, Coll and Villarini-Veléz charged in for the last movement. As he does when he’s comfortable, Villarini-Veléz threw in some acting, getting impatient waiting his turn as they all jumped at one another one at a time. Coll was vibrant as well; the two men paired well together.
This was a program of great ballets, but not an easy one. You could see the dancers being challenged, better still you could see them making it work, and making improvements. In Concerto DSCH, the Ratmansky Effect was in full view from the outset; everyone danced their best for him. Other soloists, Davide Riccardo, Gilbert Bolden III and Olivia MacKinnon, were in the ensemble, but everyone was tearing through the movement. That’s the Ratmansky Effect; with his ballets, he’s there, watching and encouraging, and there are no small parts.
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 4, 2024
Cover: Peter Walker in Mozartiana. Photo © Erin Baiano.
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