by Leigh Witchel
The season at New York City Ballet was getting in gear with its second repertory program, and a hint of time passing. Jared Angle hasn’t been on stage much lately, but will retire after a quarter century with the company on February 4, dancing Prince Ivan in “Firebird.” He’s doing all six performances of the ballet, which closed the Classic NYCB I Program.
Angle’s first Prince Ivan in the series was less of an adventurer than Amar Ramasar’s (who also used the role as a run up to his retirement). It was also less engaged. Angle gestured more and looked surprised rather than trying to get in and battle the monsters. Megan LeCrone went in for Emilie Gerrity as the Prince’s Bride as part of a casting switch-up. She didn’t do a ton but looked good doing it. Isabella LaFreniere’s Firebird had to provide most of the energy in a low-octane performance, springing skywards with a sharp attack. She left the stage with vibrating bourrées that seemed impelled by her back.
Unfortunately, Angle isn’t in shape and these final performances will mostly be for those who want to say goodbye. Early in his career he inherited the mantle of the man every ballerina wanted as her partner from Jock Soto. He’s been that for years, and partnered both LaFreniere and LeCrone gallantly.
“Liturgy” will celebrate its 20th birthday this year with a new cast: Unity Phelan and Chun Wai Chan made their debuts in Christopher Wheeldon’s duet to Arvo Pärt’s familiar (extraordinarily familiar) “Fratres.”
The pas de deux is a crowd-pleaser for its procession of surprising images and showy configurations. Originally done for Wendy Whelan and Soto, it was a vehicle for their partnership and her weird, riveting plasticity.
Phelan doesn’t yet have the burning intensity that made Wheeldon’s pretzel duets for Whelan more than elegant nightclub acts, yet even with Whelan, the duet had the tendency to be glossy.
The new couple began the clockwork poses in smoky darkness. After proceeding at the measured pace of the low strings below the agitated chirring of the higher ones, the movement for Phelan sped up, and Chan came to meet her in the spotlight. The couple attacked the steps, but without being able to see their faces clearly, they felt anonymous. More than anything you saw the self-consciously ingenious contortions. When Phelan raced in and out of different wings it seemed not like a cosmic statement, but a mad caprice.
One of the most surprising thing about casting Chan in the partner role is you’d think he would have done “Walpurgisnacht Ballet,” which came next, and Tyler Angle, Jared’s younger brother, would have done “Liturgy.”
“Walpurgisnacht” is one of Balanchine’s glosses on opera ballet in the 19th century, with an extra layer of proximity: it was made for Paris Opera’s production of “Faust,” only in 1975, not 1875. Five years later, the dances entered the repertory of NYCB.
Balanchine went retro in it, commenting on the genre with a mass of women in hierarchical ranks and a single man who barely got a solo. Looking at it more than four decades later, the stereotypes and Balanchine’s avid deployment of Girls! Girls! Girls! in Milliskin! Milliskin! Milliskin! felt worn around the edges. The ponytails, held by ribbons, the coy femininity as the women bent low while fluffing their skirts against their knees, the bombastic finale of Hair! Hair! Hair! (the stage cleared briefly for Angle to do nice jetés and blow the landing on both his tours) made it feel dated more than old-fashioned.
Emilie Gerrity made her debut pinch-hitting for Sara Mearns, an interesting choice, but possibly provoked out of necessity. Gerrity’s default demeanor is sunny; smiling as she traverses the stage, but Balanchine chose Suzanne Farrell for the lead and the role contains Farrell’s grandeur and abandon.
Gerrity leapt into her assemblés and did easy extensions in her first solo. Her second solo was typically good-tempered, but that worked with the romping music. In the solo ballerina role, Erica Pereira danced spaciously in the opening, and made something of the dance she led. It was mostly piqués, punctuated by jumps and a tricky manège of attitude turns, but she got more texture out of it by varying the timing.
Gerrity finished her last variation by whizzing through a complicated diagonal of tight spins, but you could tell which turns were harder by the flickering of her smile. She’s a WYSIWYG ballerina. Mystery would be her next frontier.
“Allegro Brillante,” which opened, looked much freer for Tiler Peck than “Donizetti Variations” did a few days prior. The arabesques that seemed pinched in “Donizetti” were supported by her partner Roman Mejia here, so easier for her to lift and sustain, and turns are her thing. She had more abandon than in “Donizetti,” leaning back daringly as she brought her leg out.
Mejia came out loaded for bear, and it felt as if he was in the driver’s seat initially. He pushed the work forward with his energy and attack, Peck seemed to be using his wake. But when she got to her solo, she took center stage. Raising her arms abruptly, she paused as if signaling us to pay attention. Then she did an impeccable double pirouette to a triple. And repeated herself, as if to make a point. It was regal, but she also had the speed to whiz through chaînés.
Watching him rocket up in sautés or fly in tour jetés, it seems likely Mejia will inherit the mantle of Damian Woetzel: the prince, but the one with swagger. The big difference was Woetzel was almost completely impulsive in performance. Sometimes it seemed as if he decided what jump to do on the takeoff. Mejia prepares, and you can see the polish.
You can tell from what Mejia incorporates into his performances that he’s been listening to good coaching advice, and he’s further refined his stage persona. He brought forward a quality from “Valse-Fantaisie,” a kind of fuller staccato where the movement has a clipped, brilliant quality but still fills out a phrase.
Peck and Mejia modulated their partnering beautifully. He greeted her with just a little machismo and spun her round tightly in a presto-change-o promenade. After, he lifted her and she seemed to almost imperceptibly go from the stage to his shoulder. They’re even better together than apart.
The ballet has so many things Peck does well and nothing that gives her trouble. When the time comes – hopefully not soon – when she needs to choose her ballet to say farewell, it might as well be this one.
copyright © 2023 by Leigh Witchel
“Allegro Brillante,” “Liturgy,” “Walpurgisnacht Ballet,” “Firebird” – New York City Ballet
Lincoln Center, New York, NY
January 20, 2023
Cover: Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia in “Allegro Brillante.” Photo credit © Erin Baiano.
Got something to say about this? Sound off here
[Don’t miss a thing! We’ll send you a notification of every article we post if you sign up with your email. (The signup is right below, scroll down). We promise you won’t be deluged and we won’t spam you either.]
