I'm a big fan of Alexei Ratmansky's ballets. I liked his previous ballets for ABT - The Bright Stream, Firebird and Nutcracker - and I greatly enjoyed the premiere of one piece of this trilogy when I saw it last fall at City Center. I just really like his vigorous musicality, his interesting use of shapes and formations, and the familiar yet challenging steps in his choreography. The Shostakovich Trilogy wasn't a part of my subscription package, but I made sure to buy a ticket anyway. Instead of my nice fourth row balcony center seat, though, I was in the first row of the balcony. First row of the balcony is tough, because of the railing, but it wasn't too bad last night. A couple of my photos suffered, though...
The first piece of Symphony #9, which is the one I saw a couple of times last fall. I really enjoyed seeing them then and I really enjoyed seeing it again. From the balcony, I got a great sense of the excellent movement through the space, and the interesting groupings of the corps. There's great vigor in this piece, with a 'comic' duo, danced by Sascha Radetsky and Stella Abrera, and deep feeling in the other duo, Roberto Bolle and Veronika Part. They just seem to skim across the floor, her knees and feet are particular lovely. Jared Matthews was also terrific in his solos, in fact, I felt the end bit was much better last night than it was last fall. Sascha still seems tentative in his partnering, though, which can get old, but he's fine when he dances alone. There's always something fun happening in this piece, but never so much that you get frustrated. I hope it becomes a part of the repertory so that I can experience the piece again and again. I have borrowed this lovely photo from ABT's Facebook page - it's of Bolle and Part, courtesy of Rosalie O'Connor. Same old drill - I will happily (if regretfully) take it down if asked. But my pictures are so awful, I wanted something pretty, too. 
The second piece was Chamber Symphony, which was darker and more mysterious. A gentleman, danced by James Whiteside, is surrounded by rough male dancers and oblivious female dancers, and is also entranced by three lovely soloists (Sarah Lane, Yuriko Kajiya and Hee Seo). His dancing with each of the three was unique, though all of their partings were sad. But it's as if he had to go through all three ladies to get to the end's state of being. At least, that's what I think it meant. As always, there was so much going on, it's really hard to take everything in during one viewing. But I found so much to enjoy at first glance - the corps lifting all of the soloists and spinning them away from each other was particularly evocative. And the final tableau was incredible. James Whiteside was a wonderful lead, very expressive in his acting and gorgeous in his dancing.
The third piece was Piano Concerto #1, which Shostakovich apparently wrote as a school project when he was 19! Wow! It's a beautiful piece of music that I've never heard before. This choreography was high-octane all the way. Two pairs of soloists, Calvin Royal III and Christine Shevchenko (who was substituting for an injured Gillian Murphy) and Xiomara Reyes and Daniil Simkin. Their pas de deux were so interesting, intimate and alienating at the same time. Reyes and Simkin were the more "it" dancers, but Royal and Shevchenko made admirable debuts. Royal especially has a lot of joie de vivre in his partnering, and very nice lift in his solo work. The whole piece was danced very vigorously (there were a couple of tumbles, but they recovered quickly), with still a little bit of danger in the air, as when the two ballerinas stood and held each other, in protective mode. It was an interesting contrast. The set had some symbolic Russian relics hanging in back - I'm not quite sure what they meant, or how they fit into the ballet. I loved the costumes in this piece, though. The unitards on the dancers in the corps reminded me of the ceramic ballerinas hanging on my bedroom wall when I was little. I enjoy a nice bit of memory, I must say. :) 
All three pieces were amazing - lyrical yet forceful, humorous but wistful. I loved them. I even enjoyed seeing certain steps and patterns repeating themselves through the trilogy. The connection was fantastic. I think I said it before, but it bears repeating - Ratmansky is a treasure, his pieces are must-see events, and I hope this trilogy enters the repertory to be enjoyed for years to come. 
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