ABT 2016 - Ratmansky Triple Bill

I know I've mentioned before that I enjoy Alexei Ratmansky's choreography - I like how he takes classical steps and makes them seem modern.  If you know what I mean.  I enjoy how he makes bodies move throughout space, the shapes he creates, and how he matches choreography to music; I also enjoy how he gives chances to so many dancers.  His ballets are where you see a lot of soloists and corps dancers perform solos and pas de deux that they might not get to do in the story ballets.  In my series, last night's Ratmansky Triple Bill wasn't part of the subscription, so I bought an extra ticket to the performance.  I'm ever so glad I did.

The first piece of the evening was a world premiere, Serenade

photo credit: Andrea Mohin (not the cast I saw)

After Plato's Symposium, with music by Leonard Bernstein.  I don't know the Bernstein violin concerto or the Plato text, but I know I did like this ballet, even on first viewing.  Sometimes it takes me a couple of tries to really enjoy something, but I thought this was simply beautiful.  Seven fantastic male dancers, along with one lovely ballerina, went through different sections of comaraderie, love, indecision, and complexity, all with beautiful classicism and also whimsy. There was air and speed and ease in much of the movement.  Each gent brought their own individual brand of energy and strength to their dancing and each gent had a chance to shine.  If I was especially taken with Herman Cornejo and Joseph Gorak, well, I'm almost always predisposed to be taken with them.  I also enjoyed Alexandre Hammoudi and his pas de deux with Hee Seo, who either played a version of Love or maybe even a version of Death, I can't quite tell who.  But I'm intrigued enough to see it again to find out.  I really enjoyed this piece.  Oh, and the violin soloist was outstanding.

photo credit: Rosalie O'Connor

The second piece was one I've enjoyed in the past, Seven Sonatas.  This is just so beautiful, with movement and drive that's also so light and airy.  The solo pianist playing the Scarlatti themes was expert.  There are three couples, and just the moving through space of the six dancers was lovely.  Lines of three, either of the men and the women, or one/two of each, were wonderfully used.  Stella Abrera and Calvin Royal III had my favorite pas de deux, so intricate and yet still so gentle and beautiful.  The ballet has no plot, but that doesn't mean there isn't story and character and their story was very touching.  I really love this piece the more I see it.

The final piece of the night was the return of The Firebird.  I saw this one a couple of times the summer it premiered (2012, I think?) and enjoyed it, though it probably remains my least favorite Ratmansky piece.  Oh, wait, no, my least favorite is probably The Tempest.  Moving on.  I was happy to see a different cast in Firebird this time and I did find much to enjoy, though it may just be a little too frantic for me.  Yes, Stravinsky's music gets frantic at the end, so there it makes sense.  Anyway, I thought Alexandre Hammoudi did a fine job as Ivan and his boots didn't squeak on that shiny floor nearly as much as I remember from the last time.  He was very passionate and resolute in his dancing, and I found his pursuit of the Maiden (beautifully danced by Cassandra Trenary) to be quite touching.  My uberfavorite, Roman Zhurbin, danced the evil Kaschei magnificently, as always.  He is always so strong and sure, and in this part, he was also quite slinky and evil.  Plus, he looked good in the green hair.  I was less taken with Isabella Boylston as the Firebird for some reason.  I'm not sure, but she always seemed to be a tad behind the music or something.  But I'm sure she will grow into the part.  She WAS lovely in her first tentative pas de deux with Ivan.  I again found the pas de quatre to be my favorite part and I again loved the reveal of the cursed souls now saved.  I did have a quibble with all of the maidens turning into bleached blonds, but all that white did make a lovely contrast to the black shiny floor and all the red firebirds. So, there's that.  I'm happy I saw The Firebird again, but maybe I won't be searching it out again in the near future. 

Seat-neighbor-wise, I'm starting to recognize some of the people in the balcony and I even think I can guess some of their handles on ballet chat boards!  Which is strange, but there you have it.  I was in a row of odd ducks, not the least of whom was the gal who sat on the aisle and refused to let people pass her, because she didn't want anyone to step on her bare feet.  BARE FEET.  Oh, hell no.  There was also the guy in front of me who looked exactly like Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man - my teeth began to ache just seeing him. But the happiest seat neighbor experience was when I arrived: I was getting ready to sit down and I heard my name called.  I looked up and saw an old friend with whom I hadn't chatted in a long time!  It was so nice to catch up with him!  He is one of the nicest people on the planet, so knowing he was behind me and I would get to chat with him during intermissions put a smile on my face the whole night.  A smile on top of my ballet smile.  Though, two things: I forgot to take out my camera to get photos of curtain calls, and the chandelier didn't raise again.  I was going to ask an usher about it, but forgot.  I'll ask next time, but then my smile might turn upside down if I hear it will never raise again...

I should also mention that thanks to my new idNYC, I was fortunate enough to attend a working rehearsal yesterday at New York City Ballet, so it was a ballet doubleheader day! They have the rehearsal thing down to a science - you arrive at a specified time, you check in, a volunteer explains a little about the ballets, they herd you up into the first ring and then you sit there and quietly enjoy seeing the process of a ballet coming together.  I loved seeing pieces of Balanchine's "Serenade" and "Midsummer Night's Dream" rehearsed - it was fascinating to see the ballet master talk to the dancers about tiny adjustments that suddenly made the steps mean something different.  Fascinating.  The "Serenade" rehearsal was pretty quick and focused, the "Midsummer" rehearsal was a little rockier.  I think quite a few of the dancers were doing this piece for the first time, so there were mainly a lot of spacing issues that needed to be dealt with.  Again, it was fascinating to see how the whole thing got put together, and when we finally saw the pas de deux between Tiler Peck and Tyler Angle, it was magic.  They are just STARS. Expansiveness and joy just poured forth.  I hope I can get to see them in the ballet for real sometime.  They were truly magic.

Having a double dose of ballet in one day has quite spoiled me for everyday life!  To badly quote Jane Austen.  Looking forward to what the next magical experience will be...