ABT 2016 - Shostakovich Trilogy

I like the trio programs at ABT - although I'm a sucker for the goopy, romantic story ballets, I also like to see the dancers stretch themselves with more abstract ballets.  Last Monday, I got to see the Shostakovich Trilogy again.  I really enjoyed it when I saw it in 2013 and I was glad to experience it again. 

The first piece was Symphony #9.  I just love this one.  It has so many wonderful things in it - wonderful solos, pas de deux, and ensemble dancing.  The shapes and the way everything fits together is fantastic.  I especially loved something I hadn't really noticed before - a lot of running from one side of the stage to the other before dancing.  That just added a sweep and vigor to

photo credit: Rosalie O'Connor

everything.  Plus, the orchestra sounded wonderful playing this gorgeous Shostakovich music - there was one section with just oboe and flute that was so beautiful, I almost started crying.  There are two couples, vastly different in manner and feeling.  One couple moves quickly, with sharp turns and a more loose feeling.  The other had more longing and more luxurious lines.  Both were lovely.  And one of my young favorites, Joseph Gorak, danced the solo portion with verve and restraint (I know they contradict each other, but he did!).  I continually marvel at the way he seems to just have all the time in the world to move and he is never behind the music. He's just so secure and charismatic.  But everyone was.  I think this was my favorite piece of the night.

photo credit: Rosalie O'Connor

After a short intermission, we saw Chamber Symphony.  The music is quite haunting and different from the last piece, which had more humor in it.  This one has a man, maybe representing Shostakovich, dancing with a troubled mind amongst people who don't seem to understand him.  Then three ladies appear, perhaps the three women who impacted his life most directly.  The first woman was light, flirtatious and quick.  The second woman was even more briefly there, then the third woman danced with a passion and fervor, only to seemingly die and leave the man in even more despair.  Jeffrey Cirio was the lead gentleman and he found many layers in this complex choreography.  The wonderful ladies were Devon Teuscher, Cassandra Trenary and Isabella Boylston (a substitution for the injured Gillian Murphy) and they were all fantastic.  There was a different quality to each of their pas de deux and a progression to the ballet as a whole.  I enjoyed the piece quite a bit, especially the last pose.

photo credit:  Natalie Keyysar

The final piece was Piano Concerto #1, which I find intriguing even though it doesn't really make itself known to me.  It is fast and furious and although I know there's no plot per se, I don't really know what I'm supposed to be feeling during this one.  I know that I loved the four soloists - Christine Shevchenko & Calvin Royal III and Skylar Brandt & Gabe Stone Shayer.  Both couples had a lot of chemistry dancing with each and were particularly well-matched.  I think Skylar Brandt just sparkles onstage, so pairing her with Shayer was a great idea, because he's a sparkler, too.  Again, there were lovely shapes in the choreography and I adored seeing all those wonderful dancers move through space, but this particular piece always leaves me a little puzzled.  I'll say that I may be the only one - it got the most rousing applause of the night and was the only piece to get the post curtain-call curtain-call.  I know my pictures aren't great, but I think they show the rapport the dancers had with each other.

Seat-neighbor-wise, I guess the rude lady who was mad at me last time for climbing over her to my seat is a subscription-mate.  She was there again, though I went into my seat the other way so we wouldn't have words.  The guy on the other side of me may have been a musician, because he kept getting offended when people applauded bravura dancing in the middle of the concertos.  I guess in a concert setting, those spots aren't where you generally applaud.  He was throwing his hands up in the air and just couldn't understand.  It was interesting, I must say.

And as a side note, I was again fortunate enough to catch another NYCB rehearsal. We got to watch two portions from Midsummer Night's Dream.  The first part had a lot of children dancing, so time was spent with them, getting their spacing and timing correct. The other had to do with the dancer playing Puck - not one, but two handsome young men are playing Puck and they both had to rehearse the (spoiler alert) flying scene.  That was fun to watch.  We also got to see two Oberons rehearse their moments.  After that section, the techies came onstage to fix a scrim and something else (there's no WAY I could ride one of those cherry-picker things up that high!), then we saw another section with a gorgeous pas de deux between two dancers I don't know.  But they were both delightful and had gorgeous softness and gentleness in their dancing.  Fangirl moment: Peter Martins was on stage for much of both rehearsals.  At one point, he was showing the two delightful and gorgeous dancers bits of movement - sometimes he would dance the ladies' role and sometimes he would dance the gent's.  Charming.  I was way more interested in watching that dynamic happen off to the side of the stage as opposed to more corps de ballet dancing behind them.  But it's just a thrill, regardless, to be so close to the ballet action.  I think I'm allowed one more rehearsal this year, so I'll be signing up for something in the fall.  I can hardly wait.

I also want to mention that Monday night, before the ballet, I was one of the lucky guests at the Lilly Awards, the annual event that honors women who are making a difference in the theater and in the world.  The Lillys started seven years ago to celebrate women and to fight for gender parity.  This year also had another theme - activism.  All of the recipients, and the presenters, are thinking outside themselves and doing what they can to make this world a better place.  I pretty much started crying during the first video, saluting the women who started the #WakingTheFeminists movement in Ireland, and didn't stop crying until I left to go to the ballet.  I"ll just list all of the presenters (the cast of Eclipsed, Diane Paulus, Russell G Ford, Cusi Cram, Howard McGillin, Neena Beber, Lloyd Suh and GLORIA STEINEM OH MY GOD) and the recipients (Danai Gurira, Jessie Mueller, Kate Whoriskey, Genne Murphy, Martha Plimpton, Norbert Leo Butz, Candis Jones, Rehana Lew Mirza, Mia Katigbak and Kathy Najimy) and say that it was an amazing night filled with inspiration and love.  I encourage you all to Google the event, or I think you can watch the video online, look at the photos and read the speeches that have been reprinted.  You won't be sorry and you may be inspired a little, too.  Crying is also a possibility...