NYCB Fall Season 2016 - Masters at Work

This fall, I've been teaching a class on Tuesday nights, but since last night was a holiday for most of my students, we canceled class and I took advantage of my night off to attend the ballet. Although I'm a 'member' of New York City Ballet through my idNYC card, and I've attended several rehearsals, I haven't actually been to a performance this year.  I was happy to attend last night, via a nicely discounted ticket through TDF.  At first, I wasn't thrilled to be in the last row of the orchestra because it seemed as if my view would be obstructed, but it wasn't and I enjoyed my location very much.

They are calling last night's program "Masters at Work" and, well, they're right.  The two pieces I saw were Dances at a Gathering, choreographed by Jerome Robbins and Firebird, choreographed by George Balanchine.  As I've seen a new version of Firebird a couple of times at ABT, I was especially keen to take a look at Balanchine's.  I remember reading a bit about it in Gelsey Kirkland's autobiography, plus, I mean hello, Balanchine.

Actually, I was fortunate enough to catch a rehearsal of Firebird last week.  It was fascinating, first watching the glorious Marc Chagall-designed curtain come in and hearing the lighting designer tell the technician how it should be lit.  I am so bummed we weren't allowed to take photos because I would've loved to have a photo of that curtain. Stunning. Then we watched dancers rehearse bits of the pas de deux between the prince and the Firebird, which was fascinating.  The gent playing the prince was new to the role, so he was working out a few things and the gal playing the Firebird was just delightful to watch. I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be seeing the two of them in the performance, but it was actually very interesting to see how other dancers executed the steps worked on by others.  I found the rehearsal Firebird softer than the woman who danced it last night, but that's not a criticism, it's just a note of different interpretation.

photo credit: Andrea Mohin

But I'm getting ahead of myself. The first piece of the evening was Dances at a Gathering, with stunning music by Chopin.  I do love Chopin.  This piece premiered in 1969 and was choreographed by Jerome Robbins for the NYCB (there's a good article about the piece in yesterday's New York Times, if you're interested).  Robbins used eighteen Chopin piano pieces, played by an onstage pianist, to create dances on ten dancers. They danced solos, duets, quartets and more. Each piece was so beautiful, it was like watching silk come alive. They were easy and beautiful, even the etudes with speedy footwork and turns.  The piece lasted about an hour but I really could've watched them all day.  There was a charm and ease about the whole thing, while still almost being about ballet itself, although there's no plot to speak of.  The steps perfectly reflected the music and vice versa.

Before the piece started, a voice announced two substitutions in the dancers.  They fit in so well, I forgot after about a minute that I wasn't seeing everyone listed in the program. I will say, though, that one of the five men in the piece seemed unsure of his spacing, and one gent may have been under the weather because he was DRENCHED by the end of the ballet.  Drenched.  Maybe the material of the costume was the culprit, but it didn't look like anyone else had the same problem.  It didn't affect that guy's dancing, though. Everyone was spectacular - every time I thought, oh, they're my favorite, someone else would do something to make me change my mind.  So they were all my favorites.  They danced beautifully as themselves and as a group.  I really loved Dances at a Gathering and hope to see it again soon.

photo credit: Paul Kolnik

After a lengthy intermission, then came Firebird.  As I mentioned before, from the back row, I was afraid I wouldn't be able to see those glorious Chagall curtains, but I had no problem seeing them.  All that color and movement perfectly reflected the color and movement of the ballet.  This ballet is simply sumptuous to look at.  The Balanchine Firebird premiered with NYCB in 1949, but it looked fresh as a daisy to me.  Instead of using the entire orchestral piece, he just used the Firebird suite, which rather condensed things beautifully.  

photo credit: Paul Kolnik

The prince meets the Firebird, they have a wonderful pas de deux, which as I mentioned above, was fascinating to see with different dancers after having watched a rehearsal last week.  We see the princess and her maidens dance, then the villains appear with the very famous music that you probably all think of when you hear the word "firebird."  I will say there was one green villain person who seemed to be dancing to "YMCA" instead of Firebird, but it was sort of adorable. The Firebird saves everything, has a glorious solo, and we're done.  All with extraordinary color and light, thanks to Chagall's designs and Karinska's costumes. It was stunning and I'm so glad I got to see it.  I only wish I could run right back and see tomorrow's cast, who happens to be the pair I saw rehearse.  But I can't be in two places at once, unfortunately.  Not that I mind where I'll be tomorrow night - you'll just have to wait to find out.  After the performance, I ran out to the gift shop, hoping there were some Chagall prints or something, but unfortunately there weren't.  Oh well.  When I think of souvenirs, I should remember all the holiday gifts I'll need to buy when I'm in Italy.  All in all, it was yet another wonderful night at the ballet, seeing two classic pieces that were new to me. I'm becoming addicted again to NYCB, so when it comes time to buy my ballet tickets for next year, I may need to parse everything out differently. Or not.  We'll just have to see...