October 12, 2018
I attended my last performance of New York City Ballet’s fall 2018 season this past weekend. The season closes Sunday, October 14 with Joaquin De Luz’s farewell performance, which I will unfortunately miss due to travel. The program I saw was titled 21st Century Choreographers II and featured four works: Pulcinella Variations with choreography by Justin Peck and music by Igor Stravinsky, The Bitter Earth with choreography by Christopher Wheeldon and music by Max Richter and Clyde Otis, Concerto DSCH with choreography by Alexei Ratmansky and music by Dmitri Shostakovich, and finally, Fearful Symmetries with choreography by Peter Martins and music by John Adams. Before I share my thoughts and observations about the program, which are largely positive, I will note that every choreographer and every composer on this program is male, and almost all are white. While NYCB appears to be working towards diversity in their new programming (the 2018 fall fashion gala program featured three new works, including one by a woman and another by a man of color), it could be doing better with its “regular” season programming. It might not hurt for the interim team or the new artistic director, whoever is going to be programming the next seasons, to take a leaf out of Kyle Abraham’s book (the choreographer of color invited to make a new work for this fall’s fashion gala): Mr. Abraham “has a rule of turning down mixed-bill invitations if a female choreographer isn’t on the program” (Burke).
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I have the most to share about Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH, so that is where I will begin. The piece features two groups of leading dancers: a couple (here Sara Mearns and Tyler Angle) and a trio (Ashley Bouder, Joaquin de Luz, and Gonzalo Garcia). They are supported by seven additional couples, three of which (given the formatting of the program book, and the bow structure at the end of the piece) have more featured roles than the remaining four. I admit that I did not notice these three couples more than the other four while observing the dancing, but I have only seen the piece once.
Throughout the piece, I noticed folk dance qualities and vocabulary. The costumes, particularly those of the supporting couples, were, in style and color, folksy. The women’s dresses, leotards with attached double-layered short chiffon skirts, and the men’s bodysuits, were all a mix of burgundy and burnt orange colors, which are colors often seen in story ballets for the costumes of townspeople, villagers, peasants, etc. They are colors of the earth. Notably, the corps men’s bodysuits (comprised of what appear to be a tank leotard and bottoms) are outfitted with tight “biker” shorts, which evokes playful, boyish, even “simple” characteristics, also those associated with townspeople, villager, and peasant characters. Sometimes too, these men’s “resting” position between larger steps is a tucked kneel or crouch on the ground, certainly not a particularly dignified pose.
In the choreographic vocabulary too, there was much to notice that looked to be of a folk dance. There were moments of purposefully flexed feet and turned in legs, which here reflect a return to origins of dance, as opposed to a modern flair, say in the Rubies section of Balanchine’s Jewels. There were multiple instances of steps performed in a circle, sometimes with the women as one layer and the men as another, giving these sections the feeling of a maypole dance or a ritualistic or celebratory folk dance. The corps dancers also performed a slower section, which stood out from the rest of the dance, and included gestures and more human or pedestrian moments of interaction: a woman helped a man off the ground where he had fallen, people hugged, and one couple even took a few seconds to kiss. These dancers felt like everyday people, part of a larger community, perhaps celebrating a happy occasion or conducting a ceremony.
The five leading dancers all seemed to be a part of this community, and Mr. Ratmansky appears to have chosen these characters from the broader fold to highlight. Ms. Mearns and Mr. Angle were the more serious, romantic leading couple. They had a longer, legato pas de deux in the middle of the ballet, after which they seamlessly melded into the folk dance corps crowd, demonstrating that Mr. Ratmansky had decided to single out these two from the group of stock or flat characters to shape them into round characters, as in literature.
The trio of principals was the more exciting and lively featured section of the ballet. It was a delight to see Mr. De Luz in one of these bright, jumpy roles, as it was the last time I’ll see him as a member of NYCB. Here, he shows his characteristic “‘chispa’ (spark), a mix of attack, extroversion and bravura” (Harss), as described by Marina Harss, a dance writer for the New York Times and other publications, in a piece about his approaching farewell; this quality will be missed. The three dancers, Mr. De Luz, joined by Mr. Garcia and Ms. Bouder, leapt, lifted and spun each other, and turned sensationally.
The sections involving these dancers made me think about Mr. Ratmansky’s comments from a year ago about gender roles in ballet. He posted on Facebook last October: “sorry, there is no such thing as equality in ballet: women dance on point, men lift and support women” (Wingenroth). While watching this particular ballet of his, I realized that this comment stands in direct contrast to what he features in the choreography for these three dancers. There is a section at the beginning, for Mr. De Luz and Mr. Garcia, sans Ms. Bouder, in which they, two men, partner each other exclusively. At one point, one of them lifts the other up entirely, so that his body is horizontal and parallel to the floor, and spins him around and around. There are ensuing phrases for all three dancers in which they interchangeably partner each other, for example, assisting, regardless of gender, each other in temps levé arabesques (jumps in which one of the legs is extended behind the dancer, and the other points down towards the floor). Sometimes Ms. Bouder partners the men for a laugh, but, even with the laughs, she is a supportive partner, a role supposedly reserved for men. At times the men do seem to be “fighting over” Ms. Bouder, but at other times, she is one of them—horsing around and having a good time.
In the conversation surrounding Mr. Ratmansky’s thoughts on equality and gender politics in ballet, I agree with Ms. Harss, who commented on Mr. Ratmansky’s post last year, stating, “Lots of [Ratmansky’s] ballets have men supporting men. One can agree or disagree about the words and how they are stated—and healthy debate is a wonderful thing—but a knowledge of the works adds some nuance to the conversation” (Wingenroth). I certainly have less intimate knowledge of Ratmansky’s works than Ms. Harss does, as she is writing a book about the choreographer, but I was struck by the divergence in Concerto DSCH from Mr. Ratmansky’s words.
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Of the remaining three pieces on the program, I enjoyed Pulcinella Variations and This Bitter Earth more than I did Fearful Symmetries, although the dancing was stellar in all three.
It was a treat to see Mr. Peck’s Pulcinella Variations, which is a classical, pointe shoe ballet (though the costumes are very funky!), after seeing so many Peck sneaker ballets recently. I like many of his sneaker ballets, but it’s refreshing to see demonstration of his firm and sophisticated grasp of classical ballet. The piece is playful, bright, and a delight to watch. It features a group of nine dancers, who dance together in an opening and a finale section, and who fill the center of the piece with a series of duets and solos that flow seamlessly from one to the next. The choreography features many moments of fast footwork. While all of the dancers were strong in this ballet, two stood out to me here in particular: Tiler Peck, and Indiana Woodward. Ms. Peck is remarkably crisp, clean, and above all else, musical, in her interpretation of this role (and in every other ballet that I have seen her in). Ms. Woodward, a younger member of the company promoted to soloist in February 2017, demonstrates some of these same qualities that Ms. Peck possesses. Ms. Woodward’s solo, the Allegretto, included a few spot-on balances facing en face (dead-on towards the audience) in coupé back (one foot is brought behind the opposite leg to touch the leg between the ankle and the knee), which were exhilarating in their crispness and musicality, and both delightful and startling in the way in which she froze momentarily each time, in a perfect and steady position. It looks to me like Ms. Woodward may be studying Ms. Peck from the wings, and it’s working!
This Bitter Earth is a fairly short pas de deux that is melancholy, weighted, and beautiful. I have seen the ballet before, but never on this cast: Jared Angle and Lauren Lovette. It was invigorating to see Ms. Lovette in a more serious, dark role, as she is often featured in brighter, sillier, and more fun and youthful roles. She has looked very strong this season (particularly as the lead woman in Rubies), so it is encouraging to see that the artistic team is challenging her to take on some more fraught characters. As always, Mr. Angle remains a steady partner. One never worries that he will drop or miss Ms. Lovette, and he even covertly unstuck her skirt at one point, which had gotten caught.
The program of work concluded with Mr. Martins’s Fearful Symmetries, a ballet that I also have seen before, but a couple years ago when I was less well-versed in City Ballet’s repertory. There is too much going on in the piece. It is exciting at the beginning with the fast pacing and dramatic gestures, but as it continues at this same whirlwind pace, it loses its novelty, along with my attention and investment as a viewer. Once again here, though, I was drawn to Ms. Woodward, who performed one of the featured women’s roles. Here too, while she is not as perfectly clean as Ms. Peck (who was not in this ballet), she presented some true “hits” on balance, as in Pulcinella Variations, and she demonstrated a fullness of the port de bras (movement and placement of the arms) and upper body, which is another compelling quality that I always notice in Ms. Peck. I am thrilled to continue to follow Ms. Woodward.
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New York City is always a little less fun with City Ballet out of season, but I look forward to Nutcracker, which opens in late November, and the winter season after that, opening in late January.
Works Cited
Burke, Siobhan. “Nudging City Ballet Into the Real 21st Century.” New York Times, 23 Sept. 2018, p. AR9.
Harss, Marina. “City Ballet’s Bravura Sparkler Says Goodbye.” New York Times, 10 Oct. 2018, p. C1.
Wingenroth, Lauren. “This Choreographer Just Said ‘There Is No Such Thing As Equality in Ballet’ And He’s ‘Very Comfortable With That.’” Dance Magazine, 30 May 2018, http://www.dancemagazine.com/equality-in-ballet-2492924587.html.
Dance As I See It 