Carol Pardo

"Polyphonia,” “Bright,” “Opus 19/The Dreamer,” “Voices”
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
February 12, 2020

"There are no new steps, only new combinations". So said George Balanchine. At New York City Ballet, the company he founded, that statement has given rise to the rubric New Combinations, most often incorporating a new work, and other modern or modern-looking works; tutus and tiaras need not apply. Such was the case here, with wholesale debuts in

“Allegro Brillante", "La Source", "Firebird"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
January 25, 2020 matinee

There may have been four debuts on the cast list, but at this performance, the most vivid and memorable performances came from veterans of their parts. After ten months away due to injury, Tiler Peck is back in the rotation, partnered superbly by Tyler Angle. "Allegro Brillante" – as Balanchine famously said, "All I know about classical ballet in thirteen

"George Balanchine's The Nutcracker"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
December 17, 2019

"George Balanchine's The Nutcracker", as it's now called, turned sixty-five this year, old enough to be eligible for Medicare and half-price rides on the New York City subway. Whatever else might have changed over the decades, the ballet has always been anchored by Tchaikovsky's score, from its first delicate notes, glittering like ice on snow and transporting us to a cozy

“Theme and Variations", "A Gathering of Ghosts", "The Seasons"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
October 19, 2019 evening

“Apollo", "Some Assembly Required", "Let Me Sing Forevermore", "Deuce Coupe"
American Ballet Theatre
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
October 20, 2019

Balanchine, Tharp, Ratmansky at night with Balanchine and Tharp anchoring a quadruple bill the next afternoon had all the makings of a choreographically rich weekend at American Ballet Theatre. "Theme and Variations"

“Valse Fantaisie", "Kammermusik No. 2", "Union Jack"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
September 21, 2019 evening

One of the casualties of a wholesale shift in programming last spring (along with "Liebeslieder Waltzer" and a revival of Jerome Robbins' "Branden- burgs"), "Union Jack'" is back. This was the best news of the night. Otherwise, things were often tipsy-turvy, including starting the evening, far from Balanchine's view of a triple bill – appetizer, main course and

“Jewels"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
September 21, 2019 evening

George Balanchine's "Jewels" is now fifty-two years old. A hit from its first performance, it still reliably fills the house, for several reasons. It has sets (of varying degrees of success over three iterations) and costumes and lasts a full evening, all of which is counter to the generally held assumptions about the New York City Ballet's repertory. It has all the trappings

“Raymonda Variations,” “Variations Pour Une Porte et Un Soupir,” "DGV: Danse à Grande Vitesse"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
September 18, 2019

On paper, the first mixed bill of the New York City Ballet's fall 2019 read like a study in diminishing returns, increasingly anemic as the program progressed. But assumptions are made to be upended and so they were here. For the most compelling work fo the evening was the strangest, "Variations

"Then and Again", "Song of a Wayfarer", "Elite Syncopations (divertissement)"
Ballet Festival Program C
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
August 13, 2019

If The Joyce Theater's 2019 Ballet Festival is intended as a showcase of or for the Royal Ballet, this program, created by the designer – and former dancer – Jean-Marc Puissant, a frequent collaborator with Christoper Wheeldon at the Royal and in New York, seemed a strange way to show it. Members of the company did not arrive

"Asphodel Meadows pas de deux", "Dance of the Blessed Spirits from 'Orpheus and Eurydice: Dance in the Elysian Fields,'" "Concerto pas de deux", "Within the Golden Hour (two duets)", "Obsidian Tear," "Qualia pas de deux," "Jojo," "Five Brahms Waltzes in the Manner of Isadora Duncan"
Ballet Festival Program A
The Joyce Theater
New York, NY
August 6, 2019

Once upon a time, the Royal Ballet was a reliably frequent visitor to New York City. The locals knew its

"Concerto Barocco," 'Garland Dance' from "The Sleeping Beauty", "New Sleep (pas de deux)", "Bourrée Fantasque"
School of American Ballet
Peter J. Sharp Theater
New York, NY
June 1, 2019 (matinee)

At this graduation performance by the students of the School of American Ballet, there was no single dancer who generated ongoing buzz (Paloma Herrera, 1991) or who made hearts stop (Monique Meunier, 1990). The virtues of this performance were not so much individual as collective: the ardor and scrupulousness of

“Scotch Symphony,” “Duo Concertant,” "Sonatine", "Stravinsky Violin Concerto"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
May 24, 2019

That the musicians, soloists and orchestra alike  received the loudest and longest ovations throughout the night at this all Balanchine bill would probably have pleased the choreographer, who firmly believed that music is the floor for dancing. But that increasing volume and duration was in inverse proportion to the quality of the dancing. The evening

“Judah,” “Dances at a Gathering,” "Stars and Stripes"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
May 17, 2019

The New York City Ballet presented a program that was simultaneously overstuffed and undercooked. The evening lasted more than two and a half hours, with a generous helping of dance, including four local debuts in "Dances at a Gathering", but underpowered, and leaving one peckish at its end.

The evening began with "Judah" intended presumably as a