Mary Cargill

"Cortège Hongrois", "La Valse", "Square Dance", "Duo Concertant"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
October 15, 2015

Robert Fairchild gave his farewell performance at New York City Ballet in Balanchine's low-key, pensive, and very personal "Duo Concertant", which was rescheduled to close the afternoon, in place of the apotheosis of closers, "Cortège Hongrois", which opened the performance. If the switch made for a somewhat unbalanced schedule, it let the audience thank Fairchild

"The Wind Still Brings", "Composer's Holiday", "Not Our Fate", "Pulcinella Variations"
New York City Ballet
Koch Theater
New York, New York
September 27, 2017

New York City Ballet's Fall gala, with its now traditional spotlight on fashion designers, clocked in at an efficient two hours. There was a brief opening film with glimpses of the new designs, no speeches, no intermissions, and four new ballets. The first three shared a distinct family resemblance (opaque titles, young dancers, bare

"Swan Lake"
New York City Ballet
Koch Theater
New York, New York
September 27, 2017

Peter Martins' "Swan Lake", for all its problematic moments, does leave the iconic black and white pas de deux reasonably intact, and, since they constitute "Swan Lake's" emotional core, a committed pair can wrest a moving performance from those dreary, blotchy paint drips. Even without Odette's mime to explain the situation (how is Martins' Siegfried to know that foreswearing Odette will doom her?

"AfterEffect", "The Nutcracker pas de deux", "Souvenir d'un Lieu Cher", "Mozartiana"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
July 8, 2017, matinee.

The final Saturday matinee's all-Tchaikovsky program was a real souvenir program, with a ballets set to the composer's "Souvenir de Florence", his "Souvenir d'un Lieu Cher", his "Nutcracker", with its cosy memories, and his "Mozartiana", his salute to the earlier composer. But it was also a souvenir for

"Swan Lake"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
June 14, 2017, matinee

ABT's ever-popular but problematic "Swan Lake" had a glorious new swan queen in Devon Teuscher, who made her New York debut in front on an enthusiastic matinee audience. Fortunately, most of her choreography remains traditional, though the truncated and breathless Act 4 (or Act 2, Scene 2 in this version) continues to flutter anticlimactically and Odette still has to

"Le Corsaire"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
June 5, 2017

The Ringling Brothers may be defunct but New Yorkers can still enjoy three-ringed entertainment as "Le Corsaire" is still floating, with its milling throngs of slave girls auditioning for a role in an "I dreamt I joined a harem in my Maidenform bra" advertisement, its dashing men jumping with sub-Byronic flair, and its intricate female choreography culminating in the j

"The Golden Cockerel"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
June 1, 2017

Alexei Ratmansky's version of "The Golden Cockerel", based in part on the earlier Fokine ballet, is a hybrid work, a partially mimed (and quite complicated) story with episodes of dancing set to the music of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera. The original 1914 full-length ballet was danced to the opera with singers on the side of the stage, though Fokine'

"Giselle"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 27, 2017, evening

For the past two years ABT has limited its guest-star list, relying on its own dancers, which has meant several long-awaited debuts, Gillian Murphy's "Giselle" among them. Murphy is a strong, sturdy, redhead who dances a stupendous Myrta, not the traditional dark-haired shrinking violet but as her sepia-toned Nikiya proved, she is a

"Giselle"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, New York
May 30, 2017

ABT has produced some outstanding "Giselles" this season, but the Wednesday night performance celebrating Marcelo Gomes' twenty years at ABT was extra-special, culminating in emotional curtain calls where the audience and the company thanked Gomes for so many years of committed, generous, dramatic, as well as comic, performances. Though he has given up some roles (I especially miss his noble but flawed Solor and his

"Giselle"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
Lincoln Center
May 27, 2017, matinee

The Saturday matinee of "Giselle" was a mini-festival of debuts, as all the leads made their first New York appearances in the ballet; Sarah Lane as the doomed heroine, Daniil Simkin as Albrecht, Christine Shevchenko as Myrta, and Craig Salstein as Hilarion. None showed any hint of nerves and all gave strong, detailed, and moving performances in one of ABT's most durable classical productions.  

"A Midsummer Night's Dream"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 26, 2017

After the month-long Here/Now blowout (43 ballets by 22 choreographers) New York City Ballet settled down to a week of Balanchine's "A Midsummer Night's Dream".  Understandably the corps seemed a bit winded and the energy came in fits and starts, though the children were exceptionally well-drilled.  There were few major debuts

"Whipped Cream"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, New York
May 24, 2017

In a recent interview, Alexei Ratmansky said that his new ballet was modeled after the nineteenth century balletféerie with its elaborate processions and spectacular theatrical effects. Petipa's "The Sleeping Beauty" is of course one of the most famous of these and when asked if his work reconstructing this ballet influenced "Whipped Cream" he agreed emphatically. Like "The Sleeping Beauty" "Whipped