Mary Cargill

The Home Team

The Home Team


"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 stylish and subtle artist, not

By Mary Cargill
Mr. ABT

Mr. ABT


"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 open-hearted

By Mary Cargill
To the Cottage Born

To the Cottage Born


"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.  

Lane is

By Mary Cargill
Midsummer Madness

Midsummer Madness


"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 --no new Titanias, Oberons, or

By Mary Cargill
What the Doctor Ordered

What the Doctor Ordered


"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 Cream"

By Mary Cargill
Fouetté Fever

Fouetté Fever


"Don Quixote"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, New York
May 17, 2017, matinee
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"Don Quixote" will probably never appear on anyone's list of all-time great ballets, but it hasn't survived for nearly 150 years only on the strength of its gala-worthy pas de deux with those applause-generating fouettés. The evergreen comedy of a spunky girl who outwits a greedy parent to find true love has, underneath the frivolity, a real heart, the music by the

By Mary Cargill
Turning Points

Turning Points


A Conversation with Cassandra Trenary and Alexei Ratmansky
YoungArts Critical Junctures Salon
New York Live Arts
New York, New York
May 14, 2017

The National YoungArts Foundation was established in 1981 by Ted Arison (founder of the Carnival Cruise Lines) and his wife Lin to support young artists by offering those selected for the program a scholarship to a week-long immersion with other students and mentors. Cassandra Ternary, currently a soloist at ABT, was a 2011 YoungArts recipient and she

By Mary Cargill
Female Voices

Female Voices


"Time is Money", "George Sand", "Dusty Old Dust", "Mary Tyrone", "Sonnet", "Lyric Suite", "Amanda", "A Point of Doctrine", "Kaddish", "Cante Flamenco", "Shadow of Her Sister"
The Deborah Zall Project: In the Company of Women
Martha Graham Studio Theater
New York, New York
May 13, 2017


Modern dance has a flourishing tradition of female choreographers, but also has traditionally looked forwards, not backwards. Deborah Zall, who danced with Martha Graham before establishing an independent career, bucks this a-historical trend by reviving

By Mary Cargill
Here's Looking at You

Here's Looking at You


"The Sleeping Beauty"
Boston Ballet
Boston Opera House
Boston, Massachusetts
May 6, 2017, matinee


Boston Ballet's production of Petipa's "The Sleeping Beauty" has a distinguished pedigree. The company acquired the 1977 Ninette de Valois version for the Royal Ballet; de Valois had danced in the famous 1921 Diaghilev version based on the Mariinsky original and she had produced versions for the Royal Ballet in 1938 and 1946 using Nicholas Sergeyev notations of the Mariinsky production. De Valois, however,

By Mary Cargill
Under New Management

Under New Management


"Concerto Grosso", "Corvidae", "The Exiles", "Suite from a Choreographic Offering", "Night Light"
Límon Dance Company
Joyce Theater
New York, New York
May 2, 2017


José Límon founded his company in 1946 and after his death in 1972, the LÍmon dancer Carla Maxwell directed it until her recent retirement; Colin Connor, also a Límon dancer, became the artistic director in 2016.  The math says that the company has been run without its founder for 45 years, an astounding

By Mary Cargill
There is a Season

There is a Season


"Russian Seasons", "Namouna, a Grand Divertissement"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
New York, New York
April 26, 2017


The Ratmansky evening of New York City Ballet's heartily advertised "Here/Now Festival" (ballets created for the company in the last thirty years) had two works, both featuring a generous supply of fine and striking dancing. "Russian Seasons" from 2006 with its color-coded costumes and folk-inflected weighty choreograph looks a bit as if the peasants of Nijinska's "Les Noces"

By Mary Cargill