Mary Cargill

Tennis, Anyone?

Tennis, Anyone?


"Uneven", "Stamping Ground", "Red Sweet"
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet
Joyce Theater
New York, NY
February 24, 2011


The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet is celebrating its 15th season, quite an achievement in this era of budget cutting.  The 10-member company danced three pieces at their recent Joyce appearance--at least there were three different titles, but the works (by Cayetano Soto, Jiri Kylian, and Jorma Elo) were so similar that it seemed like one long dance punctuated with some

By Mary Cargill
Birthday Party

Birthday Party


"Walpurgisnacht Ballet", "Duo Concertant", "The Four Temperaments", "Cortege Hongrois"
New York City Ballet
Koch Theater
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts 
New York, NY
January 22, 2011


New York City Ballet celebrated Balanchine's birthday with matinee and evening performances of wall-to-wall Balanchine.  The matinee was sort of a marshmallow sandwich, with beautiful fluff surrounding a substantial filling, and showed off some beautiful music.  The company has continued its "Dancers are really just folks" approach

By Mary Cargill
View from the Desert

View from the Desert


"Rhythm of Rajasthan"
Peter Norton Symphony Space
New York, NY
January 14, 2011


The World Music Institute, an organization devoted to presenting traditional music and dance from around the world, sponsored a visit by folk singers (and one dancer) from the area of Rajasthan.  The very interesting program notes explained that western Rajasthan is probably where the gypsies originated, and it was very interesting to note the connections.  There was a gracious, informal feel to the

By Mary Cargill
Murphy's Law

Murphy's Law


"The Nutcracker"
American Ballet Theatre
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn, New York
December 23, 2010

Alexei Ratmansky's new "Nutcracker" for ABT has many delights, and unfortunately, some disappointments.  But the heart of the ballet, the choreography for the main characters, (in this case, Gillian Murphy and David Hallberg as the grown-up vision of Clara and the Nutcracker) shimmers.  Murphy has always been a strong and thrilling dancer, but does have a tendency to hide behind choreography

By Mary Cargill
Best of Times

Best of Times


Masters & the Next Generation
"La Cathedrale Engloutie", "Chrysalis", ""There is a Time"
Limón Dance Company
Baryshnikov Arts Center
New York, NY 
December 15, 2010


The two masters of the program title were Jiří Kylián and Jose Limón, and the next generation was Limón dancer Jonathan Fredrickson, whose "Chrysalis" was a clear, if too long, riff on the virgin sacrifice motif.  The opening work, Kylián's 1975 "La Cathedrale Engloutie" was accompanied by his usual somewhat opaque program

By Mary Cargill
Gold Standard

Gold Standard


Gold Standard

"The Nutcracker"
New York City Ballet
Koch Theater
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts 
New York, NY
November 26, 2010


Balanchine's version of "The Nutcracker" returned for its annual visit, all of its innocent beauties intact.  The first act is a glorious celebration of childhood, full of beautifully dressed little girls playing with dolls and rambunctious boys playing with guns--no namby-pamby tut-tutting about gender roles here.  Though Balanchine, nor any in

By Mary Cargill
Small Packages

Small Packages


"Symmetry", "Moments", "104º Fahrenheit", "Allegretto, Innocente", "Five Songs for Piano"
New Chamber Ballet
City Center Studio 4
New York, NY
November 19, 2010


The New Chamber Ballet is, it seems, born from limitations--live music is too expensive?  Use works with only a piano and a violin.  Stage space is prohibitive?  Perform in a studio without scenery or a backstage.   Flashy male virtuosity is all the rage?  Choreograph introspective, contemplative works for women. 

By Mary Cargill

Deadly Sins


"Carmen", "Combate", "Don Quixote Grand Pas"
Ballet Concierto
Tribeca Performing Arts Center
New York, NY
October 15, 2010


The program danced by the Argentine company founded by the former Royal Ballet dancer Inaki Urlezaga included lust ("Carmen"), violence ("Combate"), and old-fashioned show-offs ("Don Quixote"); not morally uplifting, perhaps, but certainly riveting.  It will come as no surprise to New Yorkers familiar with the Latin American explosion in companies like ABT that this small company

By Mary Cargill
An Old Fashioned Gala

An Old Fashioned Gala


"I'm Old Fashioned", "Plainspoken", "Tarantella", "Western Symphony"
New York City Ballet
Koch Theater
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts 
New York, NY
October 7, 2010

The brief fall season included a gala, with the New York premiere of a new Benjamin Millepied ballet, sandwiched between some charming older works.  The evening opened with the orchestra, on their new floating stage, rising up and playing the exhilarating "Candide Overture", and then disappearing back to watch the

By Mary Cargill
Salute to Yesterday

Salute to Yesterday


"Serenade", "The Magic Flute", and "Stars and Stripes"
New York City Ballet
Koch Theater
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts 
New York, NY
September 30, 2010


New York City Ballet took various looks backward in its programming. "Serenade" is Balanchine's gloriously romantic hymn to femininity, a direct descendant of those pale vision scenes so beloved of nineteenth century audiences, "The Magic Flute" is Peter Martins' take on a lost Ivanov one-act ballet full of nineteenth-century comedic

By Mary Cargill