Mary Cargill

“Donizetti Variations”, “Octet”, “Fancy Free”
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
New York, NY
February 11, 2006

Balanchine’s “Donizetti Variations” is an Italian bon-bon, obviously inspired by the fleet, gracious, and warm-hearted dancing of Bournonville. Like so many of Balanchine’s plotless romps, it gives the feeling of starting in the middle of a longer work, one set in some mythical land where Spain, Italy, and Denmark meet, and where everyone is young and beautiful.

“Monumentum Por Gesualdo/Movements for Piano and Orchestra”, “Klavier”, “Symphony in C”
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
New York, NY
January 24, 2006

New York City Ballet has for the past few years called January 24, Balanchine’s birthday, “New Combinations”, based on Balanchine’s quotation “There are no new steps, only new combinations”, and has used the occasion for one of the season’s premiers. This birthday present was a new work by Christopher Wheeldon, and

“Les Sylphides”, “Apollo”, “The Green Table”
American Ballet Theater
New York City Center
New York, NY
November 2, 2005 

ABT gave a rock solid program to a rock solid audience (the season has been selling very well) on Wednesday night. Although each of these ballets is an acknowledged masterpiece with a capital “M”, the performances didn’t look precious or fragile, they looked alive.

None more so than Ethan Stiefel’s “Apollo”. Last year, the Guggenheim’s invaluable Works

“Les Sylphides”, “Afternoon of a Faun”, “Paquita”, “Rodeo”
American Ballet Theater
New York City Center
New York, NY
October 22, 2005 Matinee

ABT’s women were front and center at this matinee, beginning with a sprightly “Les Sylphides”, led by Irina Dvorovenko and Gennadi Saveliev. The conductor, Ormsby Wilkins, kept things at a lively clip, and, from reports, it was a much more vibrant performance than earlier in the week. Dvorovenko danced the Mazurka with a delicate and playful flirtatiousness,

"Coppélia"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
June 23, 2004 

Like all comedies, Coppélia is hard do put across without being condescending or coy. In their respective debuts, Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomes, had mixed, though technically brilliant, results. Murphy is a phenomenal technician, but playfulness and charm do not seem to come naturally, so Swanilda is a challenge. She has obviously worked very hard on the character, and the opening mime scene was

"Stravinsky Violin Concerto", "Cortège Hongrois", "Symphony in Three Movements
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
New York, NY
Sunday, June 27, 2004 

The final performance of the Balanchine celebration was, appropriately, an all-Balanchine program. But, equally in keeping with the injury-plagued season, the scheduled Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 had to be scrapped because there was no one available to dance the male lead. 

Stravinsky Violin Concerto, with its astringent and witty

"Allegro Brillante", "Scherzo a la Russe", "Duo Concertant", "Tschaikovsly Suite No. 3"
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
New York, NY
Sunday June 20, 2004

This all-Balanchine program promised to be a refreshing affirmation of the virtues of choreography, and in many cases, it was. Kyra Nichols danced Allegro Brillante; though she certainly does not have the ease or the power of earlier years, she still enters like a clipper ship parting the waves, blown

"Mozartian, "The Cage", "Andantino", "Firebird"
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
New York, NY
June 9, 2004 

Breaking up the spring season into chunks of music makes for some strange programming, and this Russian evening coupled the sublime Mozartiana with the definitely unsublime The Cage. The evening, salute to Russia notwithstanding, could be called a salute to Wendy Whelan, since she danced in both.

It may be that the ballets were too varied,

"Don Quixote"
[staged by Kevin McKenzie and Susan Jones]
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
June 10, 2004

Xiomara Reyes and Angel Corella, who were so winning as Lise and Colas in last year’s La Fille Mal Gardée, danced together again in Don Quixote. Since they basically share the same story of young love outwitting greedy adults, their combination of technical fireworks and youthful joy was exhilarating, a refreshing and spicy drink of

"Raymonda"
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
June 3, 2004

A student is reported to have said, on seeing his first Hamlet, that he didn’t understand why people thought it was so great, since it was all clichés. Ballet goers might have the same reaction to Raymonda—the garlands, the scarves, the vision scene, the character dances are all familiar. But in Petipa’s hands these seem less like a formula than a manifesto, a

Theme and Variations/Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux/Mozartiana/Ballet Imperial
American Ballet Theatre
Metropolitan Opera House
New York, NY
May 29, 2004, matinee and evening

ABT’s classical extravaganza was billed as a Salute to Balanchine, but it might as well have been called a Salute to Tchaikovsky, or a Salute to The Sleeping Beauty, since both Theme and Variations and Ballet Imperial are essentially variations on the theme of Aurora. It was not the

Who Cares?/Western Symphony/Stars and Stripes
New York City Ballet
New York State Theater
May 25, 2004 

The Fourth of July came early this year, with three of Balanchine’s most rousing closing ballets on one program—not one of the most balanced of evenings, but, if it seemed like a meal of popcorn, it was applauded to the hilt by a very happy audience.

Who Cares? had two debuts, Ashley Bouder as the red girl, and