essay
We tend to think that ballets create fantasy worlds far removed from the messiness of real life. However, it is impossible to consider Odesa and Solitude, the two Alexei Ratmansky works New York City Ballet has offered this winter season at Lincoln Center, without also thinking of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and Alexei Navalny’s solitary confinement and recent death in a Siberian prison.
Ratmansky, who was born in St. Petersburg, is of
"The Four Temperaments", "Liebeslieder Walzer"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
February 16, 2024
This program, made up of two of Balanchine’s finest ballets, had several important debuts; the company’s lower ranks are full of fine and interesting dancers and it’s encouraging that so many are getting opportunities. These ballets, though, need not only fine dancers, but dancers with style, imagination, and depth, characteristics that usually
"Opus 19/The Dreamer", "Solitude", "Symphony in Three Movements"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
February 15, 2024
“Solitude”, the first ballet Alexei Ratmansky has choreographed since becoming New York City Ballet’s Artist in Residence, is dedicated “to the children of Ukraine, victims of the war”; Marina Harss, writing in the New York Times about the creation of the work, explained that the inspiration came from a photograph of a father
"Ballo della Regina", "In a Landscape", "Hallelujah Junction", "The Concert"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
February 9, 2024
This varied program began with Balanchine’s “Ballo della Regina”, a luscious soap bubble set to Verdi, continued with two more astringent ballets, a revival of Albert Evans’ “In a Landscape” to John Cage followed by Peter Martins’ high energy “Hallelujah Junction” to John Adams, and ended with Jerome Robbins’
"The Four Temperaments", "Liebeslieder Walzer"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
February 6, 2024
NYCB’s yearlong celebration of its 75th anniversary is in it second phase, called "Evolution", but it paused for an evening to look back, and this program featured two of Balanchine’s most memorable works, “The Four Temperaments” (1946) and “Liebeslieder Walzer” (1960), two of Balanchine’s most memorable works. “The Four Temperaments” is danced
"Rotunda", "Concerto for Two Pianos", "Odesa"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
February 1, 2024
Tiler Peck’s new ballet “Concerto for Two Pianos” premiered in a program featuring ballets created in the twenty-first century; rather optimistically NYCB calls the program “New Combinations”. It also included Justin Peck’s 2020 “Rotunda” and Alexei Ratmansky’s 2017 “Odesa” (the updated spelling for “Odessa”). All three were abstract, all three explored different
"Fancy Free", "In the Night", "The Four Seasons"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
January 24, 2024
The Winter season of NYCB’s 75th anniversary is titled “The Evolution” and includes works of a selection of choreographers whose works presumably evolved from Balanchine, who was so gloriously celebrated in the Fall. Three works by Jerome Robbins, who after Balanchine, is the choreographer most closely associated with NYCB, opened the Winter
“Onegin”
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
November 22, 2023
John Cranko’s “Onegin” is a touchstone for the National Ballet of Canada, performed consistently since its company premiere in 1984. It is a well-rounded production with Pushkin’s engaging storytelling, Cranko's interesting and challenging choreography and an evocative arrangement of musical works by Tchaikovsky. It has all the elements for a timeless full length ballet that is both accessible
“Emma Bovary”, “Passion”
The National Ballet of Canada
Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts
Toronto, Canada
November 15, 2023
The National Ballet of Canada’s 2023-2024 season opener featured two distinctly different, yet complimentary works. First was James Kudelka’s “Passion”, a plotless ballet that nonetheless depicts different types of relationships and romantic love. Second was the world premiere of “Emma Bovary” - a modern take on Gustave Flaubert’s seminal 1856 novel “Madame Bovary” choreographed by Helen Pickett.
"Somewhere in the Middle", "Eventide", "Esplanade"
Paul Taylor Dance Company
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
November 12, 2023
“I love bugs!” Eran Bugge says Paul Taylor told her at her audition. The audience at her retirement certainly agreed as she and Christina Lynch Markham, the most senior members of the company, both retired at the end of the Lincoln Center season to cheers and flowers. Neither looked retirement
"Book of Beasts", "Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rehearsal)", "Black Tuesday"
Paul Taylor Dance Company
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
November 8, 2023
This all-Taylor program showed the choreographer looking backwards, from the zany take on Medieval bestiaries (combined with satires of ballet dancers) of “Book of Beasts”, to the odd homage to Nijinsky in “Le Sacre du Printemps (the Rehearsal)” with its oblique references to gangster melodramas, and ending with “Black Tuesday”, Taylor’
"Echo", "Vespers", "Piazzolla Caldera"
Paul Taylor Dance Company
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
November 4, 2023 evening
This triple bill showed the Taylor Company expanding its repertoire offering a new work by Lauren Lovette (“Echo”) with an all-male cast and “Vespers”, choreographed in 1986 by Ulysses Dove for the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company with an all-female cast. Both of these works got committed, fierce performances, showing off the company's thrilling technique. But,