New York City Ballet
"Coppélia"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
September 29, 2024
About twenty years ago I saw Megan Fairchild, then a new member of the corps, dance one of Swanilda’s friends. She was completely absorbed in the ballet, eyes wide, listening carefully to the wheat ear, watching Swanilda’s reaction, and sharing in her disappointment. “There’s our new Swanilda” my seat mate said to me, and indeed
New York City Ballet
"Divertimento from 'Le Basier de la Fée'", "Each in His Own Time", "This Bitter Earth", "The Four Seasons"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
September 21, 2024
This somewhat oddly constructed program opened with a jolt: the astringent and fundamentally pessimistic “Divertimento from ‘Le Baiser de la Fée”, Balanchine’s abstraction of Hans Christian Andersen’s harrowing story “The Ice Maiden” is a rather heavy opening work. Two sentimental pas de deux
New York City Ballet
"Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2", "Duo Concertant", Glass Pieces"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
September 17, 2024
NYCB’s opening night, called “Masters at Work” featured ballets by Balanchine and Robbins and could have been called “Masters at Play”, since the choreography (and the dancing) looked effortless, as if it just poured out of these masters while listening to the music. The oldest work, “Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2”
New York City Ballet
"A Midsummer Night's Dream"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 29, 2024
Though it is not quite as inevitable as “Nutcracker” at Christmas, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” often means summer for the New York City Ballet, and it returned this year for a week of magic. Its structure does have some issues—why is Titania off in her grotto dancing with a boy toy, what does that magic flower
New York City Ballet
"Dances at a Gathering", "Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 12, 2024
The double bill of Jerome Robbins’ “Dances at a Gathering” and Balanchine’s “Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet” was a glimpse back at an idealized European past, where elegant youths wore colorful chiffon while dancing to Chopin and, in an idealized Vienna, beautiful and mysterious women enticed stalwart men while luscious Gypsies cavorted on the green.
New York City Ballet
"Rubies", "Dig the Say", "Underneath, There is Light"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
May 2, 2024
New York City Ballet’s Spring gala had one Balanchine, two premieres, three brief speeches, and no intermission and clocked in at a very efficient one and a half hours. It opened with sparkling version of “Rubies”, in all its bright red glory, danced by the veterans Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley, with
New York City Ballet
"Bourrée Fantasque", "The Steadfast Tin Soldier", "Errante", "Symphony in C"
New York City Ballet
David H. Koch Theater
Lincoln Center
New York, New York
April 24, 2024
The New York City Ballet opened it’s 75th Anniversary Spring season, subtitled “The Future”, with an all-Balanchine program of four ballets whose dates ranged from 1940’s (“Symphony in C”, 1947 and Bourrée Fantasque, 1949 ) to 1975 (“The Steadfast Tin Soldier” and “Errante”, the new name for “Tzigane”). The
New York City Ballet
"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
New York City Ballet
"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
New York City Ballet
"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’
New York City Ballet
"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
New York City Ballet
"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