New York City Ballet Balanchine + Ratmansky Review
October 4, 2024 | David H. Koch Theater – New York, NY, USA
New York City Ballet’s Balanchine + Ratmansky program offered three works by the company co-founder, George Balanchine: Mozartiana, Monumentum pro Gesualdo, and Movements for Piano and Orchestra, as well as Concerto DSCH by Alexei Ratmansky, who is currently NYCB’s artist in residence.
Balanchine’s ballets are from various periods of his career. Two of the works: the celestial Mozartiana and the modernistic Movements for Piano and Orchestra are indelibly associated with Suzanne Farrell, Balanchine’s last and greatest muse.
This current incarnation of Mozartiana, choreographed in 1981 specifically for Farrell, is generally considered as Balanchine’s final masterpiece. (Over the course of his long creative journey, Balanchine made at least four different versions of this ballet, the first version dating as early as 1933.)
New York City Ballet Balanchine + Ratmansky Review
With the cast of only 11 dancers, Mozartiana is not a grand ballet, but it holds a deep emotional power.
The intimate scenery of the opening “Preghiera” establishes a tone of spirituality and melancholy. The entire stage is bathed in a soft lighting; and the gentle music – Tchaikovsky’s Orchestral Suite No. 4, Op. 61 – accentuates the air of tranquility and solemnity of the setting.
The leading ballerina (danced by Sara Mearns with an unusual-for-her caution and restrain) is this ballet’s centerpiece. In the opening section, she is surrounded by four little girls, all dressed in identical black tulle gowns.
Mearns’ dancing is an evocation of a prayer as she gently breezes about the stage on pointe, her gestures unhurried, gentle, and graceful.
A male solo in the following “Gigue” brings a totally different ambiance. Here the music is upbeat and vivacious; and the choreography, in turn, is bright, witty, and animated, spiced with a touch of Commedia Dell’Arte flavor.
The spritely Daniel Ulbricht delivered a superb rendition of this role, his dancing polished and vibrant.
In the stately “Menuet,” the four supporting ballerinas take center stage. It’s one of my favorite moments of the ballet.
Accompanied by Tchaikovsky’s orchestral arrangement of Mozart’s Minuet in D, K. 355, the choreography feels grand and expansive.
The dancers create a flow of exquisite choreographic formations in what looks like a dreamlike merger of music and movement.
“Theme et Variations” is Mozartiana’s longest part of the ballet, which includes an extended pas de deux for the leading ballerina and her cavalier. Their duet is reminiscent of a lovely dialogue as the main heroine and her cavalier take turns in effervescent solos.
In this section of the ballet, Mearns came into her own, commanding the stage with her assured dancing and expressivity as she floated about the onstage in a series of fleeting bourées.
The tall and eloquent Peter Walker was her gallant partner, dancing with a fine skill and flair and providing a great support in the pas de deux.
The program continued with Balanchine’s two short modern ballets – Monumentum pro Gesualdo and Movements for Piano and Orchestra – both set to music by Igor Stravinsky, Balanchine’s long-time friend and collaborator.
Both pieces are Balanchine’s signature black-and-white ballets – stark, concise, and utterly modern, featuring the choreography that twists and turns the classical ballet canon in all possible directions.
Originally envisioned and created as two independent works, these ballets have been performed in tandem since 1966. Monumentum was made in 1960 for Diana Adams, who was also supposed to star in Movements three years later. Yet it was the 18-year-old Suzanne Farrell, who danced the leading ballerina role at the premier of Movements in April 1963.
It was Farrell’s major and most important debut as a member of New York City
“Before Movements, Balanchine had paid her some notice; after it, he seemed to notice nobody else,” wrote dance critic Joan Acocella in Farrell’s profile in the New Yorker.
The regal Monumentum lasts only seven minutes and is choreographed to Stravinsky’s arrangement of three Renaissance madrigals by Don Carlo Gesualdo.
In the ballet’s three sections, the rapidly changing geometry of movements aptly reflects Stravinsky’s shifting melodical rhythms. The choreography evokes the stately formality of Renaissance court dances, imbued with a hint of male-female courtship and romance.
As the leading couple, Miriam Miller and Aarón Sanz danced with a cool authority and poise. Miller was particularly effective: her long-limbed physique, wonderful flexibility, and the impeccable musical timing of her movements made her ideal for this role.
The atonal and edgy Movements offers a sudden contrast with the previous piece, and I think this is what makes the juxtaposition of these two ballets so interesting and satisfying.
Watching the origami-like geometry of Movements makes one realize how boldly and radically Balanchine broadened and modernized the classical ballet idiom, extending, inverting, and stretching each step to reflect the spiky melodic patterns and dissonances of Stravinsky’s music.
Usually, both ballets are danced by the same leading couple. But during this performance, a new pair of leads, Dominika Afanasenkov and Davide Riccardo, took center stage. Still a member of the corps de ballet, the exceptionally pliant and sparkly Afanasenkov gave an impeccable performance of her role. Expertly partnered by Riccardo, she assuredly navigated the intricacies of Balanchine’s exceptionally complex maze of movements.
The program ended on a high note with an exhilarating performance of Alexei Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH (2018), a stunning homage to Dmitri Shostakovich. The ballet’s music is the composer’s Piano Concerto No. 2 (hence the piece’s title which incorporates Shostakovich’s musical signature.)
This epic ballet was originally created for NYCB. To watch the company’s dancers in this piece is to admire their phenomenal technique, speed, and agility.
A lissome Emma Von Enck, the company’s newest Principal, was outstanding in the role of the Girl in Blue. She zoomed about the stage with a remarkable speed, never losing momentum, her pointework consistently flawless and sharp. She was flanked by Harrison Coll and Sebastián Villarini-Vélez, who, in turn, made for a capable, dynamic duo.
As a central couple, Unity Phelan and Tyler Angle (who stepped in for Adrian Danchig-Waring) looked marvelous in a slow and melancholic pas de deux, full of cascading lifts and flowing turns.
And the lively corps de ballet (seven women and seven men) not only framed the leads but also contributed to the ballet’s emotional storytelling, their dancing propelled by alternating feelings of peace and struggle.
Featured Photo of New York City Ballet‘s Sara Mearns and students from the School of American Ballet in George Balanchine’s Mozartiana. Photo by Erin Baiano.
