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Principals
and Soloists
New York
City Ballet
In
the Night
Music by
Chopin
Choreography by
Jerome
Robbins
Triple
Duet
Music by
JS Bach
Choreography by
Benjamin
Millepied
Duo
Concertant
Music by
Igor Stravinsky
Choreography by
George
Balanchine
Polyphonia
Music by
Gyorgy Ligeti
Choreography by
Christopher
Wheeldon
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Sadler's
Wells
24
- 28 September 2002 |
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It is clear from
the first steps in this excellent programme
that the New York City Ballet can boast
dancers of exceptional technique and
high dramatic ability. Invidious as
it always is to single out individuals
from so brilliant a team, it has to
be said that Alexandra Ansanelli is
a very special performer – something
different in her carriage, perhaps in
the line she makes at the end of every
crisp gesture, sets her apart; and her
partner in two dances, Jason Fowler
(typographical errors in the programme
confuses him with fellow-dancer Craig
Hall), had his own special cleanness
of movement, which made him an excellent
pairing for her.
The evening
began quietly, even undemandingly, with
the first of Jerome Robbins' nocturnes;
but they gathered in narrative strength,
and by the end, with all three pairs
of dancers in ensemble, the piece was
full of clever subtlety. Robbins' choreography
employs the Chopin accompaniment beautifully,
so that between the choreography and
its performance a very high standard
was set for the rest of the evening.
Not a
moment too soon, for then Alexandra
Ansanelli and Jason Fowler produced
magic out of Bach's Partita
in A, played by flautist Sylvain Millepied,
who must be the brother of the piece's
marvellously well-named choreographer
Benjamin Millepied. This exquisite creation
should not be missed: its first performance
at Sadler's Wells on 24 September 2002
was its world premiere, and it is destined
to be a permanent accession to repertoires
everywhere. It uses the lexicon of classical
dance, and makes of it something sparkling
and fresh.
Balanchine's
use of Stravinsky in his Duo
Concertant is clever, witty,
inventive, and beautiful, and was danced
marvellously well by Yvonne Borree and
Peter Boal. They wait at the grand piano,
listeners at a private concert; and
then the music takes them away, together
and later individually, to interpret
it and explore its nuances. It is dance
as theatre, concert and ballet in one,
and shows how full of originality and
surreality high modernism could be.
The conclusion
was a spirited and intricate set of
pieces to the various and surprising
music of Gyorgy Ligeti. It was not a
designedly showcase set, but it allowed
these outstanding New York City Ballet
dancers to show the strength, agility,
perfect technique and intelligent artistry
which makes them one of the finest companies
in the world. They created an evening
of exceptional dance; one would willingly
see them over and over again.
AC Grayling
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