Some Memorable Performances of 2019 – New York
I don’t really believe in lists, but it’s admittedly fun to look back over the year and reflect on moments that have stayed with me. So here they are, in no particular order…
New York City Ballet – Fall Fashion Gala with The Shaded Line, Lineage, Symphony in C – New York
★★★✰✰ Kudos to Lovette for really going out on a limb… The Shaded Line feels truly her own, and it’s clear that she has much to say about her chosen profession…
RB, ABT, NYCB & NYTB dancers at the Joyce Ballet Festival – Prog C, curated by Jean-Marc Puissant – New York
★★★★✰ Starwise, Bejart’s Wayfarer bumps this program from two stars to four.
New York City Ballet – All Balanchine quad bill including Scotch Symphony – New York
★★★★✰ There’s a reason why New York City Ballet doesn’t do George Balanchine’s Scotch Symphony very often. It’s a strangely disjointed ballet…
New York City Ballet – Hallelujah Junction, Judah, The Exchange, Concerto DSCH – New York
★★★✰✰ The vitality and drive of the troupe was palpable Wednesday night, as was a sense of collective energy to move forward – however rocky that movement might be.
New York City Ballet – Pictures at an Exhibition, Oltremare, Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes – New York
★★★★✰ There is a palpable sense of hope among the dancers; again and again, they rise to the occasion. The opening-night program reflected this resilience and gave reason for hope.
New York City Ballet – Balanchine, Robbins & Reisen quad bill – Washington
★★★✰✰ Opus 19 feels at once nostalgic, mysterious and dreamy…
New York City Ballet – Prodigal Son, Liebeslieder Walzer – New York
★★★✰✰ Liebeslieder Walzer is one of the most precious of all Balanchine’s ballets; within its fifty-minute span it seems to contain a world of emotion, both profound and infinitely civilized.
New York City Ballet – Robbins bill: Interplay, In the Night, N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz – New York
★★★✰✰ There was virtually nothing to fault with “In the Night” on Saturday — each couple was well matched, and Robbins’ unique capacity to imbue classical form with the richness of human experience again seems unparalleled
New York City Ballet – Serenade, Mozartiana, Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 – New York
★★★✰✰ One of the earliest things I appreciated about Balanchine is that he made me feel okay about liking Tschaikovsky (as NYCB likes to spell it)…
New York City Ballet – The Nucracker – New York
★★★✰✰ Come hell or high water, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker will return to New York City Ballet, filling the theatre night after night. Balanchine made a ballet built to last, and it has not disappointed.
New York City Ballet – Jewels & All Balanchine 4bill – New York
★★★★✰ The company seemed to be dancing with a special ferocity, as if to prove its worth and convince the world that this enterprise is, indeed, worth preserving and saving.
New York City Ballet – HERE/NOW Festival No. 6 & 8 including Peck’s The Decalogue (premiere) – New York
★★★✰✰ With his latest, The Decalogue, which opened on May 12, Justin Peck seems to have turned a new page…
New York City Ballet – Divertimento No. 15, Episodes, Vienna Waltzes – New York
★★★★✰ Divertimento’s aura still shines; you want to see it again, to figure out its fluid, almost magical transitions. It’s a shame it will only be performed four times this season; it takes more than that for the audience, and the dancers, to really get to know it.
New York City Ballet – Walpurgisnacht Ballet, Sonatine, La Valse, Symphony in C – New York
After a week of modernist works by Balanchine set mostly to Stravinsky, Hindemith, Webern, there’s no denying that a night of French music falls sweetly on the ear.
New York City Ballet – Symphonic Dances, Pictures at an Exhibition, This Bitter Earth, Everywhere We Go – Washington
New York City Ballet’s second bill in Washington was all about 21st-Century Choreographers, with works by Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon, Justin Peck and Peter Martins.
New York City Ballet – Pictures at an Exhibition, ‘Rōdē,ō: Four Dance Episodes, Mercurial Maoeucres – New York
‘Rōdē,ō: Four Dance Episodes premiere: It turns out that this combination of male vigor, Copland, and Peck is a felicitous one.
New York City Ballet – All Bach and Hear the Dance: Russia bills – New York
More from the NYCB Winter Season with Marina Harss reviewing 2 bills made up of 6 works: Concerto Barocco, The Goldberg Variations, Symphonic Dances, The Cage, Andantino and Cortege Hongrois…
New York City Ballet – Chaconne, Interplay, After the Rain, Everywhere We Go – New York
“…it’s hard not to get the impression that New York City Ballet is on a roll.”
New York City Ballet – Jenifer Ringer’s farewell, Dances at a Gathering, Union Jack – New York
Some dancers leave us wanting more. That’s how Jenifer Ringer’s retirement from New York City Ballet feels; we’ve seen so little of her in recent seasons, and she’s dancing so well.
