Ballet Hispanico presents CARMEN.maquia at the Apollo Theater.
Beautiful and emotional performance by Shelby Colona as Carmen and Chris Bloom as Don José.
CARMEN.maquia by Ballet Hispanico
Columbia Ballet Collaborative
Fall Performance by Columbia Ballet Collaborative tonight at the Alvin Ailey Theater.
Love “Where We Go” by Zhongjing Fang and her empowering message to dancers. Bravos to the five lovely ballerinas: Sophia Loo, Grace Puckett, Samantha Sacks, Bethany Schwartz, and Alexandra Waterbury.
Also love “it starts with one” by Emily Schoen especially the beautiful and fluid movements by Katrina Crawford, Paige Hinkley, Nicholas Rio, Grace Puckett, and Maya Weiss.
Overall, the seven choreographies each presented its own unique take on ballet. It was wonderful to see the amazing talents of this student-run organization.
The Tenant
The Tenant at the Joyce Theater with a post-show chat with the cast.
A complex dance play that’s dark, disturbing yet at a deep level, completely relatable. A stunning performance for those open to experiences.
Love Cassie Trenary‘s solo at the start of the show depicting the mental state of Simone. Love James Whiteside‘s and Cassie’s duets; James’ transformation; and the final dance where they mirror each other. I would go back just to see those dance scenes again!
However, the show has so much more. Love Kibrea Carmichael‘s movements and portrayal of her various characters. I generally try to focus on the dancers, but major kudos to Frank Moon for the live music, sounds, and voice.
At the post-show chat, we learnt about:
The significant amount of research that the dancers undertook to master their characters.
How the cast wind down at the end of the night, after being so emotionally invested in dark roles that involve suicide, deep anxiety, paranoia, and so on.
And the various coincidental events that happened during the creation of the piece. Are we really watching a story replaying in a loop? Or perhaps… just perhaps… are we all living the story ourselves?
Balanchine: The City Center Years (Program V)
Program VI of “Balanchine: The City Center Years” at New York City Center.
The festival closed this afternoon with four stunning performances.
Hometown favorite American Ballet Theatre put on an amazing presentation of Symphonie Concertante. Devon Teuscher was so beautiful in her lead role, as were Christine Shevchenko and Thomas Forster. Wonderful to see how much Cate Hurlin and Katie Williams have grown and blossomed (and of course been promoted) in the 3 years since I moved to NYC and started attending ABT performances regularly.
The other programs today include repeats (but gorgeous ones!) of the Four Temperaments by Joffrey Ballet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Sae Eun Park and Hugo Marchand, of Ballet Opera de Paris, and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux by Victoria Tereshkina and Kimin Kim.
Balanchine: The City Center Years (Program IV)
Program IV of “Balanchine: The City Center Years” at New York City Center.
An absolutely gorgeous performance of Glinka Pas de Trois by Nathalia Arja, Ashley Knox, and Kleber Rebello of Miami City Ballet.
Taking on completely different roles from the previous night, Sae Eun Park and Hugo Marchand of Ballet Opera de Paris, put on a stunning presentation of the Pas de Deux from Agon.
Balanchine: The City Center Years (Program III)
Program III of “Balanchine: The City Center Years” at New York City Center.
Kimin Kim continued to own the spotlight with his incredible jumps in “Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux,” earning an applause from the audience every time he leaves the floor.
Tonight’s program also featured the colorful “Scotch Symphony” by San Francisco Ballet. A graceful and beautiful “Divertissement Pas de Duex” from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by Sae Eun Park and Hugo Marchand of Ballet Opera de Paris. The technical and precise “the Four Temperaments” by Joffrey Ballet. I especially enjoyed Christine Rocas and Dylan Gutierrez in the second variation, Sanguinic.
Balanchine: The City Center Years (Program II)
Program II of “Balanchine: The City Center Years” at New York City Center on Thursday.
My favorite tonight goes to Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcelino Sambe of The Royal Ballet in “Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux”. What a beautiful presentation of my favorite duet. WOW!!! 😍😍😍
I wasn’t the only one who fell in love with them. The crowd cheered so loudly that the house re-opened the curtain for them to take an extra bow.
After seeing Tiler Peck and Joaquin de Luz of NYCB perform the piece this spring, I didn’t think anyone could possibly come close. However, within seconds of coming onto the stage, after the first spin and the first lift, Anna Rose was already signaling to us that we’re in for a treat.
Anna Rose and Marcelino had an incredible chemistry between them that brought the duet to a different level.
I also love every aspect of Anna Rose’s presentation. The way she lingered in the air just a bit longer than expected at the end of a turn. Her facial expression, her eyes, her glaze alone could tell endless stories. Technically, she travelled backwards in her arabesque faster than anyone I’ve seen. Her fish dives at the end were the most daring of a leap into a fish dive that I’ve seen. Like I said, I didn’t think anyone could possibly outshine Tiler but she just did!
San Francisco Ballet put on a beautiful performance of “Divertimento No 15” featuring a talented female lead cast of Frances Chung, Dores André, Sasha De Sola, Koto Ishihara, Ana Sophia Scheller accompanied by Ben Freemantle, Angelo Greco, and Lonnie Weeks.
Maria Khoreva, Anastasia Nuykina, Daria Ionova, and Xander Parish put on an emotional rendition of “Apollo”. Bravo!
I also love the pairing of Maria Kowroski and Abi Stafford in “Concerto Barocco” by New York City Ballet.
Balanchine: The City Center Years (Program I)
Program I of “Balanchine: The City Center Years” at New York City Center on Wednesday.
Memorable moments from the opening night include…
Kimin Kim‘s jumps in “Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux”. The crowd collectively gasped when he leaped off for the first time, and stayed in the air forever and ever. Kimin continued to impress throughout the piece, executing some of the best jumps I’ve seen, and owned the spotlight in this duet.
Anna Rose O’Sullivan and Marcelino Sambe were amazing in “Tarantella”. They were playful, technical, and daring. I love the chemistry between them, and look forward to seeing them perform “Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux” tomorrow night!
Tiler Peck, Ashley Bouder, Anthony Huxley, and New York City Ballet were lovely in “Symphony in C”. Miami City Ballet opened the night with a beautiful presentation of “Serenade”.
Whipped Cream
Whipped Cream by American Ballet Theatre.
I missed Whipped Cream last year, and was glad to finally catch the production this year. My favorite part of the night, though, came during the curtain bow. Catherine Hurlin was just promoted to a soloist over the weekend. Tonight was her first performance since the announcement. You could literally see the glee coming out of her, as she dances joyfully on stage during the bow. Congratulations!!!
Don Quixote
