NYC BALLET 75th ANNIVERSARY REUNION CELEBRATION

REVIEW By Celia Ipiotis

Kisses, bear hugs and squeals of delight echoed from the lobby to the stage opening night of NYC Ballet ‘s 75^th anniversary season. It was one of those amazing evenings of dance when the legacy of American ballet was in full display. The new generation performed on stage, and the supporting generations returned to applaud the future. 

Edward Villella, one of the many NYCB “stars” in the lobby kept stopping traffic. No one was able to pass him without a word, a nod or wink. I told him I would think of him while watching Rubies, a role he owned for over a decade. He smiled, groaned a bit and said, “I’ll be thinking of my knees.”

Because of the magnitude of the ballet power in the audience, the performance functioned, more or less, as a break between joyous connections and extended conversations at intermission. In fact, It’s hard to believe the dancers on stage did not think about those in the audience who put their defining stamps on George Balanchine’s first full-length ballets Jewels.

Graciously elegant, Emeralds spun its aura of French finesse. Easily extending the flowing port de bras and rocking legs, Indiana Woodward and Emilie Gerrity floated through Faure’s graceful score balanced against their confident partners Tyler Angle and Adrian Danchig-Waring. 

In Rubies, Stravinsky’s bracing music tracked against the hip swivels, off-center kicks and curlicue pivots. In the duet with Anthony Huxley, Megan Fairchild, pranced and spun, but some of her typically edgy spark softened. Assertively taking the stage, Mira Nadon whipped her long legs up to her ears, in a sustained hold only to pounce fiercely into the center. With Villella and Patricia McBride (role originators) in the audience, it’s possible the dancers knew some viewers were simultaneously seeing them while remembering others. Regardless, Huxley bounded through the rapid-fire male role clearly made for a robust, athletic young man.

Finally, Diamonds ushered in Sara Mearns, arguably NYCB’s most glamorous ballerina. Her majestic hold and musical breath passed through Tchaikovsky’s luxurious score. Partnered by Russell Janzen, there were a couple of awkwardly timed “catches” — however, that could be chalked up to nerves, after all, Suzanne Farrell, the role’s originator and Balanchine muse was watching.  Still, Mearns’ breathless balances melted into a swooping torso, folding forward and arching back over elongated leaps. 

Diamonds’  magisterial luster gleamed ever brighter when over 300 NYC Ballet alumni, inheritors of the Balanchine ethos, streamed onto the stage. Row after row filed in, giving the audience glimpses of dancers like Kyra Nichols, Merrill Ashley, Peter Boal, Jock Soto, Robbie Fairchild, Lourdes Lopez, Delia Peters, Deborah Wingert, Helene Alexopoulos, Heather Watts, Damian Woetzel, Alexander Proia, Bart Cook, Patricia McBride, Suki Schorer Allegra Kent, Edward Villella, Suzanne Farrell along with so many others embracing the spirit of Balanchine.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis