SAB 70th ANNIVERSARY

Review by Celia Ipiotis

In celebration of the school’s 70th birthday, NYCB presented an evening reflective of the school’s mighty results at the David H. Koch Theater. In the heart-stopping Serenade, students of SAB and newly appointed apprentices slipped into the beloved roles. The extraordinary joy of young dancers performing for an audience was palpable. Sheer joy popped off their bodies. Totally committed, and rehearsed to the end of their nails by Suki Schorer, the dancers found a balance between their enthusiasm and the romantic, sometimes Sapphic generosity of Balanchine’s ballet. Constantly draping arms around each other’s waists, and drawing a veil of mystical femininity around them, the young ladies leane into the moonlight bathing their bodies and the Tchaikovsky’s nostalgic laments.

When less seasoned dancers perform classics like Serenade the audience sees the steps more clearly because they don’t smudge the edges. Instead, they enunciate each gesture clearly and strip down the connective tissue. Most delightfully, a couple of the students’ energy was so combustible, they nearly slipped and fell. Happily, timidity was in very short supply. Although this is primarily a ballet for women, the three men proved adept partners and equal to the technique.

Two years before his death, Balanchine choreographed Mozartiana; and once again, he built-in sections to feature his SAB dancers. Led by Sara Mearns, Mozartiana to a score by Tschaikovsky, begins with two young dancers flanking either side of Mearns. Stately and elongated in her expressivity, Mearns draws forward with her entourage. When her cavalier appears, Mearns and Troy Shumacher engage in a pas de deux followed by an exchange of solos. Graceful in her carriage and expansive in her delivery, Mearns sailed through some challenging attitude turns she effortlessly whipped into clouds of revolutions. Interestingly, Mearns completed a couple of gestures with peculiar accents. Perhaps as a result of coaching by a former dancer? 

Finally, the program closed on Artist-in-Residence Alexei Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH set to one of his preferred composers, Dimitri Shostakovich. Premiered in 2008, this cast included a fine Unity Phelan leading the rambunctious crowd. A carnival of dancing meets the eye. Dancers pop up and down on flat feet like bouncy dolls. Men fling themselves into a carousel of lifts, rotating from one to the other until the women join in as well.  Elongated arms and legs enhance Phelan’s talents while Emma von Enck’s spitfire energy juices up Ratmansky’s kiss to communities cemented by a mutual caring and delight in dance. 

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis