TAKE A BANANA FOR A RIDE
Sep 19, 2025
FALL FOR DANCE: Program #2
Sep 22, 2025
Review By Celia Ipiotis
When summer melts into the fresh breezes of fall, an invigorated city greets the return of NYC Ballet’s Fall Season at the David H. Koch Theater.
Opening night was a nod to the company’s founder George Balanchine programming Donizetti Variations set to a score by Gaetano Donizetti from his opera Don Sebastian 1960; the rarely seen Ballade to Gabriel Faure’s Ballade for piano and orchestra, Op. 19 in 1980; and a concentrated one-act Swan Lake to Tchaikovsky’s poignant score.
The light-hearted Donizetti Variations is an insatiable vehicle for Megan Fairchild. Soon to retire, Fairchild is at the top of her game artistically and technically. Vibrating with energy, Fairchild generates a clear love of dance. From the picture perfect balances poised en pointe, leg bent in back, to weightless leaps and sparkly footwork. Tossing off thoroughly exhilarating details, her glances to the audience and cheeky hip swishes capture the audience’s full attention.
An equally buoyant jumper, Joseph Gordon fully energizes his solo and joines Fairchild in airy hops and leaps criss-crossing each other.
In Ballade, last seen in 2003, a lyrical abstraction flows through fluid lifts and partnering that draws the dancers’ faces into a romantic exhale. Appearing like a mirage, Nadon’s gossamer bourrees silently pull her across the space to her solid partner, Peter Walker.
Nadon’s artistry refreshes every role she embodies, compounding the visceral impact. Always rooted in the choreography’s intuitive qualities, Nadon’s ultimate trust in the movement and her own body’s ability to fully embrace the tiniest movement with extraordinary grace and aplomb remains glorious.
In both Donizetti Variations and Ballade, the corps forms rhythmically enticing patterns framing the lead couples.
Finally, Isabelle LaFreniere enters the role of Odette in Swan Lake partnered by a cool Chun Wai Chan. Visually fulfilling the image of a swan, LaFreniere’s arms and torso are lovely when they undulate as she aches for escape and succumbs to the sorcerer’s pull. A fine debut, LaFreniere will grow into the role because she already exhibits a full bodied grasp of the the Swan Queen’s grief and longing.
Unquestionably, opening night set a giddily high standard for the rest of the season.
EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Celia Ipiotis
