A few months ago, friends told me I absolutely had to watch Heated Rivalry, the Canadian TV show about two rival hockey players who were secret lovers. I hit play and I was instantly hooked. I looked up the actors and was shocked that the two leads (Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams) were both extremely young and neither had extensive acting experience. Both were waiting tables before they were cast.
Because they just understood the assignment. Scene after scene, line after line, expression after expression, they captured everything with a naturalism that made Heated Rivalry a legitimate pop culture sensation. There are certain artists like that: extremely talented, intuitive, and charismatic. They knock it out of the park on their first try every time.
At New York City Ballet, Mira Nadon is such a dancer. She’s fairly young, but ever since she entered the company, she’s repeatedly knocked big debuts out of the park: Diamonds; Aurora; Odette/Odile; Mozartiana. She has a combination of incredible musicality coupled with ironclad technique and unerring instinct in characterization. She also has an old-Hollywood glamor.
Yesterday, I saw her in only her second performance of the adagio in Symphony in C (her debut was a few days ago) and she immediately became the best interpreter of this role in recent memory. What is so appealing about her is her confidence. In that huge developpé balance to arabesque penché, there was no wobbling, no moment of insecurity. Everything was so smooth, so lush, like butter.
Nadon always dances a role to the manor born. Even the way she holds her neck while bourréeing is so queenly, so like the remote goddess of Balanchine’s imagination. She is also one of the dancers who knows the value of slowly raising her leg in arabesque, so the audience can see the beautiful upward movement of the leg, instead of just the final pose. Preston Chamblee partnered her so beautifully that I got goosebumps. The previous night, Domenika Afanasenkov and Ryan Tomash made their debuts in the adagio and while there were lovely moments, it wasn’t as fully realized.
It was overall maybe the best performance of this Balanchine masterpiece I can recall watching in a long time. In the first movement, Megan Fairchild (retiring in a few weeks) and Joseph Gordon were pristine in their classicism. In the third movement, Emma von Enck and David Gabriel shot out of the wings like a canon and jumped with such endurance and joy. Olivia MacKinnon was fast and precise in the fourth movement. In the finale, all four ballerinas nailed that difficult pirouette to the knee. Brava.
It was a wonderful afternoon at the ballet. Agon was next on the program. Unity Phelan is making her return to the stage after having a baby in January. She had a few shaky moments in the pas de deux. In the opening back leg whip around Adrian Danchig-Waring’s neck, she mistimed the whip so it didn’t quite hit Danchig-Waring’s neck at the precise beat of the music. But overall, Agon remains maybe Phelan’s best role. It shows off her flexible, geometrical style perfectly. She’s a good match with Danchig-Waring, who also looks great after a long injury layoff. The previous night, Nadon made her debut in the central pas de deux and she was sultry, even seductive. Two very different but equally valid interpretations.
Unfortunately, Danchig-Waring is retiring in the fall. Taylor Stanley (pas de trois) is also retiring next season. Stanley is a dancer who is seemingly at the top of his game. Yesterday’s performance reminded the audience why Stanley will be so missed. He is musical, precise, yet never robotic. His body has the flexibility that is tailor-made (pun intended) for the Stravinsky leotard ballets. What a loss. Naomi Corti in the Bransle gay was so commanding that I instantly wanted to see her do the central pas de deux.
The afternoon ended with Firebird. Firebird always works because of the Chagall backdrops and colorful costumes. Yesterday’s performance made me so happy because roughly a year ago, I saw Gilbert Bolden III suffer a horrendous injury in the middle of a performance. He tore his Achilles. After a lengthy rehab, he returned to the stage as Prince Ivan. His wide smile and expert partnering was such a joy to see. Firebird is one of Isabella LaFreniere’s best roles. It shows off her top qualities: her commanding upper body, her big jump. She gave a very regal interpretation. The night before, Ashley Hod was a more jittery, nervous bird who flicked her arms and fingers like actual small flames. Both are wonderful.
