NYCB: All Balanchine program felled by miscasting

Last night, NYCB finally performed some Balanchine in its winter season. The program paired together two of Balanchine’s most stubbornly uncommercial works (Four Temperaments and Liebeslieder Walzer). Both are acknowledged masterpieces, yet neither are loved by the public the way, say, Theme and Variations or Jewels are. The auditorium was depressingly empty.

As for me, I’ve always loved Four Temperaments and enjoy seeing it even when the performance is less than perfect. Last night, there were a few wobbles. Isabella LaFreniere stumbled out of a diagonal of pirouettes early in the “Sanguinic” variation and it seemed to unnerve her. She danced with visible hesitation afterwards, which is a problem when the entire variation requires a go-for-broke style. Preston Chamblee partnered her well, but there was little rapport between the two. Sebastian Villarini-Velez (Melancholic) did the steps, but without much actual melancholy.

The finest performers were Adrian Danchig-Waring (Phlegmatic) and Emily Kikta (Choleric). Danchig-Waring brought just the right amount of jazz inflection to his solo, and Kikta’s long legs cleaved through space in the final Choleric section. Sara Adams and Davide Riccardo in Theme 3 were also a highlight.

The ending of the ballet always packs a thrill. Like the ending of Serenade, there’s a sense of being swept off to an afterlife. Four Temperaments can survive less than ideal casting.

I wish I could love Liebeslieder Walzer as much. I’ve seen this ballet many times over many years and it’s always been the same: admiration from a distance. It starts with the music. I’ll admit that Brahms’ song cycle is just not music I respond to. I recognize its mastery, but unlike Four Temperaments it’s not a ballet I long to see over and over again. 

With that being said, last night’s performance had one towering portrayal. Mira Nadon in the role originated by Diana Adams was revelatory. It helps that she actually resembles Diana Adams. They both have the same dark hair and aristocratic cheekbones.

Nadon has one of the lushest arabesques in the business. Her flexible back can convey yearning and vulnerability. But more than that, Nadon had an inner life and fire that made her dances in the long ballet just glow. She was telling a story and even if you couldn’t quite follow along, it was riveting. You couldn’t take your eyes off her. Peter Walker partnered her so elegantly. The two of them alone seemed to know what this ballet is about.

The rest of the cast was … well, miscast. Or mis-paired. The tall, stately Unity Phelan was inexplicably paired with the short, explosive Roman Mejia. Their partnership looked odd and there was a mishap with Mejia stepping on the hem of Phelan’s dress. Megan Fairchild has danced this ballet for many years and still looks out of place. She’s contained and controlled. Not much inner life and mystery there. The same could be said of Tiler Peck, an exquisite dancer who nonetheless does not have the ability to draw the audience into an inner dialogue.

I was talking to a friend at intermission and she told me that Liebeslieder Walzer is extremely cast-dependent. It is fragile. I understood what she meant at the end of the evening.  When Nadon was dancing, I believed in the ballet. When the others were dancing, not so much.