Before the performance of "Eclectic NYCB," conductor Andrew Litton had a short "See the Music" segment. We learned that George Balanchine choreographed Stravinsky’s Le Baiser de la fée numerous times in his long career. He was never satisfied with the results, until the 1972 Stravinsky Festival when he distilled Baiser to a 25 minute divertimento. Two years later, he added a tragic coda. Those were his final thoughts.
Divertimento from Le Baiser de la fée is revived infrequently. It is an odd ballet, as if Balanchine’s couldn’t quite resolve his troubles choreographing to this piece. The mood switches from something as merry and sweet as La Fille mal gardée to Giselle-like tragedy within a matter of seconds. Very few dancers are convincing in both the happy romance of the first part of the ballet and the somber conclusion, where the village lovers are pulled apart by a mysterious force.
Megan Fairchild and Anthony Huxley are two inherently happy dancers. The vibe they exude is wholesome charm. Therefore, they were terrific in Part 1 of the ballet. Huxley’s beautiful beats and leaps in his solo were just fantastic. The way he is now able to jump and stretch his limbs to show off? Wonderful.
But both dancers don’t transition well to the anguished finale. They do all the steps, but romantic longing and passion are not in their toolboxes. The anguished embrace where the ballerina clings to the hero, back bent dramatically? Neither dancer has the sturm and drang to pull that sort of thing off. Baiser remains a curiosity.
A pair of rather thin duets comprised the middle portion of the program. The first was Lar Lubovitch’s Each In Their Own Time, a male-male pas de deux set to music by Brahms. It first premiered at Fall for Dance a few years ago. It is sweet and tender, if a bit slight. Taylor Stanley and Adrian Danchig-Waring sold it well. It helps that they’re gorgeous. Stanley’s liquid arms were their own personality. I long to see them do Dying Swan.
Christopher Wheeldon’s This Bitter Earth is one of my guilty pleasures. I know it is choreographically thin, but every time I hear Dinah Washington’s voice I melt. It is one of those ballets where the cast does not much matter. Sara Mearns and Tyler Angle were fine.
This is one unwelcome quirk of NYCB programming as of late – a middle section consisting of rather forgettable ballets. It is like a pop song with a weak bridge.
Thankfully, the evening ended with a rip-roaring performance of Jerome Robbins’ The Four Seasons. This is one of those surefire crowd pleasers that sends everyone home happy. It is hard to imagine a performance being more wonderful than last night’s. So many MVPs, from Indiana Woodward and Chun Wai Chan’s effervescent Spring, to KJ Takahashi’s high-flying Faun, to the newly engaged couple Tiler Peck and Roman Mejia absolutely throwing every crowd-pleasing trick in Fall. In the coda, Peck added some fouettés in attitude (the signature Dewdrop move) just for fun, while Mejia performed a little hop in between series of pirouettes à la seconde.
Peck and Mejia’s every appearance together is electric. They are not just physically well-matched, but you have the feeling they each other to new heights. There’s an element of competitiveness with them. Yet there’s no vulgarity in their dancing. Just two great dancers who make each other happy and make the audiences happier.
