Charles Yang, Gillian Murphy, and Marcelo Gomes in Bach Partita, November 1, 2013.
Tickets go on sale Monday for ABT’s Fall season at Koch Theater at Lincoln Center from October 22-November 2 for 13 performances. The all-mixed rep performances consist of: Bach Partita, Jardin Aux Lilas (Lilac Garden), Seven Sonatas, Fancy Free, Raymonda Divertissments, Sinfonietta, Gaîté Parisienne, Thirteen Diversions, and a Liam Scarlett world premier. Principal Dancers Roberto Bolle and Polina Semionova are not scheduled to perform.
There is a nice mix of old and new works with favorites including Anthony Tudor’s Jardin Aux Lilas (Lilac Garden) and Jerome Robbin’s Fancy Free. Fancy Free is a masterpiece which ABT premiered in 1944. Set to music by Leonard Bernstein, it was Robbin’s first ballet, choreographed when he was only 26 years of age. I love this ballet as I’ve seen it dozens of times and will see it dozens more. The plot is simple: three sailors on leave compete for the affection of two women at a New York City bar. Will be interesting to see who dances the sailor roles. Hopefully a few younger dancers like Gabe Stone Shayer and Calvin Royal. Jardin Aux Lilas (1936), set in the Edwardian era, is a story ballet about a young woman engaged to a man she does not want to marry. Léonide Massine’s Gaîté Parisienne is another oldie, set to music by Jacques Offenbach. The ballet premiered in 1938 and was revived by ABT this past Met season.
Raymonda Divertissments is both old and new. The piece is staged by Kevin McKenzie and Irina Kolpakova after Marius Petipa, and will premier October 23.
I look forward to Twyla Tharp’s Bach Partita, which premiered in 1983 and revived by ABT last fall. The piece is set to Bach’s Partita in D minor, a thirty-minute virtuoso showpiece for solo violin and considered one of Bach’s greatest works. Tharp’s piece is complicated, with the leads performing in short bursts to be replaced by other leads and cast members. Sometimes the leads perform together, on their own, and with other cast members. A lot of interesting action and interaction among the dancers. All to music by a single violinist, last year Charles Yang.
Seven Sonatas had its New York City debut in the ABT 2009 fall season, a strange season at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, where the Philharmonic performs. The work, set to a selection of keyboard pieces by Domenico Scarlatti, is like many Ratmansky pieces; it features solos, duets, and group dances from six primary dancers.
Christopher Wheeldon’s Thirteen Diversions had its premier at the cavernous Metropolitan Opera House in 2011 and is set to music by Benjamin Britten’s “Diversions for Piano (Left-Hand) and Orchestra.” The piece should show better at the more intimate Koch Theater.
Jiří Kylián’s Sinfonietta was last performed by ABT in 2005. I love the music by Leoš Janáček, particularly the opening section where horn players enter the sides of the stage and blast out a dramatic section.
Liam Scarlett will premier his first work for ABT. Liam, 27, is a former Royal Ballet dancer and the company’s first Artist in Residence. I liked his Acheron for New York City Ballet set to organ music by Francis Poulenc.