Ashley Bouder and Adrian Danchig-Waring. Click fo rmore photos.
NYCB’s 21st Century Choreographers program consists of five works from young choreographers. I saw the Friday performance-short at only 1 hour and 57 minutes-which will be repeated October 16 and the evening of the 17th. The pieces were interesting, but only one stood out enough to merit a second viewing.
The first piece was Polaris by Myles Thatcher set to a piano quartet by William Walton. Thatcher is a Corps member of the San Francisco Ballet and has completed works for SFB, Joffrey, and the SFB School. He is mentored by Alexei Ratmansky for the 2014-2015 Rolex Mentor & Protégé Initiative. The work featured Tiler Peck and Craig Hall, supported by two women and four men. For much of the 13 minute work, Tiler is the center of attention, probably representing the North Star. Various dancers appeared in numerous combinations, with Tiler coming in and out of the action, sometimes participating in the group action and sometimes not. The steps were fairly simple, but there were several intriguing and interesting formations of the dancers.
The second work was The Blue of Distance by Robert Binet, set to piano pieces by Maurice Ravel. Binet is the Choreographic Associate of the National Ballet of Canada. Before his appointment at NBC, he was the first-ever Choreographic Apprentice at the Royal Ballet mentored by Wayne McGregor. Dancers were Sterling Hyltin, Rebecca Krohn, and Sara Mearns along with Tyler Angle, Harrison Ball, Antonio Carmena, and Preston Chamblee with pianist Elaine Chelton. I enjoyed the interesting patterns that emerged with various duets, dancers chancing partners, dancers moving to various locations, dancers sitting to watch other dancers. The non-synchronous movements made for intriguing imagery.
Next up was NYCB Corps member Troy Schumacher’s Common Ground, with an orchestra score from Ellis Ludwig-Leone. It is an engaging work with pleasing patterns, unconventional partnering arrangements, but marred by strange costumes with strings hanging from the dancers.
My favorite work of the evening was Justin Peck’s New Blood, set to music by Steve Reich. Costumes are on the weird side with multicolored leotards for the women with different colors for the legs and arms. Makeup made the dancers look ghoulish. Costumes aside, it is an energetic work with seven women and six men with recurring movements throughout such as a sliding step that carried over to the curtain calls and a partnering scooting movement on the floor. I liked the energy of the piece and multifaceted combinations that Peck produced, almost as varied as the attire the dancers wore. The lead couple consisted of Ashley Bouder and Adrian Danchig-Waring; Ashley announced several weeks ago that she is expecting her first child.
Last Swan Lake finished. And a new chapter beginning. #8weeks #cygnet #Bouderbump with @defl0
A photo posted by Ashley Bouder (@ashleybouder) on
The last work was Jeux by Kim Brandstrup to music by Claude Debussy. Unlike the previous pieces, this is a narrative work that I didn’t follow. It featured Sara Mearns with a see-through blindfold. The supporting cast was in formal attire with suits for men. The sets were minimalistic and dark, with a single lightbulb hanging down on stage left. Adrian Danchig-Waring was in jeans and sneakers. Adrian came out bouncing a ball for some reason. He is tall, with the build of a basketball point guard. Based on his dribbling capabilities demonstrated in this work, he made a good career choice to forego basketball. Sara interacted with the rest of the cast and had several duets with Adrian. In the end, Adrian came out with the same blindfold Sara was wearing, they embraced and ended up on the floor together. I didn’t get it.
With the exception of Jeux, I enjoyed all of the works. However, on first viewing, I don’t have a great desire to see any of them again, with the exception of Peck’s New Blood.
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