DANCERS' CHOICE: A Benefit for the Dancers' Emergency Fund

What an exciting evening at the New York City Ballet! From the moment we all stepped into the State Theater last night, the atmosphere of anticipation, energy and enthusiasm was fantastic. Everyone was greeted by company apprentices (one of them was my daughter!), handing out Kyle Froman's keepsake booklet of beautiful photographs. Here is the cover. I already knew he was a talented photographer from his book, In the Wings: Behind the Scenes at the New York City Ballet , but wow, these newest photos of the dancers in and about the State Theater are fantastic. I certainly hope another full-scale book by him is on its way soon!

The theater was filled to the brim. The benefit performance was organized by Jonathan Stafford and truly seemed like a family affair, with everyone involved in a great range of ways. There were 12 excerpts by Balanchine, Robbins, Martins, and Wheeldon, from NYCB's vast repertoire of ballets, 2 short films and one world premiere, choreographed by Adam Hendrickson to music composed by Aaron Severini, both company members.  Across the board there were many debuts. Daniel Ulbricht in Rubies was fantastic - is it really possible he hasn't done the male lead before? He just looked like such a natural! Sara Mearns and Stephen Hanna were lovely in Martins's Beethoven Romance. The costumes were beautiful - I didn't know Heather Watts designed costumes! And here's my chance to say just how beautiful Sara has been this entire season. She has danced so many new roles, that  it is hard to keep them all straight. There were some weeks when she was dancing so many roles that she danced every single night, sometimes in more than one ballet in the evening. (Update: over the weekend she was promoted to principal - wonderful news!!) I loved seeing Amanda Hankes in mauve in Dances in a Gathering, Andrew Veyette in Square Dance, Savannah Lowery leading the Union Jack excerpt, immediately followed by Troy Schumacher leading the 3rd campaign in Stars and Stripes. I mention just a few - everyone was excellent!

The short film "When We Were Kids" was absolutely enchanting. It was a collage of dance recordings of various company members when they were children. Some were home videos, dancing in their living rooms, some were grainy recordings from local dance recitals. Some were funny, some hokey, all very cute and full of personality. I hope there will somehow be an encore showing!

Introducing the new piece, Flit of Fury - The Monarch was a short film showing some of the rehearsal and creative process. When the curtain went up the first image was arresting: two pianos on stage in the center at the back with orange lighting.  I loved the music by Aaron Severini. Very impressive that he should have this talent in addition to being a wonderful dancer.  Four strong male dancers were showcased, Robbie Fairchild and Sean Suozzi , Allen Peiffer and David Prottas, as well as Gretchen Smith. The whole program but this piece in particular really showed how the talent is so deep in this company. Very exciting! I remember both Adam and Aaron recently participating in  the New York Choreographic Institute : Adam as a choreographer in spring 2007 and Aaron as a composer in spring 2008. There is a lot of exciting work going on there and at the choreography workshops at SAB.  I know there are quite a few younger dancers in the company interested in choreography who got their first try this way when they were students.  It is fantastic that Adam and Aaron had the opportunity and challenge to expand from the studio setting to the big stage and to collaborate together. How great it would be if this Benefit for the Emergency Fund becomes an annual affair and if part of it continues to be new work by company members. There is so much talent!

The evening ended with Symphony in C: fourth movement and finale. For me there was the special thrill of seeing my daughter Lydia having her "debut" in this quintessential NYCBallet piece (dancing as a 3rd movement corps girl in the finale) To end on that note, with the stage full of white tutus is breathtaking! It was a perfect evening!

To read more, go to Oberon's Grove - Philip with his fantastic blog brings you right along with him to this evening, and to many many other NYCBallet performances!  PS: to see more of Kyle Froman's images, here are links: to an article in Vanity Fair Magazine and again to a special entry at Oberon's Grove. 

tags: apprentice  sab  nycb  choreography  dancers choice  

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