New York City Ballet: A Brief Note

New York City Ballet
Saturday Matinee May 19, 2007
New York State Theater

"Family Fun"
Square Dance
Carousel (A Dance)
Symphony in C

Since I didn't see Romeo and Juliet, I hadn’t seen the company in two weeks and I was glad to catch the final performances of Square Dance and Symphony in C. Megan Fairchild’s dancing was less constrained than it often is in this role; Andrew Veyette was making a debut, and he did pretty well. He started the variation with some hesitation, but as he went along he became more connected to the music, and he used it to his advantage. His line isn’t ideal, especially in the feet, but his upper body is expressive. The corps, as usual, or maybe more than usual today, was terrific.

Wheeldon’s Carousel has grown on me, and it got very strong performances from Tiler Peck and Damian Woetzel, who projects a characterization that is very human and true.

A mishap I hadn’t seen before happened in Symphony in C. In the second movement, Sofiane Sylve was being partnered by Ask La Cour, in a debut, and when it came to the part where he lifts her and she puts her toe through the hoops created by the two soloist couples, somehow they undershot the lift, and poor Sylve actually had to lift her right leg and bend her foot into a very ugly position to lift it over the hoop-makers’ arms and into the center. It looked bad, but it was still kind of funny. It didn’t mar the entire performance, which was excellent, anyway. The rest of the cast: Scheller and Jonathan Stafford; Bouder and De Luz; Peck and Tyler Angle.