Monday, June 13, 2011

A GREAT DANCE WEEKEND



How perfect to see this cake in the window of my favorite neighborhood bakery: Soutine (at 104 West 70th St, just around the corner from Columbus Ave)

I had a wonderful dance weekend: I went to all of the last NYCB performances of the spring season - from Jewels, Saturday afternoon to Dancer's Choice, Sunday evening and everything in between. It seems like everyone has been talking about how great this season has been, getting off to a great start with the Balanchine "black and white" opening week in May. Over the last six weeks I have felt lucky to see so many favorite ballets, certainly Jewels being one of them.

On Saturday Rachel Rutherford brought all her beauty to Emeralds for her farewell performance and I am sad that she won't be dancing anymore. Although I was disappointed not to see Sara Mearns in Diamonds (or the rest of the weekend - there were a lot of last minute changes to cover for her), every extra chance to see Maria Kowroski and Charles Askegard together is special, with his retirement now announced for October. They are the most elegant, tallest of tall partners I can think of. And of course Tess Reichlen was fabulous in Rubies... It was great to end with the festive and high-spirited Dancer's Choice, and with so many impressive debuts. To name just a couple: Craig Hall in Apollo, and Sara Adams in Liturgy (with a poignant short film about the creation of the ballet and the role now being passed on to Sara by Wendy Whelan). Here is hoping everyone has many chances to dance their new roles again in the future. I'm already impatient for the fall season! So with many thanks to the whole company for the best dancing around! Whether I am a teeny bit partial or not... This was a GREAT Year!

On the schedule for this coming week: The Royal Danish Ballet is coming to town!

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