THE HANGOVER REPORT – NEW YORK CITY BALLET’s gala performance focused squarely on forward-looking dance, unveiling new works by Wheeldon and Pires

Sara Mearns (center) and her fellow New York City Ballet dancers perform in the world premiere of Christopher Wheeldon’s “From You Within Me” at the David H. Koch Theater.

At last week’s glamorous New York City Ballet spring gala, the company kept the gimmick light and focused squarely on forward-looking dance, presenting a pair of world premieres, in addition to a 21st century fan favorite by the company’s current resident choreographer.

First up was Christopher Wheeldon’s loosely narrative From You Within Me, which has been choreographed to Schoenberg’s emotive Verklärte Nacht. Set against the romantic, tempestuous backdrops by artist Kylie Manning, Wheeldon’s choreography was appropriately swirling amd restless in manner. At the eye of the storm was principal Sara Mearns, who returns to performance this spring season after taking six months off for mental health reasons. Happily, her dancing had intent and a resolute simplicity that moored Wheeldon’s occasionally unfocused choreography. That the corps resembled a beating heart — perhaps a tad too on the nose? — is neither here nor there. Witnessing an artist like Mearns back at work provided satisfaction enough.

Then came another world premiere — Standard Deviation created by young Canadian choreographer Alysa Pires. Set to Jack Frerer’s unruly but often exciting jazz-inflected score (in which the live playing of saxophonist Chris Hemingway was heavily featured), the ballet is an intelligently and thoughtfully constructed piece of contemporary choreography that registers as a sort of younger sibling to Justin Peck’s Everywhere We Go (down to the costumes!). The work was primarily designed around principal Tiler Peck’s uncanny musicality, which here is tested to its limits. Indeed, the ballet commences with a pseudo-improvised saxophone solo by Hemingway, during which Peck is tasked to react with her own choreogphic concoction. The piece was at its most intoxicating, however, whenever newly-appointed principal Mira Nadon — sturdily partnered by Adrian Danchig-Waring — took to the stage with her commanding and luxuriously expansive dancing.

The evening concluded with a pedestrian rendition of Justin Peck’s 2017 sneaker ballet The Times Are Racing, which seemed a mere shadow of what it once was. The work could use a new injection of urgency and some new blood to perk it up a bit.

RECOMMENDED

NEW YORK CITY BALLET
Dance
David H. Koch Theater
Approximately 2 hours
Spring season continues through May 28

Categories: Dance

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