Busy Busy Busy

I haven't written in almost ten days! Don't sue me, I've just been so busy! Almost every day this week I've gone with my ballet intensive to SPAC to see the New York City Ballet (with some of our teachers!!!) perform works by Jerome Robbins and, of course, Balanchine. So far we have seen, by Jerome Robbins (on opening night!): Glass Pieces, Afternoon of a Faun, Interplay, and I'm Old Fashioned. I loved them all a lot, but my favorite of the Robbins that nightwas Glass Pieces. Something about the constant motion in Glass really moved me.
The second night we went the program was all Balanchine: Le Tombeau de Couperin, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, La Sonnambula, and Symphony in C. It is hard to choose a favorite in this group, but I did enjoy La Sonnambula. In the operatic thread, it featured music from Bellini's La Sonnambula and (to my shock and amusement) "Son vergin" from I Puritani.
We went to the matinee on Saturday and saw (again all Balanchine) Mozartiana, Prodigal Son, and Symphony in C again.
We saw Daniel Ulbricht in Interplay, Mozartiana, and Prodigal Son. Let's just say that every young ballerina is in love with Daniel. To take his ballet class is heaven on earth for all of us. I've had class with him twice and spoke to him backstage after Prodigal, which is his signature role. He's so nice and very good about signing every one's playbills. The moment in Prodigal when Daniel drags himself onto the stage on his knees is so earth shaking. His energy is so intense and I got goosebumps. I will never forget the moment he came on the stage on his knees with made up blood on his legs and looking exhausted. I almost cried.
A major highlight was Ashley Bouder in Tscaikovsky Pas de Deux. She is always amazing, but she flew around the stage like an animal! Her solo variation had us on the edge of our seats! Not to mention her literally diving into a fishdive in her partners arms. The entire audience gasped and I think someone suppressed a scream (maybe that was me?). She is probably the most amazing dancer I've ever had the pleasure to be taught by. When she's on stage she's all you see. Her jumps go ten feet in the air. Her extensions are gorgeous. Not to mention her unbeatable strength! She turns for days and she makes it look so easy!
We saw Symphony in C twice, which was really great for me. I've always loved it, even since I saw it when I was younger. It is for me the epitome of classical ballet. Even though I've seen Swan Lake and The Nutcracker and all that Symphony always meant classical ballet. The white tutus and the different movements just screamed "classic!" The first time we saw it at SPAC the first movement was danced by Abi Stafford and Jonathon Stafford, the second by Wendy Whelan and Charles Askegard, the third by Sterling Hyltin and Joaquin de Luz, and the fourth by Tiler Peck and Sean Suozzi. My favorite movement is probably the fourth movement and the finale. It's so fun and (not to brag but...) I can do some of the turning sequences that the women do. They're hard and I probably look like a fool, but I can do them!!! The second time we saw it the first movement was danced by Ana Sophia Scheller and Jared Angle, the second by Sara Mearns and Stephen Hanna, the third by Sterling Hyltin again and Antonia Carmena, and the fourth by Tiler Peck again and Tyler Angle. One thing I have to say is that every time I've seen Wendy Whelan so far this SPAC season, her pirouettes are really off. We all have our off days, but I'm just concerned. I do love Wendy, though.

After each "act" the entire intensive goes to the stage door and waits for the dancers. Most of them are really nice and will sign autographs, but I feel bad because there's always so many people. So far here are the dancers I've seen backstage: Yvonne Borree, Ashley Bouder (also a teacher), Daniel Ulbricht (teacher, too!), Andrew Veyette, Jason Fowler (he taught us), Ask la Cour, Amar Ramasar, Devin Alberda, Kyle Froman, Pauline Golbin, and Jacob Prottas. I've also seen Sean Lavery, Peter Martins, Adam Hendrickson, and a few others who I didn't stop for autographs.
For anyone who knows who this is, I took class a few times with Patricia Wilde who was with NYCB for a while and then went to Pittsburgh to run their company. She's a legend and we all love her. She's so nice and she signed my NYCB face-book and everything.
I've also been in the same room as Jock Soto, but that's a story for another time. =)


Happy Listening!!! =)
PS. I'll be back with more operatic adventures soon!!!