Jewels

When I got to my seat in the fourth ring of the Koch Theater, a bronze orb covered in glittering circles of diamonds/clear jewels, the chandelier, hung before my eyes.  Each section of the theater's upper levels had its own matching, glittering circle.  Jewels studded the theater's rings.

I did not wear any jewels to see Balanchine's work of the same name.  I left the house in a flurry, thrilled with the possibility of making it to the ballet, knowing that I might be late.  I didn't take time to fuss with my costume, and I was right on time.  Why do people in the audience dress up for the ballet?  Whereas the performers costume themselves for the audience, the performers can't see what audience members are wearing and probably don't care.  Audience members dress up for each other.

"Emeralds" was lyrical and beautiful.  It used a Fauré piece I particularly like that made me imagine the dancers were in an enchanted wood where miracles, like ballet and falling in love, take place.  During one variation, the ballerina spun around moving her arms intricately above her head.  I tried to imagine an emerald doing so but failed.  It was just interesting choreography.  Balanchine had dancers lift their arabesques in staccato fashion to match the music.  No leg dropped or shook.  Balances were all suspended.  No one broke the spell.

Throughout "Rubies," I kept thinking that the dancers didn't look like humans at all.  Maybe this is what dancing minerals would look like:  flashy, angular, hard.  They danced turned-in and in plié with flashes of extensions to the side and turned-in back attitudes.

"Diamonds" began like a dry version of "Swan Lake," with dancers in white, accompanied by Tchaikovsky, doing balancé after balancé, but toward the end, it was magical.   As in "Emeralds," the dancers looked like humans perfected, my image of ballerinas. At one point, the entire corps de ballet put on long gloves, and the dancers waltzed around the stage in pairs, the diamonds glittering off the women, so that it looked like a ballroom scene from My Fair Lady.  Though Audrey Hepburn wore black gloves and pearls for Breakfast At Tiffany's, I thought of her, here, too.

This is my take on the ballet itself.  Since I'd never seen it before, I can't comment on the quality of the particular performance apart from the choreography.  Technique was brilliant, as expected.  Some places could have used more turnout, but the dancers used more turnout than I ever will!

 It's important not to let one's own humility toward dancers and their amazing abilities prevent one from being critical.   Just because I don't always turn out well doesn't mean that I can't fault City Ballet on the point.  It's the same concept as science journalists not being so enamored with science that they don't critique it. If I could dance that well, I'd be onstage!

And that was my night at the ballet, the last for a while, since next week, City Ballet is going off on tour?/taking a break?/not performing in New York!  Meanwhile, I'll be concerned with my own academic performance.