Originally, I had been going to fly back from New York on Tuesday.  Thank goodness I ended up staying until Wednesday, because that meant I was able to go to the ballet on Tuesday night.  That evening was the unexpected highlight of the trip, and it wasn’t until I was on the plane home that I realized how close I came to missing it.

Every August, The Joyce Theater presents a Ballet Festival.  Usually, the festival is an opportunity for smaller companies to appear in the big city; a couple of years ago, I saw BalletX there.  This year, The Joyce invited Kevin O’Hare, director of The Royal Ballet, to oversee the festival.  He curated one program of works, and then invited three others to curate the remaining evenings.  I was in town long enough to catch Program B, curated by Lauren Cuthbertson, and Program C, curated by Jean-Marc Puissant.

Having just seen Lauren Cuthbertson in Mayerling last month, I was excited to see her onstage again and curious about her programming.  I was also nervous.  Program B consisted of four world premieres and one U.S. premiere, and included work by only two choreographers I had heard of.  While I’m generally pretty game for anything marketed under the category of “ballet,” I’m not immune to the comfort of a known name. I suppose in this case that name was hers; the program was sold on the strength of Cuthbertson’s stardom.

I cannot say, with honesty, that I liked any of the five pieces on Program B.  But there were rewards nonetheless.  Darl, a short solo for Cuthbertson, opened the evening.  It was a witty, casual introduction to our host, allowing her to show off her personality.  None of the other pieces in which she danced gave her that opportunity.  I think of Cuthbertson as a dancer known for her dramatic abilities.  Certainly, dancers are always seeking to push themselves and try new things.  I happened to want to see more of the side of her that audiences already know.  Two Sides of was a pas de deux for Cuthbertson and Marcelino Sambé.  The treat was seeing Sambé, with his explosive jump and delightful stage presence.  The evening ended with the premiere of Robert Binet’s Dialogue Dances, which afforded a last chance to see the recently-retired National Ballet of Canada principal Xiao Nan Yu.  If only she’d had more to do.

My biggest complaint with the evening was its brevity.  The 7:30 curtain rose late and came down for the final time at ten minutes to nine.  Not even an hour and a half, including intermission.  The performance was over almost as soon as it had begun.  And while this gave me plenty of time to enjoy a post-show ice cream, the ticket prices warranted a longer event.

Program C, on Tuesday night, did hit the 90-minute mark.  It consisted of only three pieces, all of them longer than anything on Program B, which made the overall effect that of a fuller evening.  This program was curated by Jean-Marc Puissant, a former dancer-turned-designer.

The unquestionable highlight of Program C was Maurice Béjart’s Song of a Wayfarer, danced by Joseph Gordon and David Hallberg.  Choreographed in 1971, I was slightly concerned that the piece would seem dated.  It did not.  Rather, it was a moving and powerful duet that succeeded at creating a distinct mood.  Gordon, in the role originated by Rudolf Nureyev, was a complete revelation.  I’d never seen him dance before, but he was fantastic here.  Hallberg was, as expected, the picture of elegance. The men’s relationship is ambiguous.  There were no program notes, so the audience was left to wonder:  are they lovers?  Father and son?  At times their dynamic was loving, at times almost hostile.  On the Béjart website, he described the figures as a hero and his destiny:  “The hero is a wandering companion, like the young apprentices in the Middle Ages who traveled from city to city in search of their destiny and their master. A romantic student followed by his destiny and who suffers—in the words of Mahler—from ‘this knife in the chest,’ which represents self-combat and solitude.”  Although these notes would have been nice to have, the piece did not require them.  Left open to interpretation, it worked perfectly well.  The audience erupted into applause at the end, and kept clapping after the curtain had come down and the lights had come up for the pause.  Gordon and Hallberg did reappear to bow again at the very end of the evening, which the audience appreciated.

[The entire ballet is on YouTube, in a recording from 1989.  It’s 24 minutes long, and I recommend watching it when you have a chance. You can find it here.]

Song of a Wayfarer was sandwiched between a work by Gemma Bond, Then and Again, and excerpts from Kenneth MacMillan’s Elite Syncopations.  I have always wanted to see Elite, as we learned some of it in repertory class when I was a student. It’s a purely fun ballet, set to rags by Scott Joplin (and others).  Cassandra Trenary was the lone non-Royal Ballet dancer, and acquitted herself nicely in “Hot House Rag.”  Sarah Lamb and Calvin Richardson danced the central pas de deux with understated humor.  But the star of this piece was Marcelino Sambé in “Friday Night.”  With no more than a plié in sixth position, he sprang into a split jump several feet off the ground.  With his striped pants and winning smile, he stole the show and helped bring the evening to a close on a high note.

[You can watch the aforementioned pas de deux here, danced by Darcey Bussell and Gary Avis.  There’s an introduction and the pas begins around 1:45.]

I’m so glad I stayed the extra day. Program C was worth it. This does, however, bring my summertime viewing to an end.  I have no ballets to go see for a while.  I hope that you do, though, wherever you are located, and that you buy the ticket for that performance you’ve been debating attending.  It just might surprise you.

Ballet Festival
August 11, 2019, at 7:30 pm, and August 13, 2019, at 7:30 pm, at The Joyce Theater

Program B, curated by Lauren Cuthbertson:  Darl, by Jonathan Watkins; Seventy Two Hours, by Gemma Bond; Two Sides Of, by Juliano Nuñes; Reverie, by Stina Quagebeur; Dialogue Dances, by Robert Binet

Progam C, curated by Jean-Marc Puissant:  Then and Again, by Gemma Bond; Song of a Wayfarer, by Maurice Béjart; Elite Syncopations (Divertissement), by Kenneth MacMillan