Anniversaries in the Open Air

The New York City Ballet's summer residency at Saratoga Performing Arts Center captured a year of company anniversaries: it was the 50^th anniversary of both George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova’s “Coppélia” and Jerome Robbins’s “In G Major,” and Justin Peck’s “Mystic Familiar,” a winter season premiere, marked his 10^th year as resident choreographer. Balanchine’s black-and-white leotard ballet “Stravinsky Violin Concerto” rounded out the offerings. SPAC audiences were able to see superb performances and interpretations of all works. The long spans of time commemorated by the anniversaries have not dulled the lustre of any of these company works.

Performance

New York City Ballet summer residency

Place

Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY, July 2025

Words

Eva S. Chou

Emma Von Enck in George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova’s “Coppélia.” Photograph by Paul Kolnik

The program was headlined by the dance-filled “Coppélia,” whose four performances in two casts drew big audiences. Storybook sets and costumes were by the legendary Rouben Ter-Arutunian with additional costumes by the equally legendary Karinska.

Indiana Woodward’s Swanhilda brought out steps you didn’t know were there, so clean were her quick steps, so luxurious in amplitude in her slow ones, so unexpected the moments where she finds and shows us—stillness. All the while she was cheerful and smiling in the first act, ignoring Franz’s attempts to make up: ‘see how happy I am anyway,’ her dancing says. Already outstanding in her first performance, she was nothing short of perfect the second time out. Chun Wai Chan as Fritz was the natural partner that Swanhilda deserved, with her every swift movement supported, every catch seemingly effortless so her dancing could be full-out.

Indiana Woodward in George Balanchine and Alexandra Danilova’s “Coppélia.” Photograph by Paul Kolnik

In the two matinées, Emma von Enck in her role debut and K J Takahashi were already dancing with chemistry between them, as their first pas de deux showed. She was all the more devastated when in her “ear of wheat” dance that followed, the wheat gave no sound when she shook it, proving his heart was not hers. Meanwhile, Takahashi, boyish and one step behind what was going on, was taking his solos with great, buoyant leaps, showing us the happiness of being young.

While the final act in Balanchine’s “Coppélia” has apparently no story, it has meaning. The spiritual dimension of village life is represented in solos, such as the rituals of daily life to which bells summon the villagers: Dawn, Prayer, Spinner. Olivia MacKinnon and Alexa Maxwell were standouts as Spinner. The bell also tolls for War and Discord, danced by ensembles that are indeed chaotic and finally, it tolls for Peace. In the allegorical roles of Peace, the principals return in a pas de deux whose dramatic virtuosity bespeaks joy at the coming of peace.

Eli Raphael Gruska, Unity Phelan, and Noah McAuslin in Jerome Robbins’ “In G Major.” Photograph by Erin Baiano

Jerome Robbins’s “In G major” is set to Ravel’s piano concerto of the same name, here played by pianist Hanna HyunJung Kim. Étre’s new costumes, created for Paris Opera Ballet, in the first and third sections, are reminiscent of striped swimsuits of the 1920s Riveria, and pop against a backdrop of sketched-in sun and wave peaks. Ravel’s many syncopated passages reminded me how receptive Europe was to jazz in the 1920s and 30s.

The middle slow section, with its austere look, is a great contrast in every way. Gone is the snazzy ensemble work and the principals’ jaunty participation. Unity Phelan and Tyler Angle were hypnotic in their exploration of the choreography’s apparent plainness. Beginning at each end of a diagonal, she walked forward on pointe much of the way to him, then back some steps; forward again, and back. He in turn began to walk a bit forward, then back. They seemed to be establishing how to hold a connection between them, now closer, now further on a simple line. They tested that connection when rotating, when touching; simple steps followed, legs stayed low. Sometimes they walked forward and back again to remind you of how it had begun. At the end, in nearly the only purposeful move, she put her hands on his shoulders, he lifted her overhead, and they exited in one columnar shape. The whole movement seemed to be one breath.

Emilie Gerrity in George Balanchine’s “Stravinsky Violin Concerto.” Photograph by Paul Kolnik

This famed integration of virtuosic music and virtuosic steps in Balanchine’s “Stravinsky Violin Concerto” showed SPAC audiences yet more bests from the company. In the calisthenic Aria 1, Mira Nadon threaded her way through, around, and against her partner, Davide Riccardo, in movements that intentionally looked experimental. In the meditative Aria 2, the mysterious conclusion was memorably eloquent: Emily Gerrity, standing with her head cradled against her partner behind her, felt Jules Mabie placing a hand over her eyes; she arched back, then deepened the arch so that as Mabie knelt, his hand was still over her eyes.

New York City Ballet in Justin Peck’s “Mystic Familiar.” Photograph by Erin Baiano

Justin Peck’s “Mystic Familiar” closed the mixed program and the residency to thunderous applause. This was also the case last summer, when his 2017 “The Times are A-Racing” was the finale work for the residency. Both works are set to music by Dan Deacon (this time commissioned), who is himself an artist with wide appeal across genres and a large fan base. The parallels made me feel that seeing only Peck’s NYCB works, apart from his cross-genre work for Broadway, is not sufficient for truly understanding it.

The work is divided in the five elements of air, earth, water, fire, and ether. The brief foray into ‘air’ saw dancers in cloud-sleeves take walking steps through a deep blue background. Water, also fleeting, had Naomi Corti and Ruby Lister moving softly, as though on a seabed, under soft green-blue hued light. Earth featured Taylor Stanley in a lengthy solo. Often cast by Peck, Taylor is always a pleasure to watch in new works. Fire was danced by the all 14 dancers, and featured Peter Walker, another frequent dancer in Peck’ work. This section showed Peck’s longstanding interest in starting groups in huddles whose explosive force splits it off in different ways.

Ether was also a dance for the ensemble, where they appeared dressed in astronaut-style suits. If the human side of dancers is one goal here, it is achieved with the astronaut-wear, for some dancers had unzipped the top by curtain call; the costume must have been hot.

Anniversaries are coming fast and furious. Next summer will see the 60th year of NYCB’s residency at SPAC, which was inaugurated with Balanchine’s evening-length “Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

Eva S. Chou

Eva Shan Chou is a cultural historian of China, currently at work on "Ballet in China: A History." She has published articles on the establishment of the Beijing School of Dance, on China's firstSwan Lake, the founding figure Dai Ailian, and China’s cultural policies. ForBallet Review(New York)she wrote on performances by Stuttgart Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Opera Ballet of Rome, as well as companies from China performing in the US.Sheis professor in the Department of English, Baruch College, City University of New York.

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