Beyond the Clouds
When the lights for “Opal Loop/Cloud Installation #72503” come up on four dancers silhouetted by refracted light of a billowing cloud of fog, the scene rivals halftime at the Superbowl.
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For the fifty-seventh year of its summer residency in July at Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), upstate in Saratoga Springs, the New York City Ballet brought three programs. I was able to see all the programs and five of the six performances. Unlike the programming for the company’s tours, which presents a slice of its profile, its residency offers works that have been significant during recent seasons at Lincoln Center: spring premieres like Justin Peck’s full-length “Copland Dance Episodes”; the 2022 fall fashion gala’s premieres by Gianna Reisen and Kyle Abraham, and the 2022 Stravinsky Festival offerings of Balanchine’s “Firebird” and Peck’s “Scherzo Fantastique.” There is also the chance to see newly promoted principals—Isabella LaFreniere and Roman Mejia this year and Jovani Furlan, Peter Walker, and Chun Wai Chan last year—as well as many promising new dancers. All in all, both a synopsis and a continuation.
The summer setting of SPAC’s music and dance shed, which also hosts the Philadelphia Orchestra in August, bestows its own magic. Matinées take place with daylight entering the open sides, while evening performances begin during the long summer day and darken unnoticed into the evening.
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When the lights for “Opal Loop/Cloud Installation #72503” come up on four dancers silhouetted by refracted light of a billowing cloud of fog, the scene rivals halftime at the Superbowl.
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I enjoyed the review, especially since I had seen two of these performances, with some cast overlap, in the spring season in NYC. I agree completely with the comment about describing grown women as “girls”. This is definitely an unfortunate tradition that has to go.
Lovely review, thank you, and wonderful pictures —love the side-by-side placement of Anthony and Taylor, different costumes, different ballets, but almost the same cabriole(ish) moment! and love seeing Sara-as-swan, so in the moment, good to have you on the stage again, you lovely artist, and then, oh! that color-snap from the Peck/Copland extravaganza! (My small “huh?” question: any reason why one has to keep using the term “girl” or “girls” when referring to grown women, as happens here with reference to “Fancy Free”? I don’t think we have to adhere to what original program notes may or may not have said…right?)