© John Ross 'The Lesson' reviews 'Carmen' reviews Kings of the 'Afternoon of a Faun' reviews 'Afternoon of a Faun' reviews Kobborg in reviews Corella in reviews recent Kings of the reviews more NYSusan reviews Discuss this review (Open for at least 6 months)

As posted on our Postings pages...

My overall response to the program was very positive, I loved seeing these 4 wonderful dancers perform in works of their own choosing, pieces that in most cases were very different from what I’d guess they usually dance with their home companies.

Living in NY I’m very lucky to be able to see Stiefel & Corella on a regular basis, and I confess to taking them a bit for granted. Wonderful as they both were, they are known quantities to me and although they gave great performances Kobborg & Tsiskaridze were the revelations for me. I’d seen them both before, but only once or twice each and I always felt that the material I saw them in didn’t show the full range of their talents (Tsiskaridze with the Bolshoi last year in Pharaoh’s Daughter & Bright Stream, Kobborg with Cojocaru in the Royal’s Cinderella as well as in a couple of gala performances with her). Of course, the fact that they both had much stronger solos may have been a factor, too. Both Faun & Carmen were unforgettable, and really showed both dancer’s unique attributes to great advantage. I can see why Tsiskaridze is so controversial, but he won me over completely. His line, his high, easy extensions, the expressive arms and back and above all his artistry really floored me.

I did have a couple of issues with the material, I think The Lesson was an unfortunate choice. I understand that it was a last minute substitution and it may be fine on your average mixed bill, but when it’s the only narrative dance of the evening and the only piece to include female dancers the misogyny on view is pretty shocking. Tsiskaridze danced it at the last performance and in his bows, he really bent over backwards as if to say, hey, I’m really a nice guy. A fan threw him a small bouquet, which he split into 2 and gave to his 2 ballerinas. They kept trying to step to the back of the stage and let him take his bows but he kept grabbing them, hugging them and bowing to them. It seemed to be a very sincere and touching exhibition on his part.
 

As an avid dance fan, I was intrigued by the different interpretations Kobborg, Corella and Tsiskaridze each brought to the role of the maniacal teacher, and also really enjoyed watching Bojeson & Chapmen. Still, I had to focus on the dancers rather than the dance and would have MUCH preferred to watch them all in Jeune Homme or just about anything else. The audience gave them an enthusiastic round of applause each night, but when the lights came up there were lots of shudders and negative comments.

Stiefel was quoted as saying that he hoped this program would bring in a new audience. I’m not sure what impression a new audience would have gotten from this program that included something as dark as The Lesson and completely ignored the classical variations that most of the world thinks of as bravura male dancing (the NY program started with the film of the 4 dancers but did not include pre-performance archival footage or an encore, and that was a shame). Despite Corella’s charm and phenomenal technique it kind of fizzled at the end. The evening would have benefitted from some kind of ending that featured all 4 of them dancing, even a brief one. Perhaps they'll make some changes for future incarnations...