Rachel’s blog @ View Rachel @ Juilliard Dance | Published: February 11, 2019 Category: review  By Rachel Straus, Musical America February 11, 2019 The components of the Balanchine-Stravinsky Greek-themed trilogy Apollo (1928), Orpheus (1948) and Agon (1957) are infrequently seen together, perhaps because the middle ballet is not an outright crowd pleaser. But the sum of the whole is greater than its parts. Seen side by side, these works provide […] Published: November 6, 2018 Category: reviewBy Rachel Straus Tributes to historic masterpieces and their creators are a tricky business. In dance, the choreographer and original dancers with whom he or she created the piece are long gone. What has been passed on inevitably undergoes changes from the original, sometimes seismic ones. So rather than catering to nostalgia, the curators of […] Published: September 24, 2012 Category: reviewBy Rachel Straus Photo by Paul Kolnick: Robert Fairchild in “Apollo” NEW YORK – Opening night of New York City Ballet’s fall season on Sept. 18 launched the company’s two-week homage to the groundbreaking collaboration between Stravinsky and legendary choreographer George Balanchine. The season runs through Sept. 30, with twelve Balanchine ballets to […] Published: February 27, 2012 Category: reviewBy Rachel Straus NEW YORK — Back in 1996, when Les Ballets Monte Carlo made its U.S. debut, its artistic director Jean-Christophe Maillot was perceived as having the most American looking of European ballet companies. New York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff described BMC’s offerings as “neoclassical.” This was code for Balanchine, whose work the […] Published: May 10, 2011 Category: reviewBy Rachel Straus There is no better way to anoint a rising City Ballet male star than to award him the title role in Balanchine’s “Apollo.” On May 5 corps dancer Chase Finlay hit the big time, receiving curtain calls and roars of applause. The 21-year-old looked like a young Nordic god (much the […] Published: January 3, 2011 Category: profileBy Rachel Straus NEW YORK — New York City Ballet principal dancer Robert Fairchild, 24, has a favorite quote. It lives on his Facebook page, alongside information about his hometown (Sandy, Utah) and pictures of his new puppy (Griz). The quote comes from the television series “Friday Night Lights,” whose inaugural 2006 season coincided with […] |