i rode the citibike up to lincoln center again this afternoon, for the three pm new york city ballet performance of maria kowroski's farewell. she's retiring from the company and accepting a position as artistic director of the new jersey ballet.
it was a full house for the matinee. she performed two excerpts from the ballet
chaconne, choreographed by george balanchine (music by christoph willibald von gluck), and
danse á grande vitesse, choreographed by christopher wheeldon (music by michael nyman), and danced fully the piece
amaria (scarlatti) by choreographer mauro bigonzetti and
slaughter on tenth avenue by jerome robbins. the last one i actually don't think i've seen before. it was a fun, comedic 1940's gangster piece which the audience loved, with a score by richard rodgers and re-orchestrated by hershy kay specifically for the ballet.
there was an intermission this time.
taking her bows at the end of
slaughter on tenth avenue.
maria kowroski danced the sugar plum fairy often when korrina was an angel and soldier for the nutcracker in 2003. i saw her do many pieces the two years korrina was at the ballet school. we used to get free tickets for the evening shows after ballet class, which we really enjoyed seeing, though we were always a bit tired (the children remember greg falling asleep through some of them - i probably did too).
it was another beautiful night at the ballet (and i rode the bicycle home again along columbus/ninth avenue, which is always a very rickety challenge as there's so much construction!)
