Rebecca Krohn dances barefoot in “Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3,” pursued by Zachary Catazaro, in the program’s sentimental finale. (Paul Kolnik)
BALANCHINE and Tschaikovsky — two artists with Russian souls. From either the choreographer or the composer, you might get a pristine classical delicacy, or a big gob of emotion. Tuesday night at New York City Ballet, you got plenty of both.
Balanchine’s take on Tschaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” isn’t your usual bird. He used only the “lakeside” dances usually costumed in white — but here they were all in black except for Sara Mearns as the swan queen, Odette. And like all of Balanchine, it’s at breakneck tempo: Movements ripple through the corps like a fast wind on the waves.
Mearns gave a big, soulful performance, with an evening’s drama in a single act. At the climax, she arched her back as if an arrow shot her through the heart.
But she was also slow as molasses, particularly in her duet with Jared Angle. There’s a good reason. When Mearns took faster tempos in the coda, she looked rushed and sloppy. Slow works better for her — and it’s beautiful. But it’s not what the man asked for.
Balanchine described “Allegro Brillante” as “Everything I Know About Classical Ballet in 13 Minutes.” The five couples in the cast sped through the poses in the finale — now that’s a Mr. B tempo. Megan Fairchild led the group with an intrepid performance that claimed the stage. In her solo, she spun with only the piano cadenza to support her, as if she were whirling over a yawning chasm.
The closer, “Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3,” is both classical and sentimental. Balanchine made the courtly finale, “Theme and Variations,” in 1947 but added the first three movements in 1970. They’re in different, looser costumes, and Rebecca Krohn was barefoot to open a tale of love lost. The look she gave Zachary Catazaro when she appeared was of painful regret from long ago.
But then Ashley Bouder closed “Theme” in a sparkling tutu and pedal-to-the-floor virtuosity. She punched the ballet hard — maybe too hard — as she clattered her pointe shoes so the whole theater could hear the shivering movement before she began to dance. But she mixed the schmaltz and the skill to end the performance on a note of triumph.