Alexei Ratmansky’s “Russian Seasons,” a journey into the soul, is the inspired and soaring center of an all-Russian program from the New York City Ballet. (Paul Kolnik)
To the list of Russian treasures — Fabergé eggs, caviar, Anna Netrebko — add “Russian Seasons,” Alexei Ratmansky’s beautiful ballet for New York City Ballet. Now going on 6 years old, it was the centerpiece Friday of an all-Russian program that — with some magnificent debuts — looked brand-new.
Set to Leonid Desyatnikov’s fascinating score, it seems as if the ballet has a plot, yet it doesn’t. The six men and six women play, flirt and comfort one another, as much as people as dancers. Sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant, “Russian Seasons” is a journey into the soul.
Costumed in folk garb pared down to the simplest elements, the seasons in the ballet are more those of life than the year. The men lean against each other as if they were the roof of a church. Megan Fairchild peeks out from under them, and then ascends as they form a staircase into the air.
Fairchild looked newly inspired in her debut, and Sara Mearns — also making her debut in the role — was ferociously amazing. She attacked every turn on the knife edge of control. The whole cast looked caught up — even possessed — by enthusiasm, and Ratmansky let the men soar.
Bookending the evening were Balanchine’s ballets, and they were gems with the right ballerinas. Fairchild led off with a secure, dramatic performance in “Allegro Brillante.”
Rebecca Krohn and Janie Taylor were at their best in “Stravinsky Violin Concerto.” Krohn’s long and angular physique embraced and fed on the oddities in her role, including a series of backbends that wound her round the stage.
Taylor lives for the weird. In her duet with Ask la Cour, she was spectral, seeming to not even notice him, but you could see the longing in her back as she walked away. Finally, she relented and nestled under his chin as he wrapped round her, gently directing her back and forth. The whole cast turned the driving and irregular folk rhythms of the finale into a brilliant puzzle — the solution sliding elegantly into place.